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The Commoner.
VOLUME 7, NUMBER 34
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IN AN INTERVIEW with a New York Herald
correspondent Speaker Cannon said that
while ho is not a candidate for iho presidency
ho would not, of course, decline the nomination.
Ho Added: "I would rather contribute to mak
ing the next session of congress a success so
that my party will deserve and win success in
1908, than have the presidency tendered to me
on a golden salver. Now, 1 want to make this
point If congress does not act wisely at the
next session; if it is not actuated by calmness
and patriotism; if it makes great mistakes and
fails to -meet the approval of the reasoning
American public, there will not be much need
for the election of delegates to the next national
convention of the republican party. In the great
masses they are not talking politics now. They
are busy. Their ambition is to see that nothing
is done to make them idle. This country is very
prosperous. It would be a crime if congress
should, do anything at this time to upset busi
ness, and it might make mistakes in half a dozen
ways'
AN ASSOCIATED Press dispatch from Mont
gomery, Ala., says that when the hearing
of the injunction against sheriffs, solicitors and
other state officials to prevent them from inter
fering with- the operation of the Louisville &
Nashville railroad in the rate legislation contro
versy came before Judge J. C. Jones in the
United States court today, Attorney General A.
JVL Garber appeared on behalf- of the state and
created a sensation by announcing that counsel
for the state had reached the. conclusion not to
appear in the hearing because two days after
granting the original injunction the presiding
judge issued an elaborate opinion in the case
before counsel for state had, been given an op
pprtunity to argue the questions involved which
action insofar as the attorney general knew,
was unprecedented and which, in the opinion of
the'atforney general and counsel for tlie state
is considered final on part of the court. Colonel
Garber then withdrew and the hearing pro
ceeded. O
REPLYING: TO-Mr. Taylor's conditional offer
to return to Kentucky R. B. Franklin,
commonwealth attorney, said: "Taylor evident
ly realized that he is at last forced to say some
thing to counteract the effect of the sentiment
in the country at large that he should return to
testify, immune from arrest while in Kentucky
.for. that purpose, and undertakes after two
weeks since the immunity proposition was made,
by his statement, to again prejudice the people
of the country in his favor by rehashing the
false charges against the Kentucky courts and
its officials generally which he and his associates
charged with this crime have made from the be
ginning. Taylor refers to his deposition. That
deposition was taken in Indiana upon written
questions filed in the Scott circuit court, and
sent to Indiana by mail. Neither Caleb Powers
nor any representative of the commonwealth of
Kentucky, under the law, was or could have been
present when Taylor appeared before the Indiana
officers to answer these questions. Taylor does
not fear that the terms of immunity offered will
be violated. What he fears is a cross-examination
in open court before the country. He fears
that such an examination would, as I stated in
my letter to Governor Beckham on this subject,
make plain one or the other of two facts, pos
sibly both. First, that the contentions of the
com mon wealth with reference to the conspiracy
that culminated in the murder of William Gobel
are correct; or, second, that Taylor himself is
absolutely unworthy of belief."
O
THE UNITED STATES treasury department
recently issued this statement: "Secre
tary Cortelyou announced today that, beginning
with next week, the treasury department will
make, each week, for a period of not less than
five weeks, deposits in national banks at New
York, .Boston and other points the security re
quired to be approved state, municipal and rail
road bonds, acceptable under the existing re
quirements of the department, with "the under
standing that if called for such deposits shall
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be returned aftor January 1 in installments to
be fixed by the secretary of the treasury. This
action is taken to meet the commercial and in
dustrial needs of the-country at this season and
is believed to be preferable to waiting until the
time of acute stringency, when the only alterna
tive would be a large general deposit. The lat
ter policy the secretary desires to supplant by
one which shall have as its ultimate object the
adjustment of the operations of the treasury
department as rapidly as may be practicable
under existing law in such manner as shall pre
clude their being in any sense a disturbing fac
tor'In the business world."
O
COMMENTING UPON Secretary Cortelyou's
plan for "the relief of Wall Street" the
Associated Press says: "Under the new plan
the secretary will place the government fund
in amounts large enough to meet the situation.
For this purpose he may deposit all customs
funds which he is permitted to under the Aldrich
act, and if these are not sufficient he will aug
ment them from the treasury balance, which in
creases each week after the usual July deficit.
Secretary Cortelyou in placing government funds
will depend upon the bureau recently estab
lished in the treasury department to inform him
where stringencies are being felt most. He be
lieves that by not announcing In advance the
amounts .to be deposited he will prevent specu
lators from taking advantage of the situation
and obtaining money which he believes should
go into other channels. In the adoption of this
plan the secretary gave careful .consideration of
gold exports, and he is of the opinion that relief
measures will do much to prevent the movement
of gold to Europe, In previous years the- sud
den outpouring of money from the national
treasury when the crop moving stringency, was
absorbing all available funds, made gold export
movement possible to be very violent. The
present financial situation has occupied
Secretary Cortelyou's attention for some time
and he is doing what he can to bring relief.
Notwithstanding the heavy demand for the $30,
000,000 Panama bonds, which are still unused
the secretary declines to place them on sale,
as the government does not need the money and
their purchase by the banks and public would
tie up proportional millions."
AND NOW the trust magnates are engaging
in fisticuffs. At the regular monthly meet
ing of the Illinois Central directors held in New
York Stuyvesant Fish knocked down President
James W. Harahan. New York dispatches .say
that Mr. Fish offered a resolution which sharply
arraigned the Illinois Central management on
the ground that it was operated in the interests
of the E. H. Harriman lines generally and not
in the interest of the Illinois Central particular
ly. While Eish was reading the resolution one
of the Harriman directors moved to adjourn.
President Harahan put the motion instantly, in--terrupting
Mr. Fish in the reading of his resolu
tion, and declared the meeting adjourned. Hara
han and other directors rose to leave the room.
The dispatches say that Mr. Fish was nonplussed
for a moment, but presently spoke out vigorous
ly. "Gentlemen, you can't adjourn in the mid
dle of a matter, of business," he said. "This
is astonishing and surprising. I insist that it is
contrary to all parliamentary procedure; more
than that, an unheard of breach of courtesy to
interpose a motion to adjourn in the middle of a
director's remarks. I insist that this meeting
is not adjourned and shall proceed with my reso
lution." Mr. Harahan, facing Mr. Fish, declared
"the meeting stands adjourned." "The meeting
is not adjourned," Mr. Fish came bach, with in
creasing warmth, "and I declare you can not
adjourn it unless you demonstrate what I have
said, that you are Harriman tools and puppets
and " "I am not a Harriman tool," Mr. Hara
han broke in threateningly; "nor the tool of any
man. Any one who says so lies."
A DISPATCH to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat
tells the rest of the story in this way
"Mr. Fish is a big riian. He weighs 210 pounds
or so, stands more than six feet high, and ig of
brawny build. He has always kept himself in
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perfect condition, is as hard as he is heavy and
is' quick to a degree that belies his bulk. His
weight, accordingly did not impede his move
ments as he jumped across the table and swung
at Mr. Harahan, all in one movement. Mr.
Harahan had assumed a posture of defense. Al
though not as heavy as Mr. Fish, he weighs
around 190 pounds, and has kept himself in good
condition. It was a' contest of heavy weights,
with Mr. Fish having but a bit the best of it in
weight and reach, though of undoubted superior
ity in science. The first and only blow was a
long right-hand swing with all the weight of
Mr. Fish's 210 pounds behind it and all the
added strength which a feeling of animosity im
parts. It broke through Mr. Harahau's guard
and landed, with but little diminished impact,
squarely on the point of the jaw. Mr. Fish
followed it with a vicious straight left, but the
left missed. Mr. Harahan was dropping and the
failure of the left to land caused Mr. Fish to fall
over upon h"iB antagonist. He was up in an in
stant, but Mr. Harahan was not. Not exactly
down and out, he was- stunned at least and
evinced no inclination to coritinuo the contest.
None of the other directors interfered except by
-admonitions. The others present were Cornelius
Vanderbilt, Robert Walton Goelet, Walter Lutt
gen, Charles A. Peabody, M. G. Hackstaff,
Charles M. Beach and James De W. Cutting.
Only the two latter are Fish supporters."
REPORTS OF A row in the cabinet continue
to appear in various forms in various
newspapers. One day it is predicted that Mr.
Bonaparte, who Is in favor of criminal prosecu
tion of the trust magnates, is to retire because
he has won the disapproval of Secretary of State
Root. Mr. Root was, it seems, so worn out that
it was necessary for him to go to Muldoon's
Training Farm for a rest' A Washington cor
respondent for the New York World says:
"Secretary Root's friends have been much con
cerned about his health for months. He is not
only broken, but his position as premier of
Roosevelt's cabinet is vastly different from what
it was eighteen months ago. While it can not
be said that he has lost the confidence of the
president, he is no longer the president's favorite
adviser, and he has been supplanted i.. this ca
pacity by Taft and Cortelyou. While there is
no enmity between them, and'it is likely that
Secretary Root will remain in the cabinet until
the expiration of Roosevelt's term of office, it is
true that Secretary Root is no longer consulted
to any extent by the president. In fact, the
business of the department of state at times
has been taken entirely from the hands of Mr.
Root by the president, much to Root's embar
rassment. A few months ago the president,
without consulting Secretary Root, directed that
all cablegrams relating to foreign affairs re
ceived after the close of the department of state
be sent to the White House. This was done,
and Secretary Root was astonished upon several
occasions on reaching the department in the
morning to find that the president had received
a cablegram from some American ambassador
or minister abroad and had decided an impor
tant matter of state without even consulting
him. Secretary Root believes that the views
of President Roosevelt on corporations are ex
treme and unless modified there will be disturb
ances in the business world more disastrous than
those of 1893.','
THE COAL trust does not appear to be greatly
alarmed by the threats of prosecution. Tho
Philadelphia North American says: "Consum
ers of steam sizes of anthracite coal will be
compelled to pay to the railrodd coal combina
tion approximately $6,000,000 more per annum
as a result of the price advance of twenty-five
cents per ton, which it is proposed to make on
September 1. The increased income from the
sale of anthracite coal will be equal to five per
cent on $120,000,000. Carrying out this in
tended advance in the companies' selling price
of anthracite coal pea, .buckwheat and rice,
which are the sizes to be affected the combine
will give another public demonstration of the
way in which concentrated capital works when
it determines to take a little more out of the
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