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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (March 17, 1905)
'wiHr'Hg rt.. KW 2 tnont of the will of tlio peoplo and the scrupulous enforcement of that will. tnfnr- Tho Commoner will also furnish all the Infor mation that it enn upon the questions which arc bXotlo public to tho end that its readers may l!o prepared to render the maximum of assistance to every worthy cause. Who will bo the first to mako this pledge? A record will ho kept in Tho Commoner office of the namo and address of each person who enters into this movement. Those who desire to bo enrolled can cither writo approving tho object of the or ganization, and asking to have their names entered on tho roll, or they can fill out and mail tho Hank which will bo found upon another page. Tho Commoner will bo pleased to publish a limited number of brief letters on this subject. Mr. Bryan is encouraged by his correspondence to believe that thero will be a prompt and hearty response to tho above proposition. Nowspapers favoring the plan outlined aro re quested to reproduce this editorial together with tho primary pledge as it appears on pago 11 of tills issue.' They may request their readers to sign this pledge and forward the samo either to Tho Commoner or to the office of their local democratic paper. In tho latter event these pledges may be then forwarded in bulk to Tho Commoner offlco whero they will bo duly recorded. JJJ k i There is a Law The Now York Press, a republican paper, does not take kindly to "investigation" of the trusts, and insists that something more radical than "talk" Js necessary if tho people aro to be given relief. Tho Press says: Thero Is a law to punish tho pickpocket who steals your purse. There is a law to punish tho burglar who robs your house. There is a law to punish tho starving man who grabs a loaf of bread. But there is no law to punish tho (rust criminal who robs you of your means of livelihood, who cuts your business out from under your feet, and who does it openly in tho sight of men and laughs at you because you havo no redress. Tho Standard Oil prosecution by the depart ment of justice will bo worthless except to demonstrate that tho penalty for trust crim inality is inadequate and ineffectual, and that Standard Oil robbery can be stopped only by putting Standard Oil criminals in the samo class as the law has put burglars and high way robbers. But there is a law to punish the trust criminal. Tho first and second sections of the Sherman anti-trust law are as follows: "Section 1. Every contract, combination in llio form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several states, or with foreign nations, is hereby declared to be illegal. Every person who shall make any such contract or engage in any such combination or conspiracy, shall bo deemed guilty of a misde meanor, and on conviction thereof shall be pun shed by a fine not exceeding five thousand dol lars or by imprisonment not exceding one vear or by both said punishments in the discretion of. tho court. L "Section 2. Every person who shall monopo lize or attempt to monopolize, or combine or con spire with any other person or persons, to monopo lize any part of the trade or commerce among the several states, or with foreign nations? shafl bo deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on convict tion thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceed ing fiye thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both said punSiments in the discretion of the court" a"ents, Enforce the law. JJJ George S. Boutweli " Georgo S. Boutweli, who died recentlv nt m homo in Groton, Mass., had an eventtm careeP Ho served as governor of Massachusetts ami vnl resented that state In the lowerZ l!l rep" senator and served as sYcretarv o iZ 10Sen under President Grant's Tdminist?ation aT Governor Boutweli wni n mnn , , vlctlons. He took a pr Ine?if '"s con tho republican aflmi.Lt S 2 " ?,f "t ect to "our new possession ," Jnd Tva s'ono "ot The Commoner. tho active leaders among tho anti-imperialists. Although a republican, he supported tho demo cratic national ticket In 1900 because of the party s opposition to imperialism. Governor Boutweli served his country and while he lived to a ripe ago and was given opportunity to do a great work, those who appreciated his ability and unfaltering purpose in tho cause of righteousness, will keenly regret his death. JJJ Where the Senate Scored The United States senate is enti'tled to one large credit mark. Tho senate prevented the ac complishment of what is known as the "mileage grab." Tho Second session of the Fifty-eighth con gress met as soon as the First session had ad journed and it was physically impossible for the members of congress to have done anything to earn mileage for the Second session. In spite of this fact the house, by a vote of 90 yeas to SO nays, adopted an appropriation of $190,000 for the purpose of paying this mileage. Many members of tho house fought the pro posed steal and many others who did not have the courage to vote for it lacked, likewise, the honesty to vote against. But the senate's representatives en the conference committee refused to give their consent to the grab and the house was forced to yield. In January, 1904, an attempt was made to put through this same grab. It was freely discussed in the house, hut because election day was ap proaching, the members did not dare go on record in favor of the steal, knowing that they would be required to explain to their constituents. At that time no vote was registered in favor of th grab, while 167 votes were recorded against it. The Chicago Tribune, a republican paper, re calling these facts says: "The men who were timid in January, 1904, were bold and brazen in March, 1905, after the election." But the senate struck out the appropriation and is entitled to the thanks of the people. As the Tribune well says: "The raid on the treasury fails, and the members of the house gained disgrace- hut no money. The incident is dis heartening. It shows how much more the chosen representatives of the people care for a littlo money than they do for the good opinion of the public. They are ready to dip their hands into tho national treasury if they can do so without in curring the risk of being indicted." JJJ Heiress Repents in Time Miss Elizabeth Howe, described as one of the richest heiresses in Pennsylvania, yielding to the strange deulsion which hag been the undoing of so many money-spoiled American girls eneJ herself to an Italian count who sports the name DeCini. Just before the wedding day which s set for last fall, the count demanded a "setTS ment," rumored to be $50,000 cash and enouih more to pay his debts, and an annuity of Jioooo In return for this pecuniary consideration he was" willing to endow her with his name and titi 2 also to stipulate to be "good" for two years Af tor sober second thought Miss Howe decidori tw , P s not worth that much to her and st i h? married a young Pittsburg lawyer who " school-day lover. Lucky Miss Zfl' Was a fore marriage to theTuSyrS." bflT many American girls have uSET x,A great take after marriage TherfiTi d to their symptom of decaying patriot L , " danSerous proud element of out countrv PUrse of American heiresses o purcnaslhHHilllDg?ess are barred by our constituting , a titles whlca sentiment would lead I marr Si iA healthy pubIic prefer a poor young manSe y0lng Iadl to sood habits and h"gh iSsTn n 5? educa"on, man or even to a degenerate ?JfankruPt obI aire. "eneiate American million- JJJ A Land-Mark in Danger the MZi& to visit the point whero tl e .A lleghen? nYeJIlltion at sahela unite to form U e Ohfo ?? i tho Mono spot and was of great strati v S iS an histori onists in the struggle for to?CnValuo. lo th col zas then called the west WhlTS on of wha tary reputation was won near tttV first mI11" ing it as the key to the countrl ? ' h rocsni denies. The block mV VOLUME 5, NUMBER 9 mark the place, and this with a piece of land abm one hundred feet square is now owned by ti! Daughters of tho American Revolution, the Su of Mrs. Mary E. Sclienley, but the Pennsylvania railroad is now buying land around it and unies rescued it will soon he surrounded by frelnht houses. The triangle formed by the two rivers an! a line drawn east of the block house is not lam! and the city of Pittsburg could well afford to buv or condemn the ground and make it a public park a perpetual breathing space for, and an inspira tion to, the people. Unless the city council has been grossly slandered it has been very generous in giving streets and river fronts to the Penn sylvania railroad. Why not some generosity jn preserving this historic ground for the benefit of future generations? The street car companies have probably received enough in franchises to justify them in buying the plat and presenting it to the public for a park, and there are many Pitts. burg millionaires not to speak of Mr. Carnegie- vho could buy it out of their annual income without missing the expenditure. If the city council will not do it and the millionaires refuse the Pittsburg papers might assist the Daughters' to purchase it by popular subscription. Thero ought to be enough patriotic spirit in Pittsburg to save this spot from the encroachments of corn mercialism. JJJ "Investigate" the Paper Trust Every republican newspaper has condemned the paper trust, yet some republican papers aro greatly impressed with Mr. Garfield's report on the so-called beef 'trust and are inclined to agree with the commissioner of corporations that thero is no such thing as a beef trus. It would be well if Mr. Garfield could "investi gate" the paper trust. A great many people would be interested in the editorials which would be printed in republican papers in the event that after "rigid investigation," Mr. Garfield concluded that there is no such thing as a paper trust, that the paper factories have been losing money and that newspaper editors havo been complaining of purely imaginary evils. It may not be doubted that a report from Mr. Garfield on the paper trust similar to the one ho made on the beef trust would be condemned by all large newspapers. The attitude of some re publican newspapers on the Garfield beef trust report is no criterion; for do wo not know that many republican newspapers that insisted upon 'standing pat" on the tariff question, so far as products generally are concerned, and denounced the proposition that the shelter which the trusts find in tho tariff should be destroyed, were very ready to demand that the advantage which the paper trust obtains in the tariff be removed? If Mr. Garfield has really discovered that thero is no beef trust, it is very likely that through a similar "investigation" he would be able to dis cover that there is no paper trust. It would bo interesting to observe the effect of such a decla ration upon the publishers of republican news papers. JJJ A Few Rockefellerisms 1 1 Th? followin incidents will servo to tnrow a side-light upon John D. Rockefeller and his busi ness methods: One who was for years an intimate business associate thug described Mr. Rockefeller in tho early days of the Standard Oil company: "When a rival came in Mr. Rockefeller would put on a long face and complain that business was bad and rfou ?e' He would flnally suggest to tho visitor that he the visitor, was fortunate in being J1 ?J se.n ut while the Standard company was S wt0 ,in havIng so mucn Property that it Sl,;l close up its business. After getting rivnva i lmB IG would Reluctantly' (?) buy the rarted i ?nd, then' when the rlval had de SfflPft i?id l0Ck the d00r and dance around tho SSprnghB and Maiming, 'We've got an other one we've got another one.' informlm When one of hIs associates asked for Mr C n?m n r?gard t0 ille company's business, othe? p Sr drew tnree cycles, one within an sevor;i Ing t0 th0 lareest zone ho said that ir 7h mem,b0I,B of the company were in there; 1 tn ?nd Z?no h0 put others, among them tho naon ni m, h(! Was talking. Pointing to tho ;;pace enclosed within the smallest circle he said, Jm! i , ?' Is In llere-" Mr. Rockefeller tells um5i dQnt Gn3oyment how he wont into the smoking compartment of a car and "smoked out" r -1. it'fliMMBBfnBfcT'""'"' K ;ElrX?asrcfi SraESiSSE!