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The Commoner.
VOLUME 7, NUMBER 21
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CURB6NT 'fcOPIC
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TTTfTmiai WiiiftljiiMEr
rpHE BLOOKLYN EAGLE gives the advocates
X of the trust system as a wealth-producer
something to think about when it calls attention
to the fact that, under tho rogimo of the trusts,
our national wealth is increasing not nearly so
fast as when tho Hold was open to individual in
itiative and onterprlso, From 1850 to 18G0 tho
national wealth incroasod 128 per cent; from
1860 to 1870, 84 per cent; from 1870 to 1880,
40 per cent; from 1880 to 1890, 55 per cent;
from 1890 to 1900, 45 per cent. Tho rate of
increase for the past seven 'years indicates that,
for tho decade ending 1910, it will bo but 37
per cent.
EEFERRING TO the Eagle's statements tho
Omaha World-Herald says: "As tho
Eaglo suggests, hero is a problem for tho sociolo
gists. For, while the percentage of increase is
diminishing, the wealth Itself, formerly widely
diffused, is .rapidly concentrating into the con
trol of a comparative few. In other words, we're
not getting rich as fast under a high tariff as
wo wore under a low tariff; wo aro not getting
rich as fast under the trusts, for all their
economic saving' and tremendous productive
ness, as we were before tho trusts took control
of our Industry; and while the increase in
wealth is slumping the people are sharing less
in its benefits. A tariff-protected, trust-controlled
prosperity, it would seem, is a glorious
succoss for tho trusts. But for the common
people it is not so unmixed a blessing as just
common prosperity without the trimmings
would be."
' -o- ' .'
OLARENuE DARROW made tho opening
statement fdr the defense in the Haywood
trial at -Boise, Idaho. Tha Denver News gives
iJJS.8aJ!?n polntB of Harrow's speech, as follows:
The Western Federation of Minors is an indus
trial, not-a murderous organization. We will
show you that the Pinkertons placed detectives
In positions of responsibility as secretaries and
presidents of miners' unions; that these hired
men constantly advised tho miners to strike,
and that when a strike was on they counseled
violence, dynamite and murder. We will have
from twenty-five to thirty witnesses who will
take the stand and contradict this man Orchard
absolutely We will show that while honest,
bard-working miners wore denied the- privilege
ot passing the military linos at Crippfo Creek
this leper Orchard went in and out as he plowed
yoliS?118 ainst SPteunen:
Dorg prove that ho said Stounenberg made him
iSayPi0P i,"Ste1(1 of a millionaire HaywooS
will take the stand and toll you his full con
nection with tho Western Federation, and toll
you everything he has done as an m e of the
organization. Moycr will probably take the
stand, and maybe Pettibono. Orchard was caiiK?
red-handed after the Steunenborg murder? and '
turned over to McParland. After some manipu
lation he was persuaded that tho boat thihgho
could do was. to place the blame on somfone
else, which ho did. Ho is getting the bluest "
price for his he ever got for a crime. lie h0pes
to savo his miserable neck." P
O
PRANK A. DAY, private secretary to Gov
L ?? f Johnson of Minnesota, denies that
Seni?,iVt,0maVa that Governor Johnson tea
candidate for the democratic nomination fo?
president. Referring to this the Minneanolis
Journal says: "Governor Johnson st 11 pits bv
hS ,CrWn . The governor protests at he is
helpless against the discussion of his availabflitv
by politicians and the newspapers and aWts
didate0 KefRDWlSh t0 be regardod obTSE
SnJ i Ii ? not nGCessary that it be even im
plied that the governor is not sincere whif
iniM8iePft0,d tlmt thIs attude on lL part is bes
calculated to promote his chances as candi
fnrLimn wfo is really available and who is
fortunate enough to have other people ureo hS
claims can do nothing to furthe? his candidacv
for any office than to seem to be indifferent to
his nomination. But however the governor ma?
J6?, about the matter, the eastern press S
not let him alopo, or neglect him as a democrat
possibility. The New York Press, rebltean,
y a process of elimination, starting with Mr
Watterson's location of his 'dark horse' west
of tho Alleghonies and north of tho Potomac,
has concluded that Governor Johnson is the only
man who resembles Mr. Watterson's candidate.
A writer for tho Now York Evening Post takes
the samo view of Mr. Watterson's mystery. Tho
Philadelphia Record, domocratic, commenting on
Mr. Johnson's Pennsylvania speech, thinks that
his declaration for tariff revisions sure to bo
the dominant issue of the next campaign and
sees special significance in the fact that it should
have been promulgated so frankly in a protec
tion stronghold. The New York Sun devotes
a piece of its editorial .space to the discussion
of the samo incident and thinks that 'since each
party seems inclined to outbid tho other to fat
ten federal power and starvo the constitution
it is probably hopeless to expect that the return
of constitutional government will be an issue,'
and that under such circumstances 'a proposal
for a revival of the democratic tariff reform is
at least in the line of common sense.' The com
parisons which are suggested 'by the concluding
paragraph of the Sun's editorial must be con
ceded to be invidious, if not odious: 'While tho
corridors of Bedlam ring with the initiative and
referendum and government ownership of rail
roads Governor Johnson's proposal of a vital
economic issue will take old fashioned demo
crats back to Tilden, to Cleveland, to the days
of democratic sanity and success.' While lead
ing newspapers of the country are disposed to
give much liberal space and serious considera
tion to his availability as a candidate, Mr. John
son Is quite right in assuming that it is unneces
sary for him to do any talking."
-O
ACCORDING TO the Washington correspond
ent for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat there
Is . blood on the moon." The Globe-Democrat
correspondent says: "F. D. Coburn, secretary
of the Kansas board of agriculture, must be
unusually careful with his crop statistics and
his advice to the Kansqs farmers. in the future.
Secretary James Wilson of the department of
agriculture is on his trail, hoping to pick up
something on Coburn's fame as an authority on
agriculture. 'Watch everything Coburn does:
read everything Coburn puts out and report any
mistakes or misstatements Coburn makes to
me, is the order which Wilson has given to his
own army of experts. And the experts are
watching and reading Coburn's stuff very care
fully So far they have found no mistakes or
misstatements to report to their chief. Secre
tary Wilson is greatly nettled over a couple of
Jabs which Mr. Coburn has given him. Both
have tended to humiliate Wilson among the
farmers of the country. But Coburn was right
In both instances. Two years ago Secretary
Wilson put Kansas in the class of 'arid' states.
Coburn could not stand for that, and he issued
a pamphlet showing that Kansas produced more
than Iowa, the homeof Mr. Wilson; that in the
S"ctl;nf of ybeat and corn combined -Kansas
led all states of the union; that Kansas farmers
had more money on deposit per capita than the
farmers of any other agricultural state, and a
l0 ?i Inj;raation f that kind, which discredit
ed tho Wilson statement that Kansas was an
arid' state. Then, to rub sajt into the wounds
it just happened that Wilson had some speak
ing engagements in western Kansas and had to
use boats to get to the place on account of
heavy rains. Coburn gave the western news
papers the tip, and they printed cartoons of
Wilson doing 'arid' Kansas in a boat. The
drubbing that Coburn gave him caused Wilson
to make numerous explanations, and it has al
ways stuck in his craw."
COMMONER READERS will remember that
when the green bug was devastating tho
Kansas wheat fields recently, out of the good
ness of his heart, Secretary Wilson decided to
give the Kansas farmers, some advice as to how
to beat that bug in the future. He wrote a
letter to Secretary Coburn and asked that it
be printed in the Kansas papers. In it Mi
Wilson advised Kansas farmers to plant turkev
red wheat He said that in 1897 he made some
experiments and found that turkey rod spread
out and withstood the ravages of bugs better
than any other kind. It was great on the stool
etc. Coburn printed the Wilson letter all ritrht
Then he gave out a statement himself showing
that for the past twenty years Kansas had pro
duced practically no other kind of wheat. Mil
lers and wheat growers over the country then
began to poke fun at Secretary Wilson for mak
ing experiments In 1897 with turkey red wheat
which Kansas had grown, successfully and al
most exclusively for a decade. -
O
EEFERRING TO this incident the Globe
Democrat correspondent says: "For tha
federal agricultural department to be held un
as ten years behind the times, grated on Mr
Wilson's nerves. In fact, it was the straw that
nnfnVf s ba9k He couldn'fc enduVtho
grilling of Coburn any longer, without trying
to get even. So he gave the order to his experts
I have read Coburn's last biennial report of a
thousand pages or more, from cover to cover,'
!nf finV 0iMr-7TBon,s eperts' 'and I could
not find a thing that we could attack. It should
iol Se Ji3 a teS b00k in eveiy agricultural col
bos! ' " But dare not say so t0 y
MR. COBURN laughs at the suggestion that
i t, re any trouble between his office
SS i S? Secretary Wilson. Speaking to a
iopeka (Kan.) correspondent for the Globe
Democrat Mr. Coburn said: "As a matter of
J& i r WJls?n ,and I are the greatest of
friends, and he has no more ardent admirer
than I. He is emphatically the greatest secre
tary and President McKinley made no appoint
ment, high or low, more wisely than that of
James Wilson, as his minister of agriculture
The retention of Mr. Wilson as head of the de
partment for all these years has been a piece
SfntgKeai ?d fortune for the country, as It
7JI bl ? ?? ls continued there, by the succeed
ing administration. This does' not necessarily
mean he is always right ot that he and I may
not occasionally entertain conflicting views, es
pecially about matters in Kansas, as our view
points are different. Probably not a week of
all his useful life has been spent in Kansas, and
it would be T)ut natural that at long range he
sometimes receives impressions different from
those of us who never lived elsewhere. This
has occurred on one or two occasions, and I have
in kindly phrase commented on his seeming mis
apprehension of conditions here, not in any cen
sorious spirit but that he might be guarded
against unwillingly doing us injustice later.
Nobody in Kansas is hostile to Secretary Wilson.
On the other hand, every man in Kansas is his
friend, and I am sure he is mine. We are al
ways glad to see him or his 'experts,' and have
veraclt "m maDy gd llft in the interest of
DESPITE Governor Johnson's statement that
oi , s ,not ca,ndidate, his supporters are
active in various sections of the country. A New
S?v h sIgn? nilself "& B.," writes to the
h nJ?h? S.Vw?g F03t as Allows: "Can it
i? bie tnat Je democratic candidate whom
Colonel Henry Watterson has in mind for the
SIte9nCyT ISt GvQrnr Jnn A. Johnson of Min
Si?;11!9 da? horse' wh0 represents
2h27 n5 . at 1S fSt and desirable for tho
chief magistracy of the country, and is sure to
wSi?rSmIng pi:e?idenal race if nominated?
SwlGVeln0r Jounsn Colonel Watterson's
selection in the approaching great national con
test between the republican and democratic
hnnrSa?wthe,heav,1 of the latter- a11 Pise and
AWt ?.Wm r rll sound and splendid choice.
About Governor Johnson's running dualities
there can not be a particle of doubt Js? think
SLf LCa7yIng the state of Minnesota when he
?f ii L, r gOVGi:nor. by a handsome majority ,
a J S,!ame.time ?lJ$ President Roosevelt car
ried the state by 160,000 majority. And then
aL? lsGcent re-election, when the whole of the
rest of thQ:republican ticket was overwhelmingly
triumphant, he, the democratic gubernatorial
candidate, was again a winner by a substantial
majority. What is the meaning of all this?
Why, simply because Governor Johnson has
proven himself to be a patriot and statesman
-of the highest character; because of his honesty.
?Mt& irt haA
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