EDITORIALS

...There should have been no possible chance for the impression to go out over the country that the President's message left the insurgents "in the air" or put them "in a hole...

...The President holds out the inducement that the information as to the business and business methods incidentally gained in the collection of a corporation tax would be useful in government supervision of corporations...

...The Wisconsin plan provides for the referendum but not for the initiative...

...The Legislature elects the Senator, General Brayton elects the Legislature, and Mr...

...La Follette's shares this feeling that has prevailed for Mr...

...Wisconsin has adopted a commission plan which her cities of the second, third and fourth class are now free to adopt...

...Aldrich would not have this...

...The bill that passed the house was severely criticised throughout the country...

...The concensus of opinion seems to be that such salaries make for good service...

...One fact stands out high and plain above all else in the situation...

...Wisconsin's New "Commission Plan" Law NO new idea in city government has ever been so eagerly welcomed as has been the "commission plan," sometimes called the "Galveston plan," or the "Des Moines plan...

...All the good commission plan charters provide for the initiative as well as the referendum on city ordinances...

...In an address a year previous he had suggested that the Supreme Court, with its changed membership might take a new view of the income tax law...

...The charge is true...

...The funds provided in this Foundation for pensioning teachers are available only to those colleges and universities whose standards are satisfactory to the trustees...

...All who have had experience in a struggle for control of railway corporations understand that...

...It certainly appears to raise some complex legal questions that can only be settled by the decision of the Supreme Court...

...It should, of course, have been credited to the Chicago Tribune...

...Aldrich and General Brayton own the political machinery of Rhode Island...

...Like Des Moines, Galveston, et al., the Wisconsin plan abolishes the party designation on the ballot, requires nomination by petition and provides for a primary election at which the field is narrowed down to two candidates for each office...

...The President assumes that the corporation tax is constitutional, but with due regard for his learning and experience, it must be admitted that he might have to change his views on this question also...

...A thorough investigation is made of the conditions at each institution applying for a share in the benefits of the fund...

...Only those whose standards are up to the mark set by the trustees will have their applications approved...

...The Preident heard him through...

...Like the best commission plan charters everywhere, the Wisconsin plan provides for adequate salaries for mayor and council-men, graduated in amount from $5,000 for the mayor and $4,500 for councilmen in a city of 40,000 and over, down to $1,000 and $700 in towns of under 2,500...

...Certain standards of admission are fixed by a university...

...Under proper responsibility to the people, this change might not be a bad thing...

...Furthermore, those universities that are lax and "easy" in applying their entrance rules work a terrible injustice on the student himself...

...In fact, it carries this principle farther than is usual...

...What have these "constituents" of which Mr...

...It appears that this passage in the Record also attracted some interest in Rhode Island...

...They accepted his silence, not as evidence of want of sympathy with their course, but as based on a policy often attributed to him, of non-interference...

...But without the recall, and with the long term expiring at such time that the indignation of the people can never take effect upon more than one-third of the governing body every two years, it would seem that friends of the commission plan everywhere should oppose the adoption of the Wisconsin plan anywhere...

...Some optimistic belief was expressed that it would be improved in the Senate...

...They are merely dummy stockholders in the private concern and General Brayton by the liberal use of proxies distributes the offices as he sees fit...

...It is hard enough to be told in a home political gathering once a year that it makes very little difference now eighty-nine per cent...

...A fair and temperate determination, such as we would expect from President Taft, of so important a policy certainly would have caused him to consult these Republican senators before writing a message urged upon him by Senator Aldrich whose purpose was to defeat the income tax...

...It would have been a great help to the band of Progressives making a fight in behalf of the public interest and for the maintenance of party pledges, had Mr...

...He knew that other institutions were in the habit of letting down the bars in such cases...

...Elect few men, and hold them responsible...

...So he went to the President...

...The progressive senators assumed that he would ultimately support their contention by such action as he deemed proper...

...That the President's message should surprise Senators Cummins, Borah, and other progressive supporters of the income tax provision, is a matter of serious import and just criticism...

...Aldrich...

...Thus there was absolute certainty of getting an amendment to the tariff bill that would lay the foundation for a more equitable distribution of the burdens of taxation...

...Because, be it remembered, the President is the one who has the final word...

...Taft and no one would be more reluctant to believe otherwise...

...His approval or his veto decides whether the work of Congress shall stand...

...But it provided for an inheritance tax and for some reduction of duties on some of the necessaries of life that have been rejected by Mr...

...Students who wish to enter know in advance what preparation they are expected to have had before being admitted...

...it does matter whether or not the published standard is high and the applied standard low...

...But it would be a betrayal of the work we have undertaken if we did not say that from our point of view the President's recent message to Congress was inopportune, and not in the public interest...

...The registrar was uncertain what course to take...

...Taft on the subject of revision, when he was a candidate, to become an important part of the debate...

...Admit an applicant, pull or no pull, only when he is prepared to enter...

...Every year will be found a number of applicants who are deficient...

...Aldrich maintained almost perfect command...

...But through decisions of courts and legislative development, it has become democratized and perfected at Galveston and a score of other cities—the ideal type of which is to be found in the Iowa law adopted at Des Moines and Cedar Rapids...

...To place dependence for basic information on a hurriedly prepared amendment to a tariff bill, rushed through an extra session of Congress, which may be years in the courts and finally declared unconstitutional is a clever, but not unknown expedient to avert all effective legislation on a subject that will not down...

...Three may be even better than six...

...It involves in the highest degree administrative honesty...

...That he did not send such a message can only be explained on the ground that he believed Congress well understood his attitude and that there was no danger of their framing a law that he could not approve either as to tariff schedules or as to an income tax...

...This vital defect alone turns what is in many respects an excellent plan into one which is essentially dangerous and which the cities of Wisconsin may well refuse to adopt...

...In Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, the government is in the hands of a council of six...

...These entrance requirements are published...

...The senior Senator from Rhode Island need have no worry about his constituents...

...The success of the commission plan lies in concentration of authority and responsibility...

...In that simple question he read the policy of the university as clearly as if the President had said: "Be honest...

...They have given the country a lesson in administrative honesty that ought to be heeded...

...of the voters of the State cast their ballots...

...But there are three vital defects in the law,—defects which convert the Wisconsin plan into a merely specious imitation of the real democratic commission plan...

...This young man was an athlete...

...That the call was hurried, and that the message in response to it was hurried all the facts prove...

...2) the expiration of these terms of office at different times so that the personnel of the council can never be completely changed at any election...

...Let the law remain upon the statute book a dead letter until the initiative and the recall are incorporated in it so that it may make for real popular government instead of for ring-rule,—as we fear, the present law would do...

...The Wisconsin law sets up a Council of three elected for terms of six years, expiring like the terms of the United States Senators, one-third every two years...

...and (3) the failure to incorporate in the law a provision for the recall...

...All it can do is to attempt to conceal its shame behind the huge bulk of its senior Senator when he stands up and assists the manufacturer in the task of robbing the consumer...

...A Model University ONE day a young man came to a prominent western state university and applied for admission...

...Mr...

...And by its disposition of such cases a university answers the question, "Are you living up to your standards...

...Some day Rhode Island may be able to hold up its head and announce to the Middle West and the rest of the country that it is free, but such a privilege is beyond its power at present...

...Mc-Cutcheon's cartoon "Isn't It About Time for a Thrilling Rescue...

...Knowledge of the income of overcapitalized public service corporations and of many private corporations is an important factor in their control...

...As a variant of the thrifty commission plan reform, it is of importance to the nation...

...With the recall in the law, by means of which officers unsatisfactory to the people could be voted out of office, the length of term and the time of its expiration would be a matter of less consequence...

...Taft seen fit to send a special message stating whether the party pledges were in his judgment being fulfilled by increasing the tariff rates or by re-enacting existing rates...

...This is a serious defect...

...It matters not in this connection whether the published standards are high or low...

...As a plan of government offered to Wisconsin's cities, it is of great importance to Wisconsin...

...President Van Hise and the faculty of The University of Wisconsin may well be gratified at this recognition...

...When all his efforts to hold his forces against the income tax failed, in order to defeat it, he called on the President for help to support a "corporation tax...

...Like the other good commission plans, the Wisconsin plan places the entire power of organizing and manning the city in the hands of this small council...

...The income tax was an independent proposition, and some of the senators who were tied up in the schedules refused to follow the Aldrich leadership against it...

...This incident illustrates a problem that is found in every educational institution...

...The Bulletin of June 15 prints the following editorial: Mr...

...This assumption caused the public statements of Mr...

...Senators Cummins and Bailey had co-operated and framed a bill for which enough votes were pledged to insure its passing the Senate by five majority...

...Aldrich's plan...

...eleven per cent.—that part of the electorate living in the small country towns—will decide all our political affairs...

...They have made Wisconsin a model university not alone through the character of the standards they have adopted, but also through their conscientious adherence to these standards...

...He can say and do what he pleases in the Senate...

...Under the Wisconsin plan this number is reduced to three...

...When the Aldrich Bill was hurriedly thrust upon the Senate it was at first claimed by the Chairman and other members of the Committee that there had been great reductions in rates,— revision downward...

...No greater opportunity for executive recommendation ever could come to a President...

...some have not had enough English, others have had scanty preparation in mathematics, and so on...

...The President in his message states that he has changed his views, but he certainly should in justice to the men who had been working to frame a law that should stand the constitutional test, have conferred with them and informed them as to his change of plan...

...This is good...

...The perplexed registrar was answered...

...But this question of the control of trusts and combinations is by far the most important problem before the country for this quarter of a century—relatively much more important than the tariff...

...In my judgment an amendment to the Constitution for an income tax is not necessary...

...These are excellent things and a vital part of the true "commission plan...

...It is hardly possible to endure such talk as this from a Progressive Senator on the floor of the United States Senate...

...There can be only one election every two years, and only one out of the three members of the council can be put out of office at such election...

...and felt that he might be unnecessarily jeopardizing the athletic success of his own university by refusing admission to the man before him...

...The athlete went elsewhere...

...No more promising plan for the perpetuating in power of official rings and cliques could be imagined...

...He had a strong "pull...

...It differs from the accepted commission plan models in many important respects...

...That is, it provides that the people may prevent bad ordinances from going into effect, but no means whereby the people may enact good ordinances...

...Senator La Follette touched Rhode Island on the raw when he spoke of the political difference between this State and Wisconsin and showed how unnecessary it is for Senator Aldrich to explain any of his actions to his constituents...

...His constituents never bother him with a demand for explanations...

...Like the best type of commission-plan charters, it concentrates authority in few hands...

...A council of three seems rather small but we should not reject the plan for that reason...

...At the beginning of the special session which President Taft called for the express purpose of considering a revision of the tariff in accordance with his pre-election promise, it would have been highly proper, and we believe it was expected that he would exercise his constitutional prerogative and send a message to Congress that would deal fully with the very important subject in hand, would enlighten Congress and the public as to his views, and as to the kind of bill he could approve...

...It began in an aristocratic scheme, founded in distrust of the people, which was adopted at Galveston after that city was wrecked by the storm...

...But his preparation was not sufficient to meet the entrance requirements of the university...

...Don't grant special favors to anyone...

...Taft had said in his speech of acceptance: "The democratic platform demands two constitutional amendments, one providing for an income tax, and the other for the election of Senators by the people...

...This great question cannot be treated hurriedly as a second thought to a tariff measure...

...The Providence Evening Bulletin is the evening edition of the Providence Journal and the most widely circulated and influential Republican paper in Rhode Island...

...If the matter were carefully considered, the President could not have assumed that except for the decision of the Supreme court the old law was still on the statute books, when it would have, by its own terms, been inoperative for nine years...

...The amendment for an income tax was, however, in a different position from the schedules of the tariff bill...

...These statements alone were sufficient to warrant the belief that he desired and would approve an income tax...

...Aldrich and his allies made the defense that the Republican platform had not promised downward revision...

...These three are: (1) the length of the term of office...

...It was in the days when athletic rivalry among the Middle Western universities was at a keen pitch, and men of athletic ability were "induced" to enter college...

...Through an oversight, this cartoon was credited in a part of the edition to the Chicago Record-Herald...

...For if students who cannot meet the published requirements are indulgently admitted, the whole tone of the institution is lowered, its maximum of efficiency can never be attained, and, worst of all, the young men and women, even while passing through the portals, find themselves in an atmosphere of favoritism and special privilege that is bound to have its influence on their moral qualities...

...We can't deny it, and there seems to be little done about it as the years of Mr...

...But Mr...

...Whatever the President may expect in this direction, we may be sure that such a purpose is no part of Mr...

...How high they have set this mark was made apparent when they gave out the hint in their last annual report that such renowned universities as Harvard, Columbia, and Illinois would have to take a brace if they wanted to come up to the standard set by Wisconsin in this matter of scrupulous adherence to entrance requirements...

...Then he asked: "Do you find anything about athletic ability in our entrance requirements...

...Aldrich's rule, tempered by General Brayton's proconsulship, pass by...

...It was therefore a matter of unusual significance to The University of Wisconsin when, recently, it was classed by the trustees of the Carnegie Foundation for the advancement of teaching as a model university in this respect...

...This error is unimportant except as indicating hasty action...

...Aldrich speaks so glibly to do with the business, anyway...

...A Correction In last week's issue of La Follette's, we reproduced Mr...

...that the party was only pledged to "revision...

...I believe that an income tax, when the protective system of customs and the internal revenue tax shall not furnish income enough for governmental needs, can, and should be devised, which, under the decisions of the Supreme Court, will conform to the Constitution...

...Aldrich's State...

...Better, far better, keep the young man out of the university until he has completed his preparation than let him slide through the doors and then send him home discouraged after a few months of vain endeavor to keep the pace, with the word "Failure" written in large letters on his mind...

...After a thorough analysis of the bill and exposure cf how increases in certain schedules were effected and after it was established in the course of the debate beyond dispute that the scheme was one of revision upward, Mr...

...If we need that quality anywhere in public life, it is in the institutions where Youth spends its character-forming years.Rhode Island in Shame IN last week's Roll-Call we published an extract from the Congressional Record on the Leadership of Aldrich...

...The Progressives continued their attack on the bill, meeting defeat on each vote by about ten majority, over which Mr...

...This message came to Congress at a most opportune time to serve the fixed determination of Senator Aldrich to defeat the income tax, and to aid him in passing the tariff bill with its excessively high duties just as he wanted it...

...An expression of his views at that time respecting an income tax or a corporation tax would have carried great weight with Congress and with the public...

...The people generally, the press, and Congress have been disposed to credit him with high motives and unwilling to criticise any public act unfairly...

...Rhode Islanders do not like to listen to such plain truths...

...The progressives were at least entitled to a hearing...