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The Commoner
VOL. 17, NO. 8
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Write to Washington
UNITY THROUGHOUT THE NATION IS IM
PERATIVELY NECESSARY DURING THE WAR
DISSENSION WOULD BE DISASTROUS. WE
MUST WIN AND DIVISION AMONG US
WOULD ONLY PROLONG THE WAR AND IN
CREASE ITS COST. Those who advised against
enterlhu the war should bo even more anxious
for peaco than those who advised entrance into
the war and the shortest road to peace is the
ROAD STRAIGHT AHEAD.
But this does not mean that tho citizen shall
cease to think or to have opinions. Neither does
it mean that ho LpII not express himself, if! ho
expresses himself n such a way as to aid his
OWN COUNTRY and not the ENEMY. Ours
is a representative government, a gov
erning t in which the people rule
THROUGH REPRESENTATIVES. The Presi
dent, no less than congress, is a servant of the
people. He is elected by the people, and the au
thority conferred upon him is conferred by the
constitution tho people speaking through their
organic law. The people are .supreme. That is
what democracy means a government in which
the people rule.
, Tho people speak every 'our years when they
elect a president; they rpeak every two years
when they elect a new house of representatives
and one-third of tho somite.- In November, 1918,
the people will at the polls, declare the'r ap
proval or disapproval of .he government's, course
and conduct, but it is not necessary, or even
wise, to wait un il then. Tho c.tizen can make
his views known EVERY DAY 'by approval or
protest. In time of peace this is usually done
through tho press, but in time of war it is bet
ter t-) do it by communications addressed to the
authorities at Washington. Protests published
in the imporo nro npt, to find hei? way to Europe
where their importance aiay be so magnified as
to do injury.
If you approve of the' steps taken by the gov
ernment send your congratulations the offi
cials will be encouraged. If you are not pleased,
-write to the President, to your senators and your
congressman. They will be glad to know your
views they will be influenced by the sentiment
of tho country as it reaches them they can not
learn it in any other way.
DC NOT PROTEST THROUGH THE PRESS
talk directly to those who are entrusted with
the r Mng on of the war. Write.
W. J. BRYAN.
THE CITY BEAUTIFUL
Why are not all cities beautiful? S'mply be
cause some of them lack a moving spirit. St.
John's, Kansas, is a little praiiie city, no larger
or more favorably situated thun hundreds, of
other towns in the state, and yet St. John's has
a beautiful park in tb)a center of the town, with
an ornamental wall around it. It has trees,
flowers, and lawn to make it attractive, and it
has seats for the weary to rest upon. The
Woman's club did Jt it was the moving spirit
and the people, when appealed to, helped.
The result is that people who visit St. John's
go away pleased, and hope fo- an opportunity to
return. St. John's furnishes lu example worthy
of imitation.
NOVEMBER FIRST
A JUST COMPLAINT
There Is a growing complaint against the law
-which exempts interest on war bonds from the
income tax. Tho objection is not so strong on
the flat rate tax, but the injustice becomes more
apparent when interest on these bonds is made
exempt from the surtax. This surtax rises to
a large per cent on the big incomes, and the
bigger tho income the greater the advantage of
this exemption. For instance, one who pays a
twenty per cent surtax receives ten times as
much benefit from the exemption as a person
who pays a flat rate of two per cent. The result
of this discrimination in favor of the holders of
large incomes is likely to be the concentration
of these bonds in the hands of the rich instead
of their distribution among the masses. It
would be wise to limit the exemption on future
issues to the flat rate it should not include
surtaxes.
THE INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM
On anothei page will be found the announce
ment by George A. Briggs as candidate for the
Indiana constitutional convention. Whle The
Commoner docs not understake to decide the
relative merits of candidates, it is glad to pub
lish the platform of a candidate who puts for
ward the initiative and referendum as the most
important provision of the proposed constitution.""
Mr. Briggs is right, The most important pro
vision in the ne constitution will "be tha fixing
the .method by which it may be amended. The
initiative and referendum puts the amending of
a constitution in tLe hands: of the people the
old constitutions, by requiring a three-fifths or
two-thirds vote of both houses for the submis
sion of an amendment, gave a minority the
power to thwart the will of the people. The
predatory corporations and the liquor interests
are the principal opponents of the initiative and
referendum . BECAUSE THEY FEAR THE
PEOPLE.
LET THE PEOPLE RULE the best means of
assuring the rule of the people is to ne rou'ii'd
. ir the initiative and referendum.
The churches and temperance organizations of
the country should prepare for the proper cele
bration of November first, tho dayjthe nation's
capital goes dry. It Will be well worth celebrat
ipg. There should be union services in the
churches and exercises in the schools. It will
'be a great day for the nation when the white flag
of prohibition is raised over Washington.
30 TO 12
The democrats in the senate stood thirty-six
to twelve three to one in favor of submitting
the prohibition amendment. Who says that pro
hibition is not a democratic doctrine?
Will the democrats party of the nation en
dorse the thirty-six orlhe twelve? The day of
deliverance from boifdtfge to the liquor interests
is at hand.
The war is furnishing new arguments for
peace. - These arguments can not be used now,
hut they will be useful when the war is over.
They will make another such war impossible. '
HERE'S TO SENATOR SHEPPARD
Senator Sheppard of Texas, the author of the
prohibition amendment, is receiving congratu
lations on his great victory. He DESERVES
congratulations. He has made a valiant fight
and has won a notable triumph.
Here's to the brave young senator from the
"Lone Star State" may ,he live long and pros
NO TERMS YET
Three j.ears of war and no terms yet; mil
lions dead and billions spent, and yet no terms.
Do the European nations know what they are
fighting for? If not, why do they continue the
ilght? If they do know, why do they not take
the public into their confidence and say what it
is that, being done, the world can have peace?
ONLY THREE
Only three senators from, dry states voted
against submission against allowing their con
stituents to vote on a policy to which they, the
constituents, had already committed themselves.
Only three: Hardwick, Hitchcock and Under
wood, and, the more's the pity, they sit on the
democratic side.
SEE WHO'S COME!
Ex-President Taft is now on the Chautauqua
platform, earning his income in a legitimate way.
There will be no loss of dignity in meeting THE
PEOPLE face to face. How different from his
experience when he has been in the hands of
standpat committees.
PORTO RICO GOES DRY
Porto Rico has ,gone dry by a vote of about
two to one. Good -for Portj Rico. The storm
center of prohibition is in the United States
the agitation is moving north through Canada
and south through Latin-Ame ica.
INDEFENSIBLE DELUSION
It is difficult to understand how any friend of
peace can dtlude himself into the belief that
peace can be aided by dissensions here. United
action her- will hasten peace.
Why Not Terms?
On another page will be found four statement
which appeared in the morning papers of Julv
30, at the beginning of the fourth year of the
war. They are:
1st Sir Edward Carson's statement.
2nd Statement hy Paul Painleve, French
minister of war.
3d Statement by Dr. Michaelis, German
chancellor.
4th Statement by Foreign Minister Chuden
itz of Austria.
Three things .stand out prominently in these
statements. 1st. All claim to be fighting a de
fensive war none admit aggression or desire
for conquest.
2nd All want a PEACE THAT WILL EN
DURE. 3d Each one regardc the victory of its side
as necessary to a permanent peace.
All that is necessary now is the one thing
that has been necessary all the time, namely, a
statement by each nation of that which it re
gards as necessary to insure a permanent peace.
This is the very thing that our President asked
of the nations before we entered the war, but
none of them would then state terms. When
terms are stated it may bring the war to an end.
We have stated that our only desire is to make
democracy safe. Now let tlits other nations state
what they are fighting for.
W. J. BRYAN.
CAPTAIN SILAS M. BRYAN
At the close of the reserve officers train
ing camp at Fort Snelling, Minn., August 11,
1917, Silas M. Bryan was appointed captain of
infantry. Captain Bryan is an only son of
Charles W. Bryan, associate editor and publisher
of The Commoner. He graduated from the high
school of Lincoln, Nebr., in 1911, and from the
"University of Nebraska with the degree of A. B.
1" 1916. He entered tins larr school tf Harvard
university in the fall of 1915, and had just com
pleted I o years of the three year lav term
when he made amplication and was accepted
three monthsago in tho officers training camp.
He has been assigned as instructor at second
t.-aining camp at Fort Snelling for officers re
serve corps. Captain Bryan is in his twenty
fouith year.
THE VOTE AGAINST PROHIBITION
Following is a list of senators who voted
against Senate Joint Resolution No. 17, provid
ing tor the submission of a nation-wide prohibi
tion amendment to the Federal constitution,
which passed the senate August 1, 1917, by a
vote of 65 to 20:
Democrats: Broussard, Culberson, Gerry,
Hardwick, Hitchcock, Husting, James, Lewis.
Phelan, Pomerene, Reed, Underwood. Total, 12.
Republicans: Brandege, Calder, France,
Lodge, Penrose, Wadsworth, Warren, Weeks.
Total, 8. Total against, 20.
Represent prohibition states.
In order to make the punishment fit the crime
a Canadian judge sentenced a bigamist to be
placed in the front line of his regiment when u
went into service. It was not stated whether
this was done because the man requested it, or
because he deserved a position of less danger
than he had been accustomed to.
The food speculator and price bolster -died
hard in the hall, of congress, -but apparently a
is dead. The duty the government owes to id
people who are fighting in the fields at home s
not a whit less than that it owes to the men wno
will do it in the trenches abroad.
A traitor it 'a man who is guilty of treasonable
conduct towards his country. Treason consists
in the doing of an overt act, wli ch means i in
conducting himself as to bring himself I n arm
opposition to the government. When 5"u t
somebody Use a traitor be sure you know una
you aro talking about.
The number of men who know efa.yduties
the government should do and what tue u
of each individual citizen, are, seems to lnc
-as the war goes on. No real' concern nt
felt, however, so long as they leave the m
to be done by those who have undertaken
attend to it.