jUP-TT-- - .-"Itr-Tgrvw WiWpwl-r-,Tn. ,
. - ', ,
The Commoner.
JUNE 12, 190 3,
HMilW'UPJHUlU II II .
5
41
Tho Johnstown (Pa.) Democrat directs at
tention to an important fact when it says: "The
democratic platforms of 189ii
and 1900 contained no essential
ly populistic or socialistic doc
trine. Ino party as a matter
of fact has never attracted so
cialistic support, but the platforms adopted at
Chicago and Kansas City did attract hundreds of
thousands of former republicans to the demo
cratic ticket"
Democratic
to the
Core.
The New York World boasts that the United
States now has "the greatest volume of money
and the largest amount per
Point capita over known in our his-
It tory -and every dollar good for
Out. 10 cents, thanks to tho sens
and honesty of tho people in
rejecting Mr. Bryan and his half-baked theories
and demonstrated lunacies!" Will tho World bo
good enough to point out the dollar that prior
to 1896 was not "good for one hundred cents?"
An
"All
President."
In a speech delivered at Tacoma, Wash., Mr.
Roosevelt said: "I would like to bo president of
the United States for another
term, but tms much I wlli say:
I propose to be president tms
term. I would rather be all
president for three and a half
years than half president for seven and a half
years." Mr. Roosevelt might now proceed to
make his word good by directing his attorney
general -to enforce the criminal clause of thd
Sherman anti-trust law. If he would really rather
be "all president" it would seem that ho woull
make a really serious effort to bring tho trusi
magnates to time.
Something
is
Wrong.
monopolist."
A writer in the Chicaco Chronicle undertook
to defend the Standard Oil king, saying that
result of hard work, ability, and
foresight, and considering his
power, he takes less advantage
of the people than any other
Commenting upon this interesting
defense. Mr. S. H. Wallace says: "When a man's
business is such that it will make him a hundred
millionaire in thirty years there is something
radically wrong with the industrial conditions of
the country. . Surely ' somo . people are getting
vastly more of this world's goods than right
fully belongs to them." ;,.
It will occur to a great many tfeople that the
energy displayed by tho administration in in
vestigating ie postofflco scan
Thorough daia i8 not at all in keeping
Clearing wlth the seriousness of the slt
Needed. uation. one or two persons
have been arrested, but if the
half that has been charged be true, a number of
other men should be arrested. It will not do to
look lightly upon accusations affecting the in
tegrity of the public service. The accusations
made with respect to the postofflce department
have been so explicit and of so serious a character
that the most rigid Investigation should be made
and this should be followed by a vigorous prosecution.
m
The New York corporations purpose to ap
peal the franchise taxation case to the United
states supreme court on the
Tne ground that the taxation re-
Franchise quired under that law violates
Case. tno constitutional provision pro
hibiting the impairment of con
tracts. In its opinion,, the New York court of
appeals said: "No municipality has the power to
withdraw property from the taxing power of the
state or to provide by ordinance or contract that
it shall be free for all time from the common
burden which properly generally has to bear."
It will occur to a great many people that in this
sentence the court of appeals has very amply an
swered the point upon which the corporations
will depend for a victory in tho supreme court
The New York Mail ana Express, all along a
radical single gold standard organ, thinks that
the purchases of silver made
the government for use in the
Philippines have had much to
do with raising the price of
silver to the highest mark of
the year and that "it Is likely that the prospect
of success for a new international agreement pro
posed by our government will help it still fur
ther and encourage the legitimate and natural
demand for silver." And then the Mail and Ex-
4 'Cannot
If We
Would."
press, tho paper that has soldom had a good word
to say for tho whito metal, adds: "Tho rally of
silver cannot but bo regarded as a favorable
symptom by sound financiers. It promises us a
better price for one of our most valuable produc
tions and increases mo estimate for a metal
which wo cannot expel from our currency if wt
would."
The Washington Star pleads for "tho old
fashioned Fourth with its rousing patriotic
Fii speeches, Its reading of tho
i-itting Declaration of Independence, its
Place picnics, its general air of noll-
Indetd. day making, its appeal to citi
zens' loyalty to tho flag;" and
the Star adds: "Hero in tho national capital is
the most fitting place in the whole ropublic to
organize an annual, patriotic, old-fashioned
Fourth." Tho Star is correct The national capi
tal is the most fitting place in tho whole republic
to organize a patriotic old-.fashloned Fourth. But
will the Star guarantee that tho person chosen to
read tho Declaration of Independenco will bo ex
empt from arrest on tho charge of circulating
treasonable and seditious literature?
While there is not tho slightest probability
that tho democratic party will undertake an of
fort to elect a man for tho
ino presidency for a third term, tho
Third Des Moines Capital gives an in-
Term. teresting reminder when It di
rects attention to tho fact that
in 1875 the lower house of congress adopted a
resolution declaring against tho third term in tha
presmential chair. Representative Springer of 111
inois introduced tho resolution and it was sub
mitted on December 15, 1875, being adopted by a
voto of 223 to 18, 38 not voting. The resolution
was as follows: "JUesolved, That in tho opinion
of this house the precedent established by Wash
ington and other presidents of the United States
in retiring from the presidential office after their
second term has become by universal concurrence
a part of our republican system of government,
and that any departure from this time-honored
custom would be" unwise, unpatriotic and fraught
with peril to our free institutions."
The Wisconsin legislature passed a measure
known as "the political lobbyists' bill." Gov-
ernor La Folletto vetoed tho
Wisconsin - Din on the ground that it did
Lobby not affect the railroad lobby
BUI. while it prohibited s.talo officers
and employes from doing so
much as to ask the members to support a meas
ure. In his veto message, Governor La Follette
said: "This legislature has witnessed the opera
tions of a paid lobby. This session has seen tho
defeat of important measures accomplished in
whole or in part through its work. It may fairly
be directly or indirectly credited with having pro
vented the passage of tho vote committee bill,
the bill to prohibit increased charges in freight
rates, the grain inspection and other measures
of the greatest importance to the people of Wis
consin, and to have seriously impaired tho ef
ficiency of the bill for investigating into the pay
ment of rebates and the failure to report gross
earnings in full, as well as tho railway co-eni-ploye
bill, and many other acts of the legislature."
Governor La Follette's veto message will meet
with general approval throughout the states
whose people have suffered because of the main
tenance of powerful corporation lobbies.
Definition
of a
Gcatlemnn.
An English judge recently Instructed a jury
as to the definition of a gentleman. In a case
on trial In the city of London
May 23 one of the counsel ob
jected to a certain letter offered
in evidence as being improper
because It referred to a house
and sign painter as a gentleman. Tho London
correspondent for the Chicago Record-Herald says
that in addressing tho jury,, tho judge injected
some humor in tho proceedings by telling the
jury that the Herald's college would say: "Man,"
not "gentleman," unless the .grandfather, father
or man himself was entitled to wear a coat-of-arms.
They would observe, however, that both
tho learned counsel and himself had addressed
them as "gentlemen of the jury." Ho thought
that if they had votes to give away and were in
tho habit of attending political meetings they
must have noticed that the speakers were careful
to give them the title. The painter, it appeared,
was the possessor of a card. That was not the
came as having a real coat-of-arms, but there
was another thing- that went to show that he wa3
a gentleman he suffered from the gout If thi3
judge had desired to be serious, he might have
provided a complete definition by quoting th
words of an observing and ablo man who said:
Whoover is open, loyal, truo; of humano nnl
affablo demeanor; honorablo himself and in hl3
judgmont of others; faithful to his word as to
law, and faithful, alike to God and man such a
man is a truo gcntloman,"
A movement Is on foot to rcmovo tho body of
Iatrick Henry from ita present neglected grava
Patrick V Cnarlotto county to St
r-wicK John's churchyard in Rich-
Henry mond, Va. -It is proposed that a
Statue. sultablo monument bo erected
,,. , k uPn which tho famous words
Giyo mo liberty or givo mo death," aro to bo
made conspicuous. After this monument shall
have boon orocted, it might bo a good plan to In
vito tho peoplo of- "our now possessions" to in
spoct It They may bo consoled by tho reflection
that tho government undor which they livo was
established by mon who believed that lifo, lib
erty, and tho pursuit of happiness aro among tho
inalienable rights of mon.
Do not forgot that effective work may be
accomplished in tho interosts of tho democratic
party by tho organization of
nomocrntic clubs. Such a club
should bo organized in every
precinct in tho United States.
mo moniDors or this club
should bo pledged to tho defense of democratic
principles and should carefully investigate tha
record of tho men who aspiro to bo delegates to
democratic conventions. No one should bo chosen
as a dolegato to a county, state, or national con
vention who may not be depended upon to stand
up for democratic principles. Upon application
to Tho Commoner office a form of constitution
and membership blanks for the use of democratic
clubs will be furnished and as rapidly as theno
clubs aro organized, tho fact should bo reported
to this office.
Orgaaiza
Dtmecratlc
Club.
iAAA
Not
on One
Individual
The Atlanta (Ga.) Journal, whose editor has
preached "harmony," says: "Speaking very so.
bony, we do not bellevo that
the democratic party can ever
hope for harmonious action un
til William Jennings Bryan U
unaiiy extinguished." It Is
strange that mop who Insist that their policies
represent tho intelligence and tho patriotism of
tho democratic party also Insist upon the destruc
tion of a particular Individual before thoy can
hope to bring intelligent democrats to their way
of thinking. Does not tho Atlanta Journal mako
poor comment on the intelligence of democrats
when It intimates that those who Insist upon an
adherence to democratic principles as set forth
In tho national platforms of 189G and of 1900 aro
controlled by a single person? The editor -f
tho Atlanta Journal Is so blind that ho cannot sos
that even though the editor of Tho Commoner
permitted the editor of the Atlanta Journal to do
his thinking for him, there would be no difference
in tho attitude of democrats toward democratic
principles.
0N2
Former Attorney General Griggs does not ap
prove of tho decision In tho Northern Securities
case. Mr. Griggs says: "If this
Mr. decision carries with it tho
Griggs broad principle it seems to,
Objects. congress will have power to tell
a man what ho shall buy and
forbid one man from purchasing what may bo
owned and used by another." Tho court Itself
touched on this point in an Interesting way when
it quoted from a decison rendered by the supremo
court of the United States, in which the court
of last resort said that the constitutional provi
sion regarding the liberty of the citizen is to
some extent limited by the commerce laws of tho
constitution. The supreme court pointed out tho
power of congress to regulate interstate com
merce as comprised in the right to enact laws
prohibiting a citizen from entering into "those
private contracts which directly and substantial
ly and not merely indirectly and remotely, inci
dentally and collaterally, regulate to a greater or
less degree commerce among the states." In that
same case the supreme court said: "We cannot
so enlarge the scope of the language of the con
stitution 'regarding the liberty of the citizen aa
tc hold that It includes or that It was intended
to include a right to make a contract which in
fact restrained and regulated Interstate com
merce, notwithstanding congress, proceeding un
der the constitutional provision giving to It the
power to regulate that commerce, had prohib
ited such contracts."
wj -n ttj. M
