Springfield weekly Republican. [volume], September 02, 1909, Page 2, Image 2

About Springfield weekly Republican. [volume] (Springfield, Mass.) 1851-1946

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2
THE ADMINISTRATION FEUD.
The extraordinary aspect of attack
made by Ibe assistant secretary of com
merce and labor upon the forestry and
reclamation services of the government,
which are chiefly concerned with the policy
of the conservation of natural resources,
is the fact that it signalizes an open and
■violent rupture between different branches
of the Taft administration.
We have bad hitherto the so-called
Pinchot-Ballinger controversy over the
disposal of virgin water-powers on the
public lands and the withdrawal from
settlement of public lands which contained
natural resources of sufficient importnnce
to raise the question of future government
Control. Mr Pinchot belongs to the depart
ment of agriculture and Mr Ballinger to
rhe department of the interior. Their re
spective jurisdictions and interests overlap
at certain points, and friction may lie
inevitable if their administrative methods
are out of harmony. But here is Ormsby
McHarg. an assistant secretary of the
department of commerce and labor, who
has nothing to do officially with forestry,
reclamation, irrigation or public lands; he
bursts forth in a bitter criticism of the
“dreamers.” whom one immediately identi
fies with Mr Pinchot. And this episode
reveals the fact that a feud has rapidly
developed within the Taft administration
that now threatens to spread in an ever
widening circle, if the president does not
quickly extinguish the blaze.
Mr McHarg makes damaging charges,
if they are true. It will be noted that
with respect to the country's timber sup
ply, he accuses the forestry bureau of
concealing "facts and figures" which ren
der the alarmist cry concerning the disap
pearance of the forests ridiculous. The
forestry bureau promptly accuses Mr Mc-
Htirg of misrepresentation in making such
an attack upon its integrity and honor.
Mr McHarg also denounces the talk about
a “water-power trust" as “nonsense," as
“absurd." The forestry officials are
bureaucratic, fussy and impractical. They
antagonize public sentiment in the West.
“Out near Cheyenne recently a woman
‘settler went on a forest reserve and cut
‘rails for a small corral. The forest service
‘officials have bad her indicted for this
‘heinous crime.” The reclamation service,
it is intimated, is often quite ns extrava
gant as it is useful. Under the Roosevelt
regime, it developed an obnoxious "dog
‘in-thc-manger” attitude, which has par
alyzed legitimate private enterprise.
Regardless of the merits of the questions
in dispute,—and people in the East must
confess that they have no first-hand aud
even no authoritative information—this ir
ruption of Mr McHarg must convince the
president that prompt and decisive action
of some sort will be necessary to save his
administration from disorganization. What
ever policy it hns, nn administration must
be harmonious in order to succeed: inter
nal squabbling must paralyze its energies
ami bring down upon it popular contempt.
Family discipline seems to be the crying
nebd of the Taft regime in the present
crisis. Whether the resignation of Mr
McHarg WHI alone be sufficient must he
determined by later developments.
Whether President Taft himself is in
entire sympathy with the I’inchotlte school
of liplift is not yet wholly clear, and upon
this poiiit much may deftend when he
comes to take final action. Mr riueliot
is conducting a vigorous campaign in the
West this summer, addressing a great va
riety of congresses, while observers of
this year's Chautauqua season must have
seen the emergence of the subject of con
servation to a prominent place in the lec
ture program. Mr Pinchot has no diffi
culty in securing hearty indorsement
everywhere for the general principles
which he so zealously advocates. The idea
has rightly become an accepted article of
the gospel of the people. But the ques
tion of methods remains, evidently, in dis
pute.
That the president leans to the Ballin
ger side, so far as the law of administra
tion is concerned, seems indicated by the
carefully qualined language of his message
to the national conservation congress at
Seattle last week. Those who are inter
ested in the matter will pause a moment
over the president’s words:—
I sincerely hope that your deliberations
will result in useful conclusions. You
cun count upon the earnest support of this
administration for the policy of conserva
tion of national resources bv every rea
s-tiabie means properly within the fed
eral executive jurisdiction and such rec
ommendations to Congress as may be best
adapted to obtain useful legislation toward
the same end.
The phrase, “properly within the federal
‘executive jurisdiction," and also the point
ed reminder that Congress must be ap
pealed to for legislation to enable the
executive to act in many cases, are in
contrast to the Roosevelt executive doc
trine, officially promulgated by Secretary
Garfield, that anything is lawful to the
president which is not specifically "prohib
‘ited either by the constitution or by leg
‘islation.”
THE EARTHQUAKE AT PANAMA.
“Another chance for the knockers,” it
will be said in the camp of the lock
canal advocates. So it is. The audacious
earthquake in the Panama canal zone Mon
day morning will be followed by a roar
of "1 told you so's"; and Bunau-Varilla
will forget the glories of aviation week
at Rheims in composing another letter to
the American people in favor of the straits
of Panama, which no earthquake or series
or quakes could tear asunder.
The shock was evidently the most seri
ous one experienced in the canal zone in
years, for the official report to Col
Goethals from the engineer at Culebra
states that the seismograph recorded "a
•severe shock,” the pen being knocked
from the instruments. But the main point
to be duly pondered is that earthquakes
are by no means a- dead issue in the canal
region. This one, impertinent as it is,
has come as an awkward reminder of the
possibilities of the situation.
It la stated, tnuth to our comfort, that
no damage has been done to the canal.
But the canal is not built, and those
parts moat liable to damage in earth
quakes are scarcely more than begun. If
the Gatvn dam were completed and the
double series of Jocks were in place aud
the lake were full of water, then we should
see how much eartbsJiakmg the bigh
leyej water nay could endure without be
ing torn to piece*. It is hardly a demon
stration of the practicability of the high-
UveJ canal that the present quake Jias
done no damage to something that does
not yet exist.
But what does the shock prove, in any
event? The high-level ehanipious have a
right to say that the lock canal cannot
be judged and tested until it is com
pleted; and who has n right to condemn
the projected work as inadequate to the
demands that any conceivable earthquake
may make upon it? There you are. The
shaking of the canal zone yesterday morn
ing demonstrated nothing, except that the
canal zone is also an earthquake zone,
with whatever so sinister a fact may
signify.
The knockers, however, will find their '
guns charged with fresh ammunition andtj
they will promptly open tire.
rm: AVIATION RECORDS.
Wilbur Wright last year made the long
distance record with his biplane, at Le
Mans, as late as December. This is only
the second year of the history of man
flight. in the heavier-than-air machines,
and it is still summer. Every record made
at Rheims is sure to be broken before
Christmas, perhaps several times over.
Orville Wright will begin in Germany as
soon as ihe Rheims tournament is ended,
and the probabilities are that not a single
Rheims record will survive bis attacks.
Wilbur Wright will also be in the field at
the new United States government aero
drome in Maryland, where his primary
duties will bo instruction to army offi
cers. But, incidentally, the Wrights must
maintain the prestige of their machines,
and records will smash.
No one can say what the limit of ihe
aeroplane will be in speed and endurance,
for its history in this respect is sure t»
parallel the steamship, the locomotive, the
bicycle and the automobile. The question
of speed will finally depend mainly upon
the size of the aeroplane—speed varying
inversely with the size, speaking roughly
—and the power of the motor. Now that
there are several expert aviators, with
scores learning the art, the human factor
of operation will decline while the design
and the engine will gain in importance.
The contest for supremacy between the
biplane and the monoplane has begun. It
may long continue. At the end of last
week the biplane had triumphed over its
rival at Rheims both in endurance and
speed. But that is not the end of the
matter. Among biplane types, also, a con
test will be waged indefinitely, for it is
altogether too early to pronounce on pure
ly structural grounds in favor of any of
them. It may turn, out that the minor
differences in design between the Wright.
Voisin. Farman and Herring-Curtiss 'bi
planes nre unimportant in themselves, the
question of superiority among them de
pending rather upon skill in handling and
the character of the motor. The sug
gestion that special types of both biplanes
and monoplanes will soon be constructed
—that is, machines made especially for
racing and machines mnde especially for
endurance or burden-carrying—is undoubt
edly well based.
As for speed, it is evident that the
present records will not stand. Comment
ing on Curtiss’s record of 47.60 miles an
hour in the James Gordon Bennett cup
contest at Rheims, Wilbur Wright is quot
ed as saying that the Herring-Curtiss ma
chine should make6omiles nn hour “easily,”
because it is so small and light. It will be re
called that Orville, on his cross-country
dash from Fort Myer to Alexandria and
return. late in July, carrying a passenger,
made a record of 47.431 miles an hour on
the Hight back from the turning point.
This was almost equal to Curtiss's speed
last Saturday over a level field, with no
passenger to increase the weight of the
load. If the Wright model 'sold to the
United States government could make such
a record over a course embracing ravines
and wooded hills, with two men in the ma
chine, it seems a certainty that either of
the Wrights could easily beat Curtiss's 1
record in the Bennett cup raw.
Endurance records seem to depend upon
the number of gallons of gasoline a ma
chine can carry, the chances of accident
to machinery and the physical stamina of
the aviator. Very soon the public will
cease to be interested in long-distance con
tests around a level field like that at
Rheims and will demand real flights across
country such as Count Zeppelin attempts
in his dirigible balloon. Wilbur Wright’*
engagement to Uy over and around New I
York city this autumn also marks a de
velopment of decided interest, inasmuch as
the aeroplan? must venture over tall build
ings and city streets as well as over bill
and dale,, woodland and stream, if it is to
achieve the success its promoters antici
pate for it. One of the most encouraging
phases of the Rheims tournament, it nwt.v
be repeated, was the ability shown by sev
eral aviators to remain in the air during
thunderstorms and rather high winds. De
velopments like that are worth more than
records. For they reveal a growing mas
tery of variable atmospheric conditions.
MONEY THEORIES AND BRYAN.
To the Editor of The Republican:—
Upon reading the following from your '
issue of August 5. my mind reverts to the !
“sound money” theories enunciated dur
ing the campaigns of 189® add 1900 by
yourselves and other gold standard advo
cates:—
The July report of gold production in the
Rand district of South Africa shows a larger
monthly output for the season than ever be
fore ami the largest of record for any season
stive only hist becember. This means more !
lor high prices mid cost of living than our I
tariff bill as revised by President Taft The
gold dollar is rapidly .loprerintlng to the level '
of the cheapest dollar known to rhe people I
of this eoautry since the civil War-time period '
of a paper money standard.
After all. then, the quantitative theory |
of the value of money advanced by Mr ;
Bryan prove* Io be correct, and the' flood !
of gold that is being produced by the ।
miner is reducing Ihe value of the dollar l
just as much as it was thought would be ;
the case by the alleged threatened flood of j
silver. Yet the cjountry land in fact the 1
whole world) is prosperous at the present i
time. Everywhere recovery from the pun- ■
ic of 1907 is progressing fast and is near- I
ly complete. What, then, is the trouble?
Can we only have true prosperity with i
scarce money, hard times and high inter- ;
ost rates? Can we only bqve sound money i
by limiting its quantity? Must gold de- '
monetization come next? If so. what will
the immense gold* mining interest* have to
say on Mie'eubject? Must the commercial
world fall back on paper for money, de
void entirely of intrinsic value, and backed
wholly by confidence? This means noth;
ing loss than the despise,l greenback,
What has The Republican to- say on th*
subject? Theo. F. Van Waokxbn.
Zacatecas. Meg,. 4eyn«t lit, llhOp.
t^So far as this newspaper is con- I
corned, the soundness of the quantity '
theory of money put forward by Bryaik }
and hi* party in 1896 wa» conceded. It '
THE SPRINGFIELD WEEKLY REPUBLICAN: THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 2. 1909.
| was pointed out that the opening of the
mints to silver nt the ratio .of 16 to 1,
when the market ratio of the metals was
about 32 to 1, must result in the dis
placement of gold and the flooding of the
circulation by a much greater volume of
silver; that the eousequenee of this would
be a genera' ami, probably extended rise
of commodity prices; and that so and only
; so would, the dollar manifest its depreci
ation or dishonesty. And it was further
.pointed out. that the shifting of the mon
etary deiuainl from gold to silver would
so far tend to depreciate the value of gold
and appreciate that of silver as to make
.the dollar depreciation much less than
the 30 per cent which figured m the cam
paign literature of the gold party: but we
scouted at the same time the probability
that the metals could be brought to a
parity at the given ratio by this country
alone, and consequently the question was
involved whether the nation should delib
erately place itself upon the basis of un
certain and greatly fluctuating rates of
exchange with the great commercial na
tions under the gold standard.
Many people in this part of the country
seemed to think that the issue was one
of clipping the coinage instead of being
simply a question of prices, but they never
obtained any such information from The
Republican, nor was it ever denied by
this paper that the effects of rising prices
following the opening of the mints to sil
ver—after the shock of panic was over—
would be greatly stimulative to industrial
activity. But was it wise to launch the
nation upon so dubious a monetary ex
periment? Was it desirable to break
away from a parity of exchange with the
gold nations? And would it be consist
ent with national honesty and good faith
toward the 'creditor classes to inaugurate
with deliberation a policy of extended
dollar depreciation or rising prices? That
was where The Republican placed its op
position to the election of Bryan in 1896,
and not at all upon unsoundness in his
general monetary theories. In point of
theory the bimctalists had much the best
of the discussion.
What seemed to be dishonest or immoral
for the nation to do purposely in 1896 has
come to pass unwittingly through the later
gold discoveries. The nation chose gold as
affording an Jionest or stable dollar, nnd
mining developments have mnde it more
unstable and dishonest than any dollar we
ever had outside of the war-time green
back. and the ante-bellum wildcat bank
issues. The nation is thus relieved of a
charge of having acted dishonestly or im
morally, but what can he the moral state
of "sound, money” people who rejoice in
what has happened—in the great gold
dollar depreciation and the industrial pros
perity which attends it? There are many
such.
Mr Yan Wagenen asks if we can only
have sound money by limiting its quan
tity. That is about it, and gold demon
etization will certainly have to come next
if production of the metal expands to the
-expectations of many geologists and min
ing engineers. The probabilities are, how
ever, that gold production. will expand at
a slower rate than in the past dozen
years, and in that case the depreciation of
the gold dollar will m,>t go much further;
for the large current production available
for money uses flows into a vastly larger
monetary reservoir than TO years ago and
makes a much smaller impression: while
it may fairly be expected that with the
growing cheapness of the metal the silver-,
using nations of the Orient will follow
Japan and Mexico in tying up to the
gold standard and thus assist in staying
the depreciation of the metal's value by
extending the monetary demand for it.
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CASE.
President Hadley of Y'aie, discussing the
constitutional position of property in
America sometime ago in a New Ybrk
Independent article', said that the Dart-'
mouth college case along with the 14th
amendment. Ind placed the modern in
dustrial corporation "in an almost im
pregnable position." This was not a novel
view, even from a conservative stand
point. Many years ago Judge Cooley of
Michigan, wrote in his “Constitutional
Limitations”: —
It is under the protection of the Dart
in. nth college ease that the most enormous
and threatening powers in our country
have been created. Every privilege grant
ed or right conferred—no matter by what
means or on what pretense—being made
inviolable by the constitution, the govern
ment is frequently found striped of its
authority in very important particulars
by unwise, careless or corrupt legislation;
and a clause of the federal constitution
whose purpose was- tn preclude the re
pudiation of debts a\d just contracts, pro
tects and perpetuated the evil.
That no Legislature may bind another is
an old principle of English constitutional
law. But under the Dartmouth college
decision in 1819. any American state Legis
lature, no matter how venal or careless
of the public interest, may bind all suc
ceeding bodies and the people forever, in
respect to corporate privileges though in
nothing else.
To most people who ever hoard of the
matter the Dartmouth college derision of
(liief Justice Marshall takes form .as a
very palladium of freedom and progress
in the higher education of the United
States. They remember that the great
Daniel Webster argued the case of the
college trustees and wept for the conse
quences to his alma mater in case the
decision wont against them and it used to
he. if it is not now, considered that no
gathering of Dartmouth college alumni
was quite complete until some lawyer
graduate had told over again the story
of the Dartmouth college case and of
Webster pleading tearfully, mightily and
successfully for the old college, which he
loved and which was presented as being
*;rickeu down by its enemies, when in
fact the proposition was only to amend
its charter iu order to broaden its govern
ment and make it more of n public or
state institution. As a mutter of fact
little grent.T violence to the established
ordering of the college was then proposed
than Ims Ju these Inter years been udnißted
by Ihe college itself In giving to thu
alumni representation in the board of
trustees.
JCMC F! Orton of the New York bar,
in a current issue of the Independent gives
nn interesting review of the Dartmouth
college case on its historical side, by way
of iiitrodnehtg a discutwion of it* legal
.character anil eoiWHjuence* in bolstering
up corporate privilege nnd bringing con«
fusion into /he jurisprudence of the
country of. property n ilh privUaga. Ha
finds that the disposition of the case was
J determined by political and personal prej
, udices rather than by legal considerations,
I ami presents largi ■ videnei in dem .mstra.-
1 lion of tbh;. His chief witness is Henry
I t'aboi Lodge, who lias written a of
Webster and w! reriaiuly i..di ..: lie
• accused of bias u opusm; l the politics
Joi the malti'i. New IL ;■ ? <’irv al the
1 time was in ouitrol of tie- .lelTerson or
। a'.iti.-fvi':eralisi parly and 'Webster, seeing
I the weakness of h - ‘ns, in law, souglit
! to bring the conn to Ills sidr by a skij
; ful appeal to the political feelings of the
j federalist t'hief Justice Marshall. He
; knew, says Mi Lodge, that ho could rely
' upon the chief 'justice and Justice Bush
, rod Washington; he knew also that Jus
tices Duvall and Todd would be unyield
ingly' opposed; while the other three judges,
Story, Johns-.qi aim Bvingston were con
sidered as convertible, although known to
loan against the contentions of the college.
So powerful was Marshall in his court,
moreover, that the winning over of hint
.vonld be almost equivalent to winning a
majority, aud so the event proved.
There were no stenographers in those
days, and for Webster's arguments we
iiave to rely upon his own presentations.
In publishing it he admitted that “some
'thing was left out," ami this something
contained the politics of his "argument”
and its really effective part. Mr Lodge
wrote in his life of Webster: —
In the midst of all the legal and constitu
tioiial arguments, relevant and irrelevant,
even in tae pathetic appeal which be use-1
so well in behalf of his alma mater, Mr
AVcbster boldly and yet skilfuly Intro
duced the political view of the case. So
delicately did he do it that nu attentive
listener did not realize that ho was stray
ing from the field of "mere reason” into
that of political passion. Here no man
could equal him or help him. for here his
eloquence had full scope, and on this he
relied to arouse Marshall, whom he
thoroughly understood. In occasional
sentences he pictured his beloved college
under the wise rule of federalists and
the church. Ho depicted the party as
sault that was made upon her. He show
ed the citadel of learning threatened with
unholy invasion an l falling helplessly into
the hands of Jacobins and free-thinkers.
This was the pArt "left out,” and Mr
Lodge has made this record of his own
view of its weight in determining the
decision of the court —
We cannot but feel that Mr Webster's
lost passage, embodying this political ap
peal. did the work and. that the result was
seitled when the political passions of tiff*-
chief justice were fairly aroused. Mar
shall would probably have brought about
the decision by the sole force of his im
perious will. But Mr Webster did n good
deal of effective work after the arguments
were all finished, and no account of the
case would be complete without a glance
nt the famous peroration with which he
concluded his speech and in which he
boldly flung aside all vestige of legal rea
soning. and spoke directly to the passions
.and emotions of his hearers.
This reference to "effective work” done
after the case had been taken into the
consultation room by the judges will gnite
harshly upon the ears of those who have
been wont to consider the cause as dis
posed of on its legal merits. Still the
history of the ease leaves little room for
doubt. The day after the conclusion of the
arguments the chief justice announced that
the court ci'll!ld agree upon nothing and
that the ease would be continued for a
year. Mr Lodge has snid that Marshall
“probably”- fotad rite court five to two
against the eoUbgecir its trustees. Then
began .1 campaign more or less secret to
turn enough opposing, judges to Marshall's
side to carry a deciaion for the college.
Webster and the college-trustees seem to
have put various influences in motion.
As an example, one of the opposing judges,
Robinson, visited Chancellor Kent of New
York and President Brown of the col
lege also visited the chancellor and talk
ed over the case—Kent having been won
over to the college side through his fed
eralism, in part, at least, for his first im
oressions were that the trustees had no
valid case. Methods of influencing the
court, in fact, appear to have been re
sorted to which to-day would be regarded
as scandalous in the extreme. So much
for political morality in those good old
times. But the intriguing federalists suc
ceeded. and a decision for the college was
finally handed down with only Justice Du
vnll iu dissent.
So was achieved a great precedent which
has since influenced mightily constitu
tional construction on behalf of corporate
privilege. So was built what has since
passed as a great "bulwark of property.”
But as Mr Orton says, it is not
property whose rights have been Conserved
by the Dartmouth college decision, but
privilege or special favor which is the
antithesis of property. It is only within
late years that the American courts have
I begun to show n disposition to break awny
from the bonds of that famous case. The
story of its genesis should be helpful in
hastening the emancipation.
THE ENGLISH “JACK CADE."
The wrath of tile landed aristocracy of
England against Mr Lloyd-George, be-
I cause of bis now celebrated Limehouse
' speech, is reflected ill the volley of epi
| thets which the Spectator has iAcd in its
■ i-cswcr to tin chancellor of the exchequer.
, A "Jack Cade sfameh”; "Jack Cade re
;-’divivus, mid a rather second-rate Jack
; ‘Cade nt that?' "Jack Cade never dill.
• 'and never will make miieh impression
‘on the people of England.” The duke of
Westminster, in it letter to the Times,
hurled the severest charge of which so
eminent a noble was capable in intimating
Hint Mr Lloyd-George was no gentleninn.
The truth is that the chancellor of the
exchequer, besides being no gentleman in
tile Debrett sense, did talk like a demagog
of the first rank, it was smdi a speech
ns Mr Uhamlierlnin would .deliver oeta
; sionally in b « radical days TLord Salis
! bury ome culled him a Jack Cadei. Mr
I Gladstone was sometimes not above mak
ing use of the same arts when the lighting
became exceptionally fierce. It was, in
short, n speech of passion, with serious
argument delibcrntnly thrown to the winds,
I the plain intent being to win poptihir sup-
J port by it dirwt, inflammatory appeal to
I class Interests. Mr Llayd-Georgc put the
I landlords of Englnu/ on the red-hot broiler
; of his rhetoric mid cried to liia followers to
eome and see the fun.
As u "fighting speech” of this chatqctet
it was maaterJy. The great urban Imid
iords over there furnish a target a* big
! as a bnrn to any one whe wishes to nttnek
; them, and the conceutritiou of rural real
, estate into the blind* of n comnurnlively
j few arintocratie families has Acated a
l system of tenantry, whose counterpart in
| Inland was long since the cause of ugra
| rinn revolution. "Lnndlprdiam" is not cx
■ nelly popular in city or country. And
‘.this fact gave the chancellor of the ex
! chequer his opportunity to answer tory. in
vectireagaipst the budget as "eontiscation”
. aud "robbet?" by I ghting tile torch of pop
ul.'if fui-yaynjos: an aristocracy wincing and
j fuming r.mior imreased taxation.. The
style of Mr Lloyd-George, ns he warmed
; up to his wiq-k, in the defense of the land
clausvs of the bailget, was as merciless
as that of Michael Duxitt himself in the
I old land league days across the ’ i-banhel.
IHe did not stop to diseriminute "Wli.i
। ‘is the landlord’.'" lie asked:—
j The-landlord is a gentleman—l have not
i n word to say nhoui him in his personal
i capacity—who does not earn his wealth.
> He does riot even take the trouble io re-
I ceive his wealth. iLaughter.) He has a
I host of agents and clerks that receive for
i him. lie ihies not even take the trouble
: to spend his wealth. He has a host of
■ people nroniid him to do the actual spend
ing for him. He never sees it until he
i comes to enjoy it. His sole function, his
chief pride is stately consumption of
i wealth produced by others. (Cheers.)
The English 60year leasehold system,
I “which is not tolerated in any other coun
‘ ‘try in the world, except, I believe, Tur
‘key,” was assaulted by specific illustra
tions and, in its reversion features, was
pronounced sheer "blackmail.” Ridicule
followed: —
| Well, that is the system, mid the land
lords come to us in the House of Com
mons and they say, “If you go on taxing
reversions we will grant no more leases.”
Is nut that horrible? (Loud laughter.: No
more lenses, no more kindly landlords.
(Lnugliter.i With nil their rich ami good
fare, with all their retinue of good fairies
ready always to receive ilangbteri ground
rents, fees, premiums, fines, reversions—
no more, never again. (Laughter ) They
will not do it. You cannot persuade them.
(Laughter.) They won't have it. (Re
newed laughter.) The landlord has threat
ened us that if we proceed with the budget
be will take his sack (loud laughter)
clean away from the cupboard and the
grain which we all are grinding to our
best to fill his suck will go into our own.
Oh! I cannot believe it. There is a limit
even to the wrath of an outraged land
lord. We must really appease them: we
must offer some sacrifice to them. Sup
posing we offer the House of Lords to
them. (Loud and prolonged cheers.')
The culmination of this fiery demagogism
was in the passage where the chancellor of
the exchequer held the mining landlord
class, especially the dukes—"oh! these
‘dukes!”—up to popular scorn and execra
tion on account of /their heartless indiffer
ence to the sufferings of the crippled or
’ aged poor:—
And yet when the prime minister nnd I
knock at the door of these great landlords
and say to then), "Here, you know these
poor fellows who have been digging up
royalties at 'he risk Of their lives, some of
them tee old, they have survived the perils
of their trade, they are broken, they cau
earn nd more. Won’t you give 'something
toward keeping them out of the work
bouse?" They scowl at yon, and. we say,
“Only a ha’penny, just a copper." They
say. “Yon thieves.” And they turn their
dogs on tp us, anil every day you can hear
their bark. (Loud laughter and cheers.)
If this is an Indication of the view taken
by these grant landlords of their responsi
bility to the people who, at tile risk of life,
create their wealth, then I say their day
of reckoning is at hand. (Loud cheers.l
What possible defense is there for such
a fiaining appeal to class passion? Polit
ically, it has already been vindicated by
success, since the English working class
appears to have responded with a sympa
thetic shake of its leonine mane, But
was it necessary for the government to re
sort to such a lino of defense against its
foes? That the. speech was approved in
advance by the premier is highly probable,
for so radical a ennnge in the liberal par
ty’s tactics would not have been tolerated
without preriout agreement of tlie most
responsible ministers. The chief and strong
est justification of the Limehouse declara
tion of class war consists obviously in the
fact that the government had been so bit
terly aud unjustly assailed as the enemy of
property, as ft robber and h highWayinnn.
merely because of its taxation scheme rela
tive to the unearned increment of land,
that it was driven to make a counter ap-
Irial to the passions of the electorate. The
lories were invoking the worst of hatreds
in order to destroy the government of the
That politics should ever be reduced to
edeh contests is deplorable, but no country
is free from them. Deep answers deep,
I when the prejudices and selfish interests of,
i social and industrial classes become in-
I voived in a political struggle, In the ptes
; ent case in England, it seems to be shown
. already that if class interests nre to dom
; imite the contest over the budget, the dein
! agogism of the liberals may easily prove
| more than a match for the shrieks of
i "robber” and “shies” that emanate from
; an aristocracy of privilege and swollen
| ground rents. Jack Cade iu the end, may
j come out on top.
WHITE RULE IN SOUTH AFRICA.
The protest in the British House of Com
mons concerning the political discrimina
tion against nou-Europenns contained iu the
ncw tfuuth African constitution has been
i exceedingly feeble, the few dissentients
■ making no headway at any stage' of tiie
l bill’s consideration against the combined
efforts of the leaders of the' government
and opposition parties. Mr Balfour was
as omnest as the premier against the
slightest iutetveution by the imperial Par
' liawebt in the series of compromises that
I have made possible the union of the S^uth
' African colonies, ami. with the passage
। of the bill tc its third reading, there is n
; complete verification of I^ird Selborne’s
j prediitiou that ' the bread eaten by the
‘children of South Africa would be home
‘made.”
Lord Selbofne meant ttib white children
of South Africa, for never* was a great
। state founded more frankly upon the prhi
i ciple of th" jxditical supremacy of the
I white race. So rigid is the exclusion from
| political privileges of persons of color, or
these who are not of European origin or
I descent, that one member of the House of
; Commons said with truth dial the consti
i tution would have excluded from the
i franchise the founder of every great re
! ligioii in the world. Not only the black
I natives are disfranchised—although in Capo
| Colony the ••ducated, civilized blacks have
1 hnd pcditical privileges for many years—
but the Asiatics ar" also barred most rig
orously. From British India in tlte past
generation thousands of Hindus have come
as laborers or traders, and to-day the total
number of these Indian subject* of the
I erdnam in the South African colonies
! said to exceed lilOdXM). The masters of
I the country fear the Asiatic* no leas than
t Ihe horde of black nntive*- ull the more,
Idottbt'css, because' the Asiatics belong t«
a race that hns ii more prolonged-period
I of civilization back of It than the white
• rilce itseit.
I From a racisl point of view, the prob
lem of whits supremacy hi 'tenth Africa
is thus «eeu to be two-fold. India is much
_
wearer to Xaital than Japan is to Cab- ,
fornin, and the situation is cohipliented by
the fi.it that both India nnd South As- j
rica are und'-r the same (lag. Each looks ’
to the Fume-imperial-government for pro '
tecti >n - apain,st foreign foes and ackuowl-!
edges nik'seime to the same king. Can- I
not a British subject make Ids-home and
enjoy eunaiit.v of treatment ns to civil and
politic-til rights in any part of the British
empire? The answer given by the South
African constitution, indorsed by the im- ■
peria! Partin meat, is a decided negative; !
t.nd smli an answer must have a momen- i
tons birring upon emmtric? so near to •
each other as these two parts of the im- I
perial domain. The cleavage is wide and :
deep, and the local laws of the Transvaal j
and Natal demonstrate how oppressive to I
the Indian subjects of the crown the rule '
of the white man may be. The retroac
tive 'ffect upon India of these conditions in
a neighboring lotion of the empire is seen
in the extreme dis-ontent that is prevalent
in a large part of Hindustan; and India,
one may be sure, Will not be kept in igno
rftneo of the energetic protest that Hindus
in South Africa have been making against
(he humiliating treatment they receive un
der the colonial laws.
It is true, probably, that if South Africa
maintained an open door to Asiatic im
migration. the Asiatics would pour into
the country like a flood and in time dis
pute the supremacy of the Europeans, not
only in trade .and industry. Hat in govern
ment itself. Boers and British alike are
determined to keep them out, and the
more determinedly because the native prob
lem is so formidable. The Asiatics are a
menace because they are. in some respects,
a superior race, nnd their nearness ren
ders South Africa a natural outlet for
their surplus population. On the other
hand, the black natives are, for the most
part, at present, an inferior race, yet they
are full of potential danger because they
outnumber the whites five or six to one,
nnd are rapidly increasing their relative
numerical advantage. In their days of un
restrained tribal barbarism, the natives
wore decimated by their intertribal wars,
but the British conquest means an end to
Nature's decimating processes, while un
disturbed peace and the promotion of bet
ter habits of industry and improved sani
tation has the effect of enabling the na
tives to increase like the most fecund of
the animal species. Wherever located,
whether in Africa or America, the black
races tend to multiply in contact with the
white man's civilization.
One may look, therefore, for an experi
ment in government, in South Africa, un
der the new constitutional union, which
has had and can have no exact parallel
in modern times. Nowhere else in a mod
ern state dominated politically by men of
Anglo-Saxon or Germanic origin is the
racial equilibrium so extremely artificial
nnd so much a matter of force. In our
own country, we have several millions of
blacks, but there are many more millions
of whites, and al! the time the numerical
superiority of the whites is being main
tained by a copious and steady stream of
European immigration. In Australasia, the
commonwealths have started off with a
white superiority of numbers which will
be maintained by laws excluding the im
migration of Asiatics or Africans. But,
in South Africa, the Europeans are in a
small minority at the outset, and they
face the prospect of remaining in that
position tor ninny generations. The status
of complete and perpetual inferiority to
which they have relegated the overwhelm
ing majority of the inhabitants is mani
festly based upon the fear that upon no
other terms could their mastery be main
tained. The South African federation
promises to afford a crucial test of the
ability of the white race to maintain itself
as an exclusive political caste, under the
forms of a democratic government, while
surrounded by other races having immense
superiority of numbers and n capacity of
development which no one can now meas
ure. -
MISSOURI RIVER RATE CASES.
There are a few newspapers in the
United States which are alive to the ex
traordinary character of the decision of
the United States circuit court at Chicago
in the Missouri river rate cases. One of
them is the Des Moines Register and
Leader, which says;—
It nil comes back to this—shall the gov
ernment have a final word in the making
es rites? Or shall the railroads be per
; mitted to make their own Commercial
; zones practically free from restraint?
! Judge Grosscup is alarmed nt the artificial
: hand the government may lay upon com
। merer and manufacturing. But the people
arc alarmed nt the artificial band the rail
roads have already laid on, commerce and
manufacturing. Judge Grosscttp says it
would be •’putting in the hands of the com
mission the general power of life and death
over every trade and manufacturing center
in the United States." But rite agitation
for a government commission , ame because
the railroadri had already assumed this
1 power of life and death over every trade
and manufacturing center in the United
States.
This is evidently a true estimate of the
Grosscup decision. It in effect nullifies
a fundamental purpose of the interstate
commerce act. At the same time the
country is informed by A. B. Stickney,
late president of the Chicago Great West
ern road, that "the rebate evil, instead of
‘being stamped out by the enforcement of
‘the new law. flourishes now more than
‘over. Rebates, while not paid directly
'as formerly, are made possible by various
‘expedients to which railroads and favored
‘shippers are parties.”
The interstate commerce law was origi
nally enacted In 1887. Its purposes were,
to establish uniform railroad rates, free
from discriminations ns to persons nnd
places; and to hold those uniform rates
within the bounds of reasonableness. Af
ter 1(1 years of litigation some slight prog
ress had been made in suppressing dis
criminations as. to places, but rebating or
discriminations as to persons continued to
flourish, Mcanyyhile the courts had de
stroyed the power of the commission under
the law to enforce reasonable uniform
jates. The commission, under the court
decisions, could declare a particular rate
unreasonable and order its discontinuance;
but it could not name or require acceptance
of a rate deemed reasonable. If the rate
complained of whs $1.50, and the commis
sion found it unreasonable. and that $1.25
would be Ip reasonable rate, a change to
$1.49 by the offending railroad would place
it beyond, further regulation in that ac
tion.
After 10 years and move of railroad defi
ance nnd court emasculation of the act,
L ? t, ISL.. ..
Congress began its reconstruction. It
passed the Elkin* nmeadment designed to
facilitate action against the rebate evil;
and then it passed the more comprehen
sive Hepburn amendments designed to
give the commission power to determine
v.hat is a icasonalde rate and enforce its
application. Now we are told that the re
bate evil still flourishes: and now the
United States courts apparently start with
the Missouri river rate Case upon another
course of emasculation directed against the
recqnatructcd statute. The Grosscup de
cision is tile most sWeepingly destructive
of all; for it not only iu effect destroys
the commission's power to name and en
force a reasonable rate, but destroys even
a power which it carried through the old
campaign against the statute—the power
to suppress undue discriminations against
places. I nder this decision the commis
sion's reasonable-rate orders can be set
aside for their territorial or trade-center
effects, aud its orders against undue place
diseriminnti<m can be set aside on the
ground, as stated by Judge Grosscup, that
Congress never intended to give it any
such power of life nnd death over trade
aud manufacturing localities. The intent
of Congress was to leave this life-and
desth power with the railroads!
How much longer is the country to be
subjected to this continuous and repeated
nullification of its policy of railroad con
trol on the pnrt of the railroads and the
courts? It has been a grave question all
along whether any effective policy of pub
lic regulation could be established undet
a system of private railroad ownership.
But no question whatever has been made
against the assertion that if public regula
tion fails under these conditions it will
have to give way to public regulation un
der other, conditions, such as partial or en
tire public ownership of the roads. Are
we, then, to allow public regulation under
private ownership to fail? Do the rail
roads desire it or the courts? If so, then
the ronds will continue indulgence of the
rebate evil, and the courts will continue
to render such emasculating decisions as
this of the circuit bench at Chicago, To
gether they have made the policy of fed
eral regulation largely a farce for 22 years.
The country will not put up with 22 more
years of football work with this policy in
the public forum. Rather will it start
upon a course of public ownership, or fol
low the example of Mexico and combine
the great railroad systems of the country
into a holding company whose stock in
bare majority will be taken by the gov
ernment for purposes of a control that can
bo made effective and at very little coat
to the public treasury.
THE UPLIFT IN IRELAND.
Returning tourists this summer now and
then are reported as saying that they
were pleasantly disappointed in the Ireland
they saw. John D. Archbold of the
Standard oil company, after ..motoring
through the country, came away with the
belief that conditions are improving; and
an Australian journalist has goue.home with
the same, conviction. They observed plenty
of poverty, but there were also signs of
uplift wliich were unmistakable, John D.
Grimmins of Nett' York saw the same in
dications of improvojnont a year or two
ago. ajid he had n natural sympathy with
the Irish race that would have prevented
conclusions 100 gratifying to English senti
ment.
The countess of Aberdeen, wife of the
lord lieutenant, who has the prosperity
of Ireland very much at heart, writes in a
British publication that the marked growth
of tourist travel is helping the island
along: and this is due mainly to the large
number of wives and children of Irishmen
in America who r.ow visit the “old coun
'try” every summer, not only to escape the
heat at home blit to satisfy their natural
interest in the homes of their ancestors.
It is very possible that in the future this
tourist travel from America will prove an
important source of revenue to the inhab
itants'and be a great factor in developing
the resources of the island. With the rap
idly increasing wealth of the Irish race in
the United States, not to mention the Brit
ish colonies, the dcstre for travel will as
sert itself more and more; and it is likely
Unit every person having any Irish blood
whatever would wish to visit the historic
habitat of the Irish people. The case
might be put even stronger, for travel in
Ireland might be said to be almost a duty
if the money spent there means increased
. prosperity for the resident population. In
■ any event, the knowledge that Ireland wel-
I comes the tourist aud has excellent possi-
I bilities as a summer resort must tend to
! attract more nnd more the attention of
I Americans in general, whatever their an
cestral connections may be.
The visit arranged for next summer by
a group of American capitalists with a
view to studying Ireland's possibilities as
a field for inyestment is particularly en
couraging to those who are immediately
engaged in the present uplift movement.
Ibe countess of Aberdeen remarks that
“they will be welcome visitors, for with
‘capital to upbuild her industries, utilize
her watCr-power. and further the agri
‘cnltural development which Is already
‘showing such surprising results, Ireland
‘will surprise the world.” While too glow
ing in it* optimism, perliaps, the countess’s
view has a happy effect in emphasizing
the fact that a new economic era may now
be opening for the country and that- the
indications of increasing prosperity being
■ already observed by travelers have a solid
basis of pormanent value.
That the older Ireland some time since
touched the bottom of its economic misery
must be beiievetl, in spite of the contin-
I uing stream of emigration which, after
! all. is not peculiar tu that country. Even
i the United States is now losing population
: by emigration, although the loss is more
than made good by the new comers. With
I so many of the Irish race in America, oth
ers are sure to come regardless of oppor
tunities at home, but 'the stream should
decline in volume ns the conditions of life
in hclhnd itself become less severe; nnd
thia is what the loaders Of the Irish peo
ple most earnestly desire. Within the
past generation there hns been n thorough
revolution in the land system, and the
old, vicious landlordism has almost disap
peared. The revival of agriculture on n
modern scientftc basis is being undertaken
i with hopeful prospecti; nnd, while Ireland
i is without coni deposit*, tile development
qf water-powers for the generation of elec
trieity ought to open up pOSsibilitlea in
mauufactqtlag hlUtert® undrestaed of.
One must conclude that rhe w'orat is in
deed over, and that the 20th century will