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8
The Commoner.
VOLUME 7, NUMBER 15
It Is n pleasure to bo able to sny Unit never for a
moment wis there, as between the government of
the United States and tbe government of Japan,
tlio sllghlest departure from perfect good temper
mutual confidence, and kindly consideration; and
that no sooner bad tbesvlews and purposes of the
government of tbe United States, the state of Cal
ifornia, and tbe city of Kan Francisco been ex
plained by each to the other than entire harmony
and good understanding resulted, with a common
desire to exercise the powers vested In each, for
the common good of the whole country of the state
and of the city. The excitement has now subsided,
so that It may bo useful to couslder what the ques
tion really was, not because It Is necessary for the
purposes of that particular case, but because of Its
bearing upon copses which may arise In the future
under the application of the treaty-making power
of the United States to other matters and in other
parts of the national domain."
o
AS A. WELCOME relief to the reports of the
divorce courts comes a pretty story from
the Philadelphia correspondent for the Now York
World, the story follows: "Dying from anaemia,
the life of Mrs. Peter Anderson has been saved
by a remarkable surgical operation, In which her
husband's blood -was pumped direct from his ar
teries Into hors. Tho woman, who was in coma
at the time, Is now on tho road to recovery, and
her husband, though weak from the loss of blood,
will bo restored to his normal condition. Tho opcr
atlon, the second- of tho kind over performed In
the United Slated and tho first In Philadelphia,
was conducted by Dr. G. M. Dorranco and Dr.
David Ucisman. Tho operation never had been
attempted before as a means of curing anaemia.
Mrs. Anderson, who Is thirty-five years old, had
been suffering from extreme anaemia for several
years. Palo, weak, she seemed almost bloodless.
Ten days ago the disease took a turn for tho
worse, and her attending physician, Dr. Relsmun,
hud her moved to tho Polyclinic hospital. Satur
day night she lapsed Into coma.- The surgeons
gave her heart stimulants, but in vain. Then Dr.
Relsmun thought of the experiments of Dr. Dor
runco In 'blood transfer.' Dr. Dorranco was sum
moned. He had experimented with animals with
success, but novel' on human beings. Anderson
( nnil his wife wore placed on tho operating table
' together. Tho man was put under an anaesthetic. '
An artery In his- left arm was punctured, and
through a tube blood was pumped Into an artery
In his wife's arm. She rallied at once and rapidly
gained In strength. After two quarts of Ander
son's blood had flowed Into his wife's arteries, tho
tube was removed and tho wounds of both pa-
tlents dressed. Anderson wept with joy when he
came from under the influence of tho ether and
saw his wife restored to consciousness and
strength." ,
o
A DISPATCH from Washington says: "Fear
ing that some of tho .$175,000,000 unsigned
bunk notes in the vaults of the treasury may have
been stolen, Secretary- Cortelyou today, at tho re
quest of the comptroller of the currency, assigned
experts to count the notes. This action is tho di
rect result of the robbery of tho Chicago sub-treasury
of $1S3,000. The task will require six clerks
and eighteen export counters two weeks to per
form. There has not been a count for more than
five yours. There bus boon only two losses in the
history of this bureau. The last was In 1S00,
since -which time there hns been Issued to tho
banks $3,000,000,000 without the loss of a dollar."
rpHE county of St. Clair, Missouri, has for many
JL years been regularly held in contempt of the
federal court, and its county judges have, for
thirty-one years, been sent to jail or required to
"hide out," because of their refusal to pay the
judgment granted on certain railroad bonds. The
Now York World tells the story in this way: "I;i
early days states as widely separated as Massa
chusetts, Michigan and Georgia built at public
cost railroads which wero thought essential to their
development. Cities and towns were bonded to
aid others. Farmors often bought stock as tbe
only condition upon which capitalists would un
dortako brunch lli.es. The farmers wero usually
squeezed . out by stock assessments, state man
agement -was In every cuse finally abandoned and
bonding proved such u nuisance that many statc3
now forbid it in their constitutions. After the war
the railroad fever struck Missouri and many coun
ties bonded themselves to get lines built, us tho
stute law then permitted. St. Clair county -made
tho mistake of delivering $250,000 in bonds when a
contract wus let for u line which it desired, In
stead of waiting until the work was done. The
promoters worked at grading u mile or two for
track until they could Sell the bonds, and then
stopped. The rond wus never built, mid it bus
since oeen an article or religion in St. dull county
thut neither principal wnor Interest on tho Jjonds
shall be paid. The county judges are alwnys in
contempt of court. They ure martyrs, honored in
tho community. This is a ense whero justice Is
now Impossible. The thieves liuvo escuped, and
either flio presumably innocent bondholders or tho
innocent tuxpuyers must suffer. In such cuses tho
courts always hold that tho taxpayers must bear
the burden because they authorized their officers
to issue tho bonds and reasonable precautions
against being cheated should have been taken. In
tho famous New Haven railroad case bonds wero
issued by a president and sold for his private
profit. Tliey wero held good against tho corpora
tion because tho president hud been empowered
by the company to issue bonds. Purchasers hud
no means of determining which of two bonds pre
cisely alike had been honestly and which dishon
estly acquired. They passed from hand to hand
like a dollar bill, and a stolen dollar bill cunnot
bo recovered from an Innocent person Into whoso
hands It may have fallen. St. Clair county's dollar
bill was stolen long ago, yet few readers can help
sympathizing with tho spirit of the judges who go
cheerfully to Jail ruther than yield themselves
beaten in a contest Of wits between sharpers and
honest men a generution ugo."
THE Jeffersoniun Society of Spokane, Wash.;
celebrated Jefferson's birthday April 13, by
a banquet. The principal address was delivered
by Governor Chamberlain of Oregon. His sub
ject was "Jefferson's Theories Vindicated." Other
well known speakers who took part in the program
wore: Wm. Goodyear of the Colfax Commoner;
A. W. Jones, vice-president of the State Federa
tion of Labor; Fred E. Baldwin, member of the
city council of Spokane; Del Cary Smith, Lester
P. Edge and Judge Godmftn of Dayton. Ex
Congrossman Jones was toastmaster. This was
the fourth annual banquet given by the society.
Those banquets are not of the formal Invitation
order, but ure open to uny und ull who desire to
attend.
AT tho dinner given by "tho Nationul Demo
crntic Club" at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel on
the evening of April 14, Col. George Harvey, edi
tor of Harper's Weekly, vigorously attacked Pros-,
ident Roosevelt He said while the president is
during and honest he is "boyish in mind??, and not
a safe man for tho White House. Colonel Harvey
attacked Mr. Bryan with equal energy, referring
to him as "u peerless louder who hobbles like a
cripple in the wake of his successful rlyul, guth
ering us he goes the few scrups thut are left of
his own fallacies." Colonel Harvey is, by tho
way, editor of a publication which is believed "to
be owned by J. Pierpont Morgan.
ON the same evening the Independence League
of New York gave u dinner which wus at
tended by four hundred und twenty-five gentle
men. Wm. It. Hours t, District Attorney Jerome
of New York, District Attorney Morun of Boston,
John Temple Gruves of Atluntn, were umong
those present. In' his address Mr. Hearst said:
"Neither one of tho old parties-stands today for
any particular principle. There are trusts demo
crats ajid nntl-trusf democrats; there ure trust re
publicans and anti-trust republicans; there are
high tariff republicans and tariff reform republi
cans, and there ore democrats scattered all along
the way from protection to free trade. In fact
there are in both purtles those who profit by class
distinction and special privilege and those who
stand for popular rights and equal opportunities
for all. Political battles today are not fought on
tho real issues of today and these Issues will never
be decided until some party Is formed that will
stand boldly for definite principles that will col
lect -within its ranks all those committed to those
principles and that will rise or fall according to
tho verdict of the people on those principles. The
motto of the democratic party is 'Anything to get
in.' The. motto of the republican party is 'Any
thing to stay in.' Take tho two prlncnples now
conspicuously before the country, the principle of
public control of public utilities und tho principle
of public ownership of public utilities. Both avos
good, both ure practlcublo, but both ure dependent
upon tho honesty und efficiency of the administra
tion thut operates them. It bus been proven pos
sible for corrupt or Incompetent men so to mls
munnge the postul service of this country us to"
nlmost discredit tho whole system of public own
ership. The postoffice presents a deficit of $10,
000,000 a year, when it should produce a profit of
ut leust thut amount. I say this condition of the
postofllce finances is as much corruption as it is
incompetency. The fraudulent weighing of tho
mails Is thievery. The corrupt expenditure of the
people's money in political subsidies is robbery.
And the campaign contributions of the beneficiary
corporations are bribery. In 1904 Mr. Perkins
contributed $50,000. of the money of widows and
orphans to Mr. Cortelyou, cumpnign collector of
the republican purty. In 1005 Mr. Cortelyou, :is
postmnster general, puid back to Perkins tbe party
debt with public funds- He awarded Perkins a
contract for his steamsliip line which pays him
$500,000 u your more than other steamship lines
are paid for a similar service. This contract ex
tends over ten yours, und will net Mr. Perkins
$5,000,000 nbovo a legitimate profit. Mr. Perkins
has returned under tho-force of public exposure
the $50,000 which he appropriated from the wid
ows and orphans. But he is still ahead $4,050,
000 on the transaction. Mr. Cortelyou hast paid
out $5,000,000 of tho people's money to get $50,000
for the republican campaign fund, and has as yet
shown no disposition to return a dollar. So it
seems that Mr. Roosevelt und Mr. Hnrrimun aro
not the only practical men in this practical admin
istration. Mr. Cortelyou and Mr. Perkins appear
to be about us practical as men can be and remain
at large. Not public contrornor public ownership
will be successful until you elect faithful public
officials, and you will not elect fuithful and; com
petent men to office until you choose the managers
of your government as you would the managers
of your private business, with more consideration
for their worth than for their party affiliation." .
UNDER the leadership of John Sayles, the Dem
ocratic Society of Erie county and western
New York, has been formed. 'Referring 'to "this
orgunizution, a newspaper dispatch says: "After
the general meeting the executive committee
elected tho following officers for the cdmingyear:
President, John Sayles; secretary, J. B. Kennedy;
treasurer, Edward E. Tanner. The constitution
adopted provides us follows: The name of the
society shall be the Democratic Society of Erie
County und Western New York; its object shall be
'to exalt and proclaim democratic party princi
ples and loyally support all regularly nominated
democratic candidates.' The annual meeting of
tho society shall be held on the 8th day of Janu-"
ary in each year."
EVEN President Schurmaj tX Cornell Univer-,
sity, tukes a poke at Mt. Roosevelt, and -draws
a .parallel between the president and Ty-'i
berius Gracchus. The, Wall Street Journal .criti-'"
cises the Post, for J attacking., the. president in
aii address delivered at u memorial meeting!
The occusion being a memorial meeting for the
late Governor Higgins. The Wall Street Journal
adds: "Never in all his long politcal career has
Mr. Roosevelt confronted such a crisis us thut
which he is now meeting with his customary
courage and aggressiveness. From all. quarters
his enemies and the enemies of his policy are
gathering their forces to crush him. The fight of
his life is before him. The question is whether
the main work of his udminlstrutlon shall be de
stroyed by the election of a reactionary as his
successor, or whether it shall be carried to its le
gitimate consummation by a successor in full sym
pathy with his ideus. While his enemies are thus
gathering, the evidences of Roosevelt's popularity
ure also manifest In all parts of the country, anil
those who look for the speedy decline of his po
litical power may find themselves woefully dis
appointed." .
A. Commoner reader sends an extract from the
editorial columns of the New York Sun, and
asks that it be printed in this paper in order that
Commoner readers may be Informed as to the sig
nificance of the political movements. Tho Suu'a
editorial is entitled "The- Real Problem of the "
South," und is as follows: "It is probable that
within the next twelve months Mr. Bryan's hold
upon the iraaglnution of the southern democrats
will be seriously weakened if not altogether de
stroyed. The leaders of thought in that section,
who if need be can make themselves also leaders
in action, are gradually absorbing the conviction
that if the south is to continue its career, of ma
terial prosperity it musreonfide its destinies to a
regime of conservatism. They have reached ah
altitude of philosophy at which the party label of
the future president is of far less importance than
his patriotism, his common sense and his identifi
cation with the purposes and methods of true
democracy. Meanwhile, Avithout at all intending
to chullenge tho sincerity of Mr. Roosevelt's re
nunciation, muny of them entertain the belief that
he will be the next candidate of the republican
party, and they discover only a deeper alurm and
apprehension in the alternative presented by the
WS1I.am J 5rynn As "y praise the sit
uation, it is for thorn n choice between Tweedle
dum and Tweedlede6, with an .inlpasse for prog
ress und development in both Toads:: They cannot
perceive under the auspices of either the smallest
assurance of that orderly and tranquil dispensation '.
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