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The. Cqmmoher,
.VOLUME 7,.NUMBEE 11
6
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CURK6NT
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DENNIS KEARNEY is (lend. Ho was born in
Ireland in 18-17; lie became a sailor, then
engaged in the draylng business In San Francisco,
taking also an active imrt in local politics. In
1877 ho began an agitation among the working
men directing his energies particularly at the evils
of capital, Chinese labor, etc. For several years
Kearney was a conspicuous character. He finally
dropped out of public notice, and for the last
twenty-live years he has been practically un
heard of.
O
MR. ROOSEVELT has written to the editor
of the Review of Reviews to take exception
to certain statements made in an article recently
printed In that publication, which article was en
titled, "The Doctor In the Public Schools." "This
writer states clearly," says the president, "that it
Is an erroneous idea to assume that the average
family should have a larger number of healthy
children than the present birth rate showed. The
vital statistics of n state like Massachusetts show
that there the average family of native American
descent has so few children that the birth rate
has fallen below the death rate. This, of course,
means race suicide, and it ought to bo understood
that if after a while there arc no children to go
to school the question of their health in school
would not even bo academic." Continuing Mr.
Roosevelt says: "The greatest problem of clvili- '
ssatlon is to be found in the fact that the well-to-do
families tend to die out; there results In conse
quence a tendency lo the elimination, instead of
the survival of the fittest, and tile moral attitude
which helps on tills tendency Is, of course, strength
ened when it is apologized for and praised in n
magazine like yours. Our people could still exist
under all kinds of Iniquities In government; under
a debased currency, under official corruption, un
der the rule of a socialistic proletariat, or a wealthy
oligarchy. All these things would be bad for us,
but the country would still exist. But it could
not continue to exist if "It paid hcqd to the ex
pressed or Implied teachings of such articles as
this."
T EV. DR. C. F. AKED, lately of London, has
Iaj become pastor of the Fifth Avenue Baptist
church, New York, which is commonly known as
"John D. Rockefeller's church," A dispatch to
the Denver News, under date of New. York, Apoil
28, siiys that In Ids Sunday sermon, Dr. Akcd "un
consciously loolsed straight at the now the oil mag
nate usually occupies: 'Oan you reconcile your
business with God? Was yesterday's deal in har
mony "with Ills inind? Will your books stand n
heavenly audit? In your olllco dare you put up
the prayer that Is to say, should you dare if you
had any realizing hellef In the efficacy of prayer
"Abide with Me; come not to sojourn, but to abide
with mo!" Will you reconcile your business meth
ods with God? A ministry which does not force
these questions home is sawdust and chaff.' "
WL. ROSS of Philadelphia gives the North
American of that city, as well as some
other metropolitan newspapers, something to thiuk
about when he writes: "In your issue of April 30
you say: 'Louis F. Post, editor of the Public, Is
one of the leading socialistic thinkers and writers
in the United States.' Your statement is true, pro
vided the word 'socialistic' is omitted. After all
that has been said in your paper about socialism,
it is about time that more accurocy were shown
as to its meaning. The Century dictionary gives
a fairly good definition: 'Any theory or system
of social organization which would abolish, entire
ly or In great part, the Individual effort and com
petition on which modern society rests, and sub
stitute for it co-operative action, would introduce
a more perfect and equal distribution of the pro
ducts of labor, and would make land and capital,
as the instruments and means of production, the
joint possession of the members of the community.
Tha tmtMi Is used to include a great variety of
wteH tSmxiat and reforms which have more or
lews tf ft&fc dwirncter.' The leading features of
swtelfaMt w tfwt it would have the state absorb
all laavt auwS tapffal. It would have the state con
duct fbe pwdiwrtfon and distribution of wealth. It
would abolteh competition. For many years Louis
F. Post has advocated the theories of Henry
George. He necrf that our overcrowding in busi
ness and in the labor "market is not caused by
competition, but by monopoly. He takes the same
position that that great educator, Nicholas Mur
ray Butler, takes. 'Therefore, socialism is pri
marily an attempt to overcome man's individual
Imperfections by adding them together, in the
hope Unit they will cancel each other. This is not
only bad mathematics, but worse psychology.'
Louis F. Post is one of the most able and brilliant
writers of the times, ne sees with clear vision
the causes of the unjust distribution of wealth.
But ho is not a socialist If you assign any definite
meaning to the term. He Is a singlc-tnxer a fol
lower of that most profound and accurate of rea
soners, that leader of the world's best thought co
day Henry Geoige."
o
MR. ROOSEVELT is now making an effort
to reform the Elks. The St. Louis Times
says that the following letter was sent by the
president on March 81 to Henry A. Melvin of
Oakland, Oal., the grand exalted ruler of the order:
"My Dear Judge Melvin: I am not an Elk,
but the writer of the enclosed letter" is. I have
a very full appreciation of the immense amount
of good done by this great social and benevolent
order. I all the more regret that the noblest re
maining of our wild creatures should be threat
ened with destruction primarily because of the
custom which has grown up in the order of wear
ing elks' tusks as the emblem of the order. Killing
elks for the tusks has now become a regular trade.
Most of the killing is Illegal; and in almost every
case the carcass, containing hundreds of pounds
of good meat, is left to rot one of the most beau
tiful and stately creatures of the wilderness be
ing turned to mere .carrion so that its teeth may
be worn on the chain of a woll-ineaning man who
does not take the trouble to think of the sinful
waste and destruction caused by the gratification
of his whim. Although not an Elk, I at one time
a number of years ago, wore as an ornamont on
my watch chain a peculiarly fine elk's tusk be
longing to a big bull I had shot. But although it
was my trophy I gave up wearing it when I found
the widespread destruction that the custom of
wearing these tusks was causing. Is it not pos
sible that your order, which has done so much for
uplifting our American citizenship and for render
ing life among so many of our people both easier
and happier, may now come to the front again in
rendering the service to our whole people that
would be rendered by the abolition of this de
structive custoin?"
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL prints what
it calls "another chapter of the Alton deal,"
and a very interesting chapter it is indeed! The
Journal says: "The more the Alton deal is
studied the more extraordinary does its history
appear. Here is a chapter which did not come
out at the recent Union Pacific investigation. It
will bo recalled that the Alton readjustment took
place during Mr. Harriman's absence in Alaska.
Pie has nevertheless been held by public opinion
chiefly responsible for it, and hhf associates In the
scheme, Messrs. Gould, Stillman and Schiff, have
in a largo measure escaped the condemnation
which has been his portion. The idea has pre
vailed that Mr. Harriman planned the deal be
fore he left for Alaska, and that what took place
during his absence was simply the carrying out
of his ideas. Mr. Harriman, to his credit be it
said, has not sought to escape any blame which
attaches to the transaction by shifting the burden
upon the shoulders of his associates. His friends
say, however, that upon his return from Alaska
he was, in fact, displeased at what had been done
while he was away, fooling that a mistake had
been made. This, however, did not prevent him
from going ahead with his accustomed energy to
make a success of the transaction. Complete suc
cess depended upon making a market for the bonds
which had been issued to the Harrimau-Goulrt-Stillman-Schiff
syndicate at 05. Enlisting the aid
of Benjamin B. Odell, then chairman of the re
publican state committee, It is said Mr, Harriman
secured the passage by tho atato legislature of a
law extending the permissible saying's bank In
vestments to these Alton bonds. A fact of extra
ordinary interest in view of recent development
is that this law was signed by Governor Theodore:
Roosevelt. Thus the signature of Roosevelt com
pleted the Alton deal by giving the Alton bonds
tho prestige, which attaches to a savings hunk
investment. Yet at this very time the essential
facts of the Alton readjustment stock-watering
and all had been made public. This of course
does not imply any complicity on the part of
Governor Roosevelt in the operations of the Har
riman syndicate, On the contrary the governor
unquestionably accepted the bill as it came to hiin,
in good faith, believing that it represented the
desires of the investment market. He did not
then understand tho matter as he does nowSeven
years later, as president of the United States, Air.
Roosevelt believed it to be his duty to procped
against Mr. Harriman and condemn this Very deal
which he himself, in his ignorance, as governor of
New York, had helped to consummate".'' ,
THE SPECULATORS of Wall street se'em to
have had a special interest in, Mr. Roosevelt's
Jamestown exposition speech, and so deep was
the interest of Wall Street that it is charged that
in some mysterious way the speculators received
advance copies of the address. The New York
World sajrs: "For several days typewritten copies
of what is purported to be extracts of the speech
President Roosevelt is to deliver at the Jamestown
exposition today have been in circulation in Wall
Street brokerage houses. As these extracts have
boon interpreted as showing that the president has
adopted a more conservative policy toward the
railroads, they have been the basis of stock ma
nipulation on the bull side. The alleged copies of
the speech bear the usual release notice sent out
with the president's messages and speeches.
There is a very strong reservation against the con
tents being permitted to leak to the public. Wall
Street is guessing as tp hpw the alleged dopiea
came into the possession of the numerous members
of tho stock exchange who had them yesterday.
The first copy appeared' on Monday, and on Tues
day the number had. increased, by several: score.
It" is .said positively .that thq speech did not lealc
through any of 'the newspapers or through uie.
Associated Press, which is usually selected by the
president to distribute his speeches and messages
to the newspapers."
EASTERN NEWSPAPERS very generally in
terpret Mr. Roosevelt's Jamestown exposi
tion speech as a marked concession to the cor
poration element, while some regard it as plain ,
assurance that the administration has no inten
tion Ho run amuck," in dealing with trusts and
special Interests. The Philadelphia Public Ledger
says: "It may be confidently stated that the pres
ident has Bounded for him a new note. It is evi
dent that he is beginning to fear the enthusiasm
of some of his most unregulated followers, and
that he sees, if not a chance of some danger; to
the country, embarrassment to the party; if tho -wildest
elements of the populists shall be permit-'
ted to dominate the republican party and give to -it
its tone and temper."
IN HIS ADDRESS at the Jamestown expositions
Mr. Roosevelt said that Edmund Burke com
bined unshakable resolution In pressing reform
with a profound temperateness of spirit wich
made him, while bent on the Extirpation of the
evil system, refuse to cherish an unreasoning and
vindicative ill will toward the men who had ben
efited by It. He quoted Burke as saying that If
he could not reform with equity, he would not -e-form
at all, there being "a state to preserve as well
as a state to reform.'"
TNTKRPRETING THE president's address, the -X
Wall Street Journal says: "The fact, that
President Roosevelt has put this passage into his
speech is significant. The president's enemies
charge that In pressing reforms ho has not done
so with a temperateness of spirit and that he has
cherished unreasoning and vindictivd ill will r
They declare that In his eagerness to reform lie '
is an agent of destruction and that his whole L '
policy as ho has applied it is thus ruinous to the
country. It would appear that tno president hid "-
these criticisms in mind when he penned titaVJJ
quotation from' Burke, and declared that what ,1
Burko said was tho oxact spirit in which this
country should move to tho reform of abuses of 1;
corporate 'wealth, In other words, President '
Itooscvolt wishes to Impress upon tho country that ' l
his policy Is constructive and not destructive: that'' "
it is Intended to build tip rather than to teardown
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