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The Commoner.
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THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb. -
Tho support of tho Hepburn bill is the chief
argument against it.
If tho czar wants to bo absolutely safe from
bullots he would better enlist with the Japs.
Tho beef trust has added anothor nice little
injunction to its rapidly growing collection.
Perhaps the masses in Russia call the czar
their "littlo father" because ho is so difficult to
EGG.
Just now tho .American public Is not so much
iutorested In Mr. Lawson'3 motives as they are
in his disclosures.
Packer Swift was very much surprised to learn
that there is a beof tru3t. Eighty million people
knew it all tho time.
Tho Washington Post says that it is tho opin
ion of somo that tho stealing of a railroad is an
achlovoment, not a crimo. '
Municipal ownership is growing. London is
arranging to take over tho telephone system and
operate it by public officials.
Czar Nicholas is evidently one of those "little
fathers" who do not get up and walk tho floor
m the middlo of the night.
Is there an American big enough to build the
Panama canal?" asks Walter Wellman. The ques
tion sounds like an insult to General Sherman Bell.
' I, KwroP111 can catch a body of Jap troops
armed like that St. Petersburg mob he may be
able to report something not tinged with regrets.
Tho thief Who tried to work in the Philadel
phia city hall was unable to show his certificate
of election, and as a result he was hustled off to
One of tho wonderful disappearances of tho
decade is that of General Sherman Bell since o
mmua ""protected by a vast arrhy 0?
The "little father" has told his children that
in7MT naUghty' aud threatened to do
it agan S SeVGr if thy Were g,jilty of ing
As wo understand it Secretary Morton lo nn
vinced that it is quite wrong to give ebates Unless'
dWiae ln rder t0 mak a little S
vi. ?J r PeunyPacker is considerably worried
over tho prospect that tho Russian editors wn.
aecuro greater freedom, thus nullifying i!i.U
in Pennsylvania. "umiymQ his efforts
According to Mr. Denis Donahue Thnmno xxr
Lawson once operated a "bucket ;XV ? 8, W'
the schemes of tho "fmn,7 P tllereforo
right. But the Donahue "oLic Whf3" aro aU
tho approbation otTlSZnlt WltU
The Commoner.
Mr. Eckles says tho country is suffering from
"over-legislation." This is the statement of a
half-truth. The country i3 also suffering from
over-Ecklesation.
A scientist now declares that it was a quince,
not an apple, that Eve plucked and gave to Adam.
Somo iconoclast will soon bob up with the declar
ation that it was a prune.
The St. Petersburg chief of police reports that
tho backbone of the strike has been broken. The
spino of the empire seems to have sustained a
severe twist in the meantime.
-- , VML
ri.o
In reply to an inquiry The Commoner will
say that William George Jordan's book, "The
Power of Truth," may be obtained through Bret
ano's Publishing house, New York.
Rato revision and tariff revision will have to
wait awhile. It is about time to begin the work
of sending out tho spring garden seeds, a task no
well-informed congressman ever overlooks.
MrT Eckles is worrying greatly over the injus
tice threatened the railroads. Mr. Eckles i3 one
of those eminent gentlemen who draw full pay
and overtime for that sort of worrying.
It appears that a vast amount of Russian am
munition needed at Port Arthur to oppose the ene
mies of Russia was kept stored in St. Petersburg
for use against the real friends of Russia.
Did your subscription begin with the first issue
of The Commoner, four years ago? If so, this is
the timo for renewal. You can save us a great
deal of work by sending itin without delay.
Of course it is hardly necessary to call the at
tention of Mr. D. M. Parry to the fact that Rus
sia has no labor unions, and therefore the Russian
wageworkers are "free and independent working-men."
"Make Neidringhaus senator!" shrieks the St.
Louis Globe-Democrat. "That is the square thing
to do." Is the Globe-Democrat trying to work
the "innocent purchaser" clause on the people of
Missouri?
When Robert M. LaFollette takes his seat in
tho senate of the United States the president will
have one republican senator ready to back him
up in the fight against railroad discrimination and
extortion.
The statute of limitations has again operated
to protect a republican official. The Southern
Pacific-Santa Fe pooling agreement was made
just long enough ago to make it impossible to
punish the parties thereto now.
A California man proposes importing 500
monkeys and training them to harvest prunes
But the scheme won't work. As soon as the mon
keys make a little money they will drop it in Wall
street just like the rest of them.
t flJitSllng0n ffc says that Senator-elect
LaFollette 18 a "republican with democratic no
tions LaFollette seems to join President Roose
velt in endorsing the democratic demand for the
regulation of railroad freight rates.
1
e The railroad managers put out a devious n
of logic. They now insist that thEavmmn in
no right to regulate those things wETnl?88
That sort of logic rams its Sinf YnfV cr?ates
before it gets jJLtSJ itS Cabooso
tT,nfCH?frMSSma? Lind calls attention to the fact
that the "pound master," or doc catrw f 2?
District of Columbia receives ? 1 fnr 1 ' 0f tho
some of the school teaTe s receive buS WSIe
value of the dog is being ovestlmated. Th
The Joplin Globe reports that Mr tst,i
haus has been compelled to re urn to X111?
for treatment of a toe injured 1 "ELi S
arrival in Jefferson City Perhans m MP.hl8
haus stubbed it against Vo fendBu
not SrstanrX tfl can
to tho rule of 'grand dX? nn ,DGOpl submit
right ahead accepting the nolMoV her,nobles' 60
like Piatt, Aldrich Denni n bSSism of meA
others'. iUUUCU' DePw, Cannon, Beveridgo and
VOLUME 5f NUMBER 4
Speaker Cannon says that if it had not been
for the newspapers there- would be no demand for
tariff revision. And he might have gone further
and remarked that if it had not been for the news
papers there never would have been any Speaker
Cannon.
Despite the republican rejoicing over the ad
ministration victory in the bout with, tho Northern
Securities company, It will be noted that the mer
ger securities are booming. The government'3
"victory" seems to have been sadly exhausted in
tho press notices.
It is gathered from the Russian cables that
the "littlo father" has succeeded in showing hj3
children why they should be thankful that they
have eighteen hours in which to do a day's work,
instead of being compelled to crowd it all into
nine or ten hours.
The Decorah (la.) Republican, referring to
the fact that Senator-elect Burkett of Nebraska is
a native of Iowa, says that "the time may come
when Iowa will he referred to as the 'mother of
statesmen' the same as Ohio and Virginia." in
view of the facts we must give the Decorah Re
publican credit for a splendid sample of undi
luted optimism.
Harper's Weekly, "a journal of civilization,"
says the south feels more kindly to President
Roosevelt since he appointed "Stonewall" Jack
son's son to a cadetship at West Point. Harper's
Weekly should study arithmetic and get up with
tho times. General Jackson died in 1863, and if
ho left a son the "boy" would he more than 40
years old now rather above the age limit of ad
mission to West Point.
To Democrats: Do not worry about the presi
dent "stealing democratic thunder." if the demo
crats help to secure remedial
Why the legislation the country will en
Democrats Joy the benefit and the demo
' Should Hlp cratic Party will share in tho
credit. If the president accom
plishes anything the corporations will try to secure
a corporation man to succeed him, and that will
give life to the next campaign and hope to tho
democratic party. If the president fails to accom
plish anything the democratic party "will profit
by his educational work. '
The Kansas City Commercial club at a recent
meeting resolved" against the proposed national
lugumuon or railroad rates,
against a measure pending ?n
the Missouri legislature for the
establishment of a maximum
frolrrlif nfn ln .1 L .
. "v.to4il. lt4LO U1U UI1U againsi an
anti-injunction bill pending in congress. To be
consistent the club ought to pas3 a resolution cen
suring the United States supreme court for its
decision against the beef trust. But perhaps tho
resolutions passed sufficiently show what influences
dominate this club.
The
Influences
Apparent
The Nebraska Democratic Editorial associa
tion will meet in Lincoln on March 21, and a
-. fmo program has been prepared
Nebraska. for the occasion. The topics aro
Democratic ill live pne3, dealing with mat
Editors ters of importance to the pro
.. ' Session, the democratic party and
tho country. Louis F. Post, editor of the Public,
Chicago, will be one of the speakers and has se
lected as his topic "Democratic Ideals in American
Journalism." Mr. Post is particularly well quali
hed to speak on this topic, and the association
members aro looking forward with confidence to
a helpful address.
A reader of The Commoner asks for statistics
showing the change that has taken place in the
proportion of property holders in
I he the United Slates since 1856. It
Centralization is not possible to secure any
of Wealth accurate data, but it is evident
L, from the statistics that a much
smaller proportion of the population own the ma-
iKi. y SL th0 wealth of th0 country than did in
Ib56. The centralization of wealth has probably
m,0rVia,pid in this country than in any other
fL Thn centralzation is due to a number
m,r flnnl, T110, Protective tariff has contributed;
SSniK S0,al P0lIcy has contributed and our mon
ar ? Wn n1f contriuting to this end. There
S T Signs of an awakening on this sub
whlch An Sray on expect t0 see legislation
niZ I prevent the exploitation that has been
going on for a quarter of a century.