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The Commoner.
SEPTEMBER 18; 1903.
5
01 Court
and
of Course.
Repurfitalng
Reciprocity
Policy.
Tho Kansas City Journal says that "while
jtho republican party is not devoted to any par
ticular BCUUUUIUH, 11 uuy uuuy
Imagines that republican success
next year will foreshadow a
radical revision of tho tariff as
a blow to tno trusts or for any
other purpose, he is much mistaken." It is not at
all likely that anybody . expects the republican
party to direct any effective blow at the trusts.
Tho Washirfgton correspondent for the New
lYork Evening Post says: "All attempts to give
the proposed ilnancial legisla-
' 'Quiet tion a non-partisan character by
Approval" securing tne quiet approval of
hv Damocata. the democratic minority in tho
by ucmocau. 8enatQ arQ doDme(1 to fallure."
One might as well talk about, a non-partisan flnan.
cial legislation that would bo acceptable to tho
financiers. It is, too, somewhat of a reflection
upon the democratic leadership to say that an
effort has been on foot to secure the "quiet" ap
proval of the uemocrauc minority in the senate.
The Omaha Beo, a republican paper, explains
the omission of the reciprocity clause in the tar
iff planR OI tUO iNCDrusKU, reimu
lican platform by saying that
"an, unqualified indoisement of
reciprocity was contained in tho
oriirinal dralt of the platform
which was amended out of it in tho resolutions
committee by a vote of four to two." In other
words, the omission of the reciprocity clause was
not due to oversight This policy to which Mr.
Blaine and Mr. McKinley were both devoted was
deliberately repudiated by the Nebraska republi
cans; and it is significant that tho Nebraska re
publican platform seems to meet with high favor
among republican leaders generally.
An Oklahoma territory reader of The Com
moner writes: "Will you please tell me what
John. D. Kockefeller's wealth
. John D. amounts to?" No one is in a
Rockefeller's position to answer this ques
Wealth tIon Indeed, it is very doubt
ful whether r. Rockefellar
could tell exactly what he is worth. A writer for
a daily newspaper paid that Rockefeller's wealth
is fabulous and that in some quarters it is esti
mated as high as $700,000,000. Perhaps this is a
very high estimate and yet it i3 evident that Mr.
Rockefeller is worth considerably more than any
single man should be and is worth considerably
more, also, than any individual would be under a
government controlled by the principles of "equal
rights to all and special privileges to none."
The Philadelphia North American, recently
printed an interesting cartoon representing Gro-
ver uieveiana witu m ucuu
protuding through a hole in a
blanket while tho editor of Tho
Commoner was represented as
throwinc balls at Mr. Cleveland.
On the ide was tho figure of the famous elephant
labelled' G. O. P., and Mr. Cleveland was repre
sented as saying: "Why don't you throw them at
the elephant?" A Beaver, Pa., reader of The
Commoner encloses this editorial in a letter in
which he ays: "This cartoon might suggest the
thought that if the Cleveland stripe of 'demo
crats',, -were not co persistent in misrepresenting
democratic principles, the editor of The Com
moner and other democrats might have more
timo to batter the elephant. But as matters
stand, it is part of the democrats' duty to look
after those who would misrepresent democratic
principles and deliver the party into the keep
ing of the plutocrats."
. Announcing that Secretary Shaw is preparing
to relieve the money market in any emergency
-and has set aside the receipts
"The from internal revenue amount-
LImoI lng to about $40,000,000, the
Distinction " Wall Street Journal says: "The
uistmction. secretary will draw a iIne of
distinction between the needs of business and tho
desires of the speculative Interests. , He will pour
$40,000,000 of treasury money into the banks, if
that is necessary to save tho business of tho
cquntry from disaster, but he will not pour a dol
lar into the banks for the purpose of promoting
a speculative inflation." It would be interesting
if the Journal could explain just what method the
secretary will employ in drawing this "line of
distinction between the needs of business and the
desires of the speculative interests." When Mr.
Shaw pours that $40,000,000 of the treasury money
Protecting
the
Party.
into tho banks, will he bo in a position to direct
just how that money shall bo used? To bo sure,
Mr. Shaw may givo tho directions, but is thcro
any assuranco that ouco tho $40,000,000 of tho
treasury money has been poured into tho banu3
it will not bo used "for tho purpose of promot
ing a speculative inflation?"
An Arkansas City, Kas., reader of Tho Com
moner writes: "We raised a fine poach crop in
this section (Kay county, Oula
M'8 noma) which is holng sold ou a
Freight glutted home maruol, bocauso
Rates. express and ireight rates are so
high that we caunot sulp. Quo
Nowkirk merchant paid GO cents per bushel for
Elbcrtas and shipped to some Kansas town. Ex
press company charged 1 cents per pound. Ho
lost money. Only tho very finest will sell here
at any price, consequently I am feeding second
class peaches to my hogs. I understind that
there is a scarcity north of tho southern tier of
Kansas counties.
Mr.
Roosevelt;
Ponderosity.
In addressing a religious society, Mr. Rooro
velt said: "I do not expect you to loso ouo par
ticle of your strength or cour
age by being decent;" and again
ho said: "I desire to see in
this country decent men strong
and strong men decent: and un
til we get this combination in pretty good shape
we are not going to bo by any moans as success
ful as we might be." It is a bit encouraging to
be assured that "by being decent" men need not
loso their strength or courage; and when we are
toki that tho helgnt of Mr. Roosevelt's ambition is
to see "tho decent men strong and the strong
men decent," we must feel assured that if "all is
quiet on the Potomac," the world will continue to
revolve and "decent men" will, after all, contri
bute materially to human progress.
Elect
a Democratic
CougrebS.
Commenting upon the disclosures made with
respect to the Uttauer case, the brooulyn Citi
zen says: "We nave long boon
of the opinion tnat a veritable
saturnalia of corruption pre
vailed in otllcial circles in
Washington during the Span
ish American war, and if evei tne mil tacts aie
revealeu, it will be tound that Congressman Lit
tauer was not alone among high oliicials to benefit
illegitimately out of the neeus of the country.''
Doubtless a very largo number of people agree
with the Citizen. It is evident that the republican
party cannot be depended upon to provide the in
vestigation that will reveal any considerable por
tion of the corrupt practices. The people will find
it necessary to elcit a democratic congress in or
der that they may have an investigation that will
investigate.
The New York Sun charges that Mr. Roose
velt "has ignored lawlessness and tho overthrow
of liberty. To be sure, tho
"Sun sun charges this in discussing
Ignored Mr. Roosevelt's alleged attitude
Lawlessness." toward labor. Perhaps tho Sun
did not at the moment have in
mind the criminal clause of the Sherman anil
trust law which Is the chief feature of that meas
ure. Perhaps at tno time tho Sun did not have
In mind the fact that, although it Is made tho
duty of the authorities to proceed against men
who conspire in restraint of trade and to seek to
punish them, ju . as the urlnflucntial lawbreaker
Is punished, the Roosevelt administration has not
undertaken to" enforce the chief feature of the
Sherman anti-trust law; and that with respect to
the violators of lew by tho trust magnates Mr.
Roosevelt has, indeed, "ignored lawlessness."
George D. Boulton, vice president of the First
National bank of Chicago, mikes Interesting com
ment upon oecreurry tnaw3
plan for a high taxed emerg
ency currency. Mr, Boulton
says: "I do not telleve It would
serve the mrnose at all. The
use of it would bring on a panic. When banks
are willing to pay 6 per cent for their money it
will be a sign that there Is something radically
wrong with the conditions, and when banks do
pay that much it will be a sfgnal for depositors to
begin withdrawing their funds. If one bank were
to take out half a million of circulation under the
plan Secretary Shaw proposes and the neighboring
banks did not it would be singled out at pnee as
a weak Institution that had to resort to the most
extremo means to save itself. I believe that in
Secretary
Shaw
Plan.
times of panic tho proposed plan would hot be
means of salvation, and that banks that resorted
to it and paid 5 per cent for monoy would sim
ply bo confessing tho weakness of tholr position.
The Darkey
Coon
Trap.
Under dnto of Sharnokin, Pa,, Soptcmbcr 1, the
Associated press carried a dispatch as follows:
in accordance with orders is
sued Ian week four colllorlos of
the Union Coal company, em
ploying 0,000 men and boys,
were closed down for an In
definite period today on accoun of the overstocked
coal market." And then on the same day in
various cities tho price of coal was advanced
by tho local dealers. Under the trust system, tho
people are tho victims of tho famous coon-trap
which "ketches 'em a-cumln' and a-gwlne." In
Sharnokin, Pa., four collieries aro closed down,
G,000 men and boys are discharged and all "on
account of tho overstocked coal market," while
among tho representatives of t o local coal trusta
Is maintained that the Inability to obtain coal
promptly and at reasonable rates requires an iu
creaso in prico to tho local consumer.
2yss
Commenting upon "Africander discontent,"
tho New Orloans Times-Democrat says that "the
serious trouble results from the
Against 0id philanthropic Idea of gov-
Thelr emlng a people for tholr good
Will. against their will." The Lon
don Times recently printed a
letter from General Louis Botha, In which Gen
eral Botha said that "tho Transvaal Is today in a
most unhappy and dissatisfied tempor." 'me
Times-Democrat provides food for thought for the
British, as well as for the Americans, when it
says: "Laws made by an aIen people are novor
satisfactory no matter with what care and with
what honesty of Intention they are drawn up.
Tho British do not seem to Understand this,
though they havo had enough experience In the
matter." Tho Times-Democrat might have added
that the Americans, also, do not seem to under
stand this; and that American history should pro
vide conclusive argument agalmt an enort on our
part to govern a people against their will.
Could
Not Avoid
Investigation.
Those republican cdlto-s who Insist that the
Roosovelt administration Is entitled to extraordi
nary credit because It has mads
some sort of an investigation
into thd trauds in the post
ofllco department, will be in
terested In reading an editorial
printed In tho Minneapolis Tribune, a republican
paper. The Tribune says: "The postoflico scan
dal could not havo been staved off for long even
If the new first assistant he '. not desired to dis
tinguish himself by an investigation. The postal
deficit for the coming year is going to bo nearly
twice as great as any heretofore. This would
have made trouble anyway, and it Is a luck thing
for the administration that tho deficit comes as
an explanation of investigation and criminal
prosecution, instead of as provocation of It. Tho
deficit is charged mainly to the free delivery ser
vice; though there is plenty of evidence already
of extravagance and corruption In other depart
ments of the service."
An Iowa reader of Tho Commoner asks:
"What authority have democratic papers for say
ing that tho tariff plank adopted
Tha by the Iowa republican state
Iowa convention repudiates the "Iowa
Idea. idea" and is written in accord
ance with the desires of the
representatives of protected Interests?" If one will
compare the tariff plank adopted by the Iowa re
publicans in 1903 with the tariff planks adopted
by the same republicans in 1901 and 1902 he will
obtain considerable light on this subject This
particular reader may bo Interested, however, in
reading a dispatch printed In the New York Tri
bune under date of Washington, July 1, In which
the following appeared: "Intense satisfaction is
expressed by republicans in Washington this even
ing at the news from Des Mcines that the Iowa
convention has adopted the tariff plank which,
an told In tho Tribune of May 13, Senator Allison
submitted to Senator Aldrlch afc the Hot Springs
conference, and which received the approval of
the senator from Rhode Island." In the same
dispatch the Tribune's Washington correspondent
boasted that as far back as April 9 Cio had ac
curately described the situation In Iowa. This
correspondent adds: "It wag then confidently pre
dicted that 'regular' republicanism will triumph
over Cuinmindsm, that natioral party spirit will
supersede factionalism and that harmony will pre
vail in the republican councils."
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