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Public Opinion Throughout the Union
THE DAYS OF CAPTAIN KIDD.
(New York World.)
This all took place in the days of
Captain Kidd. After a long and des
perate chase the man-of-war overhaul
ed the pirate craft and raked it fore
and aft. The survivors of the crew
were put in irons and taken into port
to be tried for their crimes and mis
demeanors. As might have been ex
pected, Mr. Paul D. Cravath and Mr.
John G. Milburn appeared as counsel
for the defendants.
“While it is admittedly true,” said
Mr. Milburn, “that my clients here
did cut throats, scuttle ships and ap
propriate to themselves the treasure
of many merchantmen, yet these acts
were merely an indirect or incidental
result of my clients being associated
and banded together. We contend that
the murder and piracy were only con
sequential and incidental to the exer
cise of an absolute and undoubted
right which all men have to go down
to the sea together in ships, and hence
we ask the dismissal of these absurd
charges against the defendants.”
Then Mr. Cravath addressed the
jury. “It is true,” he said, “that my
clients here in the heat of a generous
commercial rivalry did cut a few
throats and appropriate certain goods
and chattels. But you must remember
that at one time in the history of
society murder was an offense with
which the general public had nothing
to do, vengeance being left to the kin
of the lately deceased. Moreover, the
acts of these defendants must be re
garded as typical of a class of trans
actions which have been common in
the past on the Spanish Main, and
which were once regarded as entirely
proper, as the gentlemen of the jury
may ascertain for themselves by con
sulting the works of the Greek histo
rians.”
Unfortunately the law at this time
w’as looked upon rather more as a
science than an art. So a none too
intelligent jury promptly convicted the
defendants, and a judge who was im
patient to get to the tavern to dinner
immediately sentenced them to be
hanged by the neck until they were
dead.
SOCK THE SOCK TRUST.
(Fort Worth Telegram.)
The great American sock trust met
a few days ago and decided upon an
immediate advance of 15 per cent of
all articles of hosiery, and this is an
act that serves to show how utterly
heartless these great combinations of
capital can and do become. The Amer
ican cotton crop for 1905 was less than
11,000,000 bales, and there was no ad
vance in the price of socks. The cotton
crop for 1906 is in excess of 13,000,000
bales, and the action taken by the
trust represents an advance in the
price in the face of an increased sup
ply.
Some years ago the French military
establishment ordered that the rank
and file of the French army should not
wear socks, and later developments re
flected the wisdom of the order in the
improved health of the army. Back
in the early history of Texas the men
who hunted on the plains of Texas
never wore socks even in cold weath
er. Jerry Simpson, a product of Kan
ias, was always successful as long as
he eschewed socks, and his downfall
followed the adoption of gay hosiery.
Under such circumstances there ap
pears but one thing to do, and that is
to sock it to the sock trust by going
sockless. It may be a little bit un-
WATSON’S, "WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
comfortable for the sockless during the
early stages of the action, but we will
grow accustomed to the innovation in
time. And when the sock trust realizes
that we have determined to become a
sockless nation it will take the nec
essary steps to go out of business.
COLOR LINE IN THE NORTH.
(The Columbia State.)
But let no one be deceived. The
color line is as real —and no more so—
in Boston, in Philadelphia, in New
York, in Springfield, in Washington,
as it is anywhere in the south. We
take up a recent issue of the Boston
Transcript and note the caption of an
article —“The Color Line in Boston.”
A part of the same caption informs us
that there is “race discrimination here
as elsewhere,” that this race prejudice
is cherished and practiced by hotels,
theaters, and, alas! the churches; and
that the feeling of the son of the abo
litionist is not the same as his
father’s.” Another issue of The
Transcript contains an editorial on the
“Color Line in the Treasury,” at Wash
ington, under the very nose of the
president, who, as is well known, is
not “color” blind, though he could not
see the negroes who “rescued” him on
“San Juan Hill.”
THE BANKS ARE “NEXT.”
(The Omaha Investigator.)
Mr. Ollie M. James of Kentucky, in a
speech in congress which the pluto
cratic papers took pains not to men
tion, said: “The statement of the
United States treasury issued on the
29th day of January, 1907, shows in
national bank depositories of the Unit
ed States $161,061,798.25. This won
derful sum of the people’s money is in
the national banks, without the pay
ment of one single cent of interest,
on which great sum of money they
are charging from 6 to 10 per cent
per year when they lend this money
back to the people. I challenge the
world for a greater or more vicious
act of class legislation. I challenge
anyone to present a scheme of spoli
ation of graft to excel it.” And that
money was handed over to the banks
at the request of Wall street gamblers
to “relieve the money market”!
ERROR OF PRESIDENT’S FOES.
(The Boston Transcript.)
It seems to us that the president’s
opponents have made a mistake in not
coming out squarely and saying that
they did hope to wrest the control
of the party from his hands, by bring
ing to pass in 1908 the nomination of a
man more suited to their tastes. This
would be a legitimate endeavor to
which no reasonable person could take
exception. It would be nothing for any
man to apologize for. They might
dissent from details which are doubt
less exaggerated and fanciful, as was
at once recognized, but their desire
to shake the control of Mr. Roose
velt should not have been denied.
WILL HE WATER IT?
(The Richmond Times-Dlspatch.)
Now that he has become a duly qual
ified member of the Ananias Society,
It Is generally believed that Mr. Har
riman will at once proceed to ac
quire a majority of the stock.
JUST A CHANGE OF NAME.
(The Washington Post.)
“Where are the dudes of yester
day?” asks the New York World.
Among the mollycoddles of today, of
course.
A NEW OCTOPUS.
(Arizona Republican.)
The report comes all the way from
London that officials of the British and
Foreign Bible Society have admitted
that a great Scripture trust has been
formed, and the conclusion that the
principal purveyors of the Word of
Life have been benefited by a virtual
monopoly is being forced upon the
English Bible-consuming public. The
facts in the case, as brought out in
an alleged interview with the secreta
ry of the big London plant, are not
calculated to remove the impression.
It is only fair to the managers of the
alleged Scripture trust to state that
they explicitly deny that they have
exclusive control of what Rev. Arthur
Taylor calls the “raw material.” In
other words, there is an abundant sup
ply of crude heavenly manna, which
is at the disposition of any consumer,
or, for that matter, any intrepid in
dependent dealer who may wish to
mine for it, or bore for it, whichever
method may be the most practicable.
It is as if a combination of capitalists
should combine for the purpose of con
trolling the market for refined rock oil,
or, as it is sometimes called, crude
petroleum. In such an imaginary case
it could be consistently claimed that
while certain traffic arrangements had
been made by which no sales were to
be made in competition with members
of the pool, any consumer could have
access to the great storehouse of crude
petroleum which nature has provided
in the bowels of the earth.
MEN AND THE CHURCH.
(The Toronto Globe.)
No other movement is more signifi
cant than the awakening and organiz
ing and directing of the lay forces in
the various churches now going on
both in Canada and in the United
States. Representative conventions
of laymen have been held in various
American cities, which for power and
prestige are seldom equaled by any
thing of the sort ever witnessed in the
political arena. Men of the very fore
most rank in the callings to which
they belong, men who have done
things, and in whom is the vitality and
vision of still larger achievement,
meet together to confer over the
church situation, its facts and its fu
ture; and wuth the directness of train
ed men of business, and the enthusi
asm of men who believe, they are set
ting about their business as men of
the church with a purposefulness
which means success.
808 TAYLOR ON MONEY.
(The Clifton Mirror.)
It is said that back in 1896 when
the money issue came into prominence
some one asked Bob Taylor how he
stood on the question. His reply was
very Tayloresque: “I am in favor of
more gold, more silver, more green
back and a better grade of counter
feit.” Boiled down to its last anal
ysis, the average hillbilly will sub
scribe to this doctrine.
INCREASED TLEGRAPH TOLLS.
(The Washington Star.)
It is always a questionable expedi
ent to raise a toll when the returns
from a business depend upon public
patronage. To a certain extent the
telegraph service is a necessity. But
apart from the press dispatches,
which are not affected by the new
schedules, it as likely that the bulk of
the business of the telegraph compa
nies is of a character that will be un-
favorably affected by the imposition
of a higher tax. That is to say, most
of the private messages are only of a
semi-necessitous character, and under
the new rate rules a great many form
er users of the wire will eschew this
service and rely upon the mails. This
will require a readjustment of busi
ness methods and the cultivation of a
habit of foresight, but the premium
of a material saving in cost is calcu
lated to stimulate such methods.
THE THEOLOGICAL SCHOOLS.
(The Philadelphia Press.)
A steady movement is apparent in
both the training and work of clergy
men away from languages and theolo
gy and toward the study of social
problems. This is wise, if it is done
thoroughly. The real difficulty is that
while a medical student does thrice
the work he once did and a law stu
dent twice, to enter on his profession,
a future clergyman works no longer in
time and does less work in study. The
number of candidates also is diminish
ing. Since 1900 the number of sin
ners in the country has grown some
7,000,000; but the number of men
studying to preach to them has fallen
from 8,000 to 6,000, and grows less
yearly. This is a more serious thing
than abolishing Hebrew here and
there.
IT WORKED ALL RIGHT.
(The Philadelphia Record.)
“There was a howl over the adoption
of two-cent postage when the rate was
reduced from three cents. A deficit
was prophesied; but an increased rev
enue followed. Like results may flow
from the adoption of two-cents-a-mile
railway fares. More people will travel.
Half-empty cars will be filled. Where
the experiment has been fairly tested
it has justified itself.”
HIDEBOUND AS EVER.
(Charleston News and Courier.)
What the south wants and needs,
and what the country needs also, is
a Democratic president. There la no
“southern Democrat” who can be elect
ed president, although it is certain that
without the support of the southern
Democracy it will not be possible to
elect any Democratic candidate pres
ident. The southern Democrats will
vote for the candidate of the party
whoever he may be, and whether he
comes from the west or the east or
the south.
THE COLOR PROBLEM.
(The Omaha Bee.)
The problem is a troublesome one,
with small promise of solution so far
as government employment is concern
ed. The government is pledged by
constitutional amendments to recog
nize no race or color distinctions in
American citizenship or rights, and so
long as the negro can pass the civil
service examinations the door of fed
eral employment Is open to him. Prac
tical demonstration of this fact may
have the effect of curing some of the
young men and women of the coun
try of their deluded notion that a
government clerkship is the most se
lect of all positions open to those seek
ing clerical employment.
TARRED WITH THE SAME STICK.
(The Richmond News-Leader.)
So far as opposing Governor Hughes’
reform policy is concerned, the Demo
crats and the Republicans in the New
York senate seem to be tarred with the
same stick.