o
Th6 -Commoner.
FEBRUARY 28, 1913
7
OPIGS
KTCURBeNT
- - -- ,713k
AN interesting dispatch, carried by the
Associated Press, under date of Jefferson
City, Mo., Feb. 17, is as follows: Governor
Major ' today issued a statement in which ho
attacked United States Senator Reed for not
attending to his duties in Washington. Senator
Reed is opposing. a public utilities commission
measure in the Missouri legislature. He is also
serving as attorney for the prosecution in the
murder trial of Dr. B. Clarke Hyde. At the con
clusion of a statement in which ho said the legis
lature was competent to pass upon the public
utilities bill without outside interference, ho
said: "You may add this to my statement: At
this particular time our United States senators
are needed at Washington."
W iJ t
SPEAKING about cabinets, a "writer in tho
Washington (D. C.) Herald says: During
the evening of March 3, 1869, General Grant
took from his waistcoat pocket a list of dis
tinguished men. He showed.it to a personal
friend, asking if the initials of one of the names
were correct. This is believed to havo been tho
first disclosure of the complete identity of tho
cabinet whose nominations he sent the next
afternoon to the senate. Of course, there were
guesses and conjectures, but some of the men
upon whom he bestowed a portfolio were not
advised until after the appointment was an
nounced. Governor Wilson is apparently bent
upon equaling this record. Judged by recent
standards, he has been highly successful in keep
ing tho secret of his choice. No positive con
firmation has been accorded any report. Every
one believes Mr. Bryan will be secretary of
state because every one else believes it, but
nowhere is to be found any admission of this,
either, by the president-elect or by the coih
mpner. The personnel of the Taft cabinet was
known long before this four years ago, with
one or two exceptions. Mr. Roosevelt in 1905
retained most of the cabinet of his previous
administration, which was a mixture of Mc
Klnley appointees and his own. Mr. McKinley
let it be known, previous to his anauguration
in 1897, who would sit at his council table.
It is now more than three months since Wood
row Wilson was elected president. Single
handed he has sliaped the plans for his adminis
tration. Advice he has sought from many, but
his confidence has been given to few. He has
not deemed it necessary to accord the public an
indication of his policies through the announce
ment that this or that man representing a certain
element of his party or a certain point of view
in public affairs has been chosen. Soon after
election Lincoln asked Seward to be his secre
tary of state. Sowa,rd was then in the senate
and his effectiveness in many conciliatory efforts
made to prevent -secession was heightened when
it became known that he had been tendered and
had accepted the portfolio of state. Mr. Lin
coln found the announcement of Seward's selec
tion a source of strength, but Mr. Wilson evi
dently feels no such dependence on any other
member of Ills party. How significantly this now
forecasts the relations of president and cabinet
only time can tell.
w 3
THE death of Joaquin Miller removes one of
the world's notable figures. Attended by his
wife and daughter, the famous poet died in his
cabin in tho Piedmont hills in California. An
'Associated Press correspondent says: For
many years "The Heights" has been the mecca
of lovers of Joaquin Miller's poetry. He always
received his guests graciously and loved to talk
In a vein of quaint humor of the old, adven
turous days which he memorialized in his verse.
His faculties were undimmed until almost the
end and he worked at intervals upon a poem
which he said was- to be the most momentous
work of his life. He guarded the -poem with
the utmost secrecy and not even "his wife and
daughter knew its subject. Hope tf saving his
life ended when the attending physician an
nounced that the end was only a matter of a
few days. Senility was the only cause of death
tho physician could give. Of all California
poets. Miller's work is said to reflect most per
fectly the primitive grandeur of the west. Ho
wrote of tho mountains and the plains, and
penned the epic of the pioneors. His education
was scant, but ho did not require books for his
inspiration. From childhood his was a stirring,
eventful life. He was born in the Wabash dls
trlct of Indiana November 10, 1811, and was
christened Clnclnnatus Heine. His father was
of Quaker stock. At the ago of eleven young
Miller accompanied his parents across the
plains to tho Pacific coast. The family took up
a government claim in Oregon. His craving for
adventure, stimulated by stories of the gold
strikes in California, caused him to run away at'
15 to seek his fortune. Already he had parti
cipated in the Indian war, receiving an arrow
wound in the neck. In Siskiyou county he was
adopted by a tribe of Indians and married tho
daughter of tho chief. Shortly afterwards tho
woman was killed by settlers In a punitive expe
dition against raiding redskins, and Miller re
turned to Oregon, where he studied law. At this
time he had begun to write verso, contributing
to various magazines, and he mot and married
Miss Minnie Myrtle, a young Oregon poetess.
Three children were born to the couple, a daugh
ter, Maude, and two sons. The latter ran away
early in life and their names wore erasod from
the family record. Miller went in 18G6 to
Mexico, where he joined Walker's filibusters and
was arrested. He obtained a pardon and re
turned to Oregon. In 1869 Miller published his
first volume of poems. Soon afterwards he was
divorced from his wife and went to Europe.
There ho became popular. Ho always dressed
in a flannel shirt and knee-high boots, a cos
tume that English of that day are said to havo
expected of Americans. Returning to America
he took up newspaper work In Washington, D.
C. While there he took a third wife, Miss'Abby
Leland, daughter of a Chicago hotel keeper. One
child was born, to her. Juanita. Tho poet re
turned to California in 1887, purchasing near
Oakland the tract that he called "The Heights."
W tV i&
ANSWERING an Inquirer who desires to know
if there has been a Baptist president of tho
United States, the Richmond Times-Dispatch
says: There has not. There have been eight
Episcopalians: Washington, Madison, Monroe,
William Henry Harrison, Tyler, Taylor, Pierce
and Arthur. There have been six Presbyterians:
Jackson, Polk, Buchanan, Lincoln, Cleveland,
Harrison, and to these Woodrow Wilson must
soon bo added. There have been four Methodist
chief magistrates: Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Mc
Kinley, Van Buren and Roosevelt Were adherents
of the Reformed Dutch church. 'John and John
Quincy Adams wore Congregationalists. Fill
more and Taft were Unitarians. Garfield was a
Disciple. Seven religious bodies have been rep
resented by the twenty-six presidents.
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AN unusual scene occurred in the Indiana
legislature, report of which Ib made by the
Associated Press as follows: Lieutenant Gover
nor O'Neill caused a sensation- in the senate
when he stopped Rev. E. R. Henry of the Em
manuel Baptist church of this city, who was
making the opening prayer, and said: "Stop
making a political speech." Tho minister had
prayed for the separation of the "rum traffic"
from the state and for "the coming of the day
when Indiana would refuse to sell to men the
right to make other men drunkards." The lieu
tenant governor, who had been showing signs
of impatience, vigorously banged the marblo
slab with his gavel and commanded tho minister
to stop. He ordered tho journal to bo read
and Mr, Henry immediately left the chamber.
Jt S &
THE GERMAN EMPEROR surprised his
hearers recently, in a sermon. A Berlin
cablegram to the New York World, says: De
claring that the Prussians were "oppressed and
dismembered folk" in 1806 as a consequence of
God's judgment because they had lost faith in
Him, tho German emperor at a memorial ser
vice at Berlin university delivered a characteris
tic address warning tho present generation of
Germans not to forget the faith of their fathers.
The emperor emphasized his words by pounding
his right fist on tho desk repeatedly. He wan
often Interrupted by applause. He assorted
that the GcrmanB of today were Inclined to be
lieve only In tangible things and to place diffi
culties In religion's way. They should study his
tory, ho snld, and soe how tho Prussians re
gained their old faith and fought the war of
liberation, whoso glorious result was not man's
work but God's work. "So," contlnuod tho
omporor, "we have In the history of the past
certain proof of God's guidance and that He was
and still Is with us. And with this teaching of
the past all German youth can forge la Its fire
the tried shield of faith, which must never be
lacking In the armory of Germans and Prim
alum. Willi such weapons, looking neither to
tho right nor to the left, we will go our direct
way, eyes uplifted and hearts uplifted with trust
in God. Then wo can all repeat the gscat
chancellor's words: 'We Germans fear God
and nothing else in the world.' " A storm of
applause followed tho emperor's speech, which
was Impromptu and unexpected, surprising the
rector of the university, who had started for
tho rostrum to close the exorcises.
. w ti 5
A WRITER In tho New York World suys: Tho
cabinet selected by Washington in 1789
comprised Thomas Jefferson as secretary of
state, Alexandor Hamilton as secretary of tho
treasury, Henry Knox ns secretary of war,
Sampol Osgood as postmaster-general and Ed
mund Randolph as attorney-general. The first
secretary of tho navy was named in 1801 under
Jefferson; the first secretary of tho Interior in
1849 under Taylor; the first secretary of agri
culture in 1889 under Cleveland. The depart
ment of commerce and labor was created during
the first Roosevelt administration, bringing the
cabinet up to nine members. Jf congress now
creates a department of labor the cabinet will
bo twice the size of Washington's cabinet.
TUB POWER OF IMAGINATION'
A man is above his time in proportion as ho
possesses the power of Imagination the attri
bute that enables him to look beneath the sur
face of things and from tho eternal elements of
thought construct a new order, a now system,
a new philosophy, or from tho crucible of his
intellect fashion something useful in the in
terest of mankind.
Tho man of imagination can grasp your Idea,
and from this premise frame for you whatever
you may wish. Ho can take a rock and from
the knowledge he may have of science show its
relations to the universe, or from a bone buried
beneath tho dust of centuries show the form
and nature of the animal of which it was onco
a part. He can look into tho science of lan
guage, traco a word to Its root, take a number
of them and, following back to tho origin of
all languages, show from that language the
thoughts of the people who uttered It, and out
line to a wondering world, their hopes, their
aims and their institutions. If to this origin he
can trace the name of a divinity he knows
something of their religious aspirations. If he
follows badk to this people tho word "plow" he
knows that they were cultivators of the soil.
So with music and with song.
Tho man of imagination may search the
heights and depths of human thought or the
secrets of nature, and from an understanding
of natural law, he will construct a new civili
zation, a new religious philosophy, a now
science of life. He Is the one who has pointed
the way to every achievement ever made by the
hand or mind of man. Ho is the light of tho
.world of every age, and from his fertile brain
emerges all the blessings of mankind. Ho is tha
father of all arts and sciences, the designer of
every invention, the builder of every avenue of
commerce, tho thought that preceded the con
struction of every vessel that ever drove its
furrows through ocean wastes and bullded tho
commerce of the world the peace envoy of all
time.
All hall to the man of Imagination. Laurie
J. Quinby in Omaha Chancellor.
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