"' 'Wmi- " y
The Commoner.
6. No. 51.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
Lincoln, Nebraska, January 4, 1907.
Whole Number 311.
CONTENTS
Olney on Labor Unions
Is Tins Prosperity?
Disarmament Precedent
England's Prosperity Crisis
Attorney General Bonaparte
A Moral Issue
Work For Democrats
Money in Blocks
Washington Letter .
Comment on Current Topics '
Home Department
Whether Common or Not
News or tue Week
IS THIS PROSPERITY? -F.
Orr, Buffalo Center, Iowa, writes:
garding Lawrence Callahan's barn I wish
h this.
lad Mr. Callahan built his barnin 1885, dur-
graocratic administration he would have.
)r his lumber (supposing he lived in Iowa)
Rlows: For dimension. $16 per thousand
ifor best Quality of sheathing, $16; for drop
p, ?18, and for a good quality of shingles,
r thousand. Had he sold hogs to pay for it
fould have received for them from $6.50 to
fer hundred, and had he sold corn to pay for
would have- received from 50 to 60 cents
)ushel.
feHad he built his barn in 1893 (under another
)cratic administration, but before Grover
reland became a republican) he would have
the same prices, or perhaps a little lower.
would have paid for it in hogs at from $5
pu per hundred, or corn at 45 to 50 cents per
hel.
i Had he built in 1898 just before the g. o. p.
t, things reorganized he would have found that
,' could buy dimension at $14: the sheathing. $12
j$14; the drop siding, $16 to $18, and the very
rat shingles at $2.75 per thousand. For his hogs
would have received $5 per hundred and his
prn 30 cents per bushel.
ffr TJllf 1rt- HIm Hnllnlinn ImiJIJ n-tTrr rvwl li r -.irtll
UUl Ot 1111, XLWltlllClll UU1IU. 1HMY, CI LIU lie Will
ly $28 to $30 for his dimensions, $26 to $28 for
us sheathing, $35 for liis drop siding and $4 for
lis shingles. He will sell his hogs at $5.25 or
55.50 per hundred and his corn at 30 cents per
mshel.
tn V4vv iet us urop an nue uieonus unci got iu
fhard facts. Is this prosperity?
JJJ
THE POSTAL DEFICIT
The eminent trentlemen who have taken it
upon themselves to find a way of wiping out
.the postal deficit seem sadly in need of new
spectacles. They are quite sure that the only
way to wipe out the deficit is to raise the rates on
second class matter 400 per cent, being utterly
inable to see the very plain fact that the postal
leficit could not onlv be wined out but a neat
Surplus secured bv simnly compelling the rail-
loads to transport the mails for "a reasonable
Compensation. The railroads furnish cars for
;he express companies and then haul the ex
cess for about one-eighth of what they charge
or hauling mail in cars rented to the government
it an annual rental that pays for the cars every
tear. Instead of increasing second class rates
100 ner cent the commission ought to devote
pome time to getting a fair rate from the rail
-
j
' ., $
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How Long Will the Old Tub Stand the Racket?
L
OLNEY ON LABOR UNIONS
Hon. Richard Olney, Mr. Cleveland's attorney
general and afterwards his secretary of state, has
contributed to the Inter-Nation an interesting art
icle on labor unions and politics. His views will
attract the more attention because of the posi
tion he took In the Chicago strike. He insists
that the labor organizations ought to enter actively
into politics. The main reason that he gives is
that it is necessary for them to do so in order
to protect the country from the evils that have
attended the trustification of industries. Ho re
gards the trust as an economic development. He
says: "It should be added that the trust has
earned the right to be regarded as an economic
evolution." As the strongest proof of this he
cites the fact that it not only continues to exist
but to actually grow and flourish. Heeven credits
it with steadying the wages of the laboring man.
While the opponents t)f the trust will take issue
with Mr. Olney on the two propositions that it is
an economic evolution and that the mere fact it
still exists, is proof of its beneficence, and while
they will not agree with him that it is an ad
vantage to the laboring man, they will agree
with him in placing emphasis upon the part which
the laboring man has of influencing politics and
on the responsibility which accompanies the op
portunity. Mr. Olney says: "If it be assumed that the
free institutions of this country are on the whole
better for mankind in general than any that
human wisdom has yet devised and are to be pre
served at all hazards, It necessarily follows that
the so-called laboring class has an interest in
those Institutions surpassing that of all other
classes of the community." This is a sound posi
tion. The laboring man has an interest in free
institutions because they arc the only ones in
which his voice can be made effective.
It is to be regretted that Mr. Olney mars the
force of the preceding paragraph with the follow
ing sentence: "How he may so act politically as
to promote that interest Is a question which the
ordinary laboring man is Incompetent to decide
and feels his incompetence to decide."
It is not true that the laboring man is in
competent to decide the questions that concern
hirn and his country. The great questions of
politics involve moral questions, and questions of.
right and wrong can be decided by a laboring
man as well as by anyone else. It is a common
error to assume that the .average man on the
farm and in the workshop is not competent to
deal with the problems of government. Jefferson
pointed out this error and asserted that the prin
ciples of right and wrong were so easily dis
cerned as not to require the aid of many
councilors. s
Mr. Olney in the course of his article states
with force and clearness certain things which
the laboring man should contend for. The cata
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roads.
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