9
DECEMBER 29; 1900 - t
making a brilliant escape from a British fleet
off the coast ofNew Jersey. The next month,
August 19, 1812, she fought and wrecked the
Guorriere off Cape Race in a battle whose gen
eralship gave to Captain Hull the name of being
the most efficient single ship commander on
either side during the war. On the 29th of the
next December, under Captain Bainbridge, she
captured the Java off Brazil, and later in the
war captured successively the Picton, Cyane and
Levant. About 1830 the vessel was pronounced
unseaworthy, and was rebuilt in 1833. In 1855
she went out of commission at Portsmouth, and
for a time was used as a training ship. In 1877
she was partially rebuilt, and the next year made
a trip across the Atlantic, her last. Since 1897
she lias been stored at the Boston navy yard.
The Victory, Nelson's battleship, is thirty years
older than the Constitution, and is yet kept intact
by the Enlish people During the Trafalgar cen
tennial a 'few weeks agothis old vessel was the
center of interest."
T T WAS OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES who, in
X 1809 made "Old "Ironsides" famous in litera
ture. His poem entitled "Old Ironsides" is fa
miliar, doubtless, to every school boy, two stanzas
of which follow:
"Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on hign,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky.
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the god of storms,
The lightning and the gale!"
IN HIS ANNUAL REPORT James R. Garfield,
commissioner of corporations, shows that he
lias no apology to offer for his more or less fa
mous report as to the beef trust. Mr. Garfield
says that the criticisms of his report were not
well taken, and that the figures he presented
stand. He advAnces the opinion that "no fact
of industry is more obvious than that modern
business has outgrown and wholly disregards
state lines, and that the jurisdiction of single
states as applied to the operations of a great in
terstate business are futile and even harmful."
He says that it is impossible to prevent rebates
and discriminations by "purely penal legislation."
He admits that the enforcement of the anti-trust
law has been beneficial. He explains: "Its en
forcement has compelled some respect for the
law which, until recently, was wholly lacking."
He says that "the imposition of a penalty upon
a combination simply drives the men in that com
bination to the formation of another device for
accomplishing tlie' same purpose, and this for the
reason that combination is an industrial neces
sity and hence will be engaged in despite penal
legislation." Mr. Garfield seems to prefer that
the federal government shall be empowered to
grant charters to corporations. He says that in
vestigaions of other trusts are in progress and.
that a special report of the oil industry will
shortly be made."
GREAT DISSATISFACTION has been ex
pressed with the size of the salaries paid
to officials in the Panama canal service. That
criticism in this respect is not entirely without
basis will be generally admitted when some of
these canal salaries are compared with the
salaries drawn by men holding other and per
haps more important positions? In the first place,
iho sum of $10,000 a year is paid to a man by
the name of Bishop who is stationed in Wash
ington and is known as "the press agent." This
is $5,000 more than is paid to a United States
senator or a member of congress, and many have
questioned the propriety of creating such a po
sition as press agent in connection with a public
enterprise. The secretary of war, for instance,
who has general charge of the canal work- as
Aell as duties in other matters and of the great
est importance, receives $2,000 less per year than
this Panama canal press agent does. A repub
lican member of congress, speaking on this sub
ject to Walter Wellman, Washington correspon
dent to the Chicago Record-Herald, said: "Plere
comes the president with an admonition to con
gress to be frugal and economical, to scan ex
penditures, and on the heels of this warning there
is precipitated upon congress evidence that the
administration -has been dealing out salaries with
a lavish hand to its particular friends. Take
that salary of $10,000 to the press agent of the
commission and ' compare it with the salary of
58,000 which the secretary of war, who is at the
head of the whole canal project, is paid. There
The Commoner.
is a general auditor who draw $10,000, and
fo e lms ,,ited the accounts they have to
SS.n J?iC re!,Uu' auditor of the war department,
3S2,8 J? Wa1,600 Thero ls a Purchasing
JmSat .f1.0,000' l)robal)ly three times tlio
amount paid to men in the army and navy wiio
purchase as many supplies as he will be called
upon to buy. There is the caRe of the paymas
ter who went out in November, an officer in the
navy. His salary in the navy was $2,100, but
the canal commission pays him $0,000. His suc
cessor has been jumped to $9,000."
T T IS POINTED OUT by this same republican
1 congressman that: "Thero is the chief sani
tary officers, an officer in the army, whore ho
gets $4,950 as a surgeon, but his services to
the canal commission are rated at $10,000. The
chief quarantine ofllcer is a surgeon in the ma
rine hospital service at $3,250, but his worth to
the commission is supposed to be $7,000. Of
course they do not get that compensation in
addition to their service pay." While this re
publican member says that the republicans in
tend to stand by the canal commission, he takes
the trouble to say "we cannot be blamed for
feeling angry that the administration has given
opportunity for criticism." He says that the in
stances he has cited are only a few of the cases
showing the extraordinary salaries paid to ordin
ary men employed by the canal commission.
THE UNITED STATES government paid to
the French company with respect to the
Panama canal the sum of $40,000,000. The
Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican, In order
to enlighten its readers as to the purpose of this
payment, quotes from the debate in the house.
For instance, Mr. Hepburn, chairman of the com
mittee having the appropriations in charge, gave
this informal ion: "The work done, the buildings
erected and the materials assembled were sup
posed to be, in the aggregate, in the neighborhood
of $40,000,000 in value; but, as a matter of fact,
when we came to take possession of those houses
-3,000 or 4,000 of them in number it was found
that they were practically worthless. They were
wooden houses; they had been unused for ten
or twelve years. Buildings decay rapidly in that
climate and under that intense rainfall of 130
odd Inches a year. Many of tnem wove abnn
doned as worthless, and all of the remainder""
had to undergo extensive and expensive repairs.
The machinery that was purchased turned out
to be almost absolutely worthless. There were
old-fashioned, obsolete dredges and digging ma
chines, railroad locomotives of a pattern unde
sirable for use, and many of them having been
exposed to the weather without any care or pro
tection for a dozen years. When we attempted
to use them they were found to be practically
worthless. The same might be said of the cars
that were there in such great numbers thou
sands of them, perhaps, but small, inefficient and
weather-worn to the extent of uselcssness. Our
commission has been compelled to replace these
obsolete and worthless machines, to renew the
buildings, and provide generally the material
that must be used in the construction from the
stores of today."
THEN THERE WAS THE Panama railroad
for which our government paid a fat, round
sum. In order to throw lighten our bargain at
that point, the Republican quotes from the house
debate as foHows: Charles B. Landis Mr. Chair
man, I would like to ask the gentleman from Iowa
what valuation was originally placed upon the ma
chinery and equipment of the railroad when this
bargain was made with the French government,
if he can tell us? Mr. Hepburn Mr. Chairman, it
is a long time since I was familiar with those
estimates. I think the estimated value of the
stock of the railway was something in excess of
$7 000,000. Charles B. Landis-rl am speaking of
the equipment. Mr. Hepburn The other material
I cannot now from memory state. Charles B.
Landis As a matter of fact, was it not repre
sented that this machinery was valuable? Mr.
Hepburn Oh, yes. Charles B. Landis And that
the equipment was of such a character as would
enable us to utilize it in the construction of this
work? Mr. Hepburn-Well, utilize it to a con
siderable extent; yes. Charles B. Landis-But it
now turns out to be practically all valueless? Mr
Hepburn-I think that is the conclu. on .that
most people arrived at. M. i. Olm stea
I would like to ask one or two fuitbc ques
tions Can the chairman state what proportion of
die capital stock of the Panama Railway company
S now owned by the United States. Mr. Hep-burn-It
is all owned by the United State. Mr.
01msted--And then the items numbered 4, o and
0, aggregating $1,800,000, wo arc roally paying
to ourselves? Mr. Hepburn- Homa 5 and G. Tliijy
aro for improvements to our own property. That
road was found to bo In qulto a illlnpidntod con
dltion. The rails wero light and had boon lb.
lino for a long time. Tho locomotlvos and oar
were old and Insufficient In numuor. Tho track
Is hplng rolaid, and a largo amount of the ndo
esHary equipment Is being prooured. ,
ASSUMING THAT THE FACTS regarding tho
property that was bought by tho United
b.utos areas represented, tho Republican sayH
thero is but one conclusion, explaining; "Tho
United States was swindled when It paid millions
of dollars for machinery, houses, rails, locomo
tives which wore immediately proved to be ut
terly worthless. And the responsibility for tho
swindle rests upon that policy of hurry, which
was the chief Inspiration of those members of
the old canal commission who visited the Isthmus
to inspect tho plant of the canal and railroad
and of the government that agreed to t. price
that was finally paid. When tho president now
talks about building a canal "in the shortosr pos
sible time," as he did In tho autumn to "the ad
visory engineers, ho gives that same policy tho.
greatest amount of encouragement. It Ik a de
liberate judgment, springing not a whit from
"hostility to the canal," that such a policy can
not long be maintained without leaving in Its
train an ugly crop of scandal to plague futuro
administrations, disgust and embitter tho people,
and, in the end, delay the completion of the work
much more than a policy of conservative yet pro
gressive management would have done."
THE COMMISSIONER of Indian affairs has
announced that the rules and regulations
regarding the sale of Indian land have been modi
lied, requiring that all deeds of conveyance shall
hereafter contain a proviso forever prohibiting
tho sale of intoxicating liquors on premises con
veyed. Referring to this order the Denver News
says: "There is especial propriety in this regu
lation, since the great curse of the Indians In
their efforts for independent citizenship has been
alcohol, and this provision will decreaso the
amount of intoxicants sold In the Indian regions.
It is unfortunate that it was not Introduced be
fore the sale of tho 212,437 acres already trans
ferred. A proviso of this sort in title deeds has
proven, in Colorado Springs and elsewhere, effi
cient for the end desired, and it is well that the
government has adopted this principle for the
Indian lands it has to convey."
IN A REPORT of the football game between
Annapolis and West Point, which game was
witnessed by President Roosevelt, Langdon Smith
quotes the president as saying: "By George, it's
a great game!" Mr. Smith adds: "And so it
was. In that gruelling contest President Roose
velt had seen players writhing on the ground as
though in the agonies of death. H had seen
them lying prone and senseless, with eyes staring
skyward devoid of reason. He had seen sweaters
ripped from players' backs and the raw-rasped
skin exposed, soon to grow black with mud and
bruises. And never before has a president of
the United States seen a more brutal game. There
was no slugging and but few displays of temper.
It was the dull, insensate grind of a mass of
brawn and muscle, where arms were wrenchod,
necks twisted, breath knocked from bodies, heels
planted on necks and faces and at least eleven
players temporarily disabled. It was an eloquent
sermon, not on the game itself, but upon the way
it is played. It may well afford a text to Presi
dent Roosevelt, who likes the sport, to inter
fere 'in the interest of the game."
A FAINT IDEA of the insurance situation gen
erally is shown by a policyholder in a com
pany whose affairs have not so far been touched
upon by the insurance committee. This policy
holder, writing to an eastern newspaper points out
that according to the statement of the officials of
this company this concern has received since
its organization and up to December 21, 1903,
from policyholders $248,000,000, and from Inter
est on investments $28 000,000, making total re
ceipts $276,000,000: Disbursements during the
above-named period were as follows: Paid to
policyholders for death claims, etc., $79,000,000.
As?ets December 31, 1903. to provide for present
and future liabilities, $72,000,000. Total payments
and assets, $151,000,000. Difference not accounted
for $125,000,000." This policyholder suggests:
"Here Is $125,000,000 of policyholders' money 'di
gested' in twenty-seven years. Inquisito. Hughes
wi'll find lots of 'yellow-dog funds' when the of
ficials of this concern pass before him in review."
i
--MMfcflirfort)f"irr v-f -'-'"'''i
