The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1915-12-20
OFFICIALS CAUSE
MUCH WAR TALK
Newspapers Not Alone RaspOn-
sibIe For Scare" Heads.
MANY FINE HINTS DROPPED

Men In the Various Departments by
Their Yelled Statements Give the
impression That Crisis Is More
Acute Than IL Really is-Corre-
spcndents Think Much 10 Concealed.
BY ARTHUR W. DUNN.
Washington. Dec. Is. Especial
The officials of the government are
just as responsible as the newspapers
for the impression that the United
States is on the verge Of war with for
eign countries, or at least that diplo-
matte relations with some OF the war
ring powers viii soon be severed.
From the president down to the un-
behring's in different departments the
hints are dropped from time to time
about the delicate relations. the fine
balance. and all that kind OF stuff,
which goes for sensationalism when
turned into good newspaper copy.
OF course the impression created In
the minds Of the correspondents liz
that there IN much concealed, much
that may come out later and so the
imagination Of what IL can be has full
play and the writers make the most OF
It. That is one reason why there are
80 many haring headlines these days
with war breathing through them.
Plots and Spies.
So also has the impression been al
lowed to seep IN that plots are thick
and spies are everywhere. IF You
only knew what we know" is the IA
vorite expression OF officials. Gould
you see what passes under my eye
which comes from u secret agents"
and other expressions give the impress
sion that our secret service men. de
partment of justice investigators and
the other army or men employed by
the government to ferret out things
have plots. spies and conspiracies by
the hundreds. AS long as this idea
permeates the atmosphere of Washing
ton there Is sure TO be a lot OF things
published which tend to disturb u
relations with foreign governments.
The old Ticket.
The opposition TO Vice President
Marshall as Wilson's running mate
seems to have died out. In fact. IL did
not amount to much In the first place
and came from those jealous admin
istration men who were still sore be
cause Marshall would not strong
arm" the ship purchase bin through
the senate during the last congress.
ut will be the old ticket" Is the YER
diet OF most Democrats who discuss
the action OF the convention, which
Will be held at st. Louis next June.
Cut and Dried.
The men from Dallas. Tex, who
made a good fight for the Democratic
convention. have been having their
say about ST. Louis. She's bought a
gold brick" they said. The Demo
cratic convention Is going TO be a cut
and dried affair. There won't even be
a fight over the nomination Of a vice
president. The platform will be made
In Washington. and all the principal
officers viii be selected long In ad-
vance. The crowds win not go to the
convention. st. Louis will get mighty
little for her $1,000
Now. with Dallas 1t would be diff
ferent. Perhaps we would not have
got our 100000 back, but we would
have had the honor Of entertaining a
national convention. We would have
got something in advertising. n we
would have had something TO show the
visitors which would have been new"
Civil War Pensions.
Lit is now fifty years since the ciyil
war ended and congress is flooded
with pension bills for the benefit OF
soldiers who served in that war and
the widows of such soldiers. Ii has
been predicted for n long time that
the pension payments would decrease.
but the decreases are comparatively
small. If the army and navy is largely
increased the pension list will begin
to grow accordingly.
They Like Root.
Ii a majority OF the Democratic sen
ators had their way and had 10 pick q
Republican president they would Sc.
lect Elihu Root. Ii is surprising to
find how many are saying kind words
about the New Yorker. And IT is also
surprising TO find that quite a number
of Democrats think Root viii be the
Republican nominee.
Montana Rivalry.
Senator Myers of Montana is chair
man OF the committee on public lands
Senator Walsh of Montana is chair
man Of the committee on mines ant
mining. Now, the latter COMMITTEES
was created years ago to give som
senator a craftsmanship. II was never
intended I do anything. because al
matters which 1t could claim jurisdic
tion over really belonged to public
lands. But Walsh wants to MAXI
somothinp Of his committee and trie,