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The Commoner.
WIIXIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
H
MA.
" Kl
VOL. 7, No. 24.
Lincoln, Nebraska, June 28, 1907.
Whole Number 336.,
CONTENTS
WHAT IS A DEMOCRAT?
GOVERNOR HUiiHES VETO
A WORD ON SPECULATION
THE TARIFF
'
- WHAT WELL IT STAND FOR?
.THE JAPANESE QUESTION
A STEP TOWARD SIMPLICITY
"THE.AVERAGE THOUGHT OF THE AVER
AGE MASS OF MEN"
MR. BRYAN ON CAMPAIGN CONTRIBU
TIONS WASHINGTON LETTER
PARAGRAPHIC PUNCHES
COMMENT ON CURRENT TOPICS- s
HOME DEPARTMENT
WHETHER COMMON OR NOT
NEWS OF THE WEEK
r.
GOVERNOR HUGHES' VETO
Governor Hughes has vetoed the two-cent,
fare bill sent to him by the state legislature,
and in doing so he has greatly pleased the
newspapers which take their que;fromthe;cb'rr
porations, but he has , disappointed the plain
people who have expected, from, him 'more in-"
dependpnce and moral courage. He defends
his action on the ground that the legislature
did not make a sufficient investigation before
acting, but this excuse is hardly sufficient. He
has simply given the benefit of the doubt to
the railroads instead of giving it to the people,
and that too, when the railroads had the right
of appeal to the courts so that there was no
possible chance for an Injustice to bo done,
while the people have no appeal. In acting upon
public questions men's sympathies play as im
portant a part as their intelligence, and it is
evident that the sympathies of Governor.Hughes
are with the railroads. It is always easy to find
an excuse for doing what one wants to do, al
though ax.ii! this case, the excuses may be very
nebulous. If Governor Hughes had been as
anxious' to do justice to the people as he is to
guard the railroads against injustice, he would
have signed the bill and given the courts of New
York a chance to suspend the law if it made an
unreasonable reduction in the earnings of the
roads. He confesses that he has made no in
vestigation and that he does not know whether
the law is just" or not, but the protest of the
railroads has more weight with, him than the
opinion of the representatives pi) the people in
the New York legislature.
He refers the question to his public utilities
board which he is to appoint, but if, in the ap
pointment of the members of this board, he is
as sollcitious about the railroads as he is in
his veto message, the peoplfc can not expect a
great deal from the board.
He seems to be afraid that the railroads
might retaliate by introducing "economies in
the Bervice" and readjusting rates, etc. He
seems to overlook the fact that under any effi
cieut regulation of railroads the governments,
state and national, are able to cdmpel the rail
roads to meet the demands of the public. From
his language it seems that he takes a hopeless
view of the subject and assumes that after giv
ing to the railroads the right of eminent domain,
the people must trust the railroads to deal
kindly and considerately with the public. If
the people are to rely upon regulation, they will
have to have more courageous representatives
in office than Governor Hughes has shown him
self to be.'
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MR. ROOSEVELT HUNTING WILD THINGS--AND-
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MR. ROOSEVELT HUNTING THE OCTOPUS
WHAT IS A DEMOCRAT?
To the Editor of the New York World:
Accepting your kind invitation to define
a democrat, I beg to say that the subject may
be considered from two standpoints: First,
from a party standpoint, a democrat may be
defined as one who is a member of the organiza
tion known as the democratic party. A man's
connection with a party is voluntary. He is at
liberty to connect himself with any party or
with no party, and he is known politically by
the company, he -keeps. If ho allies, himself with
the democratic party and votes the democratic
ticket, he is entitled to be cailed 'a democrat;
insofar as that term is used as a party designa
tion, although he may not endorse all of th.e party
platform -6r T)e democratic in his instincts. If, '
in addition to voting the democratic ticket, he
endorses the platform adopted by- the party
no one can dispute his title to the appellation
democrat"" when the subject is viewed from the
standpoint of party. A party organization has
a right to choose its own name, io write its
own platform, and to nominate its own candi
dates; and employing the word democrat in a
party sense, the party has a right to withhold
the name democrat from anyone who refuses to ',
accept the party's decision without questioning
the right of a person to leave his party organiza-
tion at the command of his conscience and hia,
judgment. It is only fair to say that ho can;
not take the party name with him if he dis
sents from the opinions and acts of the majority
of the party, for the rule of the majority is as
much a part of party government as it is a part
of our theory of government. Men upon the
outside may claim to be more democratic than
men on the nslde of the party and under a
broader deflnitiori of the word democrat they
may be and yet, frorna party standpoint their
claim can not bo allowed without the oblitera
tion of party distinctions.
If, then, by your question, What is a demo
crat? you mean to ask for a definition from a
party standpoint, I would say that a democrat .
is one who considers himself a member of the-
democratic organization, who works with the
democratic organization and who expects to vote '
the democratic ticket. I do not mean to say
that by taking part in the organization he would
bind himself morally or politically to endorse
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