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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1905)
FTyv; " The Commoner. 13 APHIL 21. 1905 The Chicago Jefferson Club The Jefferson club of Chicago cele brated the birthday of the club's patron saint on April 13. In a measure the banquet was a celebration of Judge Dunne's election as mayor. Judge Dunne is one of the club's directors and was one of the speakers at the celebration. All of the speakers in their discourses referred to municipal ownership and to Mayor Dunne's. re cent election on that platform. The toastmaster of the evening was How ard S. Taylor, city prosecuting attor ney. Williant J. Bryan and George Fred Williams of Massachusetts and Tom L. Johnson, were the principal speak ers. Mr. Bryan chose for his subject "Thomas Jefferson." Mr. "Williams took for his theme "Equal Rights to All and Special Priv ileges to None." The speaker was ac corded a warm welcome by the ban queters. This was the first time many of those present had ever heard the Massachusetts orator and his words were listened to with interest. Mr. Williams said in part: "I am here tonight with faith not shaken in the fundamental principles of democracy that there shall be "equal rights to all and special privi leges to none." Were it merely to re lieve those who suffer today, I plead for the enforcement of this doctrine. We have the breathing, pulsating body of man with which to deal, and it is no answer to him who suffers today that his death tomorrow will be the seed of a righteous revolution. For my part I cannot stand idly by to await a natural catahash while men, women and children are suffering to day. Were the laws good, yet' unavail ing, it would be otherwise; for we should be powerless, but then we know that laws are monstrous and cruel, shall we wait for nature to bring or der out of ruin? "Laws are made by man and can be unmade by man and the men who have made bad laws are bound to un make them. These men are you and I. The laws are our guilt and all the suffering cry out to us who have of fended. For myself I cannot wait for revolution. I am already too old I am eager to join in the kind of demo cracy which Judge Dunne leads in Chi cago and which he. will not fail to lead wherever the democracy may call him. "Out of the enthusiasm and earnest ness which you have displayed in your canvass we may look for a national uprising necessitated by the same abuses and inspired by the same prin ciples. Nor am I satisfied to go for ward upon a basis of sentiment. I want a platform and as soon as may be a candidate. 'Public ownership and direct legislation are words enough for the banner which we shall carry hereafter. We must give notice to the politicians of the; party that evasive platforms and elusive candidates can not more obtain suffrages in a demo cratic convention." Mayor Dunne spoke on "Municipal Ownership." After a lengthy discus sion of this subject, Mayor Dunne end ed his remarks by appealing to the democratic party to Incorporate a mu nicipal ownership plank in the plat form to be adopted at the next nation al convention of the party. His speech In part was as follows: "The democratic party won in 'the spring election because Its platform plainly, clearly and truthfully declared for -principles which were for the best interests of the people. It lost last fall because its platform was a compromise and because the people believed that it dealt in platitudes rather than prin ciples. - , "The results of these two elections should teach heesson to. thej xften who. standMhfeluin the councils s4i$J?& democratic partythat evasion, -InBln cefltjr and rtSsipn.;Bbouhl have no place in .the platforms of the demo cratic party. The party must take and hold to an advanced position. It must keep pace with the march of events. It must declare against monopoly in any and all forms.' against special privileges of every guise.." Thomas L. Johnson of Cleveland was the next speaker. Ho also spoke on municipal ownership from a trac tion expert's view. Mr. Johnson dis cussed first, the advisability of pro ceeding to negotiate for the purchase of existing street car lines in Chicago. On this point he spoke of the delay of negotiations which the companies would attempt to secure, during which they would not and could not give good service. But on the other hand, if these negotiations were supplemented with active proceedings to force a con clusion, a fair agreement for purchase might soon bo made. Following is an abstract of Mr. Bryan's remarks: Wo are told that when Moses, the first great law-giver, had attained his majority, ho looked upon the burdens of his countrymen and sympathized with them. Although he had been adopted by a princess and was heir to a throne, his heart led him from the nalace'and the society of princes to companionship with his oppressed brethren. When a leader was needed to break the bondage of the Israelites and guide them in the formation of a nation, this sympathy fitted him for his work. And no one, it may be added, does a great work whose heart does not beat in sympathy with the masses, ever struggling, ever in need of help. Thomas Jefferson, although not reared in the environment of royalty, was born and educated among the peo ple who least sympathized with the rights and interest of the common man. His heart, too, was touched by the struggles of his countrymen, and he early became their champion, al though in so doing he alienated the landed aristocracy and the educated classes. In wealth he was the equal of the wealthy, and his learning brought him into association with scholars, but his heart kept him in touch with the plain people, and ho earned the right to be called "the First Great Democrat." It was not that he was the first to conceive of democratic principles or to preach the doctrine set forth in the Declaration of Independence. That doctrine was not a new one, but he gave fitting expression to the doc trine at the time of its greatest tri umph.' The aspiration for self-government was born with man. It has been the inspiring cause which has led people in all -ages to struggle for free dom of conscience, freedom of speech, individual liberty and the recognition of the rights of man. Some in all ages have found a selfish reason for ap plauding monarchy, but at no time has there been universal acquiescence In arbitrary power. Sheridan in his speech against Warren Hastings, says: "What motive? That which nature, the common parent, plants in the bosom of man, and which, though It may be less active in the Indian than in the Englishman, is still congenial with, and makes a part of his being. That feeling which tells him, that man was never made to be the property of man; but that, when in the pride and insolence of power, one human crea ture dares to tyrannize over another, it is a power usurped, and resistance Is a duty. That principle which tells him that resistance to power usurped is not merely a duty which he owes to himself and to his neiguoor, out -a duty which he owes his God In assert ing and maintaining the rank which He gave him, in his creation.' Lincoln expressed the: same senti ment when he declared that it was God himself who placed In overy human heart the love of liborty.' Jefferson also know that tho verdict of history was in favor of government by tho pcopl' ather than government by ther few. io knew that back in the days of Greece when tho people had a chance to contrast tho rulo of the Thirty ,with tho rulo of tho people, they learned how much moro tho .people were to bo trusted. Groto, In his his by conquest, now favored by an influ ential portion of our countrymen, he said "if thcro bo ono principle mor deeply rooted than another in tho mind of every American, it is that we should havo nothing to do with conquest," and at another timo ho said: "Conquest is not in our principles; it is inconsistent with our government." On tho subject of taxation ho ever insisted upon its limitation to the ac- tory of Greece, declares that "a greater tual needs of government and upon its number of atrocities, both against per son and against property, had been committed in a few months by tho Thirty and abetted by tho class of horsemen, all rich men than tho poor majority of tho Demos had sanctioned during two generations of democracy." Jefferson know, also, what tho great historian Bancroft said some eighty years ago, that "tho government by the people is in very truth the strong est government in the world," because "discarding Implements of terror it dares to rule by moral force and-has its citadel in the heart." Bancroft, in his remarkable tribute to tho intelligence, capacity and pat riotism of the people, declares "Truth is not to be ascertained by tho impulse of an individual, it emerges from tho contradictions of present opinions; it raises itself in majestic serenity above the strifes of parties and tho conflict of sects; it acknowledges neither the solitary mind nor the separate fac tion as its oracle, but owns as its only faithful interpreter the dictates of pure reason itself proclaimed by tho general voice of mankind. The decrees of tho universal conscience are the nearest approach to the pres ence of God in the soul of man." Jefferson early adopted this phil sophy, and he never varied from it to the day of his death. To him the people were supremo. He knew their weaknesses and their sources of strength, and without expecting per fection in man or in the works of man, he put confidence in tho virtue of the masses. Jefferson was so much a lover of peace and so ardent as an advocate of it, that ho has been accused of lacking physical courage. Six years before his election to tho presidency he declared his love of peace and his anxiety that the United States "should give the world still another useful les son by showing to them other moues of punishing Injuries than by war." War, ho said, was "as much a punish ment to the punisher as to tne suirer er." Fourteen years after ho retired from the presidency and near the close of his life, in a letter to John Adams, he said. "I hope we shall prove how touch happier for man the Quaker pol icy is, and that the life of the feeder is better than that of the fighter." His advocacy of peace does not prove a lack of physical bravery, but what ever may have 'been his physical cour age there is no doubt that he pos sessed that higher quality, known as moral courage, to an extraordinary degree. His faith in popular govern ment was sublime and his willingness to rely upon the people was'one of his most distinguishing characteristics. How Jefferson differed in this respect from his great pdlitical antagonist, Alexander Hamilton! Hamilton fought a duel in spite of his conscientious ob jections to dueling because he be lieved, as ho declared before going to the fatal field, that it was necessary to fight the duel in order that he might be useful in a crisis for which he was looking, and that crisis was the break ing down of free institutions. Jeffer son not only promulgated the princi ples of free government, but in his writings ho consistently applied those principles to every problem with which tho government had to deal. And the principles which he applied were so fundamental that we find them useful today In the discussion of questions which have arisen since his death. , ' On the subject of acquiring territory equitablo distribution. Uo is on record in favor of tho arbitration of disputes between nations, and no ono who is familiar with his writings can doubt that ho would favor arbitration" today of disputes between labor and capital, and his views upon tho encroachments of tho Judiciary and tho value of trial by Jury make it cortalu that ho would, if living, oppose what wo know aa government by Injunction. All his arguments In favor of mak ing tho government responsive to tho will of tho people can bo adduced in support of the movement that has for its object tho election of senators by direct vote of tho people. On tho sub ject of finance ho not only favored bi metallism, but ho expressed his oppo sition to a bank currency and to tho control of the national treasury by tho financiers. Ho lived before the invention of tho railroad, and beforo tho country had witnessed the colossal centralization of wealth, but viewing as ho did overy question from tho standpoint of tho people, and hating as ho did every at tempt to divert tho profits of indus try from tho producers to tho "idle holders of idle capital," we have a right to assume that he would today stand with the peoplo for tile regula tion of railroads and tho extermination of private monopolies. No one can imagine Jefferson as tol erating the impudent claim of tho rail road magnates that they have a right to determine arbitrarily and without appeal tho rate to bo Charged for the transportation of passengers or freight. What an opportunity tho present contest would glvo him for tho arraignment of human greed and for tho defense of human rights! That Jefferson's utterances support legislation necessary for tho complete regulation and control of transporta tion lines Is certain, and he expressly declared against national incorpora tion a thing now desired by the great corporations. Whether his arguments could bo quoted in favor of the public ownership of railroads would depend somewhat upon tho extent to which competition is possible under private ownership, and experience seems to show that effective competition be tween railroad lines is scarcely to be expected. While I have "been quick to endorse the president's effort to secure railroad rate regulation, I be lieve that regulation will ultimately lead to public ownership and in order to avoid the danger of centralization I would prefer to see tho trunk lines only owned by the federal government and tho local lines owned by tho sev eral states. On tho subject of private monopoly Jefferson has spoken with no uncertain sound. So detestable to him was tho thought of monopoly that it was with reluctance that he consented to a pat ent, for while he recognized the justice of allowing a temporary mo nopoly of the product as a reward for invention he so feared tho evil effects of tho establishment of the princlplo that ho insisted upon the strictest lim i,tation. His fears havo been justified and we are beginning to understand the dangers that he so clearjy fore saw. There are three arguments mado by him which ,arer now being used by the advocates pf'monopolyio defeat the application tto modern problems of tho principles enunciated by him. "Legislate as little as possibleoauid leave the rest to the energies of a ire people," said Jefferpnapjth bene- 4 i a Bkjtff-nf&ktA .A a a11