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THE TWICE-A-WEEK telegraph
rfltOAY) MAY S, 1907*
THE nun TELEGRAPH
PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING
AND TWICE A WEEK BY THE
MACON TELEGRAPH PUBLISH
ING COMPANY, 563 MULBERRY
STREET, MACON. OA.
I authority
j .‘-'•na! lib*
I he pioasei
Confucius
it Czolgosx, who did i
made laws to prevei
C. R. PENDLETON, President
THE "UNWRITTEN LAW."
The "unwritten law" has reached
Macon. In the broad light of day, on
me of our principal streets, one citizen
walked Into the place of business of
another and emptied the five chambers
of a revolver Into the body of the pro
prietor. Stepping to the street, he
turned his smoking pistol over to a
po lcemnn. asking to be arrested, as he
had shot a man. The citizen who did
the shooting later said the other had
ruined his sister and taunted him about
It a« he passed his place of business.
The man who was shot being informed
that the end of his life was at hand,
declared with his dying breath that he
was innocent of the charge brought
against him. The county coroner
promptly organized a jury, and there
being no eye witness to the difficulty
In Its origin, beside the dead man and
/his slayer, the slayer was brought be-
I fore the Jury, made his statement to
the effect told above and the Jury with
out delay returned a verdict of justi
fiable homicide.
The coroner Is an officer under the
laws of Georgia, sworn to uphold the
laws of Georgia, and the Jurors empan-
neled by him at an Inquest are also
sworn to perform their office under
end In accordance with the laws of
Georgia. The laws of Georgia do not
prescribe the penalty or death for the
crime of seduction. It happened that
this particular case was In the hands
of the law and about the ttme the
■hooting occurred the grand Jury of the
county returned an Indictment against
the man who was slain, naming his al
leged offense that of a "misdemeanor.’’
Perhaps a man guilty of seduction
deserves the punishment of death. Pos
sibly It would be well if our laws vis
ited the penalty of death on the se
ducer. IBut unfortunately, for this case
at least, they do not. Tho "unwritten
law,” we believe, does prescribe death
for seduction. (But It ia not our pur
pose. here to quarrel with the "unwrit
ten law.” We wish to point out that
even under the "unwritten law” tho
man who is to be slain has this claim
on his fellows, that ho ho shown to be
guilty of the offense charged. In this case
the slain man being solemnly warned
that he was about to be ushered Into
tho presence of his Maker, said with
hi- last words, “I am Innocent of the
charge preferred,” and then his lips
were sealed forever. Tho slayer told
the Jury on the evidence of another—
hearsay evidence, which would not be
admitted In a court of law—that the
dead man was guilty. Did this cer
tainly establish the dead man’s guilt?
His friends say that he "always bore a
goad name, as a Christian and moral
man.” But thnt Is no certain assur
ance that he did not commit tho of
fense charged. The Telegraph is not
making a plea so much for the dead
man as It desires to enter a plea for
the living and for tho orderliness and
security of our social system. Looking
«t this ease in the calm light of the
facts It seems not necessary to establish
the guilt of the man charged with the
offense In question. It is only requi
site to charge the offense and shoot
him down. The jury says this makes it
"Justifiable.” Who, then, Is safe in the
community?
If we must have the "unwritten law”
by all means let us have It. It Is bet
ter than no law at all. Let It be codi
fied. Let us have some method of as
certaining by the evidence the inno
cence or guilt of the accused. Society
can survive any law, no matter how
•evere, which visits the punishment
upon the guilty. It could not long sur
vive conditions which justified the pun
ishment of death without the estab
lishment of guilt more surely than by
evidence before the jury at second
hand.
men from doing as they pc ased; that
every man has the right to murder any
other man he dislikes: that.all crime is
virtue and all law is vice: that black
Is white and white is black; and no one
In the world Is right but Tolstoy.”
Poor Russia. Her corrupt, oppres
sive autocracy seems to have found its
antipode; in the vain - imaginings of Its
once great philosopher and prophet.
As the Courier-Journal says: "With
Tolstoy as the expounder of impractical
land theories sensible persons may
bear, but with Tolstoy as an advocate
of anarchy and the abolition of all
THE CANAL AND THE SOUTH.
V.':.’ .' the Panama c-anal is completed, (
the shortest route for vessels passing
through it on their way to China and ■
Japan will lie within 125 miles of San |
Francis re.' according to the figuring of ■
the Chattanooga Tradesman. and j
therefore that city w-111 become the j
principal port of call not only for ves
sels bound for Asia from our Atlantic
and Gulf ports but for the great fleet
from London, Liverpool, Hamburg. ;
Bremen and other European shipping j
little except that he lived in his
district, and, being a colonel, was
eligible. His first battle, at Bel
mont, was not calculated to estab
lish a military reputation for aim.
But then began a series of tre
mendous operations, the manage
ment of vast numbers of troops,
incessant and terrific blows at the
Confederacy, the command of all
the Federal armies, world-wide
fame as a commander, the monu
mental and epoch-making success
of Appomattox and th.en eight
years in the Presidency. His was
a truly great career, but it was as
marvelous as it was great.
There Is nothing so marvellous in
i resolutions of any
national convention
centres. < this train of incidents. If we view them
The Tradesman’s article says that | closely. Ulysses S., or rather Hiram
San Francisco will become the prlncl- ' Ulysses Grant, if we may use the name
pal coaling port for vessels bound both : given him at birth, had had a military
ways and that this will be of great ben- ] education at West Point and military
eflt to the South, because the Panama I experience in tho Mexican War. The
forms of Government very few sane ] canal will bring the coal mines of the ! disgraced condition in which the era
persons will have patience. Tho bril- i Southern States nearer to that city j of the War Between the States found
llant mind of the great Russian, al- than are other competitive coal-pro- i him, if his enforced resignation from
magnificent ruin. His place Is in the
lunatic asylum, rather - than the forum,
and he Is a fitter subject for the con
sideration of pathologists than that of
sociologists.”
WHAT THE FATHERS "MEANT.”
In the course of his speech at James
town last Friday President Roosevelt
said:
"This great republic of ours shall
never become the Government of a
plutocracy, and It shall never be
come the Government of a mob.
God willing, It shall remain what
our fathers who founded It meant
it to be—a Government In which
each man stands on his worth as a
man, where each is given the
largest personal liberty consistent
with securing the well-being of the
whole, and where, so far as in us
lies, we strive continually to secure
for each man such equality of op
portunity that in the strife of life
he may have a fair chance to show
the stuff that Is in him.”
If it is to "remain what our fathers
meant it to be," It will continue a fed
erated and not bo gradually trans
formed into a consolidated republic, as
Mr. Roosevelt seems to wish it to be
come. Our fathers believed that home
rule, self-government, and individual
liberty could be more fully secured and
more completely maintained by the
people in their organized capacity as
separate and largely independent
States. They distrusted and even feared
such an expansion of the Federal power
as is favored by President Roosevelt,
and the very last thing in the world
they “meant” to do was to convert the
States virtually into Federal districts
and centralize the Government in the
hands of a man, or set of men, how
ever wise and well-meaning, at Wash
ington.
We should be glad to believe that
Mr. Roosevelt is really solicitous for
this Government to "remain what our
fathers meant It to be,” but we are
forced to the conviction that he, on
the contrary, ardently desires to mod
ify it until its form and quality are
such as more fully to meet his own
approval.
ways erratic, seems to be at present a j ducing regions. “There is no reason,”
says the Tradesman’s article, "why the
mining companies of Alabama, Ken
tucky, Tennessee and possibly West
Virginia should not furnish the bulk
of the bunker coal required fqr all this
shipping at San Francisco as well as
the coaling stations which will doubt
less be established at one or both ends
of the canal. This means that a fleet
of colliers will be required for han
dling coal alone from Southern ports
through the canal to the Pacific coast.”
All this is interesting, but is It based
on a fact 'The Rand-McNally atlas ly
ing on our table shows that a straight
line from Panama to Tokyo passes
through Hawaii leaving San Francisco
2,000 miles to the northeast. A straight
line almost due west from Panama to
Hong Kong or Manila would leave San
Francisco nearly 3,000 miles to the
northeast. It may be that the San
Francisco route would be desirable for
several reasons, but it would not be the
"shortest” by any means.
The Tradesman’s article suggests
other benefits as follows:
"The cane plantations of Louisi
ana and the Southwest will have a
far better opportunity to compete
with the Hawaiian producers in the
American market.
"The car.al will afford an oppor
tunity to Increase the commercial
relations between the South and
such cities as Seattle and Tacoma.
What this means to the textile In
terests of the South can be appre
ciated, bearing In mind the ex
tensive market on the Pacific coast
not only for cotton manufactures
but for the raw material. It is not
improbable that the cotton trade
with the United States west of the
Rocky Mountains will be much
more than doubled, since the canal
will allow the material to be car
ried to this section by rail as at
present.
“But possibly the chief item of
interest to the South through the
completion of the canal is the ex
pansion which will take place in
the Southern iron and possibly steel
• industry. It may be needless to say
that up to the present time the
construction of buildings and other
developments in the communities
on the Pacific coast has been great
ly retarded by the expense of se
curing structural steel and metal In
other forms. Undoubtedly ship
building on the Pacific coast would
a«sume much greater dimensions if
it were not for tho excessive cost
for frame work and hull plates for
vessels, most of which is now
brought across the country by rail.”
That the Panama canal will also add
to the South's trade and stimulate its
industries in many ways there can be
no question. Indeed, it will benefit all
parts and all interests of this country,
with the possible exception of the
WATSON GOES GRAVES ONE
BETTER.
We get second hand through the
Washington Post an intimation that
Graves’ bid for notoriety has stirred
up competition in a kindred quarter.
The Post tells us "Tom Watson has
given Ben Butler a certificate of Dem
ocracy, and contends that if Roosevelt
got his politics from Bryan, Butler was
it . ...i , . . transcontinental railroads.
the Inventor of it and. entitled to the
the army and his precarious circum
stances constituted disgrace, would log
ically find in him a man of some mili
tary capacity, eager for employment
and in a state of mind to throw him
self with ardor into the work as :
relief from his mean and sordid estate.
In a time of such tremendous upheaval
and demand on the part of the North
especially for generals, it was not
strange that one so qualified should
manage to obtain a brigadier-general
ship. In the earlier part of the conflict,
when tho contending armies were more
equally matched in numbers and equip
ment, the reverses of the Federate were
so constant and disastrous that Presi
dent Lincoln was under the necessity
of "trying out” everything available to
him in generalship before he reached
Grant. When the latter finally forged
to the front he had the talent sufficient,
coupled with a tenacious, dogged char
heter, to hang on the flanks of tho
weakening Confederacy and wear Lee
out with his ever replenishing armies.
The rest was due to the successful
is?ue of such a tremendous conflict.
It made him President for eight years
hut it did not make a President of him
’Disgrace,” we believe, will epitomize
his career in the office, as it seems to
have attached to his enterprises in
private life both before and after tha
transformation in his fortunes. His
success as a general is the only thing
we carf account for by the process of
cause and effect: his failure in every
thing else the thing for which we can
see no rhyme or reason. A great epoch
in the current of events found him in
desperate fortunes and whirled him to
the top as a great epoch in current
events had found a young Corsican
lieutenant contemplating suicide be
cause of the low ebb of his personal
fortunes and whirled him to the dizzy
pinnacle of a sovereign of sovereigns,
and gave to the world the story of Na
poleon Bonaparte.
TOLSTOY AFFLICTED WITH PRE
VAILING MANIA.
Count Tolstoy bids all Russians to
cease to regard any form of law, and
says that ail Governments should
forthwith divest themselves of all au
thority and cease ail functions, and
lhat all mer. should do as they please,
or, in his own words, "act naturally.”
The once great Russian admits that it
is probaale that the world will consider
him mad. The LmisvIUft Courier-
Journal. commenting on this,
"there l< every probability that the
world will take exactly that view of
hi? case, and that. It will not err in its
conclusion."
Our contemporary diagnoses Tol
stoy’s form of insanity as "the exag
gerated ego." it says: "The symp
toms arc unmistakable. The world has
existed, scientists know not how long.
No people has existed without some
form of Government. Many countries
have been misgoverned and many have
been over-governed and many have
been we'.l governed, but at no time has
*ny considerable number of persons
•srlously believed that a civilised na
tion or a tribe of savages could get
along without vesting authority In
Constitution, king or chieftain. Now
credit of it. Indeed, Mr. Watson is per
suaded that ail the Democracy afloat
came from old Ben, and there Is no de
nying that he had a large and varied
assortment of all sorts of polities.”
Continuing, the Post says:
"When Pierce was President, Butler
was a ‘doughface,’ chief of that ilk In
New England. He was of the extreme
pro-slavery wing of the Democratic
party, and opposed to Douglas through
out the Kansas controversy. He voted
for Jeff Davis fifty-seven times in the
Charleston convention of 1SG0. He ran
for Governor on the iBreckinridge
ticket thnt same year. When seces
sion, that he had done so much to en
courage, came he turned coat and got
to be a general in the Federal army.
His war record earned him the terrific
Philippine of John Young Brown's
scorpion tongue that was simply a re
flection of the South's opinion of Ben
jamin F. iButler.”
And they "do say” that ho stole
.spoons in New Orleans. “The war
over.” continues the Post, "Butler be
came a Republican member of Con
gress and the most relentless enemy
the South had In that body. Most of
the plan of reconstruction was his in
vention. He was the author of the
force bill that James G. Blaine would
not allow to become a law. Repeatedly
rejected by Republican conventions as
a candidate for Governor of Massachu
setts, he turned Democrat and was
elected to that position only to be
says crushlnglv defeated for re-election the
following year.
■•Then he appeared In the Democratic
national convention of 1SS4 and tried to
buy the nomination and pay for it in
pensions—that is.
AUSTRALIA’S GROWING FOREIGN
TRADE.
A dispatch from Melbourne says that
the Australian imports for February
amounted in value to $19,297,678, being
an increase of $3,291,282 compared with
February, 1906. The exports of mer
chandise amounted to $29,676,744, boing
an increase of $3,723,651. The exports
of gold were $2,841,325, a decrease of
$4,477,049, due to special circumstances
of exchange. The exports include but
ter, S,276,751 pounds, valued at $1,663,-
4S2, being an increase of 1,6G7,GS1
pounds in quantity and of $309,981 in
value; wheat and flour, 3,776,506 cen
tals (cental 100 pounds), value $4,742,-
433, being a decrease of 315.42S centals
In quantity and of $779,258 in value;
and woo!, 67.296,305 pounds, valued at
$15,675,006, showing increases of 20,-
794,756 pounds and of $4,372,6S1, re
spectively.
WAS GRANT AN ACCIDENT?
The Philadelphia Record, apropos of
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s birthday, is
disposed to regard him somewhat in
"CIRCULATION LIAR.”
If we are to credit either or both of
the Atlanta afternoon papers, the “cir
culation liar” has reached Georgia and
is doing a land office business in At
lanta. Tile “circulation liar” may be
defined to be an attache of a newspa
per or periodical who cheerfully and
gratuitously signs for publication
sworn statements of the circulation of
his newspaper or periodical which no
one believes or is expected to believe.
The peculiar thing about “circulation
liars” is that they r .iave no profes
sional pride or corps d'esprft. Unlike
the augurs of old they refuse to wink
at each other’s yarns. Nothing makes
a “circulation liar" so furious and de
nunciatory as the circulation nffdavit
of his rival in the business. Hence it
1= that we see t?he spectacle of the At
lanta "afternoons” denouncing each
other as ail kinds of "liars’ and "fools.”
Meanwhile the public will accept the
testimony of both in this instance and
go on judging of the “circulation,’’
standing and ability of newspapers by
the character of the merchants and
others who advertise in their columns,
by the solidity and reliability of the
paper itself and of the people who
daily look to it for the news and dis
cussion of public topics.
committee o
Democratic
prior to 1896.
The trouble Is that "the average
young man under 30,” and a good many
even older, know little of tihe history
of their country and less of the history
and principles of Its political parties.
“Only the other day,” relates “Savoy
ard”—and the story is pathetic—"I
happened to mention the name of
Roger B. Taney to a young man of fine
understanding and ‘thoroughly up to
date' in the newspaper world, and fie
had never heard of such a man. This
uncommonly bright young fellow Is a
Democrat all right, but he Is a Demo
crat because he is from the South and
not for any belief he fias that was
evolved out of a study of Democratic
principles.”
This naturally bright but ignorant
young Southerner is just the sort of
youngster to be dragged off the track
and led on a wild-goose chase by the
advocates of the variegated assortment
of new ”)sms." "Well may Savoyard
lament that while “the old Democracy
was deliberation,” tihe “new Democ
racy is frenzy,” and add:
Where are the future Thurmans,
Lamars, Morrisons, Tuckers, Car
lisles, Vests and Vances of Dem
ocracy to come from? Such men
are not made to order. They
studied principles, were permeated
with sound doctrines and clung to
them. They could not be stam
peded because they could not be
fooled. They tolerated no heresy,
1 however specious or alluring, but
clung the closer to the altars of the
fathers. They believed that the
Constitution of the United States
is sufficient and will do as well
for a nation of 100,000.000 in the
nee of steam and electricity as it
did for a nation of 3,000,000 when
it was first ordained.
It is to be feared that this clear
sighted correspondent is only too well
advised when he concludes tfiat' “there
Is nothing for a real Democracy to do
but to fall down and flatten himself
on the ground until this typhoon
spends its force, the political sky clears
and the political atmosphere, purifies."
The “real Democrat” who is not ignor
ant, and wfio knows why his party
was established and what it accom
plished, and what it ought to accom
plish, can not be blamed if he Is a hit
pessimistic: for "the typhoon” has
been roaring ever since 1896.
JEFFERSON AND THE DEMOCRATS
The “Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Association” has collected and re
issued the works of the father of Dem
ocracy in a number of volumes. We
do not know who the editors are, but
they were clearly unfit for their task,
for tfiat veteran Democrat and excel
lent newspaper correspondent, "Sa-
’!!!-,"i voyard " report * that they have
"thought it necessary to present the
the beneficiary of a special dispensation
of Providence. "The freak of a despot's
favor or the incantations of a magi
cian,” the Record says, "could hardly
work so tremendous a change in the
fortunes of an individual as the change
which we, as a God-fearing people,
must regard as. the interposition of Di
vine Providence in the life of Gen.
Grant. It is true that he had the ad
vantage of a military education, but its
Immortal sage of American Democracy
to this generation with a certificate of
good character from Abraham Lin
coln.”
"Savoyard” disgustedly observes that
"the Democratic party lias come to the
pass that nothing is Democratic in this
country that you cannot trace to the
first Republican President and is not
approved by the present, and, let us
relation to his subsequent greatness is j hope> the last> RftpubIican President.”
And then this indignant and true dis
ciple of Jefferson and the Democratic
very remote because he was obliged to ’
leave the army under circumstances
favored putting j not entirely creditable to himself, and
ex-Confederates on the pension roll, j for several years he barely maintained
expecting the tsouth to sell herself to an existence farming in Missouri, haul-
him. Rejected there, he bolted and : ing firewood into St. Louis and work-
accepted the labor nomination solely j ing in a tannery in Galena.” Continu-
with a view to aid the Republican ; ir.g. the Record says:
ticket.”
Surely this gentleman, familiarly i
known as 4 the Beast,” could turn his j
coat fast enough for any cf the new
lights of Democracy.
The Augusta Chronicle says "while
Mr. Watterson was in Europe Ken
tucky went or, the water-wagon,” and
oomss Count Tolstoy—one man among ! it wonders what the "0010001 said when
countless millions living and countless
millions buried yesterday—to tell the
world that all of the Governrrtevfs that
•▼w Misted were criminal and that «J1
he reached home.” We can furnish the i
Chronicle with the information de- 1
aired. The "colonel” said: "Boys, show I
no the side door?”
It was hardly more than an acci
dent as human heings see events
that he became colonel of a volun
teer regiment. The commander
having proved incapable of con
trolling a disorderly regiment, it
was remembered that a clerk in the
office of the adjutant-eeneral of
the State had been an officer in the
regular army, ar.d it was decided
te try whether he could maintain
discipline. He did. and yet his
promotion to brigadier-general was
no more than a piece of political
null. (Brigadier-generalships were
being distributed around pretty
mueh on the pro rata basis, and
Congressman Eiihu Washburn got
one for Grant, of whom he knew
faSfiers speaks his mind in the follow- !
ing forcible manner:
Joseph's coat did not have as
many colors as this latitudinarian
Democracy has ideas. It 'is an ol!a
podrida of everything that can be
stood up between "'the resolutions
of ’98” and "'the initiative and ref
erendum.” What is Democracy?
Why. any “damned error” that a
sober brow blesses" and approves
with a text. Tfiis new Democracy
is Jeffersonian. Linrnlnite. and
Rooseveltian. Th® truth is that
real Jeffersonian Democracy Is as
incomprehensible to the average
young man under 30 as th® second
birth was to Xictdemus. If Bryan
should say the word and Roosevelt
give the wink, the next Democratic
national convention will insert in
the p'.arform a plank demanding an
es.ablished religion- That is pot
half as unthinkable as Government
ownership and the initiative and
referendum would have been to the
A WARNING FROM MEXICO.
It Is known in the United States that
President Diaz is practically a dictator,
but it is believed that he has proved a
wise ruler and tfiat Mexico has pros
pered under him. It Is supposed that,
although his re-election at the end of
each successive term is purely formal
and he Is likely to remain in the seat
of power for life, he nevertheless re
spects the Constitution of ibis country
and has not interfered with the liber
ties of the Mexican people.
It may be that this view is based
chiefly on the events of his early ca
reer and on the worthy acts of fiis first
two or three terms, and that the
American public knows little of the
radual development -of the past ten
or fifteen years In Mexico. However
that may be. it Is startling to read an
account in the New York Sun, signed
“A Mexican,” of the woeful penalty
now being paid by Mexico for its folly
in surrendering to one-man power.
Says “A Mexican":
During his first term President
Dias was really a skillful, energetic
and beneficent ruler, keeping his
characteristic modesty. In his sec
ond term he appeared as an able
statesman and gave many proofs
of his great patriotism. But at the
end of fils second term ambition
caught him, and he amended the
Constitution, which forbade his
immediate re-election. The Mexi
can people had the weakness to
approve of what he (had done un
der the shameful pretext that Por
firio Dinz was a "providential
man.” Diaz, the patriot, the hero,
the statesman, the republican
leader, also believed in the "provi
dential” nature of this mission and
•his evolution toward tyranny be
gan. From tfiat moment the Mexi
can people lost their liberties. Diaz
was no longer a ruler, but a mas
ter, because the country which puts
itself absolutely into the hands of
,one man, no matter who that man
is and no matter wibat the circum
stances, spontaneously forges the
chains of its slavery.
Porfirio Diaz was not satisfied
with his third term: he desired a
fourilb and a fifth. He again had
the Constitution amended, enlarg
ing the Presidential term from four
to six years; and now he will not
descend from the chair unless death
decides.
To become dictator he began by
corrupting justice, so that now
there is no more Constitution and
no longer any code of laws except
,his own will. He persecuted and
killed the. liberty of tfie press, cre
ating and subsidizing subservient
Governmental papers, sending to
jail every man who had the au
dacity to express his own ideas;
he suppressed all elections: he in
augurated a political system known
in Mexico as “the politics of bread
and stick.” that is. of money and
rewards for his partisans and ac
complices, and ( of jail and death
for every one wfio is suspected of
dis’oyalty.
Diaz has ruled by terror, and
such is the dread with which he
has filled the mind? of the Mexi
can people that t/bey have abdi
cated their rights, not only in act
but in speech: not only in speech,
but in thought.
If today you ask a Mexican what
time it is. he will answer you with
out hesitation: "1116 time that the
King should say.” The Mexicans
call President Diaz "the King” and
he accepts the title.
How much unbiased truth there is
in this and how mucfb partisan exag
geration—if any—we are not in a po- I
sition to say. But we can say that it
because to do so is to tear from film
what has become a part of himself that
is loved even more than himself.
"We may rest assured that there is
more than enough truth in "A Mexi
can's” account to give great force ar.d
significance to fiis further remarks as
follows:
General Diaz would have passed
Into history as a spotless man had
not the Mexican people made of
him a tyrant because of Its fears.
It must be borne in mind that
tyrants are not of spontaneous
generation. There is no sponta
neous generation in the world. Ty
rants are engendered by folly and
fear.
Many centuries ago Titus Llvlus
wrote an aphorism that every
country should bear in mind: “Tfie
way to maintain liberty consists in
limiting rulers in the term of their
government.” Washington, by in
tuition, professed the same princi
ple and put it in practice, setting
an example which hitherto no Pres
ident of the United States has
dared to disregard.
If tlbe American people want
Theodore Roosevelt to follow In
the footsteps of Porfirio Diaz it is
only necessary to declare President
Roosevelt a “providential man"
and give him a third term in spite
of his pledge to respect the tradi
tion founded by Washington and
affirmed by McKinley.
Let us not forget that each coun
try has the government it deserves.
President Roosevelt may keep fiis
pledge and not accept the nomination
that will be tendered to him next year,
but to what end, if he is to insist on
choosing and controlling his successor
in order that “my policies" may not
suffer? - If we are to have, the sub
stance of one-man we may as well
have tfie form. If Theodore Roosevelt
must still continue to guide and lead,
then this country is as hopelessly de
pendent on him as Mexico is'on Por
firio Diaz.
DOES NOT AGREE WITH US.
The 'Dublin Courier-Dispatch does
n<rt agree with The Telegraph that the
Democratic party is “at the Rubicon
without a leader”’ Our contemporary
thinks that Mr. Bryan measures up to
the need of the hour as a standard-
bearer.
If the Courier-Dispatch has been
keeping up with The Telegraph it will
have noted that we conceded all along
that Mr. Bryan seemed at present to
hold the corners—and that the Demo
cratic chance was reposed in him.
But we have been hoping for some
thing better—a man on whom ail the
Democrats could unite; or, if we
must go down, that we would be per-
Thc pity of it Is. great Democratic
leader; are about ns scarce as jaybirds
on Friday. And .some of the would-be
leaders are about as wise as the aver
age jny on the other days of the week.
But John Temple is all right. He
is not always saddest (nor maddest)
when he sings.
COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION.
The Bureau of Statistics of the De
partment of Commerce and Labor gives
a smmarization of the year by ports,
showing that New York continues to
handle about two-thirds of the entire
foreign commerce of the United States,
its aggregate trade in 1906 having been
equivalent to 66 per cent of the whole,
compared with 7 per cent for Boston,
6 per cent for New Orleans, 6% per
cent for Galveston, 5 per cent for Phil-
adelphia. 4-i per cent for Baltimore,
nearly 3 per cent for San Francisco,
2)1 per cent for Savannah, 3 per cent
for Puget Sound. 1 1-3 per cent for De
troit, and a little over 1 per cent for
Buffalo, In a total foreign commerce
of $2,970,000,000. Considering exports
only, the rank of the various ports or
customs districts and the percentage,
of the total exportations sent through
each are aa follows: New York first,
with about 35 per cent; Galveston sec
ond, 9)4 per cent; New Orleans third.
8 2-3 per cent: Baltimore fourth. 6 1-3
per cent: Boston fifth. 5 2-3 per cent;
Philadelphia sixth, 494 per cent: Sa
vannah seventh, 3% per cent: Puget
Sound eighth, a little less than 3 per
cent: San Francisco ninth, 2 per
cent, and Detroit tenth, 2 per cent.
The general currents of the oxport
trade may be inferred from the figures
showing the exports by principal sec
tions. Atlantic coast ports are cred
ited with 61 per cent; gulf ports, 21 per
cent; northern border and lake ports,
10 per cent; Pacific coast ports, 6 per
cent, and Mexican border ports, 2 per
cent. Many cities conducting a large
business in the commodities entering
into the import, and especially the ex
port, trade do not receive credit there
for, ns their receipts or shipments in
the foreign trade must of necessity be
credited to the ports established for
the offioial measurement of that com
merce.
“What ails the Democratic party,’’
observes the Washington Post, "is the
‘putting of the man before the idea.’
There are 4,000,000 Democrats In this
country who are resolved that no Dem-
mitted to go down battling under the J oerat who was not a Bryanite in 1S96
leadership of a Southern Democrat, j shaI ) ever be president. There are 2,000,-
Mr. Bryan has been defeated twice, j 000 Democrats among us who never
He led the fight for free silver; but j wan t ( 0 see a Bryanite President of the
he did not make that issue. It was not j united States. That is what is the
of his creation. His statesmanship did I matter with the Democratic party,
not evolve it. j That is what re-elected McKinley in
He proposes the Government owner- j 190 o and defeated Judge Parker in
ship of railroads. This issue he did jn04." The 2,000,000 anti-Bryan Demo-
not develop. He borrowed it from the j cr -t s •would willingly turn to Bryan,
Populists. j the man. if he would only let Ooyern-
He also advocates the initiative and j m ent ownership, the initiative and ref-
referendum. This, too, *he got from j erendum and other un-Democratic the-
the Populists.
These are the three things that have
distinguished Mr. Bryan’s career. No
one of them were original with him.
No one of them were advocated by
either Jefferson, Jackson, Tilden or
Cleveland. The Republicans discov
ered the one and the Populists the
other two. If he is a wise statesman
his wisdom consisted in 1896 in select
ing his creed from a discarded doctrine
of the Republicans, and his present
hobbies from the disbanded Populists.
IBut a Democratic party—a party in
opposition to the Republican party—
led by Bryan is better than the John
Temple dream of a single party in a
republic, with Roosevelt as its prophet.
OUR EXPORTS OF MANUFAC
TURES IN MEXICO,
The Mexican official statement shows
that American manufacturers have
found a remunerative field In that
country. Of the total imports into that
republic, amounting to $108,598,506 in
the six months ending December 31,
1906, the United States ;ent $67,275,
ories alone. But he won’t do ft—a
brand new suspicious and disruptive’?
”ism” every two or three years is ap
parently the necessary meat for him to
feed on.
Frequently the introductory speaker
outshines the orator of the occasion.
The Virginian-Pilot modestly hints
that this honor was achieved by
Henry St. George Tucker at the open
ing day exercises at Jamestown. Judg
ing from the length of Mr. Tucker's
effort he must have mistaken his part
of prologue for the whole performance.
We agree with the Virginian-Pilot that
it was able and eloquent, but we fear
that this was lost on the President,
who was waiting to orate some him
self.
The Bureau of Labor at Washington
admits that the cost of living has gone
up some more. The Bureau is not
ready with its statistics relating to re
tail prices, but in the matter of whole
sale prices it shows that the increase
in cost of 258 commodities in 1906 over
176, or 62 per cent. Especially worthy j 1905 was more than 6)4 per cent, and
of note among the imports is the rail- j compared with J897 the rise amounts
way equipment from American pro- 1 t0 36 )i P er cent—considerably more
ducers. For eight months of the cur- j than one-th.rd. The commodities in-
rent fiscal year American locomotives | elude food, clothing. Implements and
have been placed there to the extent of i utensils and building material. What
$388,698, which compares with $198,000 ; Is to become of the consumer if these
for the eight months ended February, j piping times of Republican prosperity
1906, an increase of $799,696. Steel- i continue indefinitely?
rail orders placed there have been
$739,855, which compares with $1,120,-
613 for the eight months ended Febru
ary, 1906, which was a period of ex
ceptionally heavy steel-rail orders. The
year 1905 was more, than normal,
showing an aggregate of $317,593 for
eight months. Up to March, 1907, from
July 1, 1906, orders for passenger and
freight cars were $1,520,941. This
compares with $6S0,244 in 1906, and *.j would have been a Democrat In
$410,283 in 1905. Considering these j Jefferson’s day and a Republican in
items, the total value of Mexican rail- j Lincoln's day, but whether I can prop
way equipment filled in this country , erIy be classified as a Democrat in the
during the past eight months reaches j pre s e nt day. is a matter which I ad-
nearly $3,250,000. | mit is subject to legitimate doubt,”
says William R. Kearst. Don’t worry
President Roosevelt said to Lieuten
ant-Governor F.llyson, of Virginia: "I
want to tell you. Governor Elly son. that
the most delightful recollection I have
of any visit I have ever paid is the
one I spent in the hospitable city of
Richmond," and the Governor was just
as pleased as if the President had
never said such a thing before.
'NOT AS AT PRESENT ADVISED.”
The Herald-Journal, of Greensboro,
asks: "Will The Macon Telegraph
kindly state If it wouldn’t prefer
■ about it, Willie. You are "it” and there
1 is only one of you left.
"Our best families are being reduced
Roosevelt to Bryan, if that paper had I ( Q poverty” was one of the telegrams
to choose between the two? , •)■■ f ] from New York at tfie White
In the language of Mr. Bryan, Not j House during the recent financial “un
is an extremely plausible tale, and that j as at present advised.” pleasantness” in the effort to induce
In it history repeats itself—or the tes- This question appeared in the same : the Administration to come to the re-
timony of all history tends to confirm I issue of the Herald-Journal with this: : ijef 0 f tyall street. Ill the South "best
it. No republican society of men ever i “Hon. Temple Graves is with us this families” and poverty frequently go
continued one person indefinitely in the
chief office without discovering at last
that it Ciad not only struck a heavy
blow at the integrity of its own in
stitutions but had corrupted the idol
on whom it had lavished its favors.
morning.”
Under the inspiring presence •of the |
eloquent word painter and sky gilder, j
we have no doubt the editor of the 1
Herald-Journal felt for the time quite |
together. But who ever heard of a
“best family” being poor in New York?
Cork legs are not mad® of cork at
all, but are called so because the ln-
persuaded that Boosevelt was a great : ventor of the modern artificial leg was
| The man who rules many years and i Democrat, worthy to accept the sur- pamed Cork. This will prove a "corker"
' whose power continually increases, j render to him by Bryan of the leader- to ninety-nine out of one hundred per-
^ never willingly lays down the sceptre, j ship of the Democratic organization, j sons.
hidistinct print