The Nebraska independent. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1896-1902, January 23, 1902, Page 4, Image 4

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    THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT-
January ?3, 1902
Zh e Debrasks Independent
Lincoln, tlebrasUa
PRESSE BLDG., CORNER 13TH AND N STS
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When makin remittances do not leave
coney with news agencies, postmasters, etc.,
to be forwarded by them. They frequently
forget or remit a different amonnt than was
left with them, and the subscriber fails to get
proper credit.
Address all communications, and make all
drafts, money -ers, etc., payable to
Zht ttebraaka Independent,
Lincoln. Neb.
Anonymous communications will not be no
ticed. Rejected manuscripts will not b rt
tuned.
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The republican papers have always
asserted that populists and free silver
men hadn't sense enough to make
money and especially the radical
ones. Now Governor Hogg of Texas Is
rated at $80,00,000 by the republican
editors themselves. There is certain
ly one exception.
The cost of the national government
has gradually increased until now it
amounts to $12 per capita. Republi
canism and imperialism come high,
but if the people will have them they
must pay the bill. When hard times
come and each family has to put up
$60, they will wish "that they hadn't
gone and done it."
The men who vote a scratched ticket
pride themselves on having more intel
ligence than the average man, but the
contests : that have occurred in Ne
braska show that most of them haven't
Intelligence enough to scratch a bal
lot in such a way as to have their
votes counted under the Australian
ballot law.
The Year Book, published by the
London Daily Mail, says that the Unit
ed States i3 the greatest nation on
earth. It has an eye to that slice of
Alaska, a base of supplies for the
Boer war and the gold that England
is to draw from the treasury by means
of the Overstreet bill. Prospects of
favors to come inclines it to be very
complimentary.
There were five United States sena
tors elected last week Gorman from
Maryland, McCreary from Kentucky,
Dolliver and Allison in Iowa and For-
aker in Ohio. It this little deal the
democratic party gains two, Gorman
and McCreary will replace. republican
senators now holding the places. Mc
Creary Is a real' gain. As far as Gor
man Is concerned, it is somewhat
doubtful.:
, 'They have In New Zealand an offi
cial known as the "public trustee," a
state official whose business it is to
be of service to citizens in various
ways Involying legal procedure, the
management of private estates in
trust, and so on. But in New Zealand
they have a government by the people,
for the people, while here we have a
"government by the trusts, for the
trusts, and that makes considerable
difference.
"If the people would only write their
names and addresses so that they
could be read at the first glance, what
a world of trouble and worry would be
saved? But they won't, so we must
suffer the worry and spend the time
necessary to work them out like one
does a puzzle. Wherever a double "e"
occurs, nine times out of ten it is im
possible to tell whether it is that or
jr thS letter "u." As for the "n's" and
3 "iflsCthey have to be guessed at.
', One of the citizens of Massachusetts
has evidently heard something. It
took him a long time to hear it on ac
- count of the way the newspapers that
he reads are conducted. He asks the
Springfield Republican the following
question: "Does the volume of money
in circulation in a country have any
effect on commodity prices?" Evident
ly that man has run across some pa
per published west of the Mississippi
river. It was a new idea to him and
he wanted to know about it. It was
something that he had- never heard
mentioned before. There is hope for
that man.
. .
Myron T, Herrick says that the rich
will not contribute to the fund to erect
a : monument to the memory of Mc
Kinley, that the contributions have so
far come from the poor. The men who
accumulated millions from the" tariff
policy one would think would be will
ing to send in at least a few dollars
to perpetuate the memory of the au
thor of the legislation that has niada
them rich, but' it seems that they all
belong to the ' very lowest order of
grafters. They have the money and
they give never a thought to the man
through whose influence they were
able to get it. Schwab, one of the
greatest beneficiaries, prerers to give
his money to the gambling houses of
tea sounds in ten days, over
' cared- Xlldnwi
CHANGING L4WS OF WAR :
V British barbarities -will, get a check
one of these days. There is a;growr
ing feeling in; every nation on earth
against the cruelties practiced in the
Transvaal. It is not wholly unselfish,
If the British government is allowed
to establish precedents that will
change the laws ' of war every nation
Is interested. If agnation can invade
the territory of another, issue, a proc
lamation of annexation, and then pro
ceed to treat all the inhabitants who
remain faithful to their own, govern
ment as traitors, who, can be tried by
court-martial and shot on the order, of
a military commander, certainly the
whole world is interested in that. If
the policy adopted, by Kitchener is to
become the regular"' custom and part
of the laws of war recognized by all
nations, then war will become more in
human and barbarous than it was in
the dark ages, for in those times non
combatants and women and children
were not gathered into vcamps, sur
rounded by guards and left to starve.
In all the Napoleonic wars, cruel and
bloody as they were, no conquered or
overrun territory was ever treated
in that manner. England is a great
nation and the things that she does
will likely be seized upon as precedents
in future wars. That being the case
the whole world is selfishly interested
in the manner the war upon the Boers
is conducted. There is not a living hu
man being who is not interested. The
people of England are as much in
terested as any other.
If a war should break out between
England and the United States and
we should invade Canada and issue a
proclamation annexing It to the United
States and proceed to court-martial
and shoot all able-bodied men who
remained loyal to King Edward, gather
non-combatants and women and chil
dren into concentration camps arid
there let them die at a rate that would
depopulate the country in five years,
England could have no just cause of
complaint, for she herself set the pre
cedent. Does the world want that
kind of war inaugurated? Already
the United States is following that
precedent in the Philippines. The dis
patches told us only yestefday that
General Bell had issued orders to es
tablish that mode of warfare. Here
are the two largest nations on earth
setting precedents that will overthrow
the laws of war which have been
adopted by formal treaties. They will
certainly be followed in the future un
less some action is quickly taken. The
dispatch concerning the order of Gen
eral Bell was as follows:
The reconcentration order is
dated' at Batangas on December 8
last. In substance it provides for
the establishment of a zone around
the garrisons, into which the
friendly inhabitants are to be re,
quired to come under penalty of
confiscation and destruction of
their property. This is said to be
necessary to prevent the collec
tion of forced contributions from
the inhabitants by the insurgents.
It seems that the world is waking
up to the fact that civilization itself Is
threatened by the military authorities
of btth the United States and Great
Britain. A resolution was introduced
in the house last Tuesday by William
Alden Smith of Michigan, who has
been a leading republican member of
congress for eight years, calling on
the secretary of state to intervene in
the South African war, and insist that
the laws of war as adopted at the Ge
neva conference should be enforced.
There are also signs of uneasiness in
every European nation. 'None -of the
peoples know when it may be their
turn next.
Commandant Scheepers of the Boer
army was captured while sick in bed.
He has been tried by a military court
martial and sentenced to be shot as a
traitor. It is against this particular
act that Congressman Smith protests.
Not only are the civilians of the world
interested in the setting up of such
precedents as this, but every military
man as well. If Commandant Scheep
ers can be 'court-martialed and shot as
a traitor under the present circum
stances, any military officer fighting
for his country after the invaders have
issued a proclamation annexing it,
who is captured can be shot as a
traitor.
It is about time that the whole
wrold awoke to the tendencies of this
modern imperialism. It effects the
lives and fortunes of every human be
ing. The leaders in establishing it are
the two great Anglo-Saxon nations
that have boasted of their free consti
tutions. What has become of those
rights of which we were wont to
boast? Once again the old adage calls
attention to its truthfulness. "The
price of liberty is eternal vigilance."
REFORM OURSELVES
The Independent wishes to call spe
cial attention to an article by Prof.
Mcintosh of Omaha on the next pop
ulist state convention. Many letters
along the same line have been re
ceived at this office from populists who
have long been in the ranks and who
have never held an office and never
want to hold one. Heretofore a com
mittee has been appointed on plat
form and that committee has had only
a few hours to work. They have al
ways been hustled by messengers from
they "hurry i up." Under such cir
cumstances it is not possible to even
write good English and mistakes are
made, sometimes in copying, as was
the case at the last convention, and
when the platform is read is it not
such a document as .the people's party
demands. There is no time for discus
sion, it is always far along in the
night when it is brought before the
convention and the hurried nomina
tions tax all efforts. A populist state
convention should be a deliberate
body, a place where there is time
enough to examine every question
thoroughly and make nominations
with deliberation and care. Such con
ditions have never existed either in
our state or national conventions and
it is time for a veform in that matter.
A FRIENDSHIP THAT PAYS
There can be no doubt that the Ger
man emperor and the statesmen who
surround him have been closely watch
ing the effects of the secret treaty of
friendship, between the United States
and Great Britain. Their avarice has
been aroused by the very great profits
that England has realized out of that
agreement and the emperor has con
cluded that he wants a slice of that
pie himself, so he has ordered a yacht
built in this country, is going to send
His brother, the Prince Imperial, over
to watch the launching, and has asked
the president's daughter to do the
christening. There also are rumors
that the emperor himself will pay this
country a visit next autumn.
Among the things that England has
realized on the agreement has been a
large, slice of American territory in
Alaska, the privilege of making this
country a base of supplies for prose
cuting the war against the Boers, but
there is another benefit near at hand
to be conferred on "Great Britain by
the United States of far more import
ance than any that has preceded it.
All the economists have been point
ing to the fact that England will need
a large supply of gold in the near fu
ture and that she must have it or
that there will be a panic there the
worst in all history, and more disas
trous than the Boer war. There is only
one place from which she can get the
gold and that is the treasury of the
United States. The plan has been laid
and doubtlessly will be carried out
by congress to allow England to get
that gold.
There has been no demand made by
the people for the redemption of the
silver dollars in gold. A large num
ber of republican papers, before they
received orders from headquarters,
actually denounced such action. Since
that time they have hadnothing to say
or have advocated the policy. There
is no reason why silver dollars should
be made redeemable, except England
wants a chance to get gold from the
United States treasury and the na
tional bankers want more bonds. The
national bankers would have asked
in vain if they had not been backed
by the English influence.
As soon as silver dollars are made
redeemable in gold, the English ex
chequer will begin to gather them up
through the agency of banks in this,
country and they will be turned over
to the United States treasury to be
redeemed in gold. The English will
carry the gold to London until they
get enough to tide them over the dif
ficulties that threaten them. That will
be a greater service to England than
any this nation has ever rendered here
tofore. As the gold comes out of the
treasury, bonds will have to be issued.
They are already provided for in acts
to keep up the gold reserve. The re
sult will be that the English will get
this country to issue bonds to carry
on the Boer war. English bonds are
already at a discount and if any con
siderable addition is made to the Brit
ish national debt just at present there
will be a catastrophe.
The statesmen and economists who
surround the German emperor see all
this very plainly. They see a friend
ship has been established with the
British government that pays. There
are millions in it for Great Britain.
That is a sort of thing that the Ger
man emperor would like to participate
in. So he Is making the greatest ef
forts to get into as close connections
with the powers that be on this side of
the water as possible. It is a wise
move on his part. The English will
get the gold. What Emperor William
will get is not so certain.
3 BRYAN IN THE EAST
Many inquiries have been made con
cerning Mr. Bryan's trip east, and
how he was received there. From all
the accounts in the dailies of Boston
and other New England cities it seems
that he was given an ovation at every
place at which he appeared. The gold
bug papers all speak in the most re
spectful manner of his addresses and
manv quote largely from them. The
audiences everywhere were immense
and in every instance many had to be
turned away. His addresses, which
the papers all say, were given extem
poraneously, were filled with epigrams
which the dailies pick out and reprint
in their, editorial columns. They say
that; his' voice was in splendid condi
tion and that his eloquence was charm
ing and convincing. Everywhere he
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es not on the program when he start
ed. He spoke in some churches, to
Sunday schools and to audiences made
up of teachers. The plutocratic pa
pers are amazed at the outpouring of
the people to hear him when there was
no political excitement and when there
was no campaign in progress. He will
be back" in Lincoln about the 23d
of January. His full itinerary was as
follows:
January 3, Albion, Mich.; January
4, Hillsdale, Mich.; January 5, Colum
bus, O., (probably); January 6, Woos-
ter, O,; January 7, Burlington, N. J.;
January 8, New Haven, Conn.; January
9; Boston, Mass; January 10, Holyoke,
Mass.; January 11, Boston, Mass,;
January 12, Bridgeport, Conn.; Jan
uary 14, Johnstown Pa.; January 15,
Williamsport, Pa.; January 16,. Al-
toona, Pa.; January 17, Butler, Pa.;
January 18, Waynesburg, Pa.; Jan
uary 20, Washington, Pa.; January 22,
Madison, Wis. . ,
ASTONISHING PROGRESS
Every populist should in the main be
satisfied or even rejoice over the ad
vance that his principles have made
since they were fir st proclaimed. At
that time they 'were regarded as
chimerical-r-the impractical and fanci
ful dreams of fanatics. Today they
are considered practical, definite busi
ness propositions, appealing forcibly
to each citizen whose judgment is un
biased by ownership of watered stock
and bonds and the great moneyed in
terests. They are regarded by such
men as the common sense way of deal
ing with intricate and vexatious prob
lems. Many men,, not by any informa
tion that they have gathered from the
great dailies published in the interest
of plutocracy, but in other ways have
learned that in capitals of Europe
where the scholars and economists
have been doing their best work, pub
lic ownership of public utilities is fav
ored and practical , business common
sense has been putting it, into opera
tion. Slowly and gradually the com-;
mon, hard-working producers of this
country have learned that in the cities
of Great Britain and all over the con
tinent of Europe, public ownership was
not looked upon as a dream, nor were
its advocates denounced as anarchists
and the discontented who were ene
mies of organized society.
Furthermore, the people have
learned that the populists spoke the
truth when they said that city councils
and state legislatures were not repre
sentatives of the people, that they
were representatives of the rich cor
porations by whose influence they were
elected. Plutocracy having captured
almost the entire press of the country,
the people have had little opportunity
to learn what populists really advo
cated, Under the circumstances the ad
vance that has been made is astonishing.-
' " . :
A SAD DILEMMA .
Now Canada says that she is going
to take a hand in enacting fighting
tariffs. If one nations shuts itself up
after the Chinese fashion, by build
ing; impassable tariff walls to pre
vent the inhabitants from purchasing
goods of other nations except at ruin
ous rates, the other nations will In
vent some method of retaliation. When
it comes to China, they simply go
there with armies and force "an open
door" for the entrance of goods. Where
that method is too costly something
just as effective will in the end be
substituted for it. The wild economic
lunatics who imagine that a tariff
wall, mountain high, can be built
around the United States, that will for
ever prevent foreigners from sending
their goods here while, we shall ship
millions worth of our manufactures
constantly to them, is about as silly
an idea as ever entered the head of a
political partisan. There" are a few
i. jit: seuaiur a jtu&iv,, aim. i ricooo v ivi, " ' ------ I
comprehend the foolishness of such
a ; policy, but they seem to be power
less. The party has been kept in pow
er by-buying elections, immense cam
paign funds have been the reliance of
the , leaders instead of an education or
the people along econonljc lines.
These funds have come largely from
the tariff grafters To threaten the
enormous profits that the tariff barons
have . realized, is a dangerous thing,
for they, will not put up the money to
keep the republican party in power un
less they can realize clean cash in re
turn. That situation puts the leaders
between the devil and the deep sea.
They know that an attempt to . keep
up our foreign trade, and shut our
markets to all outsiders must end. in
failure and they fear that if they make
an , attempt at reciprocity, the tariff
barons will go back on "them. They
remember how these, tariff barons
rounded up their employes and told
them that if they did not vote the re
publican ticket, the mills would close
withfn ten days after the election;
how they showed them hundreds of
fake orders with the proviso attached
that they were to be cancelled in case
the republican ' party was defeated,
and they fear that if they cannot rely
on such sort of work in the future
they will surely be defeated.
The Independent sends to each of
them its hearty commiseration for
the sufferings that they endure while
theyf reflect upon these things. It is
indeed a sad dilemma. They have
only two alternatives. .First, to go
in for reciprocity and get beaten by
the tariff grafters, and, second, to
maintain the high protection duties
and meet disaster at the hands of the
populists and democrats, when the de
pression comes on account of the retal
iation of other nations who will cer
tainly shut our goods out just as we
shut theirs out, and cut our foreign
trade off short.
WELL ENOUGH
Pauperism is still on the increase in
London. The last census just finished
shows that out of every hundred per
sons in the city over 65 years old,
twenty-one are in the poor house, and
that does not include the indigent in
sane and the temporary paupers. The
present organization of society, as all
the statistics show, both in this coun
try and in England, results in a con
stant increase of paupers, insane and
criminals. The remedy proposed by
the great leaders of the republican par
ty, from Mark Hanna down, is, as he
says, "Let well enough alone." The
present conditions may be well enough
for the millionaires, but it is not for
mankind. Half of the taxation in
this state arid all the other states to
day is for the support of the dependent
classes. They all constantly increase.
If something is not changed, the re
sult any man can foretell. Shall we
continue the "let well enough, alone"
policy? Mark' Hanna says he carried
the last election on that cry; Are
things well enough? Shall we make
no effort for improvtment? Shall we
wait until the dependent classes out
number the self-supporting? The man
who wants to do anything along that
line will have to get Outside of the
republican party.
MODERN REPUBLICANISM
When an honest and intelligent man
has a political theory which he thinks
if put into operation would be for the
benefit of the nation or state, he says:
"That is my opinion but I would like
to hear the arguments against it that
I may find out if it is really the policy
that is best." The mullet head re
publican is not that sort of a fellow
at all. He sets forth his opinions in a
dogmatic way and if any one makes an
argument against them he will not
listen. All the reply that he eveY
makes to an argument, no matter how
logical and strong it may be, is:
"That's slush. You are an anarchist."
That habit is the cause of the Im
penetrable ignorance of the stolid
masses who vote the republican ticket.
Among the leaders there are men of
the brightest intellects, but they live
by preying upon the credulity of their
followers. They have found out that
"there are millions In it." Here In
Nebraska they see to it that they are
kept in ignorance. No republican in
the' state, except Rosewater, will ever
agree to a joint debate because their
Ufollowers would hear things they don't
want them to hear. They take to the
wbods as soon as a challenge is issued.
They never read anything except their
own party papers. They are so mad
ly partisan that if Bartley should re
ceive the regular nomination for gov
ernor, there is not a particle of doubt
in the mind of any man who knows
the condition of things here that he
would receive 50,000 or 60,000 republi
can votes in the state. A good many
of the(m have been denouncing Gov
ernor Savage for pardoning Bartley,
because they have seen disparaging
articles about him in their papers, but
if Savage should be nominated they
would walk up to the polls and vote
for him. In fact, many of them are
now advocating his nomination. There
are perhaps 20,000. .republicans in the
state, not of that sort, but their num
bers would not exceed that many.
Many letters from the eastern states
received at this office declare that that
ffvi. tVol .nrr ditjfML thtfraJ' ... "
EXHAUSTED ENGINEERS ,
In a recent article on the numerous
railroad accidents The Independent
said that most of them were the re
sult of nervous exhaustion of em
ployes, who were put in places where
the strain was enormous for hours at
a time. One of the first things .seen
In the morning paper after that ar
ticle was in type was the following dis
patch from Peru, Ind.:
A specter of danger, the result
of shattered nerves, caused J. E.
Sible, engineer of the Wabash
limited, an old and trusted em
ploye, to jump from his fast mov
ing, train last night and sustain
probably fatal injuries.
1 The train was approaching At
tica, with a clear track ahead,
when the engineer gave a start and
shouted to his fireman:
"Jump for your life, Burt, the
switch is turned and we'll crash
into" - r
The sentence was not finished,
for in an instant Sible had applied
. the safety brake, reversed the lev- ,
er, and had jumped to escape the
danger his harassed nerves had
conjured up. Fireman Frick fol
lowed, but was not Injured.
The train came, to a stop and
Frick went back to find his engi
neer. The latter lay on the road
bed, his skull crushed, an arm and
leg broken, his ribs fractured and
his spine injured. He was car
ried aboard the train and cared
for, but it is not expected that he
will recover."
There is no common sense in this
craze for fast trains. The world
would go on better, just as much or
more wealth would be created and men
would live longer and enjoy more hap
piness if there was not a train in the
United States that ever ran faster than
fifty miles an hour.
The recent statistics show that In
sanity continues to increase much
faster than the population. Very
much of it is the result of the ever
lasting rush and hurry that has be
come the fad of the whole nation. It
takes no great mathematician to cal
culate the number of years it will be
before there will be more insane than
sane if the present- increase keeps up.
What will become of the country then?
There is another thing. There Is
something else to be sought after in
this world besides the almighty dollar.
When all energies are devoted to that
ignoble end, insanity, and other evils
abound. The crowding into cities, the
lack of any contact with nature or ani
mal life is another cause. Among
the Indians, an insane person was
hardly ever seen. They lived in con
tact with nature.
The Independent once published the
constitution and by-laws of a. "Don't
Hurry Club." It would be well to
pass a law authorizing the organiza
tion of one in the gen eraV office of ev
ery railroad company. If put into force
it would do more to reduce accidents
than automatic brakes, electric signals
and all other contrivances of that
sort, for it must be remembered that
behind all these devices must be a hu
man mind that is alert and not ex
hausted if accidents are to be avoided.
SALISBURY MIGHT TELL
The English are excusing them
selves for the inhuman cruelties that
they have inflicted on the Boers by
reference to acts of other nations in
time of war. Joe Chamberlain is get
ting hot rejoinders from the German
chancellor for a reference to the acts
of the German army in its war with
France. Another Englishman says:
"Quite all of t the whites in the south
of fighting age were away from thtir
homes and ' left their women at the
mercy of 500,000 negroes during the
civil war." That was an unfortunate
reference as far as England is con
cerned. The negroes were more hu
mane than the English for they never
did any harm to the women. Sherman
marched through the south and al
though he said "war was hell," he
never thought that it was quite hell
enough to prompt him to gather the
southern women and children in con
centration camps and leave them there
to starve and die of disease. The
truth cannot be covered up. The Eng
lish have in this matter proven them
selves to be the worst barbarians who
ever pretended to be civilized. When
Weyler invented the practice, all the
world was horrified and the United
States went to war to fitop it. The Eng
lish have adopted the plan and have
been more successful in killing women
and children than ever Weyler was.
All decent Americans have protested
against it, but on account of the secret
treaty made with England, our govern
ment has not dared to say a word.-. If
it did. Lord Salisbury might publish
that agreement and that would be the
end of the republican party.
MORE OFFICE HOLDERS
The increase in the number of office
holders in the United states under this
last republican regime is enormousl It
is impossible to tell how many, but
they mount up into the thousands! Tom
Cook and Cruzon hold two of them in
Porto Rico , and Nebraskans under
stand what sort of men they are. If
others who have been sent there from
the different states are of the same
sort, prayers should -be offered; three
times a!day by every devout Christian
that God may have mercy on the peo
ple of that island, for Tom CooS and
his partners from this state certainly
t ''
vi in .tk .9
men mount up Into the thousands per
year. The "insular" appointments, as
far as can be learned, except afew o!
the very highest, are mostly from the
same class of men. They could never
be elected to an office in the '" states
where they have performed their polit
ical work for the party. The people
know their characters too well. Such
men are selected to teach the Pilipinos
and others "not capable of self-government"
theVAnglo-Saxon way of civili
zation. It is the same sort - of ap
pointees who once were sent . to' Ind
ian reservations to civilize the Ind
ians. What sort of civilization--they
took with them can be gathered from
an answer given by an Indian who was
giving testimony before a' congres
sional investigation committee. The
Indian was asked If a certain chief
was civilized. He answered: "Very
much. , He drink whisky. He play
cards. He swear. He very much civ
ilized." Not satisfied with this present
enormous Increase vIn officeholders, a
proposition has been submitted to con
gress to create a new cabinet officer to
be called "secretary of commerce." If
the new department is created it
means a host more of officeholding em
ployes. In each department at Wash
ington there are several thousand and
this department, it was declared on the
floor of the senate the other day, would
be the most Important one in the
whole cabinet That means several
thousand more officeholders.
.The statistics show that there is a
constant increase of paupers, insane
and criminals. The republican party
is determined that the officeholding
class shall keep up with the increase
in the other dependent classes. That
is, however, in accordance with the
fitness of things. They also live on the
contributions of the public.
TIIE GOLD STANDARD
In ten thousand editorials in the
plutocratic dailies during the last
three years there has appeared the as
sertion: "We have the gold standard"
or "Since we had the gbld standard."
If that was true what are the repub
licans up to now? Do they intend to
overthrow the gold standard? What
do they want to tinker with the gold
standard for? Several bills have been
introduced into congress by them to
change the whole financial system,
chief among them the Overstreet bill
to make silver dollars redeemable in
gold, which has been favorably re
ported. The truth about the matter Is that
these editors were lying and intended
to lie, when they declared we had the
gold standard. We have never had
anything approaching the gold stand
ard and every time we got' further
away from it the country has hal
some years of prosperity. We are
further away from it now than we
ever were before and that accounts
for the present business activity. Thf
gold standard means that there shall
be nothing legal tender but gold. We
have something like $800,000,000 ?n
this country that is more or less legal
tender that is not gold. There are .
all of the greenbacks and silver dol
lars. As soon as the republican party got
into power the last time it went to
coining silver in larger quantities than
it was ever coined before and instead
of establishing the gold standard they
went still further away from it than
ever. Every time they coined a silver
dollar, "standard money of the Unit
ed States and not redeemable in any
other kind of money," they got just
that much further away.
The republicans used to declare that
the silver dollars were redeemable In
gold and that was the only reason that
they were at par with gold. They made
all the mullet heads believe that. But
now they say they must make them re
deemable and back up the Overstreet
bill with all their might. The intro
duction of that bill is an official state
ment that we do not have the gold
standard.
The patriotic gentlemen who want
to get an exclusive franchise to lay a
cable to Hawaii and the Philippine
Islands make some very queer argu
ments in support of the claim that
they ought to be given the franchise.
One of'them appeared before a con
gressional committee the other day and
posed as aNpure philanthropist willing
to give some millions of dollars just
for, the public good in laying a cable.
He said it could cost the government
fifteen millions to lay a cable against
the probable Income of a hundred and
fifty thousand dollars per. annum, but
his company was willing to take the
job off the government's hands.
The eastern literary journals and
great newspapers are quoting many
epigrams, from ' Mr. Bryan's recent
speeches in . New England, amon?
them the following: "Peace to be per
petual must have in It an element of
justice." "That " is real patriotism
which gives the body to the country
when the country needs the body, the
head when it needs the head and the
heart when it needs the heart." "A
man with no . higher ideal than tha
making of money hasn't got an Idea!
such as entitles him to be called a
' I V - E. A. SCuTTiY I X