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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (May 10, 1901)
The Commoner. pecuniary value is recognized by both the donor and the donee, and that a pass may have an in fluence upon the mind and decision of a juror or judge is understood by the railroad if not by the recipient of the pass. Corporations do not give away things of value without expect ing a return in some form, and they would not continue to give passes unless they felt that this expectation had been realized in the past. The parties to a suit are entitled to a fair and impartial trial, and a trial cannot be fair or impartial if the judge or a juror is under pecuniary obligations to one of the parties to the suit. As long as men can be influenced by "zeal born of benefits received and fdstered by the hope of favors yet to come," as. Mr. Cleve land once felicitously expressed it, they will be tempted to lean toward the side from which the benefit comes. It cannot be stated as an universal or invariable rule that a pass is a bribe, nor can it be said that it always influ ences the person who receives it, but until a passometer is invented which will measure the influence of free transportation upon the judi cial mind, the only safe plan is to prohibit the use of passes by those who arc to decide con troversies to which a railroad is a party. If a judge is required to travel in the discharge of official duties his expenses are provided for; if he has occasion to travel on private business he can bettor afford to buy a ticket than the average man. If any one will observe he will 'find that those who need free transportation most' arc unable to secure it, and that those best able to pay their faro arc. the ones who have- the 'influence necessary to secure .passes. W i - Predicting Panic. A marked degree of pessimism concerning business conditions is noticeable in many re publican papers. This is particularly true of the great financial journals. The United States Investor, one of the leading financial pub lications, appears to be particularly blue. The Investor points out that the conditions at pres ent are very similar to the conditions of 1893, immediately prior to the great panic of that year. It says "The whole industrial and finan cial structure in this country may be likened to a man in mid air on a tight rope, arid it adds that the conditions "might very well suggest to Wall Street the advisability of getting things in snug condition." It is not difficult to obtain the idea from the Investor's language that that publication expects a panic in the near future. The In vestor reiterates the statement made by it in its issue of February 11, 1899, on which occa sion the Investor said: "The subject is a ghastly one; and we should not refer to It at this juncture, were It not that the links out of which the next panic is to he constructed are being forged before our very eyes. Trusts are the agency which will pro 'duce the next panic in this country, and we are ' J the opinion that the wreck will equal any that have preceded It." It will bo instructive to. recall the claims made by the financial publications in 1893. They told us then .that the purchasing clause of the Sherman law was responsible for all our ills, and a great clamor wont up from these publications, which clamor found an echo in tho Republican newspapers demanding the re peal of that clause. The repeal was effected, but the panic came nevertheless. And then they told us that the reform was not accom plished soon enough. All that was necessary, so they told us, to place this country above and beyond tho fear of a panic was to restore confidence by banishing all danger of bimetal lism and .establishing the single gold standard. Since then wo have had two national cam paigns, and republicans have interpreted the result as a popular verdict in favor of the single gold standard. Tho law enacted a year ago makes possible tlue redemption of every dollar of our money, silver included, in gold. The republicans are in complete control, and it is known to all the world that if anything is necessary to place this country any nearer the single gold standard than it is at this moment, the administration is in position to secure it. How does it happen, then, that under these conditions we are threatened with a panic? The United States Investor informs us that trusts are the agency which will produce the next panic in this country, and the Investor is of the opinion that "the wreck will equal any that have preceded it." How does it hap pen, then, that the financial journals, like the Investor, that were so anxious for the repeal of the purchasing clause of the Sherman law,' that were so bitterly antagonistic" to anything in the form of bimetallism, that held out to us such alluring promises if wo would but adopt the single gold standard how does it happen that these publications have no word of pro test to utter against the system which they now openly declare will be responsible for a disastrous panic? When they thought, or pre tended to think, that silver was responsible for our ills, they didn't hesitate to speak out. When they thought, or pretended -to think, that the prospect of bimetallism aggravated our conditions, they did not hesitate to pro test against bimetallism. When they thought that the single gold standard would provide a remedy for our financial evils they did not hes itate to urge the application of that remedy. How docs it happen that at this moment they are content with making dire predictions as to the result of the trust system without entering any protest against the encouragement of that system? Virginia's Temptation. Virginia seems likely to have, a spirited contest over a proposed section in her new con stitution restricting the appropriation for the education of the negroes. 'The plan suggested, and strange to say it has received considerable support, is to provido that the appropriation for negro schools shall be in proportion to the taxes paid by the colored people. The Richmond Times denounces the scheme, in the following language: "The state will cruelly have neglected its duty If it give to tho white children the means of primary education, and withhold it from the chil dren that are black. Nor do we believe that the peoplo of Virginia are willing that this cruel thing bo done." Senator Daniels in a letter recently pub lished says: "Primary education ought to bo free to all. With tho threo It's open to everybody they have tho keys that unlock tho book of knowledge, and It is tholr own fault or peculiar misfortune If they do not then work out their own salvation. You will observe that I speak of primary education. I do so because I think much of education has been wasted, and there is ample room for Im provement and reform without disturbing tho foundations of education and denying to any ono primary opportunities. Our own peoplo are liberal .by nature and history, and tl to was novcr a time when thoy could better afford to bo liberal by interest. Every southern state and every border state has had a constitutional con vention, and some of thorn t'wo constitutional con ventions sinco Virginia's last ono, in 1867. All of these states have had racial questions to deal with, and some of them wore si i'red to the highest pitch of Indignation by tho atrocities of carpet bag government. Yet in no ono of the i has any such radical move as tho partition of school funds by severe racial lines ever found favor. This is a most significant fact. It shows tho concurrent opinion of all commonwealths similarly situated to ours that no such step Is advisable. "Wo would isolate ourselves by taking it and chill tho temper of reform." Tho question raised is one of very serious importance of far greater importance than the educational qualification which has been adopted in some of the states. An educational qualification, however objectionable it may seem at tho time, is only a temporary barrier, for with a proper school system the franchise is'soon within the rdach of all; but' to disfran chise the ndgro by an educational qualification and then deny him the means of getting an education, is a much more serious matter. While it may seem a hardship for the white peoplo to bear so largo a share as they do of tho expenses of instruction for colored children, thoy find- some recompense in tho fact that they own a largo share of the taxable property. In no state of the union is there an attempt to make each family or class pay for its own education. In every community the expense of public schools is paid by gen eral taxation. Very often large taxpayers Have few chil dren or none at all, but they arc compelled to contribute to the support of schools because every citizen of a community is interested in tho education of all the members of the com munity. Life and property are more secure and existence more tolerable in proportion as the people are developed in mind and char acter. If the people of Virginia are short sighted enough to yield to the temptation and abandon their efforts to educate the black people among them, they will pay a terrible penalty in being compelled to live among people brutalized by ignorance. Tho amount of money saved would be a small return for the peril which they would bring upon themselves and their children. Jefferson, whose dust makes sacred the soil of Monticello, was a firm believer in a common school system which would place the advantages of education within the reach of 4 "l j I I