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The Commoner.
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'I HE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb.
Attention Is called to the liberal clubbing
olTors on page G.
Tho British taxpayer should prepare himself
fci another staggoror.
The Shaw presidential boom seems to have
acquired sudden terminal facilities.
Perhaps the canal commission Is suffering from
an attack of that Justlcohrownish feeling.
Tho canal commission seems to be having a
regular supremo court sort of a time making up its
mind. ......
The lobby that is working to provont the en
trance of free sugar Is usually very free with, the
"sugar."
Tho consolidation of the steamship lines is an
indication that the subsidy promotorB feel quite
certain of success.
American representation at tho coronation of
King Edward offers an inviting subject to com
posors of comic opera.
After Prince Henry returns homo it would bo
embarrassing if President Kruger should happen
to como over for a brief visit.
Tho administration organs continue to take a,
tearful interest in the efforts of certain gentlemen
to "reorganize" tho democratic party.
It is to bo hoped that when Admiral Evaiis
sails out to meet Prince Henry ho will not becomo
excited and blow tho bow off tho royal ship.
The clubbing offers on page G will enable The
Commoner's readers to provide themselves with a
variety of reading matter at a comparatively
small cost.
How can you spend a dollar to better advantage
than In subscribing for a paper which defends your
rights at all times and supports the measures in
which you are Interested?
King Alfonso of Spain will be declared "of
ago" on his sixteenth birthday. Our Spanish
friends lived and learned very rapidly during the
past three or four years,
Tho 22nd of next month is tho anniversary of
Georgo Washington's birth, and it is safe to as
sume that General De Wet will celebrate It just as
.. ...u4 w iuu American republic.
The Commoner.
King Edward told parliament that the war in
South Africa is now "nearlng its close." The
shrewd gentlemen who dispense gold bricks are
doubtless headed for Buckingham palace.
. Newspapers that have for so long been holding
up Mr. Schwab as a model and example for Amer
ican boys should now adviso tho boys to invest in
a few chips and watch the turn of the wheel.
Possibly Congressman Hull could obtain an
interest in Cecil Rhodes' South African meat con
tract in exchange for a block of stock in Mr. Hull's
Philippine Lumber and Development company.
xo
George Washington and his soldiers kept It up
eight years, and at no time did tho Continental
armies equal the armies kept in tho field by tho
Boers. And it will bo remembered that the Con
tinentals won, too.
When the honor of tho nation was "saved" in
1896 the republican party promised that it would
enact a financial law that would be a safeguard
against further "agitation." Tho party is still
patching up the law.
vSO
As it is impossible to apply either a head test
or a heart test to an aristocratic gathering, it is
omminently proper that tho gentlemen who attend
tho coronation ceremonies should bo required to
possess well rounded calves.
Tho contractor who is constructing the new
building for' the New York stock exchange is hav
ing trouble finding a firm foundation. He is down
sixty feet and is still troubled by water. Perhaps
it Is tho seepage from the stocks.
Why not push the constitutional amendment
providing for tho election of United States sena
tors by direct vote of the people? It is more im
portant than the ship subsidy bill and will meet
with no opposition from the democrats.
Now is the time to extend the influence of The
Commoner. Talk with your neighbors and secure
their subscriptions. No other paper of national
circulation presents so complete and continuous
a defense of democratic principles and policies.
.Dr. Parkhurst refuses to believe that Mr.
Croker has retired from tho leadership of Tam
many, but it must be remembered that with Mr.
Croker out of politics Dr. Parkhurst would have
t? find some other reason for being a republican.
King Edward says tho war in South Africa is
drawing to a close. Perhaps Edward has neglected
to look up history in connection with what his
royal ancestor, Qeorgo III., said about the time
when Washington and his army were encamped
ac Valley Forge.
The husbands in a Pennsylvania town have
joined in a petition to the authorities to stop so
cial gambling. Thoy say that their wives are
crazy about cards. If tho situation had been re
versed and the women had been the complainants,
it would have been less surprising.
The McKinley memorial commission complains
that the men who have profited most because of
tho McKinley policy have not come forward with"
contributions to the memorial fund. Perhaps tho
gentlemen are too busy preventing the adoption of
the latest McKinley policy of reciprocity.
Tho English Blue Book shows that In tho
month of December there were 117,017 inmates in
9nC?Ctrati0n CampS and that th were
2,380 deaths, of which 1,767 were children. If
this rate is maintained during the year nearly
S tht 1 1 thG ?nt ' nUmT,Gr WIU have eri
And this is done in the Interests of civilization!.
Seven cities, it was said, claimed the honor "of
being the birthplace of Homer. That's nothing.
Some seven thousand democrats, not to speak of
editors and political leaders, claim the honor of
furnishing Perry Belmont's political -death-bed.
Walter Williams, editor of the Columbia (Mo.)
Herald, is now touring Europe. He says the
Americans mo3t often mentioned wherever he has
been are Missourians Thomas Benton and the
Missouri mule. Americans are busily forgetting
the one and Great Britain is putting the other to
an un-American use.
The commerce committee of the house has
been hearing testimony on the Pacific cable propo
sition. The testimony seems to be in favor of the
government ownership of a cable across the Pacific.
It is certainly much more reasonable for the gov
ernment to own and operate a cable than for it to
appropriate money to build the cable and then let
someone else own it.
Mr. Baer, president of the Reading railway,
has been talking to some college students. Ho
finds fault with the doctrine that "all men are
created equal" and condemns "the loud mguthed,
lazy teachers of communism and the fomentors of
strife and discord" who hold to these old fashioned
ideas. Watered stock seems to have as bad an
influence on the conscience of corporation mag
nates as it has on industry.
Mr. Hanna, writing some anecdotes of Mr. Mc
Kinley, says that Mr. McKinley wrote a memoran- .
dum that afterwards become the financial plank of
the St. Louis platform. It will be remembered
that, immediately after that convention Mr. Hanna
gave out an interview in which he said that, "the
financial plank was approved by mo." This should
be sufficient to settle the controversy about- the
. , -. jWJ
authorship of the plank.
A dispatch from London says that the sobs of
women could be heard above' the music when a
company of recruits embarked for South Africa,
but American imperialists will read with pleasure
another London dispatch of the same date an
nouncing that Cecil Rhodes has secured a contract
"amounting to several million pounds sterling
for supplying South Africa, especially the British
troops in that part of the world, with fresh meat."
A republican paper ppints to the fact that Mr.
Bryan is building a house (not so expensive as the
republican paper reports, but still a good house)
as evidence that he is getting "his share of re
publican prosperity." It may be interesting for
the republicans to know that the house is being
built from the proceeds of the "First Battle,"
which was published immediately after tho 'elec
tion of 1896 and before the republicans began to
boast of prosperity. Republican policies have not
benefited Mr. Bryan except in the sense that -a
physician is indebted to sickness for his Income.
Republican policies furnish Mr. Bryan texts for
editorials and speeches.
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman made a speech
in London recently in which he declared that tho
English government "in stopping farm burning
in South Africa and in improving concentration
oamps has justified" his criticisms. He was con
vinced, he said, "that the war could be ended by
conciliation instead of force." Mr. Bannerman's
speech proves two things: First, that there have
been concentration camps and farm burnings in
South Africa; and second, that there Is an English
sentiment hostile to the imperial policy now be
ing pursued against the Boers. If Englishmen
can protest against ti nnirmtni 00frv, u n
land has been committed to such a policy for o
wuwiry, wny can't republicans protest agjiJ
imperialism wnen it is contrary to tho tradl'
mm uu lu principles of our governments