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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (March 24, 1905)
- T - " jpfrwy-. f h .1 .jr-. (fat , mny win success by deserving It. It may, dbtaln , confldonco by proving itself worthy, or it may, .in- , vito disastrous defeat. L remains with the rank and file of the demo cratic parly to say what tho party's course shall bo. No one will for a moment doubt tho courso which would bo adopted by the rank and file, If they avail themselves of the duty to register their preference at tho primaries. But a systematic organization will be necessary In order that demo crats may bo impressed with tho importance of participating in their party's councils. Tho Commoner has undertaken to do its part in this work of organization. To this end a plan has already been outlined and further reference to that plan will bo found on page 11 of this issue. Every democrat, however humble he may believe himself to be, should take part in this work. Many will bo surprised to find how much good may bo accomplished by a little vigorous effort on tho part even of an obscure member of the party, particularly when that member is conscientiously devoted to the party's principles. Tho Commoner desires to reiterate the re quest that newspapers favoring tho organization plan direct attention to the same and reprint tlie primary pledge. Sufllcicnt space in The Commoner will bo devoted each week to show the progress tho organization is making in various states, giv ing tho names of the organizers and the names of the precinct, township, county and state of ficers. It will also publish tho calls of county and state conventions or mass meetings and will contributo in every possible way to the success of the plan. Tho enemies of good government, the benefi ciaries of class legislation, act as one man, with unlimited means at their disposal. The people havo only their votes and they must cast them to gether or suffer defeat. Democrats who believe thoir party should bo a party of the people have it in their power through systematic organization to so shape their party's policies and govern its environment for tho 1908 campaign that it will command tho support of all men who have grown weary of tho exactions made by special interests. Muhlbach relates an incident in tho life of the great military hero of France. At Marengo, the man of destiny, sad and disheartened, thought the battle lost. Ho called to a drummer boy and or dered him to beat a retreat. The lad replied: "Sire, " -I do not know how; Dessalx has never taught me to retreat; but I can beat a charge! Oh, I can beat a charge that would make the dead fall into line! I boat that charge at the bridge of Lodi; I beat it at Mount Tabor; I beat it at the Pyra mids! Oh, may I beat it here?" The charge was ordered, the battle won, and Marengo was added to the victories of Napoleon. Lot democrats draw inspiration from the street gamin of Paris. Let the command to charge bo given and obeyed and this "Marengo" will be our glory and not our shame. JJJ BAD CASE OF "GRAND DUKES" The Des Moines, Iowa, Register and Leader, a republican paper, warns President Roosevelt against some of his advisors. The Register and Leader says: "The president has made several appointments already that cannot but cause him trouble in states where his personal popularity is greatest. His appointment of Paul Morton to the cabinet was unfortunate." Mr. Roosevelt seems to bo in need of lust such warnings as this. Only a few days ago he appointed former Senator Quarles to be federal j lS?v m ,Wisconsin- will be remembered that Mr Quarles led the fight against Governor LaFol lette and has been prominently identified with tho corporation element. nG One newspaper stated tho ca,se well when it said that Mr. Roosevelt, like the Czar of RussK is suffering with a severe case of "and dukes"! If the president does not know that he cannot Zlll ucclessul campaigns against monopoly when he places the representatives of mononov upon the bench and in other influential positions some patriotic republican should brea th?ough the line o "grand dukes," and should inforn the presi dent that monopoly is not to bo driven from Ug trenches when positions of power and authorltv among tho Invading forces are bestowed pSn mon opoly's representatives. l mon JJJ i QUITE A DIFFERENCE , Every intelligent -man must havo rnnt , the absurdity of Mr. GarflelffirndtagB wS5 spect to the beef trust. But if one .woulil Xl? from an authoritative source valXft inrl? l?in on this subject, he would' learn" snethi11 U who The 'Commoner. "advantage by reading a statement issued by Cu fil bert Powell, commercial editor of the Kansas City Journal. Extracts from "Mr. Powell's statement appear in another column of this issue. It has been Mr. Powell's business, for more than a quarter of a century, to keep close watch on the packing and live stock interests. It will be seen that Mr. Powell's figures do not by any means justify the claim that any of the packers have been losing money, as it was suggested in Mr. Garfield's report was often the case; nor do thoy justify the contention made by Mr. Garfield that the meat monopoly has made only a net profit of 2 per cent. Applying the average profit of ?7.41 on cattle, 20 cents on hogs, 50 cents on sheep and 50 cents on calves, to the total number of head killed in a year by the combine's packing houses, Mr. Fowell finds a total profit of $47,727,412. He con cludes: "Figuring upon the total capitalization, undoubtedly heavily watered, of $110,500,000, we have 43 per cent." Quito a difference between Mr. Garfield's 99 cents proift per head and Mr. Powell's $7.41 profit; and quite a difference between Mr. Garfield's 2 per cent net profit and Mr. Powell's 43 .per cent. Yet there are some republican editors who point with pride to the Garfield report and insist that it prove? that there is no such thing as a beef trust. JJJ SAN DOMINGO TREATY DEFEATED Having found it impossible to secure the con firmation of the San Domingo treaty which made this nation assume the role of a debt collecting agency the republican leaders of the senate, after consulting with the president, concluded not to bring the matter to a vote. While the democrats were nearly all opposed to any treaty which would involve the United States in the pecuniary dis putes constantly arising in the southern republics, they were especially hostile to the San Domingo treaty because of the nature of some of the claims which are held against that country. Senator Morgan of Alabama called the sen ate's attention to one case in which a financier charged the San Domingo government a half mil lion for floating a loan of about two millions. The "bonds were sold for a little more than a million and the government, after it got through with con tractors .and middle men, realized something like two hundred thousand dollars. The debt has now grown to about ten million dollars. The European .governments have been in the habit of backing up the usurious claims of their citizens and tho president argues that unless we did as the Euro peans do our citizens would be at a disadvantage. While the reasons given by the president are plausible to those who adopt the commercial view that in dealing with the weaker nations force can be used to collect debts due to individuals, the policy ought at least to carry with it a condition that the loans must be entirely free from fraud and the interest not excessive. If a nation is go ing to guarantee the collection of loans made by its citizens it ought to compel its citizens to loan at rates customary for safe investments. It is obviously unjust for a nation to allow its citizens to deal on a speculative basis, charging for the risk, and then proceed to eliminate the risk. Even with safeguards against usury such a policy is a dangerous one for us to endorse, because foreien money is invested here and we can not recognize the right of foreign nations to protect the loans of lilf CizmB el?ewhere without recognizing their right to compel payment from our citizens If such a rule Is established in the western hemit Phere it ought to be accompanied bTanoTherTuie making it unlawful for any citizen to borrow money outside of his own country or for anv government to borrow except from its own citf zens. According to the European rule now en forced against the weaker nations a loan ?s7eaHv an invitation to invade the land of the debtor? JJJ COLORADO'S SHAME fh ,,meritS ? ?e charSes and couSJo?cha?irS f t(? secure an junction against the en frauds on election day, it is signific?4t fw f dement of such a rate, why are not sliiPP republicans voted with , ,iJTJ ant .tnat ten permitted to RAmirA w wn,nB the rail' mg Peabody, while those who voted for ELI? llieso tacts show yory elearlv tw ,i .1 o Kasas." consider numl)e, 0 rJlCST JJSltoJJ hv Undoubtedly the point W tiden mM unwilling by the oil shippers of Kansas, just as tlio " MLvm t, NDMDER to vote to depose Governor Adam t. were willing to seat pfiniwi,, TJ s .thse t,j. v. v, ,, i. j, J . u "Ot rernoi. tuau Aio iiu.0 u.u.j uiuijui oa tne place Tf mi graceful affair, indeed,- and the ronuhi J8 a dis that is resnonsiblo for thn i ..l D1.lcan Pari Adams Will not profit by the action mvernct by way of learning the lesson taught hX ll l3 that political organization, as well as Zh stor need not expect approval frbm the nZ 1 ?ls theyyield to the temptation to commit foutd fend his rights by force and retain the ? J0..'?6, to which he was elected he declined to awJS 5f advice and promptly surrendered his offlpo n ernor. Adams acted wisely. He can well iff Ju recognize the authority of the legislature Sd sooner or later must be recorded againsThS ' publican party by the good citizens of ColoraJo JJS - NOT A TEST The Burlington, Iowa, Hawkeye thought w had made a point against municipal ownership directing attention to the "faot that the municliS ownership of the electric light plant by the cS of Elgin, 111,, had proved a failure. The Dubuaue Iowa, Telegraph Herald points out that Elgin did not make a fair test of municipal ownership The administration was not nearly so anxious to serve the public as it was to serve certain special inter ests. After doing everything in their power to make the experiment fail, the p.Uv nnHinruiM figured out a loss to the municipality and finally a corporation, securing control of the mayor and council, obtained a lease of tle city's plant. The Telegraph Herald says: "All signs point to a job between the may- ' or and the council on one hand and the light ing corporation on the other. The people are denouncing the deal and have secured a writ of injunction in estoppal and will attack the validity of lease and contract. Even with the very bad management that attended it, Elgin's municipal plant would have earned a profit . if allowance had been made on the debit side of the ledger for lighting the streets, the parks and the public buildings. 'But the mayor and council would make no such allowance. The reason becomes apparent in the light of their recent action. Thevgame pulled off the other day has been in preparation a long time." It is no argument against municipal owner ship that the experiment failed through malad ministration. We hear frequently of bank fail ures and republican newspapers often tahe great pains to show that the failure was due to the dis honesty or incompetency of some of the bank's officials. The Burlington Hawkeye would very quickly protest if anyone should undertake to use these bank failures as .an argument against the system. JJJ ' WHY NOT, OF Ou(r,SE? The Kansas City Star says: "That the rail ways, willingly or unwillingly, are subservient to the dictation of the Standard ' Oil company is shown in a single example of rate making. Be fore the Standard's pipeline from the Kansas fields to Kansas City was completed, and the Stan ard depended on the railways t6 carry its oil, tho rate was ten cents per 100 pounds, reckoning four pounds to the gallon. When the pipeline was open ed, instead of lowering the rate to meet compe tetion, the railroads advanced the oil. rate to sev enteen cents per hundred, reckoning seven pounds to the gallon. This increase made tlie rate within a small fraction of three times a large as It was when the railways were serving the Standard Oil Company. In other words, as soon as the Standard had its pipeline established, the,. railroads madJ such a rate as would force the producers to sell to the Oil trust instead of shipping by rail to in dependent refineries or to other users of crude oil." The Chicago Tribune, commenting on this con dition, makes the interesting point tli.it if W iuxiroaus, ordered by a rate commission to cnan, a lowpr Til i,r. i -. - i nvn ner- roads for charging rates so fixneflHive as to amount to spoliation? Referring to the comment by the Chicago Tribune, the Star says: "The point is well taken - - --o i-w u uuuaiuurtju. uv mu u" - y4,.,-Aa-Jhwd SBBraffrta saffSiSS '' WitoAft 'ti,M