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About Savannah weekly news. (Savannah) 1894-1920 | View Entire Issue (May 6, 1912)
wsa ■* ■ VOL. 62. THOUSANDS OF LIVES, MILLIONS IN PROPERTY, ARE IN DANGER Suffering and Heroism Mark Progress of Great Flood Waters Spreading Westwardly in Louisiana , _ from the Mississippi River. SOLDIERS COMPEL u , NEGROES TO WORK IN FIGHT TO SAVE LEVEE Fleet of Rescue Boats Busy Among Overflowed Towns. SITUATION AND OUTLOOK IN FLOOD SECTION From Vicksburg, Miss., south to New Orlans the Mississippi river is from half a foot to two and a half feet above any previous flood record stage. An additional rise this week of approximately one foot from New Orleans north to Baton Rouge is predicted by the Weather Bureau. Soundings made by United States army engineers show that this record-breaking volume of water in the big river is moving at the rate of 8.1 feet a second, or ap proximately one mile an hour fast er than ever before recorded in the Mississippi’s Hood history. Danger points in the levees in Louisiana: Baton Rouge; Bon net Carre, 25 miles north of New * Orleans; Morrison, Plaquemine, Scott’s Bunding. Cypress Hall, New Roads and Third district, New Orleans. Hirer Sunday: Almost station «n Torras south. er: Sunshine Sunday around mldtlay cloudy, alas Irttni Torras south o 0 p. m. , st: Showers in Louisiana tadftpi Monday 11,111 Tues - ; i New Orleans, May 5.— ’-arg® sections of fifteen Louisiana parishes west of the Mississippi river are under water, four other parishes have some flood water and are bound to get more this week; approximately 100,000 persons in that territory have been driven from their homes; trains are taking out hundreds of families dally, fleets of motorboats and skiffs are being used to rescue marooned people; about n dozen lives ail told have been sacri ficed, principally because the people re fused to heed warnings; several hun dred thousand dollars’ worth of rations have been distributed e«iong the refu gees who are sheltered In all manner of houses from cabins to churches and lodge buildings. Every day brings stories of suffer ing and of heroic rescues, of new sec tions inundated by the waters from the crevasses already' recorded in the le vees of the Mississippi river. The funds' that w’lll be required to take care of the. flood victims for yet other weeks, many of them for months perhaps, cannot be expressed In a few hundreds of thousands of dollars. Danger Yet Is Acute. It Is a pathetic picture and presents a big problem in grappling with which Louisiana and Mississippi, ably and generously assisted by the federal gov ernment, are giving their sympathetic efforts. But, withal, the still bigger question of protecting the remaining levees along the Mississippi river from the mouth of the Red River south, is caus ing deeper concern for the moment. Millions of dollars’ worth of property is at stake and thousands of lives would be jeopardized if some of the biggest of the levees should give way. Federal engineers, state and parish officials, and an army of men scattered along the river from a point sixty miles below New Orleans to the Red River are bending every energy to prove themselves equal to the task which they’ shoulder. Reports to-day were more reassur ing than on yesterday and the federal and state engineers declared they had firm faith in their ability to hold every remaining levee on the Mississippi. But the danger is not past by any means. Militia Rounds Up Negroes. Lack of labor, due largely to the un yoncern of negroes who have been jrawing government rations, has been, :he most serious drawback. Stringent uictics have been forced upon the offi :lals and planters, however, and to lar Gov. Sanders ordered the Louls ana militia to round up 500 negroes ir.d make them work on the levees, it the point of rifles if necessary. At Baton Rouge reports came In that planters in several Instances were impelled to corral negro laborers at :he point of shotguns. Thousands as paid laborers and con victs are working, In some instances lay and night, on the weak stretches pf the Mississippi levees from the Continued on Page Seven • ’ to eeKlg N c w WEEKLY f-TIMES-A-WEKK,II A YEABHodges . SCENTS A COPY. R F ’ n , 24 Nov io,, DAILY. ISA YEAR. u 1 1812 ARMCHAIR FOR TAFT IN ANANIAS GLUG Ex-President Says President Is Useless to the People. HE KNEW OF TRUST CASE Declares Roosevelt, and Can’t Help Remembering It. Oyster Bay, N. Y., May s.—ln a statement Issued here to-night by Col. Roosevelt in reply to President Taft’s speech In Baltimore last night, the colonel asserts that Mr. Taft knew he was making an untrue statement when he said that the former President ex pressed the opinion that the anti-trust law ought to be repealed. He also again contradicts the President in re gard to the harvester trust case, say ing that at a cabinet meeting and in private conversation with him Mr. Taft "repeatedly and emphatically approved the course actually taken." The colonel returned this morning from his Maryland tour. He said be expected to remain In Oyster Bay for a week before starting on his Ohio campaign. Col. Roosevelt’s statement in part follows; “Useless to the People." "With Mr. Taft’s personal opinion about me I have no concern beyond pointing out the sufficiently obvious fact that he never discovered that I was dangerous to the people until I had been obliged to come to the con clusion that he was useless to the people. But his specific statements as to the trusts, the crookedness in sc-; lectlng delegates and the. Lorimer in specifically in MatSachiis®te • al though Mr. Taft’s rtpentlon of them now is incompatible with sincerity of purpose or conviction on his part. "Mr. Taft knew all the facts about the harvester trust decision and he was present at that cabinet meeting where they were all dismissed and also In private conversation with me he repeatedly and emphatically approved the course actually taken just as he repeatedly and emphatically approved the course taken as regards the Ten nessee Coal and Iron Company. He was absent from the country when Mr. Smith was reporting to me and con sulting with Mr. Bonaparte, but after his return in January the matter came up again and It appeared that Mr. Bonaparte had not understood that my judgment was that the course ad vocated by Mr. Smith was the proper one to follow. "Accordingly the matter was gone over at length in the cabinet meeting. Mr. Bonaparte was the only member who was inclined to believe that the suit should be continued without re gard to Mr. Smith’s Investigation. Mr. Taft emphatically took the opposite ground and it is utterly impossible that he should now have forgotten that he did this, as a member of my cabinet, take the opposite ground. In Wrong on Both Sides. “Os course, as a member of my cab inet, who at that time I was support ing for the presidency, he knew and could not avoid knowing everythirtg of Importance that went on. It is im possible to reconcile his present posi tion with any standard of honorable conduct, whether we accept the view that he then approved what he believ ed to be wrong or whether we accept the only alternative, which is that he now denies what he cannot possibly help remembering. Moreover, he has been President for three years; every document was in his possession throughout these three years and if he Is right now his three years delay is Inexcusable. precisely as I saw Mr. Morgan at the time of beginning the Northern Se curities suit and as I saw representa tives of the Standard Oil trust again and again at the time of beginning the Standard Oil suit, just as in the case of every large suit I saw any party in terested who asked to appear before me. I believe then and believe now that the course urged by Mr. Smith was the only one to take. Mr. Smith is one of the most efficient and high minded officials in the public service, and while it was not necessary for me to, and while as a matter of fact I did not, make up my mind as to wheth er he was correct In his belief as to what the investigation would show, it was my clear duty to follow his recom mendation and have him make the investigation before any suit was un dertaken. Mr. Taft, not once iherely. but again and again expressed his complete acquiescence in this view. Lost Good Results. “Mr. Taft says I have changed my mind about the anti-trust law. He well knows that the position I take now is precisely the position r tooi agaln and again in speeches and in messages to Congress while I was President. He was then in my cabinet and repeatedly expressed his approval of what I thus said. “Mr. Taft says that I have said that the anti-trust law ought to be re pealed. Mr. Taft well knows that this is not true. I have always explicltely stated that it ought to be kept on the books and really enforced (not nom inally enforced as had been by Mr. Taft In the Standard Ot and Tobacco trust cases), against all trusts gullty of anti-social practices, bu* I have al ways said and now say that by Itself the anti-trust law will never solve the problem of dealing with the great cor porations and that to control the great Continued on Paxs Seven. SAVANNAH, GA., MONDAY, MAY 6, 1912. ’ ; " IN DANGER AFTER OPERATION FOR APPENDICITIS ; J W ’■” - I 1 .X J He , ■■ ■ - ■ • ■ ■ t - r ■ • | .... ' r .’tT . .iff .'.t "W w -in mwiijii 1 W'' A w . f New York, May s.—Mrs W. K. Vanderbilt, Jr., is at her home, 666 Fifth avenue, in a serious condition after an operation for a acute attack of appendicitis. She had beetl in excellent health all winter, and her illness became pronounced after an evening at the theater. She rallied well .after the operation, but had a relapse a few hours later, and for a time her con wlltlon was extremely critical. Mrs Vanderbilt before her mar Cage was Miss »lflrinm Tialfi, Senator Fair of NevAd.u, Aar-MMar f jars and of the late Charles Fair, whose tragic death, together with that of his wife, in an automobile accident in France a few years ago precipitated a legal fight over his part of the large Fair estate. TO ASK RECOGNITION OF UNITED STATES MEXICAN REBELS PLAN Foes in Washington Issue Rival Statements. Washington, D. C., May s.—Simul taneously with the arrival of Senor Manuel Calero, the new ambassador of Mexico, to this country, Dr. Poly carpe Rueda, representative of Emilio Vasquez Gomez, provisional President of Mexico, appeared in Washington to ask this government to recognize the belllcerenej' of the provisional govern ment. Both issued statements to night "The uprising has been confined to the state of Chihuahua,” said Ambas sador Calero's statement, in part, "in spite of what has been said to the contrary' and Is daily being repeated in the United States. Disturbances ex ist, it is true, in other portions of the republic of Mexico, but these are not political in character, but are rather brigandage on a greater or lesser scale. My government while successfully combatting these movements is ear nestly striving to find a remedy for the problem and has in this connection already accomplished some most im portant work. "I must most emphatically deny that there exists any such thing in Mexico as an anti-American feeling. There are perhaps some Americans who have received injury either to person or property at the bands of the bandits, but this happens everywhere. The government is making and will con tinue to make every possible effort toward jirotecting all Interests, both domestic and foreign." In his statement, wldch is addressed to the American people, Dr. Ruedo de clares : "The provisional government is a fully organized political state, capable of discharging the duties of a gov ernment. by enforcing the law and protecting life and property, and meet ing its foreign obligations, it holds two states and many cities and towns; it has an established seat of govern ment; it is supported by the people and is a homogenous and popular organization, carrying on trade, man ufactures and war." Dr. Rueda says the provisional gov ernment is "in every respect a de facto government, worthy of recogni tion as such, and entitled to all the rights of a belligerent. "The war which has resulted in the establishment of the provisional gov ernment under Eniilio Vasquez Gomez Is being fought for the liberation of the Mexican people from the serfdown ot peonage and slavery for debt." Here's Orozco's Plan. Mexico City. May 5.—A plan which is alleged to have been outlined'rexvnt ly by Orozco ss that which would gov ern his procedure should the revolution be successful was defined to-day by a former official of one of the most im portant central states of the republic, who has just returned from the rebel Continued on Page Seven MAY RECESS OVER ! BIG CONVENTIONS I PLAN BEFORE CONGRESS : Senate Is Swamped by Impor tant Legislation. Washington, D. C., Maj’ s—Politics is absorbing the attention of Congress. Much of the discussion in both houses is being aimed at the coming campaign i and the congestion ot business In the Senate is largely attributable to that , cause. All the House tariff legislation, a formidable list of appropriation bills, the case of Senator Lorimer, legisla tion for the administrative machinery > of the Panama canal and a varietj- of other legislation are still to be acted ; upon by the Senate. i Leaders of both sides concede the i possibility of a recess over the na tional conventions in June and a re- : sumption of the sessions then to wind . up the important legislation. So far there has been no definite attempt at an understanding as to an adjourn ment or a recess. The fight on the workmen's compen sation bill probablj- will end to-mory i row afternoon with conditions pre saging passage of the measure in the Senate. The tariff light in the Senate ' has been temporarily delayed bj’ the workmen’s compensation debate and may be interfered with further this ’ week by the minority of the Lorimer investigating committee. Senator Kern is planning to call up the case early this week. Republican senators are expecting a number of speeches on the House steel tariff revision bill with the possi bility of a vote on it by or before the earlj- part of next week. Senators Cummins, Lodge, Smoot. Williams and Stone will be among the speakers. , To expedite business Republican ' leaders are contemplating fixing the i hours of the daily sessions of the Sen ate from noon until 6 o'clock. In this . way senators optimistic ot an earlj adjournment believe that all necessarj business possiblj- maj’ be disposed of. The House is busied with plans for the monej' trust investigation bj' the Banking and Currency Committee and by a threatened investigation of the charges against Robert W. Archbald, a judge of the United States Commerce Court. The charges have been with held from the public. The House Ju diciary Committee will take them up next Tuesday with prospects of a thor ough probe. The service pension bill as agreed on by the conferees will come up for ap proval in both houses probably this week. • s. S. Ultonia Disabled. Halifax. N. S.. Maj' s.—The CUnard line steamer Ultonia arrived here to night disabled, having lost her port propeller in an ice field in the Gulf of St. Her 1,200 passengers will be landed here In the morning and sent to their destination by rail. The Ultonia registers 10.400 tons and sailed front Southhampton on April 23 for Montreal MARYLAND AND SOUTH CAROLINA / TO CAST THEIR VOTES TO-DAY In Former State Candidates of Both Great Parties Are Struggling, While in Latter the Demo cratic Fight Is Double-Barreled. VETERANS ARE ON MARCH TO MACON Largest Confederate Flag Ever Made Is Unfurled. BIG CAMP IS ALL READY Record Attendance Seems Cer tain at Reunion. Macon. Ga„ May 5.-The Confederate army is marching to Macon. For the second time during the history ot this typical Southern city there is to be an Invasion. During the sixties it was with cannon roaring, muskets cracking, drujis beating and flags flying. To morrow the invasion wijl be none the less determined but the roar of cannon and tho crack of musketry will be missing. The soldiers this time are coming on a mission of peace, many ot them to mingle with each other and recount their experiences of the ter rible struggle in which the North was pitted against the South, the former lighting to preserve the union and a latter for a cause that it believed to be right. To-night the indications are that the crowds will be the largest that ever attended a Confederate reunion. Rail road passenger agents variously esti mate the number from 100,000 to 150,000. Reduced rates throughout the South eastern territory went into effect to day In all but a few of the Western states, tickets being sold in these lat-< ter several days ago and many special trains from Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas have been on the way ■ai»o«.SaiiwiLu.x. lutumln* iThjt frst spa clal trains will arrive Monday morn ing, though'several cars filled with a delegation from Kansa’s City arrived to-night. The city is fast filling up with visitors. m Largest Confederate Flag. Ideal weather now prevails, though for the last few days there have been heavy rains. The streets and laiild- Ings in the business center of the city are elaborately decorated, the colors of the Confederacy and the national Stays and Stripes floating in the breeze side by side. This afternoon the largest Confeder ate flag ever made was unfurled with appropriate exercises at Camp John B. Gordon, where 15.000 heroes ot the late war will be encamped during the reunion. The flag raising was in charge of the military companies of the Second Georgia regiment. Thous ands ot Macon people mingled with the visitors who have already arrived. Pre ceding the flag raising a public recep tion was held in honor of James C. Williams, a 72-year-old veteran who walked all the way from Dallas, Texas, to Macon to attend the reunion, mak ing the trip in 65 walking days. Macon has made extensive prepara tions for caring for the visitors. The veterans will be housed at Camp John B. Gordon, where 1.000 large army storage tents furnished free by the United States government have been pitched and three meals a dav will be furnished free to the old soldiers. The commissary department has arranged to feed 2.000 at a sitting. Almost every home in the city has been thrown open for the reception of visitors and whole buildings have been filled with beds and cots. Over 100 temporary eating houses have been provided and there will be no danger of any one going hungry. Crooks on the Ground. The reunion of the United Confed erate Veterans does not open until Tuesday morning and all sessions of the convention will be held in an au ditorium seating 8,000 people and lo cated within 2t>o yards of Camp Gor don. The convention of the United Sons ot Confederate Veterans and the Confederated Southern Memorial Asso ciation will open Monday evening. One of the flrsb persons of note to reach Macon was Gen. Bennett H. Young of Louisville. Ky., commander of the Department of Tennessee. He paid a visit to Camp John B. Gordon and pronounced it the best that has ever been pitched at a Confederate re union. An army of crooks. It is said, has arrived in the city. The authorities have provided extra policemen and two companies of the National Guard will also*do police duty. Twenty of the best Pinkerton detectives In the coun try have been engaged to keep a lookout for criminals. Kick on Beer Sales at Macon. Nashville. Tenn.. May s.—At a mass meeting held at the Y. M C. A. to-day under the auspices of the International Reform liup-au, resolutions were adopted protesting against the selling of beer in Macon at the time ot the Confederate reunion there. The reso lutions were forwarded to Solicitor General Matthews at Macon with the request that he prevent liquor sales. Menocal Begins Campaign. Havana. May s.—The arrival to-day of Gen. Juan Mario Menocal, the Con servative candidate for the presidency, at the capital, marked the beginning of she active campaign by the Conserva tives. who are greatly encouraged by the bitter dissensions among the var ious tactions of the Liberal party. S CENTS A COPT. Established 1850. - • Incorporated ISSA |\Jq, 14T 7 TRIS WEEK WILL BE FULL OF POLITICS MISSISSIPPI AND ARKANSAS Will See Battles Over Presi dential Choices. Baltimore, May s.—Maryland’s first presidential primary election to-mor row will decide the votes of the sixteen delegates this state will send to each of the national conventions. The law permits no divided delegation so a vic tory in Maryland will mean sixteen delegates all in a block, bound to sup port the candidate for whom they at" Instructed, at least on the first ballot. The names of Theodore Roosevelt an.l President Taft appear on the Repub lican ballot, while the Democrats will vote for Speaker Champ Clark, Gov. Judson Harmon, or Gov. Woodrow Wilson. Active campaigns have been waged on behalf of all these candi dates. The election to-morrow will choose 129 delegates to the state convention and each county or district will bld its delegates to vote for a national dele gation favorable to the presidential candidate for whom such county or district declares its preference. Negro Vote Uncertain. Victory, therefore, will depend upon the preferential vote by counties or districts and not upon the popular preference of the state us a whole. An uncertain feature In the contest is the negro vu’e which is about 34 per cent, of the wh< le and in some' of tfte .-awte.Tl V*.MOV ' than half the ilepuHlesm stiff rage If the Republican election Is close the result max depend u;>on returns from these counties which, owing to the difficulties of communication on the "eastern shore," usually are •the last to arrive. In addition to the presidential prefer ence both parties will nominate can didates for members of Congress. The polls will open at 6 a. m. and close at 5 p. m. in Baltimore city and open at 8 a. m. and close at 6 p. ni. in the counties. Under th<* law the entire Demo cratic vote will be counted first. SOUTH CAROLINA Jones-Blease Race Puts Climax on Interest. Columbia. S. C., May s.—Throughout South Carolina to-morrow the Demo crats will hold founty conventions to elect delegations to the state conven tion which meets here May 16. The conventions are expected to prove un usually interesting In view of the dou ble-barrelled contest, presidential and gubernational, which has attracted more than the ordinary amount of at tention in South Carolina this year. The Woodrow Wilson supporters, who registered strongly in the precinct meetings of Saturday, April 27, are hopeful of controlling the county con ventions and through them securing the majority of the state convention. So far, there has been but little out spoken support for other candidates than Gov. Wilson. In the precinct meetings Gov. Wilson was the only candidate who secured indorsement. The gubernational race, between Cole L. Blease. the incumbent and Ira B- Jones, who resigned as chief justice in order to enter the campaign, will also have its bearing on the county conventions, especially, it Is thought, on the election of delegates to the state conventions. mississippi”Temocrats WILL VOTE TO-MORROW Willon and Underwood Alone ni the Running. Jackson. Miss.. May s.—Democrats of Mississippi on Tuesday, May 7. will express their choice for presidential candidate, elect delegates to the na tional convention at Baltimore and select a national committeeman at a state-wide primary election ordered by the state executive committee of the party. Only two of the candidates for the presidency have arranged to have their names printed on the primary ticket. Oscar W. Underwood of Ala bama and Gov. Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey. The voter may scratch both names and write in that of any other candidate. Only white Demo crats will participate. Four delegates from the state at large and two from each of the eight districts will be chosen. There are four candidates for delegate at large and four in each of the eight districts ex cept the Sixth, in which latter there are five. Delegates must cast their convention votes for the presidential candidate receiving the majority of the primary election vote. The four candidates for delegate at large, who are unopposed, are United Continued on Page Seven. MONDAYS —AN O THURSDAYS Friends Boom Him for Governor of New York |^tarc"cVPrwxc>M T ' Ijr 'OK rs<g',e, mac 7 . .New York, Maj' 5. —Joe E. Hedges is a possibility for the Republican nomination for governor of New Yorl and is said to have the backing of many prominent Taft men. A forma, start to his boom is to be made at s dinner to him at the Waldorf-Astoria May 9. Mr. Hedges, who is a spell binder of note; first came Into prom inence us secretary to Mayor Low. SOOTHEWiT LEAVES TRACK • "L Four Are Hurt When Derail ing Switch Is Opened. WRECK IS AT HORTENSE Mistake Causes Smash-Up; , No Pawtew? , ~~ Jesup, Ga., May a.—When the derail ing switch was opened bj' mistake at Hortense, twenty miles south of here, southbound train No. 13 on the South ern Railway was wrecked shortly after 8 o’clock this morning. Although ths engine, tender, mail, baggage and ex press cars and two passenger coacfies were overturned, only four personl were hurt, one seriqjisly, and no pas senger was injured. The injured are: A. K. Vanevera ol Macon, engineer, hands and forearix scalded; Esman Knight of Jesup, fire man, injured in back and side, said t« be seriouslj' hurt; J. I. Coleman of At lanta, mail clerk, cut in head and bruised; J. H. James, colored, of At lanta, mail clerk, slightly hurt. Every Wheel Leave* Rail. The train runs from Cincinnati t< Jacksonville and left Jesup at 7:41 o’clock. The train was thrown from the tracks near the station when th« derailer was opened just as the train reached it. C. L. Sanders, relief agent, after seeing the result of the mistake, left the station. He went to Offer man. Steel cars on the train probably pre vented loss of life. Before leaving the wrecked enginv the engineer, though injured, shut off all the steam, so that there would b« no trouble from that source for ths workmen who would come to clear tha track. Every car of the train was de railed, the mail car being carried some distance awaj'. The injured were brought to Jesup, where a relief train had been made up with physicians and medicine. A hos pital special was ordered also from Waycross, but was turned back before reaching Hortense. CAPTAIN OF SUNKEN S. S. TEXAS IMPRISONED Though American and Greece Both Kick to Turkey. Athens. May s.—Notwithstanding tha protests ot the American and Greek consuls, the captain of the steamship Texas, which was blown up a few days ago in the Gulf of Smyrna, was forci bly removed from the Greek hospital to a Turkish prison infirmary to-day. The Turks accuse him of spying in Italy's behalf. The American consul has notified tha embassy at Constantinople, and it is said that the first secretary of the em bassy and the captain of an American guardship have been sent to Smyrna. A large number of the passengers and crew were drowned when the Texas sank. An inquiry into the dis aster showed that the Turkish forts fired a number of solid shots at the steamer, one of which is supposed either to have exploded a mine or the vessel s boilers.
