The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
Vol. 6. No. 5
Lincoln, Nebraska, February 16, 1906
Whole Number 265
CONTENTS
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Mb. Bryan's Lettish .
"Commoner Day" - '
Was It R jj-tre at ? '
Freight By Mail .
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Constitutional Convention
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,. An 1896 Question . .
One of thk Mysteries
A Revival of tub Old -
'"Washington City Letter '
Comment on Current Topics
Home Department
Whether Common or not
News of the Week.
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COMMONER DAY SATURDAY, 'FEBRUARY 24
Complying with a suggestion made by Gen
eral James B. Weaver, of Iowa, Saturday, Febru
ary 24, has been designated as "Commoner Day."
On that day any one may obtain one year's
subscription to The Commoner for 60 cents. -,,'
- Commoner readers everywhere are askedtoQ
devote at least a portion of the day to an effort
to increase The Commoner's circulation.
Further reference to this plan is made on
page 5 of this issue.
The congressional campaign Is coming on, and
those who believe that The Commoner is doing a .
good work will find ample reason tor participating
in this effort to give The Commoner an increased
circulation In every congressional district.,
JSJ
WAS IT A RETREAT?
Several months ago Secretary of War Taft
publicly declared that American manufacturers
were trying to hold up the government s in the
price charged for canal supplies. -Mr. Taft said
that if necessary supplies for the canal would
be purchased abroad. This conclusion was given
to the public in an Associated Press dispatch
printed last May. That dispatch said that the
executive committee of the Isthmian canal com
mission had decided to purchase in the markets
of the world the material necessary for the build
ing of the canal, and added;
"Thia important decision was reached
with some reluctance because it was appre
ciated' by Secretary Taft and the executive
committee that there would surely be a great
outcry from two great interests in this coun
try the producers of material and the ship
owners, if the purchases were not limited
' to the American products. But it was decided
that the money consideration was so great
that it' could not be ignored, for it was held
that in many cases fully fifty per cent more
would be charged for the material needed in
the canal construction than the same goods
could be procured for in Europe."
The Washington correspondent for the Chi
cago Record-Herald likened Mr. Taft's order to
"a Chimose bomb shell."" That order was very
widely discussed and very generally approved,
but for some reason or other we have not heard
anything recently concerning it. Have the
trusts reduced their- prices on canal supplies,
or was the administration prompted by the pro
tests from the tariff barons to reverse its policy
as announced by Mr. Taft, and submit to -impositions?
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THE SQUARE DEAL
"The theory of the government is that there was an understanding- that the matter should
not be published until the pacKers were satisfied with the report. We will show that Mr. Gar
field came back with a typewritten copy ofshis report which had not yet been printed and that
the packers were ready and anxious to have this report go to the publishers." District At
torney Morrison.
JapanHer Industries, Arts and Commerce
MR. BRYAN'S FIFTH LETTER
The basis of Japanese industry is agricul
ture, although each year shows a decreasing
proportion engaged In the tilling of the soil. Rice
is the principal product, but owing to the large
amount consumed at home it is not the chief
export. As this crop needs an abundance of
water, the rice fields occupy the low lands of
the mountain gorges. Sometimes the narrow
valleys that pierce the ranges are so terraced as
to 'look like steps, and at this time of the year
when the crop is being harvested, they resemble
golden stairs. The men and women work to
gether in the field, and In many places we saw
them standing almost knee deep in mud, cutting
the grain with an old fashioned hand-sickle. The
rice is tied in bundles somewhat smaller than
our wheat sheaves and hung over poles or laid
along the edge of a terrace to cure. If the thresh
ing is delayed the grain is stacked, not as we
stack wheat and oats in the United States, but
in little columns with the heads of the sheaves
tied to a pole In the center. Sometimes the
stacks are built around a living tree. The grain
is separated from the straw by means of a long
toothed comb, and at this season innumerable
groups of persons are busily engaged at this
work. The yellow heaps of rice in the hull, look
ing from a distance like wheat, can be seen from
the train and from the country roads. Straw
mats are used to keep the grain off the ground
and, I may add, that the mat is in evidence every
where in Japan and is used for all sorts of pur
poses. The cultivation of the tea plant Is an indus
try of no small magnitude, although not so uni
versal as the cultivation of rice. The tea fields
occupy the higher levels and add an interesting
variety to the landscapes. At one point on the
railroad between Yokohama and Nagoya the hill
sides are covered with tea plantations, if such
tiny farms can be called plantations. The tea
plant is something like our gooseberry and cur
rant bushes in size, but the foliage Is much
thicker. The leaves vary widely in value from
the cheaper grades, which are exported, to the
Uji which costs what is equivalent to five or
more dollars per pound.
Some cotton is grown here, but the cotton,
plant as we saw It is small compared with our
plant and the tillable area is too limited to ad
mit of the growing of cotton on' a large scale.
Tobacco is cultivated to some extent, but
the sale of manufactured tobacco is a government
prerogative.
Raw silk is by far the most valuable export,
thirty-five million dollars worth having been sent
abroad last year. Three-fifths of the entire ex
port goes to the United States, the remainder to
Europe, with France as the largeBt European
purchaser. As flfieen million dollars worth o
silk fabrics went abroad also as against five mil
lion dollars worth of tea and four million dollars
worth of rice, it will be seen that the cultivation,
of the silk worm and the mulberry tree is ex
tensively carried on. The silk worms are kept
in doors and the leaves brought in to - them.
When put outdoors the silk worms are devoured
by birds.
Fruits grow here in great' variety. We have
found everywhere apples of excellent quality,
raised in the northern part of the islands while
the southern islands produce oranges, bananaa
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