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attempt at just treatment that parliament has
made in the enactment of the recent land meas
ure. There fs a general desire among the leaders
of thought In Ireland to check the emigration
from that country. They feel that. Ireland under
fair conditions can support a much larger pop
ulation than she now has. Ireland, they say, has
been drained of many of its most enterprising
and vigorous sons and daughters. It is hardly
probable that the steps already taken will en
tirely check the movement toward the United
States, but there is no doubt that the inhabitants
.of Ireland and their friends across, the water con
template the futuro with brighter hopes and an-
. -ttcipatlons than they have for a century
W. J. BRYAN,
Is It Trie?
; Speaking in Plymouth church, Brooklyn, re
...cently, Rev. Dr. Newell Dwight Hlllis said that
" one of the hopeful signs of the times is the in
terest shown in the social problem. Dr. Hillis
said that "now has come an era when it is gen
. erally recognized that Individual happiness and
, - progress mean social happiness and the well-be-"
Ing of all;" and he added:
. "This sentiment of social obligation is
so strong that we have lost admiration and
respect of those men whose vast wealth rep-
-' resents disobedience to the laws of country
f and of God.
"Society still pays homage to these men ,
. because of the financial power thoy wield,
but it is the love which we give to an earth
quake, whose- power for ruin we mnst con-
fess, but whose desolation we fear and hate.
.. Now and then a cheer arises for the man who,
having robbed the people of much, seeks to
win society's forgiveness by endowing some
school or institution. But the cheers are
- faint
"The people have come to recognize that
the individual who enriches himself at the
expense of .the people has. despoiled the peo-
v pie, and that the man who advances himself
.through breaking the laws of brotherhood is
debauching the people." .
Dr. Hillis drew the picture as it ought to be;
but can we say at this moment that we have lost
admiration and respect for those, men whose. vast
w.ealth represents disobedience to the laws of
country and of God?
Is it not true that political leaders whose
party policies are in line with the wishes of those
whose vast wealth represents disobedience to the
laws of country and of God point to these men of
vast wealth as -safe counsellors and trustworthy
leaders in our national policies, and generally per
suade the majority of the people to fall m line?
Is it true that the cheer arising for the man
who, having robbed the people of much, seeks to
Win society's forgiveness by endowing some school
or institution, is faint? Is it true that it is only
an occasional cheer? On the contrary, is it not
true that the contributions which these men of
fer to churches or to educational institutions are
looked for and longed for and gratefully received
by preachers and by teachers and very generally
applauded?
It ought to be true that the people have ccme
to recognize that the individual who enriches him
self at the expense of the people has despoiled
the people, and that the man who advances him
self through breaking the laws of brotherhood is
debauching the people. But is it true? if it is
" true, the people have had a poor way of showing
' that they have profited by the lessons they have
. learned.
Dr. Hillis and others who preach on these
lines deserve all possible encouragement, but they
should not make the mistake of imagining that
- the evil has been cured or that the people's eyes
have been entirely opened. Whenever the people
really recognize that the individual who enriches
himself at the people's expense, has despoiled the
people, and that the man who advances himself
through breaking the laws of brotherhood has
debauched the people; whenever the people really
appreciate the enormity of the evils under which
they suffer at the hands of those men whose vast
wealth represents disobedience to the laws" of
country and of God, the republican party will go
out of power and popular government in this na
tion will be restored.
JJJ
..Yqlotus TheoryHarmful
Practice.'
In Isaiah III., 14-15, it is written: "The Lord
will enter into judgment with the ancients of his
The Commoner.
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people and the princes thereof; for ye have eaten
up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your
houses. What mean ye that ye beat my people to
pieces and grind the faces of the poor? saith the
Lord God of hosts."
In Isaiah X., 1-2, it is written: "Woe unto
them that decree unrighteous decrees and that
right not grieviousness which they have pre
scribed; to turn aside the needy 'from judgment
and to take away the right from the poor of my
people, that widows may be their prey and that
they may rob the fatherless."
With these verses as a text, Rev. S. Hogan, a
Baltimore clergyman, recently delivered a ser
mon treating the tariff question from the moral
standpoint In that sermon Mr. Hogan said;
"Money that is placed in any man's pock
et by legislation must come out of the pockets
of some other person. If we levy a tariff tax
upon one class of our people, for the benefit
of another class, is the country made any
richer thereby? It is simply a case of rob
bing Peter to pay Paul. It benefits the mo
nopolist, but at the expense of the working
people It is claimed that the tariff laws en
able these men to pay higher wages. It may
enable them, but it does not compel them.
There is no law to divide up with their em
ployes, much less with the general public.
"The tariff is placed largely upon the
necessities of life and finally paid by the con
sumer. It is merely advanced by the im
porter, the wholesale and retail merchants.
They get it back, and with a profit, too, when
ttie article is sold to the consumer and at the
same time foreign, labor comes into our coun
:' try ' I re of duty or tariff, and consequently
we have two or three men for one job, higb
, prices and hard "times, except for the legal--'.
,- ized monopolists. Tariff protection. is a fraud
and a delusion. , Today it is simply a bounty
,to the trusts. It is. a. sham and a sin."
Mr. Roosevelt is delivering a great many ser
mon's these days, and he might with advantage
J consult this Baltimore clergyman.
' Mr. Roosevelt may find'ifa bit embarrassing"
to ' contradict Mr. Hogan's assertion that "tariff
for-protection is a sham and a sin,J because, if
"memory is not at fault, it was Mr. Roosevelt who,
in his "Life of Thomas H. Benton," wrote that
political economists have- generally agreed that a
protective tariff is "vicious" in theory-and harm-
ful in practice."
And yet at a time when there was general
protest against this "vicious theory" and "harm-
1 ful practice," Mr. Roosevelt forgot to refer to
the tariff question in his recent message to con
gress. JJJ
A Gret Publicity Lew.
In an' editorial entitled "The Trust Situa
tion," the Atlanta 'Constitution says: "There is
strong reason to believe that Mr. Bryan was not
so far from right when he declared that "the
penitentiary yawned for trust violators of the
Sherman anti-trust law and the criminal codes of
state and nation."
After describing some of the methods of the
trust magnates, the (Constitution adds:
"The criminal phases of the trust question
and those who have closely scanned the
methods of promotion "and wrecking employed
in the shipbuilding case cannot but be aware
that criminality is as thick in it as skippers
in a bad cheese are yet to be given their
deserts jn a criminal court."
Has the Constitution observed that while Jbe
republican administration has not employed the
criminal clause of the Sherman law in its so
called fight against the trusts, neither Mr. Roose
velt nor any of his spokesmen, on the rostrum or
in the editorial chair, have undertaken to ex
plain why the very powerful weapon to be found
in the criminal indictment has not been made
use of?
Newspaper dispatches say that the Standard
Oil trust intends to make a vigorous fight against
the proposition that the representatives of -the
bureau of publicity have the authority to In
vestigate the affairs of a trust; and just now in
many republican, newspapers are found editorials
to the effect that the Standard Oil trust magnates
display considerable impudence In their efforts to
annul a provision of the law creating the depart
. ment of commerce and labor. But is it la the least
surprising that these trust magnates have a su
preme contempt for- the so-called publicity law,
. , when we remember how they have succeeded In
ignoring me criminal clause of the Sherman anti
trust law?
Repeatedly, The Commoner has directed at-
tention to that clause, a clause which ic h ,.,
feature of the Sherman law. Repeatedly Th r!
moner has directed attention to the fact tw m'
effort has been made by the republican admin?
tratlon to call to account, under the rXS I
clause, these influential violators of the T?
Repeatedly The Commoner has asked republ can
editors and republican statesmen to exnlain S2
the republican administration fit avaTS
itself of the criminal clause. No republican i
yet undertaken to make thin rinttnn ua3
mS d much ol "DuWicity, publicity
publicity," and Mr Roosevelt has pointed with
pride to the law which, undertook to give to tha
department of. commerce and labor the authority
to inquire into the affairs of these great com.
binations; and yet Mr. Roosevelt seems to have
closed his eyes to the greatest publicity law on
the statute books. The criminal indictment vie"
orously and courageously pushed, sends even the
wealthiest and most powerful of rogues to their
knees. For the purposes of shedding light in dark
places, of making public the secret schemes and
the underhanded methods of violators of law the
criminal indictment possesses powers greater
than all the so-called publicity provisions that
could be written upon the statute books.
To the ordinary man, criminal proceedings
would seem to he the simplest and most effective.
If Mr. Roosevelt and his associates have any
good reason for ignoring that proceeding in their
boasted fight against the trusts, why do they not
take the people into their confidence at least to the
extent of. explaining why no effort has been made
to enforce tha first section of the Sherman anti
trust law? -
JJJ
The Battle of 1904.
There are many reasons for believing that the
presidential contest of 1904 will be a hard fought
battle. In order to command the support of
thoughtful men, the democratic party must be
true to the people and It can only be true to the
people by being faithful to democratic principles.
It is an open secret that the trust magnates and
the .financiers will be undertaking to control the
democratic 'national convention in order that the
p"arty may nominate a man who will, act according
to the selfish Interests of these men. It is, there
fore, the duty of every democrat who loves his
party, and who believes that it should be the me
dium through which popular government is to
be re-established, to see to it that the schemes
of the men who would republicanize the demo
cratic party and make the organization wholiy
unworthy of the support of democrats are not successful,-
In. this great contest, The Commoner hopes to
play an important part and it is therefore desir
able that The Commoner's circulation be largely
increased. To this end a special subscription of
fer has been arranged similar to the lots of five
plan adopted last year. Cards, each good for one
year's subscription to The Commoner, wih be fur
nished in lots of five at the rate of ?3 per lot. This
places the yearly subscription rate at 60 cents.
Any one ordering the cards may sell them
for $1 each, thus earning a commission of $2 on
each lot sold, or he may sell them at the cost
price and find compensation in the fact that he
has contributed to the effort to widen The Com
moner's sphere of influence.
These cards may be paid for when ordered or
theymay be ordered a .d remittance made after
they 'have been sold.
A coupon is printed below for the convenience
of those who are willing to-assfst in the coming
-contest.
THE COMMONER'S SPECIAL OFFER
Application for Subscription Cards
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Publisher Commoner: I am Interested In in
creasing The Commoner's circulation, and de
sire you to send mea supply ol subscription cards.
I rrtcc to uso my utmost endeavor to sell the
cards, -and will remit for them at the rate ol 60
cents each, when sold.
Name ...
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encouragement, Jill out the above coupon and mail
to Tha CinnoMr, Liacola, Neb.
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