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WAY 18, im'
The Commoner.
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Ben Daniels at "The Door of Hope"
Mr. Boosevelt recently nominated to be Uni
ted States marshal for Arizona Ben Daniels,
Hough Rider." Soon after this nomination was
made public it was alleged and admitted that
Ben Daniels had served a term in the peniten
tiary on the charge of having stolen a mule from
a government agency. Mr. Roosevelt wrote a
letter to Senator Clark of Wyoming in support
of Daniels' nomination. In that letter the presi
dent dwelt at length upon this man's career,
saying "he was born and brought up m the west
when it was a very wild west indeed;" also "ho
finally got in with a set of men of bad character
and took part in the robbery under arms of a band
of horses or mules from a government agency.
The older criminals escaped, the younger man
was captured, tried and convicted and served a
term in the penitentiary."
Mr. Roosevelt urged Daniels' confirmation
particularly in view of his good record .since
emerging from jail. The president declared: "A
more gallant, more loyal and more trustworthy
eodier never wore the United States uniform."
Referring to Daniels' record during the Spanish
American war the president said:
" "He was devoted to his comrades in sick
ness as he was indifferent to his own life in
battle. He nursed his comrades when down
with the fever with assiduous care, at the
very time that he himself was so sick with
the fever that he came right to death's door.
In battle I repeatedly intrusted him with the
performance of hazardous duty. For example,
I intrusted him with the leadership of the
sharpshooters, who were to lie all day in the
jungle between the Spanish lines and ours
so as to keep down their fire on our trenches.
He was always at the front in any emergency,
and his coolness was absolutely unshaken,
either by day or by night, and when the fight
ing was over and the. fatigue had been so
great as to exhaust all but the very strongest,
I would emplpy him, although a sick man, m
conducting- on foot the carts, containing the
fever-struck men, whom we had to send to the
fever hospitals in the rear, being certain that
he would care in every, way for those in his
charge."
The senate confirmed Daniels' nomination..
While: it Is true that in the appointment of
Ben Daniels President Roosevelt took upon him
self a great responsibility, who will say that
"the door of hope" should have been closed upon
Daniels because of his old sin? Of course "the
door of hope" does not necessarily swing on po
litical hinges. As a general proposition it may
be safer for the public welfare that one who has
sinned as Ben Daniels sinned be permitted to
work out his salvation "In the cool, sequester'd
vale of life." But it may be that the picture
drawn by Mr. Roosevelt showing Ben Daniels at
times bending over his sick and wounded com
rades and ministering to their necessities, and at
other times fighting faithfully in the front ranks
in defense of the flag, is a better description of
the real Daniels than His jrprovided in the act
for the commission of which he servedfterm in
prison. ,
Most men who will tell the truth will admit
that they have been guilty of things which they
would very quickly insist do not provide a fair
basis for judgment. In the language of the deaf
juror in "The Resurrection" by Tolstoy: "There
are none of us saints." If we were held account
able for every misstep it would be necessary for
most of us to spend a lifetime upon our knees.
A British general, addressing John Wesley,
said: "I never forgive."- Promptly Wesley re
plied: "Then I hope, sir, you never sin." As a
rule the man who is without mercy in his treat
ment of others most needs mercy for himself.
"Mercy among the virtues is like the moon among
the stars not so sparkling and vivid as many, but
dispensing a calm radiance that hallows the
whole. It is the bow that rests upon the bosom
of the cloud when, the storm is past. It is the
light that hovers above the judgment seat,"
The chances are that Ben Daniels will make
a creditable record in the office of United States
marshal. No one questions his bravery. No one
doubts his tenderness for those who suffer or his
willingness to make sacrifices for them. Courage
and tenderness are not found among men whose
cases are hopeless. As most other men having
with them a preponderance of good have recov
ered ground which, in many cases all unknown
to the world, they have lost, so men who like.'
Ben Daniels have fallen in full sight of the
world may yet have the opportunity of redeeming
themselves in the critical eyes of society, even
as they have always had the opportunity of re
deeming themselves in their own consciousness.
There is a lesson for the old as well as for
the young in that little verse familiar in the
nursery:
"Mildly judge ye of each other.
Be to condemnation slow
For the best have many failings ""
And the worst some good can show;.
The sun itself has spots of darkness
On its radiant front, they say,
And the clock that never goeth
- Speaks correctly twice a day."
We have not been so particular in the selec
tion of our public officials that one need get ex
cited over the Daniels appointment. Ben seems
to have reformed and to that extent ho has the
advantage of some of the men who have been
elected and re-elected, -appointed and reappointed
to public office in this land of the free. Some
very Important offices have been filled and are
yet occupied by men whose offenses compared
with that of Daniels may bo likened to the glare
of a locomotive headlight alongside of a tallow
dip. There have been United States senators and
representatives who have persistently betrayed
the public interests and the only instance whore
such as these have been held to account is In
cases like those of the late Senator Mitchell and
Senator Burton. Mitchell and Burton were poor
and had lost prestige in financial circles. They
won't permit Burton to occupy his seat In the
senate, but Depew who wrongfully acquired
thousands where Burton wrongfully took pennies
is welcomed with, open arms when he has the
courage to show his face. And while Depew has
better standing than Burton and the men of his
class, there are men who, while having commit
ted greater wrongs than Depew committed, stand
higher than Depew. Aldrlch, for Instance, would
disdain to resort to what is commonly called a
theft; he might reject a retainer for his appear
ance for an individual or firm before a depart
ment; but, notoriously, he represents the Stand
ard Oil interests on the floor of the United States
senate. Aldrlch is the stumbling block in every
effort made to require at the hands of the Stand
ard Oil or its allied interests justice for the peo
ple. And although Aldrlch's skillful work has
wrought to public interests greater damage In
an hour than the cheaper efforts of Depew and
Burton could accomplish in a lifetime, Aldrich
moves in select circles where Burton Is actually
ostracised and where Depew's welcome is not
quite so effusive as of yore.
-s- If "the door of hope" in the political chamber
is to be barred to the Daniels who have stolen
mules and repented, it should not bo open to the
Aldrichs who oppress a patient people and re
main defiant to the end.
There are many men in every state prison
who are far less dangerous to society and who if
free would be of far more service to the world
than some of the men whp have been honored
with high office and some of the men who are
admitted to the tea parties of the "400." We
often hear that those who belong to "the crimi
nal classes" must be restrained for the benefit
of society. True, but what are "the criminal
classes?" Commonly we mean the man who,
raised in a criminal environment, takes to rob
bery and other forms of crime, and gives no
recognition to the rights of property or of per
sons, and has no regard for the laws of God and
the statutes of man. Such as these should, of
course, be restrained. But what of the better
educated man who, reared in wealth or grown to
it early during his manhood years, hungers ror
more gold, and in the effort to accumulate vio
lates laws human, and divine, becomes blind to
the picture of children "made naked by his greed
and deaf to the cries of women made hungry
by his crimes? What of these men? Do they not
properly belong to the criminal class? Should
they not be restrained as the common thfef is
restrained and visfced with the same unrelenting
condemnation which society now gives to the
lowly criminal?
In his book "The Jungle" Upton Sinclair tells
awful stories of the packing of diseased meats
lor consumption among the American people.
By other investigators these stories are' substan
tially corroborated as, for instance, in The
World's Work for May, in which Thomas H. Mc
Kee and Doctors Jaques and Hedges print the
result of their investigations in Paddngtown.
Tho packers recently escaped conviction on
a criminal charge by resorting to a technicality,
and they aro today openly violating the laws of
the land. Aro they entitled to move in circles
from which tho common malofactor is barred?
Do they not in fact belong to tho front rank of
"tho criminal classes?"
In an eastern city sovoral years ago efforts
were made to purify tho water supply. The ac
complishment of thoso efforts was defeated b
political bosses who wore anxious to fill thoir
own pockets with ill gotten gains. For a period
of eighteen months this all Important work was
delayed and during that period 1,200 men, womon
and children died from drinking impuro water.
They wore tho victims of greed. Do the mon
responsible for this crime belong to "tho criminal
classes?"
It is true that for tho protection of society
crime in every degree should be vigorously con
demned. But the world will grow bettor In pro
portion to tho charity shown not for persistent
sin but for penitent sinnors. Wo may fool some
of our neighbors, but we can not fool ourselves.
Fighting against error within oursolvos wo come
to understand the weaknesses of our follows. Sym
pathetic with their struggles wo garn strength
for our own. Honest enotfgh to condemn in a
Daniels the theft of a mulo, wo should be brave
enough to condemn in a Rockefollor the rape or
a nation.
"Thero aro none of us saints." But men have
plundered their fellows on tho highway who
would scorn to profit through tho sale of dis
eased meat. Men have stolen mules from gov
ernment corrals who would not think of poison
ing the water supply of a great city. And what
ever the fault of Ben Daniels may have boon,
society has less to fear at the hands of such
as he than at the hands of the well dressed
rogue, who posing as the "defender of national
honor" trafficks in the nation's virtue, and who.
pretending to bo an Intelligent patriot, is, in
truth, an artistic plunderer. ,,
tv- " RICHARD L. METCALFE.
,: m
, - REVISE CONGRESS
Representative Burleson of Texas, addressing
the New England Cotton Manufacturers' associa
tion, said:v "The way to revise tho tariff is to
revise congress." That Is worthy of preservation
in every well regulated scrap book.
JJJ
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