The Commoner.
fact that even In the presence of this showing the
Roosevelt boomers are not entirely happy.
Nov. l4rtooa
5
As soon as the election returns were In and
It was known that a republican house had been
elected, republican papers tooK
up tin cry to "let well enough
alone" on the tariff question.
The Chicago Record-Herald In
sists that the republicans must
act on the tariff, but it is to bo observed that re
publican papers generally incline to tho "let well
enough alone" plan..
A
Familiar
Appeal.
-
The news of the election to congress from tho
Minneapolis district of John Lind, former gov
ernor of Minnesota and for a
John number of years a representative
Lind's in the lower house of congress,
Election. wil1 D0 wel1 received by thou
sands of democrats all over the
country. Mr. Lind is a strong and earnest man
and it is safe to say he may be depended upon ae a
faithful guardian of public interests.
Already the contest for the speakership of
the republican house is under way. Charles's.
Littlofleld .of Maino, Senero
Payne of New York, Theodore E.
Burton of Ohio, and Joseph G.
Cannon of Illinois are the lead
ing contestants. It is claimed
that Mr. Littlefleld will have the favor of tho ad
ministration in his candidacy, but there are already
visible signs that Mr. Cannon will bo tho fav
orite. ,
Cannon
For
Speaker.
Cvo
Secretary of the Navy Moody in a speech de
livered at Madison, Wis., asserted that the tariff
r- a. on anthracite coal had been
Why Not "smuggled" into tho Dingley bill
Remove by some person or persons un
it? known. How does It happen,
then, that so many republican
leaders object to this tariff being taken out boldly
by the representatives of the people? How ccn
they Justify their defense of a measure which their
leaders admit was "smuggled" into a bill?
While our republican friends are rejoicing over
tho republican victories and claiming that it is an
Indorsement of "purity and hon
esty and patriotism," they must
not overlook what the Chicago
Record-Herald refers to as "the
llatterlng vindication of Senator
Quay by the discriminating electorate of Pennsyl
vania' And, having doubtless in mind the dis
creditable methods employed under republican au
thority in the Keystone State, the Record-Herald
exclaims: "Oh, Quayslyania! " "-
Don't
Forget
Mr. Quay.
Tho Louisville Courier-Journal says that "the
Sherman law Is inadequate or cannot be enforced."
But how does the Courier-Journal
or any one else know that
the Sherman law is inadequate
or that 4t cannot be enforced?
The chief feature of that law is
the criminal clause and the republican administra
tion has made no effort to test that very important
provision. Until a reasonable effort has been made
to enforce the chief feature of the law, no ono may
say that the law is inadequate.
How
Do They
Know?
A
Candid
Admission.
Speaking of Jim Younger, the St Louis Star,
republican paper, says: "Whatever may have
been tne short-comings of the
man his soul is now before the
Great Judge of the quick and the
dead and that he will be justly
ludced cannot bo doubted " It
was hardly necessary that this assurance be given;
and yet it is something of a concession for a paper
representing a party that claims the credit for
good crops, and 'for the sunshine and the shower,
to make the admission which the Star has offered
to the public.
Not
Entirely
Happy.
The New York Commercial Advertiser says
that tho republican national convention of 1904
will contain 984 delegates. A ma
jority of this would be 493. This
paper points out that the list of
states and of their votes in the
convention that have already In-
'dorsed-Mr. Roosement are as follows: Alabama
22, Colorado 10, Connecticut 14, Delaware 6, Iowa
26, Kansas 20, Massachusetts 82, Minnesota 22,
Missouri 36, Montana 6, New Hampshire 8, New
York 78, Pennsylvania 68, Texas 36, Washington
10; total 394. It will thus bo seen that Mr. Roose
velt would require but one hundred more votes in
order to insure his nomination; and yet consid
erable time will elapse between now and tho day
of the convention and "there is many a slip 'twlxt
the cup and the lip;" all of which accounts for the
Name
the Good
Trusts.
In ono of his speeches Secretary of War Root
said: "Tho republican party proposes to follow
mis course: to regulate ana
curb and suppress the bad trusts
rather than to destroy the good
and the bad together and with
them the Drosnerlty ' which
brings such beneflcont results to all our country."
And yet Secretary Root and every other republi
can leader has failed to designate the good trusts.
One of
th Unkind
Cut.
Tho New York World, a paper that has all
along been a partisan of Mr. Hill, charges that tho
democratic defeat in tho Empiro
State was duo to Mr. Hill's lean
ing toward socialism In tho pre
paration of the stato platform.
Tho World says: "Democrats
were repelled by Mr. Hill's too-obvious maneuv
ering in his own interest as a presidential candi
date and by his astounding blunder in adopting
and defending the unconstitutional, undemocratic
and revolutionary coal plank." This is ono of tho
unkind uts of tho season.
Mr.
Moody
Explains.
During the campaign Secretary Moody in his
public speeches declared that tho duty on anthra
cite coal was "smuggled" into
tho Dingley bill. Confronted with
tho proof that tho measure was
debated in tho senate, Secretary
Moody says that ho was aware
of tho senate proceedings, but ho adds that so lit
tle attention was paid to them that it may well bo
said that tho incorporation of the duty In tho bill
by tho senate was a case of "smuggling." Mr.
Moody would appear to bettor advantage on this
point had ho told his audiences tho whole truth.
What
Mr. Shaw
Overlooked.
In a speech delivered at Boston recently Sec
rotary Shaw said: "Existing laws against trusts
are being vigorously enforced.
This policy must bo continued
and tho laws themselves must bo
reinforced wherever needed."
But Mr. Shaw did not explain
why tho criminal clause of tho existing laws
against trusts was not enforced. No representative
of tho administration has yet undertaken to ex
plain why tho chief feature of tho federal anti
trust law has not been used in Mr. Roosevelt's
famous "campaign against the trusts."
One
Good
Precedent.
The Indianapolis Journal says: "Tho anthra
cite coal commission will establish soveral pre
cedents. To begin with, it is the
first commission of tho kind ever
appointed, it Is the first cora
- mission that has ever declined
the proffer of a free train to
travel In and it is tho first time a United States
judge has ever gone down a coal shaft wearing
overalls and a miner's cap." And the most grati
fying of all these precedents 1 that the commis
sion has "declined the proffer of a free train to
travel in." A jury should bo free from obligation
tafelther of the parties to the suit
of
Doublo
Barreled
Endorsement.
Secretary of War rioot says that tho result
the congressional elections was an indorse
ment of Present Roosevelt In
asmuch as many members of
congress who vigorously op
posed Mr. Roosevelt's policies
have been re-elected, in some in
stances by increased pluralities. It will be inter
esting If some republican leader would explain why
the result of these elections was not an Indorse
ment of the course of those republicans who vig
orously oposed the president's plans. Perhaps
we shall be told that the result was an indorse
ment of the policies put forth by the president and
an equally cordial indorsement of the action of re
publican congressmen in opposing those policies.
A writer in the Argonaut declares that while
Zola claimed to be a realist, ho wa3 not one. He
did not write that which he saw,
Zola when he saw It and as ho saw
and it This writer insists that Zola
Realism. obtained his information second-band
and that those who
may have obtained an erroneous idea of the French
write? from his publications may change their
opinion when they are told that "no lawless loves
ever disturbed the methodical heart which beat
beneath Zola's immaculate shirt-front" This be
ing true, it Is a pity that the world Is not in
formed of the fact while Zola lived; and it is all
the more to be regretted that the man who by his
A
Poor
Gardener.
brave course in the Dreyfus cto won many ad
mirers -permitted himself to prostitute his facil
pen as Zola's pen was prostituted to his own dis
credit and doubtless to tho disadvantage of many
readers.
VWS
In ono of his campaign speeches Secretary
of War. Root said: "Prosperity is the garden.
aus nowors are tne good trusts.
The weeds are the bad ones. And
the republican party Is tho wise
gardonor whoso prudont purpose
it is 'to regulate and curb and
suppress tho bad trusts, rather than to destroy
the good and the bad together' and ruin tho wnole
garden." Tho Now York World very portinontly
asks: "Which are tho bad trusts anyway, and
which aro tho.good trusts? It will bo very grati
fying If Mr. Root will just laboltho flowers and
the weeds and onable us all to walk In the garden
intelligently." Tho World might have added that
if tho republican party Is the wise gardener Mr.
Root would havo us believe, how docs it happen
that since tho republican party wont into power In
1897 more "weeds" have grown up in tho gardon
than existed In all tho provlous history of the
country?
vvys
Tho Mexican Horald, published In the City of
Moxico, romlnds tho people of the Uuited States
tnat tnoy nave boon tor some
timo engaged "In the worship of
materialism of mero money and
luxury." Quoting from an edi
torial printed In tho Boston Hor
ald and entitled "Tho Downward Road," tho Mexi
can Herald says: "This is a tromondous Indict
ment, and shows to what longths tho process of
sapping tho ancient foundations has gone. While
northorn journals regularly preach sermons to
Latin American countries, and good peoplo Book
to set Mexico right In so many ways, thoro would
seom to bo some things to bo reformed at homo.
Wo don't wish to appear hypercritical, but would
ask if a little more modosty in lecturing this
country would not bo wholly becoming?" The
Herald Is eminently correct A Httlo moro modesty
in lecturing tho Latin Amorlcan countries would
bo wholly becoming in tho llgnt of tho many evil
at home that aro crying for reformation.
A Hint
From m
Moxico.
What .
About
Connecticut?
.If tho Iowa and tho Idaho republican organi
zations aro to bo read out of the republican party
wnat win tho party leaders do
with tho Connecticut republicans
who, in stato convention assem
bled, adopted a platform in
which they declared: "If, In
any schedule, import duties aro found that have
been notoriously perverted from their true pur
pose to tho inordinate enrichment of corporations,
.monopolistic In fact or In tendency, wo look to a
republican congress to apply, In Its wisdom, the
needed corrective without impairing tho principle
of protection." Republican leaders have made It
very plain that noiuor tho Connecticut republicans,
or any other republicans, need look to a republican
congress for tariff revision. It cannot bo denied
that Import duties have been notoriously perverted
from tho pretended purpose of more protection to
Infant Industries to tho "Inordinate enrichment
of corporations, monopolistic in fact or tendency."
Will tho Connecticut rc.-jbllcans abandon their po
sition on this point or will tho Connecticut repub
licans be read out of the party?
&&&$
The Atlanta Journal says: "It Is a very seri
ous Indictment of the sex to charge that women
are mainly responsible for the
slaughter of birds of plumage in
this country, but there Is, we re
gret to say, ample proof to sus
tain it when a rashlon requires
such sacrifices for its gratification as this folly of
bird ornamentatloa does it is time for the law to
step in and enforce a reform which kindness and
good taste Bhould be able to accomplish." Would
It not bo fair to Include in the indictment the men
who actually slay tho birds and the other men
who place them on tho market and reap enormous
profits from the sales? And at the same time this
Indictment is being brought against tho sex, would
It not be well to remember that the most persistent
effort to make this particular fashion unpopular
has been carried on by women? It Is not at all
likely that a law on this subject will ever bo nec
essary, If, Indeed, It could, be enforced. It is safe
to say that the native tenderness of woman and
tho energy displayed by the mothers, wives and
sweethearts who have taken a stand against this
foolish fashion will sooner or later result In its
complete overthrow.
A
Serious
Indictment.