ipwTrr!
5
W .
"Within .the
leaning of ilio
Ctretitutltn.
Congressman Stevens of Minnesota, -who was
conspicuous in the fight against the ship subsidy,
' - has-announced'that the -new bill
important makes "important concessions to
Concessions the -west." It is noticeable also
to tho West." that a number of republican
newspapers that opposed the
i measure are now giving it cordial support. Demo
crats who ojppoae .the bill insist that there is no
improvement-in the -present? measure -.over that of
v last .session-. .It 'is evident, "however,, that all--tho
. iiifluenccf-of the'Hanna; andUhe Frye elements--in- -
the republican .pariy will be exerted to push the
' bill 'through4 this -session. i
"'-
7 :. Some .menibersof the house-of representatives
insist that the Philippine revenue rlaw should
originate in the house because
the constitution provides that all
bills for raising revenue shall
have their origin in that body.
Congressman Overstreet of Ind
iana, however, is reported as saying that the
Philippines bill may originate in the senate, as :t
is "not .a revenue measure within the meaning of
the "constitution." This expression, "within the
meaning of the constitution," seems to be a very
convenient one, and has often been used for the
purpose of covering a multitude of sins.
Concerning Mr. Roosevelt's reference to tho
Monroe -doctrine, the London Chronicle says:
; "Whether the European nations
Where the. Monroe are .likely to respect, this Ameri
Doctrine is, can prohibition much longer
Inconsistent. when the desirable .colonization
' grounds of the world are being-
snapped up in a head-long race, mustdepend ulti
mately upon the ability of the United States to
enforce their prohibition.". It has i already - oc
curred' to many thoughtful Americans that if the
United .'States insists upon the right of "snapping
up"r':the- desirable- and undesirable1 ''colozination
grounds in all pa'rts of the world, they will have
difficulty in defending, except through force, the
United States authority on American' Soil-assumed
by the Monroe doctrine.
A Delaware reader of The Commoner meets
the republican argument that prosperity is equally
, distributed, by calling attention
to the experience rof a friend of
his who had .an opportunity to
invest ten thousand dollars in
national bank stock twenty
.years ago, but instead of doing so invested in
.Xarm land. The bank stock As now worth-three .
. tlmes'iwhatrit- was worth: then, and. has -paid vover'
l?..per cent'interest all, the time, -while thef arm can
be -bought .for -eight thousand and in the meantime
has not yielded nearly so large a profit as the
. bank. This is not an uncommon illustration, but
many farmers who have had a similar experience
are- still willing to -allow the bankers, the trust
magnates and the protected manufacturers to
ihake the laws.
vJudge Dunne of Chicago released the 'manag
ing editor and. the writers for the Chicago Ameri
can who were arraigned before
Good WorJtfnjj Judge Hanecy on the charge of
of the contempt of court. The American
Chicago American, jcommented quite severely on
the decision rendered by Judge
Hanecy in favor, of a, corporation. The judge look,
the ground that .because his decision had not been
formally entered in the record, the general law
regarding contempt was applicable, and that the
American's editors were amenable to that law.
'Judge Dunne, however, while admitting the right
oi a court to punish for contempt before the de-
. clsion has been reached,' held that freedom of
sp'ee'ch and freedom of the resa were involved..! "
L.the cas befor him aad that ho more effective way
Not. an
Uncommon
Illustration."
3he Commoner;. . . ,.
of suppressing these liberties could be conceived
than that contended for by Judge Hanecy. "There
is no good reason," said Judge Dunne, "why a
judge should have a law applied to him that does
not apply to a president, a governor, or a mem
ber of the legislature." Judge Dunne pointed out
that Judge Hanecy's remedy lay in tho law of libel.
Unquestionably Judge Dunne's action will have
the approval of people generally. It will not do to
-give to the man on the' bench the powers and the
authority of- a tyrant. It will not do to discour
age newspapers 'from making, dignified criticism
of-public acts in the public interest. It is well that
in this instance the newspaper called to account
was amply able to defend,. not -only- itself, -but the
important 'privileges of free speech and a free
press.
It is said that Sir Thomas Wemyss Reld, in an
article Jn an 'English publication entitled, "The
Nineteenth Century and After,"
On will quote "a distinguished mem-
Which her of the American cabinet" as
We? saying, "I do not think you In
England realize the depth of
feeling that exists outside of your own country on
the subject of the South African war, nor the ex
treme gravity of the sentiment which that feel
ing has brought Into existence I am not sneak
ing of the American feeling, which is largely on
your side, but the more friendly we are to Eng
land the more anxious we are to see you extricated
from -the meshes of the net in which you are now
caught." What right lias an American cabinet "
officer to say that American feeling is largely on .
the English side? No -republican convention has
aid so. Do the republicans construe the .last
election to have been a declaration against the
Boers?"
"Out of the statistical and technical- aridnss
of the secretary of the treasury's report'' the New
York World has produced these
facts of Jiving interest: The
.government taxed the people
last year $699,516,530 which is
$351,G94,G25 more than its re
ceipts for the last fiscal year before the Spanish
war, 1897. It spent $G21,598;54G which is $255,
824,387 more than it spent in 1897. If taxation weie
the samp now as it was four years ago, and the
expenditures had increased to their present figures,
iustead of reporting a surplus of $77,000,000 the
secretary of the treasury would have to report a
deficit of $273,870,641. If expenditures were the
sama as before our colonial experiments and taxation-
were: up. to its present -height,- the report
would ihave- been of a .surplus of no less than'
$333,522,371. - No wonder President Roosevelt
speaks of the Philippines as "a great burden,"
A Grcat.Burden
Facts of
Interest.
rvrvv
which tho trust was enabled to do its worst would
be removed. The question that occurs to tho
thinking man is, If Mr. Babcock's plan can only bo
determined accurately by triaf, why not give it a
trial? And if it was of advantage to nowspaper
publishers to have tho tariff removed as a pro
tection against the exactions of the paper trust,
why would it not be advantageous to the general
public to roviso all tariff schedules so that they
would not give to true:, which send their .prod-
ucts abroad at prices much 'lower than those they
. exact at homo, a degree of protection which they
have been abusing for years.
! .
The Chicago Tribune warns Congressman Fab
cock to let 'the tariff alone. The Tribune says:
"It Is the wish of Representative
Why not Babcock to revise the iron and
Give the steel schedule so that it shall not
Plan n Trial. give to trusts, which sell their
products abroad at prices much
lower than those they exact at home, a degree of
protection which they are abusing. Whether such
a lowering or removal of duties as Mr. Babcock
has in mind would give to American consumers of
trust-made goods the lower prices he thinks
should be charged can be determined accurately
only by trial." Then the Tribune plainly shows
that it 13 indisposed to rjVermit the trial to be had.
It declares, "There is no good reason for such an
Undertaking at this time." It will be remembered
that less than eighteen months ago, when news
paper publishers were groaning because of the ex
actions of the paper trust, the Tribune was one of
the" number of republican papers tliat served no
tice -upon the)trustthat'tmles3 Wi&X organization
abandoned its policy of- exaction the- tariff by-
One of the democratic papers of Minnesota
criticises -The Commoner's editorial which recently
appeared under tho head "A
a Bit Democratic Duty." The reason
of , given for objecting to the odi-
inconsistcncy. toricl was that imperialism was
the paramount issue in the last
campaign, that the republicans being successful
the democrats should now proceed to indorse tho
imperialistic policy. It is rather a strange coin
cidence that on tho same page of that paper ap
pears a magazine article under big black head
lines, suggesting that we appeal to England to stop
slaughtering another Christian nation in South
Africa. How inconsistent to commend Imperial
ism in the Philippines and then condemn It in
South Africa! If a newspaper is going to indorse
a war of conquest .when waged by- the United
States and protest against it when waged by
.England,. the articles ought to appear in different
Issues, of tho paper so that the inconsistency
would not be so apparent.
&&&
The Commoner is indebted to the Jefferson
County (Neb.) Journal and to a number of other
v , t papers for. very kind editorial
interest of mention. The Journal calls. at-
ihe Weekly tention to the fact that the sub-
Pres$. scriptions of those who began
with the first number of Tbe
Commoner will soon expire, and says: "We hope
to see every subscriber to The Commoner renew
his subscription this winter, and many more
added to the list." The editor of The Commoner
haz not felt that it would be proper to publish
the complimentary notices that have appeared in
other papers or the generous commendation con
tained in the multitude of letters received. This 's
only published as a sample of- the friendly interest
shown by the weekly press, and the occasion 's
used to assure tho editors of the weekly papers
that he is gratoful for the cordial support they
have given to The Commoner. The Commoner, is
not a rival of the local weeklies; itdesiresjp sup
plement their work by giving more space-to na
tional pojitlcs than they with., their state, county
and town problems can posribly do.
SCyO
The supreme court of Missouri has delivered
an opinion In which it finds that the Western
Union Telegraph company, be
Miseourl Corpora- lng organized under the law of
lions flust Help New York, is not a federal cor
ner the Harder, poration and that the assess
ment of the company's fran
chise by the Missouri, state board of equalization
is binding. The result of this decision, it is said,
will require the Telegraph company to pay to
the Missouri counties an aggregate of $250,000 in
taxes. It is strange that corporations enjoying as
many favors as they do at the expense of the pub
lic, are so zealous in avoiding their just share of
the hurden of taxation. It is very evident, how
ever, Irom things that are happening in various
sections of the. country, that individual taxpayers
generally are becoming quite determined that cor
porations shall no longer escape their share of
taxation. The solution of the direct tax problem
will be more, nearly reached when corporations are
required to pay taxes on the same basis that is
required of individuals, and there does not ap
pear,, in common sense- or justice, -tobe any good
f eaeon why the' individual should carry theTafger
share of the load'.' : '
