Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

editorial page M'he Atlanta Georgian THE HOME RARER % The V I 1 Americanism of Thomas Jefferson Is the Best Let the Democratic Party Follow It For Its Own and For the Benefit of the Nation Democracy. Benefit Washington, D. C., April 16.— The Post publishes the fol lowing: 7 o the Editor of the Washinglcn 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 about 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. b£The significance and important 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 indica 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 there 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 sure, this essay of Mr. Wilson’s was written some tine 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: “ ‘To ge( the news of the world I subscribe for the weekly edition of the L,ondon 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 Oobden 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 i^fcks, 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 farmers 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 States 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. * Elbert Hubbard Writes on Just Sponges Those Which Are Used in America Come Large ly From Cuba and the Coast of Florida By ELBERT HUBBARD Copyright, 1913, International News Service. S PONGES have been used since Mart Antony, the sil ver-tongued. lived In Alexan dria and Julius 1 Caesar threw up the sponge when beset by his en emies in the Roman Forum. for two thousand years sponges have been hooaed from the bot tom of the sea. But now, in Florida, the business has been' standardized and divers’ do the work. One diver will collect as many sponges as twenty-five workmen with hooks from a boat. After the sponge Is taken from the water It Is exposed to the sun for a time. This kills the ani mal. The outside skin is then s, raped off and the sponges are thoroughly rinsed In water so all the fleshy substance is washed out. They are then put on stringy about a yard long, all sizes mixed, and ofTered for sale at the va rious sponge markets. Sponge Market in Florida. Sponges are sold by the pound, but there are ways of increasing the weight of sponges by load ing them. Sometimes they are colored or discolored in order to make you think that you are buy ing a Turkish sponge or a vheep- wool sponge, when what you are getting is something very dif ferent. The most important sponge market in America is Tarpon Springs, Fla. Sponges are now complimented by special legislation that pro tects them. Lobsters the same. I venture that the average cit izen of America knows less about sponges than he does about lob sters. Florida followed the lead of Maine and protected her infant industries. There are Federal statutes also on the subject of sponge fishing. There are one hundred and thirty-seven different grades of commercial sponges. These range in price from a few cents a pound up to forty or fifty dollars a pound. The various grades are sorted into firsts, seconds and thirds, and these again subdivided into various sizes. I saw a black sponge thrown into a tank. In a little while it came out of another tank a beau tiful golden color, one of those soft, fluffy, blond peroxide things that you see In the druggist’s window. There is a book on sponges written by the world’s greatest living thinker. Life Begins in a Sack. In order that no Smart Alec- thander will think that I ton talking about myself, I will ex plain at once that the world's greatest living thinker Is Ernest Haeckel, of the little town of Jena, in Germany. Darwin also had a good deal to say on the subject of sponges in his book, "The Origin of Spe cies." All animal life seems to start from about the same basis. Things then move off in variou direction?. Nature has tried about all the processes that can be imagined, and a good many that can’t, in her endeavors to make a man. The sponge seems to be the universal embryo. Everything in animal life begins in a sack filled with a jellylike substance. In order to produce a man, Na ture draws strings across the sack, closes it here, lets it out there, then ties it up, and out of this sack protrude, in the course of time, arms, head, limbs, eyes, organs, dimension?, passions, po ll ti cal ambitions, thoughts, schemes, plans, that evolve into an executive. The sea is the great universal mother of us all. Every sub stance found in nature is found in the sea. And the sponges seem to represent a very early form of life that fell a victim to arrested development. The sponge of commerce is the skeleton of the animal. The oys ter and the clam and the Baptisis ail have hard shells. T.ie turtle and *he lobster are evolved type? of jellyfish, fitted out w ith armor. Instead of armor, man has a brain, and he protects himself with ideas. All those holes and apertures in the sponge are for the purpose of sending currents of water through. They have a distinct purpose. The holes in the spor.gp carry "eats” to the animal that is inside. The whole body keeps up a peristaltic motion, absorb ing water and throwing it out. From the particles that pass through, the sponge gets a living, but he has to work for it. just as we have to work for a living. The sponge is first cousin to the coral insect. The coral insect deposits a calcareous matter, this oeing a sort of waste. Sponges Lay Eggs. The sponge puts out calcareous matter, but it is believed that an absolutely healthy sponge does not allow any lime to get into hie bones. Sponges with calcareous mat ter will scratch your automobile body and are, therefore, without much commercial value. Sponges ]ay eggs. We have the male and the female, living in happy relationship, without scandal, near each other, happily attached to one big rock, living out a beautiful life of self-sacri fice. raising a big family that go off to sea and attach themselves, in turn, to rocks and earn an hon est living. Sponge? usually attain growth in- about ten years, but in some centers we are told that they grow- for fifty or a hundred years. Sponges that are used in Amer ica come largely from Cuba and the coast of Florida. There are other peculiar and valuable sponges that are found only along the Mediterranean coast and among the Isle.* of Greece. The Philippines By REV. THOMAS B. GREGORY. T HE Philippine Islands were discovered \v the great Ferdinand Magellan three hundred and ninety-two years ago. 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 mlghty Pactfic, 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 Mactan, off the c oast of Zebu, and. In a hand-to- hand encounter with the natives, was killed. April 27. Magellan was dead, but ijis good ship, the Victoria, in Sep tember. 1522, three years from the time Magellan eailed 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 13431 Villalobos with five ships and two or three hundred men, sailed from Mex ico with the intent of settling the islands, but little came of it. Twenty-three years later <1665! Legnzpe made a settlement ai San Miguel, on the island of Zebu, and in 1570 Manila was founded and made the capital. Spain would have been much better off 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 w-as immense, to say .nothing of the deep humilia- tion that they were responsibl* for in the instance of the Span- ish-American War. There is no haughtier man ?S earth than the Spaniard. Hi< proud Hidalgo blood boils at th# thought of national reverses, ant it was chagrin, deep and bitter, that he felt when, on that April day of the year 1*99 he read ths proclamation announcing the parsing of the islands from Spain to the United States. It is the devout prayer of alt well-regulated Americans that the time may never come when the Dons shall have the laugh on us over those same islands. The islands, that were P rai “ ticaily thrown into Uncle bams hands with the boom of Dewey s guns in Manila Bay, number some 3,100. In size all the wa: from a very small back yard to a fairly big State. Luzon being almost as large as New York and Mindanao as Indiana, the whole archipelago having an area ot some 127.000 square miles (about that of New Mexico), with a pop - ulation, such as it is. of between ten and twelve millions.