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The Commoner.
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.., FORUM OF THE WEEKLY PRESS . ...,
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Lawrenceville (Ga.) News-Herald:
The people agree with the president of
' he court.
Freeport (111.) Bulletin: But econ
omic arguments as well as sentiments
of humanity, plead in "vain with the
spirit of protection.
Mount Holly (N. J.) Democrat: Their
forcible government will cost the peo
ple of the states . yearly millions. and
the- sacrifice of countless American
lives.
. Tipton (Tenn.) Record: The;hatred
of the north for brown men and their
love for black men is hard to account
for. Why slavery for the brown man
. and' freedom for the black?
-f Gretna (Neb.) Breeze: It is at least
' gratifying to learn that the republicans
are" beginning to realize that protec-
. tion needs a "handmaiden." It has
. had much wet nursing.
A Greenville (Pa.) Progress: Army offi
cers are of the opinion that 50,000 sol
diers will be needed in the Philippines
for tfive years more. We are paying
' pretty dearly for pur new possessions
in the Pacific.
West Union (0.) Defender: Uncle
"' Sam is paying out over $3,000,000 a
..year in salaries to p. flicials Jn the Phil
ippines. Our new., possessions seem
-to 'be .regular bonanzas for the office
holders. ,
Monon (Kas.) Headlight: Ten mil
lion dollars was-a big bait, but Mr.
Carnegie and the other capitalists of
the steel trust would consider it cheap
. for fifty years' protection from the
United States government.
v . . Stc nton (Neb.) Register: The Boers
. of South Africa are not whipped yet
,''" and the chances are that England will
'" be compelled to give up their attempt
to conquer the brave defenders of lib
erty in the little South African re
publics. -
, ; ,English .(Ind.) Democrat: We pay
at'the rate of about $70,000,000 a year
4 for the little more than $5,000,000 a
year of Philippine trade we get, while
European nations pay nothing for the
more than $48,000,000 a year they ger.
These figures do their own talking.
f Indianola (la.) Advocate-Tribune: It
may be very convenient for the party
in power to have the Philippines for a
dumping ground for political incom
petents for whom a place must be
provided, but it iq equally hard on this
country and the colonial dumping
ground.
.. t Marshall (Mo.) Index: -The repub
lican newspapers are assuring us that
according to the recent decision of the
supreme courts, the Philippines are as
...i'miich a part of the United States as
. Missouri or New York and that the
.citizens of that country are at liberty
$4pcome hcre.atpleasure. This being
. true, ;the Filipino may be imported
.here at the pleasure.of the rich cor
.fi.poratkns to do jnehial labor lor star
vation -wages, and to further jnorigrel
;ize,thet inhabitants of this country.
. Memphis (Mo.) Democrat: The first
insult to be thrust in the faces of the
American people in the present session
of congress will be an attempt to pass
the subsidy bill. Hero may be an op
portunity for the democratic minority
who believe in fair play to get in
their work.
Langdon (N. D.) Courier-Democrat:
No fine talk which General Chaffee or
his superiors in either civil or mili
tary life may indulge themselves in
will ever set us right with ourselves
or with any other liberty-loving raco
in regard to our present policies In
the Philippines.
Albion (Mich.) Mirror: The finan
cial acumen of the republican party
is. remarkably well demonstrated by
their handling of the Philippine prob
lem. After the expenditure of $20,000,
000 purchase price and nearly $100,000,
000 to maintain a semblance of peace,
they have succeeded in securing al
most 10 per cent of the foreign trade of
the islands.
Paola (Kas.) Times: Gage says the
country needs a larger volume of
money. To be furnished by the banks,
of course. Would it not be wise td let
these great and good Institutions issue
money just as they wish? It seems sad
to hamper such .splendid financiers. as
our own national bankers have proven
themselves to be by even such slight
restraint as is now put upon them.
Oskaloosa (la.) Times: The Phil
ippines, under the republican regime
of the present day are United States
territory for purposes of looting only
and foreign territory for purposes of
taxation only. They are. the legitimate
prey of the republican fcarpet bag poli
ticians on the one hand and the big
trusts on the others. Jobs and rob
bery, robbers and jobbe'ry!
Bellaire (O.) Democrat: Four men
practically control the hide business
in this country, and these four men
put up a quarter of a million, it is
said, for the republican campaign fund
and in return were to get up a tariff
on hides. They got it against the pro
test of shoe and leather men, and
leatlier is to be advanced 20 per cent,
yet trusts don't affect prices. The con
sumer pays for it all.
Lamoni (la.) Patriot: 'Retire the
greenbacks," say the bankers; "Keep
the greenbacks," say the common peo
ple. "Let us issue what paper money
you need," say the bankers; "We pre
fer to attend to our business, and issue
what paper money we need, ourselves,"
say the common people. But with the
aid of the gold standard-trust monopoly-conquest
spirit to which the
American people have for the time be
ing given themselves up, the bankers
are ?likely to have their way, unless
theartillery of heaven rawakes tha
people, to a sense of their danger in
.giy.ing up the rights .of. the. .many to ,bo
exercised by a small and deeply in
terested class.
Willows (Cal.) Journal: The situa
tion in Manila is alarming: soldiers
are being concentrated, gatllng gun3
placed at every commanding position
and the females housed In safe quar
ters. We evidently have about the
same sized chew that Great Britain bit
off, and we may resort to the recon
ccntrado plans of Weyler and Kitch
ener sooner than wo anticipated, and
it may end as was the case with the
North American Indian.
Oceana (W. Va.) Tribune: Evidence
Is accumulating rapidly in support of
the democratic contention that Ameri
can government in tho Philippines Is
even more extravagant than was the
Spanish administration. Six Ameri
can office-holders in Manila draw sal
aries that aggregate $63,000, an av
erage of $10,500 apiece. It is not sur
prising that some of the unenlightened
Filipinos regard American ownership
as an expensive luxury.
Winona (Mo.) Democrat: President
Roosevelt's remedy for trusts is "pub
licity." We wish some republican
pap:r would explain how "publicity"
will stop large and hurtful combina
tions of capital from absorbing the
wealth created by the toiling masses.
The fact that print paper and printer's
suprjies generally have greatly ad
vanced by reason of a combination of
manufacturers is generally known,
yet these combines continue to rob
us. Trust methods are known by the
public, but as yet wo have no hope" of
relief from their extortion.
Gunnison (Colo.) News: We are
offered, then, one thousand years of
ownership, expense and quarrel; one
thousand years of opportunity for
thieves and carpet baggers, against
whom we must be perpetually on
guard; one thousand years of tempt
ing possibility for corporations to Im
port these swarming millions of cheap
laborers; one thousand years of crim
inal aggression and smothering of our
Declaration of Independence and all
for what? That a republican mistake,
of yesterday may appear to be vindi
cated today; 'that a false theory of
our duty to inferior races may be ex
perimented with.
Madisonville -(Ky.) Hustler: There
was a great outpouring of people at
Chicago last week to hear and applaud
Bourko Cockran's eloquent appeal for
the Boers in South Africa and several
thousands of dollars were contributed
to a fund for their relief. While this
is all right, so far as It goes, yet a
mass meeting in England might with
propriety be held to appeal for
the Filipinos, who are struggling for
their liberties, along pretty much the
same .lines as are the Boers against
England. The. right thing for these
two great English-speaking, liberty
loving nations to dois to be generous
iwith Jthese weak, but ..heroic, people,
both in South Africa and the Philippines.
Benton Harbor . (Mich.) Times:
There may bo a tariff reduction plank
in the next democratic platform, but
the millions of voters who supported
tho democratic ticket In '90 and, 1000
will insist that the- fundamental' prin
ciples they fought for in those two
campaigns still remain there.
Steamboat Springs (Colo.) Pilot:
Secretary Gage says "the country
needs a larger volume of money."
Give us free coinage of silver, which
would bring the price of an ounce oJ
silver, cither melted or coined, to $1.29
Instead of 58 cents, then we will have
a larger volume. Bimetallism In its
fullest term will give a sufficient vol
ume of money to do the business at
tho country, without fear of a finan
cial crash.
Rockville (Ind.) Tribune: The es
teemed Crawfordsville Journal says
that tho democratic party has a gen
uine genius for opposition, destruc
tion and disorganization. The Jour
nal Is right. The democratic party
under Jefferson destroyed tho old
tory-federal aristocracy; under Jack
son, it destroyed the bank monopoly,
and it will yet destroy the trusts that
are fostered and fattened by tho re
publican party.
Sumner (Wash.) Herald: Several
great newspapers are still clamoring
for the burning of the greenbacks.
And we notice that the republican big
wigs arc concocting a scheme to con
vert all outstanding silver from an
asset into a debt by making it re
deemable in gold. What does all this
mean? Well, just let them try to en
act a law embodying either one of
these propositions, andhe people shall
soon be informed as to what it mean3.
Wo betray no confidence in saying
that when that effort is made, the
money question is scheduled to rise
uproariously from its supposititious
slumber.
Albany (Mo.) Ledger: Down with
tho trusts Is no longer the simple de
mand of the populists and discontent
ed. The trust Issue will not down.
Within the last few months some if
the great Influential republican papers
have seen the handwriting and are
daily Increasing their demands that
the party in power shall not wait till
it is too late in grappling the mighty
giant by the throat. These papers have
heard, not only the "wail," as they
formerly called it, of the democratic
press, but have also ascertained that
the masses of the people, regardless of
party, are tired of being overrun,
robbed and insulted by the trusts, and
will, if necessary, cut party ties to pro
tect themselves and their posterity
from the greedy trusts. They don't
need to listen to the complaints of
their neighbors, or to be told in po
litical speeches of the 'progress these
trusts. areanaking to enslave labor and
extort from the consumer. They
learn it fvom practical experience.
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