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The Commoner.
SLUGUST 7, 1903.
JIMifiliiiJWWPP
la its Fourth of July editorial, tho Chicago
Record-Herald said: "The Fourth of July is our
great national nouuuy. il
full of meaning to tho adults
as "well as to tho youth of tho
land." Should it not also be
"full of meanlne" to all people
verywhore, who, like our own fathers, Btrugglo
for liberty? And is it "full of meaning" to the
people of the Philippine islands, who have had
the temerity to aspire to a government deriving
1U powers from tho consent of tho governed?
Full
of
Meaning.
Flag
Waving
Feot.
Speaking before tho Iowa republican convon
JUon, Congressman Cousins said: "It Is tho wall
oi American proiecuun uyuu
which tho feet of industry and
labor leaped out of the panic
and disaster of 1896, waving
the flac of employment, pros
perity and independence in the face of the world."
Henry Watterson, who is sometmng of a figure
maker himself, deals the Iowa orator a crushing
hlow when he says: "Protectionists are in the
liabit of waving their feet -in the faces of other
people, but feet that wave flags must be some-
jkUJUg 41UYY.
Tho Tribune
Makes
It Plain
Quoting from the Iowa republican platform,
Jho New York Tribune says: "Duties that are too
low Bhould do increased, ana
duties that are too high should
-be reduced. If not, wny not?
Does any rational being think
tlin.fr. duties wnicli aro too low
Bhould be reduced, and that duties which are too
high should be Increased?" Of course! Come to
thlok of it, no rational being thinks that duties
that are too low should be reduced and duties that
are too high should be increased. Everyone must
feel profoundly grateful to the Tribune for mak
ing tho point quite clear.
An
Indignant
Editor.
A young man at Conova, 111., recently took
his sweetheart for a ride. It is recorded that she
fell out of tu3 buggy, while her
lover drove two miles before he
discovered that she was miss
ing. When this announcement
was made to the public, the
editor of the Hartford (Ala.) Times became
wrathy, and taking his pen in hand, and in a burst
of righteous indignation, he wrote: "When wo
were a young lover, the hind wheel might come
off, the spring break or the horse fall out of tho
shafts without our knowing it, but the girl was
always safely anchored."
Perkins
a Bit Out
of Line.
In his speech before the Iowa republican con
tention, George D. Perkins, the temporary chair
man, said: "Tho labor of the
country is not only to be pro
tected in what it has to sell,
but also it is to be protected in
what it has to buy." There te
nothing in the republican tarhf policy to justify
that assertion, nor is there anything fn the plat
form subsequently adopted by tho convention
which Mr. Perkins addressed to warrant the Im
pression that the statement of the temporary
presiding officer had received the convention's indorsement
'''
Tho New York Tribune says: "It Is not al
together easy to be patient with tho political
critics who try to hide their
Just chagrin behind a pretence that
as Clear the resolutions of the Iowa con-
as Mud. vention are crooked and ambig
uous." It is not at all surpris
ing that the Tribune has lost its patience with
the political critics. The Iowa platform says
that "duties that are too low should be increased;
'duties that are too high should be reduced." At
first glance, one might be inclined to think that
that statement is a hit ambiguous, but on second
reading it will appear to be very clear. Boiled
down, it means that the duties that are too high
Bhould be reduced while the duties that are too
low should be Increased. In other words, those
duties that are too low should be Increased and
those duties that are too high should be reduced.
Not at all crooked or ambiguous.
A southern newspaper declared: "The lynch
ing of negroes in Illinois and other northern states
is no justification of like acts
here at home." While that pa
per admitted that imitation is
the sincerest flattery, It added:
"We should restrain our desire
to please so far as to refrain from negro lynch
A Very
Candid
Confession.
tng just because our brethren up north Indulgo
In that pastime." All of which moves tho Now
York Tribuno to say: "Tho Barcasm Is not un
deserved, and tho serious reflection that whilo
tho north loves tho negro at a distance the
south, notwithstanding its political discrimination
against him, really understands him and offers
him his best opportunities Is not without truth.--A
very candid confession, indeed.
Referring to tho recent decision-delivered by
the United States supreme court in tho Hawaiian
caso, the Philadelphia Ledger
Strong says: "It is a severe strain up-
Werds 0n tno revcrcnco n which the
people have always held tho
tribunal of last resort to know
that its latest decision is that of Justice Brown,
White, McKonna, Holmes, and Day, traversed by
that of Chief Justice Fuller and Justices Har
lan, Brewer, and Peckham; that in opon court
Justico Harlan was moved dramatically to dis
sent altogether from an opinion tho effects of
which ho represented in tho darkest language,
while the chief justice earnestly and with marked
emphasis charged tho majority with tampering
with tho plain words of tho congressional resolu
tion on which tho Issue hung an act which ho
denounced as 'almost criminal"
Aldrlch
Approved
Platform.
Tho Washington correspondent for tho New
York Tribuno, under date of July 1, said: "In
tense satisfaction is expressed
by republicans in Washington
this evening at the news irom
Des Moines that the Iowa con
vention han arinnterl Lht tariff
plank, which, as told in the Tribuno of May 13,
Senator Allison submitted to Senator Aldrlch at
tho Hot Springs conference, and which received
tho approval of tho senator from Rhode Island."
Is it possible that those republicans who yet be
lieve in the "Iowa idea" can Imagine that tho
tariff plank would have received tho approval of
the senator from Rhode Island, admittedly the
representative of the trusts on the floor of the
senate, if that plank had contained anything that
could be used to discourage the maintenance of
the shelter which tho trusts find In the tariit?
I 1Was
Hopelessly
Lost.
The Waterloo (la.) Courier, commenting upon
tho platform adopted by tho Iowa republicans,
says: "While tho Cummins
forces controlled tho conven
tion tho Courier is of the opin
ion that a 'shelter to monopoly'
Dlank COUlrl not hnvn hnnn
forced upon it by any combination of circum
stances or factions or interests. They could not
oven enforce their demand for a majority of the
committee on resolutions, which Indicated tho
plain purpose of the delegates not to permit open
emasculation of republican doctrine and the ap
propriation of democratic theory." The Courier
adds that "in the spirit of compromise the con
vention proceeded to an unwise limit in accept
ing the phraseology of the tariff plank, conjured
up as a meaningless concession to tho 'Iowa Idea'
element The plank in itself is intelligent enough,
but is meaningless as conveying cither the letter
or spirit of the revisionists' creed." It Is diffi
cult to see with what reason the champions of
the "Idea" undertake to claim victory for their
cause.
Tho Boston Herald says: "During tho nlno
years that he occupied tho position of the demo
cratic candidate for the presl
Look dency Mr. Cleveland always had
at a plurality of the votes of the
189. People, and it increased with
every time it was put to the
test, until in the last Instance it was about three
times as large as It had been in that immediately
preceding and many times of the proportion that
it was when he was first a candidate. Here is a
lesson of what the democrats threw away when
they abandoned the support of .he principles Mr.
Cleveland represented, and also a pointing out
of tho way to return to the good fortune with
which they then parted." The Herald should
now tell its readers something ahout the returns
of the congressional elections of 1894 when, under
the Cleveland administration, the democracy en
countered defeat on every hand. The Herald
might also explain how It happened that tho
democratic party in 189G was seriously embar
rassed because It was required to carry the bur
dens of the political sins growing out of Mr.
Cleveland's second administration.
Commenting upon tho rccont decision dolir
crcd by tho United States supremo court in the
-. . . Hawaiian caso, tho Springfield
against (Mass.) Republican said: "Ac-
Common cording to Uo position of the
Reason. majority judges, the constitution
Is wholly without force or effect
upon congress in dealing with any territory or
peoplo under .o jurisdiction of tho United States
and not ombracod In tho regular states of tho
Union, and an Imporlal system of colonies or de
pendencies can bo engrafted upon tho republic,
subject to a government as absolute and despotic
and nrbitrary ni that of the czar. To nay that
this Is In harmony with tho principles and system
of government Intondod to bo established by. the
constitution of tho Unitod States Is to violate tho
dictates of common reason and common sense."
Tho Wall Street Journal has a fairly accur
ate idea of tho purposes of tho men whose in
v,.. pt, fluonco and notions provailed in
viewy the preparation of tho Iowa rc-
For publican platform. The cham-
Scnator Hanna. P,ons of tho "Iowa idea" may bo
Interested In reading tho Inter
pretation placed upon tho platform by the Wall
Street Journal. Hero it Is: "Not only has Iowa
reindorsed Roosevelt, in stronger language than
before, but It has adopted tho Allison compromise
tariff plank, rejecting Governor Cummins' mors
radical views looking toward tariff reform. Tho
'Iowa Idea,' however, has been burled, and the re
publican party will stand In 1904 firmly on its
time-honored principle of protection. Senator
Hanna's policy of 'let well enough alono Is thus
approved."
Tho London newspapers appear to bid fair
to become, rivals to somo of tholr American fel
lows in tno matter of newspa
paper gambling schemes. The
Springfield (Mass.) Republican
says: "Perhaps tho most sensn-
tionai uevico yot found for ad
vertising a novel Is that of a London publisher
who is bringing out In installments a detective
story entitled 'Hidden, Not Lost,' the plot of
which concerns the loss of GOO sovereigns. So
cunningly are fact and fancy blended that, to
quote tho prospectus, 'Tho story will bo fiction,
tho sovereigns will bo real.' They are to be hid
den somewhere in a public place in London, ac
ceslblo to all, and the story Itself gives the astuto
reador the hint as to whero they are."
Commenting upon tho guesses being mado as
to tho republican nominee for vice president, tho
New York Press guesses that
lurn tho rank and file of the republl-
the Rascals can party prefer to postpone
Out. that discussion until a more
pressing matter Is disposed of.
According to the Press, which, by tho way. Is a
republican paper: "There will bo plenty of time
to talk about a running mate for President
Roosovelt after the postal service has been rid of
tho spoilsmen who Infest it the same spoilsmen
who for so long have manipulated the national
party organization for their own purposes. When
these men are driven out of high government
and party stations the discussion' of campaign
matters can be taken up by republicans with a
little more enthusiasm and much more propriety
than at present."
London's
Gambling
Game.
Colonel
Young
Knows.
Moines Capital.
Those who Imagine that It was tho intention
of tho platform writers in the Iowa republican
convention to leave any rem
nant of the "Iowa idea" may
obtain a bit of light by re
ferring to an editorial that re
cently appeared in the Des
The Capital says that the first
suggestion that Senator Allison bo chosen to
write the platform came from the editor of tho
Oskaloosa Herald, and the Capital insists that
the editor of the Herald be given all "honor."
The Capital quotes from some of tho Herald edi
torials, printed after tho Iowa convention ad
journed, among the extracts being: "And tho
stand-patters were thero, with tho goods all along
the line." Concluding, the Capital extends con
gratulations to the Oskaloosa Herald, "the paper
that pointed the way for Allison's work as a com
promiser; the peper that pointed the way to the
death of the 'Iowa idea.' " There does not appear
to bo any doubt In the mind of the editor of the
Capital as to what happened to the "Iowa idea"
at the recent republican convention in the Hawk
oye State.
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