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9
AUGUST, 1922
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The Reactionaries at
Work
Secretary of War Weeks made a speech re
cently Bounding the key note for the reaction
aries. Senator Stanley spoke in New York as
Bailing the progressives in bofcji parses. t Now
comes "the late" Senator New he-has been "the
late' ever since Beveridge defeated him al
though he is not yet officially interred arid an
nounces that the primary must go. ' '
No wonder the reactionaries hate the primary
it is the only piece of party machinery that
they are unable to control. They used to keep a
dominating boss in each state when they had the
convention system. The primary has made it
somewhat of a wilderness for the boss and he is
looking hack to the flesh-pots of Egypt, so to
speak. But there will be no turning back. There
are parasites which attack the primary system
aa parasites attack nearly all forms of life. But
the faults of the system will be removed. We
will not destroy the jjystem in order to get rid of
the parasites.
It is fortunate that the plans of the reaction
aries include an attack upon the primaries'. That,
like the reduction in the tax on big incomes, is
something that can be seen with the naked eye.
Many of the schemes of the reactionaries are de
veloped in the dark and the public finds it is vic
timized before it knows it. But an attack on the
primaries has to be made in the daylight and
that means that it will fail. If there is to be an
other war between the bosses supported by big
business and the plain people, let it begin when
ever the reactionaries are ready a few more
primaries and all their generals will be disabled.
W. J. BRYAN.
WHITE AND "JUDGE" SEPARATE
Press dispatches carried a statement of the rea
sons that led William Allen White to resign
from the editorship of "Judge." The paper
stands for light wines and beer and White is not
willing to lend his name and influence to the
light wine and beer propaganda. White is right
and it is commendable for him to give up an
editorial salary rather than be placed in a false
position. If all editors would follow their con
sciences and refuse to write against their con
victions or to lend their influence to papers with
whoso policies they could not agree, the tone of
the press would be greatly improved.
. The statement made by the owner of "Judge"
is quite in line with the attitude of the wets
no wonder White found it difficult to look up t
aim as a boss. "Judge's" owner says that "a
segment of Kansas convictions does not repre
sent the country." That is about as wide a
vision as any wot has. He looks at the nation
F?ugU the foam on a glass of beer and thinks
mat everybody is wet. "A segment of Kansas
convictions" isn't that intelligence for you?
iwri , J5!?ment was submitted by a vote of
inpmv JPS of both houses and ratified by
thii X states out of forty-eight. The last
Si?ngresses have been dry by more than
wMhirda but the owner of "Judge" sees in it
L a.sesment of Kansas convictions."
nnngra!ulations' Brother White, that you do
irlimVe . assciate any longer with such a
Pecimon of humanity.
ROBBERY BY AGREEMENT
thmJLr?b!,cXy from a distillery of eighty-one
davS doll,ars worth of "luor by fifty men in
an S5 W(!uld seem t0 indicate that it was by
whiakv tandin& between the owner of the
StatPR nan?ttho suPPOsed fobbers. The-United
bond li to take over all the whisky now in
day twyf!!g for lfc wnal t was worth on the
creasflin , amendment was ratified (any in
rei?arfi, pr ,os since that time should not bo
to tha nns?Srttimate slnce " is duo entirely
JebilitKo selling it in violation of
taedicitift Uate7er alcohol or whisky is needed for
toQRoviL0 n the arts should be .supplied by
eminent and by the government alone.
Qave hl,? the strong Republican newspapers
tarlff that 5, 0Vr the tracos on tbe altitudinous
tog. ThnV RPublican congress is construct
Gressionm Jfty that the President and his con
majorit SnSS 1 ?5Bhould remember that the big
Warand l m 20 Presented reaction from the
Bhor thT not mandates to boost tariff duties
Qan evt Payne or Aldrlch dreamed of.
r and
for
CLASSIFYING HlTCIICOrnr
Paying tributn tn u . -
attainments of the Sl?1
united States . i?: fa aiatoB for
Journal savs that "hn T . a th0 L'ncoln
highest office a stake in h Z "Vorili tho
vorv nhiDr! Ke m tuia election two of its
Hlto?" f -"vf progSi V'' wh SSi
oldthool.''3 a C0Usee, a public man Tfhe
MHowenrlif ?,te that the Joi'nal rotB
on the wmind fw rowive progresslvism"
nhi?n Pound that one the most remarkable
public business organizations in the world t
Omaha municipal water, gas and ice s ices is
o recall' ?n ", " is perhaPs not ami .
iinri a Vf1? thiS connectin, that the long and
hard fight for municipal ownership in Omaha
las been successfully prosecuted through the
years with the earnest support of many Oma la
mlllZ ibG -ideS Mr' Hawoll Eluding Senator
Hitchcock, in person and through his .newspaper.
Ihat support has been given, despite partisan
ship and much adverse pressure, out of public
spirited devotion to a principle. Yet in s6mo
curious way, as the Journal interprets it, the
record establishes Howell as a "progressive" and
Hitchcock a "conservative."
If to be thoughtful, judicious, open-minded
and fair-minded, if respect for and devotion to
the blood-cemented foundation stones on which
the republic rests, is the mark of a conservative,
then Senator Hitchcock, in these respects at
least, is conservative. If adherence to tho fund
amental principles of American democracy,
harking back for a century and a half to Thomas
Jefferson, their first and foremost apostle, dis
tinguishes the "public man of the old school,"
then it is to that school, rather than to the
school of Lodge or Newberry or Berger, that
Senator Hitchcock belongs.
Senator Hitchock is tho kind of conservative
of the old school who ardently supported Bryan
when clamorous and indignant creditors de
manded that he support McKinley or imperil his
business life and solvency. He is the kind of
conservative of the old school who gave his sup
port, at the beginning of tho fight against cor
poration rule in Nebraska, to maximum freight
rate laws, to a 2-cent passenger law, to the anti
pass law, to laws regulating and curbing tele
phone and express and stock yards and grain
combinations to the whole long series of re
forms that put Nebraska near the headof the
list of enlightened states.
He is the kind of conservative of the old
school who supported tho direct primary, the
popular election of senators, the graduated in
come tax, the federal land bank system, tho child
labor law, the league of nations and other meas
ures and ideals adherence to which has by com
mon sense marked other men as progressive.
He is the kind of conservative of the old
school who dared differ with his party and its
administration when he believed it was mistaken
in the framing of the federal reserve act, and
from his place as a Democratic leader in the sen
ate to demand a reorganization of tho war de
partment during the world war when he believed
it was extravagant and inefficient.
He is the kind of conservative of the old
school who refused to trade his birthright for a
mess of pottage when' the Nebraska legislature
unanimously demanded that he support the gold
brick "emergency tariff" law.
He is the kind of conservative of the old
school who stands today in the Senate as an un
yielding opponent of tho profiteer's tariff and
ship subsidy program of the present administra
tion, just as he opposed its reduction of the sur
taxes and its repeal of the excess profits law.
He is the kind of conservative of the old schoo
who with his Bank of Nations bill, has advanced
fhe only proposal of scope, vision and bigness
Sat has emerged since the war for the restora
tion of our once profitable trade with Europe.
The Lincoln Journal is an adept at tho mani
nnlatfon of words when it deals with a political
P innf Tfis particularly interesting to watch
Herald.
investigation, J0"0 ? the retailers expect,
advance in prices, what a o iu
that two and two will make five.
. Time to Act
How long will the President wait before bring-1
Ing the railroad strike to an end? Every day la
creases the tension and makes tho situation moro
difficult to deal with. A Washington dlnpatch
vsays that tho railroad heads aro determined to
break up the unions there is ovidonco of thla
fact in the attompt ta organize a soparato union
for each company. The dispatch also suggesta
that the coal operators share in this purpose. To i
this information is added a statement that sorao
of tho President's frlonds think ho should keep v
his hands off and .allow the railroads and thotr,,
mon to fight it out. , j.
But the government cannot keop its hands off
and tho railroad heads havo no thought of flght-t
ing it out alone. They count on tho army, and tho
question now Is whether tho government will uso
the army of the United States to onforco tho
private opinions of railroad magnates. Upon this
subject there will be a wide difference of opin
ion. Those whose sympathies aro with big busi
ness will demand this that is why thoy want
a big army. What does the general public
think? The patrons of tho railroads want traf
fic resumed and they want tho work done by ex
perienced mon. Tho time has como for tho ProsI- ,
dent to InvoJco tho aid of Congress for authority
to end the strike by the operation of such roads
as refuse to perform their duty to tho public.
The government can use tho army for Its own
purposes, but it cannot rightfully uso tho army
merely to please one sllo of a labor dispute. It
dees not use the army to force tho railroads to
take tho mon back on the terms fixed by tho
men; it should not uso tho army to onablo tho
railroads to carry out the porsonal views of rail
road heads regardless of tho public wolfaro. It
the President will use a people's government for
the people's welfare and inform tho railroad
magnates of his determination to ask Congress
for authority to operate the railroads until tho
railroad managers awaken to a sense of their
obligation to tho public, the strike will end very
quickly and business can j-esumo. It in time to
act. w. J. BRYAN.
AIDING THE PROFITEERS J
On another page will be found a press dis
patch suggesting the return to profiteers of fines
collected from them before the law was declared
unconstitutional. It would seem that with tho
present scarcity of money in the treasury tho
profiteers might bo left to prosecute their claims
against the government. Possibly some of them
are ashamed to expose themselves by asking a
return of the money thoy were compelled to
pay. Thoy wore convicted on tho facts and tho
facts show them to bo guilty of extorting monoy
from the public. Whether legally guilty or not,
they were morally guilty of a crime against tho
nation and there is no reasonwhy the govern
ment should make ap effort to return the money
collected. Let them sue if thoy are not ashamed
to come into the limolight again.
LIQUOR NOT NECESSARY
On a British ship going to Panama about
twelve years ago, the captain told mo that during
the eighteen years that he had been captain of
that ship he had changed the policy in 'regard to
liquor. They formerly furnished grog to tho
sailors three times a day but thoy afterwards
abandoned this custom and fined any one who
brought liquor aboafd. He said it had greatly
improved the crew. He also told me of several
ships being wrecked in the neighborhood of
Panama by captains under the influence of
liquor. He said that during the eighteen years
above mentioned tho sale of liquor to cabin pas
sengers had decreased seventy-five pecent. Tho
last fact would seem to indicate that liquor is not
as necessary as the members of the Shipping
Board seem to think. W. J. BRYAN.
On comparison it has "been found that so much
of Mr. Bryan's Sunday School Convention ad
dress at Kansas City has been covered In sub
stance in the Sunday School lessons, and in tho
Radio Speech on "ALL," that it will not be nec
essary to publish the abstract of it, as mentioned
in the July Commoner.
Speaking of tho inability of congress to got
anywhere, it will be recalled that while the
Genoa conference was unable to accomplish any-'
thing, it adjourned when It discovered its im-
potency. .
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