t
The Commoner.
MAT 6, 1905
11
- T
SOCIALISM AND THE REPUBLIC
In an interview printed in the Sun
day World Mr. Bryan said:
"It is impossible to have real com
petition between corporations ope
rated under a municipal franchise
that is, street railways, water or light
companies or telephone lines. Believ
ing that a private monopoly is inde
fensible and intolerable, as declared
in the Kansas City platform, I hold
that all these public utilities should
bo owned and operated by the city
government."
If Mr. Bryan had power to carry his
newest fads into effect he would find
it mucheasier to start the ball of so
cialism than to stop it. He thinks
now that he could respect historical
political divisions and conserve local
self-government' by restricting muni
cipal socialism to municipal monopo
lies, state socialism to state monopo
lies and national socialism to national
monopolies assuming that there is a
clean line of cleavage. Unfortunately
these utilities do not follow the lines
of political geography except on pa--per
and in the fertile brains of poli
ticians who are trying to reconcile so
cialism with Jeffersonian democracy.
Mr. Bryan seems to think that tele
phone service stops at the city limits.
Yet these lines radiate from city to
state and into adjoining states. The
telephone will soon be as much a state
utility as a local utility, and eventu
ally as much of a national utility as a
state utility. Who is to own it then?
Mr. Bryan seems to think that street
railway lines stop at the city limits
also, forgetting that city railway sys
tems are now only parts of interurban
systems, and sometimes of interstate
systems. Who is to own them the
city, the state or the nation?
Mr. Bryan talks glibly of state own
ership of local railway lines and na
tional ownership of trunk lines; but
what is a local line and what is a
trunk line? Few railroad systems are
now wholly within a single state.
Would Mr. Bryan have the Pennsyl
vania railroad owned by Pennsylvania
or New York or New Jersey or Mary
land or Ohio or Indiana or Illinois?
Would he have the New Haven owned
by New York, Connecticut, Rhode Is
land or Massachusetts?
If the American people ever adopt
ed the Bryan program it would soon
be found that the municipal utilities
were not municipal alone, and the
state would have to take them over in
the interests of a larger body of citi
zenship to protect them from petty
local restrictions. Then it would be
found that the state utilities were not
state alone, but interstate, and the
federal government would have to
take them over in the interests of a
Still larger body of citizenship to pro
ject them from petty state restric
tions. Then, as Jefferson said the Jeffer
son whom Mr. Bryan still professed to
hold, in high esteem
"When all government, domestic
and foreign, in little, as 'in great things,
is drawn to Washington as the center
of all power, it will render powerless
the checks of one government on an
other, and will become as venal and
oppressive as the government from
which we separated." New York
World.
SEIZING THE OPPORTUNITY
It is a dangerous thing to wait for
opportunities until'it becomes a habit.
Energy andj inclination for hard work
ooze out in the waiting. Opportunity
becomes invisible to those who are
doing nothing or looking somewhere
else for it. It is the great! worker, the
man who is alert for chances that
sees them.
Some people become so opportunity
blind that they can not see chances
anywhere they would pass through a
gold mine without noticing anything
precious while others find opportu
nities in the most barren and out-of-the-way
places. Bunyan found oppor
tunity in Bedford jail to writo tho
greatest allegory in the world on tho
untwisted paper that had been used
to cork his bottles of milk. A Theo
doroParker or a Lucy Stone sees an
opportunity to go to college in a
chance to pick berries. One boy sees
an opening to his ambition In a
chance to chop wood, wait on table or
run errands, where another sees no
chance at all. One sees an oppor
tunity to get an education in tho odds
and ends of time, evenings and half
holidays, which another throws away.
Success.
FLABBY MORAL MUSCLES
Governor Cummins mado an ad
dress at tho annual dinner of tho
Young Morf's Christian association in
Des Moines. Ho said tho need of
clean, pure, vigorous, right-mindod
and right-thinking young men is great
er than evor before. Ho admitted that
wonderful things had been uchioved
in a material way; "yet," ho added,
"tho moral muscles of these days aro
tho flabbiest that over moved humanity."-
Sioux City Journal.
CHEER UP, CHAUNCEYI
Chauncoy Depow may have to pay
back to tho Equitable Life Assurance
society ?1,000,000 which ho Is alleged
to havo rccolvod from It Illegally In
fees. It was Senator Depow who re
cently declared that ho could not un
derstand why anybody should over
be pessimistic. Wo hopo ho continues
to bo cheerful. -Chicago necord-Her-ald.
Tho sheriff of Knox county, Ohio,
rescued a negro, charged with killing
a whlto woman, from a mob of angry
men, placed him in an nutomobllo and
rodo with him twolvo miles, whero
ho placed him on a train bound for
another city.
AWfcWfcftC
.WJWJWMUMMftM
The Primary PledgeOrgan ize Now
'VKWMIWWWUU
CfrtettAlftWUrfWftftWOJtft
From The Commoner, Lincoln, Nebraska,
iit Newspapers favoring the &
t plan outlined are requested to &
, reproduc6 this editorial to- &
& gether with the primary &
& pledge as it appears below. &
? They may request their read-
& ers to sign this pledge and for- &
S ward the came either to The &
& Commoner or to the office of
t their local democratic paper. S
& In the latter event these S.
& pledges may be then for- &
& warded in bulk to The Com- S
& moner office where they will &
& be duly recorded. &
The Pledge Outlined
The following editorial appeared in
The Commoner of March 17:
"Mr. Bryan has been In receipt of
a multitude of letters since the elec
tion urging organization for the cam
paign of 1908. The rank and file of
the party are ready to begin the fight;
they oiily await a plan of co-operation.
This plan has been under considera
tion for some weeks and is herewith
submitted.
to attend all of the primaries of his
party to be held between now and the
next democratic national convention,
unless unavoidably prevented, and to
use his influence'to secure a clear, hon
est and straightforward declaration of
the party's position on overy question
upon which tho voters of the party
desire to speak.
"This plan does not involve tho
writing of a platform In advance of
the primaries; it docs not rest upon
the paramount importance of any ono
issue. It recognizes the right of the
democratic voters to control the policy
of the democratic party, and to deter
mine its position upon public ques
tions. It also recognizes tho import
ance of honesty and sincerity in poli
tics. "This proposition will appeal to all
who believe in the rule of the peDple
to all who are willing that the ma
jority shall govern in party manage
ment and in the nation. It does not
mean that those who exert themselves
to secure a good platform will bo
bound to support a bad platform that
is a question which each must deter
mine for himself but it does mean
that the democratic platform shall give
voice to tho prevailing sentiment of
the democratic party, and that tho
party shall take the country into its
confidence. The pledge proposed is a
primary pledge because the people
speak at the primaries. The national
convention is attended by delegates
and efleh delegate represents tens of
thousands of democrats. The state con
vention is also attended by delegates,
and .these represent thousands of dem
ocrats. The county conventions are,
as a rule, attended by delegates, and
these in turn represent hundreds of
democrats. At the primary the voters
speak for themselves; there democ
racy has its citadel.
"When the work of organization is
March 17, 1905
sufficiently advanced, a time canbo
set for tho meeting of the members in
their various localities. Tho mem
bers of this organization, whllo
pledged to but ono thing namely, t
tendanco upon tho primaries aro
urged to cooperate among themselves
for tho support of every effort put
forth to eliminate corruption in poli
tics. No cause can prospor perma
nently that does not appeal to tho
moral senso of tho country, and the
noral senso of the country is now be
ing awakened to tho importance of
purifying politics.
"The Commoner will do its part in
aiding every movement that has for
its object the ascertainment of the will
of the people and the scrupulous en
forcement of that will.
"The Commoner will also furnish all
tho information that It can upon tho
questions which aro before tho public
to the end that its readers may bo pre
pared to render tho maximum of as
sistance to overy worthy cause.
"Who will bo tho first to make this
pledge? A record will bo kept in The
Commoner ofilce of the name and ad
dress of each person who enters Into
this movement. Those who desire to
bo enrolled can either writo approv
ing the object of the organization, and
asking to havo their names entered on
the roll, or they can fill out and mall
the blank which is printed below.
"The Commoner will bo pleased to
publish a limited number of brief let
ters on this subject. Mr. Bryan is
encouraged by his correspondence to
believe that there will be a prompt and
hearty response to the above proposition."
tHE PRIMARY PLEDGE
A
County Voting precinct or ward
IT Fill out blanks and mail to Commoner Office, Lincoln, Neb.
I promise to attend all the primaries of my party to he held between now and the next demo-
cratic national convention, unless unavoidably prevented, and to use my influence to secure a clear, J
honest and straightforward declaration of the party's position on every question upon' which the
voters of the party desire to speak. w
Signed.
Street '. .. Postoflice
v
State,
W&gWifoWiii' wmsmumHmm '"' ""-!.q.'g!g
"fiMiif ) iflfc li'ilt aa.j iv'.i. ! ... n.j.
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