The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923, December 19, 1902, Page 2, Image 2
II 1 I yx , ( II l A. ognitio'n of the rights, of others; botweona meas ure of greatness1 that estimates a man by what he has absorbed from society and that which estimates men worthy' in proportion as they do service and diffuse .blessings these differences surpass comprehension. If Jesus had left nothing but the Parables, His name would have been imperishable in litera ture; if He had bequeathed to posterity nothing but the simplicity of his speech and the irresisti ble logic of His argument, Ho would have had a permanent place among the orators of the world; if Ho had given to the world nothing but the commandment "Thou shalt loveHhy neighbor as thyself," enforced as it was by His own example, this one gift would have been sufficient to out weigh all the wealth of all the world; if He had left no record but the Sermon on the Mount, it alone would have made His natal day worthy of perpetual celebrationbut all these added to the matchless majesty of a perfect life and the in spiring influence of an all-pervading love, are turning the eyes of an ever-increasing number to the path that Le'trod from the manger to the cross. Love was the dominating force of His life and love is today the overmastering impulse whose ebb and flow mark the retreat and advance of civilization. And love, too, sanctifies the Christmas gift With it the merest trifle swells into an object of importance; without it the most expensive present ""dwindles into insignificance. Love is the alchemy which invests with priceless value all that it touches the magic wand that converts the hum blest cottage into a palace and gives to earth's pilgrims a glimpse of paradise. The 'Commoner wishes its readers, one and all, a Christmas made merry by kindly deeds and communion with ffiendsand'a NW Year made 'happy by the following of a high 'purpose with "firm .resolve. JJJ Stopping Gold Coinage. Director of the Mint Roberts in his annual report recommends that we stop the coinage of gold. He says that the gold coin of the country is now entering almost entirely into storage and he insists that the coinage of the entire annual de posit is unnecessary.. He argues that the $500, 000,000 of coined gold in the treasury is more than will be called for in a generation and he thinks that it would be better to issue certificates against gold bars. This public recommendation, taken in connec tion with an objection which the director urged privately against the encouraging of gold produc tion by the establishment of new assay offices, would indicate that the financiers and their sym pathizers are fearful that gold will become too plentiful. While many of the advocates of the gold, standard suppose that the gold dollar has a fixed and unchangable value the great financial magnates know that the purchasing power of a dollar depends upon the number of dollars and being interested in dear money rather than in higher prices, they will oppose the free coinage ' of gold as strenuous as they did the free coin age of silver whenever they think that the world's production of the yellow metaL is likely to bring aid to the debtor class. They can look complacent ly upon an indefinite increase in the purchasing power of the dollar, but they become alarmed at W mUS ,ra deCreaSe SIX years a a bals' magazine of London suggested that it might be- venttrTry0 HmIt thG COina of gold pre vent the dollar from getting cheap and we may ex- ?rolCHonSUf gC8tl0n t0 b0 acted P thgo,d hfinT mUCU larger' Th0 coin- 000 durln. drPPed about $38,000, . 000 during the past year; $14,452,000 in gold was The Commoner. withdrawn from the treasury for use in the arts, and to this must be added tho indefinite' amount secured by the melting of gold coin. When it is remembered that this only represents the 'con sumption of one nation it will be seen that a con siderable proportion of the gold production of the world is diverted from coinage to use as merchan dise. The total supply of gold coin is also de pleted by lost 'coins and. by abrasion a loss so great that the "quantity of gold coin in existence today in the entire world is considerably less than the gold production since 1848. In other words, the savings of all the ages prior to tho great dis coveries of 1849 have disappeared. Over nineteen million silver dollars were coined last year (at the ratio of 16 to 1 without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation), but the silver bullion in the treasury is now nearly exhausted and the coinage of silver dollars will soon cease. The director of the mint suggests that tho limit on subsidiary coinage be removed. He prob "ably has in contemplation the passage of the bill (already passed by the house of representatives) authorizing the unlimited recoinage of silver dol lars into subsidiary coin. If the readers of The Commoner will watch the movements of the financiers they will find evi dence of a persistent effort to lessen the volume of legal tender money a part of the gold stand ard plan to make gold the only legal tender and bank notes the only credit money. JJJ Post Check Currency. , An important measure now before congress is the post check currency bill. This bill pro vides for a convenient method of sending small sums of money by mail and its passage is beiijg urged by newspaper publishers and by merchants, generally. One of the promoters of this measure says: "A great deal has been written on this sub ject, and there are few who do not know that this method is simply an issue of currency that can be circulated as cash and also be safely remitted by mail, because when mailed it will be made payable only to the person whose name is writ ten in the blank space that is left for that pur pose. Under the present money order system safe ty can be assured only at the sacrifice of conven ience, and convenience can be consulted only by disregarding the element of safety. The post check plan is both convenient and safe, and, be ing so, it is just what the public needs in its line. The business interests and the press favor it with virtual if not actual unanimity, and, in fact, the full measure of popularity it has won is a war rant, if not an order, for its adoption by con gress." JJJ A Rich Man's Example. The New York World gives an extended ac count of the action of J. G. Phelps Stokes, a rich young New Yorker, who has left a luxuriant home to dwell and work among the poor of the East Side. He has become a resident of University set tlement at Eldridge and Rivington streets, and spent Thanksgiving Day among his new neigh bors. Mr. Stokes is a stalwart young man with an abundance of energy, but ho is going to employ his strenuousness in persuasive and self-sacrificing methods rather than in following the boister ous and bloody paths marked out by the imperial ists. He has the Bible Idea of conquest that of 'overcoming evil with good that of conquering with kindness. While m it may require, some self-denial and moral courage on the part of Mr. Stokes, who doubts that he, will get more genuine pleasure ; Vol. a, No. 48. out of his labor than the well-dressed dudes and self-indulgent sons will obtain from the squander ing of their fathers' money? JJJ Mr. Chandler on Lynching. Ex-Senator Chandler of Now Hampshire, in a recent letter to the New York Sun, remarks: "I should like to learn Mr. Bryan's opinion of tho bloody and brutal custom of lynching American negroes." Mr. Bryan's opinion has already been ex pressed on this subject in The Commoner. He is opposed to lynching either black people or white people, in the south or in the north, and he is still more opposed to the burning or torture of criminals by mobs in any part of the country. He believes " in law and order, and has always contended that the law should fix the punishment and that the officers of the law should administer the punishment But ho is not deceived by the mock virtue of partisan republicans who rave about the lynching of a black man in the south, but have nothing to say about the lynching of men, white and black, in the north. There Is a difference between the patriotic condemnation of lawlessness wherever it occurs and the attempt to make political capital out of summary punishments when they happen to bo enforced by political opponents. Senator Chandler, when he is in a talkative vein, as he often is, might express his opinion about the crimes which are responsible for most of the lynching, and he might explain why tho - republican politicians spend so much more time finding fault with the punishment than they do in trying to eradicate the hideous offenses which have led the white people of the south to executo summary vengeance. When he gets through with these explanations he- might add . a. .postscript showing why the lynching and burning of black men in Colorado, Kansas and other northern states disturb republican editors and republican orators less than the burning of black men in the south. JJJ Care For Parents. A dispatch from Kokomo, Ind., tells how fifty masked men took an aged, neglected and enfeebled old man in a carriage and, driving to the home of one of the man's sons, notified him that he would have to take care of his father or they, the reg ulators, would take care of the son. It seems that the old man was once well-to-do and gave each of his sons a farm, but now in his old age they have left him destitute to care for himself. An occasional occurrence of this kind re minds the world that ingratitude and depravity are not yet obsolete, and it also teaches an im portant lesson, namely, that a parent ought not to divide his property among his children until he 'dies. While in a large proportion of cases such an anti-mortem distribution does not result in unfllial conduct, it is just as well for the parent to retain the title to enough to keep him from want. The command, "Honor thy father and thy mother," is a continuing one and Is Intended for adult as well as younger children. The Indiana incident recalls a Btory told to enforce this point: A father, noticing his little boy working at a trough, asked him what he was making it for? His innocent reply, "To feed you out of when you get old like grandpa," was a rebuke that the parent did not forget If there were no higher motive, a father should remember that he Is making provision for his own old age when ho sets before his chil dren an example of filial tenderness and devotion. JJJ n Tn a battle," said President Roosevelt, "tho only shots that count are the shots that hit." Cor rect, and tho trusts never winced a bit msb9BB9 -, UBMtf'L' P " T - &m. i