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I.IUIipgyjpilK.piHljlH .,
DECEMBER 51909
wrapped In tho serious purpose with
which he undertook his real life's work,' until
the day when ho laid down his pen in tho full
ness of hfs power, he challenged attention. Ho
asked odds of no man and gavo them to many.
Ho was an indefatigable student and tireless in
Ms labor for the people fearless and fair, un
prejudiced, by personal animosities, and untempt
ed by opportunities for political preferment. His
ideal was single to tell the truth as he found it
and to give tho opinion his clear reason formed.
Ho had been tho friend and adviser of threo
republican presidents. He enjoyed tho confi
dence of statesmen, who sought his opinion and
weighed it against their own. He was at once
a spokesman and a critic of tho Tribune's opin
ions and policies. So great was his authority
and so high -tho Tribuno's opinion of him
that if his view differed from that of the paper
he voiced it with a rare independence which
commanded the respect of its editors or con
firmed and encouraged them in their views on
political and social and economic questions.
Raymond Patterson was a journalist by election
and was confirmed in his profession by his zeal.
His work added credit to his calling and his
faith In his work bound him to it with ties which
nothing but death could loose. If ho had
phrased his rule of conduct, if ho had defined
his purpose in his treatment of men and meas
ures, it would- have been in an expression of
hope that his life's work would bo a fulfillment
as it was of. tho words of HamleU 'Report
moandmy cause aright.'"
tr r f (
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A PANAMA DISPATCH carried by the Asso
ciated Press says: "A Nicaraguan revolu
tionist who has just arrived here from Blue
(ftflelds reports that-Cannon and Groco, tho Amer
icans who were executed by the Zelayan govern
ofinentwere simply taking bearing sights from a
rheight in Gosta Rican and not Nicaraguan ter
ritory when 'they .were captured. They were
with only threo soldiers of the revolution when
Zelaya's troops crossed the frontier and put them
under -arrest. Cannon and Groco were then
taken to an old fort named El Castillo, on tho
Colorado river, where, according to tho story
of tho revolutionists, they were tortured, being
bo.t within twen,yrfoun, hours after their- cap
ture. A prominent Nlcaguan resident here,
in answer to a message which ' ho sent to Dr.
Julian Jrias, minister general, has received a
reply from that official that President Zelaya is
thinking of resigning his office because of tho
threatened American intervention."
CONCERNING THE sugar scandals in New
.York, the New York Tribune prints a dis
patch from its Washington correspondent stat
ing that "it is taken for granted that democratic
members will demand an investigation of prac
tices at the port of New York, and that in this
purely political effort they will have the sup
port of certain impetuous republicans who are
not familiar with the facts." The Tribune's
comment moves the New York World to say:
"But what are the facts and who is familiar with
them? It is certain that the Tribune does not
know the facts or it would print them. Mr.
Taft does not know the facts. Mr. Wickersham
does not know the facts. Mr. MacVeagh does
not know the facts. Mr. Wise does not know
the facts. Mr. Stimson does not know tho facts.
Mr. Loeb does not know the facts. Federal
grand juries have been digging into the facts
for months, and nobody of more Importance than
a sugar trust superintendent has yet been in
dicted. Even if a grand jury obtained all the
facts it could deal only with offenses not cov
ered by the statute of limitations and only with
persons against whom legal proof of actual crim
inal guilt had been found. The sugar trusty
scandal demands two lines of iriquiry. Thero
must be a vigorous criminal prosecution, and
there must he complete publicity of the trust's
relationa to politics and government during all
the years In which it has been debauching the
public service. The criminal investigation be
longs to the department of justice. The general
investigation is work for congress. The conser
vative element in congress will presumably op
pose the appointment of a committee, just as the
conservative element at Albany opposed tho ap
pointment of an insurance investigating com
mittee. Conservative sentiment is always on
tho side of intrenched abuses, no matter what
they are. But Mr. Taft has to bo reckoned with,
and the World has no notion that he will be
contented with anything less than full publicity
through all the competent agencies of govern
ment. He "knows that his administration is on
The Commoner.
wm (m? ?? couJltr7 Rn that its sympathies
m Inr fd?0d lag?,y by ita attitude toward this
XXJiJ ? Bca"d1a,1- Ho knows that his admin
istration has nothing to loso and very much to
gam by a completo cxposuro of tho corrupt part
nership between tho trust and organized politics.
The more completely all tho facts aro dragged
into light tho Btrongcr Mr. Taft will bo before
tho country. It is not conceivable that ho will
surrender this issue to tho democrats or allow
his apponenta to capitalizo it against him. In
the absence of proof to the contrary tho World
classes tho president among those Mmpotuous
republicans who aro not familiar with tho facts'
and will bo satisfied with nothing less than tho
wholo truth."
ATTORNEY General Wickersham addressed
tho Kansas City Commercial club recently.
K't ponding to a toast "Tho Interstate Com
merce Commission," Mr. Wickersham advo
cated a national incorporation law and said that
should such a law demonstrate its value, it might
bo wise ultimately to prohibit stato corporations
from engaging In interstate commorco. "For tho
purpose," said Mr. VI kersham, "of proventlng
a conflict of decisions and delays and uncertain
ties in the enforcement of tho Interstato com
merce law which now exists, it is proposed to
create, a special tribunal to bo known as tho
commerco court, in which shall bo oxclusivoly
vested all jurisdiction now possessed by tho cir
cuit and district courts, and tho circuit courts
of appeals of the United States with respect to
the enforcement or review of orders and decrees
of the interstate commerce commission. To re
move tho commission from the position of prose
cutor or litigant, It Is proposed that all proceed
ings to enforce or defend the orders of tho in
terstate commerce commission shall be .conduct
ed by tho department of justice. Mr. Wicker
sham, speaking of the Sherman anti-trust law,
said no statute was so generally misunderstood.
He said the great purpose to bo borne in mind
in connection with this and similar legislation
is always the preservation of the freedom pf
trade. "No doubt," said ho, 'tJ) Shorman aot
is sufficiently comprehensive to destroy such
monopolies as holding corporations, but at tho
same time, the national government forges the
weapons to destroy abuses. It must provide a
substitute for these legitimate enterprises that
are equally dependent for their existence upon
a system so abused. It must provide means of
enabling co-operatlvo enterprises to engage free
ly in interstato and foreign commerce without
Interference by stato action, which fetters, con
fines and destroys tho possibility of such freo
pursuit. This only can be done by tho cnact
, ment of a federal law providing for tho forma
tion of corporations to engage In trado and com
merco among tho states."
THAT STAUNCH Roosevelt supporter, Wil
liam Dudley Foulko of Richmond, Ind., wrote
a letter to Mr. Taft telling him that his course
was displeasing to middle west republicans. Mr.
Taft, it seems, administered a severe rebuke to
the Indiana statesman. The Washington corre
spondent to the New York Sun says: "Presi
dent Taft has practically announced that ho
can get along without another of the Roosevelt
institutions, the ready letter writer. Ho has
written a letter to William Dudley Foulke of
Richmond, Ind., erstwhile a civil service com
missioner and member of the Roosevelt kitchen
cabinet, tolling Mr. Foulke in the political ver
nacular of Indiana 'where to get off.' It appears
that Mr Foulke contracted tho habit of writing
" occasionally to President Roosevelt on questions
of national Importance and of getting long re
plies, which were promptly given to tho press.
There were many -observers of Roosevelt 'poli
cies' who believed that Mr. Foulke was a con
venience for President Roosevelt, and to such
persons Mr. Foulke became known to fame as
the 'ready letter writer Tho habit seems to
havo clung to the Indiana reformer. In any
event when President Taft returned from his
western trip he found in his bulky correspon
dence a letter from William Dudley Foulke ad
ministering to the president a lot of chastisement
on account of Mr. Taft's Winona speech. Mr.
Foulke voiced his disappointment at the tone
of the speech and mildly rebuked tho president
and conveyed with expressions of profound re
gret the feelings of disappointment which filled
his breast and surged in the bosoms of other
reformers because the president had seen fit to
part company with the so-called insurgents. Mr.
Foulko took occasion to remind the president
that he had been one of Mr. Taft's ante-conven
tion supporters, and that, ho doctored, mado his
grief all tho moro poignant President Taft re
plied to Mr. Foulko'B lottor. Tho correspon
dence Is not avallahlo at thin time, but a fow
ylfiitlng statesmen at tho White Houno havo
been permitted to read Mr. Fotllko'a letter and
the president's reply. Thoy aro chortling ovor
it, and it Is bollovod tho president did not over
look tho humor In tho situation when ho dis
pensed with tho sorvlcoB of tho 'ready letter
wrltor with a fow strokes of hlti pen. It Is un
derstood that Mr. Taft rqad Mr. Foulko a mild
locturo on party ethics, it Ib certain that Mr.
Taft did not apologlzo for anything ho had snltl
or done, nnd those who havo a fair Idea of what
the letter contained uay that tho Richmond sngo
will find very llttlo comfort for himself and
his fellow InBurgcntB."
ttiraUOM QUEEN Ellzaboth to Undo .Too" Jo
X? tho tltlo of an Interesting editorial print
ed in tho Saturday Evening Post. Tho editorial
follows: "By a Btatuto of Elizabeth, whoovor
exported sheep from England was, for tho llrat
offenBc, to forfeit all his goods, Buffor a year's
imprisonment, and havo his loft hand cut off
upon market day and nailed up for tho public
edification; for tho second ofTonso ho was to
be adjudged a felon and put to death. In
Charles H'b timo tho exportation of wool was
mado a felony. And as lato as tho Amorlcan
rovolution, whoever exported wool forfeited tho
goods, was fined threo times their valuo and
disabled from collecting a debt by legal process
To transport wool within flvo miles of tho sea
coast after sunBet was forbidden, and any sea
coast town through which it was transported
was liable to a fino of threo tlmos its value,
judgmont to run against any two Inhabitants.
Tho object of theso gontlo measures was to
'protect homo industry' by giving English man
ufacturers a monopoly of tho domestic supply
of wool practically at their own prices. Nat
urally, their prices wore below thoso on tho con
tinent, giving rise to considerable smuggling
and Imprisoning. Wo aro moro tiumano now.
Moreover, wool 'growers havo political power.
So wo acniovo tlio samu aoii∈tiiy-n,Wrrn,i
object by a gentler meaBuro which includes tho
wool growers, to limited oxtont, within Its
bbnofits. Wo I0vy"nn Iniport duty of abdutR
hundred per cent on woolons. This duty, for
tho great body of consumers, takes fully n third
from the weight of the cloth, besides adding a
third or more to its prlco. Hand chopping wo
would not tolerate. Sending wives and childron
of farmers and worklngmen by tho million Into
winter with spring weight, or half cotton, cloth
ing, for which they havo paid moro than tho
price of thick, warm wool, we not only tolerate
but applaud. Uncle Joe solemnly Informed his
fellow Illlnoisians, tho other day, that tho now
tariff was tho best ever enacted because busi
ness has expanded sinco it was passed. Somo
pneumonia hero and there, perchance; but even
that makes good business for tho undertakers."
THE TAFT administration Is preparing to
punish tho republican insurgents. A Wash
ington City dispatch to the Sioux City Tribune
says: "Following tho meeting of tho cabinet
yesterday, it develops that Maurice D. O'Connell
of Fort Dodge, Iowa, who for twelve years has
been solicitor in the treasury, Is to bo retired
without 'unnecessary delay. Sometlmo ago It
was given out that Mr. O'Connell would bo re
tained, but it is now certain that ho is to go.
The fact that both O'Connell and Clarkson aro
regarded as personal friends of- Senator Dolliver
has given rise to tho lmpresron that Dolliver
Is being punished for his Insurgency on the
tariff measure. LaFollette Is being likewise pun
ished by losing his grip on Wisconsin patronage.
In general, it Is understood to bo part of tho
administration policy henceforth to give few
favors to insurgents. Nobody has been picked
for tho O'Connell post as yet. Incoming mem
bers of congress aro Indulging the speculation
that the administration will later discover that
punishing the Insurgents in this fashion will do
moro execution at tho breach than at tho
muzzle."
Tho special election held In Alabama Novem
ber 29 for the purpose of passing on a proposed
constitutional amendment relating to tho liquor
traffic, resulted in the defeat of the amendment.
This does not mean that the stato will return
to the old time liquor traffic but probably means
a modification of what tho Associated Press calls
"tho present drastic laws."
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