r'fjJ:
tho samo form as It was In tho time of Lincoln,
but tho samo principle is Involved. On ono side
Ib the common right of humanity, and on tho
other is the divino right of kings, which does not
necessarily mean a monarchy as the people of tho
Old World understood it, but in our own countiy
in better understood by tho claim set forth by Coal
Baron Baer that God 'has designated certain men
as his trustees and ordained them to control tho
wealth and property of the country, and that be
cause of this divinity these men arc booted and
spurred to rldo ovor the rest of mankind.
JJJ
J,
Continue to executo all the express pio
vislons of our nntlonal constitution and
tho Union will enduro forever It beingv im
possible to destroy it except by some action
not provided for in the instrument Itself.
Abraham Lincoln.
J8.
JJJ
Watch the Primaries.
Tho battlo between tho plutocratic and the
democratic elements in the democratic party
must bo fought out at the primaries. It will
not do to leave the matter to tho national con
vention. Tho delegates to the various conven
tionscounty, state, and national should bo In
structed to ,reafTirm the Kansas City platform. ' If
any ono objects to reaffirmation let him be chal
lenged to present a platform embodying his views.
Honesty will appeal to honest men and In any
crowd tho honest men generally outnumber the
dishonest ones. Watch tho dodger. He is a
good man to leave at homo when delegates are
bolng selected. If the democratic party is to win
tho confidence of those who desiro reform it must
do so by a straightforward course dealing candid
ly with all tho Issues before the country. Or
ganize, go to the primaries and instruct. Wall
street will control the republican party let tho
democratic party accept tho challenge and make
tho lssuo plain. A failure to reaffirm will be
equivalent to a return to corporation rule, for
those who are willing to abandon any part of the
party creed in order to conciliate those who op
posed tho party will not bo courageous enough to
make a stand for anything. Sound a man opposed
to reaffirmation and you will find that, as a rule,
ho bus no definite position that ho is prepared to
announco and defend.
JJJ
kS
S,
Finally I insist that if there is anything
that is tho duty of the whole people to uever
entrust to hands but their own, that thing
Is the preservation and perpetuity of their
own liberties and institutions. Abraham
.unicorn.
&
JJJ
Foreshadows Republican
Policies.
Tho republican leaders have made their an
swer o tho demand that the criminal c ai e X
tho Sherman anti-trust law be enforced
The answer does not come in the form ot nn
explanation as to why in its pretendeS assault
upon tho trust system tho Roosevelt admSt
tlon has failed to enforce the crimmaf cTaS f ""
Tho republican lenders answer ibis riKhteoiis
demand with what is known as the Fornf r hi 11
The Foraher bill does :iot provide new m
2? f?P T' "g th0 Peea of tiie trust magnates
but it actuay repeals tho criminal clause of the
Sherman anti-trust law, and makes other imnort!
ant features of that law inoperative l
Tho Foraker bill is briei but t 'te vr,
portant, Tho bill follows- iS Very Im"
,,T reIJev. foreIgn amerce and acts
and contracts in reasonab.o restraint of tS
and commerce among .he several state. Tom
tho provisions of the act to regulate common.?
approved February 4, 1887, and the act to pro'
tact rade and conmeroe against unlawfVr
"So! momV. approved Juiy 2;
"That nothing n tne act to regulate rom
inerco, approved Fepruarv 4 irr? ?u m"
to protect trado and commerce Lin 5 nCt
ful restraints and TionoX? ! St unlaw-
,Vi89H' r in rirZu
said acts, shall hereafter apnlv tn fnJIi,
commerce or shall prohibit nnv Set or n eIgn
tract in restraint of tradooomtermrg
The Commoner
tho several states, provided that such re
straint be reasonable, or shall hereafter au
thorize imprisonment or forfeiture of property
as punishment for any violation of such acts,
except for perjury or contempt of court.
Senator Foraker claims that this bill is in
line with tho suggestions made by Attorney Gen
eral Knox in his Pittsburg speech. The attorney
general does not agree with this claim; and yet
while ho points out certain defects in the meas
ure, it is noticeable he does not vigorously antag
onize it.
The bill has been so generally condemned that
it is not likely it will pass at the present session
of congress. It cannot bo doubted, however, that
the Foraker bill has been given by the republican
leaders, and accepted by the trust magnates, as an
early day promise of what the republican party
will do for Wall street in xhe event that party is
given a vote of confidence next November.
The measure will be condemned by many re
publican papers, and yet it will not be condemned
so vigorously but that tho same papers may wheel
into line when the proper time comes in order to
give the measure their cordial, approval.
It is significant, also, that the Foraker blli
was introduced just at the time when it developed
that all semblance of opposition to Mr. Roosevelt
in Wall street had been abandoned.
The Foraker bill is one of the most iniquitous
measures ever introduced in congress. It is a re
publican measure and faithfully foreshadows the
republican policy.
JJJ
&.
J
It is in order that each ono of you may
have through this free government which
we have enjoyed, an open field and o fair
chance for your industry, enterprise and in
telligence that you all may have equal priv
ileges in the race of life, with all its de
sirable human aspirations, it is i.'or this tho
struggle should be maintained that we may
not lose our birthrights Abraham Lincoln.
JJJ
" Bartering of Liberty."
Reference in The Commoner to th . article ap
pearing in Frank Leslie's Monthly which article
was enticled "Tho National Lobby at Washing
ton," prompts a reader to direct, attention to-an
Interesting article in somewhat the sairo vein as
the article appearing in Leslie's. This particular
article appeared as an editorial in an earlier issue
of McClure's magazine, and is enclosed to The
Commoner together with the comments thereon
made by the Wall Street Journal.
-D 7!, McClure magazine article4 was entitled
Patriotism," and dealt with questions naturally
arising in connection with Miss Tarbell's "His
tory of tho Standard Oil Company," and with ar
ticles on municipal corruption contributed by Mr.
Stoffens. In the McClure article it wa3 said:
"We chose the Standard Oil because it is
the standard groat business coi -2rn, and we
are laying before the whole country the local
disgrace of particular cities because each is
the tale of a thousand cities? Iu these two
series is the one great story of a common con
ditioncorruption wo shall proceed with
, the story of the Standard Oil and of the cit
ies . . and if we can finally persuade our
readers to recognize as traitors some of the
great men among us who, have succeeded bv
means of boodling and afe ex ,sed because
of success we shall have achieved our pur!
pose. At any rate, we shall try it. We pro
pose when we have got well acquainted w'fh
them and their methods and excuses to lurn
from the poor, miserable, petty traitors who
sell out their country to the i 'respects Mtfi on
ng men who buy. it f rom the bribed to tt
ample to youth;' ho is a corrupter of vonfh"
corrupter of every thin ir m tn 1 yuwi, a
erybody he inspires He 1, nT' and ev
republic. xne only' force tin? em? of lho
is 'Patriotism.' y that r stoP him
mLig&tl$ McClu- -tide, the Wall
a thrill!8 ?TntYTr,theQ v'rds ittout
W of a 080? tl
.VOLUME 4, NUMBER 4,
. them merely the expression of envy of
one else's money-Mr. John D. Rockefefi
for example but we are much mistakW?;
they will not strike a responsive chord in iil
hearts of a majority of those who read thorn
For they at once enshrine a truth, a terS
truth, an intolerable truth, and breathe th
spirit of determination that it shall not ov!
continue a truth." ver
Then, having presented other thoughts aim,,
this line, the Wall Street Journal continues J
follows: "
"The spirit of 'commercialism,' of which
so much is nowadays heard from ministers
politicans and graduating orators, means
nothing at all if it does not mean the set
ting of money above morals the bartering 0f
liberty for material prosperity. The lawver
who bribes a legislature for his corporation
tne man who steals or 'boodles a street rail!
way franchise, tho man who buys a tariff
schedule from a handful of United States
senators all these are traitors to their coun
try, as McClure's Magazine points out, MiBt
as much as the man who delivers a fort into
the enemy's hands. The trouble is that they
are not so regarded by everybody. If this is
to continue a free country there must be a
sound public opinion on this thing."
Democrats have frequently been sneered at
because they have sometimes employed the term,
"placing the dollar above the man." Mr. Lincoln
used that expression and Mr. Lin"oln was sub
jected to the jeers of those who were most in
terested in elevating the dollar. But here we have
the Wall Street Journal, a publication that has
on several occasions read severe lectures to the
financiers of the "street," employing the term
"setting,, money above morals," and interpreting
tho term as meaning the "bartering of liberty for
material prosperity."
For saying the things which thq editor of Mc
Clure's has said, for saying the things which the
editor of the Wall Street Journal has said, demo
crats have been vigorously denounced by republi
can orators and republican organs; and yet Uso
things were just as true When they were spoken
by democratic orators from ever- stump in tho
country as they are today when the eyes of maga
zine editors are beginning to open to the truth.
It is true that every editor Who, having, his
eyes opened, tells his readers the truth with re
spect to the 'situation is entitled to credit. But
of what avail will these editorial utterances be
unless these samo editors set themselves resolute
ly againt the candidates whom "the briber and
the traitors" are seeking to Install into office?
The Wall Street Journal c 'esses that the
situation is so serious that "if thir is to continue
a free country there must be sound public opin
ion on this thing." But of what value will this
"sound public opinion" be if the same journals
that between election days undertake to cultivate
this "sound public opinion," immediately prior to
election day urge their readers to - pport the can
didates who have been chosen by "the bribers
and the traitors?"
If magazine editors now recognize certain men
as "bribers" and "traitors" and then a' the ap
proach of election persuade ttiemselves, or permit
themselves to be persuaded, because of so. e
imaginary national exigency or upon some fan :ifd
issue which they have been made to believe is for
the moment more important than ot. :r things, to
support the candidates of "the bribers and tho
traitors," may tho people expert -.ufcstantlal re
sults from tho effort to cultivate this "sound pub
lic opinion?"
JJJ
.
I desire to preserve this government that
it may be administered for all, as it was
administered by tho men who made it.
Abraham Lincoln.
4
1 c
&.
,j
jjj
Justice Harlan's Warning.
John M. Harlan, associate justice of tho
united States supreme court, recently delivered a
lecture on constitutional aw, before tho clofas of
the Columbian University law school. In that ad
dress Justice Harlan said:
''Let us hope that this great instrument,
which has served so woll, will weather tho
storms which the ambitions of certain men
are creating in an effort to make ,th's coun
try a worltl power."
Newspaper dispatches say that "because of
MB ' K. . 4Uk