I.
1W $
t
' Y f
!4PRIL 20, 1007
The Commoner
9
fcf "V
jf
W'
'sat?
'J&?.
y
V
-under which alone the country may be enabled to
resume its mental composure and encouraged to
redouble its fructiferous activity. So it happens
that beneath the, surface, with which they havo
no concern at present, the men who understand
the south's needs and are capable of achieving
them by wise counsel and effective leadership as
semble their solicitudes and ponder the problem
with grave minds. Much may come of it, little or
nothing may come of it. But the big men of the
south, should .they get together and agree to con
centrate the responsibility for socialism not to
say anarchy on the north, will be able to cancel
Mr. Bryan as effectually as though he had never
been a factor in the equation. Almost any south
ern favorite, clean, strong, widely knovn and
properly exploited, would" put him out of the run
ning. And thus, the south could send uninstructed
delegations to the democratic national convention,
leaving the party free to' choose between wisdom
and folly, between enlightened patriotism and
fatuous hysteria. Perhaps we Hud little in the
history of past politics to encourage us. But the
fact remains that the dominating elements at the
south see little if any difference when it comes to
Roosevelt vs. Bryan, or Gompers vs. Mitchell.
Let no one doubt theM'eallty of the situation we
have here outlined. Without ascending to proph
ecy we content ourselves with a statement of the
facts."
Ar . WASHINGTON dispatch, carried by the As
sociated Press follows: "Some interesting
Information on the operations of the Texas stock
and bond law of 1893, under which a valuation
of the railroad properties "of the state" was made in
1805, was given to the president by Judge S. H.
Cowan of Texas, a special employe of the inter
state commerce commission and attorney for the
southwestern cattle growers' association. Mr.
Cowan told the president that the Texas law had
proved a success. It had not been put on the
statute books fpr the purpose of becoming the
basis for rate-making, he said, but to fix a line
beyond which the roads could not go in issuing
stocks and bonds. He added that the valuation
put on the railroads by the Texas commission hav
ing charge of the matter exceeded the cost of con
struction by 15 to 20 per cent and the cost of the
ascertainment of the facts had been comparatively
"small. So far as he was aware, Judge Cowan
said nOne-Of the railroads 'had. contested' a falua-"
tion made under the law."
which It Is agreed shall be arbitrated, and that
provisions can be made for greater facility and
Certainty of arbitration. I hope to see adopted a
general arbitration treaty among the nations; and
I hope to see The Hague court greatly Increased in
power and permanency, and the judges in particu
lar made permanent and given adequate salaries,
so as to make it increasingly probable that in each
case that may come before them they will decide
between the nations, groat or small, exactly as a
judge within our own limits decides between the
individuals, great. or small, who come before him.
Doubtless many other matters will be taken up
at The Hague; but it seems to mo that this of a
general arbitration treaty is perhaps the most Important"
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT covered a wide
range in his letter to the "peace congress"
recently in session In New York. The most Inter
esting reference is the one concerning disarma
. ment, in which the president said: "Our repre
sentatives will go to the second peace conference
at The Hague instructed to help in every practi
cable way to bring some steps nearer completion
the great work which the first conference beggm.
-It is idle to expect that a task so tremendous can
be settled by one or two conferences, and those
who demand the impossible from such a confer
ence not only prepare acute disappointment for
themselves, but by arousing exaggerated and base-
' less hopes, which are certain to be disappointed,
play the game of the very men who. wish the confer
ence to accomplish nothing. One of the questions,
although not to, my mind one of the most import
ant, which will be brought before the conference,
will be that of the limitation of armaments. The
"United States, owing to its peculiar position, has a
regular army so small as to be infinitesimal when
compared to that of any other first-class power.
Harm and not good would result if the most ad
vanced nations, those in which most freedom for
the individual is combined with most efficiency in
securing orderly justice as between individuals,
should, by agreement, disarm and place themselves
at the mercy of other peoples less advanced, of
other peoples still in the stage of military barbar
ism or military despotism. Anything in the na
ture of general disarmament would do harm and
not good if it ieft the civilized and peace-loving
peoples, those with the highest standards of mu
nicipal and international obligation and duty, un
able to check the other peoples, who have no such
standards, who acknowledge no such obligations."
ON' the question of arbitration President Roose
velt said: "More important than reducing
the expense of the Implements of war is the
question of reducing the possible causes of war,
which can most effectually be-done by substituting
other methods thrill war for the settlement of dis
putes. Of those other methods,' the most important
which Is now nttainable is arbitration. I do not
believe that in theworld as it actually is It is pos
sible for any nation .to agree,toarbitrate all diffi
culties whicll may- arise between itself and other
nations; but I do' believe that thertitcan-.be, at-this
time, a A'ery-large increase in the classes of cases
THE United States supreme court lias held that
the Isle of Pines Is not American territory.
An Associated Piess dispatch says: "The decision
was rendered in the famous case of Edward J.
Pearcy vs. Nevada N. Stranalian, collector of the
portof New York, and the opinion was announced
by Chief Justice Fuller, who said that upon the
Paris treaty the Isle of Pines had been considered
as an integral part of Cuba and that it would not
be held to be covered by article 2 of that treaty,
which included Islands in the vicinity of Porto
Rico only. The case originated in connection with
the importation of a few boxes of cigars by
Pearcy in September, 1903, but its hearing by the
court was from time to time postponed in the
hope that "the status of the island might be defi
nitely fixed by legislation or diplomacy. The
cigars wore made in the Isle of Pines of tobacco
grown there and when they arrived Pearcy re
fused to pay duty on the ground that they were
of dompstic origin. The collector thereupon seized
them and Pearcy appealed to the United States
circuit court, whore he secured no relief, as that
court sustained a demurer filed by the government
and dismissed the case. He promptly brought
the case to the supreme court, by whom the decree
of the lower court was affirmed today."
THE constitutionality of the Louisiana law of
1898, making taxable in that state notes taken
by nonresidents on account of business transacted
there, was brought into question in the case of
the Metropolitan Life Insurance company of New
York vs. the City of New Orleans,- which was de
cided l)y the supreme court of the United States
recently, In favor of the city, the opinion being
by Justice Moody. An Associated Press dispatch
says: "The suit grew out of an effort by the city
to tax the company for $10,000 worth of credits on
business transacted in the state which was resist
ed by the company on the ground that the notes
were taxable .only in New York, where they were
held. The attempt of the authorities was char
acterized as, an effort ,to extend the taxing power
of the Louisiana authorities beyond the state and
to take property without due process of law. Jus-.
tice Moody said that the mere absence of the notes
from -the place of their origin did not deprive them
of a taxable status in Louisiana."
THE Washington , correspondent of the New
York World raa'kes this contribution to the
Roosevelt-lToraker controversy: "President Roose
velt sent for four, newspaper men today to come
to the White House tnat he might tell tliem what
he thought of the speech of Senator Foraker and
also that one of the men in the $5,000,000 'con
spiracy' had revealed himself. The president said
that Senator Foraker's rpeech at Canton on Wed
nesday night last was a good one and that it was
calculated to win for Senator Foraker- many
friends. He said lie had not b61ieved that Senator
Foraker would handle the matter as temperately
as he had and that he had hoped that he would
use Tiolent language, all of wliich lie believed
would havo helped Secretary Taft, who
Is now the president's avowed candidate for
the presidency. The president confided to the
newspapermen that he was going to send Secre
tary Taft to Ohio to take the stump and tell the
people about his candidacy. lie said he was not
in favor of the Secretary going to Alaska or the
Philippines tills year; that the Ohio situation was
far more important -and that from now on- Sec
retary Taft would have to devote himself to gain
ins the presidential nomination. This declaration
'on the part of the president was received with
surprise by his friends. They thought it was rather
an unusual tiling for even Secruary Tuft to go
on the stump to get the nomination. Having dis
posed of the secretary of war for the summer
months the president next told his publicists of the
$5 000,000 conspiracy' and how H. H. Rogers of
the Standard Oil company, had revealed himself
as one of the chief conspirators. The president
pointed to the newspaper reports of Mr. Rogers'
statement published this morning as ample corro
boration of the conspiracy, which Senator Pen
rose Is charged with having revealed at a dinner
at the Shorclmm hotel while William Loeb, jr.,
secretary to the president, was present. The pe
culiar paragraph of II. II. Rogers's statement
which the president alluded to read: 'The people
must see that settled conditions are necessary for
progress and development, and I believe Unit the
sentiment of the country will havo so crystallized
within a few months Unit there will be a prac
tically united demand for the strongest conserv
atism in ihe conduct of Uio government. We must
havo settled conditions, and I believe Unit we will
have them.' This paragraph. of Mr. Rogers's slnrc"
ment the president says Is a verification of the
'conspiracy.' "
WRITING of the so-called administration war
on trusts and railroad pools the Washington
correspondent of the Chicago Tribune says: "The
attitude of Attorney General Bonaparte in regard
to all such Investigations lias been a distinct dis
appointment to every well wisher of the admin
istration. The attorney general has been pnln?
fully slow in all of his movements and his con
duct of the office lias been in marked contrast with
the vigor and promptness with which the work
was administered under Attorney General Moody.
Before ho came into ,thc cabinet Mr. Bonaparte
gave expression to certain unusually conservative
views on the trust question which were entirely
out of harmony with the policy of the administra
tion of which lie has now become a part. It was
thought, however, that he would subordinate his
personal prejudices, but this desirable condition
of affairs does not seem to exist and Uio depart
ment of justice in the last two months or so has
been involved in a condition of lethargy wliich has
led many people to believe there has been a com
plete cessation of trust prosecution. Even the vic
tory of the government In the Standard Oil cases
In Chicago seems to have aroused no responsive
chord at the department."
o
TEFERRING to this Tribune dispatch, the Oma
X) ha World-IIerald says: "What would you
have? What did President Roosevelt expect when
he appointed, to enforce the laws against the
trusts, a man 'entirely out of harmony' with those
laws? What would a reasonable man expect?
What trusts have been busied, anyway?
What railroad rates reduced? What combinations
dissolved? Again, what would a reasonable man
expect with such cabinet members as Elihu Root,
Paul Morton, Philander Knox, Shaw, Cortelyou,
Bonaparte and others who havo lent distinction to
the radical president's extremely conservative cab
inet? It's a reform administration; we know it Js
because it says so itself. But the big trusts and
the allied railroads keep right on doing business
at the old stand and at the old rates or some a
little stiffer."
o
Mil. STEAD, the attorney general for Illinois,
who seems unable to find any ground for
serious action against Magnate Harriman, Is com
ing in for some very bitter criticism. The New
York Press, a republican paper, says: "The at
torney general of Illinois seems to be a sample of
what public prosecutors should not be in these
days. Mr. Stead has handed to Governor Deneen
an opinion on the Chicago & Alton thimblerigging
by Harriman, in which ho says some harsh things
about the swindle. He goes so far as to call it
manipulation.' When it comes to remedies he is
in doubt The state of Illinois,, he thinks, is not
the proper authority to begin action to recover the
loot. He has nearly convinced himself that if any
civil proccedlngSare brought they ought to be by
the company itself. That is to say, the Harriman
crew ought to sue themselves. If they do not do
so then some single stockholders should bear the
heavy burden of a suit. Finally Mr. Stead de
clines to -say at tliis time whether the members of
the conspiracy are criminally liable under the
laws of Illinois. If the offense had been com
mitted by some vulgar criminal the attorney gen
eral by this time would have answered the ques
tion, and the offender either would be under In
dictment or the state would have confessedjts
impotency to deal witli the crime. From all of
which it would appear that the demand for pros:
ecutors who will proceed against tiie-bife crimi
nals jdst as they would against pickpoctifeljft is not
yet filled." "TL.
REPRESENTATIVE Charles E. Townsend, of
Michigan, insists that Mr, Roosevelt must
run for a third term; saying that the demand for
his renomination will be so great that he cannot
ignore it. The Nebraska legislature and the Iowa
legislature have adopted resolutions expressing
confidence in Mr. Roosevelt in his tilt with Har
riman. The New York Times prints , letters from
a Jarge-number, of .republican editors to the. effect
that public sentiment Is clearly with the president.
1
1
a
t
;IH
C
."-,