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The Commoner.
VOLUME 7, NUMBER 4j
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HP ' 'T" " ' f '' ' IVr 1 . " the..presidency of the bank. The statement i
Irying limes. tor a Washington Organ ffi&x!4
take his place, an offer has'be'en made to thnt
getitleman and his' friends, oC a large blocVnf,
stock in the bank at $200 a share. The Lc
for many years has been Celling for three 'him
dred or more. u"'
Hereinafter are two editorials taken from the October 17 issue of the Washington (D. C.)
Post,
In one editorial the Post protests against aj local extortion, bitterly 'criticising certain rail
roads that, in its view, havo imposed upon the peoplo of tho national capital. In that editorial -the
Post says that, the railroads responsible for this local Imposition are "inviting disaster," "
also; "sometimes it seems as though the 'railroad "men of the country were bent upon their V
own destruction. They certainly betray signs of madness that precedes destruction." '
In the other editorial tho Post pokes fun at Governor Smith of Georgia, and Thomas E. .
Watson for their criticism of monopoly and it suggests that what it calls the "octopus chasers"
should "adjourn the cuso until the souyth gets at least fifty thousand miles additional railroad .
lines to chase." The Post says that it is plain that railroad men will not build railroads' in the
presence of all the present day criticism.
stead of forcing the people to pay this tax? It
amounts to the same thing.
, If the railroad managers -of the country
agree tOithe:jplan to impose a tax on passengers
visiting Washington, and attempt -to 'enforce it,
they will invite disaster. Their recent experience
with public opinion ought to have taught them
to keep their hands from the buzz saw. Is it
any wonder that men .of moderate views are
sometimes forced, to admit that the public out
cry against the railroads has much to commend
it? Is it any wonder that the railroads get the
worst of it so long as they are managed in such
fashion?
- &.
Here is the Postt editorial sneering at the
efforts of southern statesmen to obtain for their
people the same relief from railroad imposition
which the post demands for-the people' of 'the
national capital:
OCTOPUS CHASING
.- A distinguished citizen' of that state de
clares that West-Virgin1a is in sore need of addi
tional railroads aggregating 2,000 miles; Be
tween the Potomac and the Jtio Grande there
is need of additional railroads aggregating
80,000 miles. As thexrow flies" it is sixty miles
from Somerset, Ky., to Glasgow, Ky., and the
crow can journey from one to the other .of these
towns without crossing a railroad track, though
it is as fair a land as the eye of bird.ever viewed
and rich in most of the natural energies' of field,
of forest and of mine.
But this is the age of octopus chasing.
Where is th6 capitalist that will construct a rail
road for Hoke Smith and Tom. Watson to play
with? Mr. Moses Wetmoreis a man of millions,
proprietor of a baronial estate in the Ozark
region that might challenge the envy of a Haps
burg or a Hohenzollern; but Mr. Moses Wet
more is not building railroads for the octopus
chasers to practice on. It is narrated that Mr.
Tom Watson has become disreputably rich, and
in an honest way, but Mr. Watson is hot making
railroads for Mr. Hoke Smith to toss in a
blanket. Mr. Hoke Smith is also disgracefully
rich a millionaire, his' wealth honestly ac-"
quired, we' make not the smallest . doubt but
Mr. Smith Is not building any railroads for Tom
Watson or Ben Tillman to" chase.
There is a deal'of amusement in the octopus
chase. We aU got our money's worth out of the
Hepburn-Tillman bill? but-it 'has riretty nearly
stopped railroad building, except extensions and,
connections imperatively demanded."
We are not picking any quarrel with the "
octopus chasers. -They are a noble army of
patriots, triumphant and militant. Thev are nil
right;' but we do believe they would be publiA
benefactors to adjourn the chase until the south
Hero is the Post editorial protesting
against the imposition upon tho people of the
District of Columbia:
TAX ON Tins NATIONAL CAPITAL
It is now proposed that the seven railroads '
enjoying a monopoly of passenger travel to arid
from tho national capital shall impose a tax upon
every passenger going and coming, for the
ostensible purposo of recovering the sum of
$15,000,000 alleged to have been expended in
construction of the new Union station. If tho
general passenger and traffic, managers of tho
railroads had conspired-for a year, they could
not havo devisodja more ingenious and certain
method of arousing public resentment at ihe
very time when it should be allayed. The im-.
position of a tax, however small, upon every man
visiting Washington is such conspicuous evi- .
dence of the irresistible propensity of the rail-
roads to get "all the traffic will bear" that it
can not be overlooked. The smalfness and mean
ness of the tax draw attention to it. Not only
1b every ticket over $1 to be taxed twenty or
twenty-live cents but every fare under $1 is to
be increased ten per cent."
Sometimes it seems as though the railroad
men of the country were bent upon their own
destruction. They certainly betray signs of the
madness that precedes destruction. Have they
not harped upon the injustice of the public aval
ancho of condemnation? Have they not held
up thoir .hands to Roosevelt and begged him to
call off the enraged people? Have they not a3ked
for federal control as an escape from still more
odious state control? And yet, with congress
about td convene', the railroads propose that
every person, going in or out of the gates of tho
national capitol shall pay toll to them to pay
for an improvement that has already been paid
for in large part by the government! Congress
was more than liberal with, the railroads enter
ing Washington. , It gave them space and cash
and;Tights of way. Now the railroads propose
i -slM "- r v,w",- mp Bovernment, snail
Sy,. rates until they havo paid for all
' rir ""i" "Yemenis 1 Does anybody suppose
that the rates will bo lowered after -the railroads
have recouped the cost of the Union station?
Not at all. If the people will stand for the cost
of one Union station, paid for fiTpetty taxes,
they will stand for half a dozen stations. Thus
the railroads will get back all they have expend
ed, and a permanent tribute in addition. Why
did the railroad companies work so hard to get
an appropriation from congress, if tho people are
to pay for fhe whole thing after all? Or, why
did not the railroads induce congress to hand
over $15,000,000 more from the treasury, in-
Washington Letter
Washington, D. C, October 28. Several
days ago the state of Michigan led off with the
election of two delegates to the republican na
tional convention. They were instructed to vote
for Uncle Joe Cannon, first, last and all Hie
time. People In Washington are beginning to
think that they will have ample opportunity to
cast their votes more than once, for it is only
too apparent that tho Taft boom has gone' glim
mering, Poraker has flickered out while Hughes
has not had a look in. -...
Following swiftly upon the election of these
two republican delegates comes the, election of
two democratic delegates from Ohio. They are
Mr. George W. Sigafoos and Mr. Henry L
Yount. -Mr'ount, for porsoal Reasons, with
drew and -has-rbeen succeeded- hyMv. Charles
C. Marsliall'0 Shelby county. These are the
first democratic, delegates to be selected in the
United States. ,Mr. Marshall is an active demo
crat and prosecuting attorney of- Shelby county
his colleague, Mr. Sigafoos, is auditor of Darke
county -and :pesent cashier of the 'Farmers Na
tional bank, "of. Greenville, Ohio. Both are de
voted friends of Mr. Bryan and are for him first,
last and all the,t;ime. It would appear, therefore
that Up to the present moment, Mr. Bryan and
Speaker .Cannon are tied for the nomination '
People who have watched politics for somo
years past will find a certain historical, though
not a news, interest in the difficulties into which
the Mercantile National Bank of New York haa
been plunged by the collapse of the copner cor
ner in which its president, F. August Heinle
was deeply Involved, Mr, Heinzo retire? froS
That is the immediate situation. The unnr
of the past seems a. little Interesting. DuiW
tho 1896 campaign the treasurer of tho drmo
cratic national committee was William p q
John. Mr. St. John was at the time of hi
appointment president of the Mercantile Na
tional bank. He had built that bank up to 'a
position of great prosperity in New York Ho
was largely interested in its stock and drew from
the bank a princely salary. But he believed in
bimetallism; in the monetary system which
would ba 'for the benefit of the people rath on
than for that of the banks. So they forced him
out of the presidency of his bank. He accepted
the blow with, sorrow, but without complaint
I knew him well and talked with him at the
time, and while I understood the measure of
the sacrifice he had made, I heard no word of
criticism on his part. He handled the finances
of the democratic national committee in a year
when every bank and every trust and every
monopolistic corporation in the United States
was contributing to Mark Hanna, and then when
.the power of money defeated the democratic
party he went to his modest home on East
Thirty-fourth street, turned his face to tho wall
and died. If there was ever a martyr to Wall
Street, William P. St. John was one.
- It is interesting to' note .that the directors
of -the Mercantile- National bank who forced St.
John out, put Heinze in. Silver as money Avas
to them most obnoxious. Copper as a commo
dity to speculate in did not seem to affront them.
The man who honestly, even though some may
think mistakenly, was striving to improve the
currency system of the country for the people's
good was. swiftly ejected. The man who has
notoriously for more than ten years been en
gaged in the most fierce and relentless stock
gambling game, a game which I personally
know to have sent many men to the penitentiary,
was installed as president. ,,,',.
. It is true that Heinze is now out of thef
Mercantile National bank. It is true also that
the bank itself, though a large one and always
a prosperous one, Is-but one cog in the financial
system of the country. I tell-" the story here
simply because It seems to me a symptom of
what the banks of New York's financial center
have been doing in the past and are willing to
do in the future.
Speaker Cannon suggested the other day
that it was time to elect a president who would
'keep on his own side of the fence." Lest his
remark should be a little, above the heads of
his audience, he explained 'tliat' he meant a
president who would attend to the affairs of
the executive office and not insist upon run
ning both houses of congress as well. When the
fathers of the republic, formulated the constitu
tion they thought they laid out .a legal fence,
which the executive, or the president, could
not overleap. When in later- days the city
of. Washington, was laid out its' projectors with
a "certain childlike simplicity thought they were
going to keep the legislative and the executive
branches from overlapping by putting the Cap
itol and the White House nearly two miles
apart. They did not forsee telephones, -trolleys,
swift cabs and above, all the fact that the grow
ing influence of the president has -made it tho
ambition of every congressman and senator to
" live as near the White House aspossible. The
side of tho fence that the dispensor of patron
age occupies is the one which too many of tho
members of the legislative branch are eager to
occupy.
But after all, is it not a fair retort to
Speaker Cannon that it "might be worth while
1;o elect a speaker who would .keeper: his own
side of the fence. Theoretically the ousiness of
the rpeaker is, to preserve order, to direct de
bate, to appoint committees and to recognize
those who desire to address the house. Speaker
Cannon is not the first to arrogate to himselfi
the right to say whether & bill shall have a
hearing, or- whether a vote phall be taken. He
"sneers at the president for not keeping on his
islde of the fence separating, the execution and
the making of the laws. Hasn't the disting
uished speaker, himself a candidate for theJ
presidential .nomination, rather overstepped the
boundary between the proper functions of af
presiding officer and the assumed powers of a
legislative autocrat? .
WILLIS J. ABBOT.
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