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BUNE 22, 190
The Commoner.
9
o glad, too. I may have my" faults, dear James,
and I may have good courage, but I could never
hay.e the courage or the heart to do such an awful
thing to a -woman. God alone lmows my heart,
and ho knows that I did not commit this awful
crime. The governor, who I think is very unjust
has gone against me, and if nothing turns up to
interfere I will have to die, and I assure you I
will die brave and like a man. I have nothing
to confess. I am entirely innocent. I have never
spoken about this to you before. I have been
asked, if guilty, to confess, but the people that
have asked me that I have told them this: ' I have
nothing to confess. Do you want me to tell a
lie?' That is what I told them, James, and I
really got real angry about it. It would be a lie
through and through if I said anything of the
kind. Now, dear James, after this terrible mur
der happens I want my folks to have my little
body, so I can be near my dear parents. It will
be a hard blow to them, but, dear James, it will
be a comfort to them to live knowing that I died
an innocent boy. I am so sorry, for them, they
are so good and faithful. I can not say any more,
James, teare fall from my eyes so fast that I
can hardly see tp pen these words to you. Be
fore I close, though, I want to thank everybody
that tried to help mo prove my innocence, and
I also thank you again for being so kind and
faithful. My last words to you are that I am
innocent, and they will be the last words that I
will have on my lips when I die."
THE ROOSEVELT administration was recent
ly placed in a very embarrassing position
by the secretary of the treasury. Mr. Shaw had
been invited to deliver an address at the graduat-'
ing exercises at Syracuse University. It will be
remembered that James It. Day, who is chancel
lor of the Syracuse University, has on two occa
sions severely attacked Mr. Roosevelt. At the
same time Secretary Shaw was invited to deliver
an address in Davenport, Iowa, in behalf of
George D. Perkins and against Governor Cum
mins, who seeks renomination. Mr. Shaw's Syra
cuse engagement was made several months ago
before Chancellor Day attacked the president.
The Washington correspondent for the Chicago
Record-Herald said it was doubtful if Mr. Shaw
had any intention Qi breaking the engagement in
spite of Chancellor Day's attack upon Mr. Roose
velt. But after Chancellor Day made his second
attack Sunday, June 10, Mr. Shaw called upon
the president, ,who made it very clear that he
did not desire a member of his cabinet to frater
nize with the chanceller of the Syracuse University.
IT HAPPENED THAT Secretary Shaw had just
returned from Iowa-where he had participat
ed in the fight between Cummins and Perkins
over the republican gubernatorial nomination.
The Record-Herald correspondent says that when
Mr. Shaw explained to the president that he was
being pressed by friends at home to participate
in an important evert there, the president sug
gested that Mr. Shaw go home as "a pleasant
way to abandon a disagreeable trip to Syracuse."
Then Secretary Shaw sent to his friends at Dav
enport, a telegram saying that he had concluded
to speak at Davenport after "having conferred
with the president." This was accepted in Iowa
to mean that the president was in favor of Mr.
Perkins' nomination and the republican leaders
in the Hawkeye State were greatly 'disturbed.
The president caused a statement to be made
to the effect that Secretary Shaw did not speak
in Iowa as a representative of the administra
tion and that the president was taking no part
in the Iowa contest.
THE RECORD-HERALD correspondent says:
"There are rumors in circulation to the ef
fect that President .Roosevelt was exceedingly
vexed when the 'indiscreet language' used by Sec
retary Shaw in his telegram to Secretary Anthony
of the Lincoln club of Davenport was brought
to his attention. Gossip has it that on previous
occasions the so-called .political Indiscretions of
the holder of the treasury portfolio have called
for reprimands, and there have been frequent re
ports that Mr. Shaw would leave the cabinet,,
ahead of the time set for his retirement, which
now is fixed at March 4 of next year. But the
secretary has continued to sit at the cabinet
table.' Mr. Shaw's private secretary gave to the
newspapers an interview, saying that Mr Shaw
did not avoid the -Syracuse engagement on ac-
count of Chancellor Day's remarks, but that if
these remarks had had any effect at all, they
"would have made him all the more anxious to
go," the secretary explaining, "ho would, probably,
be able to convinco the people of Syracuse that
Mr. Day had an erroneous idea of the situation."
Mr. Shaw is a candidate for the republican nomi
nation in 1908 and some of Mr. Roosevelt's
friends say that ho is not averse to taking his
eland with elements that are not just now favor
able to Mr. Roosevelt.
AN INTERESTING STORY is told by a writer
in the Saturday Evening Post with reference
to the efforts of Frank J. Heney of California,
special United States district attorney,, to convict
the late Senator Mitchell and others indicted for
complicity in Oregan land frauds. This writer
says: "Part of Mitchell's defense was that ho
had made a written agreement with his law part
ners. long prior to the date of the acts charged
against him, which stated that, owing to his
position as senator, he would in no way partici
pate In "either the work or the profits accruing
from the land cases on which the indictment was
finally based. The contention of the prosecution
was that this agreement had been antedated and
that it really was a subterfuge to let Mitchell
out. Heney examined the agreement, which was
typewritten. If the date was correct it would
go a long way toward relieving Mitchell from the
charged against him. Heney looked at the paper
carefully. He found that the words 'legitimate,'
'salary' and 'constituent' were misspelled. The
copyist, or original trypewriter, had spelled them
'ligltimate,' 'salery' and 'constltuant.' Mitchell's
contention, of course, was that the paper had been
drawn before he went to "Washington. Heney
knew better. He called hefore the grand jury a
man associated with Mitchell In Washington, who
had been with him only since he went to Wash
ington. This man was a typewriter. Honey took
him before the grand jury and dictated to him
for fifteen minutes using the words 'legitimate,'
'salary' and 'constituent' half a dozen times.
When the typewritten sheets were shown to the
grand jury it was found that the words had been
spelled 'ligitimate,' 'salery' and 'constituanU every
time the typewriter had written them. Heney
showed this to the typewriter who confessed to
his part in the work, and the indictment followed.
The paper, had been written in Washington and
forwarded to Oregon after the charges against
Mitchell had come to a head."
THE REPRESENTATIVES of the Standard Oil
Trust are denying that that concern is in
terested in defeating the bill removing the tax
on alcohol for use in manufactures and the arts.
In this connection, a writer in the Springfield
Mass., Republican draws attention to the follow
ing extract from the report of the house ways
and means committee: "The bulk of free dena
tured alcohol .in Germany is used for the purpose
of light, fuel and heat. A lamp is- now made
with a Welsbach mantle which produces a very
strong, steady, and high-grade light by the use
of alcohol. Experiments have been made testing
this lamp with the most improved pattern kero
sene lamps with round wicks and of equal candle
power; it was found that a gallon of alcohol
would keep the alcohol lamp burning twice as
many hours as would a gallon of kerosene burn
ing in the most approved pattern of kerosene
lamp which is in general use. In other words,
one gallon of alcohol is equal to two gallons
of kerosene for lighting purposes. Hence it fol
lows if the price of alcohol methylated is less
than double the price of kerosene, its use, espe
cially on the farms and in the villages of the
country, would become enormous."
REFERRING TO THE Standard Oil interests
in defeating the free alcohol bill, the writ
er in the Springfield Republican, says: "There
now comes from the 'electrical testing labora
tories' of New York a report on the test of a
French Incandescent mantle alcohol lamp side
by side with a round wick center-draft Miller
kerosene lamp. The candle-power in each case
' was substantially the same, but in the case of
the alcohol lamp one gallon of fuel lasted fifty
seven hours and five minutes while the gallon
of kerosene lasted only twenty-eight hours and
forty-one minutes. The gallon in the alcohol
lamp produced 1,732 candle-power hours, and
that in the kerosene lamp 883 candle-power hours,
or a trifle more than one-half as much light. Pic
tures of the two lamps are given in the report
the alcohol lamp resembling in shape and other
wise" the ordinary round-wick kerosene lamp. If
denatured grain or fruit alcohol froo of tax can
bo produced to sell at no more than 20 cents a
gallonand tho claim is mado that llils in pos-sibld-lhe
potroleum monopoly must bo seriously
affected by tho proposed legislation. It would
bd practically impossible to monopolize the pro
duction and salo of alcohol substitute, slnob tho
material from which it is derlvod is universally
available."
THE WASHINGTON POST, a publication that
can not be said to bo unfriendly to the ad
ministration, says: "Congress has provided laws,
money and machinery. Yet tho greatest trust in
the country has not boon prosecuted, and thoro is
no indication that the attorney general Is pro
par ng to tackle it. it is this groat fact which
is disappointing to friends of the administration.
Ihe message and the report tend to confirm tho
general ImpreSfIon that the Standard Oil company
is viola! ing tho lav. While waiting upon congress
to perfect a law correcting railroad rate evils, It
will be difllcult to convince the public that tho
department of justice could not wisely employ
its time and resources in prosecuting the big trust
under the laws already in existence. If tho
Standard is a lawbreaker, it should be prosecuted,
and if it is not it should not bo prosecuted."
THE STANDARD OIL TRUST is not, after all,
so anxious to face its record. The story is
told in a Cleveland, Ohio, dispatch as follows:
"The Standard Oil company will make no defense
before the interstate commerce commission
against the charge of commercial banditism which
has been hurled at the company publicly and re
peatedly by scores of witnesses. After demand
ing a 'day in court,' after publicly stating that
the company could not permit the testimony
adduced before the commission to go unchal
lenged, and after asserting that the company
would refute every charge made, it has been de
cided to permit the long array of accusations to
go unchallenged so far as rebuttal testimony Is
concerned. The interstate commerce commis
sion is in receipt of a letter from Virgil P. Kline,
attornoy for the company, to the effect that ho
will not produce any witnesses at the bearing--which
the commission Is to 'conduct here begin
ning tomorrow. This letter was sent to the com
mission immediately after a conference of Stand
ard Oil magnates and attorneys which was hold
in New York shortly after the former Cleveland
inquiry into Standard methods. The letter com
ing as it did after repeated demands by Attorney
Kline, made during the hearing, for an opportu
nity to be heard in defense of the accusations,
caused great surprise in the commission. So far
as the hearing goes the silence of the company
leaves a clear record against it, and members
of the commission declare that they can do
naught save report all the charges to congress
as unrefuted."
A REPUBLICAN MEMBER of congress
Haugen of Iowa is opposed to the par
cels post. As an argument against the plan,
Mr. Haugen complied statistics relating to tho
amount paid for mail transportation by the gov
ernment to the railroads. According to the New
York World Mr. Ilaugen's investigation discloses
that: "Over .Tne-quarter of the cost of tho post
office department is paid to the railroads. For
tho mere transportation tho railroads charge
$1.25 per ton mile. This is over 100 times the
average freight charge, although in their freight
business the railroads provide stations, cars and
all employes. In the mail business the govern
ment pays additionally the rental for cars and
furnishes the clerks who handle the mai. For
the 1,015 postal cars the government pays $5,
500,044 annually, an average of $5,427. The cars
cost only ?G,000 to build. The express compa
nies carry parcels at a 100-pound rate for less
than a quarter of the railroad mall charge. Yet
the express companies out of this pay for their
offices, clerks, delivery wagons and big dividends
on inflated capital." The World reminds Mr.
Haugen that his figures provide "conclusive in
dictment against the postoffice administration
which pays railroads ten times as much for the
mail as for the express matter in the next car."
Now will Mr. Haugen undertake to bring about
a reform in the matter of expenditures for mail
transportation? If not, why not?
After carefully noting the associations he
would have to endure on the republican side of
the senate chamber, Professor Coburn decided
that he would continue to teach the -.gontlc art
of farming to the Kansas youth. 7
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