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VOLUME 4, NUMBER !
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The Commoner.
ISSUED WEEKLY.
Fntcrcd nt the poMofllco t Lincoln, Nebraska, aaiiccond
t In nun nil matter.
Or Year ,. fl.ee
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THE COMMONER, Llacela.H
4,On to St. Louis!"
Tho "graftor" should be stiro o his technical
ity boforo going ahead.
Mr. Hnnna's declination seems to bo several
laps behind his press agent.
Tho graft hunting public official will hcreaf
tor bo suro to pack a few technicalities in his grip.
Presldont Roosevelt Is to bo excused if ho
thinks tho Hanna declination la suffering from a
"vexatious indisposition."
It appears that Senator Dietrich got on tho
blind sido of Justico a fow months before Con
gressman Drlggs started.
Mr. Morgan's personal property assessment
has boon reduced $200,000, and Mr. Rockefeller
knows who Ib responsible for It.
Porhaps thoso Russian dogs of war havo heard
about that Russian purchase of American canned
beef and aro afraid to broak looso.
Mr. Drlggs sooms to have overlooked the possi
bilities that wero hidden in a successful effort to
got behind tbo statute of limitations.
Mr.' Hanna's resolution not to bo a candidate
seems to belong to tho same class as a lot of New
Yoar resolutions wo have heard about.
About all tho moral that tho grafters will get
out of tho Dlotrlch and Drlggs 'cases will be this:
Try to got a seat In tho sonate it's safer.'
Tho military otlquotte that prevented a word
of commendation, for General Miles when he re
tired was on a vacation when General Young retired.
Mr. Hay informs the Colombian minister that
Panama is a closed incident. But it may have a
llttlo crack in It, just liko tho Dietrich "vindication."
Tho Sioux City tTournnl declares that "Sena
tor Allison maintains an open mind." Does tho
Journal mean that it is well ventilated or only
porous?
How true it is that sin brings its own pun
ishment. Schwab admits tearfully that most of
tho monoy ho made in tho shipbuilding trust ho
invested in steel common.
Now that the country has found out how old
Ann really is, it might try to figure out how
old she will bo when the president sends a trust
magnato to tho ponitentianry.
General Adna R. Chaffee won his way from a
private in tho ranks to tho position of lieutenant
gonoral, and there is no talk of investigating him
But Gonoral Chaffee was fortunate in getting bo
high up boforo personal favoritism camo into
oriteB uot b& "jumped" by tb0 Sv-
The Commoner.
Owing to circumstances over which they seem
to havo no control the citizens of Sheffield, Mass.,
aro just now unable to devote all of their tlmo
to solving tho "southern race problem."
The personality of their candidate is a matter
of secondary importance to tho g. o. p. bosses. Tho
man who can offer tho best evidences of being
easily financed is the man tho bosses are looking
for.
Tho president says tho Panama matter is "an
accomplished fact." So is tho "grafting" in tho
postal and public land departments, but that is
no reason why tho guilty parties should not be
punished.
Japan will not feed her soldiers on American
canned beef. This is an indication that Japan's
military leaders are quite well informed concern
ing some interesting developments of tho late
Yanko-Spanko war.
The postal deficit continues to grow, and prob
ably will keep on growing -until an administration
takes hold that will back up denunciation of graft
with tho deeds that will result in sending the
grafters to tho penitentiary.
The finding in the Dietrich case seems to be
to tho effect that all a senator-elect can get be
tween tho tlmo of his election and the time of
taking the oath is his for keeps.
The St. Louis Globe-Democrat says: "Gen
eral Wood earned his stars." And so did 500 other
and more experienced soldiers, and many of them
boforo Wood was out of knickerbockers, but they'll
bo a long time getting them.
The citizens of Arizona, New Mexico and Okla
homa should "rise as one nan ' and send a spe
cial commissioner to Washington with an appli
cation for statehood in one trunk and an oppor
tunity to squander a fow of the nation's millions
in another.
Before the interstate commerce commission
wastes any more time trying to ascertain why
the railroads havo advanced rates, some good
friond should inform that august body that tho
railroads did it because ihey could see nothing
to prevent it.
One who opposes Judge Parker's nomination
because of the uncertainty as to the judges posi
tion on public questions suggests that in case of
his nomination the second verse of the third
chapter of First John would be about as definite
a declaration as tho judge's record would permit.
Captain Mills has taken the long distance
jumping championship from General Wood. Cap
tain Mills has just jumped over 27C captains, 354
majors, 122 lieutenant colonels, and 105 colonels.
Like Wood, Captain Mills had the advantage of a
running leap from a presidential favor springboard.
When Wall street backed McKinley the g. o.
p. editors told us that we should listen to the
advice of Wall street. Now those same editors
aro tolling us that the alleged opposition of Wall
street to Roosevelt is the chief reason why Roose
velt should bo elected. The average republican
editor usually becomes so twisted in his argu
ment that he collides with himself before he Rets
to the first turn.
Attorney General Knox, in reply to an inquirv
r?POr.t?o.tIn ln the last year he ha- expended
about $25,000 of the $500,000 voted him to assist in
prosecuting the trusts. At the rate ho is workin
the appropriation will run his department for
.twenty years. Even a republican congress ex
pected about twenty times as much activity as ho
has displayed Twenty expected to one realized
that is moro than sixteen to one.
The Philadelphia Telegram prints a dispatch
from Newcastle to tho effect that Andrew Carne
gie has set aside $4,000,000 as a fund, the interest
?i?lch ? t0 b? l,sed as a Iens 0 fund for
employes who meet injury in any o' th Pnriior
steel plants. Among other .ens'ion items is one
nf Tts ,a day t0 any Hcl under 16 years
of ago injured, or $100 to the familv of any chilS
meeting death while at work." But who i the
Philanthropy n allowing children indS 16 years
of ago work in a steel mill? Why not nav thn
i,h ?rS ?,?,gh wafies t0 opiate the necessity of
firing children under 16? necessity of
i
"The recogniton of Panama a3 ah Indepen
rionr. renubllc Is already an accomplished fact,'
said President Roosevelt with the air of one who
would put "finis" to the incident. Robbery of the
government by postal and land thieves is also an
accomplished fact, but that in no reason why the
robbers should bo left in undisturbed enjoyment
of their loot.
Senator Aldrlch, whose daughter married
Rockefeller's son, sent Rockefeller a 30-cent tele
gram and had it charged to the government If
Mr. Rockefeller had been compelled to pay the
toll he might have advanced oil another half-cent
a gallon to get even, and Senator Aldrich should
be thanked, not blamed, for his economic thought-fulness.
Republican leaders are declaring that the
same financial interests whose desires proved the
wisdom of electing McKinley, prove the wisdom
of electing Rooseve.t by their opposition to him.
Republican logic continues to wriggle around with,
a crimp in its spine.
In the court that dismissed Senator Dietrich
on a technicality a young man who broke into a
postofilce and stole 30 pennies and 9 worth of
stamps was sentenced to three years in the fed
eral penitentiary, while a employe in the Omaha
postofilce who stole $2,029 was let off with a fine
of $2,000 or $29 less than the amount of his steal
ings. And yet there are those who complain be
cause there is an apparent growth of popular dis
trust of the courts.
The other day a report was filed in Washing
ton. It recalled a scandal of thirty years ago
the Preedman's Savings and
Trust bank. Tho bank failed
thirty years ago, and its affairs
were taken in hand by the gov
ernment for the purpose of
winding them up. The end is not yet, and the
expenses today exceed the disbursements to old
time depositors. But the commission provides fat
salaries for a lot of politicians, and that is the
only excuse that can be offered for the long drawn
out affair.
A Ghost
of Other
Days.
Factors
in the
Equa-Hon.
The next national convention of the republi
can party will be its thirteenth an "unlucky num
ber." Mr. Roosevelt i? a presi
dent who succeeded his cme",
and as yet no vice president
who became president by the
death of his chief has ever been
elected president. And another factor in the
equation is the fact that the republican party has
never succeeded in electing an eastern man to the
presidency, and Mr. Roosevelt is an eastern man.
While persisting in disclaiming that he is a can
didate, Mr. M. A. Hanna imagines that he can
overcome the "13" hoodoo.
If any added proof wero needed that President
Roosevelt and Secretary Root went out of their
-mh r- way t0 administer a snub to
Miles Grows. General Mlle8 ,t may be f J
by tho in the fulsome compliments
Sharp Contrast. rai(l to General Young in the
order retiring him when Jib
reached the age limit. General Miles was dismissed
kai ?old and blunt order' and administration
apologists claimed that it was not permissable to
do otherwise. But when General Young retired
it was with extreme difficulty that the secretary nf
war ound words enough to express his comply
ments By calling attention to their own little.
S2XaSS,0 General " "
F&s&z.
BGtWPfln mnnufnntii.3n im-i ...... .1
nations ana leoVio?, ISS&TWTi
YiaA m . u Limo' x ne statute of Mm.
Justice Hs itatlons has oneratim t LA
Troubles several prominent republican
of Her Own. Politicians from the disagree-
aDl taslc of facing an investica-
lini'i a!ld.0no remibti senator who declared
loudly that he would demand a full and fair trini
sneaked behind a technicality and escaped S2
Congressman Drlggs is entitled to craBlderaWa
credit. Ho stood trial, admitted the facts nad
his fine and served his twenty-foui hour's in a 1
SnrfCS:n0d to plead a technicality 2nd mode no
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