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The Commoner.
VOLUME 9, NUMBER 49
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stretcher. He looked wonderingly around. The
surgeons drew closer as his back was bared
and the nurses' sponged him. Prof. Jonnesco
moved quietly about, mixing his solution. Amer
ican surgeons were to seo for the first time how
Jonnesco produces spinal analgesia. This boy
had been a noisy patient in the ward and had
oven made a fuss while being prepared for the
operating room. His right leg was crippled, duo
to infantile paralysis. He sat up, with the
nurse supporting him, and was absolutely silent
as tho noted foreigner felt with his finger to
locate the exact spot on the back where a punc
ture should be made. There was nothing repel
lent about what followed. It was all intensely
interesting. The puncture was made between
tho twelfth dorsal and the first lumbar regions,
about a third of the way up the spine. Three
centigrams of stovaine to one-half milligram
of strychnine was the strength of the solution
in this instance. Anaesthesia was produced in
about two minutes. The boy was laid do,wn
upon a pillow and his eyes remained open. He
took note of everything that went on about him.
The whimper when the lance touched him lasted
just a moment and was evidently caused by
fright and not by any unpleasant physical sen
sation. Some of those in the amphitheatre were
sure that he laughed more than once while the
doctor, who sat at his head, screened his eyes
and talked with him. When he was asked how
he felt, as he was being bandaged, his answer,
'I am all right, I feel fine,' came without a
quaver. The second case was one of dislocated
hip joint. This was a girl of about twelve. Five
centigrams of stovaine and one milligram of
strychnine were used. A solution of tho same
strength was used In the hernia case, and' when
a woman, thirty-five years old, was operated
on for an old leg fracture, the maximum
strength ten centigrams of stovaine to pne
milligram of strychnine was employed. Bach
of the four subjects retained consciousness. Not
one made the least trouble. A person scratched
by a thorn makes more to-do about It than these
did."
1N,;rmnaiR. predictions that -Mr,.. Taft .may ryet
" Join hands with them, the republican insur
gents are simply "whistling through a grave
yard." An Associated Press dispatch printed in
the Omaha World-Herald says: "President Taft
callod Vice President Sherman and Speaker Can
non into conference today and for more than
an hour the three were closeted in the presi
dent's private room, while visitors cooled their
heels in the waiting rooms of the executive -office.
When Mr. Sherman and the speaker left
they declined to comment on the consultation,
declaring that it was not a subject for public
discussion and that if any information was to
be given "out it must come from President Taft.
Tho latter declined to talk. Leaders in congress,
however, are of tho opinion that the conference
dealt with the legislative program to be fol-
- lowed in the present session. It is known that
the president is highly desirous of enacting
legislation that will have the approval of the
country at large and he is more or less com
mitted to the establishment pf certain policies.
His desire that the coming legislation be above
criticism Is said to be accentuated by the atti
tude of the democrats, who are planning to
seize upon every republican mistake to make
good tho declaration of Champ Clark, minority
leader in the house, that tho next house will
be democratic. One .of the chief demands the
president has made on congress is that there
must be greater economy in appropriations.
. Representative Tawney, chairman of the house
committee, on appropriations, was with the presi
dent early in,vthe day."
WRITING' IN the Philadelphia North Amer
lean the Washington correspondent for
that paper describes the plans of the insurgents
in this way: "There are at least twenty-five
republican members who will vote, if necessary
with the democrats to defeat any measure they
believe to be wrong, and they calculate, with
every reason to regard their conclusions as ac
curate, that as many more will side with them
when an actual test of strength is made over a
proposition of public importance. The plan to
be carried out in the effort to wrest control of
the house from the speaker is to appeal from
his decision. This was done with respect to the
oil schedule in the tariff fight, and, although
Cannon took the floor himself and plea'ded and
threatened in behalf of special privileges to tho
oil trust, he was out-voted. So it' is intended by
v yiufciocoivea to wan patiently until some
measure of leglslatien directly affecting the
public interest is before the house, when, if the
speaker rules, as he unquestionably will rule,
that their amendments are out of order, they
will appeal from his ruling and make the issue
one of the public interest against a house or
ganization which is striving to undermine and
sacrifice that interest. It may not be until the
proposed interstate commerce legislation is be-
fore the house that this contest can be made.
But it will come sooner or later, and tho pre
diction Is made that Cannon Is doomed to cer
tain dofeat, unless he averts it by surrender.
There is no secret about these plans of the pro
gressive leaders. Cannon knows what they are,
as well as the progressives themselves. He is
also on the alert to defeat them by the exercise
of his great power under the rules, and his
methdd of forcing men to do his bidding, either
by threats or cajolery. But there is growing
doubt whether these methods will be as effective
as formerly, for the very reason that the pur
poses they are to serve are so apparent. Be
sides, there is constantly increasing belief that
the continuance of the Cannon rule will bring
disaster to the republican party, and men who
would otherwise serve him gladly realize that
their own political salvation may depend upon
their making some show of independence and
at least a pretense of public-spirited motives be
tween now and the elections of next year."
JAMES J. HILL, the railroad magnate, ad
dressed a large gathering in Omaha. Among
other things Mr. Hill said: "The whole subject
of our food supply and its relation to population,
industry, growth, institutions and everything
that concerns our future is appropriate for this
occasion. The true statement of the broad gen
eral fact which it is most desirable that every
one should understand is this: that this coun
try can not feed the population which it must
necessarily have within comparatively few years
if it does not change its agricultural methods.
The emphasis is all on that conditional clause.
We can not support our coming population upon
the crop yield per acre that now satisfies xus.
We shall have to transform a growing decline
in value and productivity of our soil under con
tinued cultivation into a rapid increase in both.
If the crisis can be seen moving upon us nowj
and if it took Great Britain over half a century
to raise her wheat yield from about 15 bushels
to 32 bushels per acre, we have no time to lose. '
What has to be considered, the keynote of all
present discussion is not the difficulty, but tho
urgency of the task. The whole argument is one
not of despair, but of reasurance, provided only
that we do the obvious, Indispensable and feas
ible thing, and do it now. The country, unless,
there shall be a change-, is approaching a time
when it must import wheat to meet home needs.
Other food products also lag behind the constant
new demand. Since that demand can not be
escaped, and since not to meet it means want
or a lowering of the standard of life and com
fort in this country, which no American would
wish to see, there is but one course before the
nation. That is to increase the productiveness
of the farm so that eaTth's gifts may year by
year equal or exceed the people's requirements.
All that is needed to turn an Impending national
deficit into a surplus, to support in plenty 150
or more persons to the square mile in the United
States, is the use instead of the abuse of the
soil; the practice of that knowledge which agri
cultural schools and experiment stations have"""
already formulated and are daily putting- before
the people. The future of this nation, political
and moral as well as financial, is bound up
with the future of the farm. By that will our
character and our institutions be tried. By It,
in the long run, all wealth is measured, condi
tioned and supported. The work of education
has been begun, but it must be enlarged, sup
plemented and advocated all the time. The in
stitutions that are doing most for the country
today are the agricultural colleges. They should
grow in number, in attendance, and, above all
in the expert knowledge and freedom from all
political or other influence of their chiefs and
instructors. You can help see to that."
PREMIER ASQUITH addressed a monster
meeting at London describing the policy
on which the liberal government is appealing
to the country. The following is from the Asso
ciated Press report of Asquith's speech: ''He
repeated what had been said by other ministers,
that if it were returned, to power the govern
ment would demand the limitation of the power
of the house of lords, and" then went a step
farther and pledged that the liberal party would
grant elf government to Ireland. The meeting
was marked by great enthusiasm of an audience
which filled the vast hall, and which was com
posed entirely of men, women having been de
nied admission in the fear that there might bo
a counter demonstration by suffragettes. Every
corner of tho hall had been searched during
the day for women, and a small band of them
was routed out, but they managed to get two
male supporters Into the meeting, who inter
rupted Mr. Asquith momentarily with cries of
'Votes for women!' Then they were promptly
ejected. Mr. Asquith pointed out that just four
years ago Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, then
prime minister, had outlined in Albert hall the
policy of a new liberal government, which in
cluded many reforms. The representatives of
the people in the house of commons had labored
faithfully to carry into ,law the measures prom
ised, but their will had been nullified, and as a
fitting climax the supplies which the house of
commons had voted had been stepped upon by
the house of lords. Therefore the house of
commons was now on the eve of another disso
lution, and it had fallen to his lot .to take up
the burden. The last time, he said, the govern
ment had reckoned without their" host, but it
was not going to make that mistake again. 'I
tell you in the. name of and in behalf of the
liberal party,' Mr. Asquith proceeded, 'we have
at this moment laid upon us a single task, a
task which dominates and transcends because
it embraces and involves every great and bene
ficent social and political change upon which
our hearts are set. That task is, to vindicate
and establish upon 'an unshakable foundation
the principle of representative government.'
Referring to the education and licensing bills,
the premier said that the government stood, In
the main, upon the principles of the bills which
the house of lords rejected. The franchise law,
he added, was still encumbered with artificial
distinction and. impediment for which this was
no justification. Upon the topic of woman suf
frage, Mr. Asquith said his views 'were well
known. He had no reason to alter them despite
the suicidal excesses of a. smaller section of the
advocates for such -a change,"
AFTER REFERRING to the . action of the
house of lords on the, matter of Welsh re
ligious equality and the fate of certain Scottish
land bills, Mr. Asquith turned his attention to
Ireland, which, he said, had been fortunate for
once, because the measures sent up in her be
half did not come violently athwart the preju
dices of the house of, lords. "Speaking last year
before my accession to the premiership," Mr.
Asquith continued, "I described the Irish policy
as the one undeniable failure of British states
manship. I repeat tonight what I said then, and
on behalf of my colleagues, and I believe on
bettalf of my party, I reiterate that this is a
problem to be solved only in one way by a
policy which, while explicitly safeguarding the
supreme, invisible authority of the imperial par
liament, must'set up in Ireland a system of full
self-government as regards purely Irish affairs.
There is not and can not be any question of
separation. There is not and can not be any
question of rivalry of competing for supremacy
subject to these conditions. That is the liberal
policy." Mr. Asquith defended the budget as
necessary to social reform, and in this respect
old age pensions were the first step. The budget,
he continued, had been thrown out by the house
of lords after weeks of debate, and the govern
ment, as a result, was confronted with three
constitutional innpvatipns first, the claim of
the house of lords to control in levying taxa
tion; second, the claim of the same houso to
the right to compel dissolution of the popular
chamber, and, third, the assertion of the house
of lords of their power tomake and unmake the
executive government of the crown. The meet
ing carried a resolution declaring unabated con
fidence in Mr. Asquith's leadership. David
Lloyd-George, the chancellor of the exchequer
and who framed the budget rejected by the
house of lords moved a vote of thanks to the
chairman of the meeting. He received an ova
tion. A small band of daring suffragettes was
dislodged from Albert hall, where the women
secreted themselves preparatory to an onslaught
upon Premier Asquith. The women were hid
den away in all quarters of the vast building,
some in packing cases and others on the roof.
One was found curled up inside the huge organ,
having squeezed herself in between two rows
of pipes. Another step forward would have
plunged 'her into the well, which is forty feet
deep. The government officials had scented
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