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The Commoner.
ISSUED WEEKLY
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ClfAM.KS W. HltYAN
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THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Nob.
The Commoner
to him, seemed tho dictates of honor and of
C Ad "yet in tho faco of such service to his
' coifntrV ndy more, to all human kind as well,
you go 'even to the length of talking about a
"traeedy" in a career such as nls.
Why, sir rather for one in your enviable con
ditand position to exhibit such lack o
appreciation of a career and public services as
Mr Bryan's-his contribution to the cause of
rol glon; to colleges; to missions; as witness nis
matchless addresses such as "The Prince of
Peace ' "Thou Shalt Not Steal," "The Price of a
Soul," and last, but not least, his masterly ad
dress boforo the world's missionary conference
at Edinburgh, Scotland constitutes all there is
of a "tragedy" in tho life of Mr. Bryan, all else
and it is a matter of world-wide record now
is triumph of tho highest order.
No, a man of Mr. Bryan's physical, moral ana
intellectual endowments and public services
liko a Gladstone, a Cobden and a Bright sup
ported by millions of grateful and devoted fol
lowers, will "pass" only when the "finger of
God touches him" as all flesh will and must
and only then. C. H. BULLIS,
One of the "Million Army."
Lancaster, N. Y., December 6, 1910.
FRED WARREN
E. H. Bushnell, Fort Collins, Colorado. I
hear some talk around here about Fred Warren,
the editor of the Appeal to Reason, and as I
have taken The Commoner for several years, and
voted for Mr. Bryan every time he has run for
president, I thought I would ask some questions
in regard to Warren. Is he guilty of a crime
sufficient to send him to prison, and what is this
socialism, anyway. Please answer in Commoner.
(It has occurred to a great many people that,
tho prosecution of Fred Warren made "a moun
tain out of a mole hill." Perhaps technically
Warren violated the law. His offense, however,
did not seem to call for imprisonment ,or any
thing more than a nominal fine.)
VOLUME 11, NUMBER
i.
A NEW YEAR PLEDGE
As llfo is measured bywhat. wo put into the
world, I shall make this year more valuable
than any previous one by crowding more ser
vico into it.
not now bo "as a man from whose hands his life
work was falling undone," you seem to havo
forgotten if you over knew that it was Mr.
Bryan's "monetary vagaries" more than any
t&fc. - elso that compelled the late and then
Present McKinley to appoint and send abroad
a commission in the interests of international
bimetallism, the efforts of which were rendered
abortivo and thwarted by plutocratic hypocrisy
and mendacity, and that on tho very threshold
of Mr. Bryan's entrance into political life he
delivered a speech on the tariff in congress that
gave him a national reputation, and from that
time to this, in season and out of season, with
singleness of purpose, courage, resourcefulness
and devotion to principle that has challenged
the admiration of, "-.the world, he has waged a
constitutional agita'cion against what you your
self havo described as "the incubus of an in
iquitous tariff and the exploitation of the people
by tho trusts," rivaled only by the memorable
struggle waged in behalf of oppressed humanity
by Cobden and Bright in England..
And, sir, while thore are some things yet to be
accomplished in the great work of righteousness
and justlco which aro tho chief bulwarks of free
government, tho very conditions and results with
us hero at this hour, born of this groat conflict,
proclaim to the world that Bryan, one of the
most truly great loaders of whom hlBtory will
havo to record, has in tho very highest and
grandest sense morally triumphed.
In speaking of tho services of Cobden and
Bright and tho sacrificing without hesitation of
all their popularity by opposing the Crimean
war in order to satisfy what seemed to them tho
. dictates of honor and of conscience, on one oc
casion, Mr. Gladstone said: "I know not where
to find a really parallel instance of moral great
ness in modern times." s
We havo a parallel instance now In the per-
LM BlTan' wh0 with tne BUPerb mc-ral
courage that has marked every stago of hin
career has without hesitation sacrificed his pop
ularity by opposing an attempt to introduce the
S0T0 mLinflfUf?C0f thVlQUOr tatS25?lnto
tne politics of his home state to satisfy what,
SAMPLES
Just to ascertain the effect of tho tariff on
men's clothing, a gentleman in New York re
cently wrote for a box of samples of clothB with
respective prices, to a well known firm of
British export tailors, viz., Messrs. C. E. Brier
ley & Co., of Huddorsfleld. The samples came
in duo course. This firm offers to supply suits
to customers in all parts of the world at from
$6.45 to $13.4J, according to sample of cloth se
lected, exclusive, of course, of duty and freight
charges. Suits of similar cloth would cost in
New York from $13 to $26 full double tho
price charged in England.
Accompanying the samples is a list of duties
payable on an imported suit of clothes in various
countries. Tho United States tops the lpt with
ninety per cent approximately, Belgium charges
thirteen per cent, Bermuda ten per cent, British
Guiana twelve and one-half per cent, Canada
thirty per cent, Cape Colony twelve per cent,
Jamaica seventeen per cent, New Foundland
forty-flvo per cent, Transvaal twelve per cent.
The principal European countries charge duty
by weight of goods. To Import a suit of clothes
into France costs twenty cents, to Germany
thirty-six cents, to Italy twenty-two cents, to
Spain $1.44. Besides these diminutive figures
the American rate of duty towers like a sky
scraper over a railroad shed. News item from
tariff reform committee, Reform Club. 26"
Beaver street, New York Oity.)
W. W. Cheadle, South Bend, Wash.
My answer to Senator Owen's query is an
open secret, common to these four propo
sitions, following:
One Simple slavery binds the mind of
tho man.
Two Feudal slavery bound the land
of the man.
Three African slavery bound the
body of the man.
Four Industrial slavery bindsthe in
dustry of the man.
The answer is self-evident, or at least
to an old Grand Army man who was old
enough to cast his first ballot for Fre
mont and his last for Bryan. That's
pretty good company whether my re
sponse Is good or not. Our only hopo for
industrial freedom is in the ballot.
Smile that Won't Come Off
"For the Work that is Progressive"
Hagerstown, Maryland, January 19. 1
clipped from the Press, one of, if hot leading
republican organ of Pennsylvania, the enclosed,
notwithstanding you may have seen it ere this
reaches you. I thought it so good, however that
I could not refrain from sending it. Surely this
must make still broader that smile of W. J.
Bryan's. Yours for the good work that is pro
gressing. FRANK T. T3LLIOTT.
GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE
The tendency towards pure democracy, the
direct participation by the people in. the work of
government, which has been growing; and spread
ing in the last half dozen years, is very marked
this winter. The Oregon plan by which tho
direct power of tho people is felt in the initia
tive, referendum, recall and the legislation in
the people's every day interests which have
grown out of it is made the subject of encomium
by Governor Wilson, of New Jersey, and recom
mended to the favorable consideratipn of the
legislature of that state. Governor Foss, of
Massachusetts seeks to popularize these innova
tions of government in conservative Massachu
setts. Governor Johnson of California, declared
strongly for these changes towards pure democ
racy in his first deliverance to the legislature of
that state.
Ex-Governor Folk, of Missouri, in public ad
dresses keeps preaching the initiative, referen
dum and recall to the audiences that assemble
to hear him. Senator Bourne of Oregon, Is an
earnest and eloquent propagandist of the Oregon
plan among those aB yet unfamiliar with its
virtues. There is no counteracting influence.
No one publicly and forcibly challenges the mer
its of this most popular form of government. It
seems to suit the people, who have adopted it
and it inspires some students of governmental
problems with enthusiastic admiration. ' It Is
steadily gaining ground against the only form
of active opposition which says "Wait. Let this
experiment be worked out to a demonstration
in those states and communities which have
adopted it. Let us not hastily follow their ex
ample, but rather be guided by their experience."
The one feature of these changes which is
Bweeping aside opposition and is sure to be
adopted in a very short time is the election of
United States senators by the people instead
of by the state legislatures. The senate is now
dominated by those who favor this mode of
election, either because of their own conviction
or because of public opinion In their states. The
rules and habit of the senate may prevent its
adoption at the short session, but it cannot check
much longer the strong tide in its favor.
Philadelphia Press. ... t ,.
0
v
0g
THE RAW MATERIAL DODGE
Honey Grove, Texas; Editor Commoner and
Many Readers: Have you noticed the subtle
deceptive dodge of a prominent senator' to fvQl
the people as to his intention and purpose? He
says: "O, my dear people;" the reason I voted
to retain high protective tariff on the raw ma
terial is because it is necessary as a protection
against high protective tariff on the manufac
tured article." When in deed and truth he and
his followers worked faithfully ivith the
high protective tariff advocate to increase
the tariff upward instead of downward"
on manufactured goods. Why don't you deceiv
ers help to do away with, high protective tariff
on the manufactured articles? Then there would
be no necessity for high protective tariff on the
raw Product. A dark, deep laid grafting scheme
resorted to by Infamous betrayers of the con
fidence of the laboring people to try. to justify
themselves in working for robbery corporation
iln Bt.s'gambli.n exchanges, etc., instead of for
the tolling millions. Such betrayers should go
down in history as did Benedict Arnold. Please
send me a few sample copies of The' Commoner
for free distribution, and greatly oblige an appre
ciative reader of your worthy paper, engaged in
heroic battle for the toiling millions against
high protective tariff corporation trusts, gam
bling exchanges. We trust a monument will bo
erected to your memory now and that will en
dure forever. Yours for reformation,
I. TAYLOR ALLEN.
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