Omaha daily bee., 1899-07-12


and moral-for republican congress
to fail to enact such legislation. The
second proposition, there is every rea-
son to believe, will be adopted, since
there is no important diversity of opin-
ion in regard to it, AS to national bank
issues, that is a question which can
wait If it should threaten to interfere
with the more essential currency legls-
lation that is proposed.
"
THE PRESIDENT OF GREATER AMERICA.
20, yes" said President Miller yester-
day, II saw the signed editorial of Mr..
Rosewater in Sundays Bee, wherein l am
made to ask. What am l here for?' l
have no recollection of the incident. So far
as l know no such remark was ever made
Mr.. Rosewater, you know, is quite joker
and presume in this instance he was at his
old tricks, joking, as usual. He is surely
mistaken / never heard of his proposition
to make General Sumner director general Of
the exposition until some days afterward
and certainly could not have made the re-
marks attributed to me.
"As to Mr.. Rosewater taking me to WASH
ington and introducing me, and giving me
a standing among the national characters
1 thought that had some acquaiptance with
public men and that had perhaps a little
standing in the national capital. but find on
reading his signed editorial in The Bee
that | was greatly mistaken, and am in
debted to him for the introduction and the
standing and the success attained by my late
visit. l wish here and now to thank him
for taking me up and introducing me to
Mr.. Meiklejohn, Senator Thurston and Con-
gresham Mercer and a number of other
fellow Nebraskans whom we met and who
aided and assisted us very materially in
making the Greater America Exposition
what it Is. ! do not wish to be ungrateful,
and now extend my heartfelt thanks for
his great kindness and consideration in this
matter and in my behalf.'-World-Hera
Some men are born great, some
achieve greatness, while others have
greatness thrust upon them. President
Miller belongs to the latter class. In
his innate vanity he is swelled up out
Of all proportion by being the salaried
president, not of a worlds international
exposition, but of a summer fair spread
over beautiful piece of parking, with
a Midway as chief attraction The presi-
dent is verging close on three score and
ten and may be excused for having an
impediment to his memory. He has
seemingly forgotten as easily what was
uppermost in his mind when the director
generalship was under discussion before
the executive committee as he has his
own public and published admissions.
He does not recollect perhaps, that he
declined to go to Washington alone and
| L; t,i@
duced to go to the national capital with
him, confessing, as he did at the time,
that he was absolutely unknown to the
new generation of cabinet officers and
bureau heads while 1 had kept in close
touch with them personally and politi-
cally. He also has forgotten that in
making his official report of the result
of his trip to Washington he had ac-
knowledged the obligations under which
l had placed the exposition. To be sure
he did not forget to claim for himself
credit for all that had been conceded or
promised by cabinet officers and bureau
officials. Like Rip Van Wrinkle, Presi-
dent Miller seems utterly oblivious of
the lapse of time which has placed
twenty years between himself and the
eminent public men who played their
part on the political stage when he was
one of its supers. He forgets that James
Buchanan, Horatio Seymour Samuel J.
Tilden and Sam Randall have passed
over to the majority, while he still lin
gers on the brink. True President Mil
| Ter did not need an Introduction to Con
gresham Mercer and Senator Thurston,
but he doubtless remembers that Thurs
ton was out of the city and did not re-
turn until after our mission had been
performed, while Mercer was not within
our reach at the time. The president
of Greater America had never met John
Hay, secretary of state, whom / had
known ever since he was private secre-
tary to Abraham Lincoln, and he did
not even know Major w. II. Michael,
chief clerk of the State department, who
halls from Nebraska. The president Of
Greater America had never met then
Acting Postmaster General Heath who
had for nine years acted as Washington
correspondent of The Bee, nor had he
ever known Secretary of Agriculture
Wilson, Acting Indian Commissioner
Tonner, Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Allen, Supervising Architect of the
Treasury Taylor, or anybody else exer-
cising important functions in the pres
ent administration excepting General
Greely and Quartermaster General
Luddington, both of whom had been
residents of Omaha twenty years ago.
He did know Assistant Secretary of War
Meiklejohn. / doubt very much, how
ever, whether Mr.. Meiklejohn, at whose
hands we received so much attention,
would have gone out of his way but for
my personal intercession.
! But man who labors under the hal
lucination that he is president of all
America naturally looks down with dis
dain and derision upon ordinary mortals
without title or patent of nobility.
IF anyone doubts that the admins