Richmond Palladium (Daily), 18 October 1904 — Page 10

GREAT REPUBLICAN WORK Rural Free Delivery Service of Incalculable Benefit to Farming Communities.

DEMOCRATS WORKED HARD AGAINST IT Flatly Refused to Obey the Mandate of Congress to Establish Routes, but Are Now Claiming Honor Records Compared.

Frolably the greatest example of Democratic "gall" the campaign has produced is the claim made by some of the lenders of that party that the blessings f the rural free delivery system were conferred on farmers by Democracy. No more patent untruth was ever uttered. INSTEAD OF PROMOTING RURAL TREE DELIVERY, A DEMOCRATIC ADMINISTRATION FLATLY REFUSED TO HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE MATTER, EVEN AFTER CONGRESS HAD APPROPRIATED MONEY TO ESTABLISH ROUTES. The fact is, DEMOCRACY ALWAYS HAS BEEN A STUMBLING BLOCK IN THE PATH OF PROGRESS. Every great national policy that has proved to be a boon to the people has been bitterly fought by Democratic Congressmen, urged on by Democratic newspapers. Democracy has been well named the "party of obstruction." Two-thirds of the Congressional Record is taken up with speeches and debate in opposition to wise Republican measures, and nearly half of every session of Congress is wasted by Democrats either in openly filibustering or in talking against time, with the view of delaying or killing bills that would benefit the people. W'll of Congress Defied. And DonYNcratic opposition to a beneficent tiot does not always cease when Congress has passed the law, as was the case with rural free delivery. Near the Close of President Harrison's administration a Republican Congress appropriated $10,000 for the purpose of establishing experimental rural free delivery routes, and Postmaster General Wanamaker began experiments on six routes. Before anything material could be done, however, a Democratic administration came into power. Mr. Bissell was appointed Postmaster General, and he, with Mr. Cleveland's consent, declined to carry out the law. Congress appropriated money again, with the same result A DEMOCRATIC ADMINISTRATION THE SECOND TIME DEFIED THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE. AS EXPRESSED THROUGH THEIR REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS, AND REFUSED TO INAUGURATE THE RURAL FREE DELIVERY SYSTEM. Mr. Wilson followed Mr. Bissell as Postmaster General, and he also decided that rural free delivery was impracticable. President Cleveland was of the lame opinion, basing his objection to the scheme on the ground that it would cost millions of dollars. It ifl thus shown that Democracy did the very opposite of inaugurating rural free delivery. Members of that party fought it in both houses of Congress, and President Cleveland and his cabinet officers' put themselves above the legislative branch of the government, and virtually told Congress that it was subordinate to a Democratic administration. It was a case of the servant dictating to the master an - unwarranted usurpation of power for a harmful purpose. What Republicans Did. To further show how utterly false is Democracy's claim to the honor of giving farmers free delivery of their mail, figures from government reports are here reproduced. The first appropriation for rural free delivery was $10,000, in 1894. The same amount was allowed by Congress for 1805 and 18!G, but the money was not used for the purpose intended, a has already been stated. In 1897, when the McKinley administration came Into power, only half a dozen rural mail routes had been established, and these had been partially put into operation four years previously under President Harrison. Democracy did nothing during the Cleveland administration, except to block the wheels of progress. Now mark the difference when the Republicans came into power. Postmaster General Smith, unlike his predecessors, urged the establishment of many new routes. In his annual report he said: The benefits accruing from the extension of postal facilities to the rural communities may be summarized as follows: Increased postnl receipts, m:klne many of the new deliveries almost immediately self-supporting. Enhancement of the value of farm lands reached by this service and better prices obtained for farm products tarouph more direct communication with the markets and prompter information of their state. Improved means of travel, some hundreds of miles of country roads. especially in the Western Stntes, having been graded specifically in order to obtain rural free delivery. Higher educational Influences, broader circulation of the means of public intelligence, and closer dally con tact with the ereat world of activity extend ed to the homes of heretofore isolated rural communities. What McKinley Said. President ' McKinley, in his message to Congress in 1900, speaking of the postal service, said: Its most striking new development Is the extension of rural free delivery. This service ameliorates the Isolation of farm life, conduces to good roads. and quickens and extends the dissemination of general information. Experience thus far has tended to allay the apprehension that it would be so expensive as to forbid its general adoption or make It a serious burden. Its actual application has shown that It increases postal receipts and can be accompanied by reduction in other branches f the service, so that the augmented revenues and accomplished saving together materially reduce the net cost. When President Roosevelt assumed office he vigorously championed extension of the service. In his first message to Congress, he said: Amone recent postal advances the success f rural free delivery wherever established -. hmm been so marked and actual experience fc. d t'a bauefits plain .that the de

population should share in the Improvement of this service.

Koosevelt'a Recommendation. In his last annual message President Roosevelt again called attention to the importance of the rural free delivery service, saying: The rural free-delivery service has been steadily extended. The attention of Congress is asked to the question of the compensation of the letter carriers and clerks engaged In the postal service, especially on the new rural free-delivery routes. More routes have been installed 'since the 1st of July last than In any like period in the department's history. While a due regard to economy must be kept in mind in the establishment of new routes, yet the extension of the rural free-delivery system must be continued for reasons of sound public policy. No governmental movement of recent years has resulted in greater immediate benefit to the people of the country districts. Ilural f ree-deliverv. taken in connection with the telephone, the bicycle, and the trolley, accomplishes much toward Ics'dng the isolation of farm life and makLig It briK'&icr, and more attractive. In the Immediate past the lack of just such facilities as these has driven many of the more active and restless young men and women from the farms to the cities, for they rebelled at loneliness and lack of mental companionship. It is unhealthy and undesirable for the cities to grow at the expense of. the country, and rural free delivery is not only a good thing in itself, but Is good because It Is one of the causes which check this unwholesome tendency toward the urban concentration of our population at the expense of the country districts. The foregoing quotations are sufficient to show that Republican executives realized the importance of the rural delivery system to the farming communities and did everything in their power to extend it. During President McKinley's first term establishment of routes had been given such an impetus that by 1900 the service Lad passed far beyond the experimental stage and Congress had appropriated $450,000 for maintenance of the routes then in operation. These routes numbered 1,27G at the close of McKinley's first term, but many others had been surveyed and were ready to be established. The service became so popular that farmers flooded the postoffice department with petitions for new routes. Corps of inspectors were appointed, divisions were created, superintendents placed in charge and the service was put on a methodical business basis. Rentes Now in Operation. The system has been so rapidly extended under President Roosevelt that Congress this year appropriated $21,000,000 for the service, which now embraces approximately 27,500 routes, either in operation or about to be established. These routes are scattered over all the States and territories, as will be seen by the following table, which gives the total number of petitions referred for examination and investigation. the routes in operation on September 15, 1904, nnd the number of petitions pending on the same date:

62 a . -- o w " o c " "Safe ;S H-m OT O Q O o Ho K o'Jl ,6w 925 341 312 9 8 O 161 112 32 273 208 11 131 75 2 251 210 11 122 104 3 6 3 O 54 22 14 1,984 858 481 10 0 53 27 9 2,817 2,244 88 2,235 1,722 126 12 7 2 2,505 1.941 78 1,732 1,237 145 702 393 12 41 17 8 447 329 ' 48 430 33S 33 2-"2 202 1.920 1.450 122 1.4SO 1,059 97 453 108 217 1,802 1,293 134 28 15 5 1,141 792 56 3 10 213 163 12 214 161 25 3 3 0 1,944 1,489 149 1,489 6C3 309 207 88 51 2,727 1,996 128 545 366 112 1S8 136 21 2,081 1.4S5 249 32 23 4 899 366 110 344 199 24 2.006 1,105 446 1,433 938 219 54 33 2 310 217 34 1,212 584 226 173 121 24 , 212 151 16 , 1,463 1,167 115 10 5 O .39.731 26.735 4,464

States. Alabama Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Dist. of Columbia. Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Indian Territory .. Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana , Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire . New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina... North Dakota . . . Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania .... It hod Island ... South Carolina . . South Dakota ... Teunessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia . .. Wisconsin Wyoming Totals Note. Of the 4.464 petitions pending. 688 have been favorably considered and ordered established, effective either October 1st or 15th, 1904. Routes by States. The subjoined tables give more details, as they show what has been done in the Congressional districts. The States nam ed i:. the tables are fair examples of the progress made by Republicans in cover ing the whole country with rural mail routs: Is - o . s o o Districts. c - i : s S Hoc, CALIFORNIA. 15 , 35 1. 2. 8. 4. 11 28 12 O . 14 0 5. 88 i" t ,t

78 61 3 "n o o Totals : 275 COLOHADO. 1 68 2 :.. 63 208 45 30 75 43 46 29 92 210 104 27 0 O 7 O O 2 9 0 0 33 93 147 144 116 133 117 158 205 218 144 164 106 2n) 123 125 Totals 131 CONNECTICUT. 1 53 2 59 a 38 4 101 4 3 3 1 11 8 0 0 O 1 O 0 O O 0 0 O 6 6 4 8 7 1 4 2 7 12 2 6 5 13 4 Totals 251 DELAWARE. 122 IDAHO. 53 ILLINOIS. 0 1. o. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 2o. 21. 22. 23.' 24. . 0 ... 11 . O . O ! io .. 0 . o . 42 .107 .181 .171 .153 .167 .143 . .298 .2-10 .251 .181 .217 , .140 .256 .189 .148

8.

Totals 2,817 2.244 88 INDIANA. 1 175 163 2 2 132 104 17 3 HO 70 9 4 208 136 15 5 176 113 13 6 2O0 166 6 7 40 36 0 8 215 172 9 9 246 194 9 10 195 153 11 11 178 161 O 12 160 113 22 13 200 141 13

Totals 2,235 MABYLAND. 155 145 O 1 20 109 1,722 117 115 0 1 11 94 338 126 15 9 O 0 4 5 33 O 3 1 3 6 9 14 11 5 20 4 19 17 10 9 0 5 4 O 1 6 1. 3. 4. 5. 6. Totqls 430 NEVADA.

3 1 YORK. . 7 3 1 O . 13 8 23 13 . 109 91 . 67 48 . 41 24 . 53 34 . 60 53 . 144 89 . 106 90 . 158 117 ,. 117 76 . 143 107 . 214 180 .54 45 . 143 111 . 206 174 0 O . 85 68 . 200 158 .1,944 1,489

1. 8. 19. 20. 21. 23. 24. 25. 20. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. Totals 1,944 149 From the second to the seventh, and from the ninth to the eighteenth districts. Inclusive, of the State of New York, no petitions have been filed, as they are city districts. NORTH DAKOTA. 207 88 51 RHODE ISLAND. 1 16 11 1 2 16 12 3 Totals .32 23 199 33 4 24 SOUTH DAKOTA. 344 UTAH. 54 WEST VIRGINIA. SO 82 4 28 18 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 58 67 1 19 6 4 3 0 1 8 16 5 6 51 0 1 1 13 7 9 14 8 Totals 212 WISCONSIN. 1 166 2 182 3 224 4 8 5 57 6 152 7 158 8 106 151 134 163 147 7 54 131 130 130 88 48 135 1,167 5 9 105 10 69 11 176 Totals : 1.403 115 0 WYOMING. 10 Benefits of the Service. Much has been said as to the benefit of rural free delivery to the farmer and much more could be written. Speaking on this subject, Representative Arthur L. Bates, of Pennsylvania, said in the House on March 15. 1904: It is mv belief the $21,000,000 appropriat ed In this behalf brings more direct benefit to the inhabitants of this Republic whom it affects than almost any other appropria tlon made by the general government. Fortv vears asco everyone went or sent to the postoflice for his mall, and the farmer In the busy season, when his horses and teams were working in the fields, could sometimes only receive mall for himself and family possibly once a week on Sat urday afternoon. Now it is not only delivered several times daily at the homes and places of business of the inhabitants of more than a thousand cities, but for the last six months of the fiscal year (January 1 to June 30, 1903) there were delivered by the carriers of this service some 310,000,000 pieces of mail on rural routes throughout the United States to farmers and inhabitants of sparsely settled regions. Increased facilities always bring Increas ed use and enjoyment more letters are written and received; more newspaper and magazines are subscribed for. While It Is not true In every part of the country, vet the otnclal report shows that quite a num ber of rural routes already pay for them selves by the additional revenues they oc casion. The testimony adduced from all over the country proves that by reason of rural free delivery the actual value of our farm lands has been lncreaseu. Many iarmers state that they would not dispense with the serv ice for $50 or even ioo per annum. it has been estimated that the value of farm lands has risen by this means as high as $5 per acre in several States. A moderate benefit to tne iarm lanus or me whole country would be from $1 to $3 per acre. The producers, neing orougnt into dally touch with the state of the markets, and in better communication with those who buy their products, are able to obtain bet ter prices ror an mai me iarm produces. More definite knowledge, of trade conditions is always of great advantage. flood roads have been built and Induced as an Incentive for rural free delivery estab lishment and to oetter encourage their maintenance. Likewise, Farker has heard something about illegal and dishonest trusts, but he 1 doesn't know that there is anything to - be done about them. And nobody cares about his ideas on that question. He'll - I never set any river afire in his indignation over the trusts; not even a river of petroleum would be ignited by each a match! "Oar foreien policy haa been not only highly advantageous to the United States, bnt hardly less advantageous to the world as a whole. Peace and good will have fallowed in its foot steps.' Roosevelt' letter of acceptance. 'I At every turn the Democrats continue to prove themselves the best asset the 1 1 o Republicans have in a camDairrn. and i this vear their candidate com fnlW no

DO NOT WANT A CHANGE. 'for the gotism of h personality. This is the fifth presidential campaign in People Are Willing to Continue the ' w"i-'h Schurz has assailed RepubliPreaent Administration. can candidates from the unscalable

The constitution of the United States requires an election for President and Vice President every four years. The provision is mandatory and cannot be escaped. Under it the people are called upon to vote for President and Vice President every fourth year without re gard to politics, the record, or the work of the administration in power. The elec tion must be held whether a change is desirable c not. There is reason to believe that a large majority of the American people do not desire a change in the national administration at the present time, and that if it were a matter of choice with them no election would be held this year. A national election always interferes with business more or less, and as the business of the country grows the feeling increases that, in the absence of any reason for a change, a presidential election is a disturbing factor that might well be dis pensed with if the constitution' permit ted. That is the situation at present. The great mass of the people are so well satisfied with the present administration that they do not desire a change, and if the constitution did not require an election to be held they would regard it as unnecessary. Who wants a change? Not the farm ers, for they never were more prosperous or better satisfied than they are at present. Not the business men, for busi ness is satisfactory. Not manufacturers, for American manufacturers are outstrip ping those of all other countries. Not wage-earners, for there are more men employed at good wages to-day than ever before in the history of the country. Not railroad men, for the transportation business has grown enormously during the last few years and still gives promise of future growth. In short, no large class of cm varied population can be named but has good reason to desire a continuance of present conditions. If it were not for the constitutional requirement the people would have preferred that no election took place this year. The only exceptions are the Democratic party leaders and those unfortunate people who have not the sense to let well enough alone. ROOSEVELT FOR PEACE. President la Now Negotiating; New Arbitration Treatiea. Charles Cheney Hyde, lecturer on international law at Northwestern University, Chicago, says: During his reception to the members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union on September 24, President Roosevelt made a statement which vitally Interests intelligent citizens throughout the country, irrespective of their party affiliations. He said: "We are even now taking steps to secure arbitration treaties with all other governments which are willing to enter Into them with us. Those who oppose him will admit that the President would not have spoken in this way lr he were not making the attempt in good faith to conclude with friendly nations treaties which provide for the settlement by peaceful methods of differences of a serious character which diplomacy may fail to adjust. Those who admire him are rejoiced to hear him express in no uncertain tone his desire to substitute arbitration for the sword as a means of settlement of disputes to which the United States may be a party. Equally significant was the President's promise to the Inter -Parliamentarians to call another conference of the powers at The Hague. The whole world knows that that promise will be kept and that representatives from the several nations will meet again at The Hague, possibly In 1905. in order to solve some problems which still vex civilization and alarm commerce. The results to be anticipated are far-reaching and practical. International agreement as to what constitutes contraband of war may be secured, also the rights of neutral shippers may be established. In short, the law of nations may be clearly determined where now there is vagueness, and the rights of states fixed where there is still uncertainty. If such a work be accomplished through the direct efforts of Theodore Roosevelt not only the United States, but every other civilized nation as well, will have Just cause to be profoundly grateful to him. The "Imperial" Bogey-Man. The country has outgrown the witchcraft frenzy, the spirit-rapping frauds, the blue-glass care, the greenback and free silver crazes, and it is rapidly recovering from other more or less harmful fads. These form9 of popular enthusiasm having had violent and almost unobstructed sway for a time, have, like certain acute diseases, made their run, departed and "left not a wreck behind." But the Bogey-man, Imperialism, haunting but few, and not seriously inconveniencing even that few, stays longer with us than any of his wild-eyed and more commonplace brother phantoms, delusions and bugaboos. Washington was accused of a wish to create an empire, and was roundly abused during his Presidency for his alleged ambition. He was described as a men ace to the country he had fought to make into a nation. He only smiled and went on his glorious way. Washington, to begin with, and since Washington every President of powerful, firm nnd just mind who has ever sat in the executive chair has been accused of Imperialism." Jackson, Lincoln, Grant, Cleveland, Harrison. McKinley and Roosevelt against every one of these Presidents the same wild, foolish and groundless cry has been raised. It is the cry of babies and weaklings in civil government, not the utterance of men of experience and sense. How long will it be before we hear the last howl over the long lived Bogey-man, 'Imperialism?" Decline to Be Led by Hill and Sheeham The "People's Democratic party," a new political organization in New Jersey, will support Thomas E. Watson, of the Populist party, for President. The nw party is composed of Bryanites and Hearstites, who bolted the Hill-Sheehan-Parker party. Here is what the new party's platform says: "We decline to follow the lead of commercial politicians into the camp of Wall street, and refuse to recognize the Hills, the Sheehans and the Belmonts as proper exponents of popular rights." Popular Chorna. While David Bennett Hill Prepares to make his bow, The people with a will, Shout: "You can quit right now!" A vote for Jndge Parker in the coming election will be a vote of censure on Theodore Roosevelt. It is inconceivable how any patriotic, fair-minded American can take that position toward a man of Pres ident Roosevelt s character and record. From his chosen seat among the cata combs Carl Schurz has dictated a 15,000jrord letter damning Theodore Roosevelt

heights of his own colossal egotism. Oth

er men now and then have a suspicion that all the rest of mankind differing from them may be right. Carl Schurz i never troubled by iny such weak mistrust in his own omniscience. HINDSIGHT. One of the Strong Peculiar itiee of the Democratic Party. The Democratic party has been aptly compared to a man sitting in the last seat in the last car of a railway train, and riding backward. He never saw anything until he had got by it. This striking peculiarity of the party is as conspicuous to-day as it was in the sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties. The Democratic party lives to protest, to warn, to oppose. It never appreciated what the war for the preservation of the Union meant until it was all over. Even now a large section of it has not arrived at the civilized view of slavery. It takes about a half century to get any great event into correct focus for the Democratic eye. Of late, some of the Democrats have begun to realize the greatness of Abraham Lincoln, but these Democrats are men who have received their education in Republican communities, so obtaining the benefits of up to date schools, colleges and churches The full significance of the American occupation and control of the Philip pines has not yet dawned upon what takes tho place, in the Democratic make up, of understanding. Neither has the open door in China affected the same set of nerve tissues and atoms, in the least, because of some constitutional lack of power in the combination to comprehend what is going on at the time when the thing is happening. For the same reason the immense im portance and significance of the estab lishment of the new department of Commerce and Labor with a Bureau of Cor porations, has not dawned upon the Dem ocratic mental machinery. Well, never mind! When the living. thinking, working world has whirled by, the Democratic brethren will see, in a hazy manner, from their perch at the end of the train. And they will, as us ual, protest, warn, oppose and then dream on! The Democracy always wears long distance glasses and looks backward over the track. If by chance it takes off its "far-aways" and looks ahead, it turns into Republicanism. This happens, some times. Witness the many recent conver sions. PAY OF RAILROAD MEN. Wage Earners Have Profited Becaase of Republican Policy. The last report of the Interstate Commerce Commission shows that the total compensation paid to railway employes of al! classes in the United States in creased from $37,823,021 in 1800 to $41,828,555 in 1902. This in itself would indicate- general railroad prosperity dur ing six years of Republican rule, but still more significant is the fact that the greatest increase was among the wageearners. In fact, there was a decrease in the salaries paid general officers. The decrease in this dtem was from $7G3,09G, in 189G to $720,080 in 1902 a decrease of $42,416 in six years. On the other hand, the total yearly compensation of station agents increased from $1,300,925 in 1890 to $1,402,874 in 1902: the yearly compensation of en gineers increased from $3,027,584 in 1890 to $3,451,088 in 1902; that of firemen from $1,733,057 in 1896 to $1,94G.240 in 1902; that of conductors from $l,978,16a to $2,539.40G; that of other trainmen from $3,700,003 to $4,097,272; that of machinists from $1,12S,C34 to $1,422,829; that of section foremen from $1,200,034 to $1,377,304; and so on through the whole list. The figures show that the daily wage earners in the railroad business profited largely by Republican prosperity. Nobody Scared. Parker says if he is elected he will cut off the old soldier's, age disability pension by revoking Order 78. But the old soldiers don't seem to be the least bit scared! Parker says he is in favor of proceeding "with due diligence" in constructing the Panama canal, but he thinks the Roosevelt way was a "source of regret to many." But Roosevelt is not troubled. And Parker says that the management of our foreign affairs has "excited serious apprehension" in some quarters. But the American people are not among the apprehensive. Then, Parker is in a bad way about "Imperialism," but the citizens of the United States only smile when they bear that word. Also. Farker is distressed over the poor Filipinos, but the Filipinos continue to learn to read, write and cypher, while they live on three meals a day and "talk American." In 1800 when the Republican party first came into power this was almost exclusively an agricultural country and the policy of the Democratic party was to keep it so. That party said the United States is destined to be the gran ary of the world, but a manufacturing country, never. The Republican policy was to make it a great manufacturing as well as agricultural county, and ;t has done so. In the year 1900 the United States produced one-third of all the manufactured products of the world and shipped them broadcast to foreign markets. This never could have been done under the Democratic policy of free trade. The question as to where Judge Parker would apply the pruning knife to national expenditures, whether in the Postoffice Department, the army, the navy or on pensions items covering more than SO per cent of the national expenditures has not been an-swered, and won't be, because national honor, safety and mail facilities are dependent n the appropriations for these purposes. Parker declares that the American nation is extravagant in its expenditures. But the people know what they want, and they mean to have it. They are working hard te earn more money; that's the way they meet necessary bills. It is denied that Judge Parker was seen trying to set fire to the Hudson River at Esopus with a sulphur match without taking the preliminary precaution to smear its surface with pint of kerosene,

PARKER AND THE TRUSTS.

No Likelihood that the Democratic Candidate Ttonld Antagonize Them. If Parker should be elected President. what would he do about the trusts those "gigantic" institutions which the Democratic platform says "should be prohibited and punished by law," but the prohibition and punishment of which would involve direct personal loss to some of the Democratic candidate's trusty Wall street friends including gentlemen like August Belmont, George F. Peabody, Daniel S. Lamont, John R. McLean. Thomas S. Martin, Col. James M. Guffey, John D. Crimmins, James Smith, Jr., and Thomas E. Ryan? The Democratic position on the trust question is grotesquely illustrative of the saying that politics make strange bed fellows. August Belmont and the other great Democratic promoters of trusts do not seem to feel a bit nervous standing on the Democratic platform with W. J. Bryan and other great Democratic trustbusters. They have too much confidence in the candidate whose campaign they are managing to ever believe for a moment that he would do anything to injure the trusts with which they are connected, should he be elected President. They know Parker too well to think it possible that he would turn out to be au ingrate, and attempt to ruin his personal friends and benefactors. They are quite willing that the Bryan trust-busting faction of the Democracy should have the Democratic platform just the way they want it. so long na the Democratic candidates who stand on this platform are theirs "to have and to hold." Despite the Democratic platform demand for a law to limit corporations to the States where they originate, Alton It. Parker thinks the common law i all the law necessary on the subject of trusts. The common law has been well tested in Democratic times as well as Republican and it never proved itself anything of a detriment to the trusts hence it is easy to understand why Parker prefers it to statutory regulations like the Sherman anti-trust law, which might force him into the embarrassing position of some time having to decide whether to violate his sworn oath as President to uphold the laws of the United States, or to make things unpleasant for Wall street friends, who would thereby be forced to consider him a traitor and ingrate to their interests. WANT A REAL LEADER. Democrats Finally Realise that Par ker la a Nonenlty. Democratic newspapers continue to demand that Parker withdraw from his shell and play the role of leader. "Sage of Silence" sounds well, they say, but the phrase won't win votes. "Give us a man who is capable of arousing enthusiasm or we are beaten," Democratic editors are crying. "We don't want Hill, Sheehan and Belmont kept in the foreground, while Parker is muzzled at Esopus." The editors should have thought of this before Parker was nominated. They might have realized, had they given the matter thought, that Parker would be a nonenity, with such wily politicians as Hill and Sheehan in charge of party affairs. Truly, the Democracy is not more of a "happy family" than it was four years ago when it had Bryan as an aggressive leader. Commenting on the demand that Parker assume the leadership, the Des Moines Register and Leader says: "No man ever entered a national campaign hampered by advisers so diametrically opposed on every vital issue. He might as well expect to make a pair of Siamese twins out of Cleveland and Bryan as to assume that he can announce an aggressive, affirmative and positive program that will not at once be set upon by an influential element of his following. "Judge Parker was nominated to play the role he is playing. It is unfair of the men who foresee defeat to begin at this early stage to saddle the blame en him. lie is just the sort of leader he was held out to be, just the sort of man he always has been. lie is conducting exactly the campaign that his twenty years on the bench gave promise of. If the campaign is a failure, let the men who planned it bear the blame. Jndge Parker has deceived nobody, and is acting his part in the political drama exactly as it appears in tha play book." LABOR CONTROVERSIES. Republican Legislation Providing for i Arbitration. The only national legislation providing for the arbitration of labor controversies and recognizing organized labor was enacted by the Republicans. On June 1. 1898, President McKinley signed a bill passed by a Republican Congress entitled "An Act concerning carriers engaged in interstate commerce and their employes. It should be understood, of course, that Congress could not legislate for employe in general, but it has authority to regulate interstate commerce. The act referred to provides that whenever a con-Viftn-f.pn an interstate . a. v v , a . j - m- w - - " railroad and its employes the Interstate Commerce Commission shall first offer mediation, and. that failing, shall endeavor to bring about arbitration of the dispute. The act provides that if arbitration is agreed to, "one member of the board of arbitration shall be selected by the employer, one by the labor organization to which the employe belongs, and a third by these two." Another section of the law makes it a misdemeanor for any interstate railroad to dismiss an employe or threaten him with loss of employment for belonging to a union. This law is still in force, and it is the only piece of national legislation that recognizes organized labor. Democrats have talked, but Republicans have acted. Is This a Campaign Lie? O, this may be important You'd better keep it dark. They say that Uncle Henry Was with Noah on the ark. They say he ran for office While living on that boat And that, just as to-day, he failed The French Bantam Club is preparing for a great rooster-crowing contest, which is to take place in Paris next month. The training of roosters for crowing is an art in France. The Democratic party has quadrenially attempted to make rooster-crowing popular In the United States, but has signally failed.