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APRIL 2, 190
The Commoner.
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HERB IS "a Gypsy Smith Sunday in Denver
epitomized" by the Denver Republican:
"In the afternoon at a conservative estimate,
yesterday 6,000 men marched in the greatest
religious parade of its kind ever held in this
country. At its conclusion Gipsy Smith ad
dressed a congregation of 13,000 men in the
auditorium. In the evening 14,000 people
crowded into the auditorium to hear him, while
fully 5,000 more were turned away. Over 3,000
people attended overflow meetings held in four
churches. Fully 400 men answered the gipsy's
call in the afternoon, and 400 men, women and
children responded in the evening. Aroused by
a plea for the overthrow of the liquor traffic, the
immense afternoon congregation of men, Gov
ernor Shafroth presiding, unanimously passed
resolutions denouncing the present Wardlaw
Cary local option bill. Similar resolutions were
passed by over 6,000 people gathered in Chris
tian Endeavor meetings in all parts of the city.
The whole day's work marks the greatest relig
ious demonstration that has ever taken place
in. this city, eclipsing not only the records of
the past week-day meetings, but also all pre
vious meetings of this kind."
V7CTiTHIN 0NE hundred miles of the south
. VY- pole- is the recc.d that eems to have
-been made. An Associated Press dispatch from
London says: "A cablegram was received this
afternoon direct from Lieu' .mant E. T. Shackel
ton, the Antarctic, explorer, -who earlier in the
day was reported by the Pall Mall Gazette as
having reached the south pole. The contents of
this message have not yet been given out, but
it has been declared by high authority that the
explorer failed of success. The expedition was
, obliged to return when within about 100 miles
i' to f the pole The secretary of the Royal Geo
graphical Society said today that he had no
information as to Lieutenant Shackelton's suc
cess, but this does not disprove the statement,
as it is known that Lieutenant Shackelton con
tracted to furnish the first news regarding his
explorations to London newspapers. It is con
sidered here that Lieutenant Shackelton, when
he came ashore at Invercargill, New Zealand,
refused all information regarding the details
of his exploration. He at once went to the
cable office and dispatched a message. He
looked .the picture of health and intimated that
all his comrades were well. Lieutenant Shack
elton's4' expedition bade farewell to England at
Cowes tin July of 1907. The last visitors to
his ship,, the Nimrod, were King Edward and
Queen Alexandra. His majesty presented the
lieutenant with a union jack to which was at
tached a caTd bearing the message: 'May this
union jack, which I entrust to your keeping,
lead you Bafely to the south pole.' "
THE DEMOCRATS of the house held a caucus
on the evening of March 23 and formally
repudiated the democrats Fitzgerald of New
York, and the others who followed him in vot
ing with the Cannon men. Mr. Fitzgerald spoke
in defense of his desertion and he was an
swered by Mr. Hardwick of Georgia. The dem
ocratic caucus then adopted the following pub
lic statement: "The democratic members of
the house of representatives of the Sixty-first
congress, in caucus assembled, declare: First,
We deplore the action of those democrats who
supported the Fitzgerald plan of saving Can
nonism. This section was in conflict with the
caucus action of this party, in violation of its
platform pledge, and we believe an overwhelm
ing democratic sentiment. We believe the
democratic party in the house disavows their
action and disclaims all responsibility therefor.
Second, Under tho guise of giving to the de
mocracy of the house representation on the rules
committee and on the ways and means commit
tee, Speaker Cannon appointed on tho rules
committee, as a democratic member, the pro
ponent of the jouse in its fight to reform th
rules and is In accord with the speaker, he
appointed on the ways and means committee as
a democratic member, a gentleman known to be
whplly oppoaed to the democratic tariff view
and shown by his vote to bo opposed to any
change in the Cannon rules. We condemn the
false pretense of the speaker in these appoint
ments he has granted to the democracy on these
committees and we hereby declare that in neither
of these appointments is the democracy of the
house or of the country represented and we de
cline to recognize such appointees as represent
atives of our party on said committees. This
arbitrary and unjust conduct of tho speaker
demonstrates anew the urgent need for a thor
ough and real revision of the rules and a better
spirit of their application so as to curb tho
speaker, protect the members and free legisla
tion and legislative procedure from bossism.
The Issue is too great to be confined within
party lines. Of nation-wide importance, it chal
lenges the consideration of every American
voter whose neck Is free from the collar of a
boss and whose back knows not tho machine
driver's lash."
REFERRING TO the democratic caucus tho
Associated Press says: "The committee of
fifteen recommended that hereafter a two-thirds
vote of all tho democratic members of the house
should be binding upon every democratic mem
ber, unless he notified the caucus in writing
that he would not be bound unless the subject
dealt with was a constitutional question or tho
member was already pledged to his constituency
to vote otherwise. Representative Sulzor of
New York, offered an amendment to provide for
a committee of five democrats to confer with
five republicans looking toward amendment of,
the present ruled f the house. Scarcely had
the declaration and amendment been introduced
when Representative Fitzgerald was on his feet
to defend himself as the 'proponent of the Fitz
gerald resolution He was frequently inter
rupted in the defense of his action at the time
of the organization of the house by questions
and challenges from Minority Leader Clark,
Representative James and others. None of the
six Georgia 'bolters' were present at the caucus.
The 'bolters' present were Representatives "Fitz
gerald, Goldfogle, Harrison, Lindsey, Fornes
and Conroy of New York, Kellher and Peters of
Massachusetts, and McDermott of "Illinois."
CONCERNING the way Cannonism won out
the Washington correspondent for the New
York American tells this story: "Details of the
plot whereby Speaker Cannon saved his rules
last Monday morning through the treachery of
twenty-three democrats, aTe slowly coming to
light. It is now known that Fitzgerald, tool
of McCarren, Standard Oil agent, was agreed
upon almost a week in advance to turn tho
trick in the event that the republican 'insur
gents' defeated the Dalzell motion to adopt the
Cannon rules, which was what came to pass.
The resolutions which Fitzgerald introduced,
and which were adopted, were prepared several
days in advance, and Cannon had a hand in
their preparation. Indeed, the whole affair was
specially cooked up, and as is now known, it
went off without a hitch. Here are some addi
tional details, however, that let in a flood of
light on the affair,- and point still more strongly
to the truth of the allegation that oil and beer
were saved by reason of the treachery of tho
twenty-three. Charles Francis Murphy, leader
of Tammany Hall, telephoned to Congressman
Riordan, of the old-time Sullivan district on last
Monday morning, ordering him and all the other
Tammany congressmen to vote for the Fitz
gerald proposition. Murphy, it will be observed,
knew in advance that Fitzgerald had a proposi
tion. Mr. Murphy looked after the interests of
the beer trust. McCarren, of course, acting for
the oil interests, saw to It that the Fitzgerald
proposition was all fixed up, and stiffened the
backbone of Fitzgerald, if it needed stiffening,
to brave his fellow democrats. Thomas Fortune
Ryan had sufficient influence with, the Georgia
men, through his Southern railway connections,
to drag them into line, and the ugar tnist
looked after the Louisiana members. The sugar
Interests, by the way indignantly denies this
allegation, through its friends, and points to
tho fact that it, too, was injured by a reduction
of the tariff on refined sugar in the Payne bill.
Any one who does not believe that tho sugar
interests have been grossly ill-treated may ex
amine tho Payne bill, and note that tho enor
mous reduction of five one hundredths of ono
cent per pound Is provided for in tho sugar
schedule. Tho above are tho additional facts
that have been dug out by the Indignant demo
crats, who aro still hard at work striving to
expose tho whole deal. More may bo forthcom
ing tomorrow night, when Mie democratic caucus
meets to take action against those twenty-throe
alleged democrats who voted last Monday ac
cording to the dictates of 'their conscience; V
i.
THE ST. LOUIS Republic pays this deserved
tribute to tho democratic leader in tho
house: "Republican babble about Speaker
Cannon having Champ Clark's head 'in chan
cery,' in the lingo jbf tho prlzo ring, is moon
shine, and very pale moonshine at that. Mr.
Speaker's refusal to consult tho minority leader
about minority appbintments to house commit
tees in reality makes the minority loader a moro
formidable figure in tho house than ho has been
since Speaker Reed began tho treacherous prac
tice of asking tho advice of the democratic nom
inee for speaker about such appointments. It
was all intended to compromise on tho speaker's
usurpations of tho powers of the house, to
weaken stern opposition by tho offer of favors
and to. avoid full responsibility for tho vicious
organization by which tho house was gagged.
As long as the speaker wields the power of
making the committees ho should be held to a
strict responsibility for tho make-up and mem
bership of the committees through which the
house transacts its business. He will, in any
event, pack them to his pleasure with tho ma
jority members. The event is rare in which
tho minority of them have any higher privilege
than to bo voted down by the majority, who re
flect the speaker's views, It is not the business
of the minority leader to relievo tho speaker
of any portion of his responsibility. When the
speaker goes to the extreme of asking tho mi
nority leader to name all tho minority commit
tee members there is always the danger of an
amicable understanding between two bosses to
expedite tho dictatorship of tho more powerful
one. Mr. Clark will prove tho most powerful
minority leader the house has had for many a
year if he flatly refuses to share the speaker's
responsibility for the committees. As he him
self has said, tho democratic minority of tho
house will become a more formidable fighting
body than it has been in nearly twenty years
xvhen It is entirely relieved of all Bhare in that
responsibility. Leaders In congress are not
made by appointment or election. They attain
leadership by gaining the confidence of their
party on tho floor through experience, sagacity
and fidelity. The 'Iron Duke' of the house
plays bad politics, blunders lamentably and
strengthens the minority in trying to snub Mr.
Clark."
SOME IDEA of the way we grow Is conveyed
in a letter written to the Philadelphia Pub
lic Ledger by Charles N. Holmes of Chestnut
Hill,' Mass.: "It is an excellent plan occasionally
to study and compare the greatness and growth
of tho United States of America. First. In
1800 we numbered 5,308,489; In 1900, 76,
303,387; in 1909, we 'approximate in all 100,
000,000. Second, In 1800 we possessed 827,844
square miles of territory; in 1900, 3,020,789
square miles'; In 1909, we possess 3,756,884
square miles. Third. In 1850 we were worth
about $7,135,780,000; In 1900, $88,517,306,
000; in 1909 we were worth approximately
$120, 000,000,000. Fourth. In 100 our ex
ports and imports of merchandise amounted to
about $162,000,000; In 1900, $2,244,000,000;
In 1908, $3,055,000,000. Fifth. In 1850 we
operated 9,021 miles of railways; in 1900, 194,
262 miles; In 1907 a total of about 230,000
miles. Sixth. In 1800 we had only 903 post
offices; in 1900, wo had 76,688; in 1907, 82,663
poatofflces."
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