The Commoner. WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR VOL. 9, NO. 23 Lincoln, Nebraska, June 18, 1909 Whole Number 439 """'" " - , - - ... J L A Republican Newspaper Said This, Too! ' A A Are (9 A'lf (w (w (f (w (w w w 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. ." VWlMj, fiih mftaAtml ' -