"" ""35 '
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The Commoner.
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THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb. v
A grout deal of Panama canal work is being
done in the salary division.
Republican talk of revising the tariff seems
destined to end in adding a tariff to coffee.
Mr. Rockefeller might try making some liberal
contributions to the anonymous conscience fund.
Perhaps the public would be willing to pay
these congressmen mileage for traveling the other
way.
If "grafting" is prevalent in this country the
fault lies at the door of people who permit the
"grafting."
Secretary Shaw sees a treasury deficit so
large that he wants a few new tariff schedules to
use as plugs.
It remains to be seen -whether that grand. jury
is as easily handled by the beef trust as Mr. Gar
field seems to have been.
The Colorado republican way of seating an
executive followed precedent, at any rate. The
precedent was set in 187G.
Peace will come very quickly when the Rus
sian grand dukes are compelled to lead reinforce
ments instead of sending them.
Some Pensylavnians assort that Kansas is
talking to much about oil regulation. But Penn
sylvanians have been taking too much.
Senator Piatt of Connecticut says tariff re
vision is a chestnut. It may be, but it is a nut
mat the g. 0. p. must crack very soon.
Having learned from Mr. Garfield's report
that it is not making good profits, the beef trust
bocK. S t0 giVG dl'eSSed beef Prices nnoP
General Sherman Bell has been telling New
Workers what ho would have done had he been
given the task of breaking the subway strike
Now York laughed. smite.
if Add,cks ,lfts been defeated again, but whether
it was because Delaware objected to him on moral
grounds or because the Addicks purse did not
hold out remains yet to be seen.
The primary pledges are rolling in at a r'-inlri
rate. Every new pledge received makes more fl
the preservation and ultimate trlumnii n! ?if,
cratic principles. Are you enlisted? P dem
If this foreign travel epidemic amomr bonf
trust employes keeps up the beef trusf may find
it necessary to go into the ocean pasaemrS Ln
ship business as a matter of economy "
The report that Secretary Slnw nn,i a
Allison have recently visited Now vL?? Seator
with some gentlemen , conceSnis 2irtil C?S,ult
has a familiar sound. The gStlemeJ 5 ,r?vl,8l0n
schedules under consldeiSn? PrteCtlV tariff
The Commoner.
It is reported in Washington that the ac
counts of the canal commission have been kept
with "great laxness." In private business that
kind of laxness often ends in court and winds up
at the gates before the big stone house.
Another "get-rich-quick" concern has just
made a successful failure. This time Philadel
phia was the scene of operations, a city wherein
there are numerous "get-rich-quick" concerns ope
rating along political lines without molestation.
4
The proposition to christen the new battleship
Kansas with Kansas crude oil does not meet with
the approval of the committee on arrangements.
The commitee probably feels that enough of oil
was used in getting 'the contract properly placed.
The Wisconsin railroads that have decided
to postpone needed improvements until the "anti
railroad agitation" subsides are giving an interest
ing imitation of the man who amputated his pro
bosis in order to wreak revenge upon his physiognomy.
Seeing the need of more revenue to make up
for republican extravagance, the republican lead
ers have devised a plan for raising it. If you
imagine that they will raise it by putting a tax on
those best able to bear it you will have to guess
again.
A reader of The Commoner asks where he can
find a copy of a poem entitled "Kelly, and Burke
and Shea," which -was written by a man named
Clark in 1898. If any reader of The Commoner
can give the information on a postal card, it will
be published for the benefit of the enquirer.
Some of the insurance companies are threat
ening to leave Arkansas because of the passage of '
an anti-combination bill. If the people of Arkan
sas will now establish an insurance department
and furnish insurance for their own people at
cost, the companies that retire will not be missed.
Governor Hoch of Kansas suggests that the
battleship named after his state should he chris
tened with Kansas crude oil, instead of wine. This
would he entirely - appropriate, for Kansas just
now is devoting herself to oil, and if her prohi
bition law were enforced she would not have much
to do with liquor of any kind.
Mr. Jas. B. Forgan, a Chicago banker, in a
recent speech at Elgin, 111., advocated the branch
bank system and gave as his
Argues 9 reason that during the panic
Against His which followed 1893 the reserves
Own Plan increased, but were withdrawn
from the correspondent banks
and kept in the local banks. Mr. Forgan uncon
sciously makes an argument against the very sys
tem which he advocates. Under the branch bank
system the branches would at once be called upon
to furnish money for the central bank, and in any
financial distress the small communities would bo
sacrificed to the large centers.
Chides
Cripples for
" Limping
The Washington Post says: "Silver has at
tained its proper place; that is, it is worth what
I tZr, . ietcaes what it
i worfth- Jt is strange that
gold standard advocates can be
wV0 a pIain economic
tion arfects the of
would fall as compared with silver nmi-iLf
gold advocates constantly overlook thi f? th5
alk as if silver only hafSt the benefit of le
lation giving a monetary use to the metal. g
'ntSSSV that he
use it tiTnrnft ",?3erea d
certainly has gj
concerning courtesy, as well as
? ?? Meas about "relS
accept a favor and then turn ni,?? W,ho would
return favor, to say notlinc S an(1 refuse
would be accused of lac intl?f w?er!ng thanks
tleman. And If tho K
religious work, wh? nothavo Sfy , S g00d for
oon, gambling hoifse andoch ovn'8 ifUl sa"
three means by which rnS ?Tn adjuncts
money" may be accumffi?0'1?16 of "devll's
from men like RockSSnS Is an tSFF? gifts
sands of Christian men ZaXZZ &
Merelv
a Matter of
Courtesy
.VOLUME 5, NUMBER i2
ister who would, talk as this Sioux City minkt
is said to have talked, certainly has forgotten c?
Paul's words: "If eating meat maketh my brotho
to offend. I will eat "no meat while the v0pS
stands." a
Rev. Herbert S. Johnson of the Warren Ave.
nue Baptist church of Boston, in opposing tht
Rockefeller gift said that his in.
Calls fluence upon young men was "a
It Baneful thousand times worse than the
Influence influence of a saloon keeper or
the proprietor of a den of vice
and that for a church to accept his money would
alienate more than ever the great laboring classes
from the church." "Laboring men," he says, "care
nothing that a busness man engages in 'family
prayer if he raises the price of coal during a coal
famine."
Easy
Ministerial
Method
One of the Boston ministers who favors the
acceptance of Mr. Rockefeller's money, says: "I
lau to see now Mr. Rockefeller
can he considered different from
many of the people who isit our
churches on Sunday and. ner-
haps, contribute ill-gotten gain."
Such a statement leads one to. wonder whether
Mr. Rockefeller, if he visited the church of such
a preacher, would hear anything that would lead
him to believe that his gains are ill-gotten. Too
many of the large churches are made congenial
for the large law-breakers by the absence of any
reference to the more indirect and more colossal
forms of wrong-doing.
The
Witness Is
Handy
The report that the government is about ready
to prosecute the Santa Fe for granting illegal re
bates to the Colorado Fuel and
Iron company is interesting, and
will be greeted with cheers when
it Is demonstrated that it is well
founded. There is unimpeachable
evidence on file proving that the Santa Fe is guilty,
and President Rosevelt can lay his hands on the
chief witness without leaving the room when a full
meeting of the cabinet is in session. The only
difficulty is that the witness in question may take
refuge in the plea that his testimony would tend
to incriminate himself.
The
Child Labor
Evil
Several state legislatures have this year added
to former good work along the lines of discourag
ing the employment of child la
bor by raising the age limit from
12 to 14 years. The child labor
evil is one of the greatest evils
that menace the future o the re
public. The child that is forced into a mill, mine
or factory is deprived of both education and physi
cal development, thus destroying possibility of fu
ture usefulness as a citizen, depriving the child of
natural rights and-alegrading general labor condi
tions to a lower level. ZThoughtful men and
women are giving more and more attention to this
evil, with the result that conditions are being
bettered.
The
Biters Were
Bitten
The investigations in the Chadwick case
brought out the facts tliat Mrs. Chadwick was not
the only one who violated tno
law. Nearly every banker with
ffhom she dealt charged her
more than the legal rate of inter
est. In some "cases the interest
charged was nearly 100 per cent. No wonder there
was some hesitancy among her victims about
prosecuting her. Her career has shaken the faith
of many of the people who in 1896 were asked to
believe and really believed that the financiers
were the only truly good. Experience has demon
strated that men may prate about honest money
without being honest, or even within the law, in
their business dealings.
The Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch an
nounces that there is an awakening" in that state
upon the subject of education.
Virginia A large number of persons deep
Upon a New ly concerned for "the uplirung
Crusade of humanity," as the Times-Dis-,,
patch puts it, are going out into
the country districts to speak "face to face and
heart to 'heart with the people, and urgo them to
improve their schools and prolong the school
terms." Doctor Alderman, recently chosen as
head of the Virginia University, is taking a lead
ing part in the movement. It is fitting that the
state which gave Jefferson to the Union, and
which contains the state university founded by
Jefferson, should Interest itself in the education of
all of the people. Jefferson contended that uni
versal education was necessary to enable the peo
ple to wisely discharge their duties as oitizens.
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