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The Commoner.
Vol. 'i. No. 38.
Lincoln, Nebraska, August 3, 1001.
$1.00 a Year
Admiral Schley. ;i ;
When the first news reached the American
people concerning the Santiago naval battle
the impression was that Admiral Sampson was
the real hero of the occasion. This was due
to the fact that Admiral Sampson sent; to the
president a message in which he said that "the
fleet under my command" offered the American
nation the Santiago victory as a Fourth of
July present. But as soon as the newspaper
reports and the statements of eye witnesses
came in, it developed that Admiral Sampson,
while theoretically in command of the Ameri
can fleet, was at least twelve miles from the
scene of hattle, and that it waB Admiral Schley
who commanded and led the splendid fight.
Immediately a systematic attack was opened
upon Schley, although that great sailor did not
indulge in boasting of any character. In re
ply to a question he said "there is glory enough
in this victory for all of iis." Since then the
adherents of Sampson and the administration
politicians have kept tjhe newspapers filled with
things intended, to discredit Schley, but that
officer hits maintained a dignified silence.
Finally, because of 'formal and serious at
tacks made upon him, Admiral Schley has been
forced, in defense of his manhood, to demand
a court of inquiry. His statement to the
newspapers after having demanded this court
of inquiry are characteristic of the man. He
said, "It is a very great pity that there should
be a controversy over matters wherein every
body did his best." How different this is from
the attitude assumed by the enemies of Admi
; ral Schley.
It is indeed a very great pity that there
should be any controversy over a matter where
in the world has given credit where credit be
longs. It is indeed a pity that there should be
any controversy that seeks to discredit a brave,
honorable and modest sea-fighter, who success
fully led the American forces in one of the
greatest, if not the greatest, naval battles in the
history of the world. It is indeed a very
great pity that the' politicians and the bureau
crats having the favor of this administration
should insist upon discrediting and abusing a
man who has Berve'd his country so faithfully
as Winficld Scott Schley has served the United
States of America.
Admiral Sampson's friends should be satis
fied with the fact that their favorite obtained
the prize money won in a battle in which he
did not participate, and that his face is to grace
& medal that is to commemorate a fight in
which he did not take part. It should be suffi
cient for them that Admiral Schley has never
made any claim as to his part in the great bat
tle in Santiago Bay; that he has been content
for the newspaper correspondents and other
witnesses to give the fagots to the American
people. The difficulty is that these statements
have convinced the American people that
Schley was the real hero of the day and enti
tled to all the honors at the hands of a grate
ful people, oven though ho is denied the emolu
ments in the way of prize money and medals.
W
Equality in Taxation.
The Ohio democratic platform demands
that railroad and street car lines shall bear
their fair share of taxation. The plank reads
as follows:
"Steam and electric railroads and other cor
porations possessing public franchises shall bo as
sessed in the same proportion to their salable value
as are farms and city roal estato."
Who will deny tho proposition therein
stated? Who will assume to suggest a different
basis of assessment? The railroad enjoys the
right of eminent domain; ,it can take any prop
erty it wants for railroad purposes. The sta.te
. surrenders. to,,it enough of sovereignty toujen
able it to demand any man's land, even his
homestead, upon the tender df its salable value.
The street car line enjoys a valuable fran
chise, usually secured from the people's repre
sentatives without the knowledge of the people
themselves. Why should the ordinary indi
vidual, who receives from his government no
franchises, bonuses, subsidies, or special privi
leges, pay taxes upon the full -value of his land,
while the railroads and the street car lines pay
taxes on but a small per cent of the value of
their property? Why should the farmer be
compelled to pay taxes on the full value upon
his horses, cattle, hogs, and other walking
stock, while railroads and street car lines pay
on but a small per cent of the value of their
rolling stock? Mayor Johnson is responsible
for tho insertion of this plank, and it is emi
nently just. The candidates upon the state
ticket can afford to challenge their opponents
to discuss this proposition before the people of
their state. Equality before the law is a maxim"
that is being more and more ignored. The
democrats of Ohioare to be congratulated upon
their attempts to revive this principle in state
affairs. They would have been wiser if they
had applied it to national affairs as well.
A Just Criticism.
On another page will be found an extended
quotation from the United States Investor. If
a democratic paper had used the same language
in regard to the methods employed by banks
it would have been denounced by the fiuancial
organs and accused of stirring up discontent,
but this conservative republican paper says
nothing that is not apparent to everyone who
will investigate. The banks make plenty of
money in ordinary times, and yet they are not
safe in times of panic. Men who handle trust
funds have, no right to risk them in specula
tion, and we need more stringent laws for the
regulation of banks, but how can we secure
safe banking so long as the bankers exercise a
controlling influence over politics? Tho editor
of Tiik Commoxuk, when a member of con
gress, tried to secure the enactment of a law
taxing national bank deposits to raise a fund to
guarantee depositors against loss, but it was
defeated by the banking influence. The In
vestor's article is worthy of careful and thought
ful consideration.
W
Democratic Remedy for Trusts.
Mr. Louis F. Post, one of the best of men,
editor of the Public, one of the most valuable
of our w ekly papers, takes the editor of Thk
CoATMf ji.it to task for suggesting again the trust
remedy proposed by him more than a year ago,
-ainLcndoraecL by the Kansas' City convention.
Mr. Post is so conscientious in his criticism
that he deserves more attention tharr those wlio
find fault merely for the pleasure it gives them
to do so.
The remedy proposed by Mr. Bryan is,
briefly, that, in addition to state legislation,
there should be a federal law shutting the cor
poration up in the state of its origin, or pro
hibiting it from engaging in interstate com
merce, until it shows that there is no water in
its stock and that it is not trying to monopo
lize any branch of business or the production
of any article of merchandise. After enumer
ating the remedies above suggested Mr. Post
says:
"These propositions, coming from a democrat
to tho democracy though Mr. Bryan has pro
posed them before, and thereby smoothed the way
for them must be at least disturbing to men who
shrink from the republican tendency, already
alarmingly strong, to centralize all power in th
national government; while those who dread th
advances of socialism, must be aghast at this
democratic proposition to strengthen enormously
the foundations already laid for making of the
American government a great socialistic state.
All those proposals for federal action are central
izing, federalistic, and in an objectionable sense
socialistic, save only onethat with reference to
. the abolition of protection for trust-made gooda,
. Judged only by his remedy Mr. Bryan might fair
ly be supposed to have decided the issue of com
petition versus socialism against competition. Yob
that is not what he intends to do. He believed that
this complex machinery fn restraint of free trade
would extinguish private monopoly."
Laws must deal with conditions and under
present conditions it is impossible to deal witk
the trust question completely by means of
state laws. A state can prevent the orginiaa-
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