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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1909)
' Hf "VQF" "Tcyi r-v ; '-Sn NOVEMBER' 12, iOOO The Commoner. company, and the FederatiOnist published the name of the Bucks Stove and Range company under the caption of 'We don't patronize.' The proceedings against the officers of the Federa tion wero begun August 19, 1907, by the stove and range -company. After a comprehensive hearing Justice Gould, of the supreme court of the District of Columbia, issued a temporary injunction restraining the defendants from prosecuting a boycott on the business and pro ducts of the Buck company. Later this injunc tion was made permanent. In the appeal of the case to the court of appeals of the District of Columbia, Alton B. Parker of New York, ap peared as one of. the counsel for the Federation of Labor. References to the Bucks Stove and Range company continuing to appear in the Federationist and in speeches and writings of the defendants, the company had Gompers, Mitchell and Morrison cited to appear and show cause why they should not be punished for con tempt of court. Mr. Gompers had openly inti mated that he would not be bound by the terms of the injunction. After the hearing in the con tempt proceedings 'Justice Wright, of the su preme court Of the district, found the defendants liad been guilty of wilfully disobeying the in junction and sentenced them to imprisonment in the district jail. In announcing the decision Judge Wright declared that the defendants had 'intimidated, browbeaten and coerced' the pat rons of the stove and range company until it had suffered severe loss, Pending an appeal the three defendants -Vere allowed to give bail for their reappearance.". .' ' REFERRING TO President Taft's visit to Bir mingham, Ala., the Associated Pfess says: "The president referred once during the course of his speech to the proposition to amend the state constitution by. providing In it for an in definite continuancp of state-wide prohibition. He promptly was asked how he stood on; the question. 'I am not. an Alabaman.,' he replied with laughter, 'and I am somewhat in the posi tion of Brother. Fox who, when he was. called upon to decide ft case between a lion and spme , other-, f erpcio.uSf beast, , protested, thatt ho, had a bad, old-and.jhadu entirely, vlost his sense. of smelV '.' .. ;. CONCERNING President Taft's attitude on the waterways proposition, the, Chicago Record-Herald, a republican paper, says: "The federal government; through President Taft, aiid twenty-three states of the union, through their governors, are, flatly aligned against on0 another pn the proposition, 'Shall work be started on the iakes-to-the-gulf deep waterway?' The acute line of opposition, it might be termed hos tility, between the national government and the states was drawn this afternoon at the fourth annual convention of the Lakcs-to-the-Grulf Deep Waterway Association. President Taft, in the mos'notable utterance, he has made 'on the questibh df' deep waterways, went for mally on record1, as' 'being opposed to immediate action on the Mississippi improvement proposi tion. He indicated . that only in the dim and hazy vistas, of the future should work be begun. 'Do it later,-sometime in the future.' This is the' position of President Taft. 'Do it now,' on the contrary, Is thta cry of the governors of the twenty-three states" extending from Minnesota 'to Louisiana and from Maine to Washington. The president's speech was an intense disap pointment to the'delegates. The moment he had left the hall the governors of the twenty-three states became extremely busy on the platform he had just deserted, and proceeded to voice sentiments 'that were hot at all in line with those of the president and which evoked a continuous roar of applause from 'those present." if.: . ,.... PP. 'O'CONNER, "member of parliament from Liverpool, is visiting in America and de clares "Ireland has never had such a chance for home rule as now." In a newspaper inter view Mr, O'Gonnefr says: "The whole United Kingdom Is in &V ferment. Such revolutionary public utterance's in -responsible positions and such an "answering temper in the people have not been knoww'lh three generations. The issue before thS "tfetfple has been put squarely by Lloyd Georgo'tahd the people understand it. I can not do better- than to repeat hid phrase: "Shall the peerS'Ofttbo people rule?' King Ed ''ward has foreknowledge of the crisis that may confront him, an-'d the measure of his recent activity is a sign of his anxioty. Tho budget now goes before tho house of lords. If they reject tho government will go to tho pooplo for a vote of confidence, and In my opinion they will be returned. Tho present government would pass, by three hundred votes in the house, a home rule bill for Ireland wero they not with held by a conviction that the peers would promptli veto it. Therefore they will not waste time on a bill sure to bo killed when there is so much other important legislation ponding. But if the present government is suBtainod at the polls, they will demand of the peers a right of suspensory vote. That is, a bill passed by tho house may still bo rejected by tho lords, but if the house again passes it in the face of this re jection the bill shall forthwith become a lav-. You ask me why the peers will grant this con cession. Because if they refuse It, tho premier, with the country behind him, would say with all respects "to tho king: 'Sire, you must give me a majority In the house of lords.' Tho king may do this by the creating of new peers. Ho has done it for his own ends in the past, and in this instance he would have to do it, becauso tho sovereign under tho constitution must fol low the advice of his responsible minister. Sup pose the lords pass the budget. Tho govern ment in my opinion will still find a pretext to go before the people for support on the deeper issue formulated by Lloyd George, which I have already quoted. But supposo again, that the government going before the people for sup port, is defeated. Why, even then wo shall have such a small tory majority that tho na tional, the Irish vote, will command tho situa tion. King Edward does not wish to face the crisis I have suggested. Ho is trying to com promise tho situation, to bring the peers to a realization of their embarrassment. Whether he wins, or loses, Ireland can not lose. If she rises to . her opportunity, home rule is hers within from three to four years." IT WAS SUPPOSED that when James If. Eckels, formerly comptroller of tho currency, died that ho was worth in the neighborhood of 'half a million1 dollars. It seems now that t'no liabilities' of the Eckels estate are double the assets. Claims against tho estate havo been presented as follows: Hanover National Bank, $178,016.73-; National City Bank, Now York, $94,202.50; John P. Hopkins, $39,305; Roger C. Sullivan, $28,205.12; People's State Bank of Detroit, $25,900.00; William Capesius, $25, 900; Harry Benedict, $13,824; First National Bank, Chicago, $8,607.71; Thomas A. Marlow, $5,331.33; LaSallo Stato Bank, $5,306.00; Farmers' National Bank, $5,291.G7; National City Bank, Ottawa, 111., $4,215.33; A. B. Leach & Co., $64,489.67; William Salomon & Co., $56,804; Pittsburg Trust Company, $50,000; Farson, Son & Co., $30,820.56; Morton Trust Company, $264,737.55; A. G. Becker, $119;841.67. A SIDELIGHT on Judge Gaynor, New York's mayor-elect, is shown by the Kansas City Times in this way: "William J. Gaynor chose the occasion of a dinner given by tho Knife and Fork club in Kansas City, May 23, 1907, for expressing himself pointedly concerning trans portation. Tho subject of his address was 'Our Railroads Are Public 'Highways, Not Private Roads.' The applause whieli welcomed every strong statement showed that thero was practi cally unanimous agreement with him among the 200 members of the club present. The speech caused considerable comment in the country and his plain speaking was subsequently indorsed by J S Harlan of Chicago, a member of the Inter state commerce commission. 'No man has meas 'ured the importance of -the railroad problem more accurately an editorial in the Star said the following day. 'Justice Gaynor's address comes from a man of the highest Integrity, a man of judicial Insight, a fearless advocate of the square deal, a democrat who Is standing shoulder to shoulder with President Roosevelt in the fight for equitable railway regulation.' Railroads are government roads, was Justice Gaynor's argument, because they can not bo con structed without the resort to the government's mnt of eminent domain. 'But land can not be taken by government for any private use. Fasten that in your mind that only the gov ernment i can take private property away from thS owner and that it can take it only for a Public Sse, such as for a public highway and th I like-land you have the key to wliy our Iron roads, Just like our dirt and water roads, had to be, and wcro built, not as private roads but as public highways. You, therefore porcoivo that our iron roads aro not private roads, but public highways. Soino have come to tho con clusion that tho government should tako tho railroads and run them In order to end tho abuso (of discriminatory freight rates). My own view is that It is necessary for tho government to appoint the gonoral freight agent of every railroad, for ho could stop all rato favoritism at once. Referring to tho Roosevelt policies, Judgo Gaynor oxprossed a hopo that 'President Roobo volt's successor will bo tho kind of a man who will continue his policies to tho end. This may sound strango,' ho contintiod, 'coming from a New York democrat, but I believe tho man In public ofllco who is carrying on such a work as President Roosevelt Is doing should receive sup port and encouragement from every honoat man.' " rplIE "CHICAGO plan" Is an organized effort X on the part 'of Mayor Busse and other Chicagoans to boost Chicago as a business city. As one member of a committee of 325, whose duty it would bo to push tho "Chicago plan," Mayor Busso appointed John Fltzpatrlck, presi dent of the Chicago Federation of Labor. Mr., Fltzpatrlck wrote tho mayor a letter, refusing to serve. In his letter Fltzpatrlck said ho was seriously concerned in any plan that would make a better Chicago, but was not in sympathy with any plan to boost tho commercial Interests, so long as those interests aro concerned only In tho accumulation of dollars. Ho said if tho mayor would appoint a committee to wipo out tho white slave traffic and punish tho gambling trust, It would do more for the city than a committeo to plan greater Industrial and com mercial enterprises. Tho letter to tho mayor is, in part, as follows: "Why not consider tho cause of tho white slave trade and find out whose interests profit by its existence? Why not look into the affairs of the gambling trust and Instead of allowing a notorious police ofil cial to divert attention by attempting to fasten the bomb outrages upon organized labor, ap point a committeo of 325 citizens to find out what estates receive fonts from gambling and other resorts, and who among our good citizens exert their influence to protect tho landlords -from publicity, thereby preventing tho possi bility of curbing the keepers? What wo need in Chicago Is a better citizenship and an under standing of the responsibility we have, to pro tect and promote tho wolfare of tho human fam ily. Wo present a sorry spectacle when we close our eyes to honle conditions and the very lim ited opportunity of our people to live anything like the way an American citizen should live, while our better inclinations are shrouded with an all-consuming desiro for more dollars. It is timo we of Chicago should bo seriously con corned with a 'Chicago plan,' but one having as its object a better life, a better home, a bet tor future for human beings. It may appear to some that tho promotion of industrial and commercial interests is all, but I havo found that they aro fully able to caro for themselves, and am somewhat confounded as to tho need of a committee of 325 citizens to help them. Long ago I reached tho conclusion that one decent homo, with a bread winner full of hope and courage, a contented wife and happy children, mean more in tho eyes of our Creator than any industrial or commercial enterprise in our midst. I appreciate the honor you have con ferred and most respectfully request that for the reasons herein set out you accept my declin ation to act as a member of said commission.' O HDRE IS A refreshing story of political cour tesy as told' by the New York World: "Cyrus C. Miller, tho fusion candidate for presi dent of tho borough of the Bronx, doesn't be lieve In campaign mud slinging, and ho proved it yesterday when ho refused to take advantage of certain material offered to him out of which such mud could be made. Mr. Miller received In his mail a letter attacking his rival candidate on tho Tammany ticket, Arthur H. Murphy, in tho bitterest terms and giving alleged facts re garding Murphy which could bo used with telling effect to divert votes from him. Mr. Miller read tho letter and then enclosed It in an envelope and sent It to Murphy with this note: My Dear Mr Murphy I enclose herewith a Icttor which I have received today. I send it to you so that It will go no further. Yours very truly Cyrus C. Miller.' " w i m MI w -lZS -?- vkjtarti ! l" 'I iiyMlWjlJWIj;i,ll'l,"rin'