Aug. 15 1 190a
I
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The Commoner.
t-nswer: 'If, perchance, some of our tariffs are no
longer needed for revenue or to encourage and
promote our industries at home, why should they
not be employed to extend and promote our
markets abroad?'"
Ott THE QUESTION OF TRUSTS ATTENTION
Is directed by this same republican corre
spondent that "the republican orator looking for
material for denunciation of the trusts will find
little of it in this text book. He will find what
his democratic opponents will probably declare to
be a republican apology for trusts in the shape of
figures reprinted from a special bulletin of the de
partment of labor tending to show that since trusts
have been organized in certain industries the
number of men employed has been increased and
the average rate of wages has advanced."
THIS PUBLICATION IS REFERRED TO BY
this writer as an "arsenal of information."
Referring to the tables printed in this book, which
tables seek to show the great advantage, to the
people, of republican policies, this writer de
clares: 'These two sets of statistics will have to
be used with care and skill by tbi) republican
orator who Wishes to show that while the wages
of labor have increased there has been no de
crease in the purchasing powerepf the dollar. The
safer way for the spell-binder will probably be to
use one set of statistics while talking to farmers
and the other set when speaking to laboring men."
This Is a characteristic republican hint. "These
two sets of statistics will have to be used with
care and slcill by the republican orator who wishes
to show that while the wages of labor have in
creased there has been no decrease in the pur
chasing power of the dollar!" Also, "The safer
way for the spell-binder will probably be to use
ono set of statistics while talking to farmers and
the other set when speaking to laboring men!"
Can any one now doubt that the republican party
has a monopoly on the intelligence and the hon
esty of the country?
THE MOST PATCHED-UP MAN IN HISTORY
has been discovered by the Cleveland Plain
Dealer. The name of this man is George Burns
and the Plain Dealer says that "the catalogue of
Burns' afflictions and physical disabilities reads
like a list of casualties in a mine disaster or a
subway explosion." According to this story, the
entire top of this man's skull is gone, heing re
placed by a silver plate whch is attached to
his right jaw? five ribs on the left side have, been
removed, forcing his heart to the right side of
his anatomy; a portion of his right hip is missing,
one of his legs has been fractured in three places,
the other in two, his elbow joints are a thing of
memory, he is blind in one eye, one of his knee
caps is situated midway down his shin, and in
all thirty-seven pieces of bone have been re
moved from his body. Burns says that at one
time he was thought to have passed to the great
beyond. The shroud had been prepared, the coflln
was ready, when the supposed dead man rose to
protest against the funeral rites. The much-disabled
man was born in Troy, N. Y., seventy-three
years ago. He claims to be a veteran of the Mexi
can and. a survivor of the civil wars. He joined
the navy schoolship Hartford shortly before the
outbreak of the latter conflict He served under
Farragut and while on an expedition along the
Mississippi river he was struck by a shell and the
entire upper portion of his skull whs shot off. For
weeks he hovered between life 'and death after
having submitted to an operation involving the
insertion of a large silver plate in his skull. After
the civil war Burns says he served on the Jeanette
sduring the Greeley exp edition. On his return he
was caught in machinery while serving as an en
gineer In a plant at Charleston, S. C. According to
BurnB' statement he was hurled around the fac
tory for some minutes. Ho was crushed beyond
recognition and when rescued was. pronounced
'dead. He was borne tenderly to the' morgue and
laid away on Ice. He there regained conscious
ness and informed the attendants that he was still
to be numbered among the living.
IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE SOME OF THE
reasons offered why It Is difficult to Becure
enlistments for the navy. Just now the navy de
partment is in crying need of men, but tho men
are not to be secured. The favorite reason ad
vanced by republican organs is that there Is "too
much money in other work- for many enlist
ments." Good wages are offered to mechanics in
the navy, therefore the wage question Is not the
proper solution. Perhaps" it is to be found In the
fact that an enlisted man has little or no chance
of promotion, no matter how fit he may prove to
be. And if by peculiar fitness he does happen to
be recommended for promotion to a higher grade
some commissioned officer to whom the matter of
promotion Is referred is mora than likely to dls-
approve the recommendation on tho ground that
the enlisted man doee not possoss the "propor so
cial qualifications." When ability to perform
worthy sorvlco is given preference over ability to
pour pink tea and lead tho german perhaps it will
become less difficult to secure enlistments in tho
THIS IS THE SEASON OF LARGE RELIGIOUS
assemblies, and one' of the most important
and most significant was the ono held last wook
at Atlantar Ga, It was the Negro Young People's
Christian and Educational congress, and fully fif
teen thousand young negroes wore in attendance
Addresses were made by leading representatives
of the educational movement among the negroes
and tho interest manifested was gratifying.
DB. WINTERS, OF KIOWA COUNTY, KAN-
sas, announces himself as a candidate for
the republican nomination to tho offlco of register
of deeds. After reading tho announcement ono Is
inclined to bellevo that Mr. Winters is entitled to
the nomination. He admits that he does not an
nounce himself as a candidate because "promi
nent citizens and friends" havo urged him to do
so, declaring that ho is "tho strongest man that
could bo nominated." Ho admits, further, that
the boom is self-inflated, and gives as his reasons
for wanting the office that ho is "growing too old
for farm work, and a little too ambitious to bo
thrown into tho waste basket, and would like a
couple of years' office rest, just to see how loafing
around the county seat feels to an old man." Mr.
Winters' honesty and straightforwardness de
serves some kind of a reward. Not knowing just
what salary attaches to tho office of register of
deeds in Kiowa county it is impossible to state
with any degree of accuracy whether it is sufficient
reward for such an outburst.
THE WORLD REGRETTED TO HEAR OF
the disaster to the Campanile. This structure
was considered one of tho finest specimens of Ven
etian architecture. The Campanile was really a de
tached bell tower for St Mark's cathedral. The
.foundations were laid more than ono thousand
years ago, although the structure was compara
tively new, having been completed in the Six
teenth century and restored in 1895. Tho founda
tion rested upon piles driven into a bed of mud,
and when the builders saw, that the foundation,
laid six hundred years before, was apparently solid
they bullded thereon. As the years wnt by the
building settled in various directions. Whenever
it was proposed to restore the building a great
outcry arose against desecrating this noble speci
men of architecture. The result was that the
whole structure gave way and fell with a crash
a few days ago.
WU TING FANG, CHINESE MINISTER, HAS
been recalled, and Sir Lian Chen Tung
appointed to succeed him. Wu Ting Fang has been
selected by his government to codify the Chinese
laws, a position requiring the best legal talent. Sir
Lian Chen Tung is a graduate of Yale university
and was one of the first students sent by China to
American-universities, coming to America in the
"early 70's. When Chang was minister to tho
United States some years ago JLian Chen Tung offi
ciated as his official interpreter. Later he was
secretary of a special embassy to Japan, and filled
a similar positioii with the embassy participating
in Queen Victoria's jubilee. He was also a mem
ber of the party sent by the Chinese emperor to
Berlin to apologize to the German empire for the
murder of Baron von Kettler. Minister Wu has
become a general favorite with the American peo
ple because of his genial good nature, his ability
and his shrewd comments on current affairs. In
deed, urider him the Chinese embassy has risen
to an important place among the embassies at
Washington. He announces that he will prepare
a -book giving his impressions of occidental life,
and those who know him are confident that it will
be ono of the best books on America ever written
by a foreigner.
RECENTLY A TABLET IN THE WALL OF
Zion- Reformed church at Allentown, Pa.,wa3
unveiled by the Liberty Bell chapter of the
Daughters of the American Revolution. This
tablet was placed to mark the hiding place dur
ing the revolutionary war of Liberty Bell, in the
old house of worship which stood on tho site now
occupied by the Allentown church. The Allen
town correspondent of the New York World re
lates this interesting story: It was when the Brit
ish troops threatened Philadelphia that the Phila
delphia authorities decided to remove the relic,
together with the bells of Christ Church and St.
Peter's church. This step was taken to bar any
chance of the bells being turned into ammunition
for the enemy If they fell Into British hand. Th
bells were accordingly loaded In a farmer's wagon
and convoyed to Allentown, where they lay hid
den beneath the pulpit of Zion church until the
end of tho war. Tho tablet is two by threo feet
in size and bears on Its face a has relief of tho
Liberty Bell and the emblem of the Daughters of
tho Araorlcan Revolution. The inscription I:
"To commemorato the concealment of the Liberty
Boll during tho revolutionary war in tne Second
church, built on this site, this tablet U erectod by
tho Llborty Bell chapter. Daughters of the Ameri
can Revolution." Whon the Liberty Boll wa on
Its way back to Philadelphia from the World'
fair in Chicago it was taken from tho train at
this city and conveyed to Zion church, where in
teresting services were held.
PRIVY COUNCILOR EMANUEL HERMAN,
who Is said to havo originated tho postal card,
died at Vionna, July 15. Tho maV who originated
tho postal card deserves to bo remembored faith
fully by the people to whoso convenience he made
material contribution.
IN CONNECTION WITH THE DEFEAT OF
Senator Carmack's resolution for con
tinuing tho investigation of tho war in
the Philippines, a suggestion inado by the
"City and Stato" of Philadelphia is timely.
This publication points out that there are abun
dant reasons for believing that tho majority of
tho senate committee intended that the investiga
tion should "peter out" It charged that from the
beginning this investigation was not pushed with
energy so far as concerns tho majority of the
committco. In support of its suspicions, "City and
Stato" pointed out that it Is significant that there
was not at the head of such a committee a sonator
who wanted to find out, Instead of a senator who
seems to be opposed to having anything revealed
which tho war department wished concealed.
That "there are things which the department does
not wish to have discovered," says this publica
tion, "has been made apparent all along and
especially by tho manifestation of tho depart
ment's wrath when, by any accident, things long
successfully concealed wero brought from dark
ness into tho light."
This publication also pointed ogt that-"it Is
more than two months since the president and
Secretary Root promised that there should be a
searching investigation of tho alleged abuses and
crimes in the Philippines. Lator, in his letter to
Bishop Lawrence, tho president expressed his fixed
resolution to expose and punish wrong-doers,
but we must repeat what wo have already said:
'So far as wo can see, no real steps have, during
this long time, been taken toward an Investiga
tion, but many resolute and long steps away
from It, with tho able assistance of Mr. Lodge.'
This may seem severe; but who will namo any
step that looks to a 'searching investigation' of
the conduct of tho army in the Philippines? Some
abuses havo been exposed; but not one of them
by initial action of tho administration or of tho
majority of the senate committee. In the two
months and more that have elapsed, has any
officer been punished for abuses committed, al
though many abuses have been brought to light?
On tho contrary, has not there been a steady
effort to hinder full investigation? Is it not
notorious that abuses which had to be acknowl
edged have been minimized by excuses and ex
culpations? The purpose of those who showed
themselves intent on having a searching Investi
gation mado have been systematically misrepre
sented as an unpatriotic design to attack tho army.
This has been done by republican speakers in the
senate, by tho president himself at Arlington, and
In the platforms of party conventions. The just
spirit of investigation, instead of receiving en
couragement, has been persistently discouraged,
prevented, and maligned by every means known
to expert and disingenuous politicians. Have tne
president and Secretary Root given any encour
agement to army officers to appear before the
senate committco and freely reveal what they
know, by assurance that their truthful testimony
should not operate to their prejudice in future?
If they have done anything of tho kind, wo have
not heard of It Would they not havo done just
that thing, and done it promptly, If they had
really desired a searching Investigation."
The "City and State" concluded that the junior
senator from Massachusetts underrate the con
science of his -constituency or ho exaggerates the
power of a partisan autocracy if he supposes
the attacks on tho moral and religious sentiment
of the people of the country can bo bluffed by the
sham investigations.
. But In spite of all the -warnings, it seems
that republican leaders do not desire a genuine in
vestigation and they are perfectly willing to risk
the consequences of a sham Inquiry.
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