EDITORIALS
THE REAL ISSUE AS THIS is written Congress is about to meet again in regular session. Once more the national capitol will become the chief battleground of the great political contest now being...
...A National Crusade SINCE the exposure by McClure's magazine and other publications of the appalling proportions the white slave traffic has attained, strenuous measures have been taken to wipe it out...
...If the Senators and Representatives who have in the past surrendered their voices and votes to these two men should now refuse to obey the command, the machine would be broken...
...And the reduction that is given the manufacturer on his coal is made up to the protected coal interests by the advance of the duty on the "slack," which is destined for the use of the house-holder...
...In the importation of coal, as a result of handling and transshipment, the coal is greatly broken up, and by the time it reaches the port of entry a large proportion of it is "slack...
...Delays in trial procedure and apparent miscarriages of justice have been so flagrant under our present system that people have been coming to say,—yes, and to believe—that "There is one law for the rich and another for the poor...
...it is to be hoped that the regents will act upon the request of the Conference and make it the leader in this important movement...
...But no effort has ever been made to treat judicial administration in the same advanced way...
...Cannon is still "Czar of the House...
...A Hint to Congress PRESIDENT TAFT has asked Congress to pass a law for the conservation of the public health...
...And with these men in control of the Republican organization in Congress, with the committees packed with their faithful henchmen, with the business of legislation engineered to suit their purposes, there can be no measures enacted into law without the sanction of these two men...
...If solidarity shall be a factor in accomplishment and achievement, it must be coupled with vitality...
...Many measures of great importance will be presented to Congress for enactment into law...
...Also we have heard it said that this is not true...
...Under the editorship of Mr...
...Aldrich is still "Boss of the Senate...
...It is still very singular that that handful, a mere majority of ninety men, should characterize as Progressive those who represent the millions of voters...
...And seldom has there been a contest with so much at stake...
...And only this week in his message he referred to the subject again, saying "I do not doubt for one moment that much of the lawlessness, violence and cruelty exhibited in lynchings is directly due to the uncertainties and injustices growing out of the delay in trials, judgments and executions thereof by our courts...
...Now this "slack" was not "produced and screened in the ordinary way, as such, and so shipped from the mine," and, therefore, under the proviso of the new law, is dutiable at the full rate for soft coal, at the rate of 45 cents a ton, or three times the old rate...
...It will be remembered, too, that when the bill was in conference President Taft sent to the Conference Committee what was called an "ultimatum," demanding that the tariff on a few conspicuous commodities be adjusted in a certain way...
...But Aldrich and Cannon are there to command...
...They claimed in the tariff debate that the proportion of coal which came in thus under the "slack" duty, and which of course was "slack," amounted to about 50 per cent, of the importation of Nova Scotia coal...
...Among other things the President urged free coal...
...This is the pressing question, for until it is answered it is useless to look for any fulfillment of party promises...
...President Taft, himself trained in law, voiced the popular feeling when he said, "It is not too much to say that the administration of criminal law in this country is a disgrace to our civilization...
...But the "slack" is used largely in the manufacture of briquetts and similar fuels for domestic consumption...
...For the new tariff law contains a proviso which is not found in the Dingley law...
...Any bill that threatens Privilege, that is not framed on the theory of the divine right of the Dollar to rule, that is drawn up with scrupulous care to protect and foster public interest, that is meant to keep the faith with the voters,—any such bill will find quiet but speedy interment in the burial ground that already holds so many of its kind...
...Great Applause...
...The language of the new tariff law will impose upon this same importation of coal and "slack," the full coal duty of 45 cents per ton...
...This little inspection of another Payne-Cannon-Aldrich tariff "reduction" serves to show in another instance how the tariff was not reduced...
...So we agree with the reactionaries as to the importance of solidarity, but we differ with them because they do not attach importance to either vitality or integrity.—From SENATOR CLAPP'S speech in Milwaukee, December 2,1909...
...It goes without saying that any reforms along this line should be made only after the most careful study and thorough consideration...
...It was claimed, and we believe rightly so, that there was really no justification for a tariff duty on coal...
...We have our chairs in educational administration, in business administration, in public administration...
...The new law contains the same duty on coal "slack," with this proviso: "Provided, That the rate of fifteen cents per ton herein designated for 'coal slack or culm' shall be held to apply to importations of coal slack or culm produced and screened in the ordinary way, as such, and so shipped from the mine...
...Among the matters that fell within the jurisdiction of the committee on conference, therefore, was the difference between the two Houses upon the coal duty, the free coal of the House and the 60-cent duty of the Senate...
...In the Senate the compact majority of the Aldrich machine resisted all efforts at a reduction of this rate, and the Aldrich bill as passed by the Senate carried a duty of 60 cents a ton on coal...
...From the consumers, and particularly from manufacturers in Atlantic seaboard territory who desired to be able to import cheap Nova Scotia coal, there came strong demands for free coal...
...I do not concede the right of a majority of ninety men to lay down for me the test of loyalty to a Republican party...
...If we were, according to their characterization, to be Progressives, then by their own declaration they are the Reactionaries...
...Not only will its outcome determine the fate of the progressive legislation the people are demanding so insistently, but it may ever change for years to come the character of our political institutions...
...Applause...
...The duty on bituminous coal under the Dingley tariff was 67 cents per ton...
...At any rate the facts are interesting...
...But in the Senate, Senator Elkins and other Senators representing the eastern coal interests, and Senator Clark of Wyoming and other Senators representing the western coal interests, started a counter-agitation giving the Aldrich finance committee an excuse, (which perhaps it did not require,) for putting coal back on the dutiable list...
...I find that test in that expression made by the party at large in its last national convention...
...Accordingly the finance committee reported a duty of 60 cents a ton, a "reduction" of 7 cents from the Ding-ley rate...
...How the Tariff on Coal was "Reduced" WE HAVE heard it said and seen it printed many times that the Payne-Cannon-Aldrich tariff revision reduced the duty on coal...
...This delightful arrangement will enable the manufacturer who imports coal for use in that form to get the benefit of a slight reduction...
...Also, once more it is borne in upon us that, if the duty was reduced, it was reduced for special interest and it was increased for the consumer...
...Its December number is the best that has appeared —and that is saying much...
...You go tonight to the banks of the Nile and you will find there the ruins of cities and temples, huge rocks piled in chaotic mass, and every rock the very personification of solidarity...
...In the House, the agitation won out and the tariff bill as passed by the House had soft coal on the free list...
...It means progress or reaction...
...But overshadowing all these in immediate importance is the issue: Shall the will of Special Interests continue to prevail in national legislation, or shall it be the will of the people...
...We need only to recall Cannon's recent speeches in the Middle West to tell where he will stand...
...And the interesting part of the story follows...
...advance or stagnation...
...As a result we find old and outworn methods and forms cast aside and replaced by others more adapted to the needs of the time, built up through years of comparative and constructive study...
...As a concession to this demand of the President (for it is hardly to be alleged that any important reductions were made at the insistence of the House conferees as "packed" by Cannon) the Senate rate on coal was "reduced" to 45 cents and so reported and agreed to by both Houses in the conference bill...
...Now, a great deal today is said about party selidarity...
...And we need only look back as far as the tariff session to determine what kind of legislation will receive the approval of Aldrich...
...This means the support of nearly one million farmers...
...Thinking men and women all over the country are agreed that there should be radical changes in our methods of administering justice...
...Wisconsin's university has led the way in many fields of research and education...
...The university that establishes such a chair now will be a pioneer...
...The Test of Republicanism IT IS a singular thing that a bare majority of ninety in the American Senate should override the will of a party with millions of voters and then characterize as "insurgents" those who were with the millions instead of the majority of ninety...
...Applause...
...Several states have already passed laws bearing on this shameful trade...
...By some occult mental acrobatics, the beneficiaries of the coal tariff have reached the conclusion that in some way the admission of "slack" into our ports under the duty provided by law for "slack," is an unholy evasion of the tariff...
...Now comes word that President Taft and Congress intend to combat the evil...
...the rule of privileged interests or the reign of the people...
...What better way to bring together statistics and' information about the causes of delays in trials, the faults of the jury system, effects of punishing juvenile offenders, and the multitude of other questions that must enter into any comprehensive examination of our judicial system than to set a department of the state university at work upon it...
...If the advocates of the coal tariff were telling the truth about it and the proportion of slack in the coal imported was 50 per cent., then the average duty on this coal and "slack," so imported under the old law was 67 cents plus 15 cents, divided by 2, or 41 cents per ton...
...Are the forces of corruption strong enough to withstand this onslaught...
...An Esteemed Contemporary THE TWENTIETH CENTURY MAGAZINE is making good...
...B. O. Flower, this magazine has taken a unique and commanding position among the monthlies of the day...
...Under the Dingley law the duty on coal "slack" was 15 cents a ton...
...Nearly all the governors of the United States have enlisted against it...
...Heretofore, under the administration of the customs law, the proportion of "slack" in a cargo of coal has been determined at the port of entry, and that which is "slack" has been admitted under the 15-cent duty...
...Coal slack or culm" is small coal and coal dust which will pass through a half-inch screen...
...The National Grange recently passed strong resolutions urging Congress to carry out the pledges of both political parties for a new and more efficient health organization...
...Once more the national capitol will become the chief battleground of the great political contest now being waged throughout the nation foi control of the Republican party...
...Well, my friends, solidarity is a splendid thing provided it is coupled, with vitality...
...But will they do it...
...An Excellent Recommendation THE recommendation of the Wisconsin Conference on Criminal Law and Criminology that a professorship be established at the University of Wisconsin for the comparative and critical study of remedial law is a good one...
...It is the President's duty to recommend...
...and if a political party, coupling vitality with solidarity expects to maintain its permanent hold upon the confidence of an intelligent people, there must be one other element, and that must be the element of Integrity...
Vol. 1 • December 1909 • No. 49
