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About The Nebraska independent. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1896-1902 | View Entire Issue (May 29, 1902)
V 1 1 1 1 I I I II II 11 WW 4 1 (. i 1 affirm ami ft ft V VOL. XIV, LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, MAY 29, 1902. NO. 2. V SENATOR HOAR'S SPEECH A Masterpiece of Earnest Eloquence and Pleading: for a Return to the Decla- ' ration of Independence Senator George Frisbie Hoar, the senior senator from Massachusetts, speaking on the pending Philippine bill, delivered one of the greatest speeches heard in the senate in a great while. Walter Wellman, writing to the Chicago-Record Herald, regard ing the effect it produced on the sen ate, says: "Profoundly impressed were all who watched and heard the white-headed old man today pour out his wealth of feeling, of culture, of intellect and of soul. The rankest imperialist sat only to admire. Young Mr. Beveridge was as one in a dream, Senator Lodge as in a trance, Mr. Spooner heroically taking notes like one who realizes the desperate nature of the task before him in framing answer; Mr. Carmack so beside himself with joy that as the aged senator sat down he could express his could express his feelings in no oth er way than by violently pounding his desk. "The question of questions which has to be answered and it can't be answered in a speech nor in the senate in any way, nor in one year or one campaign' is whether or not this won derful old man from the states of Web ster and Sumner is a poet-dreamer of days and things that have passed or an inspired prophet of the judgment that is to come. Thi3 answer must some day be given by the American people, and as a preparation therefor they can do no better than read what the senator from Massachusetts today so beautifully said to the silent, eager senate." The Independent regrets that it can not give the speech in full, but the fol lowing excerpts will show how pow erfully the subject was handled: "Mr. President We are not at war with the Filipino people. We made peace with Spain on the 14th day of February, 1899. Congress has never declared war with the people of the Philippine Islands. The president has never asserted nor usurped the power to do it. We are only doing on a large scale exactly what we have done at home within a few years past; where the military forces of the United States have been called out to suppress a riot or tumult or a lawless assembly. You have the same right to administer the water torture or to hang men by the thumbs, to extort confession, in one case as in the other. You have the same right to do it in Cleveland or Pittsburg or at Colorado Springs & you have to do it within the Philip pine islands. "I have the same right as an Amer ican citizen or an American senator to discuss the conduct of any military officer in the Philippine islands that I have to discuss the conduct of a mar shal or a constable or a captain in Pittsburg or in Cleveland if there were a labor riot there. That duty I mean to perform to the best of my ability, fearlessly, as becomes an American citizen, and honestly, as becomes an American senator. 'There never was a time when, If we had declared that we only were in the Philippines to keep faiih with Spain, and that we only were there to restore order; that we were only there to see that no friend of ours should suffer at the hands of any enemy of ours, that the war would not have end ed in that moment. "If you had done to Cuba as you have done to the Philippine islands, which had exactly the same right, you would be at this moment in Cuba just where Spain was when she excited the indignation of the civilized world and we compelled her to let go. And if you had done in the Philippines as you did in Cuba, you would be today or would soon be in those islands as you are in Cuba. "When your fathers said when they founded the republic, the declarations of the great leaders of every genera tion, our century of glorious history, were appealed to in vain. Their les sons fell upon the ears of men dazzled by military glory and delirious with the lust of conquest. I will not repeat them now. My desire today is simply to call attention to the practical work ing of the two doctrines the doctrine of buying sovereignty or conquering it in battle, and the doctrine of the Declaration of Independence. For the last three years you have put one of them in fprce in Cuba and the other in the Philippine islands. I ask you to think soberly which method on the whole you like better. I ask you to compare the cost of war with the cost of peace, of justice with that of In justice, the cost of empire with the cost of republican liberty, the cost of the way of America and the way of Europe, of the doctrine of the Declara tion of Independence with the doctrine of the holy alliance. You have tried both. I hope, to your heart's content. "When we ratified the treaty of Paris we committed ourselves to ' one ex periment in Cuba and another in the Philippine islands. Here the two doc trines are brought into sharp antag onism. "You have given both doctrines a three years' trial. Three years is sometimes a very long time and some times a very short time in human af fairs. I believe the whole life of the Savior, after he first made His divine mission known, lasted but three years. Three years has wrought a mighty change in Cuba, and it has brought a mighty change in the Philippine is lands. We have had plenty of time to try both experiments. "Now what has each cost you and what has each profited you? In stat ing this account of profit and loss I hardly know which to take up first, principles and honor or material in terests I should have known very well . t which to take up first down to three i years ago what you call the senti- --" . - f . - mental, the ideal, the historical on the right side of the column, the cost or the profit in honor or shame and in character and in principle and moral influence, in true national glory; or the practical side, the cost in money and gain, in life and health, in wasted labor in diminished national strength or in prospects of trade and money getting. "I should naturally begin where our fathers used to begin. But somehow things get so Inextricably blended that we cannot keep them separated. This world is so made that you cannot keep honesty, and sound policy, and free dom, and material property, and good government, and the consent of the governed apart. "Men who undertake to make money by cheating pay for it by failure Jn business. If you try to contribute or der by military despotism you suffer for it by revolution and by barbarity in warfare. If a strong people tries to govern a weak one against its will the home government will get despotic, too. You cannot maintain despotism in Asia and a republic in America. If you try to deprive even a savage or a barbarian of his just rights you can never do It without becoming a sav age or a barbarian yourself. "Gentlemen talk about sentimental ities, about idealism. They like prac tical statesmanship better. Has there been any practical statesmanship in our dealing with Cuba? You had pre cisely the same problem In the East and in the West. You knew all about the conditions in Cuba. There has been no lack of councellors to whisper in the ears of the president and senate and house the dishonest counsel that we should hold on to Cuba without re gard to our pledges or our principles, and that the resolution of the senator from Colorado was a great mistake. "I do not know how other men may feel, but I think that the statesmen who have had something to do with bring ing Cuba into the family of nations, when they look back on their career, that my friends who sit around me, when each comes to look back upon a career of honorable and brilliant public service, will count the share they had in that as among the bright est, the greenest and the freshest laur els in the their crown. "But I doubt whether any man who has sat in this chamber since Charles Sumner died, or whether all who sit here now put together, have done a more Important single service to the country than did the senator from Colorado in securing the passage of the resolution which pledged us to deal with Cuba according to the prin ciples of the Declaration of Independ ence ,-, . .. . :;; ,.s .. ... "You also, my imperialistic friends, have had jour ideals and your senti mentalities. One Is that the flag shall never be hauled down where it once floated. Another is that sovereignty over an unwilling people may oe got by force of arms, as the booty of battle or the spoils, of victory. "What has been the practical states manship which comes from your ideats and your sentimentalities? You have wastdd $600,000,000 of treasure. You have sacrificed nearly 10,000 American lives the flower of our youth. You have devastated provinces. You have slain uncounted thousands of the peo ple you desire to benefit. You have established reconcentration camps. Your generals are coming home from their harvest, bringing their sheaves with them in the shape of other thou sands of sick and wounded and In sane to drag out miserable lives, wrecked in body and mind. You make the American flag in the eye of numer ous people the emblem of sacrilege In Christian churches, and of the burn ing of human dwellings, and of the horror of the water torture. "Your practical statesmanship, which disdains to take George Washington and Abraham Lincoln or the soldiers of the revolution or of the civil war as models, has looked in some cases to Spain for your example. I believe nay, I know that in general our officers are humane. But in some cases they have carried on your warfare with a mixture of American ingenuity "and Castilian cruelty. "Your practical statesmanship has succeeded in converting a people who three years ago were ready to kis3 the hem of the garment of the Ameri can and to welcome him as a liberator, who thronged after your men when they landed on those islands with ben ediction and gratitude, into sullen and irreconcilable enemies, possessed of a hatred which centuries cannot eradi cate. "The practical statesmanship of the Declaration of Independence and the golden rule would have cost nothing but a few kind words. They would have bought for you the great title of liberator and benefactor, which your fathers won for your country in the South American republics and in Jap an, and which you have won in Cuba. "They would have bought for you the undying gratitude of a great and free people and the undying glory which belongs to the name of liberator. That people would have felt for you as Japan felt for you when she declared last summer that she owed everything to the United States of America. What have your ideals cost you, and what have they bought you? "1. For the Philippine islands you have had to repeal the Declaration of Independence. For Cuba you have had to reaffirm it and give it new lust er. "2. For the Philippine islands you have had to convert the Monroe doc trine into a document of mere selfish ness. For Cuba you have acted on it and vindicated it. "3. In Cuba you have got the eter nal gratitude of a free people, in the Philippine . islands you have got the hatred and sullen submission of a sub jugated people. "4. From tJuba you have brought home nothing but glory. From the 1 ) t Y Continued on Page 6.) - 'f ' A DCDIIDI IfMU "UlTTf) n ii Lr uu li uftii mi i How Kepresentatire Hltt Stole Bepresent atlre Snlzer's Cuban Resolution Koch anibeaa Statue Death of Panncefute Washington, D. C. May 26. (Special correspondence.) "We have been con temporaries and fellow workers in the cause of Liberty and we have lived together as brothers should do, in har monious , friendship." When the large American flag was hauled down over the large statue of Comte d'Rouchambeau, these remark able words of Washington were shown again to the world a reminder of the amity which has existed and does exist between the United States and the Republic of France for over a cen tury. On Saturday the statue of Rochambeau was unveiled by the Comtesse d'Rochambeau. It was a magnificent gift from the French peo ple to the American people as a re minder of the great and noble work done by that great Frenchman, who gave his name and fortune to the cause of America in her war for freedom. It sits at the opposite corner of La Fayette square and just one block from the twin statue of La Fayette, which was presented to the United States from the same source. The day for unveiling was miserable, but notwithstanding an immense crowd was present and cheered to the echo the first appearance of the statue. There were quite a few distinguished personages present and several of them noted orators. President Roose velt, Ambassador Cambon, Ambas sador Porter and General Brugere were the distinguished speakers who preced ed the orator of the day, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. Even the most ardent friend of Lodge could not claim that his speech was a success. He has become so used to lauding the English policies of imperialism, that it came hard to speak good American doc trines. Of course he lauded Roch ambeau, but having finished that, he insulted the whole French company of guests by declaring that it was not be cause France loved the American col onists that she helped them. Her motive was entirely selfish England was her enemy and to even up with her, she allied herself with the "em battled farmers." At such a meeting a meeting to express thanks to the French government for the statue pre sented by them a meeting to glorify Rochambeau, whose personal fortune was expended for America to make such a speech was ah insult to the French government. Coming as it did from the president's "Next friend," the speech caused much unfavorable com ment. On Saturday morning at 5:35 o'clock, England last one of her most distin guished diplomats and ablest men. Sir Julian Pauncefote, the British am bassador to the United States, passed away peacably at the British legation in Washington. For some, months, this distinguished man has been troub led with rheumatic gout and later the affection reached the heart. De spite the fact that he knew his end was- near and that he was conscious that exertion only served, to hasten his demise, the ambassador refused to be relieved of his post and bravely stuck until the end. Whatever may be said of the ambassador's ability and of his mastery of the art of diplom acy, it must be truly said that he more than any man, was responsible for the American change of policy in dealing with the Philippines. He is the man who took McKinley to the top of the high mountain and showed him the beauties, of a colonial policy. He told him "all these things will I give you if you fall down and worship Great Britain." And McKinley, inebriated with the odors of ambition and avar ice, fell down. Then the "hunting in couples" was agreed upon, the British empire was to have free rein in South Africa and the United States would be allowed to pursue the same policies of conquest in the Philippines. And so the story concludes. Both of the nations are conducting the most hor rible of wars both to drive the spirit of liberty out of a despairing peo ple. I have heard some say that the decline of England'3 prestige was re sponsible for Pauncefote's death. That the Man In the White house was not so favorable to England a3 was his predecessor. That when the German emperor sent his brother over to make us a visit and we treated him so magnificently, Sir Julian had his first attack. That when, the French people presented the statue of Roch ambeau, the disease affected him strongly. When the German emperor offered a statue of Frederick the Great and it was accepted by President Roosevelt, Sir Julian felt that he must make an attempt to have an English statue accepted. So he strode to the White house and offered as a present from Edward VII, a statue of George III the man from whom we gained our liberties after eight years of war. When Roosevelt told him that the ac ceptance of such a statue would cause a riot, the old man felt that his end was not far off and so he died. Senator Hoar made one of the most magnificent speeches ever made in the whole history of the senate on Thursday last, when for over two hours, he scored the policy of sub jugation in the Philippine islands. "You have wasted six hundred mil lions of the nation's treasure. You have sacrificed nearly ten thousand of American lives the flower of our youth. You have slain uncounted thousands of the people you desire to benefit. Your generals are coming home from their harvest bringing their sheaves with them, in the shape of thousands of sick and insane to drag out miserable lives, wrecked in body and in mind. You make the American flag in the eyes of a numerous people, the emblem of sacrilege in Christian churches, ' and of the burning of hu man dwellings, and: of the horror of the water torture. I believe nay, I know that in general our officers are humane. ; But in some cases they have carried on your - warfare with a mix ture of American ingenuity and of Castilian cruelty" Such were the re markable words, of that distinguished old man, who lived in the days of Webster and Clay who has lived to know what the -word America means and who now despises the policy of crushing out the liberty of ten mil lions of striving people. Mr. Hoar maintained that this country was not at war. "You are fighting for sovereignty," he said. "You are fighting for the principle of eternal dominion over that people, and that is the only question at issue in this conflict." When it was determined to resort to force in the ? islands the govern ment took upon . itself the natural consequences of that act. The result of conflict of arms of such a character inevitably was, that there would be cruelty on one side and retaliation by cruelty on the other; and the respon sibility rested on those that made the policy. Mr. Hoar; aid that he was to discuss and denounce what seemed to him to be one, of the most wicked and foolish chapters, in the history of the world. He said that his conscience would not allow him to follow party leaders in such a J movement and that he was constrained to obey it. . He said that the share which it was pro posed to give the Filipinos in the pro posed scheme of government was an admission' that many of them were capable of self government. The United States, was fighting to secure a dependency not a republic a gov ernment of our making and . not one made by the ; Filipinos. . Discussing the testimony taken by the Philippines committee, Mr." Hoar said that it contained some pregnant admissions. Whatever has been done is vindicated by what the . Americans intend to do. What the fathers of the republic had said and what they had taught were appealed to in vain. "The lessons fell upon the ears of men daz zled by military glory and delirious with the lust of conquest." He com pared the situation in Cuba with that in the Philippines and demanded to know which was the better. . He declared the policy in the Phil ippines to be in contravention of the Monroe doctrine and in contradiction to the fundamental principles of the Declaration of "Independence. The government had erected a republic in Cuba and a , despotism in the Philip pines. After reviewing the capture of Agui naldo, Senator Hoar made an attack on his captor, General Funston. He intimated that the senate acted too hastily when it had favorably re ported the promotion of this general. If they had knowledge of him, the re port would have been otherwise. When Senator Hoar began there were senators on the floor but before he had fairly gotten under, -way, the galleries and the floor were filled. Democratic senators left their seats on the east " side and drew closer to this senator, who had left his party on this gravest of questions. And when' he had finished, the galleries rose en masse and cheered until the president of the senate, had to declare that they vould be cleared unless the enthus iasm subsided. But even this had lit tle effect after hearing the distin guished old senator so bitterly score the policies of his party. The senate has been entirely con cerned with the Philippine govern ment bill all during the week. While the house has passed many and un important bills. The democrats suc ceeded in breaking the cordon again and carried the house on Monday last on a vote on the naval bill. The case in point was as to the building of ships at the government navy yards and the democrats took up this ques tion and, aided by some republicans, succeeded in overcoming a large ma jority and passing the bill. It was a clear cut victory and only goes to show that the republicans are begin ning to break the dictates of their bosses and the democrats took advan tage of this break to pass a measure cf vital Importance and benefit to the American laborer. On Tuesday, the Stars and Stripes were hauled down from Moro castle and in their stead the Flag of Free Cuba was hoisted. The president of Cuba took his oath as president amid the cheering of thousands of Cubans. In the celebrated company were sev eral distinguished Americans. Hon. Willian Jennings Bryan was the most distinguished American there and the Cubans recognized him as the man who had done most to secure their in dependence. They gave a great ban quet in his honor and he responded' to the toast, "Patriotism." The Cubans were wild over him and he" was forc ibly reminded of the great love a peo ple have for their liberator and of the different situation in the Philip pines where liverty is being crushed out of its people. - On the same day, as is customary on such occasions, Representative Sul zer, the friend of Cuba in the house, and the man who did more for Cuba in that body than all others com bined, drew up a resolution congrat ulating Cuba on her entrance into the sea of nations. The resolution was modelled after the ones drawn up by Clay in the case of Bolivia and other South American republics. Mr. Sulzer saw the speaker, who refused to recog nize him unless he first saw Repre sentative Hltt, chairman of the com mittee on foreign relations. Sulzer went over and had a talk with Hltt, who said that such a resolution should come from the republican side of the house. Although, he admitted that they had never given the question a thought. - He said that he would not give the acquisite time to Sulzer, and - . (Continued, on Page 6.), k ' THE FOWLER BILL Mr.De Hart Comments on Taxation, The Gold Standard and the Fowler Bill FaTors Scientific Money The republic cannot stand unless rich folks are taxed according to their riches and the common people, as well as the rich, can control the volume of money. These two ideas are but one, because taxation and money are but one idea.. If it were not for taxes, we could get along without money. Mer chants, having goods for sale, would invent some means for exchanging them for other goods. In the country, now, merchants and farmers exchange their products without the interven tion of money, except that the total quantity of money in the country, in connection with the supply of any particular commodity, fixes the price for that commodity. For instance, if there are two billions of dollars In the country, as we are supposed to have, and each dollar is one hundred cents, then we have two hundred bil lions of cents in the country; and, if there are one hundred billion of eggs in the country for sale, as we sup pose, then we have twice as much money or cents in the country as there are eggs, which makes two cents for each egg, which is about the average price of eggs from one year's end to the other. As a matter of fact, eggs rise and fall in price throughout the year, because the supply is greater in some parts of the year than in other parts. If the supply of money in the country is the same throughout the year, is we suppose, then the price of eggs does not rise or fall by a greater or less supply of money, but by a greater or less supply of eggs. But, If there is a greater supply of money by fresh gold from Alaska or South Africa or any other part of the world, then eggs will have a tendency to rise, not only in winter when they are scarce, but in the summer when they are abundant, and this rise of the price of eggs is due, not to their scarcity, but to the greater abundance of money; and when there is this kind of a rise of eggs, there is a rise of all other com modities bought and sold for money. This kind of a rise of price Is known as a rise of the price level, a ris that extends throughout the nation where -ever Uncle Sam's money circulates. The volume or quantity of money In the country always determine the price level, not only of eggs, but of all other commodities. It not only fixes the average price of eggs at two cents a piece, but it fixes the average price of every other commodity. If we should diminish the quantity of money in the country one-half, then not only the average price of eggs would' be one-half, but the average price of all other commodities would be one-half. With the present quantity of money in the country, two billions of dollars, the whole wealth of the country, in private hands, is one hundred billions, according to the recent census. If we should double the quantity of money, then, other things being equal, the to tal value of all the property In the country would be two hundred mil lions; and, if we should make the money half as much, the total wealth would be fifty billions. In other words, the total money in the country gives a price to all real estate and every other kind of property; and this is equivalent to saying that the total money is the unit of value for the na tion. For instance, if corn is worth fifty cents per bushel and wheat a dol lar per bushel, then we not only have the value of corn and wheat, as meas ured by money, but we have the value of corn and wheat with respect to each other; and, if each bushel of corn Is worth fifty cents and each bushel of wheat is worth a hundred cents, we have ascertained that one bushel of wheat is worth two of corn; in other Words, we have ascertained the value of wheat and corn with respect to each other, by means of our money; and having ascertained this, those who have more wheat than they want, can exchange it for corn In the ratio of one of wheat for two of corn without the intervention of money, the latter, that is, the total money in the country be ing used for the purpose of fixing price the price determining not only the value of money with respect to any commodity, but the value of any one commodity with respect to any other commodity. In this way the total money in a country becomes a unit, not for measuring length, but for measuring values by first fixing prices. When we say that rich folks should pay taxes in proportion to their riches and that the rich and poor should all have a voice in controlling the volume of money, we are simply asking tnat the rich should not exclusively reg ulate the unit of value. If they should, they can reduce the quantity or mon ey one-half and thereby reduce the value one-half of every commodity vhen expressed in money. This would rot enable them to change the relative value of wheat and corn or the relative value of any other two commodities, but they could change the value of bo'li wh?at and corn with respect to taxes. Suppose, for instance, they should diminish the quantity of money one-half, so that there would be only one billion of dollars in the country in stead of two, this would reduce the price of wheat from a dollar a bushel to fifty cents, and of corn from fifty cents to twenty-five cents per bushel, but it would not change the relative value of the. two commodities, be cause two bushels of corn would still be equal to one of wheat, and all the farmeis Jn the country could still go on exchanging two of com for one of wheat, as they bad been, before the change in the quantity of money, and all others .having commodities to ex change could go on exchanging thm in the same old ratio. Nobody ap parently would be Injured until the time .came to pay. taxes. Then, if the taxes were rot reduced one-half, as the quantity of luoney had been re duced, these who had to pay taxes by first selling commodities for money and taking the money to the tax col lector, woulG fnd that it required twice as many commodities to pay the same amount of taxes and that they were cheated by those who had changed the quantity and value of money. It !r very easy to tea that, if the value of money is doubled (as it Is) when the quantity is reduced one-half ; and all prices are hair as high, those who havo the f ame amount ol taxes to pay in dollars are cheated by the increased value of each and every dollar. This is the danger of allowing rich folks to control the volume and value of money. We do not pay taxes directly, with commodities, but indirectly through the Intervention of money, so that money is a medium not only for the payment of taxes and other debts, but for the exchange of commodities. Money has two functions: (1) It Is a unit of value, by Its quantity In the nation; (2) It is a medium for the ex change of commodities and payment of debts. As a medium it is not so im portant as a unit of value, because we can and do use substitutes for money. Even in the payment of taxes we use substitutes for money. For Instance, bank notes and bank checks are ac cepted by tax collectors for money These are not money; they are only substitutes which, by custom, are used. If we had to pay taxes with money exclusively, we would have to take gold coin to the tax collectors. At least this would be the case if we had a strictly gold "standard," or money composed of nothing but gold coin. But even if all the greenbacks, silver coin and silver certificates were abol ished and there were no real money except gold coin, merchants, bankers and other rich men would use some kind of substitute for the payment of taxes. It always has been done and probably always will be. There are always more bank checks in circula tion for the payment of taxes and oth er debts than there is money in the banks or in the whole country. Al though we can do without money as a medium, we cannot do without it as a unit of value. As a unit of value it is always acting and in use, both in the country and in the city; In the country where there is no money and in the city where nearly all the money is; it acts in the country where mpney is invisible. For instance, the farmer takes his produce to the store and ex changes it for groceries and farming implements from the beginning to the end of the year, without seeing or handling any money of any conse quence. The country merchant and the farmer can exchange commodities, because the quantity of money in the country or in the city markets, in connection with the supply of each commodity, determines the price of every commodity. The price being determined in the city, the merchants and farmers in the country can ex change their merchandise without handling or seeing any money. This shows that money., as a unit of value is far more important than money as a medium of exchange or payment of debts. v Mr. Fowler's bill proposes to "main tain the gold standard." If he carries out his program, the money of the country will consist exclusively of gold coin, and the currency of the country will consist of the same gold coin and the substitutes therefor, which will be bank notes and bank checks, most ly. In other words, the unit of value in this country is to be the total amount of gold coin in the country. The mints are to be kept open to free and unlimited coinage of gold, so that, all the gold in the world can come to our mints and be coined without expense to the owners and without limitation as to quantity. At the same time the mints are to be closed to coin age of silver except for change; ana all kinds of money and currency are to be redeemable with gold coin: If this system Is carried out greenbacks will be abolished as well as silver money, except for change; and -the unit of value will' depend upon the quantity of gold coin there may hap pen to be in the country, and this quantity will depend largely upon the amount of gold that may happen to come from the mines. It is estimated that enough of new gold will come an nually from Alaska to make $30,000. 000. This will help to enlarge the unit of value and to raise, not lower, the price level. It is thought that the war in South Africa is to end very. soon, that the mines there will be opened and that a hundred millions of gold will soon come from there annually. This will also help to enlarge the unit of value and to raise prices still high er. This will make it easier to pay taxes, because prices of commodities will be higher. To even up things, it will be necessary to raise taxes, or. else those who live on taxes will be pinched. It will also be necessary to raise the rates of Interest or else those who live on interest will be short. Higher prices of commodities mean higher living expenses for bondholders and office-holders.' With this prospect in sight it is probable that the office holders and the bondholders will sug gest to Mr. Fowler that it will not be safe to keep the mints open i to free and unlimited coinage of gold, unless all the new gold coin can be used to take the place of greenbacks and sil ver money retired, so that there is no real enlargement of the volume of money. Office-holders and bondhold ers are always afraid of high prices when they come from cheap money. They are as much afraid of gold as any other kind of money when it Is too cheap, as it always is when it comes from the mines in very great abund ance. , . If we must have a gold "standard," it is now a favorable time to have it v . (Continued on Page 6.)4 LET THE PEOPLE SPEAK Senator Stewart Calls Upon the Amtri People to Speak Their Mind oa all Thia Horrible Philippine Affair Editor Independent: The dlsnatcb es inform us that there is peace in Samar. I hope that Edgerton will commemorate this peace in verse. Yes, there is peace in Samar. There is peace in the grave, peace in the ashes of the burned homestead, in the rav aged fields and burned villages, peace on the mesa where their slaughtered stock once ranged, peace In what is left of the family circle, for they dure not know each other's thoughts oc they may be tortured and put to death for not divulging them to the merci less invader. ' And what has brought this peaceful dream? The American army has been there carrying the flag of Washington and Lincoln, burning homes; torturing and killing "everything over 10 years old was the order. And, strange to say Americans were found who would car ry out such a hellish order. The men who ordered and did such work as this should be shot, or at least never allowed to disgrace American soil by their presence here. Two men give evidence that a Christian priest was tortured to death because ho would not betray his country. A Christian bridal party massacred as they gath ered around the altar. Men held down and poured full of muddy water and sand because they loved their liberty and their native land, and would suf fer such as this before they would betray it. These things are crimes crimes too base and hideous for tho record of a savage tribe. Think of the army of this mighty republic (the land of justice, equal rights and free dom) butchering the ten-year old children of a people whose crime Is tneir intense love of liberty, inspired by our own immortal declaration of the right of man. Great God! Have you no vengeance? And if so, why, oh why will you not stop this invasion and massacre? No tongue or pen can properly characterize these terrible acts, nor could the seas wash clean the men who stand behind them. And who Is responsible for these crimes? The president of the United States of America. It is the president's war, and he has assumed to be the supreme despot of that country. It was started by him. Read his proclamation issued immediately after the Paris treaty. If that is not a declaration of war then one was never penned. It could lead to nothing elEe If there was a spark of manhood in the Filipino breast. When he read that document he knew he must sub mit or fight. In our declaration, and in all the principles of government which Americans hold dear, we hold that sovereignty rests in the people of a country. But the president says we purchased sovereignty over thoe people from Spain. How daro he. sworn head of this nation, defame the central principle of our governmental structure which he has sworn to up hold and acknowledge and recognize, that a just sovereignty over a peoplo nay and does rest in a king and can be purchased and transferred. AnG. from such an unamerican position ho sends forth the American army to butcher and ravage and burn betausu these people think as we do, that sov ereignty is inherent in themselves. It Is useless to talk about who did theso terrible things. They are done because our army is there, and he Is its commander-in-chief. He sent them there, where they have no right to be, for two years. The papers have been pub lishing these reports. Now they ura investigating and whitewashing tuo brutal tools of a brutal despotism. To investigate, convict, then pardon may make political capital, but It will not wash the stain from bloody lianas. It will not restore the spotless honor of a flag hitherto unsullied by bru tality and murder. It will not blot out the crimson disgrace put upon torture. It cannot restore to life, liberty and happiness the victims of his power and is therefore of no avail. Does this nation, this people, endorse this most inhuman course? Does the re publican party wish to bo responsible for defamation of the principles of the Fathers and the destruction of tho form of government they establishel for the overthrow of human rights and the building of a bloody and des potic empire on the graves of a heroic people? Its commercial head, its hoard of carpet bag politicians, may b willing to do anything wherein thero is exploitation and plunder, but I can not believe that the rank and flic of .the republican party will Etand by them if they once learn the horrible facts. Let those who have learned them speak out There has been too much silence among the people. Let it come from every village and hamlet until the world shall know that the un holy war was conceived and born In the hearts and minds of a cabal of avaracious brutes who have gathered around the heart of this nation and are using our name and power to sat isfy their greed and that our people without regard to party will condemn and punish. H. G. STEWART, Mitchell, Nebr. The Only Practical Remedy There is only one practical way to defeat the schemes of the trusts to manipulate the market, and that is to put an end to the system by which; the government protects the men who speculate at the expense of the food of the common people. Breaking down the tariff walls is the only meth od that will be of practical utilitv. The democrats should insist upon th!s Issue, and at least force the republi cans to place themselves on record. Boston Traveler.