The Commoner.
Vol. i. No. 16.
Lincoln, Nebraska, May 10, 1901.
$1.00 a Year
William J. Bryan,
Editor and Proprietor.
Bravo! Judge Thompson.
On another page will be found a synopsis of
tlie opinion delivered by Judge Owen P. Thom
son, of Jacksonville, 111., in the suit brought at
Springfield against the state board of equaliza
tion, to compel the assessment of some Chicago
corporations which were almost entirely es
caping taxation. Enough of the opinion is
given to show the facts as they were brought
out at the trial, the conduct of respondents
and the reasoning upon which the decision was
based.
It was fortunate for the tax-payers of Chi
cago that the case was tried before a brave and
honest judge, one who could not be awed or in
fluenced by the great corporations which were
shirking their duty, and throwing upon others
the burdens which they themselves ought to
. .bear. It is to bo hoped that the daily papers
. twnlcli report with fidelity the small stealings
by obscure persons will give due attention to
this suit which involves $235,000,000 with
held from assessment by well known corpora
tions. Solomon Simon seems ' to have been the
only member of the Board of Equalization who
tried to protect the plain every-day citizens.
Long life and health to Judge Thompson
and Solomon Simon!
Planning an Extended Trip.
The friends of Hon. David B. Hill are
planning an extended trip for him. The
movement originates at Tacoma, Washington,
and the details are being worked out with
great care. An invitation has been drawn up
and signed by the chairman of the democratic
state committee of the state of Washington,
and by the national committeeman for that
state. It is intended to have the invitation
signed by the state chairmen and national
committeemen of the states of Minnesota,
"North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington,
Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming
Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and In
diana, and countersigned by the democratic
and fusion governors and senators in the above
mentioned st-ates. The invitation is then to be
endTorsed by the democratic congressional com
mittee of the 57th Congress, and presented to
Mr. Hill about next January. The visit to
the Pacific coast is to bo made during the con
gressional campaign of 1002, and is, of course,
entirely in the interests of the democratic party,
although it is not expected that Mr. Hill will
refuse to avail himself of any political advan
tage which the trip may bring to him person
ally. Those who have the matter in charge
feel sure that ther distinguished New Yorker
can bo prevailed upon to accept the invitation
if it is spontaneous and fortified by the en
dorsements above mentioned.
It is also suggested that sido excursions may
be made into Michigan, Wisconsin, South Da
kota, Kansas and Missouri. The plans are
being arranged fifteen months ahead, first, be
cause they are very complex and, second, in
order to supply any pressure necessary to over
come Mr. Hill's natural reluctance to under
take so conspicuous and disinterested a work.
As the states to be visited happen to be the ones
in which democrats, populists and silver repub
licans co-operate, it will bo interesting to know
whether Mr. Hill will undertake to persuade
the democrats of the west to oppose fusion and
thus aid the republican party, or whether he has
become a convert to those policies which have
led to the triple alliance.
....... Roosevelt .ah . Duty. , iw .
The vice-president dolivered a speech a few
nights ago before the Homo Market Club of
Boston. A perusal of his remarks convinces
one that he shares with the president the ten
dency to apply the term "duty" to those things
which he desires. He says:
"For good or for evil, we now find ourselves
with ndw DUTIES in the West Indies and new
DUTIES beyond the Pacific. We cannot escape
the performance of these DUTIES. All wo can de
cide for ourselves is whether wo shall do them
well or ill."
The fact that these "duties" were self-imposed
and are clung to in spite of the fact that
they involve a violation of American princi
ples, cuts no figure. It is all in the definition
of duty. According to republican logic it is
very wrong to steal unless you find something
which is very valuable then larceny becomes
a duty. The fact that you may be. compelled
to take human life in order to get the thing
desired is immaterial call it duty and sin be
comes a virtue.
A little later on in his speech the real secret
of the Philippine policy leaks out. Mr.
Roosevelt says:
"In developing these islands it is well to keep
steadily in mind that business Is one of the great
levers of civilization. It is immensely to the in
terest of the people of the islands that their re
sources shouldbe developed, and therefore it is to
their interest even more than to ours that our
citizens should' develop their industries. The
further fact that it is our duty to see that the de
velopment takes place under conditions so care
fully guarded that no wrong may come to the
islanders, must not blind us to the first ceat fact,
which is the need of development."
The reasoning is complete. Business is a
-
civilizor; the Filipinos need civilizing, and we
arc nothing if not business-like. Therefore,
it is to the interest of the Filipinos that we
should develop them for their good. This is
strenuous life, and lest somo might bo re
strained by conscientious scruples, the Vice
President felt it necessary to impress upon his
hearers that "the first great fact" is the "need
of development." Tho "duty to sec that the
development takes place under conditions so
carefully guarded that no wrong may come to
tho islanders" is simply a "further fact" not
"the first great fact" and, "must not blind
us" to tho principal thing "tho need of de
velopment." Nowhere does Mr. Roosevelt discuss tho
effect of tho now policy upon our theory of
government; no whore does ho attempt to ex
plain why a colonial system was wrong in 1770
and right now. His whole argument can bo
summed up as follows: Wo arc in the Philip
pine Islands no matter how we got there, we
are there; whether there for good or evil, we
cannot getaway; it looks as if itwereprovi
. dezitial f or themandbesidesy tliore4s"m6ney
in it for us.
- vv-
Watterson's Definition.
Mr. Watterson in a lengthy editorial in tho
Courier-Journal entitled "The I)ream of the
Dreamer," fixes, so far as he has power to do
so, the status of the editor of The Commokbk.
Quoting from The Commoner's .editorial
of three weeks ago he says:
"In these extracts Mr. Bryan shows himscif
not as a party leader, but as a moral philosopher.
They in turn disclose tho difference which exists,
and has always existed, between fact and theory
as illustrated by the conduct of men and the
movement of the world. To lay down principles
is easy enough. Any man can sit in his watch
tower by the margin of the sea and descant upon
tho rules of navigation. The mariner tossed l '
tho raging billows applies himself to tho needs of
the moment, the state of his steering gear, tho
leaks in his hol.d, the character of his cargo, the
condition of his crew, the weather and the points
both of the compass and his destination. Yet
navigation is said to be an exact science, whilst
government, if a science at all, is least" exact of
all others; a bundle of quiddities, referable to the
passions of some, the interests of others, the ignor
ance of all; intensely, exclusively practical, tW
very sport and prey of the accidents of fortune.
"He is no statesman who has not learned to
detach his policies from his visions. He Is no
statesman who has not emancipated himself from
that which for want of a better name dreamers
call the ideal. He is no statesman who does not
apply his means to his ends, going fast or slow
as occasion requires, but making no mistake in
reading the riddle of the time, in deciphering the
mathematics of the moment, in translating the
spirit and temper of the people.
"Mr. Bryan, let us repeat, is a moral philos
opher not a statesman."
I would feel more overwhelmed by this