The Commoner.
Oct. 31 1 I9Q3
V'
'
Mr. Roosevelt has had much to say concerning
- bad trust and a good trust, hut he has not yet
told us the difference Between
the two. Indeed It Is doubtfui
whether any republican leader
would dare to undertake speci
fications on this Interesting
Good
and Bad
Trusts.
Question.
Next
'Thing to
Guessing.
Quarles
and
Roosevelt
The republican text-book says: -"You do not
fcavo to guess what the republican party will do'
and a newspaper bulletin Issued
by the democratic congressional
committee makes the apt retort:
"On the other hand, President
Roosevelt says that he cannot
promise what a republican cpngress will do. He
says that as for his duties ho knows what he will
do, but he couldn't speak for congress. Isn't that
the next thing to guessing?"
United States Senator J. Q. Quarles delivered a
speech at Duluth recently in which ho pleaded
that exclusive control over tne
trusts bo vested in the federal
authority. And yfct it will be re
membered that in one of his
speeches President Roosevelt
said that in order to effectually handlo this great
evil it would be necessary td depend upon federal
.authority, state authority and municipal author
ity, permitting each to operate with free and un
restrained hand.
An attorney for one of the St Louis boodlers
referred to bribery as "a conventional crime."
This attorney perhaps meant to
say that the offense has become
so common that it was really
not a crime. If bribery has be-p-omft
so common that a lawyer
feels justified in referring to4t as "conventional,"
then it is high time the law be enforced so vigor
ously that men will understand that the people
will not tamely submit to this assault upon the in
tegrity of the public service.
Conventional
' Crime.
Several republican papers have claimed that
Coal Baron Baer is a democrat .The Boston
Globe, In an article describing
Mr. ,Baer, says.: "He was at one
time editor of the Somerset
Democrat, and did not leave the
democratic party until 1896."'
Since then Mr. Baer has supported the republican
ticket and has contributed generously to the re
publican campaign fund. It is difficult to see
therefore with, what reason republican papers
charge this coal baron to the democratic party.
Baer
Not a
Democrat.
Republicans
are in
Control.
The Chicago Tribune, republican, ijoints out
that there Is a provision in the constitution of
Pennsylvania which reads as fol
lows: "No incorporated com
pany doing the business of a
common carrier shall, directly
or indirectly, prosecute or en
gage in mining or manufacturing articles for
transportation over its road." The republican par
ty is in full control in Pennsylvania. If the party
is really anxious to protect the. interests of the
coal consumers of the country why have the re
publican officials of Pennsylvania neglected to en
force this very clear constitutional provision?
The New York American and Journal voices
B, very popular appeal to the president when it
says: "Do not be advised by
Why the. trusts how to deal with the
Not trusts, Mr. President Do not
Indeed? rely upon trust lawyers to in
terpret for you the anti-trust
law. They will never fail to find reasons why you
should hot interfere with the privileges of mo
nopolizing and politically influencing wealth. Re
solve all doubts in favor of the people In favor of
your own power to give the country relief from a
situation that is 'literally intolerable.' Grant the
prayer of the 'American's' petition: 'Enforce the
Sherman anti-trust act against these public ene
mies. Order their immediate indictment as crim
inals.'" The Louisville Courier-Journal makes an in
teresting point when it says that it is a little
singular that a party having
Why Not several hundred thousand xaa
Enforce Jority in Pennsylvania should
UP have been so long in discover
ing the following provision in
the Pennsylvania constitution: "The existence
of the right of eminent domain shall never be
abridged or so construed as to prevent the gen
eral assembly from taking the property and Iran-
chises of incorporated companies, and subjecting
them to public use, the same as the property of
individuals; and the exercise of the polico power
of the state shall never be abridged or so con
strued as to permit .corporations to conduct their
business in such manner as to infringe the equal
rights of individuals or tho general well-being of
the state."
Tho Chicago Tribune, republican, says: "The
ropeal of tho coal duties will not injure tho soft
coal industry, but will put a
Why not CUrb on the rapacity of the an
Gcneral thraclte mine owners. They will
Revision? nave lower their prices G7
cents a ton In Now England and
at other points which cannot easily got bituminous
coal from Amorican mines. They will bo con
fronted by a competition long unknown to them,
and they will have to meet It Tho mere repeal
of the duty on anthracite will not bo enough. All
the duties should go. If thoro wore no duties
now coal would be pouring in from Nova Scotia."
.The Tribune would also like tho repeal of the tariff
duties through which the paper trust makes Its
great impositions upon tho newspaper publishers
of the country. But If the tariff duties on paper
should go for the benefit of tho newspaper pub
lishers and if tho tariff on coal should go for the
benefit of tho coal consumers, why should not the
tariff on the products of all trusts go for tho ben
efit of tho general consumers of tho country?
g The readers of The Commoner, especially those J
who have been assisting in extending the paper's
J circulation through the 'Lots of Five" plan, will J
j oe pieasca to learn thai during the sixteen weeks
the plan has been in operation sixty-nine thousand
J subscription cards have been ordered by thepaper's
j subscribers and tlis requests for these cards now
O being received nupibcr about one thousand per day.
Quite a number of the subscription cards are
Y yet in the hands of those who ordered them, and as
the influence of the new subscribers, represented by
the outstanding cards, is needed in a work The
Commoner is about to inaugurate, the Jiolders of
the cards are requested to make a special effort
during the next ten days to secure a subscriber for 2
each card in their possession and to return the ?
cards bearing the subscribers1 names to Tlie Com- A
moncr office, Lincoln, JNcb. J
Tlie publisher ishigJUy gratified by the hearty J?
operation of The Commoner's subscribers in ex-
l
t
:
CO
tending the influence of the paper and desires in
this public manner to express his appreciation of
this token of approval of the paper's course by
its subscribers.
C"&4046406C&0'4
O
t
W. J. BRYAN.
Porto Ricans
and
Indians.
' The Philadelphia Press seeks to use the condi
tion of the Indian with relation to citizenship as a
Justification of the Porto Rican's
attitude. The i'rsss says: "Sov
ereignty has never under our
system necessarily conferred
citizenship. If it 'did Indians
would be citizens." The Press has probably over
looked the fact that Indians who give their alleg
iance to the United states are citizens and are en
titled to -vote. It is the Indian who maintains
tribal relations and pays his allegiance to his tribe
that is not recognized as a citizen. The United
States demands complete allegiance on the part of
its citizens and so it requires at the hands of an
Indian who would be a citizen tho surrender of his
allegiance to his tribe. Tne jrorto RIcan is re
quired to give allegiance to the United States, but
ho is not permitted to be a citizen of the United
States. Ho is described as a "citizen of Porto
Rico, a condition absolutely without parallel In
tho history of this country; a condition that cannot
be justified by any traditions of this country or by
the laws or Judicial opinions prior to the present
day of imperialism.
In a recent speech Richard Olney of Massa
chusetts, referring to the coal barons, said: "They
are tne most unDlusnlng and
persistent of law-breakers. For
years they have defied the law
of Pennsylvania, which forbids
common carriers enfirariner In the,
business of mining. For years they have discrim
inated between customers in the freight charges
Are
They Not
Immune?
What WIH
tho Tribune
do?
on their railroads In violation of the interstate
commerce law. For years they have unlawfully
monopolized interstate commerce in violation of
the Shorman antl-tust law. Indeed, tho best ex
cuse and explanation of their astonishing attitude
at tho Washington conference are that, having
violated so many laws for so long and so many
times, they might rightfully think they were whol
ly immune from either punlshmont or reproach."
Mr. Olney hit tho nail squarely on tho head; and
yot aro not these coal barons Justified In thinking
that they are wnolly immuno from punishment?
Thoy know that thoy violato tho federal anti-trust
law. Thoy know that tho enforcement of the
criminal clause of that law would land every one
of them In prison; and yot thoy observe that the
attorney general for tho United States reports that
ho docs not feel Justified In proceeding against
them under tho terms of tho law thoyr have doflod.
Tho Chicago TrlbunoTropubllcnn, says: "It Is
apparent from tho speeches of tho president, and
of tho secrotary of tho treasury,
and of Senator Fairbanks, which
aro all In harmony upon this
subject, that thero will bo no
immedlntn nr raillonl olinnenn In
tho tariff schedules." And yot tho Tribune ro-
?oniliy-,?a,a that Ifc wa a notorious fact that the
tariff did shelter monopolies and that Immediate
and radical changes In tho tariff schedules were
necessary in order to protect tho pcoplo and to
savo tho republican party.
The Indianapolis Nows, a paper that has given
material aid to republican success, declares that
tho tariff question Is vory much
alive." Tho Nows says: "And
tho republican party of tho pres
ent tlmo Is composed of hun
dreds of thousands of men who
aro thoroughly 'on to' tho protectionist game. They
know perfectly well that many of tho tariff duties
aro not maintained in the interest of the people,
but in the interest of great and wealthy enter-
prises that prey off tho people." If these "hun
dreds of thousands" of men aro "thoroughly onto
tho protectionist game," if thoy know "perfectly
well that many of the tariff duties are not main
tained In the Interost of the people, but In the
interest of great and wealthy enterprises that prey
off tho people," will these men continue to glv
their support to the republican party in the pres
ence of tho statements made by republican leaders
that tho tariff will not bo revised by the roDubli-
.. - -jr
can party t
What of
the Rank
and File?
&?
Asks
Correction
Made.
A minister of the Swedonborg church writes
to The Commoner that a wrong impression was
conveyed by a nows item which
appeared in The Commoner re
cently in regard to tho death .
of Luther Marsh of Middletown,
N. Y. It was stated that the
deceased was a diligent student of the writings of
Swedenborg, and that ho was influenced through
Mrs. Dls de Bar's alleged spirit pictures to make
over property to her for a nominal sum. The
Commoner's informant regarded this as a sug
gestion that tho church of tho New Jerusalem
sanctioned spiritualism, whereas he asserts -that
on the contrary tho teachings of Swedenborg point
out "tho danger of spiritualism" and "the church
warns against it" Ho says "that it Is possible the
church concedes, but that it Is fraught with many
dangers is what It Is able to show?" The Com
moner takes no part in discussions of a religious
nature, and this correction Is made only because
tho minister referred to felt .that his church's
position had been misstated.
Popular
With Trust
flagftates.
The plan of vesting In tne federal government
exclusive control of trusts was not originated by
tho present leaders of tho repub
lican party. John D. Rockefeller
in his testimony before the in
dustrial commission, when asked
what legislation wrv.ilri hn advis
able, said: "First, federal legislation under which
corporations may bo created and regulated, if
that were possible." Vice President Archbold
of tho Standard Oil company, said: "The next
great and, to my mind, Inevitable step of progress
in the direction of our commercial development
lies in tho direction of national or federal corpora
tions," Henry H. Rogers, a Standard Oil magnate,
indorsed Mr. Archbold's suggestion. John W.
Gates, the steel magnate, said: "I would be very
much In favor of having national charters
granted." Republican leaders who insist that the
tariff must be revised, but who are not at all
inclined to revise it, are also very ready to adopt
the form of legislation concerning trusts that la
most popular with the trust magnates.