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The Commoner.
VOLUME 10, NUMBER 15
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Ship is Leaking
WIOKHItSIIAM'S SrEIJCM
Washington dispatch to tho Chicago Rccord
Horald: Mr. Wickorsham Bpoko authoritatively
for tho administration, and whilo tho president
doclarod extemporaneously that ho wanted to
road no ono out of tho party protesting that
ho was not sounding any keynote his attorney
gonoral's contemporaneous declarations are In
terpreted hero as an attempt to do somo "read
ing out."
Tho Wickorsham speech has not worked for
harmony is not regarded as intended to har
monize Insurgency still is insurgency. Tho
progressive lino of battlo is not to bo changed.
Tho speech has aggravated those It called to
particular attention; yet it is declared to bo
adroit and to havo hit tho mark his side wanted
to hit.
"Mr. Wickcrsham may havo mado many mis
takes in his llfo, ho probably has," said Senator
Cummins of Iowa to the. Record-Herald corre
spondent today, "but ho never mado a greater
ono than his Saturday night's performance. Tho
blunder was a natural ono, however, for until
ho took a position as a cabinot o nicer ho had
little to do with the republican party and was
ignorant of its make-up, its spirit or its pur
Pobo. Ho novor fought Its battles, sat in its
councils or defended its doctrines.
"With this meager acquaintance with tho
party it is not wonderful that ho looks upon tho
cabinot tablo as tho whole thing. After he has
had somo experience ho will know that fidelity
to tho party means fidelity to principles, not to
men; and ho will discover that tho rank and
fllo of republicans havo not appointed him, or
any other person, no matter how high his sta
tion, to fix tho standard of loyalty to party prin
ciples and party organization."
"I think tho speech very able and adroit,"
said Senator Borah of Idaho, a progressive, not
a radical, and only occasionally an insurgent.
"But his logic," declared Senator Borah, "fol
lowed to a final conclusion would render abso
lutely unnecessary a legislative body except for
tho formal endorsement of bills. In other words,
it will not do to say that men can not zealously
and earnestly discuss tho details of bills and
diffor with other mombors of tho patty as to
what bills should bo without incurring the
charge of giving aid and comfort to tho enemy.
That is tho old machine rule of politics reduced
to an absurdity."
HUNTING FOR TROUBLE
Editorial in tho Chicago Record-Herald, re
publican: But tho tariff controversy of tho
laBt year has not been wisely managed on tho
Bide of tho presldont and his standpat friends
and nothing can alter this fact. Tho adminis
tration makes a mistake in adding provocation
to provocation where it should try to conciliate
and harmonize.
SCOUTS BRING BAD NEWS
Washington dispatch to tho Chicago Record
Herald: Scouts havo been out through tho
west, and thoy havo brought their reports to
tho White House, and to tho campaign chieftains
Thoy have traversed Kansas, Illinois, Indiana
and other states, and thoy report that condi
tions are the worst overthat the house is
going to bo carried by tho domocrats.
Tho most regular leaders are hoping for right
now is to savo as many as possible of their
work horses" so as to have a nucleus for ac
tion two years hence, when it is hoped that
reaction will sot in. Speaker Cannon is admit
ted to bo down and out, but it is declared ho
will run for re-election in his district (ho could
not he re-elected speaker, it is realized if the
republicans carry tho house), and strivo to be
leader of the minority, in whioh position he can
make it interesting for his enemies.
That the party organization machinery con
trolled by the regulars at present, will bo de
voted mostly to saving members of its kind
looking to tho carrying of tho country by tho
democrats, is regarded as likely. There is sus
picion that somo leaders prefer a democratic
house for two years to a victory that will nut
the progressives in control of tho party
The progressive leaders are not pessimistic
They hold that there will bo a republican vic
tory; but that it will be won on progressive
lines, overthrowing absolutely the present con
trol. Friends of Senator Boveridgo mako
prophecy that Indiana will go republican by a
l
big majority, somo observers who claim never
to have been mistaken in their judgment of re
sults thero placing tho minimum at 50,000.
Somo of tho same observers declare that condi
tions pertaining to tho neighboring state of
Ohio predict a democratic landslide there.
In Iowa a repetition of the recent events in
Indiana is expected. The primaries will be held
early in Juno, and delegates will bo elected to
tho state convention, it is proclaimed, who will
enthusiastically indorse tho course of Senators
Dolliver and Cummins and adopt a platform as
forceful as that adopted by the Indiana repub
licans. At the primaries the defeat of three
"regular" members of congress is predicted
Walter I. Smith, Hull and Kennedy. Dawson,
who is sometimes regular and sometimes in
surgent, is not a candidate for re-nomination. It
is declared a solid progressive congressional
ticket will be in the field.
If republican candidates are beaten at the
polls In Iowa, it is asserted it will be due to
defection on the part of "regulars," In other
words, the so-called regulars in Iowa are the
bolters, if any bolting bo done. It is being
urged as tho duty of progressives everywhere
to mako a determined fight against the election
of democra'ts. It is expected there will he some
republican losses in the west, hut it is declared
the chance of defeat will be greatest in districts
where progressives do not win in tho nominations.
FRAUDS AT ST. LOUIS
Washington dispatch to the Richmond, Va.,
Times-Dispatch: The alleged shortage of more
than $60,000 at the United States sub-treasury
and of the collector of customs at St. Louis,
which, it is charged, have been in existence since
1906, were discussed by the new rules commit
teo of the house at its first meeting today. The
matter came up in the form of a resolution in
troduced by Representative Shackleford, of Mis
souri, providing for a congressional investiga
tion. Mr. Shackleford said that he had tried
unsuccessfully to get an investigation for three
years. He said there was no doubt in his mind
that the guilty parties were being protected by
others higher up. He pointed out that although
the secretary of the treasury had recommended
that suits be brought against the bondsmen of
alleged defaulters, that the responsible parties
in St. Louis had neglected to do so and that
the statute of limitations had now run against
them.
Bills had been pending in congress for several
sessions to relieve the St. Louis treasurer of the
liability, he said, and unless an investigation
was had without delay it might soon be too
late.
Representative Champ Clark, of Missouri, told
his fellow committeemen that the "federal
offices at St. Louis had long been passed around
in a little clique, and that if an investigation
could be had, a lot of big fellows out there
would be sent to the penitentiary. It would
get some republicans and it might some demo
crats, and I don't care if it does," added Mr
Clark.
"The only thing I want," said Mr. Shackle
ford. is to he assured by this committee that
thero will be no white-wash."
The committee thought an investigation of
tho charges should be undertaken by the house
committee on expenditures in the treasury de
gartntent. After the hearing Representative
Shackleford went to the committee on expendi
tures to arrange for the investigation.
WAITING FOR PRINCIPLES
Editorial in New York World: What could
be more pathetic than this spectacle of the re
publican partythe party of Lincoln, Grant and
McKlnleywaiUng with ill-concealed apprehen
sion for the coming of Theodore Roosevelt and
tho day of judgment? na
Waiting for him to divide the sheep from the
goats waiting for him to judge the ouick 1
the dead-waiting for him to nly whether u has
fought the good fight waiting for him to sav
ssrdbi2iMB llko tto S5sr
fni?iMmbein omui1science has come, and when In
fallibility has judged, what then?
Suppose the decision is in favor of Mr T-nff
uie cost of living, and weep tears of craHfu
for half a loaf? Will labo? joyfully .
3 ,eXVitIng tnat to Permitted to earn s
bread in tho sweat of its face? Will AidriSiiS
and Cannonism be sanctified, and Ball linger b
hailed as the great conservator? Will reaction
ary and insurgent alike find peace that passeth
all understanding?
Or suppose the decision is against Mr. Taft.
Will the president meekly confess that he is
only a proxy, and an incompetent proxy at that?
Will he be contented to go down in history as
a political understudy, a sub-tenant in the White
House, who did not wait for dispossess proceed
ings? Will the adimnistration kiss the hand
that smites it, and bless tho foot that kicks it
into oblivion? Will MacVeagh return cheerfully
to the wholesale grocery, and will Knox, Wick
ersham, Dickinson and Nagel gracefully resume
the gentle art of corporation law, while Wall
Street gets ready to make its regular campaign
contribution to the cause of the just man armed?
Whatever the decision, there must inevitably
be anguish and disappointment and heart burn
ing; for even infallibility can not bring ecstasy
to everybody, and millions of republicans seem
doomed to suffer in silence. There can be no
protest, of course; no appeal. He is the court
of last resort. He is the ultimate judge. Re
publicanism has bowed its neck to the yoke and
is waiting in breathless suspense for his verdict.
We recall no other such awe-inspiring spec
tacle since political organizations were insti
tuted under free government. When Tom Reed
died was there nobody left in the republican
party with a sense of humor?
A BOLT THREATENED
Editorial in tho Kansas City Star, republican:!
With the rank and file of the republican party
overwhelmingly in sympathy with the progress
sives, and with the democratic party in its full
strength opposed to the reactionaries, one of
two things soon must happen: Either the pro
gressives must gain control of the republican
organization or the democratic party must get
control of the government.
Therefore, representatives of this republican
minority may set forth from time to time to
read the progressives out of the party, as did
Attorney General Wickersham Saturday night;
thoss in places of power may continue to de
pose the earnest disciples of Theodore Roosevelt
from appointive places in the government ser
vice, as Pinchot and Glavis were deposed; the
priests of the party caucus may continue to pro
nounce the sentence of excommunication on
those who defy their laws; the money changers
may continue for a time to have the chief places
in the temple and at the council board; but
in an intelligent, assertive democracy, no fac
tion of a party can withstand a hostile majority;!
no democratic government can long remain in
the hands of those to whom the great ma
jority of the people are opposed.
These truths ought to be as apparent to tho
organization leaders of the republican party as
they are to other observers, but either they are
not or there is a defiant purpose to rule or ruin.
In the face of these truths the attempts of any
man or set of men to put the progressive repub
licans out of the party are so fatuous as to bo
almost ludicrous.
That is a mighty big contract. If it should
succeed, the host that would follow the banished
remain Tin dumund th w that would
wmiM h if! ?ei,BtS,teB ?ot enough republicans
would be left to hold a barbecue.
ALDRICH TO RETIRE
An Associated Press dispatch from Washing-
thatqhe0twiH NelSn A AldrI aiStae
that he will not be a candidate for re-election
to the senate but will retire to private life at
mieXPSeanl?orfA?P,reSent "? Mih 3
xjii benator Aldrich says that thpro 1r -nnt-
the slightest doubt but that a republican will
succeed him in the senatorial seat?
r HALE TO RETIRE
he voluntarily retiree he win h, 1t,iat;"nIelJ3
the nomination by JudgeVe'L $
MR. BRYAN AT HOME
which he is a member VlSatMS club' oI
T1,PT,E0T E SUPREME COURT
mSonTveenf t"b'a
asking him not to annn f DreSlnt n n0""
to succeed thftaS See' Brewer attorns
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