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THE JEFFERSONIAN
Vol. 111. No. 5.
Governor Hughes
in Taft ‘Boom. s -
Albany, N. Y„ January 26. —Possible re
organization of the Republican State Com
mittee —more particularly as to the chairman
• ship of the committee and and personnel of
the “big four” delegates at large from this
state to the Republican national convention to
be held in Chicago on June 16 next, are the
matters of chief concern now among the poli
ticians in and about the legislature. These
questions center in the preliminary state con
vention to be held probably in April, and add
interest to preparations for the preliminary
elections which will be held in March for the
selection of delegates.
Situation Has Changed.
: The situation has .changed in a radical way
during the past week. Seldom within seven
days have occurred two events of importance
so fundamental as the two to which the shift
in the political situation is almost entirely
due. Both were unexpected. One was the ac
ceptance by Governor Hughes, for all practical
purposes, of the candidacy for the Republican
presidential nomination; the other, closely fol
lowing, was the letter of Secretary Taft to
Chairman Parsons, of the Republican general
committee of New York county, asking his
friends not to oppose endorsement of Govern
or Hughes by the Republicans of New York
State.
The declaration of the governor was ac
cepted by most of the Republican leaders as
leaving the party no option in the matter;
the letter of Secretary Taft swept away what
ever remained of opposition to the Hughes
candidacy, so far as this state is concerned.
Chairman Parsons, who hitherto had been re
garded as virtually committed to Secretary
Taft, at once declared himself for Hughes,
and there seems no room for doubt that at
the meeting of the New York County Com
mittee on Wednesday the resolution for the
_ endorsement of Governor Hughes, on which
the committee has twice postponed action,
will be adopted without opposition.
The Hughes State League.
An interesting side issue is the question of
the attitude and even of the continued exist
ence of the Hughes State League, of which
A Weekly Paper Edited by THOS. E. WATSON and J. D. WATSON.
Atlanta, Ga., Thursday, January 30, 1908.
ex-Senator Edgar T. Brackett, of Saratoga, is
the president.
Senator Brackett declares that the league
is now more necessary than’before, insinuating
that the “Hughes boom” is in greater danger
than ever, and that “its enemies have come on
board the ship only to scuttle it.”
Ex-Governor Frank S. Black, of Albany, is
mentioned first as representing the Hughes in
terest in the delegation at large. Black is
the man who nominated President Roosevelt
at the 1904 convention, and the advocates of
Hughes want him to perform a like service
for the governor. Governor Black is generally
regarded as committed to the Hughes move
ment, though he has not said so publicly. He
and Senator Brackett had a conference late
last night, presumably on this subject; it was
followed immediately by rumors that the
Hughes League would work for the selection
of Governor Black as one of the delegates at
large, with the special intent of having him
place the governor’s name before the national
convention.
Tim Woodruff May Lose Out. .
As for the Republican state committee the
situation has not yet developed sufficiently to
justify a forecast. There has been much gos
sip about a possible charge in the chairman
ship now occupied by ex-Lieutenant Governor
Timothy L. Woodruff, of Brooklyn. The name
most frequently mentioned in this connection
is that of State Committeeman William
Barnes, Jr., of Albany. But it is not certain
that there will be any change.
One of the factors contributing to the talk
of a new chairman was the impression, widely
prevalent, that the development of affairs was
rapidly accruing o the political benefit of ex-
Governor B. B. Odell, Jr., and tending to re
store the prestige which he lost in his over
whelming defeat in the assembly speakership
battle of two years ago. The abandonment
during the past week of the conflict over the
indorsement of Governor Hughes has dispelled
much of the fear of a destructive factional
warfare within the Republican party, and it is
a matter largely of opinion whether the op
ponents of Mr. Odell have forestalled at least
for the present, his return to important poli
tical influence. It was at the spring state
convention your years ago that Mr. Owell
displaced Colonel George W. Dunn, of Bing
hampton, as chairman of the state convention.
Whether this spring’s convention will see the
similar displacement of Mr. Woodruff by Mr.
Barnes, or even by an “Odel man,” remains
to be seen. —Atlanta Constitution.
A HEAVY PRICE.
The nominal balance available in the Unit
ed States Treasury at the beginning of the
week’s business was less than $7,000,000. That
there was any balance at all was due to what
the Associated Press despatches call “a quiet
readjustment of other items of the balance
sheet. ’ ’
This readjustment was made by “cutting
down balances to the credit of disbursing offi
cers and thereby diminishing their power to
draw without notice on the cash in the Treas
ury. ”
The receipts of the Treasury are falling off.
partly because brewers, distillers and others
who buy revenue stamps, for which they
must pay cash, find it hard to get currency,
and partly because of a tendency to postpone
paying duties on bonded imports. The les
sening of receipts is expected to continue for
some months.
With lagging receipts and a balance which
is mere bookkeeping the Treasury might be
supposed to be in a bad way. Nothing of
the sort. It has $250,000,000 out on deposit,
paying* no interest to the Government but
earning not less than $1,500,000 a month for
the banks.
With a quarter of a billion dollars deposit
ed and available at a moment’s notice the
Government is borrowing another $150,000,-
000. In the case of the $50,000,000 of Pan
ama bonds it is merely anticipating provision
for payments which must some time be made.
But the $100,000,000 of short-term •certificates
are a loan of doubtful legality, made by the
Treasury not to meet- extraordinary expendi
tures, as the law under which they are issued
prescribes, but to provide currency.
If the entire $100,000,000 are issued only
$25,000,000 of cash will be paid into the
Treasury for them. The other’ $75,000,000
remain as a deposit in the subscribing banks.
The banks will also retain their present Gov
ernment -moneys; and by shifting securities
now held against such deposits they can use
the new issue as basis for additional bank
note circulation. In this way alone, to this
extent only, will the currency famine be re
lieved just as it is about to relieve itself.
The Government first exacts a quarter of
a billion by excessive taxation; then restores
this fund to circulation by free deposits in
the banks; then borrows $150,000,000 more
which it does not need, at an interest cost of
$4,000,000, solely to provide more currency
and move the crops.
Is this not a price to pay, with all.
the vexation and loss the business commu
nity is suffering,. for standing pat upon an
excessive tariff, for Congressional neglect of
an inadequate and inelastic currency system
and for amateur management in the Treasury
Department?—New York World.
Price Five Cents.