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The -Commoner
9
has never.--won a national election after a panic
ho said,. and I don't believe this election will
prove an exception to the rule. See what wo
have to contend against. President Roosevelt
has alienated from our party many business
men, and while he has at the same time won
many more voters from among the ranks of
the plain people, they are voters who are for
Roosevelt personally and Roosevelt is not to
be our candidate. The labor element is dead
against Taft. The men out of work, or work
ing on short time, are very likely to throw their
ballots against the party in power. Wo have
made a muddle of things here at Washington
this winter, and the idea has gone out among
the people that we are doing nothing because
we' are angry at the president, a statement in
which there is more or less truth. The people
stand by the president and are disgusted with
the do-nothingism of congress. If the democrats
can not beat us now they may as well give up
hope of regaining control of the government for
all time to come "
O
THE NASHVILLE (Tenn.) Banner says:
"Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller, who re
cently celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday, has
served nearly twenty years in his high judicial
position a longer time than any oth,er chief
justice, except John Marshall, who served thirty
five years, and Roger B. Taney, who was in
office twenty-eight years. Since the foundation
of the government there have been only eight
chief justices of the United States. Their names
with the dates of their appointments, are given
below: John Jay, New York, September 26,
.1789; John Rutledge, South Carolina, July 1,
1795; Oliver Ellsworth, Connecticut, March 4,
1796; John Marshall, Virginia, January 31,
1801; Roger B. Taney, Maryland, March 5,
1836; Salmon P. Chase, Ohio, December 6,
1864; Morrison R. Waite, Ohio, January 21,
1874; Melville W. Fuller, Illinois, July 20,
1888."
SPEAKING. OF Mr. Burrows, the temporary
chairman of the republican national con
vention, the Boston Transcript says: ''The
Michigan senator is, however, not an Jnipres
sive figure. He., has long been the special
guardian of the beet sugar interests in his state,
and as such steadily opposed Secretary Taft's
efforts to relieve the economic situation in the
Philippines. Burrows is, moreover, a politician
protectionist of the old type, the passing of
which to a large degree will be signalized by
the nomination of Taft. As a speaker, Burrows
is somewhat ambitious. In the early days of
his congressional service he delivered an ora
tion, parts of which were of such surprising elo
quence as to arouse the suspicion of a demo
cratic member of about the same age, who
searched the school books of childhood to find
that Mr. Burrows had plagiarized freely from an
old text book known as 'The Columbian Orator.'
On account of this episode he was fo"r some time
nicknamed the 'Columbian Orator.' From that
dusty tome he could presumably today extract
words of eloquence to fit the assembling of a
national convention to nominate a man whose
policies and aspirations are decidedly out of
keeping with his own."
THOSE WHO, as members of Audubon socie
ties are particularly concerned in birds,
will be interested in this story from the Kansas
City Star: "It is not generally remembered that
the world-wide reputation of Audubon as a nat
uralist, incidentally, is due to his failure to es
tablish himself permanently as a Missouri gro
cery merchant and dealer in the best brands of
Kentucky whisky.- In 1810 he and Ferdinand
Rozier, of Ste. Genevieve, loaded a keelboat at
Louisville, Ky., with 310 barrels of whisky and
groceries and started down the Ohio and Missis
sippi to Ste. Genevieve to open a grocery store.
The trip was made during the winter, and the
streams were so full of ice that the boat was
drawn up against the bank and winter quarters
were established just below Cape Girardeau.
When Ste. Genevieve was reached, after the
opening of navigation, the firm of 'Audubon &
Rozier' opened their store and did a prosperous
business. But the business was done by Rozier,
for Audubon preferred the woods to the counter,
and devoted mdre of his time to sketching and
stuffing birds than he did to marketing the 310
barrels of good Kentucky Bourbon, or any other
groceries '"This led to a dissolution of the part
nership. 'OiKApril ! 11, '1811, Audubon; con
yincea' -of ihllB'iirifitnesa-for business, sold out to
Rozier udnoWiip the work for which he '-was
better fitted than anyono who had lived bef4ro
or who has lived since, and from a fourth-rnto
grocer became the great ornithologist. Tho
?rl01LnUSine,f lch Audubon abandoned
grew until finally it 'extended throughout all of
upper Louisiana.' "
HERE IS A good story told by tho Wash
ington Star: Commissioner Bingham of
New York, discussing the case of a policeman
found guilty of protecting gambling houses,
rV, Th0 nTan 1Ied t0 naively in a defenso
or his innocence. Ho was like a carpenter em
ployed last month by a newspaper friend of mine.
My newspaper friend writes a good deal at
home, and his study being next to the nursery
the children's noise disturbed him and ho em
ployed a carpenter to make tho wall sound
proof between tho two rooms. 'I'll fix it all
right, said tho carpenter, confidently. 'Tho
best thing to do will be to line it with shav
luBln He conPleted tho job, then he called
tho 1 terary man in. 'She's sound-proof all right
now, he said. 'Well, we'll test her,' said tho
literary man. You stay here.' And going into
tho nursery he called to the carpenter in tho
study: 'Can you hear me?' 'No, sir, 1 can't,'
was the prompt reply."
T4E NEW YORK Evening Post, which is not
at all partial to democrats, says: "Con
gressman Tawney, chairman of the committee
on appropriations, Is said to have a powerful
speech all prepared, to prove that the democratic
filibuster in tho house has cost the country $50,
000,000. His reasoning is that, under tho un
usual parliamentary conditions, It has been pos
sible to slip through many a costly job. Mr.
Tawney says that the leaders of the house could,
under the normal operation of the rules, have
cut off at least $50,000,000 from tho appro
priation bills. But this is a pretty lame defense
Of extravagance. The party in power is always,
and justly, held responsible for the budget. It
will be this year. Moreover, the constant 'in
sistence of the house leaders Payne and Dalzell
has been that, filibuster or no filibuster, the
majority would conduct the public business in
its own way and at k its own pleasure. This
makes it rather late in the day for tho republi
cans to charge that the wicked democrats com
pelled the majority party to be wantonly ex
travagant.. Hypocrisy never yet excused reck
lessness." COLLIERS WEEKLY prints this interesting
editorial: "When Mr. Bryan Insists that
most of tho newspapers in American cities are
corrupt' and 'subsidized,' he falls into over
statement, which leaves too many openings for
reply and gives him the appearance of coming
out of the controversy second best. Had he said
that there Is, in many cities, an identity of own
ership or interest between the leading news
papers and the public-service corporations, suffi
cient to leave the people without an unfettered
mouthpiece, he would have been precise. Ho
might have added that the disposition of tho
large interests which have been under attack
for some years to seize upon newspapers as in
struments of shelter and defense was never more
eager than today. As examples, Mr. Bryan cites
'one paper controlled by the Morgan combine,
one by the Louisville and Nashville railroad, an
other by the Santa Fe,'. and John R. Walsh's
ownership of the Chicago Chronicle as 'an ad
junct to Mr. Walsh's various business enter
prises.' To his list Mr. Bryan should add John
R. McLean. This distinguished democrat owns
the Washington Post, which not only is tho
leading newspaper in the District of Columbia,
but also, by virtue of its daily appeal to the
eyes of congress, exerts a large influence on
national legislation. Mr. McLean has also tho
control of the Washington Gas Light company,
and, by alliance with one of tho two wealthy
senators, Is dominant in some of the local street
railways."
A WASHINGTON dispatch to the St. Louis
Republic says: "All but 130 out of the
980 delegates to the republican national con
vention have been elected. Only one week of
the contest remains. With next Sunday the
last convention for delegates must be held under
the call of the national committee, and all con
tests must.be filed by May 28. Taft is far in
the lead; indeed, so far that It would seem im
possible to, dqfeat him at Chicago.. His nom
ination would be freely conceded but for the
fact that the movement , to stampede to Mr.
Roosevelt cdntinftes t strong. , In some states tjie
vote of the secretary of war has been reduced.
nnd in others It has been Increased. He !o give
only ten votes from Connecticut, and tho other
four that nro Instructed arc placed in tho Roose
velt column. Thoy might later bo found in tho
column of tho sccrotary of tho treasury, In caso
larts nomination should bo deemed inexpedient,
and in caso Mr. Roosevelt prevents his own nom
ination. Two votes arc taken from Mr. Taft In
New Hampshiro and Vermont each and given
to Governor Hughes. Two are taken from him
in Missouri and added to Roosevelt. Tho secre
tary of war ig given two more votes in Kentucky
than were accorded him last week. Ho is con
ceded twelve in Mississippi and twenty-six in
Michigan, four moro than ho has been given
in former estimates. Tho real and prospective
strength cf tho candidates is as follows: Taft
013 Roosovelt 128, Hughes 88, Knox G8, Can
non 57, LaFolletto 25, doubtful 10, Forakor 9.
States contested 82."
O
ACCORDING to tho Minneapolis Journal, No
braska boasts of a lawyer who will take cases
of but one kind litigation against railroads.
1 his lawyer's name Is Jesse Gandy, and ho Uvea
at Broken Bow. Mr. Gandy Is well fixed so
rar as this world's goods are concerned, and
ho delights in legal battle with railroad cor
porations, preferring the Burlington. Tho
Tribune tolls tho story In this way: "Gandy
owned a large section of tho country in western
Nebraska. Tho Burlington railroad wanted a
right of way through tho land. Gandy donated
tho land on condition that ho should have a pass
over tho division as long as ho lived. Tho
railroad furnished tho pass for several years. .
Then came a chango of management and Gandy's
pass was cut off. Gandy took his caso to several
lawyers, but found that each of them was re
gained by the railroad and none would tako his
case. Til study law and fight my own case,'
said Gandy. In time ho was admitted to tho
bar. His first announcement read: 'I will tako
all righteous cases against a railroad and I will
guaranteo to win. If I lose your caso I will
pay the costs. If I win your caso you pay mo
a part of the costs.' For sixteen years Gandy
has been busy fighting the railroads, and espe
cially the Burlington. Ho won't tako a caso
unless he is convinced the plaintiff has a good
chance of winning, and ho pays all tho costs,
just as his advertisomont roads. Usually ho re
fuses to accept any fee for his services. He la
independently wealthy and simply fights because
he loves it and also to 'get even' with a railroad
for 'dirt' done him."
DEMOCRATIC CONVENTIONS
TEXAS
! fi
The democratic state convention for Texas
met at Fort Worth May 27. Tho convention
elected to tho national convention tho delega
tion headed by Senator Bailey. The convention
adopted a platform similar to that adopted by
the Nebraska democratic convention in 1907.
It instructed tho delegation to vote for Mr.
Bryan.
ARIZONA
The democratic state convention for Ari
zona met at Tucson May 28. Tho convention
elected a delegation to the national convention
and instructed it for Mr. Bryan.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
The democratic convention for New Hamp
shire met at Manchester May 28. The conven
tion defeated a resolution proposing instructions
for Mr. Bryan. The following telegram may
be of interest:
Manchester, New Hampshire, May 28. Tho
Commoner: New Hampshire's eight delegates
enthusiastically for Bryan and solidly pledged to
support his candidacy; delegation led by Mayor
Reed of Manchester, a most devoted, loyal
Bryan man, who will be elected national com
mitteeman. No instructions. i
GEORGE FRANKLIN WILLY.
FLORTOA
It will be necessary to hold a second pri
mary in Florida. The following telegram ex
plains: Jacksonville, Fla., May 29. The Com
moner: Four Bryan delegates elected; all others
required to enter second primary.
W. S. JENNINGS.
'
WEST VIRGINIA
The West Virginia democratic convention
elected a delegation to the national convention
and adopted strong resolutions instructing for
Mr. Bryan.
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