Wvr
The Commoner.
VOLUME 11, NUMBER 1
4
t
i.
9
ks
KtV
$ ,
The Commoner.
ISSUED WEEKLY
Bntorod at tho PoBtofflco at Lincoln, Nebraska,
as oQCond-claoa matter. .
W1I.MAM J. ItllYAN
Eilltor nml Proprietor
UlCllAllI) L. Wl'.TCAMT.
A Kf opinio Killtor
One Year $1.00
Hlx MonlliM fiO
In Cluba of Flvo or
moro, por year... .75
CHAItM W. Uhvan
rubllnlior
FdltorJnl Jtooinn nnd Uuslnosa
Cfllco fig-f-320 b'oilth 12th Street
Three Month 2B
Single Copy 05
Samplo Copies Froo.
Foreign Post. 5c Extra.
SUIISGIUPTIONS can bo sent direct to Tho Com
moner. Thoy can also bo sont throuff' nowspapors
which havo advertised a clubbing rate, or through
local nj?cntn, wliero sub-affents havo been appoint
ed. All remittances should bo sent by postofflco
money ordor, express order, or by bank draft on
Now York or Chicago. Do not send individual
checks, stamps or money.
lilSCONTlNUANCKS It is found that a largo
majority of our subscribers prefer not to havp their
subscriptions interrupted and their files broken In
caso thoy fall to remit before oxplratlon. It Is
thoroforo assumed that contlnuanco is desired un
less subscribers ordor discontinuance olthor wnon
subscribing or at any time during tho year.
I'liiasifiNTATlON COPIES Many rorsons sub
ucrlbo for frionds, intending that tho paper shall
ntop at tho end of tho year. If instructions aro
givon to that effect thoy will reccivo attention at
tho propor tlmo.
ItENIflWAIjS Tho dato on your wrapper Bhows
tho tlmo to which your subscription is paid. Thus
January 21, '10, means that payment lins boon re
ceived to and inclvdlng tho last issuo of January,
1910. Two weokfl aro required after money has
been received before tho dato on wrapper can bo
changed.
CHANGE OF ADDHESS Subscribers requesting
a chango of address must givo old as well as now
address.
ADVERTISING Rates will bo furnished upon
application.
Address all communications to
THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb,
TOM L. JOHNSON
A Man is passing. Hail him, you
"Who realize him Btaunch and strong and true.
Ho found us-dollar-bound and party-blind;
Ho loaves a City with a Civic Mind,
Choosing her conduct with a conscious care,
Solectlng one man here, another there
And scorning labels. Craft and Graft and Greed
Ran rampant in our halls and few took heed.
Tho Public Service and tho Public Rights
Wero bloody bones for wolf and jackal fights.
Now, oven tho Corporate Monster licks the hand
Where once he snarled his insolent demand.
Who tamed it? Answer aB you will,
But truth is truth and his the credit still.
A Man is passing. Flout him, you
Who would not understand and never knew.
Tranquil in triumph, in defeat tho same,
Ho never asked your praise nor shirked your
blame,
For he, as Captain of the Common Good,
Has earned the right to be misunderstood.
Behold! he raised his hand against his class;
Aye, he forsook the Few and served the Mass.
Year upon year ho bore the battle's brunt
And so, tho hiss, the cackle and the grunt!
He found us, striving each his selfish part.
Ho leaves a City with a Civic Heart,
Which gives the fortune-fallen a now birth
And reunites him with his Mother Earth,
Which seeks to look beyond the broken law
To find the broken life, and mend its flaw.
A Man is passing. Nay, no demi-god,
But a plain man, close to the common sod
Whence springs the grass of our humanity.
Strong
Is ho, but human, therefore sometimes wrong,
Sometimes impatient of tho slower throng,
Sometimes unmindful of tho formal thong,'
But over with his feet set towards the height
To plant the banner of the Common Right;
And ever with his eye fixed on the goal,
The Vision of a City with a Soul.
And is ho fallen? Aye, but mark him well,
He ever rises further than he fell.
A Man is passing. I salute him, then,
In these few words. He served his fellow-men
And he is passing. But ho comes again.
Edmund Vance Cdoke.
Tho American Homestead, a monthly farm
journal of national scope, will be sent to nil
Commoner subscribers, without additional cost,
who renew their subscriptions during tho month
of May when this notice is mentioned. x
An Interesting Debate on People's Rule
in its issuo of April 10, tho Now York World
made an attack upon the initiative, referendum
and recall.- In that issue the World said:
"Is tho Initiativo and referendum in conflict
with that section of the federal constitution
which provides that 'the United States shall
guaranteo to every state in this union a republi
can form of government?'
"This question is answered in tho affirmative
by Fred A. Baker of Detroit, one of tho leading
constitutional lawyers of Michigan, a democrat
and for many years a warm supporter of Mr.
Bryan. Mr, Baker has prepared a pamphlet
setting forth his belief that congress hau power
to invalidate the initiative and referendum in
every state in which It has obtained a foothold.
Mr. Baker contends that a deliberative assembly
of ono kind or another is an essential part of
republican government and has always been so
considered. The initiative and referendum
eliminates tho deliberative assembly and hence
disestablishes republican government.
"Mr. Baker's argument is at least worth con
sideration: " 'The initiative and referendum is the most
insidious, vicious and uhconstituional proposi
tion ever brought forward in the entire history
of democratic institutions and representative
government.
" 'A meeting of the people themselves, or of
their representatives immediately and directly
elected by them, in a deliberative assembly, is
absolutely essential to any exercise of the power
of taxation or of the power to enact, amend,
modify or repeal a law; that is to say, there
must be a meeting or assembly, by whatever
name it may be called, at which the proposed
tax or law can be considered, discussed,
amended, adopted or rejected.
" 'To levy a tax or enact a law by an initia
tive petition and a referendum, with each voter
expressing his opinion in isolation and without
a legislative assembly at which the opponents
of tho measure can be heard and their objections
and arguments considered, and the amendments
and modifications of both friends and foes
passed upon, would make any democratic or re
publican form of government ineffective and
absortive or tyrannical and self-destructive.
" 'It would prevent the electorate from acting
with that full information necessary to tho
exercise of a sound judgment and discretion;
it would cut off all the right of the minority to
be heard and permit the mere numerical ma
jority to impose their ill-considered views unon
the whole people regardless of their interests
and welfaTe; it would carry the mere counting
of noses to such extreme and absurd limits as to
make democracy and representative govern
ment tyrannical, oppressive and odious.'
"These theories, however, are derived from
certain antiquated notions of government ab
sorbed from the Magna Charta, the bill of,
rights, the debates in the constitutional conven
tion, the federalist papers and the decisions of
the United States supreme court. The Com
moner and tho Outlook have repealed all that
and the constitution must adjust itself to the
new dispensation.
"If the initiative and referendum Involves the
denial of a republican form of government that
proves only that a republican form of govern
ment is inferior to Bryanism and Roospveltism
The fittest must survive." New York World. '
w?i?fLBfue! A.p?n n the New York Worla
printed this editorial:
''NOT A CHANGE BUT A REVOLUTION"
"Under the initiative and referendum and re
call, what would become of the constitutional
guarantees of human liberty? What would be
come of the constitutions themselves?
"Under a republican form of government
constitutions are created to protect the rights of
the minority, not to protect the rights of the
majority. All the guarantees of liberty written
into American constitutions have had this single
purpose. The majority, by reason of its superior
force, can take care of itself. "1JOrior
"When legislation is initiated by petition
enacted by referendum and the judges are made
subject to recall, constitutions might as well
be torn up. Laws are then made by the same
authority that establishes the constitution, and
hence must have equal force with the constitu
tion. Each statute brought into existence by tho
Initiative and referendum becomes in effect an
amendment to the constitution and nullifies any
thing that conflicts with it.
"Should judges still persist in declaring initia
tivo and referendum statutes invalid, the judges
would be subject to removal under the recall.
The power of the majority thus becomes absolute
as the power of the czar; for the majority enacts
the law and the majority removes the judges
who refuse to sustain the law. The minority is
thereby stripped of all its rights and all its
protection. Government is no longer the rule of
the people; it Is the whim of the numerical ma
jority, and individual liberty is held at the
mercy of this majority.
"The World is aware that these are very un
popular sentiments. Men like Mr. Roosevelt
and Mr. Bryan, who are emotional rather than
thoughtful, have held up the initiative and
referendum and recall as the ultimate means
of making government responsive to public
opinion. Their shallow arguments are eagerly
accepted by persons who are not accustomed to
dig to the roots of great questions, and who fail
to understand that instead of gaining new
liberties by these populistic processes we shall
in reality be surrendering our old liberties
liberties that have been won by the English
speaking people through long centuries only by
drenching the land in blood.
"It is time' the American people devoted a
little sober consideration to this initiative and
referendum and recall mania. It is time, they
looked ahead to see where it wil lead them.
Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. .Bryan to the -contrary,
there is still a grain of truth in old Montaigne's
maxim, 'Be not wiser than you should,, and be
soberly wise.' " New York World.
SENATOR OAVEN'S REPLY
Senator Owen, of Oklahoma, sent to the World
the following letter: ' "To the Editor of the
World Is the initiative and referendum consti
tutional? Mr. Fred A. Baker of Detroit thinks
it is not. The only possible ground for this ab
surd contention is the plea that the constitu
tional provision (Article IV., section 4) that 'the
United States shall guarantee to every, state in
this union a republican form o.f government' is
inconsistent with the initiative and referendum;
that is to say, that the initiative and referendum
is not 'republican' in form.
"The guarantee of a republican form was
agreed upon in the constitutional convention as
a protection against a monarchy or an oligarchy.
" 'The term 'republican' has been applied to
political organizations representing the most ad
verso principles.'
" 'During the years 1791-1792, under the
leadership of Jefferson, the exponents- of de
centralization in the national government called
themselves republicans and later became the
democratic party. The term 'republican' was
most conspicuously used as applied to tho party
organized ..in 1854-1856, which elected Lincoln
in I860.'
"Lincoln himself, the leader of that party,
upon the field of Gettysburg raised to Heaven
a mighty prayer, which has been heard around
the world, for the preservation of a government
of the people, by the people and for the people
Lincoln emphatically believed in the initiative
an!rJieferendum and so expressed himself,
ihe terms 'democrat1 and 'republican' are
synonymous, the Jefferson party having assumed
the official name 'democratic-republican,' and
later being called republicans and finally becom
ing the democratic party.
Zh? rms 'democratic' and 'republican' both
meSLin fact th0 rule of 'the people.
?i ?ua?antee of a- republican, form was
ijL the constitution on the motion of
Governor Randolph of Virginia. Mr. Madison
adopted?11 amendment as Allows, and it was
uJ i Publican constitutions and the exist-
SKhS qfof.eachtate t0 be guaranteed by the
(Elliott's Debates, page 543.)
Governor Randolph explained why he was
covpriemoamendm?IVt' and sald: 'A republican
SnTSS mu?tAbe tn oasis of our national
Sowr' ?ny? Bta?n lt 0USht t0 "ave it in its
RttIT !tJn? a anarchy.' In letter
the FedSm ftna.d!Bon and Jay GXPlAaed ln'
ine M18 th,at tnIs was 'republican defend
tend w Pe8B,0 and sayinS: 'The superin
to dfiLrf?ment ougl,t t0 Poess authority
onarXl'mZ aristocratIc or
"MrerTN;, 39 ls of like purport. -
Mr. Justice Story in his' 'Constitution,: sec-
L-
.JtZf
LSiHW A BttdfeW tA
AvL'nsu!