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The Commoner.
FEBRUARY 25, 1910
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Where the Old
Ship is Leading
Washington, February 16. In effect Presi
dent Taft said to some of the senate leaders
whom he called to the White House today:
"Why don't you push measures to redeem
party pledges while the house is dealing with
appropriation bills? .You are moving too
slowly."
It is said he exhibited extreme impatience with
the degree of progress made thus far toward
the enactment of administration bills.
By way of result the senators were able to
announce tonight that this program had been
inaugurated:
The almost hopeless tangle in which the Root
and Smoot amendments haveensnarled the pos-.
tal savings bank bill will receive attention at a
conference to be held tomorrow in the rooms of
the finance committee, of which Senator Aldrich
is chairman. When whipped into shape, the
postal savings bank bill is to displace the Alas
kan legislative council bill as the unfinished
business and the latter is to be laid aside as in
volving problems that can not be solved at the
present session.
The administration railroad bill is to be per
fected by a special committee of western sena
tors, appointed today by Chairman Nelson from
the membership of the committee on public
lands and these measures are to be reported to
the senate as rapidly as completed.
The anti-injunction bill is to be considered
by the judiciary committee at its meeting next
Monday.
Statehood legislation, which has already been
reported from the committee on territories, is
not to be permitted to lag, and probably will re
ceive attention as soon as the postal savings .
bank bill is out of the way.
This program includes neither the federal in
corporation bill nor ship subsidy legislation, al
though the latter is likely to pass the senate
without much debate. It will meet difllcult
hurdles in the house. Senators Carter, Borah
and BeverJdge carried to- the capitol President
Taf,t's views of the delays encountered by the
bills' contained in vhis program. They reported
that there could be no mistaking the president's
temper.
The postal savings bank bill gave him the
most concern, it was said, because the opposition
that had developed to such legislation did not
appear to him to be based on sound principles.
When the senate adjourned today after a brief
session the postal savings bank bill was in such
a tangle that no one was willing to prophesy
its outcome. In truth, the adjournment was
brought about chiefly because the senate was not
ready to face the situation in reference to this
bill and there was nothing else that could be
considered, as the Alaskan bill was in a snarl
even more inextricable.
All afternoon senators were seen entering and
emerging from Senator Aldrich's room. As a
result of these visits, it was arranged to have
a conference of wider scope tomorrow.
GLAVIS MAKES TROUBLE
Lewis R. Glavis is making a lot of trouble
for the republican members of the Ballinger in
vestigation committee, and these gentlemen
seemed to show on every occasion their bitter
feeling towards the distinguished witness. An
Associated Press report says:
A brief executive session preceded the re
sumption of ' the hearing this afternoon. Mr.
Vertrees began immediately to question Mr.
Glavis as to the alleged necessity for a field ex
amination of the Alaska coal claims prior to his
making final reports. Mr. Vertrees and the wit
ness had a long argument as to the value of the
affidavits taken by Glavis and his assistants from
the coal claimants and the use to which these
could be put. The attorney and Glavis soon
got into a wrangle.
"You just answer my questions and we'll get
along better," commanded Mr. Vertrees.
"It seems to me you should answer the ques
tions," directed Chairman Nelson.
"I think that there is too much lecturing of
the witness," interposed Representative Graham
(dem.)
"I am not aware of that fact," remarked the
chairman.
"It strikes me differently," replied Mr. Gra
ham. "I am sorry to differ with you," sharply re
torted Senator Nelson.
Mr. Vertrees complained that Glavis tries to
lug in an argument to countervail any state of
facts ho think I may bo developing.
DEMOCRATS HELP GLAVIS
The appearance of counsel for both sides has
tended to enlivon greatly the proceedings and
has also tended to bring about some pretty live
ly discussions among the members of the com
mittee as to the admissibility of testimony and
regarding protests from Glavis that Mr. Ver
trees cut off his answers before ho is fairly
started with them.
Mr. Vertrees disclaims any such intention but
asserts that instead of directly answering him
the witness branches off into an argument or
Into an expression of opinion as to what ho
considers right or wrong. In these committee
discussions the democrats thus far have always
been found on the side of the accusing witness.
Mr. Madison, the Insurgent member from Kan
sas, also has taken up with the defense of
Glavis.
These little incidents, as well as the apparent
general temper of the committee, have led a
number of persons who are following the case
already to predict that the final outcome will be
a majority and minority report, one by the re
publicans, one by the democrats and possibly a
third and individual report by Mr. Madison.
SAYS SOMETHING MUST BE DONE
Washington, February 15. Senator Crawford
today addressed the senate in support of the
contention that instead of wasting months and
years in an investigation of the causes of in
creased prices for the necessaries of life, con
gress should devote itself to devising a remedy.
He attributed the rise in the cost of living to
the rapid increase of the gold supply and the
corresponding Increase of the per capita circu
lation in the United States.
Senator Crawford declared that the investi
gations of the bureau of labor has been suffi
cient to establish the facts relative to the in
crease and he therefore urged that further in
quiry would be useless.
He failed to find cause for regret in the sit
uation, he said, except insofar as it affected wage
earners, saying that there had not been a cor
responding increase in wages. He declared that
public opinion should compel such increase, thus
placing the wage earner on an equal footing
with the producer in the enjoyment of good
times.
A "FRAME-UP" ON GLAVIS
Washington, D. C, February 14. The Bal-lingor-Pinchot
congressional inquiry began to
bristle with interest today when John J. Ver
trees, counsel for Secretary Ballinger, undertook
the cross examination of Louis R. Glavis, prin
cipal witness for ihe "prosecution."
The climax of the day was reached late in the
afternoon session, when Mr. Vertrees announced
that a box belonging to Mr. Glavis, and left in
the grand jury room at Seattle, had been broken
open a few days ago and that a number of let
ters missing from the files of the land office in
Seattle, copies of which have recently been pub
lished in a weekly paper, were found therein.
Glavis angrily declared that if any letters had
been found in his belongings a "frame-up" had
been prepared against him. His denunciation
of federal officials who would stoop to such a
trick to secure the favor of their superiors called
out a demonstration of applause from the spec
tators, which caused Chairman Nelson to an
nounce that a" repetition of the outburst would
result in the room being cleared.
Throughout the hearing the sympathies of the
spectators, a great majority of whom were
women, have clearly been with Glavis, and they
have laughed with satisfaction as he has made
points against his questioners, who in the past
were members of the committee and today were
counsel for Mr. Ballinger.
SHAW DENOUNCES CENTRAL BANK
Philadelphia, February, 12. "I do not think
there can be any doubt in the minds of anyone
who studies the question in the light of admitted
conditions, that if a central bank Is established
in this country it will be owned, or at least con
trolled, by the Standard Oil company," said
Leslie M. Shaw, former secretary of the treas
ury, today at a meeting of the Pennsylvania
Bankers' Association in this city. His topic
was "The Central Bank." He said In part:
"It was charged, and as vigorously denied,
that the affiliated banks of New York during the
panic of 1907 simply withdrew credit from the
group of men who controlled the Tennessee Coal
and Iron, called their loans and finally adjusted
the matter by taking over the property at a
fraction of Us admitted value, and paid for it
in United States steel securities, without the
exchange of a dollar in money. Assuming the
chargo to bo libelous, it still Illustrates what
could be done were a group of men possessing
the requisite disposition to bo in control of the
central bank.
"I thoroughly believe that the Standard Oil
company and the United States Stool corpora
tion could afford to pay the national debt for
such a charter, and I say this Independent of
whether sucli a bank would bo Independently
profitable or otherwise. The control of it would
bo valuable beyond the power of man to con
ceive to any group of men who had indepen
dent financial interests large enough to justify it
and tho ability necessary for its operation.
"We all remember that the control of a cer
tain life insurance company with a capital of
only $200,000 sold a few years ago for $9,000,
000, when the maximum dividend was fixed in
the charter at 7 per cent, or $14,000. Certainly
that vast Bum was not Invested expecting re
turns of only $14,000 per annum, when the
same amount in government bonds even would
yield $180,000. No; the company had assets
approximating $500,000,000, and the control of
such a volume of trust funds, if honest and wise,
is very profitable. It has recently changed
hands, and presumably at a yet higher price.
"Taking tho price paid for tho control of that
life Insurance company as a measure of value,
I do not think I overstate tho fact when I say
that the two largest corporations in the world,
interested, as they are, directly or through their
affiliations, in nearly every lino of business and
owning or controlling probably in excess of one
hundred of our largest financial institutions,
with, I suppose, $2,000,000,000 in assets out
side of their own capitalization, can afford to
pay tho national debt for a perpetual charter
for a central bank."
NOW THEY ARE ALL SCARED
President Taft held a long consultation with
Governor Hughes and leaders of tho republican
organization, and an effort was made to pre
scribe a cure for tho ills from which the party
is suffering in New York state.
Tho political physicians agreed that the patient
is in dangerous condition, but they were not
united on the treatment to be applldd. Some
favored mild tonics and trusting to nature;
others insisted upon the application of surgery,
even if it is found necessary to amputate some
of the political limbs.
Tho Allds-Conger scandal was the subject dis
cussed. One view presented was that the party
must follow every scandal clew brought out to
its end, no matter where it may lead and re
gardless of whether it results in the loss of the
next state election. They were for purging the
party at all costs. Others advised moderation
and that the disclosure be confined to the Allds
affair without trying to turn up any more
scandal.
LAYING IT ON TO UNCLE JOE
(Special to the Record-Herald.)
Washington, February 14. Speaker Cannon
took one of his oratorical rambles this after
noon. He unburdened himself of some of the
things that have been on his nerves for a long
time, which are not new to those who have
listened to him in the privacy of his office at the
capitol. The significance of his talk, however,
is to be found in the fact that at last he has
given his troubles public utterance.
And what is it that has got under the skin
of the venerable Danville gentleman with the
avuncular title and the bucolic countenance?
Public sentiment, to bring it down to the "last
analysis," a term the speaker much delights to
use. But as the speaker tells It, he Is the vic
tim of the metropolitan press, which must sell
its wares, and probably would have hard sled
ding should he pass from the stage and cease to
bo an object of attack.
To many the speaker's plea for the machinery
that will allow majorities to rule, coupled with
his tirade on newspapers and magazines al
though he always professes to have no personal
grievance against these agencies of information
sounded like a swan song.
"Uncle Joe," said one, "has been bluffing for
a long time about not caring what the country
says. But he does care. He knows he is on
the rack, and that his tenure and the rules
under which the game has been played are in
great jeopardy. Maybe he will fight to continue,
and maybe he won't. Realizing the situation at
present, he may quit gracefully. It certainly Is
a change from the old order of things to find
him opening on the defensive."
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