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The Commoner
"VOL. 16, No. 11
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Democracy's Greatest
Need
Democracy's greatest need today is publicity.
Tho republicans hav6 an enormous advantage In
tho number and circulation of their papers es
pecially In tho larger states. They can not only
present their own side but they can misrepre
sent tho democratic position. Our party must
havo an overwhelming majority of tho people on
. its sido to win against such odds,
Thero is no hope .of overcoming this handicap
except by government action. The largo daily
is a big business proposition, and those who are
rich enough to own such papers are, as a rule,
moro or less Intimatoly connected with favor
. seeking corporations and they aro by class con
sciousness drawn to the support of the repub
lican ticket.
In tho December, 1915, issue of 'Tho Com
moner attention was called to this need in tho
following editorial:
"For a long time the government has been
. publishing a Congressional Record which gives a
. complete review of the action of the senate and
house, together wlh a full report of the speeches
made. A number of the departments also send
. out bulletins covering the!r special work, but tho
time has come for the government to enlarge its
activities in this direction. The Congressional
Record is limited in circulation and too bulky
for tho average reader; and the department bul
letins only cover a part of the government work.
. Tho public welfare demands the publication of a
digest of the government's work in the form of
a bulletin, published weekly, or at such other
Intervals as may be found best, and sent free to
all postmasters, state, county and city executives,
libraries, collegos, high schools, newspapers, pe
riodicals, and other public centers of informa-
tlon. It should also be furnished at cost to such
individuals as may desire to subscribe for it, as
tho Congressional Record now is.
"Such a bulletin, under the control of a bi
partisan (not non-partisan) board, giving the
departments of tooimp1:
important speeches delivered, and furnishing
voters with tho information necessary to nSS
nnttmiguut auagmum J; ? "L.J? lmf s
He servants, would be of incalculable valued
"Without attempting to go into detail it-l?
suggested that a board t . uy xne majority
, ,uC avimie ana house, ucttnjr iointlv nrt
one by the minority party in the seSSf ' and
Whe,MCtlng j0intly' would Sive assurance that
crS des .7 Uld be prepGrl represented fn the
control of Uie paper.
S2 X int Paper and what should be
left to the discretion of the managing board
of "ae V?5 ?an, Plele a certain amount
of space should bo left for editorial comment,
niiUiS Space .should b0 divide among the
parties represented in congress in proportion to
SSiX8 st,rensth in "Wa. 5E Cu
w e reade? of tUe bulien to know not
only what was being done, but why it was beinr
done. and at the same time fcare the benefit ot
. tho views of the opposition. Such a bulleUn
would be an authentic source of information and
the voters of the country would find in it the best
arguments from the highest source, on each side
cl?lCl diSPUt,Gd nati0nal question- The demc!
cratic theory of government is that the neoni
THINK FOR THEMSELVES and select rep?e!
Thni8a UVCtLt0nSiVe "T"881011 to public opinio!
This Is the theory of our government, but the
XfSli11?? ? ,imposs,ible at present to secure
tmi tb,e,lnfratlon t0 wuich they are en
titled. The local press has not the space, neces
sary to furnish the information needed, and the
Metropolitan press is not always disposed to
furnish impartially the matters necessary for tht
formation of an intelligent judgment.
- !TM democratic congress could render no
greater or: more lasting service to the country
taan to establish such a bulletin as is above out
lined. Once established it would remain for no
party would daro to withdraw from the people
tho advantage of such a publication.
"It would not interfere with any legitimate
newspaper enterprise; on tho contrary, it would
givo to the press of tho country what every ed
itor ought to desire, namely, an unimpeachable
source of information, a reservoir from which, to
draw facts that can not be controverted and ar
guments worthy to be considered."
If any one has a better plan The Comoner
will gladly support it but something ought to
be done, and done at once. If governments are
to derive their powers from the censent of the
governed, it is of the first importance that con
sent shall be intelligently given, and how can a
voter act intelligently unless he hears.. both
sides? .
A bulletin published monthly except during
campaigns, and then for two or three months
published weekly, would be tremendously help
ful to the citizen. The cost would not be' great,
and what expenditure would be more easily de
fended? Such a government publication, setting
forth the important issues with editorial com
ment from all viewpoints, and going into the
home of every voter would do more to insure
deliberate and intelligent action on the part of
tho electorate than any other means yet pro
posed. The Commoner earnestly brings to the at
tention of democratic senators and representa
tives this very imperative need.
W. J. BRYAN.
MR. ROOSEVELT'S SHARE
The democrats would be ungrateful if they
did not acknowledge with appreciation the in
dispensable service rendered to the President in
the recent campaign. Had the Colonel gone to
Chicago and put into ACTS his professed belief
that the "country must be saved from "Wilson,"
the result might have been different. But to
do that would have required him to lay aside
his own ambition an Impossible sacrifice.
His second mistake was to put the republican
candidate in the attitude of favoring war with
Mexico and war with Germany. Every speech he
made alarmed the public and Mr. Hughes could
not protect himself from such speeches.
uc utfes not add any
The resultu'e cap of Col. George Harvey, the
cerebri"1 Procter. Mr. Harvoy announced
tietonft. K- -?1" iu. nughes would be the
f'Jf Sae the precise nuber of votes
which each contestant would win which w
considerably different from the finals inTnIt
ng the prediction it was stated that ihe coCel
had been remarkably successful in the nast Vhl
colonel made the mistake this year however o?
making his prediction before the 'elcTion was
THE PRIZE CARTOON
carTtSonCtomtmnerWards the prize to the .beef
ta Bird if aUthr f "Listen to the Knock-
weVcar'ied out" Mea and 7
THE PAST SECURE !
With- a democratic President f. .
more and a senato for i or four years
Past is secure The refomf f Ieast' the
vill have time to ? n w 2"?, aJready' secured
and Ume J aU Mec 6 Tnev W
unrepeatable when fairly S hGy WU1 be
yfSfF the
annals. The Trenublio ?? Umons in Political
on the machine for most oT7w id fr"4 p"
umphs. ost of t11 Political tri-
to'ewSu "W t comes
man is jus! ma ?d S ,Ca? Tlational chair
before the prtlTwf-eleon over as
CAMPAIGN COMMENT
From The Nebraska State Journal, Nov. 13
Some ot the eastern newspapers havo J
amazed over the trail of victory for PreiE
Wilson that followed Mr. Bryan's caS
tour. They find that he delivered speeS ft
nineteen states, including Pennsylvania tm
he merely touched to oblige a friend who' wan 2
help in a congressional fight. All of these nC
teen states with the exception of such rock-rC
republican strongholds as Iowa, Illinois Mil
igan and Pennsylvania, were carried by w
Mr. Bryan did not go to Indiana, and it was Sr
ried by Hughes. He cancelled hfs original datB
in South Dakota and gave the extra time to North
Dakota. South Dakota goes to Hughes and
North. Dakota to Wilson. It appears that CaU
ifornia and Washington, and possibly New
Hampshire are the only states in which the land
slide can not be claimed as having been influ
enced by Mr. Bryan's oratory. When the re
turns are completed and ready for complete an
alysis it may appear that the Bryan influence was
only superficial, but when a map of his itinerary
is compared with a map of election results, tho
coincidence is not only interesting but startling.
Mr. Bryan's closing campaign speeches indi
cate his purpose to begin at once a fight to com
mit the democratic party to national prohibition.
With twenty-three states dry, all of them ex
cept Maine and Michigan belonging to the new
western and southern alignment, he is not facing-
an impossible task. Mr. Bryan still retains
excellent health and vigor. He may he an ac
tive participant in many more national cam
paigns. If foreign relations still engross our
attention in 1920, the chances are that by 1924
they will be sufficiently cleared up to leave the
field open for a national battle over prohibition.
The number of dry states will naturally be in
creased by that time, even allowing for a prob
able temporary reaction in the movement,
enough to make it a real issue. Events may
move fast enough, indeed, to bring the question
before the country prominently in the next cam
paign. The Nebraska democrats who have been
gleefully burying Mr. -Bryan once more will find
in due time that their labor is wasted. While
he met with a defeat In the success of some of
his personal enemies in Nebraska, he succeeded
in digging the ground from under the wet Ne
braska democrats h iioi"Ln spcure the pass
ura&K ueiuocrrfion amendment. The victory
is tundamental. It gives Mr. Bryan an advant
age in future contests the importance of which
can hardly be over-estimated.
CLEAN STOREES
The Botary club of Louisville, Ky., recently
adopted the following resolution:
"Resolved, That no story, stunt, or joke is
proper or fit to be placed before any Rotarian
or any gathering of Rotarians which would not
be perfectly Ht and proper before such Rotarians
if each one were accompanied by his mother,
wife or daughter."
Good. The Rotarians are to be congratulated.
There are plenty of clean stories to illustrate
every truth worth illustrating. It is time to
abolish the Tulgar story. It -is increasingly of
fensive and never safe. Even if there are no
ladies within hearing, there may be gentlemen
present.
A statistically inclined gentleman has figured
out that there are a million Jobs in the United
States, that are barred to the man who drinks,
whether he imbibes regularly or now and then.
The open saloon is a constantJnvitation to men
to drink. Good sense will dictate that every
man who really desires to climb the ladder of
success "will use his vote to-remove all barriers
from his path.
MR. BRYAN'S CAMPAIGN SPEECHES
Mr. Bryan spoke in twenty states during the
recent presidential .campaign, visiting the states
in the order named: New Mexico, Arirona, Ne
vada, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakot3,
.Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado. Missouri,
Tennessee, .Kentucky, Michigan. Wisconsin,
Dlinols and Nebraska.
The report that Mr. Bryan also spoke in Idaho,
South Dakota, Minnesota or Indiana, is incorrect.
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