'J
' May 9,-190a.
The Commoner
5
It is to bo hoped that the federal authorities
Will ;iot overlook the fact that injunction proceed-
. ings are not the only ones per-
indict mitted under the anti-trust law.
tba There is a very stern criminal
Conspirators. provision in the anti-trust law,
and every packing house repre
sentative who has violated that law should b
.called to account in the criminal court
A German paper has a striking cartoon en
titled "The Crown and the Crisis." This repre
sents King Edward holding in
The Crown his hand a crown, and kneeling
and the before the figure of the Angel of
Crisis'. Peace. "Put my crown on,"
pleads King Edward. "Wash the
blood off first," replies the Angel of Peace. It will
be, indeed, a mighty bloody crown that will bo
placed June 26, 1902.
They have a peculiar way of doing things In
jthe regions where kings and princes most do con
gregate. Edward VII. has been
The Great king for a long time now, and
Power of yet he will not formally be
a .King. made king until June 2G. King
Edward was Born November 9,
and yet he announces that henceforth his birth
day will be celebrated on May 30. This changO
is made because November 9 comes during a per
iod when most of the London people are out of
town, while on May 30, so experience demon-
strates, every- one is on hand and the season is in
full swing. A king has, Indeed, great power when
by a simple decree he can change the date of his
own birthday.
A Chicago newspaper says: "A republican
candidate for the presidency who can antagonize '
the trusts just enough to win
Wntchin'ff popular approval and not enough
ana to deprive himself of the cam-
Hoping, paign funds which they general
ly provide will have reason to
look upon himself as a very clever politician." It
remains to be seen whether Mr. Roosevelt will an
tagonize the trusts "just enough to win popular ap
proval and not enough to deprive himself of the
campaign, funds which they generally provide."
In spite of the many reasons for distrust on this
subject, the American people will hope thatthe
president's antagonism to the trusts .will" be
genuine.
Mr. Hanna professes great devotion to the
American workingmen. When the ship subsidy
bill was before the senate, one
"is it of the opponents of that meas-
- Only Skin ure charged that the Chinese
Deep? predominated among the crews
of the Pacific steamships. Mr.
Hanna promptly denied the charge, but when met
with proof in the shape of the statement of a Pa
cific steamship captain, the senator from Ohio
had nothing more to offer on that line. Mr. Han
na voted against the proposed amendment pro
viding that the subsidy should be paid only to
ships that employed American seamen. Subse
quently Mr. Hanna voted against the Chinese ex
clusion bill as it passed the house. Can it be pos
sible that Mr. Hanna's affection for the American
workingman Is not even skin-deep?
The Chicago Tribune says that the peopjie
"will not commit the error of holding the admin
istration responsible for the
Responsibility tortures in the Philippines when
for the this behavior is not condoned
Tortures. or approved by the administra
tion." Will the Tribune ex
plain, why the administration took no steps to
condemn, these tortures until the facts, were made
- public, through the hints given by General Miles?
How did it happen that the secretary of war,
knowing all the time that these tortures had
been committed, denied the truth of General Miles'
statement that "the war in the Philippines was
being conducted with marked severity?" Why
did the secretary fail to send to his subordinates
in the Philippines any reproof until popular in
dignation, "was so aroused that the secretary could
not longer delay action?
vyys
Referring to the discussion on the Philippine
"question, the Washington correspondent of the
Chicago Record-Horald says:
Getting "The truth is that republicans
Out of are in a quandary. So Is the
Town. president Their troubles are
multiplied. . . . There are not a
few republicans who would welcome early ad
journment, who would be willing 10 drop, the
Philippine. hot pokeiy drop- Cuba, drop, tke.oanal,.
pass the appropriation bills and get out of town
as quickly as possible. Secretly anti-Cuban rec-
Iprocity republicans are encouraging democrats
to stand out to the bitter end against the Philip
pine bill, hoping that In the resulting demoraliza
tion and disgust Cuba will be side-tracked in a
mad scramble for adjournment" What claim has
tho republican party to the title "tho party of
progress and patriotism" when Its representatives,
confronted with one of the most important ques
tions of the day, are so anxious to avoid disclos
ures concerning their party's work that they are
willing to drop all proposed legislation in order
to "get out of town as quickly as possible?"
.
VNVS
Those who think that the Filipinos have no
conception of liberty or that they are Ignorant of
America's struggle for indepen
They donee, will bo interested in a
-Knew letter written by Anto. Villa
History. Real, a Filipino who visited this
country not long ago. The letter
was written from Yokohama, Japan, and is ad
dressed to Dr. and Mrs. John H. Girdner of New
York, whom he. met while in this country. Tho
letter follows: "Please acept this humble and sin
cere token of deep gratitude from one of tho mil
lions of Filipinos who feel comforted in misfortunes
and strengthened in their painful struggle for free
dom by the kind sympathy of the noble and worthy
descendants of the immortal heroes of Bunker Hill
and Charleston, who died to give life to liberty."
$
In his order to General Chaffee, Secretary
Root said: "Nothing can justify or would be held
to justify the use of torture or
A Long Inhuman conduct of any kind on
Delayed the part of the American army."
Sentiment. How did it happen that this fine
sentiment did not occur to Mr.
Root until the facts, which he hold in his posses
sion for several months, became public property
through no act of his? If Mr. Root is so opposed
to tho "use of torture or inhuman conduct" as he
now pretends to be, why did ho not enter his pro
test when the terrible facts were laid before him?
Why did he file away In his plgeonrholes tho evi
dences of the "torture and Inhuman conduct?"
Why did he castigate General Miles for saying,
what Mr. Root knew to be the truth, that the war
in the Philippines was being conducted with
4l-1 ti nit
wurjtea severity:
12y5
Republican
Leaders
Gloomy.
The Washington correspondent of the Chi
cago "Record-Herald under date of April 30, re
ferring to the Philippine debate
in the senate, says: "Behind
the scenes, the republican lead
ers had their heads together,
and in sorrowful nnnffrAnfft
were trying to flncj a way out of their troubles.
They have not found it, and they are, in fact, di
vided as to what is the best remedy. They agree
that their side is getting the worst of this Phil
ippine business; that it was a mistake ever to
start an Investigation; that what was designed
to be a means of telling the country how much
good work Americans had accomplished in tho
Philippines had been turned Into a boomerang;
that while it was all a political game. In which
the democrats were matching their wits against
the republicans In search of a political issue, the
former were having all the luck and all the fun."
It may have been a mistake "ever to start an in
vestigation" so far as the republican party is con
cerned, but certainly the American people are en
titled to know the truth, and unless the truth is
revealed and prompt and vigorous protest be en
tered against the administration's policy in the
Philippines, the methods practiced In our new
possessions will become more and more intoler
able. Governor Cummins ofi Iowa delivered a speech
on trusts at Minneapolis on the evening of April
30. An extract from the gov
ernor's speech is reproduced in
another column of this Issue.
Governor Cummins appreciates
the danger threatened to public
welfare by the trust system. He particularly
designates the United States steel corporation as
a trust, and declares that "the vast quantities of
fictitious stock represented nothing but the audac
ity of the sellers and the credulity of the buyers."
It doe3 not seem to have effected Governor Cum
mins' opinion that Attorney General Knox has de
clared that the steel corporation Is not a trust.
The republican governor of Iowa does not mince
words In dealing with the situation. "The Ameri
can people," says Governor CummTns, "will no
more submit to commercial despotism than they
would to governmental despotism, and the ten
dency in the one case can be, and will be, as eas
ily thwarted, a&ithe tendencyinr thevother: All tills
can be dose and, will bet done, without harm to
the sound,healthy body of American Industry? and
Drifting
From
the g. o. p.
it will not halt for a single moment In Its swift
march toward victories more splendid than have
hitherto crowned its efforts." If the governor
of Iowa continues to talk in this fashion, he ncod
not bo surprised if ho is formally read out of the
republican party.
SSsV
The Springfield, Massachusetts, Republican
says: "Tho report of the civil governor of Tay-
abas provlnco in tho Philippines,
Should which has finally been wrung
Apologize to from tho war department, cora-
GefMrai Miles, plctcly justifies General Mile?'
statement that the war has been
conducted with 'marked severity.' Its publica
tion, coming simultaneously with the accounts of
tho Waller court-martial at Manila, renders thy
proof overwhelming. Yet Mr. Root had this re
port in his possession when he wroto to the
president on March 5 that tho warfare in tho Phil
ippines had 'been conducted with marked hu
manity and magnanimity.' " It is now In order
for Messrs. Roosovelt and Root to apologlzo to
General Mile rnd yet, if wo are to boliovo tho
reports of newspapers having tho confidence of
tho administration, Instead of extending an apology
tho administration will, as soon as it can summon
courage, retire tho goneral from the head of the
army.
oc,"i
t Tho Memphis Commercial Appeal says: "Tho
iniquities of the tariff are becoming more and more
known through the study of tho
Newspapers question in specific Instances,
and the No matter how strong a nowa-
Trusts. paper may be In favor of tho
high protective tariff it will not
be likely to tolerate the tariff on blank paper and
wood pulp that takes money out of their pockets
and places it in the pockets of tho paper trust"
It will bo remembered that some time ago when
the paper trust was bearing down on newspaper
publishers, republican newspapers Insisted that
unless there was a check on truBt exactions, the
tariff In which this particular trust was inter
ested would be-removed; and yet when it was pro
pose! to remove the tariff on all trust made ar
ticles, the same republican nowspapers very gen-
orally entered vigorous protest and insisted that
there must bo no tampering with tho tariff laws.
Because of some mysterious and. potontagency,
republican papers generally seem to prefer to sub
mit to trust exactions rather than to assort their
rights.
It has not been claimed that Mr. Rathbono
did not obtain a fair trial. To be. sure, it may
seem to some republican pol
Hanna itlcians that Mr. Rathbone has
Working for been very severely dealt with
Rathbone. inasmuch as he has been re
quired to go to prison
because of his steal. Such a procedure, in the
estimation of somo republican politicians, is very
severe treatment indeed. No one is surprised
that Senator Hanna, whom Mr. Rathboae served
in politics very capably, is exerting his best ef
forts to rescue his faithful lieutenant. Mr. Hanna
is entitled at least to the credit of being a very
grateful man. Nor will any one bo surprised to
learn that the insidious influences which Mark
Hanna is capable of exerting to their uttermost
have had their effect at the White house; and
we need not be surprised if we learn that, after
all, Mr. Rathbone is a very much abused man
and instead of being required to do service in the
penitentiary Is to be turned over to his political
friends.
The Chicago Re'cordrHerald says: "There
will be nothing but hearty approval throughout
tho country of the action of tho
Very Danish RIgsdag In making the
significant ratification of the cession of the
Facts. Danish West Indian islands con
ditional upon thd consent of the
inhabitants of those islands. Wo have had enough
of acquiring -islands with an insurrection thrown
in to make us wary of buying sovereignty over
any people, however small their numbers, with
out securing their consent to the transfer. The
good will of the Inhabitants of tho Danish isles Is
ofnore consequence to the United States than the
oa title Denmark can givo ana our 14,000,000 can
buy. Besides, we will feel much more con
tented with the bargain when it brings us citizens
by their own votes and not chattels by right of
bargain or' sale." How did It happen that the
treaty-making power in this country did not
make the ratification conditional upon the con
sent of the inhabitants of the islands? Is it not
somewhat significant that the principle of con
sent waa recognised by the legislative vbody of
monarchy,-when that principle. was wholly ignored
by the treaty-making, power of a republic?
o
