The Billings gazette. [volume], October 15, 1909, Page 2, Image 2

About The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919

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iILLINGS GAZETTE
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Navigation Is Feasible
I CERTAINLY think that the navigation of the Yellowstone
S fom this city to its mouth is a very feasible proposition,
both from an engineering and a commercial standpoint," de
clares United States Senator Thomas M. Carter in an interview
with The Daily Gazette. In this position the senator is in full ac
cord with Representative in Congress Pray who is hard at work
gathering the data which ought to lead congress to make the proper
provision for the conservation of this great natural resource.
At every one of the hearings thus far conducted by the Interstate
Commerce commission the point has been insisted upon that the rea
son why one community should be favored with good transportation
rates while some other community receives such rates as make it
impossible for it to compete was due to water traffic. It is gen
erally recognized by all who ship or receive a pound of freight that
water rates are very much less than are those exclusively by rail,
and that wherever it is possible to ship by water, railroad rates at
once drop to a reasonable figure.
If it is possible to so improve the channels of the Yellowstone
and the Missouri that the wheat of Montana can be loaded upon
boats at Billings and floated\to market, then Billings and Montana
will be in a position to force the railroads to concede the rates which
are always given wherever the competition of waterways is felt.
"Personally, I think the stream can be made navigable," de
clares Seinator Carter, "and I would base its chief usefulness on the
effect that it would have in bringing about more equitable freight
rates."
Therein lies one of the strongest arguments in favor of water
transportation. When the railroads know that with excessive freight
rates the traffic would be driven to the river, they will consider long
before they would dare to discriminate against, or even to bear hard
upon the community which has the navigable stream at its doors.
There is no sort of question that there is sufficient tonnage avail
able at the present time, to make the navigation of the Yellowstone
profitable and there is every indication that within the next few years
this tonnage will have so increased that not only would the railroads,
offering fair rates, have all the business they could handle, but the
steamboat men, too, would find all that they could do in the trans
portation especially of grain and the bulkier of freights.
After all it is as Senator Carter says, the effect of water trans
portation would have upon freight rates that would give to it its
principal value, and through this cause alone, the improvement of
the river is most desirable. Eastern Montana has reason to be
pleased because of the declaration of Senator Carter that no matter
what the report of the engineers may be he 'will continue to work
for the improvement of the Yellowstone and will use every means
within his power to secure an appropriation to take up the work.
Commander Peary has given out a
Peary's statement in which he attempts to prove
that I)r. Cook not only did not reach the
Dangerous pole but that he did not even try, and the
Ecommander quotes the Eskimo who were
Experiment with Cook to prove his statement. On the
other hand, the physician declares that he
had given the Eskimo instructions to not tell Peary where they had
been, and they had obeyed their instructions.
It would seem that it is folly to ask scientific societies to pass
upon the question of 'whether Cook or Peary reached the pole, for
when it comes down to "brass tacks" the only evidence that could be
possible would be the bare words of the claimants to polar honors.
It has been said that observations could be "faked" in an hour that
would convince all of the scientists of the world, and if this be tiue,
then one might as well doubt the story of a dash to the pole when
made by Peary as when made by Cook.
To t°he unscientific man whose knowledge of exploration in the
polar regions is confined to the weird tales of Fiala and others of
the magazine writers, it would seem that Peary might better have
confined himself to establishing proof that he himself reached the
"big nail" rather than to prove tlhat some other man did not. To the
disgusted 'world it would appear to be a somewhat dangerous thing
for Peary to shake the confidence of the world in the statements of
explorers, for the chances are good that if Peary succeeds in convinic
ing the public that Cook did not reach the pole, he will also have
persuaded the world that he in common with other explorers are mon
umental "four flushers."
!tr kký t
Mr. Bryan says that he is not at candidate for any office, and lihe
hopes that nothing will happen to make it necessary for him to again
lead his party in the battle of the ballots. There are several well
known Dtemocratic statesmen who will utter a hearty "Amen" to
this sentiment expressed by Mr. Bryan.
St. Paul and Spokane are both after the next session of the Dry
Farming congress. Both cities are in the habit of getting everything
they go after, and the struggle reminds one of the problem of our
school days, "What is the result when the irristible strikes the im
movable ?"
Our friends of Livingston are comning down to the Dry Farming
congress in force. Livingston always does the right thing well and
it is odds that a few thousand people will know more about Living
ston than they have in the past when that bunch of boosters strike
the congress city.
America has won additional honors in the air, a balloonist hav
ing defeated all comers in Switzerland. Europe ought by now to be
fully satisfied that Americans are pretty fly.
Prediction Was Verified I
AS WAS PREDICTED by The Daily Gazette, nothing has
come of the prosecution of the publishers of the Indianapolis
News for having uttered a libel upon William Nelson Crom
well and others connected with the purchase of the Panama canal
from the French company, and it is safe to say that outside the in
terest naturally aroused by the language of the federal court before
whom the proceedings were brought, the public will pay but little
attention to the case.
It matters little whether there was any truth in the story pub
lished by the Indianapolis paper and by the New York World to the
effect that there was a huge graft in the conveyance of the rights of
the Frenchmen to the canal, the fact remains that the charges were
sprung during the heat of a presidential campaign, and the American
people, so aaccustomed to roorbacks and canards, sedulously refrain
from believing any such things during a campaign. The public
thought that the charges were political in character and designed
- for political effect, and there is little doubt that politics had a great
deal to do ,with the matter.
On the other hand, the indictments of the publishers were also
secured during the campaign, and whether the men should have been
indicted or not, the fact remains that the public believed, with con
siderable show of justification, that politics also entered largely in c
3 the prosecution and that there was room for suspicion that one move t
was solely for the purpose of counteracting the other. t
The court before whom the proceedings were brought, viewed
t the matter just as The Daily Gazette said the public undoubtetdly s
would, and as a consequence, the accused men were set at liberty. S
The moral of the whole thing is that if you want to call atten- t
tion to some evil, election time is not the proper time in which to
t do it. Another moral is that if you 'wish to do a man or a party i
wrong in politics you will not succeed if you attempt it during a
political campaign. 1,
The people are more and more distrusting the statements made l:
in the heat of politics, and the peddler of canards and roorbacks are
rapidly finding their vocation gone. It pays to be honest with the d
people, and the politicians are beginning to discover the fact, not
so much yet as one could wish, but enough to lead to the assumption r
that some time, within the near future, the politicians will give credit i
t to the average citizen of knowing enough to discriminate between the v
truth and a lie. It may not be hoped that chicanery, distortion of i
r facts and misrepresentations, shall soon cease in politics, but the case I
t of Delavan Smith for one thing, has demonstrated that the people r
are not disposed to listen to any charges made during a season of t
1 political excitement..
The Discovery of America
OUR hundred and seventeen years ago . . s sailor, peering
through the night from the bow of a quaint ship, shouted
"land."
For weeks the vessel had beat into the path of the setting sun,
through an unknown and trackless sea. The crew was mutinous,
ignorant and superstitious. The life of the commander had been
threatened, for the men were bent on turning back. Strange signs
had alarmed them. Birds the like of which none had ever known
before, hovered over the craft. A meteor. screaming through the
heavens, plunged into the water hard by. This was regarded as an
evil sign.
Fighting with his crew, battling the beliefs of centuries, and rid
ing daily a greater distance into the umknown, the navigator who
guarded the honor of his patrons, held also in his keeping the salva
tion of the human race.
For when the lookout of the tiny Nina discerned land at 2
o'clock in the eventful morning, the screen that kept the New World
from the sight of the old had been drawn aside. San Salvador, the
lsland sentinel of a great continent, had been reached, and the first
stage in the many voyages of discovery that have resulted in the
growth of great nations and new peoples, had been completed.
Now, San Salvador is a forgotten dot in mid-Atlantic waters,
and little heed is paid to it by the busy men of this bustling world.
Few men will give thought to the fact that today is the four
hundred and seventeenth anniversary of the discovery of America,
or to the debt of gratitude we owe to the Genoese mariner, without
whose effort the history of the race would have been different.
The people of the United States have paid honor to men who
have served the country by land and sea, and they have even gone
outside of the country and, in recognition of genius, have erected
monuments to men who probably never gave a thought to America.
We have all been delighted by the charming poesy of Robert Burns,
ibut it would look strange that we should erect monuments to the
Scottish poet while we have left to the Italian-Americans of the
land, the duty of honoring the man who carried the human race
through the dark hours of history.
During all the centuries there was not to be found anywhere
upon the continent a statue or monument to the great explorer who
gave to humanity a new world, until a few short years ago, the
I:nited Italian societies composed largely of hard-working, poorly
paid Italian immigrants, gathered up the pennies of the men from
the native land of Columbus, and down in Colorado, erected the only
monument to the discoverer of America that America can boast of.
That the cities of the land have not given visible expression of
tihe honor they should, and must, feel toward Columbus is doubtless
due to the fact that there has been no sentiment in favor of it. That
it should be (lone, admits of no doubt, for it is the least that we
:an do.
There is not a city or town in the country that can show a greater
amount of improvement work in proportion to population than can
Billings, and there is not a spot on the continent, population con
sidered, that can show the amount of hustle and bustle as can be
found in all parts of the metropolis of the Yellowstone valley. The
beginning of the 50,000 population campaign is now very apparent.
The proposition to conserve the greatest natural resource of the
country, the inland waterway transportation, is by no means dead.
Steamboats on the Yellowstone are things that may be expected and
that will come as soon as the people awaken to the value of cheap
transportation.
CRANE MAY BE COMPELLED
TO RELINQUISH 1IS NEW POST
Some Hot Shot Pour
ed Into the State
Department
SOME WARM TALK
Declares That He Followed Instruc
tions of President Taft.--Secretary
I Knox Changed Instructions and Be
t fused to Allow Minister to See Presi
dent.-Charges of Bad Faith Made.
1 ASHINGTON, Oct. 12.-Secretary
of State Knox early this after
noon sent a letter to Charles R.
1 Crane of Chicago, who is in Washing
, ton, notifying him that his resigna
. tion as minister of the United States
to China would be accepted.
Mr. Crane had already advised the
secretary that he was prepared to re
sign if recent developments had made
his further services embarrassing to
the department.
Mr. Knox has advised President
Taft of his action.
Should Mr. Crane decide to acccede
to the secretary's suggestion, which it
is taken for granted he will do prompt
ly, his resignation will, in the nature
of the case, be addressed, not to the
state department, but to the presi
dent, who appointed him.
Mr. Crane's statement is as follows:
"The statement issued by the de
l partment of state is slightly inaccu
rate in saying that the secretary has
informed me that my resignation
a would be accepted. The letter I re
ceived from Mr. Knox at noon today
says he has recommended to the pres
e ident that the president accept my
resignation. Before this letter had
been Teceived by me I already sent to
f the president through his secretary,
Mr. Carpenter, the following:
" 'Washington, D. C., Oct. 12.-Pres
ent William H. Taft: The state de
partment objects to certain things I
have done in the effort to carry out
my understanding of your wishes as
expressed by you to me. I have care
fully considered the entire matter. In
my judgment no mistake has been
r made except as the department has
made a mistake. However, I did not
and cannot guarantee to make no
mistakes and especially unless I have
the cordial support and co-operation
of the government.
"'The manner in which the depart
ment has proceeded and is proceeding
is inconsistent with my own self-re
. spect and my conception of the dig
nity of the position and 'with the un
derstanding upon which I accepted. I
e appreciate the personal consideration
I have received from you and under
all' circumstances have decided to
await information as to your wishes
before taking action. You will un
derstand, of course, that my resigna
3 tion is in your hands. (Signed.)
"'CHARLES R. CRANE."'
"The statement of the department is
further inaccurate in saying that 'I
gave out a newspaper story' about
the preparation of a protest in re
gard to the agreement between China
and Japan. It would have been more
accurate if the statement had said, as
was indicated in its own closing par
e agraph, that a brief conversation of
mine with a newspaper representa
tive contributed to the publication by
him of a discussion of this agreement
and the possibility of -a protest by this
government and that the department
regarded this conversation 'indiscreet.'
The publication did not mention my
name nor in my judgment would it
have been a mistake if the depart
ment of state should have chosen not
to vouch for it and have given it an
official significance by its own con
duct.
"It certainly contained nothing of
substance that was not a matter of
common knowledge or deducible by
any competent newspaper reporter
from facts commonly known. The
substance of the agreement had been
published and its effect had Ibeen
widely discussed. As an illustration
of this the New York Herald had pub
lished on September 9 the following
dispatch:
"'Tokio, Wednesday, Sept. 9.-The
Toklo press regrets that the jingo
American press is raising the usual
protest against Japan regarding the
new China-Japan convention. It
states that the Manchurian railways
are administered in accordance with
America's long cherished motto of
the open door policy. Moreover, it
adds, the convention is now an ac
complished fact, and America can
not change it, however much it may
dislike it.'
"The publication complained of by
the state department was not made
until September 27. This also has a
significant bearing on the reference to
'recent canards' in the secretary's tel
egram to me at San Francisco.
"In order to understand how this
matter came to be mentioned it is
necessary to make a brief digression
When I accepted the appointment of
minister to China at the request of
the president, he expressed the earn
est wish that the people of this coun
try should be roused to a keen inter
est in the Pacific situation, both com
mercially and politically; and he felt
that our greatest problem lay there
and that our people were not fully
awake to its importance.
"As I stated in a public address in
Chicago on September 14, the presi
dent advised me to accept all availa
ble invitations to public meetings and
dinners, and said:
"'Do not miss any of them and when
you go to one insist on speaking and
let them have it redhot.'
"I assumed that the president
wished me to discuss realities and not
platitudes. I have not had experience
as a public speaker and it was and is
a difficult role, but I have done my
best to carry out the president's
wishes.
"The difficulty has adready been
increased by the absence of specific
instructions from the state depart
ment and of any adequate information
as to the policy of this government. I
have been much gratified that no
criticism has come to me from any of
flcial source until I was recalled to
Washington last week.
"With the approval of the president
I had arranged to go to China by way
of Europe so that I might have con
ferences with well informed and in
fluential persons of widely divergent
interests and points of view, and I
had made many valuable appoint
ments. It was then suggested by Mr.
Knox that it would be better for me
to prq~ceed via the Pacific. Contrary
to my understanding that this matter
should be fully discussed with the
president, at a conference with Secre
tary Knox the secretary informed me
that it would be unnecessary to see'
the president and that I should pro
ceed by way of Japan. It was then
agreed that I should sail on Otcober 3
with the minister to Japan.
"I was told letters would be given
to me and arrangements made for see
ing important persons in Japan. I
have not since then seen Secretary1
Knox except on last Sunday, nor have!
I had any adequate information with
the department as to its policy.
"Some days before the day set for
my departure, I came to Washington
and after considerable difficulty made
a number of appointments with the
first assistant secretary of state, not
one of which did he keep or explain
his failure to keep. No papers, note
even my official credentials, were
ready for me when I left Washington
for San Francisco, with just time to
catch the steamer. I have not exam
ined the papers from the state depart
ment which reached me in San Fran
cisco after the secretary's telegram
recalling me to Washington.
"As I was hurriedly leaving Wash
ington, a newspaper representative
asked me regarding the Japanese
China convention and I said the mat
ter was under consideration, but that
no decision had been reached, and I
may have said, although I do not re
call it, that obviously no statement
would be prepared in the absence of
Mr. Hoyt. I advised him to get thor
oughly informed upon the whole sub
ject, as it would be of the greatest im
portance that it be handled intelli
gently by the American press if offi
cial action was taken.
"This is the sum of my offending.
On mature consideration it is my
judgment that my action was in ac
cordance with the spirit at least of
the president's wishes expressed by
him to me and that it furnished no
sufficient excuse for the sensational
and inconsiderate action of the secre
tary of state.
"However, I did not seek this post
and am absolutely unwilling to remain
in it without the entire confidence of
the president and the cordial support
of the government."
KNOX MAKES STATEMENT.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12.-In an
nouncing his action Mr. Knox gave
out the following statement, adding
that he would have nothing to add
to it:
"The department of state has been
engaged for some time in making the
usual study of the recent agreementso
between China and Japan in relationz
to Manchuria from such data bearing
upon the situation as it was able to
secure, with a view to determining
whether there ,was anything in the
agreements adversely affecting Amer
ican interests or in conflict with the
COflE TO
BILLINGS
W E HAVE a bargain for you at the
right price and on easy terms.
Things are moving again, more sales in
the past ten days than in six months be
fore. 1 his means an advance in values
very soon and you cannot afford to de
lay. Let us sell you some town lots,
acre tracts, a home, business building
or a farm. We are buying and selling
real estate for everybody all the time,
adding value to your property and would
like to have your business. Come in.
NORTHINVESTMENTCOMPANY
Opposite Court House Billings, Montana
principle of equal opportunities to
twhioh the powers are pledged;'1a
study not yet concluded and in re
spect to 'which no decision has been
reached.
"While this investigation was pro
ceeding Mr. Crane, the minister to
China, came to the department and
while there was informed by one of
the clerks that such an examination
was being made. Without consulta
tion with the acting secretary or alny
other responsible officer of the de
partment, and without any knowledge
of any one connected with the de
partment, Mr. Crane gave out a news
paper story to the effect that this
government 'was preparing to protest
against some features of the agree
ments, and that the promulgation of
the protest only awaited the ~eturn
of an official who was to formulate tt.
"The story appeared in a western
paper and at the same time or a day
later in the Japanese press, and was
subsequently generally Dublished.
"Such were the representations
made to me Oct. 1 Iby the responsible
officers of the department of state, ac
companied by their statement that
they had sufficient reasons to believe
them to be true. Whereupon I sent
Mr. Crane at San Francisco the fol
lowing telegram, dated Oct. 3, 1909:
"'You have been charged with the
responsibility for the canards recent
ly appearing in the Japanese and
Amerlran press to the effect that the
United States is preparing to protest
against the Chinese-Japanese agree
ments.
"'The evidence that you are re
sponsible for this is of such a char
acter as warrants me in directing you
to come to Washington at once and
meet it. If you are not responsible,
as I hope you are not, matters relat
ing to oriental affairs have developed
since you left Washington which
make it advisable to me to communi
cate with you personally and in the
utmost confidence in relation there
to.'
"At a conference with Mr. Crane
Sunday evening he admited having
had an indiscreet talk with a reporter
'which resulted in the publications re
ferred to and assuming responsibility,
stated that if the indiscretion was
grave enough to shake my confidence
in his usefulness, he would willingly
'resign. I have reluctantly reached
the conclusion that the good of the
service demands that I should advise
him that his resignation was desirable
and I have done so."
-4-t--
Taft Is Retlcent
RIVERSIDE, Cal., Oct. 12.-The
president sent a long cipher message
to Washington yesterday and again
today. It was declared on the presi
dent's train that any information on
the position of Minister Crane must
come from the state department,
where the entire matter has been han
dled.
Gompers Is Honored
By American Labor
Welcomed Home by a Parade of 25,
000 Men of Washington and
Other Cities.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12.-American
labor honored in the capital of the
United States tonight the returning
president of the American Federation
of Labor, Samuel Gompers.
The welcome took the form of a
monster parade, in which more than
25,000 men from Washington and oth
er cities took part. The parade was
reviewed by President Gompers, who
at a mass meeting in Convention hall
later told of the lessons he had learned
and the comparisons he had drawn by
recent study of the labor conditions in
Europe.