Commoner.
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tthe
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER.
Vol. 4, No. 47,
Lincoln, Nebraska, December 9, 1904.
Whole Number ao3
THE PRESIDENT'S flESSAGE
Tho president's message contains a number of
encouraging recommendations. The most import
ant in a political -way is the recommendation of a
law which will punish the giving and receiving of
bribes and also provide "for the publication not
only of the expenditures for nominations and elec
tions of all candidates but also of all contributions
received and expenditures made by political com
mittees." In an editorial entitled the "Reforms
Within Reach" an argument was presented in
favor of just such a law. After the article was in
type the president's message arrived and the editor
of Tho Commoner was gratified to know that the
president had cast the great influence of the execu
tive on the side of such legislation. This ought to
make certain the passage of the law immediately,
and it will be a long step toward the purifying of
elections and toward the reducing of the power
that aggregated wealth now exerts over our fed
eral elections. The law should provide for the
publication of the contributors before the election.
Tho student of sociology will cordially approve
o" the president's recommendations in regard to
the improvement of tho industrial . and sanitary
conditions which surround the laboring classes.
Ho suggests that "Washington, the nation's capital,
should be made an ideal city in this respect, an
example to other cities. The spirit which pervades
his discussion of this subject is presented in the
following paragraph;
"No Christian and civilized community can
afford to show, a happy-go-lucky lack of concern
for the youth of today; for, if so, the community"
will have to pay a terrible penalty of financial
burden and social degradation in the tomorrow.
There should be severe child-labor and factory-inspection
laws. It is very desirable that married
women should not work in factories. The prime
duty of the man is to work, to be the breadwin
ner; the prime duty of the woman is to be the
mother, the housewife. All questions of tariff and
finance sink into utter insignificance when com
pared with the tremendous, the vital importance of
trying to shape conditions so that these two duties
of tho man and of the woman can be fulfilled under
reasonably favorable circumstances. If a race does
not have plenty of children, or if the children do
not grow up, or if when they grow up they are
unhealthy in body and stunted or vicious in mind,
then that race is decadent, and no heaping up- of
wealth, no splendor of momentary material pros
perity, can avail in any degree ac offsets."
Nothing that the president has said in his
message will give more encouragement than tho
above sentiment to thosa who are anxious to lay
broad and deep the foundations of our national
greatness. His words are a rebuke to such as
measure a nation by the wealth and refinement of
the few rather than the health, strength, intelli
gence and virtue of the masses. If the president
will only carry into all the worlc of the adminis
tration the same high motive that is manifested
in the wort 3 above quoted he will leave a record
which will do more to .distinguish him than the
large popular plurality which he received on elec
tion day.
In speaking of the labor question he has made
some good suggestions and has clearly recognized
the right of the laboring men t" organize for their
own protection. He has also correctly stated the
limitations that should be placed upon their or
ganized activity. No one can justify the use of
force either by employer or employe, but the presi
dent doeB not point out the remedy. Ho does not
advocate arbitration as a means of preventing 10
increasing conflicts between labor and capital. He
speaks of a "gradual growth, of a feeling of respon
sibility and forbearance among capitalists and
"wage-workers alike; a feeling of respect on the
part of each man for tho r'n;hts of others;" but
this is not sufficient. ' Even if the growth were
more pronounced .than -1t is, the organization re-
re
cently formed among employers for tho oxpress
purpose of combatting tho measures desired by tho
labor organizations is not an encouraging sign.
Nothing will stimulate tho growth of the feoling
of forbearance more than the establishment of a
board of arbitration beforo which either side of
tho controversy can bring tho other when agroo
ment cau not bo reached by personal conference.
It is also to be regretted that tho president does
not recommend a restriction upon tho employment
of tho writ of injunctionthe writ upon which
corporate employers now rely for the forcing of
terms upon their employes.
Ho calls attention to tho need of a stringent
employer's liability law, and also suggests addi
tional legislation for tho protection of railroad
men both as to their hours of work and as to tho
appliances for the protection of their lives.
In dealing with the trust question ho does not
hold out any promiso of relief. Ho cautions con
gress against dealing with tho subject "In an In
temperate, destructive or demagogic spirit," and
asks that tho subject bo met with the "quiet deter
mination to proceed step by step, without halt and
without hurry, in eliminating or at least minimiz
ing whatever of mischief or of evil there is to In
terstate commerce In the conduct of great corpo
rations." Ho says tho beef Industry will be inves
tigated but ho does not point out any specific
remedy.
It is evident from a Teadlng of this part of his
message that he does not regard a private monop
oly as wronrin itself, and It is quito certain -that
he does not view the trust as a great menace
either to tho prosperity of the nation or to tho
rights of the individual. He says:
"Gred.t corporations rro necessary and only
men of singular mental power can manage such
corporations successfully, and such men must have
great rewards." Tho sentence which follows: "But
these corporations should be managed with duo
regard to tho interest of tho public as a whole,"
is a very weak statement with which to offset
such unstinted praise of tho mental superiority of
the monopolists. He does not admit that tho con
tributions which the trusts ma'p to his campaign
funds will purchase th n immunity, but there Is
nothing in his mgssage to scare them or to mako
them regret tho assistance which they gave to tho
president's campaign.
His recommendation In regard to bringing In
surance companies under the supervision of the
bureau of corporations Is a wise one. While most
of tho states have enacted legislation for the pro
tection of the policyholders within their borders,
the work of investigating the methods and tho
standing of these groat moneyed institutions Is
certainly within the scope of interstate commerce.
The president's recommendations in regard to
the amendment of the Interstate commerce law in
dicate that he has become somewhat alarmed at
the growth of the sentiment in favor of the gov
ernment ownership of national highways. Ho
says:
"The government must in increasing degree
supervise and regulate the workings of the rail
ways engaged in interstate commerce; and such
increased supervision Is the only alternative to an
increase of the present evils on the one hand or a
still more radical policy on the other."
The "still more radical policy" Is, of course,
the taking of the railroads out of tho hands of
private corporations.. The president Is right in hla
conclusion that a failure rl the government to pro
tect the public against the evils of private owner
ship of railroads will mako tho people look in in
creasing numbers to government ownership. Rem
edies are always the outgrowth of abuses. The
abuse brings public attention to the subject and tho
remedy follows as the result of Intelligent investi
gation. The president's request that additional author
ity bo given tho intoratato commorco commission is
in tho right direction; wo shall now eco whether
tho railroads, so ably represented lu tho United
States sonato, will heed tho president's warning or
by standing out against it contribute to tho move
ment that Is now going on in favor of a policy
which will put tho people thomselvca in control
of theso arteries of trade.
Tho work of tho agricultural department is
presented with somo elaboration. While the
amount appropriated for this department In insig
nificant when compared with tho amount appro
priated for preparations for war, its work Is of
inestimablo valuo to the country. As tho prcsldont
says, "nearly half of tho pcoplo of this country
dovoto their energies to growing things from the
soil." It Is a reflection upon tho administration
that It recommends about six millions of dollars
annually (that being the amount appropriated lant
year) to tho carrying on of this work, and some
two hundred millions of dollars for tho army and
tho navy.
Considerable attention is given to tho preser
vation of tho forests and a less amount to irriga
tion, but what ho says on both subjects will meet
with general acceptance
His discussion of tho postal service is disap
pointing. Ho recommends tho curtailing of tha
abuses of tho second-class mailing privilege, but
does not recommend a reduction in tho amount
paid to tho railroads for the carrying of mails and
., ho suggests no improvements In tho rural service.
Tho currency question is dealt with briefly,
but the language emplo. cd shows that ho permits
tho financiers to do his thinking and direct his
course upon this question. Ho says:
"Tho attention of the congress should bo espe
cially given to tho currency question, and that 4.ho
standing committees on tho matter in the two
houses charged with the duty, tako up the matter
of our currency and see whether It Is not possiblo
to secure an agreement in tho business world for
bettering the system; tho committees should con
sider the question of tho retirement of the green
backs and the problem of securing In our currency
such elasticity as Is consistent with safety. Every
silver dollar should be made by law redeemable
in gold at the option of tho holder."
The proposition to mako the silver dollar re
deemable In gold at tho option of the holder is
simply a proposition to establish a new "cndleas
chain" for the drawing of gold out of tho treasury
and It is preliminary to the proposition which
will follow, If this one is carried outnamely, to
retire silver dollars in order to protect the treas
ury. It will bo noted that he also recommends the
retiring of the greenbacks and favors securing "In
our currency such elasticity as Is consistent with
safety." This Is a veiled recommendation of the
asset currency. It will be remembered that the
republican party did not In its platform demand a
law making the silver dollar redeemable in gold;
it did not promiso an asset currency. Those who
favor the financial measures recommended by the
president never outline their plans in advance;
they never tako the public Into their confidence.
They always 'ralt until the election is over and
then they rush in and do things that they would
not dare to do before an election. Those who
think that the money question is dead will learn
their error if they will just keep their eyes upon
congress, for congress Is always dealing with the
money question and there are just two sides to it
the side of the financiers who desire to run the
treasury department In their own interest and ror
tni'I" own profit, and the side of the people who
want not only good money but enough of it to
maintain the level of prices.
The president's caution against extravagance
is a guarded one. He justifies large expenditures
on the ground that the country Is prosperous, and.
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