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The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER.
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Wol 5, No. 7.
Lincoln, Nebraska, March 3, 1905.
Whole Number 3i5
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CONTENTS
Public Ownership Vindicated
Wanted More Democratic Weeklies
"Frenzied Finance" in Insurance
Not Butting In
Statehood For Territories
A Low Plane
LaFollette's Opportunity
Should Morton Retire
The Guessing "Contest
News of the Week
Week at Washington '
Wanted-More Democratic
Weeklies
The weekly paper i3 the strength of the reform
lovement. It is in close touch with the people?
Hits editor is in daily contact with "the rank and
'file and what he says has influence in proportion
R ' - .
as he has character. We need more democratic
weeklies there ought to be one at every county
seat. It does not require much time to prepare
the necessary editorial matter and to select for
i reproduction such clippings as the editor desires
to lay before his readers. Usually a well con-
ducted weekly is more than self supporting and
some democrat ought to be found in each county
willing to risk in such an enterprise the small
capital required. Where such a person can not
'.'be found tlie democrats ought to join together and
guarantee the amount necessary to meet any
:possible deficit. There can be found in every
. county seat some young lawyer, not yet over
whelmed with work, or some old lawyer retiring
from the practice, or some business man with ready
pen who can furnish editorials in case the pub
lisher can not attend to both the business and
i the editorial department of such a paper.
The democrats of the country ougnt to ad
dress themselves with earnestness to the estab
lishment of these papers and The Commoner will
not only be glad to exchange with all democratic
papers but it will give space for the free insertion
of advertisements calling attention 10 newspaper
men who are looking for a location or to local
ities which desire a democratic newspaper.
JJJ
Be Careful
Speaking before the house committee on ways
and means, Secretary of War Taft said that it
would be as just to establish a tariff between the
slates of Ohio and Pennsylvania, as between the
United States and the Philippines. He insisted
that free trade would have to come between the
islands and "the United States if we continue to
hold them.
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speech. If Mr. Taft is not careful he may be
rlrivpn nut nf tho rpniihlicnn nartV. "along with
1 other republicans who insist that- the government
1 should not be conducted for the benefit of the
SAFE FOR THE PRESENT
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The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs Has Found Refige
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I Public Ownership Vindicated a
The administration has not only endorsed
the democratic policy on tho question of rail
road regulation and in regard to requiring an in
terstate commerce corporation to take out a fed
eral license, but it has gone farther and endorsed
a populist policy in acquiring a government rail
road. If Mr. Bryan had not last summer an
nounced himself in favor of the public ownership
of railroads he would have suffered the mortifi
cation of seeing the republicans pass him on the
reform highway, but he is in position to welcome
them to this advanced ground. Of courae tho
republicans say that the conditions are excep
tional in the case of the Panama railroad, but
that makes no difference. The right of the gov
ernment to own and operate a railroad is estab
lished and the necessity or advisability of exer
cising the right is the only question left open to
dispute. If tlie government ha3 a right to own and
operate a railroad in Panama, connecting the
oceana, it has a right to own and operate a road
jn the United States, connecting the oceans, and
it can proceed to build or buy such a .road when
ever the people are convinced that public interests
can 'be promoted thereby. Tlie precedent is es
tablished and a precedent is a potent thing in leg
islation. Tho right of tho people to protect them
selves, like tho right of self-defen3e in the individ
ual, is a paramount right and can always be re
sorted to. In Kansas the people have resorted
to a state oil refinery for self-protection; if neces
sary they can build a pipe line or a railroad to
carry the oil to the refinery or from the refinery
to market. If they can do this for oil they can
do it for wheat, oats, corn or cattle. This re
serve power enables the people to defend them
selves against monopolies of every kind. For
years tho people of the various states have tried
to regulate railroad rates, but they have found tha
railroad lobbyist ever present with his pocket
full of passes and other "persuaders." A few
state railroad lines would have done more to regu
late railroad rates than all the laws that have
been passed. The United States judges have usu
ally been prompt to suspend 3uch laws but tho
United States courts can not suspend the right of
a state to regulate rates by building a competing
line. One of the purposes of the Isthmian canal
is to regulate transcontinental rates a thing that
could be done more cheaply and more effectively
by a transcontinental line. The canal can only
reduce through rate3 on things that can stand
special interests.
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