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MAY 28, 1901
The Commoner.
"Ti1"r '
THE TALLAHASSEE (Fla.) Morning News
prints tfyo .following resolution introduced
by lilr. Alexander, and adopted by the Florida
legislature: "Whereas, The Hon. Frank Clark,
member of congress from, the , Second district
of Florida, lias upon the floor of the congress
of the United States assailed the democracy of
the Hon. William Jennings Bryan, who has three
times gallantly led the democratic host, there
fore, Be it Resolved, By the house of representa
tives of the legislature of Florida, which is en
tirely denocrajUc That we, the people's repre
sentatives, heartily endorse the democracy of
the matcm.esp arid peerless leader of the demo
cratic patty, William. Jennings Bryan."
THOMAS''!.. HIS'GEN, who was the presiden
tial candidate of the Hearst independent
party in 1,908, has issued a statement announc
ing that hereafter he will act with the demo
cratic party. Mr. Hisgen says: "The campaign
of 19 08 demonstrated that the battle for na
tional reforms must be fought out within the
lines of the two, largest of the national parties.
The great danger to this nation is the rule of
the autocracy of wealth through, far-reaching
and subtle trust interests. Powerful and
wealthy and their wealth and strength directed
by some of the ablest men in the work, they
form a force whose influence can not be meas
ured and whose grasp can only be destroyed by
continued and vigorous attack. The repulse
which such interests received during the Roose
velt administration has been magnified by the
popular mind into a rout. The interests are as
strong as ever, but for four years they have
been held at bay. One by one their tools: are
returning to place and power. Those who look
to see Theodore ' Roosevelt he candidate of his
party: ihtt19l2. itfitf be disappointed. Business
Interests will unite. v with strong predatory, in
terests id prevent .another radical being placed
in the presidential, chair 'y means of there-'
publican organization."
THE FEDERAL grand jury In session at - '
Tulsa, Oklahoma, refused to indict Governor
Haskell. . The . jury was dismissed by Federal -Judge
Marshall of Utah, and a new jury called.'"
An Associated Press dispatch from Tulsa'saysf
"The prosecution pf these cases from the start-'
had been directed . principally by Sylvester' R.
Rush of Omaha, - special assistant to the attor-'-ney
genera . Sensational allegations concern
ing tjio official .conduct of Sylvester' R. Rush
and United -States, .District Attorney Gregg of'
the northern district of Oklahoma are made in
two petitions filed in .the federal court here this
afternoon in connection with the Muskogee town
lot fraud cases. , One of the petitions is signed
by nine members of the grand jury that was
discharged on .Saturday last by Judge John A.
Marshall, . upon "mption of District Attorney
Greggr wlio.-assertetL that the jury had been sub
aecteOo4mproper influences. This petition re-Jut0s-,this.
-charge and in turn makes serious al
legations against both Messrs. Gregg and Rush.
It alleges. iniscon,4u,ct before the jury, efforts
to intimldatef and, coerce the jury to return in
dictments against qovernor Charles N. Haskell
and the other defendants, regardless of and
contrary to the proof presented, and petitions
the court to investigate the jurors' allegations.
The defendants also filed a response to the
motion of District, Attorney Gregg, disputing
Che fcharges of improper influences. This re
sponse alleges misconduct upon,, the part of
gregg, asserting,, jthat he has used the Tulsa
flvorld, of'which.he.is reported to be part owner,
co mold sentiment. vand to prejudice the court
and grand jury against the defendants; that ho
stated that he was after Haskell and associates,
Jnd that no one else would be prosecuted; that
o stated to Mr." Allen of Muskogee that he was
. personal enemy pf William T. Hutchlngs and
Jvould send him tp jthe' penitentiary at all haz
ards; that Gregg's, partner in the Tulsa World
tad staged to prominent merchant of Tulsa
that it was a political prosecution started by
William R. Hearsj:, t tfce New York editor,, and
by Theodore. Roosevelt against Governor -'Haskell.
The allegations are used to prove the de
fendants' claim that Gregg is an Improper per
son to 'conduit prosecution beforo grand jury."
TyOW "THE interests" are aftor Secretary of
iy Agriculture Wilson. A special dispatch la
the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal (rep.) under dato
of Washington, May 17, says: "President Taft
is so far displeased with the constant friction
over the enforcement of the pure food laws,
that there is persistent report of a possiblo
change at the head of the department of agri
culture before the summer is over. The present
enforcement of the pure food laws, it id widely
charged, involves the most serious discrimina
tion. In some cases preserves and colors are
allowed which are almost universally regarded
as extremely injurious; in others so simple and
harmless a process as bleaching flour Is pro
hibited. The result is that the dairy and food
commissioners of the states are planning a
great fight on the national pure food authorities
and propose a series of extensive experiments
to decide who Is right in these matters. Tho
state and federal authorities have taken almost
opposite courses in a number of instances. Thus
most of the state authorities have long estab
lished the view that sodium benzoato is im
proper for food purposes and preservation, while
they have permitted bleaching of flour. The
federal authorities have reversed them on both
these questions and on a number of others.
President Taft has been much annoyed hy tho
charges of favoritism and tho move for a com
plete reorganization of the food law administra
tion is becoming serious. Mr. Taft did not want
to retain Secretary Wilson in his present posi
tion, and only did so as a lastresort, owing to
the insistence of farmers all over the (Jbuhtry.
The secretary is stronger with the farmers than
any other man in sight but ho has not been so
fortunate in commanding the confidence of the
food manufacturer." i ' '
HENRY H. ROGERS, of tho Standard Oil
trust, and said to be the organizing genius
of that concern, died at his home in New York
City. An Associated Press dispatch says: "Mr;
Rogers arose about 6 o'clock, and about 6:30
o'clock ho began to feel ill,' complaining of
numbness and nausea. Before anythin'g could
be done he sank and died. He went on Friday
last to his country place at Fair Haven, Mass.,
and returned yesterday. Mr. Rogerd was for
many years one of thtf most prominent financiers
of the country. He took a leading part in all
the enterprises undertaken by the Standard Oil
group of capitalists, was vice president of the
Standard Oil company, and was the active spirit
in tho organization of tho Amalgamated Copper
company of which he was president up to the
time of his death. He also was interested in a .
t number of railroads, serving as a member of
'the board of directors of the Atchison, Topeka
& Santa Fe, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
and the Union Pacific. The news of the death
came as a surprise to Wall Street. Mr. Rogers
was at the office of the Standard Oil company
yesterday and appeared to be in good spirits.
His health had been failing somewhat for sev
eral years past and he had curtailed his financial
operations to some extent on that account, but
he continued to perform the duties of vice presi
dent of the Standard Oil company. The death
of Mr. Rogers follows closely upon completion
of tho great railway project to the accomplish
ment of which the energies of his later years,
his genius for organization and a very consid
erable portion of his private fortune was de
voted. This was the building of the Virginia
railway, a line whlcbtopened up a rich bitumi?.
nous coal country In West Virginia, extending
443 miles from Deepwater, W. Va., to a tidewa
ter terminal at Sewalls Point, Va. This road .
was distinctly an Individual undertaking of Mr.
Rogers and he probably bore tho greater part
of its construction, which has beeri estimated at .
$40,000,000. Early in April, only n few weeks
ago, the road was opened to traffic, and Mr. .
Rogers invited some friends of his from New
York to visit tho new line and witness the ar
rival of the first trainload of coal at Sewalls
Polrit. Governor Swanson of Virginia, United
States senators, members of congress and sev
eral hundred business men of Virginia and West"
Vlrerlnia wero guests of Mr, Rogers on this oc
casion. His death coming so soon aftor tho end
of tbis work and before ho saw tho fruit of
ms labor in tho development of tho section
served by his road is rogarded by his friends
and associates among Now York financiers as a
regrettablo ending of a brilliant career in tho
business and financial world. Mr. Rogers rose,
A8f 'ft ?nUft1 d,d about 6 'cIock "Us morning;
At 0,30 o clock he complained of feeling 111
and a physician was hurriedly summoned. His
heart nction was weak and it was apparent that
ho was suffering from a stroke of apoplexy,
iiijs was the second Illness of this naturo suf- '
fored by Mr. Rogers, tho first having occurred
In July, 1907. Following tho seizure of apo- '
PLex ,n 1907 Mr' Rscrs began putting his
affairs in order and ho has been out of tho mar- . -kot
entirely for months. His Interests and all'
?f corPratlons with which ho has been
identified, were placed in other hands during
the, past year. This step was taken in order '
to safeguard his properties in tho event of sud-'
don death."
O
SEVERAL YEARS ago Thomas W. Lawson
wrote a sories of magazino articles entitled
Frenzied Finance." In ono of those articles
Mr. Lawson gave the following character sketch '
of Henry II. Rogers: "Away from tho spell of
dollar-making, this remarkable man Is ono of
tho most charming and lovable boings I have
ever encountered; a man whom any man or
woman would bo proud to have for a brother;
a man whom any father or mother would give
thanks for as a son; a man whom any woman -would
bo happy to know as her husband, and a .
man whom any boy or girl would rejoice to call .
father. But once ho passes under the baleful
influence of 'the machine' ho becomes relent-,
less, ravenous, pitiless as a shark, knowing no .
law. of God or man in the execution of his pur
pose. Between him and coveted dollars may
corao no kindly human influences all are thrust
aside, their claims disregarded in ministering
to this strange cannibalistic money-hunger
which, in truth, grows by what It feeds upon.
Above all things, Henry II. Rogers Is a great
actor. He knows the human animal from tho
soles of his feet to tho part of his hair and
from his shoulder blades to his breast bone, and,
like all great actors, he is not abovo getting
down to every -part he plays. Truly a
man of blood and Iron, as Bismarck or Von
Moltke.was, his erected will is a sword and a
vise. To gain a predetermined goal, Henry H. -
Rogers will go through hellflro and water, swing
about and mako tho return trip and then repeat,
until death interferes cr his object Is attained. . .
Such, men as he In other days subjugated king
doms or made deserts where they operated; In
religion they became St. Pauls and Savonarolas;"
t
WRITING IN tho Louisville Courier-Journal ;
Henry Watterson says: "Tho plea of some
of "the democratic senators who voted for a
duty on iron ore was that the government needs .
the revenue. In the first place, a duty on iron
ore is not a revenue, but a protective duty, pro
ducing only nominal revenue and vast subsidy.
In 'ther second place, If their object is revenue
for the government they should abolish such . .'
duties as that on Iron ore and Impose essentially '
revenue duties, which would yield abundance
of revenue and little or no protection. In tho
third place, if the pretext they allege In this
instance Is to govern In all the tariff schedules '.
there can bo no removal of duties, Xor all pro
tective dutids which are 'effective at all and
which are not prohibitive yield some revenue,
while those which are prohibitive could be made' ...
to yield revenue by reducing instead of abolish- :.
ing them."
UNPLEASANT OF COURSE uir
Some of the republican senators did not scemti
to enjoy Senator Tillman's use of the wordl
"hog" in describing the scramble of the pro "t
tectionlsts to get everything" within reach. Well J I
the word does sound a little unpleasant to then
ear, but Mr. Tillman's record for the truth pre- '
vented his using the lamb to Illustrate his point.
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