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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 22, 1905)
; - mi' j jppwmmf ipwv)?mym,mi m if,mwm 0 The Commoner. WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR VoL 5. No. 36 Lincoln, Nebraska, September 22, 1905 Whole Number 244 CONTENTS TlIE PltlCE OP A SOUL Avenues or Usefulness Jefferson Club Banquet Destroying the Silver Dollar Dunne Reports Progress A Low Moral Standard Portsmouth and San Francisco Otiier Insurance Scandals Two Figures Eminently Conservative Comment on Current Topics The Primary Pledge News of the Week A REMINISCENCE OF 1896 DUNNE REPORTS PROGRESS At the Jefferson club banquet (Chicago, Sep tember 12) Mayor Dunne reported progress on the traction question. He pointed out that the city claimed title to about one-third of the trackage, the franchisee for which either had expired pp would expire within two years. He explained his plan to lease these lines to a company tempora rily upon terms which will enable the city to control the corporation during the lease, give the city the receipts above running expenses and interest (an amount which it is estimated will pay for the road within eight years) and permit the city to take over the lines at cost, plus in terest, as soon as it can legally do so. The demo crats present at the banquet received the mayor's plan with great enthusiasm, and applauded his expressed determination to continue the fight for municipal ownership in spite of the opposition presented by the traction companies. It is fortu nate for Chicago that her interests are in the hands of so faithful a public servant as Mayor Dunne is proving himself to be. If he is embarrassed by the impatience of some of the advocates of public ownership he can find consolation in the fact that all reformers have had the same experience, but the voters will stand by him if he continues co show, as he has in the past, that his only purpose is to serve his people and guard their interests. JJJ DESTROYING THE SILVER DOLLAR A Washington dispatch says that the sus pension of gold and silver coinage at the mint is occasioned by the fact that the stock of silver bullion is entirely exhausted. It suggests that a scarcity of small coin may warrant the recoining of silver dollars into subsidiary coin. The ques tion whether the government will add to the sup Ply of subsidiary coin by the purchase of more silver bullion or by the recoinage of silver dollars has not yet been settled. In fact, the republican leaders seem to be afraid to re-open the silver question. If the policy of recoinage is adopted, it is only a question of time when the full legal tender silver will be converted Into subsidiary com and each dollar so recoined will reduce me standard money of the country. Will the republicans attempt this stealthy reduction of the volume of standard money? II I ! II I I II II I I iWWW " " " ' ' They were so concerned about the their National Honor that they forgot own THE PRICE OF A SOUL (The following article was written for a re ligious periodical but was refused publication because of the Rockefeller paragraph. Not be ing willing to omit that paragraph cr to write for a publication that gave to Mr. Rockefeller's business methods even a negative endorsement Mr. Bryan asked for the return of the article.) What is a soul worth? This is not a new question; it was asked ninteen hundred years ago by One who could measure with accuracy the value of the immortal part of man. Christ presents an unanswerable argument when he in quires: "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or: What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Is man ever tempted to part with this price less possession? Is he ever tempted to put any thing above it? The Master never wasted time or words. The fact that He called attention to tills subject is proof positive that the .world needs the warning uttered by Him. In complying with the request of the editor of the for a brief article, I do not know that I can do better than to suggest a few ways in which a soul can be bartered away and then point out the relative insignificance of the tilings sought in exchange for it. Will a man put a price upon his soul? Prob ably not, if the proposition is presented to him bluntly, and yet many who would be indignant at the question if clearly stated do actually enter into negotiations, although sometimes they are scarcely aware of the nature of the trade. Tolstoy says that the crime begins not when the murderer takes the life of his victim but far back when he decides to Ignore the prompt ings of his conscience and to follow his selfish impulses the final act being but a natural result- of his earlier determination. And so it may bo said that a man puts a price on his soul when he deliberately prefers anything else to its high est welfare.. Among the things that have been weighed In the balance against the soul may be mentioned money, social position and political power. Money deserves the first place because it not only tempts more peopfe but because It is often used to purchase both social and political prominence. So ruinous is "greed that "love of money" has been described as "the root of all evil." Certain It is that love of money has in a multitude of cases silenced conscience, and never seemingly more than now. Mr. Rockefeller is at present the target ofv fit ,.& ,U J-, ,4i.,., v. .