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, Washington '' Letter
- Washington, D. C November 25. A met
ropolitan newspaper, whose editorial policy can
best bo defined as "anti-everything," has just
comploted an investigation into the state of em
ployment at tho industrial centers of our na
tion. This paper ig neither favorable nor un
favorable to the party in or out of power. It
can hurl editorial brickbats or bouquets with
equal facility, although it must be admitted
that its editorial bouquets are decidedly scarce.
Nor is this paper a calamity howler. It detests
jingoism, and doprecates both tho sort of activity
that would create a war scare or bring on a
financial panic. All of which shows that its in
vestigation has been Impartial, and that its fig
ures are of the kind that do not lie.
Out of some forty large manufacturing cen
ters investigated in states extending from Mass
achusetts west to Minnesota and from Michigan
south to Texis, it was found that the time of
labor had been materially reduced, and that
there was in all industries a tendency to re
duce help. Tho reduction of hours ranged all
the way from five, instead of seven days, a week
to half and even quarter time. In many in
stance's factories were closed indefinitely. The
reduction of the working force was found to
be greatest among the railroads, but by no
means slight among the mills and factories. For
instance in Chicago ninety per cent of the fac
tories and work shops have reduced forces or
Curtailed hours. Forty per cent of the building
trade workers are idle. And twenty-threfet 'per
(font of the wood workers are out. Practically
all the machinists are working on shoijfc; 'time
and more iron moulders are idle than ever be
fore at this season. Worcester, Mass., describes
the depression there as the worst in ten years,
Plfcfslmrg announces fifty thousand merfout of
the: mills and shops. Indianapolis reports a
fifty per cent reduction in. the' forces of all the
large manufacturies. In the vicinity of St.
Paul, Minn., twenty-one saw mills and some
mines have suspended work, throwing ten thou
sand men out of employment. In "Wilmington,
Deliy-and in Bridgeport, Conn, from four '"to
five .thousand men haye been; laid off. Thesa
are but specimen instances taken at random
from the report I am citing. They show in this
year of republican prosperity and full dinner
pails a marked reduction of hours and labor
in all industries practically everywhere.
The moral to be drawn from these f acts-and
figures is obvious. It simply meanfe that it is
tho grossest fraud fqr a political party to pose
as the guarantor of prosperity. It means that
the capital coined at the expense of the demo
cratic Darby by republicans because a panic that
actually .started in a republican and broke wth
all dtonf ury, In a democratic administration, was
ainfaAri? "Therefore .it is just as well that the
POP.lei understand that there is a present de
gression the causes of which can oot found in-
a; republican administration, regardless of who
shall be In power after March. 1909.
Secretary Cortelyou has announced that the
treasury will offer $50,000,000 of Panama
canal bonds, bearing two per cent Interest for
sale. It will also offer $100,000,000 in bonds
of certificates bearing three per cent interest.
The Panama bonds must be retired at the end
of thirty years. The certificates, which are
practically circulating paper, have only one year
to run. There is no question concerning the
legality of the canal bonds; there is some ques
tion as to the propriety at least of the certifi
cates which it is understood are to be called
"Roosevelt certificates." The law which au
thorized their issuance was passed at the be
ginning of the Spanish war. It so happened that
they were not needed to finance that rather in
conspicuous contest. Nobody remembered that
the law should be repealed, so it stands still on
tho statute books and it has been used now to
add greatly to tho volume of the currency I
do not think anybody will criticise the action
of the authorities in thus adding to the circu
lating: medium and helping the banks, the in
vestors and the common people of today. Of
course it's a violation of law or an evasion of it
Out in Chicago the banks are printing clearing
house certificates which pass from hand to hand
like a United States note might. There is a
federal law which declares that notes of this sort
should be subject to a ten per cent tax but it
has never been applied. The new Roosevelt
certificates, so-called, were 'legal only in time
of war and could be attacked if one so chose
The Commoner.
to do in the United States supreme court today.
In brief the financial and banking system of the
United States has reached the point at which, it
must resort to unlawful methods, must oeg uae
national government to aid it In violating the
law, or must collapse It is interesting tq note
that in his letter to Mr. Cortelyou the president
said that the first two weeks of the incoming
confess was going to be given over to the' cor
rection of the present ' financial system. It
would be more interesting if we could find out
what the president's plan 'for its correction
might be.
This year congress will meet "unusually
early. The day of meeting will be December
2. It is declared that the first national measure
to be introduced will be one lor currency re
form. The first immediate measure will be one
of interest' to "Washington only, or, to travelers
coming to Washington, namely a bill authoriz
ing the district commissioners to allow the street
railroads to come directly to the new three mil
lion dollar station, and thereby enable people .,
arriving in the city to avoid a walk of a quarter
of a mile or to evade the extortions of hackmen.
It is promised that the next measure shall be ,
one forcurrency reform. Nobody can find out
what the form of this bill will be. Of course
it will not be a resurrection of the free silver
issue. I doubt whether it will be a demand for
the-asset currency But that there" will be an'
attempt to arrange the currency affairs of the
nation within the first week of congress there
can be no doubt whatever.
A senator of the United States talking with,
me today said that in his judgment this issue
if presented would mean a long and bitter de
bate The senator pointed to an Interview . pub
lished in all the New York newspapers by Sen
ator Bulkeley of Connecticut in which he be
littled the effort of the administration to cor
rect the present financial stringency by issuing
Panama bonds or three per, cent Roosevelt cer
tificates. This Is what Mr. Bulkeley is quoted
as having said: "What good is it gqing 'to do'
to issue these new bonds 'or to offer these cer
tificates? That doesn't mean the real increase
of the circulating money of the nation. It might
coax out of some safety deposit boxes a moderate
amount of money and put it into the United
States, treasury, but how will it get out thence
and into general circulation?" I do not profess
to quote Mr. Bulkeley precisely because my
knowledge of his utterances come,.only through
certain newspapers which may have misquoted
him. But it is a fact that public men and finan
ciers today are taking very much the same view
that he expresses, if the expression has been
properly reported,
Senator Foraker is in Washington conduct
ing the renewed sessions of the committee in
vestigating the Brownsville episode. The sen
ator Is determined in his attitude and unweary
ing in his efforts to discover the truth of the
affair which led to the discharge from the United
States army of a whole battalion of negro troops.
Incidentally the troops so discharged were
among those who at Santiago saved the much
advertised Rough Hiders from defeat and de
- struction.
. - The story is an old one. People are not
"now greatly interested in it. Yet it is likely tto
be a very prominent issue in congress this win
ter. Mr, lioosevelt discharged this battalion ot
negro troops. Senator Foraker protests. I have k
reason, to know that in the coming congress a
bill, will be Introduced urging the discharge of
all colored troops from the army. It is not
merely going to be presented, but it "is going
to be pressed. Naturally Mr. Foraker and his
associates in the Brownsville inquiry will op
pose, but it will have great strength if it gets
out of the committee in either house or senate.
President Roosevelt message, so I am told,
will start with a reference to the financial panic
which the country has just experienced. He
will declare in that message that the panic was
not due to any lack of prosperity, to any strin
gency in the money market or any contraction
of the currency, but simply to a general lack
of confidence on thepart of the public In great
banks and financial institutions due to the oper
ations of such financiers as Mr. Harriman, Mr.
Ryan, Mr. Heinze or the Thomas brothers. To
a certain extent Mr. Roosevelt is right. But as "
was pointed out to me today, he and Secretary
Cortelyou have rather discredited "his own posi
tion by the attempt he has made to correct the
financial troubles. If it Is due to mere lack
of confidence and not to a scarcity of the cir
culating medium, why issue one hundred ahdJ
fifty, million dollars in bonds and Certificates?"
If it is due to ,a lack of Confidence on the part-
:J
.-VOLUME 7, NUMBER 4t
call
of the people, why should the president not
coneress toerethftr anri tntrn D u
fidence? t. it. not possible tlTat the onormZ
increase in the cost of living in this country
the steadily decreasing of wages among thoJo
who work for joeto wage, .and the notortoS
enhancement of the incomes of those whom Z
lack of a better word must be described as
th4? Plutocracy may have had something to 2
with the present situation? Uo
Times are hardfor the poor. There in
no need of questioning that. The New York
World two or three-days ago printed a column
and a half of dispatches from points all throueh
the United States which indicated, the discharca
from employment of easily twenty-five thousand
men. The southern railroad with its headouar
ters at Washington has laid Off nearly threa
thousand. The Hill railroads in the northwest
have stopped all construction work. In the face
of this situation the mere shouting of the ad
ministration about prodigious prosperity is in
effective. The mere issuance of bonds to tho
banks or to the people who will have to take
the money out of the banks to get the bonds or
certificates will -not relieve the trouble. The
one thing that will help will be an endeavor to
reduce the cost of living in the country so that
people may not suffer exactions from trusts
and from monopolies. But on the question of
tariff,, wnich protects the monopolies, the ad
ministration stands pat. It is just as pat as
Speaker Cannon or as Vice President Fairbanks.
It offers no suggestion of relief from tariff ex
tortions, and I have the very best authority for
stating that the only word in the message to
be sent to. congress by President Theodore
Roosevelt on the second of December concerning
tariff revision will be a recommendation for
free materials for the 'manufacture of print
paper. That Is a sop which . he throws to the
newspapers of the, country," but if it is a just
and proper recommendation, why not free ma
terials for clothing, for shoes or for the build
ing of our houses?
. . ' WILLIS X ABBOT.
JUSTICE BREWER ATTACKS MR. ROOSE-
. ' " '" VELT
David J. Brewer, associate justice of the
United -States supreme court, created a sensa
tion by a speech, delivered at a banquet held
in New York City November 20. A New York
dispatch to the Washington Herald tells the
story in this way:
Justice Brewer spoke on "Public Office in
Relation to Public Opinion," and surprised his
audience by severe criticism and arraignment
of President Roosevelt.
Justice Brewer not only reflected on. the
president openly, but by Innuendo. He contrast
ed openly Roosevelt and "Hughes.
Justice Brewer spoke of mob rule, de
nounced lynching, and declared that the country
just now was "full of constitutional lawyers."
He-,snOke of the sacredness of the constitution,
and" passed to the subject of rulers.
Among other things, Jastice "Brewer said:
, "Despotism and a mob are the two extremes of
government. Inthe one the people have noth
ing to say,, and in the other they have unre
strained voices. True democracy occupies tho
middle ground. The more constant and univer
sal the voice of the people, the nearer the ap
proach to an ideal government. -
"Initiative and referendum make public
opinion the quality controlling. The more
promptly and more fully public officers carry
into effect such public opinion the more truly
is government of and oy the people realized.
"Hasty legislation, If not always, is often
a step backward. Many a bill needs executive
veto,, and in New York state it gets It. If the
legislations were always 'wise the constitution
would be a mistake for that attempts to conflno
legislation within certain limits.
"The constitution is not a criminal code.
It is a theory of government, and is not to bo
read In favor of anybody, but is an instrument
whose clear words have the force of vital and
solemn truth, binding on the majority as well
as the minority. In the light of these general
thoughts, what are the relations-of public offi
cials to public opinion?
"Is the officeholder an agent or a ruler?
No one doubts that it is a base betrayal of trust
for an officer elected upon one platform with a
view, perhaps, of carrying its set 'principles into
legislation, to .Jura around, after: securing his
. office, and support the opposite sldef.. For thero
is an implied promise in the acceptance of an
- r (Continued on Page' Five)
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