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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (July 8, 1904)
MrwJflHWWB1" . i The Commoner. ' V VOLUME 4, NUMBER 23. u , .,., rerTr!!'! ft- k. gtff? r? k t Hv 7 h (i v ,tf . About Knockers j' Everyone who has soon anything of the world at all has come to recognize tho word "knocker" as an effective 'nnd appropriate word in the English banguago, You can scarcely turn a 'corner nowadays but what you see a 'knockers' club," in session. They have someone "on the slab," a slang expression that originally came from tho dissecting room, where people are torn to pieces, although I would not for tho world charge the medical stu dents with being tho original knock er. Woman holds that claim, for about the first thing Eve did when sho turned loose in Eden was to knock an apple off the tree. Straightway sho "began to knock Adam. So it comes natural for every person to be a Knocker. It is In the blood. But man, I think, equalled the lino record at the game made by woman. It looks to me as if tho raco from the beginning had been neck and neck. One of the most prominent newspa per men In Pittsburg, who upon one occasion was a managing editor, ob tained fine revenge upon one of these chronic knockers. Ho had occasion to go to Missouri at the time Paddy Mc Graw was captured, and while there sent out some splendid stuff. The cor respondent in the town felt aggrieved that ho should lose such a tidy "string,1' and sent In an urgent query to the paper in question, stating that the Pittsburg reporter in the field did not know his business and that in ad dition he was not "playing ball.' The home office paid no attention to the queries, but the Missouri correspon dent kept up a steady flro of queries, each time becoming more urgent and making more serious charges against tho Pittsburg man on the scene. He wired and wroto until the managing editor In question returned home with the prisoner. All of the queries had been addressed .to the managing edi tor, so that the first thing the ac cused newspaper man did was to write a note to the Missouri correspondent to this effect: "Upon my return home I find these telegrams and letters, which I respectfully return. Yours, So-and-S'o, managing editor." As iar as I can learn that knocker has never had the nerve since to either write or send a query. Pittsburg Dispatch. Initiative and Referendum Writing for theSt. Louis Post Dis patch upon tho subject of Initiative and Referendum, William Preston Hill The people of Missouri will be called upon to vote at the next general elec tion in November on the constitutional amendment incorporating direct legis lation by the initiative and referen dum into our constitution of Mis souri. I have often been asked by intelli gent and even well educated men to explain by illustration the exact .mean ing of these words. Direct legislation means law-making directly by the people. It is com posed of two parts, the initiative and tho referendum. Tf tho initiative were a part of our constitution, then 10 per cent of the qualiiied voters of the state, which in Missouri would amount to about 70,000 voters, could sign a petition stating that they wanted a certain law en acted. Then under the provisions of the initiative, if the legislature fAiled or refused to pass that law, it would have to be submitted to the .vote of tho whole people of the state, and at the next general election it would be printed on all the ballots, and every voter of the state, irrespective of par ty, could vote yes or no on that ques tion, and if it was approved by a ma jority it would become a law directly by that action of the people and with out the consent of the legislature or tho governor and the lav would then read: Be it enacted by the. sovereign people of Missouri; instead of: Be it enacted by tho legislative assembly of Missouri. The referendum is another part of this same system. With the referendum in force, if the legislature passed a law that was ob noxious to the people or that the peo ple considered unjust or oppressive or if the legislature gave away for little or nothing a valuable franchise that the people did not want given, away, then 10 per cent of the voters of the cjafp mnt within 90 days after the ad journment of the legislature sign a petition demanding that this law bo referred to the vote of the whole peo ple of the state, and under the provi sions of the referendum this law would have to be printed on all the ballots at the next general election, and if approved by a majority of the people then and then only would it become a law. But if rejected by a majority of the voters then it would become null and void and be marked vetoed by the sovereign people of Mis souri. These two principles, the initiative and referendum, combined in our con stitution would constitute the system known as direct legislation. Everybody can easily judge by the above that it would be a complete and specific cure for the corruption that has invaded our political .life. Nobody will try to bribe those who will no longer be able to deliver tho goods. After the adoption of the ref erendum the whole people alone will be able to make final delivery of fran chises, etc. Prof. J. Pv. Commons, the well known professor of sociology and po litical economy, said: "The greatest 1 issue before the American people -today is 'bribery.' No reform move ment, no citizens union or the liko can fully cope with it. The referendum alone is a complete and specific euro for this condition. It alone goes to tho source of corruption. It deprives leg islators and executives of their mo nopoly of government and the power to sell. After the adoption of the ref erendum they will no longer be ablo to deliver the goods." Hon; Joseph W. Folk said that if tha referendum had been in force in Mis souri there would have been no need of his boodle prosecutions because there could not have been any boociling. All those who are in sympathy with his efforts to purify our politics should vote yes on this constitutional amend ment at "the next election. Suppressed Dispatches Among the congratulations received at the White house, but not given out, were tho following: Mountains of Morocco. Raisuli agreed not to release me until after the convention. Is a perfect gentle man. Promises to abduct me acain whenever it will do good. Both our congratulations. Perdicaris. Caracas. Glad to learn from Black that wars must go on. Hope it is tho end of pacific blockades. Down with arbitrating damages. Felicitations. Castro. - Santo Domingo. Best wishes. Have arranged with Hay to stone a foreign minister a month till election. Vive la Monroe doctrine. Morales. " Paris. Bon! a bien tot. Am plan ning an uprising- of downtrodden Fue gans. Send light cruiser. Vive la revolution; amusez-vous bien. Bu-nau-Varilla. Manhattan. The best news since Knox resigned. Don't run amuck. Wall Street. Westminster. All success. Would like such, a platform myself. Cham berlain joins in approval of reciproc ity plank. Balfour. New York Post. il yC 'JI v ( "A POLITICAL TEXT BOOK, xwa r o THE COnnONER CONDENSED VOLS. II AND III; ?.' nn wnn llfimi Tft ACQUIRE POLITICAL INFORHATION ft II YIIII W SH I'll PREPARE TO DISCUSS PUBLIC QUESTIONS, t uu luu liW lu POSSESS A CAMPAIGN REFERENCE BOOK H3V The leading editorials of the second and third volumes, of -the Commoner, bound in octavos of about 4V0 pageB each CAREFULLY AND FULLY INDEXED, are offered to Commoner subscribers' on the following terms: , t j i' Om Yr's Subscription to The Commoner The Commoner Condensed, Cloth Bound TO NEW OR RENEWING SUBSCRIBERS. Y JBOTH BY MAIL. tl Rft I 0n YMr' Subscription to Tho Commoner uwu i Th. POSTAGE PREPAID. r ) The Commoner Condensed, Paper Cover . 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