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PAGE TWO L ——- - - Public Opinion Throughout the Union THE GEORGIA B. R. The people of Georgia think that they have the worst case of railroads in the whole country. The Georgia Central was one of the first roads built in the United States, and for a long time the bondholders had a good paying property that rendered satisfactory service to the public. In 1888 it fell into the hands of the Gould-Richmond crowd and the first thing the bondholders knew they had been transferred from owners into creditors, and the owners of a ma jority of $5,000,000 stock owned and controlled the road. A few weeks ago it was sold to a couple of men named Thorne and Perry. The man ipulations have been such that the old bondholders are now in the soup, and they* are howling terribly. The road has been run down and swamp ed with debts. That is the way Wall Street has managed a great many roads, and the citizens of Georgia are mistaken when they say they have the worst case on record. —The Inves tigator. W. J. BRYAN, THE CONVERT? W. J. Bryan has now endorsed all the principles laid down in the Oma ha platform of 1892. * * * It is said that wise men change, but fools never do. This proves clearly that W. J. Bryan is a wise man. —The Watchman. Wise Mr. Bryan? Nay! Just a politician; that’s all. A man with Mr. Bryan’s intelligence, and his ap titude to wait fifteen years before making up his mind upon important matters which the most commonpxace school boy eould master in a few weeks’ study, is simply absurd. Wise? Yes! Wise as a serpent; but not in nocent as a dove. Mr. Bryan declares that the most important thing in selecting a can didate is to find out what he stands for. This is a mistake. The vital thing is, what will his party stand for?—P. L Neither of the two of the above suggestions in regaid to “Coming Events,” are as significant as is this: What is the personal record, in the past, of the candidate? A wooden Indian, at the entrance of a tobacco store, “stands for” tobacco, but, if you dress him in the garb of a Zulu Chief he will then stand for a “Dat to,” and in exteriors will be the peer - of W. J. Bryan. Cumtux? —Seattle Patriarch. THE CHEAP PARCELS POST. Postmaster General Meyer be lieves in a cheap parcels post as an institution of benefit to the people, and is officially advocating its adop tion by the government The idea is meeting with strong oppos tion, principally from the small country merchants, who will do all they can to prevent ite adoption, believing that it will be an injury to their business. This would seem to be a ground less fear. It must be remembered that to a limited extent we al ready have a cheap parcels post. Un der our present postal laws merchan dise or other articles of any kind ‘ WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN, may be sent through the mails, the weight of packages so sent being re stricted to four poinds, at a cost of one cent for each ounce of weight. A parcels post could not possibly be (anything more than the extension of this system, either by reducing rates or extending the weight limit of the packages, or both. This would be of great advantage to the people, and it certainly should be done. So far as injury to country merchants is concerned our present parcels post system is doing all that the ex tended system could do. Ail the injury possible being done, the sys tem should certaimy be extended to do all the good possible to be derived from it. The greatest loss to local trade that would roefustlmr shrdm cmfw that would result from mail order busmess is in the smaller articles of trade and light merchandise. This we have already, and the big mail order houses of the larger cities do considerable busmess in tins way. let nobody can point out any injury that is done locai business by then* petty mail order business. The ad vantages which the local dealer pos sesses, m allowing the customer a personal inspection and selection, and in other ways not necessary to enum erate here, are mote than enough to offset the best claims that the mail order deaiers can make. Brought down to its last analysis it is not the mail facilities, not the parcels post, which is the enemy the local dealers or country mercuant has to dread, but his own lack of progressiveness, and failure to make the best use of opportunities at his couim.a,nd. He does not properly present what he has to otter to the people, and set. forth the advantages to tmm of deal ing with him. He doesn't advertise properly. To the merchant who uses printer's ink liberally at home, the mail order house in a distant city is a competitor at whom he can snap his fingers. Then why should not the parcels post be extended, and the people be given the advantage of cheap rats for the delivery of articles sent through the mail, as far as this can be done without loss in the carriage system? The parcels post system in its enlarged form has been adopted by nearly all European countries, and has been found to be of great bene fit to the people. Why should we not have the same in our country?—Augusta (Ga.) Her ald. PENNSYLVANIA GRAFTERS. The Pennsylvania Capitol graft scandal promises to become yet more sensational. James M. Shumaker, former Superintendent of Public Buildings at Harrisburg, who is• to be a star witness in the graft trials, is reported as saying: “I am going to tell everything I know. I do not propose to suffer for the sins of a scoundrel who knew the colossal graft but refused to stop it, as I urged. I know what the grnft was for, that it was to cover a treasury shortage and save the name of a for mer United States Senator from Pennsylvania, now dead.” —Nashville Banner. A TAMMANY PICNIC. Since Oliver Twist’s memorable de mand for “more” there has probably been no similar incident connected with the science of nutrition produc tive of such immediate and disas trous results as that which precipitat ed a riot at Mr. Haffen’s political picnic recently. Frederick Jordan had the temerity to ask for more ice cream. When it was refused he dis charged an ice pitcher at the head of the chief cook of the affair, Joseph Witzel, and floored him. Then the trouble began, and it required several hundred policemen to restore the peaceful atmosphere that usually bathes the Witzel grove at College Point The dining pavilion was wrecked, and a score of persons more or less seriously injured. Some one having remarked, “Well, what could you expect from the bunch that supports Haffen?” the latter gentleman is said to have ex plained the riot as a “malicious plot” devised by his political enemies This, it appears, is to be the proper thing in explanations for the coming fall. Whatever the origin of the bat tue, it illustrates again the dangerous character of that form of recreation known as a Tammany picnic. When the braves go out to have a good time nowadays Donnybrook Fair seems in comparison like a Quaker meeting for peacefulness and quiet. —New York Globe. THE ENORMOUS POWER IN THE HANDS OF COURTS. Attorney-General Bonaparte an nounces that the government will stand behind the Federal judges in their attempts to override the states and protect the railroads. In a mes sage to the United States District At torney located at Montgomery, Ala., that official is directed to see that all processes issued by Federal Judge Jones are served. The Attorney- General gives utterance to this sig nificant sentence: “This Department has already an nounced publicly on more than one occasion that it would see the pro cess of Federal courts requiring exec utive enforcement duly enforced with out regard to cost or consequences.” Os course Mr. Bonaparte will en force the decrees of the Federal courts. He has no choice but to do so. It did not require this some 'what pompous communication to es tablish that fact. He is only the ser vant of the courts. An office boy might as well announce in important language that he will obey the orders of his boss. The courts wield the power, not Mr. Bonaparte. And what a power it is they wield! A half dozen or more states have passed railroad rale laws, every one of which is tied up by Federal judges. The national rate law itself has not yet run the judicial gauntlet, and, as it amounts to nothing, may never have to do so. If it really did regu late the roads, however, it would have been enjoined long ago. In this state the Eighty-Cent Gas law, the Recount law, and other statutes that affect corporation prof its or corporation rule are suspend ed because of judicial action. A aim-a ilar condition exists in other states. Whenever an act is passed that the trusts regarcT as inimical to their in terests they at once seek the protec tion of the courts, and, as a result, the law is held up for years, if it is not nullified forever. If the time should ever come _ when Congress and the State Legis latures really awaken to the rights of the people and enact legislation to halt corporation dishonesty, the dan ger from an irresponsible judiciary would be increased many fold. The present conflict, which for the most part is a sham, would be nothing com pared with that. The Federal courts have power to day to veto National and State leg islation and to halt action of Nation al and State executive departments. Considering the immense authority they exercise, it is a trifle amusing for the Attorney-General to announce that he will support them. It is not unlike the fly on the chariot wheel that imagined he was running the race. When a Federal judge is appoint ed he is answerable- to nobody. In a people’s government he is entire ly independent of the people. True, he can be impeached, but, as a mat ter of fget, he never is. Holding of fice for life, he can be as autocratic as a king. This irresponsible power has al ready been abused, and carries the possibility of infinitely greater abuse. For it there is but one remedy: To elect all judges for short terms.-—N. Y. American. TAFT AND ROOSEVELT. The Washington Post says: “If simmered down to a sentence ths speeclies of Mr. Taft and Mr. Roose velt would read like this: Taft —“Let us accomplish good with due regard to the respective powers of the nation and the states, as set forth in the constitution.” Roosevelt —“Let us change the con stitution and readjust the respective powers of the national and state gov ernments for the good of all the peo ple.”—Nashville Banner. CUBA’S COST TO US. So much of our army as is in Cuba cost us $2,554,970 more than it would have cost to maintain it at home during the fiscal year of 1907. Such is the report of Quartermaster- General Aleshire, nearly $2,000,000 of this amount being for transporta tion. We are not measuring what we are doing or have done in Cuba in terms of money, but it is just as well to know what the cost is.—Boston Herald.