Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (May 20, 1904)
!!!ZZjifijQFZlww1", The Commoner, VOLUME i, NUMBER 18, 12 ax Denuding the "Eagle" The Broolclyn Eaglo ropllos with characteristic candor to our criticism of its insinuation (p. 3) that Bryan demoralized tho democratic party In Illinois in 189G. In support of that contention it compared Cleveland's victory in 1892 with Bryan's defeat in 189G and 1900, hut said nothing of tho utter broak-up of tho democratic party at the intervening congressional elections of 1894 while Cleveland was president and before Bryan's advent as a national loader. Wo supplied Its vory significant omission in that par ticular. Now observe tho amazing effrontery of its reply: "Tho Eaglo said that tho democracy carried Illinois in 1892 and lost It in 189G and In 1900. In 1892 Cleveland was tho candidate. In 1896 and in 1900 Bryan was tho candidate. But, ah, says Tho Public, tho democracy lost Illinois in 1894 whon Cleveland was president! Precisely, and whon, and because, Altgeld was governor, and whon, and because, Altgeld par doned anarchist murderers in a man ner to show that intellectually ho sympathized with thorn. Tho Eaglo jumped tho spaco between presiden tial olectlons because it was consider ing thosd elections alono. Wo did not refer to state elections between presi dential olectlons, for wo wero not con sidering state olectlons, but only pres idential onos." Humbly begging the fluttering Ea gle's pardon, it was not considering presidential elections at all as tho is suo or question in controversy. It was considering them only as evl donco bearing upon that controversy. Tho gist of tho quostion in hand was its contention that Bryan found a domocratic majority in Illinois when moralized tho party in Illinois on na tional issues between 1892 and 1894; and that Bryan began to revive it in 189G, and in 1900 had restored its congressional membership fully? The Eaglo cannot twist Itself out of its solfrmado dilemma by objecting to our bringing into tho caso pertinent evi dence which it chose to leave out Nor can It escape by calling tho con gressional elections in Illinois "state elections." Congressional elections are national elections as well in poli tics as in law. They are as common ly accepted barometers of national sentiment as presidential elections are. As to tho Eagle's gratuitous sneer at Altgeld, we shall not bo tempted into allowing Mr. Cleveland's Brook lyn organ to shift its ground. Its mendacious use of an epithet here is only another symptom of its unhappy malady, groverclovelanditis. Victims of that disease are frequently oT) sorved to shriek "anarchist!" when ovor argument falls them. But there is no question hero of Altgeld's views on anarchism. He was not a candi date in 1894. When he did come be foro tho people of i-mois. in 189G and after that pardon, he polled, notwith standing his defeat, 47,000 more votes than Cleveland had polled in Illinois four years before. If the Eagle wishes to debate the merits of the Altgeld pardon, it will give us pleasure to ac commodate it. Meantime wo recom mend Altgeld's pardon message as Wholesome reading, even if irritating, for jury fixers and corporation judges, their apologists, their newspa per organs, and their beneficiaries in general. But the question here is not Altgeld's pardon. It is whether that ho succeeded Cleveland in the leader- pardon accounts for the democratic collapse at the polls in Illinois in 1894. That is the question the Eagle raises when it explains the reduction, from 11 to 2 in the democratic repre sentation in congress from Illinois that year by attributing it inferential ly to Altgeld's pardon of tho 'anarch ists. To that question it is a sufflc- ship of the domocratic party In 189G, anu mat under Ms leadership, and In conscquonco of It, this majority disappeared. It was in support, of that contention that the Eaglo pointed to tho oloction returns for Illinois in the presidential year 1892, and compared them with those of tho presidential yoars iUG and 1900.. For. a very ohvious reason, the samo reason that tempts attorneys in lawsuits to ignore evldonco that tolls against their clients, tho Eaglo "jumped," to uso its own language "tho Eaglo jumped tho spaco between presidential elec tions.". It jumped that Bpace not be cause those olectlons were tho sub ject undor consideration, but because that spaco had to bo jumped in order to givo any force to tho evldonce it of fered. Without "jumping" this most Important interval between presiden tial elections, it could not norm to do- ''colvo Its readers as to tho matter in controversy. Without that "jump" it could not point to Bryan as the dis rupter of tho democratic party. And now, in its reply to Tho Public, tho Eaglo "jumps" acain. It "inwina" tho point that when Cleveland was olocted in 1892, Illinois elected 11 dem ocratic congressmen out of a total delegation from the state of 22: wheroas, in 1S94 while ho was head of tho party and head of the nation, Illinois elocted only 2 democratic con gressmen. It "jumps" once more whon it suppresses the fact that two years later, under Bryan's leadership in 189G, Illinois returned 3 democratic congressmen -a gain of 1 over Cleve land's disastrous legacy. In 1900, still under Bryan's leadership, Illinois re turned 11 members. What does all this imply but that Cleveland had de- A Weak Heart neglected means heart disease, tho most common cause of sudden death. Dr. Miles' Heart-Cure will strength en, regulate and cure weak hearts. Bold by all druggists on guaranty. Fre fiding readers, other than those who are actually don with gi -overc eye landitis, will readily see that Cleve land began, his administration with a strong and healthy par y n March, 1893; that ho had completely demor alized it when the congressional elec tions of 1894 came off; and that Bry an recovered very much of the lost ground in congress at the elections of 189G. If, in addition to the congres sional returns, tho Eagle also com pares the popular vote for president In 1892 with that of 189G, it will re mind its readers that in spite of his defeat Bryan polled nearly 1,000,000 more votes in 1896 than Cleveland polled in 1892, and that Bryan's vote was a larger percentage than Cleve land's of the total vote cast. But the Eagle will do nothing of the kind. Having groverclevelanditis in malig nant form it will elect in the future as in the past to "jump" all .the facts that go against its , case. Louis F. tost, in The Public. Few Blondes Go Insane "Several months ago I happened across a pamphlet published by the government of a southern state in which wero some interesting statistics regarding the complexion of the in mates of the state insane asylum," Hobart Langdon said. "Only 3 per cent of the total had light hair and only 2 per cent blue eyes. "It struck me as a rather curious fact that dark-haired and dark-eyed people should so largely predominate among the Insane, but the matter ot latitude might play some part in this, I thought; for naturally there were more dark than light haired people in that section. Just as a matter of curiosity, however, I thought I would write to asylum authorities in certain other parts of the country to see what the ratio of light-haired inmates was to those who were dark, and expected to find the percentage increase in communities where the total of light haired was larger, but in this I was mistaken. So I am led to infer from the statistics I gathered that there is a,ugreater possibility for insanity ing with dry, unimportant facts and details. Do you know the edelweiss flowers or our own matchless arbutus after you have merely analyzed and classified them? No more than you know a man after having weighed and measured him. The function of things is always, interesting. What do they do? How do they pay their way in the rigid economy of nature? How do they survive? How does the bulb of the common lawn lily get deeper and deeper into the ground each year? Why does the ginger root hide its blossoms when nearly all other plants flaunt theirs? Why do the roots of trees flow through the ground like "runnels of molten metal," often sep arating and uniting again, while the branches are thrust out in right lines or curves? Why is our common yel low birch more -often than any other tree planted upon a rock? Why do oaks or chestnuts so often spring up where a pine or hemlock forest has been cleared away? Why does light ning so commonly strike a hemlock or "a pine or an oak, and rarely or never a beech? Why does the bolt sometimes scatter the tree about, and at others only plow a channel down its trunk? Why does the bumblebee complain so loudly when working upon certain flowerd? Why does tho honey bee lose the sting when it stings a person, while the wasp, the hornet, and the bumblebee do not? How does the chimney swallow get the twigs it builds its nests with? From what does the hornet make its paper? I have never been greatly interested in spiders, but I have always wanted to know how a certain spider man aged to stretch her cable squarely across the road in the woods, about my height from the ground. Country Life in America. lent answer to say, what Is the fact, among dark-haired than among light- tnat the Issue in tho congressional nairea people. Subscribers' Advertising Department elections in Illinois in 1894 was not Altgeld's pardon of tho anarchists, but Cleveland's administration. Pass ing this point, however, with a mere mention, let us ask the Eagle a ques tion. If it believes that it was Alt- gold's pardon of the anarchists and not Cleveland's administration, that reduced the democratic representation of Illinois in congress from 11 in 1892 to 2 in 1894, then how does it account for the reduction in the democratic representation from other states? Was it Altgeld's pardon of the anarchists in Illinois, and not Cleveland's admin istration, that reduced the democratic representation in congress from New York, 'the Eagle's own state, from 20 in .Lyz io b in 1894? Does that par don by Altgeld, instead of Cleveland's administration, account for the re duction of the domocratic representa tion irom tno isagle's own city of Brooklyn, from 5 in 1892 to 0 in 1894? Was it Altgeld's pardon of the an archists in Illinois, and not Clove land's administration, that reduced the democratic membershin In tho I lower house of congress from 219 (a iumuiy ol yoj in iaz, to 104 (a mi nority of 140) In 1894? Dare tho Ea gle answer these questions frankly? We challenge the Brooklyn Eaglo to face its readers squarely with a publication of the plain facts, and all of them, "jumping" none, together with a repetition of its assurance that Bryan took over a healthy demo cratic party In 1896 and ruined it. Let it accompany such a statement and assurance with a table showing the domocratic membership of con gress resulting from thn ni rmH Vwkou heart disease for postal. 1892. 1894. and 1R9R nnd ,: im. mtm mhma co Elkhart. lid. J mosi unS0phl8tlcated of , co "My figures were obtained from G8 asylums, located in nearly every state in the union and a few in Canada and England. The total number or patients' in these institutions was 16,512, of whom 703 had light hair and only sixty-six rod or auburn locks. In other words, 9G per cent of the in mates were brunettes, with either black or brown ihair, the latter in va rying shades. In one asylum in New England there was not a single in mate that was not a brunette. Of course, I do not know how to account for this, 'for I am not a specialist in such matters and only secured the statistics out of pure curiosity, but it certainly looks as though blondes were less liable to insanity than those with darker hair or eyes'. "Another peculiar 'feature about the facts t obtained, however, was that the percentage of those regarded as incurably insane was much greater -among the blondes than among the brunettes. The totals Ri,nwS among the dark-haired inmates only !; ci VU1U maricea hopelessly insane, while among the blondes 81 per cent were put in this category and that only three among the red- slficatioT eSTCai)e,d the same dS smcatlon.' -St. Louis Globe-Demo- A little thought will convince that this department of The Commoner of fers superior advantages to those who desire to secure publicity. Only Com moner subscribers are allowed to uso it, and only responsible articles are allowed to be advertised. Confidenco In tho advertising management will explain in large measure why ad- rVdrtising in The Commoner is profit able. The manager is In receipt of many letters from advertisers who have -used this department with profit The rate is the lowest made in thi3 publication 6 cents per word per in sertion, payable in advance. Address all orders to The Commoner, Lincoln, Nebraska. YOU COULD SELL OLD LINE LIFE TNSUR x once if you know how. Wo tench the art freoof charge and pay you for your time. De sirable contracts awaiting Bpeclal and general agents for thostatos of Iowa, Missouri, Nebras ka and Kansas. Address L, caro of Commonor. re Queer Things In Nf.. Whatever nnrmo . windows for us into " he wrloTbo ft S3 "WW as some n., I?J."!' ..B.ut m" or the so- Aw. T i , "" 0Ien3 no now tai satisfaction, nr nt,ln.i ...- 1 esthetic pleasure; it is mainly pottor- f P YOU DKSIRE A FARM, OR HOUSE AND x lot in fruit belt, Michigan, Address Box 51, Goblovillo, Michigan. ORDER YOUR CAMPAIGN AND ADVEIITIS- lng photo buttons of E.It. Cox, Lake Lin don, Mich. A LL WnO SEEK MISSING FRIENDS OR xx relatives address Tho American Trncor, Hazleton, Iowa. T SELL THE BEST WATER-PROOF PAINT IN x tho world for leaky tin. folt, shingle or metal roofs. I haVe used it for 13 years. 2 gallons for fl.00 or 5 gallons-for- $2:00. R. A. Mays, No. G0& f. 16th St. Philadelphia, Pa. T70R FARMS IN BBAR JRIVER VALLEY. .uv.w . . , ..-- --- . A GENTS-J500PER.MONTH MADE. BL ShLL' "- ipg'Stransky's patent for making smokeless gunpowder at 10c per pound: particulars frtc. Address JA. Btranaky, Box C I'ukwana, & m fJORNS: A GUARANTEED PAINLESS CURE aent lor 25 cenW. Dpotor B Box m, w dorado, Kansas. - T IFE AND SPEECHES 0W. J.BRYAN. Jj - luglrated octavo, cloth hound, pu W w 1000 by R. H. Woodward Co.. BUlmore a ' ited number o? CpUs, wall woy . 22l5