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eastern speakers and tariff roforin was put for
ward as the main question. The editors jle
voted columns to tariff schedule and to statistics
showing that our manufacturers aro selling
cheaper abroad than at homo. They insisted upon
the froo list as the solo and only remedy for the
trusts -and thon the election came and the ro
" publicans swept the country. Do the return set
tle Le tariff question? Of course not A high tar
iff is just as bad today as it was before the elec
tion and the democratic party should advocate tar
iff reform, not because an election can bo won on
it, but .because it is right For .the same reason
tho party should stand by its position on the
money question, on tho trust question and on im
perialism. If success were tho only thing desired
all the democrats could join the republican party
and bo sure to win, but instead of doing that they
will continue to preach the .gospel of democracy
confident of the ultimate triumph of their cause.
Working For Tariff Commission.
A Pennsylvania reader of The Commoner
sends in a blank petition which is being circulated
by tho Now York Commercial, it asks for the ap
pointment of a permanent bi-partisan tariff com
mission to act -as an advisor of congress. This is
simply a move to take tho question out of politics
and relegate it to an irresponsible body of men
chosen by those who want the ariif retained.
Congress is tno body empowered by the con
stitution to consider and pass upon revenue meas
ures and this body representing all the people in
all ports of the country ought not to be displaced
by a special commission appointed with a view
to embarrassing tariff revision.
Those who advocate a commission seem to
think that the tariff' question can be settled by evi
ddnco produced before a commission. Nothing
could be farther from "the fact Nearly every con- .
gress investigates some phase of the tariff ques
tion and after the evidence is all in and the argu
ments made the republicans declare that a nigh
tariff is right, wise and necessary and the demo
crats deny that it is either right, wise or neces
sary. If the commission was all republican its re
port would have no weight with democrats; if it
was composed of both protectionists and tariff
reformers there would be two reports and each
party wduld stand by the report of its representa
tives. If any democratic member voted with the
republican members of the commission he would
he accused of "selling out," and the same charge
would be made against a republican member if he
'.-voted with the democrats. If President Roosevelt
selects "such a commission, he will, unless he
adopts a rule different from his predecessor, se
lect the democratic members from among those
who call themselves democrats, but vote the re
publican ticket Let congress reform the tariff
itself. A commission would .only postpone the
question and embarrass the situation.
JJJ
Show Their True Colors.
Prior to election day some of the republican
1" leaders held out the hope that tho people might
depend upon tariff revision at tho hands of tho re
publican party. But since the returns have insured
- a republican victory, republican, leaders are out
spoken. Representative Overstreet of Indiana declares
that "when the tariff is revised it will be along
', protection lines and by the friends of protection."
In other words, no tariff revision will be permitted
by the republican party which interferes in the
least with the shelter which the trusts find in the
tariffr
Senator Scott of West Virginia says: "Two
r; thirds of my speeches in tho West Virginia cam
paign were on the tariff issue and I know the
The Commoner.
people, of my state do not want any tinkering
wltii thetariff. Wo do not want an T dotted or a
V) crossed In tho existing law. We won our. cam
paign on the tariff issue, and It Is a big mistake
to suppose that any republicans in my section
want to bother with tho tariff. We want to let it
alone and will do so."
Representative Butler of Pennsylvania says:
"I will be drawn and quartered before I will- cast
my vote under any circumstances for touching the
tariff now or at any time within the next few
years. Pennsylvania republicans are utterly op
posed to any change In the tariff, and I do not be
lieve there is a single congressman from the state
who will cast his vote that way. Tho people will
not stand for it"
There you have it, blunt and plain. It is
significant, too, that in Iowa where there undoubt
edly exists a very strong sentiment In favor of
tariff revision, the revisionists in the republican
party went to tl 3 polls and voted for candidates
for congress regardless of tho position of those
candidates on the so-called "Iowa Idea." Several
of tho republican candidates for congress in Iowa
vopenly repudiated tho tariff revision plank in the
Iowa platform, but that fact did not deter the. re
publican revisionists from lending their aid and
encouragement to the election of the candidates
Who had repudiated the "idea" to which these re
visionists claimed to bo devoted.
If there are any tariff revisionists in the re
publican party who lay the flattering unction to
their souls that -they can depend upon the repub
lican congress for relief so far as tariff revision' is
concerned, these gentlemen will doubtless have
their eyes opened at an early day if, indeed, they
cannofc already see the light that should have
dawned upon them prior to election day.
Nebraska's Debt.
A misleading item is going the rounds of tho
newspapers, it being stated therein that Nebraska
has no state debt It is true that Nebraska has no
bonded state debt, hut the state has a floating in
debtedness of XOinJ.OOO. This floating debt is in
the shape of unpaid warrants that are drawing in
terest, and under the present unequal taxation this
debt is being increased at the rate of about $100,
C0O a year. This debt has been contracted in vio
lation of a clear constitutional provision, and ev
ery dollar of it was contracted under republicm
administrations. During the fusion administra
tions of Governors Holcomb and Poynter this float
ing indebtedness was decreased about ?2u0,000 and
the last dollar of bonded indebtedness paid off.
During the last twenty-two months, under a re
publican administration, the debt has been in
creased about as much as the fusion administra
tions decreased it
It seems, however, that a majority of Ne
braska voters like the Idea of being compelled to
pay interest oh a constantly increasing floating
indebtedness in order that the railway corpora
tions may be allowed to shirk their just share of
the taxes. The present republican state taxing
board assessed the railroads in 1902 at $2,000,000
less than they were assessed in 1892, and this in
face of the fact that since juo92 the railroads have
increased their mileage almost 600 miles and their
stock is quoted from 50 to 100 per cent higher than
It was ten years ago. This will, in a miasure, ex
plain tho rapidly increasing floating debt, but it is
difficult to explain how it comes to pass that an
intelligent people can be led into indorsing that
sort of management
JJJ
A Slump in Stocks.
Even while the republican papers wore re
joicing editorially over a "sweeping republican
victory" their news columns were telling of a
slump in stocks that followed the election.
''Hearst's New York American says that
"prices dropped like an empty bucket into a well"
and .inquires whether "there is a greater, storm
brewing than the party of prosperity will be able
to avert" -
. In its news columns it declares that the cham
ber of commerce is pushing hardto secure at the
coming session of congress a law authorizing an
asset currency and it says further that Wall' street
is using the threat of a panic- to force congress to
act These tactics aro so old that the only sur
prise is that republicanvoters can be fooled by tho
financiers over and over again.
The president of .the Rockefeller bank has
warned the bankers that it is time to curtail
loans and his advice, is likely to be followed.
The financiers held the market up until aften
the election, but now they will turn on the screws
and coerce congress into doing what the money
changers want done.
What has the president to say of the money,
trust? Is it a good trust or a bad one?
JJJ
Herrick's Absurd Idea.
Myron T. Herrick, an Ohio banker who hap
pens to be president of the American Bankers' as
sociation, recently delivered an address in which
among other, things he said: "American democ
racy in its imperial progress has found its power
and sure support in the confidence and good will ot
a mighty nation, emphasized in its bankers. Ite
trade conquests, its financial gains, Its interna
tional prestige and its world sweeping plans aro
personifieu, for the average observer, here and
abroad, in the masterful gentleman who presides
in his unpretentious banking house at the cornec
of Wall street and Broad The banker, son of a
banker, is a prodigy in then., eyes of scores of mil
lions in the civilized world. Ha stands before tha
world as the embodiment of all that is overwhelm
ing, magical and epoch-making in recentNAmerican
growth and life." t
Mr. Herrick's statement surprised a greaJL
many people; and yet there is no real occasion for
surprise because the idea Mr. Herrick sought to
cultivate has been undergoing the process of cul
tivation in this country for many years and par
ticularly during the past six years.
In spite of the fact that in many quarters Mr.
Herrick's statement will be accepted as the verj;
essence of wisdom, tho American citizen who con
siders that statement calmly and compares it wlttt
the idea which the fathers of this government
sought to impress cannot fail to understand that
the claim that American democracy is best repre
sented by the American banker is utterly absurd
It may be true that in the eye3 of many people the,
man of finance appears as "the embodiment of all
that is overwhelming, magical and epoch-making,"
but the careful ob-arver of social progress will
hesitate before he concludes to use the bankers
and sons of bankers as the basis for his estimate
of the character of a people or the genuine growth
and progress of a nation.
If Mr. Herrick were correct then it might be
admitted that "there has been some reason in the
claim that the sovereign people of the United
States should surrender the right to think and the
duty of thinking to the moneyed men; there might
bo some reason to the claim that the men of fi
nance should select our candidates for office and
that after the selection had been made, it is the
duty of the people to elect those candidates and
to give unquestioning support to the policies they
represent Napoleon said that "America is a
fortunate country; she grows by the follies of out
European nations." And yet if the Herrick idea
should be accepted by tho people generally rathec
than growing by the follies of European nations,
America would embrace those follies and in the
embrace lose the characteristics by whicn she has
forged to the front
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