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Summary of Tbents as They Happen
Appeal to Governor Hughes.
A petition signed by many New
York business men has been forward
ed to Gov. Hughes at Albany, asking
that he empower the Attorney-Gen
eral of the State, in person or by
one of his deputies, to come to New
York county to take charge of the
criminal prosecution of officers and
directors of the surface, subway and
elevated railroad companies who have
violated the Penal Code by juggling
and destroying books, records, mak
ing false reports and stealing mil
lions of stockholders’ money. The
petition in effect is scathing in crit
icism of District-Attorney Jerotne,
who has persistently refused to dis
turb the traction malefactors time
after time, when? evidence of their
offenses has been presented to him.
It asks the governor to exercise his
right to call upon the Attorney-Gen
eral to intervene in a scandalous sit
uation, and supercede the District-
Attorney in taking up a series of
crimes, all of public knowledge, which
there is every reason to believe will
be allowed to go unpunished unless
such intervention takes place.
Savannah Gets Ready to Receive Im
migrants.
Savannah is making great prepa
rations for the reception of her first
cargo of immigrants next month.
They will come from Austria, and it
is expected there will be about two
hundred of them. Council has taken
steps to have wharfage facilities
fixed up for them and a corps of im
migrant inspectors, doctors and oth
ers from Washington will be on hand
to receive the first immigrants by
sea to come to Georgia in a long
time. F. P. Sargeant, commissioner
general of immigration, is expected
to come here to be present when the
immigrants arrive.
Judge Landis’ Trust in a Thief Jus
tified.
Two months ago, John E. McCaf
frey, a letter-carrier twenty years
old, was found guilty of stealing a
letter, and Judge Kenesaw M. Landis
sentenced him to one year in the
House of Correction at Chicago. In
imposing the sentence Judge Landis
said:
‘ l l am going to give you two
months to prepare yourself and wife
for this separation. I want you to
give me your word of honor that
you will at the end of that time go
to the House of Correction and give
yourself up.”
For a moment the young man was
dazed by this unusual and unexpected
generosity. Then he said:
“Your honor, if I am alive I will
go to the Bridewell, as you order me
to, and give myself up.”
He went to work for a construc
tion company and saved SIOO in the
two months, which he gave to his
wife.
“I gave my word to Judge Landis
that I would give myself up at the
Bridewell next Monday,” he said,
“and I am going to do it, but it is
hard on my wife and the little fel
low. ’ ’
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
“Union Paralysis.”
A new disease which threatens to
cripple thousands of workingmen has
appeared at Chicago. It affects the
hands and forearm, and has been pro
nounced incurable by Chicago phy
sicians. In the medical books the
malady is called “Dr. Armbruster’s
disease,” but among the labor organ
izations as “union paralysis.”
It shortens the-tendons of the arm,
resulting in a gradual contraction of
the fingers, and in some cases a com
plete closing of the hand. It is
ascribed to strain on the muscles due
to the use of modern tools and imple
ments.
The spread of the disease in Chi
cago has been so rapid that the
Steamfitters’ Union has started an
investigation. Its President, John
Mangan, was one of the first to be
affected by it.
Georgia’s Negro Legislator Quits.
W. H. Rogers, of Mclntosh county,
the only colored member of the Geor
gia Legislature at Atlanta, resigned
his seat in the General Assembly. He
gave no reason for his action, but
it is believed that the passage of
the Negro Disfranchisement bill by
the last legislature influenced him.
Parker Says Congress Should Have
Investigated Harriman Fund.
Alton B. Parker, Democratic can
didate for the presidency in 1904,
made the following statement re
garding the Harriman fund for Pres
ident Roosevelt’s election:
“Congress should have performed
the services te-4he country that The
World and other papers are now at
tempting to render it.
Senator Tillman introduced a res
olution calling for- an investigation of
the charge that I deemed it my duty
to make in the campaign of 1904.
That resolution should have been
passed and an opportunity afforded
to prove the amounts contributed by
tme many various protected industries
of the country —the insurance and
other gigantic corporations, includ
ing the great railroad corporations.
This should have been .done, not
for the purpose of proving whether
my charge was well or ill founded,
for surely an investigation was not
needed for that purpose after the in
surance investigalion, which disclosed
a contribution by three companies,
out of many aggregating nearly $150,-
000 to swell the Republican campaign
chest. Since that happened no man
who reads and'is both fair-minded
and intelligent can doubt the accu
racy cf my statements.
But a further and broader investi
gation should have been made, cov
ering all the great corporations hav
ing interests that the Federal Gov
ernment could protect or advance,
either by the maintenance of exist
ing protective statutes, such as the
so-called Dingley bill, or by the non
enforcement of law, and this to the
end that the people might determine
whether Federal politics and corpo
rate interests shall be divorced or the
wicked partnership of the past shall
be continued and strengthened by a
further assumption of Federal con
trol.
Such an investigation would have
disclosed that contributions were
made by corporations whose officers
know that within a year —perhaps
within thirty days —after election
they would have to go to the post
master-general for a renewal of their
mail-carrying contracts; and, being
“practical men,” they realized that
the attitude of that official might be
affected by the circumstance of a
large contribution on the one hand,
or by a refusal to contribute at his
i equest on the other hand. They had
i son to believe that the request
for a contribution by the chosen rep
resentatives of an administration im
plied an agreement to treat them as
they had been treated before.
For years tariff fed corporations
had been solicited for contributions
to Republican campaign funds, and
they responded generously, and like
wise for years the Republican ad
ministrations had protected them by
tariff duties that enabled them ro ex
act from our people a large price
for their products than they were
demanding from foreigners.
Now, what was done with this
money ? Much of it was employed
to corrupt the voters of doubtful
states, until in many of them man
hood suffrage has in considerable
measure become chattel suffrage. It
is evident that it was for that pur
pose only that this so-called Harri
man ftpid of $260,000 was raised. It
was secured on the 29th and 30th
days of October and turned over to
the National Committee on October
Two hundred thousand dollars
was then given to the State Commit
tee and for what purpose?
Obviously in the closing hours of
the campaign but one practical use
could be made of it, and that was to
swell the fund already accumulated
to secure beyond peradventure the
large floating vote builded up by
years of effort to corrupt the electo
rate by means of money contributed
•by those who were willing to buy
favors from those willing to seil
them.
Court Says Confiscatory.
Judges Willson and Audried, in
Common Pleas Court at Philadelphia,
declared unconstitutional the two
ccnt railroad fare law passed by the
last legislature. The rate is held to
be unreasonable.
The decision applies only’ to the
County of Philadelphia. The law be
comes operative October 1, and in
order to have a decision that will
cover the entire state, it is the inten
tion of the Pennsylvania Railroad to
ask the Supreme Court to take action
on today’s decision before that date.
The law was enacted as a result
of agitation during the last political
campaign, all parties pledging them
selves in favor of such legislation.
The railroads, led by the Pennsyl
vania and the Reading, made a strong
fight against the enactment, but both
branches of the legislature passed the
bill with practically a unanimous
vote.
The Pennsylvania was the first to
attack the new law, bringing suit to
restrain the County of Philadelphia
from collecting the fine for violation.
The hearing lasted nearly a week,
and among the witnesses were Presi
dent McCrea and several of the vice
presidents of the Pennsylvania Rail
road.
The contention was that the law
was not constitutional, and that the
two-cent rate was fixed without any
investigation by the legislature as to
whether the railroads could make a
fair profit under the law, which the
company asserted it could not do.
All other railroads operating in
Pennsylvania brought similar j>ro
ceedings in various counties, but no
decisions have been rendered, as it
■was understood that the Pennsylva
nia’s suit would be made the test
case.
Cortelyou Isn’t Talking.
Secretary of the Treasury George
B. Cortelyou declined to comment in
any way on the statements made by
ex-Judge Parker. He said he had no
reply to make io any of the specifi
cations or charges, or to different pa
pers calling upon him to resign as
Secretary of the Treasury.
Mr. Cortelyou said several days
ago he would give an account of his
stewardship in and out of public life
at some future date. When asked
last night to take the present occa
sion to give an account, he declined,
and would not specify when the oc
casion would arise for his accounting.
New Zealand a Dominion Now.
A royal proclamation has been is
sued at London by which New Zea
land is advanced from a colony to a
dominion, sharing with Canada this
coveted title.
Western Union Hides Effects of the
Strike. _
The directors of the Western Un
ion Telegraph Company declared the
usual quarterly dividend, but made
no statement of the earnings of the
company for the quarter, a failure
which conceals the effect of the strike
on the finances of the company.
The board readopted the resolu
tion passed by the Executive Com
mittee on Tuesday indorsing and ap
proving President Clowry and the
other officers for their management
of the “late strike.”
Among the directors present were
J. Pierpont Morgan and Chauncey
M. Depew. The meeting lasted near
ly half an hour, which is consider
ably longer than usual.
National President Small, of the
telegraphers, said that the fight would
be kept up until the meeting of
Congress next December, when an at
tempt w’ould be made to bring about
Government ownership of telegraphs.
Fortune for Yale.
Archibald Henry Blount, Lord of
the Manor of Orleton, Herefordshire,
England, has bequeathed $400,000 to
\ ale, to be applied as is deemed best
for the university.
Mr. Blount died in London June 17
last, aged sixty-seven, leaving an es-