The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
Anfov
VOL. 8, NO. 9
Lincoln, Nebraska, March 13, 1908
Whole Number 373
THE NEBRASKA DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM
The platform adopted by the Nebraska dem
ocrats assembled in stale convention at Omaha,
March 5, 1908, is as follows:
We, the representatives of the democracy of
Nebraska, in delegate convention assembled, re
affirm our faith in, and pledge our loyalty to,
the principles of our party.
We rejoice at the increasing signs of an
awakening in the United States. The various
investigations have traced graft and political
corruption to the representatives of predatory
wealth and laid bare the unscrupulous methods
by which they have debauched elections and
preyed upon a defenseless public through the
subservient officials whom they have raised to
place and power.
The conscience of the nation is now
aroused and will, if honestly appealed to, free
the government from the grip of those who have
made it a business asset of the favor-seeking
corporations; it must become again "a govern
ment of the people, by the people and
lor the people;" and be administered in all
its departments according to the Jcffersouian
maxim, "equal rights to all and special privileges
to none."
This is the overshadowing issue at this
time; it manifests itself in all the questions now
under discussion and demands immediate con
sideration. We heartily approve of the laws prohibiting
the pass and the rebate, and insist upon further
legislation, state and national, making it un
lawful for any corporation to contribute to cam
paign funds, and providing for publication, be
fore the election, of all individual contributions
above a reasonable minimum.
Believing, with Jefferson, in "the support
of the state governments in all their rights as
the most competent administrations for our do
mestic concerns and the surest bulwark against
anti-republican tendencies;" and in "the preser
vation of the general government in its whole
constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our
peace at home and safety abroad," we are op
posed to the centralization implied in the sug
gestions, now frequently made, that the powers
of the general government should be extended
by judicial construction. While we favor the
exercise by the general government of all its
constitutional authority forthe prevention of
monopoly and for the ri:Qgulation of interstate
commerce, we insist .Tat federal remedies shall
be added to, andyot substituted for, state
remedies.
We insist upon the recognition of the dis
tinction between the natural man and the artifi
cial person, called a corporation, and we favor
the enactment of such laws as may be necessary
CONTENTS
NEBRASKA DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM
KENTUCKY'S SHAME
ANARCHY
, "THE FULL DINNER PAIL"
WILLIAMS' CURRENCY BILL
MINNESOTA DEMOCRATS
THE VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATION
NEBRASKA DEMOCRATIC STATE CON
VENTION WASHINGTON LETTER
COMMENT ON CURRENT TOPICS
HOME DEPARTMENT
WHETHER COMMON OR NOT
NEWS OF THE WEEK
Adopted by the State Con
vention Held at Omaha,
March 5, 1908
to compel foreign corporations to submit their
legal disputes to the courts of the states in
which they do business, and thus place them
selves upon the same footing as domestic cor
porations. We favor the election of United States sen
ators by direct vote of the people, and regard
this reform as the gateway to all other national
reforms.
A private monopoly is Indefensible and In
tolerable. We, therefore, favor tho vigorous
enforcement of the criminal law against trusts
and trust magnates, and demand the enactment
of such additional legislation as may bo neces
sary to make It impossible for a private monop
oly to exist in tho United States. Among tho
additional remedies we specify three: First, a
law preventing the duplication of directors
among competing corporations; second, a license
system which will, without abridging tho right
of each state to create corporations, or its right
to regJlaTe a'slfT will "TdfeigiT corporations doing
business within its limits, make it necessary for
a manufacturing or trading corporation engaged
in interstate commerce to take out a federal
license before it shall bo permitted to control
as much as twenty-five per cent of tho product
in which it deals, tho license to protect tho
public from watered stock and to prohibit the
control by such corporation of moro than fifty
per cent of tho total amount of any product
consumed in tho United States; and, third, a
law compelling such licensed corporations to sell
to all purchasers in all parts of the country on
the same terms, after making due allowance for
cost of transportation.
We welcome the belated promise of tariff
reform, now offered by a part of tho republican
party, as a tardy recognition of the righteous
ness of the democratic position on this question,
but the people can not safely entrust tho execu
tion of this important work to a party which is
so obligated to the highly protected interests
that it postpones relief until after the election.
And we call attention to the significant fact
that the promise now made by those republi
cans who favor tariff revision is wholly vitiated
by the use of the very qualifying words under
which the present tariff iniquities have grown
up.
We favor an immediate revision of tho
tariff by the reduction of import duties. Art
icles entering into competition with articles
controlled by trusts should be placed upon tho
free list; material reductions should be made
in the tariff upon tho necessaries of life, and
reductions should be made in such other sched
ules as may be necessary to restore the tariff to
a revenue basis.
We favor an income tax as part of our
revenue system, and we urge the submission of
a constitutional amendment specifically authoriz
ing congress to levy and collect a tax upon in
dividual and corporate incomes, to the end that
wealth may bear its proportionate share of the
burdens of tho federal government. We favor
a national inheritance tax to reach the "swollen
fortunes" already in existence, but we believe
that it is- better to permanently prevent "swollen
fortunes" by abolishing the privileges and favor
itism upon which they are based.
We assert the right of congress to exercise
complete control over Int rstate commerce, and
we assert the right of each state to exercise just
as complete control over commerce within its
borders. Wo demand such an enlargement of
the powers of national and state railway com
missions us may bo necessary td givo full pro
tection to persona and places from dlscrlmina
tion and extortion. Wo believe that both tho
nation and tho various states, should, first, as
certain the present value of the railroads, meas
ured by the coHt of reproduction; second, pro
hibit tho Issue of any more waterod stock or
fictitious capitalization; third, prohibit tho rail
roads from enaRiiiK in any business which
brings them Int; competition with their shippers;
and fourth, reduce transportation rates until
they reach a point whore they will yield only a
reasonable return on the present value of tho
roads - such reasonable return being defined an
a return sufficient to keep the stock of the roads
at liar when such roads are honestly capitalized.
Tho injury done by issues of watered stock
is more clearly seen and better understood slnco
tho shrinkage in tho market value of such stock
has precipitated a widespread panic and brought
enormous loss to the country.
Tho panic has also emphasized tho necessity
for legislation protecting the wealth producers
from spoliation at the hands of tho stock
gamblers and the gamblers in farm products.
Tho present financial stringency furnishes
additional proof that the republican leaders aro
either unwilling or incompetent to protect the
interests of the gonoral public. They have so
linked us to Wall Street that-tho-Blns-of tho
speculators are visited upon tho entire country.
Wo favor the postal savings bank and, In
addition thereto, insist upon the passage of
laws, state and national, for the better regula
tion of banks and for tho protection of bank
deposits. Tho government demands security
when it deposits public money in a bank, and
wo believe that tho security of tho Individual
depositor who Intrusts his earnings to a bank
should be as perfect as tho government's
security.
Wo oppose both the Aldrlch bill and tho
Fowler bill, and believe that, insofar as tho
needs of commerce require an emergency cur
rency, such currency should be Issued and con
trolled by the federal government, and that it
should be loaned upon adequate security and at
a rate of interest which will compel its retire
ment when the emergency Is passed.
We demand, further, that favoritism In tho
deposit of treasury funds shall be abolished and
that surplus revenues shall be deposited at com
petitive rates upon sufficient security and fairly
distributed throughout tho country.
We favor the eight hour day.
We believe in the conciliation of capital
and labor and favor every legitimate means for
the adjustment of disputes between corporate
employers and their employes, to the end that
justice may be done to those who toil and that
society may bo relieved from the embarrassment
occasioned by prolonged strikes and lockouts.
We favor such a modification of tho law
relating to injunctions as will, first, prevent tho
Issuing of the writ In industrial disputes except
after notice to defendants and full hearing;
second, permit trial before a judge other than
the one who issued tho writ, and, third, allow
a jury to be summoned in all cases where tho
alleged contempt is committed outside tho pres
ence of the court.
We favor ai. employer's liability law, ap
plicable to both private and public employers.
We favor full protection, by both national
and state governments within their respective
spheres, of all foreigners residing in the United
States under treaty, but we are opposed to the
admission of Asiatic emigrants who can not bo
amalgamated with our population, or whose
presence among us would raise a race issue and
involve us in diplomatic controversies with
oriental powers, and we demand a stricter en
forcement of the immigration laws against any
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