Springfield weekly Republican. [volume], June 18, 1914, Page 4, Image 4

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

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4
PUSH TRUST BILLS
WILSON’S DETERMINATION
THE “LET ALONE" AGITATION
SOME INTERESTING LETTERS
Congressmen and Other Officials Cir
cularized in Behalf of Letting
Business Rest
President Wilson came out at Washing
ton Monday with a flat declaration that,
despite what he characterized as a delib
erate campaign by certain interests for an
adjournment of Congress and postpone
ment of the administration's trust legis
lative program, he would use every influ
ence at his command to get the pending
bills through the Senate at this session.
Choosing his words very carefully, the
president disclosed his belief that organ
ized distribution of circular letters and
telegrams among these men. members of
Congress and other public officials, call
ing for an adjournment of Congress, a
halt in the trust bills, an increase in
freight rates for the railroads and a "rest
for business" was responsible for what he
recently described as a "psychological de
pression.” In support of that view the
White House made public copies of such
letters and telegrams which have been
brought in by friends of the administra
tion. One of the letters which fell into
the hands of White House officials in that
way was circulated by the Simmons hard
ware company of St Louis under date of
the 9th. Just prior to that date President
Wilson had offered to E. C. Simmons.
President of that company, a place on the
federal reerve board. Monday just
before the president expressed his views
on the trust program it was announced
that Mr Simmons had declined the ap
gtintment and that Charles S. Hamlin of
ostOn would be nominated in his stead.
White House officials emphatically denied
that the Simmons letter had to do with
the declination of the appointment. It
was said, however, that the president did
not know of the letter when he offered Mr
Simmons the place. The president’s dec
laration and the publication of the letters
created a mild sensation approaching that
which followed the president’s denuncia
tion of the "insidious lobby.” which, he
said, was threatening the tariff bill last
year. Senators and representatives dis
cussed the incident with avidity, but no
action was taken.
One of the letters made public pur
ported to have been sent out by the Pic
torial Review company of New York and
was signed by W. P. Ahnelt, president,
under date of May 1. It accompanied a
prepared letter protesting against trust
legislation, praying for a freight rate in
crease and suggesting an adjournment of
Congress, with the further suggestion that
the recipient mail copies to the president,
members of Congress, the interstate com
merce commission and other officials in
Washington. The letter signed by Ahnelt
follows :—
“We take the privilege of writing you
on a subject of vital importance to your
self and the country at large. It is no
doubt evident to you that prosperity has
been lost somewhere in this country, ow
ing to the mischievous activities of the
politicians, as recognized by all men. We
inclose herewith draft of a letter which
embraces the views of a majority of the
thinking business people of our section of
the country and which should be addressed
to the president of the United States, the
Congress and members of the interstate
commerce commission, respectively. Might
we suggest, if you agree with us. that you
take the trouble of writing letters of a
similar character to the president, the
members of the United States Senate and
the House of Representatives from your
state? If you prefer to use copies of the
inclosed letter we will mail you as many
copies as you can conveniently use. Just
send us a postal card. It will be more ef
fective. however, if you write them on
your own letterheads. The sooner this
appeal is made the greater effect it will
have on the politicians who have caused
the loss of prosperity. Inclosed find a list
of names and addresses to whom the let
ter should be sent, but we omit the nam-s
of the representatives and Senators from
your state, with whom you are no doubt
familiar.”
The Model Letter.
In part the form letter which was pre
sented for transmission to public officials
was as follows:—
“We respectfully appeal to your sense
of justice and ask in the name of the suf
fering American people, in the name of
common sense, why wantonly harrass busi
ness at this juncture when it is struggling
for its very existence? Why throw more
thousands of men idle when so many
families are already starring? Why sub
ject business to any experimental legisla
tion now, when it is not prosperous? Post
pone it Drastic action on your part is a
peril at this time. What we do need is a
little building up—no more tearing down.
We have had a sufficiency of experimental
legislation for the present.
The Demand tor Hiarher Rates.
“The granting of the petition of the
eastern railroads for a 5 per cent freight
increase will do more for the prosperity
and development of the country than all
legislation against unlawful restraint and
monopolies. Such a determination will re
•ult in a movement forward not backward,
and any contrary determination bv the
interstate commerce commission will em
phasize the fact that Washington hostility
is balking prosperity. The merchants of
this country are vitally interested. Busi
ness must not be retarded, otherwise com
mercial failures increase.
“The continual senseless attacks by
governmental bodies upon merchants by
Impending assaults upon railroad, in
dustrial and mercantile corporations, re
vision of the tariff and currency reform
have resulted in sinking business to such
an extent that it has thrown hundreds of
thousands out of employment reduced
wages and decreased values in railroad
industries and mercantile corporations to
the extent of at least ?3,000.000,000. The
most serious situation that confronts the
country to-day is the fact that unemploy
ment is growing* more acute. We need
relief. We ask the Congress of the Unit
ed States to halt before it is too late.
Postpone all antilegislation business Give
the country a rest. And last but not
least, permit Congress to earn a well-de
served early rest.”
effect, but in condensed terms, was at
tached. The Simmons letter declared that
the three things which stood in the way
of prosperity were the Mexican situation,
the awaited advance in freight rates, and
continued hostile legislation in Congress. It
said m part:—
"Especially do we recommend that no
further attempt at legislation on the mat
ter of the control of business or passing
an titrust laws should be continued at
this time. What the country needs more
now than anything else is a quiet time—
an absolute rest from the agitation of poli
tics and assaults upon business—it does
not make any difference whether it Is big
business or Tittle- trnstness. We therefore
recommend and earnestly hope
that Congress may be convinced that they
have done enough lawmaking for the prea
ent; that the country is absolutely tired
and surfeited with politics) agitations, and
that the agitation now of the control ot
business is exceedingly injurious, and will
serve to retard an improvement in busi
ness which otherwise would be very great
and rapid—bringing in the most desirable
way ’the greatest good to the greatest
number.’
“We submit these arguments or reasons
to you. asking you and praying you to use
your best influence in following the lines
suggested in this communication, namely :
To have Congress shut up shop and go
home. If you agree with us. send to your
congressmen and senators a telegram
something like the inclosed and urge
your commercial club to pass strong res
olutions along similar lines and send
them to Washington. Our representatives
there are worn out. physically and men
tally, and will welcome your suggestion
that further consideration and legislation
affecting business be postponed until De
cember.
The president declined to make any ex
tended comment on the letters, declaring
that they spoke for themselves. The ptes
ident believes business is as good oow as
it was some time ago. and in some re
spects better, and that it will he much
worse for business to worry for several
months over whnt the antitrust legislation
is to be. than to .have it passed now.
Denying that congressional leaders have
suggested an adjournment after the ap
propriation bills have been passed, the
president told callers that all the senators
with whom he has talked on the subject
have advised immediate action on the
trust bills. The president sees no reason
for delay such as he says was forced in
the consideration of the Panama canal
tolls exemption bill.
FEARS ARE NOT UNFOUNDED
ACCORDING TO F. A. VANDERLIP
Address Before New York State
Bankers' Association nt Eastern
Point, Ct. •
With about 450 members in attendance
the New York state bankers' association
opened its 21st annual convention at East
ern Point, Ct., Thursday. The sessions
will last two days. Addresses were de
livered by Frank A. Vanderlip, president
of the City national bank. New York city,
and by Eugene L. Richards, New York
state superintendent of banking. The fol
lowing nominations for officers were made:
President. James H. Perkins of Albany:
vice-president. J. A. Kloepfer of Buffalo;
treasurer, J. H. Gregory of Rochester.
During the afternoon the delegates and
visitors had a sail to Fisher's island. Last
night the annual banquet was held and
the business will be concluded to-day.
Robert H. Treman of Ithaca, N. Y.,
the president, read his annual report, as
did Leslie Burdick of Gouvernour, treas
urer, and William J. Henry of New York
city, the secretary, and ehairmen of vari
ous committees. The American bankers’
association section nominated Robert H.
Treman, retiring president of the state
bankers, to be a member of the executive
council to succeed Walter E. Frew of
New York city and George G. Clarabut
of Rome to succeed Fred W. Hyde of
Jamestown, N. Y. For vice-president, to
represent the state bankers’ association.
Benjamin E. Smythe of Bronxville was
named, and as a member of the nomina
tion committee Bradford Rhoades of Ma
maroneck. .
Mr Vanderlip spoke as follows:—
"We are told that the trouble of busi
ness is psychological. In a sense, I believe
that the statement is correct. I believe
that the lack of enthusiasm about the fu
ture, the state of pessimism that surrounds
many phases of business, the disposition
toward extreme conservatism, the lack of
new plans for capital expenditure for rail
way improvement and extension, for new
industrial conquest, all have their roots in
a state of mind, rather than in the statis
tics of actual business data; but lam not
certain that this state of mind is ground
ed in unfounded fears, that it is caused by
legislative ghosts, that it is engendered by
baseless apprehension concerning legislative
tendencies and the trend of public opin
io...
“Ilie obstacles in the way of business re
covery may perhaps be truly intangible fac
tors, and still a feeling of apprehension
regarding them may be a manifestation of
sound business sense in comprehending
th; true meaning of the political-economic
situation.
“If. for a moment, we could forget these
factors and attempt to gauge the business
outlook by only the old-time standards
which used to be sufficient, we would see
looming large the prospect of a great agri
cultural yield, giving promise in some direc
tions of bumper crops now almost assured,
and at almost every point, of an exception
ally bountiful year. We would see easy
money here and abroad, and although we
might argue that money was easy because
of a lack of profitable employment, still its
present ease would promise that there
would be no interference with increased
business activity on the score of interest
rates. We would note hat we were em
barked on the trial of a new banking sys
tem. about which—-whatever points of dis
agreement there might be—there was the
unanimous opinion that its working would
ultimately tend toward inflation, and there
fore that it will for some time to come be
a factor likely to insure continued easy
money.
”We would find sound credit conditions,
both in the position of the batiks and in
the mercantile community. We have been
through a sober period and there is no
general condition of overextended credits
to menace the outlook for' an enlarged
volume of trade nor is there anv undue
accumulation of stocks either in the hands
of manufacturers or on the shelves of*dis
tributors. The mercantile world has
been without speculative enthusiasm to
as great a degree as has been the finan
cial world, and men have manufactured
only what they could fairly see a market
for. and merchants have bought only what
their customers’ immediate needs de
manded. Except in a few directions—
such as the iron and steel industry. lum
ber, and in some textile lines, the demand
has not slackened faster than the wheels
of commerce and industry could be
slowed down, and there are. uo large un
digested stocks to stand between new or
ders and quickening manufacture.
“In recent years we have rebuilt our
industries to conform with modern inven
tion and practice, as we hare largely re
built our railroads to permit of the most
economical operation through heavy mo
tive power and large loading, and the
machinery of industry thus stands well
equipped to produce totals that would
make anything we have done before seem
small.
Nature Has Not Been NlßKardly.
"We do not have to recover from any
period where Nature has been niggardly.
Fields and mines have for years been
adding rapid increases to the total of
wealth each season, and the promise in
that direction has rarely been brighter
than it is to-day. The industrial machine
of the nation, in short, might be likened
to a great steam engine, running with a
load much lighter than its capacity, and
ready, upon the turn of a valve that would
let in more steam, to respond efficiently
to vastly greater requirements.
“On the other side of the page, still look
ing at only the concrete facts of the busi
ness situation, we see that a reduced tar
iff is permitting some increases in our im
ports of manufactured articles and having
a corresponding effect in slowing down
some of our industries. Unfortunately
there is a large unemployment of labor,
but that means that if renewed business
activity were to come, it would not be
impeded at the start by a lack of work
men..
"One of the most serious obstacles that
•we would find would still be in the labor
situation. Here the exactions of unions
hare, added vastly to tbe expense of trans-
-THE SPRINGFIELD WEEKLY REPUBLICAN: THURSDAY, JUNE IS, 1914.
portation and manufactures, partly be
cause of higher wages secured, but largely
because of a steadily lowering standard
of what the unions will permit to be ac
complished as a day’s work, and through
legislation forcing upon railroads unneces
sary employes.
"The most important entry we would
make on the debit side of the business
outlook would be in connection with the
operation and financing of the railroads.
In spite of an easy money market, many
railroads find it impossible to refund their
short-term obligations, and continue to
keep going—like a juggler playing with
balls—by rapidly and dexterously throw
ing a new short-term obligation into the
market to take the place of another short
term obligation maturing. Higher ex
penses. increasing wages, taxes that have
doubled in a decade, the burden of new
terminals, and the demand for improved
service have all had to be met by the
railroads, while there has been withheld
from them the permission to increase
their income. The investor now hesitates
to consider a long-term railroad security
as the safest form of investment for his
funds.
"The railroads have heeß unfortunate
in having to meet two legislative theories
of quite opposite anti unrelated charac
ter. and in having both of these theories
applied simultaneously. On the one side,
there has been tbe theory of control
through the fixing of rates by commission,
the supervision of accounting and the di
rection in the greatest detail of the man
agement; on the other side there has been
the theory of compelling competition
through the prohibition of combinations
and by forbidding co-operative agree
ments. One or the other of these theories
may be right, but both applied at the same
time cannot be. The result of the appli
cation of both of these theories at once
has been to bring the railroads into a
most serious situation.
“It is in the railroad position that we
find when examining the concrete facts
of the business outlook, the most substan
tial reasons for feeling that an otherwise
sound statistical situation may not be a
sufficiently secure basis upon which to
build a structure of renewed business ac
tivities,
"A survey of concrete business conditions
with such facts and totals as business
statistics show to-day would, however,
have been sufficient ground 10 years ago
to have predieted that we had straight
ahead of us the possibility of a period of
great expansion. What is in the way of
making a similar prediction now ? Even if
it is a state of mind—it is not so much
the state of mind of the managers of
business as it is the state of mind of the
public at large—the state of mind which
we call public opinion, and which through
our political machinery finally finds more
or less accurate expression in regulations,
decisions and laws.
"I do not want to be understod as be
lieving that this state of the public mind,
this quality of public opinion, is altogether
wrong. The basis that is back of the de
mand for legislative restriction and con*
trol of business. I believe to be in large
measure made up of sound economic facts.
The development of industrialism within
our lifetime has been of such a revolu
tionary character as naturally and rightly
to create a demand for a body of control
ing laws, such as were never dreamed of
by our fathers.
Cause of Present Lewtalation.
"Do not deceive yourselves that this
pressing flood of new legislation is the ac
complishment alone of a strong-willed ex
ecutive, or the work of a radically-minded
Congress. The cause is back of that. Do
not hopelessly believe, either, that the
cause of the present legislative movement
is to be laid wholly to a public opinion
gone wrong, to a majority with its mind
set on plundering the successful. The real
r< ots of this political movement, with
which business is so vitally concerned, are
still deeper—and happily so.
"It would be so much better if all sides
could recognize that what has been and
what is happening are sequences that flow
naturally from modern inventions. I do
not mean mechanical inventions alone,
but the invention of corporate organiza
tion and management, which has found
efficiency in co-operation, has gathered
capital from numberless sources and
brought it together into powerful streams
of credit, capable of performing hitherto
undreamed of tasks, and like other pow
erful streams, liable also, once out of
control, to do irreparable damage.
“The causes are not to be attributed
to the supposition that we have bad bus
iness men. rather those causes are truly
to be found among the involuntary re
sults of the revolutionary changes that
the new industrialism has brought into
business life. We may frankly admit
that there have been in the last score
of years grasping men and dishonest men
in business—as there have been since
the beginning of time and will always
continue to be. But I believe there are
fewer of them proportionately to-day than
ever before: that we now have finer bus
iness ethics than ever before, a broader
human spirit in business life, a more just
apprehension of social relationships and
obligations and higher standards of in
tegrity.
“I believe if business men will get
themselves into a state of mind where
they view conditions broadly, with a his
torical and social sense, rather than only
from their individual point of view, they
will apprehend better the direction in
which the whole current of political
thought is flowing, and will feel less im
patience with this legislative movement,
and vastly less pessimism concerning its
results.
"I believe that the cure for many of
the present evils that are afflicting busi
ness lies in the hands of business men
themselves, and it will be effected in the
measure in which business men see to it
that the public honestly and clearly is in
formed. The real psychological barriers
to a trade revival will then be removed.
"This view as I see it is a view of great
optimism; but it is also a view that means
that there is a great work to be per
formed. If that work is well done, and it
lies with business men to do it, we will
have a sound, well informed public opinion.
Such a public opinion combined with our
material resources of rich acres and mines,
of vast industrial equipment, of skilled la
bor and sound credit, will make a perma
nent foundation upon which to build a
prosperity, the extent of which would be
so great, that I would hesitate to picture it
to you: a prosperity which shall inure to
the benefit of all engaged in our great in
dustrial movement where each, great or
humble, bears a part and where the in
terests of each is inseparable from the
welfare of all.”
Mr Richards, who followed Mr Vander
lip, denounced what he termed "the new
tyranny resulting from too much paternal
ism in government.” "No money trust is
the cause of our present business depres
sion," he said, "whether we feel it, or only
think we feel it, according to the
psychological theory of the national ad
ministration. For the causes of our present
ills we must go deeper. No one feels safe,
except the farmer and the workingman,
who seem always immune and will be
until some statesman is found who has
courage enough to make them take their
discipline with the rest. When that day
comes the terrors of legislation will fall
off to nothing.
"To-day what menaces business is not
the tyranny of plutocracy, but what I call
the tyranny of paternalism. I yield to
no man in my admiration for the presi
dent of the United States as a doer of
great things, but I honestly believe that
the time has now come when even he
must feel that there is danger of the new
freedom becoming the new tyranny. Al
most before we know it this country will be
asked to take the last step in paternal
ism— public ownership of anything and
everything necessary to satisfy the ambi
tion of each political opportunist.”
The sale for taxes of half of a bridge
across the Mississippi at 8t Louis recalls
P odd'n head Wilson's desire to own half
ot a dog which he disliked, so that he
could kill his half.
c. S. HAMLIN IS NAMED
RESERVE BOARD IS CHOSEN
Other Men Nominated Are W. P. G.
Harding, A. C. Miller, Panl War
linrs and T. D. Jones.
Organization of the new national bank
ing and currency system entered its last
stages at Washington Monday when
President Wilson nominated the five meu
who, serving with *the secretary of tho
treasury and the controller of the cur
rency, ex-officio, will constitute the federal
reserve board. Charles S. Hamlin ot
Boston was nominated for the two-year
term, Paul Warburg of New York for
four years, Thomas D. Jones of Chicago
for six years, W. P. G. Harding of Bir
mingham, Ala., for eight years and A. C.
Miller of San Francisco for 10 years.
Thus eventually all appointments to the
board will be for 10 year terms, the terms
of one member expiring every two years.
President Wilson will select one of the
men named Monday to be governor of
the board. It is generally expected that
Mr Jones or Hamlin will be chosen for
the place.
Upon their confirmation by the Senate
they will complete the organization of the
new system. The 12 regional reserve
banks provided by the law already have
been organized and balloting for direc
tors of certain classes now is in progress
among the member banks. It is planned
to have the new currency system in com
plete operation in time to care for the
needs of the country during the crop
moving season this fall.
Mr Hamlin, now assistant secretary of
the treasury, was chosen Monday aft
er E. C. Simmons of St Louis deelined
a place. Mr Warburg and Mr Harding
are bankers, Mr Jones is a lawyer and
Mr Miller is an economist, now assistant
secretary of the interior.
Mr Hamlin is an expert In finance, who
served as assistant secretary of the treas
ury under President Cleveland and re
turned to the treasury department soon
after President Wilson took office, as the
assistant secretary in charge of customs.
The appointment of John Skelton Williams
to be controller of the currency left vacant
the office of assistant secretary in charge
of the treasury fiscal bureaus, and Mr
Hamlin was appointed to that place,
which put him logically in line for promo
tion to the secretary's office itself.
The nominations of the members of the
reserve board got to the banking and cur
rency committee. Although there may be
some opposition to the men proposed,
there is little doubt that they will be con
firmed. It was said Monday night Assistant
Secretary W. P. Melburn, who now has
charge of customs in the treasury depart
ment, probably would be advanced to
succeed Mr Hamlin.
DEFENDS THE SUPREME COURT
WILLIAM H. TAFT AT HARVARD
Former President Delivers the Phi
Beta Kappa Oration in Cambridge.
The unabridged exercise of the limita
tions upon hasty action of a majority of
the electorate, now interposed by the vest
ed prerogatives of the supreme court of
the United States and by the machinery
for amending the constitution, was de
fended by former President William How
ard Taft in an oration before members of
the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity of Harvard
university, at Sandyrs theater, Cambridge,
Monday. The subject of the oration was
“The supreme emit of the United States
and. popular self-government." Mr Taft's,
defense of these-limitations had immediate
reference, to change's .urged by certain po
litical leaders to qualify existing personal
and property rights and increase govern
mental control over the individual. He at
tacked the recall of judicial decisions and
the proposal that the judgment of the su
preme court in construing and enforcing
the constitution may be subject to a re
versal by a plurality vote at any biennial
election.
Basing his argument that the constitu
tional and judiciary obstructions to im
pulsive action at the polls were not incon
sistent with popular government, upon
English governmental development, Mr
Taft said: “The enduring character of the
English government and of the govern
ments that have been derived from it. like
our own. is to be traced in this training
of the minority to be good losers. But
the quality of being losers will not per
sist in minorities, unless majorities exer
cise their power with fairness.”
Consideration for the rights of property
holders was urged by Mr Taft, who said
that they may not always be nonresistent
and always in favor of law and order as,
if their right of property is-seriously im
paired, they may change their conserva
tism to the rebellious spirit like Ulster.
In this connection Mr Taft attacked the
trade, unions for their championing of the
Clayton hill pending before Congress ex
empting them from the operation of the
Sherman antitrust law and for their sup
port of the strikers in Colorado. ’
“We find.” lie said, “many labor organ
izations insisting that the courts be weak
ened so that lawless violence on their part
may be an effective instrumentality to
gain their industrial ends. Indeed, we find
actual rebellion against state authority
maintained by certain trade unions and
supported by contributions openly solicited
from their sympathizers tbe country over.”
The superiority of procedure of con
struction of the country's laws with the
help of the supreme court rather than at
a biennial election was urged by the speas
er, and the need for some such tribunal
grew greater, not less, he said, in the de
veloping of society in its modern form.
“In a transition period,” he concluded, "we
need the supreme court, not to prevent re
form by the exercise of popular will, but
to prevent changing by popular whim.”
SnrTra<eta an Illustration.
Mr Taft in f his address further said:
"It is a great mistake to suppose that the
present-day government is to reduce dis
content by widening the field of impulsive
action of a temporary majority at the
polls. What the observer of present con-'
ditions must note is the growing unwill
ingness of a minority to abide by the
judgment of the majority when they
think that they axe unjustly treated. The
exhibition of what has be,eu going on ia
England for the last three or four years
by the militant suffragets is an extreme
instance of what I mean. They use force,
and with modern explosives and tbe free
dom of modern life they are able to do
public and private damage utterly out of
proportion to their numerical strength.
Nor is this disposition to resist govern
mti.tal authority of the majority confined
t> fanatics whose enthusiasm carries them
beyond the bounds of sanity. We find a
threat of the same physical resistance in
the attitude of the heretofore conservative
people of Ulster in opposing the passage
of the home-rule bill. We find many labor
organizations insisting that the arm of
the courts be weakened so that lawless
violence on their part may be an effective
instrumentality to gain their industrial
ends. Indeed, we find actual rebellion
against state authority maintained by cer
tain trades unions and supported hy con
tributious openly solicited from their sym
pathizers the. country over.
“As the population in a country grows
and becomes congested in large cities. the
interdependence of one class of producers
in a community upon another, and of all
consumers upon producers and transport-
ers. has greatly increased. The organized
refusal of one class, whose activity is an
importiint cog in our complicated agricul
tural. industrial and business mechanism,
to discharge its function, can cause the
greatest embarrassment and suffering tq
society at large. It is too often assumed in
discussions of this kind that those who
own property are always nonresistant and
always in favor of law and order. That
assumption, as a general rule, is well
founded: but if the action, of the majority
is seriously to impair the right of property,
then we may find that their conservatism
like that of Ulster will change to the re
bellious spirit The property owners are
not few in number. The rich may be few
comparatively: but those who have earned
and saved include many million farmers
as well as business men. wage-earners as
well as capitalists. Men with small homes
and moderate savings will look upon a
modification of their property rights with
quite as much impatience and quite as
much spirit of protest as other classes.
Therefore, if the general public interest
requires that property rights be qualified,
this should not be done except after full
est consideration and discussion so that
general acquiescence in the change should
be had.’.
JUDGE PARKER S SPEECH.
Scores “a Retired Chief Executive”
in Address io Yale Law Seniors.
"Something is radically wrong in the
mental processes of the electorate, or
else patriotism is at its last gasp when,
with hardly a whisper of protest, a re
tired chief executive may brag to repre
sentatives of the people of his treason
able scheme to intrude upon state rights,
and violate otherwise the fundamental
law by establishing a military receivership
over coal mines pending a strike, ad
mitting without a suspicion of decent
shame that, he had well considered that
his offense might be impeachable if com
mitted-impeachable, of course, only be
cause the acts planned would have been
unconstitutional and lawless,” said Judge
Alton B. Barker of New York, once a
candidate for tbe presidency, in address
ing the graduating class at the Yale law
school at New Haven, Ct., Monday. Con
tinuing he said:—
"Our forebears, clear of head and far of
sight, anticipated just such vicious attacks
by those in power and sought to insure to
us a government of laws and not of men
and through their wisdom such a govern
ment is ours for a little vigilance. The
country needs a host of clear-headed active
men in the electorate, who shall discern
and brand with the infamy it deserves
every assault upon the constitutional foun
dation of our liberty, property and happi
ness.”
“The duty and opportunity of vigilance
rests not alone upon federal and state offi
cials,” said the speaker; “not alone upon
the courts, but primarily and most fully
upon the men with the ballots, and most
heavily upon the legal profession because
lawyers are well qualified to appreciate
the necessity, for law and to understand
how imperative it is that the necessary
law be respected and obeyed.
"Therefore,” he continued, “I call upon
you to stand ever ready to do battle against
every enemy of constitutional law and con
stitutional liberty because you are young,
because the country needs such service
from you and because, as lawyers, you
will have a special mission to faithfully
serve in the constitutional army.”
Announcement was made of the selec
tion of Amos P. Wilder, former consul
general at Shanghai, China, as secretary
treasurer of "Yale in China,’’ succeeding
Prof W. H. Sallmon, who resigned some
time ago. Mr Wilder will make his home
in New Haven and will take active charge
of the work.
GEN SCHAFF'S WEST POINT TALK
On Relinquishing the Presidency ot
the Alumni Association—-Onr Moral
Leadership.
Gen Morris Schaff. veteran of the civil
war and a member of the Massachusetts
gas and electric light commission, retired
as president of the alumni of the military
academy at West Point Thursday, and
his address to his fellow-graduates touched
upon the attitude of our government
toward Mexico and the service of the army
there. His concluding paragraphs were
as follows
I beg your indulgence for one word
more. No observer of the swift march
of national events and especially those of
the last six months, can fail to see that
we are at the dawn of a new epoch in
our country’s, if not of the world’s, his
tory. Notwithstanding much provocation
and a wild, passionate clamor for war by
screaming politicians, and frustrated busi
ness combinations plotting for gain, egged
on by a sensation-mongering press, with
cool deliberation, listening apparently to
the peal of a trumpet at the lips of des
tiny, our government has left the san
guinary road which empires and kingdoms
have followed to conquest, power and mil
itary glory and is bending her steps, with
good will in her heart and her face illumi
nated with a lofty purpose, toward new
bights in the career of democracy. And
whether she reaches those bights without
conflict or not. can there be a question of
the weight of her example or can there
be a question of the garlands she will wear
if peace, blessed peace, camps with her
when the day is done? If ever a striking
example of calm high-mindedness was set
by a nation owning no superior, hating
no rival and dreading no equal, that ex
ample is now being set in the policy and
bearing of our country.
Let no one charge her with tameness
or pusillanimity in showing magnanimity
and unwillingness, although conscious of
invincible might, to engage a feeble, neigh
boring and backward nation. No. no. the
well-tried courage in the American heart
resents the insulting imputation and cries
out. "Do not charge me with tffisillanimity
because I have the courage to take the
road to peace. I have been on the fields
of the Revolution, of Gettysburg. Cold
Harbor and Chickamauga, and I am ready
now, as I was then, to spill the last drop
of blood for the country’s honor and the
natural rights of mankind: but in the
name of and for the sake of all that is
noble. I implore you not to call on me to
make the sacrifice merely to gratify ambi
tion or for territorial or commercial ag
grandizement.”
For almost a year, in the face of the
most critical situations along the Rio
Grande and later at Vera Cruz, with what
discipline, humanity and self-possession
has the army borne itself! Although with
its hand on the sword-hilt, ready to draw
when the country calls, not a war-breed
ing word have you heard from it nor will
you hear. Never, never have I been so
proud of the profession of my youth. Yes,
yes. and truly as the country proceeds on
her heaven-appointed way. the. army with
the spirit of old West Point marches in
silence by her side, not an empty show
or vain parade, but a martial reality, re
flecting and sharing with her the loftiest
ideals that ever hung in the form of
glory before a people.
The decision of the Jewish immigrants'
information bureau—dr the situation which
led to the decision—to discontinue the
movement to divert a part of the Jew
ish immigration from New York to Gal l
veston, is unfortunate. The reason given
for the closing of the bureau is the al
leged hostile attitude, of the immigrant au
thorities at the Texas port, it appears
that, notwithstanding special efforts to
meet their relatively rigid tests, 5 per
cent of the immigrants have been turned
back from that port in tbe pant year and
a half, while from all other ports last year
the debarments equaled only 114 per cent.
Over 9000 Jewish immigrants -have taken
the southern route since 007, and sub
stantial progress seemed , have been made
toward the highly desirable end of a wider
distribution over the country of Europe's
contribution to our potential citizenship.
THE VICE-PRESIDENT SPEAKS
AT MAINE COMMENCEMENT
Marshall Telle of Economic and Edu
cational Chances.
Vice-President Mlrrsbail delivered ihe
principal address at Orone, Me., last week
at the university of Maine commencement
exercises. He dwelt upon the need of
education for the young man taking up
the business of life. The vice-president
said in part:—
“Slight knowledge will not enable the
young man to assume the management of
life's affairs. In the irrepressible conflict
between labor and capital, he cannot as
sume that either property or labor is
everything without tending to establish a
peon class in America or an oligarchy of
wealth. Complete knowledge may con
vince him that it will be better for the
republic to be controled by neither of
these classes.
“In 1850 we had a republic where labor
was satisfied, where respect for religion
and reverence for law and order and a
sincere attachment to the constitution
were strong. In that year the proportion
of the annual wealth Created in the coun
try by the joint efforts of labor and cap
ital was one-fourth to labor and three
fourths to capital. Sixty years later the
proportion had changed to leas than one
fifth to labor and more than four-fifths
to capital. This disproportion; to my
mind, has much to do with our present:
discontent.
"Usurious interest is no more, but usuri
ous profit has taken its place. When our
statutes regulating the rates of interest
were enacted the laboring man, generally
speaking, was a skilled laborer. He could
produce a completed article. The advent
of machinery took from him his tools and
put them in the hands of capital. Money
no longer is borrowed by laborers to en
able them to carry on their trades, but
money is crafty, and instead of loaning
itself to the laboring man it is now buy
ing the laboring man’s machinery, con
stantly enhancing its own profit thereby
and constantly decreasing the laboring
man’s share of our produced wealth. The
young man in assuming leadership must
create a public opinion and develop a
moral sentiment against usurious profit as
against usurious interest. Evidence of a
disposition on the part of the corporate
wealth to accept this view is not lacking.
I dare the prediction that the railroads
of the country would welcome a perma
nent 5 per cent or 6 per cent accumula
tive profit in exchange for their greater
profit and the doubt, risk and abuse which
come with it.
“The doctrine of states’ rights is now
seldom heralded save in opposition to
needed reforms. I must subscribe to the
doctrine, but I realize that subjects which
formerly were purely of state cognizance
have become of common interest between
the states and that the doctrine of
states’ rights must be supplemented by
the doctrine of states’ duties.
“To control our corporations, it becomes
a state’s duty to place in office vigorous
and honest officials who will hail offenders
into court and vindicate the honor of their
state laws, instead of elevating into office
men who will quietly sit by and wait for
the general government to devise some
plan to prevent the evil and to punish the
wrong-doer. To conserve our natural re
sources, it becomes a state’s duty to adopt
a system for the wise and economic use
of the resources and the prevention of
private control by greedy speculators.
“If states’ rights are to be preserved,
the young men of to-morrow must take up
this cry of states’ duties; otherwise, our
pleasing vision of Uncle Sam as a patri
archal gentleman with n lieneficent smile
on his face toward zlmeriean manhood
striving for success will change to that of
a quack doctor placarded, ‘When others
fail, consult me/
“We Americans are not dishonest, nei
ther at heart nor intellectually, but I am
fearful that many of us are intellectual
cowards. When ‘getting on’ involves us
with our consciences and with the lews of
the land, we do not fight the battle out
with ourselves. We throw ourselves into
the arms of the law and demand absolu
tion from sin and protection from punish
ment. The law, of course, has defined
neither fraud nor dishonesty "with that de
gree of certainty which places our pro
posed conduct within its terms.
“The old order of education has
changed. It furnish a philosophy and
taught men that happiness was not in his
material surroundings, in position or
power, but in his own purposes and con
duct The humanities have been forgot
ten in the rush for the successes. Our
institutions of higher learning may not be
expected to furnish a philosophic view of
life, but they can be expected to instil
into the minds of young men—intellectual
courage. I am visionary enough to be
lieve that intellectual courage combined
with honesty will solve whatever social
and economic problem may arise. May
this institution send no man into the
world to be a leader in thought who is too
cowardly to fight error and too timid to
embrace truth. 1 ’
During the commencement exercises
Vice-President Marshall received the hon
orary degree of doctor of laws at the
hands of President Robert J. Aley. The
same degree was conferred upon Henry
G. Morrison, superintendent of public in
struction of New Hampshire.
HIGH TARIFF AND IMMIGRATION.
Present Conditions in Masaaehnsetta
—The Commission’s Report.
To the Editor of The Republican:—
I see that in a recent editorial you ad
mit for the first time, so far as I have
observed, the evils of excessive immigra
tion. You say that “Massachusetts is
paying and will long continue to pay for
its rapid advance in manufactures. It is
a price such as is paid nowhere else on
the earth. Massachusetts is no longer
its old self. Only one-third of its popula
tion is native-born of native parentage.”
It should be added that at the present
rate of immigration, with the progres
sive sterilization of the American stock
by the introduction of foreigners into the
farming districts and otherwise, the pro
portion will soon be not two-thirds, but
nine-tenths.
You quote the state immigration com
mission as saying that “the one-third
of the population that is native-born of
native parentage is seeking to bring un
der dominant American influence the
other two-thirds of the population. . ■ .
Unfamiliar with our laws, our customs,
methods and standards of living, these
newcomers have imposed upon many com
munities burdens far beyond their finan
cial strength,” and you continue: “Im
agine an England whose native-born of
native parentage was only one-third of the
population.”
You place the blame of this condition
upon the protective tariff, and say that
the severest count against that tariff is
in the statement of the Massachusetts
commission, from which the above is
quoted.
Are not yon overestimating the impor
tance of the protective policy in this con
nection? Is it not true that so long as
wages in this country are substantially
higher than those in parts of the Old
world immigration will continue, and that
so long as the advantage of the Ameri
can workingman is as great as it now is,
it will continue at its present rate? The
only escape from excessive immigration,
if its amount 1b allowed to depend merely
upon our industrial policy, is to make the
American rate of wages so low that there
is no longer any inducement to the foreign
er to exchange his condition for ours.
If it is ,true, as you imply, that immi
gration is at present excessive, is not the
sound policy to lessen its amount by di
rect legislation to that end? To the great
majority of the American people ft has
long seemed, as shown by the large ma
jorities of votes for the reading test in
both houses last year and in the House
of Representatives this year and by many
previous votes, that the best way to re-
strict immigration is to restrict: not to
wait until the American standard of liv
ing is so far depressed that there is no
longer any inducement to the foreigner
to emigrate. Joseph Lee.
Boston, June 11, IHl^.
t^The Republican has never held that
immigration may not be excessive^ nor
that if is unaccompanied by evils. But
it has opposed, and still Opposes, the lit
eracy test for admission to this country.
Our statement as to the relation between
excessive immigration and the. high tariff
was based on the declaration of the Mas
sachusetts immigration commission, as fol
lows:—
At present., the one-third of the population
that is native-born of native parentage is
seeking to bring under dominant American
tlon' enCe Vhe two-thlrds of the popula-
Thls gravely perplexing and possihlv men
acing problem Is .due in largest measure to
the intense industrial expansion that has pre
vailed during the past 15 years.
Employers of labor have been speeding
ahead under forced draft, and. so far as
human equation has entered’into their calcu
lations. it has simply been a question of suf-
Jcient supply, to meet the demand for labor.
" , .?? ct ,Jlat the only labor available for
nnskilleq employment was that of non
zß?, speaking people has caused an Influx
those whose life in their own rountrr
made them willing to work for a lower wage
and to live more cheaply than native-born
citizens.
The Republican does not hold that this
has beep the only cause of excessive im
migration. but there is no escaping the
fact that “the speeding ahead under
forced draft” in industry, which was the
logical, even the desired, result of the
high tariff policy, was an extra stimulus
to the immigration movement.
SPIRIT OF THE FLAG.
President Wilson Saya Banner tor
Future Is Meant to Stand tor Jnst
Use ot Power.
Waving his hand toward an American
flag hoisted by a squad of navy blue
jackets. President Wilson told a great
crowd assembled at Washington Monday
before the state, war and navy build
ing in order to celebrate flag day that,
flying over a reunited nation, the banner
for the future was “meant to stand for
the just use of undisputed national pow
er. Our spirits as well as our states are
now united,” said the president, “and
nobody questions our ability to push for
ward our economic affairs upon lines of
unparalleled success and prosperity.
“I sometimes wonder why men take
this flag and flaunt it. If I am respected
I do not have to demand respect. If I
am feared, I do not have to ask for fear.
If my power is known, I do not have to
proclaim it. I do not understand the
temper, neither does this nation under
stand the temper of men who use this
flag boastfully.
“This flag for the future is meant to
stand for the just use of undisputed na
tional power. No nation is ever going to
doubt our power to assert its rights, and
we should lay it to heart that no nation
shall ever henceforth doubt our purpose to
put it to the highest uses to which a great
emblem of justice and government can be
put.
"It is henceforth to stand for self-posses
sion, for dignity, for the assertion of the
right of one nation to serve the other na
tions of the world—an emblem that will
not condescend to be used for purposes of
aggression and self-aggrandizement: that
is too great to be debased by selfishness:
that has vindicated its right to be honored
by all nations of the world and feared by
none who do righteousness. Is it not a
proud thing to stand under such an em
blem? Would it not be a pitiful thing ever
to make apology and explanation of any
thing that we ever did under the leader
ship of this flag carried in the van? Is it
not a solemn responsibility laid upon us to
lay . aside bluster and assume that much
greater thing, the quietude of genuine
power? Ro it seems to me that it is my
privilege and right, as the temporary rep
resentative of a great nation that does
what it pleases with its own affairs, to
say that we please to do justice and assert
the rights of mankind wherever this flag
is unfurled."
SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
Carrent Business, Patience and Finan
cial Health.
To the Editor of The Republican:—
Mr Vanderlip's address at the meeting
of the New York state bankers’ associa
tion shows a breadth of view not always
found in the circles with which his name
is most associated. He has at least an ap
preciation of the genera! character of the
period through which we are passing and
its significance, historically considered. He
does not denounce the government or the
politicians, nor does he demand a divorce
of business from government regulation,
as so many leading business men and
financiers are wont to do, A merely bour
bon attitude of mind teaches us nothing,
and Mr Vanderlip has the distinction of
avoiding it
There can he no doubt that certain busi
ness men in the hope of restoring the old
order of protection and laissez faire (for
themselves) are talking depression with
might and main- They actually enjoy the
prospect of depression, trusting that it
may lead to the restoration of the old (re
publican) policies. To illustrate: A mill
owner within the past fortnight was
descanting at length and with extraor
dinary emphasis upon the prevailing hard
times. There was simply no business do
ing. Three days later I met his manager,
who assured me that in his line of business
trade was good and that the mill was
working on full time. Prices, he ad
mitted, were a bit low. but the prospect
was better than at any time since the
mill was started,—about 10 years ago.
In the meanwhile, he stated, the mill
owner was slowly but surely accumulating
a fortune. Is this a case of “psychologi
cal” depression?
Moreover the statistics of production
and of bank exchanges show many worse
periods during the past 10 years, even the
statistics of the steel trust. Why this ab
normal sympathy of certain newspapers
with a reduction of orders on tbe part of the
the steel corporation when the reduction
is only moderate after all?
A competent business man, speaking of
present conditions, said that such reve
lations as those of Mr Mellen had thor
oughly scared capital, so far as new un
dertakings were concerned. This explana
tion may or tnay not be right, but so far
as it goes is it not "psychological”?
Every economist who favors a low tar
iff (and nearly all economic teaching
leans in this direction) knows that its
immediate and temporary effect is a reduc
tion of orofits and to some extent a re
duction of prosperity—but that its gen
eral and permanent tendency is toward
a more (table and better distributed pro
duction. Protection is a stimulus and, ex
cept in rare circumstances, a very morbid
stimulus. Withdraw it and the patient
for a time feels relaxed. But in the long
run the business of the country is on a
sounder basis under a low tariff than un
der a high one. The capital point is that
a little patience is necessary to understand
and appreciate the benefits of a return to
health. n.
IVilliamstown, June 13, 191 f(.
Senatqr Lewis, tired of being called
“J, Ham" or “Jim Ham," has dropped ais
James and is to be simply Hamilton
Lewis. Thereby he follows the illus
trious examples of Stephen Grover Cleve
land; Thomas Woodrow Wilson, Solomon
Washington Gladden. Joseph Rudyard
Kipling, James . Brander Matthetvs and
ot: erg, each of whom has made a distin
guished name for himself.