The Commoner.
VOLUME 9, NUMBER SI
CURRGNT
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DR. JOSE MADRIZ was chosen prosident of
Nicaragua by the unanimous vote of the
Nicaraguan congress. Dr. Madriz has been judge
of tho Central .American court and upon his
election to tli'e presidency he resigned from the
bench. Zelaya, the former president, was given
a vote of thanks and it Is said that he will ex
ercise strong power under the new administra
tion. Tho United States government does not
look with favor' upon Madriz's elevation to the
presidency. Secretary Knox has given a state
ment to the effect nthat this: government's atti
tude is riot changed lay the election of Madriz.
He says that Madriz will have to show that
he is capable of directing a responsible govern
ment which is prepared to make reparation for
the wrongs which have been done to American
citizens in Nicaragua. Estrada, the leader of
the revolutionists, has sent to. the United States
government a message declaring that peace can
only be assured by the complete exclusion from
Nicaragua' of Zelaya and his followers. He has
asked that the United States recognize the revo
lutionary party.
EVEN WALTER Wellman Is scared. In a
Washington dispatch to the Chicago Record-Herald,
Mri Wellman says: "What are the
people of' the great west thinking and saying?
What Ib the attitude of the west toward the
present administration and the leaders in con
gress? What is the west going to do In the
coming campaigns and elections? These are the
burning questions here at the national capital.
Every man who4 comes from the great heart of
the country the' seat of empire is asked for a
report. What has he heard? How do. the people
feel? The answers are alarming. They show
that the republican .party as now managed is
tMt'.loilng the 'confidence of the' people. Th'l8r
Is true not of the west alone, but of the whole
country. Discontent is everywhere, but It is
keenest on the prairies, the western mountain
elopes and the Pacific coast."
THE DENVER NEWS gives republicans some
thing to think about when it says: "The
News likes Senator LaFollette. But when the.
good senator raises his pompadour to affirm that
it Roosevelt had been in the chair he would
have got. a tariff revision as was a tariff revision,
we are obliged to smile. Likewise to mention
some Indeterminate thingi such as 'piffle.' Mr.
Roosevelt occupied the presidential chair
through seven and one-half strenuous years
and didn't do a thing to the tariff. He had
every Inducement to attack the question. He
had spoken against its absurdities when there
was no chance that he would be called on to
put his words in practice. Nay, more, the cir
cumstances of his coming to the presidency
urged him with peculiar force to attempt the
revision. The last public utterance of McKin
ley was a declaration that our tariff policy must
be radically changed, and tho burdens on our
trade greatly reduced. Then McKinley died
Roosevelt came in, vowing that he was-going
to carry out the McKinley policies. Yet he
never even tried to carry out this foremost of
McKInley's progressive policies. He left that
job for Taft. When a man has had seven and
a half years to do a job, and doeBn't even start
It the while, it strikes us as just a bit silly to
prate about what he would have done in eleven
years."
DR. FREDERICK A. COOK, who a few
months ago was hailed as the discoverer-
of the north pole, is in a bad way so far as
his reputation as discoverer is concerned A
Copenhagen cablegram carried by the Associat
ed Press says: "The University of Copenhagen,
the first institution of learning to recognize Dr -Frederick
A, Cook as the discoverer of the north
pole, today solemnly, declared that the explorer
had failed to establish tho claim on which his
high honors had been based. The committee
appointed by the university to examine Cook's
records recently presented its report to the con
Blstory of the university, which reviewed .the -,
deductions of the experts with the greatest car
and discussed the findings from every stand
point. That both the committee and the con
sistory were disappointed was soon known. The
consistory met today and adopted a written re
port to the effect that alleged records submitted
for examination by Dr. Cook failed to prove his
claim. The report of the committee of which
Prof. Stromgren was chairman, as presented to
the consistory states that Cook's papers are
without any value; that his report to the uni
versity Is practically the same as that published
in the New York Herald on his return from his
Arctic expedition. The copies of his notebooks
submitted, says the committee, contain no origi
nal calculations of observations but only re
sults thereof. Accordingly the committee con
cludes that he affords no proof of having reached
the pole. The university council issued this
statement: 'The documents handed the univer
sity for examination do not contain observations
and information which can be regarded as proof
that Dr. Cook reached the north pole on his
recent expedition.' Widespread indignation over
the deception which .has placed practically tho
whole of Denmark in a somewhat humiliating
position, has taken the place of the hero wor
ship heretofore accorded to Explorer Cook. The
members of the examining committee are very
angry over the doctor'p behavior. Prof. Strom
gren, the president of 1. e committee, is furious,
and tonight characterised Cook's attempt as
'shameless.' "
IT IS REPORTED that Dr. Cook is In Europe
and that he is suffering from a nervous
breakdown. Even John R. Bradley, the man
who financed Dt. Cobk's expedition, has lost
heart. Speaking to an Associated Press corre
spondent, Mr.. Bradley said: "He has fooled
us all, from the king of 'Denmark down, and
he fooled me with the rest. As a matter of
fact," continued the sportsman, "I long ago lost
all interest in Dr. Cook, the north pole and
everything connected with it. Polar bears and
the wild life of the Arctic In general are the
only things that have ever interested me much
In that connection. As for Dr. Cook, I haven't
seen him or heard from him since he left the
Waldorf-Astoria to go to Bronxville to. 'prepare
his records' for submission to the TJnlversity
of Copenhagen. I wasn't in communlpation with
him while he was at the Grammatan and as
a matter of fact hardly had an hour's solid
conversation with him all the while he was
here after his return from the Arctic. I dis
counted this decision from the University of
Copenhagen sometime ago. In common with
the rest of the world I was delighted with the
first news from Dr. Cook that he had discovered
the pole. His actions, however, and his failure
to make more than the meager statements re
garding his trip which early followed his re
turn to civilization took some of the smack off
the supposed triumph. I began to weaken de
cidedly when Dr. Cook left us all without so
much as a word of good-bye. When a man runs
away you can't expect his friends to fight for
him and Cook's fight for that's what it
seemed to me to amount to killed all my In
terest In him and his affairs. Before that I
had never had reason to doubt Cook and his
whqle course In this matter seems Inexplicable
to me. I am sick of the whole blooming polar
business and I don't want to heaT anything more
about the north pole or any of Its attributes,"
was the characteristic way in which Mr Bradlev
summed up his attitude. '
REAR ADMIRAL W. S. Schley has issued a
public statement in which, while reaffirm
ing his confidence in Dr. Cook as the north pole
explorer, he calls upon Commander Peary to
submit his proofs to some scientific body other
than the National Geographical Society. Ad
miral Schley thinks that the same body which
.examined Cook's testimony should be permitted
to pass on Peary'svdata. He adds: "The Danes
are the best posted body of men in the world on
Arctic matters. The consistory of the Univer
sity of Copenhagen should be given the oppor
tunity to examine the Peary proofs, for, In that
way they would be submitted to the same test
that was applied to those of Cook. The consis
tory which was regarded "by the civilized world
as more than friendly to Dri Cook showed by
its action in turnjng down :thV explorer .that it
holds the scales of justice, as It seesthem, even
and honestly." K'
THE. ASSOCIATED Press report . of Admiral
Schley's interview says:. '.'Moreover Ad
miral Schley believes", thatlhe. submission of the
proofs to Copenhagen should bo insisted upon
by Peary, despite whatever the National Geo
graphic Society's attitude may be. It is sug
gested to the officer that the society some time
ago officially declared its intention to let scien
tific bodies of reputable standing examine and
test the Peary proofs when they had been passed
upon by the society. But the organization has
not done it he retorted quickly. 'So far there
has been shown no disposition 'to carry out Its
avowed intentions, has there?' Admiral Schley
declined to say on what grounds he took excep
tion to the finding of scientists of the. University
of Copenhagen that Cook had not been at the
north pole. He merely reaffirmed his belief in
the explorer, adding that he believed Peary, too,
had gained the top of the earth. The impor
tance of the admiral's demand is increased by
the fact that he has had wide experience in the
far north In 1884 he was In bohimand of the
Thetis expedition, which resulted in the rescue
of Lieutenant Greeley and the men Who had
been cast away at Cape Sabln, and whom the
civilized world had practically given up for lost.
For his rescue Schley, then T a captain in the
service, was awarded a gold watch, arid a Vote
of thanks by the Maryland 'legislature and a
medal of honor by the Massachusetts humane
society. Members of the National Geographic
Society declined to discuss the suggestion of the
retired naval officer. The society is still smart
ing under the somewhat curt reply made by the
University of Copenhagen to Its request that a
committee representing the society be permitted
to be present when Dr. Cook's data was ex
amined. While recognizing the complete 'right
of the Danish scientists to decline such a re
quest, yet American savants feel that the Danes
were needlessly brusque in their declination."
UNITJSD STATES Senator. A. J. McLaurin died
suddenly at his home in Brandon, Miss. A
Jackson, Miss., dispatch carried by the Associat
ed Press says: "When the fatal stroke came
upon .him, Senator :McLaurin was seated in a
rocking chair in front of the fire in his library
He suddenly- fell forward, without speaking a
word, and life was extinct Tvhen members of his
family reached his side. The swift summons
of death followed within a few moments of a
remark by Mr. McLaurin that, he was then feel
ing better than he had felt at any time since his
recent severe illness, resulting from an attack
of ptomaine poisoning. Governor Noel stated that
he would not announce for some days as to
whether he would appoint a successor to Sen
ator McLaurin or refer the selection to the legis
lature, which will convene in regular session
early next month. Should he make the selec
tion, however, he stated that the names of Con
gressman Byrd, Bowers and Chandler and sev
eral others would be considered in connection
with the appointment."
PRESIDENT TAFT seems at last to be con
vinced there is "an anti-Taft conspiracy."
In an editorial the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal (rep.)
says: "In connection with yesterday's accounts
of the preparations for the investigation of Sec
retary Ballinger comes this statement: 'Men
who are in position to know the sentiments of
Mr. Taft declared tonight that he has at last
become convinced of the truth of what his
friends have been telling him for many weeks,
of what he has hitherto laughed at that there
lies behind the attack oh Mr. Ballinger a more
or less definitely organized movement to dis
credit tho Taft administration.' This refers to
the alleged 'return from Elba.' movement, a sup-
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