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The Commoner.
Vol. a, No.3o.
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Batav'ia (0.) Sun: Tho recent har-
jnbny dinner in Now York held un-
dor Now Joraoy auspices was notablo
for tho absonco of roal democratic
leadors.
"; Hamlin (W. Va.) Monitor: How
would ttoo sugar beet do for an emblem
in tho next presidential campaign?
.Thoro is some doubt about the, "full
dinner pail" working again.
Bonton Harbor (Mich.) Times: Tho
republican party stands for slavery
and polygamy at least congress voted
in favor of it, by voting against a bill'
to wipe it out. Memory of Lincoln,
whore art thou?
Gunnison (Colo.) News-Champion:
Roosevelt said ho pardoned those Fili
pinos on tho Fourth of July by virtue,
of power vosted in him by tho consti
tution. But tho supremo court told
us tho constitution did not apply to
Filipinos.
Albia (la.) News: The democratic
party will bo true to its best tradi
tions when leading a light for tho
rights of the peoplo, as against tho
trusts and monopolies fostered by high
tariffs, and for tho issue and control
of the volume of money by the people
instead of tho banks.
Harisburg (111.) Register: In 1892
Grover Cleveland was elected presi-,
dent, and 219 democratic congressmen
were elected. Two years later but 93
democratic congressmen wero chosen,
all because of Cleveland's betrayal of
tho peoplo. No wonder Watterson sa.7s
lie left tho party a wreck.
Toledo (0.) Bulletin: If tho Kan
sas City platform wore wrong and not
In the interest of a great majority of
tho people tho newspapers opposing it
should take it up plank by plank and
show by logical reasoning that it is
wrong. This shooting in overy direc
tion except at the mark inclines many
readers to think tho papers pursuing
this course are insincere.
Holmes County (O.) Farmer: The
cry of the republicans in 1896 and
1900 was that 'if free silver won every
commodity and necessity that the peo
ple used would double in price and
that tho wages of labor would be the
last thing to advance. "Well, free sil
ver didn't win and that is exactly the
condition we have now. Will some of
our good republican brethren explain
, tho wherefore of this condition and
show us wherein the demand regulates
the price.
,.
Bonham (Tex.) News: The real
democrats are going to harmonize, sil
ver or no silver, while a few pretended
. democrats are not going with the pat
ty, diver or no silver, unless they can
dictate the platform and tho nominees.
flPhese are tho Palmer and Buckner
crowd, and have not In the past, do
not now, nor ever will belong to tho
democratic party. They are repub
' licans, and we do not want any har-
mony on their terms. Tho rest of the
party will harmonize all right Don't
worry. . .
Vandalla (111.) Domocrat: Tho beef
less dinner pail is a silent but potent
protest against tho policy of tho re
publican party, which by Its tariff
systom "protects" the beef trust while
tho latter robs tho people.
Proston (Minn.) National Republi
can: Thoro is no more odious poli
tical character than Grover Cloveland.
Ho was raised up by the Belmonts to
botray the democratic party into the
custody of the money trust.
Cochocton (0.) Democrat and Stand
ard: President Roosevelt's suggestion
in his Pittsburg speech with respect
to additional legislation against the
trusts has boon received with chilling
coolness by tho republican bosses and
editors. When one of the former,
Senator Piatt of Now York, was asked
several days after tho date of the ad
dross what ho thought of it, the eva
sive answer was ready: "I have not
yet read it." Dodging answers of that
kind deceive no one. They are the
feoble resource of wily politicians who,
for diplomatic reasons, aro unwilling
to express the approval or disapproval
which thdy entertain. And so of the
eminent journalists of tho samo party.
The prudence which seals tho lips of
tho bosses prompts them to give pri
vate circulation only to their opinions
on a question which is of universal
interest.
Dexter (Mo.) Messenger: John L.
Thomas, of DeSoto, prominent in state
politics, is openly affiliating with, tho
republican party. In a recent address
at Jefferson City he made use of the
following language: "Tho only place
for a reorganizer is in the republican
party." Mr. Thomas has had a bad
case of sulks for several years, and
was a follower of and an appointee of
Cleveland in 1892. He followed his
master off and lost all the pull he over
had with his party. He is right in
saying that tho place of every reor
ganizer is in the republican party, and
it is to be hoped that this class will ex
hibit tho samo moral courage and cast
their lot with tho party they have been
aiding for years. We admire Mr.
Thomas fOr his change, because wo
believe he is now where he belongs
The only way to purify a party Is by
getting rid of tho refuse material.
Watertown (N. Y.) Reunion: We
have an abiding impression that it is
not necessary to go beyond the senti
ments and principles declared by the
democratic masses the folks in tho
country and school districts, in tho
workshops and on the farms to find
out what tho democracy' of this coun
try stands for today. We see no need
of reorganization or any calls for a
now departure in politics, either in
tho way of principles or organization.
The eloquent gentlemen wo have lately
heard from are prolific in good ad
vice, but they should take some of. it
themselves and join, with- tho same
earnestness and hope they had when
J candidates themselves, in all legiti
mate party work. Tho democratic
party of this, country is today a woll
organlzed force for sound and woll
understood principles.
Dyer3burg (Tonn,) Herald: Those
who propose to reorganize the demo
cratic party, whatever that means,
should bear in mind that over six mil
lions of true democrats will have to
bo reckoned with. Mr. Cloveland, Mr.
Hill and several others, who have not
kept tho faith, met in New York re
cently and made some miserable stag
gers at what they were pleased to term
"harmony," but which wero nothing
more nor less than bold and stubborn
attempts at justifying themselves for
the part they had taken in defeating
the party that had twice elected tha
chief spokesman at this gathering to
the highest office in Its gift. If theM
is to be a reorganization of the party
if there is a real necessity for it
(which wo do not admit) the reor
ganization must bo entrusted to the
men who remained with the party In
1896. Those who left it have no right
to expect to be entrusted with 'its re
organization. At least they 'should
not expect to bo given the seat of
honor in tho council chamber. If tho
party is satisfied it was wrong in 1896
and 1900, then let the party Itself re
nounce its utterances and decide its
principles and not the men who
sulked in their tents or openly es
poused tho cause of McKinley, the
apostlo of protection; and the op
ponent t)f every democratic doctrine
enunciated since he first entered pub
lic life.
West Unity (O.) Defender: There
are democratic newspapers in the' state
that aro looking for a leader to guide
the party to success. They claim they
do not believe in "isms," "fads," and
"heresies," but they wish the party to
trlunofph they want it to win at the
polls. They want to win their way.
Their way is to surrender to the money
power, to cater to the trusts, to truckle,
to a false national pride which has
arbitrary annexation of territory as a
hobby. They believe in the abasement
of principle and the abolishment of a
policy which means now and for all
time a true republican form of gov
ernment, a firmly established dem
ocracy. Catering to the earnest de
sire of tho average member of tho
party to win, they make specious ar
guments why tho majority should not
do so-and-so, without saying what it
should do. This is the class of papers
that fought wiCi tho enemy six and
two years ago, "and which will do so
again two years hence, unless they
can commit the party to the same doc
trines and policies pursued by the
prrty in power. Either that or they
wero lukewarm in those momentous
campaigns and are chilly now. It re
mains to be seen if tho great major
ity of the party will lie down and per
mit the disturbers to walk over their
bodies to even greater disasters than
we suffered in 1896, and 1900.
Waynesburg (Pa.) Democrat: Ono
of tho favorite words of. those wha
betrayed tho democratic party in 189(5
and 1900 Is "reconstruction." Thoy
would have the people forget that the
Kansas . City platform was supported
by "more votes than any other national
democratic platform in the history of
our country and had it not been for
such bolters as ex-President Cleveland,
victory would have surely perched
upon our banner. The bolting demo
crats who now want to reconstruct
the democratic party aro so nearly
allied , to the trust-ridden and Wall-street-controlled
republican party thrit
it would require a microscope to dis
cover tho difference. Cleveland sold
out himself and his party to Wall
street for something a little more sub
stantial than a "mess of pottage."
Ho got his booty, let him enjoy it, If
he can, in seclusion, but he and thosa
who followed his lead have also the
condemnation of the democratic
masses and it certainly requires
"cheek" in the superlative degree to
come out before tho public and talk"
about "reconstructing" that whlea
they betrayed into the hands of the en
omy. We are proud of an "unrecon
structed" democracy which would
sooner go down in defeat ninety and
nine times than to bow the knee to
the modern Baal, the money power.
No, we are not greater than the ia
tional platform and we expect to star.d.
by it and on it until the democracy
of the nation in convention assembled
shall give us another.
.. . Smiling Little Girl .
FABLE- SHOWING THE UNWISDOM
,OF SOME CHANGES.
There was a little girl once whoso
natural expression yas a pleased smile. , ;
It attracted the boys to an extent''
that the little girl's governess told
her she must modulate the smile, or it '
would be supposed, as she grew to be
a young lady, that she was seeking to
attract masculine attention, tftaa
which nothing could be more unwom
anly. The""little girl was started in to.e
ladylike. By 20 she was severe look
ing. At 25 she was forbidding and at
30 her face was positively repellent.
She was a perfect lady, but the mascu
line sex had ceased to trouble her.
So she decided' to throw prudence to
the winds and to cultivate the old win
ning expression. But, she had forgot
ten how to look pleasant and resem- .
bled a cheorful hyena when she smiled.
Then she became melancholy, and that
settled it. She saw them all go by.
Misdirected refinement had been her
ruin.
Moral: Never make a change .un
less you are sure it is for the better.
Life.
A Wrong System.
Wo congratulate our thrifty friend, "'
President Schwab, on his new $3,350',- '
000 home in Gotham. It will be a fit
ting monument to tho splendid system
which builds palaces ror a few and
condemns all tho rest to "company
houses." Johnstown (Pa.) Democrat,
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