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The Commoner.
VOLUME 8, NUMBER 4j
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KfCURBeNT
MR. ROOSEVELT is having a hot time with
hia latest presidential message and with
his extra constitutional appointments and or
ders. A congressional committee brought out
the fact that a building, the property of the
government, in Washington City was torn down
by- order of the president and this committee
now wants to know by what authority the
executive destroys government property. The
Cuban press is hotly indignant because of that
paragraph in the president's .message where he
said, fn effect, that if Cuba didn't behave her
self she would be taken charge of again. The
senate is disposed to call the president to ac
count because in his agreement with Japan he
indicated a disposition to enter into treaties
without the consent of the senate. A congres
sional committee is also asking by what au
thority the president gives to his "country life
commission" the right to use the mails free
of postage, and this committee maintains that
the country life commission was appointed
without authority. Now the house has adopted
a resolution appointing a committee to deal
with the insult offered the members of the
congress by the president when In his message
he said that they were afraid of investigation.
Orithis'" committee the following were appoint
ed; Republicans, Perkins of New York, Weeks,
of Massachusetts,, Denby of Michigan; democrats,
Williams of Mississippi, Lloyd, of Missouri.
R EFERRING TO' the disturbance in congress
Walter Wellman says: "Leading. members
of both houses declare that the president's state
ment to the effect that the principal argument
used in favor of the provision was fear of be
ing investigated, is not true. A great number
of senators and representatives have expressed
a desire to speak on the subject and if they
get the chance they are' not likely to mince
their words. 'I am glad this question has come
up,' said an influential member of the house
today. 'I, for one, am tired of being brow
beaten and bullyragged by the president of the
United States. We have stood more from him,
owing to the position he occupies, plus his known
peculiarities of temperament and the affection
ate regard in which he is held by a large proportion-
of the American people, than has ever
been the case before or ever will be again. But
the time has come when the members of the
house must resent these widely accusatory utter
ances or eTse lose their own self-respect and the
respect of every courageous and self-thinking
American citizen. I hope the special commit
teei makes Its rebuke to Theodore Roosevelt
good' and strong. Let them give him some of
his own medicine and see how he likes it.'
Other leaders in congress, among them, it is
understood, Senator Aldrich and Speaker Can
non, are trying to keep the indignation of the
legislators within proper bounds. They hope
that the lapse of time will serve to cool down
the hot tempers, and they may try to maneuver
to defer action and debate for several days. A
few of the president's special friends In con
gress are also- rallying to his support, though
Mr. Roosevelt himself is not at all disturbed
over the outlook. To the contrary he rather
enjoys it."
NEWSPAPER correspondents predict trouble
in the senate because of the agreement
entered into between President Roosevelt and
Japanese authorities. The president insists that
this agreement is not a treaty and therefore did
not require the consent of the senate. Senators
Insist, however, that in effect it amounts to a
treaty, Walter Wellman, writing in the Chicago
Record-Herald says: "A paradoxical situation
exists in the senate over this Japanese-American
understanding. Democratic senators claim It is
a treaty but want to consider it as if it were
not a treaty, that is, in open senate. Repub
lican senators tke the administration view that
it is not a' treaty, but want the senate to con
sider it as if it were a treaty, that is, in secret
session. The purpose of the democrats of course
is to 'roast' the president in the way and place
likely to be most effective and to attract the
greatest amount of attention from the country.
Republican senators are willing enaugh to have
the president 'roasted' but want the operation
to be carried on behind closed doors. The demo
cratic senators are so wrought up that they de
clare if the republican majority forces them to
debate the so-called 'treaty' in executive session
they will seize every opportunity to discuss it
publicly. Evidently there are lively times ahead
in 'the most dignified legislative body on earth. "
WHILE IN THE act of speaking of the un
certainty of life and the immortality of
the soul at the Elks' lodge of sorrow at Colorado
Springs, Former Governor Charles S. Thomas
of Denver suddenly paused in his address, raised
his hand to his brow and fell fainting into the
arms of the exalted ruler and the chaplain, who
sprang to his support. A Colorado Springs dis
patch to the$ Denver News says: "Governor
Thomas was assisted into a chair and from the
intense pallor of his face the spectators caught
the impression that death was actually in their
midst. For several moments a deathlike still
ness pervaded the horrified audience and. a
couple of physicians sprang to the stage to as
sist the apparently .dying man. In another mo
ment, however Thomas opened his eyes and re
covering himself with an effort sat upright.
'My friends, I am very ill,' he managed to artic
ulate, and the next moment he was being borne
in willing arms to an automobile outside the
opera house, which conveyed him to the resi
dence of Thomas F. Burns, a brother Elk, where
he was given medical attention. Thomas jwas
soon revived and though- in a weak state tonight
is out of all immediate danger It was not
.until after the ceremony was over that it .'be
came generally known that Thomas had Jeft'.a
sick bed in Denver to come to Colorado Springs
to deliver the memorial address for the Elks of
this city and his heroism in attempting the
task under such trying circumstances rather
than disappoint his audience and brethren is
the subject of universal admiration and comment
tonight. Thomas left for his home in Denver
on the 6:15 Denver and Rio Grande train and
was attended to the depot by a host ofbrother
Elks, who showed their appreciation of "the vet
eran statesman arid legal light in a quiet, but
most heartfelt fashion."
THE DENVER News says that the address by
Governor Thomas was a masterpiece of simple
eloquence and so appropriate to the occasion
that there was. scarcely one of the large audience
present who was not visibly affected. It was
after holding his audience spellbound through
out the entire address and while delivering the
last paragraph that the speaker was seized by
the attack of weakness and pain that ended in
his being carried off the stage. "We are told
in holy writ," said the speaker, "that for all
things there is a season, that there is a time to
love and a time to hate, a time to laugh' and
a- time to weep, a time to build and a time to
destroy, a time to rejoice and a time to mourn.
Our beloved order reared upon the foundations
of friendship, integrity and brotherly love, has
no place In its economy for hate or destruction.
Its religion Is the good of mankind, its phil
osophy the golden rule and its object helpful
ness. The lodge of our order is in the sun
shine. It encourages comradeship and social
intercourse and the smile and not the sigh is
its emblem of life. But the sun must fall be
low the horizon and as our brothers can not
always dwell together the smile that is perpet
ual becomes wholly meaningless. And so when
the shadows of the evening fall upon us and the
eleventh hour is reached and passed, we put
aside for the time our accustomed habiliments
and touch hands with the dead. For us there
is indeed a time to mourn. It comes with the
gloom of December and the somber shadow of
affliction rests today upon every lodge of Elks
throughout the world. It Is our day of'Gethsem
ane. The certainty of death is one of the laws
of life. Like every law of nature it is invariable.
It knows no distinction between aiight that ex
ists in nature. It rules in every kingdom wheth
er animate or inanimate. , That which was is
not and will not be. Death is the great leveler
of men. Before him the peasant is the equal
of the king and in his presence the wise man
is even as the fool. No mountain peak raises
itself ahove thelevel of the plain in his domain.
Like the level of the sea it stretches off into
the horizon, immeasurable, monotonous and
changeless. But from, its surface all heights and
depths are measured while to its dark and cheer
less bosom all things in time are surely gath
ered." From the contemplation of the question
of death, Mr. Thomas turned to reflection on
the life that is to come. "Whether it be life
or nothingness beyond the grave," said he, "we
do not know but we may be sure that it is as it
should be. The ordered perfection of the uni
verse has no flaw in its peVfect mechanism. We
may therefore rest content feeling that 'what
ever is, is right,' and that our primal duties
and responsibilities are here and that as we
meet and perform them so will we have the
merit of others here and certain justice elsewhere."
THE LONDON Mail's New York correspondent
gives his paper a good story that has es
caped general attention in this country. The
story, as printed in the Mail under a New York
date line, follows: "A faultlessly dressed man,
with a' Vandyke beard and of distinguished ap
pearance, who gives the name of Montefiore
Myers, was committed to the Tombs prison this
afternoon on charges of. grand larceny. Mr.
Myers, iwho haite from Australia, and gives
London as his place of residence,, was brought
here by the night train from Pittsburg, where
for two months past he has been the close
friend, companion, and honored guest of the
steel and other industrial "magnates. He went
to Pittsburg armed with introductions, now al
leged to be false, from many of the most notable
men of this country, including Mr. Whitelaw
Reid, the ambassador in London. He is alleged
to have stated that he was an agent of Messrs.
Rothschild,, and had $200,000,000 (40,000,
000) to invest as soon as It was certain that
Mr. Taft was elected president- Mr. Myers was
welcomed with open arms and received invita
tions to civic banquets,' at which, he .was treat
ed as a man of immense power. He is also
alleged to have promised Mr. David Belasco,
the actor-manager,.' to invest $250,000
(50,000) In the construction of a model
theater. Mr. Belasco drove Mr. Myers in a mo
tor car all over Pittsburg investigating sites for
the theatre, and at a dinner given at the Lin
coln hotel introduced him with a toast brim
ming with enthusiasm. Dramatically waving
his arms, the celebrated actor exclaimed:
'Gentlemen, look well upon this man, for you
may never see his like again. This man has at
the back of him a fortune of $200,000,000,
which can scarcely be realized by the human
imagination. He is the man who will finance
our new theatre.' Mr. Myers received this
eulogy modestly, blushing painfully, and with
lowel head he murmured, 'You flatter me.'
Mr. Myers is said to have boasted of an inti
mate acquaintance with Messrs. Roosevelt,
Rockefeller, Morgan, and Taft. His gorgeous
suite at the Hotel Schenley was decorated with
what purported to be autograph photographs
of these and other celebrities. He dressed
magnificently, and when the police invaded his
rooms they found an assortment of five hundred
neckties, and letters couched in familiar lan
guage from princes and eminent women all the
world over. Mr. Myers obtained among other
concessions an option on the great oil holdings
of one Colonel Guffey, but as he failed to de
posit the requisite money the option lapsed. He
was the guest on Thursday at a brilliant ban
quet given by the National Municipal league,
where-he was introduced to the attorney gen
eral, Mr. Bonaparte. He was suddenly arrest
ed on a charge of stealing in February last
year five bonds of the Central Coal and moer
Construction company, valued at $4,500 i"0
He declared in the New York police court to
day that the charges were based on PerJ"r?
testimony. After he had been committed w
gaol in. .default- of bail, the assistant distnu.
attorney declared that he was the most inter-