The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923, March 22, 1901, Page 3, Image 3
"PpwippiiliifpwlwTO ""!V'V7?'Tv 'T " '?" gotiation. At the very least let us adhere to the President's instructions and. if conditions require the keeping of Luzon forego the material advantages claimed in annexing other islands. Above all let us not make a mockery of the injunction contained in those instructions, where, after stating that we took up arms only in obedience to the dictates of humani ty and in the fulfillment of high public and moral obligations, and that we had no design of aggrandize ment and no ambition of conquest, the President among other things eloquently says: "It is my earnest wish that the United States in making peace should follow the same high rule of conduct which guided it in facing war. It should be as scrupulous and magnanimous in the concluding settlement as it was just and humane in its original action." This and more, of which I earnestly ask a re perusal, binds my conscience and governs my action. Wednesday, 12:30, night. George Gray. W Was It an Error? The New York World reports an interesting "error" made by Vice-President Roosevelt on the third day. that he presidedi over the Senate. This New York paper describes the incident thus: The Senate had fallen into a discussion of one of those questions of precedent and tradition so dear to the senatorial heart. Some one it was Teller, of Colorado ended a sentence with the phrase, "and the Senate transact such executive business as the Presi dent may eeo fit." There was no occasion for Mr. Roosevelt to say anything. In fact the only thing for him to do was to be quiet, as he is a mere servant of the Senate with no voice in its proceedings. But Mr. Roosevelt was nervous and did not know what he was doing. His fingers were fluttering about, the tip of his nose ran in and out rapidly, as seen from above, and he said in a voice of suppressed hysteria, "Such business as the President sees fit." Several Senators lifted their white whiskers off their shirt bosoms and peered about curiously. In his agitation the unhappy new presiding officer had kicked the Senate in a very sore spot. Old Morgan of Alabama, able, but as windy as Nassau street when a pale is blowing, rose to his feet and examined Mr. Roosevelt with the air of one who is noting with con tempt a small and disagreeable object. Then he said in a voice as dry and cold as a December day at the North Pole: "Such business as the Senate sees fit." Roosevelt's hands shook "like an aspen." From the press gallery you could see the end of his nose quiver, the tips of his cheeks and ears redden and his neck swell as if he were swallowing rapidly. Ho betrayed all the symptoms of a nervous child". The Senate settled back with a look of compJacent forbearance. It has heard of "Strenuous Teddy" and it is watching him closely. It was pleased to see that he has the proper awe and fear. And there is not the slightest doubt that ho has, that he purposes to lead a quie.t, civilized life and try to live down his reputa tion for bumptiousness and boyish fondness for noise and for tearing and killing animals. But to return to the remark, was Mr. Roosevelt right in the state ment of fact, or was Mr. Morgan right? Why does tho "World refer to this incident as Mr. Roosevelt's "error"? It is not surprising that the Vice-President's interesting remark should grate harshly upon the nerves of the dignified Senator from Alabama. Senator Morgan yet la bors nnder tho delusion that we have three branches of government, and that Congress, occu pies a sphere where the executive dare not in vade. But Mr. Roosevelt knows that that is a delusion juat as well as all the world knows it is a delusion in these days of trusts and imperialism. Tho republican congress has been permitted under fhe present admin iatration to transact only The Commoner. "such business as tho President sees fit." Mr. Roosevelt is as candid as ho is strenuous, and it was only characteristic of the Vice-President that be did not apologize for his so-called "error." The "symptoms of a nervous child" betrayed by the Vice-President probably were not nervous ness at all. Mr. Roosevelt was endeavoring to control himself. He was probably indignant that the Senator from Alabama had the temerity to deny a statement which all the world understands to be full of 'stubborn, even though regretable, fact. W President's Growing Powers. A writer in the Pornm, discussing the grow ing power of the President, shows that aside from the offices in War and Navy -departments, the President has patronage at his disposal as follows: State Department 318 consular and diplomatic appointments..! 1,000,000 Treasury Department 743 customs, revenue, marine hospital, etc.. 017,355 PostofBcc Department 4,015 postmasters 6,031,000 Interior Department 747 pension officials, land office agents, etc. 1,997,040 Department of Justice Judges, attorneys, marshals, etc. . 1,120,000 Total 311,071,995 It is estimated that, including all departments, the President is, as tho Chicago Times-Herald says, "able to divert into tho pockets of his sup porters annually the sum of $20,000,000, a total distribution of $80,000,000, during his term of office." The Times-Herald declares that "there is much apprehension among the students of our political system concerning these growing pow ers of the President." This republican news paper says: In adju sting some of the problems growing out of the recent war we have seen Congress practically abdicate in favor of the President. The framers of the Constitution rightly appreciated that in a republic the popular branch of the government must be para mount. We have recently seen tho President become the autocratic ruler of hundreds of thousands of peo ple in Cuba and of millions of people in the Philip pines, lie has appointed and removed officials with out asking the consent of tho Senate. The laws promulgated by the Taft commission in the Philip pines declare that they were enacted "by tlie au thority of the President of the United States1' not of Congress. And then the Times-Herald concludes that "the only remedy appears to be through the ex tension and enforcement of the merit system." This is, indeed, a profound suggestion. A more sensible one, however, would be that we re store tho machinery of our national government to its proper order; that the law-making and war declaring power be exercised exclusively by tho congress; that the President resume his constitu tional place as an executive, content with being the beloved magistrate of a nation of freemen, rather than the autocratic ruler of peoples who have never consented to United States government. Is It " Essential Oneness? " The London Spectator has discovered that tho tributes paid by tho American people to the mem ory of Queen Victoria is "A proof of the essential oneness of the English speaking race." "It is impossible," eaya the Speotator, "for any person, sovereign or president, poet or divine, philosopher or weaver of romance, to rise to tho very highest place in cither land without becom ing the common property of both peoples. Say what we will, we aro sharer in the really great." Tho Spectator then refers to Great Britain's rev erence for Abraham Lincojn, whom tho British nation recognize as "A representative of what was highest and noblest in tho English speaking kin." Tho Spectator says that " this good feeling will continue as long as wo speak tho same language and read tho samo bible, and as long as Mr. Lin coln and the Queen remain as examples of public duty." As a mattor of fact, the tributes paid by tho American people to the memory of Queen Victo ria were tho tributes due to a good woman, whoso virtues were made conspicuous by the public place she so long and creditably filled. Our English friends frequently make tho mistake of thinking that the American people comprise exclusively the descendants of Englishmen. Tho tributes paid to the memory of Queen Victoria came from all classes of people regardless of their ancestry. Wo do not remember that ''any American Presi dent, prior to the present regime, held a very high place in tho affections of tho British public. Wo do not recall that any of tho American poets ever received even a small proportion of tho attention from tho British public which tho American peo ple pay Kipling that fearful and wonderful maker of prose and verse. Wo have a distinct recollection that Henry Ward Beecher was ono divine who rose to a very high place in this land, and wo have a faint recollection of some stirring sconces at Manchester and in other neighborhoods when tiiis great American preacher visited Eng land to plead the cause of the "Union and made himself famous by the courage he displayed in tho presence of the English mobs. It rather grates on tho American nerves to hav.e this English newspaper refer to Lincoln. Tho American people very gracefully paid tributes at the bier of Queen Victoria because, while that good woman lived, we did her no injustice. If she had eccentricities we did not exaggerate them. Our newspapers were in the habit of referring to her in the kindest of terms, and when she died our tributes simply represented the expresssions wo had given while she lived. But the English attitude toward Lincoln was quite different. We remember that when Lincoln died, the Union having been preserved in spite of tho embarrass ments Great Britain sought to put upon us, there were many expressions of regret by the British public, and many tributes paid by British publi cations that had devoted their energies to libels upon the martyred president while ho lived. A memorable rebuke entitled: "Tho Atone ment of Mr. Punch" read like this: You lay a wreath on murdered. Lincoln's bier, You who with mocking1 pencil were wont to trace, Broad, for the self-complacent British sneer, His length, of shambling limb, his furrowed face. You whose smart pen backed up the pencil's laugh, Judging each step as though tho way were plain, Reckless so it could point its paragraph Of chief's perplexity or people's pain. Beside this corpse that bears for winding sheet The Stars and Stripes he lived to rear anew, Between the mourners at his head and feet, Say, scurrile jester, is there room for you? Ji i 1 1 ti m HftdtoV.W tt.i--jgiEJMM J -, VA '3