it "nr
6
The Commoner.
VOLUME 3, NUMBER 20.
n-w.
V U I vl v t 1 1'- yUrlvj-o JM
p ""
AN EXTRAORDINARY FEAT WAS ACCOM
plisbed In the way of a college prank by
tho Btudonta of the Missouri university at Colum
bia on tho night of May 2. The Columbia corre
spondent of tho Chicago Record-Herald says:
"Undor cover of darkness, the students carried a
galvanized iron olophant, weighing perhaps over
a thousand pounds, to tho dome above tho build
ing, and after forcing tho iron doors, dragged
their burden upward to .the highest point of the
pinnaclo, 200 feet abovo ground. Thd next morn
ing the elephant could be seen for a distance of
live miles, and farmers came to town to inquire
about it. In removing the elephant, a gang of
workmen destroyed a section of tho slato roof,
and ten students must pay tho damages or bo
expelled."
rHE SITE OF THE GUILLOTINE IN PARIS
was sold May 2. 11.o story is told in a
Paris cablogram to tho Chicago Tribune: A piece
of land with a history was sold on Tuesday. It
was tho Place do la Roquetto, where the guillotine
has stood since 1851. During that time 209 heads
havo fallen under tho knife, among them many
notorious criminals. The ground is divided into
two lots. Ono sold for $10,250 and tho other for
$8,000. Doubtless within a short period Parisians
will be dancing, dining, and otherwise enjoying
themselves whore so many answered for their
crimes.
AN INTERESTING FIGH'x"' AMONG THE RE
publlcans of Ohio on tho question, "Shall
the coming state convention indorse Mr. Rooso
yelt as the republican nominee for 1904?" has been
averted by a personal appeal from Mr. Roosevelt
to Senator Hanna. Several weeks ago Senator
ForaUor announced that ho would insist upon tho
adoption of a resolution to that effect. Although
Senator Hanna long ago declared himself to be
In favor of Mr. Roosevelt's nomination, Mr. Han
na recently announced that he would object to
Mr. Foraker's proposed resolution. In one of his
interviews Mr. Hanna intimated that Mr. Roose
volt did not desire tho adoption of such a resolu
tion by tho Ohio convention for this year. Mr.
Hanna probably imagined that Mr. Roosevelt
would permit tho chairman of ho republican' na
tional committee to do all tho talking, but in this
ho was sadly mistaken. Tho Associated press dis
patches printed in the Sunday newspapers made
public Mr. Hanna's formal declaration against the
indorsement resolution. The Associated preaa
dispatches in Tuesday's newspapers carried a
statement issued by the secretary of tho president
In this statement Mr. Roosevelt was represented
as saying: "Those who favcr my administra
tion and my nomination will indorse them and
those who do not will oppose them." In tho same
statement it was announced that the president
was "deeply touched by tho action of Presideut
McKinley's home county in which Canton is sit
uated in instructing so heartily in his favor.
Nothing could have pleased him more."
EVIDENTLY MR. ROOSEVELT DID NOT IN
tend that Mr. Hanna should labor under
any false impression and it was announced in the
newspaper dispatches made public on Wednesday
that Mr. Hanna had consented to withdraw his
objection to the resolution of indorsement be
cause the president had mado a personal appeal
to him. Mr. Hanna and others who objected to
the adoption of a resolution of indorsement say
that it would be proper for tho state convention
to indorse tho Roosevelt administration generally.
They do not, however, think it tho part of wisdom
for the state convention of 1903 to indorse Mr.
Roosevelt as the republican nominee for 1904.
WHILE IT HAS BEEN GENERALLY
agreed that Mr. Roosevelt was strong among
tho republicans of Nebraska, there are some
Blgns of an anti-Roosevelt sentiment in that
atate. Mr. Roosevelt's Nebraska friends insisted
upon an early stato convention for 1903; hi9
enemies sought for a late corvontion. The state
committee met and the early convention plan was
defeated. This, however, is not entirely due to
tho anti-Roosevelt- sentiment because a great
uiiiny iiuiiuumnB oojecteu to an early convention
on the ground that it would make the atate cam
paign unnecessarily long. It is known, however,
that Mr. Roosevelt's enemies woro anxious to
postpone the holding of tho convention in the
hope that at a later day a resolution indorsing
Mr. Roosevelt as the candidate for 1904 might bo
defeated. A number of republican papers whose
editors are friendly to Mr. Roosevelt charge that
the Harriman-Hill influences in Nebraska aro op
posed to Mr. Roosevelt These influences repre
sent tho railroad corporations. If it be true that
these Influences are really opposed to Mr. Roose
velt, those who have observed tho success with,
which tho railroad corporations have manipulated
republican conventions and the republican legisla
ture as well as the republican state officials in
Nebraska will believe that the railroad lobby will
be strong enough to defeat a Roosevelt resolution.
It is not, however, all safe to depend upon the
claims that a republican candidate is being an
tagonized by corporation agents. "The proof of
the pudding is in the eating," and if tho Nebras
ka republican convention for 1903 shall adopt a
Roosevelt resolution, it may be depended upon
that tho result will not be entirely disagreeable to
the representatives of the railroad corporations.
Influences that are strong enough to choose re
publican candidates for state offices and that are
sufficiently powerful to dominate a republican
legislature can hardly be expected to fail in a
determined effort to prevent the adoption by a
republican convention of a resolution favorable
to the 1904 candidacy of Mr. Roosevelt
SOME HAVE CLAIMED THAT THE OPPOSI
tlon to Mr. Roosevelt in the republican
party is duo to his position on the trust question
and Mr. Hanna's declaration that he would ob
ject to a resolution of indorsement by the Ohio
state convention is interpreted by many as a
confirmation of this claim. Interesting comment
"on this point is made by the Brooklyn Citizen.
The Citizen says that it is not at all surprising
that Mr. Hanna, being a candidate for re-election
to the senate and being also chairman of the re
publican national committee, should object to an
Indorsement of Mr. Roosevelt by a convention
controlled by Mr. Hanna. The Citi sn agrees with
Mr. Hanna that such an indorsement would be to
any other person aspiring to be the candidate as
"a notification that the national party machinery
has already made its choice and In this way bad
blood will be engendered and dissensions created."
POINTING OUT THAT MR. ROOSEVELT IS
as completely subservient to the tariff ben
eficiaries and tho republican p rty managers, as it
is possible for any man holding high high oflico
to be, the Brooklyn Citizen says that these peo
ple havo no reason to be alarmed because Mr.
Roosevelt indulges in rhetorical references to bad
trusts and wicked politicians. It insists that
there is nothing In Mr. 'Roosevelt's economic pol
icy which gives the American people the slightest
cause for hope that in the event of his election
they will obtain relief; and concludes: "We take
no stock in the newspaper re;orts that President
Roosevelt's renominatlon is opposed by the mon
eyed interests that control the party machinery.
While the president has not openly defied pop
ular sentiment on the subject of tho trusts, as
the more extreme wing of the plutocracy desire,
ho has shown himself a sufficiently docile instru
ment in tho hands of the trusts to be accounted
a 'safe candidate. On the other hand, the ficti
tious reputation the president enjoys among tho
less thoughtful elements In the nation as a man
of the people, a reputation won by words .and
not deeds, makes him all the more useful as a
candidate to his trust exploiters."
K to
MANY SHREWD POLITICIANS THINK THAT
Mr, Hanna made a tactical blunder in ob
jecting to the adoption by the Ohio state repub
lican convention of a resolution indorsing Mr.
Roosevelt for tho nomination of 1904. Walte
Wellraan, tho Washington correspondent for the
Chicago Record-Herald, says that in tho Capital
City it is the prevailing opinion In republican cir
cles that Mr. Hanna has made a big mess of it
Mr. Wollman adds: "Men who aro friendly to
, him marvel that he should permit himself to be
oaught in such a predicament. Senator Foraker
who is here, says nothing would have been heard
of the resolution of Indorsement if men closl to
Hanna and supposed to represent his views had
not begun talking publicly about It Mr, Foraker
says this operated as a sort of challenge to tho
friends of the president, and that they then de
cided to take a hand in the business. In this ex
planation Mr. Poraker Is. not altogether frank.
It is declared by people who pretend to know
the facts that Senator Foraker some time ago de
cided to present resolutions indorsing the presi
dent to the Ohio republican convention and that
he intended to spring them as a surprise and rusa
them through, catching the other crowd off their
guard. The Hanna people heard of it and de
termined that such resolutions should not pass.
Then the row began."
a? &
A MEMBER OF THE CABINET WHO IS VERY
friendly to Mr. Hanna is quoted by Mr.
Wellman as saying that the Ohio senator ha3
r made a great mistake. Concerning the opinion of
this cabinet officer, Mr. Wellman says: "Senator
Hanna, by using all his strength, may be able to
prevent a declaration in favor of the president's
nomination. But of what value is it to him to
tfo so, except tho satisfaction of having his own
way? By Mr. Hanna's own statement he is not
and will- not be a candidate. No one doubts that
he is perfectly sincere In this. Again, there is
not one chance in a hundred that any opposition
to the president will appear in the national con
vention next year. Therefore Mr. Hanna seems
to be playing a losing game, with no chance to
win. Even if he should be able to prevent tha
adoption of resolutions of indorsement, the effort
would leave bad feelings and hurt Mr. Hanna in
his coming battle for re-election to the senate. In
other words, added the cabinet officer, Mr. Hanna
is permitting himself to be forced into an uglv
fight over a very trifling and unimportant matter
a contest which can bring him nothing but an
noyance." AN INTERESTING DISPATCH FROM TA
coma, Wash., was printed in the New York
World Monday, May 25. In this dispatch it was
said: "There was a stormy scene on President
Roosevelt's private car just after the party left
Portland on Friday, it is reported here. The day
before a Seattle paper printed a 'scare-head ar
ticle' declaring that Seattle was temporarily the
seat of the national government because the pres
ident's mail was arriving at the local office. It
then went on to show how two letters from Mrs.
Roosevelt were addressed and commented on her
handwriting, intimating that she was careless, In
asmuch as the final 'e' in her husband's first name
was all but omitted. Speculation was also in
dulged in as to what articles had been marked
for the president's eye in a daily paper sent bv
Mrs. Roosevelt to her husband. The address on
other letters was also given. This article was
shown to the president, and he promptly callel
Secretary Loeb to him and denounced the officer
of the Seattle postofflce who had dared to per
mit his private correspondence to be made a
matter of public comment, and said he would ac
once order the postmaster general to make a
rigid examination in order to ascertain what offi
cer was responsible for the gross breach of trust
It is reported that the president was very mucn
excited over the matter, especially ,in regard Lo
the criticism of his wife's chirograpny. There is
a fight now on hand over the reappointment of
the present postmaster, and this incident is not
likely to help his cause."
THE POSTOFFICE DEPARTMENT IS ABOUT
to make an issue of stamps in commemora
tion of the Louisiana purchase. The Washington
correspondent of the St Louis Republic says that
he has authority for the statement that the post
office department officials are seriously consider
ing the advisability of giving to Napoleon Bona
parte tho unparalleled distinction of representa
tion upon the United States postage stamp. It is
said that among the ideas advanced is that of
placing upon the four stamps portraits of tho
leading factors in the negotiations in 1803 and
ne Jeading men of the two negotiating countries
i J? lt ls therefore proposed that Jefferson
and Napoleon shall represent 1803 while President
Loubet is chosen for one of the representatives of
the later period, and the department pfficials are
not decided as to whether Mr. McKinley's portrait
or that of Mr. Roosevelt shall be chosen as the
American, representative. It Is pointed' out that
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