The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923, January 06, 1905, Page 4, Image 4
rnww-Vr " f .JfH"4l "' pT!WVr' 4 The Commoner. ISSUED WEEKLY. Entered at the postofllco at Lincoln, Nebraska, as second clH88 mall matter. One Year Ii.oe Six Alonths 50c In CIu b of 5 or More, per year 75c Three Months ... Single Copy 00 Sample Cop ten Free, Foreign Postage ac Extra. SUBSCRIPTIONS can be cent direct to The Ctnmefler. They can alno bo sent through newspapers which have adver tlscd a clubbing rate, or through local agents, whero sab agents 'javo been appointed. All remittances should be sent by postofllco money order, express order, or by bank draft on, New York or Chicago. Do not send Individual checks, stamps or money. RENEWALS. The date on your wrapper shows when you subscription will expire. Thus, Jan. 81, '05, means that pay ment hru been received to and Including tho last Issue of Jan nary, 1005. Two wcckB are required after money has been re ceived before the date on wrapper can be changed. CtiANOB OF ADDRESS. Subscribers requesting a change of address must give OLD as well as tho NEW address. ADVERTISING rates furnished upon application. Address 11 communications to THE COMMONER, Llacela.Nefc If Mr. Lawson's charges are untrue, they cer tainly can bo disproved. Census returns of the incinerated Santa Claus aro beginning to come in. Dr. Lyman Abbott says he is tho victim of tho careless reporter. Dr. Abbott is not lonesome. The year 'of 11)04 has passed into history, and still the Smoot investigation has not reached Smoot. About tho finest collection of fairy tales imag inable would bo a lot of those G. 0. P. promises about revising the tariff. General Wood says tho Filipino soldiers be come lazy on tho American ration. Well, that Is better than becoming too gay. Strange that those eminent "captains of in dustry" have not tried tho Injunction method of keeping that Boston man quiet. Mrs. Chadwick says she will tell her story just as soon as sho pays off her obligations. It is to bo hoped that sho will not toll it until then. Tho Topeka Herald says that "six months ago Thomas Lawson had never been heard of west of tho Hudson river." Perhaps not in tho Herald office. In tho meantime, while northern newspapers are denouncing him, Governor Vardamann is show ing Indiana and Ohio how to handle "whitecap-pers." Sir Howard Vincent, M. P., of England, aslcs us to omit tho third stanza of "Star Spangled Ban ner." Most of us omit a portion of every vorso when wo try to sing that song. Tho Columbus Pres3-Post moves, and The Commoner seconds tho motion, that Lawson get after tho coal trust right now and let the copper trust go until warm weather comes. Mi. Lawson says that attempts' have been madx to "dope" his food. But it may be that tho trust managers merely deceived him by selling his steward somo unadulterated groceries. Commissioner Garfield recommends a federal license for inter-state corporations, evidently over looking tho fact that they already have federal permission to do just about a3 they please. Tho Croto (Nebr.) Democrat has entered upon the thirty-first year of its battle for democratic principles, and Editor Bowlby feel3 amply able to keep up tho Democrat's high average for another thirty years. Coach Yost of tho Michigan university foot ball team has been engaged for five years at an annual salary of $3,500. This is calculated to make the mere professor sit up and take notice of the higher education. .,, - , ai -r . t J,T The Commoner. Opponents of football have not yet pointed out tho fact that tho football coach who works about two months in tho year usually gets about 100 per cent more salary than tho professor who digs away tho year 'round. Tho Cincinnati Enquirer says it is no longer a democratic newspaper. If that statement is a samplo of tho character of Its news the wonder is that it over was called a newspaper. The state ment is not news it is history. Tho president is waxing very wroth over tho smoke nuisance in Washington. People outsido of Washington have been enduring worse nuis ances than smoke for somo time, but so far thero has been no executive effort to shackle. Tho Kansas City Star complains that tho "solid plutocracy" is after Missouri. This is rather a strange complaint, coming as it does from a newspaper that has been doing its best to fasten that sort of thing upon tho wholo nation. Tho senate has adopted a bill guaranteeing the' interest on $30,000,000 of bonds to encourage rail way building in the Philippines. Instead of. guar anteeing interest for the benefit of "frenzied fi nanciers" the senate should exhibit some interest in tho welfare of the general public. Thirty-seven bank failures ' and ten suicides on account thereof is tho record Iowa made in 1903-04. But Iowa is so overwhelmingly republi can anyhow that the G. O. P. managers doubtless thought it not necessary to send the Hawkeyo state a proportionate share of tho "prosperity." Noting tho fact that a big circus is to bo sold at auction the Washington Post suggests that tho government bid it in and uso it to entertain tho country while congress is not in session. The sug gestion will arouse a storm of opposition. Twelve months of uninterrupted circus is entirely too much. Countess do Carmara of Havana sued Gen eral Brooks for $250,000 because he abolished tho monopoly of slaughtering cattle and hogs in Ha vana, which had been hereditary in her family. Perhaps the attorney general fears to tackle the, beef monopoly in this country because it might sue him for damages. Tho Charlestown News and Courier wants to know why Governor Peabody doesn't deport tho democratic majority and be done with it. Tho reason is very simple. The salaries of the two republican members of the Colorado supremo court are small compared with tho cost of keep ing the militia in the field. It is reported through tho press that Governor-elect Deneen of Illinois is going to make tho passage of a primary election law one of the prin cipal features of his administration. Good for De neen! Tho honest selection of candidates satis factory to the voters of the party is the first step toward good government and Illinois' new gover nor could not give better proof of his reform tendencies. The Story Of Ol Big' Fund Elsewhere in this issue may bo found a por tion of Mr. Lawson's latest contribution to Every- juuys magazine on the subject of "Frenzied Finance." The quotation concerns a transac tion during the latter days of t.hp nnmnnlrm nV iono . very Interesting reading. Mr. Lawson tells with a wealth of detail, and yet with commendable brev ity undor tho circumstances, of the raising of a largo sum of money a week before the campaign closed, to be used by tho republican national com mittee in "saving" a number of doubtful states The attention of Tho Commoner's readers is called to tho extract from Mr. Lawson's magazine article. The Chicago Tribune having declared that "if thero is anything Improper connected with "tu r , ., He collectlon and distribution of The "Friends" the national campaign fund it Always should be exposed," tho Flor- Very Active Ida Times-Union and Citizen pertinently adds: "But op course, tho investigation of each campaign 'fniI should bo "made by its friends." ThfSSuS of our Florida contemporary has a wonderfully fa- m liar sound. The tariff should be revised by its 'friends, the trusts should bo superintended by VOLUME 4, NUMBER 51 their friends, the railroads should bo control by friends of railroad monopolythat is the X miliar cry that greets very effort to control th great interests in behalf of tho welfare of th whole people. Q0 The S't. Louis Globe-Democrat, doubtless hav ing a better knowledge of the intelligence of its c readers than anybody else could The Stuff have, asserts that tho recent or Dreams aro dor of a western railroad for ouq Made of hundred now locomotives would not have been given if Parker had been elected. Westtrn railroads, known in stock market quotations as "grangers," depend largely upon tho grain and cattle haul for their revenues. According to the Globe-Democrat the wheat would refuse to head out, corn would refuse to sill?; oats would lodge, alfalfa would rot, barley succumb to rust, ryo refuse to ripen, steers refuse to fatten and hogs refuse to grow unless a republican wero elected president. The Globe-Democrat's readers may believe that sort of thing. As remarked in the beginning, doubtless the Globe-Democrat has a better knowledge of the intelligence of its read ers than the more outsider could possibly have. The public is indebted to tho Boston Globe for an explanation of what coal really is. "Coal," says the Globo, "is a stratified Preserve This mineral varying In color jror from dark brown to black, and, Reference according to geogolists, is the result of the transformation of organic matter and is distinguished by its fossil origin from charcoal, which is obtained by the di rect carbonization of wood." In view of existing conditions The Commoner suggests to its readers that they preserve this explanation. It seems piobablo that after a few years more of coal trust existence the average family will have nothing more substantial in the way of coal than this clear and lucid explanation. A- few months ago tho cotton mill owners of Fall River reduced the wages of their employes oven below the starvation point, '"Cotton Pricos offering as a reason that tho and high price of cotton made it im- Llving Wastes Perative tnat expenses be re duced. Tho reduction was tho second or third within the year, and left the av erage wage in the immediate neighborhood of $6 a week. The employes in sheer desperation struck against tho reduction, and so far have remained firm. Today cotton is cheaper than usual, but tho mill owners have not seen fit to offer a higher wage because of that fact. This Is a matter that tends to explode tho hollowness of the claim mado by tho grasping employers at Fall River. Mississippi has taken Hold of the "white cappers" in a manner that commends that stato to tho attention of several north Discoira.ging era states similarly afflicted. to the "Whltecappers" have a way of Whitecappers takin matters into their own hands and whipping people who have become obnoxious to them. "Whitecappers" in Lincoln county, MIs3., havo been somewhat dis couraged by the action of Governor Vardemann and the courts, and "whitecapping" will probably not be indulged in soon again in that section. Ten citizens of Lincoln county have just begun penitentiary sentences ranging from ten to fifty years for indulging in the pastime of whipping men. Recent events in a couple of northern states indicate that the same drastic treatment is needed on thi3 side of the more or less famous Mason and Dixon line. The Need of c Conference Governor Folk of Missouri and Governor Johnson of Minnesota are newly elected reform governors. Governor LaFol- letto of Wisconsin has already proven himself an anti-monopolist and Governor Cummins of Iowa has shown reform symp toms, although the attacks have been somewhat intermittent. Now that Governor Deneen of Illi nois seems disposed to cast his influence with re formers, it might bo well for these five to call a conferonco of tho governors of-tho Northern Miss issippi valley to take action upon legislation af fecting corporations. They might bring over tho governors of Indiana. Ohio, Michigan and thesa eight great agricultural states of the middle west would havo a poworful influence if thrown in fa vor of anti-trust legislation, tariff reform and rail road regulation. I nt ., JJta ' -( tt. Mta mamMtdim., . w,..u mwmm