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♦ WEEKLY JOURNAL. Atlanta. Ga. ♦
TUESDAY. MARCH 9. 1909.
i 1 II I ’
Mr Tafts popularity will be undisputed
If it should develop that he is a baseball
fan.
Along with the poetic odor of the vio
let will come soon the practical odor of
the moth ball.
Telamon C. Smith— Cuyler had a fall in
Washington at the inauguration. Dis
patches say he fell the whole distance of
his name _
Mr. Harriman has bought another rail
roads. That is getting to be as regular an
announcement as the weather report
from Washington.
A Chicago professor predicts that the
ex-president will contract sleeping fever
in Africa. He might, but he would never
have that tired feeling.
J —————
Dogs are barred in the canal territory,
but mules are put on the retired list. We
should think the Gatun dam would be
more endangered by the mule.
The man who refused a bank's presi
dency because of his religious scruples
would probably have accepted the cash
ier's place, if it had been offered him.
Close on the heels of the announcement
that steel prices would be lowered, comes
the more important announcement that
the hens are laying again, and eggs are
down »
Why not change the inauguration date
from the fourth of March to the Glorious
Fourth? Still the president might then
be assassinated by the small boy and the
toy cannon.
The sending by a Texas delegation of a
white 'possum to President Taft was prob
ably symbolic of that state's appreciation
of the presidents attitude on the appoint
ment of whites of southern offices.
•-TWILIGHT OF CONSCIOUSNESS."
In his recently published book,
"Twilight of Consciousness,” Royal
Daniel has rendered a sound and op
portune service to thousands of men
and women who wish to know what
psychic suggestion means—its basis
In science, its uses tn the individual
life. Scarcely a person alive who
reads or thinks has escaped the con
tagion, one might almost say the en
chantment, of this subject. It has
gripped the thought of this century
even more firmly and broadly than
the theory of evolution gripped that
of the last. It is working a change
in present-day human life paramount
to that wrought by Copernicus in
calculations of the sky. And it is
more vitally related to the welfare
of mind and body than either of
these big revolutions. For, while it
is breaking a new, far-off horizon
for the inarch of philosophy, at the
same time it is lingering by every
fireside on the earth, teaching a
tranquil, more effective mode of
living
Mr. Daniel's book comes in the
full dawn of this world-wide, epoch
making movement. Its claim to dis
tinction is the c.earness and catholic
spirit in which it is written and the
practical value of what it contains.
Carefully defined ideas on psychic
suggestion are not commonly to be
met with. "Twilight of Conscious
ness' is the outgrowth of years of
experiment and reflection. Hence,
its content and message are pointed.
It tells people what they want to
know tn a direct, dependable fash
ion It will be welcomed by the
general reader and also by the
student. Those to whom it will
appeal particularly are perhaps the
minister interested In the rise of the
Emmanuel movement, the physician
concerned with psychic therapeutics
and all those who are in search of a
better poise of mind and body. So
broad is the treatment, however, that
it will appeal to all whose attention
has been in any way directed to the
sobject.
One of the most notable features
of the work is an introduction by
D>. L. B. Wilmer, of Atlanta, rector
of St. Luke s Episcopal church. Into
this foreword Dr. Wilmer has packed
much of his ripest thought and his
■_ strong, original personality. To
Atlantians and Georgians the book
will be specially interesting for the
reason that it is wholly an Atlanta
product. In addition to its home
authorship. It is published by the
Hiddleston Publishing company and
t?> a masterly piece of workmanship
t the side of craft as well as
♦ ->'3tttOD-
PRESIDENT TAFT'S ADDRESS.
The inaugural address of President Taft has created a good
impression. There is nothing in it which can occasion the slightest
alarm to legitimate business and yet it sounds a sufficiently clear warning
that the regulations to restrain illegal combinations of wealth will be
strengthened and perfected.
Where present anti-trust laws have the effect of preventing legiti
mate combinations they will be modified in the light of wisdom and
experience, but there is to be no reaction from the policy which President
Roosevelt has steadily pursued.
Considerable Interest will be aroused by the specific announcement
that due attention will be paid 'to the matter of stock and bond issues
and that in no case are they to be allowed to reach those unhealthy
proportions which for so many years were a public menace.
The incoming president encourages the hope that tariff revision will
in many important respects mean tariff reduction. He takes the position
that the calling of an extra session for the special purpose of dealing
with the tariff does not in Itself mean that this tariff revision is of
greater importance than railroad regulation, but that from the very
nature of things the pendency' of tariff changes has a paralyzing effect
upon business and hence when it is once taken in hand should be carried
through to its final form with the greatest possible speed.
With this fact in mind, he suggests that tariff revision should be
the only matter discussed and legislated upon during the special session.
This, he explains, is merely a suggestion, as the matters to be considered
are entirely within the power and province of congress.
The tone of his address would indicate that he anticipates a
considerable reduction from present schedules, although the deficit in
the treasury left by the panic makes it less easy to reduce the tariff than
it otherwise would be
Mr. Taft, in tact, dwells at some length upon the subject of economy
in the public expenditures, but he comes out in no uncertain terms
against any false economy which would restrict the military and naval
forces of the country He seems fully to realize the danger of being
caught at any time in a state of unpreparedness, and he will be a stanch
friend of whatever measures are necessary to protect the honor and the
material interests of the country at home and abroad.
His utterances on the subject of the race problem and the disfran
chisement regulations of the states are in conformity with his unofficial
utterances on so many occasions in the past. He, of course, insists that
the educational qualifications shall be applied Impartially to whites and
blacks, but the idea of eliminating the ignorant and irresponsible
elements from the electorate meets with his hearty approval.
He takes the position that it is not kindness to the negro himself
to appoint him to office in those communities where he would come in
contact with the white race and irritate racial prejudices; that it would
be better for all concerned for appointments to be made with a due
regard to the wishes and sentiments of the representative citizens of a
given community, and he will be guided by these considerations in
making his future appointments.
This is Indeed a new doctrine for the Republican party, and one
which will do much to entrench Mr. Taft in the affections of the people
of the south.
The Importance of the Panama canal receives due recognition in
Mr. Taft’s inaugural address, and he leaves the people in no doubt as
to the zeal with which he will support the lock type of canal, which
has already been adopted by the government. He insists that there have
been no developments which should justify a change in present plans
and that the best service the people of the country can render is to
stand squarely behind the administration and the men on the ground
who are doing the work.
The postal savings bank and the reform of the currency come in
for their due amount of attention in the inaugural address, while the
protection of labor, so far as it does not interfere with the legitimate
rights of property, is set forth in unmistakable terms.
On the whole, Mr. Taft’s address is in line with the policies he has
already made clear in his recent public addresses, north and south, ana
the good impression which his poise and his genial personality have
already created finds confirmation in this his first official utterance as
president of the United States.
SUPPRESS
The Democratic party, by Its last national platform, is committed
to the policy of revising the rules of the house so as to take from the
speaker that autocratic control of legislation whicn has become
particularly onerous and obnoxious under Speaker Cannon, and the
execution of that policy should be one of the first objects of the
Democrats tn the next congress.
The next house will consist of two hundred and nineteen Repub
licans and one hundred and seventeen Democrats, making tnree hundred
and nineteen members in all, so that one hundred and ninety-six
members constitute a majority. Only twenty-four Republican votes are
needed to bring about the desired change In the rules, provided, of
course .that the Democrats stand firm in their advocacy of revision.
The “insurgents” among the Republicans believe that they have
these twenty-four votes and a few more besides, and ft is hoped that
this is true.
But it is obviously of the first importance that the Democrats
should stand together in this matter and that their effective strength
should not be weakened by absence at any critical time.
The organized forces of the old order of things—Cannon and the
supporters of Cannonism —have endeavored to placate public opinion
of late by executing a very clever move. They saw that the temper
of the bouse and of the country was one which demanded at least an
appearance of concession to those who demand back a little of the
power of initiative.
Early In the week the organization conceded "Calendar Wednesday”
instead of the “Calendar Tuesday” for which the Insurgents have been
contending. The difference is as wide as the poles, but it was a
cunningly devised expedient. “Calendar Wednesday,” as conceded by
the organization, can be set aside any week with the excuse of "pressure
of public business,” whenever a bare majority of the house desires to
do so, while “Calendar Tuesday,” as demanded by the insurgents, could
only be set aside by a two-thirds vote.
One of the leading magazines of the* country, which has twenty
thousand life-subscribers of the most representative type of men, pledged
to answer such questions as are submitted to them from time to time,
mailed questions to this list of twenty thousand subscribers during
February on the subject of the speakership election and policy.
In response to tne question whether they believed Cannon should
again be elected speaker four hundred and one voted “yes,” and more
than seven thousand nine hundred voted "NO.”
In response to the question whether they believed the power of
appointing members of the house committees should be placed in the
hands of the speaker two hundred and seventy-nine answered “yes,”
and eight thousand one hundred and twenty-three answered "no.”
When asked it they would favor a plan of placing the power of
appointing members of committees in the hands of a special committee
elected by the members, and representing all sections of tne country,
eight thousand one hundred and ninety-six answered “yes,” and only
one hundred and seventy-five opposed it.
Asked if they would favor the plan of having at least one "Calendar
day” in each week, on which bills could be brought up and passed
without securing the previous consent of the speaker, the vote was
largest of all in the affirmative, eight thousand two hunared and sixty
eight voting “yes,” and ninety-three voting "no.”
The constituency from wnich this consensus of opinion Is taken is
recognized as being of an unusually high order of intelligence, repre
senting nearly five hundred different professions, business occupations
or trades. We, therefore, get an unusually fair estimate of the opinion
of the general public on this question.
Indeed, It was not necessary to make an specific canvass to
determine the fact that the general public is heartily tired of the
autocratic sway of Speaker Cannon. The time has come when it should
be possible for the house to transact business without having to secure
the arbitrary consent of the speaker. One of the best means to that end
would be to set apart a calendar day which could not be set aside except
by a two-thirds vote, and one ot the most permanent means of retrench
ing the power of the speaker would be to place the power of appointing
members of the various house committees in the hanas of a special
committee representing all the various sections of the country.
We have not heard the last of this movement by any means. The
concession recently made was but a subterfuge and was not satisfactory,
even as far as it went.
We trust that the Democrats in congress will stand firm and that
by the aid of the Republican insurgents they will be a“le to curb the
power of the speaker and bring about a wholesome and equitable reform
in the rules.
THE ATLANTA SFMTWEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA. GEORGIA, TUESDAY, MARCH 9. 1909.
: TAFT Ob 1 LINES HIS POLICY
- (By Associated Press.)
- WASHINGTON, March 4.—President William H. Taft outlined the pol-
► Icies of his administration in his inaugural speech this afternoon with the
- following recommendations and declarations:
► Roosevelt Reforms
The maintena’nee and enforcement of the reforms that were begun and
■ carried out by former President Ro isevelt.
► The Tariff.
The convening of congress in extra session, March 12, for the purpose of
■ the revision of the preesnt tariff law.
► Economy.
An economical policy for the government.
► Federal Supervision.
The supervising of railway and industrial combinations and the con-
• servation of natural resources.
► Army and Navy.
• The organization of the army and navy updn the most efficient basis.
► World Peace.
■ The promotion of world-wide peace by all equitable means.
► Immigration.
► The federal control of Asiatic Immigration, without friction, and a
► policy of proper legislation by which “we may. and ought to, place in
► the hands of the federal executive the means of enforcing the treaty
► rights of such aliens in the courts of the federal government. We cannot
► permit the possible failure of justice due to local prejudice in any state
► or municipal government to expose us to the risk of war. which might be
► avoided.”
► Federal Appointments.
► Regarding the appointment of negro officeholders the presi-
► dent says:
► ‘‘But it may be well to admit of doubt, whether in the case
► any race, an appointment of one of their number to a local of-
► flee in a community in which the race feeling is so widespread
► and acute as to interfere with the ease and facility with which
► the local government business can he done by an appointee, is
► of sufficient benefit byway of encouragement to outweigh the re-
► currence and increase the race feeling which such an appointment
►is likely to engender. Therefore, the executive, in recognizing
► the negro race by appointments must exercise a careful discre-
► tion not thereby to do it more harm than good. On the other
► hand we must be careful to encourage the mere pretense of race
► feeling manufactured in the interest of individual political ambi-
► tion.
► Currency Law.
► The adoption of monetary and financial laws which wiil prevent any
► panics or depressions in the future.
► Savhig Bill.
► The enactment of a federal postal savings bank law which will be in-
► sured by absolute security for deposits.
► Panama Canal.
► The co-operation and assistance of the government and its people
in the completion of the Panama canal.
► Philippines and Porto Rico.
► A "square deal” policy for the Philippines and Porto Rico, which will
► insure the qolonles mutual benefit.
► Sectional Harmony.
► The wiping out of all sectional lines and a new policy between the
► south and other sections of the United States.
► Suffrage.
► The fair and equitable consideration of the constitutional amendments
► in regard to the limitations of suffrage and ballot franchise.
► Liability Law.
► The liability law of interstate carriers to employes for injuries re-
► ceived in pursuit of employment.
► Labor Statutes.
t- » The revision of''the injunction and the boycott laws so as to provide
► mutlal safety and redress for all concerned.
OUR EX-PRESIDENTS
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN.
By oae of those strange coincidences of
life the two men who rode down Pennsyl
vania avenue yesterday morning as presi
dent and president-elect have trave’ed
more miles than all of their predecessors
taken together, yet their ages are less
by ten years than the -weerage age at
which the presidents Os the past have re
tired from their high Office. It they con
tinue to travel in the future in propor
tion as they have in the past, each of
them will have traveled more than all of
the presidents before Roosevelt. Mr. Taft
is the only globe trotter whose travels
have led him to white house. Mr.
Roosevelt, with the single exception of
General Grant, is the only man who has
ceased to be president to become a glob 3
trotter.
• • •
It Is being said that the African expedi
tion will not be the end of the Roosevelt
ian globe trotting, as the white house will
not be .the end of Mr. Taffs. In Mr.
Rooseveit we have a shining example of
“what the child admired, the youth en
deavored, and the man acquired,” even if
seven years of presidential service had to
be gone through with before the acquisi
tion. It is said to have been the child
ambition of Theodore Roosevelt to be a
naturalist. Now he is to be one, and the
scenes of "Afric’s sunny fountains” are
not the only places where nature stories
are to be gathered at a dollar per word.
Mr. Roosevelt Is now America’s only liv
ing ex-presldent. For the best part of a
year the nation has been without one.
Mr. Cleveland was the only living one
from the time of Mr. Harrison s death,
and when the curtain was rung down on
his career, we had none until Mr. Roose
velt's retirement yesterday. Only once or
twice before in the nation’s history has
it been without a living ex-president, and
then for but a brief period. Mr. Roosevelt
has retired from the presidency at an igge
younger than that of most men when
they asumed it. Only Tyler, Polk, Pierce,
Fillmore, Grant, Garfield and Cleveland
assumed the presidency under the age of
fifty-one. Mr. Roosevelt is younger even
than the man who succeeds him, and
nearly ten years younger than the aver
age age at which the presidents have
retired from the presidential chair.
If he lives as long as the average ot
the lives of his predecessors—nearly sixty
seven years—he will see four more admin
istrations come and go. No president up
to Van Buren went out of office before he
was sixty, and no president up to Polk
died below the age of sixty-seven. Wash
ington and the elder Harrison were the
only two, up to the time of Polk, who
died under seventy-two. The elder
Adams. Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and
the younger Adams all lived past the four
score to which man attains “by reason of
his strength.” John Adams leads in
American presidential longevity, he hav
ing reached the remarkable age of ninety
one years before he spoke his dying
words: “And Jefferson still lives." Mad
ison was the next longest-lived, his age
being eighty-six.
• • a
One gets a most startling idea of the
shortening of human life under the stress
of presidential service by comparing the
ages of the earlier presidents with those
of the late ones. Taking the first eight,
at the time of death it is found that
they aggregate 645 years, or an average of
nearly eight-one years to the man. The
aggregate ages of the eight who immedi
ately preceded Mr. Roosevelt amounts to
501 years, an average age of less than
sixty-three years. This represents a
shortening of eighteen years in the aver
age lives of men who have been presi
dent. General Jackson and Mr. Buchanan
are the only presidents who reached the
age of seventy before retiring from office.
Mr. Roosevelt will probably give the
same answer to the question. “What shall
we do with our ex-presidents?” that w«s
given by Mr- Cleveland. That answer
was to let them alone and allow them io
attend to their own affaire. He repre
sents the greatest earning capacity that
has ever left the white house. His world
wide fame. Ids stratght-from-the-shoul
der. call-a-spade-a-spade way of saying,
writing, and doing things have made him
a reputation that can call forth a great
income. Equipped with such an earning
power he will hardly be willing to accept
any sort of pension or place at the hands
of the people over whom he has ruled for
seven years.
ess
What of his future? All men know of
his immediate plans, and those after he
returns from his African engagement and
his period of hobnobbing with William,
Edward, and the rest of them. But
stranger things have happened /aan that
Cinclnnatus should again be called from
the plow. Was it not said of Cleveland,
after his first term, that when he went
to New York after his retirement ho
made a noise like a stone thrown into the
water—“a splash and then silence for
ever.” But did not Mr. Cleveland come
back into office after four years on a po
litical landslide the like of which America
had never seen? Perhaps Mr. Roosevelt
may yet live to be the second man whq
has been twice an ex-president.
• • •
The ex-presidential career of Grover
Cleveland has long been regarded as
the ideal one. As a writer, university
professor, angler, he lived in a quiet,
dignified way. Benjamin Harrison be
gan the practice of law, after retiring
from the white house at the age of sixty,
to build up the fortune that had been
neglected during his active political life.
The new secretary of state, Mr. Knox,
once retained him in a case in which
he was general counsel. Harrison did
the work, and then asked Knox to allow
him to collect from the clients direct,
stating that he wanted a bigger fee
than he felt Knox could approve. He
got what he asked. In after years, when
they compared notes, his fee was only
one-fourth of that charged by Knox.
Had he left the fixing of the fee to the
general counsel he would have gotten ten
times as much.
• • •
Chester A, Arthur died shortly after
his retirement. Hayes lived some twelve
years after his return to private life. He
became a gentleman farmer ,and at
tended to his large poultry yards him
self. He and Mrs. Hayes were always
identified with the great movements for
the elevation of the race. Mrs. Hayes
left the white house as dry as the sands
of Sahara, but the wine cellars were
soon completely stocked again.
The career of General Grant, after
leaving the white house, carried him
through nearly the entire gamut of hu
man experience. First came his tour
around the world. It was a triumphal
circling of the earth the like of which
history does not record. Everywhere
men and nations uniteq to do him hon
or. He afterward said that during the
whole trip the incident that appealed to
him most was the tendering of the
freedom of the city of Ayr, Scotland.
But once before in all the history of
that proud municipality had such an
honor been accdrded any man, and that
was 200 years before to a gallant, native
son. It whs an honor that had even
been refused the prince of Wales—now
King Edward. After a short stay in
Galena, upon his return home, he went
to New York. There he saw his entire
fortune swept away. Amid his poverty,
and while suffering from the terrible
cancer that ended his life, he wrote his
memoirs, the sales Qf which again
brought his family back to affluence.
• • •
The path that leads to the presidency
is an uncertain one, as was so well il
lustrated in the case of Grant. Having
failed at everything else, he sought a
position with the Illinois troops in the
civil war. but was refused, i.ater he was
again an applicant for a command. Al
last the governor assigned him to a
regiment of the most insubordinate lot
of recruits Illinois had ever seen. Grant
took them in hand, marched them sev
eral miles, wore all the insubordination
out of them, and developed them into
the best regiment from the state. His rise
was rapid after that. Governor Yates al
ways regarded it as the joke of his life
that he was unable to recognize the sol
dier in the man who ended the war at
Appomattox.
Speaking of the inauguration of John
Adams, the senate journal says: "The
G A WONDERFUL PLACE AND
- A MAR VELLOVS PLANT
X. BY BISHOP WARREN A. CANDLER.
In some respects Torreon is the most
remarkable place in Mexico.
It is nqw a city of nearly 40.000 inhabi- !
tents. Seven.years ago ft scarcely had '
10,000 people within its limits.
It is at the crossing of two great trunk ‘
lines of railway—one running from the ’
City of Mexico to El Paso. Tex., and the j
other running from Durango, Mexico, to I
Eagle Pass. Texas. Besides these main •
lines there are several shorter and less |
Important roads entering Torreon.
This most modem and progressive of I
Mexican cities is the metropolis of what
is called “the Laguna District,” which
is a very rich and well irrigated area,
more than a hundred miles long, in
which the most wonderful crops of cot
ton are both grown and manufactured.
I have been told that one man's crop in
this district last year yielded him a half
million of dollars in gold.
Besides this cotton crop of the “La
guna District.” most of which is manu
factured in Torreon, the city is the cen
tre of great mining Industries, by which
much copper, lead and silver, as well as
some gold, are taken from the surround
ing mountains. Cotton factories and
smelters stand close together here.
There is also a huge factory in which
a carload of soap is turned out every
hour. The company is capitalized at
12,500,000 gold and has another plant at
Durango.
Besides all these immense enterprises
there are many smaller plants, such as
furnaces, foundries, brass-bed factories,
mattress factories, etc.
Such an aggregation of industries cre
ates a demand for banks, and no city of
like siz® with Torreon in the Western
world has as much banking capital in
vested in it. The “Banco de La Laguna '
alone advertises a paid up capital of sl,-
500,000 gold, and there are many others.
A wealthy Chinese merchant has just
erected a very handsome building on the
first floor of which he has opened a
bank for the accommodation of his coun
trymen living in and around Torreon.
There is an electric car line which con
nects the city with the neighboring towns
of Lerdo and Gomez Palacio, and a
company composed of Chinese has under
construction another electric line for the
convenience of their section of the city.
But of all the industries in Torre-on
the rubber plant is the most interesting.
Growing wild throughout the state of
Coahuila is a plant called guayule which
was long considered worse than worthless.
But a few years ago it Was found to
yield when macerated and properly treat
ed a gum like that of the rubber tree. A
large establishment was at once set up in
Torreon, perfectly equipped with machin
ery, for the manufacturing of rubber
from the plant and it is now turning out
large quantities of this valuable product.
It is quite an extensive enterprise, and
It is conducted with the utmost reserve,
not to say secretiveness. The quantity of
the output is unknown to all except the
managers and the price obtained for It Is
also unknown. The process of its manu
facture is not proclaimed, and few people
are admitted into the establishment. An
exception was made in the case of certain
members of our party, all of whom being
preachers it was perhaps supposed that
they would lack either the motive or the
ability to do harm to the concern by
such knowledge as they might obtain by
a passing visit.
One risks little in saying that this in
dustry pays its owners quite as well as
do the silver mines their owners. A little
botanical knowledge has turned a worth
less shrub, growing on the bare hills and
plains of Coahuila, into a terasure rich as
the heart of its mountains. Yet some
“practical men” so called are accustomed
to deprecate scientific studies and to speak
NATIONAL CAPITAL NEWS AND GOSSIP
By Ralph Smith
WASHINGTON, D. C., March s.—The
sixtieth congress of the United States
passed into history last Thursday, when
there was, in fact, a change In the
personnel of the executive branch and
a partial change in the administrative
division of the government. It is now
a memory, and the mind naturally re
verts to a review of its accomplish
ments. They were few.
Although economy was the watch
word in the platform of the Republican
plaform, the congress, just adjourneu,
during its second session, was exceed
ingly liberal in its expenditures of the
public money, thanks to the generosity
of the grand old party. The payroll
of the members of congress alone
amounts to about three million and a
half dollars, and the appropriations ap
proximated over one billion eight mil
lion dollars.
Aside from the money, or supply
bills, little can be said of any legisla
tive accomplishments. Most of the
time was consumed in rowing with
president Roosevelt. Big subjects were
discussed all right enough, but action
was studiously avoided.
Tne house passed bills providing for
separate statehood for Arizona and New
tuexico, but the bills died in the senate
committee.
Countless hours were devoted in the
senate to the postal savings bank
measure, but, as has been pointed out
in these dispatches heretofore, there is
a strong impression abroad that many
of the outspoken advocates of the leg
islation were insincere. The subject
was not mentioned in the house, and
postal savings banks are no nearer to a
realization than they were before the
Republican party declared for them in
its platform.
Change Has Influence
It is conceded that the change in ad
ministrations —the retirement of Mr.
great and good Mr. Washington, as a pri
vate citizen, took his seat a little in
front of where the senators sat.” The
following year he was made a lieutenant
general. Most historians seem to over
look the fact that he was afterwards
made general, but an act was passed on
March 3, 1799, creating that grade for him.
He was thus a full general for about
nine months. What time Washington
could spare from organizing the army for
the possible war with France, was de
voted to his Mt. Vernon plantation. He
was also deeply interested in the im
provembent of the Inland waterways ot
the country and personally examinea
many of them.
Andrew Johnson and John Quincy Adams
came back to congress—Johnson to the
senate and Adams to the house. Jefferson
spent hit latter days building up the Uni
versity of Virginia and moulding the po
litical thought of the nation. Pierce and
Buchanan lived in retirement after their
service as president. The other presi
dents, from the younger Adams to Pierce,
were not afterward conspicuous in pub
lic life, with the single exception of John
Tyler, who labored heroically to settle,
without bloodshed, the differences be
tween the north and the south Monroe
served as a justice of the peace after
his retirement, and both he and Madi
son were members of the Virginia con
stitutional convention of 1829. as was also
John Tyler, afterward president. Thur>
three presidents of the United States
sat in a single state convention—some
thing that has never happened before
nor since.—(Copyright. 1909, by Frederic.
J. Haskin).
contemptuously of colleges In which ,
such studies are pursued. Your “practical
man’’ is generally a man of narrow igno
rance. He does not know that he does not
know.
A college graduate invented the cotton
gin—that wealth-making device which
gives to the southern states their great
natural monopoly. A graduate of Gottin
gen University devised the rotarv tnrnace
which revolutionized the manuacture or
iron and steel, and reduced the cost of
all things made of these substances from
a hair-pin to a battle-ship. The cotton-gin
and the rotary furnace alone, not to
speak of any other Inventions devised by
college graduates, have produced more
wealth in the last one hundred years than
all the little peddlers who boast of being
“practical men" have produced since the
beginning of time. But Qie peddlers, ful'
of pride and pratling always of being |
very "practical,’’ do not know this, and
they pre too conceited to understand i*
when they are told of it. Ignorant egotism
is a hopeless thing of which nothing can
be made. A botanist can turn a worthless
shrub into a valuable article of com
merce, but who can make anything of a
fool. King Solomon gave up hope of him
above twenty-five centuries ago, and
wrote in the Proverbs, “Though thou
shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among
wheat with a pestle, yet will not his fool
ishnes depart from him.”
But to get away from the fool and back
to the factory. I remind the reader of
these lines that in this age of machin
ery requiring belting and era of electric
ity requiring all sorts, of insulating sub
stances, this discovery of a new source
of rubber is the greatest significance. It
can not fail to make the owners of the
secret immensely wealthy.
An American company owns the rub
ber factory in Torreon. In fact Torreon
is as full of Americans as is Laredo,
Texas, or Eagle Pass. The presence of
citizens of the United States in every
part of the Mexican republic is working
a silent but certain revolution socially,
commercially, politically and religiously.
No man can foresee the final ovtcoms,
but it means good for all concerned in
the end.
Since December, 1823, when James Mon
roe in his famous message to Congress
formulated what is now known as “the
Monroe Doctrine,” our country has ex
ercised an influence over all the nations
of the Western hemisphere which has
tended constantly towards moral equi
poise and steadiness of political move
ment. The proclamation of that doctrine
was made in logdeal .and necessary se
quence to the recognition of the inde
pendence of Mexico by the United States
In 1822, and now that the two nations
are more friendly and intimate than ever
in their history, it is a mighty force
working for the peace and prosperity of
all the peoples who are inhabiting the
New World. Indeed it vitally affects the
freedom and well-being of all mankind.
It behooves us to lay to heart our
grave responsibility arising from our
leadership among the nations of the
Western hemisphere. They are our
neighbors to be respected, loved, and as
sisted in working out the mission set be
fore them, and we may not look upon
them as lands to be exploited for our
own enrichment without incurring the I
displeasure of the God in heaven who
laid upon us the weighty obligations of
the position we occupy and the relations
which we sustain to these neighboring
republics. We must not only guard their
freedom, but we must guide them in
those paths of intelligence and virtue ip
which men muff walk in order to be fit
for freedom. W. A. CANDLER.
Torreon, Mexico, February 23, 1909.
Roosevelt and the coming of Mr. Taft —
operated as an Influence against im
portant legislation. The house and the
senate, too, seemed anxious to defer
matters, and hear officially from the
new president before taking any de
cided action, or, perhaps, it was not
. so much out of deference to Mr. Taft
as it was fear that Mr. Roosevelt might
club some of their enactments with hia
big stick.
The veto of the census bill by Presl
, ent Roosevelt, or, better, ex-President
Roosevelt, serves to illustrate this
, thought. The measure was of the ut
most importance. It provided ways
and means for the tflTtlng of the twelfth
census of the United States in 1910.
Congress provided shat the enumerators
and supervisors should be appointed by
the representatives and senators, but
Mr. Roosevelt thought they should be
selected by civil service rules, by com
petitive examinations —a survival of the
fittest, he said. He vetoed the bill,
and congress politely pigeon-holed it
in a committee to await the coming
of Mr. Tait before passing it again.
But, regardless of the veto, the pas
sage of the census bill was one of the
accomplishments of congress, although
the work for the present has gone to
naught
The Brownsville Bill
I' The passage of the Brownesville bill
was one of the works of congress during
its last days. It creates an army com
‘ mission to hear the statements cf mem
bers of the colored battalion mustered out
of the service by President Roosevelt, for
"shooting up" the town of Brownesville,
Texas. The soldiers who can establish
their Innocence are to be mustered again
into the service.
It required just an hour for congress
to vote SBOO,OOO for the relief of the Ital
ian earthquake sufferers.
The rivers and harbors bill, now law
and officially referred to as an “act,”
created an inland waterways commis
sion. A law was enacted, requiring im
| proved accommodtions for steerage pa
sengers.
There are a number of other important
pieces of legislation that have passed
one or the other, or both of the houses.
> i which, as this is being written, are tied
lup in conference. Among these is the
I penal code bill, otherwise known as the
revised statutes. It contains much that
is objectionable to the south in the shape
of old reconstruction laws, ku klux reg
ulations. etc. It contains also the Knox
bill for the regulation of the shipment of
alcoholic liquors from one state to an
other.
I Some of these measures in conference
! will become laws; others will fail. In
; experience in -uture reading makes it
' impossible to foretell what will be the
fate of them all. but by the time this is
: read it will be known.
t It will be a source of gratification to
1 Democrats generally to remember that
t the ship subsidy bill failed in the house,
after having passed the senate.
'■ The proposed legislation to suppress
gambling in cotton futures was among
: the failures.
i Altogether there were introduced tn both
1 houses something over 38.000 bills and res
lolutions. and about one quarter of one
per cent of these became laws. This small
percentage, be it remembered, embraced
a large number of private pension bills,
| too. •
YGUR~OWN heart
‘ Beware your tongue tq embitter.
List the s:an<ierov» dart
1 Send back its poise n to fester
i For aye within ‘your own heart.
I AtGUSxA WALL
