Miscellaneous Mentions

Andrew W. Mellon received the following letter:

I note in the press this day rumor of your resignation from Cabinet as Secretary of Treasury. Do hope this is true, as your resignation will relieve me of a conviction that has been on my mind for some time, and the reported speech of Governor Pinchot of Pennsylvania recently intensified the conviction to all but the point of action, namely: To make it my life effort to assassinate you for good of the world, because of the aid and comfort you have given to the most de- structive, dastardly and wicked institution on earth.

The effort you and your following have made to nullify and tear down the 18th Amendment is treason of the rankest sort, and if ever a person deserved death at the hands of an outraged public you certainly deserve

I am persuaded that I would be justified in taking your life, not in malice and hatred but to get attention to the situation of your treasonable life and actions as applied to the 18th Amendment.

I could do this with no compunction of conscience, believing God, knowing my heart and purpose in so doing, would pardon me, as I am sure he pardoned John Brown of Harper's Ferry for doing what he did to hasten the overthrow of human slavery.

It is better to obey God than man, and I am fully persuaded this prompting is of God. Call me fanatic or what you may. Soon after Will K. Reeme of Kansas City, Mo., insurance man, ardent Prohibitionist, was arrested, charged with writing an "indecent letter."* He admitted his authorship.

Onetime (1913-19) Senator J. Hamilton Lewis (Illinois Democrat) sailed last week for Europe seeking new pastures. He said he was going to Geneva to represent before the League of Nations "a foreign power" which wishes to negotiate a loan for $100,000,000. Reporters asked what nations needed loans. Answer: "Poland, France, Belgium, Italy, Rumania and Greece."

At Kirksville, Mo., Senator James A. Reed (Missouri Democrat) spoke on the League of Nations, saying:

"In my judgment, if the Democratic Party would stand united against this monstrous, this unthinkable proposition, it would at once establish itself as the champion of American interests and as the protector of the constitutional liberties of the people."

"Free Silver"--for nigh on 29 years it has had the freedom of the political grave. But how did the late William J. Bryan, its great proponent, regard it at the time of his death? The answer is contained in a letter written by Mr. Bryan two months ago to the New York Journal (Hearst) and recently published:

"I do not regard the time opportune for the discussion of the money question. It takes a serious business depression to arouse a discussion of the money question. The discussion in 1896 came at the end of a long period of decline of prices, during which three international conferences were held to restore bimetallism. The increased production of gold and the consequent rise in prices demonstrated the truth of the quantitative theory of money, but as the increase came from an unexpected source many failed to realize that the contentions of the bimetallists had been sustained by experience. An attempt to revive the money question at this time would, I think, be useless and would tend to divert attention from other questions about which people are thinking."

-Defined by the criminal code as a communication whose wording tends to incite arson, murder or assassination.