APRIL 26. 1922 "BUTCHER AND BANDIT" I N one succinct and sweeping phrase an American Legion official, Mr. John T. Taylor, denounces General Gregorio Semenoff, now in this country, as a cowardly butcher and bandit whose entry into this country is inimical to American institutions. A partial apologist for Semenoff, President Barrows, of the University of California, who as a colonel of American forces in Siberia in 1918 saw something of Semenoff, declares that he is a great fighting leader, but also that he is "a human brute, a man to whom death is a jest." There seems to have been a difference of opinion among our immigrant authorities as to whether General Semenoff was entitled to come into the country at all or whether his admission was irregular. At all events, it is agreeable to know that he came in only with permission to remain transiently and that when his various troubles are settled he proposes to leave for Europe, where, it is intimated, he may engage in new Russian plots of an imperialistic character. Certainly he cannot be more anxious to go than the American people are to have him go. At the investigation before a Senate committee two American officers of high standing, General W. S. Graves, who commanded the American Expedition in Eastern Siberia, and LieutenantColonel Charles H. Morrow, General Graves's chief aide, both regular officers of high standing, testified that Semenoff slaughtered prisoners, that he even sent them out in car-loads to what was generally called the "slaughter-yard," and there mowed them down with machine guns. Colonel Morrow asserted that these prisoners were not even Bolshevists, but were harmless peasants. Semenoff's reputation had preceded him to this country; the fierce outcry. against him by Russian Jews, who clamored for his life when he was in a New York jail, is a convincing proof of the horror in which he is held by their people in Russia. Different versions are told of the attack by troops under Semenoff's command against American forces in Eastern Siberia, but there seems to be no doubt that at least two or three Americans were killed. They were avenged by their comrades, and Semenoff claims to have punished those directly responsible. Looting, as well as murder, seems to Wide World Photos GENERAL SEMENOFF AND HIS WIFE have been among Semenoff's chief activities. His legal troubles in this country, in fact, grew out of the claim that he seized and appropriated large amounts of property belonging to an American firm. The condition of affairs in Eastern Siberia in 1917 and 1918 was tumultuous and confused. Semenoff commanded a body of Cossacks and guerrillas who sometimes aided Admiral Kolchak and sometimes ran wild over the country, killing and plundering at will. At one time he was used by the Japanese as a screen for their own operations in Siberia. It may be said that the total result of the military activity of the Allies prevented the establishing of a Bolshevik government in Eastern Siberia. Apart from that, however, it is a chapter of half-hearted action, of purposes formed and then changed or abandoned, and of mutual suspicion among the different forces which were supposed to act in harmony. EX-PRESIDENT WILSON WRITES OF TUMULTY AND REED A Ta dinner given in New York City at which ex-Governor James M. Cox, defeated Democratic candidate for President at the last election, was the principal speaker, a message was read which purported to come from ex-President Wilson. The message was given to the Chairman by Mr. Wilson's former Secretary, Joseph P. Tumulty. message was read to the diners directly after Mr. Cox had criticised the Harding Administration and expressed the opinion that the League of Nations would be the chief political issue of 1924. We quote the message as it appears in the New York "Times:" The Say to the Democrats of New York that I am ready to support any man who stands for the salvation of America, and the salvation of America is justice to all classes. The juxtaposition of speech and message is said to have appeared to many of the diners to have a serious political significance, although the message ascribed to the ex-President seems to us innocuously Delphic. Reports published in the press that this message from Mr. Wilson might not be authentic drew forth the following letter to the New York "Times:" message if I had not believed it to be The incident would hardly seem to justify so public a repudiation unless it comes as a culmination of a series of incidents of which the pubilc has no knowledge. A second political episode drew forth This another letter from Mr. Wilson. time it was Senator Reed, of Missouri, who drew down on his head the exPresidential lightning. Senator Reed is a candidate for re-election to his present office. In the course of his campaign Mr. Lee Meriwether, an ardent supporter, stated that he had seen a letter from President Wilson warmly thanking Senator Reed for the great service the Senator rendered in perfecting and passing the Federal Reserve Bill. President Wilson in a letter to the "Globe Democrat" refers to the remarks of "one Lee Meriwether" and declares that he has no recollection of ever having written any such letter and says: On the contrary, I clearly remember that Mr. Reed, as a member of the Committee on Banking and Currency, interposed every possible objection to the completion and adoption of the bill. His objections, indeed, were SO Having spoken of reading a certain To those who have closely observed Senator Reed has made public a letter from President Wilson which he says refers to his action on the Federal Reserve Bill. This we quote as follows: I have felt all along the sincere honesty and independence of judgment you were exercising in this whole matter, and you may be sure that there has never been in my mind any criticism except an occasional difference of judgment. I think that things are now shaping themselves admirably, and I am quite willing to admit that the processes upon which you have insisted have contributed to that result. I feel that I can count on you from this time out to play a leading part in bringing this whole matter to a satisfactory issue, and 1 want you to know what satisfaction it gives me to feel that I can do this. Senator Reed in his comment on this episode has shown unusual self-restraint. It would not have been too much for him to have said that no public man of our time has left so many wrecked friendships in his wake as Mr. Wilson. G A LESSON IN HOME RULE OVERNOR MILLER, of New York, has done a service to the cause of local self-government by vetoing a salary bill that had been passed by the New York Legislature. There is constantly much talk for political purposes about home rule, but not often an exposition of its principle. The value of Governor Miller's veto, together with the memorandum which accompanied it, consists in the direct application of the principle of home rule, or local self-government, to a case in point. According to the bill which the Governor vetoed, the salaries of the Mayor and the Comptroller of New York City would have been raised from $15,000 to $25,000, and that of the President of the Board of Aldermen from $5,000 to $15,000. To the increase of these salaries itself the Governor offered no objection, but he used his authority to prevent that increase being made by the State Legislature instead of the city's legislative body, the Board of Aldermen. The local legislature, which represents the taxpayers who pay the city salaries, had already received from the State Legislature power to fix the city salaries. To that power was affixed a sound limitation-that the salaries of certain important officials should not be changed during their terms of office. This limitation is one which is found both in the State and in the Federal Constitution. As the Governor points out, if the State Legislature regards this limitation as unwise with respect to city salaries, it should not violate that limitation itself, but remove it from the statute-books. "The way to insure home rule," says the Governor, "is for the Legislature to confer suitable powers over local affairs upon the local officials and then scrupulously to refrain from itself exercising those powers." The fact that Mayor Hylan, of New York, had approved this bill increasing his own salary, as well as that of two other officials, has been seized upon by some of the Mayor's opponents as a reflection upon the Mayor. The fact, however, that he had vetoed during his former term of office a similar bill should be placed to his credit. The important point is not one which affects the motives of Mayor Hylan or Governor Miller. It concerns, rather, a matter of permanent and National concern. The key to political power is the power of the purse. True local selfgovernment consists in the power of controlling public expenditures for purely local purposes. Every city government should have that power, properly limited of course, embodied in its charter. Of course it cannot exercise that power if it is going to encounter interference from the Legislature of the State. It may be debatable whether control over transportation within a city is, for ex ample, solely within the function of the city authorities; but it seems to us not debatable that the fixing of local salaries is essential to the exercise of any right to home rule. MINNESOTA ENTERS THE CAMPAIGN TEXT November the country will elect NEXT a new House of Representatives and a third of a new Senate. Minnesota is early in getting into shape for the political fray. The Non-Partisan League has given way to the Farmer-Labor party, and if that new party (or old party under a new name) declines to . fuse with the Democrats-and the indications are that it will insist upon independent action-the Republican prospects are bright and the re-election of Senator Frank B. Kellogg and Governor Preuss is probable. Both were indorsed overwhelmingly by the recent pre-primary party convention. Against them the Farmer-Labor party will run for the Senatorship Hendrik Shipstead, a Minneapolis dentist, and Magnus Johnson, now a State Senator. The Democrats have nominated Edward Indrehus for Governor and Mrs. Peter Olesen for United States Senator. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the Minnesota conventions has been the nomination of women as candidates. Mrs. Olesen has served as a president of women's federated clubs. She was a delegate to the International Child Welfare Congress in Washington, was the first woman to speak at a Jackson Day banquet in Washington, and was the only woman delegate to talk on the Democratic National platform at San Francisco; she spoke on "bone dry America." Another woman, Mrs. Kneubuhl, was put on the Democratic ticket as candidate for the office of LieutenantGovernor, while the Republicans nominated as Clerk of the Supreme Court Miss Alice Kaescher. We notice on Mrs. Olesen's campaign circular these concluding words: "She belongs to the rank and file of the common people. Her occupation is Housewife." A well-informed correspondent of The Outlook in Minneapolis writes of the political situation following the party conventions: "On the face of things, unless the Democrat and Farmer-Labor parties fuse, the Republicans have a walk-away. Committees were appointed by both conventions to effect fusion, but they were not successful. The League. has largely abandoned its former slogan, 'State-Owned Industries.' The only echo was found in a plank of the Farmer-Labor party platform which asked for an enlargement of the present State-owned experimental flour-mill. . . . The business and financial outlook of the entire State is improving. Farmers are paying their debts and there is a decidedly better tone everywhere." "L' A BUSINESSLIKE DEPARTMENT ESS government in business and more business in government," is the keynote of the Department of Commerce. The phrase was uttered by Secretary Hoover while addressing a few weeks ago a group of presidents and executives of Chambers of Commerce. The occasion was a Conference of officers of civic-commercial organizations from New England at the Department of Commerce called by Mr. Hoover in order that representatives of business could see what the Government is doing in the effort to help business. The Conference was the first of its kind, and may be the forerunner of others. Foreign commerce Mr. Hoover considers to be the balance-wheel of business, serving to absorb enough of the country's productive forces to take up the slack in times of low demand, and, if consistently developed, often spelling the difference between solvency and insolvency through reduction of overhead in proportion to volume. In his brief address to the Conference he emphasized the importance of consistency, once having entered the foreign field, for, he pointed out, lack of continuous service has led many foreign buyers to steer away from American goods. Having built up a demand for a given brand, the producer is unfair if he leaves the foreign buyer in the lurch because the producer chances to have an improved market at home. It is due to American commerce as an institution to support the venture, once undertaken, in a consistent fashion. The Department of Commerce, the visitors learned, through its Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, has developed three branches. They are for the collection and distribution of general information regarding conditions and demand in foreign countries; the gathering and dissemination of information to commodity divisions, headed by men who, through experience, speak the MRS. PETER OLESEN, NOMINATED BY THE MINNESOTA STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION AS CANDIDATE FOR THE UNITED STATES SENATE language of the business and who have been selected through co-operation with the industries represented; and the bringing together and the broadcasting of technical information relating to such matters as methods of packing, changing tariffs, shipping regulations, etc. It is the aim of the Department to make the information it furnishes, not only what the business man wants, but available when he wants it. It has even gone so far in this direction as to change the character of Census reports. They no longer come to hand a year after the gathering of the data, but within a month, on the assumption that business would rather have a report based on recent data collected from reliable sources, even if it has not been proved up in the scientific manner characteristic of the old type of Governmental reports. Books of information about various little-known countries equivalent to fine guide-books, weekly publications giving all available information regarding trade opportunities, monthly data relating to condition of the industries, are prepared and distributed wherever they will be of service. Thousands of inquiries of importance to business men are received and answered weekly. The number of inquiries has multiplied many fold since the expansion of the activities of the Department under Mr. Hoover. He is seeking to expand its usefulness and bring its facilities to the attention of business men throughout the entire country. THE ARKANSAS SPIRIT UR readers will remember-certainly our Southwestern readers will remember that some weeks ago we published an article in defense of the industrial and financial prosperity of the State of Arkansas, which had been severely criticised by the New York "Times," one of the most influential of the New York dailies. We have recently received a letter from a wise and observant newspaper man of another Southern State, in which he says: I have just made a trip through much of Arkansas, during which I met and talked with business men in both the large and small towns. I am writing to tell you that the reports by Mr. Rogers are not overdrawn and that they represent the real conditions that exist in the State. Arkansas, with one or two exceptions, is the most progressive State in the South. Nothing indicates the prosperity of a State so much as the number of banks in proportion to population. You can look at a directory and see that with its approximately 450 banks Arkansas is unusually well supplied. The business men of Arkansas are up to the minute, carry on their affairs In the most accepted ways, and are reliable and trustworthy. The State itself is a marvel in its possibilities and resources. Its agricultural facilties are extraordinary and its minerals so great in value and number that one has to be on the ground to get any real idea of their extent. Permit me to say that Mr. Rogers's article is a true showing of the situation and a patriotic service to a commonwealth that is setting a splendid pace in that type of progress that lines up with the best in both business and civic thought. In my recent trip I went to Little Rock, Pine Bluff, Fort Smith, Searcy, Arkadelphia, Hot Springs, and Texarkana in addition to many smaller places. I came in contact with all types of citizens and my opinions were derived from talking with men in every walk. I made it a point to talk to farmers, garage men, railroad men, and clerks as well as to bankers. No man can go into the State and fail to be impressed with its people, its methods, and its loyal spirit. There is a distinct "Arkansas Spirit" that is doing for the State what the "Atlanta Spirit" does for Atlanta, Georgia. Arkansas is all right. It is pleasant to receive and to quote such a letter. The daily newspapers of to-day with their over-emphasized records of banditry, defalcation, lynching. misgovernment, graft, betrayals of trust. and vice and crime in general, give a distorted idea of modern American life Men who, like our correspondent, visit the small towns and villages and farming districts of the country come back with a different story. We do not mean to say that there are not plenty of evils in American life to combat. But it is well to remember that, on the whole. |