--
THE CORHUIS GAZEnE
Published Tuesdays and.Fridays
by the Gazette Publishing
Co., for $2.00 per annum, or
25 per cent discount if cash is
. paid in advance. - ' . ' .
ELECTIONS FOR 1908.
Closes for election Oct. 20.
Presidential election Nov. 3.
Republican National Ticket.
FOE PRESIDENT
WILLIAM H. TAFT
of Ohio.
FOR VICE PRESIDENT
JAMES S. SHERMAN
of New York.
For Presidential Electors
J. D. LEE, of Multnomah County
F. J. MILLER, of Linn County
A. C. MARSTERS, of Douglass County
R. R BUTLER, of Gilliam County
SENATOR FULTON'S SPEECH
One of the most interesting and
entertaining speeches ever dehv
' ered before a Corvallis audience
was that of Senator C. W. Fulton
at the court house on Wednesday
night to a large and appreciative
audience. -
He seemed particularly inspired
for the occasion of bringing to a
close, from a republican stand
point, one of the most important
political campaigns that has con
fronted the American people
since the Cleveland administra
tion which.Ibrought such dire ca
lamity to the whole country, and
in the noble effort he more than
fulfilled the expectation of his
most ardent friends.
He paid just tribute to
Bryan the citizen an orator but
portrayed s vivid picture of the
utter lack of that stability and
depth of thought which should
peculiarly fit men as presidential
candidates. He cited the numer
ous changes of mind on important
questions to win popular favor
thus keeping in touch with the
people in the vain hopeof winning
the presidency which the Senator
characterized as roiitical dishon
esty and unworthy of a presiden
tial candidate.
In marked contrast he pictured
Mr. Taft who had dared to face
the courage of his convictions re
gardless of public criticism and
so deeply and carefully had he
weighed his thought that he sus
tained the remarkable distinction
of always being right in every
official act and thus commanding
the respect and admiration of all
true Americans.
He painted allowing picture
of the remarkable prosperity un
der republican rule, calling
to mind the absolute fact we are
the most prosperous, happy and
contented people on God's green
earth and deeply deplored the
thought of a change. He briefly
pictured the horrors of '92 to '96
which made a deep impression on
the mind of every man in the
audience. Never was there a
more pathetic story and it should
oft be repeated lest we forget.
He paid some attention to the
bank guarantee plank in the dem
ocratic platform showing its ut
ter impracticability as a measure
of relief and predicted dire con
sequences to the business inter
ests of the country as the result
of its adoption.
He called the attention of the
laboring men present to the fact
that there was not a law on the
statute books todayin their inter
est but those placed there by the
republican-party and that Taft
had proved his friendship to them
by decisions on the bench.
He emphasized the. fact that
the only law operating against
the trusts had been passed by a
republican congress and upheld
by a republican supreme court
with all the democratic members
of that body voting against it.
He spoke for nearly two hours
and was accorded marked atten
tion thus showing the people ap
preciated his eloquent appeal to
vote for Taft.
AN OPEN LETTER.
To The Veteran's of the Civil
.Indian and Spanish, Wars.,
We take the following extracts
from the final appeal made by the
National Tribune to its comrades
in arms during the recent wars :
"For more than a quarter of .a
century the Tribune has been
much honored by you as your
spokesman and counselor. How
surely and well we have advised
you in the past you know far
better than we can tell you. We
ask you to give consideration to
that long record in weighing what
we shall say to you.
In making up your, minds how
you shall vote yourselves, and in
fluence others,' the personality of
the Democratic candidate and his
marvelous daily output of pleas- i
ing promises should have little
consideration. Sounding brass
and tingling cymbals usually lead
armies of voracity and destruc
tion. Were Mr. Bryan an angel of
light he could not change the
character of the cohorts arrayed
behind him, nor swerve a hair's
breadth their purposes and per
formances if successful. Far
from being au angel of light, he
is not even a man of strong and
commanding will. . He is mere
flotsam on the surface of a tur
bulent tide.
While, undoubtedly, a large
proportion of Mr. Bryan's party
are good, sincere but mistaken
men, they are, alas, very far
from being the controlling ele
ment. They have no mare influ
ence than the murmuring brook
of the leafy month of june has
over the wild and turbid freshet
that may roll along its course.
Into this turbid tide has been
gathered by Mr. Bryan's specious
promises of success every element
which has hated and fought you
in the past. Every man who, in
the words of Shy lock, has heated
your enemies, cooled your friends
scouted your sorrows, sneered at
your joys, mocked your losses,
disparaged your gains, is now
shouting for Bryan.
Still later, every man who has
bitterly opposed the Govern
ment's doing justice to those who
had fought its battles is now a
Bryan man. Every speaker who
has groaned over "the intolera
ble pension burden" is now lift
ing his voice for Bryan. Every
editor who has filled his columns
with calumnies as to the charac
ter of veterans and their wives,
who has systematically deprecia
ted their services in the field, who
has belittled their achievements
and extolled those of their ene
mies, who has invented lying sta
tistics to the detriment of their
fair fame is now an ardent advo
cate of Bryan's election.
To vote for Bryan now is to en
ter the camp of your pestilent and
lifelong enemies. You would be
accepted, not as a welcome ally,
but as a despised captive, who
had been forced to surrender and
was entitled to no consideration.
On the other hand, you will find
the W. H. Taft camp packed wirh
your friends, with the men who
have touched elbows with you in
all the struggles of the past, who
ow your services and your
worth, who have stood stead
fastly by you against all enemies
and opposers, who have been
your faithful, constant, helpful
friends in the White House, in
the Departments, in Congress
and in the Legislatures. They
have given you all you have got
ten from Congress and from Leg
islatures. To them is due the
credit for those magnificent exhi
bitions of the Nation's gratitude
and justice, the Disability Bill,
the McCumber Bill, the Widow's
Bill, the Maimed Soldier's Bill,
and scores of other similarly lib
eral pension acts.
' With whatever force we may
have gained by our safe and sane
guidance for the past quarter of
a century, we conjure you to vote
solidly, and exert whatever influ
ence you may possess for the
election of Wm. H. Taft as Pres-
ident of the United States.
JEWS OF All EXPERT
'A
Shall , Banks Be Made -Liable v far
One Another's Debts?
Recognized Authority on Financial
Questions Discusses Practical .
Bearings of Proposed "Guar- .'
antes Plan.
(By George E. Roberts, former Di
rector of the Mint.)
. The proposal to require the banks of
the country" to guarantee each other's
ieposits owes its present strength to
the financial disturbance of last fall.
It Is urged as a means of preventing
panics, and there is no disagreement
about the desirability of , accomplish
ing that purpose. Most of us agree
that a repetitiau of the conditions
which existed last fall should be made
impossible, but this is by no means the
only way to do it, or the best way. -
For years the advocates of compre
hensive currency reform have pointed
out that with 514,000,000,000 of bank;
deposits in tb country and only about
$3,000,000,000 of money all told in the
country, both in the banks and out,
there should be some method provided
by which, on the basis of good assets.
the supply of lawful currency could be
readily increased to meet exceptional
demands, whether such demands were
due to seasons of Unusual business ac
tivity or to alarm among - depositors.
Their foresight and arguments did not
avail, but they are hardly to be swept
off their feet now by impatient zeal for
this new, and, as they regard- it, ill
considered scheme. They stand for a
complete and scientific treatment of
the subject. . '.',.,'
. The guaranty of deposits Is a crude
and imperfect remedy at best." It does
not- recognize or attempt to cure the
defects in our banking and currency
systems, but aims only at persuading
depositors not to draw their deposits.
The losses to depositors by the failure
of national banks has become an insig
nificant percentage, and is growing less
every year, as a result of natural, evo
lutionary progress In banking. The
standards are being constantly raised,
and the efficiency of official inspection
and supervision constantly Improved.
The true line of development is not by
any revolutionary policy, but by hold
ing individual bankers to yet
stricter, account, and at the same time
enabling every properly conducted
bank to readily obtain a supply of cur
rency to meet all demands upon It
The fundamental weakness In bur
currency system is in the fact that It is
not readily responsive to the needs of
the country. The legitimate demand
for money varies from year to year,'
and from season to season in the same
year. It is a familiar fact that there
is a great deal more business to be
handled from September 1st to Decem
ber 31st each year than in any other
four months of the year, but there is
no more money in the country unless
gold is imported for the purpose.
Would Lead to Reckless Banking;.
As a remedial measure the guaranty
of bank deposits is not only inadequate,
but it is worse than inadequate, for it
proposes to overturn the principle of
individual responsibility - by means of
which the banking business has been
raised to its present high standards,
and upon which all individual and so
cial progress is based.
The proposal contemplates that the
public shall be relieved entirely from
the exercise of judgment and dis
crimination in the oholce of banks, and
while it Is highly desirable that l
banks shall be made safe, to the eud
that even the most ignorant and con
fiding may be protected, it is still true
that an alert public opinion has great
influence in maintaining proper bank
ing standards. We cannot afford to do
without that influence.
Under present conditions the invest
ments, the personal habits, the general
character and abilities of the banker
are under the constant scrutiny of the
community, and a matter of public in
terest. Notwithstanding occasional in
stances In which the public has been
deceived, it may be stated as a general
proposition that an unblemished char
acter and a reputation for good busi
ness ability and conservative judgment
have been necessary to success in the
banking business. The public looks
over the individual who Is to receive,
and invest and be responsible for its
money with some discrimination, and
the elimination of the unfit by the
scrutiny and composite judgment of the
community is a factor of the highest
value in maintaining the standards of
the. banking business. It is, however,
a factor entirely overlooked by the ad
vocates of this scheme.
They calculate the Insignificant per
centage of loss to total deposits under
present conditions, and assume that no
greater losses would occur after char
acter ceased to be a factor in the busi
ness, and all deposits were given blind
ly to whoever would bid highest for
them. To the objection that this elim
ination of character as a factor in the
acquisition of deposits must tend to
promote reckless banking, reply is
made that bankers will be deterred
from recklessness by fear of losing
their own money. The reply misses the
point. All men are not deterred from
recklessness by fear of losing their
own money, but reckless men are now.
as a rule, kept out of the banking busi
ness by the unwillingness of the public
to entrust money to their care.
Under present! conditions there are
compensations ln' favor-of -careful and
conservative banting. There are peo
ple who are, not influenced fn their se
lection of a imnk by the highest rate of
Interest offered n deiqsis, and., who
have their suspicions aroused, by the
tender ? of j exceptional inducements.
They know that such offers put a
strain upon the business, and they "de
liberately prefer to place their money
with a banker' who will not subject
himself to such statin. These deposit
ors esteem safely above all other, con
siderations; and they are numerous
enough . to" exercise a very wholesome
restraint upon reckless tendencies, in
the business. A 'banker now prizes the
reputation of doing ; a safe business,
and cannot afford to have a reputation
for imprudence . and speculative .'in
clinations. And yet, although held in
check by these powerful considerations,
the pressure .of competition carries the
business near . the danger line even
now. .. There Is too much competition
for deposits, and the ambitions of the
more venturesome members of the fra
ternity, and the pace they set, puts the
whole system under strain.
But what. are. likely to be the con
ditions in the business when the public
is no longer concerned' about the man
agement of a bank, and all the re
wards for conservatism and restrains
upon recklessness are removed? The
t considerations which In the past have
tended to safeguard the business and
advance its standards wouldv be gone.
The public would care nothing for the
personality of the banker. Instead of
looking to the institution which receiv
ed the deposits, the depositor would re-
i ly on an . outside - fund. A auker
might , bet all the deposits on horse
races without the fact becoming a
matter of any eoncern to his custom
ers.." ;
And how would the conservative,
prudent banker fare under these con
ditions? The' legitimate reward for
nialntainlng that character would be
lost to him. He would "get no deposits
unless he bid as high for them as his
rivals, for. the government would stand
behind the latter, and assure the pub
lic that they were Just as safe as he.
and tax him to make them so. In
; short the reckless and incompetent peo
i pie, who are now either excluded from
the banking business, or held in check
: by the distrust which a discriminating
public feels towards them, would make
the pace to which everybody else in
the banking business would be obliged
to conform or get out of the business.
' Would Demoralise Business.
"The hardest competitor in any line
of" business is the incompetent or dis
honest man who does anything to get
business. ' Such people get into the
banking business even now, but their
number and influence for mischief
; would be greatly Increased if they
j were backed up by unlimited credit. In
' other lines there may be some question
as to the quality or service offered by
j rivals, but all bankers deal in the same
kind of money, and if deposits were
j made a joint liability, there is no rea
; son why they should not go to the
bankers who offer the greatest induce
ments to attract them. The careful
banker would have no off-set or protec
tion against demoralizing competition,
and he would be placed in the strange
position of being liable for his com
petitor's obligations. -
All efforts to make it appear that the
interests of bankers are on one side of
this question and the ' interests of de
positors on the other are untrue to the
facts. Nothing that In the long run Is
harmful to the banking business, that
puts it under strain and tends to low
er its stauda Is, can be beneficial to
depositors or the public. It cannot be
advantageous to the community to have
its savings and working capital pass
into the hands of the venturesome
class of bankers who will bid most for
them. The actual waste and loss
through unwise Investments would in
evitably increase. It would fall at first
on the conservative bankers and penal
ize them. Instead of an elimination of
the unfit, which is the true process of
evolution, the tendency would be to an
elimination of the best. Eventually- the
burden of increasing waste would have
to be borne by all depositors and the
whole community.
Oklahoma Trial Inconclusive.
, The fact that the first bank failure
in Oklahoma after the law went into
effect, was followed by immediate re
imbursement of the depositors, proves
nothing as to the practicability of the
system in the long run. The fact that
the" State banks of Oklahoma have
gained deposits .since the system went
into operation, while national banks
within the State have lost, If trne,
proves nothing as to the merits of the
system. The law itself requires that
all public deposits . must be kept in
banks that belong to the system, and
this provision alone would cause a con
siderable transfer ef deposits and in
fluence some banks to join the system.
The real test of the policy will come
In its influence upon the banking busi
ness in the long run. Will it tend to
secure more careful and prudent in
vestment of the vast sums which the
people of the country keep in banks, or
will it tend to weaken the personal re
sponsibility for these funds and divert
them into incapable and wasteful
hands. It Is a superficial view which j
lays all emphasis upon the immediate
results of the law and gives mo con
sideration to its violation of f unia-.
mental principles and the consequence .
which most tsllow. ;. . J
PROMINENT DEFECTIONS
FROM BRYAN CONTINUE
'. . , - :' ' ... - ; ,v -
' - i ''' ,
' ..' - ft---" v .-$ ' '-.-
Democratic" .Leaders from Coast to
..' Coast , Reject Vagaries of the
.. Nebraska Weather Vane.
William
Bryan
Kallnrt
- erata -
Prentiss of Chicasro Says
aa President Would Be a
Southern Lifelong Demo
Repudiate the i Candidate
Who Trample
Catch Votes.
on His Ideals to
The number of prominent Democrats
ill over .the country who have an
nounced their desertion of Bryan and
have advised their friends to vote for
Taft and Sherman is a matter of grave
concern to Mr. Bryan's managers. In
Richmond, Va., always a rock-ribbed
citadel of Democracy, a Taft business
men's club has been orgauieed, with
hundreds of members, and in Baltimore
the defections of leading Democrats
uas become the subject of a daily se
rial in the newspapers. These illus--tratlons
are given not because they are
exceptional in this campaign, but be
cause of their geographical location.
In Chicago a sensation was caused
by William Prentiss, who announced
that he will support Taft instead of
Bryan for President and Deneen in
stead of Stevenson for Governor. Mr.
Prentiss has been a Democratic lead
er In Chicago for several years. He
was Civil Service Commissioner under
Mayor Dunne and has several times
been Democratic candidate for judge.
In 1898 he was chairman of the Demo
cratic Slate convention. He was for
merly an ardent Bryan partisan. '
In a letter made public recently Mr.
Prentiss charges Bryan with betraying
his followers and forsaking the prin-
' ciples for which he stood prior to the
present campaign. '
Mr. Prentiss says :.'..
"Bryan claims that he is the man to
continue and extend Roosevelt's work,
claiming much of it as suggestions of
his own. Less than three months ago
I preferred Bryan as Roosevelt's suc
cessor. He was my party leader,. In
whom I then had full confidence. But,
as before indicated, my faith in Bryan
is a relic. Bryan, not the Ideal Bryan
of the past, but the real Bryan of to
day, surrounded by the Macks, Mur
phys, MeGraw?, Taggarts, Sullivans
and Joe Baileys et al. of the present
day Democratic party, at the best could
be but a dismal failure."
California Democrats for Taft.
John J. Barrett, for years one of the
most brilliant orators of the Demo
cratic party of California, has regis
tered this year as a Republican. That
registration has given the Democratic
managers a shot-k only second to that
Which they felt when they learned that
M. F. Tarpey had deserted the shift
ing cause of Bryan.
"My registration speaks for itself,"
said Mr. Barrett. "When asked to
state my politics I said I 'was a Re
publican. That tells the tale."
Barrett preached Democratic doc
trines from all the stumps of Califor
nia. , -
Reasons of m North Cnrollnnn.
Regardless of past affiliations, stu
dents of affairs, delvers and thinkers,
are fast lining up 'for Judge Taft A
recent example is that of Silas McBee,
editor of the Churchman, of New York.
In an Interview he says:
"I am a North Carolinan by birth and
a lifelong Democrat I shall vote for
Mr. Taft because he has it in his heart
to bring my people of the South back
into absolute union with the national
life and to their historic place as a con
trolling force in the nation, and to do
which would immortalize him as a
statesman.
"I shall vote for him because he more
nearly represents my ideals of govern
ment, of social order and economic pol
icy than any living Democrat, or any
man before the people to-day, save
alone Theodore Roosevelt, who is the
only Republican President I have ever
voted for. Mr. Taft has administered
every trust committed to him by the na
tion with an eye single to the nation's
good and for the highest Interests of
the people that compose the nation."
The Roster In Baltimore.
Mr. George R. Willis, former presi
dent of the Police Board of Baltimore
and Democrat of the old school will
cast the first Republican vote since he
attained his majority. Mr. Willis w'll
vote for Taft -
-"Under no circumstancesco'iid I vote
for Bryan," said he, "for the reason
that I do pot believe he is since and
if sincere, i not a good man for Presi
dent of the United States."
"How do you gauge public senti
ment?" Mr. Willis was asked.
"Among my clientele I know -of no
one who will vote for Bryan. There la
not a Democrat who favors him."
Another prominent southern Demo
crat who will vote for Taft is Mr. W.
A. Garrett, ehlef executive officer to the
receivers of the Seaboard Air Line
Railway Company.
Mr. Garrett's reasons for supporting
the Republican candidate are that he
is the candidate of the business men
and his election would fee for the best
interests of the country.
Mr. Garrett says he has noticed a
leaning toward Taft in several of the'
Southern States and instanced Alabama .
ts one of these,
f Two ( men ' who have always been
prominent in Democratic circles In Bal
timore who, have announced that th-y
- did not think enough of Bryan to rote
tor him, and that tfiey would support
j Taft instead, are Mr. John E. Semmes,
one of the prominent lawyers of Balti
more and president of the School
Board,' and M Leigh Bonsai, who in
years past has been tone of the most
active' workers In the Democratic party.
Both men said-that they could -not
stand for Bryan and his policies.
Mr. Bonsai's defection from the ranks
of Democracy was an especial shook to
the Bryan men in the State. They had
i counted on him as one of the prize
spellbinders during ? the coming cam
I paign, and. had no idea but that he was
an ardent supporter of the Democratic
nominees. "When and where will It
suit you best to speak during the com
ing campaign in behalf of Mr. Bryan?"
Mr. Bryan's friends in Maryland wrote
him. When Mr. Bonsai replied that he
intended to vote for Taft the corre
spondence ceased.
Major Richard M. Venable, former
president of the Baltimore Park Board
and one of the most prominent Inde- .
pendent" Democrats ' in Maryland," has
declared for Taft and against Bryan.
"I am for Taft." said Major Venable,
"as. I do not agree with Mr. Bryan's
opinions on the various questions now
confronting the public. ... ' '
"He has not the judgment and tem
perament of a statesman. A statesman
knows that no matter how desirable a
reform may be he must take short steps
in accomplishing it- He knows that it
cannot be done In a day. The public
mind and the new machinery of admin
istration must be educated and adapted
to introduce 'such radical changes as
are contained In Mr. Bryan's program,
even conceding for the argument ' that
he is right"
. Waldo Newcomer, president of the
National Exchange Bank of Baltimore,
says that although he believes In the
principles of the Democratic party and
would like to cast his ballot for the
Democratic ticket, he finds if impossible
to support Bryan and his ideas.
Mr. Newcomer characterized, the Bry
an plank in the Denver platform guar-
I anteeing deposits in banks as nonsen
sical and unnecessary. He said the
scheme smacked of paternalism, and is
not founded upon sound or good busi
ness principles.
Mr. Newcomer said he did not re
gard Mr. Bryan as the type of man to
make a satisfactory or safe President,
and felt that the Interests of the coun
try and the people as a whole would be
far better promoted this time by the
election of Mr. Taft, in whose sanity,
soundness and honesty every one who
knows him has the utmost confidence.
Frederic B. Coudert, for years a
prominent New York Independent Dem
ocrat, has stated that he intends to vote
for Taft.
J. E. Smith, vice president of the
Simmons Hardware 'Company of St.
Louis, whose politics heretofore has
been Democratic, has come out for
Taft He says many other Democrats
among St. Louis business men will
mark their ballots the same way.
New York Newspaper Deserts Bryan.
The Ithaca (N. Y.) Chronicle, a
newspaper heretofore Democratic, has
broken with that party and joined the
opposition, saying :
- "Believing that there is no hope for
reasonable men in the Democracy un
der its present leaders ; refusing to
truckle to the misfit combination of
Populism, Socialism, corruption and
bossism presented under the guise of
Democracy, the Chronicle takes its
stand firmly for Taft and Sherman, for
Hughes and his running mate."
TAPT'S SERVICE TO LABOR.
Destroyed the Old EniclUh Uw As
sumption that Union Labor Is
Conspiracy.
(From the Emporia (Kan.) Gazette.
The simple fact is that no man baa
done more to place union labor on a
sound, square, law-abiding, respected
footing than William H. Taft by his
decisions in labor cases. . Both employ
ers and employed have acknowledged
the justice of his decisions and learned
to abide by them, and to-day there is
not an Intelligent worker or fair-
minded employer who would seek to
abrogate them.
Judge Taft lifted union labor from
the doubt and uncertainty as to its
rights which had before prevented and
gave it a standing which it has ever
since retained, and which has proved
under his rulings, secure against all
attack. The old assumption, derived
from England, that union labor is a
conspiracy, and that workers could be
prevented from leaving railway or
other employment at their will, was
swept away forever by Judge Taft so
far as the United States Is concerned,
and when an attempt was made, years
later, to revive the principle. Judge
Taft's decision was quoted successfully
by the labor side to defeat the plea.
Mr. Taft was and is labors' friend,
because he is absolutely just, and
would no more permit wrong to be
done to the poorest laborer in the land
than he would to any one else. And
the honest law-abiding workers asks
and expects, no more than this.
Bryan, we learn from a Democratic
contemporary, is giving the East a good
scare. Bryan's scares, however, never
hurt anybody but Bryan. Philadelphia
Press.
-Mr.' Taft says that be stands on bis
record. No particular credit to Taft
in that. Anybody would be glad to
, itand on the kind of record he has..
' Topeka Capital.