The Commoner.
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.VOLUME NUMBER 50
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THE CHICAGO NATIONAL BANK, the Home
Savings bank and the Equitable Trust
company, three financial institutions controlled
by John R. Walsh, famous as a llnancier, and
well known particularly to democrats as the
owner of the Chicago Chronicle, went into liquida
tion Monday, December 19. The members of
the Chicago Clearing House came to the rescue
and guaranteed the payment of ail deposits, and
as fast as depositors called for tnoir money they
wero paid. It is claimed that the liquidation of
those institutions was made necessary because
of the extraordinary loans made to John R.
Walsh, who has been heavily interested in many
financial, railroad and other business ventures.
Mr. Ridgley, the comptroller of tne currency, and
the Illinois state banking department were bit
terly criticised for not long ago taking action
with respqet to these institutions. Because of
the action of the clearing house all deposits will
be paid in full, but it is believed that John R.
Walsh's career as a frenzied financier is prac
tically at an end.
SENATOR DOLLIVER of Ohio has introduced
in the senate a bill which is known as the
administration's railroad rate measure. Under
the terms of this bill the interstate commerce
commission is empowered to fix reasonable rates
when complaint has been madet the same to go
into effect within thirty dayd; The membership
of the interstate commerce commission Is in
creased to seven, each member to be paid a salary
of $10,000 per year. Referring to this bill Sen
ator Foraker says that it will hot stand the con
stitution test and must therefore meet defeat.
SENATOR TILLMAN recently charged that
Mr. Shonts, chairman of the Panama canal
commission still held his place as president of
the Clover Leaf railroad. It was alleged that
while Mr. Shonts draws from the government
$35,000 per year as chairman of the canal com
mission, he draws from the Clover Leaf Rail
road company $25,000 as its president. Washing
ton dispatches announce that an attempt would
be made to hold up the confirmation of Mr.
Shonts on the ground that he is holding dual
positions,, but that President Roosevelt and his
friends would exert all their inlltience to bring
about the confirmation in spite of the exposures'
made by .Senator Tillman.
'Cy - .
HENRY A. CASTLE, formerly auditor of the
postoffice department, has written for Har
pers Weekly an interesting article in which he
refers to the postoffice department deficit. Mr.
Castle says "In the United States last year the
enormous sum of $46,000,000 was paid the rail
roads for transportation of the mails, of which
sum $5,000,000 represented that inexcusable and
scandalous graft, the rent of mail cars, under
which item more is paid annually for the bare
use of the cars than the cars cost in the first
place." Commenting on this statement the De
troit Jou.nal says: "With this graft eliminated
the treasury statement this year would show, in
stead of a deficit of $28,000,000, a surplus of $12r
000,000 or $13,000,000 even admitting that ex
orbitant express rates were paid on mail matter."
CORRESPONDENCE between President Hoose
velt and Attorney General Moody recently
made public, relates to the Santa Fe rebate cases,
and Paul Morton's whitewashing. The president
evidently feels the weight of the criticism of his.
action with respect to Paul Morton, and he takes
pains to emphasize in his letter the theory that
Judge Phillips' opinion upholds the president and
the attorney general in the view they took. Com
menting upon this correspondence Judson Harmon,
who was one of the special counsel for the public
in the rebate case said: "The president and the
attorney general seem to bo congratulating each
other because the government lost its base against
the Santa Fo Railroad company. If they were
always so certain thero was nothing in the case,
I do not understand why they turned it over to
Mr. Judson and myself. The interstate commerce
commission found and reported that the company
had for years flagrantly broken the law against
rebates. We refused to believe that the corpora
tion had slipped out of nights and handed over
the rebates, while the officers in charge of its
traffic were abed. We proposed to proceed against
them accordingly. This course was disapproved,
and we thereupon resigned. The president then
proceeded himself to hold a 'bed ,of justice and
have a trial by letter. He announced what was
a cross between a judgment of not guilty and a
pardon, in which the attorney general concurred.
If, after that, anybody expected anything from
the further prosecution of the case that person
is now disappointed. I do not know whether Mr.
Judson and myself would have fared better or not,
but I do know that it is not a good way to win
a case to proclaim that one knows himself there
is nothing in it, and then put it in charge of an
advocate who is naturally supposed to hold the'
same view."
MANY REPUBLICAN leaders would like to
say some severe things concerning Mr.
iloosevelt, but former Governor Odell of New
York is the only one that had the courage to
break the ice and parenthetically it may be re- ;
marked that Mr. Odell completely shattered the !
ice. A contest is on in New York between E.
A. Merritt, Jr., and J. W. Wadsworth, Jr., for the
speakership of the New York State assembly.
Governor Higgins has declared for Wadsworth,
and while the governor says that President Roose
velt did not originate the Wadsworth boom, Mr.
Roosevelt has through an authorized spokesman
declared that Mr. Wadsworth is an ideal candidate
and that it would be the best possible thing for
the party and the state if he were elected. On
December 21 former Governor Odell issued a red
hot statement in which he charged Presi- .
dent Roosevelt and Governor Higgins with a '
deliberate attempt to wreck the republican party
in New York state for ' their own personal am
bitions. MR. ODELL says that soon after the election
Gov. Higgins agreed to support Merrit, Odell's
candidate for the speakership, and referring to
what he calls Governor Higgins' "trolley switch
ing" Mr. Odell says: "This is the worst case of
duplicity in politics 1 have ever known. Merritt
is absolutely right in saying that the governor
agreed to support him. He offered to the gov
ernor to stay out of the contest if the governor
wanted him to do so." Mr. Odell says that if
President .Roosevelt had the good . of the party
at heart he could have sent for him (Odell) any
time and the latter would have been glad to con
fer with him for the sake of obtaining harmony in
the party. He then bluntly says: "I charge Presi
dent Roosevelt and Governor Higgins with de
liberately trying to wreck the party in this state
for their own personal . ambitions. If this means
party disaster, they, and not I and my friends,
are responsible. They, and not I, are to blame.
MR. ODELL says some pretty severe things
concerning Mr. Roosevelt. He declares
that Mr. Roosevelt authorized liim to come out
for Governor Black for senator to succeed Chaun
cey M. Depew and that it was the use of the
presidents influence against Black subsequently
which led to defeat. Mr. Odell says: "I went to
'Washington to see the president and have a talk
with him about the New York political situation
which we had in the fall of 1904. The question
of the senatorship came up and the president said
it was a pity to have the state of New York rep
resented by two almost senile old men. 'New
York,' he said, 'ought to have some man to speak
for it on the floor of the senate who would com
mand attention and reflect credit on the state
He said that Governor Black was the kind of a
man who should represent the state. I asked him
if I was to infer .from his remarks that he would
like to see Governor Black elected to succeed Mr.
Depew. He said he would. 'Then you wish me
to be for Black?' I asked. 'I hope, you will,' he
replied. Ltold him that I would. I came back to
New York and saw Governor Higgins, and told
him what the president said and Higgins endorsed
jt all. We were making great headway when
Senator Piatt called a conference in the interest
of Depew. That conference was practically, dom
inated by the friends of the president and the,
governor. All declared for Depew as against
to
ow
Black. I was amazed. When I convinced mvspif
that the president and governor were not willing
to stand for the proposition which each of them
had asked me to carry out, I concluded tint t
would not stand for it alone."
THERE IS CONSIDERABLE opposition
joint statehood between Arizona and n
iUcAivv. iuc iwuua jjuuint; are sending out
protests in which they say that 99 per cent of the
people are opposed to this union. They say that
it would be impossible to adopt such a code of
laws as would meet the conditions in each ter-
. ritory yet would be just to the whole people of
: the proposed state. Replying to a claim made
by Senator Beveridge that the boundary line be
tween the two territories crosses a sandy plain
, easily traversed by railroads and wagon roads,
the Arizona people say: In reality, the settled
communities of Arizona are separated from those
in New Mexico by hogback mountain ranges,
many of which are 7,000 feet, above the sea level
and form probably the roughest mountainous dis
trict in the United States. From Yuma, Arizona,
to Santa Fe, New Mexico, the proposed capital
of the new state, is -791 miles by the nearest
route. It requires thirty-two hours to make the
trip, and the fare one way is nearly $40. There
is not a town in Arizona of any size that is nearer
to Santa Fe than 400 miles. The area of Arizona
and New Mexico is greater by 10,000 square miles
. than that of the New England states and Cal
ifornia combined. New Mexico has twice the vot
ing population of Arizona, and a majority of the
voters are of an entirely different race, a race
as different from ours as oil is different from
water. :
SENATOR BEVERIDGE. claimed that. Arizona
has no . sufficient " resources, developed or
undeveloped, and never will have a sufficient
population -to justify statehood within her pres
ent boundaries. Replying to this the Arizona
people say: The mountain ranges which sepa
rate Arizona from New Mexico are largely unex
plored, yet, besides the large production of
precious metals, Arizona ranks second in the
production of copper, and next year will probably
rank first. Such mineral wealth is Inexhaustible.
The pine forests of Arizona cover an area of
over 12,000 square miles, and' there are nearly
14,000,000 acres of grazing land, The federal
government has under construction and in con
templation reseWdirs for the storage of irriga
tion water which will supply 520,000 acres. The
Tonto reservoir within two years, will irrigate
200,000 acres in the Salt River Vaile.y alone. This
area is equal to all the irrigated land in south
ern California north as far as Santa Barbara,
which supports Los Angeles and many other large
cities. The people of Arizona do not ask for
statehood; but with these undeveloped resources
and with a progressive population, largely from
the northern and eastern states, the time will
come when the whole people of the United States
will demand the' admission of Arizona as a single
state within her present boundary lines, union
' with New Mexico now would be an outrage, wo
would lose, our identity and become subject to
the domination of people different in race, witn
different laws, industries and ideals.
RECENTLY THE PEOPLE at Boston met in
Faneuil Hall to protest against an oner
made by Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte wiiu
respect to the warship "Constitution," known in
literature as "Old Ironsides." Secretary Bona
parte ordered that this vessel be towed out to
sea and sunk. Referring to "Old Ironsides a
writer in the Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal sas.
The Constitution was 108 years old on the -ijj
of last October. She wasfirst put to sea in n"
in expectation of engaging in. the fighting u"
France which . seemed ; imminent at that im "
She was Admiral Preble's flagship during uw
wars with the Barbary pirates in the first yeais en
the nineteenth century, and helped three line
to bombard the city of Tripoli, Under capram
Isaac Hull and his immediate successors the ooi
titutlon, which by that time was popularly cjiik-u
"Old ironsides" because of the; .hardness o
' plankings and timbers, made the remnrknuio
record on which her fame rests. Her first gi wj
success In this war was the negative feat
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