Life — September 27, 1906 — page 6: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“While there is Life there's Hope.” VOL. XLVI SEPT. 27, 1906. No. 1248. 17 West Tuiery-Fiest Steerer, New Yor. REAPERS of this issue Yh EN of Lire will know i who besides William R. Hearst will run for Gov- ernor of New York. At this writing we only know that Mr. Hearst ste will run, and run © as the nominee of the Independence League, the dele- gates of which had a per- fectly splendid time nomi- nating him at their conven- tion in New York. Whether it suited Mr, Hearst to be nominated in precisely. the way he was nominated ~S is darkly questioned by his opponents, who sug- gest that the Independence League got the bit between its teeth and ran away from its artificer, nomi- nating a complete independent ticket, and making it practically impossible for Mr. Hearst to secure the indorsement of the Democratic convention. The Independence Leaguers can hardly elect their candidates, but it will be highly interesting to how many votes they can poll and what games of politics they can help to play between now and Election Day. They achieved, to be- gin with, a remarkable thing. They had a convention that was run by its delegates and not by its bosses. There is a good prospect at this writing that the same feat will be compassed at the Democratic con- vention, and possibly at the Republican convention also. The truth is that the bosses in New York State are feeble this fall. There is no Republican boss whose authority is respected, and north of the Bronx there is no Democratic boss at all, except one or two local ones of restricted influence in Buffalo and elsewhere. Con- sequently, there is a better chance than usual for the development of leaders who can lead, and for nominations that will inspire enthusiasm, and for a campaign * LdP E.~ that will stir up the voters and give them a chance to discover what kind of men and what sort of measures they think they want, Te E political blessings called for in the platform of Mr. Hearst’s Indepen- dence League are as follows: Revision of the election laws so as to make the results of elections more con- vincing than they were when Mr. Hearst ran for Mayor, and providing for the selection of United States Senators by popular vote. The cleaning out of the Banking De- partment. Stricter laws to hold bank officials to performance of their duties, A tax commission that will make pub- lic service corporations pay taxes on the full value of their franchises. A railroad commission that will disci- pline the railroads, Investigation of the executive depart- ments of the State Government. Denunciation of Attorney-General Mayer and District Attorney Jerome. Public ownership of public utilities, Equitable freight rates and a maxi- mum passenger rate of two cents a mile on railroads. The eight-hour day. The three-platoon system for the New York policemen, shorter hours for New York firemen, better terms for New York street cleaners, bigger salaries and pen- sions for teachers, and more schools for New York. So vociferates the Independence League, but not many voterswilltakedeep thought about its platform, The voters who vote for Hearst will do so because they want him for Governor and_ his crowd put in charge of the State Govern- ment. The interesting point will be to see how many of them there are. ROTHER BRYAN persists in pulling feathers out of President Roosevelt's tail and putting them in his own hat. He said to 12,000 people in St. Louis: “Mr. Roosevelt settled the coal strike. It was a grand act. But where did he get the doctrine? From the. Democratic plat- form, and I wrote the plank myself.” Evidently Mr, Bryan is in good enjoy- ment of life. He says his government ownership proposal has been better re- ceived than he expected, but that he does not intend to force it on the Democratic party. If the convention wants to put it in its platform it can; that’s all. When Brother Bill came home all the wise men said it was a mistake, and that he ought to remain in exile for a year and a half longer, and that he could not keep the center of the stage as a candidate for two whole years. But he was doubtless tired of staying away, and home he sped. By blurting out his proposition for gov- ernment ownership he has practically put his candidacy in cold storage and given himself and the country a lively new topic to discuss. We are not half sure that that was not pretty clever man- agement by Brother Bryan. Not for years to come will any one be really scared by the specter of government ownership, while to talk about it will encourage earnestness in working out such limited government control of rates as will make ownership unnecessary. ns PRosects of a serious upset in Cuba seem pretty good, and the more enthusiastic critics of the President have reason to pay Strict attention to what is going on. He may have to take drastic action presently, and the odds are that any action he takes will be adapted to send cold chills down such spines as are adjustable to that experience. Meanwhile it was a good idea to send * Secretaries Taft and Bacon to the scene of disturbance to try to bring the dis- turbers to better minds. In Mr. Root's absence there could hardly be a better pair of pacifiers than Messrs. Bacon and Taft. If they are not able to stop the fighting in Cuba then we shall see what we shall see. But this is sure, that Cuba is under bonds to keep the peace, and that Uncle Samuel will see that she does it, using the gentlest and politest methods, that are compatible with results, comicbooks.com