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WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
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A , -VOL. 9 NO. 2
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Lincoln, .Nebraska, January 22, 1909
i
, Whole Nu.mber.418.
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CONTENTS
i
.-rAN UNEXAMPLED PERFORMANCE
;?" : HOW JUDGE LANDIS BUILT A "FIRE"
' ' V,- THE GNAT AND THE CAMEL
i; , . - BUYING A CONGRESSMAN
REPUBLICANS CRITICISE THE PRESI-
DENT
' ' "OREGON'S SENATORIAL CONTEST
A DEMOCRATIC MEASURE
INDIANA'S NEW SENATOR
WHAT OF THE FUTURE?
OKLAHOMA'S BANKING LAW '
COMMENT ON CURRENT TOPICS
HOME DEPARTMENT
NEWS OF THE WEEK
r
'.'The body of Benjamin Franklin (like the.
cover of an old book, its contents torn out, and
strapped of its leather and gilding) lies hero
food for the worms; yet the work .itself shall
hot bo lost, for it will, as he believes, appear
once, more, in a new and more beautiful edition,
corrected,and amended by the author." Frank
lin's epitaph, written by himself;
MUCKRAKING
In view of the president's attacks on various
and sundry individuals, including governors of
states, senators and members of congress, would
it not be well for him to send a message to con
gress reproducing his speech on the muckrake?
He then dealt scornfully with those who threw
mud at public officials.
fr i2t O c
PUBLICITY, TOO
In the light of Mr. Roosevelt's contention that
the senate has no right to demand information
from departmental heads, Mr. Roosevelt's essays,
written several years ago on "publicity," would
bo just about as interesting as his oldtime essays
on "muckraking."
ii it it !
JV &1 tS S
THE PICTURE, ANYWAY
From the press report of the marriage cere
mony between an American girl and a titled
foreigner, the following is taken:
"The gifts to the bride included a check from
her father for $100,000 to be supplemented later
on, it is said, by a London town house from her
grandfather. Her mother gave her a tira
of pearls and diamonds witb tips of pear- -shaped
pearls and diamonds. The bridegroom's
gifts to her were a collar, tiara and -corsage
ornaments of diamonds, but of" those she has
seen only the photographs, the" originals remain
ing in London to greet her when she arrives .
there."
Our foreign brethren may not be able to de
tect any humor in this report, but it is "dollars
to doughnuts" that the American paragrapheTs '
will have something to say about the presenta
tion to the bride qf a "photograph of jewels."
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"When are we going to pull out ?"
AN UNEXAMPLED PERFORMANCE
,',,;' Only forty more. .days until March) 1 4 and
then, at least, we'll rest. ' "
The Commoner assumes no risk when it de
clares that the president has confessed himself
guilty of an unexampled performance in his let
ter to the senate in reply to the Culberson reso
lution. In one of his letters to Mr. Bryan dur
ing the campaign, Mr. Roosevelt admitted that
the steel trust had secured his consent before
swallowing up its rival, but the letter which
the president sent the attorney general em
bodying this consent stands forth as one of the
strangest public documents to be found in the
nation's archives. Here is a president of the
United States in conference with the managers
of one of the greatest of the trusts. They repre
sented to him that they did not care to gobble
up their rival, but that they were so anxious
to protect the business situation that they were
constrained to do this if the president would
permit. The president, accepting their repre
sentations and endorsing them, notifies the at
torney general that he does not feel it his "public
duty" "to interpose an objection." This letter
is republished that the reader may carefully
examine the language:
"Washington, D. C., November 4, 1907.
My Dear Attorney General: Judge E. H. Gary
and Mr. H. C. Frick, on behalf of the steel
corporation have' just called upon me. They
state, that there is a certain business firm (the
name of which I have not been told, but which
is of -rpal importance in New York business
circles) .which will undoubtedly fail this week
if jheljjjs.not given. Among its assets are a
majority of the securities of the Tennessee Coal
and Iron company. Application has been urgent
ly made to the steel corporation to purchase thia
stock as the only means of avoiding a failure.
Judge Gary and Mr. Frick informed me that aa
a mere business transaction they do not cara
to purchase the stock, that under ordinary cir
cumstances they would not consider purchas
ing the stock, but little benefit will come to the"
steel corporation from the purchase, that they
are aware that the purchase will be used as a
handle for attack on them on the ground that
they are endeavoring to secure a monopoly of
the business and prevent competition not that
this would represent what could honestly be
said, but what might recklessly and untruthfully
be said.
"They inform me that as a matter of fact
the policy of the company hap been to decline
to acquire more than sixty per cent of the steel
properties and that this has been persevered in
for several years past, with the object of pre
venting these accusations and as a matter of
fact their proportion of steel properties has
slightly decreased, so that it is below this sixty
per cent, and the acquisition of the property in
question will not raise it above sixty per cent.
But they feel that it is immensely to tLeir in
terest, as to the interest of every responsible
business man, to try to prevent a panic and
general Industrial smashup at this time and
that they are willing to go into this transaction,
which they would not otherwise go into be
cause it seems the opinion of those best fitted
to express judgment in New York that it will
be an important factor in preventing a break
that might be-ruinous and that had been urged
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