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MARCH 29, 1907
The Commoner.
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fwith the fact that the governor and attorney gen
eral of Illinois are now in Washington in obedience
to some sort of call from the president Governor
Deneen, before ho left Springfield, stated that he
positively did not know why he was, summoned
'to Washington, and the belief at the state capital
4is that he Is to be required to obstruct and defeat
several bills now pending In the legislature which
"are thought to be contributing to the Wall street
panic. This new usage of summoning city ami
state officials to Washington to square themselves
with the government is deeply interesting. The
question is what this practice will grow into.
The government has almost unlimited patronage
at its disposal, and it becomes an interesting spec
ulation whether these, visits of mayors and gov
ernors will after a while combine legal conferences
.with political jobs. The further question is sug
gested whether bare authority will after a while
be substituted for patronage. Secretary Root's
feeler' in New York in regard to centralization re
sulted in an outburst of indignation all over ihe
country, and yet there seems to be a growing in
clination in Washington to co-ordinate federal and
, state action, and eventually to substitute one for
.the other."
rfHE Washington correspondent for the St.
.' .-' JL Louis Globe-Democrat, says: "Two promi
t -henf Tennessee lawyers, one of whom has been a
'personal friend of President Roosevelt for some
A- 'yearswere at the White House 'this afternoon,
-.J rind, in the friendly conversation, they inquired of
'the president who he thought would be a good can
didate for the' presidency. The president replied:,
Well, you know I cannot be placed in the attitude
of dictating who my successor shall be, but I want
'to say to you that there is not a better man in the
"country than Mr. Taft, my secretary of war.' ;
Half an hour after they left the White House the.
' story was being passed along as indicating the. r.
aggressive part which is being taken in things
political by President Roosevelt. John Wesley
"Gaines of Tennessee said the story should not berr
taken- seriously. He said that while the language ' .
. quoted was substantially correct, he knew the
president was speaking 'partly in jest, and without
intention of conveying a 'tip' to his callers. Of
, far. more significance wrts the action of the presi
. dent tonight in announcing a decision to appoint
Jolin'IG. Sater of Columbia, Ohio, as judge of the
new "southern district of Ohio. The nomination
will be fought strenuously by Senator Foraker,
who also took occasion tonight to deny the state
ment in the Washington dispatches of the New
York Sun yesterday that Mr. Taft will probably
have the Ohio delegation in the next republican
national convention, and that a decision in that
connection will shortly be announced. The sena
tor permitted himself to be quoted to the extent
of saying: 4I have never said any such tiling, nor -have
I authorized any one to say it for me.' . The
senator indicates that he will make a fight for the
control of the state delegation."
Is the announcement tonight that Burton's man,
Sater, gets the place. Senator Foraker will fight
the confirmation of Sater's nomination to
a finish when It Is sent to the senate. A
prominent man who has been visiting Washington
for a few days called at the White house tonight
to talk presidential politics. By way of getting
a line on what President Roosevelt wanted done
he asked: 'Mr. President, what kind of a delega
tion do you want Kansas to send to the republican
national convention?' The president promptly
said: 'Good men, who stand neither for Hnrri
manlsm nor LaFollettelsm.' "
A LITTLE ROCK, Ark., dispatch to the St.
Louis Globe-Democrat says: "The senate
today, by the decisive vote of 19 to G, passed the
Amis bill requiring all insurance companies doing
business in Arkansas to invest 75 per cent of their
local reserve in the state. It is generally conceded
that the measure will pass U10 house by a unani
mous vote. Representatives of the large New York
life insurance companies say the operation of the
law will drive from the state all of the large life
insurance companies."
O
THE NEW YORK PRESS, a republican paper,
has its own Ideas on the 1908 presidential
question, and in making them public makes a
very Interesting showing. The Press says that
one of the lists of possibilities for the republican
nomination for president next year going the
rounds of the newspapers Is:
Theodore Roosevelt of New York. - " .,
Charles E. Hughes of New York.
Ellhu Root of New York.
George B. Cortelyou of New York.
William H. Taft of Ohio.
Joseph B. Foraker of Ohio.
. . Leslie M. Shaw of Iowa,
-Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois.
Charles W. Fairbanks of Indiana.
Albert B. Cummins of Iowa.
Robert M. La Follotte pf Wisconsin.
W. M. Crane of Massachusetts.
Philander C. Knox of Pennsylvania.
THE SIGNIFICANCE of the appointment of
the Ohio judge lies, according to the Globe
Democrat's correspondent, in the fact that it is a
direct rebuff for Senator Foraker and a plum for
Representative Burton of Ohio, Mr. Taft's political
manager in the state. This correspondent says:
"The bill creating the judicial place was passed
by Senator Foraker's aid as a member of the ju
diciary committee of the senate, and claimed to
have the promise of President Roosevelt that his
man for the place, John J. Adams, would be ap-
. pointed. But, after the bill was passed, Mr. Bur
ton went to the White House and told the president
that the appointment of Adams would be the car
rying out of a political 'deal' made by Foraker
and Dick. He explained that at the Dayton state
republican convention there was a fight made by
Senators Dick and Foraker for as strong an in
dorsement of their senatorial careers as there was
embodied in the resolutions for the national admin
istration. Some fine and bitter politics was played.
Representative Burton and friends of Mr. Taft
opposed the senators in their wish. Finally the
Fifteenth congressional district gave its strength
to the Foraker-Dlck combination, and the senators
won. Mr. Burton told the president that this del
egation was delivered by two relatives of Mr.
Adams named Black, who did so with the under
standing that Adams would get the federal judge
ship when created. The president, it is said by
the Foraker: 'people, sought an excuse for turning
their man 'down. Foraker wrote a letter to the
-president in-iwhich he said that the Burton story
bad'eome ttfihls attention. Hedenied that there
was the least; foundation for It. He said he had
not talked Nvlth Adams for ten years about Oil
ties; drew attention to his standing and character
and invited an impartial inquiry into the char
acter and qualifications of Adams. The answer
y
B,UT JN THE OPINION of the Press little
blup penciling for obvious reasons shows
how excessively the list has been padded." The
Press adds: "These are to be stricken out for
reasons that are self-evident:
Roosevelt Because he will not touch it.
Root Because lie could not carry New York,
New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, nor a single
state, with the possible exception of Iowa, "west
of the Mississippi river.
Cortelyou Same reason.
Knox rSame reason.
Taft Can't get the delegates of his own state,
nor of any worth mentioning; might have a few
federal officials from territories.
Foraker President Roosevelt's battle ax will
knock him In the head.
Cannon Can carry the Standard Oir Trust,
the Steel Trust, the Lumber Trust, the Sugar
Trust, the Ship Subsidy grafters; nothing else.
Fairbanks Frozen stiff.
Cummins Hasn't any principles except 'push
myself along.'
Crane Never been introduced to the public."
THEN tills republican paper concludes: "So
the host dwindles to:
Hughes.
La Folfette.
Shaw.
Shaw is a good man, but the public regards
him as too conservative. It will not vote for a man
who is less radical than Roosevelt This leaves:
HUGHES.
LA FOLLETTE.
Plenty and to spare!"
UNDER date of Washington, March 19, the
Scripps-McRae Press association carried a
remarkable dispatch. The Commoner takes this
dispatch from the Lincoln Dally News: "One
of the most radical and far-reaching movements
Jn American poiltics has been opened up In. Roose
velt's latest addition to his railroad policy. State
governments, so far as the railroads are con
cerned, are to be wiped out. State courts and leg
islatures, It Is claimed by the administration, have
no jurisdiction to regulate railroads. That means
that every act by every state legislature, passed
or being passed this winter or since June, is un
constitutional and void. It -means that the two
cent fare law's', demurrage 'laws, safety coupler
laws and other similar acts passed by state legis
latures are worth no more 'than the paper on
which they are wrjtten. These matters all will
be hurried to the supreme court before Christmas.
It is expected that control by the states over the
roads will bo a thing oC the past,5andf Oils "refers
to within the state as well as bctwcelr-sfa'te car
riers. The passage of the rate bill liuVdone more
than anybody suspected. It has wlpodlbht state
control over common carriers. The constitution
gives to congress power over interstate commerce.
Up to the passage of the rate bill, the federal gov
ernment had not assumed full power over com
merce between the states. In the passage-of that
act the federal government took full authority
over the railroads. Nothing remains for thestates.
The president, in Ids opinion that the states have
no control, even over within state roads, is
backed up by an opinion by Chief Justice Marshall
in the case of Ogden vs. Gibbons, in which that
jurist said steamships plying between New York
and Albany were engaged In Interstate commerce.
It is expected that the state rights senators will
raise a big howl over this view of the rate bill."
rpIIE public utilities bill pending in the New
X York legislature and endorsed by Governor
Hughes promises, according to the New York
World, to benefit and protect:
First Every man, woman and child who rides
in the surface, elevated or subway cars in the city.
Second Every person who rides on steam
railroads in the state.
ThirdEvery person who uses gas In the city
and state.
. Fourth Every person who uses cloctrlcity for
lighting or power in the city or state. ' '
Fifth Every shipper of freight in the state.
Sixth Every minority investor in the stocks
and bonds of street railway corporations.
If the public utilities bill becomes' a law, it
will compel:
First A decent and adequate service on the
lines of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit system
Second A decent unci adequate servlca'on the
lines of the Metropolitan Street Railway coinftany;
, the Manhattan Elevated Railway c6mpanyanfl in
the subways of the Interborough company.'
Third The steam railroads of the state to'glve
their commuters an adequate and decent service.
Fourth The gas companies to obey the' law
as to price and quality of their product.
' Fifth The electric light and power companies
to make a fair and honest charge to their patrons.
SixthThe railroads to treat all shippers of
freight alike, with no preferences as to cars or
rates to favored firms or corporations.
Seventh A stoppage in high finance juggling
of the securities' of street railway companies, sim
ilar to the huge over-capitalization and stock
watering processes employed In the formation of
the Interborough-Metropolltan company " .
Eighth Future mergers of street railways to
he made on honest terms both for the public and
the minority holders of securities in the merged
companies.
Ninth A cessation of speculating In franchises
of street railway companies and issuing large
blocks of stocks and bonds against them.
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REFERRING to animals tried for crime, Coun
tess Martinongo-Cesaresco, writing in the Con
temporary Review, says: "The earliest allusions to
such trials belong to the ninth century. One trial
took placo in 824 A. D. The Council of Worms
decided in SOS" that if a man has been killed by
bees they ought to suffer death, 'but,' added the
judgment, 'It vlll be permissible to cat their
honey.' A relic of the same order of ideas lingers
in the habit some people have of shooting a hor3e
which has" caused a fatal accident. A good, char
acteristic instance began on September 5, 1870.
The young son of a Burgundian swineherd had
been killed by three sows. All members of the
herd were arrested as accomplices, which 'was a
serious matter i.o their owners, the inmates of a
neighboring convent, as the animals, if convicted,
would be burnt and their ashes buried. Justice
did not move quickly in those times; it was on
September 12, 1379, Unit the Duke of Burgundy
delivered judgment; only the three guilty sows
and one young pig (what had it done?) were to be
executed: the others were set at liberty, 'notwith
standing that they had seen the death of the boy
without defending him.' Were they all alive after
nine years? An important trial took place in
Savoy in the year 1587. The accused was a certain
fly. Two suitable advocates were assigned to the
insects, who argued that these creatures had been
blessed by God who gave them the right to feed
on grass, and were in their right when theyoc
cupied the vineyards of the Com muje; they
' availed themselves of a legitimate privilege con
'formable to divine and natural law. TJte'jiujyor
' of St. Julien hastened to propose a compromise,' he
offered a piece of land where the flies might And
a safe retreat and live out their days in peace and
plenty. The offer was accepted. Records of 141
such trials have come to light"
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