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THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS CO., Is a Franco-Japanese entente Possible?.. 237 238 China, the Sphinx of the Twentieth Century... 239 242 Some Beneficial Effects of Coffee as a Drink.... 245 (Sir Henry Campbell-Baterman, who has now received the emphatic approval of his ministry by the Best voter in the general paritamentary elections is a patient, methodical, and tireless worker. Altbungi : his seventieth year, he will retain, in addition to the burdens of the premiership, the leadership in the VOL. XXXIII. Review of Reviews. NEW YORK, FEBRUARY, 1906. No. 2. Assaults on the President. THE PROGRESS OF THE WORLD. Those who were breathing the atmosphere of Washington last month, or those who took their views exclusively from the newspapers of New York, might well have thought that the President of the United States had lost prestige and support, and was indeed in sorry luck. Criticism and opposition seemed to beset him in every direction. The Senate was supposed to be hostile, the House was insurgent, (and, in short, everything had turned against the President's plans and policies. The sugar and tobacco interests were going to defeat the Philippine tariff bill. UNCLE SAM IS ON. SENATE: "Hey, Uncle, come quick. Looke, see what the terrible Teddy has done now-Panama-silver coinageSanto Domingan treaty-awful-wow!!!" UNCLE SAM: "Say, I'm not half so much interested in what Teddy has done as in what you are not doing." The obstructionists and defamers were going to show that the President's proceedings in Panama had been both unlawful and scandalous. The mining interests and the railroads had conspired to defeat the Statehood bill. The railwayrate bill was doomed through the influence of the transportation lobby. The Santo Domingo treaty was going to fail in the Senate; the forest reserves bill was to be side-tracked; the consular reform bill was to be emasculated. Petty incidents relating to the President's orders or remarks were misstated or exaggerated, and Mr. Roosevelt was denounced as a tyrant, curbing the freedom of the press and trampling on the liberties of the individual. Public The fact is, that the popular opinion Confidence of President Roosevelt has not Unshaken. changed. This is a large country, with many millions of thoughtful people in it; and those who are unselfishly desiring the public welfare have just as much confidence in the President to-day as they had six months ago. Certain things that have happened in New York and Washington were not only to have been expected, but were inevitable. It was not to have been thought for a moment that powerful and self-seeking interests would have surrendered their positions without any show of fight merely out of deference to Mr. Roosevelt's popularity. The country knows well not only that the President is doing his best, but that he is doing it in a remarkably intelligent and well-considered manner. Never since he has been in public life has the President shown greater serenity, steadier poise, or a higher fitness for his tasks than in the present session of Congress. And when this long session is ended next summer, there will be results in the way of legislation that will, to some extent at least, justify the hopes and intentions of the people who elected the present Congress for the express purpose of supporting The Railway Measure. Thus, Mr. Roosevelt's advocacy of a measure for the better regulation of railroads would be fairly well met by the adoption of the so-called Dolliver bill now pending in the Senate committee,-which is in substantial accord with a bill that will probably be reported from Mr. Hepburn's committee in the House. The public opinion of the whole country is so clearly behind the President in demanding railway legislation that it is not to be supposed for a moment that Congress will fail to deal with the question before the session ends. It is obvious that very much must depend upon the men who are to administer the improved legislation. If nothing more is done, the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission will be increased. Some weeks ago the President appointed to a vacancy in the Interstate Commerce Commission the Hon. Franklin K. Lane, of San Francisco. Mr. Lane is a lawyer by profession, a Democrat in politics, a man of culture and high character who has served as city attorney of San Francisco, and has been the nominee of his party both for mayor of that city and for governor of the State. Mr. Lane is exactly the sort of man who should be placed on ought to have been no hesitation on the part of the Senate in confirming so brilliant an appointment. The Interstate Commerce Commission is made up of members of both parties, and the fact that Mr. Lane is not a Republican should not have been looked upon in the light of a disqualification. Meanwhile the Government is working as effectively as it can under present legislation to prevent and punish the granting of railroad rebates and other forms of discrim ination, and the railroads themselves are now manifesting a wholly unwonted zeal in trying to reform their own methods and cease from law. breaking practices. Thus, the great discussion of evils in railway methods that President Roose velt more than any one else has brought about is already having very salutary results in anticipation of new enactments. The railroads themselves will be much better off when the business of common carriers is rid of its worst abuses. HON. FRANKLIN K. LANE, OF SAN FRANCISCO, Appointed by the President as a member of the Interstate ing sugar, tobacco, and rice; and upon these three articles the tariff will be only 25 per cent. of that which foreign nations have to pay under the present law. The bill as passed accords with the recommendations of President Roosevelt and Secretary Taft. The vote stood 258 yeas to 71 nays. The Democrats for the most part supported the bill, on the ground that, in so far as it went, it was to be regarded as a step toward free trade. Those fighting the bill were mostly Republicans, representing opposition on several grounds. Thus, Mr. William Alden Smith, of Michigan, has long been identified with the view that American beet-sugar interests are in danger from favorable treatment of Cuban and Philippine cane sugar. A good deal of the opposition, however, as led by Representative Babcock, of Wisconsin, and others, seems to have been due to a different set of motives, and to be directed not so much against the Philippine tariff bill as against some other administration policies. It is to be expected that the Senate will pass the Philippine bill, and that we shall thus have taken a step of great importance in the completion of our Philippine policy, and one which must have also some more or less direct bearing upon our future treatment of tariff questions. The "Insur The real opposition to the policies of gents and the administration is organized for Their Aims. the purpose of defeating the Statehood bill, weakening the proposed railroad-rate legislation, and making confusion in the Panama Canal business. The Statehood bill proposes to admit two new States, one of them to be formed by the union of Indian Territory and Oklahoma, and the other to comprise Arizona and New Mexico. The opposition comes from thoroughly selfish private interests, some of which pertain to New Mexico, but most of them to Arizona. These interests are so wealthy and so powerful, and have been working so skillfully, that some of the men arrayed in Congress against the President's policy are probably ignorant of the precise nature of the motives of those who have persuaded them to take the so-called "insurgent "stand. For example, some of the largest of the copper and other mining properties of Arizona are controlled by men who reside in the North and West, and who have great influence with certain Northern and Western Congressmen. Thus, it would probably be found on close inquiry that a large number of the Republican members who are opposing the Statehood bill are undertaking to oblige certain people who have requested them to help in the scheme to prevent the union of REPRESENTATIVE BABCOCK, OF WISCONSIN. (A leader of the Republican "Insurgents.") Arizona's As a separate Territory, Arizona is Future in the in many respects absolutely conBalance. trolled by great corporation interests. If it could be admitted as a separate State, these interests would be delighted; but if it cannot be admitted separately, they prefer to keep it in its present territorial status. This sums up the whole situation. The Democrats as a body oppose the Statehood bill for a different reason altogether. They wish to multiply Southwestern States, on the theory that these will be normally Democratic; and they have for many years past in their platforms absolutely committed themselves to the admission of New Mexico and Arizona as separate States. But this is not a sound position to take in making permanent additions to the group of sovereign American commonwealths. As matters stood last month, it looked very much as if Representative Babcock and the other opponents of the Statehood bill could, by uniting with the Democrats, defeat Speaker Cannon and the administration. There was some excitement at Washington over the statement that the President had in conversation directly charged that the copper-mining companies and other corporations were making improper use of money and shares of stock to influence Congressional action. This was promptly |