Springfield weekly Republican. [volume], May 04, 1911, Page 8, Image 8

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

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THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN.
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SPRINGFIELD, THURSDAY, MAY 4. nil
SIXTEEN PAGES
Ransnt’s Opportunity and a General
Lessen.
The purpose of Bangor to get along with
eut the outside aid That was ready to flow
in generous measure to its relief is to the
credit of that self-respecting New England
community, it is worth noting that amid
ali the untoward incidents that attended
hunting over of one-third of the city, there
was no disorder or lawlessness, and little
actual suffering. Into the homes that were
spared, the homeless were taken, so that
there was no use for the tents that Gov
Flaisted stood ready to provide. It is to
be hoped that lite rebuilding of Ranger
will be regulated so strictly and wisely that
her fire risk may be reduced. If this be
done the disaster will prove to have been
by »o much a blessing in disguise.
Here is an opportunity such as was em
braced by Chelsea following her $12,000,-
000 fire in 1908. Our Legislature provid
ed that the rehabilitation of that commu
nity should be in the hands of a special
commission, whose work was wisely per
formed; The conduct of Bangor's mayor
during and since Sunday night would go to
show that the municipal authorities are
. ompetent to handle the difficult situation
that has been created. As our readers
know, the locality in which the fire orig
inated. and where it was so rapidly fed.
constituted an ever-present peril io the
rest of the city. Now the old tinder-box
wooden structures hare been swept away,
and the fire insurance people and the local
authorities should join hands in seeing that
all the new construction is what it ought
to be.
Bangor's fire had been predicted by the
national board of fire underwriters, we
are told. That board in its 1907 report
noted several centers of high combustibili
ty there and a general high conflagration
hazard on account of the large amount of
frame or wooden construction. Still it is
evidently nothing to predict a conflagration
lor almost any American city-even for
those of brick and stone and steel con
struction in their congested section. Ite
build carelessly even then and act heed
lessly as against fire afterward. It is a
national failing, and is costing ns heavily.
Enftland and Germany.
The announcement from London of the
formation of “the Anglo-German friend
ship society,” whose purpose is to dis
sipate ill-will and suspicion between En
gland and Germany, is a welcome piece
of news. Nor is its importance lessened
by the fact that on the same day that the
society was formally organized, still an
other British battleship slid from the
ways. For in the report of the launching
of the Conqueror the world was reminded
that this was Great Britain's 20th Dread
nought and one of the vessels which, in
1808. the government was authorized to
construct “contingent” upon the belief that
Germany was ominously accelerating her
program of naval construction. On the
same day also the well-known peace ad
vocate. Baron d'Estouinelles de Constant,
lecturing in Chicago, referred in appre
hensive terms to the tension existing be
tween Germany and England.
What the new society may actually ac
tomplish remains to he seen, but that it
cotses into being at a time when such en
deavor as it contemplates is sorely needed,
it open to only too little question. The
chief hope is to be gained from the fact
that Engiishmen of national repute ap
pear to have taken hold of the movement
in a fashion to give promise of a prac
tical campaign to put an end to the talk
of war between England and Germany,
which has become not only a menace to
those countries, but a general international
nuisance, and one of the chief psychologi
cal factors in the growth of militarism
the world over. With all reluctance to be
lieve that ths sober common sense of the
two nations would permit them to be
swept into a conflict which must prove
prostrating for one and possibly for both,
an honest view of the situation gradually
developed by mutual suspicion has com
pelled a recognition of its gravity.
Th® danger has appeared to be that the
mad race in armaments, becoming more
and more of a financial drain, would lead
o a feeling that rather than go on thus
indefinitely it would be better to precipi
tate the struggle. The degree to which
Germany, as well as England, has felt
the enormous burden of taxation has le
< early been forcefully described by a
■correspondent of the New York .Journal of
tom mere® writing from Hamburg The
ielation between the profits made and the
taxes paid by various notable German
udustrial concerns is astonishing, even
the tamous Krupp company which mauu
factures guns and armor, and so benefits
directly by the militarist erase, is reported
as paying in taxes 82 per cent of the
amount of it* net profits. In commenting
he Journal of Commerce observes that as
a result of this burden “the question is
being acutely raised whether Germany
has net reached the point where its offer
tire competition with industrial and mm
urrcial rivals is being seriously im-
Taired,” and that only in a reduction of
□ a;gl and military expenditures is relief to
be found.
Germany'* naval expansion, which be
gan with the passage, in UMS’, after a
titter fight and a prolonged campaign of
“education," of a shipbuilding program to
cover a term of seven years, has been the
chief militarist development in Europe
during the last decade. Other programs
have followed, and the rate of construe
। lion professedly contemplated at the outset
I appears to have heen constantly accelerat
[ ed. Meanwhile, as the size of the indi
vidual battleship has approximately been
doubled, with the present prospect of
further and indefinite increas- . the rost of
each unit of the fighting line has mounted
higher and higher into the millions Rut
Great Britain, resolved to maintain her
naval supremacy at whatever price, has
met the Germans with feverish additions
to her Dreadnoughts and super Dread
noughts. At present the cost of the largest
battleships is from 510.000.000 to sl2.
000,1100 each when fully armed, and there
is every indication that in a year or s'
the figure will have risen to slsjmn.iUk*
The question is where the thing will stop,
and whether the breaking point in the
ability to shoulder further burdens of tax
ation will be reached before the breaking
point of an international amity strained
by a vicious and too constant harping
upon the possibility of war If the newly
formed society is successful in changing,
even to a limited degree, the psychology
of the present situation, it may he enough
to permit the economic fa tor t i gradually j
settle the problem and eventually to strike
off the shackles of militarism w hich bind
Europe to-day.
Free Wool After a Few Y ears.
The division existing in the deme, ratio
majority of the ways and means commit
tee over the wool schedule ba» now
become a matter of publication No
less than nine of the 14 members
of that party favor placing wool on
the free list ar once, with a correspond
ing reduction in duties on woolen goods.
These nine are Kandell of Texas. Peters
of Massachusetts. Harrison of New York,
Hughes of New Jersey, Kitchin of North
Carolina. Hull of Tennessee, James of
Kentucky. Rainey of Illinois, and Dixon
of Indiana. Three of the 14—Chairman
Underwood. Shackleford of Missouri and
Palmer of Pennsylvania—favor an immedi
ate cut in wool duties by about one-half,
say to six cents a pound if specific and
20 per cent if ad valorem, and then a
year-by-year reduction for half a dozen
years, when wool would pass to the free
list automatically. The ether two demo
cratic members of the cemmittße— Ham
mond of Minnesota and Brantley of
Georgia—stand for a continuance of pro
tection to wool.
Speaker Clark farors the compromise
plan of present reduction by one-half and
then gradual removal of the remaining
protection. It is understood that Gov
Harmon of Ohio takes the same position,
and he has written to leaders of the
party in the House that the immediate re
moval of all duties on wool would he a
political and economic blunder. Roth
Speaker Clark and Chairman Underwood
feel that the party would suffer among
the farmers if Canadian reciprocity, whose
adverse effects, in so far as it has any.
will be borne by them, should be, followed
by the free-listing of wool—almost the only
farm product which .-an be protected by a
tariff.
It is encouraging to learn that so large
a proportion of the dominant party on the
committee, and presumably also in the
House, favor reform of schedule K on
the basis of free wool. It is the only last
ing and effective way of dealing with the
schedule. This country is bound to come
to free wool some time, and it may as
well come there now or gradually within
a few years. Our chief competitors among
the commercial nations have long made
wool free of duty, and this gives them an
advantage in the world's markets for
woolen goods which we can never over
come as long as we tax this raw material.
The growing of sheep for wool rather
than for mutton is already a declining in
dustry with us. and is certain to become
more so as the country fills up and land
increases in value. But the experience of
the older countries of Europe shows that
with free wool the growing of sheep
primarily for mutton and woo! as a by
product would increase greatly through a
more general keeping of small flocks on
the farms of the country outside of the
grazing sections. Both England and Ger
many under free wool hare vastly more
sheep per unit of area than we have under
wool protection. The compromise by which
the taxes on wool arc to be reduced at
once and then gradually removed alto
gether is a good one and may well be
adopted as a part of the democratic policy
of tariff reform. It will make more votes
for that party 10 times oyer than it will
cost votes.
Detecting Bribery at Colambns.
More than a score of members of rhe
Ohio legislature are involved in the brib
ery scandal which has already been made
note of. The case against them was de
veloped by detectives in a manner which
has provoked adverse criticism in some
quarters. Bribery had been suspected in re
lation to the holding back of reform legis
lation recommended by Gov Harmon, rind
an association of citizens favorable to this
legislation had employed rhe detectives to
look into the matter. Tbe method employed
by tbem was to pretend an interest of
their own in some of the pending legisla
tion and then bring suspected legislators
into a room where money would be offered
for their votes one way or another. Lu
der a sofa in the room was concealed nn
| apparatus called a dictaphone, which com
municated the conversstion to an adjoin
ing room, where it was taken down by a
Stenographer. Some 30 or more of the leg
islators. it is declared, bit at this bait nod
swallowed it, hook and all. It is largely
upon such evidence as this that the eases
hare gone to the grand jury.
Thia will probably not impress the aver
age person immediately as a grossly im
proper method ot detective action. Bribery
is a crime very difficult to prove even in
cases where moral certainty of its exist
ence is absolute; and it mar he regarded
as quite natural and generally necessary,
if results are to be achieved, to prosecute
a case of detection in such a manner as
has been described. Yet the New York
Times says;—
The only legislators bribed are those
bribed by the detectives themselves W hat
a jury would say to "evidence” obtained
in this manner, oven when corroborated
by the recording apparatus. is one ques
tion. What right-thinking imu and the
general public will sav of it is another,
and we have no doubt that the procedures
of these detectives will be condemned. If
they have evidence that others than them
selves hare briled members of the Ohio
THE SPRINGFIELD WEEKLY REPUBLICAN: THL’RSDAY, MAY 4. 1911.
Legislature, they may justify their labors
and make out a ease. That does not ap
pear. According to the published state
ments they have made themselves sub
orners of bribery. Subornation of perjury
is in this state a felony punishable by
I 20 .'ears' imprisonment. How the methods
of Mr Rurns's detectives will be judged
under the laws of Ohio and by the courts
of Ohio remains to bo seen, bv.t we can
not believe that Gov Harmon is overjoyed
at the results of the proceeding under
taken in his behalf by bls friends.
If this view is the right one. then the
general methods of criminal detection now
employed will have to be radically revised.
Letters of a decoy character would have to
be abandoned. Proof of illegal liquor selling
through a request for an illegal sale be
comes unacceptable and is to be condemned.
Methods daily resorted to for the detection
and prosecution of gambling, poo! selling
and the like will have to be given up. Evi
dence obtained through opportunities offered
to .suspected thieves to repeat an offense is
to be ruled out in tbe. massing of evidence.
And so one can run through most of the
list of crime* and Offenses of deliberation.
Ohio legislators shown to hare accepted
bribes from the detectives posing as inter
ested in pending legislation are not thereby
shown to have accepted bribes from others
for any of their votes. But they are. for
all that, shown to be corrupt, and their
offending in this particular case is made
none the less certain and actual by the fact
that ii was worked up against them. And
their yielding to bribery in this case estab
lishes at least a probability that they had
been yielding to bribery in other cases
n here they were under suspicion.
It is a heavily corruptible body anyhow
whlgh is being revealed in the Ohio state
house. if what has been reported is true,
and that it should be revealed right on the
heels of the Illinois exposure in the Lori
mer case and the Adams county exposure
in Ohio itself is rather disturbing to be
lief. in.the general integrity of our legisla
tive bodies and even of certain bodies of
our citizenship at large. Such a revelation
will end should strengthen the referen
dum movement to bring legislators and
legislative acts and omissions into closer
and move direct public control. For. even
though the bribery and corruption of spe
cial interest may work among the mass
of the voters, they cannot work there so
well as among a limited group of men sit
ting in power away by themselves.
C'onatltationality of the Refereodnm.
One who. is described as a leading con
stitutional lawyer of Michigan, Fred A.
Baker of Detroit, has prepared a pam
phlet in support of the proposition that
Congress has power to invalidate the ini
tiative and referendum laws of every state
which has tbem. His position is that sueb
laws upset the republican form of govern
ment which is guaranteed to every state
by the federal constitution through the
action of the federal government. He
says among other things:—
The initiative and referendum is the
most insidious, vicious and unconstitu
tional proposition ever brought forward in
ihe entire history of democratic institu
tions and representative government.
A meeting of the people themselves, or
of their representatives immediately and
diretly elected by them, in a deliberative
assembly, is absolutely essential to any
exercise of the power of taxation or of the
power to enact, amend, modify or repSSI
a law; that is to say. there must be a
meeting pi assembly by .whatever name it
may be called, at which -the proposed tax
or law <nn be considered, discussed,
amended, adopted or rejected.
To levy a tax or enact a law by an
initiative petition and a referendum, with
each voter expressing his opinion in isola
tion and without a legislative assembly
at which the opponents of the measure
can be heard and their objections and
arguments considered, and the amend
ments and modifications of both friends
and foes passed upon, would make any
democratic or republican form of govern
ment ineffective and abortive or tyrannical
and self-destructive.
His list of authority and precedent in
respect to what constitutes a republican
form of government does not accompany
the report of his argument, and we may
question whether he has any list which
will give his view much support. On the
other hand, there is an abundance of au
thority to the effect that a republican
form of government is not necessarily a
government whose legislative power is al
ways and exclusively exercised through a
deliberative assembly of representatives
acting on their own view and in their own
discretion independently of the wishes of
the people. One such authority was quot
ed by Senator Chamberlain of Oregon in
his recent speech on the constitutions of
Arizona and New Mexico. Justice Wil
son, speaking for the United States su
preme court in the case of Chisholm vs
Georgia, said:—
As a citizen I know the government of
that state [Georgia] to be republican, and
my short definition of such a government
is one constructed on this principle, that
’he supreme power resides in the body of
the people.
And Justice Wilson had been a prominent
member of the convention of 1"8T which
framed the constitution. And this view
has been generally followed by jurists ever
since. A republican form of government
is one whose powers reside in the people,
and is not necessarily one whose powers
reside in representative bodies or whose
powers are altogether and exclusively ex
ercised by such bodies in the last as well
as the first analysis.
Let ns, however, consider for a moment
rhe objection that the initiative and refer
endum introduce a system which does
away with deliberation, discussion, the
weighing of arguments and the considera
tion of ohjections-substitutes, in short,
legislation by individuals acting in isola
tion and inconsiderately for legislation by
a deliberative assembly. Mr Baker is
careful here not to speak nt a deliberative
assembly of chosen representatives, for if
he did he would make the town-meeting
hostile to a republican form of govern
ment. Consider, therefore, the town-meet
ing as against the referendum action of
the people of a city or state in a matter
of specific legislation As between the
two where should we find the greater de
liberation. the larger discussion, the more
time to weigh matters and the greater
freedom from action under g»»ts of pop
ular passion?
No one, we imagine, will venture to an
swer these questions in favor of the town
meeting. We should have to ignore all
that experience teaches regarding the pe
culiar psychology of assemblages of many
minds brought together at a particular
time in a particular spot, to place the
town meeting or an Athenian assembly,
for deliberation and maturity of action,
above the referendum of a people acting
in comparative individual isolation. In
der the referendum on a subject largely
interesting the people we should doubt-
less have many public meetings, but the
people would not vote on tbe spot or at
tbe time. We should have much spoken
public discussion, but the vote would not
come on the heels of a great appeal to
popular passion or class prejudice. We
should have, on the other hand, what The
Athenians did not have and wliat no de
mocracy has had until within our own
time- the pervasive presentation of knowl
edge and discussion through the public
press, to be considered and weighed by
citizens in the quiet of their homes and
in conversation with their neighbors, with
full time for careful consideration and
with action at the polls coldly following
upon this calm sifting of the arguments.
Democracy in action through such a
method is far safer than democracy in
action through great assemblages at given
places and times, and we shall unques
tionably find it more truly conservative,
more thoroughly representative of the
settled will of the people, than action
through assemblies of representatives of
tbe people. Tbe recent Oregon experience
shows that the people in referendum are
more disposed to vote down than vote up
novelties in legislation It is just a gov
ernment of and by the people which we
should have under the referendum; no
more and no less; and if that is contrary
to the constitution of the Lnited States
then the discovery has come very late.
FRYE'S HEALTH BAD.
Mala Senator Resigns as President
Pro Tern «f the Senate.
On account of ill-health. Senator Frye
of Maine Thursday tendered to the vice
president his resignation as president pro
tempore of the Senate. The senator is con
fined to his apartment, and his friends, be
cause of his advanced age, are apprehen
sive.
Mr Frye, who is SI. last rear suffered
an accident to his foot which resulted in
an abrasion that refused to yield to medi
cal treatment. The injury has occasioned
him much worry and interfered with his
getting around. While ho is said by his
physicians to be recovering rapidly now,
it was deemed best by his friends that he
lighten his responsibilities as much as pos
sible. For practically seven years Mr
Frye ruled over the Senate, taking the
gavel on the death of Vice-President Ho
bart .ind again wielding it when Col Roose
velt loft the office to become president
upon the death of President McKinley.
He has been a member of the Senate since
1881 and occupied a seat in the House
for several terms before that date.
Flight Over President Pro Tent,
A three-cornered fight over the election
of a president pro tempore of the Senate
to succeed .Senator Frye is in prospect.
Senator Gallinger is the general choice
of the regular republicans, hut he is un
satisfactory to many progressives, who
are considering putting forward for the
office oue of their own men. probably Sen
ator Clapp, to show they hold the balance
of power. It is asserted he would get at
least 10 votes, sufficient to prevent Gal
linger’s election. Senator Bacon prob
ably will receive the democratic vote.
STEPHENSON REPORT OUT.
Requests That I nited States Senate
Investigate Election ot Wisconsin
Senator.
After months of delay, the Stephenson
senatorial election report is before the
Legislature. It came at Madison, Wig.,
last week in the form of a subresolution
in place of the one originally introduced,
and is presented by the state judiciary
committee, with Sgpatqr Bodenstab dis
senting. The resolution reviews the re
port and recommendations of the Senate
investigating committee, and in addition
requests that the United States Senate
investigate the election of Isaac Stephen
son. The resolution recommends concur
ring in the findings of the Senate com
mittee.
The report further recommends that
prosecutions he instituted by various at
torneys against al! persons shown hy the
testimony to have committed bribery. Un
less other disposition is made the resolu
tion will come up for consideration to
morrow.
POW WOW OF DEMOCRATS.
*ome of the Leaders Will Meet in
St Vaal Jane 1.
Democrats of national prominence will
be tn St Paid June 1. when a conference
of leaders of the party in the Northwest
will be held there. It is expected that
more than 1000 democrats from the Da
kotas. lowa, Montana. Idaho, Washington.
Oregon and probably Wisconsin and Mich
igan will attend.
W. J. Bryan, Alton B. Parker, Gov Nor
ris of Montana and Gov John Burke of
North Dakota have definitely accepted an
invitation by the Minnesota democratic
state central committee. Gov Harmon of
Ohio said he would go if the Ohio Legisla
ture adjourns in lime. Gov Wilson of New
Jersey was invited, hut declined. He is to
he in St Paul on May 24 to address the
local association of commerce and could not
make a second trip.
DEMOCRATS CARRY BALTIMORE
Preston Barely Elected Mayor Over
Timanns.
After one of the most closely-contested
elections on record in Baltimore, James
H. Preston, denwrat. has been chosen
mayor of Baltimore for the next four
years over former Mayor E. Clay Tima
nus, republican It took over three-fourths
of the city’s vote to indicate who had
won and even on these figures it is now
estimated Preston's majority will not ex
ceed 500. The democrats have carried a
majority of the members of the first and
second branches of the city council.
• No doubt exists that all three of the
proposed loans have carried, and the com
ing administration is assured of authority
to expend $10,000,000 additional ,>u
sowers, $5,000,000 on paving, and $2,-
500,000 on paving in the annex.
ULTRA-PROTECTIONISTS BUSY.
Britishers Fear Reciprocity Treaty
With tsnsrts.
The British tariff reformers, stirred up
by President Taft's speech at the din
ner of the Associated Press and the
American newspaper publishers’ associa
tion in New York, in the course of which
he urged the editors to advocate Canadian
reciprocity before a system of preferential
tariffs had bound the British empire to
gether. influenced John Norton Griffiths,
unionist member from Weduesbury, to
question the premier on the subject in
the House of Commons at London Mon
da,t. Mr Griffiths wished Mr Asquith
to instruct immediately Embassador Bryce
to cubic a verbnfifn report of the presi
dent's speech and to lav the same on the
table of the House. The premier, how
ever. replied that this was the first time
that his attention had been called to the
matter and ho requested his interrogator
to place his question on paper in the
ordinary way. Titis formality will entail
a delay of Iwo days.
The name earth is derived from an old
verb, “ear," whjeb meant "to plow." and
was in use at the time the Bible was
translated under King James. Earth sig
nifies. accordingly, shat can be plowed.
AT THE NATIONAL CAPITAL.
MR LODGE EXPECTS LONG SESSION,
MEXICO CAUSES MORE WORRY.
Demorrata and tbe Woo! and Woolen
Schedule* — President “Siting; I’p”
Massachusetts Judges.
From Our Special Correspondent.
Washington, D. Cl, Tuesday, May- 2-
President Taft had a conference with
Senator Lodge this morning prior to the
meeting of the finance committee of the
Senate to consider the reciprocity bill. The
senator was able to tell the president that
all the signs were ripe for a very pro
tracted discussion over the bill when it
comes up iu the Senate and that he might
as well prepare for a protracted stay into
the hot weather.
To callers to-day the president indicated
renewed anxiety over the Mexican situa
tion. The terms of the arbitration treaty
with Great Britain have reached the stage
when the terms are being discussed. The
long session of to-day of the cabinet was
over this treaty.
Members of Congress are giving consid
•enable attention to the condition among
the democrats of the ways.and means
committee in their attempt to frame, an
acceptable wool and woolen schedule.
The committee appears divided, nine to
five, for free wool, with Mr I nderwood,
the chairman, among those who favor a
duty on wool, his position being for a
graded diminishing duty until it all dis
appears in five years.
The special trouble of the democrats is
to supply the revenue of $20,000,001} a
year which would be lost if the wool
should be made free. The belief of ex
pert republicans is that the democrats
will be unable to frame a wool and woolen
bill that will be satisfactory to the wool
consuming people, unless they make raw
wool free. If a duty is retained on wool
the compensatory duties oh woolen manu
factures will have to be increased four
times, it is said, if the industry is not to
be hard hit. A duty on raw wool com
plicates the situation. It is the belief of
such men as Representative Hill of Con
necticut that the democrats in the long
run .will he driven to accept the wool and
woolen schedule of the Wilson bill, which
made raw wool free and fixed a duty of
40 per cent ad valorem on manufactured
woolens. Lopping off a revenue of $20,-.
000,000 yearly is thought to mean a bond
issue to meet the expenses of the gov
ernment, and the democrats do not relish
starting off in that way in 1913, should
they gain the presidency.
PENROSE AS THE SENATE LEADER
And the Complication It Involves —
Repnblicans Depressed—The Prog
ressives and Roosevelt.
From Our Special Correspondent.
Washington, D. C., Sunday, April 30.
It is learned that Senator Penrose of
Pennsylvania, as chairman of the finance
committee, will be the champion in the
Senate of the reciprocity bill, and thus
will be seen the extraordinary spectacle
in Congress of Pennsylvania, in Penrose,
advocating the passage of the measure,
and in the House, in Representative Dal
zell, opposing it. Indeed Dalzell, already
has done his work, and Penrose's is ahead,
but the spectacle nevertheless remains.
Both men represent the ultra-protectionist
group in the United States, yet the reci
procity bill seemS to afford room enongu
for one of their type to stand op. Yet,
while Dalzell has cried that the reciprocity
bill is destructive of the protective prin
ciple, Penrose is expected to advocate the
converse of this position. Penrose is am
bitious to become leader of the repub
licans iu the Senate, and this bill will give
him a very good opportunity to exemplify
this lemitrship. It will be interesting to
see him at it, and those who like to pick
up and drive home inconsistencies should
have rare fun. It is going to be all the
stranger in that from private sources one
learns that Penrose at heart is opposed
to the reciprocity bill. He is, therefore,
insincere in his support of the hill, and
such an attitude might well be feared so
far as the fortunes of the bill are con
cerned. but after all Penrose will be ex
pected to try to "make good” in nis leader
ship, and one way to fail would be to be
unable to effect the passage of the reci
procity bill unscotehcd. It may be ex
pcetej that while his heart will not be in
the hill, he will do his level best Io pro
cure its passage. At all events he will
certainly he watched.
The republicans as a whole continue
very gloomy. Reciprocity has been an
other cause splitting them. They cannot
see how they can win in 1912. A New
England republican congressman who is
opposed to reciprocity said last week: "If
an election were held to-day the repub
lican party would not carry a single state
in the Union, excepting Vermont, and I
have my doubts about that.” A distin
guished New England senator who is a
republican is sure that because of the
division the reciprocity hill has effected
in the republican ranks. Maine, and New
Hampshire may he expected to go demo
cratic in 1912. The republican party is
playing in no luck these days, it is de
clared. Not even a war is permitted to
happen, despite good chances to that end.
A war. it is believed, would be a great
help to the republican party. Rut Presi
dent Taft does not care for politics at such
cost, if indeed he cares for politics at all.
Perverse matt'. For whatever distrust
has arisen among the farmers over the
reciprocity bill the republicans themselves
are to blame. They have stirred up the
animosity in the hope of defeating the
bill, and arc being hoist by their own
petard. It seems to be regarded as cer
trin that the farmers’ vote will not care
to go in a body to the democrats, despite
the fact that the democrats hy their votes
are giving the reciprocity bill whatever
impetus it has. They have put it through
the House, and their vote will put it
through the Senate as well, for it is be
ginning to appear that a republican ma
jority will be cast against the bill in
the Senate, as was the ease in the House.
Some attention has been given in Wash
ington the past week to the editorial in
the Boston Transcript calling upon Sena
tor Lodge *o get °ut of the had company
of tho old guard in the Senate which he
was pleased to represent on the commit
tee on committees. Now while a sensa
tion has been scored, the editor seems to
have pleased no one. The eonservittives
call the editor "a wild man,” but equally
caustic are the progressives, who do not
like the thorns placed in the bouquets
tossed to them. No one in Washington
has ever had the suspicion that Senator
Cummins of lowa was “* progressive for
revenue only,” the characterization of
Senator La Follette is much exaggerated,
and not. even the progressives lire fond of
Senator Bourne, who is so much in the lik
ing of tho Transcript. New England has
so little in common with the progressives’
cause ns is understood in Washington,
where it is best seen at close range, that
there is surprise that it should have so
conspicuous an advocate in New England.
Thu progressives are not for rjctnrocity.
and they are very much unti-Taft, and
their whole scheme of railroad and tariff
legislation would especially address itself
to Injure New England. They look upon
your section ns the enemy's country. To
advocate that Senators Lodge and La Fol
lette walk arm in arm lending this cause
is to speak for the Impossible. The men
are temperamentally at variance. It mnv
well be believed that Mr Ln Follette will
no more consent to be jointly hitched to
Mr Lodge than the senior Massachusetts
senator to the senator from Wisconsin.
Senator Lodge has been especially grieved
by the charge that he is not responding
to the progressive support given in his re
election. The senator has a very distinct
memory that it was the so-called progres
sives in Massachusetts that sought his de
feat. and as for going back on any
promises, the senator points to his speech
in Symphony hall, wherein ho declared
where he stood and that in the plainest
language. He was not then a progressive
of the La Follette type, and he is not
now. His alignments to-day are tbe same
as they have been, and it can be said for
him they will continue the same. One with
a sense of humor puts the Transcript’s
outbreak in this way: "When an old lady
bi omes skittish she attracts a lot of at
tention."
There was this week a revival of the
Roosevelt boom. It came from sources
identified with the progressive group, and
one discerned between the lines the Ital
ian hand of Senator Bourne of Oregon-
It would appear that it would not be dis
pleasing to the progressives to defeat Taft
by the nomination of Roosevelt. They
know only too well that in all likelihood
Mr Roosevelt could not be elected. Tbe
third-term issue would be too much for
him. in addition to the other causes which
make the republican prospects so gloomy.
But with Roosevelt up and defeated they
will have killed two birds with one stone
- Taft would be out of the way and
Roosevelt also for 191 H. Tire progressives
are looking a little beyond 1912.
The conservative republicans in the Sen
ate after all played some shrewd politics
in making their committee assignments,
and it is a pity they did not have this
foresight much earlier. There were in the
Senate some republicans who lived in the
"twilight zone,” being inclined to be pro
gressive and not yet progressive. and reg
ular and yet not regular. The regulars at
once attacked the problem of how best to
handle them. It would never do to let
the progressives capture them. It was
seen that nice committee assignments
would in all probability he very pleasing
to the "twilight zone” republicans—such
men as Smith and Townsend of Michigan
and Burton of Ohio—and the offers made
to them were really gorgeous, and have
proved entirely successful. So. too. the
regulars have been considerate in pleasing
some of the out-and-out progressives, and
unless those are ventures of ingratitude
they must have loft remaining a little
warmth of appreciation for the places the
magnanimous conservatives provided for
them.
GILLETT SPEAKS ON FREE LIST.
Stone Begins on Reciprocity and Has
Started Other Senators Preparing
Speeches—Purchase of Forest Land.
From Our Special Correspondent.
WASHINGTON. D. C„ Monday, May 1.
Representative Gillett held the attention
of a considerable number of democrats and
also of republicans this afternoon as he
delivered his speech against putting on the
free list cotton bagging as proposed in the
farmers' bill, the representative especially
rising in defense of the Ludlow, Mass,,
industry. The democrats popped questions
at him. especially Representative Burle
son of Texas, who is an advocate for
the removal of the duty much desired by
the southerners. It was charged that col
ton bagging was being made by a trust,
which Mr Gillett denied. Mr Gillett
handled himself well, but it was also
thought that he was not a little lucky in
that the democrats seem not to have been
aware of the strike at Ludlow a year
ago which stirred Massachusetts. Rep
resentative Fitzgerald threatened to have
the secretary ot the treasury give him
information hearing on tbe profits of the
Ludlow associates as revealed by the cor
poration tax seemingly not knowing that
the associates are not a corporation in
the sense that they have to make returns
to the treasury, at least it is not so
understood here.
The speech of Senator Stone in the
Senate on the reciprocity bill was thought
to be the first breeze tor the session on
the bill and to indicate a very long line
of diSeussion. He has three more speeches
coming, it is said. To-day's was enough
to start several long ones in reply, for
the senator contended from United States
and Canadian government statistics that
on the average they showed that wages
were higher in Canada than in the United
States, and he also brought the tariff
board under criticism for failing to in
clude in some Canadian wages statistics
board paid, whereas this was included in
estimating the wages of Americans, thus
showing that wages were much lower in
Canada than iu the United States. Re
publicans were unable to reply to these
contentions. Senator Page of Vermont,
w ho said he lived near the Canadian bor
der. declared that tho contentions contro
verted his experience, hut he was unable
to refute the published statistics of both
governments.
The controller of the treasury having
ruled that contracts to purchase forest land
under the Weeks act must be arranged be
fore Juno 30 this year if the $2,000,000
made available per year by tho bill for
the purchase of forest land can be thus
employed this year, a conference has been
arranged to see what can be done to ex
pedite matters and to agree if possible on
a sound definition of what constitutes a
navigable stream, according to some defini
tions the .Connecticut river alone being
such so far .as forest lands in the White
mountains are concerned.
INSURGENTS CAVE IN.
Famous Objection to Committee Lint
Does Not Materialize.
The Senate formally organized for busi
ness Friday by adopting the list of ap
pointments to committees drawn up by the
majority of both parties. The expected
.fight against the adoption of the lists threat
ened by the progressive republicans did not
develop, Senator La Follette of Wia. con
tenting himself with reading a tormal pro
test against the selections made by the
regular republicans.
The La Follette statement prepared at a
conference of the 13 insurgents. Senator
Kenyon of la., the new senator from lowa,
having joined the original 12. set forth at
some length the growth of the so-called pro
gressive movement in the republican party.
It asserted that tho progressive republicans
entertain marked and well-defined differ
ences of opinion from the regulars: that the
progressives have more than one-fourth of
the republican membership in the Senate
and that they have become u “settled and
established fact in political history." The
progressives, it was claimed, had a light
to oue-fourth representation on the various
committees. The protest was directed espe
cially against the finance committee, on
which the insurgents wished to place Sen
ator Bristow of Kan., and the interstate
commerce commission, on which Mr La
Follette desired a place. Three of the nine
republicans on the interstate commerce
committee, it was pointed out. were from
New England, and it was asserted that this
committee had been left in the hands of
persons not friendly to advanced legislation
regarding the railroads, and that the finance
committee bad been left in the control of
the "ultra high tariff republicans."
When Mr La Follette had concluded the
insurgent statement, Senator Galllnger of
N. H„ chairman of the committee on com
mittees. said be was quite content to let the
insurgent statement go before the countrv,
together with the list of committees as
framed. Mathematically, he declared the
insurgent wing was entitled to 100 commit
tee places. As a matter of fact, they were
given 114 places. "In the division of as
signments,’ he added, "the committee on
committees believe It was acting equitably
and justly." The committee list then was
adopted with only a few scattering "noee”
from the insurgents
TARIFF DEBATE IN HOUSE.
Republican Member Says Democrats
Want tn Annex (an»da.
Another declaration that annexation is
the desired end of tbe democrats in push
ing reciprocity, an attack on the post
office department as the "greatest political
organization of this or any other land,”
and a speech by a new member of the
House revealing the humors of tariff dis
cussion in Congress, marked Friday's
debate on the free list bill bow pending
before the House. Other subjects than the
£Ji n f Pl were discussed under the lati
tude of debate.
Mr Prince of HL, republican, attacking
the Canadian reciprocity bill, sounded tbe
annexation note. President Taft's speech
in New York Thursday night furnished
his text. He said that the fact that Amer
P o, 'D n g into thfi Canadian
Northwest and the attitude of the forces
contronng the democratic party could
mean nothing else than annexation. Reci
procity and partial free trade with Can
ada were the first steps toward that end.
he argued. “I say to our neighbors on
the north be not deceived,” said Mr
I rince. “H hen we go into a country and
get control of it. we take it. It is our
history, and ft is right that we should
take it if we want it. and you might as
well understand it. The speaker has so
said; the party back of him has so said,
ami it does not deny that that is its de
sire. Mr Prince said that the reciprocity
mil was the worst bargain ever driven
by one nation with another, and the dem
ocratic farmers’ free list bill ought to be
labeled the "farmers’ fake bill.”
RIGHT OF WAY FOR FREE LIST.
House V otes io Put Aside ‘‘Discharge
• ulendai" and Meet Early Till the
Bill is Disposed Of.
Right of wyy for the "farmers’ free list
hill in the House this week was pro
vided for Saturday, when the House voted
in effect to put aside the "discharge cal
endar” Monday and to meet an hour
earlier each day until the bill is voted on.
The democratic leaders did not accom
plish this step until after the republicans
liihl taunted them about setting aside "cal
endar Monday ’ provided for ny coalition
or insurgent republicans and democrats in
the last Congress, and perpetuated by the
present Congress,
The contest ot party leaders at the
close of the day had been preceded by five
hours general debate on the "farmers’ free
list bill.” Representative Crumpackcr of
Ind. opposed the bi)}, while Representative
Hammond of Minn. Martin of S. D. and
Representative. Cline of Ind. expressed in
tcutions of voting for it. The final speech
ot the day was by Representative Heflin
ot Ala., who accused the republican partv
of pretending to be the friend of tb»
American laboring man and then bringing
in hundreds of thousands of foreigners to
supplant him in his labor. He then ridi
euled the free list of the Payne-Aldrich
tariff law and concluded with the state
ment that tbe democrats of the entire na
ti.oD s t°°d together, a reunited party, sure
of victory in 1912.
RECIPROCITY HEARINGS.
Senate Committee on Finance Will
Hear Objectors and Other*.
The Senate committee on finance Tues
day decided to devote the time between
now and Saturday, the 13th. to hearings on
the Canadian reciprocity bill. ImmediAtely
after that date, it is expected that the bill
will be reported to the Senate.
While there is no intention to permit the
hearings to involve tbe free-list bill, so
as to delay consideraliou of reciprocity,
witnesses will be permitted to make inci
dental arguments bearing upon that bill.
1 he first expression to be made by repre
sentatives of the shoe interests this week
will be devoted principally to contention
against the free-list bill. "The purpose of
the convention." said Senator Penrose,
who Tuesday assumed the chairmanship,
"is to press the reciprocity bill to n speedy
report. There is a general desire to get it
into the Senate at the earliest possible
moment and we are prepared to work hard
to accomplish that result.” After next
Monday the committee will meet daily and
sit throughout each day. but daring the
remainder of the present week the meet
ings will be desultory. Senators Nelson of
Minnesota and McCnmber of North
Dakota, both asked time Tuesday for
representatives of the agricultural inter
ests to oppose reciprocity.
HOUSE WOULD BE LARGER.
Vote* to Increase It* Membership to
133—Amendment* Defeated.
A bill providing for the enlargement of
the national House of Representatives
from 391 to 483 members and the appor
tionment of these members to the different
states on the basis of the population shown
by the regent federal census passed tbe
House Thursday evening after vain ef
forts of members of both political par
ties to amend it in important particulars.
The proposed size of the House is identical
with that provided for in the Crumpackcr
bill passed by the House at the last ses
sion of Congress, but not acted upon by
the Senate. The Houston hill, passed
Thursday leaves to the Legislatures of the
different states the power to rearrange tbe
congressional districts in their respective
states on the new population basis of one
member for each 211.877 of inhabitants.
The two important amendments proposed
Thursday and defeated after long debate
were to put the redistricting power in the
hands of the governors of states when the
Legislatures had failed to act; and to Jim
it the House in tbe future to a member
ship of 430 or 433, leaving future reappor
tionments to the secretary of the depart
ment of commerce and labor. Both of
these amendments were vigorously cham
pioned by the republicans and had some
democratic support.
RESOLUTION IS REPORTED.
Senate Judiciary Committee Favor*
Direct Election of United States
Senators.
Following favorable action by the com
ntiitee on the judiciary. Senator Borah of
Idaho Monday reported to the Senate
the House resolution for the direct elec
tion of United States senators. Senator
Heyburn of Idaho, assorting that the res
olution had been prematurely considered
by the committee, indicated that, he would
call for its recommittal, but took no ac
tion to that effect. Monday.
The Senate committee on judiciary, by
a vote of 7 to 5 agreed to report the House
raaolution for direct election of United
States senators. All the democrats pre
ent and three progressive republicans, voted
for the resolution.
An Exodns ot Republican Employes.
An exodus of republican employes of the
House of Boprcsentatires began Satur
day. and this week ninny more who bare
been fixtures for years at the capitol will
receive notice of removal. Ip nearly everv
branch of the House Saturday employe’
wore packing up their personal belonging-,
and preparing to depart. The democratic
committee on patronage has completed its
list of appointments. About 300 repub
lican employe* are affected- Some of these
have seen a quarter of a century of service
in Washington.
For Neutralisation ot the Philippine*.
The second resolution of the present ses
sion of Congress providing for the neutral
liatlon of the riiillipines was introduced
Saturday by Kepresentative Garner of
Toxas. A resolution of.similar import was
presented a few days ago by Representa
tive Sahsth of Illinois,