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The Commoner.
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Questions Governor Harmon Did Not Answer
In IiIk open letter to 13. TT. Moore of Ohio,
Mr. Hryun submitted several important quea
tlonH for Governor Harmon to answer on his
visit to Nebraska. 'Mr. Harmon spoke in Oma
ha, spending several days in Nebraska, but he
did not undertake to answer Mr. Bryan's ques
tions. For the benefit or Commoner readers
the following extract from Mr. Bryan's letter to
Mr. Moore is reproduced:
You demand proof that Wall street is back of
Governor Harmon? You know enough about
polities to know that Wall street acts in secret
and that it is diflicult to furnish written proof
of tho movements and indorsements of those
who control the financial affairs in our business
centers. Circumstantial evidence is good enough
to furnish a ground for a conviction even for
tho crime of murder, and it ought to bo sufll
ciont to guide public opinion in the nomination
of presidential candidates.
You arc tho manager of Governor Harmon's
campaign in Ohio. Are you not aware of the
fnct that ho has been attorney for corporations
in which Mr. Morgan was interested? Do you
not know that the fees collected for such legal
services amount to considerable? Do you not
know that Mr. Morgan is favorable to the nomi
nation of Mr. Harmon? And do you believe
that at such a time as this tho democratic party
can afford to let its presidential candidate bo
selected by Mr. Morgan when tho public atten
tion is focused upon tho fact that Mr. Morgan
collected sixty-nine million dollars as his com
pensation for organizing tho steel trust con
spiracy against ninety millions of people? Do
you think that Mr. Morgan is the proper person
to pick out a candidate at this time when tho
democratic party is championing tho cause of
llttlo children who have been mistreated by pro
tected employers mistreated even to tho extent
of being charged five cents a week for tho water
they drank while at work?
Do you deny that Mr. Hill who organized
tho merger that was declared unlawful and yet
was not destroyed favors the nomination of
Mr. Harmon? Do you think that he is a good
man to advise the democratic party in regard to
nominations whon ho has been conspicuous in
opposing our party on every progrossivco
measure? Do you not know that tho predatory
corporations are deeply interested in the selec
tion of a president who will honor their recom
mendations for men aspiring to the United
States judgeships? Do you not know that al
most without exception tho members of the
pi underbuild favor Mr. Harmon as against any
progressive who can bo named? Are these men
mistaken in their man? Do you not know that
tho Wall street controlled papers aro almost
MR. BRYAN AND THE CHURCH
The following letter is reproduced from the
i Lincoln (Nob.) Journal:
Des Moines, la., April 8. To tho Editor of
tho State Journal: In your issue of Tuesday,
March 26, 1912, I read a lotter of Jolm P. Sut
ton in which he refers to tho opposition of Mr.
Bryan as a candidate for the presidency by tho
Catholics, and in which ho refers to the cold
blooded ingratitude of Mr. Bryan's paper toward
the Catholics at the close of the campaign in
1908. The letter also states that Mr. Sutton is
a personal friend of Mr. Bryan and apparently
wishes him well. It does not state whether or
not Mr. Sutton voted for Mr. Bryan in that cam
paign. The letter does, in a veiled manner,
criticise tho action of Mr. Bryan after tho cam
paign closed with reference to publications by
Catholics in his paper, Tho Commoner, I have
known Mr.. Sutton by reputation ami have mot
li m at Irish land league conventions and recog
nized him as a gentleman who believes in up
rightness and intogrity. I can not agree with
Mr. Sutton that Mr. Bryan has refused to publish
utterances from Catholic papers and others who
maintain their loyalty, not only to Mr. Bryan
fAut to tho cause of democracy. The Western
Watchman of St Louis, Mo., edited by the
talented Father Phelan, did, after the presiden
tial election in 19Q8, publish an articlo announc
ing that democratic Catholics had refuged to
support Mr. Bryan, and that President Taft
should recognize those who departed from their
p-aTty to vote .for him in the appointment of
Catholic republicans. to office. It particularlv
Mgod the appolntmjmt of R. C. Kerns to an aS
bassadorship by reason of the splendid services
he had performed for Mr. Taft. Not oh accouSt
of his republicanism, but in the interest of thosp
without exception presenting Mr. Harmon and
urging his nomination as agaiuat any iuubico
sive? Are these men mistaken in their man?
May wo not judge a man by his supporters when
we find him supported by those who want to con
vert tho government into a private asset. Can
tho people take tho chance involved in putting
such a man in supreme control of the party and
the administration of the government when men
can bo found equally competent and who have
tho merit of being opposed by Wall street?
You assert that another candidate whom you
mention is spending more money than Mr. Har
mon. I am not interested in any One progres
sive against other progressives 1 am for that
progressive in each state, whatever his name
may be who can make the strongest fight
against any reactionary candidate, whatever
may bo tho name of the reactionary, and I am
urging and have been for some time the pass
age of a law requiring the publication .of contri
butions made to tho funds that are used to
secure presidential nominations. I believe that
the people should know the sources from which
these contributions come. Are you and Gover
nor Harmon trying to secure the passage of
such a law? So far as I have been able to
judge, a great deal more money has been spent
in behalf of your candidate than in behalf of
any other. If you deny this, you have a chance
to find out. Publish a list of the contributors
to tho Harmon fund and challenge the other
candidates to do likewise. You can thus smoke
them out, or if they refuse, you will then be in
a position to uso their silence against them.
Until you do this, why should people give weight
to your words when you make charges against
other candidates? If Wall street has any other
candidate, Governor Harmon has a right to
complain and the people have a right to know.
In conclusion allow me to rtay that I am glad
that you are coming to Nebraska. You will find
no more real Harmon sentiment in Nebraska
than there was in Oklahoma and Kansas. Do
you know of any reason why there should be?
You will find that Governor Harmon's support
in this stato is confined, first, to reactionaries,
and, second, to those who favor him not be
cause they believe he is a progressive but be
cause J incurred their hostility by opposing them
in 1910 on a local issue. You will find that
the supporters of Governor Harmon do not ex
pect to secure a majority of the democratic votes
even with the support that auxiliary organiza
tions are giving him on local grounds. The
most that Governor Harmon's supporters here
hope for is to defeat, tho progressive forces
divided between two candidates and thus
enable a minority to trumph over a majority
Catholic democrats who voted against Mr. Bryan.
The article states "We stated at the time, that
wo were voicing the sentiments, of that multi-
ren?LCatllolic democrats who had voted for
iVi, ?,ft?d ?at they would not be satisfied
with anything less, for the noble old soldier,
who kept the bridge alone." . ller,
tiiShM;rtSlefwr er Stated' "We arG formed
that Mr. Taft fully recognizes the debt he is
Thtbe n SathliCS f the United slaves
inis being so, we can assure him that he could
;lo nothing that would better please that great
body of loyal citizens than the appointing the
iregrnedposte'!OW Cath0liC t0 a dteMed
w iubl?!h0n!?ai T e Western Watchman
1 9 Tftlln TA10 cmmner on June 11,
Lriip'n1 correcy states the facts it does
indicate there was a large body of Cathnlio
democrats who refused to vote for M Bran
and by reason of that fact a Catholic should &
united States. I am and have tieen all mv m
an humble; member of the Catholic church at
made a matter of political di&n ?5
not? gainst Mr Bryantcausf no beievg
in the policies ho advocates, wdll and good H
is not only their duty, but their privilege so to
tmthSnJ?110 in,thi8 groat natl of ours can
truthfully say that Mr. Bryan ever xiUorJ
single word against tho Catholic ? churt S if
ongagedwii110 k?Wn l?to&
sssss
VOLUME 12, NUMBER 18
guest of his home and I can truthfully sav
without fear of contradiction, that during thiI
entire period of timerfc never heard an exnres
sion that would indicate Mr.. Bryan had anything
but the kindliest feeling toward the members of
our church. Mr. Bryan has ever stood for the
people in every contest, and no one has had or
can have a higher regard for him than members
of the Catholic church. Catholics have not
received, even in this free land their just re
ward for loyalty to 'country and institutions"
The last man that a Catholic should utter a
word against is the great commoner of Nebraska
I do not know the purpose of Mr. Sutton's let
ter. I hope it was not to raise a religious ques
tion concerning Mr. Bryan before the primaries
in Nebraska. I wish to slve expression to my
feeling toward one of the ablest American citi
zens now living, who does not destroy, but
builds up and whose political career is based
upon equality and the right of the people to
rule. Defeat Mr. Bryan if the policies of our
country require it, but in the name of God let
no Catholic vote against him because of any
thought that he is untrue to the basic principles
of the American government, unfettered con
science and untrammeled right to. live. No one
can question the Catholicity of the Western
Watchman. It is not so far south as to be
lacking in influence. It gave expression to ill
feeling towards Mr. Bryan in unmistakable
terms. " Does Mr, Sutton want a religious issue?
Will it be said Catholic democrats are not to
support Mr. Bryan? One whose voice and pen
has ever been for equality and religious right?
Mr. Editor I am not one of those who wil Ire
main quiet when my friend is so foully slan
dered. I ask the 133,000 Catholics of Nebraska
to not let it be said they raised a religious issue
against the truest and purest of our country's
citizens. JERRY B. SULLIVAN.
THE PERIL IN A MONEY TRUST
Governor Woodrow Wilson at Harrisburg,
Pa: "The plain -fact is that the control of credit
is dangerously concentrated- in this country.
The money resources of, the country are not at
the command of those who do not submit to the
direction and domination of small ; groups of
capitalists, who wish to keep the economic de
velopment of the country under their own eye
and guidance. The great monopoly in this
country is the money monopoly. So long as
that exists our old variety and freedom and
individual energy of development are out of
the question. The industrial nation is con
trolled by its systenr of credit. Our system of
credit is concentrated. The growth of the na
tion, therefore, and' all. our activities are in the
hands of a few men who, even if their action be
honest and intended for the public interest, aro
necessarily concentrated- upon the great under
takings in which theirs own money is involved
and who necessarily, by every reason of their
limitations, chill and check and destroy genuine
economic freedom. This is the greatest ques
tion of all and to this statesmen must address
themselves with an earnest determination to
serve the long future and the true liberties of
men."
GOO0AVORK
x S. R. Roberts, California: You asked me to
send you five subscribers for The Commoner. I
not. only Sent in five but thirteen and" I enclose
herewith another club, of five, together with
postomce money order pf $2.50 to pay for this
cuh.at your campaign, rate. I am about to take
a tr p through the county and it win bo little
trouble for me to secure from fifty Jio.seventy-
nr&Jt di,tional names,, ajd to interest Jive demo
crats into COnrl -wrlr' -K( :
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--WAMVAV11 ' ' V
ry?m of thG c9mtotteemen ha,.vpted, for
S5tyre 10W e3WWrig that they. 'did. i,t in
order to protect Mafc f Ten sae0 com.
? t?an' That a sufficient 1 excuse for
streST but K. blanket can not be
2ft?a , d,tocoveJ committeemen from other
to wwMpGuffe'?ti11 b0 found a 'heavy load
tWal' Every fcra'itteeman who' represents
the same interests 'ought-to be retired;'
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Hnin I?un?0to teatt the ticket in'IIlirioirf'and
In In"anft'Jthe. democra'ts'aiVvhaking
ff " ,? X g00d statt ln tne kwm NBfe' Now
w ut"ul Buues wiu only do as well.
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