Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 1904)
VE' ft. VJOLt N' VI V fe-- 16 -Tlfe Commoner. ,..' .4 W1U- The Heart of the Trust Question President Roosevelt fcnd his friends 'dwelUJtopefully upon the good results that are ta come' from publicity applied 'by the government to the Affairs , of 'trusts. Candidate Parker And others who represent the democratic party ' urge that tariff duties bo removed when I thoy can bo shown to serve as shelters ifor harmful monopolies. Both sug gestions havo value, nut it is strange 'that the point of greatest importance with regard to trust evils Is completely ignored by both parties' and both can didates. - V ; ' The injurious trust is the product of special privilege of one kind or an--other. Deny to it tho special privilege which it uses for such ill purposes and the trust loses its power for harm; One form of Buch privilege is the high tariff duty. But obviously some of the most offensive combinations, like the oil trust 'and tho beef trust, would -suffer "little, if at all, should tariff pro . toction be withdrawn from them.' These two trusts and many others are but tressed upon special privilege of an other kind -the discriminating rail way freight rate, a most powerful wea pon with which to crush competition. There can be no dispute about the pe culiar benefits which the Standard Oil company and the big packing firms en joy from the railways. The latter are coerced into doing the bidding of these trusts, oven to the point of Infamy. ,. The question of greatest importance in American politics today is the rail way question. It is the heart of tho trust question. Tho failure of both the leading political parties and their respective candidates for president to grasp this vital issue must stand as a lasting reproach to them. It accounts for much of the apathy manifested by the masses in tho present campaign. Governor LaFollette ,of Wisconsin is one of tho few men now prominent in political life who give proof that they appreciate the bearing of the railway question upon other national problems. He is waging his present tight upon one phase of tho railway question. It is worthy of note that there is no apathy in Wisconsin politics this year. When 'LaFollette and his followers were turned out of the republican national convention last June one of those 'fol lowers said defiantly that the issues represented by Wisconsin's governor would yet bo the dominant issues in national politics. He spoke the truth. The question of lawlessness by rail ways and their fellow conspirators, the criminal trusts, will not down. Tho interstate commerce commission is now a sort of Little Red Hiding Hood, which, while it can catch glimpses of tho 'long teeth and slavering tongue of a vast evil, is powerless to kin or cripple it. That commission must be transformed by congress Into a pow erful agent to rescue the people from the wrongs inflicted upon them by the robber trusts and their pals, the trans portation companies. Chicago Daily News. . , . " ...,-v-- ,'-& l MBi NUMBER s UNCLE SAM "You sometimes make mistakes, but you mean well." Time Saved "This," began tho agent, "jj a great time-saving device" "You've come to the wrong house' interrupted the snappy woman at the door. "Try that woman next door." . "Ah! You think it would Interest her?" "Wouldn't be surprised. She's a erahk on saving time; to my 'certain knowledge she was. 25 years bid ten i years, .ago, tu t she's Ijeen so saving of her-41m0 that, she claims to be' tnly 27..: now.''r-Catholic Standard and Times. 14 A Patriotic Declaration The declaration by President Roose velt that he will not seek another presidential term is most timely and patriotic, and will be applauded and commended by the American people. President Washington, in the begin ning of our national life, established the safe and sound precedent that no president shall have more than tw6 torms of office. Whether this principle would apply in. Mr. Roosevelt's case is. a question open for discussion and a difference of opinion. At the expira tion of the term beginning on tho" 4th day of next March, for which he will be elected. Mr. Roosevelt will not have served two full terms, his present term having begun nearly six months after Mr. McKinley's inauguration. Then, too, the fact that Mr. Roosevelt had been elected to the 'presidency only once, and not twice, would have given room for the contention that a second election four years hence would not be a Tiolation of Washington's preced ent, which is now the unwriten law of the land. But the president has brushed all these questions and quib bles aside and has publicly declared that hO Will Tlflt nPhfinf annMin .i nation nor seek another election. This declaration was withheld until the elec tion was oyer, so that it could not, be .construed as a campaign utterance made with any insincerity. In his speech in New York during the cam paign ex-President Cleveland de nounced In severe terms the political activity of federal office-holders;- Th? temptation to use the enormous ma chinery of the government to re-elect himself is the reason why the consti tution of the confederate states fixed the presidential term as six years and prohibited a re-election, and there are many thoughtful people who believe the constitution of the United States should be amended so as to adopt that policy. Mr. Roosevelt's declaration re moves a great danger the dangor of oven a partial disregard of Washing ton's precedent and of tho disquiet which would be occasioned by any ex pectation of, oven in a small, degree the shaping of the policy of the next Are You Interested In Agriculture? ONE OF THE BEST FARM WEEKLIES IN THE FIELD IS THE PRAIRIE FARMER Published at Chicago Subscription Price $1.00 The Prairie Farmer also'issuos a , Home Magazine Monthly Supple ment which is sent free to all subscribers to the eokly. JBJ ??B5?S?emnt with tho publishers we are enabled to sand both 1 HE COMMONER and PRAIRIE PARMER' for the price of ONE. $1.00 Address THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb. r BHHWMVk f A DEMOCRATIC NEWSPAPER. t-. The OMAHA WORLD-HERALD. lisued Semi-Weekly. iti Subscription Price $I.oo Special Clubbing Offer: World-Herald and Commoner frt 4C Both One-War. - - - - vUM Send orders to THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb. J administration for a re-election. Tho onormous popular majority re ceived by Mr. Roosevelt seems to show that he has a stronger personal hold upon the people than any president has enjoyed since the days of Mr. Lincoln. " might hayo occasioned some fear that an ambitious man would be tempted to presume upon his popular ity to make a new precedent by per petuating; his rule and so become w only president in tho long line to nu the office morel than eight ycars.-uai tiinore Sun. : i "K J , M .-'' 4 J i' 'Jtf