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EDITORIAL RAGE The Atlanta Georgian THE HOME PARER The Americanism of Thomas Jefferson Is the Best Democracy. Let the Democratic Party Follow It For Its Own Benefit and For the Benefit of the Nation it ashington. D. C., April 16.— The Post publishes the fol lowing: lo the Editor of the Washington Post—Sir: Mr. Wilson lately revived the ancient Federalist custom of a speech to the assembled Representatives in Congress per sonally instructing them upon their duties and obligations to the Administration. It seems to me that the significance of this Presidential performance has been largely overlooked. Is it not worthy of note that the last President to indulge in this formal procedure was John Adams, the last Federalist President, and that the first President to dispense with this ceremonious custom was Thomas Jefferson, the first Demo cratic President? In the early days of this Republic there were two distinct lines of thought in the politics of the country, and two distinct bodies of citizens supporting these lines of thought. On the one hand were the Democratic Republicans, who believed both in the letter and in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, who were convinced that a new order of things was both advisable and advantageous, that the old established systems of government by a superior class were failures, and that government by all the people was not only the most just and righteous, but the most practical and suc cessful form of government that could be devised. On the other hand were the Federalists, who regarded radical innovations in government as more or less dangerous and believed that for the American Government to be entirely safe and sound it must be modelled largely upon the estab lished forms of government in the older European countries. This division of opinion and policy, even among patriots at that early date, was entirely natural and temperamental. Men of conservative thought, like Hamilton, were Federalists, and believed in the established order of things. Men of orig inal and adventurous thought, like Jefferson, believed in a new and better order of things and dreamed of a greater and nobler nation than had ever been known, built on the firm foundations of justice and equality, of liberty and opportunity. These dreams have come true, but in those early days there was not sufficient experience in popular government to guide all men to a confidence in the new order of things, and so the Federalists, with their belief in the established order of things, continued for a while to form a formidable party. At this day Federalists still exist, but not in sufficient numbers to form a separate party, and so they are found scattered through the other parties and sometimes in command ing positions in one of the other parties. The distinguishing mark of the Federalists from the beginning has been their special admiration for, and confidence in, the English system of government. Hamilton, the real creator of the Federalist party, carried an inclination to incorporate the English procedure into our American form of government so far that he was accused by Jefferson of a secret desire to make the United States a monarchy. We can hardly believe that even the most extreme Feder alist would have been willing to go to that length, but most certainly the Federalists as a whole were apparently unable to understand and appreciate the beauty, the simplicity, the humanity and the practicability of Jefferson's distinctively American ideas, and turned invariably to the more autocratic and aristocratic methods of the mother country. The Federalist method of a speech by the President to Congress was a mere adaptation of the British usage of a speech to Parliament from the Throne. The aristocratic Adams approved it and practiced it. But Thomas Jefferson, who founded the Democratic party and introduced into American political life the simplicity which has since characterized it, adopted the modest democratic method of writing a message to Congress, expressing his views and offering suggestions for legislation. It is a singular thing that for one hundred and thirteen years great Democrats, from Andrew Jackson to Grover Cleve land, and great Republicans, from Abraham Lincoln to Theo dore Roosevelt, should have followed the simple, modest and democratic method of Thomas Jefferson, and that only in the Democratic administration of our day is return made in this Presidential speech to the ceremonious and somewhat spec tacular procedure of the close of the 18th century. President Wilson in the introduction of his speech to Congress explained his somewhat sensational performance by stating that he wished to show that ‘' a President was a human being. ’ ’ Since the time of John Adams there has been no one in public life, except Mr. Wilson, who believed that a President could possibly be considered anything else than a human being. If. however, Mr. Wilson s suspicion is correct, and there has lately arisen among independent and intelligent American citizens a belief that there is something superhuman and super natural l.' rut a President, Mr. Wilson has effectively dispelled that superstition by proving that a President can possess all the purely human weaknesses, including vanity and a craving for newspaper notoriety. The significance and importance, however, of President Wilson's performance lie mainly in the Federalistic flavor of it and in the possible consequences to the American nation of a chief executive with a Federalistic viewpoint. The idea that a ruler must occasionally reveal himself to the people or to their representatives in order to prove that he is merely human is a charmingly Federalistic conception. The disposition to revert to the formality and ceremony of the old-established English system is another characteristic indication of a Federalistic frame of mind. This mental disposition is not so vital unless it is iifaica- tive of the peculiar inability of the old-time Federalist to understand and appreciate the immense superiority of our own American ideas and institutions—unless it expresses an unfortunate and unwarrantable tendency to overestimate the notably inferior institutions of foreign nations, particularly of England. The fear that Mr. Wilson's Federalistic frame of mind may threaten exactly this danger is strengthened by other of Mr. Wilson's actions and utterances. Mr. Wilson gained his degree of Doctor of Philosophy by an essay which contended flagrantly in the face of fact that the English Parliamentary form of government was superior to the American Congressional system. The very obvious and almost universally admitted truth is that th*~e is no such practical and efficient system in the world as our American Congressional system, with its com mittee organization. , As a matter of fact, England at this day, in order to per form her pressing governmental business, is compelled to mod ify her Parliamentary system which Mr. Wilson so admired, and to consider the adaptation and adoption of the American system which Mr. Wilson so disparaged and despised. To be 3ure, this essay of Mr. Wilson’s was written some time ago, and might be considered an early and outgrown expression of a Federalistic affection for England were it not that Mr. Wilson has only comparatively recently delivered an address in which he declares that he gets his information on world events from the columns of the London Weekly Times. The London Times proudly advertises this utterance in a circular which reads as follows: "Some short time ago Presi dent Woodrow Wilson, when speaking at the annual dinner of Bankers of New York, said: " *7'o get the news of the world 1 subscribe for the weekly edition of the Condon Times, ’ ” The manager of the London Times then proceeds to dilate upon his departments of “world news and world BUSINESS," and closes with the polite suggestion that the “inclosed form should be used by intending subscribers." Certainly the London Times is, or at least once was, an excellent paper, but there is no publication on the face of the earth so completely and absolutely saturated with the English prejudices toward all other countries, and toward America in particular, as the London Times. In view of which it is astonishing, if not alarming, to American citizens to think that their Chief Executive gets his "news of the world," and to a certain extent his views of the world and his views of business, from the columns of this biased English journal. Some American citizens are followers of Jefferson and have studied the attitude of England in Jefferson's time during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Other American citizens are disciples of Abraham Lincoln and have read of the acts and animus of England during the War of the Rebellion. All of these citizens will wonder what effect this prejudiced English information on “politics ’ and “business" from a colored English source will have upon the mind of an American President. Many American citizens will seriously consider whether this insidious English influence will tend to prejudice the Presidential mind against the methods and sys tems and institutions of his own country, no matter how prov- enly successful those institutions may be. Many thoughtful citizens will be led to ponder on how far Mr. Wilson's attitude toward the American protective tariff is influenced by his Federalistic frame of mind and his English sources of information. Mr. Wilson's opposition to the protective principle is not inherently or essentially Democratic. Jefferson, the founder of the Democratic party, recognized the principle of protection and advocated discriminating duties in favor of American shipping and reciprocity treaties in favor of American trade. Mr. Wilson is FUNDAMENTALLY opposed to the prin ciple of protection, and his idea of radical, ruthless tariff reduction is but an expression of the English free trade theories of Cobden and Mill. Mr. Wilson is an English free trader. He may obscure his utterances, but he cannot conceal his acts. Mr. Wilson s political economy is the political economy of another nation and of another age. It is the political economy of a nation that is passing and of an age that is past. Mr. Wilson s theories are the theories of books, and of British books, but of British books that are no longer believed by the patriotic and practical and progressive Englishmen of to-day. The United States of America have given an example to the world in progress and prosperity, in advancement and enlightenment, in happiness and contentment. The nations of the world have turned toward this country in admiration and amazement. The methods and systems and institutions of our country have been studied and imitated in every foreign nation, except, perhaps, in England. England is slow to learn and reluctant to learn, but never theless she is beginning to learn, and the most advanced and intelligent thought in England to-day is in favor of an imperial federation, with free trade among its component States and colonies, but with a policy of protection toward the rest of the world. Germany and France have long prospered under protec tion, and through intelligent appreciation and imitation of other American ideas and institutions. The realization that this country is the greatest country in the world and the appreciation of the causes which have made it the greatest country in the world are almost universal throughout the world, except among the few remaining Federalists of the United States of America. If there is to be tariff modification, the modern American policy should be the original Democratic policy of reciprocity and discriminating dutes in favor of American products, Amer ican manufactures, American commerce and American trade. In our tariff we have a weapon with which we can with stand the tariff weapons of other nations, but we must not abandon our weapon until other nations are ready to abandon theirs. In the reduction of our tariff, through reciprocity, we have a method by which we can compel the reduction of the tariff of other nations, but of what value will be a policy of reci procity which does not go into effect until after our tariff re ductions have been made? If we are to make tariff concessions which will be encour aging to the products and valuable to the producers in other nations, we should compel reciprocal concessions which will be equally stimulating to the products, equally beneficial to the producers, to the'farmers, the manufacturers and the laborers in our own country. Through reciprocity tariff reduction can be made coinci dent and coextensive with trade expansion. Through reciprocity the injury to our manufacturers, to our farmers, to our laborers, due to the invasion of our mar kets by foreign products, would be compensated for by the ad vantages obtained by our manufacturers, our fanners and our laborers in the opening of foreign markets to our trade and our produce. In the advocacy of intelligent reciprocity, rather than reckless and ruthless tariff reduction and commercial destruc tion, I have no selfish motive. I have cattle ranches in Mexico, and it is proposed under Mr. Wilson's policy to bring beef free into the United States. It would advantage me considerably from a merely sordid point of view to have Mexican beef allowed free into the United States market. But, as a patriotic American citizen and a Jeffersonian Democrat, I do not believe that Mexican beef or any other Mexican product should be allowed free into the markets of the United States until American goods are allowed free into the markets of Mexico. Under Mr. Wilson's programme it is proposed to allow white paper free into the markets of the United StaSas from Canada. I use over six million dollars' worth of white paper every year, and, from a merely selfish financial point of view, it would benefit me enormously to have white paper admitted free into the markets of the United States. But. again, as a patriotic American citizen and a Jeffer sonian Democrat, I do not believe that white paper or any oth er Canadian product should be admitted free into the United States until the products of the United States, or, at least, corresponding products of the United States, are admitted free into the markets of Canada. The Canadians scornfully rejected our proposals of reci procity. Are we in return to give them the full advantage of reci procity without securng any reciprocal advantages for our selves? I am loath to criticise the policy of the Democratic party or of any man whom I labored to elect, but I am an American first, and a Democrat afterward, and I cannot consider the interests of my party above the interests of my country. I shall hope to see the Democratic party fulfill its duty and rise to its opportunity. I shall support it gratefully when it is right, but criticise it regretfully when it is wrong, and I shall continue to implore it not to be led by a Federalist fetich away from the funda mental Democratic principles of Thomas Jefferson, who was always not only a great Democrat, but a great American. WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST. * Ella Wheeler Wilcox Writes on DEATH We Give It Little Thought, De voting Our Time to Worldly Pleasures—Only Great Calamities Make Us Realize It Is Ever Pres ent-Life But a Step to Greater Things. Written For The Atlanta Georgian By Ella Wheeler Wilcox Copyright. 1913, by The Star Company. I T is a curious thing, this mind of man. Not one of us but knows and realties from the hour he begin! to understand the fact of existence that dissolution of the bod" vntts each mortai on earth Anally. Not one but in his heart knows each morning, when he rises from hie couch and each night when he retires to sleep, that he may never aee another day. Death is possible to * child, to the youth, to the man or matron, at anv hour or moment. Acute indigestion. caueed by drinking a glass of ice coid milk when the system was nervously tired, caused the death of a beau tiful young actress, apparently in good health, tn a few moments after she entered the restaurant. Few Think of Do&th. Automobile and equestrian ac cidents are recorded continually ail over the world; heart-failure is almost every day occurrence, and no man or woman takes a train or a boat for any length of journey without the subeon- ious mind records the poswibility of sudden death. Vet, when a great world-shak ing catastrophe, like tha Galves ton flood, the Mont Pelee or Mount Vesuvius eruptions, the San Francisco earthquake and conflagration or the recent tor nado and flood occurs, humanity seems to awaken for the first time to the fact that death may come at any moment. In the face pf the knowledge they have always possessed, men and women of brain and good sense, and seeming faith, have gone on year after year in the pursuit of purely selfish and w'orldlv pleasures and ambitions; they have sought the accumula tion of money and property: they have pushed and scrambled and fought for place and power; they have allowed envy and jealousy to disturb the beautiful hours of life given us for self development and the cultivation of the best within us: they have been made misera- ble by the loss of some material thing, a jewel or a garment; tears have been shed because of ban quets and feasts to which they were not bidden; and the higher principles of life have been sac rificed to purchase* temporary power and paltry honors or to obtain the luxuries of civiliza tion. Emptiness of Selfishness. All the sermons preached from fashionable churches to which these people have been liberal supporters have failed to bring them to a realization of the ut ter emptiness of such standards of life but when nature thunder ed forth her sermon on the insta bility of earthly blessings, the weakness of mortal power and the fragility of materia! possessions, then, and then only, they awoke to see and feel and know the fac ts which have been told them a thousand times before, only to be considered superficially and re garded as tiresome platitudes. They made polite excuses anti pleaded immediate engagements when any friend attempted to turn the conversation to the more serious aide of life, its responsi bilities and it* obligations to seif- development; and they dozed comfortably in upholstered pew* while the pastor talked of theee things; giving liberally to the church funds to keep him paci fied, while they went forth to striving and envying and worldli- ness, as before. But when from the vast cathe dral of space Nature speaks and says: “listen! let me tel! you what earthly honors and wealth and power of achievements mean in the great scale of existence,” then men and women pause in their buyings and sellings, in their bickerings and contentions over the comparatively worthless things of existence, and cry aloud: “How uncertain is life; how certain death!” And, sweeping through their consciousness, the great truths of all time are, for a seaaon. at least, impressed upon them; those truths which alone make this life worth the pangs of birth, the wor ries of childhood, the vicissitudes of youth and the sorrows of ma turity. A Step Toward Heights. Those great truths which are the foundation of al! lasting hap piness, and lay at the base of the structure of the only thing which endures through the ages— CHARACTER. Earth life is, in the eye of the CREATOR, no more than one step on a ladder reaching from earth to invisible heights; it is given man that he may climb to higher realms. Not on great buildings, built of stone or steel, not on the con struction of wondrous aqueducts and discoveries of electrical won ders, does man climb, unless with ail these steps in material prog- grass his soul, too, keeps climbing by the development of self-control and unselfishness and brotherly love and humanitarianism and spiritual consciousness. The mind of every individual is creating mentally the mansion he will occupy in the next stage of existence after this. To that next stage you may at any moment be called. What sort of a house have you begun on the other side? The Philippines By REV. THOMAS B. GREGORY. T HE Philippine Islands were discovered Sv the great Ferdinand Magellan three hundred and ninety-two years ago. t Magellan was a subject of the King of Portugal, and but for the narrowness and ingratitude of the Portuguese Government the Gem of the Southern Seas would have fallen to that country rather than to Spain. Ill treated at home, Magellan turned to the Spanish court, by which he was sent out on the expedition which resulted, among other things, in the dis covery of the Philippines. Magellan started from Spain in August. 1519, navigated the strait that has ever since borne his name in November of following year (Just one hundred years be fore the Pilgrims landed at Ply mouth). and, crossing the mighty Pacific, sighted the Philippines in March. 1521. Sailing between Dinagat and Samar, Bohal and Leyte, the great navigator and some of his men landed on the little island of Maetan. off the coast of Zebu, and, in a hand-to- hand encounter with the natives, was killed, April 27. Magellan was dead, hut h’.s good ship, the Victoria, in Sep tember. 1522, three years from the time Magellan sailed away in her. reached Spain again and passed Into fame as the first vessel to circumnavigate the globe. Spain seemed in no hurry about taking possession of the islands. Twenty-three years after the discovery (in 1343) Villalobos with five ships and two or three hundred man, sailed from Mex ico with the intent of settling the islands, but little came of it- Twenty-three years later (15651 Legazpe made a settlement at San Miguel, on the Inland of Zebu and in 1570 Manila was founded and made the capital. Spain would have been much better ofT if she had never fallen heir to the Philippines. They were never a source of much rev enue to her, and the trouble that they gave her was immense, to say nothing of the deep humllis- tion that they were responsible for in the instance of the Span- ish-American War. There is no haughtier man on earth t-han the Spaniard. His proud Hidalgo blood boils at the thought of national reverses and it was chagrin, deep and bitter that he felt when, on that Apr; day of the year 1S99 he read the proclamation announcing the parsing of the islands from Spain to the United States. It is the devout prayer of well-regulated Americans tha 1 the time may never come when the Dons shajl have the laugh on us over those same Islands. The islands, that were prac tically thrown into Uncle Sam * hands with the boom of Dewey .* guns in Manila Bay. number some 3,100. In size all the wav from a very small back yard to a fairly big State, LAizon being almost as large as New York and Mindanao as Indiana, . the whole archipelago having an area or some 127,000 square mile* (about that of New Mexico), with a pop ulation. such as it is, of between ten and twelve millions.