The Commoner.
A
VOLUME 9, NUMBER 30
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The Commoner.
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THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb.
THE DEMOCRATIC POSITION '
Tho democratic position on tho tariff quos-'
tlon should bo contrasted with the republican"
position that the public may know the differ
ence. Tho republican position is embodied in
the Payne-Aldrich bill now a law; the demo
cratic position is sot forth in tho last national
platform which reads as follows:
Wo wolcomo tho belated promise of tariff re
form now offered by tho republican party In tardy
recognition of tho righteousness of tho democratic
position on this question; but tho poople can not
safely entrust tho execution of this Important
work to a party which is so dooply obligated to
tho highly protected interests as is tho republican
?wtyn W CVl ,a"entlon to tho significant fact
that tho promised relief was postponed until after
the coming oloction an election to succeed in
which tho republican party must havo tho samo
support from tho beneficiaries of tho high pro
tective tariff a8 It has always horotoforo received
from them; and to tho further fact that durinc
yoars of uninterrupted power, no action what
ever has been taken by tho republican congress
to correct the admittedly existing tariff PInioiStIos .
Wo favor immediate revision of tho tariff by
the reduction of import duties. Articles entering
into competition with trust-controlled products
should bo placed upon tho free list and material
roductons should bo made in tho tariff ' iipon tho
EM? ?m 0f "fe. especially upon Artie cs com!
pet ng with such American manufactures as aro
sold abroad more cheaply than at homo; and era t
uato reductions should bo mado In such other
schedules as may bo necessary to restoro tho tariff
to a revenue basis. ltt"a
Existing duties have given tho manufacturer
of paper a shelter behind which they have T organ
ized combinations to raiso tho price of tmln nnri
knowledge.8 impo8lnff a uon th spread o
"Wo demand the immediate' repeal of tho tariff
on wood pulp, print paper, lumber, timbor ana
frfo5' Hat articles bo placed upon tho
While a few democratic members of the house
of representatives and several democratic sen
ators repudiated the platform, they did not rep
resent tho rank and file of the party and their
apostacy does not change the attitude of the
party. The democratic voters are for tariff re
form and for tariff reform along the lines
layed down by the platform. The people now
know tho difference between tariff REVISION
and tariff REDUCTION, and they want tariff
reduction. Articles coming into competition
with trust made articles should be put on the
free list that means, among other things, free
iron ore. '
.There should be a material reduction in tho
tariff on the necessaries of life, especially on
such articles as are sold abroad more cheaply
than at home. No material reduction can bo
, hoped for in the tariff on woolen goods so long
as tho wool growers and the manufacturers
stand together. Tho tariff on wool 1b the key-
stone of the tariff arch. It is used to .fool tho
farmers although but a small percentage of the
farmers raiso sheep. As long as democrats ,
concedo protection to sheep growers they can
not oppose the protective principle elsewhere.
We must have free wool if we aro to havo cheap
er clothing. Tho people demand reduction on
other necessaries of life on sugar, on cotton
goods, on hardware, machinery, agricultural
implements, etc.
Tho platform also declares for freo lumber,
free paper, etc these are all a part of tho
people's fight against injustice.
After eliminating tho worst features of tho
tariff a systematic plan should bo adopted look
ing toward a gradual roduction a revenue basis
being the end in view. A democratic tariff law
should first eliminate the grosser features of tho
present law, then fix a maximum ad valorem
rate and then provide for a reduction of a cer
tain per cent each year until a revenue basis
is reached. Protection for protection's sake has
been weighed in the balance and found wanting.
. A MAN
The death of William Brown of Jacksonville,
111., removed another from the circle of Mr.
Bryan's friends. When the latter began the
practice of law he had desk room in the office
of Brown & Kirby, and the acquaintance then
formed and which continued unbroken was very
helpful to Mr. Bryan and highly appreciated
by him. Mr. Brown was a great lawyer. His
mind was logical and his reasoning direct. He
was honest with himself arid honest with judge
and jury. He was a model in courtesy and
candor. He could protect his client without
abusing his opponent; he could cross-examine
a witness without brow-beating. His speech had
the strength of simplicity and made the im
pression that oDly sincerity and earnestness can
make. He was more than a great lawyer he
was a great man or possibly the word is
stronger without an adjective ho was a man.
He never lost his sympathy with the masses
his professipnal success never weaned him away
from the people. He did not sell his citizen
ship when, he accepted a retainer. He did his
duty everywhere. Peace to his ashes and sym
pathy to his family.
Galveston s Sea Wall
Occupying the east end of an Island some
thirty miles long and from one to three miles
wide, with its original ground surface less than
five feet above the Gulf of Mexico, the city of
Galveston is provided by nature with practically
no protection against such furious storms as
that which swept over tho city last Wednesday
or that which on the memorable day of Sep
tember 8, 19.00, caused the death of more than
6,000 persons and destroyed property worth
more than $17,000,000. That the latest great
assault of angry waters did not cause the death
of a single life within the city was due to the
promptness and energy with which the people
of the stricken city "in 1901 set to work to pro
vide an effective barrier against another awful
calamity.
Tho Galveston sea wall is ono of the triumphs
of re-enforced concrete construction. It ex
tends along the city's water front for 17,593
feet (three and one-third miles), and its top is
seventeen feet above mean low water of the
gulf, or 1.3 feet higher than the highest point
reached by tho flood that was driven over the
city by the hurricane of September 8, 1900
The wall proper is live feet thick at the top and
sixteen feet at its base, the front being concave
and the back vertical. It is built on a
foundation of piles that are driven forty-three
feet into the ground, the sea side of the founda
tion being faced with sheet piles twenty-four
feet long, that provide a seamless surface against
undermining water. In front of the wall for
twenty-seven feet seaward a massive bed of
granite rip-rap threo to seven feet thick provides
a further protection to the foundation. The
wall itself, calculated to resist by Its weight
alone tho shock of waves and the hydrostatic
pressure, is backed by sand filling extending in
land far enough to provide a walk thirteen feet
wide next to tho wall and a driveway thirty
eight feet wido. The surface of the driveway
is on the new grade of tho city, which is be
ing extended across the island on a straight
slope to a point eight feet above the waters o
Galveston bay, permanently raising the general
level of streets and the first floors of buildings
as tho level of the downtown district was
raised in Chicago years ago for permanent pro
tection and good drainage.
The sea wall is built of concrete consisting
of one part of cement, three parts of sand and
six parts of crushed granite. Every three and
one-half feet there were placed in the wall re
enforcing rods of corrugated steel, one and
one-half inches square and ten feet long, a short
distance back of the curved surface and extend
ing diagonally in a straight line parallel to a
tangent to about the middle point of the con
caved front. Three engineers of national re
pute designed the wall Brigadier General H.
M. Robert, a retired army officer, Alfred Noble
of Chicago and H. C. Ripley. The grade ris
ing was carried on under the direction of Cap
tain C. S. Riche, for several years United States
army engineer in Chicago and for six years in
charge of the government's office in Galveston.
A city board of commissioners employed tho
sea wall engineers and was created by virtue of
provisions in the constitution of Texas that em
powers all counties and cities bordering on the
Gulf of Mexico to issue bonds and construct
sea walls, or brdak-waters. These provisions
were in the constitution as a result of the im
pression produced by the hurricane of Septem
ber, 1875, that swept over the island, causing
much damage to property. The constitutional
convention was in session at the time the hurri
cane occurred and hastened to insert the bond
provisions, which wero drafted by Judge Wil
liam P. Ballinger, one of the foremost of Gal
veston's citizens and a member of the consti
tutional convention. The need of protecting
Galveston was so strongly before Judge Bal
linger's mind that in August, 1886, having in
mind a storm that swept the city a few days
previously, he addressed an open letter to tho
people of Galveston, warning them of their
danger and urging that the bond-Issuing power
be used. As in many other communities, how
ever, public sentiment was not keenly alive to
the peril until a frightful lesson had .been
learned.
Financing the building of the 'sea wall was
thus made possible, the total cost being $1,500,
000. A contract for building It was let to a
firm of Denver contractors in September, 1902,
with the requirement that the work be com
pleted in fifteen months. Having provided for
water-front protection, the city turned to tho
work of raising the grade. For this the legis
lature authorized Galveston to issue bonds to
the amount of $2,000,000, and made a grant
of $70,000 per annum for seventeen years to
aid the work. Management of the grade rais
ing was placed In the hands of a commission
appointed by the governor, the undertaking thus
becoming a joint enterprise of the city and the
state of Texas.
That their city Is now safe from any storms
that may occur Is the exultant cry of Galves
tonians. It is true that the wind last Wednes
day did not reach nearly so high a velocity as in
the great storm of 1900, when the anemometer
at tho government station blew away after
registering 100 miles an hour. In that unpre
cedented fury of the storm king it is estimated
the wind reached a velocity of 130 miles an
hour, while last Wednesday it is said to have
been not more than seventy-five miles, some
reports placing It at about seventy. Some ob
servers consider it demonstrated however, that
Galveston is safe against any storm that is like
ly to visit it for many years, considering that
such calamities as the 1900 hurricane come, like
the earthquakes that devastate great cities, only
once in centuries. Since it was settled in 1847.
Galveston has been visited by only six severe
storms, and In none previous to that of 1900
was there a loss of more than three lives.
Chicago Record-Herald.
HIGH SENSE OF HONOR
What a high sense of honor those bankers
must have who first limit their own liability
by organizing a1 corporation, then demand per
sonal security of their patrons and then refuse
to give security to their depositors. They ought
to blush.
JiOWJ BE FOOLED
Some of the papers have commenced to cry
out against the income tax but the readers
ought not to be fooled. A newspaper owner
who puts his own interests above tho welfaro
ofhls readers ought not to have any readers.
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