other words, we want an administrative body with the power to secure fair and just treatment as among all shippers who use the railroads-and all shippers have a right to use them."

But the President's remarks upon the railroad issue and all other public questions appear to be addressed to the nation at large. Hence the charge made by the opposition press, that the motive of his trip is to secure support from Southern and Democratic sources to assist him in forcing legislation through Congress this winter over the heads of the recalcitrants in his own party, has been almost completely dropped. In fact, many of the prominent Southern papers are very frank in saying that in spite of his tremendous popularity, President Roosevelt can not expect to accomplish any more than any other Republican President. Thus the Houston Post (Dem.), in commenting on the supposed scheme to secure votes of Southern Senators and Representatives for the measures which it is well known that he is anxious to have placed on the statute-books, says:

"It is hard to believe that the President would come South to gain support for any such program. The hullabaloo of Presidential receptions in the Southern States is not calculated to exert much influence among the Southern Senators and Representatives, whatever the President may believe about it. It may be that his receptions in Texas last spring, which were understood by some to indicate that his popularity was such that he could beat Jeff Davis (of Arkansas) for President in every county in the State, gave him some enlarged notions of his ability to control Southern Congressmen, but we doubt it, and we doubt the correctness of The Herald correspondent's suggestion that the President remotely expects much Southern support of the program alluded to. Southern Senators and Representatives will support a measure genuinely seeking to carry into effect that demand of the St. Louis platform which involves the enlargement of the powers of the Interstate Railroad Commission by giving it rate-making authority, but it is doubtful if Southern support can be had for any other proposition contained in the alleged Presidential program.

It is certain that the Democrats will contend for investigation of the Loomis affair and of the department scandals, and while they will support a measure to prohibit corporate campaign contributions, they will not oppose an investigation of the campaign expenditures of 1904. The President's high-handed action in the San-Dominican affair can not possibly receive the sanction of Southern Senators, nor can it be said that Southern Congressmen of either body can support Taft's new Philippine policy until it is known in detail what Taft proposes.

If the President is coming merely on a social mission, his trip will be a success, but if he hopes to bring the pressure of Southern opinion to bear upon Southern Congressmen in behalf of any such program as The Herald mentions, it will be a failure."

IN

CHICAGO'S TRACTION TROUBLES.

N spite of the decisive victory of Mayor Edward F. Dunne at the polls in Chicago last spring on a platform squarely demanding the “immediate " municipal ownership of all street-railway lines, the comment of the local press indicates a strong possibility that the question which has vexed Chicago for so long will finally be settled in another way. Mayor Dunne has been unable to do anything toward carrying out the wishes of his supporters, and the companies remain in undisturbed possession of their property. "The municipal-ownership dream in Chicago is out," says the Chicago Journal (Ind.); “The cry [for it] has died out almost entirely," says the Chicago Post (Ind.); while the Chicago Tribune (Rep.) avers that it "now is advocated chiefly by men of little experience in business affairs or by visionaries or self-seeking politicians." The Chicago Chronicle (Rep.) also holds to this view, and declares that the Mayor wants no solution of the problem, but desires to keep it alive as "a perennial issue."

The papers refer to several causes which, they claim, have contributed to bring about the change which they note in the attitude of the people of Chicago on the municipal-ownership question. It is asserted that there is a growing sentiment against increasing the

city's debt or the rate of taxation which would result from the purchase of the railways; but the chief reason for the defeat of Mayor Dunne's designs seems to be found in the action of the companies in offering to improve and extend their lines and operate them in the future in a way that will be more acceptable to the people and profitable to the city. The companies presented their proposition after all the Mayor's plans were rejected as impracticable. As described by the Chicago Post it is as follows:

run.

"

"This proposal provides for an early improvement of the service to a condition of efficiency and comfort; for a uniform fare covering the entire city; for the regulation by the city of the running of cars; for the proper paving of the space between the tracks by the companies; for the use of the most desirable form of rail; for the lowering of the tunnels [under the Chicago River] at the expense of the company using them; for free transportation for firemen and policemen in uniform; for compensation to the city on a rising scale up to 10 per cent. of the receipts of the companies, and for the simultaneous termination of all franchises held by the com. panies at the end of twenty years, which is the term for which the companies ask that their franchise under the new agreement shall For the benefit of municipal ownership a plan for the purchase of the lines by the city finds a place in the companies' offer In order to understand fully what the companies intend to con. cede by this proposal, it will be necessary to know something of what they claim to own and possess; and for this purpose we shall copy freely from an article written by one of Chicago's most famous lawyers, Clarence B. Darrow, for The International Quarterly for October. The traction question is an old issue in Chicago. It began shortly after the first street-car line was built, in 1858. The larger companies in operation date their existence back to a law of 1865, which extended their charters for ninety years from that year, and provided in more or less ambiguous language that certain contracts, rights, etc., should be extended with them. None of the subsequent acts of the city Council or of the companies is supposed to have disturbed this franchise, and the companies to-day claim that the law not only extended their charters to 1958, but also extended the rights and privileges of the companies in the public streets for the same period. Eminent authorities sustain the companies in this claim. The papers also mention various ordinances passed by the city Council from time to time that tend to strengthen the position which the companies are holding. This unexpired term of the franchises, it is feared, might be taken into consideration by the courts in assessing damages in the event that condemnation proceedings should be brought by the city to get possession of the street-railway lines. Hence has arisen the disposition among the more conservative classes to resist the efforts of those who are fighting for municipal ownership. The value of the railways, or the lowest amount that the city would probably have to pay for them is now estimated at $150,000,000, and this sum might be materially added to if the courts would sustain all the claims of the companies. These arguments have had a telling effect, and as a result the papers think that a very strong sentiment is appearing in Chicago in favor of accepting the proposal made by the companies. This sentiment is expressed by The Journal above quoted in the following language:

"The issue is plain. Shall Chicago undertake the dangerous and almost certainly disastrous experiment of political ownership and operation, with bad street-car service and a probable increase in taxation? That is what Mayor Dunne proposes. Or shall Chicago entrust the transportation service to competent agents under such safeguards that they will be compelled to furnish the best possible facilities, and divide the profits liberally with the city? That is what The Journal proposes. That is what we believe the people want.

between municipal ownership and limited franchises with liberal compensation to the city has never been made. It will be found, when the people are asked to choose between what have proved to be empty visions of an ideal state of affairs in which municipal ownership would be possible, and efficient service with liberal compensation, the result will be an overwhelming majority for common-sense."

TH

RUMORS OF GOVERNOR WRIGHT'S
RESIGNATION.

HE news that Luke E. Wright intends to give up his position as Governor-General of the Philippines produced what the New York Evening Post (Ind.) thinks was "something akin to confusion in Washington" during the early part of this month. Appearances, for a short time at least, seemed to justify this remark; for at first there was a positive denial of the truth of the rumor; then Secretary Taft answered the inquiries of persistent interviewers by saying that he did not expect that the Governor would spend all his life in the archipelago; and finally this obscure statement was followed by the report that President Roosevelt had decided upon Governor Wright's successor, and that he would not be any present member of the commission. So the press are now speaking of the General's resignation as a foregone conclusion, to take effect by December 1st, or soon after his return to the islands from the short vacation which he expects to take to the United States.

Various reasons are assigned for this reported action of Governor Wright. The Commercial Appeal (Dem.), of Memphis, his home town, suggests that as he is a possible candidate for the United States Senate he is anxious to return before long absence has destroyed all his prestige in his native State. Most papers, however, are not content to accept this explanation of the reason why Governor Wright is to return home. They believe that friction between him and the natives, disagreement with the military authorities, and his own growing dissatisfaction with present conditions in the islands and gloomy apprehensions as to the future there are the influences which are impelling him to take his reported step. Thus the Kansas City Times (Ind. Dem.) declares that he has been unable to deal with Filipino leaders as successfully as his predecessor," for the reason, as the Hartford Times (Dem.) and many Northern papers explain, that by temperament and Southern training he is inclined to look upon them "simply as so many niggers with whom he must not sit down at dinner.' And the Boston Transcript (Rep.), which predicted this kind of trouble at the time of his appointment, now claims that he has been largely instrumental in stirring up a racial prejudice between the white and the colored peoples in the islands, and advises "that he should hasten back to his Southern home where he can restore his caste and recover his self-respect."

But this charge of fomenting racial antipathy in the islands seems to be entirely a matter of assertion without proof. No instances are cited to show that the Governor has ever offended the Filipinos in any particular. Such, however, is not the case as to the other statements which our papers have made in hunting for a reason for his reported intention to resign. Members of Secretary Taft's junket to the Orient are beginning to speak; and the testimony of some of them indicates that there is plausible ground for the rumor that Governor Wright is dissatisfied with the present state of affairs in the archipelago. Thus Frederick T. Dubois, the Democratic Senator from Idaho, and one of Mr. Taft's companions, declares that "my candid judgment is that there was not more than one member of the entire party who was not sorry we own the Philippine Islands. The exception was Secretary Taft himself." Charles H. Clark, of the Hartford Courant (Rep.), another member of the party, substantially agrees with Senator Dubois, and asserts that "it is doubtful if many persons familiar with the islands are unqualifiedly glad that we have them." Such, also, is the opinion of Congressman Swager Sherley (Dem.), of

Kentucky; Senator T. MacD. Patterson (Dem.), of Colorado, and other tourists. Most of the Republican members of the party think differently. The only objections and fears that they appear to have are those expressed by Secretary Taft himself at the end of the trip.

All this discontent and the gloomy apprehensions above referred to are reflected only obscurely, if at all, by the local papers at Manila. Native publications of the El-Grito-del-Pueblo stamp are outspoken and somewhat rabid in their demands for independence, but, barring this, the Manila press are in accord in expressing a high and friendly esteem for Gov. Wright, and are content or at least reconciled with present conditions. The Bulletin, being a white man's paper, naturally wants the Government to show more favors to the Americans. The American thinks that it would give more satisfaction to parties most deeply interested if the control of

FILIPINO INDEPENDENCE AT LAST!-AS Taft and Congressmen have declared the Filipinos will get independence when they all begin to work, the Gossip suggests that the commission provide every carabao in the islands with a playing señorita or a pair of fighting cocks. -The Philippines Gossip (Manila).

the islands was taken out of the hands of the President and lodged in Congress. But these are not complaints. They are intended simply as suggestions for improvements, as seen from a certain point of view. In fact the real trouble in the Philippines, as indicated by the Manila press, is commercial, and not political. This idea is expressed and the actual situation is described by The Cable News in the following language:

If a census were made of the big haciendas of these islands it would be found that an overwhelmingly large per cent. of them are mortgaged hopelessly. What is true of the haciendas is true of nearly all real estate in the islands to which the occupants have a title that would permit of a mortgage. In the majority of cases, these mortgages are falling due or have but a short time yet to run. The owners are drifting helplessly toward the rapids. Money is not to be had with which to renew the mortgages, and to pay them is out of the question. This state of things would paralyze agriculture even in some parts of the United States. Here it must inevitably do so. In prosperous times in these islands, it is the practise of the owners of the larger haciendas to get money on their personal credit with which to do their planting, to pay their help, to buy their seed, carabao, and other necessaries. Under such a system, the scarcity of money must work a hardship even without any mortgages, but when there is a mortgage on the land and no money to be had on personal credit, the planter's hands are tied and he can do nothing. It is safe to say that unless some influx of money makes it possible for landowners, both in the coun- " try and in the cities, to renew their mortgages, the next twelve

Call, Perkins, and the McCurdys be deposed from the New York Life and Mutual managements, mingled with remarks that they should be treated like other men guilty of using the money of others for their own benefit. That the big companies concerned, and life insurance in general, will be all the better for the present upheaval, is an opinion widely held; and many predict that an era of prosperity for the smaller insurance concerns, particularly in sections that are distrustful of New York and " Wall Street," is evidently at hand. With the elimination of "graft," too, insurance is expected to be not only safer, but cheaper.

The Eastern States.

The startling insurance revelations have raised the public pulse to fever heat, declares the Boston Transcript, "and unless the cause is allayed, reform movements may become epidemic." "If there is sufficient power and virtue in the laws of New York, a restitution of these confiscated and misappropriated moneys should be compelled," says the Boston Herald, and many other papers are urging this restitution. The Hartford Courant thinks that "all this letting-in of light and letting-out of rascals will result in healthy improvement of the life-insurance business," and it recommends similar investigations of railroading and banking. The Wall Street Journal agrees that a railroad investigation would uncover 'many surprising revelations of graft," and, it adds, "there may be such an investigation one of these days." The insurance grafters are "ripe for jail," in the opinion of the New York World, a view that is shared by the conservative Journal of Commerce and the Brooklyn Eagle. "Too much money, like too much honor,"

66

observes The Banker's Magazine (New York), " is a burden rather heavy for a man who hopes for heaven," and "if the investigation of the insurance companies shall result in checking their growth for a time, it will probably be of great benefit to the policy-holders." Mr. McCurdy's statement on the witness-stand that an insurance company is a philanthropic organization excites considerable derision. This is evidently the kind of charity that "covers a multitude of sins," remarks the New York Evening Mail; and The Evening Post adds the names of Dick Turpin, Jonathan Wild, Jack Sheppard, Bill Tweed, Jim Fisk, Daniel Drew, and Jay Gould to the list of McCurdy philanthropists. "Public justice should consign this benevolent personage," recommends the Philadelphia Record, "where he can no longer put his principles into practise at the expense of other people." The New York 7ribune, however, deprecates all extreme language, and says that "this is a time for self-restraint and for conservative measures, not for demagogic talking or demagogic meddling with a great problem on the wise solution of which the property of thousands depends."

Chicago and the Middle West.

The misdoings of the men who have defrauded the policy-holders, says the Chicago Tribune," have to some extent disturbed the confidence of the poor in all men who occupy fiduciary positions," and unless condign punishment is meted, "it is not unlikely that the revelations already made will lead to many smaller offenses." To the Chicago Chronicle they imply "a corruption as revolting in its extent as in its depravity," and if McCall's use of trust funds is legal, it is so only "because our State legislatures are profoundly rotten." Under present conditions the Chicago Record-Herald advises that if" any one tries to get you to take out a deferred dividend policy, run to the woods, for the deferred dividends furnish a beautiful cheese in which maggots can breed." Wherefore the Chicago Journal declares that the time has arrived" to sweep out the reckless crew that has fattened on the policy-holders so long" -a sentiment agreed to by The Tribune, which demands that "the policy-holders' funds be taken out of Wall Street and the whirlwind of speculation, and be administered frugally and honestly."

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parently will not be satisfied until "the McCalls, the McCurdys. the Gillettes, and others who have looted the companies have been turned out and brought to justice." The Nashville Banner is equally severe, and claims that "robbery " like that of the McCurdys and others "has done much to increase the cost of insurance and lower the dividends in mutual companies." The remedy suggested by The Banner is "special legislation," for with all "the clamoring for punishment . . . it is doubtful if any grounds can be found on which to base an indictment." But the Montgomery Advertiser thinks otherwise, and asserts that" President McCall's own testimony has been enough to condemn him a dozen times and. over, and he ought to go to the penitentiary on his own evidence." So also the New Orleans Times-Democrat believes; and it remarks that" there should be no trouble about securing an indictment or bringing about a conviction," as criminal-code provisions are "ample," and "there seems to be no doubt about the facts in the case." And, exclaims the Columbia (S. C.) State, "who can' estimate the good effect which would result from the knowledge by the public that one of these insurance officials was wearing a striped convict suit?" If this can not be accomplished, then the Houston Post wants Texas to expel from its borders all "the big New York companies," and to keep them out until they "make good the funds illegally used." This is also the conclusion reached by the Charleston News and Courier as to the proper action to be taken by its State. Says this paper," the retention of the McCalls and McCurdys" and men of their stamp in charge of the affairs of the companies" is an insolent biting of thumbs at the people of South Carolina, and it can not be sup-. posed that South Carolina or any other State will leave the standing invitation to these persons to prey upon the people." The Atlanta Journal, however, disapproves of this call upon the authorities of individual States to act, and remarks:

distrust of the people having been made doubly intense for the reason, pointed out by the Detroit Free Press, that their officials, in taking care of their favorites and relatives, "have not only been swindling the living, but also have been robbing the dead." They are unquestionably "robbers!" exclaims the Peoria Journal; and "punishment" must be doled out accordingly, says the Pittsburg Post, which also is demanding a restitution of all wrongfully disbursed funds." But in the midst of this storm of invective, many papers are advising their readers to act with caution, and to do nothing in their wrath against the officials which would jeopardize the interests of the companies. "The course to pursue," says the Des Moines Register and Leader, "is to reform the life-insurance companies that need reforming rather than to desert them. Let the policy-holders in the three great companies bend their energies together and turn the rascals out." This advice is indorsed by the St. Paul Pioneer Press and also by the Columbus Dispatch, which thus describes the dangers of hasty action: "It is to be remembered that there are sharks lying in wait for wreckage at all times. There are men who would like nothing better than to see great concerns like these companies irretrievably injured. The necessity of eliminating and punishing grafting officials can proceed, and should proceed, without endangering the integrity of the great structure built by the thousands of policyholders. And it does not appear that' mixing in' by State insurance supervisors can help matters much, just at this stage. Perhaps not at any stage. That remains for the future to develop."

The South.

The Louisville Post declares that the testimony in the investigation proceedings "shows how the moral sense of the world of high finance has been warped by the vast accumulation of trust funds in the hands of the insurance companies." This also is the belief of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which hopes that the South will stop committing" the folly of sending money to the North to enrich insurance companies whose managers have so falsely betrayed their trust." The Charlotte Observer feels the same way, and ap

From the Mississippi to the Pacific.

In the opinion of the Pueblo Chieftain, it would be a "lamentable failure of justice" if the "gigantic grafters" were permitted to retain their ill-gotten gains, and "be turned loose with no punishment." By the side of the operations of these men, says the Tacoma Ledger, "all former processes of accumulating 'tainted' money seem commonplace and respectable." But it is fortunate for the public, remarks the Omaha World-Herald, that " the time of these offenders promises now to be so strenuously occupied in keeping out of jail that they will probably have but little leisure to plunder and betray unsuspecting policy-holders." The irregularities perpetrated by these offending officials have been so enormous, in the estimate of many papers, that they are at a loss to understand how they could have been tolerated for so long a time. For instance, "it is inconceivable" to the Spokane SpokesmanReview, "how any mutual company could continue to write new business with the president advancing the astounding argument that he would, so far as lay within his power, resist the payment of dividends to the company's policy-holders." So any scheme of reform, declares the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, must go further than the mere correction of the errors of management. "It must involve the extirpation of the offending officials. Their removal at the earliest possible moment, and their punishment afterward by law, are necessary if the companies are to regain the confidence of the people."

However, even if the proceedings should stop at the present stage, it is generally believed that the ultimate good already resulting from the ventilation of insurance methods will be far-reaching. One thing that the Tacoma Ledger thinks will surely come about, is "the reduction in the charges of the provisions for the widowed and fatherless." The Sioux City Tribune predicts that "insurance policies are likely to be worth a great deal more, for the policyholders are sure to get what they have heretofore expected" in vain; while the Kansas City Times sees a resultant improvement in the morals of the nation at large, and declares that “ the American public life will emerge purified and finer and stronger for the problems that lie before it." In the mean while, says the Phoenix Republican," there has been no valid cause for the senseless panic which has prevailed for some months, bringing the insurance business to a standstill." A policy in any one of the companies now under investigation, in the judgment of The Republican, “is as sound as ever it was. Many other Western papers also are giving encouraging words and wholesome advice to the public, and are doing their best to correct the tendency to condemn the whole life-insurance business on account of the crimes of a few. Thus the Kansas City Journal remarks:

"On the other hand, there are dozens of life-insurance companies which have been governed, some of them for half a century or more, by honest and conservative methods, paying moderate salaries, making sound investments and accepting only high-class risks in writing their insurance policies. These companies rank among the safest and best financial institutions in the world. They are in no wise concerned in or affected by the methods employed by the New York companies, and their business should not suffer, nor should prudent and conscientious men fail to take advantage of the opportunities they offer for the comfort and support of themselves and their families, because of the crimes of a few frenzied financiers in New York."

TOPICS IN BRIEF.

If the aim of life insurance is philanthropy, its marksmanship is something fierce. The Detroit Journal.

STILL, policy-holders in the Mutual should be thankful the McCurdy family was no larger.-The Detroit Free Press.

IT is said that the future of Mr. Loomis is "shrouded in mystery." Kindly continue to keep it shrouded.- The Los Angeles Express.

A GLANCE at the casualty list indicates the appropriateness of ending the football seasons on Thanksgiving Day. - The Detroit Free Press.

THERE is a suspicion that the offer of the mayoralty nomination to Mr. W. R. Hearst was a case of auto-suggestion.-The Los Angeles Express.

THIS Contention that there never was an angel with whiskers looks like a personal thrust at Dr. Parkhurst and Dr. Dowie.-The Washington Post. THE life-insurance companies should now get out a new form of policy insuring reputations against suffering from exposure.-The Chicago Journal. JAPAN is reported to be recovering from her recent depression. If Japan refers to it as a "depression," what does Russia call it ?- The Atlanta Journal. No doubt all the persons last selected for the Hall of Fame really belong there as will be seen when the committee explains who some of them are.- The Chicago News.

WHEN President McCurdy says the insurance business is pure philanthropy he means that charity begins at the home of the McCurdys.-The New York World.

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT has decided that there is too much brutality in college athletics. The President now has a boy in college.-The Chicago RecordHerald.

It is true that it costs you more to live now than it cost your great-grandfather, but it wouldn't cost as much if you lived as he did.—The Kansas City Journal.

If all the people who declined the Republican nomination for Mayor of New York vote for the man who finally accepted he ought to be elected.-The Philadelphia Press.

As to the theory that life insurance will protect a household from want, just see how well it has kept the wolf from the door of the McCurdy family.- The Chicago News.

FEELING that something must be done, New York's Republicans seized upon a group of public men and nominated them despite their piteous cries of protest. -The Chicago News.

PRESIDENT MCCALL contends that there are two sides to the life-insurance business. It is clear enough that the policy-holders have the outside.-The St.Louis Globe-Democrat.

MR. FAIRBANKS is not taking an active part in the war on vice, but he is perfectly willing that it shall go on until the vice is removed from his official title.The Kansas City Journal.

YOUNG Theodore Roosevelt should remember that if he is to lead the strenuous life he must have the Roosevelt luck. His father would have come out of that football game with the cut on the head of the other fellow.-The Kansas City Journal.