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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 1903)
H"mtHWl.WM'M4U- M1M Jan. 16, I93. A reader of The Commoner writes: "The Standard Oil company lias advanced the price of oil one-half of a cent per gallon A live different times in almaflj, as pair man) weeks. Is that a sample Sam Die. of tho" way comhinations with v improved facilities cheapen the product?" The. Standard Oil company as a rule provides pretty fair samples of the way combina tions operate for "the benefit of the people." :vy The 'Atlanta, Constitution thinks the old fal lacy that "the foreigner pays the tax" is dead , . beyond resurrection. If the edi Tho tor of the Constitution will Old crowd the average republican Fallacy. editor into a corner, on this point he will learn of' his' mis take and will ascertain very readily that the pro tectionist is wedded to his idols and does not hesi tate even at this day to reassert the absurdity that "the foreigner pays the tax." The Chicago Tribune says that the president has made "a serious effort to enforce the anti trust law." Perhaps the Tri Plcaso 3Une -will be able to explain why Explain the president has not undertak- lt. ." en to enforce the criminal clause of that law. No representative of the administration, and so far as we have ob served no republican newspaper, has ever ex plained why this, the chief provision of the Sher man antL-trust law, was not enforced. A brick manufacturer in Chicago has obtained Judgment for tho sum of $22,000 for damages suf- ierea Dy a ooycott organizeu against him by the Chicago ma son's and builders' association and contractors, and the brick manufacturers' association. A few more judgments of this kind and the repre sentatives of the trust system may conclude that, after all, independent business men will be pro tected in the effort to provide competition. A Big Judgment. SXNSXN A pretty story is being told relating to the late Jessie Benton Fremont. During the civil war Admiral Porter had com- A. mand of the federal fleet on the Pretty Mississippi. He occupied as his Story. ' flagship the steamer Benton, named after Mrs. Fremont's father. The, admiral named the little tender at- " iached to tho flagship Jessie Benton Fremont, and he wrote to Mrs. Fremont in explanation: "You have' always sailed close to your husband and your father." There Congressman Cannon, who will probably be the speaker of the next house, relates this inter esting tale: "I wore my old slouch hat one day, and went are over to the congressional library, Others. where they have the models of this great scheme for beautify ing Washington. The man In charge sized me up right the very first time as a countryman from Illinois. 'What's it all about?' I asked. He told mo in detail. 'How much will it cost?' I asked again. 'The cost is estimated at a thousand mil lion dollars.' 'Great Scott!' I said. 'Will the peo ple stand for it?' 'Sure,' he replied, 'they've got to stand it' " This is not the only scheme which tho people "have got to stand." The Washington Post approaches the danger line when it gives utteranco to this treasonable T statement: "We find the press 1,10 declaring that the trusts 'are Dangerv bursting with as bitter a hatred Line. of the president and the repub lican party which supports him as ever they could feel for tho powers of extrem ist destruction.' The fact and the dimensions of the republican victory in the middle of a presi dential term prove that tho trusts were not out for the scalp of the g. o. p. Tho party's consis tent record of fidelity to tho interests of monopol istic combinations was accepted as a guarantee of continued friendship. Whore is there the slight est indication of danger to the trusts from repub lican animosity?" 2OS Walter Wollman, the well-known newspaper correspondent, has written an interesting article . for the periodical called "Suc- A cess," In which Mr. Wellman Powerful shows that tho United States Dozen. senate, a body presumed to com- , prise ninety, twelve men actually t,ommat0. Mr. .Wellman does not care to under- o, tlle -taslc- oti presenting-, the- names- in the uer f precedence,1- but he does not hesi- The Commoner, tote to name as the twelve men of power ildrfeh ofn , th? , f0,,l0WinS; Nd8onP W of f Iowa AlbPrfT nSlan,d,: WillIam B- " M cS?nm 5? fm S0'1 Indiana; Shelby m. Uillom, of Illinois; Charles W. Fairbanks nt Frve "2 mZZ Br ot l P A Hanna o ownS8"8 Hn1?' f Marae; Marcu8 chusett? nrSul oswHo2FyCabot B0 of Ma88a inhl n a H Platt o Connecticut, and John C. Spooner, of Wisconsin. ' nheToLenT Y?,Fl "L conPlains because the office of collector at Charlestown, S. C. is There considered too sacred to bo pro- tanod by an occupant with a ro black skin, just as the postofflco Others. at Indianola is considered too rn uu ,, , sacred to bo profaned by a wo- Srve SoLanbrla?k fk!?'" The Tribuno ahuld re serve some of its indignation because of tho fact 2? f if y im??rtait fedcral "lce in the northern states is considero d"too sacred to be profaned by an occupant with a black skin." W. D. Bynum, who left tho democratic party on the ground that ho was "too good a democrat" to inuorse bimetallism, has now declared in favor of tho high tariff policy. It is somewhat significant that many of tho TY1QTI wVlrt Knfnnn.1 i- .... L M. democratic ticket in 1896 and in 1900 on ino ground that they disagreed with tho party on tho financial question have "little by little, but steadily as man s march to tho grave," embraced the general policies of the republican party. Many Observing persons will be inclined to agree with the Chicago Chronicle when it says: Th "From the general tone of re- 1,10 publican comment upon Sena- Hoar tor Hoar's anti-trust bill it is Bill. pretty safe to predict that the Massachusetts sage will be about as successful in his war against .uo trusts as ho was in his attack upon imperialism. Tho repub lican party esteems and venerates Mr. Hoar only so long as he keeps his hands off the various forms of favoritism which that organization fos ters and protects." Some republican papers are urging the repub lican congress to make a revision of the tariff. But they : re met with that old time campaign slogan, "Let well enough ane." The republican editors wno favor tarnf revision may remember that rlnrinf thn campaign they urged the people to "let well enough alone;" and yet soncnow or other this phrase when used by tho republican congressmen does not appeal to those who insist that the trusts should be deprived of the shelter which they find in the tariir. 5 Now He is all Over. A Slogan's Roast. C"V'"' A Porto Rican student at Cornell, Traviesco by name, has written a letter to the Chicago Rec-ord-Herald. This student draws In an unhappy picture of the ad- Porto ministration of Porto Rican af- C0 fairs and among other things says: "In order that his will may be done and that his power may be absolute Governor Hunt supports the party of the minority, composed of American adventurers and native ren egades, who have no regard for the welfare of the country and are ready to applaud so long as they enjoy official protection." yv, Mr. Oxnard's Power. It is announced on authority of the New York World that Mr. Oxnard of ae beet sugar trust nas ueciueu to anow tne reci procity treaty giving a 20 per cent reduction from tho tariff rates on Cuban sugar to be rati fied. At the same time Mr.. Oxnard is said to have warned tho president of tho United States that the bill reducing the Philip pine tariff from 75 to 25 per cent of tho Dingley rates cannot pass. .r. Oxnard has had his way on several occasions and it will not be in the least surprising if he has nis way at this time. Generals Botha and Delarey have issued a cir cular in behalf of the Boers asking for assistance. In this circular it is said: "Tho misery and want are great, greater than word or pen can describe, but we have hopes hnsfiri on recent utterances in writmc of the colonial secretary that tho British Mveniinont, when convinced of the extent of tho destitutton and ruin, will do all in its power to alleviate the misery of the people of the two late The Spectaclo's Ghost. republics. But thoro will always romaln need for nolp boyond what tho govornmant can give." In the light of this appeal from tho subjects of Great Britain who will undertako to Justify tho oxtrava ganco and display shown in tho gorgeous spectacle at Delhi? Tho New York World has interviewed Grover Cleveland with relation to tho Monroo doctrine. The readers of tho-World would IK doubtless obtain moro accurato Mr. iniormatlon concerning that Olncy. doctrine if Richard Olney wero, persuaded to say something on tho subject. Mr. Cloveland says tuat this Ameri can prlnciplo will never bo bottor dofonded or moro bravely asserted than was done by. Mr. Olney in his dispatch to the British government in 1895. On this point there will bo very general agreement with tho former president Tho Atlanta Journal has concludod that aftor all there is something of a problem in tho Phll ippino question. The Journal !t says: "American army officers is a returning from tho Philippines Question. Btato tuat It will bo necessary to plnce tho three principal pro vinces of tho island under military rulo once moro. Wo may as well look tho Phillpplno problem squarely in tho face one time aB another it is merely another Indian problem, but with a vnst ly superior and more formidable peoplo to deal with, and that, too, under less favorable conditions." Indianola Post Office. The action of tho administration In abolishing tho Indianola, Miss., postoffice Is open to serious criticism. Representative Plerco of Tennessee says: "The post office was established by law and if It is to be abolished It should bo abolished bv law." The representatives of tho administration claim that the better element among the Indianola citi zenship condemns the-annoyance to which tho colored postmistress was subjected. This being true, it is strange that the administration would Insi3t upon putting .the entire community to tho inconvenience of doing without a postoffice. "Senator Lodge of Massachusetts has Intro duced a bill providing for the suspension for a period of ninety days of the tar Fr iff on anthracite coal. In his Ninety messngo to congress Mr. Roosc- Days. velt said: "In my Judgment tho tariff on anthracite coal should be removed and anthracite put actually where it now is nominally on the free list. This would have no effect at all save in crises, but in crises it might be of service to the people." Are wo to understand that the Lodge bill complies with tho president's recommendation? Can it be possible that all danger of crises will be avoided If an thracite Is placed on the free list for a period of ninety days? The Kansas City Star gives a bit of good ad vice to the negro when it says: "There is too much of a disposition among de Blt of cent black men to shield tho Good bad representatives of their own Advice. race Tne public officers con tinually complain of this ten dency and they testify that it Increases the diffi culty of .enforcing the law. This feeling of sym pathy Is' probably a natural herltago of the days when the negroes were generally persecuted and oppressed, but there Is no necessity for it now. Tho negro in Kansas City and everywhere else owes it to himself to cast out the vagabonds and criminals of his own color who bring reproach upon him and who keep alive the prejudice against tho race." The Baltimore Sjun provides food for thought when it says: "It has been the experience in re cent advances in wages that the Food public, the consumer, must pay For tho freight. When tho wages Thought. f railroad employes have been advanced tho advance has been usually accompanied by an Increase In freight rates, so that upon the whole the company has perhaps made money by the operation. Mr. Rockefeller gives a million dollars to a college and raises the price of oil so that he will get his million dollars fctick from the public many times over. The people would appreciate liberality by the corporations to their employes, whether in the form of profit-sharing or In the increase of wages, if tho liberality was at the expense of tho corporation and' not extorted' from the public" 'GM UlttiimBlmMiim'mtimim-