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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 23, 1907)
TZZZqpjHrtijfw --wn'r-F-$.W&'9 rw , s "' - Uf'.'-V. r xr 6 The Cdmmoh'er Volume 7, number 32 T" '' ' 4. B: r & ' 1 i r ., 7'i . 9 -n;.; 4'- i; '; i ' ; 1,1 k If I - i'i i , V ifi V 1' b? k f. I ' The Commoner.. ISSUED WEEKLY. WlI.MAM J. UllYAN OlIA-llMtS W. BltYAN KdltornndProprlotor, . , Publisher. IUcham L. M jctcam'k , Editorial Rooihh and Mtmlnww Associate Kdltor. Offleo 821-330 South 12th Street. Entered nt tho Postofllco at Lincoln, Neb., ft Bccoiul-clnss matter One Year - S1.00 Tliroo Months - Bo blix IVloiifltit - - .00 ginjflc Copy - - Oo In Clulm of rivo or more, Snmplo Copies Frco. Per "Year - .75 Forcljin Postfwo 62 Ccntfl Extra. r IDIbCKH'TIONS can bo ont direct to TiiKCoMMqNKn. They cflii nlfiobo sent through nownjmpcrs which have advertised a club blnfc ride, or through local ngonto, whero sub-agente havo boon appointed. All remittances should bo sent by postofflco monoy oitler, express order, or by bank draft on Now York or Chicago. So not send Individual checks, stamps or monoy. DISCONTINUAN015S.-3t.ls found that a largo majority of cur FUbfcrlbern prefer not to have their KubFcrJptlons interrupted a nd their flics broken in enso thoy fall to remit before expiration. It Ji therefore aroumed that continuance Is desired unless HUbscrJbors crder dfe continuance, cither when subscribing or at any tlmo during Iho year. Tjikskntation Coimks: Many persons subscribe for friends, Intending that tho paper Khali stop at tho end of tho year. If Instructions arc given to that e fleet thoy will tcccIvo attention at , the proper tlmo. ltlNJSWAXiP.Tho date on your wrapper shows tho timo to t Mch your subscription is paid. Thus January 31, '08, means that inyinent has been received to and Including tho last Jssuo of Jan uary, 1008, Two weeks aro required after monoy has been received before the date on wrapper can bo changed. CIJANGIC OF ADDHIGSS.-Subscribera requesting a changa 1 1 addtm must give OLD as well as tho NEW address. 1 ADVJKRTISING.-Ratea furnished upon application. Address all communications to THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb. , . Possibly we can reduce the tariff arid -run the government on fines. Now if Judge Landis could only hold cour,t (of a few days in Judge Pritchard's district, tho North Carolina situation might be improved. ; The- indications- aro-that . Rough;. Ridcsr-JGlranz of Oklahoma has not enough colored backing this time to save, himself- from overwhelming defeat. Attention is called to the difference between the mention made of the two Alabama senators, and mention of the two surviving senators from New York. Tho Portland Orogonian says that "auto mobiles are the most convincing sign of wealth." Sometimes they' are a convincing sign of ah indebtedness; "i;i "'( A St. Louis young woman has achieved con siderable publicity by advocating the removal of the; lid. "Wish more of them would, in the opera house. " ' And yet the trust magnates used, to insist An naming the candidates of both parties It's twenty-nine millions to nothing, that they. don't do it this time. General Miles ventures tile opinion that we inay eventually lose tho Philippines. Thanks for a suggestion that makes even this hot weather more endurable. Results of the Philippine election indicate the necessity of rushing Secretary , Taft over there to look sorrowfully into the faces of our recalcitrant wards. Dr. Wiley has gone to France to tell the .people what is wine and what isn't. The isn't is shipped to this country- in bottles bearing a lot of pretty labels. The Pennsylvania democrats have adopted the slogan, "Thou ahalt not steal," and already the republican press is complaining of a cam paign of personalities. Mr. Foraker refers to tariff revision as a menace. Talk of revision naturally makes the trust magnates .feel like ignoring the frying pan when it comes in sight. " tft'has been demonstrated that old Ranieses was in the hahlt of claiming w6rk 'belonging 'to others. ' Ramescs must have been ohd1 of the original tariff standpatters. ' " " COMMENT ON t HE FINE Philadelphia Press: In the presence of .this heavy fine, tt last inflicted after thirty years of public denunciation, since the first of these iniquitout contracts was published in this state and left unpunished, it is well to remember that by practices and rebates like these the pro ducer has been robbed of his due, tho railroad of its profits and the consumer of his claim to a fair price. No peace can come save with justice. No property can be safe save undo4 the laws. The one object of the law under which this fine is levied Is to secure jus tice and tho protection of equal rights in trans portation. Heavy as is the flne it is none top great If the courts decide and twb more have yet to pass upon it that it Is both lawful arid deserved. . i . . .... St. Louis Post-Dispatch:, The trend of events is fast leading to a '.punishment about -which there can be no vicariousness or uncer tainty. The only real and effective way to punish a trust is by punishing the individual responsible for illegal transactions. The people, intolerant of punishing by a method which in evitably reacts upon themselves, will speedily see to it that the individual criminals are pun ished by incarceration. When the head of an offending trust, in the person of the party re sponsible for crime, is put in jail, the "square deal" will be in a fair way toward adoption, and not till then. ' - Chicago Post: 'Whether or not the supreme court sustains the decision of Judge Landis In the suit against the Standard Oil company,, there can be no doubt that public opinion , will sus tain it. The history of the oil monopoly has become notorious and lately it has been ex amined and analyzed officially in two govern mental reports, which have served as a new testament of -corporate sin. Thus the case against the Standard Oil, at first inchoate and largely an aggregate of mere suspicions and prejudices, has been placed upon a basis quite .definite and firm enough for just popular judg ement. . : ' ' Detroit, Free Press: One claim that we have been-hearing for a score of years from socialists, labor agitators and radicals of various kinds, that the courts are Owned by the corpor ations, will receive a rude shock from the de cision of Judge Landis, which, makos apparent the much-needed truth that the greatest of all ,the corporations is not above the law. On the other hand, it may be claimed with gome degree of justice, if we may judge by the past, that the fino will not be a very severe penalty, after all. The Standard Oil company, with its prac tical monopoly of the market, has qnly to raise the price of its commodity a few cents a gallon, and the consumers will pay the fine. , ' - Cleveland Plain. Dealer: There is no rea son to doubt that the penalty imposed by Judge Landis is but the first Important step in the campaign of the national ' government against alleged illegal combinations In restriction of trade. While the federal courts are by no means dominated by the federal government it Isnatural that they should feel sympathy with the aims of the president and his advisors. And whatever appeals may be taken must go before courts more and more closely in touch with the administration. For this reason there is at present no visible golden lining to the cloud which seems to have darkened the horizon of tho Standard Oil company. Milwaukee Sentinel: Now for the appeals. And thereafter, should the government again bo successful, for the consideration, very inter esting to the public, whether the oil. trust will be able to recoup itself at tho expense of the public by shifting the fine onto the consumers in the form of a lift in the price of oil. Kansas City Star: Standard Oil and its fellows will continue to plunder the public' in spite of fines, which they can recoup through extra charges, and in spite of imprisonments, if such be visited, until iniquitous tariff favor itisms are withdrawn, until the people run them and their "hirelings out of legislative assemblies and popular conventions, and until the public regulation of trusts and transportation compa nies is so adequate that secret advantages can not bo taken of the people. Lot' trust proseci wtlons continue by all means, for It is through the publicity thus gained that the people are enabled to draw close the lines for equal oppor tunity and economic fair play. But action will be valuqless if it does not go beyond these crim inal proceedings. St. Louis Globe-Democrat: Whatever di mensions the punishment against the Standard may iako in this case, combines will be less likely to ask special favors from the roads and the roads will be less likely to grant them, if asked. It is a notable triumph for the square deal. President Rooaevelt and Attorney General Bonaparte are not saying anything about this Standard case, but their worlr is talking for them. Omaha World-Herald: The fine system of dealing :with private monopoly is merely an end less chain under which, tho monopoly mulcts the customer and thus turns a. .small part of its pil ferings Into the public treasury. There is, how ever, a silver lining to this cloud. This case has become celebrated. The moment the Rocke feller gang proceeds to recoup by collecting from the public that patient beast of burden may bo expected to awaken, at last, to the absurdity and injustice of punishing the consumer for the crimes of monopoly. And then public sentiment will either compel the natioiial administration to proceed to enforce tho criminal law against trust criminals the same as other criminals, or it will cause a new administration to be elected and installed in office that will administer the laws impartially. THE PRIMARY PLEDGE As this copy -of The Commoner may bo read by some one not familiar with the details of tho primary pledge plan, it is necessary to say that according to the terms of this plan every demo crat is asked to pledge himself to attend all of the primaries of his party to be held between now and the next democratic national conven tion uhless unavoidably prevented,, and to secure ''a clear, honest and straightforward declaration of the party's position on every questionupon which the voters of the party desire to speak. Those desiring to be enrolled ca'n either write The Commoner approving the object of the or ganization and asking to have .their, names en tered, on the roll, or they can fill out and mail the blank pledge, which is printed on page 15. SPECIAL OFFER Everyone ..who approves the work Tho Com moner Js doing Is invited to co-operate, along the Hues of the. special subscription offer. . . 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