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VOLUME .7, NUMBER S
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AN ASSOCIATED Press dispatch under date
of New York, December 19, says: "At a
session which lasted ten minutes the republican
county committeo of New York county tonight,
by an almost unanimous vote, refused to con-
' sider at this time a resolution indorsing Gov
ernor Charles E. Hughes for the republican
presidential nomination. No sooner had the
resolution been offered by the friends of the,
governor and its adoption moved than there
, came an amendment to receive and print the
document and make it a special order for the
' regular meeting in January. This latter mo
tion was carried with a shout that could be
heard far out into the street. Immediately a
,j motioi to adjourn was carried. The action of
the. committee In postponing the matter was re
garded as a foregone conclusion, as the delegates
: assembled." j
M l-.'
'.
E.EFERRING TO the .defeat of the Hughes
resolution the New York, correspondent
"for' the St. Louis Globe-Democrat says: "Thats
the Hughes resolution, which was introduced to
night by Harry W. Mack, republican leader in
the Fifteenth assembly,, where Governor. Hughes
made his home at the time he was elected eov-
' V-,. er'nor, will be passed by . a large majority at
. the January meeting, the governor's friends
' claimed as a certainty. Even the followers of
,,Mr. Parsons did not gainsay th,is assertion, but
'' ' 7.If passes at that time the credit will not
; belting to Senators Page and Saxe, who so far
' have been the principal Hughes boomers, and
whose motiyes have never ,been questioned ex
cept by the friends of Mr. Persons, but to th.e
county chairman and his friends. Tonights
' " meeting demonstrated beyond a doubt that Mr.
' -""t Parsons is in complete control of the commit-
tee. That the outcome of tonight's meeting
"V was a black eye to Governor Hughes and his
prospects for the nomination was plainly to be
read in the faces of his friends on the county
committee after the meeting had adjourned.
They were almost unanimous in declaring that
r the - hand of President Roosevelt rather than
v that' of Chairman Parsons had been felt in to--'
' night's proceedings. The fate of the Hughes'
resolutions was practically settled at the meet
ing of the executive committee of the republican
-county convention, which was held this after
noon at the republican state quarters. At that
meeting the course of deferring action on the
resolution was decided upon by a vote among
the leaders." , "
fTffNDER THE heading "Let Us Wedp With i
:KJ '' Pity and Bow With Shame," the Appeal
1 to Reason displays, across two columns of a re
cent number, this extract from a press report
of the Monongah mine explosion: "They took
a sniall boy, eleven years od, from mine No. 6
today. He bore on his grimed little face a look
of peace and happiness that doubtless never
marked it in life. 'There are other little trapper
boys, they say, in the hideous catacomb back
iinder the hills, boys that never have known the
delight of tops and marbles, and whose best
comrades are the slow and patient mules that
haul the black cars down the drifts. The little
boy taken out was a weakling, a mere child,
who in life probably did not possess enough
strength to lift a bushel of coal. But his smf 11
hands were gnarled and his shoes were those
naiiaedaU aborer rough and tou6h ad hob-
REPRODUCING THE extract from .the Ap
peal to Reason the Omaha World-Herald
prints this remarkably strong editorial- "Th
heading seemed hysterical and a bit ridiculous
at first glance. But no. honest man with a spaSc
of that heavenly compassion In his heart which
Charles Dickens invoked for 'Little Joe' can
read this bit of news without admitting that
the heading is excused. ChrisUan S
womeli should weep with pity 'and bow their
heads with shame. For this puny little eleven-year-old
miner, with gnarled hands and hob
nailed shoes; this child robbed of his childhooW
taken from the sunlight arid the fields and
streams and forests while yet a baby and
plunged into this coal mine there to puffer and
die; this little miner was their, slave. In their
service he lived and died, and all he has to show
for what our Christian civilization has given
him in return for what he gave is his stunted
soul and starved body arid his grimy face up
turned td the sky. Dickens' 'Little Joe,' the
English waif whose forlorn condition so touched
the great heart of the novelist, was a prince, a
pampered and favored child of fortune, com
pared with this dead little American miner of a
' half-century later. A half-century of progress
and this is what we have to show for it! Is it
strange socialism grows; socialism, j&hich hurls.
.its challenge in the face of the system that has
given us this sorry product? 'Is it strange that,
despite' its fundamental' fallacies, it appeals to
the fathers and mothers of the poor when it can
launch, with, justice, the, terrific indictment
against a 'capitalif'; civilization' that 'the march
of its conquest is stained with the blood of, in
fants and paved with 'the ' puny bones of
children?' People wenre poof enough, .God
knows, in the dark ages' of medieval Ignorance
and in the still earlier' days of paganism; out
never, till modern industrialism joined hands
with Christian civilization, did they have to send
their children to work as children vare sent to
day. Ancient, greed' heldIts hand 'in pity, or
shame, and spared the child. The greed of "to
day knows neither shame nor pity and in chil
dren it finds succulent morsels."
I r
, . i- f
i ' CONTEST BETWEEN Nebraska I'epubli&U
J. is on. It is Taft against LaFOlIette. One
Taft supporter wrote to the Lincoln Journal in
sisting that "Mr. Taft should be nominated, ber
cause he is "a fearless fighter against predatory
wealth and corporation aggression;"" also tiiat
"there is no question as to his (Tafts) 'positibh
upon every point in what we have come to recogr
nize as the Roosevelt policy." Frank A. Harri
son, the LaFollette leader in Nebraska, has pro
pounded to this particular Taft boomer these
questions: "When did Mr. Taft declare his posi
tion on the policies now before the country?
When did he make this 'fearless fight against
predatory wealth and corporate aggression?'
Surely Dr. Ely didnot receive this information,
by the process of mental telepathy. If Mr.
Taft's chief recommendation is that he is in
dorsed by Roosevelt, then by the same reason
ing are not Paul Morton and the minister to
Mexico also 'fearless fighters against corpora
tion aggression?' And isn't it just possible that
Roosevelt is a better judge of policies than he is
of men? Shouldn't the Taft tub stand on its
own bottom?"
A PERSONAL encounter occurred December
19 on the floor of Jthe liouse of representa
tives. An- Associated Pi-ess dispatch from Wash-'
ington tells the story in this way: "John Sharp
Williams of Mississippi, leader of the minority
and Representative David A. De Armond of Mis
souri engaged in a fist? fight over the passing
of the 110 On the floor of the house this after
noon immediately after adjournment at 2 1.0
Mr. Williams struck the flrst blow and Mr.'De
Armond retaliated vigorously with clenched
fists. When the combatants were separated
blood was flowing down Mr. Williams' face from
a small gash in the left cheek and his forehead
was red and abralsed. Mr. De Armond bore no
mark of the fray. The encounter was witnessed
by more than one hundred members of the
house and by as many more persons in the gal
leries, among them a number of women The
house having just broken up, groups of'repre
' sentatives were standing or sitting about dis
cussing the committee appointments that had
been announced by the speaker. Among them
were Mr. Williams, peated at Representative
Wallace's desk on the center aisle of the demo
cratic side, and Mr. De Armond,, who occupied
Representative Bartlett's desk adjoining They
were .engaged in very earnest talk but their
yoicps were low and they attracted no especial
attention. Suddenly both anen sprang to their
feet and bejsan striking at each other. So
startled, and so vastoupded were -tlie J members,;
of the' house and the officials that for a mm
no one offered to interfere and the lead
the minority and the member from Mfssour
lunged back and forth between the desks both
swaying wildly and each in apparent d'anSJ
of going down. Blood was flowing from 2
in Mr. Williams' cheek when AssistantTerg'ant
at-arms Sinnot sprang between them, BS
Mr De Armond and held him back whil Trepre.
.sentatives and attendants, following suit, effect
ed a separation." ' Cl
THET LIQUOR question came up in United
States senate when Senator Tillman intro
duced the following resolution: "That the com
mlttee on interstate commerce be instructed to
.consider and report by bill or otherwise what
legislation is desirable or necessary to enable the
estates in the. exercise of their police powers to
, .qontrol the commerce of liquors and alcoholic
beverages within their borders so as to aid the
; cause of temperance and to prevent the encour-
' ?,??ent 5y tue United States- government of
;UHcit dealing in the same."
REFERRING TO the Tillman resolution an
Associated Press dispatch says: "Mr.
' Tillman said his purpose was to prevent cir
cumvention of state prohibition laws. Said he:
'The courts have held that these laws interfere
' wUh interstate commerce. On this account I ask
this investigation Mr. Tillman said the ex-
r .press, companies are flooding local option south
ern states with whisky from other states, 'C. 0.
D.,' and the supreme court of the United States
had held that such traffic can not be interfered
with because of its interstate character. He
said his resolutions ought to define the point at
k which the police power of -the state begins and
.determine how far congress can go in limiting
the control over interstate traffic in intoxicating
beverages. A general discussion concerning the
powers of states and of the federal government
was - precipitated. Mr. Knox suggested that the
- whole difficulty could be reached through a bill.
Draw one,' suggested Mr. Tillman, whereupon
Mr. Knox prepared an amendment to the Wilson
law. Mr. Tillman then withdrew his resolution
and offered the Knox bill, wiiich was referred
to the committee on judiciary. The bill pro
vides that all intoxicating liquors transported
into, any state or territory regaining therein
shall, upon arrival within the state and before
or after delivery to the consignee, be subject
to the laws of such state in th same manner
as tho.ugh such liquors had been" produced in
suph state or territory, and shall not be exempt
therefrom by reason of being introduced in origi
nal packages or otherwise."
SEVERAL Washington correspondents have
reported that strained relations exist be
tween the president and Secretary Cortelyou. It
was reported that Mr. Roosevelt was very angry
wljen he discovered an alleged scheme on the
part' of certain of his appointees to boom Sec
retary Cortelyou' for-the presidential nomina
tion. Although Mr. Cortelyou has not given
the public statements he seems to have found
it necessary to issue under date of December 17,
the following: "I do not know that I am called
upon to make a statement at this time, but in
view of the various rumors in circulation as to
the alleged political activity of friends of mine
in my interest, I will say that I have not been a
candidate for anything but the confidence of the
people in the discharge of my duties as secre
tary of the treasury. I have not in person sought
nor have the friends whose names have been
mentioned in this connection sought to influence
political movements in my interest; I have not,
nor have theyy used any influence, directly or
Jndlrectly, to secure political support for or
against any candidate for the presidency and ac
cusations that such has been done are unquali
fiedly false. In qap office, in hq one of three de
partments with which J have been connected,
have J authorized or permitted :afnclals or em
vjptoyes to attempt; to influence -any such move
.mentf,, nor shall I do, so. . In-icpmmon with many,
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