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Commoner.
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WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
VOL. 7. No. 13.
Lincoln, Nebraska, April 12, 1907.
Whole Number 325.
CONTENTS
A SOUTHERN CANDIDATE
i ROOSEVELT VS. HARRIMAN
PUBLICITY
JAMES ON ASSET CURRENCY
- A CHAMPION OF PLUTOCRACY '
MONEY ABOVE DUTY
STATESMAN OR FINANCIER, WHICH?
RUSSIAN REFORM
ALDRICH BILL JOKER
A DOUBTFUL ENDORSEMENT
COMMENT ON CURRENT TOPICS
HOME DEPARTMENT
WHETHER COMMON OR NOT
' NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE NEW SAINTS
ROOSEVELT VS. HARRIMAN
On another na'go wiirbe found the main points
of the controversy between the president and Mr.
Harriman. As the correspondence raises a ques
tion of veracity, The Commoner presents both
sides without comment. Whatever the facts may
be, it is quite evident that the republican party
had 'the support of, ilie railroads InlOOandMiM's
also evident that the railroads leit mar tuey were
unfairly treated Avhen tlie administration which
they helped into power turned upon them, and
without authority for so doing in the republican
platform demanded railroad regulation. The pred
atory corporations have so often overreached the
public and so often deceived the people that no
great sorrow will be felt because in one instance
they did not get the gqods that they paid for.
However, Mr. Carnegie is authority for the state
ment that the railroads ought to be satisfied with
the treatment they have received, and from the
manner in which they run to Washington for pro
tection it is quite certain that they would rather
risk the president and a republican congress than
to risk the rate regulation which the various states
are attempting. Those who believe in a straight
forward, open fight for the reforms which the peo
ple need, will find some amusement in the row that
is now on between the financial interests that sup
ported the republican party and the officials which
were the beneficiaries of this financial support
and the public will be the wiser. When it is all
over there will be an Increasing number who will
believe with the democrats that a party should
not accept contributions from those who have pe
cuniary interests to serve and who only give when
they think that they have a secret mortgage upon
the party aided.
oooo
PUBLICITY
The man who said that-he would rather walk
forty miles than write a letter can find interest
ing confirmation of his views by calling upon
President Roosevelt and Mr. Harriman. Senator
Depew will not thank either Mr. Harriman or
President Roosevelt for drawing him into the lime
light. Where oblivion is bliss, 'tis folly to be
prominent. The fact that the president and Mr.
Harriman slightly differ as to the exact language
used at their conference does not lessen the po
litical value of the contribution which Mr. Harri
man made upon the basis of his understanding of
the conversation. If the president will demand tne
names of the men who upon Mr. Ilarriman's solic
itation contributed a quarter of a million to the
campaign fund, the public will be in better posi
tion to judge of their disinterestedness. If Mr.
Harriman's controversy with the president helps
to make the latter more resolute in the advocacy
of strict railroad regulation, the public will after
all bo the beneficiary. When republicans fall out
over private conversations, the democrats get their
dues.
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"Many editors have done outrageously, but thou excellest them all."
THE SOUTHERN, CANDDATE
There is considerable talk just now of a south
ern candidate for the presidency, and there is no
reason why a southern candidate should not be
considered upon the same basis as candidates from
the northern states. The time has passed when the
sectional argument is effective. In the St. Louis
convention of I90l Mr. Bryan insisted that Sena
tor Cockrell, though a confederate soldier, would
poll more votes than the northern candidate whose
position upon public questions was in doubt or
whose position, if known, was out of harmony
with the opinions of the members of his party.
By all means let the southern statesmen De
considered; let them stand side by side with their
northern brethren and let the choice fall upon the
man who, no matter where he lives best repre
sents the aspirations of the party and best reflects
the desires of democratic voters. No candidate
should be urged merely because he comes from
the north or the south, or from the east or from the
west. Local pride is a very much overestimated
asset in a campaign. Comparatively few decide
public questions on that basis. New York and
Indiana being doubtful states, for many years
claimed the candidates on the ground that local
popularity would turn the elections, but it has
been found that the movements which elect or
defeat candidates are wider than state boundaries.
The New York Sun is the latest champion of a
southern man and its desire for a southern can
didate is based not upon his fitness to serve the
people but upon his conservatism, and the mean
ing which the Sun gives to the word conservatism
is-well understood It in'sists that the south should
present a candidate who is opposed to Roosevelt
ism. Roosevelt having acquired popularity by the
endorsement of several democratic doctrines such
as railroad regulation, trust prosecution and an
income tax the democratic party should at onoe
repudiate those things which have given the presi
dent popularity and seek the support of the finan
ciers whom the president has olfended. This was
the very argument that was made at St. Louis In
190-1. Wo were told that the president was very
unpopular wth Wall street and that a safe and
sane candidate Mho had the confidence of the
business element would be able to finance his cam
paign in Wall street and win an easy victory. The
party tried it and that bait will not serve again.
Let southern candidates fie presented upon
their merits. Let them be brought forward as
champions of democratic ideas and they will find
the north ready to listen. Papers like the Sun
have overworked the conservatism of the south.
Gov. Hoke Smith, of Georgia, won his campaign
by attacking railroad Influence in politics and by
demanding regulation. Governor Cromer won his
fight in Alabama along the same lines. Governor
Campbell, of Texas, made speeches in favor of
railroad regulation which would brand him as an
anarchist according to the Sun's definition of an
archy. Here are three recent victories in three
prominent southern states which tend to show
that the masses of the south are no more willing
to be rlddeir-by the corporations than are the
masses of the north. There arc many democrats
in the south who would poll the full democratic
strength of the north, but papers like the Sun do
not mention them, for such papers have no more
Interest In a southern man who i really demo
cratic than they have in a northern man who is
democratic, because such papers are the organs
of predatory wealth. Their praise damns any
man tupou whom they lavish it and their opposi-
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