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The Commoner.
16
iVOLUMB 5, NUMBER 25
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Mr. Roosevelt's Santa Fe Farce
In forbidding the prosecution of the
officials of the Santa Fo railroad for
contempt of court in the matter of re
bates, and directing that all proceed
ings shall be had against the corpora
tion alone, President Roosevelt makes
a precedent which, If followed, must
practically nullify the interstate com
merce law. Boston Post.
The whole matter is rather remark-
nhio. It will cause the country to
wonder whether there Is any serious
intention on the part of the adminis
tration to sustain the interstate com
merce commission in its effort to en
force the law as it stands. Indianapo
lis Sentinel.
The same plea of the innocence of
Ignorance which was put forward by
Alexander and his ilk in the Equitable
is adopted by Mr. Morton when he
says that he had no knowledge of the
two years' violations of law by the
railroad company of which he was a
leadine executive officer. St. Louis
Post-Dispatch.
It is not often that the man who
confesses, under stress of question
ing to wrong-doing, when the alterna
tive would be perjury, is hailed as
an exemplary reformer. Boston
Herald.
In spite of the authority by which
the letter is declared to bo genuine,
one would prefer to believe that it is
not genuine, or that it has been
changed in some way. If it is genuine
then all this oratory about rate legis
lation and other talk indicative of a
determination to hold railroad corpor
ations and the trusts to the law is
merely tall talk with nothing to it.
Galveston News.
The guilt of a corporation carries
with it the guilt of the men who are
responsible for conducting it, and
President Roosevelt is simply wast
ing his breath when ho tries to con
vince the people of the country at
large that the Santa Fe company vio
lated the law but that its officers
should not be held to account for its
doing so. Charleston News and
Courier.
terstate commerce law.
From now on railroad managers
who have shivered when the president
thundered about keeping open the
highways of commerce know whit to
expect. "Guilt is always personal,"
reasoned Mr. Harmon in his solemn,
old-fashioned way. "So long as offi
cials can hide behind their corpora
tions no remedy can be effective.
When the government searches out
the guilty men and makes a corporate
wrong-doing mean personal punish
ment and dishonor the laws will be
obeyed."
Let them hide, says Mr. Roosevelt
in effect. Better that ninety-nine
guilty men should escape than that
Paul Morton should be punished.
Some day when I can no longer re
strain my indignation I'll have a cor
poration fined a few dollars if this
iniquitous practice does not cease.
New York "World.
No official document ever admitted
to the records of the United States
government, we believe, has in it a
more hopeless jumble of sophistry and
inconsistency than can be found in the
argument attempting to support the
indefensible position of the adminis
tration in the Santa Fe rebate cases.
The carefully prepared correspond
ence, however shrewedly and artfully
designed to obscure the great and
glaring issues of law and morals in
volved, would fail to hide those ques
tions. But the work is coarsely done,
and the most charitable view of its
logic is that it is sadly unconvincing.
New York Press (Rep.)
velt has done in these two cases. To
say that he has blundered is to treat
him with a consideration to which, he
is hardly entitled. He has erred de
liberately in these cases, setting liis
personal friendships above law and
above "the good of the service."
Better lawyers than Mr. Roosevelt
find ample grounds for action against
Mr. Morton and other Santa Fe offi
cials. Their motives are known to
be disinterested and above suspicion.
But Mr. Roosevelt, with executive,
not with judiciary powers, declares
his friend Mr. Morton innocent and
prevents the courts from hearing his
case. The coddling of Loomis was an
unfortunate mistake, but the protec
tion of Paul Morton takes on soma
of the aspects of a national scandal
In every railroad headquarters in
the country there will be rejoicing To
save Paul Morton from the necessity
of defending himself Mr. Roosevelt
has practically issued a general am.
nesty to all railroad lawbreakers
Personal guilt is abolished. Only cori
porations can sin, and for them the
penalty is a trifling fine. In order
that Paul Morton may go scot-free
Mr. Roosevelt makes a dead letter ot
the statute.
President Roosevelt has deliberately
and with set purpose committed one
of the gravest blunders of his ad
ministration. New York World.
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It must be vastly comforting to Mr.
Paul Morton to know how absolutely
spotless President Roosevelt holds his
conduct as a former Santa Fe official.
It is enough to shake Mr. Morton's
faith in his own numerous confessions
of violating the interstate commerce
law.
President Roosevelt insists that it is
"deeply discreditable" to repeat Mr.
Morton's own admissions of such vio
lation. He would not believe them
on Mr. Morton's word. The interstate
commerce commission and the presi
dent's special attorneys, Messrs. Jud
son Harmon and Frederick N. Judson,
could not gather enough evidence to
convince him. N
After all these months the Santa
Fe investigation ends in a farce. No
body is to be harmed Paul Morton
least of all, because along with his
absolution he gets a certificate of good
character from Mr. Roosevelt.
Messrs. Harmon ana Judson were
foolish enough to think that all Mr.
Roosevelt's haranguing and gesticul
ating were meant in earnest. They
only waited the signal to take the
Santa Fo officials into court and prose
cute them on the evidence they had
collected. But Attorney General
Moody knew how soft-hearted the
president is toward his personal
friends. "No; the corporation," re
monstrated Mr. Moody, "but not my
colleague raui Morton." And Presi
dent Roosevelt backs him up. it is
the Santa Fo that is to be prosecuted,
not the individual violators of the in-
The more the course of Mr. Roose
velt and Attorney General Moody in
the rebate cases is scrutinized the
more inglorious appears their utter
abandonment of plain duty and the
more palpable their nullification of
the federal statutes. And it is equally
apparent that their sole motive was
to shield one of the president's per
sonal friends. The law itself and the
machinery of justice recognizes no
favorites. The law designates and
prohibits what is deemed to be wrong
arid provides specific punishment for
all who violate it. Immunity is grant
ed to none because of his wealth or
influence. The president would have
been deserving of less censure had
he come out plainly and said: "Mor
ton is guilty, but he is my friend and
he shall not be prosecuted." It would
have at least had tho merit of candor.
'His attempt to justify his plain neg
lect of duty is so weak as to almost
excite a feeling of contempt. Houston
(.Texas) Post.
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Book
Mr. Roosevelt's Morton letter has
been a bitter pill for his admirers to
swallow. In no quarter is there a
disposition to defend the president's
conduct. A few republican newspa
pers are apologizing for him. Some
are trying to explain, others, like the
Tribune, ignore the incident. The
majority make little effort to conceal
their astonishment find rHHnnnnlnr.
ment that Mr. Roosevelt should so
misuse his powers.
The Loomis Incident also is ornnlne-
in for its share of plain-spoken criti
cism. The dismissal of Bowen was
generally approved. The "vindica
tion" of Loomis was regarded as some
what dubious. But the promotion of
Loomis on the heels of this scandal
is the subject of generous and hearty
denunciation, as it should be. To
make this man a special ambassador
and empower him to make "reforms"
in tho diplomatic service is carrying
u. uuu jokq Deyona me average man's
senso of humor. -
Arbitrary personal government
could hardly express more contempt
for popular opinion than Mr. Rooso-
By William J. Bryan, Entitled
Under Other Flags
Travels, Speeches, Lectures.
g ince Mr. Bryan's European tour n year ago ho has boon boslcgod by- requests for copies of lot
- tors describing his travels abroad. Thoso letters togotborvrlth a numborof his lectures and
other public addresses, havo boon gathered togothor and published In book form. Tho Kuro
peon letters contain Mr. Bryan's account of what ho saw and learnod whllo In Europo, and
present Interesting views of Ireland, England, Scotland, Franco, Switzerland, Germany, Hussln,
Holland, Belgium, and the Netherlands, togothor with a description of his visits with Count
Tolstoy and Popo Leo. In this volumo Mr. Bryan writes entertainingly of tho "Birth of tlio
Cuban Republic." Ho also included bis lectures on "A Conquering Nation," and "Tho Valuo
of an Ideal."
Other articles In tho volumo are "Tho Attraction of Fanning," writton for tho Saturday
Evening Post; "Pcaco," tho address dollvorcd at tho Holland Society dinner In 1901; "NabotU's
Vineyard," tho address at tho gtuvo of Phllo Sherman Bonnett; Democracy's Appoulto
Cnlturo, address before tho Alumni 'Association of Syracuso Unlvorslty; and an account of his
recent trip to tho Grand Canyon entitled "Wondors of tho West." Tho book is illustratod, woll
printed on good paper and substantially bound.
One of tho features of "Under Othor Flags" Is tho "Notos on Europo," writton after his ro
turn from abroad, and giving In brief form a rcBumo of tho many Interesting things ho saw.
I " ' ' ' II I I I 1 I ! II II I .
The, sate of TJnd&r Cithnr Vlncix ir.c honn tia-u nt-nlfvina to the
I author. Although the first edition appeared in December the tilth
edition ts now ready tor deliOcry. The Ootume of sales increases
from day to day. Agents find the book an easy seller and order
them in lots of from 25 to 100,
Neatly Bound in Cloth 400 Page Octavo
Under Other Flags, Postage Prepaid . . $125
With The Commoner One Year . .... 31-75
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