New-York tribune., 1910-06-23


failed him at the crucial moment
| brilliant orator, the possessor of great per-
sonal magnetism, the debtor Of President
Taft for the proffered nomination for the
Vice-Presidency, although he did not ac-
cept IT. the senior Senator from Iowa finds
! himself to-day with his back against the
| wall, fighting a battle of life and death
under a leader who he knows would sacrf-
| fee him in an instant to gain the slightest
! advantage. and compelled to attempt the
destruction of an administration with
which he is in far greater sympathy than
the cause in which he has enlisted. ma
jority Of his colleagues regard him with
the deepest pity.
GENTLE COURTEsY-Amon the
| many callers at the White House to-day
was a distinguished looking man, who
brought letter of introduction from Car
dinal Gibbons. which explained that the
bearer was the Catholic Bishop of Lisbon,
Portugal. He came while the Cabinet was
in session and Secretary Norton asked
him TO return when the meeting had
ended, which he did After presenting the
churchman TO the President Secretary Nor
ton gave him letter to a friend at the
apitol asking that every courtesy be eX-
lctloDu 10 the NSn6TdpiS SiSTSyI1dIlf tNdI
he be shown to the White House seats in
the reserved galleries. etc. and then, as
Bishop Sylvia was about to depart. Mr..
Norton, who had accompanied him to the
door. noticed that he was without a CON
veyance. With an appropriate remark con
cerning the hot weather. Mr.. Norton
and ordered his coachman to drive the
finrpVO9n n ha JI-aS Itftle
thing, merely an act OF courtesy to an
elderly clergyman but It is Of such things
that diplomacy is made and who can say
how farreachfng the effect may be?
MR. MEYERS TRIUMPH.-Yesterday
both houses of Congress agreed to the
naval appropriation bill. containing a pro-
vision which will enable Secretary Meyer
to carry to completion his already sue
cessful organization Of the navy The
general deficiency bill carries an appro-
priation which in effect will enable the
Secretary to establish a property fund in
the department, which constitutes long
stride in the direction of administering the
department as an entity and not as col
lection of bureaus. Finally. to-day. the
Senate passed the postal savings bank
BILL precisely as 1t passed the House. which
HlG6IS IlldL II requires Only InS SiSHdtuic
of the President to become law. 1t may
not be generally realized that Secretary
Meyer is the real father of postal savings
banks He it was who first urged their
creation when he was Postmaster General,
and those who followed closely the pro-
ceedings of the last Republican national
convention will recall that it was Secre-
tary Meyers forceful telegram TO Frank
r ado n
postal savings plank in the national plat
form. Without that plank, even the earn
est work of the President could not have
secured the enactment of the legislation at
this session, in view of the determined op-
position of the bankers. AS a result of this
diversified victory, Mr.. Meyer Is being
most heartily ngratulated on the work of
Congress.
A GOOD BILL-The Mondel1 bill, which
provides for appeals to the courts from the
decisions of the Secretary of the Interior
in all cases affecting the disposal of the
public domain. has been approved by the
Public Lands Committee with an amend
ment which strikes out the provision which
limited such appeals to questions of law,
and will be reported, and, it is believed.
passed tomorrow. Assistant Attorney
General Lawler appeared before the COM
mittee to-day and strongly supported the
bill. which,. it IS recognized. is needed to
protect the Secretary of the Interior quite
as much as the public lands. 1t is hoped
that the Senate will also pass the measure,
and that it may become a law at this ses-
sion It has been said that this law is an
outcome of the controversy over the Cum |
ningham claims. and to a limited extent
that is true. But it is generally believed
by the administration that the RESPONSE |
bility imposed on the Secretary of the In
terror by making his decisions in land cases
final is too heavy, and that he should en-
joy the protection in mooted cases of an |
appeal to the courts. which would either |
confirm his decision or. If not found just. !
would reverse it before serious results |
could follow. g. G- H.
r0rnn1jtfee /