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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 1909)
tu li-l j.JlTTgWWpi - 4 The Commoner liil 1 1 1 1 11 or 1 1 .m w m m m inn 1 - nrmt- n y?:2ZZZZZ"T'.t'-t'r'm''W "T If 1 Nf"1'"riMmmmm'Mmimm 1 . -u. 1 The Commoner. Letters From the People SSUED WEEKLY. WJM'IAM J. HIIVAN Kdltor nntl Troprlctor. IUCiiAiii) L. Mkicax.pic Associate Kdltor. ClJAM.KH W. UllVAN rubllslior. Editorial Hooms mid llURlncss OHIco S24-.1S0 South 12tli Street I'litofd nl llic roBtofl'tt' nt Lincoln, Neb., nn Becondclws matter Our Your- . .- . . 81.0O hlx IMontliH CO ) Chil ol Vive or more. I'M Year 75 Thrco Jllonllin - - -850 Single Copy fc'nmplr Copies Tree. ForrlRti FoslnnoM Cents Extra. ftUIlSCHli'TlONS can bo sent direct to Tho Com monor. Thoy enn also bo Bent t'jrouffh nowspaper which have advertised a clubbing rato. or through local agents, whoro sub-agents havo been appoint ed. All romlttanccs should bo sent by postoflice monoy order, oxpress order, or by bank draft on Now York or Chicago. Do not send individual checkw, stamps or monoy. DISCONTINUANCES -It is found that a large majority of our subscribers prefer not to hav their BUbscrlptions interrupted and their files broken in caso thoy fail to remit beforo expiration. It 1b thoreforo assumed- that contlnuanco Is desirod unless subscribers ordor discontinuance either when subscribing or at any time during the year. Presentation Copies: Many persons subscribe for friends, intondlng that tho paper shall stop at the end of tho year. If Instructions aro given to that effect thoy will rocelvo attention at tho proper tlmo. RENEWALS Tho dato on your wrapper shows tho tlmo to which your subscription Is paid. Thus January 31, 08. means that payment has boon ro jolvcd to and including tho last isnuo of January, 1908. Two wocks aro required after monoy has beon recolvcd beforo tho dato on wrapper can be changed. CHANGE OF ADDUMSS Subscribers requesting a change of address muBt glvo OLD as well as NEW address. ADVERTISING Ratoa furnished upon applica tion. Addross all communications to THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Nob. , ."There 1b only ono United States," sagely observes a republican contemporary'. Let's see: didn't Oklahoma make tho forty-sixth? By the way, isn't the prosecution of the Now York World case entitled to about the same consideration as tho writer of an anonymous letter? Rccont democratic action in Pennsylvania contributes to the number of reasons why Penn sylvania goes republican by such heavy ma !,?, a?Ut lY WG0ks loft beforG we are to have that promised extra session for a revision 2nm5 TTup n somG thIngs and dow on some other things. We judge by tho silence of the Washington correspondents that Israel Putnam's ride down the stairs has not yet been equalled by any modern presidential equestrian. Tho "leading republican" who has not yet dS wn7wUT? fr a placo in thG cabinet woJld do well to look around and see if he is reallv leading anything or anybody. y At any rato, this discussion of Poo's riehr tn a place in the Hall of Fame has resulted in caus ing a lot of people to turn from the silly lltorary trash of today and read some of tho real litoi SIsycuPssion.Cti0118 f th AmriCan ? "to The mere fact that Senator Hopkins has gv perioncod considerable difficulty in secuHnc: a re-election to tho senate from Illinoi 2 evt denco of a considerable moral development ra tho part of tho state that gave a Linonin ? , U Grant to the service offfcoimf? and a Tho philosopher of tho HaqHnia xTv v Tribune says: "The girl who mn5,fhiNfb,i wife is the one who is as much ?tw.l ! St kitchen a in tho parlor "YGHn?wi Vh? husband is the ono who gives his' wife X Ken1? mUCU at hmQ iffitft! thf Tho members of that gmnd hll fr1"1' A Subsciber, Brandon, Wis. I think the opin ion and assertion of the Catholic Citizen of Mil waukee should havo at least as much considera tion as that given to your many correspondents who are contributing their individual views on the subject "What Did It?" and therefore en close clipping from late issues of that paper. From the Catholic Citizen, Milwaukee: The Commoner (January 21) continues to let demo crats tell "What Did It?" Here is C. W. Rob bins of Custer, S. D who despairingly com plains: "If the people all over the country had voted their sentiments, Bryan would have been elected by the largest majority ever received by a presidential candidate. But it has come to pass that such an expression can no longer be had in this country. The labor vote was scared; the bank and business vote was united and the Catholic vote was delivered." Now, if the Cath olic vote was "delivered," as Mr. Bobbins inti mates, to Taft, it must have been contracted for. Who were parties to tho contract? We feel that Taft's managers have a cause of action against any Catholic person who contracted to deliver him the Catholic vote. It was not de livered. Two-thirds of it went to William J. Bryan. It would do no harm for TheCommoner to admit the fact, now that The Commoner's own columns have called the matter into ques tion; and indicate that Mr. Bryan had some gratification in the compliment. On the other hand, we note with regret that the Methodist ministers did not swing many Methodist votes to their brother of the cloth in his latest sacrifi cial run. Mr. Roosevelt got more Catholic votes In 1904 than Mr. Taft got in 1908. Two-thirds of the Catholic vote went to Mr. Bryan in No vember, 1908. But it is true that since 18 9 G there have been more Catholic republicans than ever before. It is also true that there are not a few democrats who are as narrow on the re ligious question as Mr. Roosevelt Is broad. James H, Clark, Summerfleld, Kan. As a democrat and a reader of The Commoner I re grot the fact that efforts have been persistently made since the late election to convince Mr: Fn iind the democratlc party that the defeat of the ticket Was due to religious considerations. The charges in this regard are made mainly by victims of a peculiar religious horror that has always manifested itsolf in human nature and should not be given serious consideration A recent issue of The Commoner contains extracts from the St. Louis Mirror as follows: "If Mr William Jennings Bryan wants to know one rea son for the overwhelming character of his de feat last November I can tell him that It was ernSfeaH BlTP ?' Catnoll democratic votes JfafATau6S 0f.th,at Sartleman'B tali treat ment of the church in the Philippines. Even the simple and kindly nuns were working for him in their convents." As a Catholic I w?ll say that such assertions are prompted either by imagination or deliberate malice. The assertion that nuns were working for the election of Taft is a ridiculous attempt at misrepresentation as nuns neither vote nor talk politics to voters Colo16 wrUesf "TaTT 6 A $;, ooio., writes, laft showed favoritism to th his falrSeaTv &ffiL eminent money to build and maintain Protlstant Ph mfZ Bectarian institutions in the So cfthollcaRn?nelSewhere- NlnotT Per ent o! tne catholics in my community are democrat and voted for Mr. Bryan. Even our local clerv n wo is a republican, voted for tnehead ?n th Hmocratic ticket. The Catholic eleSv Ice all other classes of men, have different n lltlcal ideas and have no authority to ?2 nor influence the political action of church t! upon the voter Tho Lt.J I ittIe effect Louto Mirror a VnSor- 4lT &R, ?,'' mont only .n France, evo SSX volume 9; Dumber t men who professed to be uemocrats and even contributed to the democratic campaign fund fearing that they might lose a few dollars from the threatened business depression or future speculation went to the polls and voted for the head of the republican ticket. Thus the dollar designs the destiny and the penny outweighs the principle. J. A. Gaynor, Grand Rapids, Mich. I re gret very much that ono of your broad views and understanding should give space to such grossly false, offensive and defamatory utterances and insinuations as appear in the first communica tion on page sevdn of your issue of January 29 "The Holy Father had told them all to vote for Taft." Do you believe there is any element of truth in such stuff? Do you not see that it is a gross insult to a large class of your fellow citizens, and if so why allow the clean pages of The Commoner to be used for such purposes9 Do you know any Catholic democrats who voted for Taft, because "the Holy Father had told them to?" J know hundreds of Catholic demo crats, but npt one of them talked or voted for Taft at the last election. The article above re ferred to is but one of many such that have appeared on that page since election, and I shall feel very much disappointed if you neglect to correct the false Impression they are-creating. Robert Haydn, Butte, Mont. The enclosed clipping from The Commoner of January 29, 1909 is an "A. P. A," statement utterly un worthy a paper presided over by William J. Bryan, for whom I, a Catholic, have voted every time he was nominated for president. The vote in this county, Silver Bow, is nearly half Cath olic, and the county went for Mr. Bryan last November. This clipping is the only thing that I have ever seen in connection with Mr. Bryan that suggests a reason for mistrusting him. I haye no religious prejudice. I'd fight today for the Chinaman's right to worship his idol as I would for a Catholic's right to attend mass. . Nick Colgen, St. Charles,. Minn. -In , , your .Commoner I notice quite a few who .-attribute your defeat to the Catholic vote.- If those writ ers had gotten, their education in a Catholic parochial school they would not be so bigotted and also know that all German and Irish Cath olics are all democrats, and that French. Italian and Spanish Catholics are a very small percant age of the whole in this country, and like as not a good percentage of them may be demo ocrats. Now let us take up these peoples' line of reasoning and pursue it a little farther, i. e.: You are a Woodman, so am I, but of all the M. w. A of my acquaintance, seventy-five per cent voted for Taft. Why? You may also be a. Mason, still I know of no Mason who voted for you or who would admit of having voted for you. Still, not a word about all this from anyone. But with Catholics things are different and any old croak thinks hehas a legal right or moral obligation to pick flaws or express criti cisms. When Cleveland was elected a certain ST; ?Ur?ard Plained the election by .saying that the three R's rum, Romanism and rebel- tSSh00 plL,eid ?e defeat of the republican ticket, he probably knew, or he would not say so, for was he not a Methodist minister, and of rteht G to Tt? f itrUth? ,Now lf Burchard was Catholln orTnat Clr? or. B" did yur Psent Catholic critizers belong? Romanism? Hardly, 25 alon001"?9 thf W0Uld explaln their conduct Pnhn?g' I send yu two clippings from two Catholic papers, the leading ones in the west lio Wn?i f6,0? rself how leading Catho lic journalists look upon this question. A. Freeland, Mount Pleasant, TennThe tvToIlt TX Y tW Chances to securTfbn lndurtrtS w ali gov?rnn"t. One is for the industrial depression to continue four more years. The other is to cease attempting thfim possible task of mixing oil and water Le? ? TSlVtntiJ'T fr ?c ownershiV o! m litarism SiSSS P? r,eSive free trade nti So overtti'rnw nf ..Ieeislation, anti-injunction, 3 overthrow of the national banking systeni alihe assessment for taxation of the raw m n ninlUJCes f the trusts' as coalT l?on for Si l?ndi8' 6t,C" at theIr maiet value and w7h0eTbeloPnaJty l?t0 the ubJitn arty . invitation to th I Sd W0Uld ro7Q otandlng who m Tvet 5-fl L "l"1101 of honest republicans, SIS ilToTh e'To JUmp,ng 0Ut of thi l '-'.JtfaUfc fr -