TpH "V
-.
DECEMBER 24, 1909
The Commoner.
15
brewers would settle it by a mi
nority. Perhaps the clergyman, finding it
difficult to follow the contradictory
excerpts and essays which the com
piler has tacked together to make
the book, may turn to the last chap
ter for elucidation. "The Summing
Up," the brewers call it. Here in
deed is all made clear. Listen:
"Mankind in its saner, better
moods, has always welcomed and
blessed anything that tended to in
crease the general stock of cheerful
ness and well-being. True, there
have been periods when, possessed
by a harsh religious conception, it
put innocent diversion under the
ban, slew or persecuted its real ben
factors and preferred the house
of mourning to tho house of
mirth.
"If it Were necessary to plead any
justification, of the temperate indul
gence in wine and fermented liquors
which we by no means concede
we might rest our case with this in
controvertible proposition: that no
other agent in the world so effective
ly promotes the social virtues both
in the individual and the commu
nity; no other so' largely contributes
to the common stock- of well-being
and happiness.
"It is commended to us by the
highest warrant by apostolic lips
and by the sacred sanction of Him
whose simple word' changed water
into wine at the feast of Cana.
"That there is much need for the
fortifying and consoling spirit of
wine what sane man will deny? The
human lot- has not changed essen
tially since these words were penned
by the inspired writer:
" 'Man that is born of woman id
few of days atfa full of trouble.'
" 'He cometh forth likefa .flower,
and is 'cut down;;t he fleettf Jalso as a
shadow,-and contihueth not.' "
It may be possible that stubborn
preachers in their "harsh religious
conception" may refuse to take the
word of the philanthropic brewers
as to what the liquor traffic adds to
the "general stock of cheerfulness
and well-being." They may go to
the desertion . courts for their evi
dence. They may hear story after
story from those most' miserable of ,
all miserable creatures, the drunk
ards' wives. -They may be told of
wretched lives and ruined homes, and
babies starved or frozen dead. Not
a day passes that some such horror
is not laid at the door of the saloon.
And having heard these mere in
cidents in an age-long record, the
clergymen may form their own ideas
as to which is the house of mirth and
which the house of mourning.
To the ministers of God we leave
the brewers in their sacrilegious ap
peal to the solemn sacrament and the
beautiful miracle as a defense of the
American liquor traffic, linked as it
is with every degradation and crime
from nrostitution to wholesale
murder.
But we turn to the pages of the
daily paper for just one instance of
the house of mirth and the house of
mourning. Here it is from yester
day's prints:
"Acute alcoholism," was the entry
in the dispensary record of St.
Joseph's hospital, Sunday, opposite
the names of Margaret and Mary
Ryan. 5 and 2 years old respec
tively.
The younger child has a fighting
chance to recover from her "acute
alcoholism," and the elder undoubt
Jy will weather her unusual con
dition. The children are the daughters of
Ellen Ryan, who lives at 1839 North
street.
Mrs. Ryan and her husband, Mich
ael, were put under arrest. Accord
ing to the police, the Ryans say they
had a "party" at their house Satur
. day' night, and that when they woke
up on Sunday morning they found
the two little girls unconscious on
the floor, with an empty whisky bot
tle beside them.
These Patent
Steel Tension
Sh
ears
Free
THE "PEOPLE'S BANK"
Inspired dispatches sent out from
Washington, for tho avowed pur
pose of "educating the people" on
tho desirability of a huge central
bank of issue, seek to reassure tho
populace In some very funny ways.
For example, It will bo "the peo
ple's bank," we are told, for "any
one will bo privileged to buy tho
bank stock just as he might a gov
ernment bond." So is anyone privi
leged to buy Union Pacific stock, and
United States steel corporation stock.
But is the Union Pacific a railroad
managed by the people for the peo
ple? Is the steel trust "a people's
trust?" The stock in the central
bank will Le bought by those to
whom its possession means most, and
so who can afford to pay most for
it; to-wit, the big Wall Street inter
ests, that can well afford to invest
their money without interest in re
turn for the opportunity to control
the bank.
Again, "political control of the
bank is made extremely difficult by
the life appointment of officers." We
should think so! But it is not
"political control of the bank" that
is objected to. The objection, on the
other hand, is to bank control of
politics. And it is only required
that the bank officials be appointed
for life to place them, and the bank
as well, securely beyond the reach
of the people. Safe in their posi
tions, with a control of the bank that
only death can take from them, tney
may proceed to use the bank accord
ing to their own sweet wills and
the people must grin and bear it.
Furthermore, these educational
dispatches tell us, the government
is to guarantee the profits of this
central bank, and is to deposit in
it all the public funds, which now
are on deposit in banks throughout
the country. It is also to delegate
to this bank the power to issue legal
tender money when it wants to and
to retire such money when it wants
to. All these -favors the government,
which is to say the people, bestow
on the bank. But "it is not in
tended that the bank should support
the credit of the nation. If the na
tional government needs funds; if
it spends more money than it col
lects by taxation, it must continue
in the old way to borrow money
from the world .at large by the sale
of bonds." The government, in other
words, is to confer princely favors,
unlimited power, upon the bank. But
the bank is to give the government,
in return exactly nothing!
And the benefit? Who would
profit? The educational dlspatcnes
say: "The single purpose of the bank
would be to safeguard the business
Interests of the people in their pri
vate relations. If there were need
for more money for business pur
nnRfiH. the bank would supply it by
notes, and if there were a plethora
in dull times these notes wouia do
withdrawn rapidly."
There you have it. The single
purpose of the bank Is to increase or
decrease the circulating meaium, ruy
idly or instantly, at any time, ac
cording as "business" might require.
Whose business? Who would be
the judges of its needs?
The bank officials, appointed for
life, would be the judges! Theirs
would be the irresponsible power to
say when "the common good" re
quires an inflation of the currency,
decreasing prices, and when a defla
tion, increasing prices! Theirs would
be the irresponsible power to raise
or lower the rate of discount, making
money "tight" or "easy," brisk or
dull, in every section of the country,
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TUB AMERICAN HOMESTEAD,
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Coupon for Free Pair of High
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1
The Amcrlcnn Homestead,
Lincoln, Nebraska,
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Name
Shears aro 8 inches longr. Cut in
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P. O.
The Omaha World-Herald
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THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Nebraska
within twenty-four hours of the time
they reached their decision!
It will take a vast deal of ' edu
cation," we think, to induce the
American people to consent to this
program. President Taft and his
trusty lieutenant, Senator Aldrich,
will have to make more than one
tour each to establish its popularity.
But It is the program. It Is a
part, and tho most important part,
of the Taft policy. It embodies the
chief reward of merit that the Amer
ican people are to receive for having
elected Mr. Taft president.- Omaha
World-Herald.
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