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The Commoner.
' HTjf VWPTT
The Commoner.
ISSUED WEEKLY.
Entered at the po6toflice at Lincoln, Nebraska, ai atcoad
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THE COMMONER, LIhcoIh, Neb.
?
A few Lorimorized democrats in Chicago now
have amplo leisure to figure out how it happened.
The "speak softly" policy is not tho one for
the president to ueo when e tackles that postal
scandal.
Tho earthquake which killed 700 Turkish
troops did not wasto any time, in sending an ultimatum.
Tho weakness of tho NeT7 York stock market
Is an indication that tho new crop of lamhs has
not yet shown up.
"Tho Gentlemen from Indiana" seem to have
boon quite industrious in their efforts to prepare
for tho distant future.
Having pushed the press-muzzling law to tho
front Mr. Quay stopped out in time to let it roll
back upon Pennypacker.
Somehow or other Mr. Perry S. Heath's ex
planation recalls tho scnool-boy's excuse of' "I
ain't been a-doin' of nothin'."
Despite the efforts of Postmaster General
Payne the people still insist that there is ample
reason for the JoefolKing of the postal department.
Richard Henry Stoddard left an estate val
ued at $2,000. Ho left a fragrant memory how
ever, that all tho millions of a Kockofeller can
not buy.
Uncle Sam is spending $20,000 In an effort to
propagatq the acquatic lobster. Tho bipedal lob
ster, however, is not yet in dange? of extermination.
John Bull's action in adding three Pacific isl
ands to his collection is calculated to bring forth
a fow more presidential platitudes about "big
sticks."
Owing to certain complications in his politi
cal department because of his utterances, Mr. D.
M. Parry is now engaged in hedging as rapidly
as possible.
Doubtless you have noticed that when a dally
newspaper begins to wane in circulation and in
fluence it begins then to denounce its successful
competitor as "yellow." om-aiul
Radium is a metal worth something like a
million dollars an ounce. Tho single radium
standard must, of course, appeal to those who
still insist that the quality and not tho quantity
of the dollar is what counts.
??me descGndant of Annanias has sent out a
report to tho effect that Mr. Pryan had "private
ly informed friends" that ho preferred tho nomi
nation of either Parker or Sheppard. Mr! Bryan
2 fr at any tlme or to any person expressed
S5S "?rtnr.ereCommonor' not name
questions HS r" Bryan's vIews on ublIc
Renewed attention is called to "The Subscrib
ers' Advertising Department," found on page 12.
The results secured by those who have availed
themselves of this department is a guarantee to
those who may be considering the matter of us
ing it.
Some of tho republicans say that Mr. Hanna
was guilty of a tactical error in opposing a reso
lution indorsing President Roosevelt Tho man
tle of charity should be thrown over Mr". Hanna.
He is yet considerably dazed from the last trounc
ing administered by Tom Johnson.
A gentleman Bigning himself "G. O. P." vrito3
to tho Chicago Chronicle and begins his communi
cation by saying: "I am as good a republican as
the next one." The gentleman shows great po
litical acumen in his selection of a newspaper in
which to tell of his republicanism.
Ex-Senator Doboe of Kentucky is quoted as
saying that Mr. Bryan was indirectly responsible
for the death of Governor Goebel because he spoke
in Kentucky, but the ex-senator is not quoted as
saying anything in condemnation of the man
who fired the shot that killed Goebel.
The Nashville American says, "Obviously tho
thing for democrats to do, if they would succeed
or deserve success, is to say as little as possible
about the past," etc. In view of the American's
past, to say nothing of its present, no blame can
attach to it for desiring to say nothing about it.
A Chicago United States judge seems inclined
to champion the ninety-nine years lease claimed
by tho traction companies. The only time when
the average United States court decides against
a ninety-nine-year lease is when it has to choose
between a ninety-nine-year and a 995-year lease.
It is generally on the side of the corporation as
against the interests ot the public.
Tho Memphis Simitar has moved into a six
story building and installed a newHoe sextuple
press. The Simitar is a republican paper, and
ought not to be popular in thrt section, but pos
sibly it is thriving on the suport of democrats
who would rather read a republican paper that
calls itself republican than to read a paper like
the Commercial-Appeal.
Gen. John B. Gordon has been elected commander-in-chief
of the -Confederate Veterans, and
his election will delight all who know him. Ho
was not only one -of the great generals of the con
federacy, but he has through his lectures done a
great deal to bring the sections together and to
restore a real sympathy and friendship between
the veterans of tho two armies.
Congressman Fowler urges tho banking in
terests' "to act before commercial disaster forces
a change." Is -.t possible that w.e can have com
mercial disaster with high tarifiMnen making our
tariff laws, the trust magnates controlling our
industries, tho exploiters running our oriental isl
ands, and the bankers looking after ouf financial
legislation ? Perish tho thought!
The publisher of The Commoner expected to
have Volume Two of "The Commoner Condensed"
ready for delivery on Juno 1. Owing to legal
complications in which tho contracting printers
have become involved the publication of the book
has been unavoidably delayed. The publisher will
make every effort to secure possession of the
Plates and push tho publication of the volume.
nroG J2?n ir;d3 wh0 ,have already ordered the book
are asked to exerciso patience.
op burgess of Long Island deserves credit
J Hb0,ld ,d!nuncIation of the acceptance of
Sum'7611 immoral sources: He says:
on JL2;110 hurh) refuse tho large gifts that
J?ni,5? m0lwnose moral lives have been no-
w J T or from fortunes won by child
w. A bJ rth0 ecHue of tho faces of the
KS LG,0d f?r the bIshP- 0 churches have
Si , ? S!SW in wakening to the immorality in
datory r? h acceptatlCe of bribes from the pre-
viJmNoW Tork World Publishes an inter
nil Se2ator Ford in wh it is made to
SSffrffcthllJ Goyrnbr Roosevelt "tried to side
stftn inJni franchi8 la" recently declared con
SSSnS' ?enator Ford al8 8ttes In the in
Xr f0mer Senator Hill wita some fifty
attorneys represented tho corporations and
tried to persuado the governor to veto tho bill
Public opinion at last forced the bill through
but Senator Ford does not seem to give the m-esi-dont
much credit for tho passage 0 : tho bill?
VOLUME 3, NUMBER 21,
The New York Tribune is discussing the now
currency scheme, and it confesses that it k!
grave problem. The whole purpose of the fin
ciers seems to be to get a bank currency that can
be controlled by the financiers, and they recogni7e
that the national debt cannot always be used a
a basis for such currency. It is time the neonto
were considering tho democratic plan of usine
greenbacks instead of bank notes. Greenbacks re
quire neither a perpetual debt nor fluctuating as
sets for a basis. And yet the reorganizers say
that the money question is dead.
The St Louis Globe-Democrat contains a
curious sentiment for a paper published in a re
public. It refers to a new law in Spain which
provides for the punishment of any person who
publicly Bays: "Long live the republic." It then
expresses tne opinion that good government by
King Alfonso "can do more in a month to ex
tirpate republican ideas in Spain than could be
accomplished by punitive statutes in a hundred
years," and adds: "It is to be hoped the young
king will grasp this fact." Does the Globe-Democrat
really mean to express the hope that King
Alfonso will, by grasping this fact, "extirpate re
publican ideas in Spain?"
An Alabama reader of The Commoner asks
for a dehnition of a standard dollar and the dou
ble standard. The "standard dollar" is used to
describe the ordinary silver dollar of 412 grains
and the gold dollar of 25 8-10 grains, '.the demo
cratic platform of 1892 says that "we hold to tho
use of gold and silver as the standard money of
the country." The double standard is a term
used to describe a monetary system wherein tho
unit rests upon two metals instead of one. Un
der the double standard gold and silver are given
free access to the mint, and are ccined at a fixed
ratio Into full legal tender money. The value
of the dollar depending on the number of dollars,
the use of gold and silver would, by giving moro
dollaYs, raise the level of prices.
. The Chicago Bankers club held a meeting at
the Auditorium recently and listened to speeches
delivered by ox-Secretary Gage and Congressman
Fowler, author of the Fowler bill. According to
press dispatches, "both argued for a system of
asset currency, and asserted that unless financial
advantages are secured great commercial dangera
threaten. This problem, it is held, is of a ser
iousness secoad not even to the labor question."
So "great commercial dangers threaten" unless
wo can secure an asset currency. Can it be that
after seven years of republican rule the money
question is still unsettled? They Insist that the
money problem is not second in seriousness even
to tho labor question, and yet the reorganizers say
the money question is dead. The money question
seems to have as many lives as a cat, and not ono
of its lives has yet been entirely extinguished.
A reader of The Commoner inquires how tho
price of silver could effect our competition with
India. As follows: Before 1873,, when England
had to pay about $1.29 an ounce for silver, she
could afford to pay $1.29 a bushel for American
wheat if Indian wheat cost her one ounce of sil
ver per bushel. When the price of silver fell -o
80 cents an ounce she could only afford to pay
80 cents for American wheat, if Bhe could still
get a bushel of wheat in India for an ounce of sil
ver. In this way the price of wheat in India was
maintained, while the price of wheat in tho
United States fell. A fall in the price of silver
raised the silver price of goods imported into a
silver country, but as the domestic trade is uiual
ly vastly larger than the foreign trade, tho ad
vantage brought by the stability of silver In a
silver country far outweighed tho disadvantage
caused by the rise in exchange.
Mayor Rose of Milwaukee is quoted as say
ing that he has a personal grievance against Mr.
Bryan because the lattor contributed to his de
feat in the recent gubernatorial campaign. Mr.
Rose attaches too much Importance to Mr, Bry
an s part in the campaign. The defeat was duo to
Mr. Rose's platform, not to the fact that Mr. Bry
an criticised it The Wisconsin convention put
the desire to win above its love for democratic
principles, and thought that succ ss could be se
cured by conciliating the corporation republicans
whom La Folletto had alienated. The result of
the election showed that Buch a rolicy lost more
democrats than it gained republicans. It does not
pay to ape republican ways or to indorse republi
can policies in order to win republican votes. The
democratic party will make more progress if it
Win stand by democratic principles and convert
honest and patriotic republicans by showing th
vicious tendency of republican policies.