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NOVEMBER 20, 19 OS
The Commoner.
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it was read " yesterday. Tlio president's stand
was unanimously approved by such of tho min
isters as were asked for their opinion on tho
subject. 'President Roosevelt is perfectly Jght
on the subject said Jehkin Lloyd Jones, pastor
of All Souls' church. 'The time has gone by
long ago when dogmatism can count much in
the politics of this country. Tho number of
bigots who scratched Mr. Taft's name from their
ballots because of his religious convictions would
not fill an c ld-fashioned omnibus. There is no
reason why a man's religion should bo consid
ered because ho is a candidate for office.' 4Tho
president hit the point exactly,' said Rev. Ed
ward A. Kelly, pastor of St. Ann's Roman Cath
olic church. 'Nobody has the right to question
a man's religion in considering him as a candi
date for office. When Roosevelt declared that
a man's religion was his own personal and in
dividual business he reflected the almost unani
mous sentiment of the American people. I am -glad
he put it so forcibly. One of the strongest
reasons for his popularity is that he is a true
type of -the American citizen., The people appre
ciate his good sense and fairness all tho more
now that, he has spoken on this subject.' Rabbi
T. Schanfarber, recognized head of the orthodox
Jews in Chicago, agreed most heartily with
President Roosevelt's views. He said' that lie
had preached on the subject within the last few
weeks, after his attention had been called to tho
fact that former Governor David R. Francis of
Missouri, at a banquet In St. Louis, had declared
that Mr. Taft, as a Unitarian, did not believe in
the divinity of Jesus Christ, and that he was
therefore open to suspicion. 'President Roose
velt is right when Le says that such arguments
arc out of accord with tho spirit of our consti
tution,' said ,Rabbi Schanfarber, 'and that a
man's religio,us views are- entirely a matter be
tween him and his Maker. The faqt that a man
is a Catholic; or a Protestant ov a Jew ought to
have nothing to dp with his chances in politics.
There, have Jbgpn some very wise statesmen wjio
didn'p bellevoin God at all, and, in a country
where a prctcnoo is made of a 'complete separa
tion of churoh end state I see np reason why an
infidel shoul.d,not become president of the United
States, provided; his other, qualifications are
right. None but the bigoted and narrow, who
can not sco beyond their own creed, will find
'fault with tho views . expressed by President
Roosevelt.' "
solved it by recording Mr. Cleveland as 'tho
twenty-second and tho twenty-fourth president.'
Then he went on and listed Mr. McKihloy an
the twenty-fifth president. That mado Mr.
Roosevelt tho twenty-sixth, and Mr. Taft natu
rally will bo the twenty-seventh. That Is tho
way tho enumeration now stands, but it is far
from satisfying. Call .Mr. Taft tho twenty
seventh president, and then call tho .roll. You
will find that Mr. Taft Is tho twenty-sixth Indi
vidual to hold that high office. According to
the system of enumerating individuals, Mr. Taft
clearly will be tho twenty-sixth president. But
if you call him that, what aro you going to do
with Mr. Cleveland's place in hlBtory? Was ho
tho twenty-second or tho twenty-fourth presi
dent? If you call him tho twenty-fourth, who
was the twenty-second? If you call him tho
twenty-second, how do you justify tho fact that
the twenty-second president served four years
after the twenty-third-president had complotod
his term. Let's see. How old was Ann, any
way?" O
HERE IS AN interesting editorial from tho
Columbia (S. C.) State: "It was tobo
expected tho World would wail that with John
A. Johnson as tho democratic candidate, 'Mr.
Taft's majority, in the electoral college would
have been small, indeed.' It was to have been
expected that the World would say Mr. Bryan
is 'weaker than his party,' and point in proof
to the fact that the democratic governors were
successful in a number of states not
giving their electoral votes to Bryan. Such arg
ument may soothe tho World for giving no sup
port to Mr. Bryan and for its sporadic,' and half
hearted support to democracy, but it must know
it Is fallacious. Tliere is little or nothing in com
mon between the national and the- etato con
tests. 'Party lines aro: drawn in tho national
election in the north; thoy aro not drawn in
the state election's. Local questions-are abso
lutely supreme, and if the democrats happen
to represent the popular side, as in Ohio, Minne
sota anff Nebraska, they win. In the state elec
tions, tlio people have a chance to express them
selves with much greater freedom than in the
national elections, for the trusts and other pred
atory concerns take less Interest in such con
tests. Mr. Bryan carried Nebraska, a stanch
republican state, but the . democratic candidate
larger 'majority. Our . nrgumoiit la furthotK:'
proved by tho World, which, while aligning it . ;
self with tho national democracy, openly ahamT
pionod tho causo of Hughes, republican caridff
dato for governor. Was Bryan 'woakor than J
his party.?' If tho World will rofor to thooiec-? .
tlon returns it will find that wlillo Taft ran.
ahead of Roosevelt In tho east .cxcoptfng In?
Pennsylvania, Bryan cut down tho republican1
majorities In western states as compared with
the 1904 election, by tho numbors Indlcatod: '
California 35,000, Colorado 40,000, Idaho 9,000,
HllnolB 130,000, Indiana 81,000, Iown 102,000,
Kansas 101,000, Michigan 93,000, Minnesota
62,000, Montana 9,000, Nebraska 80,000, Ne
vada G.000, North Dakota 28,000, Ohio 20G.0007 '
Oregon 20,000, South Dakota 31,000, Utah 19,- ''
000, Washington 23,000, West Virginia 21,000,
Wisconsin 70,000, Wyoming 0,000, and Penn
sylvania, tho marked exception in tho cast, re-'
duced her republican majority by 200,000. A'
total reduction of Roosevelt's majority in tlio l
western states of nearly twelve hundred thou- '
sand votesa million and four hundred thou'-"1,
sand with Pennsylvania. Does that Indicate' tliaV
Mr. Bryan is weaker than his party? Judhon
Harmon, democrat, In elected governor or Ohio1.
No democrat has ever got that state's electoral
votes. Does Harmon strength spoil Bryan ''
weakness? It could bo contended, with better'" '""l
logic, that Bryan's strength In tho west wa& riiC. "
asset for tho democratic candidates for.gov-' "
ornors, and enabled, them, with tho addltlonaV,'"
popularity of tholr local issues, to scoro victories,'' ,
So long as the beneficiaries pf tho tariff In tho ' ''
Intorcsts of tho trusts., control tho states ojf (hq'V "
east, press and politicians, alj men of the rynri'
mold will ho w(eak h) ,tho east." lit( .
" ' ' MJ '
- WJIfAT A mVFRIlhJNOlU
:UA 'n-
It js'Ano.w moro than a wok 4Inco. thcfJ61etf-s,e''11
tlon, anil neither Prdsldcntf fRoosoVelt uoVHlr '
Taft has expressed indignation at tho-WdLhH'
Mr. Rockefeller voted tho 'republican ticket.
What a difference there Is between "beforo tho
election" and "after tho election.' ' t a
''' ' u.'- v in, ,
If what the mighty fiuhtcr cdes 'ttf 'thd'.,',,'
AfrfpfiYi t fnmr la tin mnrn linn wliof Mri
.. aw. riw m vr v w
Minn wlinf -liri
11UO UUIIU bb bVJ J1I1JU1 1V.UJ HUIIUI, bllU JUU&IUU
will not run red with uioou, although tho maga-
zines may run black with Ink.
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NOW COMES a complicated problem: "Is
Mr. Taft the twenty-sixth or twenty-seventh
president?" A writer in the Sioux City
(Iowa) Journal, says: "George Washington
was the first president of the United States and
John Adams was the second. The enumeration
ran along without possible complication for a
long time. Every man who served as president,
whether he served two terms or one, or less
than one, was given a numeral. So it ran until
Grover Cleveland was elected in 1884. His
predecessor, Chester A. Arthur, had been re
corded as the twenty-first president, so Mr.
Cleveland was put down as the twenty-second
president. Mr. Cleveland served only one term,
giving way to Benjaman Harrison, who was elect
ed in 1888. Sticking to the original formula
Mr. Harrison was recorded as the twenty-third
president. Then came an entirely now prece
dent but not a new president. After four years
in private life Mr. Cleveland was re-elected
president in 1892 and resumed the office the
following year. Mr. Harrison had been the
twenty-third president, so his successor must be
the twenty-fourth president. But Mr. Cleveland
had already been recorded in history as the
twenty-second president. Should he then be
written down as the twenty-second, or the
twenty-fourth, or the twenty-second and the
twenty-fourth? Call him the twenty-second dur
ing his second term and you would have the
anomaly of the twenty-second president serving
after the twenty-third had completed his term.
Call him the twenty-fourth, and you would not
adequately describe him. Moreover, the twenty
second would then be expunged from tho record
entirely. Call him the twenty-second and the
twenty-fourth, and you would depart from the
rule of giving each man a single numeral. - If
the term rather than the individual should gov
ern, George Washington was the first and second
president, and so on down the line. Men who
had served only fractional terms would be diffi
cult to describe at alh"
EVEN THE Journal writer admits that It is
a complicated problem. He adds: Tho
historian of tho International Encyclopedia
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