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The Commoner.
JUNE 4, 190
7
r rmy
in history is also true. "And yet, despite the
brilliant gala events and the three days of
parades, pageants, speeches and gong, the old
doubt as to the authenticity of the famous
declaration will not down. Thomas Jefferson
in his letter to John Adams marshalled many
and strong reasons in support of his opinion that
the declaration was spurious. Many of his argu
ments have never been satisfactorily answered
probably .never can be. Furthermore, histori
cal evidence recently discovered goes a' great
way in confirming the correctness of Jefferson's
belief. W. Henry Hoyt, of the Harvard law
school, two years ago, in his book on the Meck
lenburg declaration, clearly established by the
aid of evidence not available to Jefferson the
mythical character of the facts upon which the
believers in that document rest their case. Some
resolutions were adopted on May 31, 1775, .in
Charlotte by the committee of safety, but these,
when examined, fall far short of the honors
claimed for the declaration."
TENNESSEE has a claim. L. S. Ellis of Plain
field, New Jersey, writes to the New York
"World to Bay: "In the discussion going the
rounds concerning the Mecklenburg declaration
of independence, to which your editorial of this
morning is an interesting contribution, the claim
of Tennessee seems to be overlooked. For it
is written: 'Near Johnson City, in 1772, the
Watauga Association founded 'the first free and
independent community established by men of
American birth in this continent.' They 'found
ed a republic by a written association, appoint
ed their own magistrates, framed laws for their
present occasion and set the people of America
the example of erecting themseles into a state
independent of the authority of the British
king.' This quotation is clipped from a rail
road folder of the N. Y. & N. O. Short Line,
and so far as I have been able to ascertain from
historical records, Tennessee is entitled to the
claim of. priority of date."
GEORGE A MAURER of Burlington, N. Y
writes to the New York World as follows:
"The editorial 'Where Mr. Bryan is to Blame
in your issue of April 12, seems unfair. Admit
ting the Nebraskan's attitude toward the tariff
when he was a member of the house to have
been commendable, you criticise his position
on the subject in later years, when there is
nothing to indicate that his tariff views have
changed in the least. It is true that the money
question was made paramount in 1896 and 1900,
but is it not unwise to deliberately invite de
feat? There is no use denying the fact that
the cutting of tariff rates during the Cleveland
administration was held responsible (erroneous
ly) by a majority of the people for the panic
of that period, and it was a fear of 'free soup'
and not of 'free silver' that defeated Mr. Bryan
in his first campaign. Why do you fail to at
tach any blame to the bolters of the party in the
Bryan campaigns, who were as much traitors
to tho party's tariff policy as are certain so-called
'democrats' in congress today? You also admit
that 'an excellent tariff plank was adopted by
the Denver convention last July,' but claim that
Candidate Bryan failed to take advantage of his
opportunity. Even Mr. Bryan's most ' bitter
enemies would hardly deny that the Denver tariff
plank embodied the candidate's views, 'and in
his speech of acceptance he made the tariff is
sue paramount. His formal speech on the sub
ject was unanswerable, and while it is true that
he advocated other principles, if the World and
some other party papers and 'leaders' had paid
more attention to propounding the party's tariff
plank and less to trying to ridicule the bank
guarantee and other planks (which were at
least honesty of purpose and not sought as a
means to foster monopolies and aid special in
terests) , perhaps the World's 'Map of Bryanism'
would have been less prophetic. Let us not
forget to first remove the mote from our own
eye."
EC. BENEDICT, the banker, who was an
intimate friend of the late Grover Cleve
land, has recently returned from Europe. In
a newspaper Interview, Mr. Benedict said: "You
can't keep ua Americans down. We are so rich
not only in resources, but in vital energy, that
we rise again after each disaster in spite of
the most abominable economic system In tho
world. 1 am proud to be an American, not
withstanding tho letters we have put upon our
selves by an absurd tariff, a banking and cur
rency Bystem that is the laughing stock of all
other civilized nations, and a sub-treasury sys
tem derived from savago and backward races
who had their money holes in tho ground. Our
business interests are forced to uso a banking
and currency system which they profoundly dis
trust. Every two or three years tho money
rates in New York City soar to from 2G to 150
per cent per annum. Tho country condemns
Wall Street as the cause of high Interest, yet
Wall Street Is only the dial of tho clock whoso
works are tho intricate and highly unscientific
systems prevailing throughout tho country.
When I visited Franco thirty-nine years ago tho
money rate there was three per cent. Since
then France has paid milliards to Germany and
has suffered tho Panama and other disasters,
yet tho rate of interest in Paris never rises
above five per cent. What an object lesson to
tho financiers in congress! Wo are again on
the upward path, but the penalties of our un
scientific economic systems will recur, and in
greater and greater Intensity each time, because
of tho constantly Increasing volume of business."
COMMENTING on the Benedict interview,
tho Philadelphia North American, a repub
lican paper, says: "It is no socialist nor popu
list nor muckraker nor agitator nor 'yellow'
journalist who talks thus. The idiocy of Amer
icans, who pride themselves upon being shrewd
men of affairs, contenting themselves with a
panic-breeding, unstable, Inelastic yet over
shifting banking and currency system, has made
this nation so notorious that every intelligent
tourist learns quickly that we aro tho butt of
the contemptuous laughter of all other nations.
What Mr. Benedict, a sane, conservative finan
cier, declared is so patent that even Aldrich,
who for nearly thirty years has posed as tho
high priest in tho mysterious sanctuaries of
finance, after a trip abroad, actually discovered
that our "banking and currency system largely
of his creation is an unscientific absurdity."
REFERRING to the Benedict Interview and
the North American editorial the Omaha
World-Herald says: "It is strange what an un
masking of the republican party has been
brought about by the panic and a couple of years
of business depression. No one any longer prates
about republican administration being a guar
anty against hard times. No one any longer
claims the republican tariff is perfect, immacu
late, flawless. No one any longer claims that
the republican party has a monopoly on the
understanding of the financial question and of
the courage, skill and business ability required
to handle it. Out of tho mouths of its own
leaders, out of the mouths of American bankers,
business men and financiers, the republican
party is arraigned and convicted. Two million
idle workingmen; thousands of mills and fac
tories either closed or running on short time;
business slow and dull and enterprise timid and
backward in nearly every section of tho country
(with Nebraska and Omaha splendid exceptions)
while at the same time crops have been abun
dant and the production of gold and other
precious minerals unprecedented these things
prove the republican party a quack, a false pre
tender. Its boasted omniscience and omnipo
tence and infallibility are shown as mere glit
tering pretense. Now that the fetish Is shat
tered and the myth demolished; now that peo
ple understand that the republican party Is both
fallible and sinful, like the rest of us, perhaps
we can hope to get a verdict on political issues
hereafter based on merit, and a study of tho
question, and not on idolatry and fear. For
this much thanks."
ONE OF THE talented writers on the Phila
delphia North American conducts a depart
ment in that newspaper which he styles "The
Optimist." The real name of "The Optimist" is
Lee Mitchell Hodges. It is Mr. Hodges' business
to tell the readers of the North American who
are living Just now under republican adminis
tration to cheer up. A Philadelphia reader
writes to Mr. Hodges this interesting letter: "I
am an optimist. For years I have read opti
mism and preached optimism, and prided my
self on having been able to point out to many
people the silver lining to their clouds. But
now I am In a quandary, and I come to rou for
help. In the last few weeks something has been
happening to my optimism. I am beginnlng-to
doubt. Let me explain. I know a young lady
who lives In the mill district. She worked In
the mills several years, contracted tuberculosis,
as so many others do, and was compelled to
stop. She Is almost well now, but must not go
back to work, o sho keeps house for tho rest
of tho family, in placo of her invalid mothor.
An elder sister also worked In the mills, was
seized with consumption and had to stop work.
Sho is still suffering, and this young lady take
caro of her. She has two youngor sisters who
are working in tho mills now. If you could seo
with what anxloty sho watches tholr facos, day
after day, as they come homo; how sho barkens
for tho sound of that dreaded cough which sho
knows must come you would roalizo why I
write. But thoro is no help for it. They must
work If they aro to live. There are two Httlo
girls of eleven and Bovon, growing up, to entor
tho mills as soon as they aro old enough. Now,
what shall I toll this young lady when I meet
her again? What ray of sunlight can I bring
into her lifo? How may I point out tho silver
lining to her cloud? Is thoro a silver lining?
Perhaps not. Perhaps our optimism yours and
mine comes from threo hearty meals a day,
plenty of fresh air and a congenial occupation.
Perhaps if we you and I nursing one con
sumptive, saw the white plague reaching out for
four other sisters, and were powerless to stop
it, we, too, would fall to see tho sun! If you
and I and the other optimists had to tramp tho
streets day after day, in search of a chance to
work, we, too, might not bo optimists. If you
and I and the others had to stand in that long
miserable lino before tho door of tho 'Sunday
Breakfast Association' to got a cup of 'coffeo'
and a roll In return for a prayer to Jesus, per
haps wo would not bo optimists! Tell mo, my
dear Mr. Hodges, or some of your 'Optimist'
readers, is there anything in optimism? I shall
watch for a reply. Till then, I am, yours In
doubt."
ONE OF THE curious things about tho story
of death by violence, according to tho
Technical World Magazine, is that human lifo
is cheapest, not in the largo cities, though of
course tho total number of deaths is greatest
there, as the casual observer might suppose, but
in tho smaller cities. Tho Technical World
adds: "Nowhere are lives held so lightly as in
the smaller cities of Pennsylvania. Measured
by the deaths of violence human life Is cheapest
In Butler, Pennsylvania, where the annual rato
Is 379.4 per 100,000 population. Pittston in
tho same state stands second with a rato of
359. C. Iron Mountain, Mich., Is third in rank
with a rate of 290.7, then comes McKeesport,
Pa., 290.1; Shenandoah, Pa., 278.9; Pottsvlllo,
Pa., 276. Pueblo, Colo., is seventh in tho list
with a rato of 2C9.3. Altogether there are moro
than a score of small cities half of them in
Pennsylvania', the rest in New Jersew, Massa
chusetts, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Maryland,
in which the death rato by violence exceeds the
highest rate in any largo city. The highest rato
for a large city, 190.9 per 100,000, is found in
Pittsburg. If to this bo added the death rato
from typhoid fever and other preventable dis
eases, Pittsburg may be deemed fairly entitled
to such glory as may attach to tho fact that
human life is held cheaper within Its boundaries
than in any other civilized community. Tho
total number of deaths by violence In 1906 and
tho rate per 1Q0.000 Inhabitants from that,
cause in seventeen of tho larger cities aro set
forth in the following table:
Total
Deaths.
716
425
231
472
738
408
429
4,323
311
1,453
631
1,988
529
331
252
191
122
City: Rate.
Pittsburg 190.9
New Orleans .-. :. 135.3
Kansas City ...- -.-... 126.7
Buffalo w. . 123.6
Boston . 122.5
Cincinnati 118.2
San Francisco 116.8
Greater New York 105.1
Washington 101.1
Philadelphia . . . 100.8
St. Louis . . . .w. . . ; . 97.2
Chicago . . 97.0
Baltimore ..'..:....., - 95.5
Detroit . . . ..nrr.u .-.: 93,0
Milwaukee ., 69.8
Minneapolis .-... 69.8
St. Paul ....;.....;. ..: 59.9
13,550
BANK GUARANTY GROWS
The house of representatives of the Florida
legislature has passed a bank guaranty bill by
a vote of thirty-one to twenty-eight. This makes
five states In which one branch of the legislature
has acted favorably, besides three states in
which a compulsory system has been' adopted.
Let the good work go on.
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