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The Commoner.
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THE COMMONER, Llaeela.Nefc.
' Mrs. Cliadwick seems to have given several
gentlemen a very adequate idea of "palsied
finance."
The congressman who has heard no demands
for tariff revision in his district should hasten
to an aurist.
; ; Reports of the Mrs. Cliadwick financial trans
actions indicate that "frenzied finance" is not a
question of sex. '"' : '
, Pensipn Commissioner Ware says he has never
accepted money for his poetry, hut Mr. Ware is
not the only one.
, . The report that Senator Depew is to be .'re
tired is quite enough to-provide an excuse for a
little more annecdoting.
. ': To every member of its large and. growing
family The Commoner wishes a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year.
The gentlemen who are opposed to Santa
Glaus haye been politely but firmly compelled-to
seek retirement for a week or two.
'Perhaps the president's silence on the tariff
arid reciprocity questions was intended as a re
buke to ' Governor-elect Douglas of Massachusetts.
&
Last week referenco -wnet mndo tn wr Miic
froduced in congress by Representative Burke
Coxclaan., The bills are printed in full on another
page. ' '
Judge Steele of the Colorado supreme bench
seems to be a man who would rather be right
than hold his position by doing the political bid
ding of Peabody.
Good books always jinake acceptable Christinas
presents. Read the advertisement, of .Mr. Bryan's
new book, "Under Other Flags1 , elsewhere in this
issue of The Commoner. .1'
Leaking gas caused a terrible explosion in
Columbus, 0., recently. Experience doubtless has
taught the people of Washington, D. C, to be very
careful when congress is in session, . '.,,-
vThe Japs, who are declaring they will' eat
next Christmas dinner at Port Arthur, are invited
to recall to mind that the Boers were going to
eat Thanksgiving dinner in Ladysmith.
; - .
, Some Ohio strikers have been arrested and
imprisoned on the charge of having used dyna
mite to destroy property. Bid any one- ever ko
to jail for dynamiting a rival oil refinery? .
- ' t,
Representative Hull introduced the "citizens'
-rifle practice bill" but .admits that he is ndt : "en
thusiastic m its. favor, ahd. predicts that it will
fail This is strange, '.considering the Wa
thebill carries an appreciation of a miiiiori.-
The Commoner.
Some one has, Mked why bankers do jiot spend
more money, and' the Washington Post suggests
that it is probably because they havo to have their
money for such borrowers as Mrs, Chadwick.
tJnclo Joe Cannon says "economy" will be the
watchword of this congress and tne next one.
Undo Joo is becoming mixed in his words. He
doubtless means that "economy" will be a byword,
Senator Fairbanks insists that ho favors
reciprocity, but it must bo republican. Republir
can reciprocity consists largely of getting a great
deal by malting promisee, and then forgetting to
keep the promises.
Those Missouri democrats who refused to
vote on election day are beginning to realize moro
and more what they did to hurt Missouri as they
read the names of republicans mentioned to suc
ceed Senator Cockrell.
J. W. Friend of Pittsburg admits that he was
bilked to the tune of several thousand dollars
by Mrs. Chadwick -Mr.' Friend's middle Initial
will have a hard struggle keeping itself before,
the people hereafter.
For explanations that do not explain, and for
democracy that is not distinguishable from repub
licanism or plutocracy the Now York World is
entitled to top of column, above and alongside, no
other near and free notice elsewhere position.
Secretary Morton, says "we want such a navy
In size an 1 style and sand that no other navy will
ever desire an engagement with us." But suppose
other nations are afflicted with the same hallucin
ation; where is the building of navies' to end?
The deficit last month was a. little over
$4,000,000 and the demand for gold for' export ex
hausted the bullion in tho treasury. W6 shudder
to think what the s. o. p. organs Would say about
this if a democrats happened to be occupying the
White house.
Tho St. Louis Globe-Democrat, speaking of! the
republican victory in Missouri, says the republi
cans will double their majority "if they act wisely."
If that is the only show the g. o. p. lias to carry
Missouri next time the democrats are not going
to worry much.
There is a great deal of talk about the presi
dent urging a revision of the tariff, but so far
nothing has come of it. The president believes
in a strenuous life, but he probably does not want
anything quite so strenuous' as a fight with the
tariff barons of his party.
It. is all very clear- now why there will be' no
tariff revision for at least three years to come.
Speaker Cannon says it would be unwise to hold a
special t -isionfor the purpose of revising tho
tariff, an, he is quite sure it would be unwise to
waste the time of the regular session in discussing
tariff revision.
Colonel Greene of New York talked very loud
about, what he would do to Thomas Lawson when
.he met that gentleman. He met him, and the
meeting was as -quiet as a prayer meeting. Thi3
.reminds one of Josh Billings' statement that
most eny man kau whip a elefant when there
aint,no elefants arownd." '
'. TNe?t Y,ork World declares that, the fail
ure of the St. Louis convention :,to unequivocally
endorse the gold, standard is responsible for Judge
, Parkers overwhelming defeat. Just because Mr.
Pulitzer calls his paper "The World," Is no sign he
cap see across Manhattan island. The World is
merely making a parade of its own ignorance of
popular sentiment ,
Thbse eminent republican congressmen who are .
-endeavoring to 'reduce the south' representation
A ri .. :ln asresa berause of the Rmall
A Plethora , number of votes cast in many
Of 'southern districts, should do
Vqterm , fareful. -Especially is this
. . iri .ue oi no republican congress
ff erte Included I the corporate
"V ' ' ''y' V0LIJME 4 NUMB 4
ulation scarcely more than one-third fhnf , ,
York: City, has a voting list .of nearly SooiSf Nwr
than the city on Manhattan Island thi mor6
state of affairs may be investigated if r J;rang0
protectionists like Representative Morreil 5 SU0Us
sylvania insist on pushing the Morreil bin enn
portion representation in congress accoriin aF
the number of votes cast, rather than accor ?ng, ?
population. according to
People who. complain of a growimr fife .
for the courts might learn why fhc cort i?nn
respected as of yore by keeoK
Disrespect In touch with court decision , S
For a Hartford, Conn., court twS
The Court sentences were imposed on tha
. A , same day, and they deserve at
tention. An ex-judge, who embezzled trust fundi
to the amount of $5,572 was sentenced to one w 2
in jail. A man who had stolen a horse was 2
tenced-to two years and six months in the sta?ft
prison. This sort of things is so common that Sri
is. small wonder why men are not as respectful
as they were towards the courts of the land.
l
Geraany. Is considering the proposition of
inyesting.300,000,000 more in a larger navy and
-ru , a larger army as an insurance
The Rule against war. If the idea of Sec-
Of . ,Tetary of the Navy Morton Is
Progression carted out in this country wo
17111 have t0 sPend nt less than
$350,000,000 in order tb haVe a "larger and better
army and navy" than Germany's. Then Germany
will have to make it $400,000,000, which will call
for at least $450,000,000 for our land and sea forces.
At this rate of progress, if the money of the peo
pie held out, there would not be enough room in
the oceans to float the two navies, and the soldiers
would be so thick that one couldn't see a mere
civilian with a microscope.
A Ringing
Judicial
Utterance
Judge Steele of the Colorado supreme bench
-is well remembered because of his decision in
-the now celebrated Moyer casp.
It was to be expected that Judg
Steele would have no part in tho
effort to seat Peabody by extra
judicial functions on the nart of
tho Colorado supreme court, and the judge has
met expectations. He- does not mince his words,
either, in declaring his opposition to the work
now being done in Colorado in the effort to thwari
the will of the people and retain Peabody in office.
The court, without even opening the ballot box or,
having any knowledge whatever of its contents,
forbid the Denver elections commission from open
ing and counting the returns froni precint 8 of
the Seventh ward. The precinct itself is not an
important one, but the decision., in this particular
case Is a precedent for future action that will dis
franchise thousands of honest voters and enable
the corporations to retain Peabody in the execu
tive chair. Judge Steele dissents in vigorous lang
uage from the decision of the majority of the
court. When Judge Gabbert finished reading the
opinion Judge Steele exclaimed: "The conclusion of
the court was handed to me only last night at
5 o'clock. I have, therefore, had no time to pra
pare a dissenting opinion, but I DISSENT FROM
THE JUDGMENT OP THE COURT BECAUSE IT
IS UNWARRANTED, IS WITHOUT PRECEDENT,
AND IS' DIRECTLY CONTRARY TO THE LAW."
There is no difficulty in understanding the phrase
ology of that brief opinion.
Inviting War
The St. Joseph News and Press calls attention
to the following editorial which appeared in the
New York Sun some twelve years ago:
If we could manage to pick a fight with,
some nation that would not be contemptible
as an antagonist, the material benefit to the
country would be enormous. Patriotic feeling,
would be promoted, the commercial spirit .
would no longer be so distinctly in the ascend
ant, foreign immigrants would be entirely ab
sorbed by fighting with a common enemy. Tue
only things against war are that wo can not
find an enemy big enough for us, willing t
fight, and that there would be a big bill to pay,
including pensions.
This is a view of war that is likely to grow
with a large navy Those who lean to great arm
ments are inclined to measure patriotism by sen
ice upon the battlefield, while those who believe'"
peace measure patriotism by a rule that gjj
credit for helpful service in behalf of one s counir
and one's fellows.
v
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