,7W'
16
The Commoner,
Vol. 2, No. 32,
Democracy and Its Allusion.
6omo nion Boom to think that dem
ocracy has no meaning or purpose
oxcopt to get offices for a few rich
xnon who have exhausted the prime
and manhood of thoir lives in ac
cumulating fllthy lucre. They seem
to think that the 'business of the rich
man is to hold office in his superan
nuated yoars for social and orna
tnoutal purposes, and in his effort to
secure the ornament ho should distri
bute a few $10 bills, or a few $20 bills,
and here and there a check for $100
or more among three, or four, or five
ring politicians in each county seat
Each state is infested with a few such
rich democrats and a few hundred such
hireling democrats, who have no con
ception of democracy except as it
promises immediate returns to gratify
the vanity of the would-be rich office
holder, and immediate cash to the ma
chine politicians who have no other
occupation and no visible means of
support.
Lot us get into the midst of things.
Why nibblo constantly at the edges'
Why not have a plain understanding?
Why not rocognizo that Jeffersonian
democracy means "equal and exact
justice to all and special privileges
to none?" Why not recognize at the
outset that Abraham Lincoln was a
good Jeffersonian democrat when ho
said: "I believe this country with
its institutions ought to belong to
tho people who inhabit it." What
would Lincoln mean by such an ex
pression as that today? What would
Lincoln mean today if he were to speak
of "a government of tho people, by
the people and for tho people?" if he
did not mean governmental owner
ship of a postal telegraph, If he did
not mean public ownership of public
utilities, if ho did not mean initiative
and referendum, if he did not mean
(hat tho trust-made commodities
should be put on tho free list,
if he did not mean that on the money
question the people should govern the
banks rather than that tho banks
should govern the people?
There is entirely too much talk
about the candidate for president in
1904; entirely too much editorial space
and news space wasted by the diffor-r
ent machine politicians in their efforts'
to select a presidential candidato who
will do the bidding of Wall street al
ways and of the people never. It is
all misdirected effort,
The democratic democrats are a
class of men who believe that a great
political party ought to do something.
And now what do these editors who
are harping about harmony propose
to do? Do they propose to place in
the White house an executive, and in
the capitol a congress that will hear
no other voice except that of the
masses, or do they propose to put there
men who shall be the tools of the
privileged classes? There is no other
question before tho democratic dem
ocracy. This is no time to consult those
who established Hannaism In the land.
This is no timo to confer with men
Who betrayed the democratic party
When there was an opportunity to
place Mr. Bryan in tho White house
and install a genuine people's govorn
, ment in the national capital. Let us
. devote our time and our energy to a
discussion of the needs of the people
and to tho legislation which will rem
edy the evils of the day and bring this
f government back to its time-honored
deals under which it developed not
only the number of its peoplo, but the
moral worth and tho moral purpose of
evory man, woman and phild whoso
yes looked up to tho stars and stripes
for inspiration. Columbus (0.) Press.
I Chicago Post:
''So you are going to Europo?"
'Yes. I don't caro much about see-
ing & ,you know but I've found it
, dreadfully hard not to be able to talk
PANAMA PARAGRAPHS
about it"
The total length of the Panama ca
nal will be 46.6 miles, including an ex
tension of 3.1 miles through tho Bay
of Panama.
Tho summit level will be from 66 to
103 feet
The route ofiftho canal lies wholly in
Colombia.
Negro labor 13 obtained from the
British Antilles.
An excellent hospital has boon es
tablished near Panama.
A good railroad exists at tho prea
ont timo along tho entire route.
M. do Lesseps' plans contemplated
the expenditure of $120,000,000.
At present a force of about 2,000
men is at work on the construction.
A tide-level canal was planned by
the directors of the first company.
Tho time of transit for an ordinary
vessel will be from eleven to fourteen
hours.
There are no volcanoes, even ex
tinct, within 180 miles of tho route of
the canal.
Nearly 4,000,000 cubic yards of earth
have been removed for experimental
excavation alone.
The present concession allows until
October 31, 1910, for the completion of
tho work.
The receiver of the company ap
pointed by the French courts has never
beon discharged.
The shareholders In the first com
pany when it went into liquidation
numbered over 800,000.
Good housing accommodation for
from 15,000 to 20,000 laborers already
exists along the line of work.
The Isthmian Canal commission es
timated the cost of the work of com
pleting the canal at $184,233,358.
Tho first survey of the present route
was begun by employes of the de Les
seps company in February, 1881.
The original company formed by
M. do Lesseps was known as La Com
pagnio Universelle du Canal Inter
oceaniquo. Beri-beri and yellow fever are
among tho epidemic diseases which
have appeared among the workmen
at various times.
The tolls of the canal may not ex
ceed $2 for each cubic meter of -each
vessel using it, based on the actual
displacement of the hull.
James B. Eads. the American en
gineer, once proposed to construct a
railroad sufficiently largo to transport
vessels from ocean to ocean.
Labor troubles have not been un
known to the company. Early in 1895
a serious strike among the workmen
caused a suspension of operations.
The government of the United
States, if Panama is selected, will pay
$40,000,000 for the plant and all con
cessions of the Panama Canal .com
pany. The temperature throughout the re-:
gion of the" Panama canal is that of
the tropics, seldom varying during
tho year from the mean of 79 degrees
Fahrenheit.
Tho canal is owned at the present
time by tho Panama Canal company
of America, which is organized under
tho laws of New Jersey, with a capital
of $30,000,000.
About two-fifths of the entire stock
has been completed, and sufficient ex
perimental work has been done on
tho remaining portion materially to
lesson the construction.
Part of the property offered to the
government by the company is all but
about 1,000 shares of the capital stock
of the Panama Railroad company, a
corporation of the state of Now York.
At Culebra, where the deepest cut
ting is required, and where a dis
astrous cave-in occurred, the excava
tion completed and tho borings made,
show that there is no longer any dan
ger from pressure.
The percentage of diseases, hnfh
J European and climatic, among the
workmen each year from 1895 until
the present time averaged 47, the mor
talities reported amounted to less than
3 per cent.
Tho harbors at each end of tho canal
are entirely adequate, and at La Boca,
whore the canal enters the Bay of Pa
nama a wharf with rails permits ship
ping to load from or unload into the
cars.
The minimum draft of water
throughout the canal according to tho
plans now being worked out is 29.5
feet, increased to 32.8 feet at the mid
dle liiip of 'the lock chambers, and
34 feet at their side walls.
The first concession was made by
tho Colombian government to Lucien
Napoleon Bonaparte Wyse, a lieu
tenant in the French navy. This was
the concession acquired by the com
pany organized by M. de liesseps.
Tho government of Colombia in
making the concession for the Panama
canal, ceded to the company 1,235,500
acres of public lands, with all mining
rights, in whatever localities the com
pany may choose.
The original company expended
$156,400,000, of which only a little
more than half was spent upon exca
vation and construction work, the re
mainder having been devoted to pur
poses of bribery and the corruption of
the French press.
In addition to the land ceded by the.
government of Colombia for the dig
ging of the canal, the Panama com
pany's concession Includes the gift of
a zone of land 656 feet in width on
each side throughout the entire length
of the work, and wherever it may ex
tend. The arrangement under which the
concessions by the government of Co
lombia to the Panama Canal company
were made give to the company the
right to introduce into the country
materials, tools, machinery, provisions,
and all things necessary for the use
and construction of the canal free of
duty.
An international committee of en
gineering experts directed the plans
of tho new company. The countries
represented on this committee were
trance, uermany, Kussia, Great Brit
ain, and the United States The chief
engineers of the Manchester and Kiel
maritime canals were on this Comite
Technique.
The normal width at the bottom of
the canal will vary in the different
levels. For the Atlantic level it is
98.5 feet, with two passing stations of
197 feet In the channel through Lake
Bohlo it is 164 feet in the summit
level, 98.5 in the next two levels and In
the land part of Pacific level, and 164
feet in the channel through tho Bay of
Panama.
The Colombian government is en
titled to receive 5 per cent on the
gross revenue of the company for the
first twenty-five years after the open
ing of the canal to the public; 6 per
cent from tho twenty-sixth to the fif
tieth year; 7 per. cent from the fifty
first to the seventy-fifth year, and 8
per cent for tho balance of the term?
If the work is completed by October
3i, 1910, tho concession will run for a
hundred years from tho opening of
tho canal for traffic.
Two large dams are required for the
work now being done. One will be
erected at Bohio, creating a large lake
with about 20 square miles of surface
which for 13 miles will form the bed
of the canal. This will act as a flood
regulator, and will obviate the neces
sity of encountering strong currents
where the route traverses the -bed of
the Chagres. The other dam will he
constructed at Alhajuela, about ten
miles from the canal, and will store
water for lockages, etc. The two
Knjetween them will retain 226,
.000,000 cubic yards of Hood discharge.
No Fig From Thlstltr.
Tho new harvester combine has
started its .machinery promptly.
It has run its setf-binder through the
army of traveling men employed by
the several subordinate concerns that
have entered the trust, and three
fourths of them have been cut down.
The same policy is to be applied to
office forces, and it is estimated that,
altogether, 10,000 men will lose their
positions.
This is making it tough for 10,000
people right away. This has often hap
pened before in tho merging of other
lines of business into trusts. It is
frankly asserted to be one of tho great
advantages of tho trust system that it
makes unnecessary the employment of
the aggregate of agents and interme
diaries indispensable to rival houses,
and that thus an, economy is secured!
profitable in the end to the consumer.
Tho temporary, though serious, em
barrassment of 10,000 men in.being de
prived of their means of livelihood
could bo regarded with regretful
equanimity if it were certain that it
was only the hurt of the few for the
good of the many, but there is nothing
in the record of trust transactions that
justifies such a view. On the contrary,
we must expect that it is a sacrifice
of the good of a comparatively few for
the advantage of fewer still. An
economy will undoubtedly be effected,
but tho fruit of it will be reaped by
the manufacturer alone.
That this is the motive behind the
organization of trusts is in some cases
admitted even by the manufacturers
themselves When the farm imple
ment business was put into a trust a
year or two ago it was said by some of
the individual houses that competition
had made profits so .small that combi
nation to reduce the cost of distribu
tion was Inevitable.
It is always claimed that the econ
omy effected by concentration will be
so great as to increase dividends to a
"reasonable" point and at the same
time cheapen goods to the consumer.
It has been demonstrated, however,
that the dividends are increased both
by the reduction of the cost of distri
butlon.and by an added tax on the last
buyer.
. In short, the monopoly principle
bears its natural fruit just as fast and
as sure as it is applied in practice.
Omaha World-Herald.
Philippine Courts-riartial.
The war department has given out
some statistics as to recent court-martial
cases in the Philippines which are
interesting reading, but which are so
indefinite as to be of little value. In
all there were, it appears, 1,003 cases
In which convictions took place, but
the period during which the offenses
were committed is not given. In 227
cases the accused soldiers were dishon
orably discharged; in 231 others the
prisoners forfeited pay and allowances
and in 115 others trials different pun
ishments were awarded. It must bo
noted, too, that 110 were fined, and
320 were sentenced to imprisonment
Tho charges included murder, man
slaughter, assault, and attempted as
sault, and, most striking of all, it is
stated that most of the accusations
were made by Filipinos. This fact
may well have helped to make General
Chaffee call upon his officers "to in
still into the minds of thoir men a
proper regard for human rights and
of the personal privileges of the peo
ple with whom they are thrown in
contact, so that they may be taught
to appreciate the importance of just
and fair association with them." That
the commanding general should have
thus to warn his officers hardly bears
out tho thedry that our soldiers have
been "plaster saints" in the Philip
pines. In regard to the statistics just
printed, the public has a right to fur
ther facts, and to the missing details.
New York Post,
atofeatrtA
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