The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
VOL. 9, NO. 23
Lincoln, Nebraska, June 18, 1909
Whole Number 439
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A Republican Newspaper Said This, Too!
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It is a strange situation, surely, when a fight to retain the Dingley schedules can be 1!"
T heralded as a fight for free trade, and foreign domination. It is a strange situation If
T.I .7 . 7 . r. l . ir 7 . .7 7 i r T r . . ty
twzen fie president, after nimseij mailing tne demand for a reduction from the Uimteu Y
schedules, will sit back and allow the senate committee increases to be Doted by as If
bloodless a combination as ever pooled to steal a railroad or loot a bank, without raising
a finger to sustain the men who are standing by his personal pledges and by the
pledges made by him for the administration. Des Moines (Iowa) Register and Leader.
4MHH4HH
The Tariff on Hides
On another page will be found a statement
by Ex-Governor William L. Douglas, one of the
leading shoe manufacturers of the country.
Those who voted for a tariff on hides must be
prepared' to -meet the arguments presented by
Mr. Douglas. The " tariff on hides not only
taxes a raw material used in one of the most
Important industries of the country, but it help's
to strengthen the hold of the leather trust on
that industry. Whatever one may think of free
raw material, as an abstract proposition, he
must be very much wedded to his theory to in
sist upon applying it in a case where the trust
is taking advantage of it and using it not only
to levy a tribute upon the whole American peo
ple, but to handicap our shoe manufacturers
In their effort to build up an export trade.
Those democrats who voted for a tariff on hides
on the theory that it distributes protection
ought to remember that a majority of their
constituents get no benefit whatever from a
tariff on hides, but have to pay an increased
tax on shoes because of the tariff on hides,
while any direct benefit received by the mi
nority of their constituents through a tariff
on hides is overcome by the burdens that are
placed upon their constituents because of the
protective tariff.
The first lesson to bo learned In the school
of tariff reform is that EVERY DUTY LEVIED
FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROJECTION IS A
TAX UPON THE MANY FOR THE BENEFIT
"OF THE FEW, and the second lesson is like
unto it, namely, that THOSE WHO WANT A
SHARE OF PROTECTION JFOJP,,. THEIR CON
STITUENTS MUST SOONER 'ORLATER TAKE;.
THEIR PLACE AT THE BARGAIN. COUNTER,
for they can not hope to get protection for their
constituents unlesB they are willing to give pro
tection to other constituents.
But even if a democrat reaches the point
where he Is"willing to tax all of the people for
the benefit of the few, and Is willing to make
trades to secure the tariff that he wants, he
ought still to be willing to make an exception
whenever a trust seeks shelter behind a tariff
schedule. The free list should bo used as a
weapon against monopoly.
Mr. Douglas says that he would be perfectly
willing to risk free shoes if he could get free
leather for his raw material. It would be a'
great object lesson to have an industry like the
shoe industry, which pays higher wages than
are paid by shoe manufacturers anywhere else
in the world, living and flourishing WITHOUT
ANY TARIFF AT ALL. It would seem like
democrats might use their Influence to give the
country this object lesson, especially in view of
the use that the packers are making of the tariff
on hides.
CONTENTS
TARIFF ON HIDES
THE PRICE OF A SOUL
A REPUBLICAN WARNING
RISING DEMOCRATS
PROTECTION FAVORS
EDUCATIONAL SERIES GOVERNOR
DOUGLAS' REASONS FOR FREE HIDE
AND LEATHER
THE TARIFF AND THE SENATE
A SIGNIFICANT RESOLUTION
PRACTICAL TARIFF TALKS
ROOSEVELT AND TOLSTOY
THE GUILTY RETAHwER
ESTABLISHING DEMOCRATIC NEWS
PAPERS A FAMILIAR WARNING
HOME DEPARTMENT
WHETHER COMMON Oft; NOT
' NEWS OF THE WEEK '. ;
1 1
"AFTER THE HORSE IS STOLEN"
Collier's Weekly is "talking out In meeting"
these days. Referring to the fact that Oscar
Lawler, of California, has upon the recommend
ation of Senator Flint, of that state, been made
assistant attorney "general of the United States,
with special jurisdiction as the law officer of
the interior department, It proceeds to charge
that "Senator Flint was the attorney of the
-Southern Pacific at the time of his election,"
and that "Lawler Is a tool of the Southern Pa
cific's political machine." "In every state,"
Collier's adds, "the finest types of ability and
independent citizenship are blacklisted by this
system of appointment." No one who has fol
lowed the appointments can fail to note the
preference that has been given to the repre
sentatives of the big corporations. If any preda
tory interest has failed to secure a representa
tive among the high up officials, its failure has
nde yet been noted. But did not.Cdllier's under-
i Stand last fall that Wall Street supported Mr.
i !Tjft? And was it innocent enough to suppose
"tiftit the support was given without expecta
tions, if not an understanding?
The Price of a Soul
The papers are now giving us sketched of,
and incidents in, the life of the late II. H.
Rogers; they are also estimating the wealth
which ho left. That ho was a man of mental
sU-ength and business ability goeB'wftlTpiiirjjai
. fo$j0ip- w.oiilth, 8.. variously statod at from
fifty to one "hundred million dollars let niifc
avorngo It at sovonty-flvo nillllona. Giving him
fifty working years, ho has collected on an
average a million and a half a year, in addi
tion to what ho has expended. A million and a
half a year! This is an enormous income, and
If honestly earned, It measures an extraordinary
service to society. Will the friends of Mr.
Rogers point out just what he did, so that the
public may judge as to whether his income ex
ceeded his earnings? The president receives
seventy-five thousand dollars a year, and as the
chief executive, presides over a government
under which more than eighty millions of peoplo
live. The average income of Mr. Rogers for
more than fifty years has been TWENTY TIMES
AS GREAT AS THE INCOME ENJOYED BY
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Did he perform a work twenty times as impor
tant, or render a service twenty times as
valuable?
Opinions differ as to Mr. Rogers' Ideals. His
friends emphasize his charities, while his oppo
nents call attention to his business methods.
The opinions expressed seemed to be largely
colored by the sympathies of those who have
spoken those who speak from the standpoint
of the monopolist see in him a great repre
sentative of industry; those who regard a pri
vate monopoly as indefensible and intolerable,
cite him as an illustration of the manner in
which habitual wrong-doing will sear the con
science and distort the vision. Amid such a
variety of witnesses it Is not strange that tho
readers should be confused by tho conflicting
testimony, but there Is one witness whose evi
dence ought to be accepted without question,
and that is H. H. Rogers himself. His will
doubtless revealed the INNER ROGERS, and
gives us the real measure of his soul. He leaves
practically all of his Immense wealth to his
family. He makes a gift to the town of his
birth, but beyond that there is nothing, or next
to nothing, to indicate that he, recognized tho
claims of the public. His sympathies did not
go out to hospitals and institutions of mercy;
his spiritual life was not such as to link him
with the interests of the church in tho spread
of the gospel or In the extension of missions.
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