The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1908-02-25

. ''ll' INNS '"' A"lii' ''N w 'iA'
slaughter:
Pleased to the last, he crops the
Aowegy food,
And licked the band just raised to
shed his blood
VIII Mr.. Hartman that practical
Ian do this? Let us just watch and
see
Bonds and Bank Currency.
Senator IaFollette has made pro-
position in regard to the plan for the
extension Of the circulating medium
OF banks that is attracting attention
among the chief figures at either end
of the capitol and that thus far has
not aroused antagonism. The chief
point in the Aldrich bill against
which opposition is arrayed is the
provision that banks may issue notes
based upon railroad securities Sen
Gtor LaFollette has slipped in
quiet suggestion-his suggestions are
always made quietly and without any
play to the galleries-that such Sc
curities should only be accepted as a
basis OF circulation after the physi.
cal property of the railroad issuing
them had been officially appraised so
that the controller Of the currency
could determine their real value ann
the amount of water in them.
This is going to greatly discourage
the railroads grieyously discourage
the speculative banks. For nearly
two years the railroads have been
fighting the attempt to have the ac-
tual value of their properties esti-
mated by a public commission and
compared with the amount of securi-
ties they have issued against this
property. They have insisted that
such an appraisement would cost the
government twenty-million dollars.
/ Henry c. Adams, the able statistl-
! clan of the interstate commerce com
| mission is quoted as saying that it
/ would cost between three and five
million. That investment would be
well worth while for the people OF
/ the United States, and as Mr.. Adams
made an appraisement of the rail
roads OF Michigan at the time Ger
tain railroad legislation was asked,
he is probably better equipped than
any man in the United States 10
judge what its cost would be.
The president in his letter to the
/ interstate commerce commission dis
cussing the railroad threat of wage
reductions asked that an inyestiga-
tion be made to discover whether the
inability of the railroads TO pay fair
wages was due 10 their desire to pay
. dividends on watered stock. IL is
obvious that these two propositions,
f. that of the president and that of the
senator from Wisconsin, coincide To
f. determine whether railroad bonds are
! good security for bank notes, 1t must
be found out what the bonds really
II lNIl Nofllls ~ NfN'l llllllt wiz Nllil
railroad rates or the wages paid by
railroads are fair, IL must be learned
whether the fixed charges which the
railroads have to earn are based up
on actual property or upon merely
watered stock
"The Old Order Changeth."
Time was when a presidential can.
didate, or a candidate for a presi-
Dental nomination could conceal his
thoughts under a blanket of soft and
smooth words; could forget the con
crete and talk about the abstract
things; could fail to say the things
that the people were eager to hear
and give them maXims copied from
the top line of the grammar school
copy book. That time is past. Prob
ably nothing that Gov Hughes OF
New York has done will disappolnt