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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 1903)
ipp' avwvmmhqitmriHfrmM JWMJHiWW''W,fl(Tr r; niftmm wimTmrrn-CrW ' v "vpiqr ww-f-'pKT im4iHMWWBy w jywiwwn"-" The Commoner. 5 New York " and Chicago. JTEBRUARY 6, 1903. Mr. Aldrich of Rhode Island is being twitted oven by eastern newspapers with his reference to the "greedy west" Referring The to Mr. Aldrlch's- "indignation," Greedy the Philadelphia Record says: WosU "This indignation comes with an ill grace from the senatorial champion of rapacious trusts and corporations in the east", for whoso benefit he stubbornly opposes any mitigation of the spoiliatory schedules of the Dingley tariXL" New York has a population of 3,583,930; Chi cago, has a population of l,80v,000. New York's area is 326 square miles; tnat or Chicago is 191 square miles. New York's street mileage is 2,572; that of Chicago, 4,103, and yet according to statistics recently issued in Chicago the expense fdr the administra tion of the chief departments in New York for the past year amounted to $28,610,970 while Chi cago's expense amounted to $8,289,099. The Washington correspondent of the New .York World is authority for an interesting story relating to the effort on the Aldrich part 0f Senator Quay and other Tells advocates of the omnibus statc- Theui. hood bill to push the measure to a vote, 'ino story follows: Senator Cullom, of Illinois, possesses the faith that is abiding. He was asked about the Quay hold-up of the senate. "Oh," said the senator, "that will stop pretty soon." "But how?" "Why, Aldrich will go to these republicans that are with Quay and tell them to quit" "Will they quit?" "Certainly," Senator Cullom replied, as if aston ished that there was any doubt of it "Why, Aid rich will tell them to." In his message to congress Mr. Roosevelt had considerable to say concerning a tariff commission. The Dallas (Tex.) News makes an interesting point on this lino when it says: "It goes with out saying that a non-partisan commission is not . going to, be appointed by any partisan who is willing to toler ate the present method of holding the consumer up. Even if a non-partisan committee could be raised its work would be merely advisory and would bo promptly rejected by a partisan .congress or af par tisan president if it did not line up with party policy and promises. The tariff question must be settled at last by congress with the approval of the president" The News is correct Tno republicans will And it difficult to take the tariff question out of politics. That Tariff Commission. An Important Omission " In his speech delivered before the New York chamber of commerce, xar. Roosevelt said: "The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall bo able to pull his weight that ho shall not be a mere passenger, but shall do his share in the work that each generation of us finds ready to hand; and furthermore that in doing his work he shall show "not only the capacity for stur dy self-help, but self-respecting regard for the rights of others." One may search the president's recent utterances for anything resembling this in teresting statement Why does not Mr. Roosevelt say something concerning the desirability of the tariff barons and the trust magnates pulling their weight? Why does he overlook the fact that these people have been mere passengers long enough and that it was time that they should show not only the capacity for sturdy self-help, but self-respecting regard for the rights of others? It is reported that Mr. Roosevelt threatens to call an extra session unless the pledges of the re v . publican party to the people in Prepare the last election are fulfilled by the the enactment of a rigid anti- Call, trust law. The president mav as well prepare his call. There is no disposition on the part of republican congress men to interfere with the "captains of industry." William E. Curtis, correspondent for the Chicago Record-Herald, says: "I repeat what I have said several times, that there is not the slightest prob ability of flhe passage of any new legislation to restrict or regulate the-trusts unless it be an ap propriation of money and the authority to appoint special attorneys to conduct prosecutions under the present law." Mr. Curtis need not Imagine that he has sprung a surprise on his readers. It has very generally been understood that there is not the slightest probability of the passago by the republican congress of any legislation that will provide the people with reliof from the exactions of the trusts. JVw'S A correspondent for a republican paper says 'that "senators aro not inclined to takoup tho trust bills at this session, bo- A causo they are opposed to hasty Serious legislation and realizo that there Subject 3 no time t dispose of such a serious subject, particularly when other measures of importance aro demanding attention and havo already passed tho houBe of representatives." If some of these senators will condescend to mako a little inquiry among tho consumers of tho country they will discover that there Ib a well defined popular opinion to tho ef fect that the trust question is one of the most serious subjects with which this country was ever confronted. S3 The Omaha Bee, a republican paper, saya: "Apostle Reed Smoot haB landed on tho nomina tion for tho United States senate An from Utah with both feet. Tho Altered other senators down at Wash- Case, ington may not like bis com pany, but they will not bo able to help themselves' A democrat who happened to be a Mormon was elected to tho house. He was denied a seat in that body. Mr. Smoot is a re publican who happens to bo a Mormon. Will tho fact that Mr. Smoot is a republican ontltle him to admission to a republican congress in spite of tho fact that republican leaders insisted only a little while ago that a democrat should bo unseated be cause he was a Mormon? She Deserves It. Tho pension office receives many interesting letters. Not tho least interesting of these letters was one written by a widow and as related by tho New York Herald was in these words: "As I married three soldiers, I don't i see how you can git out of hold ing that I am the widow of at least one of them. I done my duty to one and all of them, and I laid them out side by side, as you see by visiting the sometry at Oak Hill, where they lay at rest under their names anddates, with one poem cov ering all: 'O Lord, who maketh man to live For but a fleeting dayYou haye it in Your power to give As well as take away.' " Fusion and Fusion. A great many eastern papers who sneered whenever fusion between democrats and populists was proposed took very kind ly to the suggestion that tho anti-Addicks republicans com bine with the democrats in Delaware for the election of one democrat and one anti-Addicks republican to tho United States senate. The New York Evening" Post, for inpance, says: "Senator Hanna is cer tainly loyal to his friends, oven when the latter are disreputable. He has now come forward to the rescue of Ad dicks. In his official capacity as chairman of the republican national committee ho telegraphs to the regular republicans in the Dela ware legislature that he hopes they will never stoop so low as to vote for an honest democrat, in order to prevent the success of a republican cor ruptionist The republican party, he declares, is "entitled to tho fruits of victory and the fact that they are rotten fruits -does not trouble Mr Hanna in the least" VVSXS Severo and Persistent. Referring to statesmen like Senatir aiahmi the Chicago Record-Herald, a republican paper! says: "But It is Impossible to think of them as representing tho people, and at this time the presence of such politicians in congress amounts to a satirical commentary on the agitation against trusts. Be fore tho trust fight is over it will be proved anew that in order to curb these vast aggregations of wealth, it will be necessary first to dispute with them for the control of both federal and state leg islatures. Nothing indicates so conclusively how sinister their power is and how severo and per sistent tho battle must be." Will the Record Herald inform its readers how it would be possible to dispute with these vast aggregations of wealth for the control of both federal and state legisla tures if men. go to the polls and cast their votes for a political party that derives its campaign funds from these concerns? And yet while inform ing its Teaders that the battle on tljis line must be "severe and persistent," the Record-Herald urge3 tho people to vote with the political partj that is the apologist and protector for tho trust system. Tho Springfield (MasD.) Republican approaches tho danger lino when it says: "Tho Russian painted Verestchagln has made a Near very queer choice of American ' Danger battle scenes for his painting of Line. war HIfl Napoleonic series, which has been on exhibition in New York, is worthy tho brush of tho very great est artists, but why on earth should he ignore tho terriblo and titanic field struggles of our civil war and select such comparatively potty scenes as the charge of the rough riders at San Juan hill and the two war scones in tho Philippines entitled 'The Battle of Zapoto Bridgo' and 'Gohnral Mac Arthur and His Staff at the Battlo of Caloocan?' " Tho Now York Commercial Advertiser, a re publican paper, referring to the notion entertained in some quarters that the sus pension of the tariff on coal must rend tho bonds of protec tion, says: "These ardent soula will do well to put some re straint on their fancies. Suspending tho tariff for a set period is a very different matter from repealing the duty and it Is going pretty far to suppose that tho leaders of tho majority in con gress, however anxious thoy may havo been to do a gracious thing, would not know exactly what they were about." It is going "pretty" far to supposo that republican leaders 'really intend to provide tho people with relief from trust Impositions. A Slight Difference. The Idle Trustees. The Chicago health department announces that in that city there has been an Increase of nearly 20 per cent in tho number of deaths of persons under five years of age since January 1 over the number in tho corre sponding period of 1902. It is further said that the increase in tho number of deaths among persons over sixty years of ago la oven greater. The health department makes this statement: "Fully xj per cent, or nearly 200,000, of tho residents of Chicago are today suffering from ailments of a graye character caused by pri vation and exposure resulting from tho coal fa mine." If Mr. Baer and his colleagues are in truth tho trustees of God, they are not working much at their trade these days. The "Proper Person." J. Pierpont Morgan recently testified in Now York city concerning tho sale of tho Louisville & Nashville railroad to tho Atlan tic coast line. Mr. Morgan tes tified that he paid John W. Gates a profit of $7,500,000 on Gates' Louisville & Nashville stock. Mr. Morgan explained that he did this be cause he did not consider Mr. Gates a "proper person" to control the property; and Mr, Morgan added that this liberal payment was also because of "a personal interest of my own in the main tenance of the general business situation through out the country." Tho American people must feel relieved by knowledge of the fact that they have in Mr. Morgan a watchful guardian of public in terests, one who will see that business concerns aro in the hands of "proper persons." Mr. Dolliver'ft Duty. The Manchester (la.) Press, a republican pa per, says: ''The spectacle of so new a man in the United States senate as Mr. Dolliver rising to hig feet and scolding, actually berating, tho mombers of that body, many of whom were in public life at the ' time when the junior Iowa senator wore panta lettes, for the failure to adopt treaties of the utmost significance to the business interests of the country, some think for good and some for ill, must have been one of inspiration to the men of real influence in the senate chamber." Com menting upon this, the Story City Journal, an other 'republican paper, asks: "What is Dolliver, there for, any way?" The editor of the Man chester Press doubtless understands what Dolli ver is there for. Ho is there to draw his pay. In the opinion of certain republican leaders Dol liver should bo content with tho privilege of drawing his pay and of voting for such measures ,as the highly protected interests of the east de mand. It was, indeed, little short of disgraceful for a man chosen to represent, in the United States senate, the little state of Iowa to refuse to follow the bidding of a man chosen to repre sent the big state of Rhode Island. i M togjtiwjafctfBfaiMii iiJfcrj'itBw kaafofom fMttHmXtfifaHmv 4, J-. -;-mmM