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The Commoner
VOL. 13, NO. 30
10
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Every reader of The Commoner is urged to write his senators at
once, urging immediate action on the pending currency bill.
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tativo of the bureau of animal Industry, bo
rigidly maintained, and that the inspectors and
other employees of tho service detailed to in
spect food bo instructed to work in conjunction
with such representatives of the bureau of ani
mal industry as may bo designated by the de
partment of agriculture; that a counter be main
tained for the Bale of a greater variety of
articles, so that people passing through the
island who do not care to purchase boxes can
purchase any quantity desired, at rates in keep
ing with tho contract; the segregation of races,
consistent with orderly dispatch in immigrant
dining rooms, and insistence, so far as possible,
on proper table decorum; that standing invita
tions be extended to consular representatives to
personally inspect tho food served and submit,
in writing, to tho commissioner, comments and
suggestions relative thereto; that where it is
shown that any employee has knowledge of any
violation of the contract which provides for tho
feeding of immigrants and employees on Ellis
Island and tho sale of foodstuffs to tho immi
grants, and fails to make a written report there
of to tho commissioner, such employee shall be
subject to preferment of charges looking to his
dismissal from tho service.
The department continued its activities dur
ing the past month with relation to tho trade
dispute in the copper mining industry at Calu
met, Mich. Representatives of the department
are still engaged in an effort to bring about an
amicable and satisfactory adjustment between
tho employers and employees.
In an effort to adjust the difficulties in the
coal fields of southern Colorado, Secretary Wil
son detailed Mr. Ethelbert Stewart, chief clerk
of the bureau of labor statistics, to proceed to
that field and utilize the good offices of the de
partment, if possible, in bringing the contending
parties together.
On August 25th, Secretary "Wilson, on behalf
of the federal government, opened the interna
tional congress of school hygiene at Buffalo,
N. Y. On September 1st he was the Labor Day
speaker at Syracuse, N. Y.' On September 14tli
he officiated at tho laying of the corner stone
for the new Y. M. C. A. building at Hamilton,
. O., and on the 16th delivered an address at the
twelfth annual convention of the railway car
men's convention at Milwaukee, Wis. On Sep
tember 20th he spoke at Knoxville, Tenn., in
connection -with the conservation exposition, the
occasion being the field day for the' bureau of
mines and a demonstration in mine relief and
Bafety work.
THE STATE DEPARTMENT
The work at the stato department does not
decrease in volume, nor is itB importance les
sened. Negotiations with Japan are progressing
satisfactorily, but the Mexican situation con
tinues somewhat complicated.
The correspondence between the United
States and Columbia gives promise of effecting
an adjustment of the differences which have
existed since the secession of Panama. Nica
raugua has been assisted in securing a loan.
Since the last issue of The Commoner, Governor
Folk of Missouri has become solicitor of the
stato department.
Since the last Commoner was issued two
more peace treaties have been sigued. On
September 20th Senor Don Joaquin Mendez,
ministor of Guatemala, Senor Dr. Don Eusebio
A. Morales, minister of Panama, and Secretary
of State William J. Bryan, gathered in the large
diplomatic reception room and simultaneously
signed pacts which will prevent war between
those two countries and tho United States until
a period of investigation has passed. Each of
the two countries was anxious to have the honor
of being the second to accept the president's
peace plan by treaty, so it waB arranged that
the treaties should be signed at the same time.
, The two treaties were exactly like the one
previously signed between the United States and
. Salvador. ,
The rapidity with which the countries are
accepting the president's poaco plan in fact is
most gratifying, and treaties with other nations
will probably.be signed before the present ad
ministration has been in power a year. Tho
foreign offices of several other countries now
have the details under advisement. Twenty-
nine governments have now accepted in prin
ciple. The department has also been endeavoring
so far aB it properly could to assist Nicaragua to
obtain a loan, in order to place the finances of
that country in a better situation. Much care
and thought has been given by the department
to tho end that the loan agreement should be
'both business-like and fair to all parties con
cerned. The president, having decided to keep con
sular appointments in the civil Bervice, appoint
ments to consular positions necessarily are made
fcom an eligible list, obtained by examination.
Since March 4th twenty-nine promotions have
been made that is, consuls who by reason of
length of service and efficiency deserve promo
tion received places of higher grade and higher
pay. Three appointments have been made from
the eligible list to consulships of the lowest
grade.
The department has announced a new con
sular examination for, January 14, 1914. As
a result of this examination a. new eligible list
will be created. At present the list is Bmall and
those eligible are from states which have re
ceived all appointments to which they are en
titled under the apportionment plan of the civil
service.
Many diplomatic appointments to heads of
embassies and missions have been made. To
date seven ambassadors and nineteen ministers
have been appointed by the -president. All of
these have been confirmed by the senate, and
nearly all have left for their posts. Spain has
been raised from the rank of a legation to that
of an embassy, and Francis E. Willard of Vir
ginia enjoys the distinction of being the first
ambassador to Spain. The raising of Spain to
the rank of an embassy was particularly oppor
tune because of the increased interest and at
tention which is now being given to Central and
South American countries, the language of all
of which, with the exception of Brazil, 1b Spanish.
AD VALOREM DUTIES ,
One of the best achievements of the demo
cratic party in connection with its recently
completed efforts at tariff-making was the sub
stitution of the ad valorem principle for the
specific duty system which has masked much
of the injustice of republican tariffs. Many
of the duties levied by the Payne-Aldrich law
were for a specific sum, so much per yard or
pound or ton, often used in combination with
an ad valorem rate so as to form what Is tcchi
cally known as a composite rate. This method
failed to take into account the very vital fact
that it meant a low rate of duty when prices
were highest and a high rate when prices were
lowest. It also opened the way to all sorts of
frauds because it was necessary to make so nany
classifications and apply so many descriptions
that were difficult to make practical use of. It
was also very convenient in keeping from the
consumer a knowledge of just how heavy a tax
he was paying when he bought any article.
Wherever it was possible the ad valorem rate
now applies, and being assessed on a system of
percentages based upon value, the duty rises or
falls with the market price. This means a great
simplification of tho tariff, and makes it easier
for the customs service to perform the duties
assigned to it. Care was taken in the provisions
relating to tho administration of the customs
service to guard against undervaluation. The
only exceptions to the ad valorem principle are
to bo found In those cases' where value Is not an
important or fundamental factor, and where the
commodity was of such a nature that value
would be a matter of difficult analysis.
THE NEW TARIFF BILL
Beginning with tho November issue, The Com
moner will commence the publication of "the new
tariff act, taking the bill up by schedules until
completed. The congressional elections come
next fall, and every reader should begin the
, study of this bill and become thoroughly ac
quainted with its provisions.
On another page of this paper will be found
an article by Mr. Bryan entitled, "The Man in
the Whito House," that was written for tho
October Pulitzer's Magazine.
THE MYSTERY EXPLAINED
The secret Is out. The readers of the New
York World have wondered at the virulenco of
its attacks on the Chautauqua. Venom has
oozed out of Its pages; its hostility has been
most vehement. The cause of its antipathy is
no longer a mystery it simply mistook the
Chautauqua for an innovation from the west
IT THOUGHT THAT IT ORIGINATED IN
KANSAS. Here is the explanation taken from
one of its reports:
"In the middle west say in Kansas WHERE
CHAUTAUQUAS ORIGINATED, they don't call
tho parks "parks." They call them the sha-tawk-wee
grounds pronunciation not Indian but
Kansas. Sha-tawk-wee groundB always lie on
the banks of some river and are inhabited chiefly
by mosquitoes and peanut shells. In Kansas
the sha-tawk-wee is not an experiment but an
institution. People with good homes and por
celain bathtubs abandon them once a year to go
live in a tent in the sha-tawk-wee grounds and
be eaten up by the mosquitoes and rained on and
inoculated with devilled ham sandwiches and
rheumatism. It amounts to & religion." New
York World.
Won't the proprietor of the World feel cheap
when, a few years hence, the news haB had time
to reach him and he learns that nearly four
decades ago this great educational movement
began on the classic shores of Lake Chautauqua
in the Empire state? And "it amounts to a re
ligion," too.
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'DISCOURAGING THRIFT
The stock argument jused against the income
tax is that it will 'discourage thrift," but this
argument, like others employed against it, will
not stand investigation. It is estimated that
between four and five hundred thousand persons
have taxable incomes. As we have, in the
United StateB, more than thirty million adults
and over fifteen million adult men, it will be
seen that less than one adult in sixty and less
than one adult man in thirty will have to pay
the tax. The thrift of this country is not con
fined to so small a percentage of the people, and
even among those with taxable incomes the
great majority will be taxed so little that it can
have no perceptible influence upon their desire
to earn an income. The tax on a ten thousand
dollar income is sixty dollars if a man is mar
ried and Beventy if he is single who will say
that this moderate exaction will "discourage
thrift?" A man's spirit must be easily broken
if he can be discouraged by so small a tax. If
this argument has any weight those with small
incomes ought to be made more thrifty by the
fact that a part of the burden will be lifted from
their shoulders. As for those with very large
incomes it may bo ivejll to discourage them a
little if they have been employing monopolistic
methods.
GOOD WORDS
Editor The Commoner: To say that I am
pleased with the new monthly Commoner is
putting it very mildly. I have been a sub
scriber to Tlie Commoner ever since I knew oi
its print. I believe I have sent in no less tnan
four hundred subscriptions in all, and it wou u
have been a pleasure to me to have sent
double that amount if I had have been awe.
The present administration is giving us jub
what we have been waiting for. Here's strong1"
to your arm, Mr. Bryan. George I. uargeiw
Alma, Mich.
Editor The Commoner: I was disappointed
when you first announced that you were goiuj
to change from a weekly to a monthly, DUl e
receipt of the first monthly issue I am
than pleased with the change, for the first is i
alone is worth the price of one year, f";
to Tho Commoner and long life to its eciuoi.
W. L. Taylor, LaGrange, Tex.
Editor The Commoner: On my return here
found the first issue of The Commoi u tQ
monthly magazine on my desk. tfQ,,oU ean
say that I am much pleased with it, a .m j 0
depend upon me as' a regul: r subsc
that common sense paper. Andro vouu
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