Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume], March 24, 1917, Page 2, Image 2

About Goodwin's weekly : a thinking paper for thinking people. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1902-1919

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HJ 2 GOODWIN' S WEEKLY.
f Ho evidently saw the time swiftly approach-
K lhg when the life of business and the lives of the
H!I people in the great cities would absolutely de-
Hjg! pencl upon the ' unobstructed operation of the
111 iblg roads; and further, -when the ignorant inter-
Hclj ferenco of the government and the attitude of
HP' labor, fostered by vicious agitators and conscious
H of tho power to not only cripple the roads 'but
H f place the lives of hundreds of thousands of peo-
i plo in tho great cities in jeopardy, would alto-
B : gothor make a burden too great to be borne '"by
H ' tho individual management of tlie railroads.
It looks as though the time had arrived "when
H, a sovereign power, that vicious men can not turn
H aside or baffle, will have to assume control of
HE tho great arteries of inland commerce.
Hr vThat prospect is most deplorable, because it
would centralize a power in the government which
H would enable those in control, if so disposed, to
H chango our form of government from a free repub
H lie to the rule of some "man on horseback."
H Those who do not believe this have not watched
H i closely the events of the past few years.
H t Only last summer, when President Wilson,
!upon demand of a few men representing a ibranch
of the railroad service, degraded his great office
by surrendering to their ultimatum, the thinking
men of the country -were shocked and ashamed.
H But the mass of the party to which he ibelongs,
H and tho ranks of labor as well, sang paeans of
Hi praise to him and he was re-elected. Suppose in
H,f his place had been a Napoleon: what might have
HH come had ther.e been a close election and he had
H determined to hold on to the office?
H, f. Or suppose the government should, but assume
Iff control of the railroads, and a Napoleon in of-
Hi J flee should determine to take lull control, and
H I by insidious management enlist the leaders of
H f the roads in his cause: It may "be said that the
H I people in their indignation would arise and put
H I the usurper down. Are we sure of that? See
H what the majority in congress has submitted to
H f for four years at the President's dictation. Note,
H f too, that in the last days of the last congress, be-
H cause a few men refused to support a measure
Hi 5 which they knew was altogether unnecessary, and
H . which, was only sprung for buncombe, those men
H t are ibeing assailed by a partisan press as though
H they were traitors to their native land.
H i Then the shoddy rich who Relieve that their
H money should buy them anything they want,-
H crave royal tillers more than ought else. It looks
H' as though the old simplicity, integrity and stern
H patriotism of the fathers were passing, and as
H though an exhaustive war would soon be neces-
H sary to bring the people Iback to a sense or duty
H ! and a respect for justice.
(But tho men of this country cannot long live
with the dread of something that can put business
in jeopardy, baffle all their calculations, bring the
specter of famine vividly before our great cities,
i 4 and even cripple the efforts of tho government
1 itself in placing tho country in a condition to
V ? meet and turn back a threatened war.
H If the congress that the President has called
H to meet in extra session Is wise, it will pass some
K' laws forbidding strikes and providing for the sot-
K J, tlement of differences between employers and em-
H 1 ployees "by special courts. Something like that
H " must foe done or chaos is not far away.
H The brotherhoods just now are doing much
H to reconcile the people to a large standing army.
H i When Mr. Gompers becomes a material factor in
H the government of this country, it is time that
H some radical measures ibe resorted to.
H; r The Tariff Commission
IffZ confess to a suspicion that the new tariff
&J commission, appointed by the President, will
not meet the hopes of those who believe in an
honest tariff. It has a free trade expression, and
if called "upon for a prediction of tlie outcome
of Its work, we should say that the duties will
M
5 bo retained on such articles as the Democracy,
wants revenue from; or something to trade upon,
like sugar, when political campaigns are op.
' If there is anything wliich President Wilson
has a horror for, it is protection for American
industries; unless it could too made available for
campaign purposes. To him it is a sacrilege to
so protect an American industry as to keep it
on its feet. Rather he would prefer to send
American gold to foreign manufacturers, than to
pay American manufacturers half tho sum to run
their plants. This idea was uppermost in his
mind when he signed the Tbill striking from the
tariff American-made sugar in favor of the pro
ducers in Cuba who, on their plantations, pay
their servile employes a sum which the Ameri
can employer could not get his fields tilled for.
But when he saw the trade advantages sup
plied by the law, for campaign purposes, he con
sented to have the time at which the law was to
go into effect, postponed.
He says that subsidies to steamers running
in direct competition with the subsidized ships
of foreign nations is unnecessary protection. That
accounts for the fact that, though the need of
an American merchant marine has been in full
evidence for nearly three years now, not one ship
has been huilt.
We doubt that his tariff commission will ever
earn their salaries. We fear that was tlie under
standing when they were appointed.
The sale of American products, made possible
by the foreign war, has concealed from the coun
try what the situation would now have been except
for that war; and so he points to the prosperity
that followed the assassination of the old tariff,
and holdB that a chief factor in his re-election
was the tariff revision. Hence we have not
much faith in his tariff commission. It will be
a good campaign cry for another election, but not
much more.
The old Bourbon plan of never learning any
thing, and never forgetting anything, is still the
dominant one; and we do not know what sacri
'flces are in store for us that Providence will exact
for our sins.
The Colombian Blackmail
OUR government may pay Colombia $25,000,000
for Panama and the right of way for the
canal, but It will foe shameful if it does.
The claim has no 'backing in equity and only
a constructive one in law. The facts have often
been stated.
Briefly, they are these: When the Colombian
confederacy was created, tho state of Panama re
luctantly joined on the express condition that
she might withdraw if the union proved distaste
ful to her.
Prom the first the central government treated
Panama as a subject state. By the terms of the
agreement with tlie Panama railroad company,
heavy local tolls were levied on all passengers
and freight carried over the railroad. The im
mense business caused by the rush to and from
California after 1849 swelled these tolls into a
mighty revenue, all of which went to the cen
tral treasury at Bogota; Panama receiving noth
ing. The completion of our first overland railroad
stopped the greater portion of this revenue.
The French company obtained a concession
to build a canal across the Isthmus. It com
menced work, spent large sums, hut failed foe
caiuse the fatalities caused by the Panama or
'Chagres fever became unbearable.
After the discovery of how to prevent the
fever In 1898, the clamor for an isthmian canal
became great In this country. Negotiations were
opened with Nicaragua and careful surveys made.
At this time the Colombian minister at V ,sh
ington, under instructions from his govern uicut,
opened negotiations with our secretary of state
f,or the building of a canal across Panama. These
.overtures 'Anally resulted in a treaty, by which
qolqmbia lor $25,00O,Q00 agreed to cede what is
knpwn, as the "canal, zone" to this country. The
treaty was submitted to pur senate and ratified,
and then sent to Bogota for ratification.
Then the rights of the French company were
purchased for a large sum, our recollection being A
that it was ?25,000,000.
But the legislature of Colombia held up tho
treaty for days and weeks and finally adjourned
for a year without ratifying it.
Colonel Roosevelt was president, and he was
red hot over the trifling of the Colombian gov
ernment. He did not propose to allow it to
repudiate, the very treaty which it had pro
posed, especially so after we had met all terms,
and had purchased the rights and property of the
Frqnch company as well. The secret of Colom
bia's, dallying was that the charter given the
French company had but a few months to run,
and the thought of the tricksters in Bogota was "
to wait for its expiration and then levy a new
assessment on tlie United States.
Then Roosevelt opened negotiations directly
with the state authorities of Panama. We sus
pect he asked them why they did not pull away
from the confederation, which, by the compact
made when they joined it, they had a perfect
right to do. At all events, they did make a formal
withdrawal, declared their state independent, arid
when tho central government undertook to coercp
the seceding state, it found that at both ends
of the road the United States had ships enough
to guard the road, as it had a right to do under
the railroad contract.
The 'final result was that tlie State of Panama
sold the "canal zone" and received tho $25,000,000;
and ever since Colombia has been nursing a
grudge against our country, because of her fail
ure to keep the original agreement, and her hope
of a further levy upon this country Jiad failed.
Her plea now for a mighty compensation for
nothing is in truth but an attempt to blackmail
the United States. Whether the friendship of
such a country is worth $25,000,000 or 25 cents
is all that is worth considering. They are a tri
fling, treacherous race down there at best.
War Has Its Uses
"SyARS are not always calamities. Our war
vly with Spain cost a great many valuable lives
and a good deal of money, but out of it came
some wonderful blessings. The yellow fever had
been raging in Havana for more than a century.
Tho city had never been free from it, and in the
late summer and autumn months it would develop
into an epidemic. From there it would spread to
many of our coast cities New Orleans, Galveston,
Mobile, all the Florida cities, Savannah, Charles
ton, Wilmington; sometimes to Philadelphia, and
as far inland as Shrieveport and Memphis. It
also ravished the coasts of Mexico and South . y
America, as far down as Rio. Y
Uncounted thousands had died from the fever.
When, in 1898, our troops occupied Havana, San
tiago and other Cuban cities, the dread of the
fever was vastly greater than anything that tho
enemy miglt possibly do.. It was then that Pres- ,
ident McKinley sent a commission headed by
Dr. Reid of Virginia to Havana to investigate
conditions and, if possible, ascertain the cause
of yellow fever. That commission finally reached
the concjusion that it was caused by a certain
species of mosquito.
To test the matter, one physician, a trained,
devoted female nurse, one soldier, and some oth- y
ers, voluntarily submitted to being stung by the
mpsquitos. All were made fearfully 111 and the I
physician, nurse and soldier died.
Then tho truth was known. That did not sup
ply a remedy for the dread disease, but it pointed