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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (April 28, 1905)
"Tnw f- r v " ' 4 rr . -iisi-7,wirr'iwjwqti' m m which tho convonHon had decldod to ignoro, many Who had advocated his nomination wore so Indig nant that thoy woro willing to withdraw tho nomination, and ovon tho rock-ribbed domocracy of Missouri could not bo hold to tho ticket on election day. Ho pollod nearly a million and a half votes less than tho party polled eight years before when frco silver was tho paramount issue, .whereas with tho natural increase in tho popula tion ho ought to have polled more. If tho demo crats woro willing to overlook his effort to con ciliate tho- gold democrats at tho expense of tho silver democrats, ho ought to bo generous enough to refrain from Insulting them. Those whom ho describes as followers of fads woro advocating a financial system which was tried in tho United States for olghty-ono years and advocated by tho party in Congress and in tho platforms. Tho quantitative theory of money has been vindicated by ovents and Judgo Parker's reforenco to tho subject shows that ho is as ignorant of the prin ciples of monetary science as tho Wall Street crowd, whoso views ho seems to accept. But ho does not stop with a denunciation of bimetallism, but proceeds at once to make ' against tho anti-monopoly democrats the insin uation which tho ultra-corporation olement of tho republican press is constantly making, namely, that thoy are opposed to thrift and industry. Judgo Parkor says: Tho lesson to bo learned from this is that, whothor as Americans or as partisans, wo must struggle out of tho treacherous bogs of policy and get back to the solid ground of principle, In doing this, tho first and most important stop is recognition of a fact inhe rent in our society, fixed in our laws and insti tutions, and tho consistent policy of tho demo cratic party from tho earliest days. This is, that honest thrift, the natural fruit of indus try, must be encouraged and promoted. It flight to bo clear by this that if wo endorse, or accept, or even fall to oppose, any policy which shall directly or remotely suggest even the possibility of confiscation, or which, by any agitation so much as threat ens tho measure of values, we shall arouso tho suspicions and invito tho opposition of our people, whether their accumulations aro '-Invested lrt farms, town houses, mines, de posits in savings banks, insurance policies, or in our varied industries wherever found. Tho judgo's language is important because it shows tho standpoint from which ho views public questions. Ho is on tho side of the corporations and is making tho same arguments that thoy make. Those who, like the editor of The Com moner, had hoped to see him take the side of tho masses against tho encroachments of predatory wealth aro doomed to disappointment. He takes the Cleveland view (ho even specifically com mends Mr. Cleveland's administration) that tho , country must take caro of wealth and leavo wealth to take care of tho people. The solicitude shown by him lest industry may be discouraged shows either a shallow understanding of tho subject, or that his sympathies on the wrong side. Those who believe in ?qual rights to all and special privileges to none are the real de fenders of thrift and Industry, for they desire to protect tho earnings of the average man from tho injustice of railway extortion, the larceny of a high tariff and thohighway robbery 6f tho trusts. " It is to be regretted that Judge Parker has taken his place with the extreme "conservatives" who oppose all effective reform, but his failure to make his reactionary policy popular last fall will reduce his influence to a minimum. The re form element the radical element to which ho would deny the name of democracy will control the next convention and give to the next cam paign the enthusiasm which was so woefully lack ing, last year. Judgo Parker's backers took tho 'democratic party up upon the mountain and ; tempted it with tho promise of success. When .,G7fai.led V bring the success promised they lofet their only argument. The democratic party will go forward, and tho recent victory in Chicago ehows the advantage of honesty and courage over evasion and compromise. JJJ r '' OF COURSE IT WILL FAIL The Des Moines, la., "Register and Leader, a republican paper, reforring to tho primary pledge plan of organization, says: "It is a simple pro gram," and adds: "If the condition on which it hinges should bo found to exist when the time comes it is a ' ?2 l0TS Peram-that is if tho republicans fail to make good. It is true President Roosevelt The Commoner is educating tho people to demand reforms. If is -truo thero will be unrest if nothing comes of his activity. It Is truo it will bo Mr. Bryan's year if, as ho predicts, tho administration is just enter ing tho valley of tho shadow tho democrats passed through during Cleveland's second term. "But what Is thero in the record of the re publican party to-warrant tho assumption that It will fail to mako good? Republicans havo had differences before, and have never failed yet to come together on a working basis and legislate. Why will they fail now? Does Mr. Bryan really look to tho senate to balk the presi dent? Does ho really believe that nothing will bo dono to carry out the Roosevelt pledges?" There is everything in the record' of tho ropublican party to warrant the assumption that it will "fall to make good." The Register and Leader says that while republicans have had differences before "they have never failed yet to got together on a working basis and legislate." But the Register and Leader can not have for gotten that tho party has not legislated in the public interests. Whenever the pressure from tho people became so strong that it could not be ignorod, the republican ,hduse passed a measure which seemed to meet in a degree, tho public requirements. But the measure was promptly throttled in the senate. Tho policy of republican leaders has been to fight for time in the hope that the storm would blow over.- While refusing to pass the Esch-Townsend bill, the senate appointed ajjom mitteo with power to "investigate" and find out whether there was really any necessity for the legislation demanded by men of all parties. One reason the republican party will fall to give relief to the people is that that party de rives its campaign funds, from the .very interests that are now imposing -upon tho public, and the party is under the .control of those interests. Even the republicans of Iowa, under the leadership of Governor Cummins and the editor of the Register and Leader, demanded, three years ago, that the shelter which the trusts find in the tariff be removed. Although it is clear that that demand represented the sentiment of the rank and file of republicans in Iowa, the special interests wielded such enormous power in repub lican party councils that the Iowa platform was amended in a way to suit those interests and the efforts of Governor Cummins and the editor of the Des Moines Register and Leader werd of no avail. Tho Register and Leader asks: "Does Mr. Bryan really look to the senate to balk the presi dent? Does he really believe that nothing will be done to carry out the Roosevelt pledges?" If by the terms "balking the president," and "Roosevelt pledges," the Register and Leader has in mind the reforms now very generally de manded by the people,, that paper may be an swered by an editorial statement that appeared in the same issue from which tliese questions are taken. This is the answer provided by the Register and Leader itself: "The republicans are educating the people to demand certain re forms. Unless all signs fail the republicans will fail to satisfy the demands they are creating. The education they are giving will be the best demo cratic campaign material in 1908." JJJ CONSTITUTION RESTS ON DECLARATION At this time when some of the prominent re publicans are speaking disrespectfully of the Dec laration of Independence, it may be well to recall the language used by Justice Matthews in Tick-Wo vs. Hopkins, 118 U. S., 356, and quoted with ap proval by Justice Brewer in delivering the opinion of the court in the case of Cotting vs. Goddard, 183 u. S., 78. The language referred to reads as' follows: "When we consider the nature and theory of our institutions of government, the principles upon which they are supposed to rest and review the history of their development, we are con strained to conclude that they do not mean to leave room for the play and action of purely per sonal and arbitrary power. The first official action of the nation declared the foundation of the gov ernment in tlieso words: 'We hold these truth o be self evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator with cer tain unalienable rights, that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' While such declaration of principles may not have tho force of organic Jaw, or be made the basis of judicial decision as to the limits of right and dutv nnj while in all cases reference must Se had to ttio organic law of the nation for such limits vet thl latter is but the body and the.letter bf wJch the former is the thought and the spirit And it is . .VOLUME 5, NUMBER 15 always safe to read the letter of tho constitution in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence No duty rests more imperatively upon the courts' than the enforcement of those constitutional pro visions intended to secure that equality of rights which is the foundation of free government." The doctrine that men are created equal and that they are endowed with, inalienable rights is fundamental. The constitution Tests upon this doctrine and as Justice Matthews and Justice Brewer, speaking for the court on these two occa sions, say the Declaration of Independence is the thought and spirit, and the constitution is tho body and the letter. If the letter of the constitu tion is read In another spirit than the spirit of tho Declaration of Independence, it becomes a useless thing. Just now the pride of power and the lust for land have turned many away from the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, but the peo ple will return and again find in that immortal document their safety, their confidence and their hope. . c t JJJ " .- . - ' MAJORITY RULE' In the course of his lecture on "The Value of an Ideal," recently delivered at Cincinnati, Mr. Bryan endorsed the fundamental principle of our government, namely, that the people have a right to have what they want in government. A Cin cinnati clergyman ondemns the principle and in sists that in many reform movements it is not tho people or a majority of the people who advocate what proves to be a blessing, but one man or a few. The minister insists that to accept this doctrine that is, that a majority have a right to have what they want would forever silence the voice of the reformer and make it possible for every boss in every city and state to say that the people have endorsed him and that therefore re forms have no right to be. The minister simply misunderstood the posi tion taken by Mr. Bryan and the principle for which Mr. Bryan contends. No one denies that reforms start with a minority. The reform is sug gested by some one, and it grows as it is discussed until finally a majority endorse it and put it into operation, but this In no wise does violence to the doctrine that the people have a right to have what thqy want in government. No reform can be accomplished until a ma jority of the people have been brought to accept it. Either the majority or the minority must rule. If a minority is to rule, then it must be remem bered that there may be any number of subdivi sions, and if the presumption of correctness lies with the minority rather than with the majority, then if the minority divides on the question, by the same rule the presumption rests with the still smaller minority. According to our theory of government free speech and a free press "enables each one to present his views to the public and our government is founded upon the belief as Bancroft has stated., it not that the majority "make the right," but that the majority "discern the right," and that a government by the majority presents the safest form of government known to man. It is under just this form of government that the reformer is encouraged and the boss dis couraged. In an open contest the reformer will always overcome the boss if the reform advocated has virtue in it I JJJ I PUSH THE. WORK In ..a letter printed in last week's"" edition of The Commoner, Tom L. Johnson said: "Failure to participate in the primaries is the cause of misrepresentation in the conventions." This truth, so well stated, can not be too often pre sented by those who appreciate its importance. It is evident that the rank and file of the demo cratic party are becoming aroused and that many who have heretofore neglected their duties with respect to primary elections are determined to make amends. The many letters received at The Commoner office show that the primary pledge plan is as popular as it is practical. Extracts from some of these letters are printed on pages 3, 5 and 7 of this issue. Every letter is an edi torial in itself and it is to be hoped that every subscriber to The Commoner will carefully read these interesting contributions. Every democratic newspaper is urged to direct the attention of its readers to the primary pledge plan and call for signatures. If democratic news- m?iers,.S?"?xerate ln thls eood work there will be little difficulty in bringing it to a successful conclusion. I .J