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APRIL 29, 1M4..:.V-
commerce, whenever that body deems that a
particular , character of ownership, if allowed -to
continue, may. restrain commerce between the
states or create, a monopoly thereof, is in my
opinion in cpnflict with the most elementary con-
ceptions of rights of property," and Justices Ful
ler, Peckham, and Holmes concur.
"Rights of property" are, according to the dis
senting judges, supreme and when congress tries
to prevent a monopoly it is interfering with "tho
most elementary conception of the rights of prop
erty." The issue presented today in the trust
question and in all tho other questions with which
we have to deal, is tho question between human
rights and so-called "property rights" or, mor,e .
properly speaking, between ordinary people and
the great corporations. Those who believe tht
property rights are supremo take tho side of the
trusts. If we have a president who .is in sym- "
pathy with this theory it means that the Dollar
will bo given consideration before the Man. It
means that organized wealth can continue to
trample upon the rights of the people; it means
that the instrumentalities of government can bo
used for the protection of every scheme of ex
ploitation that tne capitalists can conceive.
I, for one, am not willing that the democratic
party shall become the tool of the corporations;
I am not willing that it shall be the champion of
organized wealth. And it is because I believe that
the party has a higher mission than to be the ex
ponent of plutocracy that I am protesting against
the schemes of those who would put it into com
petition with the republican party for the sup
port of Wall street financiers. It is for this reason
that I protest against mortgaging the party to
the capitalists to secure an enormous corruption
fund. v
If any who are present tonight or who read
what I say think that I am trying, to interfere
with democratic;. success, let me answer that no
democrat is more anxious for the party to suc
ceed than I am., No one has suffered more from
dissensions and divisions in the party, and no
one, I believe, is more eager for the country to
enjoy the great benefits which a. triumph of real
democracy would .bring. But I do not desire that
.the party shall win ..offices only. If that is the
only purpose of the party, , let its principles be
abandoned and let its. platform simply declare the
party hungry" for the patrqnage. The lesson of
1894 shows the folly of hoping to win by a siuv
render ,tb the corporations, but even if success
could be bought in such a way it would not be
worth the price.
No one can defend the democratic party with
out defending its principles, and its principles
ought to be. sp clearly set forth as to be easily
understood. Wp ought to appeal to the con
science of the. public and arraign republican poli
cies as hostile; both to the principles of free gov
ernment and to. the principles of morality. We have
an opportunity to make the democratic party a
power in this country, not only a power, but a
power for gopd., Let us array the party against
every abuse of, government and against every pol
icy that is hurtful to the people.. Let us drive
out of the party every democrat who betrays his
trust, every -.official who would administer the
office for. his private advantage. Let us make
democracy stand not only for good, government- -for
honest governmentbut for a government '-of
the people, by the people, and for the people."
And the first , step, in this direction is the adoption
of a platform, that recognizes the right of the
people to decide public questions as well as their
capacity for understanding public .questions. To
present a platform which is evasive and ambig
uous Bhows that those who write the platform
either distrust the people who are to act upon It
or have purppsps that they desire to conceal.
The New York platform is ambiguous, uncer
tain, evasive and dishonest. It would disgrace
the democrats of the nation to adopt such a plat
form, and it ought to defeat as an aspirant for a
democratic nomination any man who would be
willing to have it go forth as a declaration of his
views on publico questions. In Illinois, in Wiscor
sin, in Michigan, in MinnesPta, in Indiana, in
Ohio, and in every other state that has not acted,
It behooves the democrats to arouse themselves
and organize to the end that they may prevent the
consummation of the schemes of thQ reorganlzers.
Their scheme begins, with the deception of the rank
and file of the party. It is to bo followed, up by
the debauching b' the public with aVmpaign fun
eecured from the corporations, and. it is" to be
consummated by tjio betrayal of the party organ
ization and of .the, country into the Jiands of those
"who are todayr menacing the liberties, pf the coun
try by their -exploitation of .the producers, of
Dwumm.
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-Hie Commoner
Political Honesty.
The necessity for konorty in financial transac
tions is understood by all, and tho ling between
honesty and dishonest' io so clearly drawn that"
no one would attempt to confuse tho two. For a
man to bo dishonest in o financial transaction
' iJi?gsu?on him an odIum frm which ho finds it
. difficult to relieve himself. Embezzlement is one
form of pecuniary dishonesty. If a public official
converts to his own use money entrusted to his
care, ho is convicted as an embezzler and suni
marlly punished. The line between political hon
esty and political dishonesty ought to be as clearly
marked, and political dishonesty ought to meet
with immediate and universal punishment A
public official has no more right to misuso the
political power given him by the people than a
treasurer has to misuso public money. Influence
.is bestowed upon a man, not as a personal compli
ment, but as a public trust, and when a party
nominates a man for public office, it assumes re
sponsibility for his faithful performance of duty,
and it suffers if tho confidence reposed in him is
found to be misplaced. The object of a platform
is to make known to tho public tho course which
tho official will follow, and it is promulgated in
order that the people may know whether to con
fer authority upon him.
If a platform has any purpose at all, it is to
inform tho public as to the purpose, plan and
methods of the candidate. If a platform commits
a candidate to a certain course on any questipji,
and the candidate after election follows a differ
ent and an opposite course, he is guilty of abus
ing public confidence and betraying those who
trusted him. If, however, a platform is written in
such ambiguous language that it can be con
strued in different ways, .the action of those who
wrote it can only be explained upon the theory
that they either lacked the ability to state tbo
party's position clearly or that they had a secret
reason for using ambiguous language. The Now
York platform is one of the best Illustrations of
political dishonesty that has appeared in recent
years. Take, for Instance, tho plank on the trust
question. A president elected upon that platform
could rigorously oppose every private monopoly
and he could defend himself by saying that ttl
. private monopolies oppress the . people and that
"all of them stifle "healthy industrial competition."
0r a president elected pn thai; platform, could . re
fuse to prosecute any trust, and explain by saying
that no trust was guilty of oppressing tho people,
or of stifling healthy industrial' competition. So
far as that plank is concerned, it would leave any
president elected upon it absolutely free to do
anything or nothing, according to his pleasure.
And-tho objection that is made to the trust
plank can be made to every other plank in the
platform. Did the person or persons who wrote
that platform understand tho use of language?
Could he or they have selected words that wpuid
convey- a clear understanding of the party's pur
pose? If not, it was a great misfortune that the
convention placed the drawing of tho platform in
the hands of such Ignorant, men. If, however, the
men who drew the platform were shrewd, intelli
gent and well informed men, then the purpose of
the platform must have been to deceive. The
platform, if intended as a model for the demo
cratic national platform, is a cunning contrivance
intended to be construed one way In ono section
of the country and another way In another section,
and hot intended to have any binding effect after
the election. If the New York democrats have no
objection to republican policies, why do they go
to the trouble of proposing a candidate to run
against Mr. Roosevelt? If they do object to re
publican policies, why do they hesitate to. present
those objections in clear and emphatic language?.
If they had views, but were afraid to express
them why did they not frankly say- so? A sim
ple resolution would have answered the purpose.
They might have said:
"Resolved, That we do nofc-desire to ..hamper
our candidate 'with directions or instructions, and
we therefore adopt no platform, and trust, him to
do what ho thinks is right on all questions, and
We agree in advance to indorse whatever he does.'
' Such a resolution would have presented in an
honest way what the platform presents in a dis
honest way. The platform pretends to commit
, the candidate, but does not do so. Will the demo
crats of the United States, by approving of the
Now York platform, declare themselves in favor
SInHnnP and double dealing? If. they insist
i xvUh
themselves of moral responsibility in case tho
: ooSttte after election, changes his position ana
,;; gtawwmta those who. elected him. If, how-
3
ever, tho democrats at largo lndorsp dlshonet
platform and nominate a man upon, that plat
form whose opinions, although not known, are rea
sonably suspected of being with tho corporation!,
they will become' morally responsible for tho be
trayal of the party and tho public.
If thoro is ono principle moro essentially
democratic than another, It is' that the people have
a right to sot in Judgment upon overy public ques
tion, and if this principle bo correct, then It Jb
tho duty of parties to present tho issues in such
a way that tho people can intolilo'&atly decide
them. A dishonest platform not only betrays a
lack of political honesty on tho part of thoso who
wrote it, but it donies tho fundamental principle
of domocracy, namely, tho right of tho people to
have what they want and to decide public ques
tions for themselves.
Wo have reached a point where wo condomn
a man who embezzles public money. We shall
not be able to boast that our government is thor
oughly democratic until wo roach a point whoro
wo are ready to visit the severest punishmout upon
thoso who embezzlo public confidence and betray
a public trust. Tho fact that political measures
cannot be described and measured as accurately
as sums of money, only makes it moro important
that those who deal with public questions shall bo
actuated by a sense of honor that will make them
avoid tho boundary line between that which is
honest and that which is dishonest.
JJJ
99
'Sanity.'
Mr. Cleveland seems to have a special fond'
nes for tho word "sanity" when ho speaks of tho
future action of the democratic party. At first tno
word might seem to be insulting, because It im
plies that thoso who have supported tho ticket dur
ing tho time of his desertion are Insane. His
friends might excuse the use of tho word on the
ground that ho was trying to deal charitably with
tho lojfcl democrats and excuse their support of
tho party by assuming that they lacked tho Intel
ligence necessary to a proper understanding of the
issues. He probably uses tho word, however, for
another reason. People who are insane are, of
course, unable to maiiago their own affairs, and if
a person is engaged in any important business
and becomes insane it is necessary to have a guar
- dian appointed to act for hint. The most reason
able explanation, therefore, of Mr. Cleveland's 'tieo
"of the word "Insanity" whon ho describes 'the
more than six millions Who voted the ticket as
insane, and the 132,000 who supported Palmer and
Buckner as tho only sane persons, is that ho de
sires to have the latter appointed as guardians
of the former. Those who supported the ticket
out-number the Palmer and Buckner men about
fifty to one, and if Mr. Cleveland can have the
insane put In charge of tho sane, It will give each
Palmer-and-Buckner man about fifty real demo
crats to take care of. Fifty to ono is not exactly
sixteen to one, but Mr. Cleveland never knew
much about the ratio, anyhow.
While no suggestion of tho kind- has been
made so far, yet it Is possible that Mr. Cleveland
intends to make an application to a federal judgo
for the appointment. ,p these guardians. Or, pos
sibly, as ho favors government by injunction, he
may attempt to have each Palmer-arid-Bucknrr
man apply for an injunction against fifty regular
democrats restraining them from exercising their
political privileges to the Injury .of tho said
. Palmer-and-Buckner men. If Mr. Cleveland can
show that the bolters are sane and that all the
regular democrats are Insane, he ought to have no
trouble In securing the injunction. In view of
these possibilities we who differ from him in
political opinion ought, perhaps, to feel gratefdl
that we enjoy as many privileges as we do, and
are permitted. to write, speak and vote just as If
wo were really sane.
SJJ
A reader of The Commoner asks where tho
Idea "of an asset ..currency originated and when.
The Commoner is not able to state who ilrst sug
gested' the. asset currency, or when the suggestion
was first offered, but the asset currency finds Ite
support, among the financiers who. desire to make
"the profit that there Is in Issuing a currency with
out the putting up of security. When government
bonds aro used for security the bank must pur
chase the bonds, and though it draws Interest- on
the bonds at the same time that It uses the face
value in bank notes, it is not satisfied. If it can
secure anasset currency it can use the assets pf
the bank and Issue the currency at the same time,
and thus make a larger profit. The fact that the
people have no security is a secondary matter.
The government is being run upon the theory
that the financiers will take care of the people
provided. the financiers themselves ate allowed tq
have whatever they; want ' ' . .A
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