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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (March 6, 1908)
VOLUME 8, NUMBER 8 8 ; .ir?Tu j!ag;sctr' ar T TOPICS 7 . The Commoner, Wg GURR6N ygmxX7-?Z3tSSiZmmmiaz3SLA " 7". ' '' mllM ST. LOl'IS correspondent for tho Asso 1 Haled Press sends this interesting ls paleh: "Tommy (Jlciwon, aged four years, today iavod HlK brother Sylvester, aged nrtonii inon from Iholr burning Homo, which heir olhor had loft for u low minutes to go to a Kiocoiy. The house was n HlniHy shack with a canvas root and burned rapidly, ho rapidly Ihui by ho time Tommy seized llio sleeping c-lillel. bundled him In bin arms and toddled to the ard. hiB ha r and oyebrows wore Hinged and bo was nearly strangled by tho Hinoko." THIS NI3W YORK World prints this inter esting item: "Sherman M. Cralgcr, of thlH city, who called the conference of antl-nrynn democratH at tho Waldorf-Astoria for January X, which was not held, has written to Governor Johnson of Minnesota, that he has conferred with many conservative democrats who agree that Governor Johnson should bo tho democratic nominee for president. He says that tho people with whom ho has talked do not want a Bryan or a Roosevelt for president. Mr. Cralgcr Is anxiously awaiting Governor Johnson's reply, expecting that the governor will state his position." O HjrRS. ANNA M. Weigh tman Walker, daughter M of William Woightman, tho proprietary medicine magnate, was married recently in New York City. Mrs. Walker inherited about $4 0, 000,000 from her father and on tho occasion of hor marriage, February 2G, she gavo away $1,000,000. Tho Now York correspondent for tho Chicago llccord-IIorald says: "The various gifts, which arc placed in trust with Richard W. Moirs, Hampton L. Carson and tho Trust Com pany of North America of Philadelphia, are as follows: Nephew and llvo nieces, $G00,000; four great-nephews and great-nieces, $200,000; Collego of Physicians, Philadelphia, $50,000; to carry out a contract of gift with the Franklin Institute, $50,000; Historical Society of Penn sylvania, $50,000; Society for tho Protection of Children From Cruelty in Philadelphia, $20,000; Society for tho Prevention of Cruelty to Animals In Philadelphia, $20,000; Professor George Allon memorial In tho university of Pennsyl vania, $5,000; library fund of the Perkiomeu Seminary of Philadelphia, $5,000." KENTUCKY HAS olected a republican to tho United States senate. An Associated Press dispatch under date of Frankfort, Ky., February 28, says: "Amid scenes of wildest excitement on tho Iloor of tho house of representatives, former Governor William O'Connor Bradley, republican candidate, was today elected to suc ceed James B. MoCroary in the United States senate for a term of six years, beginning March 4, 1909. Ho received sixty-four votes, barely enough to win. llo was enabled to gain victory through tho assistanco of four anti-Bockham democrats, Senators II. S. McNutt and Albert Charlton, and Representa tive Chris Muller of Louisville, and E. W. Lil lard of Boyle county. Until today they have voted for democrats for senator and their sud den rally to Bradley took Beckham men com pletely by surprise, although tho latter claim to have information that a deal was effected by which tho liquor forces were to elect Bradley In return for tho defeat of the county unit bill in tho senate Tho completion of tho first roll call showed Bradley sixty-four, Beckham, sixty, Blackburn ono, James one. Before tho speaker could announco tho result tho democrats ob tained a recapitulation, and attempted to break the quorum by leaving tho hall, but came back accompanied by Beckham, who authorized tho withdrawal of his narao and released tho demo crats from tho primary nomination pledge to him In hopo that some other democrat would bo named who could defeat Bradley. Tho four balloting democrats woro surrounded hv w. long party friends and urged to withdraw their support from Bradley and elect James, Mc creary or any democrat that they might name, but thoy remained obdurate, declaring that tho proposition came too lato. Tho democratic lead ers promised a caucus to select a candidate, to which the name of Beckham would not be pre sented, but the recalcitrants refused all offers and the result could not be changed. The ballot was completed after tho democrats finished changing their votes as follows: Bradley, 64; Beckham, 15; James, 15; McCreary, 10; Mayo, 5; Allen, 2; Smith, 2; Peak, 2; Newman, 1; Hunt, 1; Elliston, 1; Stanley, 1; Blackburn, 1; Cantrill, 1; Ellis, 1; Cammack, 1; Sullivan, 1; McIQlroy, 1. There was great disorder in the chamber during recapitulation, the republicans demanding that the speaker announce the result and democrats seeking to delay, hoping to in duce one of tho democrats to leave Bradley. In a speech accepting his election, Bradley thanked the speaker for his fair and impartial rulings. He promised to use every effort as senator to secure the repeal of the six cents tax on tobacco." IN THE SAME dispatch it is said: "Repre sentative Lillard was the only one of the democrats to explain his vote for Bradley. He said lie thought it time to throw off the party shackles and to break up the machine, and al though he did support the democratic ticket for forty years, ho believed his vote for Bradley was the best democratic vote he ever cast. It had been held from the beginning of the contest, over six weeks ago, that a majority of a quorum was sufllcient for an election, and with 126 members present today it required sixty-four votes to elect. The votes of four democrats who have steadily refusdd to vote for former Governor Beckham were transferred today from the various democrats on whom they had sought to induce their party associates to unite, to the republican caucus nominee, and his election promptly followed. The many changes of votes made the recapitulation a very slow process and it also developed an additional vote, but the vote for Bradley remained unchanged, still be ing a majority of all members present and vot ing. Thoro was further delay in the announce ment, but the speaker finally announced that Bradley had received a majority of tho votes and was elected." 0 ONE WHO signs his communication "a regu lar subscriber," writes from Kingston, N. Y., to the New York World as follows: "I read your paper daily and have done so for many years. You have railed at W. J. Bryan for near ly twelve years, but with no apparent effect. Your editorials this year and pamphlet alluded to in today's issue are so much waste paper. Don't you see the signs of the times? Every thing Is Bryan, Bryan. Tho last message from the president is the loudest call for him yet. As to tho map, it is the most remarkable misstate ment of actual conditions imaginable. To sum up your vitriolic attacks upon Bryan they amount to this among all the readers of tho World we like the way you present the news and read the paper with pleasure; but as for guiding tho judgment of the American people none of you are equal to the task." ' o THE CHICAGO Inter Ocean, a republican pa per, recently printed an interesting edi torial, attention to which is called by the Quincv (111.) Journal. Tho Inter Ocean editorial fol lows: "On its face tho sudden movement to secure some delegates from Illinois for tho Hon William II. Taft is not pro-Taft but simply anti Cannon. Its ulterior purposo is to blackmail all tho friends of Mr. Cannon into supporting Mr Deneen for renomination. Tho Inter Ocein deems it well to announce that it can not be qo driven, and that not because it regards Mr Cannon as indispensable, but because it regard Mr. Taft as absolutely Inexpedient 'iVJ , w William H. Taft is a republican of unquesUon' able ability and a fine record of service ll ? discharge of public duty, as he saw it at the time. Yet as a candidate for the presidenov aga nst Mr. Bryan, ho would be a mistake deplorable and probably disastrous mistaTe Pres dent Roosevelt, by certain of his oZS sonal policies, has alienated or estranii S T third of tho republican vote", r !nese S?f cies Mr. Taft stands. He has echoed an del fended them in his public utterances, down to and including the last message from the Whito House. Moreover, on his own record, Mr. Taft has incurred the profound distrust, if not enmity, of another good third of the voters whom the republican party must have to win. We refer to the so-called labor vote and Mr. Taft's historic feud with the labor organizations. The Inter Ocean does not even discuss here the righteousness or unrighteousness of the presi dent's policies or the righteousness or unright eousness of the acts on the part of Mr. Taft which produce these political conditions. It simply presents two indigestible political facts as they are. On account of these facts the Inter Ocean apprehends that Mr. Taft, if nom inated, would be defeated by Mr. Bryan. There fore the Inter Ocean regards Mr.. Taft as the least available candidate in the middle western field. The Inter Ocean requests tho reader of this statement to cut it out and if, by any chance, Mr. Taft should be nominated, to paste it in his hat." T'-IE ELKINS anti-rebate law was neither re pealed, modified nor amended by the Hep burn act. All the original provisions relative to the giving and receiving of rebates remain in full force and effect. The Washington corre spondent for the New York World says: "This was the decision handed down by the supreme court in the suit of the government against the Great Northern railroad for granting rebates. It will have a far-reaching effect on a large number of appeals taken from lower courts. The opinion destroys one hope entertained by the Standard Oil company of discovering a way to evade payment of the $29,000,000 fine imposed by Judge Landis for accepting rebates from the Chicago and Alton railroad. One of the con tentions set up was that the Elkins law was repealed by the Hepburn act. Counsel for the Standard intervened in the Great Northern suit and became a party to it so far as this one point is concerned. The fight to prevent the col lection by the government of the enormous fine must now be limited to other points raised. The Great Northern case was instituted in the United States district court for Minnesota, which court fined tho railroad $1,000 each for fifteen viola tions of the first section of the Elkins law in granting concessions to the W. P. Devereaux company on its shipments of oils of corn from Minneapolis to points in Washington. Today's decision was announced by Justice White and affirmed the finding of the district court and the United States circuit court of appeals." THE NEW YORK correspondent for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch sends to his paper this interesting dispatch: "That- the Standard Oil company is striving to coerce the news and editorial columns of the news press through, its advertising department is the charge made by Herbert Myrick, editor of the American Agri culturist, in its issue of today. Seven pages of the periodical, which is one of the oldest and most substantial of its kind, is devoted to the charge and to the correspondence on which, it is based. The correspondence passed between. Silas H. Payne, head of the Standard Oil's ad vertising department, and the publishers ol tho Agriculturist. The first letter from Mr. Payne says that the Agriculturist was cut off the 1908 list of papers because of its adverse criticisms. He marked the paragraphs to which he objected. Ono told of the $1,600,000 line inflicted upon the Waters-Pierce Oil company in Texas. An other told how the railroads had been compelled to put the independent producers on an equal footing with the Standard. A third described the $29,000,000 fine inflicted upon the Standard .Juxig0 Landls in Chicago. A fourth dealt with the report of federal bureau of corpora tions on the Standard Oil methods. These and the other paragraphs objected to were printed as part of the regular summary of news which, tho Agriculturist gives its country readers weekly. The Standard Oil has been advertis ing two of its by-products axle grease and an oil Btoye in the Agriculturist for a long time. On February 3 the publishers wrote Mr. Payn