political arts of liberty, for the propaganda of the Katapuna Society of bloodsuckers and blood shedders in the Philippines. We quote:

"Immediately before the murderous attack on the late President, Most's journal wrote, "The greatest of all follies in the world is to believe that there can be any crime of any sort against despots and their accomplices.' The article, it would seem from the charge of the judge to the jury in Most's case, was directed to encouraging 'the murder of heads of States,' as a class, which we know to be in accordance with the prisoner's ideas. The absurdity of classing a President of the United States among 'despots' is sufficiently obvious and contemptible.

"M. Zola, whose courageous protests in the cause of justice contributed so much to rivet public attention on the Dreyfus case, has undertaken to defend M. Leon Tailhade's savage appeal to anarchism on its literary merits! M. Zola regards the anarchist editor of the Libertaire as a poet, thrilling in style and full of illustrations'-among the latter the most conspicuous being Caserio, who killed President Carnot, and who, to the regret of M. Zola's poetic friend, has found no successor to deal with the Tsar, M. Loubet, M. Waldeck-Rousseau, and all the rest of them. But even M. Zola could not find much of the exculpatory 'thrill' of style in the genuine German Grobheit of Johann Most.

"In the language of the Freiheit, which so closely and so significantly preceded, and almost predicted, the murder of President McKinley, the doctrines of anarchism are set forth in all their brutal directness, without any of the literary adornments which fascinate M. Zola. There is nothing new in the preaching of Most. More than twenty years ago he was good enough to take up his abode in this country and to spread among us his liberalizing theories. When the Emperor Alexander II. was savagely done to death on March 13, 1881, Most came out, in the next issue of his journal, with a furious shriek of triumph, reproaching the revolutionists of other nations with their lack of courage in failing to follow up the lead of the Russian Nihilists and scoffing at the 'whimpering' of the civilized world over the crime that had shocked humanity. The ruling classes were warned by Most that their doom was sealed, and it was triumphantly proclaimed that they knew it. 'From Constantinople to Washington,' he wrote, 'they tremble for their long-forfeited heads.' For this outrageous production Most was indicted in this country and was convicted by a jury at the Central Criminal Court."

It is in the lines and between the lines, written and spoken as Governor of New York by Roosevelt, that his primary quality is vital earnestness, and it takes the form of thorough going business. He is an American of Americans for the greater America. He is for expansion—that is growth. He is a Civil Service reformer by instinct, cultivation, conscience, combativeness, and a

warlike sense of duty. He is for fairness in taxation, and has been a student of the sentiments of the people and the public wants. He is a party man, of and for the organization. He is not of the Mugwump brain or blood. Of all public men he is the most outspoken. He thinks aloud, for the people, and is wide awake, broad, keen, positive, progressive, and is still a man who acquires, and promises to abide long with us. He deals with corporations with the same acute intensity of justice he desires for men. In his persona! relations he is inclined to amiability. He may be a disturber of ignoble peace, but does not quarrel. He dictates. He does not indulge resentments. He is brave, and the brave man is generous.

The rules ordinarily applied to politicians and holders of high office, do not seem to be adapted to the President. He is really a politician, only he plays according to his own rules. He endeavors to follow the wishes of the politicians, Senators and Congressmen, as far as is compatible with his standard and idea as to his duty, but very often he does just what they do not want him to do. He simply will not violate his own conscience. The temptation is not really tempting. He has not time to consider whether he jeopardizes his future. He simply has a higher standard than the average politician. He has confidence that the people will sustain him in doing what he regards as his duty. He is so constituted that he can not take a middle course. He is absolutely right or wrong in every act. There is no compromise of right in his nature. His works are straight from the shoulder, as his words from his lips.

The appointment of Henry C. Payne as Postmaster General, was the shrewdest kind of politics. It secured the services of a keen and experienced politician for his Administration, and, at the same time, of an expert in postoffice affairs. Payne's political advice will be invaluable. The appointment of Governor Shaw, of Iowa, as Secretary of the Treasury, is also good politics. Shaw is not a politician in the general acceptance of the word, having entered the game only about five or six years ago, yet he has made himself a force throughout the West and as the champion of gold did much to make that policy popular. He commands confidence in the East and admiration in the West.

The Roosevelt Administration has many unusual characteristics. It is bustling with activity. Following the President's cue, there is little delay nowadays in settling important matters, and there seems to be more vim and vigor in governmental work than was ever known. Gossips see more Cabinet changes in prospect. They insisted that Shaw's appointment meant the retirement of Secretary of Agriculture Wilson, but the President put a stop to that by official announcement. He knows full well how valuable the

Agricultural Secretary is, and that he has done more for the farmer in a practical way than any Secretary who preceded him in the farmers' department.

A letter from Washington, dated on the one hundred and second anniversary of the death of George Washington, is written by a close observer, who professes to state the facts from the point of a trained observer. It is, perhaps, the most carefully drawn statement that has been made:

"Washington, December 14.

"President Roosevelt continues to advance his standard of public service, broadening his rules governing patronage to the great dismay of politicians, some of whom begin to wonder if any active politicians will be permitted to remain in office. While the President is personally popular and greatly respected, politicians do not like his methods and his distinct insistence upon the highest possible merit in public service. They are inclined to regard his theory of government patronage as unpractical, as well as something of an infringement upon their rights. They are asking if there is to be any incentive to partizan endeavor and whence are the workers for party success to come, if the chances of reward are to steadily diminish by the extension of the merit system and the insistence upon mental and moral qualifications, which most active partizans can not meet. They do not believe that the mere belief in principle and the desire to see the party in which one believes succeed, with comparatively little prospect for reward through appointment to office, will be sufficient encouragement to partizans to spend their time and use their strength in working for party success. They insist that there must be taken into consideration the self-interest which so generally prompts partizan activity. They insist that President Roosevelt is setting too high a standard and almost resent his cross-examining them as to the character and capacity of those whom they recommend for office. In fact, they grow apprehensive for fear party machinery may break down for want of an adequate supply of patronage oil, and, at the same time, they are embarrassed in paying personal political debts with patronage, as they have heretofore been enabled to do. Then, too, Senators are somewhat disturbed because, in his determination to be 'President himself,' Theodore Roosevelt insists upon the Presidential prerogative of making his own appointments, regardless of the construction of the constitutional provision authorizing the President to make appointments 'by and with the consent of the Senate,' which has, in years past, caused Senators to insist upon dictating appointments.

"The events of the present week have emphasized and broadened the President's policy as to patronage. His announcement that he will make judicial appointments himself, but be glad of recommendation and advice, is of the highest importance. It means that judicial appointments are not to be used to pay political debts of Senators, and that the President, after consultation

with his Attorney General, will decide who of those presented to him deserves appointment. The President fully understands the necessity of a judiciary of the highest standard and proposes to maintain that standard, even if, by doing so, he seems to prefer one Senator over another. The question of Senatorial influence is not to be regarded, only the question as to what lawyer, no matter by whom recommended, comes nearest to filling the requirements of a federal judge.

"This policy is practically the same as that governing wants, recommendations, military promotions, which was announced some time ago when the President let it be known, to the displeasure of several Senators, that he proposed to make his promotions upon the service records of the officers of the army. And he does not regard seniority in rank as giving preference in making selections for line officers, where the law does not give seniority the call. The question in his mind is as to the fitness and capacity of officers whose names are brought to his attention, and the fact that an officer has youth, with the steadiness and experience which usually comes with age, is rather to his advantage than otherwise. In his message, the President, appreciating that there was some dissatisfaction with this attitude of his, made it stronger by saying that where Senatorial or social influence was exercised in an officer's behalf, it would militate against him.

"In the week, the President has also shown that he will not countenance, much less will he permit interference in, local politics by federal officials, for he has removed several who promoted factionalism by their meddling with local concerns. He does not object to legitimate political activity, to work to promote the success of the party, but he removes, immediately, the officials who promote factionalism. He wants federal officers to attend to their business. and make their offices businesslike in every respect. Then, he has several times impressed Senators and Congressmen with his objection to receiving their written recommendations. He knows how easy it is to sign a petition or a letter of recommendation, and that this is so often done to get rid of a persistent applicant or to place the responsibility for failure to secure the office upon the President. President Roosevelt wants recommendations made in person by Senators and Congressmen, and then he interrogates them regarding the men they suggest, and holds them to account for the representations made. Thus an indorsement to Theodore Roosevelt means more than it has heretofore. If, however, he finds that a satisfactory man has not been proposed, he insists upon another being named or selects him himself. The President has astonished Southern Republicans by frequently declining to follow their recommendation; in fact, no Southern Republican organization can claim to have had its recommendations followed by the President, and if a good Republican is not proposed or discovered, he appoints a Democrat

from the South. That may lose him votes from the South in the next National Convention, but, just now, he is not giving consideration to his renomination, and will probably never plan to secure it, being content to know he has doně what he deemed right and letting the future care for itself.

"The President has been active in carrying out his theories of Civil Service Reform, extending the classified service over the rural free delivery system and over some places in the War Department, removing officials who have violated the rules and approving rules to make Civil Service Reform more effective in operation. When he appointed William Dudley Foulke as Civil Service Commissioner, he gave notice of his purposes. In the present week important changes have been made in the Civil Service rules that will lessen the temptation to evade them. The Civil Service Commission has now power, in the case of a person holding a position in the Civil Service, in violation of the Civil Service act or rules, to certify to the head of the Department the fact of violation, and if the employee is not dismissed in thirty days, to have his pay stopped. Then, there is to be no transference from one department to another unless the employee has worked six months, and in some position in the classified service. This will prevent the appointment of men with political pull to an unclassified position, their almost immediate transference to the classified service and promotion to a good position, as has been frequently done in the past. Again, the same strict adherence to the merit principle is insisted upon in the Insular Service, so the Philippines, Porto Rico and Hawaii are not to be dumping grounds for political favorites.

"So high is the President's standard, and so rigidly is it adhered to, that reappointments are decided distinctions, and the failure to be reappointed is not discreditable, in the ordinary acceptation of the word."

The twenty-fifth President of the United States is the head of the Government of the latest, and last for a long time, of the Powers that, under the influences of modern movements, the wonders of our transportation, the universal diffusion of the news of the day, the equally marvelous revelations of the drills that penetrate the earth, as the telescopes reveal the mysteries of the skies, have expanded the earthly inheritance of man, and expanded into the foremast class of Great Nations.

At this state of American increase, when the problem of the slavery question, of labor involved, was solved by the sword, as we hope no other problem will need to be solved, two men became representative of our increase -William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. They represented the highest standard of value because it was the surest standard-the high protection by tariff of labor-for it is labor that is the creative source of capital and civilization itself. The common sense wisdom of all the peoples who have the capacity of organization, has comprehended the necessity of protection of our