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The Commoner.
'AUGUST 21, 1903.
mmjn,T-r-jK9ir -
empties his purse into his head no man can take
it away from him. An investment In -knowledgo
always pays the best interest" Ruskin-said that
"education, briefly, is leading tho human mind
and soul to what Is right and best and to mako
what is best out o them, and these two objects
are always obtainable together and by th) samo
means. The training which man.es men happiest
in themselves also makes them most serviceable
to others." Channing said: "Ho is to bo edu
cated, not because he is to mako shoes, nails or
pins, but because he is a man."
Every young man and woman should seize tho
opportunity to obtain a college training. The of
fer now being made by Tho Commoner, places a
college education within the reach of every young
reader of this paper. The attention of every
reader is directed to this offer, tho details of
which are stated in another column of this issue.
If any Commoner reader has a young friend who
ii unable, under existing circumstances, to take
a college course, the attention of that young friend
should be directed to The Commoner offer. Fur
ther details will be provided upon application to
this office.
- JJJ
HcKinley on Tariff Revision.
P. O. Schuster, a governor of the Union Bank
of London, is reported to have said in a speech
delivered in London, July 29, that he "had a pri
vate interview with the late President McKinley
two years ago" and that on that occasion Mr. Mc
Kinley said: "My tariff bill has done its work.
We have been able to build up many great indus
tries in a short time and now gradually, but inev
itably, our tariff must be reduced."
Mr. Schuster is a man of good reputation and
those who know him do not doubt that, substan
tially, he quoted the former president correctly.
But if one requires corroborative testimony it may
be found in the last speech delivered by President
McKinley at Buffalo, September 5, 1901. On that
occasion Mr. McKinley said:
"We must not repose in fancied security
that we can forever sell everything and buy
little or nothing. If such a thing were possi
ble it would not be best for us or for those
with whom we deal. We should take from our
customers such of their products as we can
use without harm to our industries and labor.
Eeciprocity is the natural outgrowth of our
wonderful industrial development under the
domestic policy now firmly established. What
we produce beyond our domestic consumption
must have a vent abroad. The excess must bo
relieved through a foreign outlet and wo
should sell everywhere we can and buy wher
ever the buying will enlarge our sales and
production and thereby make a greater de
mand for home labor. The period of excluslve
ness is past. The expansion of our trade and
commerce is the pressing problem. Commer
cfal wars are unprofitable. A policy of good
will and friendly trade relations will prevent
reprisals. Reciprocity treaties are in harmony
with the spirit of the tines; measures of re
taliation are not. If, perchance, some of our
tariffs are no longer needed for revenue or to
encourage and prbtect our industries at home,
why should they not be employed to extend
' and protect our markets abroad?"
In .response to the sentiments expressed by Mr.
McKinley at Buffalo, and in line with an intelli
gent' recognition of the necessities of the times,
there developed within the republican party a very
strong sentiment in favor of tariff revision. In
the state, of Iowa this sentiment took formidable
shape and was represented by the so-called "Iowa
idea." The "Iowa idea" was the term by which
was designated tho plank in the, platform adopted
by the iowa republicans for the years 1901 and
1S02 as follows: "We favor the modification of
any tariff schedules that may be required to pre
vent their affording shelter to any monopoly."
Although republican leaders profess to be de
voted to Mr. Mckinley's principles and invoke Mr.
McKinley's memory whenever they find it conven
ient to do so in providing defense for some of their
schemes, republican leaders very generally have
caused it to be made known that there will be no
revision of the tariff. In line with this disposi
tion, there has grown up in the republican party
a body known as the "stand patters," .and at this
writing it seems that on that proposition there is
no difference among republican leaders although,
to be sure, among the rank and file of the party
there are many, and perhaps they are in the
majority, who really believe in a revision of the
tariff.
But the republican party is not a majority,
party. While professing to reflect tho public sen
timent, its policies are adopted by a small coterie
of men. While claiming Abraham Lincoln as tho
party's patron saint, republican leaders repudiate
Lincoln's teachings and while Insisting that thoy
are but adhering to the teachings of William Mc
Kinley, and pointing to him as a modol of all
that a statesman suould be, they have turned their
backs upon Mr. Mckinley's last speech, have re
pudiated his counsel and now insist that however
unjust the tariff schedules may bo, however much
shelter those schedules may provide to tho trusts,
there will bo no revision and that tho republican
party is unalterable in its purpose to protect spo
cial interests.
Long ago the republican party ceased to be,
on every proposition, tho party of Abraham Lin
coln; and there are reasons, at this timo, for bo
lieving that the party leaders are determined to
ignore tho counsel offered by William McKinley
in tho last and perhaps tho greatest speech ever
delivered by that gentleman.
JJJ
Legislation, Not Petition.
On another page will be found a Courlor-Jour-nal
editorial which illustrates tho servile attitudo
of the gold bug papers toward tho trusts. Tho
Courier-Journal shows how tho tobacco trust con
trols the market and is able to fix tho price; it
shows how the trust has watered its stock and
made huge dividends on fictitious capital, and then
instead of urging legislation that will mako a pri
vate monopoly impossible it petitions tho trust to
deal mercifully with the tobacco growers. On
bended knees it begs the trust to consider t.io poor
farmer who makes it possible for tho trust mag
nates to grow rich. While it intimates that "a
. mighty power" may teach tho trust a lesson if it
does not look out, it assures the trust that "a
recognition of tho rights of producers will further
good feeling."
Brother Watterson ought to know enough
about human nature to know that it is not safo
to leave the producers of wealth at the mercy of
tho trusts, relying only on persuasion and such
mild threats as a corporation-controlled organ
dares to make. He ought to know also that the
trusts cannot bo killed so long as each class of
producers is willing to "further good feeling" with
some, particular trust in return for a little consid
eration. If the trusts are to be overthrown tuo
principle of private monopoly must be attacked
wherever It manifests itself. There can bo no
compromise and no flirting with a trust merely be
cause it happens to be near at home.
JJJ
The Wages of Sin.
Those who are opposed to imperialism doubt
less read with great interest the concluding para
graph of" Mr. Roosevelt's letter to the governor of
Indiana. In that paragraph Mr. Roosevelt said:
"The nation, like the individual, cannot
commit a crimo with impunity. If wo .are
guilty of lawlessness or violence, whetherour
guilt consists of active participation therein
or in mere connivance or encouragement, wo
shall assuredly suffer later on because of
what we have done. The cornerstone of this
republic, as of all free governments, is respect
for, and obedience to, the law. Where wo
permit the law to be defied or evaded, whether
by rich man or poor man, by black man or
white man, we are by just so much weakening
the bonds of our civilization and increasing
the chances of its overthrow and the substi
tution therefor of a system that shall be
violent alternations of anarchy and tyranny."
Mr. Roosevelt here stated a proposition that
as frequently been put forth by those who criti
cise the republican party's policy toward our new
possessions. Yet republican orators and republi
can organs have had many sneers for such state
ments as these when they were made by thoso
who do not subscribe to republican doctrine.
Jefferson wrote: "I know but one code of
morality for men, whether acting singly or col
lectively." Franklin wrote: "Justice is as strictly duo
between neighbor nations as between neighbor
citizens. A highwayman is as much a robber
when he plunders in a gang as when he plunders
singly, and a nation that makes an unj ist war Is
only a great gang." -
Men may dare to do in crowds what they
would not dare to do as Individuals, but the
moral character of an act is not determined by
the number of those who join it Force can de
fend a right, but ffirc has never yet created a
right If it was true as declared In the resolu
tion of intervention that tho Cubans "are and of
right out to bo frco and independent," is is equally
true that tho Filipinos "aro and of right ought to
bo frco and independent"
As Mr. Roosovclt says: "Tho nation, llko toil
individual, cannot commit a crime with Impunity."
To bo suro, tho nation like tho individual, can com
mit a crirno. It car by Its acta repudiate its best
traditions and It may vlolato tho great principles
to which Us founders successfully nppoalcd for
their own liberties; but just as Mr. Roosovclt
says, "Wo shall assuredly suffor later on becauao
of what wo have done."
Tho young man upon roachlng his majority,
can do what he pleases; ho can disregard tho
teachings of his parents; ho can tramplo upon all
that ho has been taught to consider sacred; he.
can disobey tho laws of tho state, tho laws oi
society, and tho laws of Cod; ho can stamp failure
upon his life and make his very existence a curso
to his fellowmon, and ho can bring his father and
mother In sorrow to tho grave, but he cannot an
nul tho sentence "tho wages of sin Is death."
And so with this nation. It Is of age anZ it
can do as it pleases; it can spurn the traditions of m
tho past; it can repudiate th" principles upon"
which tho nation rests; it may omploy forco In
stead of reason; it can substitute might for right;
it can conquer a woakor peoplo; it can exploit
their lands, appropriate their money and kill their
people, but It cannot repoal thu moral law or es
capo tho punishment decreed for the violation of
human rights.
In tho concluding paragraph of his letter to
tho Indiana governor, Mr. Roosevelt hut stated in
another way a principle treated In pleasing verse
by a well-known American poet:
Would wo tread in tho paths of tyranny,
Nor reckon tho tyrant's cost?
Who takoth another's liberty
His freedom is also lost
Would wo win as the strong have ever won,
Make ready to pay tho debt,
For the God who reigned over Babylon
Is the God who Is reigning yet
JJJ
Will They Deny It?
Some of the gold papors object to tho truth
when told about our distinguished ex-president
At Urbaria, 0 ilr. Bryan said:
"The democratic party in 1892 played a
confidence game on tho people and put a
bunco Bteejer at the head of the party, and
I want to say tcyou that the disreputable man
who stands on tho street curbing and leads
the unwary traveler Into a game where ho
loses his monoy is respectable compared with
the man who accepts the suffrages of 5,000,000
peoplo and then leads them into Wall street
to be betrayed."
Will any one deny it? Will any ono dispute
that Mr. Cleveland had a secret understanding
with a few Wall street magnates to carry out a
policy which ho would not have dared to advocate
during the campaign? This secret understand
ing enabled his committee to secure a largo cam
paign fund from the monied institutions rnd cor
porations, and his purpose was concealed from the
voters. Shall we condemn tho petty offense of
tho man who lures the unsuspecting into games in
which they lose a small amount shall we do this
and then condone the treachery of those who
trifled with the confidence ol the people and who
used the highest office in the land to reward tho3
fiom whom he had received favors7 It will do no
harm to- have Mr. Cleveland and his friends know
tho feeling of the democratic voters toward him.
JJJ
John Gilbert Shanklin.
In the death of John Gilbert Shanklin of
Evansville, Ind., the country has lost a high
minded, intelligent and patriotic citizen, the demo
cratic party an earnest, loyal and courageous ex
ponent of its principles 'and the editor of Th
Commoner a valued personal friend. His was a
noble, manly life. His home was his citadel, and
made strong by the affection of his family ho went
forth to fight life's battle with unflinching brav
ery. He prepared himself thoroughly for his work
and illumined every subject which ho discussed.
The greatest solace that one can find in the con
templation of the death of such a man is in ths
grateful recollection of his words and deeds and
In the survey of his large contribution to the wel
fare of his fellows. He lives in the hearts of his
countrymen and the impress made by 'his lift can
cot be effaced.
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