'M
4
The Commoner.
ISSUHD WEEKLY.
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THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb.
Perhaps Russia and Japan are waiting for bins
from tho moving picture syndicates.
Sonator Burton's attorneys will now have to
got busy and find tho proper technicality.
Doubtless Mr. Hill has long since had his at
tention called to the horrible fate which befell the
beef trust. .
Mr. Knox gives us the assuranco that the ad
ministration "will not run amuck." And he gives
it without cracking a smile.
Republican Colorado is having a hard time of
it. Tho Colorado voters who thought with their
stomachs will know better next time.
Up to dato no reorganlzer who opposes the
roanirmation of the Kansas City platform has un
dertaken the task of writing a hotter one.
Tho radium cure for tho boodling habit has
not yet been announced. Tho press agents of
radium seem to bo overlooking a few things.
Perhaps those congressmen would bo willing
to stand investigation were it not about time for
them to hurry home and begin nailing up their
fences.
Somohow or othor tho eminent reorganizes
who so lovo to quote the election returns of 18U2
and 18 never think of the general election re
turns of 1894.
Panama has sold her two gunboats. But she
didn't got nearly so much out of their sale as she
did out of tho gold brick sale sho engineered on
your Uncle Sam.
There is an evident disposition on tho part of
a number of distinguished English politicians to
make a punchlng-bag out of the Right Honorable
Mr. Arthur Balfour.
Mr. James J. Hill might try inducing some
court to compel him to sell his merger to another
of like nature. That's tho way the sugar trust
made its bost move.
Mr. James J. Hill is not grumbling. All he
.will have to do will be to do it some other way
and then wait until tho supremo court decides
that it, too, is wrong.
The time has gone by when the democratic
party will accept a candidate whoso sole recom
mendation s that nobody knows where he S8
on the leading issues. uuh
"What does Chicago want?" queries tho p.
teomed Tribune. Why should the T ibuno put Us
question in such dilllcult form? "What does Chi
cago not want?" would be an easy one.
i Jho Commoner "ears with deep regret of tii
sanies, 0. Mr Long was a staunch democrat 111 rt
isizx rasioV ?
sssr orace' and in tfcM
The Commoner.
Tho "full dinner pail" orators will dc .well to
steer clear of tho coal mining regions during this
campaign.
When a president can make laws by the
mere stroke of a pen, what is the use of having
an expensive congress whose sole work seems to
be to provide scandals and junketing trips.
Congress shows a disposition to prevent the
jumping of Colonel Mills over the heads of about
800 older officers. This is calculated to call re
newed attention to Kettle Hill, for Colonel Mills
was there.
A lot of Colorado wage-workers who could see
nothing in the democratic national platform plank
condemning government by injunction are now
witnessing an aggravated case of government oy
bayonet.
Tho merger decision of the supreme court
was such an awful blow to the Northern Securi
ties company that its stock rose ten points with
in twenty-four hours after the decision was announced.
The special examiner who reported that he
"discovered little change in the Indians" could
have made the- same discovery among white men
since the trusts secured control of everything eat
able and wearable.
Just about twelve years ago a gentleman arose
in a democratic national convention and an
nounced, referring to Mr. Cleveland, "We love him
for the enemies he has made." Things have
changed in a dozen years. Now loyal democrats
distrust him because of the friends he has made.
A Nebraska editor who had the temerity to
demand a just freight rate on coal and the cour
age to make the demand emphatic, had his ad
vertising contract cancelled and his editorial
transportation taken up. But he could well af
ford to pay full fare if he could get just freight
rates on coal, paper, etc.
Boasts That
aro of
No Ava.ll.
While Secretary Shaw was proudly pointing
to the fact that injunctions were in full force and
effect against seven corporations,
twenty-three individuals and one
co-partnership engaged in the
production and transportation
of meats, restraining them from
doing certain specified things, the beef trust was
engaged in revising price lists. And before the
echoes of Secretary Shaw's voice had quit ring
ing, tho beef trust hoisted prices some more, thus
showing its contempt for injunction proceedings.
Trust managers are not afraid of injunctions that
do not enjoin, but they might profit by the spec
tacle of a violator of the law peering through the
bars of a prison cell.
Mr- Baker
is Very
Sarcastic.
Congressman Baker is very sarcastic. He be
lieves that the postofllco bill should be so amended
as to reimburse the railroad
companies to the amount of ?50,
000 for supplying tho special
trains, etc., for the president's
political junkets last Riimrrmr
When asked why he favored such an amendment,
Mr. Baker replied that congress should not force
the president to accept such favors from the cor
porations, adding that "it must be humiliating lor
such an uncompromising foe of corporate weaith
as Mr. Roosevelt to accept such favors." It is not
difficult to imagine that Mr. Baker's eyes twin
kled when he said it.
Tho Northern Securities people are not wor
rying. Thoy are already at work on a scheme to
taa circumvent the supreme court
rweedledee decision. Holders of Northeia
and Securities shares are notified to
Tweedledum. turn them in and receive $31) 37
,i sni7 pxt iiVOrth of Great Northern stock
and $30.17 of Northern Pacific stock for each share
thus turned in. ThJs will retire the Northern Se
curities stocks, but it will continue t control of
the merged railroads in the hands of the m
who organized the merger. The Standard Oil X
worked the same smooth scheme a few years 1 aifo
and up to date it has proved successful. When At
torney General Monnett of Ohio tried to invest t
gate it he was thrown out of tho supreme court
and when he still persisted a lot of Ks were
burned to prevent his examining them. Mr HI
and his associates seem to be well content havm
been assured that the administration "wSl no? r.m
amuck," being content to have the dedsion whSe
the managers of the merger hold the goods
was
Where the
"Pull"
is Handy.
VbliUME 4NUMBER y,
A few days ago a young man in Lincoln Nh
sentenced to four years' in tho penitentiary f?
ployed in the county treasurer
office and sequestered men
Lllln I J ging rl
.... . . X V "i""iig no entry unon
the books. About the same timo the sunrS
court decided that a number of wealthy men hn
violated a federal law which, provided for finn aS
imprisonment for certain acts. The wealthv m!
are still at large with no prospect that the crimi
nal section of the law will be enforced. The un
influential young man is behind the prison bars"
And yet some people profess to wonder why the
is a growing feeling that justice is being abusod
in this country. tu
The wisdom of the gentlemen who construo
our tariff laws is beyond the comprehension of
T. Wj the average voter.- The law ner-
The Wise pits free entry of animals in-
Tariff Experts tended for breeding purposes
e4 Work. uut a man who tried to import
a Plymouth Rock cockrell was
compelled to pay a duty of 3 cents a pound Tho
wise tariff adjusters pondered and studied over it
for weeks, and enough red tape was unwound to
fill a bushel basket. But it was decided that a
chicken- was not an "animal," therefore it could
not come in free. This recalls Secretary Shaw's
decision that frog's legs should be classified as
poultry for revenue purposes." It may take a long
time to decide these little things, but when iron
steel or sugar happens to want something tho
matter is settled off-hand, and always in favor of
iron, steel or sugar.
The Johnstown (Pa.) Democrat, one of the
ablest democratic journals in the land, is not
. afraid to ;foin issues with the re-
iney ua,re organizers of Pennsylvania. It
Not challenges the reorganizes to
Accept It- meet the .ssue squarely at a pri
mary election and let the voters
of the party decide between reaffirmation of the
Kansas City platform and repudiation. Of course
the reorganlzers will do nothing of the kind. They,
hope to win by evasion, false pretense and corpor
ation favor. They prefer to talk about "har
mony" while diligently working under cover to
discredit those who were loyal in 1896 and 1900
and give control to those who were disloyal and
aided in the election of the republican adminis
tration. But the Democrat's challenge will have
the effect of calling, the attention of loyal demo
crats to the plans and purposes of the reorganizes.
. The New York Evening Post insists that con
gress should consider the eight-hour bill and tell
.t 1 j. t.1 tne labor unions some "unpalat
UnpahMable able truths." This must -mean
Truths" that the Tost is opposed to tho
Numerous, eight-hour working day. It is
within the memory of working
men yet actively engaged in earning their daily
oread when thirteen hours was a day's work. Tho
'day was shortened, not by the voluntary act of
employers, but by the organized efforts of em
ployes. This is an "unpalatable truth" that al
ways confronts tho capitalists who think more of
wiPVent than they d0 of human flesh and
Diood. Organized labor has not benefited union
men alone; it has benefited non-union men as wen,
wl n,nunIon labor is today reaping many of the
benefits secured by the earnest toil and sacrifice
ohi nMb?r leaders. This is another "unpalat
auie truth that confronts conscienceless employ
es and their subsidized newspaper organs.
nT?e ?ohn p' AltSGll Democratic club has been
organized under the membership corporation law
Hrt of New York, with headquarters
nonors in New York cIty John HoseVt
to a Thomas Doyle, James Walstead,
Great Democrat Jeremlah Healey, Alfred J. Boul-
n. . ton, John B. Foote and Charles
minEi r ai? tlle Sectors. The following is
Sedf fron the certificate: "The particular ob
jects tor which the corporation is to be framed
fhn in, GSm bl J?h and maintain an organization for
l h J? tlgatl0n and study of the science of po
iiin;i econmy. and particularly to ascertain,
SS nla e,lucIdate and propagate the original
5?,? fn feintI?. PrlnciIlcs of democracy as exempli
fy m? ,8tor3r of tlle ttnIted States of Anieri
tw t Commoner wishes the John P. Altgcld
W0ctIc clu a long and useful career. It
demi l fe 1!amo of a distinguishod patriot and
I1SSS1 f W l0Se examPte Is worthy of being fol
lite y aU Wh0 se9lc for tfae tost in political
l
t
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