The Commoner
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER.
1
Jol. 5, No. 4.
Lincoln, Nebraska, February 10, 1905.
Whole Number a 12
CONTENTS
Abraham Lincoln
Taft on Ultimate Independence ,
New Jersey's Trust Factory
Enforce the Criminal .Clause
"Special Cables"
Two Religious Addresses
A Bad Practice
Inventor and Consumer
A Bisnop Defends War -
Washington News
News of the Week
Taft on Ultimate Independence
Secretary of War Taft recently appeared before
E the ways and means committee and m the course
of his testimony declared that he expected "tlio'
Filipinos to .have independency ultimately, but,,:
added that the present status would probably bo
maintained during this generation because of pres
ent incapacity for self-government. While this
p; seems almost like an endorsement of the demo
cratic position it differs in two important respects. '
First it makes no promise and therefore give3 the
Filipinos no assurances, and, second, it puts this
nation in the position of denying ihe present ca
pacity of the Filipinos for self-governn??nt a
position which is antagonistic to the Declaration ,k
of Independence. There is a vital difference be-'
tween a promise of independence to be fulfilled as
soon as a stable government can be established
and a vague prophecy that independence will bo
given some time provided capacity for self gov
ernment is. hereafter developed.
Capacity for eclf-government is relative we
measure the capacity of others by our own ca
pacity. If we are many generations ahead of ihe
Filipinos how are they going to decrease thevgulf
between us unless they make more progress than
we? If we are going to deal with the Filipinos
according to American principles we must -begin
by recognizing that the Filipinos have both th9
right to self-government and the capacity for it
and then promising independence proceed to assist
them to establish a republican form of government,
which, when established, shall 'be turned over to
the elected representatives of the people, just as
he Cuban government, when formed, was turned
er to the Cuban people.
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WILL HE "STAND FROM UNDER V'From the Omaha World-Herald
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New Jersey's Trust Factory
New Jersey's governor has just taken his an
nual exercise in annulling corporate charters and
some thirteen hundred promising industrial con
spiracies will be known no more, because they
were too poor to pay the state tax. Just as long
as a trust can collect enough money to satisfy the
demands of the state it can prey upon the public
without let or hindrance, but woe unto it if -its
exactions are not sufficient to enable it to pay the
annual bribe required--by the New- Jersey -government.
"Soberly," said Abraham Lincoln in 1859, "it
is now no child'3 play to save the principles of
Jefferson from total overthrow in this nation."
In this year of 1905, forty-six years after
Abraham Lincoln made that statement, it is now
"no child's play" to save the principles of Jeffer
son from total overthrow in this nation.
Mr. Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, and
the ninety-ixth anniversary jf his birth will soon
be celebrated. It is not likely that Lincoln's
birthday .will be generally celebrated throughout
the nation, although many organizations will meet
and their members will listen to eloquent ad
dresses. The American people can not too often
dwell upon the sound advice which this man of
the people gave to his countrymen; and it is
eminently fitting that the approaching Lincoln
anniversary be made an occasion for recalling
some of the wise suggestions made by this dis
tinguished American.
Lincoln was not a man of one idea. His
thoughts were not entirely centered upon thy
slavery question. He knew that, aside from the
institution of slavery, there were other deep-seated
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problems with which the people of a republic
must grapple and his writings and speeches are
full of statements which have direct bearing upon
tbe great contest in which the American people
are now engaged a contest wherein it is to be
determined whether a plutocracy or the people
shall govern in this great republic.
"I hold," said Mr. Lincoln, "If the Almighty
had ever made a set of men that should do all
the eating and none of the work, he would have
made them with mouths only and no hands; and
if he had ever made another class that he in
tended should do all the work, and none of the
eating, he would have made them without mouths
and with all hands. But inasmuch as he has
chosen to make men in that way, if anything is
proved it is that those hand3 and mouths are to
be co-operative through life end not to be inter
fered with. That they are to go forth and improve
their conditions, as I have been trying to illus
trate, is the inherent right given to mankind
directly by the Maker."
Many of the things written and said by Mr.
Lincoln seem to have been written for this very
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