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THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb.
r
Mr. Babcock is still ping-ponging his posi
tion on tho tariff question.
It appears that tho president settled tho coal
strike very much like ho broke up the beef trust.
Doubtless tho White house butler kept his eye
on tho sllverwaro while the coal barons were
present
Mr. Baer says his railroad has not paid any
dividends for several years. How about salaries,
Mr. Baer?
President Roosevelt might try tho criminal
clause of the anti-trust law as a moans of settling
tho, coal strike. ... - -
There aro indications that the people aro tired
of tho trusteeship assumed by tho gentlemen who
control the coal fields.
Mr. Hanna says ho will "stand pat" on tho
tariff. Mr. Hanna should look again. His "tariff
joker" may bo a two-spot
- Mr. Knox says ho cannot dissolve tho- coal
trust Will Mr. jtvnox kindly step down and make
room for a lawyer who will try?
Some 0110 has sagoly remarked: "If life were
a thing that gold could buy, tho poor could not
live and tho rich would never die."
It appears that Mr. Baer was unduly modest
when he said .ho was only one of tho trustees of
providence. Mr. Baer seems to bo It
Tho platform of the New York democrats
would not have needed so much explanation if it
had been made thoroughly democratic.
In view of their enormous profits there is
small wonder that the oil trust managers preferred
to have their tariff protection disguised.
Of courso tho president feels badly over the
failure of his coal situation conference, but not as
badly as a man who has to buy his coal.
v' If Mr. Baef keeps on 'talking the people may
yot feel impelled to take up a subscription for tho
poor stockholders of tho Reading railroad. '
Every time ho hears some ono say that wo
have no kings in this country Mr. Baer winks
-slyly in the direction of J. Pierpont Morgan.
V . Honestly now, Mr. Taxpayer and Citizen, in
whoso hands would you prefer to give tho man
agement of your public affairs, Baer or Mitchell?
The congressional candidate who will not
.pledge himself to work against and-vote against
tho infamous Fowler bill should bo leftat hom.
Tho people who praise Secretary Shaw for
loaning tho bankers money on chips and whet
stones aro tho same nennlA whn r-w .i i .-
-. . 1 t j.i 1 i.i " t icu m tuu
aim sinuuerea mgnttully a fow years ago
u " ywjkuowi umiuu ai a similar thing.
The Commoner,
Some metropolitan newspaper could score a
great' "scoop" by printing what David B. Hender
son really thinks if the mail authorities did not
interfere.
"
Mr. Baer says ho takes tho president's Invi
tation to bo equivalent to a command. Mr. Roose
velt should immediately say something that will
end the coal strike.
Tho mention of Mr. Alger's appointment to
the senate somehow or other reminds us' of At
torney General Knox because it brings up recol
lections of the beef trust
It is noticeablo that tho secretaries of the
treasury who are quickest to fly to the reliefof
Wall street move with exasperating slowness
when tho people need relief.
A. W. Burrows of Garrett, Okla,, writes to Tho
Commoner to say that he would like to obtain the
address of his brother, W. R. Burrows, who was
last heard of in Wichita, Kas.
Mr. Baer says the government is not big
enough to make the anthracite trust bo good
only big enough to protect with the army whilo
the trust robs right and left
Mr. Knox confesses his inability to dissolve
tho coal trust The time spent in making the con
fession was wasted. Mr. Knox's inability to smash
trusts has long been recognized.
Doubtless tho managers of the anthracite coal
trust can keep warm with their thoughts con
cerning tho man who discovered tho "little joker"
in the coal schedule of the tariff bill.
Mr. Baer says ho Is willing to leave it to Penn
sylvania judges. With the memory of Judge Jack
son still fresh In their minds can you blame tho
miners for not accepting the proposition?
Senator Thomas Patterson has purchased the
Denver Evening1 Times, which means that the
Evening Times will be thoroughly democratic and
no loriger the mouthpiece of selfish financiers.
The. republicans say that we' have plenty of
money, and yet tho president is violating prece
dent and resorting to all sorts of expedients to
relieve the stringency of the money market
While President Roosevelt is in a mood for
consultation perhaps he would consent to a short
session with those who are daily being held up
and robbed by other trusts than the anthracite
trust
Tho ordinary republican can't get any relief
from tho treasury when he is afflicted with finan
cial stringency, but he is permitted to borrow
from the banks at a high, rate the money which
the government loans the banks without interest
Hon. Frank H. Mott, the nominee of tho New
York convention for secretary of state, was an
active and eloquent supporter of both tho Chicago
and tho Kansas City platforms. He is the kind of
a democrat that it ought to be easy to harmon
ize on.
It will bo noticed that the money question is
not tho only one in tho Kansas City platform that
was omitted from Mr. Hill's state platform. Gov
ernment by injunction was ignored and tho Kan
sas City platform remedy for trusts was also overlooked.
Among other humorous things we note in a
number of republican organs is the charge that
"Big Bill" Devery actually used money to achieve
his ends, together witj. the utter horror of those
same republican organs that any man should do
such a thing.
Some of tho papers claim that tho president
is stealing the democratic thunder on the trust
question. Well, the thunder doesn't do any dam
ago It is only noise. Wait till he steals tho
democratic lightning and then his talk will amount
to something.
The extraordinary republican engaged in the
banking business can borrow money from tho
government for nothing and loan it to the ordinary,
republican at the usual market rate of interest.
What would be the condition today If we had five
hundred millions of money less than wo had in
circulation in lball? And yet the republicans said
wo had enough in 1896 and aro nqt responsible for
the increase that has corns, since
' Vol. a, No. 38.
If J. -Pierpont Morgan over makes a dash for
the polo he will either find it or break a record.
Mr. Knox says he knows there is a coal trust
but alleges that it has been so skilfully formed
that it defies attack. We gather from this that
before Mr. Knox became attorney geaeral he as
sisted in drawing up tho papers for the coal trust
The breaking of a reservoir let eighty millions
of gallons of water down on Camden, N. J., the
other day. Now Camden knows how the rest of
us feel after 'steen billions of gallons of water
had been injected into New Jersey stocks and then
squeezed out upon us.
Tho sign of tho three golden balls will soon
swing from the entrance to tho treasury depart
ment at Washington. If you happen to bo a
Wall street banker you can pledge anything from
watered stock to scrap iron. If you are a farmer
you need not come around.
Ex-Senator Hill has been denouncing the Kan
sas City platform democrats as socialists and com
munists. It is an unexpected turn of the wheel
that brings him up as the special champion of
the government ownership of the anthracite coal
mines of tho United States.
Tho republican Sioux City Journal refuses
to be worried because the president had to quit
making speeches. ihe Journal, some time before
the president's return because of his wound, re
marked that "if the president were not making
speeches it would be as well."
The Minneapolis Journal admits its inability
to distinguish between the good trusts and the bad
trusts. Tho Journal should apply to Mr. Hanna
for information. He has a record of all trusts
that yielded fat in the pan and of ail trusts that
were slow in making response.
The name of Zola may or may not be remem
bered because of his literary work. But the namo
of Zola will ever be cherished because of the
magnificent battle he fought to secure justice to
Captain Dreyfus. That -legal battleV.was more
dramatic than any novel written by Emile Zola.
Joseph B. Taylor and wife of Des Moines, la.,
according to a press dispatch, "wrote a. letter to
the public blaming the greedy corporations and the
trusts for their failure," and then committed sui
cide. Possibly they allowed the "dark and evil
vices of hatred and- envy to eat into their na
tures," as the president would say.;
Judge Birdsall, tho Iowa gentleman nominated
to fill the vacancy on the congressional ticket
caused by tho declination of Mr. Henderson, has
announced his stand on present day questions.
The judge's, letter indicates that he will accept any
old kind of a platform republicans may frame if
only ho can bo elected to congress thereon.
The Cedar Rapids (la.) Gazette punctures the
claim that tariff revision will unsettle: business by
remarking: "If a reform of the tariff will not
result in the lowering of the prices of trust-made
articles then a reform of tho tariff cannot unset
tle business even for'the trusts." The Commoner
echoes the Gazette's suggestion "talk sense."
The Connecticut democrats shied at the Kan
sas City platform, and now the republican papers
are commending them for theirv wisdom, but of
course the same republican papers are expecting
an easy victory. It is strange how complimentary
the republican papers become when the democratic
party weakens itself by running from its principles.
Up to date Mr. Secretary Hay has not seen fit
to reply to the humorous note sent him by the
sultan of Turkey. When Mr. Hay protested to
tho sultan against the treatment Turkey accorded
to Roumanians the sultan made a remark con
corning American treatment of the Filipinos. The
sultan's remark was calculated to make even Mr.
Hay wince. "
The Hon. David D. Hill controlled the New
York state convention and saw to it that several
hard blows were dealt the Kansas City platform,
but he did not dare to nominate a man of his
own type for the head of the ticket Coler, tho
nominee for governor, Is one of the reform demo
crats of that state, while Bulger, Mott and some
of tho others have been loyal democrats.
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