The Commoner.
5
MAY ?2 2f 19 0 3..
Turning the Tables. -
The strike at Omaha has developed a. now.
phaso of the "government by injunction" process.
The employers, as they are in the habit of doing,
rushed into court and secured a sweeping injunc
' tlon against the employes that is now so com
mon an occurrence that it did not attract much
attention. The strikers, however, conceived the
idea that the injunction rale might bo made to
work both ways, so through their attorney thoy
prayed for an Injunction against the Business
Men's association, and to the great surprise of
the latter it was granted. The temporary order
.enjoining the members of the Business Men's as
sociation will bo found on another page.
The employers will learn more about govern
ment by injunction in a few days now than they
Slave learned in years when the laboring men
were defendants in injunction suits and to this
extent it may do some good, but the laboring
men must not relax their effort to prohibit the
use of the courts for such purposes. The uso
of this equity process to deprive a citizen of trial
by jury is wrong, whether it is used against em
ployer or employe. It is no defense that it may
occasionally be used at the request of the laborer,
An
Eggshell
Platform.
An Iowa republican paper says that the an
nouncement that Senator Allison will write tno
next platform for the lowa re
publicans is an indication that
there will be no "step back?
ward." Is it not also an indi
cation that thorfl will be no sten
In any direction? Is it not reasonable to believe
that it will simply bo another case of treading
on egg shells?
.The democratic state committee of Ohio hasr
suggested that the state convention indorse a can
";. . didate for United States sena-
,: ' T"o tor. Many republican leaders
Ohie claim to be in favor of the pop-
Plan. umr election of senators; and
yet it is to be observed that the
republican party is not showing any disposition
to trust the people by permitting them to select
fie7 republican candidate for senator.,.
Post
Office
Scandals.
Referring to the scandals in the postal de
partment, the Chicago Tribune says: "There have
been numerous stories about
scandals in the department, but
no facts. When is any definite
information to be given out?'
Perhaps definite information
may be more readily obtainable when it is de
monstrated that exposure of corruption willt not
be construed-as disloyalty to 'the .republican party.
The Tribune calls for rigid investigation and vig
orous prosecution and yet it will occur to a great
many people that the postmaster general 'is not
aplying to the postofllce scandals the vigor and
energy that characterizes his efforts as a poli
tician. Seymour W. Tulloch, former " cashier of the
(Washington city postofllce, referring to his- state-
ments relating to the postofllce
Kor . scandals, says: "If any at
" Truth's tempt is made by Postmaster
Sake. General Payne to brand mo as
a liar and calumniator, in con
sequence of my charges of postofllce irregularities,
I will make revelations as to the acts of certain
officials and former officials of the postofllce de
partment that will shock the moral sense of the
country as it has not been shocked since the ex
posure of the star route frauds' If Tulloch is fn
possession of such facts, he should not wait for an
attempt to brand Tiim as a liar. Lq should be
willing to tell 'the truth for the truth's sake.
Percival Landon, the Manila correspondent
for the London Daily Mail, has sent to his paper
7T : , a letter In which ho declares
; Little that tho American campaign
' By has made no impression on the
Little. islands; that the firing line is
co-extensive with the coast line
and. that a feeling of utter insecurity prevails at
headquarters. Mr. Landon asserts that in a
country depending entirely upon agriculture for
its prosperity, the land is being largely abandoned,
and he says .it is time for the United States to
decide whether there might be a reconsideration
of its policy of the past five years. Little by lit
tle the truth concerning the Philippines is being
forced upon the American people.
Is
Generally
Undemocratic.
Tho Philadelphia Inquirer asks: "Isn't it
about timo that wo run that modern Sodom and
c. .. Gomorrah out of tho sisterhood
starting 0f states and start it in afresh?"
In There aro a great many people
Afresh. who aro inclined to tho opinion
that it will bo well for tho peo
ple of Philadelphia to "start in afresh." And it
must not bo forgotten that in tho sanre good book
where we find reference to Sodom and Gomorrah,
something is said about taking tho beam out of
one's own oyo beforo undertaking to removo tha
moto from his brother's optic.
Democrats have recontly received much ad
vice from tho Brooklyn Eaglo and the impres
sion exists in some quarters that
that hated thing which tho Ea
glo calls "Bryanism" is the only
thing that has kept tho editor
Of thft 15nil frnm KiinnnrMrm-
tho democratic party. But tho Brooklyn Citizen
throws a bit of light on tho Eagle's attitudo when
It. says that no matter what tho issuo has been
either in city or state for tho past twelve yea-e,
the Eaglo and its editor "have always found some
pretext for lying about tho democratic party and
aiding its adversary."
Tho Chicago Inter-Ocean reports that one of
tho oldest letter carriers of tho Jefferson (Ky.)
Af. .. postofllce has been arrested for
ill . faIne to account for 2 cents
Little collected a year ago as an over-
- Fish Only. chargo on postage. It seems
strange that a letter carrier
should bo arrested for the embezzlement of so
small a sum. Why didn't Attorney Gonoral Knox
ask tho court to enjoin him from embezzling any
more? If wo aro going to recognize tho doctrine
of equality beforo tho law it is hardly fair to
commence a criminal prosecution against a man
Who steals 2 cents and then deal so tenderly with
trust magnates who take hundreds of millions in
violation of the law.
Baer's
'i Ideas of
Competition.
Mr. Baer has at last defined competition. Ho
says the railroads actually compete with each
uiuer, duc in explaining this,
he says: "In tho sense of build
ing lines to tho collieries ' they
do compete; in tho sense of un-
dersollinn' pnnli nfhot fhnv An
not" And then he adds: "I do not believe in
trying to take business where the action entails
a loss to an existing company without any cer
tainty of profit to the newcomer. Tho world is
big enough for all of us to make a living." Tho
trouble with Mr. Baer is that he insists on divid
ing the world up among a few of his friends, and
his friends are then able to make a big profit out
of the people who make a poor living.
, The organs of the reorganizes insist that but
for the intervention of the editor of The Com-
moner, the Chicago platform
Ar would have been repudiated at
. Kansas Kansas City. These organs
. - City. bave forgotten, or they prefer
to forget, the fact that while
a majority of the resolutions committee was in
favor of inserting a specific 10 to 1 plank in the
platform of 1900, the minority, while anxious to
omit a specific 16 to 1 plank, wanted to Insert iu
the Kansas City platform a plank reaffirming the
platform of 1896. Those who opposed the spe
cific 16 to 1 plank assured their follow democrats
that they had no desire whatever to repudiate
the Chicago platform in the 1900 platform.
The Philadelphia North American says:
"While much Irritation has been caused by Presi
t dent Baer's defiant announce
IM nient that -he controls tho price
Real of coal and purposes to advance
Evil. tue price to dealers to $5 a ton,
It should not be. overlooked that
he has rendered a distinct service to the public.
His remarks have cleared tho atmosphere. Mys
tery and speculation are at an end. The price of
coal is arbitrarily fixed by one group of men, and
they admit it From this point it ought to bo
possible to work backward and discover whether
tho arbitrary price named by them i3 or is not
excessive." It will be remembered, however, that
Judge Thayer in his opinion in the Northern Se
curities case, said in effect that the question as to
the reasonableness of rates, or prices, was not
the question. Tho evil was in the power to fix
the rates or prices; and so while some ma find
entertainnient in "working backward" in the ef
fort to discover whether the arbitrary price made
by tho coal barons is or is not excessive, tho real
benefit aro to bo obtained by thoso who striko
vigorous and persistent blows in tho effort to de
stroy tho power hold by one man or by a coterie
of men to arbitrarily fix the price of coal or, in
deed, tho price of any other commodity.
The
Needful
Equipment
"Tho needful equipment" is a potent factor
upon which tho reorganizes depend In their cf-
lort to rcpubllcanizo tho demo
cratic party. Tnc rcorganlzcr.1
dare not reveal their platform
to tho democrats; and yet ev
ery democrat must undoratnnrt
that a platform wrltton by the reorganizes would
bo so similar to tho republican platform that there
would- bo small choico betweon tho two platforms
and littlo reason why a voter should jump out of
tho frying pan into tho fire.
Tho Chicago Tribune, a republican paper,
says that tho mention of Mr. Cleveland's namo for
. tho democratic nomination in
Return 1904 is "an ovldenco of the rc-
to turn to sanity of democracy,"
Q. O. P. and tnat H is "a preliminary
confession that the party was
altogether in tho wrong and that ho (Cleveland)
was altogether in tho right In 1890." By "tho re
turn to sanity," tho Tribune means a return to
republican policies, and tho "confession" that Mr.
Cleveland was right in 1896 is gratifying to tho
Tribune becauso it is a confession that tho re
publican party was right However agreeable
to republican organs such a confession and such a
return might bo, there aro many democrats who
aro not yet prepared to subscribe to tho policieJ
of tho republican party.
In one of his speeches, Mr. Roosevelt said:
"No law will ever make a coward brave, a fool
wise, or a weakling strong. All
What the law can do Is to shape
About things that no injustico shall bo
the Tariff? done by oao to another and so
that each man shall bo given
tho chance to show tho stuff that is In hlra." And
yet Mr. Roosevelt Is tho faithful champion of a
tariff law that takes money out of tho pockets
of the many to replenish the pockets of the few.
Ho objects to the destruction of the shelter which
tho trusts find in tho tariff and ho does not ap
pear to be disturbed because under republican ad
ministration the law is molded to shape things
so that injustice is done, to tho benefit of a com
paratively small number of men an'd to the great
disadvantage of the masses.
Love
of
Gambling.
The Pittsburg Chronicle-Telegraph says:
"Love of gambling In one form or another seema
to be in the American blood
and the American boy is easily
led astray by temptations to
'take chances' on the various
gambling schemes that haro
been allowed to become a part of the ordinary
merchandise of tho shops that he frequents. These
things should be put out of the reach of our
school children." It might be well, also, for the
Chronicle-Telegraph to direct its shafts at the
gambling schemes carried on by diffierent news
papers In the country in the form of "guessing
contests." These things are brought directly
within the reach of children, as well a3 adults,
and tho very fact that newspapers stand sponsor
for such gambling schemes has a tendency among
grown folks, as well as among children, to give
character to that form of speculation and to cul
tivate tho love cf gambling.
While insisting that the Hawkoye republi
cans aro still devoted to the "Iowa idea," the Des
Moines Register and Leader
What
Did Mr. Knox
Do?
says: "It may not suit the
purposes of the democrats and
Independents in the coming na
tional campaign to admit that
Attorney General Knox, backed by President
Roosevelt, has removed the trust Issue from pres
ent day politics as effectually as Governor Taft's
administration at Manila has removed the Phil
ippine question. But the country at large knows
that he has and that the trust Issue 'is futile
unless some new development that is not now
anticipated revitalizes it" The "Iowa idea" 13
represented In the plank In the Iowa platform
protesting against the shelter which the trusts
find in tho tariff. Will tho Register and Leader
be good enough to Inform its readers what At
torney General Knox backed by President Roose
velt has done to interfere with the trusts' shel
ter in the tariff?