Si
VOLUME 4, NUMBER
22.
)
.v.
x
ft
assuredly Bondarof deserves
nounccd upon him by Tolstoi
, , The third reason given In support of the the
ory of bread-labor is that it closes tho gulf be
tween the various classes of society and brings
people into sympathy with each other. Tolstoi
declares (and can tho truth of the declaration bo
doubted?) that lack of sympathy between man and
man is tho tap root of most, if not all, of our
social troubles. If there existed everywhere fel
lowship, friendly interest and a gonuino brotherly
Jove, men would not cheat each other, they would
not steal from each other, they would not oppress
each other, they would not do injustice to each
other. Neither would they bo indifferent to each
other's welfare, or to tho welfare of each other's
childron. It is not sufficient that one's ancestors
should havo tolled; it is not oven sufficient that
one should have himself tolled at some time in
his life. Some of the worst taskmasters havo been
mon with a recollection of former servitude. It
Js necessary that there shall be such a constant
and permanent acquaintanceship with labor that
ono may be ablo to understand its fatigues and
thus appreciate tho necessity for rest and re
creation. Tolstoi regards love as tho great instructor.
Ho Insists that love will guide the mind aright.
Ho criticises those who devote themselves to en
tertaining the rich while the poor die of hunger,
t and in tho presentation of this criticism uses lan
i guage which shows his aptness in the use of illus
1 trations. He says:
"As the spring cannot question where its
waters aro to flow upwards, splashing tho
grass and tho leaves of the trees, or downwards .
to the roots of tho grass and trees so a be
liever in tho teaching of truth cannot ask
what he must do first whether to teach peo
ple, defend them, amuse them, supply them
with the pleasures of life, or save them from
perishing of want. " And just as water Irom a
Bprlng flows along the surface and fills ponds
and gives drink to animals and men, only
after it has soared tho ground, 'so a believer
in tho teaching of truth can servo less urg
ent human demands only after ho has satis
fled tho primary demand: has helped to feed
men, and to gave them from perishing in their
struggle ngainst want. A man following the
teaching of truth and love not in woids, but
in deeds, cannot mistake where lirst to direct
his efforts. A man who sees tho meaning of
his life in service to others can never make
such a blunder as to begin to servo hungry
and naked humanity by forging cannon, manu
facturing elegant ornaments, or playing tho
violin or tho piano."
Ho concludes his essay with an eloquent ap
peal for human brotherhood. No one can read
this appeal without catching a glimpse of tho
spirit of Tolstoi, and when this spirit Is under
stood it is easy to understand how Tolstoi has
touched the heart of the world. He says:
"Go to tho bottom to what seems to you the
bottom, but is really the top take your place be
side thoso who produce food for tho hungry and
clothes for the naked, and do not be atraid; it
will not bo worso, but better in all respects. Take
your place in tho ranks, set to work with your
woak, unskilled hands at tho primary work which
feeds the hungry and clothes the naked: at bread
labor, the struggle with nature; and you will
feel, for the lirst time, Arm ground beneath your
feet, will feol that you are at homo, that you aro
freo and stand Urmly, and havo peached the end
of your journey. And you will feel those com
plete, unpoisoned joys which can be found no
where else not secured by any doors nor
screened by any curtains.
"You will know joys you have never known be
foro; yqu will for tho first time know thoso strong,
plain men, your brothers, who from a distance
haye fed you until now; and to your surprise
you will find In them such qualities as you havo
never known; such modesty, suek kindness to
yourself as you will feel you have not deserved.
"Instead of the contempt or scorn you ex
pected, you will meet with such kindnoss, such
gratitude and respect for having after living on
them and despising them all your life at last
recollectod yourself, and with unskilled hands
tried to help them.
"You will see what seemed to you like an
Island on which you were saved from the sea that
threatened to engulf you, was a marsh in which
you wore sinking; and that tho sea you feared, was
dry land on which you wllj: walk firmly, quietly
and happily; as must be the case, for from a de
ception (into which you did not enter of your own
wish, but into which you wero led) you will es-
The Commoner.
the eulogy pro- cape to. the truth, and from the evasion of God's
' ' nurnosd'you 'Will pass to its performance.
y
n
(Government Paper v. Notes.
. Some of the gold bug papers are disturbed be
cause the Nebraska platform, recently adopted at
Omaha, favors government paper "issued without
the intervention of national banks." These papers
declare that this is more populistic than the Chi
cago platform. The Nebraska plank on the money
question is in lino with the historic policy of tho
party. The Chicago platform said:
"We therefore denounce the issuance of
notes intended to circulate as money by na
tional banks as in derogation of the consti
tution, and we demand that all paper which
is made a legal tender for public and prlvato
debts, or which is receivable for duc3 to the
United States, shall be issued by the govern
ment of the United States, and shall be re- -deemable
in coin."
The Nebraska platform indorses the Kansas
City platform and the Kansas City platform in
dorses 'the Chicago platform. The Nebraska plat
form on the question of paper money is therefore
entirely in harmony with the Kansas City and
Chicago platforms, and is also in harmony with
earlier platforms of the party. The democratic
platform of 1840 said:
"Resolved, That congress has no power
to charter a United States bank; that we be
lieve such an institution one of deadly hos
tility to the best interests of the country,
dangerous to our republican institutions, and
the liberties of the people, and calculated to
place the business of tho country within the .'
control of a concentrated money power and ,
above the laws and the will of the people."
This platform was reaffirmed in 1844, 1848,
1852, and 1856. A great many democrats have
been deceived by the reorganizers into believing
that the opposition to the Kansas City platform
was merely an opposition to the silver plank. The
fact is that the silver plank, while it presented
the paramount issue in 1896, was only a part of
a larger issue, namely, the money question. If
you ask a gold bug what objection he has to tho
Kansas City platform, he tells you that the in
creased production of gold has made the free coin
age of silver unnecessary, and yet while giving
this excuse he is just as much against the green
back as he is against free silver. Now, the issue
between government paper and bank notes is not
affected by the increased production of gold. If
the gold bug Insisted that the increased produc
tion of gold made the greenback unnecessary, his
argument would atleast be consistent with his
argument against silver, but the volume of na
tional bank notes has increased since 1836 so that
while he is objecting to the issue of government
paper he is willing to have more bank notes is
sued. At St. Louis the gold bugs will oppose the
Kansas City platform on the ground thjt it brings
up tho silver question, but they -will be unwilling
to state the party's position on the question of
greenbacks versus bank notes for the reason that
they are in favor of a bank currency issued by
tho banks and controlled by the banks, while the
democratic voters prefer the greenback to the
bank note. If the national bank note is issued we
must either have a perpetual debt for it to rest
upon, oi we must have some other basis, and tho
other basis is tho asset basis. No one who Is ac
quainted with the situation doubts for a moment
that the asset currency is sure to come if the na
tional bank note is continued. The democratic
party, therefore, must tako a position upon this
subject or stand convicted of secretly participat
ing in the scheme of the financiers to turn tho
note issuing function of tho government over to
the banks. Jefferson declared that banks of issue
wore more dangerous than standing armies and
Jackson, according to Thomas Benton, saved the
country when he destroyed the bank conspiracy
The responsibility of framing the next na
tional platform for the democratic party rests
upon the delegates appointed to the St Louis
convention, and they must either meet this ques
tion boldly or dodge it, and dodging would ho vir
tually taking tho side of the banks, for they work
by stealth and never submit to the people any
question in which their Interests aro involved
The fight at St. Louis will expose the hollow
pretense put forward by the opponents of the
Kansas City platform. When the resolution com
mittee meets, the representatives from the vari
ous states will find that the reorganizers aro
against the spirit of tho Kansas City platform and
against every needed reform. The issue is not so
much between silver arid' gold, w between honest
and dishonestybetween square dealing and de-
JJJ
Senator Knox.
The press dispatches announce that Attorney
General Knox has been selected to succeed Sena
tor Quay His selection was brought about by a
conference between the heads of the various ror
porate interests of Pennsylvania, Frick, of the
steel trust, arid Cassatt, of the Pennsylvania rail
road, being the most conspicuous figures. When
he was agreed upon the matter was presemed to
President Roosevelt, and he conseated to Mr
Knox's retirement, saying that he would be useful
in the senate in the preparation of legislation on
the trust question. The fact that he was urged by
Frick and Cassatt makes it plain that he is to bo
put in the senate as a representative of the trusts,
just as he has been their representative in the
cabinet, and the fact that President Roosevelt is
glad to have him there is further evidence (if any
further evidence were needed) that the president
has no intention of interfering with the trusts.
The corporations control Pennsylvania. Some ono
has described the Pennsylvania legislature as a
body of men loaned by the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company to the Standard Oil company when not
needed by the railroad company. Quay was the
political representative of these influences and
the selection of Mr. Knox as his successor is a
confession that Mr. Knox Is and has been, as fre
quently charged, merely the representative of cor
porate interests in the cabinet. It is strange that
the ordinary man farmer, merchant, or mechanic
can fail to understand the significance of the
bargains that are made between the great corpora
tions and public officials. It is strange that they
are so slow in finding; out that no remedial legis
lation is possible so long as the corporations con
trol the senate.
Will the appointment of Mr. Knox by the
trusts strengthen the democratic position in tho
coming campaign? That depends. If the demo
crats will adopt a sound platform and nominate a
candidate free from the taint of corporation con
trol, the Knox incident can be turned to advant
age. But with an August Belmont candidate on
the ticket, the democrats would not be able to
say anything against the trusts without exciting a
smile of derision. Republican mistakes can only
he taken advantage of by an honest and straight
forward campaign in the interests of the people,
and that is just the kind of a campaign which
the reorganizers do not want. What trust repre
sentative will President Roosevelt select as Mr.
Knox's successor? It is probable that Mr. Knox
will retain his position in the cabinet until after
the election and thus save the president the em
barrassment of selecting a new attorney general
during the campaign.
JJJ
Daniels Not In Contempt.
Hon. Josephus Daniels, the North Carolina
memuer of the national committee and editor of
the News and Observer, who was recently fined
for contempt by United States Judge Perneli, has
been released upon habeas corpus. Mr. Daniels
criticised the action of Judge Perneli in appoint
ing receivers for the North Carolina railroad. The
appointment waff overruled by Chief .Justice Ful
ler, but Judge Perneli fined Daniels $2,000 for con
tempt, and upon refusal of the editor to pay the
fine sent him to jail. Judge Pritchard tried the
case and released Mr. Daniels, saying that there
was nothing in the statutes to warrant his arrest.
Mr. Daniels is to be congratulated upon his
victory, and deserves also the gratitude of tho
profession for insisting upon his right to criticise
the judge. Judges, like other public servants, aro
open to criticism, and as all questions must ulti
mately be settled by the courts, it is especially
necessary ,hat the judges themselves shall bo
tried at the bar of public opinion. No judge need
fear criticism if ho has done right, and no judge
should be shielded from criticism if he has done
wrong.
Conscience As a Proecutr.
After all, the conscience Is the prosecutor
from whom tho criminal cannot escape. This truin
has been verified ovor and over again. The most
recent case is that of Tascott. He died recenuy
in the Klondike country and a person present at
his death makes public his last words. A proj-
iJcuLu- luunu mm aioue m a uiimub m.-
was safe from the officers of the law, but his cu
science had kept him 'company for fifteen yea
and had been persistent In ,ite punishment. ww
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