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The Commoner
VOL. 16, NO. 3
Defense Society's Workings Shown
From Now Yorlc Evening Poet,
Fob. 12, 1910.
So mo of tho inside details of the
campaign of tho Amorican Defence
Hocloty for funds and support wero
rovoaled today by George M. Baxter,
who was dismissed rccontly from his
position as organizing and financial
secretary of tho society, after tho
publication of a story reflecting upon
his character. It was said in the
story that Baxter had boon a member
of tho "Wo Boys" crowd, which was
prominent somo years ago in uptown
hotels. A mooting of tho trustees of
tho society was hurriedly called, and
Baxter was summarily dropped.
Of more interest than Baxter's de
fence of his character is tho story of
tho society's inner workings. It ap
pears that Baxter organized tho ap
peals for funds on a percentage basis,
and that ho was successful in raising
many thousands of dollars. There
woro constant bickerings among tho
backers of tho society in regard to
policies, politics, and funds. Mr.
Baxter's statement, which is in tho
form of an open letter to tho trustees
of tho society, is, in part, as follows:
"When I approached you in August
last with a proposition to take over
tho work of raising funds for the
Amorican Dofonco Society, Inc., and
to flnnnco myself and my staff
throughout, assuming personally all
risk of loss, and leaving tho society
freo of any moneyed obligation in
connection with such a department,
you accepted willingly ovon gladly.
You received from mo references
which you havo frequently declared
wero entirely satisfactory, and -we
entered upon a tentative agreement
for a trial period on a basis of 25 per
cent commissions.
"Later, when I had proved to you
tho practicabilily of my plans, and a
national campaign for financial sup
port had begun, wo ontored into a
contract providing that my manage
ment of field secretaries, etc., should
continuo until Decomber 31, 191G,
and that my commission should be
raised to 50 per cent oiit of which
I was to pay all toleg'raph and tole
phono bills, all salaries and commis
sions to field secretaries, canvassers,
and others whom I employed; that
I should furnish my own office
(which I already had), and pay all
other costs incident to my depart
ment which you chose to troat as a
branch, or chapter, of tho national
organization.
Building Up tho Ofllco
"In tho process of buildinir un trtv
department, my office employees and
I frequently worked from fourteen
to oighteon hours a day, including
Sundays and holidays, and I had
spent (on this purely speculative
basis) a considerabo sum of money
beforo I began to soo results. Tele
graph charges alono for my depart
ment during only a part of tho month
of January approximated $3,500."
Mr. Baxter added:
"During tho uncertainty of the 'try
ing out' period your chairman and
your secretary frequently besought
mo not to becomo discouraged; and
when the tide turned they were aiost
profuso in their congratulations and
in their show of gratitude. They
lost no opportunity of expressing
their thanks to mo for having pulled
tho society out of its slough of finan
cial despond; thoy frequently con
gratulated thomselves on their as
tuteness in selecting me, 'over per
haps a dozen other applicants' as
their fund-raiser and salary-payer;
they discussed freely with mo their
yearnings, hopes, ambitions; their
trouble with tho National Security
league (from which they had seceded
as employees in order to establish a
society of their own), and Mr.
Thompson assured mo many times
that whatever ho wanted ho could
got, becauso ho hold tho society 'in
tho hollow of his hand'- the articles
of incorporation having been so
framed that his powers as chairman
wero plenary, for which boast a read
ing of tho society's constitution and
by-laws will afford ample justifica
tion. "Tho final expression of apprecia
tion on tho part of your chairman
was in the shape of a telegram of fe
licitation to mo on Christmas Day;
and on tho part of your secretary the
gift of a walking stick, with expres
sions of his kind regards.
Political Difficulties
"During the process of building
up tho society's financial end, my
staff and I had many difficulties to
contend acainst. not tho least of
fwhich was of a political nature. It
was excessively difficult to convince a
skeptical public that a society hav
ing as the chief figures on its numer
ically modest board of advisers such
names as those of Messrs Theodore
Roosevelt, David Jayne Hill, Charles
J. Bonaparte, and Truman H. New
berry was not pronouncedly of a republican-progressive
bias. The charge
was denied at head-quarters, and we
wero authorized to say to all Invitees
or inquirers that the organization
was 'absolutely unbiased politically.'
With that understanding many peo
ple subscribed but many others
still refrained.
"Seeing tho urgent necessityof neu
tralizing the political complexion of
tho board of advisors (if the Amer
ican Defence society was to live up to
its claim of being a national, patri
otic, non-political organization), I in
sisted on many occasions that some
democratic names should bo added
to tho advisory board. The only
democrat (to my knowledge) that
wo had on tho advisory board, Mr.
Perry Belmont, had resigned there
from; and through my insistent urg
ing Messrs. Henry Watterson, Hilary
A. Herbert, James J. Hill, August
Belmont, Jacob M. Dickinson, and
William F. McCombs were approached
with a view to their joining the
board of advisors. Col. Watterson
and Mr. Herbert, I believe, did not
even reply to your secretary's IpUm-a-
Mr. Hilt did reply, but refused his
consent (I learned long afterward)
to the use of his name in that ca
pacity notwithstanding which fact
his name was placed on tho tnHnn.
ory by some one at headquarters,
and continued there until Mr. Hill
decisively demanded its, removal.
Messrs. August Belmont, Jacob M
Dickinson, and William F. McCombs
wore personally besought by my
friend Major J. J. Dickinson, on be
half of the society. Tho first two
gentlemen declined, and Mr Mc
Combs assented. Later on I was in
formed that Mr. Perry Belmont had
withdrawn his resignation, and his
name went back among the members
or the advisory board.
"With the nominal co-operation of
these democrats it was much easier
to interest a public that resented the
mere appearance of partisanship in a
supposedly purely patriotic body For
a time matters progressed smoothly
except for the constant opposition of
almost daily efforts to spur the so
ciety into something like a decent
show of activity, and the exertion of
all the restraining influence that Ma
jor Dickinson and I could bring to
bear upon your executive heads to
prevent an open attack upon the ad
ministrationwhich we felt would
have been both unfair and impolitic.
Major Dickinson and I were the only
democrats, so far as I am aware con
nected In any way with the actual
conduct of the affairs of the society.
"That fact did not appear person
ally to popularize either1 of us; and
Major Dickinson, then acting as the
chief of tho speakers' bureau, was
rewarded by an early dismissal for
his efforts to keep the society politic
ally neutral. I did not receive my
conge at that time, for two very ex
cellent reasons: I possessed a con
tract with the society until the end
of this year, and my efforts were not
only supplying the financial bread,
but also large supplies of butter and
jam, for headquarters' use.
"Shortly after young Mr. Philip
Roosevelt felt the high patriotic im
pulse to devote his wide experience
and prodigious journalistic genius to
the cause of preparedness (for a sal
aried consideration), it became evi
dent to me that the nartisanship I
Jiad been combating was again ram
pant. This was confirmed by Mr.
Thompson, who one day informed me
that since the National Security
league had 'come out strongly for the
administration at Washington' (the
words are Mr. Thompson's), he and
his active colleagues had determined
that the American Defence society
should take 'the other side of it.' My
protest against the impolicy of this,
and the lack of good faith with our
subscribers (all of whom had been
assured of the 'absoluely nonpartisan'
character of our organization) were
of no avail.
"President Wilson's policies and
utterances were openly damned up
hill -and down dale, and the next is
sue of the society's monthly organ,
'American Defence,' under the editor
ial charge of Philip Roosevelt, came
out with a highly offensive full-nacre
cartoon of Mr. Wilson in chummy
conference with a typical grafting
politician, while he disdainfully
waved aside a United States army of
ficer, who was depicted trying to pre
sent the President with 'facts.' To
this was added the astounding ed
itorial statement:
" 'Plainly he (Mr. Wilson) is try
ing to do just as little. as he possibly
can to put the country in a state of
defence, instead of trying to do just
as much as he possibly can.' "
Mr. Baxter goes mi to tell of the
society's efforts to raise money which,
it appears, were without 'iarge re
sults until he took charge of the
campaign. Then came the publica
tion of the story reflecting upon Mr.
Baxter and the action of the society
in demanding his resignation. The
statement adds:
"With a maenificent courage hoot
symbolized by the white rabbit, they
ruthlessly sacrificed their benefactor
in their panic scamper for cover,
showing withal the same degree of
gratitude that characterize the ani
mal which bit the hand that fed him.
Since then, doubtless mistaking my
silence for timidity, your executive
heads have made overtures to certain
of my employees, and have indicated
their intention to continue the busi
ness of raising funds along the lines
that I inaugurated! This is Ossa
piled on Pelion. While under the
present distressing circumstances the
maintenance by me of the exnensive
staff that I had assembled is botli im
possible and useless, the effort of the
society to win over my trained asso
ciates (after already forcibly taking
my business from me) must strike
the most elemental mind as being
grotesquely unjust."
Mr. Baxter demands the restorn
tion of his position, and damagps He
snvs that he will resign immediatelv
after reinstatement, as he does not
care to work with the society. He
continues:
"And, at any rote. I should not
care to resume relations with th
American ueience snpietv until your
chairman has explained why ho
knowingly misrepresented the foots
to the Guaranty Trust Company when
he wrote that institution that mv
compensation was $150 a week
against gross commissions of lo ner
cent. Or until other officials of the
board of trustees have explained why
the financial report made to Mr
Theodore Roosevelt and other mem
bers of the board of advisers at their
joint meeting at tho Biltimore on
January 5 was brought down only
until the preceding December 15
and why the report showed receipts
of only $45,000, when the actual
amount taken in (including Decem
ber 15) was more than $48,000?
"Also it might prove interesting to
learn of their justification for the
statement printed in the public press
at the time of my dismissal that the
gross receipts up to that day 'had
approximated $60,000 when the
actual moneys turned over by me, as
shown by itemized memoranda given
me at headquarters and headed
'American Defence Society Members
Secured Through Mr. Baxter's Ef
forts,' sets forth the indisputable
fact that considerably over $80,000
gross had been obtained for the so
ciety through my endeavors.
"Perhaps these discrepancies on
the part of the youthful arbiters of
America's destiny at 303 Fifth Av
enue may be due to inexperience, or
to bewilderment heeling closely on
the possession of real money; or,
again, it may be that their lack of
accuracy was due to their time being
taken up by daily conferences on the
shortcomings of the administration,
the needs of the army and navy, and
their insistence on the immediate
construction of forty-eight first-class
battleships.
THE SEDITIOUS FORD
The conference committee on na
tional preparedness is "preparing"
to try Henry Ford for treason. The
committee has issued a communica
tion to tho newspapers. In it, Mr.
Ford's advocacy of peace is termed
treasonable.
The committee gets personal. It
charges that;Mr. Fbrd'scity, Detroit,
was captured once because it was
"unprepared." This was in the war
of 1812. It seems thatif.it was not
for Mr. Ford's peace plans the ex
treme militarists and powder and
armor-makers on the committee
would be able to make Detroit bris
tle with cannon.
If Mr. Ford is not careful, the
committee will leave Detroit out of
its "preparedness" campaign. The
Canadians, or the Germans after
they have overrun Canada, will sack
his motor car plant and thus strike
a death blow at the farmers of the
middle west. After destroying this
plant and taking its contents, it is
presumed that the enemy will ram
ble right along over the remainder of
the country at the best Ford speed.
Here is the committee's indictment:
"The Conference Committee on
National Preparedness, composed of
the representatives or officers of
eleven societies with, an aggregate
membership of several million per
sons, does hereby denounce as un
American, unpatriotic and in its ef
fect closely approaching treason, the
attempts of Henry Ford to prevent
the nation from putting itself in a
condition to resist aggression or in
vasion. Kansas City Post.
BOOKS RECEIVED
Psychologist Tells How to Study
Concentration. "Concentration," by
F. W. Sears, master of psychology, is
a discussion of the means by which to
develop the power to concentrate all
.one's energies on a single task. The
author views concentration as the
one essential to success. His book,
issued by the Centre Publishing
Company, Suite 528. 108-110 West
Thirtv-fourth street, New York, N. Y
sells for 50 cents.
-y.