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Goodwin's Weekly, j 1 r. . . ' J' ' . ; - t i i - j i. ..u i- ii, .: ;' ..",." .hut - . i .l i . iH Vol XII. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, DECEMBER 7, 1907 No. 5 ! H ;H C.C. GOODWIN Editor J.T.GOODWIN Manager PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE OF GOODWIN'S WEEKLY. Including postage in tho United States, Canada and Mexico, $2.00 per year; $1.00 for six months. Sub scriptions to all forolgn countries within tho Postal Union, $3.60 per year. ' Single copies, 5 cents. Payments should bo mado by Check, Money Order or Registered Letter, payable to Goodwill's Weekly. Address all communications to Goodwin's Weekly. - - v Entered at tho Postofllco vat Salt Lake City, Utah, U. S. A., as second-class matter. P. O. Boxes, 1274 and 1772. Telephones: Bell, 301; Ind., 302. 221-232-233 Commercial Club Bldg., Salt Lake City. Tbe President's Message. The president's message has many strong points, many excellent recommendations and some disappointments. It Us too long and rambles too much. Any thoroughly trained newspaper man ' could take it, write it down and condense every, thought in it, into half its space. There is a great deal cf surplussage in it, but that is an imfirmity in the literary style of the president. A long hom ily on tho general integrity of the American peo ple and on the rascality of a few, does not add to either tho strength, wisdom or power of a great state paper and does not throw the slightest new light on this mundane sphere. Twice two are four, but there is nothing gained by stating that fact and it is a sacrifice of space and time to try to prove it. Neither does it help to have a presi dent in effect, state that there are a few rascals whom he has his eyes on and whom ho intends to crucify, because that should be tho work of hit attorney-general who has taken an oath to exe cute the duties of his department. His desire to affirmatively add to federal power in tho conduct of interstate business, should be gratified If necessary, but a good many very ablo lawyers think all tbe power needed can bo found in the constitution and laws as they are today. Many of his recommendations are excellent. An income and inheritance tax is good. The Improvement of certain great livers is good. What ho says of the tariff is good but it hat been overdue for four years past. His delinea tion on railroad accidents lacks the one essential of not pointing out any remedy. In this connection some clear-cut plan for keep ing the railroads up to needed efficiency to meet the demands upon them, would have been most welcome. Tho meat inspection and pure-food laws needed no defense. Tho methods adopted to insure their enforcement are what need defending. His recommendations to proas construction in the navy and for an increase and better pay of the army are both excellent. The features of the message, which are most disappointing, are first, that ho, as chief magis trate of the republic, did not grasp with strong hands the question of the present financial crista, and with clear-cut reasoning point out what, In his mind, would be a cure for the handicaps that are now making the system helpless. The tenacity with which tho old world holds to its gold and tho strugr which Great Britain, France and Germany are constantly making to provide against its drain, seem never to have at tracted the president's attention. The fact that wo pay out to foreign ship owners quite $200,000, 000 per annum for handling our ocean trade, a drain which in a few years would be equal to all tho money in the world, has apparently never mado any impression upon him. In a former message he declared that what was a gain or loss to any section was a gain or loss. to all,, and. yet lie .must have noticed, .ihat , Great Britain purchases more than our entire sib ver yield at about 70 cents per ounce, then coins it and puts it out at the rate of nearly twice that sum to her people and colonies does not disturb the president, though in tbe past twelve years this has entailed a loss upon the miners of the west of quite $"200,000,000; though the gold which is the basis on which the national finances rest, has measured by all the unusual forms c(f property, ' depreciated during the past six years -quite 80 Per cent. But no matter. The message should be careful ly road by all men interested In the country's, wel fare In many respects It is able and strong and desenes careful consideration. About Silver. Silver has been only a commodity for four teen years past. Silver mining has gone steadily on but there is no surplus worth mentioning in the world. The demand for it Is insatiable, scorned by the nation's as basic money still it has inci eased in value steadily for years. Great Britain is now contemplating the reopening of the India mints; the greater pait of silver is now seized upon to furnish tho woild with subsidiaiy money, and yet our nation sits by and sees near ly all the product Fold to foreign government, who at once coin it and pass it out to their subjects at nearly a hundred per cent advance on Its cost. Suppose things were reversed. Suppose Great Britain was a largo producer of silver and the United States was forced to buy from her the silver needed in the arts, for subsidiary coin ago and for tho Philippines, how long would she b3 selling it to us at half price? Suppose our government should tomorrow de cide, that in as much as gold was so rapidly fall ing in value, it would bo but fair to recognize silver at $1 per ounce? What would be tho effect? Day after t onion ow the cable would bring us news that silver was worth ?1 par ounce all over the British isles, tho continent and Mexico, and day after to morrow the same nows would come from India, Japan, China and Rio Jonoiro. And what would be the effect9 The Orient would need no more gold, ueithor would South America; the gold re serves would be strengthened lust that much. Haa such a law been passed two years ago and accepted by the New York bankers in good faith, there would have been no panic. When a man became timid and went to draw out and lock up his little or big deposit, and the bank began to shovel out to him silver as they would in France n would have suddenly changed his mind Our trade with China greatly exceeds in amount ( ffi iH annually our silver product. She would be glad 4 H to take all that we can produce even up to k M $100,000,000 per year. India is a perpetual ab- JM sorbant of silver and always needs more than she I H can get. The restoration of silver would be every- ' H thing for our oriental trade, it would be a great $, jH protection to our banks; if restoied it would be the f H money hoarded by the poor even as it now is in , H France. " jH We believe, too, that could President Roose- H volt be persuaded, through cur ambassadors and , H ministers, to. sound foreign government on tho f J H proposition of remonitizing silver that four ou of - $1 H five of the replies would be Tavorable. We be- " 1 H lieve, too, that had congress, fourteen years ago, H instead of striking down silver as basic money, 'it H decreed that it should bo received, the bars piled , , ' H away" and silver certificates be issued upon them, I HH ' there would have been no need of an elastic cur- HI rency now. And the difference to tho miners of tho M west would have been quite $400,000,000 and it M would havp helped the oast vastly more than the ' M west. H - t ! v"- H A Hurry Order is On. . JH Congress Is in session and Its first thought ' M ought to bo that one of the worst effects of tho t present congestion in business may be upon tho ' iB minds of the poople. When tho people begin to ' I M mistrust tho wisdom of the government over them, . I M that is a breaking down of faith in the most vital ' place. With enough stored gold to found an em- pire, with clear profits enough every year to M found two empires; with every branch of Indus- ' M try flourishing splendidly; no failure of crops, no , M failure of mines; with factories overcrowded with jK orders; for such a nation to be stopped in, full 'fl career, and hold transfixed, is something new , in history and it is hard to convince men that there has not boon a mighty wrong or supreme imbec- if jH ItUy somewhere. And while tho land is filled with ' H men ready to die, if need bo, for their country, H while they are ready to smilo at ordinary mis- H fortunes, they are Impatient at wrong and furious H in the presence of men who have assumed a sacred H trust and have proven their incompetency to carry ( H it through. H This is a time for congress to get down to H work; if members stop to try to make jolitical capital out of the situation before a solution is H reached, and the wheels of business are again set rolling, they will make a mistake, for the people ifl are watching and as never before are demanding H results. H m m The Truth ol History. I Last Saturday evening the News devoted two if H columns nearly to an article in this journal I which appeared before election in which we tiled . , I to show to men who think they are Republicans o I or Democrats in Utah, that while they cling to m 1 1 their political faith and train with their oigan- Wg fl '! izations In Utah they are mere cats-paws to an or- "'ill I ganization which in all its teachings is treason- i x I able to the government of the United States l I That article must have stung the News' editoi Jl & J I to the quick fo it withes and hisses like an im- & " ifl