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VOL. 17, NO. 8
srwrfc
If
The Commoner
issurii MONTHLY
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Hlnjclo Copy 10
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t i .i i i i .
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Address all communications to
THE COMMONER, LINCOLN, NED.
Speaking of the good old days, do you re
member the time when it was a very easy job
to get up a discussion o the tariff in any group
of men? '"'
The business ofjovernment is to protect the
people from those who would oppress and de
spoil them, although" it seemed for a time as
though It would be .difficult to got the senate to
accept this fact. n
Various methods of adequately dealing with
the food speculator and grain and flour gamblers
have been suggested by aggrieved individuals,
but the inventor of the phrase "hanging is too
'good tor them" seems to havo the most followers.
None of the reporters seem to have been en
terprising enough to secure from King Con
tstantine an authentic declaration of whether he
blames all his troubles on his wife. It would
foe interesting if only to prove whether a king is
dust like an ordinary man.
i A personal liberty advocate is a man who
thoroughly believes in the right of the govern
ment to appoint a man and clothe him with
ipowor to dictate what our food should be, but
who regards it as a breach of constitutional
guarantees if he assumes to say what we shall
drink.
ORGANIZE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL: PROHI
BITION IN IOWA . I
Tho tomperance forces of Iowa have set about
the task of securing constitutional prohibition
this fall by uniting their forces under the ban
ner of the "Allied Temperance Committee of
Iowa." The following is a statement ,pf the
plan of organization, its membership, object,
and list of officers who will direct the cam
paign: "THE ALLIED TEMPERANCE COMMITTEE
OP IOWA, INC.
"Leading temperance men and women from
every county of Iowa were called to meet at
Des Moines on June 8th to consider an organ
ization of all the temperance forces for the pro
hibitory constitutional amendment election
campaign.
"Out of this meeting came the Allied Tem
perance Committee of Iowa, with the executive
committee named below empowered to perfect
the organization.
"The executive committee elected the board
of managers as named below, and committed
to them the active management of the election
campaign.
"Organizations Allied Women's Christian
Temperance' Union, Business Men's Temperance
Association of Iowa, Iowa Constitutional Pro
hibitory Amendment Association, The Prohibi
tion Party of Iowa, The Inter-Collegiate Pro
hibition Association, Iowa Anti-Saloon League,
r and other organizations.
"Executive Committee A. V. Proudfoot, In
dianola, chairman; H. M. Haner, Des 'Moines;
John T. Clarkson, Albia; G. H. Cummings7 Sioux
City; Mrs. Ida B. Wise Smith, Cedar Rapids;
George Cosson, Des Moines; Anthony TePaske,
Sioux Center; Mrs. L. D. Carhart, Marfan1; W.
J. Pilkington, Des Moines; A. MacEachron,
Waterloo; Mrs. Ella M. Hill, Des Moines; Rev.
Fred T. Stevenson, Waukee; A. U. Coates, Des
Moines; J. A. Mitchell, Des Moines, R. F. D. No.
6; Otis L. Walter, Waterloo; W. C. Barber, Des
Moines; Mrs. Anna M. Edworthy, Des Moines;
Rev. D. B. Cook, Earlham; Rev. W. B. Sand
ford, Des Moines.
"Board of Managers Mrs. Ida B. Wise Smith,
Rev. John L. Hillman, Rev. Wm. Parsons, A. II.
Coates, W. J. Pilkington, J. A. Mitchell, W. H.
Kidder; Central State Bank, Des Moines, treas
urer; J. B. Weede, Des Moines, campaign man
ager. "Our object: Iowa permanently DRY by the
constitutional prohibitory amendment. Get out
the whole vote Have an honest election.
"Vote (Yes, October 15th,"
Success to their efforts.
.V
One pleasant little Action entertained by a
&reat many farmersohas been exploded during
the present summer.- It was that the untrained
boy from the city was a nuisance as a farm hand.
One New York lureau "placed 10,000 of them on
farms, and they stayed there most of the time,
while the demand for more of them constantly
increased. v.
The lawlessness of the saloon and the liquor
maker is responsible in a measure for the ban
ishment that is in store for booze. Iowa has
been dry for months now under a law passed
by tho legislature. In Des Moines the other day
$75,T00 worth of liquor was seized by officers.
It had been brought into the state there for the
purpose of being peddled out to the soldier boys
called to train at the cantonment at the Iowa
state capital. The men who made the liquor
know that it was to be sold in violation of law
and In opposition to national safety. Is it any
wonder that decent men, even though they see
no harm in drinking the stuff themselves, have
'resolved, to banish an industry conceived in law
lessness and greed and carried on along the
game lines?
' figN'S PUNISHMENT SURE
Pleaaures-are false that bring repentant pain:
Tho soarings hawk, however swift to fly,
Can not outstrip his shadow on the plain '(
Jj'hat low-flung specter follows till the twain 1
Alight together on the crag hard by.
" i From "The Gravedigger" by Fred Emerson
Brooks-
The paltriest argument of all those brought
forth to prevent the government from making
this nation dry was the last one urged .in the
debate in the senate. It was that unless this
government gave the workingman his ,beer he
would strike back and break down the country
even when it faced a powerful enemy" at war.
It was an insult to the worker in that it placed
him upon so low a level of patriotism ,that he
preferred to bring his country to ruin rather
than give up his beer. It was a libel upon labor
to imagine that it would strike for the right to
get drunk. Labor is poor enough paid now, and
it would welcome the opportunity to save some
of the money now wrested from it by the cold
greed of the brewer through the lure of bright
lights and music. fa
Tho eastern magazines have joned the east
ern newspapers in declaring that the government
should lose no time in giving the railroads an
!?wS0 ,ratva- xt ,s difficult to determine
whether this championship is due to ignoTrance
or is part of a carefully.-prepared propaganda
Not one of the great western roads is in need of
a dollar of increased income. The Burlington
mo'oofn00,000,?11 Its capital 2
$110,000,000, according to its own report, while
the Union Pacific paid 10 per cent and thl
Northwestern 14 per cent dividends and passed
millions over to their surplus.
The food experts insist that the duty of the
American people is to eat more corn bread and
thus save flour for the hungry of Europe If
congress were to pass a law making the eatlnr
of corn pone obligatory, the republican papers
would seize upon that as another aim th?f tS
south is in the saddle at Washington ' th
Peace Resolution
Senator La Follette of Wisconsin- fntrofiimm
peace resolution in the United S ate sen ,a
Aug. 11, 1917, calling upon congress to "S
mine and declare definitely the objects imi .
poses for which this government shall conthT
to participate in the European war " w,Uo
La Follette's resolution, after citing" past ToZ
pronunciamentos of various belligerents, says'
"Whereas, There has recently emanated frL
official and unofficial sources, both in this Vo,??
try and abroad, statements indicating that we ar
to continue in the war until a peace is obtained
which gives to the entente allies, or soma of
them, punitive damages and territorial advatlt
ages as a result of the war; and,
"Whereas, The people of this country do not
know the terms of the secret treaties or acre?.
ments existing among the entente allies definim?
the advantages, if any, either in the way of in
demnitles or territorial acquisitions or coramer-"
cial privileges, which is expected to receive i
result of the war; and, as a
"Whereas, There is naturally a widely ex
pressed demand coming from tho people of our
own country for some declaration of the purnoso
and object for which the United States is spend
ing, in the first year of the war from $13 000
000,000 to $17,000,000,000 of money and raising
by draft and otherwise an army of 2,000,000
men, ostensibly for service in foreign countries
and, '
"Whereas, The people have a right to know
with certainty for what end their blood is to bo
shed and their treasure expended; and,
"Whereas, In this free government, congress,
in whom the war making power resides, under
the constitution, is charged primarily with the
responsibility of deciding upon the objects of the
war at its commencement or at any time during
its existence; now therefore be it resolved
"Resolved, By the senate (the house of repre
sentatives concurring) , that the constitution vests
in the congress as the accredited and lawful
representatives of the people, full authority to
determine and to declare definitely the objects
and purposes for which this government shall
continue to participate in the European war.
"Resolved, further, That the congress hereby
declares that this government will not contrib
ute to the efforts of any belligerent for the pur
pose of prolonging the war to annex new terri
tory, either in Europe or outside of Europe, nor
to enforce the payment of indemnities to re
cover the expenses of the war; but the congress
does hereby declare in favor of the creation of
a common fund to be provided by all the bellig
erent nations to assist in the restoration of the
portions of territory in any of the countries
most seriously devastated by the war, and for
the establishment of an international commis
sion to decide the allotment of the common
fund.
"Resolved, further, That congress declares
that there should be a public fe-statement of
the allied peace terms, based on a disavowal of
any advantages, either in tho way of indemni
ties, territorial acquisitions, commercial priv
ileges, or economic prerogatives, by means of
which one nation shall strengthen its power
abroad at the expense of another nation, as
wholly incompatible with the establishment of
a durable peace in the world."
In their last dying frenzy the liquor makers
of Nebraska, just put out of business by prohi
bition, hired solicitors to rake the highways and
byways of the state for 32,000 names of voters
with which to suspend, under the operation of
the referendum, the law passed by the legisla
ture which gave the women of the state the rignt
to vote for President and for city and county
officers. The men of Nebraska should take im
mediate steps to test the sufficiency of a petition
secured under such circumstances. A number
of men who signed have already risen up to de
clare that their signatures were secured by false
pretenses and representations.
Colonel Roosevelt continues to exhibit his
sore toe with considerable glee. "They wouldnc
let me go to Flanders," he says. What he
means is that the President desired men sent to
the front who had enough real experience as
leaders to Insure proper handling of men. in
enlisting office has never been closed to tne
colonel;
i
t
yt.