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'JANUARY , 1911
The Commoner.
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SEATTLE WILL make uso of the recall pro
vision of her charter during the present
- - uuui.u. rue suoject or the recall will bo the
ffit: S?ayor of th0 cit Hiram 0. Gill. The San
4.J-4. .-;" '- jrrnnrlfri Stn antra nm i . nv
illi owjo. vxni ia uuurgeu wna per
mitting gambling and other vice to be conduct
' ed by syndicates which paid for their special '
privileges. The necessary signatures for the
mayor's recall have been secured, the petition
containing 11,300 names, 2,600 in excess of the
number required. Of the signers, 631 are
women, who qualified as voters for the purpose
of signing the petition. Under the law, the
comptroller at Seattle has ten days in which to
check the names and send the petition to the
council. The council must set the date of the
recall election within ten days after receiving
the petition. This will bring the election late
. in January or eaTly In February. The outcome
- will be watched with interest. At Los Angeles
two years ago, a recall movement was started
.' against the mayor of that city, but before the
f-election could be-held the mayor resigned. The
Seattle mayor, however, seems likely to fight
far his seat. If he does, the recall will be put
to practical test."
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T" HAT PRESIDENT TAPT and Theodore
Roosevelt have been corresponding regu
larly for several weeks is the report that comes
"from "Washington by way. of "Sumner," the
Chicago Record-Herald's Washington correspon
dent. This correspondent says: "The Taft
Roosevelt relations have been a matter of much
gossip since before the recent elections. Now
- itlis strongly Jntjmated at the Washington end
tliat to all Intents jind purposes the two men
ar$ working together for the general good -ot
the .republican party in the next national cam
paign. As interpreted, by friends of President
Taft this means, of course, that the renomina
tion of the latter will not be opposed by Colonel
Roosevelt. As to New York there seems to
be an understanding that the president's inter
ests are not to be menaced by any factionalism
and that as matters now-stand a Taft delegation
is likely to be chosen on a real harmony basis.
The exact nature of the correspondence passing
between Washington and Oyster Bay has not
been disclosed. Some of it, however, it is un
derstood, has pertained to matters of legislation
designed to round out the progressive policies
inaugurated by Roosevelt and supported by Taft.
Letters are understood to have been exchanged
with particular frequency since President Taft's
return from Panama, the latter part of Novem
ber. Whether personal politics has been re
ferred to directly Is doubtful; but the impres
sion conveyed through persons In close touch
with the White House is that the relations be
tween the two men are far more friendly than
was supposed to be the case just prior to and
immediately following the, November elections."
THE NEW JERSEY campaign is getting hot- .
ter and hotter. James Smith, Jr., has made
a reply tp Governor-elect Wilson In which he
says- "Dr. Wilson's statement is as I expected
it would be. It appears over his signature,
but the reasoning is not familiar. The charges
and insinuations suggest a' harassed mind. Un
influenced Dr. Wilson would have been above
misrepresentations. But certain public applause
has proven fatal to calm judgment. He has
been, swept to the heights with such sudden
ness that his judgment has not accompanied
him He has my sympathy. He asserts that I
am ' nledged to special interests. He was
charged with being Wall Street's candidate I
aar 'that neither statement is true and Dr. Wil
son should have been the last man to assert
the contrary. I do not stand for free trade
free silver, or new nationalism. I stand for
state rights, for a- just tariff, for such con
Semtlon of onr natural resources as will per
mit of their wise development, not their waste
Si distribution; for the restoration of our
Merchant marine, and for other doctrines which
J recently publicly: enumerated. Dr. Wilson
says thaVhe was assured by my spokesman be-
fore his nomination that I would not be a can
didate for the senatorial ofllce. I never made
such a statement. No one was ever authorized
by me to make such a statement and no one
representing me made such a statement to Dr.
Wilson. Furthermore, hero is a challenge which
L submit for his acceptance. Let him name the
man or men coming from me who so informed
him. Let there bo no hiding behind the seal
of confidence. If ho be my spokesman, I re
move the seal. Let Dr. Wilson speak or by
his silence stand convicted before the public
of attempted trickery and deceit. I called on
Dr. Wilson shortly after election. Tho sena
torial matter was discussed. I told him that I
had not yet reached a decision as to my can
didacy. Professing a high regard for mo, Dr.
Wilson said that my candidacy would meet with
some opposition from tho people, that in his
judgment they wanted a man who had not pre
viously appeared in the political arena, some
untried man. Stating that tho recent primary
was a farce and that 'it would be a disgrace,' to
the state to send James E. Martine to the senate,
he asked me to sit down with him and agree
upon a candidate who would bo acceptable to
him and to me. How it. will sear the doctor's
soul to have his real view as to tho primary
and as to the man he now lauds for senatorial
honors brought home to him with such painful
accuracy. He will try to disavow it, but it is
true, and in his heart he knows it to bo true."
WOODROW WILSON has replied to former
Senator James Smith, Jr. Dr. Wilson
says: "I certainly would not havo allowed my
name to go before the convention that nominated
me if I had not thought that tho man who told
me that Mr. Smith would not be a' candidate
'for the senate spoke to me for Mr. Smith. I
had every reason to think he did. I will not
name him because he is a man whom I very
highly esteem, and on whom I do not care to
bring the mortification of being drawn Into this
now very public matter. I am quite willing to
go with Mr. Smith before the court of public
opinion on the charge of attempted trickery and
deceit. If the gentleman of whom I havo spoken
did not speak for Mr. Smith, in what ho told,
why did Mr. Smith corroborate what he said.
He himself told me exactly the same thing after
election. He told me in tho plainest terms that
before the election he had not desired to go to
Washington; had not felt equal to seeking, or
occupying the office, but that he was now feeling
stronger and did desire it. He was evidently
referring to something he knew I had known.
I pointed out to him the deep discredit that
would fall on him If he were himself to seek
the senatorship. Finding him utterly contempt
uous of the primary and towards .Mr. Martine;
finding that he insisted that the state would be
disgraced should Mr. Martine rather than he
represent it in the senate, I tried to point out
to him in all kindness the only course that lay
open to him In the circumstances where he could
win through faithful men. I told him that,
feeling as he did, the only honorable course open
to him was to come out and say that he was
not himself a candidate and would co-operate in
the choice of any man whom general opinion
might agree on as representing, not special in
terests, but tho opinion and the character of
the state. He told me that he did not know
of any such man in the state who had any
'claim' on tho party comparable to his own."
TEN PER CENT of the voting strength In
Adams county, Ohio, Is under indictment
charged with corruption at the polls. A Ports
mouth, Ohio, dispatch carried by the Associated
Press says: "With- a total of 633 indictments
and 114 pleas of guilty to chaTges of vote selling
during the recent election, Adams county, Ohio,
presents a condition unique in political history.
A vigorous campaign of investigation carried on
by a grand jury acting upon the instigation of
Common Pleas Judge A. Z. Blair of Portsmouth
has resulted in the indictment of nearly ten
per cent of the voting strength of the county
and predictions were made that the number of
indictments would reach 2,000. Judge Blair
says voto selling in every township will bo
probod. During a gubernatorial campaign In
tho eighties, republicans, by an nlloged liberal
uso of money carried tho county, which pre
viously had boon democratic. SInco thon con
trol has shifted back and forth. As a result
of tho grand jury's investigations, it Is. apparent
that both parties havo participated In the voto
buying. Starting at $1 and $2, prices havo
risen In recent years to $20 per voto. Much
of tho boodllng has been almost public. In
stances of auctioning votes aro reported. Judgo
Blair, born and brought up In tho county, ro
contly determined to end tho corruption. Among
thoso indicted aro many of his life-long friends
and some of his early playmates. Men In all
walks of lifo and unblemished reputation other
wise, havo been caught In tho net. So far, tho
judgo bus indicated his purpose to go after only
tho vote sellers. So strong have boon their de
mands for compensation for tholr bnllots that
officeholders have beon able to earn only small
net salaries. Where pleas of guilty havo been
made the offender has beon disfranchised five
years and fined a nominal sum. Workhpuso
terms have boen given to practically all, but
most of (he prison sentences havo been suspend
ed. An editor who denounced the Investigation
has been punished for conlompt. Corruption Iu
Adams county goes back for more than twenty
years and Is perhaps largely duo to a gonoral
sanction of a growing custom as well as tho
abaence of railways, telegraph and tho telephone.
There Is In the county only ono railway lino, a
branch of tho Norfolk and Western, and few tele
graph and telephone lines West Union, tho
county scat, is not reached by either telegrapft
or railway. In this respect it stands alone among
county seats In Ohio."
THERE WILL BE a hot scramble for positions
for the democratic house of representative!!.
A Washington dispatch printed In the Sioux
City (Iowa) Journal says: "When the demo
crats como into control of the house in tho next
congress they are expected to make a clean
sweep of republican officeholders In tho organi
zation of that body SInco 1895 tho republican
party has had a majority of tho house member
ship . Now office hungry democrats in overy
state are demanding appointments. The demo
crats will fill every position from the clerkship
of the house, which pays $6,500, down to tho
committee janitors and the pages. In all, tho
triumphant democratic hosts will dispose of
jobs worth more than $600,000 a year. Tho
clerk of tho house, the doorkeeper, each with a
small army of well paid assistants, aro doomed
to leave Uncle Sam's payroll. The four officers
named will be selected by tho democratic caucus.
Hero is tho present lineup of those who seek
some of tho best paying positions at the disposal
of tho democratic house: For sergeant at arms,
a position worth $6,500 a year Representative
John A, Kollher, of Boston, defeated for re
nomination; Representative Leonidas F. Liv
ingston, of Georgia, also defeated for re-nomination
after twenty years' continuous service
in the house; Clyde H. Tavenner, of Illinois,
In charge of publicity for the democratic con
gressional campaign committee; Charles A.
Edwards, newspaper correspondent, of Texas
and Washington; Hamilton DeWeese, of Co
lumbus, O.; John W. Thompson, of Raleigh, N.
C; George Scanton, of West Virginia, and
Stokes Jackson, state democratic chairman, of
Indiana. Tho clerkship of the house of repre
sentatives also is a much sought for position.
It, too, pays $6,500. The candidates so far an
nounced are: Ex-Representativo South Trimble,
of Kentucky; ex-Representative W. H. Ryan, of
Buffalo, N. Y. Tho duties of tho houso door
keeper are comparatively easy, and that placo
pays $5,000 per year. Joe Sinnott, now a special
employe of the house, who halls from Rich
mond, Va wants to bo tho next doorkeeper.
So does Georgo F. Parrish, of Ohio, secretary to
Representative Sherwood of that state. The
postmastershlp In tho house pays $ 1,000, There
are as yet no active candidates, but they will
materialize."
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