The Washington herald., 1910-12-20
POLITICAL POTPOURRL.

froEIt The ftlc1lfnnnd Tines Dlsr2tch.
PeanEful revolution is threatened in Washington.
I1ie Press dispatches say that the Capital is stirred
TO intense indignation because President Taft n
ordering that government employees in the various
Federal departments shall Work seven and mehaIf
hous the day instead Of seven hours This is
necsary to cary out the administrators policy Of
eoonmhal mHnagemsnt
Frum tho Chicago Record-HeAld.
Mr. MacVeagh. Ike Prof. Laughlin, holds that
provision for TaEEd issues Of bank nOtts' m ezner-
gslc1es Is by no means the CENTRAL point Of hank
Ing reforzn- He would sEree that the tUuhae Is
not the lack Of currency IN the hands Of the peo-
pie al oItain periods but '-tle difficulty Of the
banks In lending accommodating legitimate czls-
TONERS. in keeEdng industry and trade going
Prom the Springfield Republican
There Is Alnost no comment upon Nh Roozs-
veit's New Haven address. but one u bis state
meuB is unusual that It must Command the
attention Of many readers He declared that he
wished TO seq a radical programme earned out
b. conservatives" Conversely. he ought TO wish
10 sss conservative programmes carried out by
radicals This is not the way in which men
ordinarily yieE the question Of executing polcy
Prom the Milwaukee Free Presz
One Os the chief dangers IN any sweeping reform
movement, grounded in acknowledged abuses and
sponsored b. awakened public cossaence, Is its
liability to SWEEP d9snagogue agitators, and ire
sponEble radicals into the SEATS Of accomplishment
That danger Mr. Roosevelt evidently appreciates
10 the full since his plea for sane sober. NJ,
sponsble and conservative men 10 work out the
great reform legislation now under way in State
and nation, Is ono Of the strongest passages of his
address.
From the Kansas City Times
Maine, Miehigan, Missouri Oklahoma. Arkansas.
South Dakota. Montana, Nevada, Colorado, and
Oregon have adopted the referendum. In Kansas,
Nebraska, California, North Dakota, Wisconsin,
Illinois, and Massachusetts, both parties have in
dersei the reform. In Wyoming, Arizona, Iowa.
Minnesota, Utah, Washington, Idaho and Ohio
one the ether Of the parties has indorsed the
plan. modified form Of the system is in opera
ton IN Texas. Thus IN more than half the States
the initiative and referendum is already either in
operation or is promised.
From Bryan's Ocuanaoner
When the New York World proposed "a new
Democratic party in which the Bryan socialism
should DO abandoned the CmmOner asked: what
! IS the thing the New York World calls Bryan
| socialism from which, in the Worlds opinion,
the party has been enanciratedl'' Pretending TO
reply. the World names government ownership q
railroads prohibition, and some sother things that
were not in the platform. II is not willing how.
ever. 10 use the platform Of 1908 as the calcium
light in which the purpose Of the men behind
the Worlds reorganization plan may be read.
From the New York Mail
That an army is a good thing to have on hand
even Ia time Of reace was czJnciusiyely shown dur
ing the great forest fires that swept over Placer
and Nevada counties, in California. The fires got
beyond the control Of local agencies. and the War
Department detailed two companies Of coast artil-
leFy 70 fsht the flames Those two companies
rom August . until September .. maIrilsd from
thiry-hve to forty-sx miles day climbing one
mountain SEQ feet high in twenty four hours. an
other Of zoO feet In eleven hOGrE successfully fight
ing blazing forests nearly eTery step Of the Esk