Springfield weekly Republican. [volume], May 22, 1913, Page 4, Image 4

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

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4
JOHNSON SENDS REPLY
REFUSES TO VETO MEASURE
SAYS IT IS HIS DUTY TO SIGN
DEFENSE OF ALIEN LAND LAW
Governor of California Blames Al
leged Discrimination on Na
tional Laws.
Expressing his determination to sign the
alien land bill recently passed by the Cali
fornia Legislature, Gov Hiram W. John
son last week Wednesday telegraphed
to Secretary of State Bryan a long
explanation of the action taken by
the Legislature. The message was
in answer to the request telegraphed
to the governor by Secretary Bry
an at the direction of President M ilson
that the bill be vetoed. The governor's
message follows: —
“Your very courteous telegram relating
to the alien land bill reached me late
Sunday night. I take it from our conver
sations ana your request made to me, to
withhold executive action until opportuni
ty was accorded for the presentations
from the federal government, that your
message embodies what it was your ^isn
and the wish of the president to say to
us before final action. In this response it
is my design most respectfully to present
the situation from our standpoint ana the
views that actuated our Legislature m
passing the bill and that impel me to sanc
tion it.
' “For many years a very grave problem,
little understood in the East, has confront
ed California, a problem the seriousness
of which has been recognized by statesmen
in onr nation and has been viewed with
apprehension by the people of this^ state.
When the present constitution of t alifor-
Dia was adopted more than 30 years ago
it contained the following declaration:
‘The presence of foreigners ineligible to
become citizens of the United States is
declared to be dangerous to the well-being
of the state and the Legislature shall dis
courage their immigration by all means
within its power.’
“Of late years our problem from an
other angle has become acute and the agi
tation has been continuous in the last dec
ade in reference to our agricultural lands
until finally affirmative action an at
tempted solution became imperative. This
attempted solution is found in the action
of our Legislature in the passage of the
alien land bill. In the phraseology of
this bill, in those whom it affects, in its
scope and in its purposes, we believe we
are within our legal and our moral rights
and that we are doing only what is im
peratively demanded for the protection and
preservation of our state. In this enact
ment w*e have kept ever in mind our na
tional good faith as evidenced by existing
treaties and our desire and anxiety have
been to act only in such fashion as would
commend us to our sister states and would
justify us to our fellow-countrymen.
“The objections to our bill are based,
first, upon the treaty obligations of the
nation, and secondly, upon the assertion
that our act is offensive and discrimina
tory. The protest to our measure, as your
telegram states, comes from the represen
tatives of Japan. The bill that is now
before me provides substantially in its
first section that all aliens eligible to citi
zenship under the laws of the , I'nited
States may acquire real property in the
same manner as citizens of the United
. States, and the second section provides
that all aliens other than those mentioned
in the. first section may acquire real prop
erty in the manner and to the extent and
for the purpose prescribed by any treaty
now existing between the government of
the United States and the nation or coun
try of which such aliens are citizens or
subjects, and may in addition lease for a
period of three years lands for agricultural
purposes.
"Thus we have made existing treaties a
part of our law, and thus we have pre
served every right that any foreign nation
by international contract has insisted upon
preserving with our national government.
The treaty of 1911 with Japan, in refer
ence to the citizens and subjects of each (
country, provides that they shall have ‘lib- i
erty to own. or lease, or occupy houses, !
manufactories, warehouses and shops; to ’
employ agents of their choice; to lease
land for residential and commercial pur
poses and generally to do anything inci
dent to or necessary for trade upon the
same terms as native citizens or subjects,
submitting themselves to the laws and
regulations there established.’
“We assume that the right of Japanese
to own real property for the purposes de
scribed is absolute in our state, and we
seek to deal only with our agricultural
lands. We embody the treaty in our law
and we add to it permission to lease our
agricultural lands for the period of three
years. Where such extraordinary care has
been exercised to preserve honor and good
faith, in the very words of the contract
made by the protesting nation with our
own and to do more by authorizing leases
of agricultural lands, it would seem that
we ought not to be open to any accusation
of violation of treaty rights or of desire
to intrench upon that which belongs alone
to the national government or which might
become a matter of international policy.
“By the law adopted we offer no of
fense; we make no discrimination. The
offense and discrimination is contained, it
is claimed, in the use of the words ‘eligible
to citizenship’ and in making a distinc
tion betwcn those who are eligible to citi
zenship and those who are not. We do
not mention the Japanese or any partic
ular race. The constitution of Califor
nia in 1879 made its distinction and there
never has been protest or objection.
"The naturalization laws of the United
States, long since, without demurrer from
any nation, determined who were and
who were not eligible to citizenship. If
invidious discrimination ever was made in
this regard the United States made it
when the United States declared who were
and who were not eligible to citizenship,
and when we but follow and depend upon
the statutes of the United States and
their determination as to eligibility to cit
izenship we cannot be accused of indulg
ing in invidious discriminations. May I
venture to call your attention to the im
migration law now pending in Congress,
which passed both houses of the last
Congress, where apparently certain classes
who shall be excluded from our country,
are described as ‘persons who cannot be
come eligible under existing laws to be
come citizens of the United States.'
“At this very moment the national Leg
islature, without protest or objection—in
deed, it is published in California by ex
press consent—is using the terms that are
claimed in California’s law to be offensive
and discriminatory. At least three states
in the Union have in the past enacted
laws similar to the contemplated law of
California, and the enactments of those
other States have been without objection
or protest. That the protest is now' made
in respect to California but emphasizes
the acuteness of the problem confronting
California and demonstrates that Califor
nia is differently viewed than other states
of the Union ami that if discrimination
exists it is discrimination against Cali
fornia.
"We insist that justly no offense can
be taken by any nation to this law. and
more particularly does this seem to be
clear tn the instance of a nation like
Japan, that by its own law prevents ac
quiaition of land by aliens. It is most re
apectfully submitted that, after all, the
question is not whether any offense has
been taken but whether justly it should be
Taken. I voice, 1 think, the sentiment of
the majority of the Legislature of this
state when 1 say that if it had been be
lieved that offense could justly be taken
by any nation to the proposed law that
law would not have been enacted.
"We of California, believe firmly, that in
onr legislative dealings with this alien
land question we have violated absolutely
no treaty rights. We have shown no dis
crimination : we have given to no nation
the right to he justified in taking offense.
So, believing with a strong reliance on the
justice and the righteousness of our cause,
and with due deference and courtesy and
with proper consideration for the feelings
and the views of others —we had hoped
the authorities at Washington would have
seen the question as we in this state have
been forced to see it—as we must see it
or be blind.
"And so with all respect and courtesy,
the state of California feels it is its
bounden duty to citizens to do that which
the interests of its people demand; that
which the consicence of its people ap
proves; that which violates no treaty
rights; that which presents no discrimina
tion and that which can give no just cause
for offense.
"You have suggested to me delay, but
this question was very earnestly and fully
presented by you to our Legislature, and
the Legislature determined to proceed.
My province is so approve or disapprove
the law as presented. Our people as rep
resented by the Legislature, have over
whelmingly expressed their desire for the
present alien land bill. The vote in the
Senate was 35 to 2, and in the Assembly
72 to 3. With such unanimity of opinion,
even did I hold other views, I would feel
it mv plain duty to sign the bill unless
some absolutely controling necessity de
manded contrary action. Apparently no
such controling necessity exists.
"It is with the highest respect for your
self and the president that I feel my duty
to my state compels me to approve the
action of the Legislature."
GOV JOHNSON SIGNS ALIEN LAW
Three Distinct Moves for Referendum
May Delay Operation, However.
California’s alien land bill became the
law of the state Monday. Against the
protests of Japan and the representations
of President Wilson and his personal en
voy. Secretary of State Bryan. Gov John
son signed the bill at Sacramento and 90
days after the adjournment of the Legis
lature. or on August 10. the act becomes
operative. While the governor was sign
ing the bill the steamship Korea was
passing through the Golden Gate bearing
two distinguished Japanese, one a former
pupil of President Wilson, on a mission of
investigation.
Meanwhile Complications, national and
sectional, beset the bill. Overshadowing
all is the outcome of the negotiations now
in progress between this country and
Japan, which has interpreted the act as
discriminatory and offensive. Within Cali
fornia itself the act has encountered triple
hostility which may delay its activity until
November 1. 1914. Democrats opposed
state legislation at this time as a matter
of party regularity. Nevertheless, so plain
to them seems to be the demand for the
bill that after exhausting all parliament
ary tactics, the Senate gave but one ad
verse democratic vote and the Assembly
but two.
As an expression of this opposition. The
odore Bell, late democratic candidate for
governor and former chairman of the dem
ocratic state central committee, has issued
an invitation to his party to submit the is
sue to the people by invoking the referen
dum against the bill. He grounds his op
position on two contentions —one that the
bill is insufficiently drastic because it per
mits leases running three years and, sec
ond, because at. the present time, it em
barrasses the national administration.
The Asiatic expulsion league, an organ
ization of which the president is Olaf
Tveitmoe, recently convicted of complicity
in the national dynamite plot originating in
Indianapolis, announced Sunday night that
it would invoke the referendum purely be
cause it opposes the bill as faint-hearted.
Third, the powerful Panama-Pacific in
ternational exposition company, backed
by many chambers of commerce has
placed itself on record in opposition to
the bill on the ground that it is a viola
tion of faith. "Any action of the Legis
lature,” said the directors of the com
pany, "offensive to any foreign country to
their pride as a people or their honor, as
I a nation, must challenge the good faith of
1 the commonwealth.”
| In reply to this threatened hostility, Gov
Johnson said yesterday in signing the bill:
“California fjr the first time in its history
has an an‘ialii-n law. Any man who wishes
another bind of law may consistently in
voke the initiative. No man who teally
wishes any ant’alien law' will sign the
referendum as to this law. If another
law is s.ugtt. it may be presented by
means ol the initiative and in the mean
time the prestml law will be in operation.”
The two visiting Japanese are Soroku
Ebaraw of the constitutional party and a
member of the House of Peers, and Ayao
Hattori of the nationalist party and a mem
ber of the lower House. On their arrival
they made it plain that they did not come
in any official capacity, but merely as rep
resentatives of their parties with a view to
learning the actual conditions and prevail
ing sentiment in California. Mr Hattori
said: “Our plans are somewhat indefinite.
We may see Gov Johnson and I expect to
visit President Wilson at his summer home
before I return. 1 was taking special
work at Princeton when the president was
lecturing there and his course was one of
those I attended.
HARSHER ALIEN LAW WANTED.
Asiatic Exclusion League to Start
Petition Against Three-Year Leases.
The Asiatic exclusion league of Califor
nia instructed its executive committee at
San Francisco Sunday to draft a petition
for a referendum vote on the alien land
bill to be circulated immediately after the
measure is signed by Gov Johnson. The
objections of the league are based on the
clauses in the Webb act which permits
three-year leases. It is the purpose of
the organization to circulate at the same
time an initiative petition for a law
which will exclude Japanese and Chinese
from both ownership and leaseholds under
any conditions.
The burden of the speeches at the ex
clusion league’s meeting Sunday was
that, the leasing clause is a joker which
will allow the Japanese ultimately to own
the land, in effect at least. The speakers
denied the wisdom of the argument that
to withdraw the leasing right immediate
ly from the Japanese would be a great
hardship upon the land owners.
The meeting Sunday was presided
over by the president of the organiza
tion. Olaf A. Tvietmoe, one of the con
victed labor leaders in the Los Angeles
Times dynamiting case, who is now out
of the federal prison at Leavepworth on
bail. Tveitmoe was re-elected president
of the Asiatic exclusion league Sunday.
Vice-President Marshall has written a
letter back home showing a lively interest
in Indiana politics and taking strong ground
against the Tom Taggart combination in
the democratic party. It seems clear by
this time that the vice-president has
abandoned the policy of four year? of si
lence.
Everyone observed tjiat another lawyer
had been ruined by the Thaw case. It
has become almoat a pastime to count up
the number of people, of all sorts whg have
been ruined in connection with it.
THE SPRINGFIELD WEEKLY REPUBLICAN: THURSDAY, MAY 22, iHia.
MOHONK PRIZES AWARDED
MICHIGAN STUDENT AGAIN WINS
ADDRESSES BY ELIOT AND MEAD
Former President of Harvard Declares
That Education and Arbitration
Will Root Out Causes
for War.
Education and the gradual adoption of
the judicial settlement of international
disputes are among the forces that will
work for the rooting out of the causes
of war, declared Dr Charles W. Eliot,-
presient emeritus of Harvard university,
in addressing the fourth session of the
Igike Mohonk conference on international
arbitration Thursday. The surviving rea
sons that might lead to international
strife were discussed at length by Dr Eliot,
who was the presiding officer. Others who
talked on international peace were Ralph
Lane, journalist, of Paris. P. P. Claxton,
I'nited States commissioner of education,
and Prof Felix Adler of Columbia uni
versity.
The third Hague conference was dis
cussed at the third conference held during
the day, addresses being made by Arthur
K. Kuhn of New York, Edwin D. Mead,
director of the world peace foundation of
Boston and others. Paul B. Blanchard of
the university of Michigan won the first
prize. SIOO, in the afternoon oratorical
coptest under the auspices of the intercol
legiate peace association. He is a twin
brother of last year's winner. C. Mac
gruder of St John's college at Baltimore
won second prize and Vernon Welch of
Knox college, 111., third prize.
Edwin D. Mead’s Address.
The United States could do no better
at the third Hague conference than to
demand that the program it presented at
the second conference be carried out. so far
as it lias not been achieved, in the opinion
of Edwin D. Mead of Boston, voiced
Thursday in his address.
Mr Mead referred to the part taken bv
the United States in the first two con
ferences. The instructions to American
delegates by John Hay and Elihu Root,
the secretaries of state at the time, were
documents of the highest value, he said,
as outlining international duties, some of
which yet remained to be accomplished.
Mr Hay's instructions were noteworthy as
outlining an international tribunal, the cre
ation of which was the great work of the
first conference.
Mr Mead urged united effort by the
American peace party to secure the strong
est possible American committee to con
sider the program of the coming confer
ence, and also urged action by the itov
ernment to secure at the earliest possible
day the definite determination of the date
o* the coming conference. He argued that
the United States. Great Britain and
Germany were in a position of peculiar
advantage for influence at the third con
ference, and that the co-operation of these
three great Teutonic nations is the cardin
al international need of the. Hour. The
limitation of armaments is the great task
and the great duty, in Mr Mead's opin
ion. of the next conference.
“These armaments in all nations have
now become so monstrous that. they are
vastly, more a menance than a .defense ”
he said, "and the whole world ‘looks to
the coming Hague conference for some re
lief. . The peace party of the United States,
could do nothing better than to. demand
unitedly that Mr Root’s noble program for.
the second Hague conference in 1907 be
completely carried out by the third con
ference in those features which yet await
realization.”"
Address of Charles W. Elio*.
“The rooting oat of the causes of war
must be brought about by the slow-acting
forces of popular education: by the prog
ress of international law: by the accept
ance and fair execution of the ‘open door’
policy; by the increase of mutual acquaint
ance and good-will among nations; by the:
concentration of public attention upon the
prevailing wastes, squalors, brutalities,
failures and ignominies of war, rather than
on its occasional splendors of courage and
endurance: and by the gradual adoption of
the judicial settlement of international dis
putes?’ So declared Dr Charles W. Eliot,
president emeritus of Harvard university,
in his address yesterday. Dr Eliot spoke
on “How to root out the causes of war."
He said, in part:—
“What will be the probable causes of
internationl war in the future? First, the
survival of political or governmental institu
tions inconsistent with sentiments which
in recent generations have gathered great,
strength. The first of these sentiments is
the sentiment of nationality, vast, vague
and bard to define, but tremendously po
tent. It is based on similar social cus
toms and needs, on like passions good and
bad, on common ethical standards, and on
a love of independence and liberty. An
active cause of war in Europe. Asia and
Africa during the 19th century and the
opening of the 20th has been the oppo
sition of the powers that be. or were, to
the unification of peoples by nationality.
The only way to root out this cause of war
is to persuade publicists, governors and
voters in all the strong nations that the
sentiment of nationality is supremely po
tent, indestructible and rightful, and that
the groupings which gratify this senti
ment are the only durable ones.
“Another sentiment which has caused in
numerable wars in the past and is still
active in various parts of the world is
the objection to alien rule, especially when
such rule, like that of the Manehus or
the Turks, produces poverty and desola
tion. denies liberty and prevents progress.
To root out this cause of war. publicists
and statesmen must discover better means
than force of obtaining for alien rulers
the advantages they find or seek through
their ruling; so that they may peaceably
withdraw from their conquests or cease to
insist on exercising supreme power.
“A fruitful cause of war in the future
is likely to be international distrusts, dis
likes and apprehensions, nursed in ignor
ance, and fed on rumors, suspicions and
conjectures propagated by an unscrupulous
press. To root out thia cause of war it is
desirable to promote international ac
quaintance through knowledge among all
nations of the characteristic literature of
each, and through friendly international
intercourse, especially of students, trav
elers, learned men and delegates to inter
national congresses and conferences.
“Among the western peoples the future
causes of war are most likely to be clash
ing commercial or industrial interests:
contests for new markets and for fresh op
portunities for the profitable investment
of capital, and possible also, extensive
migrations of laborers. A better way of
extending commerce and trade than fight
ing for it has of late years found a cer
tain amount of favor among the western
powers in the case of China, namely, the
policy called ‘the open door.’ The sincere
adoption of this policy would root out a
threatening cause of war in the East.
“Two other world-wide causes of war re
main to be considered. The. first is the
fear of sudden invasion of an overwhelm
ing force. This fear Ie keenly felt in
China and Japan as it is in Germany.
France and England: and there are bo
better defenses against it in the East than
in the West. The only hope in the West
or the East for relief from thia terrible
apprehension of invasion lies in the prog
ress of international law. and in the spread
ing opinion among publicists that there
are better ways than war to settle inter
national questions about territoy, commer
cial intercourse and sovereignty.
"Another apprehension which may at any
time become the cause of war is the fear
lest the supplies, of food and - raw ma
terials which come to a country over seas
should be cut oit Such insular countries
a* Great Britain and Japan are peculiarly
subject to this apprehension. The dob
trine that private, property should be ex
empt from capture at sea. as it is already
exempted from' seizure without compensa
tion on land, will, when adopted by n few
nations which maintain strong navies, re
lieve the nations adopting it from this
fear.”
Dr Lyman Abbott’s Address.
Three hundred delegates to the 19th an
nual Lake Mohonk conference on interna
tional arbitration heard Dr Lyman Ab
bott of New York, presiding as chairman
of the opening session Wednesday, assert
that disarmament was as’yet a utopian
dream, that “the blow of the fist, the
gleam of the sword, the bark of the can
non, will continue until some other power
than that of armed men is found to pro
tect innocence from injustice.” Dr Ab
bott’s address was interpreted as a reply
to the American peace society, his fellow
ship in which was recently severed at St
Louis. At the Albert K. Smiley me
morial meeting Wednesday afternoon Dr
Elmer Ellsworth Brown discussed par
ticularly Mr Smiley’s services to the In
dian race, while Dr Lyman Abbott re
viewed his services to mankind.
WAR MONGERS DENOUNCED.
Bryan Rapa Mercenary Pressi—Educa
tion Declared One of Greatest Anti
military Forces.
Vigorous denunciation of a “subsidized
patriotism which seeks to create war be
cause of the profits in armor plate and
battleships” and of the “sensational and
mercenary newspapers which prefer big,
scare headlines to the truth,” marked an
address by Secretary Bryan in Washing
ton Sunday at a Hague anniversary meet
ing held under the auspices of the Wash
ington peace society. It was in celebra
tion of the 14th anniversary of the first
meeting at The Hague.
“War is in the interest of a few people,
not of all,” Mr 1 Bryan declared. “The
profits are garnered by a few, while the
masses pay the taxes. A few men gain
glory while the others of the nation fur
nish the sons who are food for battlefields.
War rests upon feeling, not upon neces
sity. Back of much of the furor for war
is a selfish interest in the manufacture
of battleships. And there are men so
unpatriotic that they try to stir up trouble
in another country against their own so
as to make personal profit therefrom. Is
there any baser use tor money?”
The secretary asserted' that the world
was drawing away from the time when
wars will be made to gratify selfish interests
and ambitions, “Increasing intelligence,”
he added, "is one of the forces working
for peace because the people are learning
to understand the causes that lead to war.
The people are learning to discriminate
also," he continued, "between patriotic
newspapers and those that seek only for
big headlines. I was glad to see the at
tack Secretary Daniels made on this sen
sationalism. I hope to see this discrimi
nation by the people increased.”
Secretary Bryan expressed the belief
that in time this country would have
treaties with all other nations providing
for efforts to arbitrate all questions of
dispute and that other nations would fol
low this country's"example. These agree
ments, he said, would make it "almost im
possible to bring this country into war
with any other contracting nation.”
Increasing intelligence, the growing dis
position to bring; governments nearer the
people and; the moral growth.of the World,
he declared, were rhe. three great factors
making for peace, The danger that, sud
denly mtiameri public-feeling will throw a
nation into warsis growing Jess, he said,
because the people-are beginning to see
that war does benefit them, that they
pay tqp taxes and shell the blood ami that
it is usually Invited by those who look
for. personal profit. .Preparation for war
encourages war, he added, those nations
that spend, most of. their time: getting
ready for .war standing the best chance of
going to war. Ho said that .it was pos
sible .to change tile ideal of the world,
just as can be done with an individual, and
that the ideal of peace would prevail
throughput the entire, world.after, a time.
JAPANESE SENTIMENT CALM.
Conn* Okuma Says Californians of ■
Fnture Will Laugh at Exclusion |
Policy of the Present—Jingoism De- j
cried.
Faith in the American people to see that
justice is done the Japanese is the domi
nating note in Tokio in the discussion of
the California alien land-ownership legis
lation. War talk is denounced us ridicu
lous and Only circulated to embarrass the
two governments which are laboring for a
peaceful settlement by diplomacy. It is
conceded, however, that failure on the
part of the Americans to respond to the
Japanese appeal for a discontinuance of
the alleged discrimination would be liable
to lead to some estrangement of the peo
ples. The Japanese public generally are
convinced that the land bill is a racial and
not an economic measure, and hence a
blow to national pride, and they feel thut
the world must be taught the necessity of
equal treatment for the whites and non
whites.
The Tokio newspapers are loud in
their praise of President Wilson’s zeal in
endeavors to preserve the traditional
friendship and they recognize the difficul
ties which confront the president of the
United States in the confusing conflict be
tween state and federal rights. The
Nichi-Nichi is of the opinion that the
question as to whether the Washington
government can procure for the Japanese
equal rights depends upon the strength of
the Japanese diplomacy, and urges the gov
ernment to take a firm attitude.
The joint celebration of the Japanese
and American peace societies Sunday
was attended bv 1000 Japanese. Speeches
were made by Count Okuma, former min
ister of foreign affairs, Baron Yoshiro Sa
katani, mayor of Tokio, and TsiinMiro
Miyaoka, who was councilor of the Jap
anese embassy at Washington in 1900. All
of the speakers endeavored to clarify the
situation and decried jingoism.
Count Okuma was loudly applauded
when he compared the attitude of the Cal
ifornia legislators with the antiforeign
movement in Japan half a century ago
which he looked upon as an abased race
prejudice. “We despised foreigners, ’ he
said, "because they looked different; we
did not consider them human beings, Ja
pan finally saw the falsity of its position
and became an admirer of everything west
ern. The same causes underlie the Cali
fornia question, but, like the Japanese, the
Californians will see the folly of their po
sition and truth and justice will triumph.
At some day the Californians will Jau^h at
their fathers and grapdfathers for driving
off the Japanese just as we laugh now at
the antiforeign absurdities of the samu
rai.”
Mrs Longstreet's eloquence in the beat
ing before the Senate committee on the
Georgia post-office she no longer holds gives
one just, a hint of the politics involved in
being Gen Izmgstreet’s widow. If she de
claims well, there must-have been a thrill
ing moment when she said that ,
The Immortal commander whose name I
bear, wbo resigned a commission in toe
American armv t* follow the banners of the
South until the. last stainless one was furled
at Appomattox, and thenceforth found mm
«elf an outcast la the land whose battle
fields bad rnn red with-bls heroic blood was
not made to suffer mote than I J”**'®,J*®"
made to suffer at 'the bands of that branch
of democracy which Id' In the saddle down
Iri tbd good old democratic state Of f-ebrg’n
in the year thnt has placed a Virginia gentle
man In the White- House.
LIGHT WORK FOR CONGRESS
CURRENCY REFORM TO THE FORE
THE CAMPAIGN IN NEW JERSEY.
President Not Likely to Lose Prestige
if Result is Hostile—The Tariff
Bill—Open Caucuses.
From Out Special Correspondent.
Washington, D. C-, Sunday. May 18.
Congress is to be partly off President
Wilson's hands for a brief season, say a
fortnight or so. The shutters might as
well be up on the House. The vice-presi
dent's gavel will rap on the mahogany
desk only now and then, as the Senate
comes together for executive business, to
receive and confirm nominations. . One
topic for action remains, the investigation
of the West Virginia coal strike. Other
wise the Senate promises to lapse into
inactivity while the finance committee de
liberates over the Underwood revision.
The surcease will not be unwelcome at
the White House. The president has nu
merous other official cares. He has been
holding much in abeyance because of ex
acting requirements that Congress im
posed. The tariff bill has now advanced
to a point where it probably will call for
little exertion on his part. The finance
committee democrats are entirely friendly.
Its members have conferred sufficiently at
the White House to be familiar with the
president’s attitude. The general party
program is largely a matter of accord
between them and Mr Wilson.
A wavering democrat may require at
tention occasionally. The instrumentality
of the caucus, however, will save the pres
ident a great deal. Democratic senators,
except the two from Louisiana, will lie
slow about refusing to enter the caucus,
and the purpose is to make proceedings
binding upon all who participate. That
presumably will hold all such possible re
calcitrants as Newlands of Nevada. There
may be some minor troubles in perfecting
these caucus arrangements, but democratic
leaders are shrewd in such maters which
are now being worked out in detail. Cap
itol gossip ascribes a week or two of dis
cussion to this democratic caucus. If such
a status comes, it may easily Ite the middle
of June before that Underwood bill is
fairly before the Senate and the great de
bate is under way. Prior to that time,
however, the House should have the cur
rency reform plan. The president and
several democratic chiefs are concentrat
ing much upon that just now. It will not
be many days before a text is promulgat
ed. By the time absent representatives
are back from their spring fishing trips
the currency bill should serve to liven the
Washington situation and may blanket
popular interest in finance committee and
Senate caucus over tariff.
Wilson Loses a Skirmish.
The president is losing a skirmish here
and there. It wonid be surprising if he
did not. However, he had such a record
of successes at the beginning that Wash
ington began to look upon him as invin
cible. He is losing something in that
New Jersey contest over jury reform. His
personal appeals to the voters of the state
and to the Legislature, now in special ses
sion, have not been altogether successful
and. according to inside information, are
not likely to be. The Legislature is about
to enact a jury reform bill into law, bat
it is substantially the same bill that the
president and his friends refused to ac
epet durihg the'/Winter. The jury, reform
bill is to be passed with the same provi
sion for a referendum that was proposed
formerly and rejected by the president's
friends. But the referendum, instead of
being taken at a special election, is to be
at the regular election in November, when
New Jersey elects a governor. That makes
a difference, so that it is technically true
the president is getting a different bill than
was formerly proposed.
It will be remembered that the presi
dent's speeches on his recent New Jersey
tour were delivered in Newark and Jersey
City. These cities are in Essex and Hud
son counties respectively, populous cen
ters of New Jersey. There the democratic
air'd republican bosses, whom the presi
dent has been fighting, are enthroned. The
rest of the state is with him. bnt the leg
islators from Hudson and Essex, such as
are democrats, will not support the presi
dent in all his demands. Consequently
he is compelled to take a half-loaf instead
of a whole one and abide the outcome.
Ex-Senator “Jim” Smith has scored some
thing temporarily, but the issue will un
doubtedly be carried into the state cam
paign this year. It is not unlikely that
the president will spare time from* his
onerous tasks to take part in that cam
paign. Indeed it is almost certain that he
will feel impelled under all the circum
stances to do so. His prestige, however,
is not believed to be in danger.
Senate Grapples With Tariff.
Democrats are meeting republican critics
of the Underwood bill in more or less for
midable array. The redoubtable foemen,
however, have not thus far been annihi
lated in the democratic Senate. Chairman
Underwood first sounded the purpose to
defend his measure to the uttermost, just
as the tariff bill was passing the House.
There evidently had seen forethought and
conference when he announced so confi
dently that the bureau of foreign and do
mestic commerce had the machinery for
investigating wage reductions in factories
and would not hesitate to put it into mo
tion. Activities following upon that an
nouncement demonstrate that the plan had
been well worked out in advance. Secre
tary of Commerce Redfield, the main tariff
reliance of the president in his cabinet,
immediately began to show fighting pro
pensities and this was followed by the
president's open word that he did not pro
pose to accept compromises on wool and
sugar. His decided stand in that regard
has pleased the House democrats immense
ly and they are saying that the president
is just the kind of a man thev like to tie
to.
It was decidedly the thing for the presi
dent to do. He had taken up the tariff
bill with Chairman Underwood before it
was out of committee, had urged that it be
made an administration bill, which fortified
its prestige in the House measurably. In
deed the House democrats yielded free
wool and put. a duty of 1 per cent on
sugar for three years, directly at the pres
ident's request, after they had written
other provisions into the proposed law.
Free wool and one cent sugar are dis
tinctly the administration features in the
bill now pending before the Senate. They
are the schedules which make it an ad
ministration bill above all other provisions.
And when the president let it be known
that there could be no compromise on
wool and sugar he did exactly what the
democratic leaders of the House confident
ly expected of him. Had he done other
wise, there might have come demoralisation
just when the Senate democrats were
bracing themselves for the onset. The
finance committee democratic senators had,
in fact, committed themselves as unreserv
edly to free wool and one-cent sugar as
the House had done. The lines had been
drawn in the Senate and preparations
made to conduct the battle on that sort
of program.
Consequently, there is satisfaction in the
Senate that the president served notice
against compromise. It has heartened the
finance committee senators. Matters are
left in fairly good shape for them, now
that the bill has finally been referred to
the committee. But there has been so
much delay because of the Senate debate,
that the tariff bill will hardly be out of
committee by June 1. It will be nearer
June 10. The Senate debate on tariff
may last easily till August 1.
Growth o* Open Caucuses.
Open doors at Washington are getting
much more in vogue. The other day
Charles Bennett Smith of Buffalo, a news
paper man, who got into the last Congress
by one vote, proposed a resolution in the
riouse that all committee meetings and
all subcommittee meetings should be open
to the public, at least to representatives
of the press. Hardly will that be granted
now, but the time presumably’ is not far
distant when it will be. The open caucus
is in prospect, even though there be seri
ous objections thereto. These would be
largely removed if the reading public were
less disposed to misinterpret the reason
ing processes of men in arriving at con
clusions. The House republicans have
opened the doors of their caucuses, a most
revolutionary proceeding when one harks
back a few years to those Congresses which
republicans controled with an iron hand.
The proceedings of a republican caucus
are not of much moment nowadays, with
the party in a woeful minority. But some
day republicans may return to control of
the House, and it will not be easy to
break away from precedents now being
made. Democratic caucuses are not. pub
lic, but certain aspects of them, partic
ularly a journal of the proceedings, are.
Some two years ago, when tariff revision
bills of the democratic House and the
nominally republican Senate came to con
ference, Senator La Follette and the dem
ocratic conferees smashed all records by
opening the doors. It was not a highly
exciting procedure, but articles of an au
thoritative character about what went on
there promptly reached the public, and
virtually no objections were raised to the
results. It will be interesting to observe
if democrats of the Senate and the House
adhere to that remarkable precedent
when their tariff bill gets into conference
a couple of months from now.
No committee proceedings could be of
more importance than those of a confer
ence committee, and there is really but
little reason why congressional commit
tees should not deliberate publicly. The
real important work of legislation is done
there and, at least, senators and repre
sentatives who work faithfully around
the committee tables would get credit, if
proceedings were public, which they do
not get now. The days have passed when
readers care much for what transpires in
the House or the Senate, unless it be
something distinctly striking. A great
speech is covered in half a column. Out
side of the leaders, few men get much
notice for what happens on the floor. The
opening of committee doors would not
produce great wads of copy for the press
but it would let in light on the processes
of construction and would dispel popular
suspicion about influences dominant there.
MINING RIOTS DISCUSSED.
Administration’s Peace Policy—Office-
Holders Are Nervous.
From Our Special Correspondent.
Washington, D. C„ Wednesday. May 14.
Mother Jones, 81, who claims to have
suffered indignities during the reign of
martial law in West Virginia mining re
gions, was a picturesque, spectator in the
Senate gallery to-day. The discussion of
the proposed investigation of mining riots
was under way. It has become a serious
Senate theme. Senator Smoot sounded a
warning against the Kern resolution. He
said it was well for the Senate to consider
carefully before allowing itself to become
a grand jury to inquire into such questions
in a state.
There is little doubt among senators
that individual rights have been disre
garded, but assurances that Gov Hatfield
is handling the situation and will work out
satisfactory results if let alone, deter
many from favoring a federal inquiry. The
debate to-day assumed a stirring tone.
Senator Borah, always careful on con
stitutional questions, spoke for the Kern
resolution. He gained a national reputa
tion aS attorney for the defense at trials
growing out of the famous Coeur d'Alene
riots. Senator Hollis of New Hampshire,
who caused quite a sensation at the capi
tol some days ago in his maiden speech,
championing Ettor and other Lawrence
strikers, declared for the investigation.
Senator Goff of West Virginia, long a
United States circuit judge, made a speech
against the investigation. It made a deep
impression upon the Senate.
Secretary Bryan's advocacy of interna
tional peace is the main topic uptown
around the executive departments. He
heard this morning so many favorable
comments over his launching yesterday of
the battleship Friendship that w;hen he
was at the White House offices this morn
ing he launched a sister ship and called
her Fellowship. These and other activi
ties are emphasizing how earnest the ad
ministration is in furthering peace poli
cies that President Taft so vigorously
urged. Secretary Bryan is getting much
favorable publicity for the idea at a
more or less crucial time for the proposed
treaties.
Numerous recommendations of prominent,
officials demonstrate the anxiety of re
publicans in office at Washington to make
more certain provision for their futures.
This was not the case with Labor Com
missioner Neill, a very efficient man, as
his tenure for four years became certain
after the Senate confirmed him, but was
exemplified in the case of Chief Wilkie
of the customs service in the treasury de
partment. There is a general disposition
to get out of the way. Even though
President Wilson is filling the offices slow
ly, no doubt exists that eventually he will
man important positions at Washington
with democrats.
WHY JAPANESE ARE DISLIKED.
[From the Outlook.l
The successful white immigrant vanishes
in the melting-pot. In thought, ideals,
dress and appearance he conforms with
the majority. His children are American
to the bone. But the Japanese, no mat
ter how great his material success, never
loses the mark of the foreigner. Dress
cannot cover color of skin; the keenest
mind fails to change the shape of the eyes.
Instinctively the mass of the whites re
sents the proud, erect bearing, the im
maculate clothes, the exquisite manners pt
the successful, well-bred Japanese, who in
the estimate of the mob always remains a
“Jap” immigrant. Fully conscious of their
personal superiority over the rank and tile
of those who clamor for exclusion, the
Japanese of this class, unable to ap
preciate or understand the viewpoint of
the white mass, increase the resentment
against themselves by a stiffening of the
solemn dignity which covers them all like
a touch-me-not mantle.
“Cocky” is the popular expression used
in California to describe this feature of
the Nipponese character. Yet this “cocki
ness” is but the expression of the poise
and dignity that is one of the finest fea
tures of the Japanese national character.
The Negro who swaggers down the
street in costly, screaming clothes evokes
an amused, tolerant smile. It is different
when a Japanese gentleman in black froek
eoat and silk hat steps into his motor
car. The lifted brows, the inscrutable
eyes, every step, gesture and stare, every
nod and smile, lead to unconscious com
parison not always flattering to the white
man. and constitute nn aggressive chal
lenge against the cherished ideal of Cau
casian superiority.
A writer in the Chicago Tribune, after
looking over the situation East and West,
allows that “in spite of its reputation us
the rock-bound, not to say fossilized citadel
ot conservatism, Massachusetts really riv
als Kansas as the most radical of Ameri
can states.”
WARNING BY REPFIELD
NO REPRISALS FOR TARIFF
READY TO INVESTIGATE
Change in Public Sentiment Toward
Business.
A warning to business interests that the
government stands ready to investigate
what may appear to be reprisals upon
workingmen following the passage of the
democratic tariff bill, was voiced at Wash
ington last week by Secretary Redfield of
the department of commerce in a speech
before the national association of employ
ing lithographers. Secretary Redfield read
to the employers a circular they had issued
predicting dire consequences for working
men and flatly told them if their predic
tion were carried into effect he would
promptly investigate. “If I grasp the pub
lic mind at air clearly,” he said, “it holds
unfavorable views toward reduction of
wages except under the direst necessity.
As, therefore, the reduction of wages has
direct social effects and as the public has
the right to efficiency in their factory
service, the department has undertaken to
find out whether the facts do or do not
justify the threatened reduction.
"Observe that in saying the ’facts’ one
does not merely mean the facts as they
are, but also the facts as they ought to
be. Operating with bad equipment, with
unscientific treatment of material, with
antiquated methods, in poor locations, with
insufficient capital and generally ineffec
tive management, will not be esteemed a
satisfactory reason for reducing wages.”
The government's investigation the sec
retary assured his hearers, would not be
carried on in a "trust-busting” spirit, but
rather with the idea of aiding any industry
that had dropped into a rut. He said that
few persons realize how efficient was the
investigation machinery of the department
of commerce. He described ramifications of
the bureau of .standards, the bureau of
foreign and domestic commerce, the bu
reau of corporations and the bureau of la
bor statistics. He added that, the depart
ment of labor, which would work in
harmony in any such investigation, also
had many agencies to set in motion.
"The department of commerce exists,”
said the secretary, "for the purpose of pro
moting American industry and commerce
at home and abroad. It intends to do its
work as well as it can with the force
and funds provided. As the head of that
department I feel that while its scope in
aiding commerce is broad and has many
phases one of these phases which is import
ant is that of turning light upon inefficien
cies wherever they can be found.
The Threatening Circular.
“I have spoken frankly, gentlemen, on
this particular line because I have received
a circular issued under the auspices of
your own association from which I tak^
these words, referring to’the reduction in
the tariff on the goods in which you are
interested as producers: This means worl ■
men thrown out of jobs. It means tha t
wages must go down in order to compete
It may mean longer hours than 48 hours
a week.' You have been yourselves, yon
see. as frank as I. and your statement
was made first. If in the final result the
words I have quoted are put into effect
by you in a substantial degree, it may bs
come the duty of the department of com
merce to inquire into your business meth
ods.”
Mr Redfield declared tjiat ppljlic senti
ment had revolted against tile old-time
idea that an employer’s business and his
employes were his own to do with ns ho
wished, without regard to the welfare of
his workmen or recognition of the public
need. “Perhaps the first among these,
he said, “is the duty owed to the opera
fives in the business. It is not too much
to say that public opinion demands that
operatives shall receive a living wage,
and. so far as possible, continuous employ
ment; that they be freed from arbitrary
reductions in the daily wage or of the
piece-work rate. The public conscience
demands that they work under healthy
conditions, with ample light, without oyer
jtpeeding, and with the same provisions
for their safety at their work that the
emplover would desire for himself were
he so employed. Furthermore, public
opinion is becoming sensitive on the sub
ject of overfatigue and recognizes that the
demand for reasonable working hours has
a sound physiological basis.
“The greatest interest in our manufac
tures is that of the people, without whose
purchases the factories would close. They
have more at stake than anyone else, and
thev are beginning to have very clear
ideas resuecting their interest hvour fac
tories and how to look after it, It is chief
ly they who refuse to admit any longer
that the head of a great business concern
can do as he will with what he is pleased
to call his property. It is they who insist
upon the treatment of the operatives as
men and women with minds and souls
and not as machines, and it is they who
are insisting now in no uncertain way
that the factory does not fulfil its proper
function unless it supplies at a reasonable
price and of proper quality the goods they
desire to buy.”
Need for Efficient Management.
Secretary Redfield attributed to ineffi
ciency on the part of manufacturers the
smallness of profit and the necessity for
retrenchment in operating cost at the ex
pense of their employes. He insisted.the
consumer of the present day had a right
to expect efficiency in management and
added that unless that efficiency were dis
played the public would resent the lack.
“The definite wrath against monopoly.”
he said, “the flood-tide of opinion against
special privilege, the stern demand for
efficiency as a duty which our industries
owe to the public—these are all parts of
the awakened American manhood.
“The gospel of self-respect and of
American manhood is making its way.”
said the secretary, “and the day of indus
trial fear is passing. It is my hope, so
far as I can, to aid and not to hinder
American industry. I believe that for it
a day of freedom has just begun and that
we tire shaking off the shackles of a real
industrial slavery to enter upon the arena
of free competition, strong, athletic and
vigorous, in which our business will be
stronger and safer and in which we shall
be happier than before.
“As a last word, it is important that
we as business men should know that
business opinion and public opinion are
two different things. If they are in ac
cord, it is well for business. If they are
not in accord, it is ill for business, for
business depends for its peace and pros
perity upon the sustaining power of pub
lic opinion. In the relations of which I
have tried with courtesy and candor to
allude briefly, the purpose of the depart
ment of commerce will be, as in all these
relations it ought to be to bring the pow
er of public opinion to the support of le
gitimate business, and business owes it
to itself and to the natioii to drink in the
spirit of growth. In hard case is he that
‘stands pat,' for the world will go by him
and leave him standing. Blessed is he
that moves with the movement of progres
sive thought. for to him shall come the
reward of living.”
That Alton B. Parker will be sent back
to the bench of the New York conrt of
appeals next fall, as chief justice in su -
cession to Justice Cullen, is one of the po
litical rumors of democratic politics in
New York. Everyone will ask if Mr Roo».-
velt will try very hard to prevent it.
Secretary Bryan's petted speeches are be
ing heard by. militarists around the world.
The London Mail, rebukes Mm for. his
“misplaced idealism.”