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The Commoner.
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THE COMMONER, Llacoln, Neb.
Chronic bolters are usually loudest in their
domaudfc for party fealty.
The republican ship would better keep a sliarp
lookout for floating mines.
Tho boll weevil seems to have found the
Parker boom in the south.
If Port Arthur falls much moro it will be sev
eral thousand feet under water.
Those Kansas school book authorities seem
inclined to pass up all natatorial fables.
If those tariff reform republicans in Iowa are
really in earnest they will vote the democratic
ticket,
Mr. Watterson says the port paragraph must
go. The New York World closes tho incident by
saying: "It does."
Radium lasts 50,000,000 years, but even at this
slow rate of wear it cannot outlast a republican
pledge to reform the tariff.
Tho refusal of Iowa republicans to stand by
tho "idea" is only another proof that the g. o. p.
has no uso for that sort of thing.
A republican exchange asserts that there is a
party need for a good campaign slogan in rhyme.
How would this do: Fry fat, stand pat.""
Tho Washington Star presents a great truth
when it says that Grover Cleveland was tho re
publican party's greatest asset both in 1888 and
189G.
It really does not matter where tho republican
party was born. Tho fact is that the ideas of its
founders were strangled by imperialism and corruption.
Any gentleman with proved ability as a "fat
fryer" may hear of a good job by addressing tho
republican national committee, which is looking
for a chairman.
Nebraska with a doubled tax and Colorado
with' martial law are two samples of "republican
redemption" that tho republicans are not point
ing to with pride.
Tho president has been giving Cuba some
good advice. The chief thing about presidential
advico is that neither the giver nor the receiver
pays much attention to it.
Mr Watterson says tho "port editorial para
graph" should bo allowed to die a natural death
some of tho best have been ruthlessly killed bv
tho man who writes tho long editorials.
Tho Nashville Banner says that Ttfp. Cleve
land's bond issue surely saved tho credit of tho
S5S? But Secretaiy Daniel Manning accom!
HnnH Jf fi"? 1UrPS Vlth0Ut lBBVLi bOllUS.
Ho notified tho troasury raiders to quit their raid
or prepare to accept silver. It stopped the ld
until a more subservient official was found.
The Commoner.
The New York Evening Post shows an occa
sional glimmer of reason. Recently it admitted
that the late populist administration of Nebraska,
was better than tho republican administrations
that have followed.
According to Uncle Joe Cannon's definition
of tho man who occupies the vice presidential
chair, tho g. o. p. is full of "nonentities," for al
ready 33,333 republican leaders have been des
ignated as available timber.
An exchange offers this as the republican na
tional ticket and platform: "For president, Theo
dore Roosevelt; for vice president, Theodore
Roosevelt; platform There is only one personal
pronoun in the English language."
MrT James J. Hill feels quite certain that if
Uncle 5am will build the freight ships, pay tho
crew and fuel bills and turn them over to private
corporations, the corporations can make almost
enough out of them 'to pay office rent.
L
Mr. Baer is quick to throw upon the Almighty
the blame for everything that goes wrong, but ho
insists upon taking credit for all that goes right;
Mr. Baer now says the Lord was responsible for
the freight congestion in the anthracite regions
last winter.
The Commoner does not ofter a prize for a
solution of this puzzle: "If swimming a creek
thirty feet wide makes a man a brigadier gen
eral, what rank would be due the man who swam
a river not less than 300 feet wide, depth not
counting?"
The Helena Press criticises Mr. Bryan be
cause he does not devote all of his time to the ad
vocacy of nominating primaries and of the in
itiative and referendum. Mr. Bryan is in favor of
both, but he is not in favor of dropping all other
questions until these reforms are obtained.
The Alliance (Neb.) Herald's annual illus
trated edition was one of the' handsomest special
editions ever issued in the west. It was a credit
to its publisher, T. J. O'Keefe, a handsome ad
vertisement of Alliance and the northwest, and a
striking sampleof western enterprise and push.
Charles E. Sugg, Henderson, Ky., asks for
the origin of the expression, "United we stand;
divided we fall," and also of the saying, "As poor
as Job's turkey." Any reader of Tho Commoner
knowing these will confer a favor upon Mr. Sugg
by sending him a postal card with the information
desired.
League
Deserves
Success
The National Consumers' league of New York
is engaged in a crusade which has for its chief
uujclo iae aDoiiuon of the
"sweat shop" system and "equal
pay for equal wonc." It is well
known that women ei gaged in
tVlQ trl(lo rrnnnonlli. ..1 .
wages than men engaged in similar work al
though the women perform an equal amount of
labor. This is opposed by the league. In this tho
league will be assisted by several labor unions
that already demand equal my for equal work
notably the printers and ci&arniakers. The leajrue
is distributing literature setting forth the S5
and dangers of the "sweat shop" system, and in
its crusade deserves the active assistance of ev-
LS ?nd T0men wuo deslres t0 eDeiit op
pressed humanity. l
, I ; J 1ULC1UHLeu m tne discussion of
the hours of labor on the isthmian canal Bv
--.. .... v, wuuuci or other
wise done for Uncle Sam must
be done on an eight-hour day
BEL18' .5uJ no.w ifc hinted that
Rico used as a pre den AcSSES 2m, W?
ruling a Porto Rican is not adCo LVuSd
States and cannot become one because 11 d
no allegiance to any foreien 21 e owes
potentate and therefore cannot fovsZ'Jf ?
now claimed that the canal conSw W?
be bound by the eight-hour law becauso onll not
has delegated power over the can -5 F trt ?gSS
president and the president has passed t the
to the commission. The canni 1 J along
supreme court cal s CnStennS iS,.what tlie
Hold it under lease anK bv i '' We
Therefore the statutes" 0 not StaTH dee(K
right and Justice? Sffft ttZ
Avoiding
Statute.
.VOLUME 4 NUMBER 20,
ing will be allowed to stand in the way of thai
making the. largest possible profit. r
Laboring, men are taking great interest in ih
supreme Court's decision on the fellow servant"
a r law anMt is generally conrnm
A Premium ed Umt tho decision ,
On about the last safeguard the en.
Incompetency. Ploye of a corporation had Tho
case was one wherein a 'loco
motive fireman was hurt in an accident caused bv
tho negligence or ignorance of a telegraph oner
ator. The operator made an error in reporting to
tho dispatcher and the dispatcher gave a train
order that resulted in a wreck. The injured fire
man sued for damages, but the supreme court
finally held that the corporation was not liable
for damages sustained by the act of a fellow ser
vant. This decision, singularly enough, was made
by a majority of five to four, just as quite a num
ber of recent decisions have been made.
The
German
Carp.
The Chicago Tribune says: "Speaking or fisn
there must be some redeeming feature about the
uerman carp. What is it?"
There are several thousand dis
ciples of Izaak Walton who
would be pleased to have an an
swer to the Tribune's ouestion.
The German carp is a nuisance. He is a "gold
brick" palmed off upon unsuspecting fish hatch
ers. A few years ago tho German carp was hailed
as a great fish. It grew rapidly and multiplied
at a great rate. It looked pretty sailing around
in a tank. But as a game fish it is a failure, as a
table delicacy it is worthless, and it has all but de
stroyed all other fish jn the waters in which it
has been planted. The German carp is to the fish
tribe what the Ben Davis is to horticulture and
then some.
Trustees
Of
Providence.
Mr. Baer continues -to pose as the special agent
and interpreter of providence. It was Mr. Baer
who said that he and others of
like calibre were "trustees of
providence" in the management
of the coal mines and coal car
rying railroads. And it was Mr.
Baer who recently asserted that the "car famine"
was caused by "divine intervention." Mr. Baer
may believe all this, but his claims will appear to
many old-fashioned people as little short of
blasphemous. Mr. Jaer declares that coal prices
must stay up until Reading stock pays 4 per cent.
We may now expect to hear him declare that
there is a divine command to charge rates that
will enable him and his .fellow grafters to declare
4 per cent dividends on the watered stock of the
Reading. It would not be more sacreligious than
some other assertions he has made.
The Cedar Rapids (la.) Gazette, with a show
of self-sacrifice that is more than commendable,
has thrust aside a proffered
Another honor and announced that it
Cesar. will content itself with a con-
Socys "Nay" tinuance of the work the Cre
ator seems to have intended for,
it. The republican national committee has of
fered to give the Gazette the exclusive right in
its county to publish the committee's line of edi
torial correspondence, editorials and editorial
paragraphs. Those who have read republican pa
pers during former campaigns, and been struck
with the wonderful similarity between republican
editorials, will find in this an explanation. But
the Gazette wants it distinctly understood that
Bishop-elect Day is not the only one who can
thrust aside a great honor in order to continue in
a chosen work.
Our
Annual
Slaughter.
The approaching anniversary of our national
independence , brings to the fore again the much
rllotnonml nnflcHnn nf llOW tO
prevent the frightful loss of life
that invariably accompanies our
independence celebration. Tho
ueaui just growa iuufa1-' '-
year, not because of any particular Increase m
patriotic fervor, but because of improved metnous
in the manufacture of noise-making and deat 1
deallng explosives. A few years ago we were con
tent with tho harmless little squib of a firecracKer,
and the old-fashioned method of firing salutes
with the village anvils. Now wo have oia
cartridges loaded with tetanus and dynam,itevS
non crackers that carry death in their iow
bombs and rockets and toy cannons all or w
contribute to make up an annual casualty
ceedlng many battles famous in history. An"?,cf
ful men and women would do well to cotbi
some plan that will lead to a more rational
of celebrating our national independence.
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