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The Commoner,
4
VOLUME 3, NUMBER
iiiiMMiii in
The Commoner
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THE I COMMONER, LlaicoIiB, Ncfc .
Postmaster General Payne's laughter just now
has that hollow and insincere sort of sound.
Ten years ago republican papers said wages
were -"going4' democratic.'? -Are they now going
Hannapatic?
''"I can see no reason why I should resign;"
says Perry Heath. Have Mr. Roosevelt's chances,
then, grown so small?
, ; The Conrad-Bonaparte report seemij to have
pretty effectually cooled ,Postinaster General
Paynols "hot air" blast.
Florida wants a ship caDal, and it may be
that a little secession might have profitable in
fluence at Washington,
'.In the meantime Perry Heath clings to tho
Hanna( life preserver and makes ugly faces Jn
tho direction of tho White house'.
Emperor William's voice may he weak, but
his whispered remarks about Waterloo seem to
have echoed throughout - Great Britain.
Editor Charles Emory Smith is kept quite
busy these days explaining the official record of
ex-Postmaster General Charles Emory Smith.
The rumor that the Boers may' make another
effort may bo an indication, that the. Boers have
discovered an opportunity to sell a canal to us.
i J. Pierpont.Mougan is reported to have offered
$250,000,101' thOs original manuscript of Milton's
"Paradise- Lost."1 Money may buy the manuscript.
' " i . . .OS
Is'thfpe any moral difference "between setfing
a postoflice appointment for money and trading it
for active support in a campaign for reflection?
-i '.M! 1,
.The f 'Iowa idea," according tooOelonel "Lafe"
Young, is:.to stand in with the. gentleman: who pre
sides at the, spigot of tho g. o,p. campaign barrel.
It is quite a commoti? thing for an accused
person to demand a courti of Inquiry after all ef
forts to get free through political pull have failed.
..1
Tho wrongig; not so much towards Colombia
as it is towards our national tradition and our
national honor. This is the Important fact to
remembor
, .v
Mc. McKinley may have said that ho hoped
to he succeeded by Mark Hanna, but there is a
very general suspicion that lie did not make Perry
Heath, his confidant.
Louis F. Post, editor of the Chicago Public,
calls attention to the fact tnat the young man
who "carried a message to Garcia' received
thanks, while the young man who perpetrated
& forgery on Agliinaldo -was promoted to be a
brigadier general.
Abdul Hamid's physicians have informed. him
that ho can live only three years more, and those
who have ultimatums to throw at him should loso
. no time.
"Colombia is tho victim of her own folly,"
says the Sioux City Journal. Perhaps, but can
.the Journal make any defense of a strong man
who takes advantage, of a weak fool?
At this particular time of the year a large
number of good resolutions look very much I'ke
this republic's reputation for disinterested, friend
ship for South American republics.
Tho managers of Monte Carlo cleared $7,000 -000
fast year, which is almost as much as Mr.
Rockefeller can make in a week by hoisting the
price of kerosene a half-cent a gallon.
In other words, while denying that he plated
the -shipbuilding gold brick, ' Mr. Schwab coyly
admits that he did assist in palming it off on
industrial "Reubens" at a fancy price.
When a public official is caught in question
able practices he, always declares that ho wants a
speedy trial on the real issues, and then generally
asks for time and tries to get away on technicalities.
The real test of that Panama republic will
come when an attempt is made to divide the
bunch of swag the administration at Washington
held up as the capital prize for successful secession.
It will be noticed by every shrewd observer
that the g. o. p. managers never think of de
nouncing "graft" and "grafters" until exposure
threatens to have a depressing effect upon g. o.
p. chances.
. The special Panama message would seem, to
indicate that the president's chief reliance in
proving his case is to have a' vast preponderance
of testimony without much regard to the kind of
testimony it may be.
t r
The exploiters want it distinctly understood
that tho "stay put", policy applies only to the
flag when connected with a chance for spoils, and
not to wages. They reserve the right to haul
down the wages whenever they see fit. , ''
The administration declares that If there is
war with Colombia it will be because Colombia
strikes the first blow. By nagging and insult, by
contempt and intrigue, the adminiotraHon hopes
to goad Colombia int,p striking tin blow.
While shyly accepting the enconiums show
ered upon their patriotism, those Panama revolu
tionists who rose "as one man" are not neglecting
to keep a, sharp lookout for the arrival of that
little qqrisignment of ten million American dol
larsvr h The tin plate trust has all the protection it
asked for, but the tin plate trust's employes have
been compelled to accept a 50 per cent reduction in
wages. "Protection to American workingmen" Jls
a great g. o. p. campaign cry but the trusts that
furiiish the campaign funds get all the wool.
Financiers dread the results that may follow"
the withdrawal of $50,000,000 to pay for the Pa-'
nama deal. This naturally leads to tho inquiry:
Ik our financial system as stable as some finan
ciers would have us believe if tho withdrawal
of $50,000,000 is calculated to cause a money
stringency?
If Mr. Roosevelt is so "sot" against a man like
Heath being secretary of .the republican national
committee, why did he want Mr. Hanna to con
tinue as chairman? It is not recorded that Heath
ever bought a seat in he senate or spent a year
away from home dodging service of a committee
that had reported against him.
Those whose views concerning future punish
ment coincide with those of the late Colonel In
gersoll are earnestly asked to explain what fato
should be meted out to those Philadelphia deal
ers who burned 4,000 Christmas trees in order to
bull the price of the remaining stock. Before un
dertaking the explanation they should ask them
selves if there were no poor families in Phila
delphia to whom, thoso trees could have been
given without affecting the price of tne remainder.
.wit
The Bcjxth
of
Mrs. Hoar.
Regardless of nartv or nraori a .,
extend their heartfelt sympathy to the venerSJ
- .. VK utjtause of In.
death of his wife. The Christ
mas festivities of 1903 contained
no cleer for the Massachusetts
statesman, for thQ .,U8
of nearly fifty years was taken from him. MrB
'Hoar was not prominent in society circles chipflv
bocauso she preferred devoting her energies ad
. her- talents in other directions. But she had 2
circle of friends who were devoted to her be,
cause of her womanly worth.
Temperance
Lesson in
Figures.
Medical statistics often furnish better tern,
perance lessons than those given 'by orators
inese statistics show that 70
per cent of pneumonia cases, a
disease unusually prevalent 'in
many sections of the country
, UL tuls Tne, are fatal where
the .sufferer is addicted to the use, of alcoholic
beverages. On the other hand, oniv 23 per (ent
of cases are fatal wherein .the sufferer' is not ad
dicted to the use of liquor; These statistics are
all the more emphatic when it is taken into con
sideration that the non-users include very young
children who are treated with great difficulty.
The Sioux City Tribune strikes nl clear note
when it says that the trouble with the postoflice
ThftPrt . , department is that "it is used
ineroati too much to reward politicians
Department's who act as if they .think they
Trouble. haye already earned 'their salar
- .. a ., ies in the party service." The
Tribune further says that "they wouldn't bother
their heads with practical and economical busi
ness plans, and probably couldn't if they would,"
There is entirely too much truth in the Tribune's
statement concerning the trouble with pur postal
department. It contains entirely top. much po
litical chicane and too little business method.
The editor of McClure's Magazine seems to
have grounds for a damage suit against the
-wl j. , American Syren and Shipping.
The Portrait Syrenr and Shipping declares
of the that the now famous portrait
Oil Monarch. of Rockefeller, printed in a re
cent issue of McClure's, is real
ly the portrait of "Ormulu," a miserly character
in a story published in Harper's Weekly more
than forty years ago, and drawn by "Porte Cra
yon." But perhaps Syren and Shipping "speaks
sarkastikle," as Artemus Waid would say. At any
rate, the rest of that interesting publication's re
marks anent Mr. Rockefeller have a deliciously
sarcastic flavor.
A Three
Part
Combination.
The superstitiously inclined are pointing Mr.
Roosevelt to the fact that tho next national con
vention of the republican party
will be its thirteenth. They add
to this to them sinister fact
the other fact that no vice prcs
ident who succeeded through.
the death of his chief has ever been nominated
and elected president to succeed himself. These
superstitious people feel that this makes a com
bination that is sure to result disastrously to the
house of Roosevelt. If they add to this combina
tion the other and well attested fact that tne
people are growing rather weary of words not
backed up by deeds, they will have a resultant
combination which will indeed be hard: to beat.
Tho last month of 1903 was heavily fraught
with death through accidents. The deaths In
railroad wrecks were unusually
Somebody numerous, and one of these
is wrecks was fatal enough to be
Responsible, classed with the famous disas
ter at Ashtabula, and the equal
ly famous disaster at ChatBWorth. The Ashta
bula horror is especially well remembered be
cause of the fact that in it the singing evangelist,
P; P. Bliss, lost his life., Th6 attempt of railroad
officials to make it appear that tho Baltimore as
Ohio wreck, in which seventy people were killed,
was due to causes that could not be foreseen and
avoided does not appear to hold good. The stakes
on a car of lumber were weak and gave way,
spilling the lumber out upon the other track.
Into, this pile of lumber the ill-fated passenger
train dashed. Somebody was responsible for al
lowing weak stakes to be used on that lumber
car. Certainly this is 'something that could have
w. iwioou U14U UVU1UOU LUU UOU WJ. iTtsawi
insufficient stakes on a flat car piled high with.
I
mmoer.
IV
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