The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923, August 09, 1901, Image 1
The Commoner. $ Vol. i. No, 29. Lincoln, Nebraska, August 9, 1901. $1.00 a Year A Word to the Disappointed. In accordance with a call issued immediately after the Ohio convention, a number of demo crate met at Columbus last week and registered a protest against the action of the Ohio demo crats in refusing to endorse the Kansas City platform. A platform was adopted and a ticket headed by Dr. Reemelin of Cincinnati, was placed in the field. As the gentlemen who attended this meeting are political friends and supporters, the editor of the Commoner feels that he should submit some observations with regard to the action taken. They have ample reason to feel disappoint ed at the course pursued by the regular con vention. If it had been necessary to fight the campaign entirely on state issues, no reference would have been made to national questions. The fact that the platform devoted more space to national than to local subjeots was proof that the excuse given for a refusal to endorse the Kansas City platform was shallow and in sincere. The fact that the convention avoided other subjects of present md great importance snowed thaf the silver plank was notthTifly" plank in the Kansas City platform which was objectionable to the men who dominated the resolutions committee. The friends of the Keemelin ticket can be excused for entertaining a suspicion that the men who objected so stren uously to the Kansas City platform would ob ject as strenuously to any definite and positive political remedy. But the question which con fronts the loyal democrats of Ohio is how best to correct the mistakes made by the convention and thus rescue the democratic party from the control of those who would republicanizo it. The fact that the platform contains much that is good, together with the further fact that the candidates nominated, from Mr. Kilbourne down through the entire list, have been supporters of of the party ticket in recent campaigns, would make it impossible to organize a bolt with any promise of success. The first effect of a bolt ing ticket would be, therefore, to augment the chances of lepublican success this fall. The second effect would be to lessen the influence of the bolting democrats in future party con tests. It is not fair to assume that the conven tion spoke for the rank and file in repudiating the Kansas City platform and those who leave the party at this time, weaken -the reform ele ment of the party and give to the gold and cor poration element greater proportionate in fluence in the party management. Whether the Ohio democracy is to take its positional the Grover Cleveland side of public issues w a question yet to be determined a question to be determined at the primaries after the people understand the issues present ed. To leave the party at this time is to assume the battle lost and, by assuming it lost, help the enemy. When the fight was mado be tween 1805 and 1890 we had an administration to fight as well as all the banks and railroads; now, many who were against us then act open ly with the enemy and those who have returned after a temporary sojourn in the camp of the enemy are handicapped by the record they havo made. There is no evidence that the democratic voters in Ohio favor a non-committal, evasive and ambiguous platform, such as the demo cratic party promulgated when the Wall Street influences were in control, and no one should assume the existence of such sentiment without positive proof. Let the democrats of Ohio commend the good parts of the Ohio platform and condemn the weak parts, but let them support the ticket. Then they should begin on the day after the election to so organize the democratic party of that state as to make it impossible for another convention to give as much encouragement to the republicans as the last convention did. moner is authorized to state that both of these pretended interviews were absolutely false. Mr. Towne says that he has not been inter viewed oh politics within three months and that the report sent out from New York was "a pure fake." Mr. Johnson is equally explicit in his de nial of the interview attributed to him. The democrats, populists and silver repub licans are unfortunate in that they havo so few democratic dailies of large circulation. There seems to be a concerted effort on the part of the republican and gold standard papers to mis lead the people as to public sentiment, and those who believe in democratic principles and desire genuine reform must rely almost wholly upon the weekly papers or upon the smaller dailies. For this reason it is tlio more important that the faithful and loyal papers should receivq the earnest and cordial support of true democrats. Opening a Reservation. The opening of the KiQwapgrnanche and Fake Interviews. Just now the republican papers and those so called democratic papers which spend their time in defending republican policies, are pub lishing fake interviews with democrats, popu lists and silver-republicans, calculated to stir up dissensions among those who are opposing -the administration. The meanest and most malicious of the false reports recently put into circulation was the statement attributed to Ex-Senator Towne just after the Ohio convention. In this pur ported interview Mr. Towne was made to pre dict the success of the re-organizers, the nom ination of Mr. Hill and the breaking up of the democratic party. All of the gold standard, trust and imperalistic papers seized upon this as a sweet 'morsel, and presented it as conclus ive proof of the death of the Kansas City plat form. As soon as this falsehood had time to get over the whole country another enterprising prevaricator came forward with a statement attributed to Mr. J. G. Johnson, the Kansas member of the democratic national com mittee, in which he wag reported as saying unkind things of Mr. Towne and Mr. Web ster Davis. The editor of The Commoner has become so accustomed to misrepresentation that he puts no faith in these alleged inter views, but he refers to them for the benefit of readers who having had less experience in the political methods of republican and gold papers have been disturbed by them. The Coir- Apache reservations1 ill the Indian Territory is an accomplished fact and the rush for home steads is over. The disappointed land seekers now havo time to reflect upon the situation and -to form an intelligent judgment as to the rules governing the distribution of land. In the first place, the administration is to be com mended for substituting the plan of drawing by lot for the old plan which made all appli cants toe the line and then, at a given signal, enter into a mad struggle to see who could reach a desirable quarter section first. It is much fairer to ascertain how many want to locate on the reservations and then allow those equally entitled to land to draw lots for posi tions, than to make the selections depend upon fleetness of foot or physical endurance. But why compel applicants to go all the way to the Indian Territory to file a claim? Why were they not allowed to send their claims to Washington? This would have given every one an equal chance. As it was, only one ap plicant in thirteen could secure an allotment and yet all the rest (except those who for speoial reasons were allowed to file their claims by proxy) were compelled to incur the expense and hardships of the trip. As no one knew in advance how many claimants there would be, each, person had to risk a considerable sum without knowing what chance he had to secure a home. Those living nearest to the place of filing had the best opportunity, because their traveling expenses were light, and in case of failure to secure land their loss was least. It was next to impossible for any one to go from a remote state. But the discrimination