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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1905)
tIL r, 1905 the astonishment of such mnn no snnflfnM ai lch that the president should have recommended radical a departure without rnnanitnftrn, min. lem. When It was learnnd from ym tvin i, jipposed that he had consulted Senator Knox, it has easily discovered from the Pennsylvania sena- r mat me presiuent was mistaken. Mr. Knox ad been consulted about rottia nthor cnv. oubtless, at the time when Mr. Roosevelt was un er the impression that ho was talking of nothing ut rate fixing. Since then he has heard a good eal from men who have had large interests in aieir Keeping ana who know that the power to Ix rates is almost eauivalent to Uig rif?iif of nwn. fcrship while it involves at all events, the power rum tne roads. ARDEN JONES of the Fort Madison, Iowa, . penitentiary, recently mado an.lntaraRtinfr report to the state board of control. In this re- )ort tne state warden refers to the books rnnd hv the convicts. The Webster Citv. Trf.. norrfisnnnricmt for the Chicago Record-Herald savs! "Whiin na fin all statistics relating to free libraries and the figures covering the sales of books, fintinn hnn nn material competition for nonularitv. the board of f control notes that" two books of sacred history twere wunavawn irom tne Fort Madison prison li brary during tne month, and four books on theol I ogy were perused by the colonv. Twenty-six books r relating to religion, or 1 per cent of the total with- drawn, were read by the convicts. This was 4 "per cent of all the books read, not counting fiction. 'The month showed that a total of 2.680 books k were read, being about an ayerage of three to each convict, ana or these, of course, 2,007 were works of fiction. This leaves 610 other volumes, history, travel and poetry making up the majority, 3vhich were withdrawn. Following is a statement of the total number of books of each class which fwere read by the convicts: Fiction 2,007, History 145, Travel, etc. 145, Biography 20, Religion 26, Theology 4, Sacred history 73, Character 36, Sci ence 36, Forestry and agriculture 2, Domestic Sci ence 8, Political science 3. Psychology 17. AnDli- I. cation science 21. JLaneuace 27. Poetry and drama I' 68, Art 1, Miscellaneous 12. Total 2,680. This list snows a wide diversity of tastes, and is con sidered as evidence that among the convicts are a large number of educated men." 1 ' SZX2r SINCE treaties can be ratified only by a two thirds vote of the United States, a condition almost impossible of accomplishment, Henry B. Blackwell of Boston, writing to the Chicago Record-Herald, suggests that reciprocity be brought about by legislation, rather than by treaty. The defeat of the treaty with New Foundland suggests to Mr. Blackwell that it is useless to hope for reciprocity with Canada, Mexico, or any other country by treaty and he thinks that the friends of reciprocity must, therefore, "circumvent our senatorial autocracy by a flank movement." Mr. Blackwell quotes the late Senator Hoar as saying: "You will not succeed in getting reciprocity by treaty. . I do not think that to be the proper meth od. Such legislation, being a revenue measure financial in its character, should originate in the house of representatives." MR. BLACKWELL says that recent experience has 'demonstrated the wisdom of Senator Hoar's remark, and adds: "The few men still in active life who, like myself, took an earnest inter est in the annexation of Texas, will remember that it was found impossible to accomplish this by treaty. Although the south at that time dominat ed both parties and controlled the legislation of the country, we struggled Jn vain to secure the necessary two-thirds vote of the senate to ratify the annexation treaty. Falling in that, Henry Clay, then in the zenith of his popularity, was de feated for president because he refused to pledge himself in its favor, James K. Polk was elected president on the annexation issue and Texas was brought into the union by a joint resolution enact ed by a bare majority of the senate and house of representatives. The present movement for the commercial annexation. of the American continent to the United States can succeed only by similar tactics. We must organize a national league for continental reciprocity through tariff reduction. We must capture a majority of the states as we captured Massachusetts last fall in the republican state convention by an appeal to the "plain peo ple" against the monopolies. Thereby we shall compel a change of ' national policy and carry our point 'by congressional legislation, So long as our tariff against Canada averages 49, per cent, while her tariff against us averages pnly 27 per cent, reciprocity cannot bo attained without a re duction in our tariff. A substantial,-equalization of duties on both sides of the line is indispensa- The Commoner hie as the basis for equitable commercial reci procity between the two countries." WASHINGTON GLADDEN has filed with the . . American board of foroign missions a pro wJfltli111,0, acceptance of John D. Rockefel ler s $100,000 gift. In his protest, Mr. Gladden ex presses surprise and regret because the board has accepted a largo sum from Mr. Rockefeller and oujectea to this because the money thus bestowed does not rightly belong to the man who gives it; it nas been flagitiously acquired, and all the world knows it. It may be difficult in many cases to judge of the methods by which wealth has been gained. The operations are complex and we may be in doubt respecting their honesty. It is no doubt impracticable to undertako the investigation of the sources of all gifts that are offered us. But when the investigation has been thoroughly mado and the case is clear we are bound to guide our conduct by the facts made known. In this case the investigation has been thoroughly made and the facts are known. The legislative inquiries and the records of the courts have given the reading people of this vcountry the materials for a judg ment upon the methods of Standard Oil, and there never was a day when their minds were as clear on this subject as they are now. They know that this great power has been built up by injustices and oppression; they know that its Immense gains have been made by forcibly despoiling citizens of their honest gains and shutting the doors of oppor tunity upon them." MR. GLADDEN says that this has been done very largely through "illicit and iniquitous control of railways." He concludes: "Standard Oil has never ceased to use this power in this way. It is using it today as effectively as it ever did Mr. Rockefeller may deny that rebates are now given to the Standard. But the Standard now con trols about two-thirds of the railroads of this country, and its power is exerted in fixing the classification of freights in such a way that it can kill competition. Rebates are no longer necessary. Thus this stupendous power which owes its exis tence to a shameful prostitution of the agencies created by public law for the public service is now "able to lay its paralyzing hand upon all the in-, dustries of the nation and to force them to con tribute to its enormous revenues. And this is the money which is offered to the American board. We have no right to take it. It does not belong to the man who offers it. It belongs to the people from whom it has been extorted. It is often as sumed, I fear, that we do not .need to be very scrupulous about money which we can use in 'do ing good.' That indifference is deadly. The 'good' that is done by lowering our ethical standards might better be left undone. Shall the young men and women of the missionary colleges be taught to regard Mr. Rockefeller as a great benefactor? The colleges might better be permanently closed." Dr. Gladden says that he will continue to protest until the conference of the Congregational church in September and he calls upon all the Congre gationalists to unite with him in the protest. GESSLER ROSSEAU, recently convicted of having sent explosives to the Cunard lino pier in May, 1903, made to the authorities a state ment in which he claims that the battleship Maine was destroyed by a bomb of his manufacture and was exploded under the Maine through an error. Rosseau said that for several years he watched with deep interest and sympathy the contest waged by the Cubans. He said ho accumulated a lot of material for the construction of two explod ing machines and started for the south. He says: "At New Orleans I rented a room and put the boxes together, after which I went on to Jackson ville. There I became acquainted with a party of Cuban leaders who were planning a filibustering expedition. They had engaged the Destroyer, a small vessel, to take them to Cuba along with a number of American and. European adventurers, who were anxious to strike a blow for Cuban free dom. Several leaders of the party are men now well known and I will not mention their names, although I have among my papers a list of them all. I suggested to them that they use my ma chines to destroy Spanish warships in the harbor of Havana and in other ports on the coast of the island. They readily seized upon the idea, and when the Destroyer sailed with the filibusters, they took my machines with them. It was my intention.jtp go along with the party, so to direct the work of sinking the Spanish, ships,, but they dissuaded m& urging that I cpuld.be of greater, use in,. Jacksonville preparing, other machines if the first proved successful." 7- ACCORDING to Rosseau, it was planned to have somo members of tho rovoltitfonary party join tho Spanish navy and get tho machmca. aboard, but if that failed it was decUled to Tauten one of tho boxes to tho hull of a ship uftddr? tho water lino, as ho had constructed his machines so they could be exploded under tho water. Rosseau adds: "That was' lato in tho fall of 1897. Tho next spring the Maine was destroyed. Only ono of the men in the secrot of tho machines ever re turned to America. I saw him somo time aftor the war with Spain had begun. Ho told mo ho had nothing to do with tho boxes after reaching Cuba, but had been told a mistake had been mado. Tho man who had been intrusted with tho task of destroying a Spanish vessel attempted to fasten a box during the night to one of Alfonso's war ships and blundored into blowing up tho Maine. I was told Unit the man, immediately after tho learning of the error he had mado, committed sui cide. Rosseau said he had attempted to blow up the statue of Frederick tho Great In Washington because he did not wish to see the statuo of a king in America. Ho added that ho was not an annr chist or a nihilist, and that ho had mado no efTort to sunply exploding machines to tho Russians. TAKING HOLD OF THE TOWLINE (Continued from Pago Five.) the national convention of the party. But too often during tho past ten years, particularly in New York state, political power has taken a course directly opposite to this. The state lead ers of tho party have selected candidates and de termined what tho party platform should bo, and then through the operation of machine methods they have imposed their will upon county and state conventions. The folly of political leaders at tempting to stultify and annul the wishes of tho democratic masses was illustrated in such a strik ing manner by tho nomination and defeat of Judge Parker that it is not likely to be repeated. It surely will not be repeated if democratic -rotors will take the primary pledge which you suggest, , and if after taking that pledge they will faithfully keep it. O. A. Gilmore, Cambridge, Pa. Am most hear tily in favor of primary organization as outlined in Commoner. Also send you names by request ot three of my neighbors who have It and wish their names enrolled also. Maurice McEIhoney, Freestone, Ohio. Plenso find enclosed two pledges properly signed. I think it a good plan. It will aid to put Hfo and vigor into tho democrats. Our township always goes democratic, but our county and state are largely republican. F. H. Doeden, Sadorus, 111. I most heartily approve of your plan of urging the rank and file of tho democracy of the land to express their con victions upon the great questions confronting the nation. Lukewarmness and indifference have been the bane of democracy for the last eight years. The great trouble with our people in the past is that they have often been lacking in force and strength to give expression to their honest con victions. Tho conscience of every believer In "equal rights to all and special privileges to none," must be thoroughly aroused. A higher sense of duty must be instilled in the heart of every indi vidual democrat. Wm. Ayres, Eureka, Cal. Herewith find duly signed pledge to help secure a democratic orga nization of the democratic party. In order to gain and retain democrats, the party must be demo cratic in principle, in method and in practice and in deeds. The great heart of the people is demo cratic, but is rendered indifferent to political obli gations by the aggressive assurance of the ubiqui tous "practical politician" who does not represent the true democracy, the great common mass of the people. C. H. Mathews, New Philadelphia, Ohio. It age and experience count for anything, I am not only willing but anxious to. be enrolled among those who believe in the rule of the people, and am willing that the majority shall rule In party management and in the nation. The people now inhabiting the northwest territory, the dominion of which was a priceless heritage conferred upon them 117 years ago by the pioneers of that day, should zealously guard their political rights. Eter nal vigilance is the price of liberty, civil as well as religious. T. Q. Brown, Ashley, Mo. I heartily endorse,, your plan of organizing and also the reform work' being conducted by your piper. Enclosed please find primary pledge filled out. - . . L: Taylor, Newdale, W. Va. With hear! andhand I sign the primary pledge and will 'help fight .the cause of The Commoner and common" people. . .v : " u i 1 i I ws ', V.1 ' riti Trtr jJfcr.UiT -IM ILt.Am'.i.m 'h, mYn,Um.mlllJt&,'i wit -riT .Hi itTi lm.mitllr -ftrHi'm