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Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
VOL7. No. 26.
Lincoln, Nebraska, July 12, 1907.
Whole Number 338.
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CONTENTS
TRUSTS AND THEIR TREATMENT
NOT A MATTER OF AMBITION
THE LINE UP
LAWSON'S REMEDY
EVADING THE LAW
RAILROAD MAGNATES PLEASED
JACKSON ON MONEY
SURPLUS
LOCATING THE BLAME
ROCKEFELLER ON THE WITNESS STAND
WASHINGTON LETTER
- PARAGRAPHIC PUNCHES
COMMENT ON CURRENT TOPICS
HOME DEPARTMENT
WHETHER COMMON OR NOT
NEWS OF THE WEEK
"INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTABILITY" THE REMEDY
NOT A MATTER OF AMBITION
Those who urge the nomination of a "con
servative" candidate by the democratic conven
tion studiously insist that "Mr. Bryan's friends
say he does not want the nomination." But is
this the real issue? The presidential nomina
tion ought "not to be regarded as a compliment
to be handed,, to some one. because .hewouldnbd-ww
pleased to have it. A candidate should be se
lected hecause the rank and file of the party
WANT HIM NOMINATED not merely because
he wants the nomination. First, what will the
party stand f6r? Second, who can best repre
sent these principles in the campaign? These
questions ought to control the selection. Men's
ambitions ought not to count for much in a
presidential contest.
OOOO
THE LINE UP
This is the way. the situation looks to some
observers:
Pro-Harriman Anti-Harriman
Theodore Roosevelt
"18 f(i . W L--
E. H. Harriman
H. H. Rogers
Wm. Rockefeller
J. H. Schiff
James Stillman
J. P. Morgan
J. J. Hill
Thomas F. Ryan
George J. Gould
W. H. Moore
James Speyer
B. JP. Yoakum
D. G. Reed
Stuyvesant Fish
One really responsible man in jail, one real originator of the schemes and transactions
which are contrary to the public interests legally lodged in the penitentiary would be .worth
more than a thousand corporations mulcted in fines, if the reform is to be genuine and pcrmar
nent---President Woodrow Wilson of Princeton.
Edwin Hawley
,- J. R. Keene
'" , Wall Street Journal.
OOOO
PERHAPS
Mn Bryan might as well have answered the
World's plain question with a disquisition on
the declaration of independence. Milwaukee
Sentinel.
Perhaps, but if he had, would the World
and the Sentinel have understood it any better
than they did Mr. Bryan's answer to the World's
question, "What is a democrat?"
OOOO
REFORM BY "FRIENDS"
As the republican tariff refoVmers Insist
that the reduction of the schedule shall be left
to the beneficiaries of protection, why not insist
that railroad regulation be left to the railway
presidents and anti-trust legislation to the trust
magnates? It would be just as reasonable.
OOOO
FOR THE MASSES
The "leaders" are still worrying about can
didates' and horses light, -dark and colorless
are beihgtrotted out; but the "leaders" must' not
forget' that in a democratic party authority comes
up fromthe people-not down from the leaders.
The voter is supreme and his will is Jaw.
TRUSTS AND THEIR TREATMENT
Senator Beveridge enumerates seven evils
of -the trusts. First, rebates, which he says "we
-have ended." Let us hope that these have been
ended, although the tenderness with which the
public deals with the Standard Oil company,
after it has been convicted of violating the law
in twelve hundred different cases, is not en
couraging. Many of our college presidents are
still anxious to secure from Mr. Rockefeller a
part of the money that he has made by violating
the law. Would they be as willing to solicit
from the professional safe breaker or from the
ordinary highwayman? Why should grand lar
ceny be regarded as a less heinous crime than
petty larceny?
The second evil is "contributions," and he
assures us that "we have ended them." Not
yet. It is not sufficient to prevent contributions
from corporations, for where there is a great
temptation to aid in campaigns, the officers will
find ways, of contributing that will pot bring
the corporation within the letter of the law.
It is necessary that the contributions of individ
uals shall be made public where those con-
' tributions are to any considerable amount, and
it is also necessary that the publication shall
be made in advance of the election in order
that the voter may know what influences are
at work in the campaign. One of the Wash
ington correspondents has reported the presi
dent as considering a law which will provide all
the parties with necessary campaign funds to
be paid out of the public treasury. I do not
know whether this statement Is authoritative,
but it is a suggestion worthy of consideration.
If each party was furnished with a moderate
campaign fund in proportion to the votes which
it cast at the preceding election, and then all
other contributions were prohibited by law, cor
ruption in politics might be reduced to a mini
mum. And why should not the reasonable and
necessary expenses of a campaign be paid by,
the public, If the campaign is carried on in tho
interest of the public? At present, in any con
troversy between predatory wealth and tho
masses of the people, the corporations which
are seeking special privileges and favors are
able to furnish enormdus campaign funds to the
party subservient to them, and no one can doubt
that these campaign funds are furnished upon
an undBrstanding, expressed or implied, that
they shall be allowed to reimburse themselves
out of the pockets' of the people.
The third trust evil enumerated by Senator
Beveridge is found in bad meats and Impure
foods, and these, he assures us, "we have end
ed." That remains to be seen. The pure food
law is not yet perfected, and it has not yet been
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