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8 THE Weekly Jeffersonian A Newspaper Devoted to the Advocacy of the Jeffersonian Theory of Government. PUBLISHED BY THOS. E. WATSON and J. D. WATSON Editors and Proprietors Austell Building, Atlanta, Ga. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE - $/ oo PER YEAR. Advertising Rates Furnished on Application. F.nttrad at Pttufice, Atlanta, Ga., January 11, iqo?, at stand tlast mail matttr ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1907 Chauncey Depelp’s First Speech Since His Disgrace. An oily old scoundrel, Chauncey Depew, was put into the United States Senate by the Vanderbilts. HeJiad long- been their Lobby ist-in-chief at Albany. In that capacity, he had been instrumental in having corrupt legis lators vote to the Vanderbilts favors which were worth hundreds of millions of dollars. For many a year, Chauncey Depew had a picnic of it. He was even talked of for Presi dent. He was to run as “the Farmers’ Friend.” according to my recollection. Per haps, he actually did make the race for the nomination. No matter. He stood high, did Chauncey, and no banquet spread by Dives was complete without Chauncey and his in evitable little anecdotes. But all of a sudden a storm arose. The thieves fell out among themselves in Life Insurance circles, and while honest men did not get their rights they learned lots. One of the sights revealed was that of Chauncey Depew pocketing $20,000 per year of the Trust Funds of the Equitable, render ing no returns therefor that anyone could n ame. ♦ As the Equitable money is paid in for the purpose of protecting widows and orphans, it is the most sacred of all funds. To steal from such a fund was proof of a moral turpitude baser than that involved in anv other theft. But to be a custodian of such a fund, and then to steal from it,- was the very worst of all thievery. Well, Chauncey Depew was one of the cus todians of the sacred Trust Funds, and he stole from it, regularly, $20,000 per year. When the exposure was published to the world, the outburst of public indignation was so great that Depew was forced to secrete himself. He went into retirement, gave out reports that his health was bad, and waited for the storm to blow over. For months and months the detected thief did not dare to show himself in any public place. During all those months of hiding out, the demand for his resignation from the Senate grew loud and universal. Almost every paper published in the state of New York—to say nothing of those published elsewhere —clam- ored for his resignation. The clamor for Depew’s resignation finally died away. The newspapers can not eternally harp on the same string. Left to himself THE WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN. Depew might have resigned, for he isn’t a man of much stamina. But he was held to his post in the Senate by those who own him. The Vanderbilt Rail roads, the allied interests which Depew’s vote can serve just as well as though his hands were clean, these were the powers that kept him in his place. No other explanation can account for the fact that the great imperial state of New York is represented in the United States Senate by two such creatures as Platt and Depew. The corporations need their votes —that’s all there is to it. Should Platt and Depew resign, who can say what “dangerous men” might be elected in their places? The successor of Platt might possibly be in favor of smashing the monopoly of the rob ber Express Companies. Possibly he might favor the Parcels Post. Therefore, while Platt is a disgrace to the State of New York, he is a faithful servant of the Express monopoly, and must be kept where he can defend the robbers with his vote. The same reasoning applies to Depew. . * So he remained in the Senate —which after all does not contain many members who could afford to throw rocks at Depew. Most of them are much the same as he. When Congress convened in Dec., 1906, Chauncey was on hand, looking somewhat washed-out, and a trifle nervous; but his dear colleagues gradually warmed him up with their sympathy and a general bearing toward him which said: “You haven’t done anything that we condemn.” By slow degrees, therefore, the exposed and disgraced thief of the widow and orphan fund of the Equitable began to hold up his head again. Once more the oily smile was seen. Morally supported by Senatorial colleagues who are not a bit more honest than himself, Chauncey shook off the consciousness of guilt and determined to assert himself as Sen ator. * Senator Aldrich, the Republican godfather of the Trusts, introduced a resolution direct ing the Secretary of the Treasury to turn over to the National Banks daily, the Custom House receipts! It was in favor of this proposition that Chauncey Depew made his regeneration speech. In substance he said: “Mr. President, there is great stringency in the money market. We must have relief. Our money is being poured into the Custom Houses. Why, Mr. Presi dent, the amount paid into the Custom Houses is often as much as $1,000,000. This causes stringency. Now the way to relieve this stringency is to have the Custom Houses de posit that money every day, with the Pet Na tional Banks of our big cities. The banks will then lend the money to their patrons and thus the stringency will be relieved.” Fine, wasn’t it? The National Bankers pay none of these Custom House duties. The money comes out of the pockets of the millions of consumers of the goods upon which the duties are paid. The amount of the duty is, of course, added tef the price of the goods, and the American con! sumer pays the duty when he buys the goods To whom will the Banks lend the Custon House money? To the people who paid the duties. 1 Thus the taxpayers, by paying interest te the banks, will secure the precious boon ol borrowing some of their own money. Queer situation, isn’t it? - >’ If the Government is collecting too mucl at the Custom Houses, why not lower the diA tics, or put some of the necessaries of life o I the Free List? I The stand-patters would not hear to that. | Why not put the excess collections in -cii X culation by building a few lines of governmeif i railways? j Our railroad kings would never allow tha 1 Why not use the money to establish a nz I tional Telegraph and Telephone service, tfl be operated by the Post Office Department? Private monopoly will not listen to that. Therefore, American statesmanship can su{ gest nothing better than to turn over the ta payers’ money to the non-tax payer, in ord< that the non-tax payer may lend it back, wit 1 interest, to the tax payer, AND THUS KEE IT IN CIRCULATION! MUM Congress, the Farmer and the Corporations. Bully for the Railroads! They win out every time. We never see them elect anybody to Con gress—yet the men who go there always taj< care of the railroads. * I We poor fools who actually vote “for ou 1 man,” and shout wildly when he is elected never seem to be able to get Congress to de anything for us. What we want is generally so unconstitutional, or impracticable, or pa ternalistic—or something—that it can not be granted. If the Texas flood sufferers want a supply of planting seed furnished by the Government, a howl of rebuke is heard; a brave President ve toes the bill, and Mr. Historian, John Fiske, will mention the heroism of said President in a so-called historical book. Yet when a French colony—Martinique, for instance—has an earthquake, Congress and President unite quickly upon an appropriation of SIO,OO0 —or was it $50,000? —to send food to the hungry. They couldn’t send free seed to the desti tute farmers of Texas. Unconstitutional, you see. > But they can send free rations to French and English colonies, and no constitutional questions asked. * A few years ago, the farmers of the United States as»;ed to be allowed to borrow a por tion of the Treasury surplus at 2 pec cent. In Europe, several nations have land-loar policies of that kind and the results are highly satisfactory. But in this country the proposition was met with almost universal derision. The-farmers were nevet able to prevail upon Congress to even devote one day to the con sideration of their demand.