Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1903-07-02

Especial Washington letter.
SET N the spring young mans fancy
lightly turns to thoughts of
love-" Bourke Cochran is to be
n married, 1t is said, and con-
seQuently sees all things through rose
colored glasses. He cooes mildly as
sucking dove and seems happy as
clam at high tide The story is re-
newed-supposedly because he is to
marry lords daughter that he is
about to settle, or, rather, resettle, in
Ireland and represent an Irish con-
stituency in parliament. AS he has
become enormously rich there may be
something in the story this time. That
he would increase his fame by so do
ing there is no question. He would be
the first man to serve in both the Brit
ish parliament and the American con-
gress. That fact alone would cause
people to talk about him-that, too, in
a favorable sort of way. 1t is said to
be his ambition to re-enact the role Of
Charles Stewart Parnell on a larger
and more successful plan. Whether
the elements arc ripe for such per-
formance time alone can tell.
That Cochran is an orator no fair
minded man will gainsay, although
"Private" John Allen in a fit of disgust
characterized him as "a believing
blatherskite.' That was hyperbolical,
and nobody knew it better than John
himself Cochran had the gift of CAB
originally, and has cultivated it every
way he knew how. He has studied
much and this new found wealth will
give him the leisure to study more.
His superb physique has always helped
him amazingly as an orator and some
what justified the bitter taunt of Jo-
seph Henry Walker of Massachusetts
TO the effect that Cochran has more
physical eloquence than any man
ever knew. His whole stock in trade
consists in mauling his desk and 'hol-
lering' loudr' But "Uncle Joe" was
mad when he said that.
Whittier Drifting7
Things are being done in this blessed
country now and decisions are being
ground out by the courts-even by the
highest court-which ten years ago
would have provoked revolution.
Now people submit -murmuring, it is
true, but they submit.
Truly Alexander Pope, poet and cpl
grammatist, knew what he was up to
when he wrote the following quatrain:
Vice is monster of SO frightful mien
AS to be hated needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure. then pity, then embrace.
Those lines are peculiarly applicable
to all this Asiatic expansion business,
the most preposterous scheme ever
Matched in the brain of man. When it
was proposed to annex the Hawaiian
Islands some of us fought the PROPOSE
tisn as the beginning of system Of
land grabbing round the world, a sys-
TEN by which we would establish
American proconsular government in
all the lands and over all the peoples
so takap, system which would be an
tagonfsfic to all American theory, all
American precedents, all American his
tory. 1t is not pleasant to say, Il told
you SOP l at least have no ambition
to play the role of prophet. wish the
prophecy had not come true. But it
has, and here is partial confirmation
IL an editorial from the st. Louis Post
Dispatch, every word of which / in
dorse:
The supreme court of the United States
has decided in the case of Osaki Mankechi,
a japanese, convicted of manslaughter in
Hawaii, that the constitution did not fol-
low the flag to the island, but that con-
gress is supreme and can grant constitu-
tional rights and privileges to annexed
populations or deny them, as 1t sees fit.
When Hawaii was annexed joint reso-
luton of congress provided that the Ha-
waiian laws not contrary to the constitu-
ton of the United States were to con-
tinue In force.
Now the constitution expressly declares
that mo person shall be held to answer
for a capital or otherwise infamous crime
unless on a presentment or indictment OF
grand jury
Osaki Mankechi was not given the bene-
fit of this guarantee. He was not indicted
by grand jury. The old Hawaiian proc
ess was employed In his case and on this
ground he petitioned for discharge. The
supreme court by vote of to 4. holds
that the plea is not good and that the
Inhabitants of Hawaii are not entitled to
any Of the constitutional guarantees Of
personal liberty unless congress expressly
grants them.
In other words, congress, the creature
of the constitution, is greater than its
creator over part of the American do
main.
Commenting on the Judgment of the
YYIdO n a dissent ting nrffa-
ion. asks:
"Can it be that the constitution is the
supreme law in the states of the Union
and In the organized territories of the
United Stat between the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans and yet is not the supreme
law in territories and among peoples sit
uated like the territory and people of Ha-
wall and over which the United States
acquired all rights of sovereignty Of
whatsoever kind?'
1t Is a pr .tinent question. Constitu-
tional liberty at home, despotism in the
'dependencies"- that seems to be the only
logical inference to be drawn from the
courts decision.
A Sage Suggestion.
The Press-Journal of Louisiana, Mo-,
edited by q wit with the philosophic
name of Is: C Newton Bryson, makes
a sage suggestion in applied political
economy:
In levying taxes to secure municipal
revenue citie and towns should look be-
fore they leap. Pleasant Hill laid a tax
of SIS on the right to sell coal oil within
its limits ecantly. A check was prompt-
ly sent the c.-y treasurer by the Standard
OIL compan followed by instructions
the company agent at Pleasant Hill to
raise the price of oil there 2 cents a gall
lon. The tw ity-five dollar tax thus cost
the people of Pleasant Hill about $500 an
nually.
Tom Balls Retirement.
Congressman rom Ball of the Eighth
district Of Texas has announced that
he will resign his seat Nov. l. Balls
loss Will be felt in the ranks of the
Democrats in the house. He is one of
the most brilliant of the younger set
and man of great promise in honest
and earnest legislative work. Recently
Ball moved from Huntsville to Hous-
ton and formed a desirable partnership
for the practice of law. but it begins to,
look as if the Texans would not allow
him to retire from politics, as they are
talking Of him for governor. Hewould
make good one.
Mr.. Justice Harlan at Seventy.
A grand old man is Mr.. Justice John
Marshall Harlan Of the United States
supreme court He is the son of q