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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (May 24, 1907)
r.M ?tmy' tw;i 'tW".'WnWR&!VW&m ? y" The Commoner. ... - m '"" ' ' 1111 III i - f , Washington Letter Washington, D. C May 20. Now conies again .the presidential interference with state's affairs Congress being out of .session the ad ministration has determined to establish "nat uralization bureaus" in a number of leading cities. The-purpose, so it is said, is to prevent election frauds. In every one of "the cities there will be a federal chief and a number of de- Mectives. Every voter must qualify before this bureau of naturalization. In other words every man who desires to vote for aldermen of Kan sas City, Seattle or San Francisco must secure from Washington his right to vote. This plan was announced at tha capital to- 1 day. Assistant Attorney General Cooley has started west to arrange the details and to selects the chiefs of the various bureaus. It Is his - considerable tariff discussion that does not ap pear in the congressional record. Now England -and the northwest started a revision schism that made surprising inroads Into the republican ma jority. At one time It almost looked like an extra session to consider the tariff. The repub lican whips wore working overtime and "Joe" Cannon was doing his best to. savo the para mount issue of 1908. Now it looks as if- all this worry and work against tariff rovlsidn In the Fifty-ninth con gress would go for naught. The Sixtieth con gress may bo compelled to take up the tariff question whether it wants to or not. "Joe" Can non and other "standpatters" to the contrary notwithstanding. The now German-American agreement, intended to avert a tariff war be tween Germany and the United States has left our whole tariff policy In a most uncertain con dition. The modus Vivendi with Germany is very indefinite. The German administration In fact has notified us that it would not again ask German legislators to allow American imports under the full minimum tariff schedules unless our congress should Bhow its inclination to reciprocate. For a number of years we have ' Had tariff working agreements with Germany. These agreements, alone have averted a tariff iMiatnoso tn flrirf inn.ll of the erowinc cities of the south, and, the middle west, men who will ' wdr between the two nations. The N present Jovo ,!,. mHAVa frrtm f.hfl White -House and moaus, nowever, amers most signmcauuy irora determine who among the incoming immigrants shall be allowed to vote, ll is not merely a matter of voting for congressmen or' for presi dential electors. If it wore, the federal govern ment might have the right or the power to exercise some supervision. But as our elections, state and national coincide In almost every state in time, this purpose of the administration to determine who shall "and who shall not vote amounts to. a determination to control the election. Some years ago there was an attack made by the. democratic party on the so-called force bill. The attack was successful. What will the party, or the people, think of this purpose of the present administration to fix the qualifi cations of- voters by edict issued from" the White House? It is a matter of gossip in Washington, how well founded few can tell, that fullysix months . ago, even before IToraker flung his glove'- in the president's- face on the- Brownsville -matter, " Mr. Lohgworth was saying at social functions that he would be the next senator from Ohio. The later report was that Congressman Burton aspired to that distinguished position, but within two days the story has been serit out, like one of those trial balloons that they send up from the White House, thatthe presidential influence. will be used to elect Burton speaker of the house. Nobody believes that even Mr. Roosevelt's great power could defeat Speaker Cannon. But it Is to be borne In mind that the next house of representatives has not the overwhelming republican majority that has made of the Fifty ninth congress such a well disciplined machine.. A very few insurgents would make great trouble for "Uncle Joe" and it would of course be easy enough "for the president to get such a, body of guerillas together. Perhaps the story was sent out from the White House, in order to sug gest to Mr. Cannon that he had better be tame and' tractable; that it would be wiser for him to give up the idea of liaving even a complimen tary vote from the state of Illinois for president and see that that delegation is given to the heir apparent, Mr. Taft. With Qhioapj)arently successfully under control of the big stick; with the first blow struck at Illinois, the president turns his politi cal attention to New' York. It Is a curious fact that in the state of his-birth,-in thevstate which gave him his first political honors, he Id weak est. Even wfth all the glamor of. heroism in the Spanish war attached to him, he was elected governor of- Shut. state bya scanty plurality of 17,000. Governor Hughes a year ago was elect ed by more than three times as much. Last .week at a meeting f the state committee of Now York an attempt was made to pass a reso lution naming Hughes as the logical candidate for the presidency. The Roosevelt influence de- feated it. New York is not therefore happy. Today rn Washington they say that ther.e is, much joy In the White . -use circle. .. It is not the purpose of the republicans to revise the tariff in the next congress if they can help -it. The campaign slogan of "Let the tariff beorevised by its friends" Is too good a one to lose by premature tariff revision in the Sixtieth congress. The tariff -would have been revised' lone ago except - for political reasons. 'Even the "standpatters admit that many of Jihe the others In that It does not terminate at any given period. This means that Germany will give the next United States congress one last chance to revise the tariff or come to some definite reciprocal understanding. If the Six tieth congress refuses to revise the tariff it means a commercial 'war with Germany. If it puts through a reciprocity treaty, other nations will demand the rights of the most favored nation. The protest of France against -the pres ent modus with Germany id evidence of that. What we grant to one, we must grant .to all,. Either that, or commercial war with tlio na tions discriminated against. If congress pigeon holes tariff revision, European nations are sure to retaliate. The Sixtieth congress must face the question of tariff revision, however advan tageous it may seem to republican politicians tp save the issue for campaign purposes. In Washington -today there are two mat ters about which people interested in politics "talk. One is the question as to 'whether the president will approve the constitution of Okla homa and thereby enable that state tb come into the union; the other Is whether Foraker is going to fight. The Oklahoma situation seems really the mor.e important. Foraker promises fight, but of that morojater. It Involves the creation of a new state built from Oklahoma and the In dian Territory. A week or ten days ago I said that this state would have 800,000, population. I have just received a letter from the editor xt one of the principal papers in Oklahoma in which he Bays: "I note that you state in one of your art icle's that the population of Oklahoma Is 800, 000, Had you used this term to apply to the present territory of Oklahoma, your estimate would have been approximately correct, but I observe that it is used to apply to the Territory, embracing tho new state, which includes the present Territory of Oklahoma and also Indian a Territory. The present population of these two territories is in excess of 1,500,000 and some estimate it as high as 1,800,000. "The difference Is immaterial, but the ag gregate is certainly sufficient to emphasize the justness of our demands for immediate state- hood. "We -regard the constitution just formu lated by the constitutional convention as the moBt perfect draft of organic law ever perfected. It meets with the full approbation of all of our people except the carpetbaggers and place seekers of the Republican party, who are raising a dismal wail about a so-called gerrymander, which is not one whit more inequitable than the one given us by the republican districting boards last fall in defining the constitutional election districts. "I beg your pardon for digressing from the purpose of this letter to this extent, but I feel warranted in some measure for doing so In view . of the fact that the impression seems to obtain to some extent in the east that there is serious 'opposition ..to ,tbe adoption of the constitution just formulated." That Is the expression of a man who knows more about the situation in that southwestern territory than most of the- people in Washington can. know. What Mr. Stafford, owner of the -Oklahoman, says may be accepted as the opinion- of a man on the ground. Curiously enough Indian -Territory and to aomo extent interested In the politics .of. that section who would bo glad it tho president would rofuso to approve tho constitution proposed for tho consolidation of Oklahoma and Indian Territory. Their argu ment is that If tho prcstdent should so refuso thero would ultimately be two states instead tit one. Thero would bo four senator Instead of two. This seems to bo an argument based on purely partisan political consideration. Sinco Oklahoma and tho Indian Territory are pro pared to join in single statehood, . it is best for their peoplo today that they should bo given immediate entrance to the sisterhood of states. The correspondent whom I have quoted says that there are 1,500,000 peoplo In tho two ter ritories. That so largo a population should bo denied tho rights of American citizens would seem Incredible. Tho men who havo been asked by tho president to advise him on tho question of ap proving the proposed now constitution ror tho combined state of Oklahoma, are of course all republicans, and, unhappllyj most of them ma chine republican politicians. It Is not surpris ing that Secretary Taft heads tho list. As a candidate for the presidency Mr. Taft would very much 'grieve to see a now state como Into being that might cast its olecloral voto forHho democratic nominee. Chairman Sherman of tho republican Congressional committeerls also ono of tho chosen advisors of. the president; tho chairman of that committee would naturally oppose tho admission df a state that might send five democrats to tho house of representatives, and two men to the United States sonato. Tains Blxby, who for years almost uncounted has held federal office under a republican administration is hero on tho ground. D. W. Mulvane, of Kan sas, republican national committeeman, from that state, who has onrlched himself enormously by his control of the electric railways, and light ing companies and telephone companies, and who naturally believes that tho clauses in tho proposed constitution of the now state will pre vent his grabbing these public utilities within its borders, doesn't want that democratic con stitution approved. Thero are other distinguished partisans, and more distinguished pirates seeking to ex ploit the wealth ol tho new state for their own profit, who have been invited to consult with, tlio president. What tho outcome of their advice may be no one can tell today. But it is a curious fact that nobody, except men of this typo has been asked for his expression of opinion. Some men havo volunteered sugges tions, but it yet remains to be determined how much influence their arguments may oxert. Some of the opponents of Btatehood "base their opposition on the ground that the con stitution demands the initiative and referen dum. Probably Mulvane of Kansas, republican national committeeman from that state, whoso plans for exploitation of tho public utilities of the new state would bo balked if his hoped for franchises wore subjected to a public voto, will be very vigorous in urging this on the presi dent. But after all, the complaint is ridiculous. The words "initiative and referendum" aro pedantic; they sound like tho talk of a teacher of Latin in a high school. But what they mean Is that on masters of Importance everybody af fected should be allowed to vote. Now ih Okla homa and the Indian Territory every person affected by the constitution proposed, Is to be allowed to vote on that document. The action of the convention Is not final. There is th initiative and referendum established whatever the president may say. In nearly every state south of tho Potomac river the people of tho counties are allowed to vote on the question ot, whether there shall be liquor sold In that county. There again is that Initiative and referendum that we are told is,, so revolutionary. Certainly the charge against the principle of direct legis lation, which was put iri the democratic national platform of 19 uO can not be raised as a reason . why the constitution approved by a representa- J tlve body of the people of Oklahoma shall not J be approved by the president of the United States. WILLIS J. ABBOTT. GOOD WORK runiAv Ro.hfldules have . outlived their usetul- there are other men deeply interested In-the ness. -In the Fifty-ninth congress' there was-'" southwest Interested in Oklahoma and. in thg Colliers is doing splendid work in exposing tho "tainted news" bureaus. Now that the edi torial columns of the subsidized papers havo ceased to have influence tho exploiters are stealthily poisqning the public mind through sys tematic misrepresentations spread broad-cast through bureaus which furnish these misrepre sentations free to papers- that will use themv When a newspaper is offered material free it ought to inquire who pays the bill and why; 1 AJMdSxtteaX&AUta .'."W -.. ulhCijh'Al'XttliAu&'tot- "'- 'J- mafaM.Ft-!l