Chapter XII: Part 12

The bill is now up to the Senate. It may stay there for some time before it passes, if it is passed at all.

The corporation-ridden Senate is a disgrace to a people who are said to elect their public servants. The men who made the Senate so far from the touch of the common people either were short-sighted, or defrauded the real American citizen out of one of the most necessary needs in this age of graft and political corruption.

The Grange favors the direct nomination and election of our United States Senators, and in due course of time we, the people, shall be electors in deed and action. By direct vote of the people, making the senators responsible and answerable to the masses, alone can we inject purity into our elections and accomplish reform in public affairs.—_Sandusky (Mich.) Salinac Farmer._

* * * * *

Up to January 16 the _Congressional Record_ contained 2,300 columns of speeches made so far by congressmen, but it has to record only one important bill passed.

* * * * *

William Jennings Bryan’s costume in the honorable position of a “Datto” of Mindanao consists of a high hat and a black silk apron. In cold weather he is permitted to varnish his legs.—_McEwen (Tenn.) New Era._

* * * * *

The members of the lower house of Congress are debating the railroad rate bill this week. At the end of that time the public will know which ones are entitled to railroad passes under the new regulation of the companies that only employees are to receive them.—_Matthews (I. T.) News._

* * * * *

We admire patriotism but we don’t like toadyism. It makes us tired to see how quick some editors sneeze when a high official takes snuff. And when the snuff is taken purely and solely for political effect it makes it all the more disgusting.—_Marshville (N. C.) Our Home._

* * * * *

“This is the time,” says Senator Platt, “when little bosses will find their level.” And it is also the time when some great bosses are finding rock bottoms.—_Stanberry (Mo.) Owl._

* * * * *

What’s the difference between a street curb boodler and one that sells out for a promise of an appointment? Ans.—One gets his money before voting while the other gets it afterwards, if he does not get left—principle same.—_Batavia (O.) Democrat._

* * * * *

Why are all the candidates opposing Hoke Smith? There must be some reason for it. Everyone had faith in him, believed him far superior to a majority of other people, until he got into the race. Why this change? Why so many attacks upon him? Is it because he is advocating reforms which have already been adopted by several of the other Southern states? It must be because he stands for something, and is not ashamed or afraid to tell what it is.—_Marietta (Ga.) Courier._

* * * * *

With Clark Howell devoting most of his time to “cussing” out TOM WATSON, Hoke Smith is sailing smoothly on to the gubernatorial chair.—_Dalton (Ga.) Citizen._

* * * * *

The New York Sun puts it this way: “If John Mitchell’s statement at the miners’ convention is not a bluff, there will be either an enormous increase in the coal bills of the American people or the most costly and disastrous strike the country has ever seen.” But what do the mine owners and the striking mine workers care about that, so long as the people who buy the coal are willing to bear their suffering in silence—paying without a murmur any price the coal barons put on their product; and feeling well assured that nothing will be done by the suffering people to change the laws by which these barons are enabled to inflict this suffering.—_Waterbury (Conn.) Examiner._

* * * * *

During the last ten years stocks and bonds amounting to $12,500,000,000 have been floated in this country. This additional capitalization of the industries and railroads of the country is about equal to the total value of all grain crops raised by the farmers during the same period. It is one-third more than the total value of the products of all mines in the country for the same period. It is equal to one-eighth of the total wealth of the United States in 1900. That is the way the “great” financiers absorb the wealth produced by the toilers of the nation. After studying the above statistics you may realize the force of Gov. Johnson’s statement that fictitious valuation and the consequent tax on the producers is the great curse of this country. Ignatius Donnelly used to tell a story about a hen that laid an egg in a nest fitted with a false bottom. The egg disappeared, and the hen laid another, continuing in her vain effort to have an egg show up in the nest until there was nothing left of her but the feathers. The fictitious capitalization is the false bottom that takes the products of the laborer, leaving him nothing to show for his efforts.—_Willmar (Minn.) Tribune._

* * * * *

The Hepburn rate bill now pending in Congress is nothing more nor less than the Hearst bill with a few loopholes in it for the convenience of those railroad companies that may desire to side-step its provisions.—_Globe (Ariz.) Register._

* * * * *

The fact that the congressmen of both old parties are almost a unit for the railroad rate bill now pending in Congress, should be enough to satisfy any reasonable man that the people can get their rights only through a new party. The bill is a miserable pretense engineered by railroad tools in Congress, and its object is to make the people believe they are going to get relief through the old parties.—_Chillicothe (Mo.) World._

* * * * *

Gov. Magoon testifies that men may be put to death in the Panama Canal zone without trial. It seems to be easier to put them to death than to put them to work.—_Athens (Ill.) Free Press._

* * * * *

The time has come when we need men that stand for something. The day is past when our forefathers stood for truth, honor, principle; and all that was right must be called into play again or this republic will be but an iridescent dream.—_Marion (Ala.) Democrat._

* * * * *

A writer in a recent issue of a so-called farm paper says the reason boys go to towns and cities to live is because they long for a life in which they will be independent of every one else on earth. Then why in thunder do they go to the cities to find it? A man might as well dig out gopher holes expecting to find wolves as to go to the cities to find an independent life. The place to find that is on the farm. Here we are our own boss, and if any one else does not like the way we do, we are in a position to tell him to go to—with no danger of losing our job.—_Irrigon (Ore.) Irrigator._

* * * * *

It now looks like Marion Butler is arranging to take charge of the Republican Party in North Carolina. We make no prediction about what will be or what will not be done. Those who know his past record will hesitate before surrendering entirely to a man who is so thoroughly repudiated by all classes in this state.—_Asheboro (N. C.) Courier._

* * * * *

The Chicago Tribune asks: “Granting that it will take seven years to construct the Panama canal, have the seven years begun yet?” That is rather a hard question, not knowing the personality of the timekeeper. However, there is one thing in connection with the scheme that we are all well aware of—the big salaries of the political constructors have begun, all right.—_Farmington Valley Herald, Hartford, Conn._

* * * * *

According to the _Pantagraph_, Senator Cullom should be re-elected because he stayed in Washington after the session of Congress of last winter and did work that he was drawing a salary of $5,000 a year to do. The statement that his present illness was brought on by overwork seems preposterous. Who ever heard of a United States Senator overworking, unless it was to keep himself in office? From present indications, it seems that the people of the state are willing to give Mr. Cullom a rest from his overwork.—_Colfax (Ill.) Press._

* * * * *

John A. McCall, late head of a giant life insurance company, is dead, and, as far as mortal knows, is at rest for the first time for months. This erstwhile gentleman and master of high finance was “weighed in the balance and found wanting.” The weighing was done by fellow citizens, which made remorse all the more keen. Rapid decline followed and McCall, broken-hearted, deserted and despised, is gone. His fate should be an example to others who are tempted to do wrong. A half dozen other luminaries of New York, who were caught dead to rights in the insurance frauds, are fast following in McCall’s wake, and are even now all but ostracized by social and business associates. The weight of the common verdict against them is bearing heavily upon their shoulders, streaking their hair and furrowing their faces. Their sins are finding them out.—_Washington (Ill.) Register._

* * * * *

Old political systems are being broken up by the heat of public common sense and non-partisan movements. The independent American citizen and voter is going to make himself felt, by gosh!—_Mt. Vernon (Ind.) Unafraid._

* * * * *

John A. McCall has departed to the great bar of all time. There is no doubt but that shame and humiliation killed this proud, self-made man.

Wrong-doing is bound to bring its death sentence to all lives, rich or poor.—_Milford Centre (O.) Ohioan._

* * * * *

“Some day, we pray to God, there will come a House which will hold tight the purse-strings, and, on some measure of right, say to our lords: ‘Pass the bill or get no money. We will go to the country on this issue.’ And then we will have achieved what the English House of Commons won in 1832, and our Senate will become the perfunctory body the House of Lords ever since has been.”—_St. Louis Dispatch._

That sounds like it came from way up in the amen corner, and is likely to have many hearty responses.—_Salem (Va.) Times-Register._

* * * * *

Mr. Rogers, of the Standard Oil Trust, is the last man in the world who should show contempt for the law. The law which is brought about through class legislation has enabled him to become a millionaire by robbing the public, and it is through respect for the law that an enraged public permits him to hold his ill-gotten gains.—_Rolla (Mo.) Sharp Shooter._

* * * * *

Well, the railroad rate bill has passed the House, with only seven negative votes—all Republicans. But in the Senate is where the tug-of-war comes.—_Malad (Ida.) People’s Advocate._

* * * * *

Pure food is once more an issue in both houses of Congress, and the bill bids fair to be defeated in the Senate, which numbers among its members not a few who have interests in groceries, fisheries, packing and canning houses that will be unfavorably affected by pure food legislation. The clause most necessary to the effectiveness of the bill, the one providing that all packages shall be labeled to show exactly the contents of the package whether medicine, food or beverage, and which enables the purchaser at least to know with what and when he is poisoning himself, is the very clause that seems in greatest danger of defeat.—_Adams (N. Dak.) Budget._

* * * * *

And now the assertion comes forth that a large white goat in a New York town by the name of Rockefeller, while the family heads were bowed in sorrow, climbed upon the porch and devoured the wreath of flowers which hung on the door. But, pshaw! that is only characteristic of the name—swiping all in sight.—_Wrens (Ga.) Reporter._

* * * * *

It is probable that when the Hepburn railway rate bill gets back to the lower house of Congress that it and its author will scarcely have a bowing acquaintance.—_Glenwood (Mo.) Phonograph._

* * * * *

The fight in Congress over the railway rate bill seems to center on court review of the orders of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Now the courts have the right under the Constitution to review all orders of the commission or they have not. Therefore why should the fight be over this feature of the bill unless the railroads believe that the courts have had this authority if denied in the measure, we are unable to comprehend. On the first blush we should say that the courts, if asked, would have this right, for they have claimed the right to review almost any and every thing till the Democratic Party was forced to denounce “government by injunction.” Still, the railroads occupy a peculiar position toward the people of the country.

The stockholders in a railroad corporation have not the same rights the stockholders have in nearly every other corporate body.

The railroads have been permitted to condemn our land for their use, but in so doing they incurred certain responsibilities to the public that are imposed on no other corporation.

It would therefore seem but just that if railroads can force us to part with our real estate, surely we, the people, have a right to say that these roads shall be managed just as the people through their representatives in Congress desire, and unless such regulations are confiscatory the courts shall have no say.—_Tarboro (N. C.) Southern._

* * * * *

Having resigned from seventy corporations, Senator Depew must be awful lonesome when the directors meet and make a noise like declaring a dividend.—_Schaghticoke (N. Y.) Sun._

* * * * *

Here is what we found in Sunday’s _Constitution_ about the Governor’s race.

One article about Hoke Smith and Tom Watson brands them as assassins of Democracy. In another place is the following complimentary clipping about Estill: “The weekly papers are giving Colonel John H. Estill the squarest kind of a deal. The Savannahian is the man to watch and his following seems to be growing rapidly in all quarters of the state.”

And on the same page is another clipping from the _Tifton Gazette_, in which Estill, Judge Russell and Mr. Howell are spoken of as men of the most sterling integrity, distinguished ability and unflinching honor, and either of them would do Georgia credit in the gubernatorial chair.

Is it a wonder that the common people believe that Clark Howell, Estill and Judge Russell are in a combination to beat Hoke Smith?—_Lawrenceville (Ga.) Gwinnett Journal._

* * * * *

The old adage “competition is the life of trade” has been transformed to “combination is the life of trade” to suit the condition of the times.—_Oakland (Md.) Journal._

“Wall Street Is Playing with Fire” is the startling head line in a local paper. There is no need for alarm, though. Wall Street has plenty of water to put out any fire.—_Almond (N. Y.) Gleaner._

* * * * *

The great copper war which for years has been waged between Heinze and the Amalgamated has been ended by what is practically a merger of the opposing interests. This fight between stock gamblers for the control of immense properties has for years divided the people of Montana into bitter factions, has disorganized politics, corrupted judges and legislatures and had a baneful effect upon all the people of the state. Now that the contending forces have made peace the public will probably be the more thoroughly fleeced.—_Warren (Minn.) Sheaf._

* * * * *

Precedent has been found which shows that Henry H. Rogers could have been legally made to testify. We have been of that opinion all the time, but it is only another instance where the sword of Justice and the law has proved insufficient when met by the shield and armor of gold.—_Santa Anna (Tex.) News._

* * * * *

Congress has decided to investigate the coal and oil trusts. A nice summer’s job is here cut out for somebody. It is hoped there will be no Garfield business about the investigation. The miserable failure Commissioner Garfield made of that Beef Trust investigation should be enough to disgust even a Roosevelt.—_Seaford (Del.) News._

* * * * *

According to a statement issued by the Bureau of Statistics last Saturday with reference to the number and value of farm animals in the United States, there are more cows than any other one domestic animal. But the horse, while next to the lowest in number, is more valuable. The mules rank lowest in number and the sheep lowest in value. The report shows that the total value of all the farm animals to be nearly $4,000,000,000.—_Hamilton (Tex.) Herald._

* * * * *

The United States Senate, by a vote of 38 to 27, has passed the shipping subsidy bill. The bill appropriates $200,000,000 of the taxpayers’ money for the American merchant marine. What a lovely gift! Voting the people’s money to boost a class of wealthy business men. What a lovely principle!—_Veblen (S. Dak.) Advance._

* * * * *

While a lot of fellows have been sent to jail for stealing loaves of bread, hams, shoes and such, none of the big insurance thieves have even been indicted. Justice is not only blind, but she is deaf as a post, dumb as an oyster, and she couldn’t smell a fertilizer factory at ten feet.—_Pennsboro (W. Va.) News._

* * * * *

To judge from the Standard Oil witnesses in the New York investigation, we shall no doubt hear a demand for the Government to be ruled for contempt in wanting to know too much.—_Parco City (Okla.) Democrat._

* * * * *

John A. McCall, ex-president of the New York Life Insurance Company, who confessed that he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars belonging to widows and orphans and used the money as a corruption fund to help elect McKinley and Roosevelt presidents of the United States, is dead and gone,—we don’t know where, but if we were dead too, we wouldn’t hunt him up.—_Granville (Ia.) Gazette._

* * * * *

Members of the lower house are chuckling over the predicament one of their colleagues finds himself in. It seems the unsophisticated private secretary of this especial representative forwarded to Washington by mail three parts of a sectional bookcase, using his employer’s postal frank. The bookcases contained private books, and one of them is said to have concealed a miscellaneous collection of kitchen utensils intended for the owner’s home there. The entire collection was “unfrankable” and the local postmaster has called on the representative to pay postage on his property to the amount of $72. The name of the representative is being kept secret, but that doesn’t soothe his feelings to any great extent.—_Bowlder (S. Dak.) Pioneer._

* * * * *

President Roosevelt and Secretary Taft are said to favor a lock canal. If reports are true, that’s the matter with the project now. It’s locked with red tape and departmental interferences.—_Clifton (Tenn.) Mirror._

* * * * *

Governor Pattison of Ohio signed the Freiner two-cent fare bill which was accepted by the Senate and it is now a law. It will not go into effect, however, until thirty days have elapsed. The law provides that two cents shall be the maximum rate charged in Ohio for transporting passengers on the railroads of Ohio for all distances in excess of five miles.—_Winfield (La.) Comrade._

* * * * *

The Senate has passed the corrupt subsidy bill granting $20,000,000 a year to the steel trust infant industry so that our merchant marine can compete with that of other nations. Isn’t that satisfactory evidence that U. S. senators should be elected by direct vote of the people? Remove the tariff and our ship builders can “compete” without a subsidy.—_Alva (Okla.) Renfrew’s Record._

* * * * *

There’s one consolation to the poor man when he thinks of John D. Rockefeller being the richest man in the world; he knows that the devil won’t let him bring a cent of it to hell with him.—_St Louis (Mo.) National Rip Saw._

* * * * *

It is just as true today as it ever was that the safest and most honorable way for a man to secure a competence is to do it little by little, taking a lifetime for the work. The haste to be rich and make money fast is the economic curse of America today. Every man wants to draw a prize in the business lottery and it is seldom indeed that he is content with small savings and safe investments.—_Headland (Ala.) Post._

* * * * *

Managers of the Hepburn Rate Bill contemplate providing it with a set of puncture-proof tires when it starts its round of the Senate.—_Alma (Neb.) Record._

* * * * *

The United States Senate passed a “Ship Subsidy Bill” the other day in just three minutes. Anything that has “Subsidy” (the proper word is graft) to it gets through just as soon as some member makes plain the amount of graft in the measure.—_Smith Crater (Kan.) Messenger._

* * * * *

It is being told that a Kansas man, accompanied by his little son, visited the Senate while in Washington last week and the boy was particularly interested in Edward Everett Hale, a magnificent looking old man. His father told him that he was the chaplain. “Oh, he prays for the Senate, doesn’t he?” asked the boy. “No,” replied the father, “he gets up and takes a look at the Senate and prays for the country.”—_Enid (Okla.) Echo._

* * * * *

The Ohio legislature has passed a law making a uniform rate of two cents a mile on all railroads in that state. The railroads on the other hand have decided to cut off all forms of transportation except the two cent fare. This includes reduced transportation for conventions, 1,000-mile books, all charity business, round trip rates, and clergymen’s rates.—_Stewartville (Minn.) Times._

* * * * *

Leslie Shaw, Secretary of the Treasury, says that we have the best banking system on earth. Still in the past few months failures in five national banks have footed up to almost $7,000,000. Now if these banks had had out a flood of asset currency, backed only by the assets of the banks, and no doubt they would have had, the Government would probably have lost as large a sum, and all of this would have had to come out of the people for the benefit of the speculators.—_Lansing (Mich.) Capital City Democrat._

* * * * *

The end of old Steve Elkins, the blocks-of-five-election buyer, he, who, with the aid of his father-in-law, Gassaway Davis, got control of most of the coal mines and railroads of West Virginia, is in sight. The extortions of the coal trust and railroad combine that Elkins organized have become so unbearable that the Republican governor of that state has appealed to Senator Tillman to secure an investigation. The Republicans of the Senate dare not deny it. When the truth comes out that will be the end of Elkins, for which all the people will give thanks unto God.—_Omaha (Neb.) Investigator._

* * * * *

They don’t seem to be doing much digging on that great canal, but they manage to bury a considerable amount of money there.—_Cresson (Tex.) Courier._

_The Best_

She (_indignantly_)—Stop, sir! You shall not kiss me again! How rude you are! Don’t you know any better?

He (_cheerily_)—I haven’t kissed every girl in town, it is true, but as far as I have gone I certainly don’t know any better.

FROM FEBRUARY 8 TO MARCH 8, 1906

_Home News_

February 8.—John A. McCall, former President of the New York Life Insurance Co., is seriously ill at Lakewood, N. J.

Richard A. McCurdy, former President of the Mutual Life
Insurance Co., plans to leave the United States and make his
home in Paris.

The New York Life Insurance Company’s “house cleaning”
committee reveal that Judge Andrew Hamilton has received
$1,347,382 from that company since 1892. This is $283,383
in excess of the total payments disclosed by the Armstrong
Committee. The committee recommends legal action against John
A. McCall for the recovery of the amount.

Senator La Follette, of Wisconsin, introduces a bill in the
Senate making it an offense for any Government officer,
official or employee to accept a railroad pass or franking
privilege over telegraph lines.

By a vote of 346 to 7 the House of Representatives passes
the Hepburn railroad rate regulation bill just as it came
from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, and
declared by Chairman Hepburn to be exactly in accordance with
recommendations of President Roosevelt on the subject.

The House of Representatives passes the General Pension bill
for the year ending June 30, 1907. The bill appropriates
$140,245,000. Congressman Gardner, of Michigan, declares
that when the last pensioner on account of the Civil War has
disappeared from the rolls, $12,000,000,000 will have been
expended.

February 9.—The Illinois coal operators decide to refuse the demands of the United Mine Workers for an increase in wages.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives passes a resolution
directing the attorney general of that state to ascertain
whether any railroad companies in Pennsylvania are engaged in
the mining of coal, and if so, to proceed against them.

By reducing the rate of railroad fares to two cents a mile, it
is estimated that the people of Ohio will be saved $4,000,000
a year, or a sum equal to almost all the taxes paid for the
support of the state government.

The Senate Committee takes under consideration the Hepburn
railroad rate bill.

The taking of testimony against Senator Reed Smoot, the Mormon,
ends. Senator Smoot’s counsel will introduce testimony in his
defense.

The House of Representatives passes 429 pension bills. The
Judiciary Committee of the House begins an investigation to
ascertain whether or not Congress has the power for Federal
control of insurance.

Secretary Taft appears before the Senate Committee on the
Philippines and says the United States will probably suffer no
reduction in tariff income under the Philippine tariff bill
passed by the House of Representatives.

Secretary Root proposes to reorganize the State Department and
put it on a business basis.

Charles E. Magoon, governor of the Panama Canal Zone, appears
before the Senate Committee on Interoceanic Canals. He declares
the sanitary conditions good, the Supreme Court of Panama
capable and impartial, and advises the coinage of silver money
for use on the Isthmus.

The differences between President Dolan, of the United Mine
Workers of the Pittsburg district, and the delegates to the
convention are taken to the courts.

February 11.—Samuel Glasgow, manager of a milling company of Spokane, Washington, claims to have received Chinese papers from his representative in China, claiming that a recent speech of William J. Bryan to Chinese merchants had been used to stir up renewed antipathy to American goods.

John Mitchell, President of the United Mine Workers, reaches
New York City to confer with the mine operators on the new
scale of wages demanded by the miners.

President Baer, of the Reading Railroad, states that the
Pennsylvania Legislature has not the power to interfere with
the vested rights of coal-carrying railroads.

February 12.—The Senate passes the resolution introduced by Senator Tillman which directs the Interstate Commission to investigate the alleged discrimination by railroad companies in the matter of the transportation of coal and other commodities; as to whether the railroad companies own stock in coal companies or in other commodities carried by them; whether any of the railroad officers are interested in such commodities; whether there is any monopolizing combination or trust in which the railroads are interested, and whether any of the railroad companies control the output of coal or fix its price. The Commission also is directed to investigate the system of car distribution, and whether there is discrimination against shippers either in the matter of the distribution of cars or otherwise.

Senator Lodge, of Massachusetts, makes a speech in the Senate
favoring a revision by the courts of all rates made by the
Commission. This would practically kill the effectiveness of
the Hepburn bill.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives adopt a resolution
that the Attorney General be instructed to inquire into the
allegations that the Pennsylvania Railroad, the New York
Central and the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburg Railroad
companies, and their leased lines, are directly or indirectly
engaged in the mining of bituminous coal, and if it be found
that they are engaged in this business that he proceed against
them.

Leaders of the United Mine Workers reach New York to hold a
conference with their President, John Mitchell.

February 13.—F. Augustus Heinze, defeated in the courts, sells his Montana copper mines to the trust, ending the great Montana copper war.

John Mitchell and the wage-scale committee of the Mine Workers
are working on the schedule of demands which will be presented
to the mine operators.

The committee to which Thomas W. Lawson has turned over all his
proxies of the Mutual and New York Life Insurance Companies
agree to employ counsel to aid them in their efforts to oust
the new managements of the two companies. Five members of
Lawson’s committee are governors of various states.

Attorney General Hadley, of Missouri, who is conducting the
State’s case against the Standard Oil Co., goes to Iowa
and gets testimony from former officers of the Standard’s
subsidiary companies. He states that he has made out his case
against the Standard.

George W. Beavers, of New York, former Chief of the Division of
Salaries and Allowances of the Post Office Department, pleads
guilty to a charge of conspiracy, and is sentenced to two years
imprisonment. Machen and others have already been convicted and
are serving sentences.

The Bituminous Coal Trade League, of Pennsylvania, sends
Congressman Gillespie, of Texas, a petition stating that
Senators Elkins, of West Virginia, and Gorman, of Maryland
have caused violations of the anti-trust laws. Former Senator
H. G. Davis, of West Virginia, father-in-law to Senator
Elkins, cousin to Gorman, and Vice Presidential nominee of the
Democratic party in 1904, is also accused of being a party to
these violations.

February 14.—The “housecleaning” committee of the New York Life Insurance Co. submits a report to the trustees of the company, showing that $148,702.50 has been illegally contributed to campaign funds in the last three elections. The committee recommends that suits for the recovery of the same be brought against John A. McCall and all other officers who had anything to do with making the contributions.

John G. Brady, Governor of Alaska, resigns.

The House of Representatives passes the appropriation bill for
fortifications. The total amount appropriated is $4,383,993,
$600,000 of this to be spent in fortifying the Philippines and
Hawaii.

The Senate passes the ship subsidy bill. If the bill becomes
a law it is estimated that $26,000,000, will be taken from
the United States Treasury and paid out in bounties to vessel
owners during the next ten years.

The resolution of Representative Sulzer, of New York, calling
for an inquiry regarding the sale of the old New York Custom
House to the National City Bank, of New York, passes the House
by a unanimous vote.

February 15.—John Mitchell presents the demands of the miners to the mine owners. Committees are appointed to represent both sides.

Congressman Longworth procures a license to marry Miss Alice
Roosevelt. The President attends Mr. Longworth’s bachelor
dinner.

James W. Alexander is again stricken with paralysis and is in a
sanitarium at Deerfield, Mass.

Officers of the beef packers again testify that Commissioner
Garfield promised that no evidence they gave would be used
against them. The testimony brought out these facts: First,
Commissioner Garfield apparently took the word of Armour &
Co.’s general superintendent that the Armour Car Company,
which has been declared the tap root of the Beef Trust, was
not owned by Armour & Co., and had nothing to do with the
fresh meat industry, and made no further attempt to get
information concerning the private car line monopoly. Second,
Swift & Co. gave information reluctantly to the Commissioner
of Corporations, and only after consulting counsel. At this
conference attorneys for the other packers in the trust
were present. The secretary of Swift & Co. contributed the
information that he sought this advice of counsel because he
“wanted it.”

February 16.—James W. Alexander, former President of the Equitable Life Insurance Co., is operated on. The physicians refuse to tell the nature of the operation, but give hopes of Alexander’s recovery.

Reports from Memphis, Tenn., state that more than fifty per
cent of the Southern peach crop has been killed and the other
fifty per cent is commercially worthless.

State Senator James Minton, of New Jersey, invites Thomas W.
Lawson, Ida Tarbell and Attorney-General Hadley, of Missouri,
to attend a public hearing on his resolution calling on
Attorney-General McCarter, of New Jersey, to bring proceedings
to annul the charter of the Standard Oil Company.

Stuyvesant Fish, a member of the “housecleaning” committee of
the Mutual Life Insurance Co., resigns because Standard Oil
interests obstruct a thorough investigation of the company’s
affairs.

On account of the illness of Senator Tillman, the Senate
postpones the vote on the railroad rate bill until February 23.

February 17.—Miss Alice Roosevelt, the daughter of the President, is married, in the White House, to Congressman Nicholas Longworth, of Cincinnati.

Justice Rufus W. Peckham, of the United States Supreme Court,
advises the “housecleaning” committee of the Mutual Life
Insurance Co. to bring action against Richard A. McCurdy,
ex-president of the company, before he leaves this country.

Fire destroys $1,000,000 worth of wheat at Duluth, Minnesota.

President Peabody, of the Mutual Life Insurance Co., refuses to
give his consent for an investigation of the company’s board of
trustees by the “housecleaning” committee.

February 18.—John A. McCall, late president of the New York Life Insurance Co., dies at Lakewood, N. J. His death was hastened by the recent insurance scandals. The New York _World_ sums up the result of the insurance investigation as follows:

John A. McCall, dead, fortune shattered; J. W. Alexander,
mental and physical wreck; James H. Hyde, self-expatriated in
Paris; Robert A. McCurdy, preparing to follow Hyde; Robert H.
McCurdy, preparing to follow his father; Judge Andy Hamilton,
on the Riviera; Thomas D. Jordan, in seclusion; Andrew Fields,
in seclusion; Louis Thebaud, going to Paris; W. H. McIntyre, in
seclusion; George W. Perkins, reputation smirched; Chauncey M.
Depew, damaged in reputation.

John B. Stetson, the millionaire hat manufacturer of
Philadelphia, dies at Gillen, Florida.

John Mitchell and his associates, representing the anthracite
miners, complete their demands to the coal operators. They will
be presented in a day or two.

President Roosevelt prepares to have the frauds in connection
with the Indian affairs in Indian Territory investigated.

February 19.—Eight suits are begun by the Mutual Life Insurance Co. against the McCurdys, Louis A. Thebaud, son-in-law of Richard A. McCurdy, and C. H. Raymond & Co., for restitution of moneys of the company illegally spent. This includes campaign contributions, illegal salaries, rebates and illegal commissions.

President Roosevelt recommends to Congress a lock canal of
eighty-five foot level across the Isthmus of Panama. The lock
canal was also favored by the Canal Commission and Secretary
Taft. A majority of the Board of Consulting Engineers favored a
sea level canal.

The United States Supreme Court decides that it is illegal for
railroads to sell commodities which they transport as common
carriers. The decision of the Court bears directly on railroads
that own or operate coal mines.

Congressman E. Spencer Blackburn, of North Carolina, is accused
of accepting a fee for using his influence to obtain action
by an executive department. The offense is similar to the one
committed by Senator Burton.

The trial of the beef packers continues at Chicago. E. Dana
Durand, chief assistant to Commissioner Garfield, testifies
that the Department of Commerce turned over certain data
obtained from the packers to the Department of Justice.

Sixteen miners are killed by an explosion at Maitland, Colorado.

A sub-committee of the House Committee on Interstate and
Foreign Commerce takes action on the Tillman, Gillespie and
Campbell resolution to authorize the Interstate Commerce
Committee to investigate the connection between railroads and
coal and oil companies. All three of the resolutions will be
embodied in one and sent back to the House for passage.

The Interstate Commerce Commission orders an investigation
of the rates and practices of the railroad carriers engaged
in transporting oil from Kansas and Indian Territory to
interstate destinations.

Representative Campbell introduces a joint resolution to
authorize the Interstate Commerce Commission to immediately
investigate and report to Congress from time to time whether
any interstate commerce carriers own or control any oil or
other products which they ship as common carriers; whether the
officers of such carriers charged with the distribution of
cars and furnishing facilities for transportation are directly
or indirectly owners of companies interested in oil products;
whether a combination in restraint of trade exists between the
carriers and the shippers of oil products, and whether the
officers of oil companies are officers, agents or members of
the directory of any common carrier.

Congressman Mann, of Illinois, introduces a bill to make
insurance business interstate commerce.

Senator Tillman introduces a bill in the Senate to prohibit
corporations from making money contributions in connection with
political elections.

February 20.—The McCurdys prepare to fight the suits brought against them by the Mutual Life Insurance Co. for the restitution of money illegally taken from the company. The McCurdys and Raymond & Co. also charge that other officials and trustees of the Mutual received rebates on their own policies.

Opinions of prominent lawyers show that the Supreme Court’s
decision against railroads owning commodities which they haul
as common carriers will prevent railroads from operating if
not from owning coal mines. Most of the big coal mines in
the country are either owned, controlled or operated by the
railroads.

Commissioner of Corporations James R. Garfield testifies in the
case of the Government against the beef packers now being tried
at Chicago. He denies that he promised the packers immunity
from prosecution or that all information given him would be
regarded as confidential.

Pittsburg, Pa., follows the example of other cities and throws
off the yoke of boss rule. George W. Guthrie, a Democrat
supported by the independent factions, defeats Alexander M.
Jenkinson, the Republican candidate of the Frick-Mellon-Cassatt
combination.

The House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce
recommends a favorable report to the House on the bill for an
investigation by the Interstate Commerce Commission of the
relations between railroads and coal and oil companies. This is
the resolution introduced in the Senate by Senator Tillman,
with a few modifications of the Gillespie and Campbell
resolutions substituted.

February 21.—President Roosevelt announces that he will not try to influence the Senate Committee’s action on the Hepburn railroad rate bill, but intimates that he will veto any bill that does not meet his approval.

John Mitchell declares there will be a coal strike in the
bituminous coal fields.

The Senate passes a pure food bill by a vote of 63 to 4.
The bill makes it a crime to ship from one state to another
any article of food, drugs, medicines or liquors which is
adulterated or misbranded, or which contains any poisonous or
deleterious substances.

General Grosvenor, of Ohio, is defeated for re-nomination to
Congress. Gen. Grosvenor has been in Congress twenty years.

The House of Representatives takes up the army appropriation
bill. Chairman Hull, of Iowa, urges the need of preparing for
an emergency, as there is fear of trouble with China.

John A. McCall is buried in New York City. McCall left no money
and the suits for recovery of money illegally paid Hamilton
will be dropped.

Because of his stand for an honest investigation of the Mutual
Life Insurance Co., the trustees who fear exposure plan to oust
Stuyvesant Fish from the presidency of the Illinois Central
Railroad.

February 22.—John Mitchell, president of the United Mine Workers, has another conference with several mine operators on a new scale of wages to be paid after April 1.

Mrs. Minor Morris, who was forcibly ejected from the White
House some time ago, issues a statement in which she denounces
the President for her treatment.

Senator Knox, of Pennsylvania, introduces a railroad rate
regulation bill giving the courts the right to review any
order or action of the Interstate Commerce Commission. It is
the intention of the railroad senators to add the court review
clause of the Knox bill to the Hepburn bill.

In the report to the New York Legislature the Armstrong,
or Insurance Investigating, Committee, makes the following
recommendations.

Not only should stock corporations be permitted to give
policy-holders the right to vote, but an opportunity should be
afforded for conversion into purely mutual companies.

The law as to investments in securities should be amended so as
to provide: That no investment in the stock of any corporation
shall be permitted, except in public stocks of municipal
corporations.

The statute should forbid all syndical participations,
transactions for purchase and sale on joint account, and the
making of any agreement providing that the company shall
withhold from sale for any time or subject to the discretion of
others any securities which it may own or acquire.

No officer or director should be pecuniarily interested in any
purchase, sale or loan made by the corporation.

Contributions by insurance corporations for political purposes
should be strictly forbidden.... Any officer, director
or agent, making, authorizing or consenting to any such
contribution should be guilty of a misdemeanor.

The company should be compelled to set forth in its annual
statement to the Superintendent of Insurance all sums so
disbursed (for lobbying), giving the names of the payees, the
amounts paid and the specific purpose of the payment.

Limit the amount of new business; prohibit bonuses, prizes
and awards; limit renewal commissions to four years and to,
say, 10 per cent. of the first year’s premiums; prohibit loans
and advances to agents; limit total expenses to the total
“loadings” upon the premiums.

The companies should be required annually to file with the
Superintendent of Insurance a gain and loss exhibit for the
year in a prescribed form, showing the amount available for
distribution, the amount of dividends declared and the method
of calculation by which they have been determined.

Section 56 should be repealed and the matter should be left
subject to the general provisions of the Code of Civil
Procedure relating to actions against corporations.

In addition to requiring approval of the Superintendent of
other than certain standard forms, provision should be made
for the standardization of the new types of policies.... The
issue of other policies than those thus provided for should be
prohibited.

The committee recommends publicity of names and addresses
of policy-holders and the giving them the right to verify
statements and prosecute for falsity. The committee recommends
requiring statements in elaborate detail covering all
transactions, and favors giving the Superintendent of Insurance
power to examine under oath.

February 23.—Stuyvesant Fish resigns as a trustee from the Mutual Life Insurance Co. and will head a committee of policy-holders to fight the present management.

Insurance men plan to fight the new laws recommended by the
Armstrong Committee before the New York Legislature, and, if
unsuccessful there, to carry the matter before the courts.

The Hepburn railroad rate regulation bill is reported by the
Senate committee without any amendments. Through trickery of
Senator Aldrich, the bill will be presented to the Senate by
Senator Tillman as a Democratic measure.

The House of Representatives passes a resolution ordering an
investigation of the relations between coal and oil carrying
railroads and coal and oil companies.

Commissioner Garfield again testifies in the trial of the beef
packers at Chicago. He admits that the Department of Commerce
and Labor furnished the Department of Justice with evidence.

Johann Hoch, the noted bigamist, is hanged at Chicago.

February 24.—The House Committee on Immigration unanimously agrees on a bill to amend the immigration laws. The new bill will make naturalization uniform throughout the United States, and confines the issuance of citizenship papers to United States Circuit and District Courts, and to the highest court of original jurisdiction of each state. The bill further provides that an alien must be able to read, write and speak English before he can become a citizen.

Since Senator Aldrich’s trick of having Senator Tillman, of
South Carolina, report the Hepburn railroad rate bill, which
makes it a Democratic measure, Washington despatches state
that the long standing feud between the President and Senator
Tillman will end.

February 25.—C. Augustus Seton, who is under arrest in New York City, confesses to forging $4,300,000 worth of Norfolk and Western Railroad stock certificates.

Coal mine operators give out statements saying there will be a
strike, as they will refuse to grant the miners’ requests. T.
L. Lewis, vice-president of the United Mine Workers, declares
there will be no strike and that the operators will grant the
requests of the miners.

Harry Orchard, who assassinated the late Governor Steunenberg,
of Idaho, confesses to taking part in 26 murders.

Ex-Speaker David B. Henderson dies at Dubuque, Iowa. Mr.
Henderson served two terms as speaker, succeeding the late
Thomas B. Reed. He was elected in 1883 and served continuously
until the end of the Fifty-seventh Congress.

February 26.—The Missouri Supreme Court hands down a decision which it is believed will influence the Supreme Court of New York to order H. H. Rogers to answer the questions asked him in the Standard Oil investigation. At the time Attorney-General Hadley, of Missouri, was taking depositions in the case in New York City, Rogers was put on the witness stand. He refused to answer certain questions and expressed his contempt for Missouri Courts. Mr. Hadley went before Justice Gildersleeve, of the New York Supreme Court, and asked for an order forcing Rogers to answer or be held in contempt of court. The order was refused on the grounds that the questions involved had never been passed upon by the Missouri courts. Now comes the Missouri court with a strong decision which covers every point at issue.

President Roosevelt intervenes to prevent the threatened coal
strike.

In accordance with a decision handed down by the Supreme Court
of Texas, the Pacific, the United States, the American and
Wells-Fargo Express Companies, and fifty of the principal
railroads of the state, will have to pay $5,225,000 in
penalties for violating the anti-trust law. The court holds
that when a railroad company enters into an agreement with
an express company which excludes other companies from doing
a business on its lines, it restrains trade and stifles
competition, which is prohibited by the anti-trust law.

The supposed shrewd trick of Senator Aldrich in having Senator
Tillman report the Hepburn railroad rate bill now has the
Republican Senators embarrassed. The Senate seems to be in
favor of the bill and the Republicans dare not let it pass as a
Democratic measure. Realizing that something must be done, they
appeal to Senator Spooner to draft a rate bill that will suit
all factions of the Republicans and be put through the Senate
as a party measure.

William Nelson Cromwell, the New York lawyer who unloaded the
Panama Canal property on the United States, and who has since
acted as counsel to the President and Secretary Taft on Panama
matters, appears before the Senate committee. He denies that he
was the cause of ex-Chief Engineer Wallace’s resigning. When
questioned as to his dealings with Secretary Taft he refused to
answer.

February 27.—Steel Trust officials and George Gould order the bituminous coal mine operators to make peace with the miners and prevent a strike.

The Insurance Commissioners of Kentucky, Minnesota, Wisconsin,
Tennessee and Nebraska ask the New York Insurance Department to
co-operate with them in making an investigation of the Mutual
Life Insurance Co.

William Nelson Cromwell again appears before the Senate
Committee on Interoceanic Canals. He continues to refuse to
answer questions as to his dealings with Secretary Taft and the
amount of his fees. Senator Morgan, of Alabama, produced a
copy of Cromwell’s contract with the French company, or Panama
Canal Co., which gave Cromwell the power to organize companies,
issue stock, bonds, etc., and finance any and all sorts of
organizations to further the idea of selling the canal to the
United States.

February 28.—It is reported from Pittsburg that the United States Steel Corporation, through President W. Ellis Corey, has demanded of the Pittsburg Coal Company, with which it has a twenty-five-year contract for coal, the minimum for each year being set at 8,000,000 tons, that there be no strike in the Pittsburg district. At the same time the Gould interests, so heavy in the West and Southwest, have ordered peace. As a result there will be no strike of the bituminous miners, who will receive a satisfactory advance.

It is reported from Springfield, Ohio, that local militia,
called out to check a race riot caused by the shooting of M.
M. Davis, a brakeman, by a negro, has been unable to stop the
riot. An appeal has been made to the Governor to send more
troops. Early this morning houses were burning in the negro
quarter, and the authorities are powerless.

Yesterday the President signed the Urgent Deficiency Bill,
which contains an appropriation of $118,000 for New York State
to pay its claim for money to equip Government troops during
the War of 1812.

Five hundred delegates of the Independence League, guests of
William R. Hearst, appeared yesterday at Albany to plead before
the Governor and the Legislature for the passage of measures in
which the league is interested.

The Commissioners of Insurance in the states of Kentucky,
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Nebraska have requested the
Insurance Department of New York State to co-operate with them
in an investigation of the Mutual Life Insurance Company.

It is reported from Little Rock, Ark., that Thomas E. Jordan,
former Controller of the Equitable Life Insurance Company, and
who could not be located during the Armstrong Investigation, is
stopping with his wife at Hot Springs, Ark.

The debate in the Senate on the railroad rate question opens
today with a speech by Senator Foraker, of Ohio.

Yesterday, before the Senate Committee on Interoceanic Canals,
Senator Morgan, of Alabama, in his examination of William
Nelson Cromwell, produced an agreement between the Panama Canal
Commission and William Nelson Cromwell, showing that for a
large compensation the Panama Canal Company contracted to pay
William Nelson Cromwell a large compensation to Americanize
the Panama project. Mr. Cromwell said the enterprise proposed
in the document was abortive and died long ago. Senator Morgan
tried to learn from Mr. Cromwell how much he had received in
fees from the old or new Panama Company and by persistent
questioning deduced the fact that the total payments to Mr.
Cromwell did not exceed $200,000, extending over a term of
years, and giving to him from $10,000 to $15,000 a year. Mr.
Cromwell declined to say what service he had performed for
these sums, admitting only that his clients were satisfied. The
inquiry will be continued.

At a dinner yesterday at Washington the Republican members
of Congress from New York proposed as the next nominee of
the Republican Party for Governor of New York State, Charles
E. Hughes, the inquisitor of the Armstrong Investigation
Committee. The platform indicated was based on general reform
and municipal ownership.

The Inter-State Commerce Commission at Washington yesterday
announced its decision in the cases of the Fred G. Clark
Company against the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway
Company and the Waverley Oil Works against the Pennsylvania
Company and others. In these cases the New York, New Haven and
Hartford Railroad Company was the principal defendant. The
commission holds that the combination rates on petroleum and
its product from Cleveland and Pittsburg to points reached
by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad result in
unreasonable and unjust rates, and that the refusal of the
railroad company to consent to participate in through rates
is unjust and the situation is such as to favor greatly the
Standard Oil. In its final conclusion the commission holds
that the act to regulate commerce does not authorize it to
compel the establishment of joint rates or the conditions
of interchange in case the connecting carriers fail to
agree in respect thereto; and it therefore concludes that
notwithstanding that the combination rates are unjust and the
general shipping situation is such as to work a practical
monopoly in favor of the Standard Oil Company, the Commission
is without authority to grant relief in these cases and the
petitions are therefore dismissed.

Yesterday at Washington the House Committee of Agriculture
decided by a vote of 8 to 7 not to recommend any appropriation
to buy seeds for free distribution by the Department of
Agriculture.