,
APRIL 6, 1906
The Commoner.
THE AMERICANS POWERFUL WEAPON
At the time of the assassination of the Rus
sian Grand Duke Sergius a remarkable incident,,
occurred in a Chicago church. Rev. Joseph A.
- Milburn, pastor of the church, took occasion to
criticise the American people because of their
"'attitude toward Great Britain during the Boer
, ' war, and he condemned what ho called "the al
x most universal delight of the American people
over the 'death of the late Grand Duke Sergius."
Mr. Milburn added: "It is deplorable that
the people of this country should sympathize with
the killing of royalty or officials in Russia, and
manifest that sympathy in open delight. If such
methods are to be used to quell oppression we
would be just as much justified in using bombs on
the financial oppressors in this country who are
taking the food from the mouths of the poor by
4 their use of arbitrary power."
'V-.-- At this point Dr. Franklin Martin, a member
... of the church, exclaimed, "And so we would be
justified." '
Replying to Dr. Martin, Mr. Milburn said:
'? "But that would be murder.'! ; . . . ,
T': . Dr. Martin r.etorted: "And-so is-war," re-
ferrlng to the preacher's mention of the Boer
- campaign.
'- Mr. Milburn said: "But war is legalized and
bomb-throwing is not."
It seems that a strong friendship existed be
tween Messrs. Milburn and Martin, but the latter
was evidently prompted to speak out In meeting
because of his deep feeling. It is not often that
-one is brave enough to interrupt a preacher, and
. while such interruptions are not to be encouraged
it is a good sign when men are so strongly moved
by their -convictions that they can put down all
the barriers that have been raised by convert
tionality.
' . j Mr. Milburn was right when he condemned
, .assassination and bomb-throwing in any form. It
Js not true that the American people approve of
'bdmb-throwing it is not true that they approve
of. assassination; yet, it is not at all strange that
; they did not express regret because of the tyrant
. Sergius death. The people of Russia have suf
fered under so many oppressions that it is but
"natural that assassins spring up among them and
that men charged" with authority fall. N
Mr. Milburn's logic was lame when he said
that "if the methods employed in the Sergius
case were to bo used to quell oppression, we
would be just as much justified in using bombs
on the financial oppressors in this country who
are taking the food from tho mouths of the poor
by their use of arbitrary power." While, as has
been said, assassination ia not to be condoned
under any circumstances, there is this difference
betweon the condition of the Russian people and
that of our own people: In Russia, whatever re
lief the people are to obtain from oppression must
come from those in authority. Tho Russian peo
ple's only chance for relief depends upon the
somewhat doubtful hope that light may finally
break through into the black souls of their op
pressors. But in this country thanks to the
fathers there can be no apology for a resort
to violence in any form. If the American people
suffer because of the greed of certain men, tho
people have it in their power to obtain relief.
They need suffer only just as long as they aro
willing to suffer. They have laws which, if en
forced, would, give them protection; and there
is something about public sentiment inthis coun
try that once crystallized, no influence may with
stand it.
1 Educators in the pulpit or in the press must
not fall into, the habit of drawing, a parallel be
tween the oppression by the Russian dukes and
the oppression by the American trust magnates.
There is not, it is true, wide difference between
the character of the evils. Men wno obtain a
monopoly upon fuel and food, and because of
whose greed all the people are seriously embar
rassed, many of them actually sulfer, while some
freeze and starve, will have just as much of
an account to settle at the judgment bar as the
Russian autocrat who orders his soldiers to fire
..upon a gathering of helpless people who have
approached the throne under the leadership of
a minister of God, arrayed in thet vestments of
his church and holding aloft the' cross before
which all civilization kneels.
One careful observer of European affairs re
cently said: "The Russian' people have eaten
considerably more tban their peck of dirt;" and
until the form of the Russian government is
changed, until the Russian people engage In a re
bellion that, made lawful through success, be
comes in tho pages of history a revolution, the
RusBian peoplo will continue to "eat dirt." Tho
Amorlcan peoplo havo been eating a good deal of
"dirt" in recont years,, but the American people
will continue to "oat dirt" only so long as they
like it. Whon they eat their fill they will think;
when they think they will act; "and when they
act they will obtain relief from serious evils.
In tho meantime tho course of tho patriotic
educator in our own land Is clear. Lot him en
courage men in every clime who struggle for
their natural rights. Mr. Milburn referred to
American sympathy with the Boors. That was
very natural sympathy. Great Britain was tho
oppressor of two little republics. The Boers
were struggling for their rights. A braver battle
for freedom was never waged than that which
tho valiant men of the South African ropubllcs
carried on against one of the greatest powers of
the earth. Lot Americans be encouraged to show
tholr sympathy with all peoplo who strive for the
same great privileges we enjoy; let them bo
urged to discourage resort to violence in any form
and in any land.
While tho American peoplo aro being told
that it is their right and duty to sympathize with
men who seek larger privileges at the hands of
monarchs, let ,thera be reminded that they owe a
duty to themselves and their own country in
using the very simple power that has been placed
in their own hands for the projection of the rights
of the many against tho avarice of tho few.
If in Russia the bomb Is tho weapon, the
Amorlcan citizen restless though he may havo
become under existing evils may congratulate
himself that he Is of a country that, in tho provi
dence of God. stands at tho head of the nations
of the earth a country where, In tho effort to
establish the rights of men, violence need not
be resorted to and bombs need not be thrown. He
may congratulate himself that tho men who build
ed this, the greatest of all governments, placed
within his hands tho most powerful of weapons.
It is "a weapon that comos down as still as snow
flakes fall upon" the sod; but executes a freeman's
will as lightning does tho will of God; and from
its force nbi doors nor locks can shield you 'tis
the ballot box." R. L. M.
K .
Perpetual Franchises In The Philippines
;Of all the mistakes of the American govern
ment in dealing with the Filipinos, no mistake is
likely to have as far reaching an influence for evil
as the granting of perpetual railroad franchises.
Every railroad is to a certain extent a monopoly,
"lor a second railroad can not be built with promise
of profit until there is traffic enough to support
two roads. A railroad, therefore, can collect al
most twice as much as it ought to before a second
railroad would dare to build a parallel line. Usu
ally, when competing lines are built between cen
tral points they are built far enough apart to
-leave each one in undisputed control of local
traffic. To fasten a perpetual franchise upon a
community is to burden all future generations.
No generation has a moral right to mortgage
posterity unless a permanent improvement is
created equal in value to the incumbrance. Who
will calculate the value of a perpetual franchise?
Tho future is so uncertain that the purchaser of
a franchise would not pay any more for a per
petual franchise than he would for one running
fifty or a hundred years. If asked to give more
because the franchise ran forever he would reply
that it was not only purely speculative but that
while the present generation of stockholders
would have to pay the purchase money remote
generations would be the beneficiaries, If any ben
efits ever actually accrued. When one looks back
over the last hundred years and notes tho changes
that have taken place In the methods of transpor
tation he understands how unlikely .one would be
to pay more for a two hundred year franchise
than he would for a franchise running a hundred
years, or even fifty.
But while a purchaser would not gamble much
on the future value of a perpetual franchise the
people who live along the rajlroad may be sub
jected to a never-ending injustice. If one gen
deration could rightfully mortgage future genera
tions it would be impossible for those living at
the present time to secure a compensation at all
commensurate with the burden imposed on those
yet to be born. , , a - .
If it would be inexcusable for people to bar
ter away the rights and welfare of their own chil
dren, what shall we say of those who, acting as
guardians, assume to dispose of the property of
their wards in such a way that, without secur
ing any material advantage to the wards, tho
rights of future generations are surrendered.
Every Filipino paper opposes perpetual franchises,
every Filipino who is free to express his own opin
ion opposes them, and no American can defend
them.
It would be far better for the Flliplnoes if
the guaranteed rate of interest was higher, if
necessary, and the franchise limited to twenty
five years. It would be better still, If the Amer
ican government would advance the money for
the building of such roads as may be needed and
then, glying the Filipinos the benefit of the low
rate of interest at which our government can sejl
bonds, provide a sinking fund that would enable
the Flliplne government to own the railroads as
soon as our government was reimbursed.
In France, railroads were guaranteed divi
dends and also a sinking fund sufficient to pay for
the railroads within fifty years, at the end of
which time they became the property of the gov
ernment. Such an arrangement in the Philip
pine Islands would be much more advantageous
to the Filipinos than the plan adopted, which
grants a perpetual franchise and for thirty years
guarantees an interest rate more than twice as
large as our government has to pay.
Aside from the economic injustice done tho
Filipinos by the perpetual franchises they involve
a political menace which the Filipinos are quick to
recognize. Our financiers see a vital connection
between gunboats and investments, even when
they can not see any connection between the con
stitution and the flag, and a perpetual franchise
ineans that our nation will be perpetually ap
pealed to, to guarantee dividends on Investments
made on a never-ending concession.
The Filipino students, in a memorial recent
ly prepared, call attention to the dangers con
cealed in the perpetual franchise, and ask what
hope" there Is of obtaining self government when
their material interests have passed "under the
eternal control of American capital."
Even in our own country the doctrine of
"innocent purchaser" has been carried so far
that the rights of the patron who makes the rail
road profitable and whose geographical position
compels him to use the railroad whether he wants
to or not, are subordinated to the interests of
stockholders who are under no compulsion to
buy, and might, on inquiry, ascertain the propor
tion of water as compared with money actually
invested In the road; how then, can we expect
the Filipinos, who through coming ages must
patronize these roads to be more successful in
protecting themselves from the exactions of hold
ers of perpetual franchises? If our government
takes the side of the stockholders when both
stockholder and patron are Americans there will
be more danger of our government taking the
side of the stockholder when the latter Is an
American and the patron is a Filipino.
The perpetual franchise Is a mistake that ought
to be corrected at once. If our government at
tempts to substitute a limited franchise for a
perpetual one It will learn how much the selling
price of such an intangible asset is above the
purchase price, but the sooner the change is made
the less will be the cost.
So long as the American officials seli, or even
advocate, perpetual franchises in the Philippine
Islands, Filipinos can not be blamed for doubting
the intentions of our government. The trend
in the "United States Is away from long time
franchises. Why, the Filipino asks, should per
petual franchises be fastened upon helpless wards
of the government?
'JJJ
MISDIRECTED
The Kansas City Journal, a republican paper,
speaks about magazines and newspapers that print
attacks upon the senate aB "helping to tear down
the fabric of our institutions and undermine tho
confidence of the unthinking masses in the integ
rity and efficiency of the American government.'
Why does tho Journal neglect to direct its criti
cism toward the men who are responsibl;for tho
evils which these magazines and newspapers at
tack? It Is these men, rather than those who
condemn their unholy acts, who are helping to
destroy our Institutions.
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