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The Commoner.
or other Committee, or from any individual for
any speech which I made during the campaigns
of 1890 and 1900. Neither did I ever have
any negotiations with any person or committee
in regard to compensation for any speech. I
have "been informed that in some instances the
expense of the special train which carried the
members of the Committee, the newspaper
men and myself was "borne by the towns vis
ited, but I never knew of the details of such
arrangements and never received any of tho
proceeds therefrom; neither was it ever sug
gested to me that I should refuse to speak on
any platform or at a place because the money
had not been raised. It often happened that
because of the shortness of the time, the late
ness of the train, or the density of the crowd I
spoke from the rear of the train rather than
from the platform erected, but the change in
the program was never due, at the town men
tioned or anywhere else, to the failure of a
local committee to pay money to the commit
tee in charge of the train or to me.
Republicans who are both able and willing
to accept transportation from the railroads,
have frequently criticised the democratic com
mittees for raising money by subscription to
pay for the hiring of trains, but I believe it
much better for our committees to raise the
money necessary for excursion trains, and thus
be free from obligation to the railroad com
panies. I may add that when I travelled alone
I paid my own travelling expenses.
The same correspondent is responsible for
another criticism, which reads as follows:
"We ore treated to another sample of Bryan
commercialism just at this moment, in which Mr.
Bryan refuses to give utterance to his opinions on
the Ohio democratic convention platform except
through The Commoner; hence 'buy a Commoner
if you want to to know what I think of McLean
and his crowd of Ohio democrats.' It is .only 5
cents, but it counts in the annual income of the re
doubtable commercialist."
The Commoner is not copyrighted. Any
newspaper is at liberty to reproduce anything
which appears in The Commoner. The paper
is sent out so as to reach subscribers on Fri
day, but on Thursday afternoon- advance copies
of the paper are furnished to the Associated
Press and to all newspaper men desiring copies.
In this way any paper. in the United States
can give to its readers anything published in
The Commoner, and can do so on the same
day that The Commoner reaches its subscrib
ers. When I comment upon some event of
special importance the proof is given to tho
newspapers at an earlier date. For instance,
the comments on the Supreme Court decision
were given out on Monday afternoon, four
3ays before the paper reached its subscribers.
The editorial on the Ohio platform was given
to the newspapers on Monday afternoon and
published all over the country Tuesday morn
ing, three days before The Commoner reached
its subscribers. Newspaper men have criti
cised mo for giving other papers a "scoop," as
they call it, on my own paper, but I have no
objection to doing this when the matter dis
cussed is of importance. It is only mentioned
here in answer to the criticism that the readers
of the Post and The Commoner may know
how partisan and malicious some republican
politicians are.
President Kruger's Troubles.
The troubles of President Krugcr havo
been increased by the death of his faithful wife.
The sympathy of tho world will go out to tho
president of tho stricken republic of South
Africa in this moment of his terrible aflliclion.
In political affairs the world does not givo
great consideration to women, and yet it is a
fact that in all the history of the world women
have taken a large if not a conspicuous part in
the affairs of nations. Women have carried a
a very large share of tho burdens in all tho
wars of tho world. This has been specially
truo wherever, a people were engaged in repel
ling a war of invasion . or whero they were
struggling for freedom from a despot. It has
been particularly true in the South African
war where many women have even, at times,
taken up arms in defense of their homes.
Mrs. Krugcr was a thoroughly domestic
woman, although by reason of being the wife
of the president she was orought into close
touch with all the problems of state. She was
tho mother of 1G children, and after 50 years
of married life with the president of the South
African republic this good woman, died as a
prisoner of war while her husband was many
miles away.
Mrs. Krugcr had four sons, six sons-in-law
and forty-three grandsons who were soldiers
in the Transvaal army. Some of these have
already met death on the battle field, and it
may be expected that others will yet yield up
their lives in'defense of the holy cause in whoso
behalf their services were enlisted. Abraham
Lincoln, writing to a woman who had lost five
sons on tho field of battle in our civil war,
said:
"I have been shown in the files of the war
department a statement of the adjutant general
of Massachusetts that yon, .are tho mother of
five sons who have died gloriously on the field
of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must
be any words of mine which should attempt to
beguile you from tho grief of a loss so over
whelming. But I cannot refrain from tender
ing to you the consolation that may be found
in the thanks of tho republic they died to save.
I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage
the anguish of your bereavement and leave you
only the treasured memory of the loved and
lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours
to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar
of freedom."
The surrender of her children was not the
only sacrifice made by this good woman of tho
Transvaal. Her entire life has been spent
among the troubled scenes attendant upon tho
effort of the people of the Transvaal to main
tain their independence and to protect their
homes against encroachments of tho British
politicians. It is said that tho death of Mrs.
Kruger is the first act in the Transvaal tragedy
that has had a tendency to break the strong
spirit of tho aged president of the stricken
republic The sympathy of every good man
and woman throughout the world will go out
to Mr. Kruger in this hour of his bereavement.
He has many grievous burdens to carry, but
all the troubles of state, all the agonies of war
and all the reverses he has met with in his po
litical career cannot havo pressed upon him
quite so heavily as this last and greatest burden
of them all.
After the Tax Dodgers.
The Chicago American is doing excellent
work in hunting up tho tax dodgers and in
calling attention to tho fact that 8,omo of tho
rich citizens and corporations of Chicago are
withholding their property from assessment
and throwing tho burden of taxation upon
those less able to pay. Ex-Prosident Harrison
made a speech a few years ago before one of
tho leading clubs of Chicago and scored tho
tax dodgers in very severo language. Ho inti
mated that rich people ought to pay taxes on
their property if they expect poor peoplo to
make sacrifices to protect property. The cor
porations occupy a large portion of the timo
of tho courts, and they are very solicitous
about adequate fire and police protection, and
yet many, if not most of them, avoid their fair
share of tho taxes. It is only a short time ago
that Judge Thompson ordered tho Illinois
Board of equalization to place upon tho assess
or's books two hundred and thirty-five million
dollars worth of property property owned by
twenty-three corporations which had been es
caping taxation.
Mayor Harrison is reported as saying:
"I am going to distribute the burdens of the
decrease in tax revenues the city will receive pro
rata among tho various departments.
"Tho fire department will not be spared, as I
consider protection to tho health of our city just
as important as protection to the property of these
rich tax dodgers. Hitherto these men have con
sidered it safe to cheat tho city of its just taxes
becauso the efficiency of the fire department has
never been allowed to suffer no matter what the
shortage in funds, and thoy believed fire protec
tion to their property assured. But now wo will
let them suffer a little from our financial condi
tion as well as tho poorer peoplo who are com
pelled to live on dirty streets and filthy alleys.
"When this is done just listen to 'the howl
these same tax dodgers will set up about 'property
interests not being safeguarded.' "
Tho Mayor is right. There is no reason
why public health should bo sacrificed in order
to give fire protection to those who refuse to
pay their taxes.
No one is anxious to pay taxes, and yet tax
paying would be less burdensome to all if all
property was given in for assessment, and each
person paid his proportionate share.
W
Stone on Reorganization.
Ex-Governor Stone of Missouri in a recent
address took occasion to discuss the subject of
reorganization. His advice is so sound and
his argument so conclusive that it is given in
full. It is commended to those who, carried
away by the anything-to-win argument, ara
willing to give the organization over to th
control of those who have betrayed or deserted
tho party in its great struggle with plutoc
racy. Mr. Stone says:
"We hear much now-a-days about reorgan
izing the party. I want to talk about that. And at
the outset let me say, that, in what I hope is th
better sense of the term, I am a partisan, by which
I mean I believe in parties and am a party man. I
believe in parties as a necessary means to the ac
complishing of ends. Now, 'a political party is an
organization formed for co-operation in the at
tainment of cejrtain ends in government, and its
purposes are ordinarily expressed in its conven
tion platforms. To be effectively maintained a
party must have some laws or rules, established by
custom or expressed in writing, for its govern '
-t
.