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The Commoner,
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
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Vol. 6. No. 12
Lincoln, Nebraska, .April 6, 1906
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Whole Number 272
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CONTENTS
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Mb. Bbyah's Lettkb"
A Powerful Wjcaton.
Peepetitai. Fbanoiiisbs .
"Tua Touon That Makes Us Kin"
Who Iq. to Blame?
ReEOBMING THE CAPTAIN
MOBTON AND THE PaCKEBS
TiiE Real "Defendebs"
rT. "" Washington City Lettee
comment on cljrbent topics-' '
Home Depaetment "
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Whether Common ob Not
News of the Week--
' REGULATION AND OWNERSHIP
' i' 4 A reader at Heppner, Oregon, expresses the
,C j--opinion that The Commoner is wasting time in
' advocating railroad rate legislation.- This reader
siys: "Why waste time scrapping over rates and
, such rot when everyone knows that such things
..; an not do any good, There are only two issues,
tA public ownership and socialism."
,. The Commoner believes.'tbat public-ownership
tj&f-JXifl lo necessary in order tptftring -alioutr.the re-
' ' . forinB required by public interests.. But there
,Jl are many people who, while . favoring these re
.!" forms,,, object to government ownership and pre-
fer r government regulation. Regulation is one
step in the right direction, and The Commoner
thinks it is the duty of all who believe in gov
ernment ownership to give encouragement to all
' honest efforts toward government regulation. If
it -shall be demonstrated, as we believe it ultimate
ly will, that government regulation will not pro
vide the necessary permanent remedies, then
those who, while honestly advocating gov--.
ernment regulation, differ with us as to govern-
ment ownership will unite in the effort to place
the transportation lines in the absolute control
,' -bMhe people.
JJJ
A SPELLING REFORMER
"K Josh Billings once remarked that he wouldn't
' give a cent for a man who couldn't spell a word
xuore than one way. This remark is recalled by
Mr. Carnegie's recent generous contribution of
money to the cause of spelling reform, the chiefs
of this reform having in view what they call the
simplification of our language. It is gratifying
to know that Mr. Carnegie has determined to
become a reformer, even though hisjirst efforts
- at reform do not comprehend anything of great
value to the people. It may simply be the fore
runner of other reforms that he will champion.
There is tariff reform, for instance. With a .little
-iglactice at spelling reform Mr. Carnegie may yet
..become a tariff reformer. No one will venture to
submit facts and figures to deny the charge that
"- the tariff which has made Mr. Carnegie enormous--
ly wealthy has cast a "bad spell" over this
country.
. " JJJ
"JUSTIFICATION"
Referring to Judge Humphrey's decision on
- the beef trust case, the New York Tribune (re
publican) says: "While from one point of view
- . this is embarrassing, from another It justifies
- -" the much criticised attitude of the president re
; specting the prosecution of individuals who had
co-operated witn me govenimcui, w uuie ruiu
abuses and, as an 'incident thereto, had revealed
;: "v long standing methods which needed correction."
Yet, somehow or other, Mr. Roosevelt does
not appear-to be greatly elated by Judge -Hum-
- phrey's "justification" of the adminlstration'3 pos-
: itton in the Paul Morton case.
THE TWO DROMI6S
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" 1 ' ' ' ' in 1 1 1 1 , in 1 11 1 1 I, 1 I j. .
"Methinks you are my glass and not my brother; I see by you V am: a
sweet faced youth." Comedy of Errors.
CHINA'S AWAKENING
Mr. Bryan's Twelfth Letter . ,;
In what I have said of the Chirfese govern
ment, system of education, religion and super
stitions, I have referred to the nation as it has
been for some twenty centuries chained to tradi
tion, stagnant, asleep. Society was stratified;
those in power seemed to have no higher aspira
tion than to live upon the labor of the masses,
and the masses seemed to entertain no thought
of emancipation. The life of the people was oc
cupied with ceremony, but there was no genuine
fellowship or sympathetic connection between
them, outside of the family 'tie, and even the fam
ily was likely to be a storm center because of the
conflicting interests collected under one roof. Edu
cation was monopolized by a comparatively few,
and there was no breadth to sucii instruction as
was given. Superstition took the place of religion
and the placating of the spirits of the deceased
outweighed the nurture and development of those
still on earth.
But a change is taking place in China such
as has revolutionized Japan within the last half
century. The sleeping giantess, whose drowsy
eyes have so long shut out the rays of the morn
ing sun, is showing unmistakable signs of an
awakening. There was a vitality among her peo
ple which even two thousand years of political
apathy could not exhaust a sturdiness which
centuries of poverty and superstition could not
entirely, destroy. Increasing contact with Europe
and America is having its influence and the ex
ample of Japan is even more potent, for the
people of Japan are not only neighbors, but are
more like them in color .and race characteristics,
Let me note some of the evidences of this change.
The government, so long an absolute despo
tism, is about to become a constitutional mon
archy. In 1898 the emperor under the influence
of some radical reformers, prepared a. program
almost revolutionary- in Its character. Recogniz
ing that his aunt, the Dowager Empress, would
oppose him, he prepared to put nor under guard
while the change was being made, but the old
lady, learning of his plan, promptly took him in
hand and made him a prisoner in his own palace.
Since that time she has been the unquestioned
ruler of the empire, the nominal emperor affixing
his" slgnaturo to the, papers which she prepares.
But so rapidly has the situation developed that
she is now instituting the very reforms for tho
suggestion of which she so recently imprisoned
her nephew. A commission of prominent officials
is now abroad, some in Europe, some In America,
studying the constitutions and governmental in
stitutions of other countries. What a concession
when we remember the self-sufficiency of China,
the characterization of surrounding nations as
"rude tribes" and the use of the term "barbar
ians" to designate even those with whom she
made treaties'!
It is reported that the dowager-em press re
cently called her councilors together and -asked
how long it would take to establish a constitu
tional government. When told that it would prob
ably renutre twelve or fifteen years, she replied
that it must be dooe sooner than that as she
could not hope to live much longer and wanted
it in operation before she died. Whether she ap
preciates the full Importance of tho change may
be doubted, but the fact that the great nations,
with the exception of Russia, have constitutions
has doubtless made its impression upon her and
,R"B8ia'i defeat at thr hands of tho Japanese,
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