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The Commoner.
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VOLUME 6, NUMBER 2G
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IN HIS MESSAGE to congress in December,
1905, President Roosevolt said: "All contrl-
' buttons by corporations to any political commit
tee or for any political purposo should be for-
-bidden by law; directors should not be permitted
to use stockholders' money for such purposes;
and, moreover, a prohibition of this kind would
be, as far as it went, an effective method of stop
ping tho evils aimed at in corrupt practice acts.
Not only should both the national and the several
state legislatures forbid any officer of a corpora
tion from using the money of ..the corporation in
or about any election, but they should also for
bid such use of money in connection with any
legislation save by the employment of counsel
in public manner for distinctly legal services."
Sovoral bills along this line were introduced, but
they failed to pass.
UNDER DATE OF London, July 5 the" New
Yorlc World prints the following . cable
. gram: "The Daily "Express gives the following
description of tho meeting of J. Pierpont Morgan
and W. J. Bryan at Ambassador Reid's Fourth of
July reception. It is said that they had never
met before 'Mr. Morgan was standing near the
. doorway when- a mutual friend advanced with
Mr. Bryan in tow, and, with a smile said: "Mr.
Morgan, this is Mr. Bryan." The great maker of
combines looked at the great advocate of no
monopolies and, with a faint smile, said dryly '
"Bryan? Bryan? The name sounds familiar,
but I have not had the pleasure of meeting you
before." While their friends all around laughed
at the joke, the two men shook hands. They
looked at each other very narrowly as their hands
. met, and as soon as they had shaken they drifted
"apart and no conversation took place between
tiiera.' '- . J ' v
GREAT INTEREST is being manifested in
Walter Wellman's polar expedition," which
is- to be made under the auspices of the Chicago
Record-Herald. It will be Mr. Wellman's second
attempt to reach the North' Pole, and unusual
preparations have been made. The chief reliance
will be placed upon an airship especially built
, for this service. Mr, Wellman is now at Tron
soe, where tho ship Frlthjof is being used to
.' , carry material to Spltzenborg, whero houses, nia
"' ' chine -shops and sheds are being erected as a
base for the expedition. In addition to using a
dirigible ."balloon Mr. Wellman has equipped him-
, self with a specially constructed automobile or
-motorcyclo calculated for use over ice fields.
, The party will penetrate as' far north as possible
. by boat, then have recourse to the motorcycle.
When that means of conveyance is no longer
possible the airship-will be used, and Mr. Well
man is confident that his expedition will be a
success.
M"-R. WELLMAN'S airship expedition recalls
tho ill-fated attempt of Andree to reach
tho pole by the same method. But the Wellman
airship is as far superior to tho Andree machine as
an express train is superior to the old emigrant
wagon of the "Forty-niners." Every important
Invention of the aerialists who have long sought
the secret of navigation of the ah' has been util
ized, and tho 'Wellman airship is admittedly the
nearest to perfection that man has yet achieved.
Every member of the party is an experienced
polar traveler, and the experiences of other ex
plorors has been seized upon to the advantage of
the forthcoming expedition. Mr. Wellman is' not
now able to definitely set the date for starting
northward, but he declares that if the present
rate of progress is maintained he will be able to
start before tho summer is ended.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN A.' SULLIVAN of
Massachusetts, says: "A few days ago the
republican majority in both branches of congress
forced upon the country a law compelling the
cana commission to purchase its supplies from
American manufacturers whenever the prices of
the r jitter were not unreasonable or extortionate.
Within a week after tho time, that law received
the president's signature the Maryland Steel com
pany was awarded a contractor two dredges
at $362,000 each. The foreign concern offered to
build them for $70,000 less, over 10 per cent. At
that rate In the $10,000,000 worth of supplies
which will be purchased next year American
trusts will overcharge us $1,000,000, which, ac
cording to the majority in congress, will not be
extortionate or unreasonable. The sale of Amer
ican products in the canal zone next year will
reprosent $1,000,000 of plunder. The sales of
American manufacturers to the people' of the
United States next year will surely be sixteen
thousand millions, and will therefore at the same
rate represent sixteen hundred millions of plun
der? Not only has the tariff system destroyed
equality of taxation, closed the door of indus
trial opportunity and practiced extortion upon our
people, but it has also been and must continue
to be the rotten center of an ever-widening circle
of corruption. The Chicago packers paid into
the republican campaign treasury the price of the
duty on hides and felt safe in poisoning commu
nities; the insurance companies of New York
made contributions with which they purchased
peace at Albany; the Pennsylvania railroad pur
chased immunity for years from the law forbid
tling the railroads to engage in the business of
mining coal. And the ship subsidy gang will pay
their money to help elect a republican congress
which will pass a ship subsidy bill."
IT HAS BEEN announced that President Roose
velt will make a trip to the Isthmus of Pan
ama and a number of newspapers, point out that
this will be the first occasion when a president
has left the country . even for a limited time.
Several newspapers think Mr. Roosevelt should
not make." this trip. The Wall Street Journal
says: "Who will 'Tie president of the United
States' during the days when Mr. Roosevelt will'
be' 'upon the high sea? Will It be Mr. Roosevelt
or Vice President Fairbanks?' Much might hap
pen in the course of a week which would call
for an immediate decision of a chief executive.
A war, a panic, a great strike, involving rioting
and bloodshed, a terrible calamity like that of
San Francisco all these things, though improb
able, are hot impossible, and it is the business
of the president at all times to bo within call so
that he might attend to these supreme emer
gencies." A KALAMAZOO, MICH., dispatch to the Chica
go Record-Herald says: "Professor Oscar L.
Trlggs, formerly of the University of Chicago,
is about "co establish a co-operative association
at Saugatuck on Lake Michigan. Triggs pub
lishes a magazine bearing his name. Mr. and
Mr3. W. S. Harbert have offered to donate a tract
of land at the mouth of Kalamazoo river on the
lake front, where a community of literary and
artistic people under the leadership of Triggs
will set up a settlement to rival Hubbard's East
Aurora colony. There will be art printing offices
and shops .for making pottery, furniture and metal
ware. Triggs hopes to establish himself at the
head of the settlement this summer."
A WRITER IN THE very interesting magazine
f called "To-Morrow" says that the public
have obtained an erroneous idea of Prof. Triggs;
that to the many thousands of people Triggs is
"an , irresponsible, hot-headed fanatic, forever fly
ing off into a tangent' The writer in "To-Morrow"
says that this idea has been obtained from
false reports made by the newspapers and that
"onevery possible occasion when Triggs has said
something that could be exaggerated, distorted
and twisted into a sensation, the newspapers havo
fixed it up and rushed it into print."
THE FOLLOWING are a few instances given
by the writer in "To-Mqrrow" of the mis
representation to .which Prof. Triggs has bDen
subjected: "Triggs was an instructor in tho de
partment of English Literature in the University
of Chicago. He made the statement to one of
his classes that many of our hymns are mere
doggerel, that God does not care to be praised
by tho singing of 'O to be nothing, O to be noth
ing.' Within a week thousands of people had it
from the newspapers that Trigg's had said that all
hymns are doggerel. Triggs explained to one of
his classes that according to our modern stand
ards, Rockefeller is a greater man than Shakes
peare, that in sheer bigness, scope of interest,
comprehension, the commercial genius of Rocke
feller is equal to the dramatic genius of the bard
of Avon. What happened? All over the country
people were hearing that a university professor
had said that Rockefeller is a greater man than
Shakespeare. Tired reformors with sad eyes on
the morals, of the world denounced Triggs for a
worshipper of Mammon. Meanwhile, the misrepre
sented professor went on speaking his thought.
He ventured again. He said that Longfellow is
essentially a house-poet, "that he sat in his library
and imagined tho sting of the rain on his face.
He offered it as his opinion that Walt Whitman
is the greatest of out-door poets,. that 'The Song
of the Open Road' is one of" the most free and
sublime - interpretations of Nature ever put into
ink. At this, -the lovers of Longfellow shod bitter
tears and literary editors performed paragraphic
horrors of astonishment. S. E. Kiser, a Chicago
funny-man, every day for a month ran a deadly
parallel, xbalderash from Whitman and melody
from Longfellow, intended to refute Triggs' as
persion. C'Qii''C
JN,, FREE popularly known as the "immortal
'. J. N.,"' noted as 'a traveler and for his ec
centricities, died in the asylum for the insane
at Toledo, Ohio. The Toledo correspondent for
"the Chicago Record-Herald, says: "Free had
been , crazy for years. A long time ago he used
to lecture, and it was said of him that during his
peregrinations he paid neither hotel nor railway
bills. Free was an Illinois man and had been
educated Jfor the bar. For a time he had a bril
liant success, but lost his reason in a peculiar
manner. He had been retained as counsel for a
man accused of murder and took the deepest in
terest in the case, being satisfied that his client
was innocent. During the course of the trial
Free was unusually wrought up and made a re
markable plea to the jury, tho result being a
verdict of 'not guilty.' Free retired to his home
to rest for a few days, and was there -visited by
the man whose life he had saved. The man
cooly confessed that he was guilty of the crime
as charged against him. Free was amazed. He
started up and hurried back to the court, where
he found the judge engaged in another trial.
'Your honor,' ejaculated the excited attorney, but
he got no further and fell to the floor in an at-
tack of apoplexy. When he recovered his mind
was clouded and he never regained control of
his mental faculties. Then he began traveling
and lecturing, his subject being 'Pressure,' and
he used to make astonishing declarations as to
the happiness of the people being menaced. He
was a constant yfsitor to newspaper offices, but
generally was welcome owing to his genial man
ners. His life mostly was passed on the various
transportation lines, but his odd stories and quaint
dress made, him popular everywhere. Among
Free's other traits was that of generosity. He
was always reay to share his belongings with
anybody whom he thought to be in distress."
THE WASHINGTON correspondent for tho
Chicago Record-Herald presents the -following
summary of Senator LaFoJIette's record dur
ing his brief stay in Washington: "Exposed and
stopped the sale and leasing of coal and asphalt
lands in Indian Territory. Led in the fight which
prevented making final tho records of the Dawes
commission and compelled the extension of
tribal relations of the five civilized tribes until
a full Investigation of the Indian Territory
'graft' could be made. Delivered a most exhaus
tive speech on rate legislation, pointing out the
deficiencies of the Dill as passed. Spoke forv
three days. Fought strenuously to strengthen tho
rate bill. Every amendment he offered was voted
down or laid on the table by republican senators,
lie compelled the senate, however, to take a
record vote on a number of important amend
ments. Introduced and forced' the passage of a
separate railroad bill, defining the liability of
common carriers to their employes in cases of
injury caused by negligence of fellow employes.
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