The Commoner.
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REPUBLIC.
(This cutis used by courtesy of Judge. The idea was suggested by Mr. Bryan on invitation of Judge,
N EMPIRE.
and the drawing was made by Grant Hamilton.)
His Explanations Do Not Explain.
In explaining his vote for the army bill, Con
gressman Clayton, of New York, (it is necessary to
give his state as there is a Congressman Clayton
of Alabama, who is a very different kind of a
democrat) said, "I voted on the army bill, on the
currency question and a number of other questions
with the party in power; I 'have done so because
of ray convictions that by so doing the best inter
ests of my constituents and of the country would
be served."
This is the defense that any republican might
make and it raises the question, why does he call
himself a democrat if he agrees with the republi
cans in convictions?
In regard to the appointment he said: "I
had not made, up my mind to ask for an appoint
ment at all at the time the bill was passed."
. It is evident from his language that he had con
sidered the matter, although he had not. "made
up his mind." Would he have "made up his
mind" to apply if his convictions had led him to
vote against the bill? If ho had "made up his
mind not to apply" would his convictions in re
gard to the bill have been the same? It is im
possible to search the human mind and measure
the influence of logic against the influence a
selfish interest. For this reason oflicials, when
they act for the public, are not allowed to deal
with themselves. It is often provided that a legis
lator is not eligible to an office created during
his term.
It is possible to conceive of a man so just in
his judgments as not to be swayed by his own
interests, but such men are very rare. No one
would try a case before a judge or a juror who
had an interest on the other side. In his vote on
the armjr question Mr. Clayton was acting as a
judge and after deciding in favor of the bill he
did not lose much time in applying for one of
the offices. If he had been more democratic in
his ideas he would not have voted for a large
standing army; if he had had a higher sense of
official duty he would not have applied for a
position which he helped to create.
W
An Unamerican Punishment.
In response to a Senate resolution, Gen. Mac
Arthur has reported to the War Department, his
reasons for deporting Editor Rice of Manila.
The General says that Rice's offense was the
'malicious publication of false charges affecting
the integrity of the administration of the office of
Captain of the Port." The report declares tiiat
Rice was told that he must give bond not to re
publish the offensive charges or must leave the
island. According to Gen. MacArthur the editor
"maintained an attitude of defiance and was nec
essarily sent home." The complete report of
this affair will be awaited with interest. Depor
tation is an unamerican punishment and ought to
have no place in our criminal code. If Rice was
guilty of libel he should have becn,tried for libel.
The fact that he suffered deportation rather than
agree not to republish the charges would indicate
that he believes the charges to be true. The ad
ministration did not think the jury system neces
sary for the protection of Filipino subjects, but
are American citizens to be denied the right of
trial by jury when they criticise military or car
pet bag officials? Even those who arc indifferent
to the denial of justice to the Filipinos are likely
to resent this arbitrary treatment of an American.
Especially should newspapers protest, for if a free
press is not to be tolerated in the Philippine islands
what can be said in defense of tUe freedom of tho
press here?
Gen. MacArthur in his report gives us anothor
side light on imperialism. It would seem that
freedom of the press has as-much difficulty as the
constitution in following the' flag into "iir new
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