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An Approach
to
Treason.
, v ". The financial, embarrassment of the Evorett
Xooro syndicate at Cleveland, 0., is, in the Asso
: ' ciated press dispatches, attri
buted to the "stringency of the
money market." Is it not a
very near approach to treason to
accuse the money market of
. ""stringency'Mn these days of prosperity, when 'the
volume of currency and the per capita circulation
are "larger than ever before in the history of the
government?" ,
;", A social authority at Washington has decreed
that "An invitation to 'call or- dine at the White
house is equivalent to a com-
,! -Equivalent mand." So, also, an invitation
to a. to call or dine at-tho home of
' f Command. one's friend is "equivalent to ji
command;" and in this respect,
tiiere Is no material difference between the White
house command and the command of the humblest
.citizen who extends an invitation to his friend.
When the imperialistic course was first en
tered" upon the republican leaders and republican
v editors were sure that the in
surrection would only last for a
short time, and that the Fili
pinos would soon -learn to love us
if .they were firmly assured that
they would be shot if they did not love us. The
truth is gradually dawning, and now papers like
the Minneapolis Journal admit that they "have
recovered from the notion that a day would come
'i
when peace would be restored." The Journal says:
"We now expect a daily measure of fights and
skirmishes, the fire of insurrection stamped out
in one place only to be lit in another. But we
tc.ke it all just as we take the daily duties in tha
struggle of life always there Jls, something to be
"done." This is a complacent way of admitting
the failure of their prophecy, but the Idlling- of a
ffcw thousand people, more or less, does not seem
to disturb the more partisan republicans.
.Arc Merely
Dally
Occurrences.
oOV
j It is significant that the arguments of the ini-
The-Doctrine
'-'it '.
- The .
. Asphalt
' 'trust.
Something
Jlore Than
Independence.
..
tt .-
perialist may be met and demolished by quota
tions from the greatest of Amer
ican statesmen. And. these quo-"
of " ' tations from the past are so per-
,, -prhronefl. tinent that they often seem to
V 4f ' navo ueen written for this very
occasion. It is a familiar claim that the people
o'iv. our new possessions are too ignorant to gov
ern thorn selves. On this very point Henry Clay
' dice said: "It is the doctrine of thrones that man
. is too ignorant to govern himself. Their partl-
"sans assert his incapacity in reference to all na
"tlons; if they, cannot ommand universal assent
to the proposition, it is then demanded to partic
ular nations; and our pride and our presumption,
too, often make converts of us. I contend that it is
to arraign the disposition of Providence himselj ,
to suppose that He has created beings incapable of
governing themselves and to be trampled on by
kings. , Self-government is the natural govern
ment, of man."
.; "' General Francis V. Green, president of the r'e
' 'cently collapsed asphalt trust, described his orr
ganization in this way: "The
National Asphalt company and
the Asphalt Company of Ameri
ca are holding or proprietary
companies, not engaged in lay
ing payements or selling asphalt, but solely in
holding. the stocks of subsidiary companies, "col
lecting dividends when paid and distributing them
to their security holders." Commenting on this,
statement, the New York World enlarges upon 'it
ia a pointed and instructive way, as follows: "Nb't
a pound of asphalt, not even a shovel, did these
giant companies own, yet they assumed obliga
tions of more than $50,000,000. They bought sev
enty working companies, each under its own bonds,
mortgaged and floating debt, Issuing ...trust.. stock;
in payment. Since monopoly was their only hope
of success absurd prices were paid; even an un
profitable plant might develop into a rival. Stock
was issued for intangible values for 'influence'
and 'services.' And this watery mess was further
diluted by $6,000,000 of, certificates Jtor -working
capital.'. If. the trust had been able to stifle pubj
lie opinion, to 'influence' politician, to 'collect in
definitely exorbitant prices for paving, it could
have earned $2,500,000 and more per year for in
terest charges'. But asphalting is not work that re
quires large capital, and even by tho desperate
policy of inviting civil war in Venezuela the trust
failed to control the raw material. Yet it actually
earned $1,000,000 a year, which is probably a fair
profit upon its actual capital with . the 'water
squeezed out.' "
The imperialists' claim that the American col
onists simply struggled for indepenaence from
. , Great Britain and did hot lay
down a rule for the government
of future generations, is well
met by an extract from a speech
delivered by Mr. Lincoln, Feb
ruary 21, 1861. On that occasion the great repub
lican said: "Away back in my childhood, the
earliest days of my being able to read, I got hold
of a small book, such a one as few of the younger
members have ever seen 'Weem's Life of Wash
iugton.' I remember all the accounts there given
o! the , battlefields and struggles for the liberty, of
the couiy, jind njaneJfixed themselves upon my
imagination Jso'. deepiyS as the struggle here at
Trenton, N. J. The crossing of the river, the con
test with the Hessians, the great hardships en
'dured at that time, all fixed themselves on my
memory more than any single revolutionary event;
arid you all know, for-.you have been, boys, how -'
these.' efeirly "impressions last longer than any ,
-others. I recollect thinking then, bby'eyen though
I was, that there must have been something more
than common that those men struggled for. i am
exceedingly anxious that that thing which they
struggled for, that something even more than, na
tional independence, that something that held out
a great promise to all the people of the world in
all time to come I am exceedingly anxious .that
this union, the constitution and the liberties of
the people shall be perpetuated, in accordance with
the original idea for which that struggle was
made, and I shall be happy, indeed, if. I shall be a
humbld instrument in the hands of the Almighty,,
and of this, His almost chosen people, for per
petuating the object of that great struggle.-"
The Chicago Tribune ' " says that the first
problem which will confront Secretary of. the
Treasury Shaw will be a reduc
tion of the cash balance. This
.balance will be in the neighbor
hood of $175,000,000. The Tribune
explains: "There is no imme
of a sweeping ropeal of the war
There is an understanding in con-
. gress that this repeal is to be- the last important
piece of legislation of the present session. The -plan
is to wait until the appropriation bills are
outlined completely, and then to repeal the war
taxes if there is money enough on hand to do it.- -The
legislators are afraid that if they repeal the
taxes first somebody will set up a howl as to a
shortage of funds, and the result will be that sev
eral pieces of extravagant legislation would suf
fer." It would seem, therefore, that this sur
plus is not such a great problem for Secretary
Shaw as one might at first infer. If the surplus is
not so large but that the reduction of the war
taxes must be postponed until the appropriation
bills are "outlined completely," then It is safe, to
say that tho new secretary of the treasury will
have considerable assistance from members of con
gress in the solution of this particular "problem."'
It is worthy of notejrlght here that while republi-
Notso Great
a Problem
After All.
diate prospect
revenue taxes.
"The
Acrobatic
Justice Brown."
panpapers haye,cpnsiderable4o,;sayj',pQncei?nirig th
immense surplus in the treasury, none of them, feel
justified in predicting either a reduction or, re
peal of -the war. taxes; and it is. interesting to bo
told by the Chicago Tribune that1 "the legislators
are afraid that if they repeal the taxes first some
body will' set up & howl as to a shortage .bV funds,
and the. result will be that several pieces of.ex-i
travagant legislation would suffer."
The Chicago Record-Herald, a republican
newspaper, commenting upon the recent decisions
in the Philippine case, refers to
"the acrobatic Justice Brown."
The Record-Herald says that
Justice Brown's distinction.
"seems to be that while they
(the Philippines) are part of the United States,
they may be legislated against as though they
were a foreign country, though they are denied tho
right of a foreign country to retaliate." This re-
publican paper concludes that "the stronger rea
soning is with the justices who believe that uni
form federal laws should apply to all American
territory and the subject still remains to be dis
cussed as a question of policy before congress.
That body will find itself in a very peculiar and
embarrassing position if it takes to making dis
criminating tariff legislation for the Philippines."
But why more "embarrassing" than when it un
dertook to enact discriminating tariff legislation
for Porto Rico? The Record-Herald says, "If for
the Philippines, why not for any other territory of
the United States? If for any other territory, why
not for any separate state in the union?" To be
sure; why not? But did not the Record-Herald
-made itself in part responsible for this very pol
icy, whenv.it: enthusiastically supported for office
men who were strongly committed to the very-policy
which it ,now vigorously condemns? I
... JX is evident thatt,ex-ComRtrlerrpftie Cur
rency Charles G. Dawes has. his. ear to 'the,' ground.
In a recent speech, before the. commercial., teach
ers' federation at St. Louis he declared, "There is
no .necessity for an asset currency," and added:,
"1 have no patience with those who, ..by iuch
measures, would undermine the financial stability
.ctf.'our country." Now let Senator Mason advo
cate an asset currency, and he will come out of the
contest with more scars and less honorable ones
.tfcan.jheJ,lha4r..after his encounter yiththeadmin
ifrtrationjonthe Philippine question.
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V
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