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Commoner.
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WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
'I1,1 Wi
The
Vol. 4. No. 13.
Lincoln, Nebraska, April 15, 1904
Whole No, 169.
KANSAS IS IN LINE
I
The democratic state convention of Kansas,
recently held, came out with a ringing indorse
ment of the platforms of 1896 and 1900 and de
manded the nomination of candidates in sym
pathy with those platforms. Good for Kansas!
The reorgahizers can find no comfort in that
state. An indorsement of the Kansas City plat
form would have been sufficient, for that platform
contains an indorsement of the Chicago piat
form, but the Kansas convention indorsed both.
In its courageous maintenance of democratic prin
ciples the Kansas convention has set an example
that other states may well follow. If the same
spirit pervades the St. Louis convention we shall
have an aggressive campaign in which the re
publicans will be upon the defensive all along
the line. -
"While Mr. Bryan appreciates the complimen
tary reference made to him by the Kansas con
vention, he does not desire to have the harmony
pf any democratic convention disturbed by a
resolution commendatory of him. Ho is not a
candidate for anything, and it matters little what
any convention,-tljinJjB of him,. but it does matter
a great deal what a convention thinks of demo
cratic principles. . -
The Officeholder's Opinion.
A press dispatch from S't. Louis says that
"Judge L. R. Wllfley, attorney general for the
Philippines," returned to his home recently, and
then he is quoted as saying:
"The government of the islands or the
question of possession or 'autonomy should
not be an issue in the coming presidential
campaign. I believe that the islanders should
be allowed to reach, under the present form
of government, a position which-would qual
ify them for self-government. I believe that
the idea advanced by many of our prominent
and conscientious public men President-Eliot
of Harvard, for instance that the islands
should be made free, as Cuba is, should not
receive recognition in the platforms of the
parties.
"The question is not, shall wo keep the
islands? It is, how shall wo best govern them.
It is noW did we do right in taking, them. It
is, what is, the best way to uplift them? The
Philippines have no place in partisan poll-,
tics." . '
It is not strange that those who find a profit
in governing the Philippine islands are opposed to
giving independence to the people, but why are
they unwilling, to make the matter an issue and
submit it to the judgment of the people? In 1900
the republicans denied that they intended imper
ialism; they denounced us in unmeasured terms
because we accused them of contemplating imper
ialistic plans and methods. Even after the elec
tion of 1900 President McKinley declared that
there was no thought of imperialism in the Ameri
can mind. During the campaign people were told
that we could not negotiate with men in arms;
that the Filipinos must lay down their weapons
and submit to, our authority, and that then we
could discuss; thefuture. with them. But as soon
as they were overcome by force and strategy, they
"were told that there, i was n0 question to consider;
that the queBtibn-hid been settled. ExrSecrotaiy
Long declared the same thing in a speech in Mas
sachusetts, and now a returning office-holder tells
us that it is not a question whether wo shall keep
the islands, but how we shall best govern them.
That is exactly the attitude of George III. during
the days of the revolution. Ho refused to con
sider the question of letting the colonies go, and
that, too, upon the same grounds that the repub
lican leaders refuse to let the Philippine islands
go. - George III. denied that the people were en
titled to self-government or capable of it that
is the position of the republicans today, and they
confess the weakness of their position when they'
declare that it is not an issue.
The question of imperialism has never been
passed upon by the American people. Will the
republicans deny that the people have a right to
decido so important a question? If Imperialism is
right, why do the republicans run from it? If
they believe that th'eir policy is defensible, let
them write in their platform a plank declaiiug
that they favor a colonial policy m which the
Filipinos shall be governed by an outside force,
taxed without representation and ruled without
their consent. But no, they will do as they did
in 1900 deceive the people, dodge real issues, aud
shout "prosperity," while the corporations con
tinue to plunder the people in return for cam
paign funds.
JJJ
"CALM, SUBDUED, DISCIPLINED."
IWriting to the Chicago Record-Herald from
Washington, Walter Wellman says: "It is a new
Roosevelt we have now a man who by self-discipline
has almost made himself over and into an
other being. Compared with the Roosevelt who
came into the White house by virtue of a decree
of fate, the Roosevelt of today is a man calm, sub
'dued, disciplined."
It must be confessed that it looks that way.
The American people have not forgotten that
while Mr. Roosevelt was vice president, he deliv
ered a speech at Minneapolis in which speech he
said something about shackling cunning as in Liie
past we had shackled force. After Mr. Roosevelt
entered the White house he made pretense at
shackling cunning; but it was largely pretense,, for
soon afterthe United States supreme court deliv
ered an opinion in which the Sherman anti-trust
law was upheld, Mr. Roosevelt's attorney general
announced that the administration did not Intend
eto "run amuck" on the trust quesVm. .
No effort has been made to shackle cunnlug
on the lines that are clearly laid down by the
United States supreme court. The criminal clause
of the Sherman anti-trust law remains unenforced
upon the statute book, and it is becoming appaicnt
to the people generally that the famous trust-bust- ,
ing administration has been "calmed, subdued, J
disciplined."
JJJ
According to a recently published "crazy map "
as it is called, the center of Insanity seems to be
in New England, the number of insane being
nearly four times as great there in proportion to
population as in the Rocky mountains. New Yoik
and Pennsylvania come next to New England, in
the proportion of insane persons. And yet these
were the sections in which -free silver was most
bitterly denounced as a "craze. i
PARKER ALIAS BELMONT
Tho New York World, under big, black head
lines, as will bo seen from an oxtract reproduced
on another page, reports that August Belmont
went to Washington "representing Judgo Parker'
friends," and hold a conference with certain demo
cratic senators and representatives. According
to tho World, ho returned to Now York in a "jubi
lant mood," with messages to Hill and Murphy.
Now that Mr. Joseph Pulitzer has taken charge of
the publicity and advertising department of tho
Parker boom, wo may expect to read In tho World
a great deal of conferences and pledges, Inter
mingled with tables, figures and prognostications.
Some weeks ago tho New York Herald announced
that the friends of Parker, Gorman and Olney had
agreed upon August Belmont as tho proper man
for chairman of the democratic national committeo
in case tho reorganizers regained control Of the
party, and now comes the World and informs ua
that Belmont has already taken charge of tho Par
ker boom, and, as ambassador extraordinary, is
negotiating for the delivery of tho entire west and
south. How much more evidence will it require
to locate Judgo Parker in the grejit contest be
tween organized wealth and tho masses? No iiiel-
ter evidence of his unfitness for a democratic nom
ination could be given than that furnished by tifo
selection of August Belmont as his financial agent
and authorized envoy. Those who recall tho
Rothschild-Morgan contract entered into by Mr?"
Cleveland's administration, will remember that
August Belmont & Co. signed the contract "on
behalf of Messrs. N. M. Rothschild & Sons, London,
and themselves." That contract was so obnoxious
that the house of representatives refused to. in
dorse it, and It was one of the principal Items in
the Indictment brought by the democratic party
against the Cleveland administration. When, af
ter an heroic struggle, tho democratic party re
pudiated the Cleveland administration and tootc
the people's side on the money controversy, Mr.
Belmont, along with other monoy magnates, bolted
and threw his influence to the republican candi
date. That ho should be selected as tho diplo- -matlc
representative of Judge Parker is sufficient
proof that the judge's nomination- would put the ,
democratic party back in tho Cleveland rut, and
make tho administration a co-partner with the
Wall street syndicates.
Even if the party had not had its bitter ex
perience with Mr. Cleveland It would have ampie
reason to avoid "a syndicated president," but.,
with the experience of 1892 and 1896 fresh in tho
memory, it would bo inexcusable, nay, even crim
inal folly, to put the destinies of theparty and t
the country in the hands of a man mortgaged in
advance to men of the Belmont typo. Mr. Cleve-"
land's servile and abject surrender to the money"
power not only divided tho democratic party and
caused the party's defeat in two presidential cam
paigns, but it threw away a political opportunity
which, if properly utilized, would have made Lie
democratic party invincible for a generation.
The World names a number of democratic sen
ators as among those who conferred with Mr. Bel
mont in regard to the Parker campaign. The
Commoner does not reproduce these names be
cause it does not care to do Injustice to any who
may have been erroneously Included in the list.
What democrat with intelligence enough to sc
cure a seat in the senate or house can bo blind
to the fact that a Belmont-Parker administration
would bo as disastrous to tho party and to the
nation as tho Morgan-Cleveland administration
was? If the party is to return to its wallow in
the mire of plutocracy, it might just as well open-
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