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The Commoner.
Vol. a, No. 37.
14
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Congressman Newland's Interview.
Tho San Francisco Bxarainor prints
an interesting interview with Neva
da's congressman, Francis G. New
lands. Mr. Nowlands expressed satis
faction with tho political situation.
He said that he believed it is becom
ing clear to tho minds of many citi
zens who have been identified with
tho republican party that that party Is
in behalf of monopoly or favored leg
islation for tho few rather than by
beneficent legislation for the masses.
Mr. Nowlands said that what tho dem
ocrats required is harmony of senti
ment in tho party, rather than tho ap
parent harmony that is produced by
placating those who differ witli us in
our views, and thus attempting to so
curo votes. Nothing can bo accom
plished by endeavoring to securo tho
support of thoso who really prefer re
publican policies to our own.
Ho declared that tho principal issues
in tho pending campaign were the
Philippines, tho trusts, domestic de
velopment aa opposed to Philippine
expansion and conquest, aft. tho gen
oral tendency of tho republican party
to favor privilege and wealth at the
oxpenso of tho producing masses.
Asked if tho trust question will bo a
prominent issue, Mr., Nowlands re
plied: "Yes, tho most prominent. The re
publican party will go into the cam
paign this fall relying mainly upon
tho expressions of President Roose
velt in his messago and his Pittsburg
speech as indications of its anti-trust
proclivities. But" the question is not
what Mr. Roosevelt's vlows are, but
what tho views of the republican party
are on this question; and, abovo all,
what tho action, of .the republican par
ty has been during its six years of
power just passed.
"I regard Mr. Roosevelt as pre-eminent
in tho republican party for sin
cerity, earnestness and courage; but
Mr. Roosevelt is not tho platform of
the republican party. Ho was never
elected president of tho United States.
He was governor of tho state of New
York, and there he sought to bring the
great wealth of that state into some
reasonable degree of contribution to
the state expenses. New York repub
licans forced Mr. Roosevelt into the
vlco presidency to get rid of a deform
governor. Their action was not in the
interest of reform, but against it. They
hoped to put him in a position of abso
lute Inaction. The action of the assas
sin; not the action of tho republican
party, put Mr. Roosevelt Into the pres
idential chair; and outside of the radi
cal question of party differences, dem
ocrats must concede that President
RooBevelt has conducted himself well
and that he is an American of whom
every American should feel proud. The
question is not whether Mr. Roosevelt
is a reform president, but whether the
republican party is a reform party.
That is the issue this campaign. I con
tend that the republican party is
against the president. So far as its ac
tion is concerned, whatever may be its
verbal expressions, It is against the
president and is not in sympathy with
his reform views, though it will ex
ploit them before the public for the
purpose of securing an extension of
power.
"Now what is tho trust issue?" add
ed Mr. Newlands. "Our contention is
that tho public utilities and the trans
portation facilities and tho corporation
laws of the country are being so per
verted as to promote tho formation of
immense combinations of wealth,
which on tho ono hand are escaping
the burdens of taxation and on the
other hand are obtaining an undue
proportion of tho profits of produc
tion. The anti-trust sentiment Is not
hostile to wealth as such. It recog
nizes the fact that there must bo Iner
qualities of fortune, arising from dif
ference In ability and opportunity.
But it does seek to obliterate Inequal
ity so far as tho law Is concerned, and
to prevent the machinery of tho law
from being used in such a way as to
unduly promote tho wealth of tho few
at tho exponso of the many. Tho
anti-trust sentiment is not organized
against law-abiding wealth, but
against the lawless wealth of the
country tho wealth which seeks ex
emption from taxation, which seeks
special privileges; tho wealth which
evades and perverts the law in order
to oppress tho people.
"The republican party has been in
power for six years, yet it has done
nothing in tho way of legislation to
meet these evils. On tho contrary, it
has legislated to promote them. In the
repeal of war revenue taxes the demo
cratic party stood for an endeavor to
prevent tho repeal of tho tax on the
gross receipts of the oil refineries from
which wo were getting a total of $1,
000,000 annually. Recognizing the fact
that all tho great trusts should con
tribute something to the federal bur
den, and that the oil trust and the su
gar trust were aloae being taxed, we
wanted to perfect this tax by reduc
ing the percentage and extending it
to all industrial corporations whoso
gross receipts exceeded $1,000,000 an
nually. We sought in this connection,
by our amendment, to compel public
ity through public statements under
oath as to the capital, debts, operat
ing expenses, receipts, profits, wages
paid, ejfcc, of these industrial corpora
tions, thus securing the very publicity
for which Mr. Roosevelt subsequently
contended in his message and in his
Pittsburg speech.
"But tho republicans stood together
and repealed the tax altogether, so that
these corporations contribute nothing
to the federal treasury and an oppor
tunity for trust-regulating was lost.
"Later on, when tho census bill was
pending in the senate, Senator Dubois
offered an amendment providing that
the inquiry should bo extended to
trusts, and that published statements
of their affairs should be made. His
amendment followed exactly tho rec
ommendation which President Roose
velt made in his message. Senator
Quales, a republican, who was in
charge of the bill, appealed to Dubois
to withdraw tho amendment, saying it
would endanger the bill; but Dubois
Inqlntnfl rn n vntfl nnrl V10 ronnlillnnno
I lined up against it and the democrats
tor It, so the amendment was beaten.
The republican party protects the
trusts. Of course, before the people,
they will quote the sayings of the
president, but when they want cam
paign funds from the trusts they will
point to their congressional action.
"Then the Cuban reciprocity bill
passed tho house. But because it con
tained a provision in the interests
of our own consumers as well as the
Cuban producers, by repealing the ad
ditional duty on refined sugar, which
tho sugar trust wishes to be main
tained, tho republican senate refused
to reporftho bill.
"Mr. Roosevelt had a splendid op
portunity here to side with tho anti
trust sentiment in both houses and
possibly force the reporting of this
bill; but he failed to avail himself of
It. The bill as it passed tho house
gave relief to the sugar consumers of
this country by the abolition of a tax
which protected one of the most un
popular trusts in the country. Mr.
Roosevelt evidently concluded that it
was more important to maintain the
protective tariff as a whole regardless
if its abuses and Inequalities, rather
than to give relief to the Cuban sugar
producers and to American consum
ers. The democratic party in caucus
voted against adjournment until a
trust bill and the Cuban reciprocity
bill should be passed. But tho repub
lican party voted for an adjournment
without action on theso questions."
In speaking of western questions Mr.
Nowlands said:
"As for tho west, tho democratic
party stood solid for the admission of
New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arizona,
but the republican senate tied tho bill
up.
"On the irrigation, bill, although the
president was strongly with the west
and supported the measure, he failed
to get tho support of the republican
leaders in the hoilse, and the result
was that, though the republicans were
largely in the majority and the repub
licans from the" arid regions made a
splendid fight for the bill, tho majority
of the votes cast for this measure were
democratic. Of the 55 who voted
against the bill 13 only wore demo
crats, tho remainder wore, republicans.
Prior to the vote the democratic con
gressional campaign committee passed
a resolution favoring the bill. The
friendliness of the democratic leaders
toward the west was in marked con
trast with the hostility of the republi
can leaders. Inevery way the demo
cratic party showed its sympathy with
the west.
"This tendency of the democratic
party means much for San Francisco.
Her development depends on the
growth in population and wealth of the
states and territories to the east of
her. These are tho people who will
raise the products that go to the
Orient and will consume the products
that come from the Orient, of which
products, coming and going, San Fran
cisco will make tho exchanges. There
can- be no great expansion of San
Francisco trade without the expansion
of her trade in tho adjoining stdtes
and territories. Nevada's decline con
tributed much to San Francisco's de
pression. Her growth will mean to
San Francisco more than a hundred
Philippines.
"We have spent over three hundred
million dollars in the Philippines in
the past four years, and our trade has
amounted in that time to less than
twenty million. Assuming that 10 per
cent of this is profit, we have received
a profit in trade of $2,000,000 and have
expended $300,000,000. As a business
proposition this does not look well,
and It will never look better if the
present policy is pursued. Thon, as a
matter of prestige and sentiment we
have gained nothing. There is no
glory in sending thousands of big
Americans 9,000 miles over the sea to
kill a lot of little brown men who are
afflicted with the same mad desire for
independence that characterized our
people in the revolution.
"I can understand why the expan
sion sentiment should be stronger here
than elsewhere," continued Mr. New
lands, "for San Francisco has been
pre-eminently the beneficiary of this
war, as a large portion of the supplies
were bought here. This, coming at the
end of a long period of depression,
naturally turned the tide. But I sub
mit thatrin the long run San Francisco
will gain more from a policy of peace
in the Orient than from a policy of
war. The democratic contention is
that we should rfot withdraw imme
diately from the Philippines, but that
we should give them the assurance
that in ten years, during which time a
stable system of self-government could
bo gradually organized, we would
withdraw. During this time trade
would take tho place of war and we
would tie these people to us by the
bonds of mutual trade advantage "in
stead of driving them into every form
of hatred and retaliation by attempted
conquest and subjugation. What we
want is the friendship of the Orient;
not its hostility. A few naval and
coaling stations will be much more
serviceable to us as part of the ma
chinery of commerce than the subjuga-
tiuu ui. u country eager to pursue its
own line of national life."
on tho money question was character
istic. We have always insisted that
after they succeeded in stopping the
coinage of silver they would start in
to dispense with the existing stock
Tills they proposed to do by tho Hill
bill, which was passed in the house
.by the republicans and opposed by tho
democrats, which, is now pending ia
the senate. Under existing conditions
we nave auout Jfuuu.uuo.ooo of silver
represented by silver certificates and
in -general circulation. They form
one-third of our metallic money, and
are indispensable to the transaction
of business. These certificates are
backed by full legal tender silver
dollars in the treasury. The bill
which passed the house gives the sec
retary of the treasury tho power to
melt up all these silver dollars, thus
retiring the certificates, and recoin
tho dollars into small coin 10-cent
pieces, quarters and half-dollars
which will not be a full legal tender
and of which only a small amount is
needed. If this is done we will then
have a cry that this silver can be put
to no ,use, and then the proposition
will be to sell it, like old junk, as bul
lion, thus further depressing tho sil
ver market and producing at tho same
time a contraction of our volume of
money."
On the question of organized labor,
Mr. Newlands said:
"I beliove that tho organization of
the laborers of the country in unions
and federations is doing much to turn
the labor of the country, on which all
wealth is based, to a proper compre
hension: of a rational system of gov
ernment. In the meetings "of these
unions and federations and in their
newspapers and periodicals all ques
tions relating to social science, the re
lations of capital to labor and the
relations of government to tho happi
ness and prosperity of the people are
being more thoroughly discussed and
considered than anywhere else.
"I believe it stiould be the policy of
the democratic party to co-operate
with and seek the support of these
great organizations, and thus make
itself what it has always claimed to be
tho party of tho people."
Items of Interest.
Speaking of tho money question Mr
Nowlands said: ' '
"Tho action of the republican party
The offspring of two rabbits might
in ten years number 70,000,000.
Canada's yield of cereals this year Is
estimated at 300,000,000 bushels.
Nearly 90 per cent of Germany's
railways belong to tho government
Taking tho world as a whole 25 per
cent dio before they reach the age
of 17.
Emigrants to South Africa are offi
cially warned to wait until land can be
secured for them.
The population of Damascus,"reputed
the oldest city in the world, is cal
culated at 225,000 souls.
San Francisco leads American cities
with the largest ratio of suicides, or
39.1 per 100,000 of population.
In a recent number of the Scottish
Medical and Surgical Journal Sir Ar
thur Mitchell holds that dreamless
sleep is a myth. y
The two American cities in which
the number of colored inhabitants is
increasing most largely aro Washing
ton and Philadelphia.
A summer loan exhibition of Ja
panese art at the Whitechapel Art
Gallery, London, was visited by 90,
000 people, chiefly of the poorer classes.
Berlin has its first female harbors
the wife and daughter of a hair
dresser. In Bohemia, Hungary and
Scandinavia there are many women
barbers.
Transplanted eyelashes and eye
brows are said to be the latest things
In the way of personal adornment
Only the brave and rich can patronize
the new method at present, for, be
sides being painful and costly, it takes
a long time to accomplish it Pitts
burg Dispatch.
i.
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