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The Commoner.
Volume 6, number is--.
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A.
CURB6NT
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Aw?. tisriss
Topics aff
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THE APPOINTMENT of Assistant Secretary
Barnes to be postmaster at "Washington is
not popular among the "old inhabitants." The
Washington Star, usually found on the ide of
the administration, prints this editorial: Tho
carnival of crime continues in tho District. Last
night the wife of a policeman was robbed while
passing through nock Creek Park. This assail
ant took long chances, for the woman was armed,
but her aim was poor. This morning an Ana
costia woman on returning home from market
was grappled by a robber in her own house and
robbed of a considerable sum of money. No ar
rests have yet been made in these cases. Mean
while thirty-eight policemen remain on duty at
the White House. And the major ana, 'superin
tendent of police and the remnants of his force
are still engaged in scouring the city and country
for evidence with which to blacken the cnaracter
of Mrs. Minor Morris, in order that the president's
assistant secretary may be whitewashed and rail
roaded into ofllce as the postmaster of Washing
ton. The situation is altogether significant."
SENATOR TILLMAN has introduced a resolu-'
tion instructing the District of Columbia
committee to investigate the connection of the
police with the ejection of Mrs. Morris ana to
ascertain whether the superintendent of police
undertook to make an investigation "concerning
the previous life and reputation of JVIrs. Morris,
and especially to inquire whether the superin
tendent of police and one of the chief witnesses
against Mrs. Morris have since then received
recognition by the appointment of near relatives
to office, and whether any laws should be adopted
by congress for the better regulation and improve
ment of the police force of the city of Washing
ton." The Washington correspondent for the New
York World says: "The appointments referred
to are those of a son of Richard Sylvester, su
perintendent of police, and the son of a news
paper correspondent, who was the only eye-witness
giving testimony favorable to Mr. Barnes,
who were appointed cadets to the militarv acad
emy at West Point. It is said these appointments
were ma.de February 7."
MIDDLE AGED AMERICANS will remember
the air to which the London Dailv Mail
refers when it says; "Forty years ago: every
barrel organ in London was jigging to the: tune
of Champagne Charlie,' and George Leybourne,
alias Joe Saunders, a whiskered 'swell' who drove
to his music hall in a carriage with four horses,
sang Champagne Charlie' night after night to de
lighted thousands. Those were the days of the
Great Vance and Alfred Lloyd, when he who now
calls himself an 'artiste or a 'serio' was a 'Lion
comique,' and then everybody knew the name of
Mr. Alfred Lee. Now the famous Mr. Alfred
Lee is dead at a great age, and men past middle
r trri, II ,, lt "c wlB uie composer
of Champagne Charlie.' The last generation is
w n fr V10 !;emindei, 'or the 'song died long
llfiini'ft ire mnlrni"
HRHE TERMS OF twenty-nine governors ex---
pire -this year or early in 1907, and their
ZZeaSLmlVe, ?h,?en bef0re the'enf of the
"Oreiwn will 5welDhltt PublIc Ledger says:
uiegon will elect a successor to Governor G
SeorSn ba hiifUne I' The Aata
uiecuon will be held on September 1 Vprmnnr'n
on September 4, Maine's on September 10 T?nr
gias on October 3 and Kentucky on November 5
e other states choosing state officers win elect
them on November 6, at the same time rente
sentatives in congress are chosen. The states
o tho GCh ?overnors this year, with the namel
of the retiring executives are: Alabama WD
o S& CaXnla Tl' " KVdel.
rado t 7 A a,?' Pardee' democrat; Colo-
Hoch, republican; Kentuckv T n w ?,,
democrat; Maine William t nW Beckham
Massachusetts, Curtis GuiM Tr' YQl'
Michigan, F. M. Warner rmfiihii' miblIcan:
7. A. foh'nson, tJ'XStfi &,
republican; Nevada, John Sparks, democrat; New
Hampshire, John McLane, republican; New York,
F. W. Higgins, republican; North Dakota, E. Y.
Searles, republican; Oregon, G. E. Chamberlain,
democrat; Pennsylvania, S. W. Pennypacker,
republican; Rhode Island, George H. Utter, re
publican; South Carolina, D. C. Hey ward, demo
crat; South Dakota, S. H. Elrod, republican; Ten
nessee, John I. Cox, democrat; Texas, S. W. Lan
ham, democrat; Vermont, Charles J. Bell, repub
lican; Wisconsin, J. O. Davidson, republican;
Wyoming, B. B. Brooks, republican."
WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE, editor of the Em
poria Gazette, has practically bolted the
republican ticket in Kansas. Mr. White intimates
that Governor Hoch loaned the name of the state
of Kansas to the M. K. and T. railroad's suit'
in the Indian Territory on condition that John
Madden, an old friend of the governor, be made
general attorney for the railroad. Governor Hoch
says: "It is true that John Madden is a personal
friend of mine, and he has been for many years.
It is true that I indorsed him for the position
he now holds, as well as for a dozen others, and
I hope to indorse him for many if he and I live
long enough. But this suit will not cost the
state of Kansas one penny. I allowed the name
of the state to he used because I believe that
such a suit is necessary to settle the rights ot
the people who have taken up this land in In.lian
Territory and Who are living upon it now as well
as to ascertain what claims the railroad company
has to the land."
THE UNJTED STATES supreme court recently
rendered an important decision affecting di
vorce proceedings. The court holds that a divorce
issued to a person when the defendant to the ac
tion is a non-resident of the Btate vhere the de
cree is granted is illegal. Under this decision
persons may not, for instance, by going to South.
Dakota, remaining there for a certain time ac
cording to state law, obtain a divorce unless
both parties are residents of that state. The
court stood five to four, Justice White speaking
for the court, and Justice Brown delivering a dis
senting opinion in which- Justices Brown, Har
lan and Brewer concurred. Justice Holmes dis
sented but read an independent dissenting
opinion.
THE CASE UPON which the supreme court
acted was that of John W. Haddock against
Harriet Haddock. It came up on appeal from the
New York courts. The Haddocks were married
in 1868. The husband claimed to have been an
unwilling participant in the ceremony. He says
m his answer to the woman's complaint that he
left her immediately after the marriage rites
were performed, and during all the time that has
intervened has seen her only three times. In
1881 he secured a divorce in Connecticut, where
lie then resided, and in 1882 was married there
to another woman. The New York supreme court
held the second marriage to be illegal and -le-creed
the first wife to be still the legal wife,
. and directed Haddock to pay her an annuity of
$780. That finding was sustained by the de
cision, which held that Mrs. Haddock was with
out the jurisdiction of the Connecticut court.
T T IS ESTIMATED that at least 20,000 children
A are affected by the opinion of the supreme
court, these being the offspring pf marriage
based on divorces granted where but one of the
parties resided in the state, 'in their dissenting
opinion Justices Brown and Holmes spoke very
earnestly, Justice Brown saying: "i regret that
the court -in this case has taken what seems
to me a step backward in 'American jurisprudence
and has virtually returned to the old doctrine
of comity which it was the very object of the full
faith and credit clause of the constitution to
supersede." Justice Holmes said: "I do not sup
pose that civilization will come to an end which
ever way this case is decided; but as the reason
ing which prevails in the mind of the majority
does not convince mo, and as I think that the
decision not only reverses a previous well-con-sidered
decision of this court but is like ly to
cause considerable 'disaster to innocent persons
and to bastardize children hitherto supposed to
be the offspring of legal marrrage, I think it.
-proper to express my views." Justice Holmes,
quoted from the case of Atherton vs. Atherton,
a New York-Kentucky case, which he said had
been reversed by this decision.
THE PUBLIC IS considerably stirred by the
supreme court's decision .affecting divorces,
and newspapers generally demand tliat steps be " .
taken to provide a remedy for the situation. Tho
New York World, for Instance, says: " The de-
cision of the United States supreme court in the
Haddock divorce case impresses once more tho
imperative necessity of divorce law reform and '
uniformity of practice between the states. If
all those divorces are invalid which have been
obtained by the haphazard methods which the
court condemns, then the present status of thou
sands of women and children is most unfortunate,
property questions of great complexity are raised
and society is needlessly shocked and disturbed
Jn regard to a matter upon which it is most
sensitive. The confusion of the laws which per
mits three times as many divorces to be granted
in Chicago as in New York, which recognizes
no cause in one state, only one cause in another
and in half a dozen states almost any cause, Is., ,
bad enough without the confusion of the techni
cal rules as to actual residence and procedure."
IT-IS GENERALLY agreed by newspaper writ
ers that Thomas W. Lawson was one of tfie
gentlemen whom Mr. Roosevelt had In mindwhen
he delivered his famous "muck rake" speecn. '
Newspaper dispatches say thai; Mr. Lawson bubi ' "
bled over with smiles after reading the presi
dent's Standard Oil message. Mr. Lawson gave
out the following facetious statement: "The. '
fully attended meeting of the American Muck: 1
Rakers' association, hastily called at noon today
for the purpose of listening to the special message
of its supreme mentor, President Theodore Roose
velt, accepted my unanimously requested resig
nation as president, to which office our ideal was
at once elected for a life term. A notification
committee left for Washington tonight to present
the president with his new honors and to secure
his approval of the new standard rake which was
adopted at today's meeting. The new rake differs
from the old only in the increased length of -handle
and the substitution of automatic teeth,
the number of which has been increased four
times over any heretofore used by the associa
tion. It was also voted at today's meeting to
suspend all raking for ninety days, or until the
miasmitics created by the president's rake be
concreted. The association's experts submitted
analyses and figures to the effect that such con
creting would be sufficient to pave the highways
and byways of hell with an ebonized coating
twenty-seven feet in depth, and of gutta percha
consistency. At the first reaaing of the presi
dents message two of the most talented mem
bers, of the association succumbed to apoplectic "
fits. After the meeting adjourned five others, who
had been wrestling with the green monster, were
similarly affected, while a large number of oth
ers wired the Standard Oil for 'the hook.' The
meeting broke up late in the evening with the
singing of the hymn: . .
. Muck-rakers we; . - ,
We dig and we delve, ' "
From midnight till twelve, '' ..A' ''
In muck and in mire, ' - ' S-:'-
In slush and in fire, - ' ''-P
Dis-in-ter-est-ed-ly. "' -"
DO THE PEOPLE of Texas and of the south',
, generally desire to have Senator Bailey ,-
made the presidential nominee of the democratic'
Ewf !Sr10S?? .Thls ls tne nation propounded-
by the Washington correspondent for the Houston ...
uexas) Post. That correspondent adds: "If .
they do and are willing to show it at this time,
careful students of the political situation say that' ,
Mr. Bailey can certainly be nominated. His per
formances in the senate during the present ses
sion of congress have added to his already en
Yiable reputation in such a wny as to make him
easily the leading democratic figure in congress1"
)i not in the whole United States. It is always
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