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The Commoner.
.VOLUME 7i NUMBER ft
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Washington Letter
Washington, Juno 3. Tho announcement
of Mrs. McKinley's death casta gloom over tho
ontiro capital, Not only because of her deep
suffering and tho tragic -incidents in her life,
hut by reason of her many acts of charity and
deeds of sympathetic intent, she had endeared
herself to tho hearts of all Washlngtonians as
no mistress of tho "White House since tho
halcyon days of Dolly Madison.
From tho date of her entrance into thg
Whito House until tho last days when she took
her departure with tho silent sympathy of all
classes here, she had an enviable place in the
affections of the people.
Tho White House was never conducted with
loss ostentation than during her regime, and
yet the vory democratic sympathy of tho enter
tainment and receptions given under her direc
tion in which she raroly took part won for
her an enviable reputation for good taste.
After tho death of her two daughters, It
will bo recalled Mrs. McKinloy's health began
to fail rapidly. Tho fortitude with which Bho
laid aside her grief and moulded her life into
the ambitions of her husband was almost a
marvelous characteristic in this delicate woman
-who hardly realized what tho torm good health
meant, that set her Intimates often wondering.
But toward tho ond of President McKinley's
first administration her health became so bad
that she had to lay aside nearly all official duties
and faded away until she was but a spectre of
,the girl who won tho admiration of all Canton
and the Ohio country round about. Then it
was that she began to interest herself in flowers
and children. Tho picture of her face drawn
with pain and steeped in suffering, but" ever
smiling and kindly, looking out over the White
House lawn, is one well drawn in tho minds
of thousands of Washington children. On the
historic old hack porch she used to sit for
hours knitting slippers 3,000 pair she once
said she had made "for some one to wear.'
After while oven thltf pleasure was denied her
and the president had his desk moved in her
chamber so that he might be always near her.
That she survived him so long has been a mat
ter of commont among her friends for many
a long day. The delicate fabric of her con
stitution should have in all natural order long
since broken, it was thought.
The kaleidoscopic color of the life here
and the rather spectacular passinc to and fro
of public personages has necessarily made
Washington more or less callous, and the death
of a public man or woman, unless it be attended
by some tragic- feature, raroly attracts any
great amount of attention except in his own or
her own immediate circle. But the heart of
the whole city seems to be grief-laden over the
passing away of this woman, whose life was
hung by a gossamer thread for years. After
President McKinley's death many of the oM
residents besought her to hiake her homo here.
The requests were always quietly negatived
until one day when a friend, 'a trifle more In
sistent than the others, asked her- tho reason '
for her refusal. "'
"My child," she answered, "through every
vista, down every city street and country lane
of this beautiful capital, I see my husband's
face silhouetted in the background. I will see
it at Canton and everywhere else I go but it
will bo different."
The subject was never broached to her
A?ft!?' b, she .tod boon missed as no mistress
of the Whito House in recent years, not onlv
because of her bountiful charities, but for manv
whorJeT0?8, hile hor health Permitted,
Mrs. McKinloy passed a good part of hor time
in the Whito House conservatories. She loved
flowers, not simply as decorations, but because
of the nature beauty of the plant, and sho
had a store of knowledge about "her floral
friends" as slie termed them. Tho White
House gardeners knew and appreciated this
ana every year the basket of whito roses that
has been sent her on Decoration Day by a
special messonger were as flno as can bo grown
The special messenger was to leave with them
on Tuesday and they were almost ready to
pluck. These same roses that were to lighten
one of the dark days of her declining years
Will be laid on her bier, and thegrieCof the
every day gardener is not less than some of
the ofllcials who are close to her that are higher
up. In several of the churches of the capital
tonight .President McKinley's favorite hymn,
"Lead Kindly. Lteht." find htH nfvnH i. '
always hers was sung' with all its tender
pathos and rythmic beauty. And it saddened alL
that hoard it, for it was hard ovon for Wash
ington whoro fame, after all, is but like a .
flickering candle, to write "Vale" to William
McKinley and his bravo and often-bereaved wife.
Several notable addresses were made at
tho recent peace conference at Lake Mohonk,
but in none of them was allusion made to tho
anomalous position the United4 States will be
forced to occupy at The Hague conference. Tho
South American republics are looking to us to
champion, in case of opposition, the Calvo or
the Drago doctrines which they will present at
The Hague, and which will mean more to them
than any other principle that will be dis
cussed there.' Briefly stated, the Calvo doctrine,
or tho more recent" Drago exposition of it, lays
down the principle, which it is claimed should
be recognized by international law, that no
nation, or body of nations, should be allowed to
forcibly collect its debts or those of its citizens
owed them by another power. As a matter of
principle the doctrine thus expressed is funda
mentally correct. Citizens of France, or any
other European power, that lend money to
Venezuela or Santo Domingo, or any other
American republic, should take into account tho
resources of the country, its ability to pay, and
the security offered for its loan. A foreign cred
itor goes into the business with his eyes open.
He charges as a rule a heavy premium for the
risks he assumes and, therefore, he has no right
to . complain or to appeal to force in case the
debtor is unable to pay or refuse to do so.
President Roosevelt haB already stated in
a recent message that by the Monroe doctrine
we do not guarantee any state against punish
mont if it misconducts itself, provided the pun
ishment does not take the form of an acquisition
of. territory by any non-American state.
In another message President Roosevelt
said:
"It behooves each one (Independent
nations in America) to discharge its' just
obligations to foreigners. When this is
done 'they can rest assured that, be they
'strong or weak, they have nothing to fear
from outside interferences."
In the message of, December 5, 1905,tthe
president said: "
"Our government has always refused
to enforce such contractoral obligations on
behalf of its citizens by an appeal to arms..
It is much to be wished that all foreign
governments would take the same view."
It will be seen from these statements that
while the present administration would oppose
a collection of debts against an American re
public by the creditor nation acquiring terri
tory, that it" does not go flatly upon record
against the collection of such debts by forcible
means, either blockade, bombardment, or a
seizure of tbe debtor nation's customs revenues
or surplus cai?h. There is not that frank avowal
of a great principle of international law which
one would like to see made by a great nation
to whom its weaker neighbor lopks for pro
tection, s
We are prevented from taking this high
ground by complications in which we knowing
ly involved ourselves. The seizure and admin
istration of the customs revenves of Santo Dom
ingo by the United States, although done under
the color of a treaty, is really nothing less than
a violation of the Drago doctrine which we
are- called upon to champion at The Hague,
if tho United States can usurp the sovereign
rights of another country, take possession of
its customs houses, and administer its reve
nues, even if it does it well it ill-behooves her
to object at The Hague to other nations accept
ing her attitude as a precedent and incorporat
ing it into the principles of international law.
The action of the National Manufacturers'
association this week in declaring for an im
mediate revision of the tariff is significant.
Their vote was neither hasty nor ill-considered.
It was preceded by a lively discussion upon the
acceptance of the report of the committee on
tariff and reciprocity. This report was itself
based upon a thorough investigation of the
question and upon a poll of the three thousand
members of the association. Of the total num
ber replying over fifty-five per cent declared for
immediate revision. The remaining votes were
scattered between the opponents of revision
those who wanted to "wait awhile," and those
who expressed indifference or returned non
commital answers. The, committee recommend
ed san immediate revision of the tariff, and this
was overwhelmingly carried.
Tho vote of the Manufacturers association
is no surprise to those who have been following
tariff revision sentiment the last few years In
tho last congressional canvas .tho republicans
found it necessary to meet the evident nublln
demand for revision by a modification of thn
standpat policy with which they began tim
campaign. mQ
In New England where tho revision sentl
ment is rampant, Secretary Taft delivered a
speech in which he practically declared that the
Dingley schedules had outlined their usefulness
In the last congress there was a revision move
ment in the house of no mean proportion.
Even in the more deliberative senate thinpa
were not as the standpatter would have had
them. Senator Spooner, it will be recalled in
a debate with Senator Aldrich near the close
of the session expressed his conviction that the
time had come when the tariff should be re
adjusted, and Senator Aldrich himself, although
ho has been termed "the high priest of pro
tection," admitted that a number of the sched
ules should be lowered, and many of them
altered to meet changed conditions. As far
back as two years last February a conference
was held at the White Ho'use in which Senator
Aldrich voted1 for tariff revision, as did Senator
Allison. Only the determined "standpattism"
of Speaker Cannon and his allies in the house
prevented the president urging revision on
the last congress in its first session. Senator
Lodge also considered, tariff revision as impera
tive, and today Senator Hale Is probably tho
only "rock-ribbed standpatter" in the senate.
Senator Spooner's successor has already an
nounced his- belief that the duties should bo
lower, while Senator Allison 'said recently for
publication: "In the next campaign, -and pos
sibly in the next session of congress, the tariff
is certain to be an important issue."
The national movement for revision has
been supplemented hy international complica
tions over which, congress has little control. The
new agreement with Germany and the evident
purpose of France to demand concessions equiv
alent to those given German exporters has
brought up the very question the standpatters
thought they had carefully laid upon the inac
tion shelf. The only question now is as to the
length of time tariff revision can be delayed.
In this connection a comment by the Wash
ington correspondent of the New York Tribune
is significant. This paper is extremely favor
able to and favored by the administration. It
says: "The tariff program which has been most
extensively discussed in executive and legislative
conference in Washington and which has many
advocates, consists of a definite pledge to be
incorporated in the next republican national
platform, to call congress in special session soon
after March 4, 1909 for the purpose of re
vising the existing tariff schedules. From a
political point of view this program has much
to recommend it."
. This, then, Is the program to delay an
immediate revision of the tariff that is demanded
by over fifty-five per cent of the manufacturers
protected under it, to say nothing of the great
mass of our people; to delay it 4n spite of the
opinions of our ablest statesmen in both parties;
to delay it in the face of grave international
complications that urge a change; to delay it
against the dictates of the best patriotism that
the worst politics may be played. The Sixtieth
congress can and should dispose of the tariff.
If the republican party wants the Dingley sched
ules, revised by friends, why not do it in a
congress in which- they have a majority in both
branches. There are fewer republicans in the
Sixtieth than in the Fifty-ninth' congress and
aJJ Prognostications Bhw that there will be
still fewer in the Sixty-first. In fact it is more
than likely that the democrats will control the
house in the Sixty-first congress. If this be
f i ei.fpblIcan senate would repudiate any
.tariff bill the democratic house might devise
and come off with a plausible excuse for leaving
the Dingley schedules in force; If the republi
can party sincerely desires to revise the tariff,
why do they leave it to the doubtful possibili
ties of a future congress and pass it by in tho
congresses they have and do now- control? Of
course it is evident that they prefer to save
the tariff question for a campaign issue and
again finance a presidential candidate on prom
ises of special tariff favors rather than listen to
a present demand for revision. Is the repub
lican party, then, sincere in its tariff revision
pronouncements? And if they make the tariff
an issue in 1908, should the readjustment of
our Import duties be left to politicians who de
layed revision for political rather than patriotic
reasons? -v
Much ado is made concerning Secretary
Taft's declaration in favor of tariff revision.
It is regarded in some unthinking quarters as a
brave response to the attack of tho American
Protective Tariff League a response worthy
the valiant secretary ot war, who if not so much
of a fighter as the late General Hancock,
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