About Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 9, 1912)
SLfkmiw Sc wi-WtcMj) Sxwvwl VOL. XI. MORE FREEDOM FOR COURT-RULED LMD. ROOSEVELT PLEADS Unfit to Be Called Free People if We Surrender Right to Shape Our Destinies to Judi ciary, is His Opinion NEW YORK. Jan. 5,-Tbeodore Roose velt gfiscussee "Judges and Progress” in •a editorial appearing in tha current issue of the Outlook. He says in part: •Let me, at the outset, put so clearly that only wilful misinterpretation can deceive people. Just what my position as to the courts is. I have the very highest regard, the highest respect and admiration for the judiciary. As a whole. I think that our Judicial officers sUnd on a higher level than any other body of public servants, or for the matter of that, of private citizens. I could name offhand at this moment a number of Judges now en the bench who render to the people more substantial service of more far-reaching value than is ren dered by any men in public or private life—and all of these Judges substantial ly agree with the position herein taken, which, indeed. »s largely derived from them. I believe the courts have ren our people incalculable services. I hold that the attitude of our people toward them should lw one of apprecia tion and respect; but not of servility. •w • • I most emphatically believe that we have been wise In giving great power to our Judges, including this pow er of judicial interpretation of statutes to see whether they conform with the fundamental law of the land. But I also most firmly, believe that, like any <4her power, this power can be abused, and that it is a power with which the people have merely temporarily parted, and not on one which they have perma nently alienated, feed cautiously and moderately and only in the clearest cases as it has been used by our great- I eat judges ft jm the days of Marshall | to the Present time, aa It is defended by* w ewers ouch as Mr. Thayer, it is fraught with the utmost good to the body | politic. Used recklessly, wantonly and foolishly, where the case is so doubt ful that the judges themselves may be divided nearly equally on the two sides On the bakeshop decision first and last. | U judges held the law constitutional and only TO including, however, unfortu nately. 5 of the # supreme court judges, held it unconstitutional? as it has again and again been used tn recent years, it results fa very greet evil. PEOPLE CAN’T ACT. “ „ I am not speaking of the judges’ performance of the ordinary judicial wunetton a» performed by judges tn al! lands, the function of' the type which people all over the world have in mind when they speak of the upright ness of the Judge, of the independence of the Judiciary. I am speaking of the ■peculiar function of the American 'udge, rhe function of no other jidge in the world, the function of dedartng whether or not the people have the right to make laws lor' themselves on matters which :hey deem of vital concern. I am not prob fay of the Judge m his attitude of Judge between one individual and another, or one Individual and the state; I am speaking of the judge when, by virtue of. his position, he deciares that the people as a whole have or have not the right to carry out a given policy, a power- which may give one man or three men or five men The right to nulllftf the wishes of the enormous majority of their ».«»•>» fellow citizens, a power which has been exercised repeatedly, sometimes wisely, sometimes very un wisely. Bear in mind that I am not at this time even referring to decisions dealing with tha question o* the respec tive spherm of action of nation and state; I have in mind decisions* which declare the people themselves have no power to act. through either the nation al or the state governments. BLOW TO DECENCY. During the last 25 years the courts here in New York helped, I am sorry to say. once or twice the supreme court of the nation, have thrown what at times have proved wellnlgh or altogeth er insurmountable obstacles in the path of needed social reforms. I have al ready alluded to the decision of the New York court which forbade the peo ple of New York through their legisla ture to interfere with certain kinds of tenement house fac&ries. Almost with out exception every intelligent social worker whom I have ever met. every man really interested in the betterent | of social and industrial conditions among our working people, tn giving better homes to the working people in great cities, and tn giving better conditions of L-toor to them when they are at la bor—almost without exception every cne qualified to judge on these matters has agreed that this decision was a blow to decent cttlsenship. a blow to the effort to achieve genuine reform, genuine bet terment of social conditions, of so sev-1 vere a ratuie that its mischievous af fects can hardly be overestimated. 1, have no doubt that the men making the decision were upright men of high char acter; but they did as much damage as tbe worst legislative body, actuated by the worst motives could possibly have done. “CONSTITUTION VIOLATED." ■•••••••♦ J hold, not the courts in these matters have usurped, or at least exercised in wholly wrong fashion, a right clearly abiding in the people, but that they have restrained to the utmost land, indeed, in my judg ment violated) constitution in order to sustain a do-nothing philosophy which has everywhere completely broken down when applied to the actual con ditions of modern life. These good judges, these upright and well-meaning men. who champion an outworn phil osophy, do not realize that the changed conditions mean changed needs ana that the tremendous social problem of today cannot be solved by methods adequate to meet the infinitely simpler problems offered by industrial and so cial life a century ago. -•••••••• When I was president, the man to whom I owed most for guidance as to the proper attitude that courts should take tn matters such as these justice of the eupreme court who dur ing his lamentably short term of ser vice gave promise of being one of the i greatest who ever sat on that court. It was he wbd called my attention to the first essay in Professor Thayer’s ' book of ’legal essays’ on ’the origin I and scope of the American doctrine ot j constitutional law/ Nowhere else is | there a clearer statement both of the | advantage of conferring upon the | courts the power that they possess un der our system and also of the further ! fact that unless that power is wisely j exercised R must inevitably be re strained. It is, I believe, an advantage ! to have fixed in tbe court the power | ■GROIN WILSON SEEMS STRONGEST DEMOCRAT Even Governor’s Enemies Con cede That He May Get Nomination ■T XAUI nCXTM. (Special Dttspatch to The Journal.) WASHINGTON, Jan. 8.-That Wood row Wilson is far and away the strong est candidate In the field for the Demo cratic presidential nomination has been made clearly manifest by the develop ments attendant upon the meeting of the national committee in Washington to day. It is conceded even by the men who are fighting Wilson hardest, that he I would probably win the nomination if the convention were held this week, and their only hope is to check the growth of his ooom by politics between now and the convention. The Joline letter, which was calcu lated to damage the Jersey governor, has fallen flat. Wilson’s friends are not deeply concerned about its publication and Bryan himself has added to their relief by a statement given out last night. He said. "The publication of the Joline letter is calculated to help Wil son with the people who are interested in its circulation.” Further than this he would not com ment on the letter, nor would he dis cuss presidential possibilities. His re mark is regarded as highly significant, however. It Is taken to mean that he feels no resentment toward Wilson as a result of the letter. The JoHne letter, as was Indicated in the dispatches Satur day night, is said to have been written to Woodrow Wilson by Adrain H. Joline, of New York, in 1905. following Alton B. Parker's defeat for the presidency. In this letter Governor Wilson is re ported to have said: "Cannot we devise some dignified way of getting Mr. Bryan out of the Democratic party and getting rid of him for all time?” Tne purpose of making the letter public at this time (was manifestly to offend Mr. Byran and his followers in the Democratic party. its publication was timed to fit with ■ the meeting of the National Democratic 1 committee when the country would be , watching for developments. The Wilson ' boomers in Washington are planning to ; give him a royal time here today and lat the Jackson day dinner tonight. I He arrived in the city shortly after j U o’clock and went directly to the New j Willard hotel, where W. F. McCombs, of New York, is in charge of his head quarters. There he will remain through out the day conferring with friends from different parts of the country about the progress of his candidacy. He will not go near to the meeting of the Demo cratic national committee, but will be closely advised concerning its workings. I It was learned today that about $22,- . OQP has been expended promoting the .candidacy of Governor Wilson. This ! money has been expended legitimately principally for purposes of publicity, the maintenance of a press bureau and a ’campaign headquarters Tn York ! city The money, it La stated, has been sub- I scribed by graduates of Princeton uni | versify, with which the Jersey governor I was Identified for so many years. The I largest single subscription was for I $5,000, and the other money came from ’’subscriptions ranging from $5,000 to SIO,OOO. It is added that all the money neoessary to continue the fight until the date of the convention will be forth coming. r Clark Howell, national committeeman from Georgia, reached Washington yes terday.” He submitted an Interview for a local afternoon newspaper, and went on record as favoring a southern man for ' I the Democratic nomination. to state that a legislative active is un constitutional; but only provided that the power is exercised with the great courts continue to use it with the reck eet wisdom and self-restraint. If tne lessness that Jias too often been shown in the past, it is almost inevitable that efforts will be made to amend or abol ish it. I know, for instance, that, as far as I am personally concerned, I earnestly hope to see in the next New York state constitutional convention provisions incorporated in the consti tution which will enable the people to decide for themselves, by popular bal lot after due deliberation, finally ana without appeal, what the law of the land shall be In cases such as those I have mentioned, where the courts of the state have refused to allow the people to establish justice and Mdlty. -•••••• j am aur. that ultimately our people must, and will, come to the view that the nation and the states within their several spheres—spheres which must cover every particle of the ground where it is possible for govern ment to act at all—-have, not only the right but the duty to decide as wis dom and experience shall dictate as to all the conditions which shall obtain in tenement houses, tn factories, in mines, on railways for preserving men, women apd children In health, life and limb. LET PEOPLE DECIDE. If they so decide and are really bent upon having the decision reduced to practice, the courts will sooner or later, in one way or another be forced to give it effect. It is idle to say that the people as a whole have not the right to decide for themselves on such a matter of gov ernmental policy. It is In no shape or way one Os the few questions where the public servants of the people have the right and where it is their duty to go counter to the wishes of the people. I do not mean that there are no such cases, on the contrary, I hold that not only the judge but the legislator or executive, may at times find that his highest duty to the people is to resist the will of the people if some question of real or vital principle, of right or wrong, is at stake. But his usefulness In standing ruggedly for his own convictions in such case* where the moral law- Is at stake will largely depend upon his not having re fused to represent the popular will when tbe people had a /ight to have their will respected. •••••• «No public servant who is ‘ worth his salt should hesitate to stand Iby his conscience and, if necessary to I surrender his office rather than to yield I his conscientious convictions tn a case of genuine importance. “But while that is his right and his ! duty, our right and our duty is to see ' that he is responsible to us, to the peo j pie; and I hold with Abraham Lincoln i that we are unfit to be called a free I people if we permanently surrender the : right to shape our destinies and place ! this right in the hands of any men not j responsible to us. ! “One word in closing. What I have ad > vocated is not revolution. It is not mild I radicalism. It is highest and wisest kind of conservatism.** I ATTjANTA, GEORGIA. TUESDAY, JANUARY 9, 1912. CHINESE RAILROADS MUST BE KEPT OPEN SAY WORLD PDIAIERS British, German, Japanese and French Troops Take Charge of Railroad--England Guards Space Allotted U. S. PEKING, Jan. 6. —The treaty powers have undertaken the protection of the railroad between Peking and the sea. Interruption of traffic along this line which has prevented the passage of tne mails for four days has resulted In tms decision. Detachments of British, Ger- ■ man, Japanese and French troops have been stationed at intervals between Pe king and Chin Wang Tao, according to the plan devised two months ago. A Japanese general ia in command as he is the ranking officer. The respective nations assume charge of the different sections of the roae, Great Britain taking care of the section between Peking and Yang Tsun; France between Yang Tsun and Tang Ku; 1 Ger many, Tang Ku to Tang Shan, tne | United States, Tang Shan to Lanchow, and Japan from Lanchow to Chin Wang Tao. The United States, however, has no troops in North China except 300 le gation guards and has been unable to assume responsibility for the section allotted to it but British- troops are protecting that district until Americans arrive. Just when additional American troops will reach China Is not known althougn Minister Calhoun cabled several days ago to the state department at Wasn ington advising the dispatch of a regi ment on a peace footing. He has receiv ed no reply., It is announced tonight that the tracks have been repaired and mails are coming through but a similar state ment has been made by the Chinese foreign board several times before wltn out basis of fact. ‘ The foreign detachments number 150 to 300 men, according to the distance controlled. The British guard has 55 miles of territory to cover. This is tnj longest sectton. The American section is 33 miles. The troops have been or dered to avoid bloodshed if possible and it is believed the rebels will not Interfere within the foreign controlled sphere although they may beyond Cntn Wang Tao. The legations regret that they cannot control the Chinese imperial railroad up to the Japanese junction in Manchuria, thereby, ensuring a continuation of the trans-Siberian mails but the protocol does not authorize anything further tuan maintaining communication to the sea, i the nearest open port being Chin Wang Tao. at Tien Tsin is ice-bound. Juan Shi Kai is pleased M.tbfi action of the powers, becaudg it relieves the Imperial administration of responsibil ity and ensures the maintenance or communication which the Imperial troops might be unable to do. The powers do not assume the administra tion of the district and consequently the imperialists profit by the arrange ment, the trains not being available to IMPERIALISTS DELAYING. Premier Yuan has sent a telegram to Wu Ting Fang asking to be informed aa to the object of the establishment o» a republic and whether the president could be removed should the nations* convention decide upon a constitutional monarchy. It would appear as if the imperial premier is seeking delay, believing tlm« will cause dissensions in the south. Sev eral generals are urging him to fight but it is thought he will await an at tack. The people of Chi LI and Shan Tung provinces who are for the most part revolutionary, are organizing but find that they are not in a position to take part In a rising as they are with out’rifles or military supplies. Shouiu the imperial army become disaffecteu the case would be different. The empress dowager has -issued or ders to the princes not to leave Peking. Recently there has been a stiffening or the court's determination to hold out. Capt. J. H. Reeves, military attache of the American legation at Peking, and Capt. Themas Holcomb, Jr., who is special attache of the legation, wid pro ceed to Lan Chow tomorrow to Inspect the American section of the railway. U. S. Army Is Ready To Meet Any Demand WASHINGTON, Jan. A-Although it was expected yesterday that within 24 hours the state department would learn from Minister Calhoun at Peking, wheth er American troops were required in Chi na and tn what number, the minister was silent today. It is assumed he is consulting with other diplomatic repre sentatives in Peking and it may be that these in turn feel called upon to await advices from their home governments. The army stands ready to meet any demand upon it within reason and the officers here are wondering why the word does not come from Peking, knowing that other powers have been dispatch ing troops to China along the line of the railroad from Peking to the sea. On the whole, there seems little doubt that the ultimate decision will be to dispatch troops from Manila. B t as the matter of prime consideration is the preserva tion of the satisfactory entente which has governed the six powers in the ex ecution of their Chinese policies, the state department is disposed to observe with scrupulous regard the undertaking, that no other power shall advance troops without consulting the other powers. Hence action awaits word from Mr. Cal houn. which is expected soon. Demands have been made upon Dr. Wu Ting Fang by Yuan Shi Kai to know the purposes of the establishment of the Nanking government and consequently taking of an oath by President Sun Yat Sen. in which he pledged himself to de throne the Manchus according to advices to the state department. These tsate that Yuan, in his telegram to Dr. Wu, quesioned the Republican minister of justice as io whether the Republican gov ernment would be abolished should-a na tional convention decide upon a mon archy. At the same time the premier ex pressed the belief that the action of the revolutionaries has contravened the ar rangements made whereby fc national convention is to decide the future form of government. Dr. Wu Ting Fang, (ac cording to the dispatches, in a note to oach of the six consuls general at Shanghai, who presented an identical note, says that the hope of peace ex pressed in that communication was nul lified by the Manchu government. -.- T _ ~ — I ACTIVITY ** z Wil, Aj ,7/ wi GREAT MYSTERY—WILL TEDDY RLN FOR NOMINATION? SliS PRin'S EVIDENCE WHS RISER ON OPINION Attorney for Clhcago Packers Tries to Have Evidence Stricken —Trial Resumed i C HICAGO, Ja» »>-Denfcnsd counsel tn the trial of the teh Chicago packers, charged with criminal violation of the Sherman law, today moved to have stricken from records the evidence of Jerome H. Pratt. This evidence aimed to identify the handwriting ofV Ogden Armour, Arthur Meeker and Thomas J. Conners on certain letters previously in troduced In evidence by the government to show the existence of a combination among the defendants in the period be tween 1896 and 190$. Attorney M. W. Borders, representing the Morris Interests, made the point that the testimony of the witness (Pratt) on thin point teas Incompetent, because it was based on an opinion obtained in the ordinary course of business and not on personal knowledge. District Attorney Wilkerson insisted that ths testimony should remain in the record. “The fact that those letters were writ ten and received by Pratt in the course of business, enabled him to be all rhe more certain ■of his Identification and renders Ms testimony competent/’ said Mr. Wilkerson. Judge Carpenter said he had no doubt regarding the admissibility of the letters as documents, but he expressed doubt as to the witness giving an opinion on the identification of the handwriting un less supplemented by other evidence. "The government will have to show a combination of effort and concerted ac tion on the part of each of these ten defendants to commit conspiracy or there will be an end to this case," said Judge Carpenter. “The government is necessarily obliged to prove ' its theory In a case of this kind, piece by piece. This may be supplemented later by other testimony. 1 cannot know in ad vance just what evidence the govern ment will present.” Special Counsel Pierce Butler contin ued reading of percentage shipments und profit margins alleged to have been used by the defendants in the conduct of their business between 1894 and 1906, when the trial of the ten Chicago pack ers was resumed. This was an effort to prove that the packers maintain a combination to ap portionment the fresh meat business and fix prices on a non-competitive basis after the organization of the National Packing company in March, 4-vu. District Attorney James H. Wilkerson annouwbed that it probably would take several days to conclude the examina tion of Jerome H. Pratt. DECATUR COUNTY LANDS BRING GOOD PRICES BAINBRIDGE, Ga„ Jan. 8. —That the value of Decatur county lands have nov been effected by the low price of cot ton was illustrated yesterday when the executors of the Herring estate placed on the market 800 acres of land lying about seven miles east of Bainbridge. This body of land was bid in for $21,000. There is very little open land in the tract and not very much timber, but it lies well and is a very excellent qual ity of soil. MINE WORKERS PREPARE FOR BIG CONVENTION INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., Jan. B.—Prelimi nary to the annual convention of the United Mine Workers of America, which is to open here January 16, a joint meet ing of miners and operators of Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and western Pennsylvania Is scheduled to be held here today to complete plans for a joint interstate conference. The proposed conference is for the purpose of dealing with wage contracts and disputes. TENNESSEE SENATORS WRANGLE OVER SEATS Selection of Meeting Place for Democratic Convention to Be Made Monday SY RALPH SMITH. •<- > W ASHH'trBQN. D. C„ Jan. 8.-Con tested seats from Pennsylvania and Ten nessee, which are to be settled by the national Democratic committee, divide interest with the fixing of a date of choice of a place of meeting for the national convention. It is considered that the meeting of the committee on Monday will prove lively, and members of the committee feel considerable ap prehension about the factional tow*\ in Tennessee, Involving a qpntest between R. E., L. Mountcastle, of Knpxville, and John T. Vertress, of Nasuville. Ths contest from Pennsylvania between Rep resentative Mitchell Palmer and Col. James N. Duffy is not regarded so seri ously. . , Members the committee fear to of fend either wing of the Democracy of Tennessee, but there seems no way by which the differences between Vertress and Mountcastle can be amicably ad justed. Mountcastle was the regularly chosen national committeeman, but sub sequently he joined with the fusionlsts in defeating Senator Bob Taylor for gov ernor of Tennessee. He presided over the convention that nominated Hooper for governor. ThO feeling is so keen that the sena tors from the state divided. Senator Taylor will appear before the commit tee in behalf of Vertress and Senator Luke Lea will urge Mountcastle’s claims. Five cities are contesting for the con vention. They are St. Louis, Denver, Chicago, Baltimore, Kansas City and New York. There is a strong prejudice against New York because of the sup posed pernicious influence of Tammany and Wall street, and it is not believed that Augustus Thomas’ oratory will move the national committee. The play right has been open to present New York’s offer. W. F. Mceoombs, of New York, is here in the interest of Woodrow Wilson’s candidacy, and the Jersey governor him self is expected Monday afternoon. Mc- Coombs gave out an optimistic state ment e bout the pandidacy of Wilson, stating that he had more than a ma jority or the delegates already pledged to him. SOCIALIST MAYOR IS DISOWNED BY HIS PARTY LIMA, Ohio. Jan. B.—Mayor Corbin Shook, Socialist, who was charged with having repudiated an ante-election prom ise to resign if asked by a majority of the members of his party, yesterday was formally read out of the party at a par ty mass meeting here. Safety Director Edwin Plank, who also had come into the bad graces of his party, said he spoke for himself and other apointees, and declared they would accept their positions despite the action of the lo cal. FOUR ARE FOUND DEAD IN BOARDINGHOUSE ROOM PHILADELPHIA, Jan. B.—Mystery surrounds the death of four persons whose bodies fully clothed were found yesterday in a room of the boarding house of Mrs. Bridget Flanagan. The dead are Mrs. Flanagan, her daughter, Annis, aged 10, an adopted son, Joseph, aged 15 months, and Catherine Murray, a boarder; Mrs. Flanagan was 38 years old. Her husband, it is said, left her ten days •S°- REPOOLICIN SOLDIERS TO RESUME FIGHTING SOON Rebel Forces in China Now Aggregate More Than 30,- 000 Men NANKIVrK-Cjyna. publican treops began at nWm today ferring a large quantity of railway rowing stock acres the river to Pukow, where it is expected the advance north ward will begin tomorrow when the armistice terminates. Winter clothing for the republican army Is arriving here today In carloads, and the soldiers are being rapidly equip ped in preparation for their march on Peking. The revolutionary commander today received a reinforcement of 4.000 men from Canton, who brought with them 30,000 new magazine rifles. It is es tlmated that the republican forces now amount to considerably more than 30,- 000 men, with many batteries of modern field guns and plenty of ammunition. The imperialist troops in the nelgn borhood under the command of Gen eral Chang, are not, it is believed, near ly so strong numerically as the repub licans, and although many of them are soldiers trained on the European sys tem, there are a large number of un trained and undisciplined troops in their ranks. ; General Chang, it is said, commands the entire northern section of the Tien Tsin-Peking railway and occupies sev eral towns on each side. The revolu tionaries, on the other hand, hold the southern section of the railway and have the advantag* of popular sympatny in the Yang Tse valley. German and English Soldiers at Lanchow LONDON, Jsn. s.—According to an ex change company’s telegram. British and German troops have been dispatched from Tien Tain to Lanchow, the strate gical point of the railroad from Peking to Mukden, where the imperial Chinese troops a few days ago declared in favor of a republic, elected Wang Wie Tze their leader and announced that they were about to march on Peking. was reported yesterday that the same troops had looted and burned the residences of the wealthy citizens cf Lanchow and seized the railway at Shanhaikwan, where they were bolding up the traffic. The British troops will occupy and patrol the American section of the rail way between Tang Shan and Lanchow, where the trains have been completely blocked. • Fighting of the most severe descrip tion is proceeding in the vicinity of Lanchow between the Chinese and the Manchu troops, and the telegraph lines, including the systems belonging to the Chinese Engineering and Mining com pany, have been cut. The foreigners engaged in the coal mines at Llnsi, in the neighborhood of Kaiping, came ’nto Tien Tsin yesterday on a coal train at which the revolu tionaries fired several vi Heys. —————— » Observe Battle Date NASHVILB, Tenn., Jan. B.—The LaJ dies’ Hermitage association will ob serve the anniversary of the battle ot New Orleans tonight with the usuar Jackson day balk Tonight’s affffair, Jakies Madison’s ball, the characters represented being those prominent in Madison's administration. Mr. and Mrs. E.. W. Fuster will repre sent James and Dolly Madison. Cos tumes of the time will be worn. Flint River Booming BAINBRIDGE, Ga., Jan. ».—Flint river lias been on a rampage on ac count of the recent heavy rains. The river is higher than it has been for the past three years. Several year® ago the present rise was a usual spring occurrence but now it is an unusual sight to see such a swollen, stream. NO. 32. THE LIE IS PISSED ;1 DURING HOT CLASH be the Gimm | ■' I' National Committee Sustains Ruling of Chairman Mack That State Committee Shall Name Delegates (Sy Associated Presa) WASHINGTON. Jan. A—The Me waul passed in the Democratic national com- j mittee late today, and William Jennings| Bryan made a threat to “appeal ■» the; people” If overriden by the committees fa his fight to unseal CoL James M. Guf-| fey, the national committeeman frora; Pennsylvania. This threat, coming im-i mediately after the Bryan-La Follette* conference of yesterday, renewed gossip’ as to the possibility of a third party. ! Colonel Guffey hurled the charge at. “liar' at Congressman A. Mitchell Pal-T mer, who ia contesting his seat. The.’ latter replied that he had apdbKX the! truth and that only Guffey's ago pre-; vented him from making a personal mab»' ter of the affair. . Mr. Palmer had freely charged in hie speech to the committee that Colonel I - Gufffey had affiliated with Senator Pen-' | rose, the Republican leader of vania. and that he had been disloyal to his party. Mr. Bryan took up the argu-i ment in Mr. Palmer’s behalf. He declar ed that thrice had he had been the can-j didate of his party for the pre-sidency and that many millions of the people had expressed their confidence in him. |g If the national committee declined to listen to him he woujd appeal to the people. , The private secretary to Senator Cum-’ mlns was at the hotel where the cotn-j mittee met and talked with several of the' members. . The bitter fight tn the Guffey cane wao’ unexpectedly prolonged, delaying the eo-j lection of a convention atty indefinitely.’ Senator Stone, of Missouri, a l*fe-lon»| friend of Mr. Bryan, spoke in behalf of' 4 Guffey. Mr. Stone held a proxy. His op-j position to Mr. Bryan’s views was re>- garded as significant. R. E. L. Mountoastie, of Tennessee,' was declared entitled to his seat with! only one dissenting vote. His place on' the committee had been contested by| John J. Vertree, who was chief counsel 1 for former Secretary Ballinger in the; fc Ballinger-Pinchot investigation. Despite the protest of Mr. Bryan and; \ his threat to appeal to the people the 1 committee voted in favor of Guffey SO* to 18. When the Democratic national commit-- tee went into session here shortly before 1 1 o’clock this afternoon, William Bryan at once became a storm center in an attempt to have James M. Guffey, <ffj Pennsylvania, thrown off the committee.’ « The roll call of the states had .-startrd—M»fi<i tti| tewwfata James A. Weatherly, of Alabama, was; recently selected by the Alabama state committee to succeed John T. Tomlin son. deceased. When his name was called today Mr. Bryan asked if there, was a protest. None oelng received, t y the Nebraskan, who had been given art i ovation when he entered the room,’ moved that the selection be approved. THE STORM BREAKS. National Committeeman Brown, ofl Vermont, declared that affirmative ac-’ .'J tion by the national committee was not, necessary; that the matter lay entirely in the hands of the state committee. ( Chairman Mack sustained thie point off 7 order. “I appeal from the decision of the’; chair,” shouted Mr. Bryan. He declared that it was plain therei i was a purpose to head oft a protests against Colonel Guffey and that the mat-} ter ought to be thoroughly discussed. . At this juncture a motion to go into; executive session was carried and tho| doors were closed. The Fenrusylvaniaj fight was plunged into at once Repre-i sentative A. Mitchell Palmer, contesting} Guffey's on the committee, was in the room holding the Utah proxy. ' The committee set 3 o’clock this afternoon as the time for hearing the representa tives of various cities bidding for the, convention. As this time approached. Baltimore's chances seemed to be In creasing. It was said that the support ers of Gov. Woodrow Wilson were! throwing their strength to Baltimore. I Governor Wilson reached the city to-! | day. Chairman Mack apparently had the) ’ backing of all the “old line" Democrats on the committee in making the rulingi from which Mr. Bryan appealed. Mr.l Mack and Mr. Bryan dined together last! night, but It was apparent that the mens who have directed the affairs of the committee for many years had deter mined that Colonel Guffey, and Comntft teeman R. E. Mountcastle, df Tennes see, whose place Is also being contest ed. should remain on the national board. Attempts were made last night to dls-f suade Mr. Bryan for making war in thej committee and up to the time he went! into the meeting today his course wasi said to have been undetermined. The! fight was precipitated, however, with al suddenness that surprised every one i ,'J BRYAN’S APPEAL LOST. Mr. Bryan’s appeal from the ruling in : the Alabama case was defeated by a vote of 33 to 13. This indicated that the ■ committee was clearly against the Ne braskan in his fight on Colonel Guffey.’ and that the latter would be retained on the committee beyond all question. With the Alabama case disposed of,, the committee took up the Guffey-Pal- : S, fey-Palmer contest with a time limit of one hour on the argument. Mr. Bryan made a speech, declaring that the com mittee had a perfect right to view the actions of state committeemen. Ho cited precedents in other bodies, notably; the Lorimer case, in the United States senate. The senate, he said, could not elect Lorimer, but it could determine his eligibility. If a man were disloyal to falsi ' party, Mr. Bryan contended, tbwt tha national committee should not' receive him as a member- ’ . 7 i wj Five cities are asking for the national} convention. Baltimore seemed to have a' slight lead early today with St. Louis pressing hard as the nearest competi tor. New Y’ork, Denver and Chicago also had put in claims. The time of the convention probably will be two weeks after the Republican n&Aional con vention. to be held in Chicago, Jun« 18. Democratic leaders from all sectional of the country are here for the com-' mittee meeting and the Jackson' day! dinner tonight. Business at the house end of the capitol, where the Democrats are in control, practically was at a* » standstill. The committee meeting prom ised to last until late in the after-’ noon.
