EDITORIALS
A CONSPIRACY? AND NOW comes Mr. Ballinger "demanding an investigation." Strange indeed, he wants a Congressional investigation! And "by my sword, Sir," he wants Pin-chot and the Forestry...
...One man there is not included within this classification...
...For the convenience of would-be explorers, another "ad" states that Commander Peary was able to find everything he needed for his trip at Macy's Department Store...
...Then there is the "ad" of the Norfolk and New Brunswick Hosiery Company, whose underwear played an important part in Peary's success...
...The men involved are high public officials...
...From results gathered by careful examination all over the country, there will be an increase in the production of winter wheat, spring wheat, corn, oats, barley, and rye in 1909 over 1908, in round numbers, of one thousand one hundred and sixty-nine millions of bushels, or 27 per cent., and that 27 per cent, increase is in comparison with a normal year...
...The explorer writes, "Before going on my recent trip I investigated the merits of aluminum cooking utensils and found that those bearing the 'Wear-Ever' trade mark were made of pure sheet aluminum of sufficient thickness to make them durable and dependable...
...It gratifies us, as Americans, to know that Peary was enabled to arrive at the Pole presenting a respectable appearance, as becomes an American gentleman, for we are informed, he carried a Carbon Magnetic razor made by the Griffin Cutlery works, presumably "adjusted to temperature and position...
...Public attention must, if possible, be diverted...
...On another advertising page we are told that Peary carried a Waltham watch, which leaves the reader to infer that all who expect to journey to the Pole will adopt this equipment...
...THERE are people who question the utility of the discovery of the North Pole...
...They are entitled to a fair and impartial hearing...
...And how much more convincing are these records when supplemented by photographs taken with an Eastman Kodak...
...Of what use to Society (they ask) is sHch a feat...
...Our only regret is that, due to the premature departure of Commander Peary, the inadequacy of the postal service at the North Pole, and a few other circumstances beyond our control, we are unable to advertise that Commander Peary, upon his arrival at the Pole was cheered and comforted and encouraged for his return home by reading a copy of La Follette's...
...On reading another Peary 'ad" we are resolved tkat we will not undertake to go anywhere near the North Pole without an equipment of American Thermos Bottles...
...Hurried conferences were reported...
...It told the story of the real conspiracy in a plain, simple, convincing way...
...The control of committee appointments is under the domination of Aldrichism in the Senate and Cannonism in the House...
...Why is the North Pole...
...He has heard it and read it so often that he feels a certain kind of public utterance is inadequate without the warming breath of the word "demagogue...
...Because of thi» well understood situation no progressive could afford to stand sponsor for an investigation absolutely controlled by the "System...
...It was too much...
...Now the Railroad and Warehouse Commission of.Illinois has taken the express matter up and demands "to be shown...
...and it may interest you to know that the 'Wear-Ever' cooking utensils went to the Pole with me...
...Do the easy and fashionable thing, that is, denounce him as a self-seeking demagogue...
...When Congress convened it was announced that no investigation would be permitted...
...He made a speech in the Senate from which the following is quoted: "With the passage of the new tariff bill, we enter upon a period of prosperity unknown in the history of this or any other country...
...First is the lazy, foolish man who has not taken the time to work, read and think and find out whether there are some real arguments to hurl at the man he is fighting...
...It was a body blow...
...Word was sent over the country that "a conspiracy exists against Ballinger, the land office," and the innocent parties who are trying to acquire title to more coal than has ever been mined in all Pennsylvania...
...Now we begin to appreciate something of the great commercial value of the polar discovery...
...On another page it is suggested that the expedition might have been a dismal failure had it not been for the comfort and solace found only in a brand tobacco to be had of the U. S. Tobacco Company...
...The shadow of the lion hunter was plainly visible from the front windows of the Interior Department...
...and it has...
...Only when we realize how important on these polar expeditions are the records of the explorer, can we appreciate the reliable efficiency of the Kohinoor pencil, with which Peary's records were inscribed...
...They do not know that this word "demagogue" has been called in...
...There will be an increase in the hay crop in the same period of over three millions and a half of tons...
...It was almost necessary at the time to include his department in the call for investigation because it is the one branch of the service which is at present under public criticism and suspicion...
...We turn over a page and another Peary "ad" confronts us...
...Second, there is the man who has looked in the books and read the papers and done a lot of hard thinking and found that there are no real arguments that can be brought up against the opposition...
...Advance sheets of the McClure's Magazine article by John E. Lathrop and George Kibbe Turner, were issued to the press...
...That is the man who cries "demagogue" from habit...
...At last the express business, so called by courtesy—for it has more of the ear-marks of graft—which has been for years the crowning grand larceny of transportation abuse, operating by methods of carefully guarded secreey, which has long plundered the public with impunity, is being made to take a place among the decent agencies of honest commerce...
...Express Rates to be Reduced IN MANY ways and in many fields is constructive progres-sivism bearing fruit...
...The Lilly investigation of the submarine boat scandal in the House of Representatives is, in the opinion of many who closely followed its proceedings, a beautiful illustration of whitewashing the guilty and assassinating the character of the man who complained of the attempt to job through legislation...
...Then former Secretary Garfield spoke, and La Follette's gave the Garfield statement to the country...
...Some aspirants for repute as spellbinders feel a dash of slander, strange intimations of the hideous and secret, and a kind of dramatic "thou-art-the-man" touch, in the use of the word "demagogue...
...A few days ago, in Wisconsin, the leading industrial and commercial organization in the state filed with the Railroad Commission a comprehensive, vigorous and thorough-going complaint, which must lead to reduced rates and better services in that state and which will establish important facts concerning express revenues and profits, and better still will establish that another phase of monopolistic extortion can be reached by intelligent public regulation...
...And there is Nelson's loose-leaf encyclopedia, of which we hadn't heard before, but of its superiority we are now convinced because Peary used and liked a loose-leaf atlas...
...Demagogues THE CHEAPEST, nearest, and handiest brick of denunciation that can be thrown at an opponent nowadays is the word "demagogue...
...The Forestry officials,—feared because too well informed and too devoted to the public interest,—must be attacked and discredited since they could not be silenced...
...Two kinds of men use this word "demagogue...
...We think that the circumstantial detail with which Peary's endorsement of "Wear-Ever" aluminum cooking utensils should render it the most convincing to those contemplating polar travels...
...The reduction was sustained by the Supreme Court...
...We shudder at the thought of the dismal crop failures that would have resulted from the passage of a new tariff law different from the one given to the country by Aldrich and Cannon...
...We were wondering if Peary had overlooked anything when we ran across another "ad" with the testimonial of Captain Bartlett of Peary's vessel which tells how successfully the expedition was disinfected and deodorized by the use of Shering's Formalin...
...It lies in the tested and demonstrated perfection of American products, whose superiority was discovered by Peary at the North Pole...
...No investigation conducted by committees named by this authority can possibly command public confidence...
...If the arguments of the man against you are strong and pointed, and to answer those arguments would take a lot of hard work, research and study, don't bother with working so hard to answer him...
...Even the long-grafting and powerfully entrenched express trust is at last being dragged before the bar of public opinion and the tribunals of the law...
...What possible benefit can come from standing on the "top 'o the world," save the inspiring example of persistence it affords, and the race-old thrill that comes when a fellow-being wins a terrific battle with the elements...
...But the tribunal named to pass judgment must be above suspicion, or its findings will but strengthen the belief that the investigation was devised to shield the guilty and aid a gigantic conspiracy to defraud the public...
...be reduced one-fourth with reasonable safetv...
...In the railroad rate law of 1906, the express carriers were required to report their traffic, earnings and profits to the Interstate Commerce Commission...
...Secretary Ballinger demanded an investigation of the Forestry Service,—and of his own department...
...But later on, when the "investigation" gets well under way, it may be possible to make the Forestry Service seem the real and only wrong doer in this attempt on the part of the interests to secure control of the Alaskan coal fields...
...It no longer has any of the stage properties of denunciation...
...And there can be only one result,—a reduction of rates...
...The "System" press correspondents were given their orders...
...Of course, it was to be expected that Peary carried to the Pole a Winchester rifle and cartridges...
...The message on conservation, it was announced, would be largely devoted to the Alaskan coal grab, and would assuredly exonerate Ballinger...
...Here, for instance, is an "ad" testifying to the nourishing quality of the shredded wheat biscuit, which stood between Peary and death in the frozen north...
...Why the Crops Were Big WE THOUGHT it would happen...
...Both these men cry "demagogue," postured meanwhile in an attitude of alarm, both hands held toward the hi-h heavens in dread...
...Senator Depew has attempted to vindicate the new tariff law...
...And "by my sword, Sir," he wants Pin-chot and the Forestry Service investigated, and that in a hurrv, too...
...The whole program was changed...
...It behooves the country to be on guard...
...There is an "ad" of the Rubberset Company, whose shaving brush was found peculiarly satisfactory in applying lather by the rays of the midnight sun...
...The first requisite of success in politics is to get the opposition calling you a demagogue...
...The President, it was said, had the pledge of Aldrich and Cannon that all resolutions for Congressional investigation would be pigeonholed...
...But Collier's published another scorching arraignment—and promised more...
...In 1907 the Legislature of Nebraska lopped 25 per cent, off their rates and charges in that State...
...One naturally deplores such unappreciative and ungenerous cynicism...
...We have just received the Christmas number of Hampton's Magazine, and have been looking over the advertisements...
...On still another page we find that Peary used throughout the expedition Dupont (gun) powder...
...The interests at stake constitute a great heritage for this and succeeding generations...
...But we have only recently discovered an answer which should silence these carping detractions from the well-earned praise of heroic achievement...
...These men are behind the procession...
...Something had to be done and done at once...
...Not that their rates were especially high in Nebraska, nor that the legislature, when it acted, possessed very complete information as to the investment and earnings of the companies in that state, but simply that the express rates are high enough almost anywhere so that they can...
Vol. 1 • January 1910 • No. 52
