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MAY 7, 1909
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. NEBRASKA'S DEMOCRATIC LEGISLATURE
In an editorial entitled "Some Good Laws,"
the Lincoln Evening News (republican) pays
this tribute to the democratic legislature:
"Notwithstanding that the senate of the legis
lature was swayed too often by a bunch of men
of the familiar corporation type, that body re
deemed practically every pledge the party had
made, and enacted a number of other laws as to
the value of which there will be no disagree
ment. "The bank deposit guaranty law fell short of
what was promised, but it does compel a mutual
insurance of deposits that can not fail to be of
material benefit to the people. There was no
reason other than that the attorney for the com
pany did not want it for the omission of the
stockyards from the physical valuation bill, but
otherwise the measure apparently meets the need
of the hour. If in the selection of the men to
make the valuation partisan interference can be
eliminated, Nebraska will have made a good
start to a final solution of the railroad problem.
Some weak spots in the primary law have been
made strong; we have a- good reciprocal de
murrage law; a law putting the election of sen
ators closer to the people; a' law that ought to
stop watering of corporation stock; a law giving
judges the power to confer indeterminate sen
tences upon offenders against the criminal stat
utes; a law that will prevent monopolistic cor
porations compelling the people of one section
to pay for the price wars they make In other
sections to crush out competition, by prohibit
ing discrimination in prices between commu
nities. "Then we have a corporation tax law that
ought to bring in a big revenue yearly; laws
for publication of campaign contributions be
fore elections and preventing coercion of voters;
a law taking the election of judges and school
officers out of partisan politics; laws reducing
rates on fuel oil and crude petroleum; a law
making the supreme court clerk a salaried
office; a model divorce law; a law that ought to
put an end to the extortion of the surety bond
combine; a law compelling railroads to run full
crews on all trains; a law compelling hotelkeep
efs to provide sanitary accommodations for
guests; laws extending the benefit of normal
school education to varlpus sections of the state;
laws establishing experimental farms that ought
to prove a. valuable aid to agriculture; a law
minimizing drunkenness on trains; a daylight
saloon bill.
"The chief criticism that can be lodged against
the legislature is that it refused to pass a num
ber of equally excellent measures. It touched
the railroads very Ujhtly, it killed all county
option and prohibition measures, but redeemed
Itself in part by its daylight saloon bill. It is
possible that it passed some bad bills, but they
do not now occur to us. The legislature made
considerable progress, less than the preceding
one did, but not as much as could reasonably be
expected of it, not as much -.s it should have
done. Its shortcomings, however, ought not to
weigh too heavily against the record of its
achievement, which we are glad to commend."
THE TARIFF AND THE COST OP LIVING
Those politicians who hug the flattering be
lief that the tariff is a local question and that
their seats are secure so long as they please
their locality will find out some day that the
tariff is a class question and a moral class ques
tion at that.
For example, in a recent letter to the Mil
waukee Journal, a poor -woman who is trying
to live on less than $500 a year says:
"My husband gets $11 a week for eleven and
a half hours' work, where others get $18 for
the same work. Now, say rent is $13, coal $8,
food $20 a month and poor food at that. Count
in that with five or six in the family, and where
do the doctor, medicine, shoes, clothes, insurance
on life, -water, gas meter, milkman, furniture
man, paper man, car fare, tickets, hats, Insur
ance on furniture, school books and the Lord
knows what else, come from? As for a piece
of candy or cake or a pie or the theatre, when
you pay your honest debts, what can you do
with $44 a month?"
This is not the opinion of a trained political
expert or even of an office-holding statesman;
it is just the bare statement of facts from one
who is trying to live in a country where every
article of necessity Is oppressively taxed In
order that overgrown giants may have that pro
tection which was once thought necessary for
struggling Infants. And when the talk is over
and done about the tariff helping the working
men it Is worth while for the workingmen
The Commoner.
to stop and consider how much of this
oratory is based on truth and how much of it
is mere claptrap used to obscure the real facts
and to maintain a burdensome and killing tax
on the poorer classes of a community.
For example, the poor wear clothes, and yet
the tariff on wools is 11 cents a pound, and
woolen clothing and blankets carry a tax that
varies from 134.97 on the cheapest to 94.32
on the highest grades. We have beon nourish
ing and protecting our cotton industry for nearly
a century; yet the average tax on cotton today
is 49.40, and when the amount of cotton cloth
used by the poor is considered the weight of this
tax stands out in all its severity.
There are 80,000,000 people in the United
States and they all wear shoes, b-t congress and
the politicians havo taken small note of this
fact from the wearers standpoint, for there has
been an increase of 26 per cent in women's
shoes alone 1n the ten years between 1890 and
1900. The raw material for shoes is hides, and
W. L. Douglas, the great shoo manufacturer,
who was also democratic governor of Massachu
setts a few years ago, is authority for the state
ment that $30,000,000 per annum could be
saved the people of this country by taking the
duty off hides, but the duty stays on.
The fact that a man is poor does not make
him any less desirous of living in a house; yet
every stick that goes into his humble dwelling
is taxed under a lumber tariff. This means, ac
cording to the estimate of the labor bureau at
Washington, that it would cost 41.4 per cent
more for material alone to build a house in 1905
than it would have cost in 1908. Nor does the
tariff hold its hand with what wo have enumer
ated. Practically everything that is consumed
or worn or used levies an oppressive tax on the
poor in order that the government may gain
some revenue, while favored beneficiaries amass
stupendous fortunes.
''The tariff tax is not only unwise; it is unjust,
and some day the people who are bearing that
burden will find it out, and then the national
government will reduce its expenses and change
Its source of revenue until the cost of living
is made to harmonize more nearly with the in
come of the great body of the citizens.
It was just such letters as the one we have
printed above that made the workingmen of
England rise sixty years ago and break down
the bread monopoly of that country. Tho work
ingmen of America also will rise some day when
they understand the true inwardness of the tariff
monopoly in this country. Richmond, Va.,
Times-Dispatch.
STUART GIBSON BARR
Stuart Gibson Barr of Hollidaysburg, Pa., who
was widely known in the circles of democracy in
the east, died recently. Concerning this fine
democrat the Altoona (Pa1.) Tribune prints this
editorial:
"The death of former Burgess S. Gibson Barr,
of Hollidaysburg, which was announced in yes
terday's number of tho Tribune, removes one
of the best known citizens of the county capital.
He lived in Hollidaysburg all his life and was
a good citizen of tho town. Politically he was
a democrat of the old school. The writer had
not been closely associated with him during
the last quarter of a: century, although he often
visited the Tribune office, and does not know
whether advancing years softened his political
views or not. But in the decade from 1871 to
1881, he was certainly a devout and aggressive
democrat, profoundly attached to the principles
of that historic party. His determined and ag
gressive attitude sometimes made him enemies,
but aside from these little peculiarities he was
a good citizen and sincerely devoted to the wel
fare of his native town."
HUMORS OF THE TARIFF
There are in the Payne tariff bill a few illus
trations of the Ingenious way in which a duty
can be raised, while the artless consumer is
made to believe that it has been lowered.
Take, for instance, linoleum, an article of
common- use among those who are not particu
larly well to do. Under the present law there
is a duty of 8 cents a square yard and 15 per
cent ad valorem on all under twelve feet in
width. On all over that width the duty is 20
cents a yard and 20 per cent ad valorem. The
ways and means committee in jts summary of
reductions says: "Linoleum above nine feet
from 20 cents a square yard and 20 per cent
ad valorem to 12 cents and 15 per cent ad
valorem."
This Is an Increase, not a decrease. There
woro Imported a year ago about 100,000 squaTo
yards of linoleum abovo twolvo foot in width and
4,874,000 square yards undor that width. Prob
ably throe-fourths of tho goods paying tho lower
duty ranged In width from over nino feet to
nearly twolvo feet. So what really is proposed
is that tho bulk of tho importations shall pay 4
cents moro a1 squaro yard than at prosont.
Hero is a display of ingonuity not of a praise
worthy kind. Tho consumers may not bo able
to seo any fun In the joko. Tho Pennsylvania
manufacturers who asked for and got tho higher
duty do seo tho fun of it.
In the caso of cast polished plate glass an
attempt is made to mako an increase In a duty
soom harmless by coupling with it a nominal
decroaso. Tho duties on all sizes under 720
squaro inches are raised. That covers the sizes
employed for furniture purposes. Tho duties
on tho larger sizes aro lowerod. Taking tho
1907 importations as a basis, this would mean
higher duties on about 5,700,000 pounds of
glass and a decrease on 180,000. Tho American
manufacturer can stand that trifling cut, for ho
has a protection of 155 per cent on tho larger
sizes.
Tho farmer and the worklngman would bo
profoundly grateful to congress for legislation
giving them cheaper window glass. Thoy re
joiced, doubtloss, when they saw that montloned
among tho articles on which duties wero to bo
reduced. Tho laugh is on thorn, not on tho
manufacturers. The duty Is reduced a little
on cylinder, crown, and common window glass
above 24x30 Inches, but not on tho lower sizes.
The importations under that size amount to
30,000,000 pounds and those abovo it to about
1,600,000.
Ono glass manufacturer was honest onough
to write to tho ways and means committee that
his industry could stand a cut of 25 per cent.
So it can. The difference between the cost
of production of a squaro foot of polished plate
glass in Belgium and tho United States is a
little over 3 cents. The present tariff gives as
much protection as if tho differonco were 15
cents. The consumer of this crtlcle of universal
use is paying too much for it now. The com
mittee on ways and means should have mado
genuine Instead of sham reductions. Probably
it reckoned that they were being humbugged.
Chicago Tribune (republican.)
WATCH THE FISH
It is impossible for all tho voters to go to
Washington to watch tho progress of the tariff
bill, but those who live at some distance from
tho national capital can get an idea of what is
going on if they will visit a fish hatchery and
watch the fish when they are being fed. When
the one in charge of the hatchery throws in a
handful of food, the fish rise to the surface and
grab at everything In sight, returning to tho
depths when the food' is gone. In like manner,
a tariff bill is the signal for the protected In
terests to collect about congress; they grab
everything they see and only return home when
there is nothing moro in sight.
NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC LEAGUE OF COL
LEGE CLUBS
Tho National Democratic League of College
Clubs is at work on democratic organization
within Its particular sphere. Roger Sherman
Hoar of Massachusetts Is president of this league.
His address is 72 Main street, Concord, Mass.
The league Is doing effective work-and promises
to be of great service in futuro campaigns.
Informal meetings of the officers of the league
havo been held as follows: On February 1C at
Cambridge, Mass.; on March 5 In Washington,
D. C and on March 6 in New York City. At
these conferences tho president of the league
met with the first vice president, the secretary,
tho treasurer, two members of the graduate
committee, and the state vice presidents from
ten of the states. The following advisory action
was taken: To have each state vice president
call a college convention fn his state at the be
ginning of the next state campaign; to establish
permanent democratic clubs in all the colleges;
and to have league letter-heads printed for sale
to the officers of the league at cost. Several of
the vice presidents volunteered to start leagues
in their states at once without waiting for tho
next campaign. Tho question of organizing
girls' democratic clubs in the equal suffrage
states caused much discussion and was finally
dropped. At the Cambridge conference, it was
voted to organize an electional democratic in
addition to the open ono at Harvard.
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