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The Commoner.
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THE COMMONER, LhKahi.NaK
So far nothing but trouble has been dug up in
Panama.
To date we have received no report of Fourth
of July casualties in the Philippines.
The Wisconsin law compelling periodical dis
tribution of the surplus is a wise one."
- ... .
Will the loss of that $20,000 a year "retainer"
remind Mr. Depew of a funny story?
The heads of the big insurance companies
were strenuous defenders of the nation's honor in
1896.
The Fifth of July dispatches read very much
like the casualty .reports from a 'battle in
Manchuria.
The reign of graft seems to be about over.
The people once aroused can accomplish any
needed reform.
How many United States senators are on the
pay roll of the great insurance companies? Sen
ator Depew was.
For Sale A conscience. Apply to those law
yers who for retainers given employ their legal
ability in aid of grafters, exploiters and boodlers.
When Joseph Benson Foraker writes his
opinion of Lincoln J. Steffens it will make an ordi
nary fire alarm sound like the ticking of a
watch.
The administration is being very much sur
prised at the appearance of some Panama canal
difficulties that the general public was well aware
of all along.
If there is any form of larceny that the direc
tors of the Equitable did not practice it may be
brought out in the investigation of the New York
Life and the Mutual.
That Chicago grand jury went right ahead
indicting individuals just as if It were not its
duty to let the individuals go and make a bluff
at indicting the corporations.
Anxious Reader: Yes, it was twenty
thousand a year that Senator Depew drew from
the Equitable. His salary from the New York
Life and the Mutual is not yet known.
The old saying that "you have to die to beat
the insurance company" is out of date. Many
eminent gentlemen have been beating the in
surance companies while still in the flesh.
President Hadley was so pleased at the op
portunity to announce a million dollar gift from
Mr. Rockefeller that ho forgot to mention his
little plan of curing the trust evil by socially
ostracizing the trust magnates.
Secretary Shaw is now quite sanguine that
if he can collect more money than the govern
ment spends during the next twelve months the
deficit at the end of the next fiscal year will be
materially reduced. The secretary is rapidly de
priving General Grosvenor of his reputation .is
the champion "figgerer."
The Commoner.
The czar's attention is called to the fact that
"A republic Is the strongest form of government
becaiise," according to Bancroft,, ''dtecarding the
implements of terror it dares to build its citadel
in the hearts of men.".
How is Paul Morton going to cinch any in
dividual members of the Equitable ring? Ho Is
the personification of the idea that in order to
punish the criminal member of a corporation tho
corporation must be fined.
If Mayor Dunne ever feels discouraged be-
cause of the obstacles thrown in the way of
municipal ownership let him remember that the
victory is great in proportion to the difficulties
surmounted.
A contemporary says that "the known Rocke
feller gifts now amount to $51,272,666. Does
our contemporary mean to insinuate that tnere
have been some Rockefeller donations without
brass band accompaniment?
The democrats of Ohio have gone into the
campaign with an excellent platform and with
a ticket as good as the platform. Pattison was
one of the insurance presidents who did not try
to coerce their policy holders in 1896.
President Roosevelt is very anxious to know
why the Chicago grand jury has not done more
in the beef trust case. Probably for the same
reason that th- man who went gunning for ducks
with a brass band came home without a feather.
Noting that The Commoner says, "The woods
are full of wide-awake democrats." the Sioux
City Journal asks: "Why don't they come out?
What, come out now and let a lot of grafters
protected by the administration swipe all their
nice new summer clothes?
Washington city policemen have been warned
not to engage in conversation with "coachmen,
footmen or other like menials." Very often the
only difference between one of these menials
and a senator or other public official is that tho
"menial" earns his money.
It must be mortifying to Senator Hill to have
the public know that his Equitable retainer was
only one-fourth as great as that paid to Senator
Depew. It might be interesting to know whether
Senator Hill was drawing that salary when ho
was opposing the income tax in the senate.
The police of Philadelphia made a raid on
lawless parts of the city and among the four or
five hundred prisoners arrested were many men
and women supposed to be respectable. Some
of the women, begged to be allowed to kill them
selves rather than face disgrace and they must
have known the wages of sin.
The newspapers are full of advertisements of
stock in various speculative enterprises. The
Commoner does not accept such advertisements
because it. does not care to assume responsibility
for tho disappointments which are likely to fol
low. No stock ought to be bought without careful
investigation and then a change in management
may be fatal.
Yale college has accepted a million dollar
donation from John D. Rockefeller. Now listen and
see whether the professors of Yale college single
out the Standard Oil trust as an illustration of the
evils of private monopoly. And yet the extortion
practiced by the oil trust is so great that Mr.
Rockefeller could with his unearned profits, sub
sidize all the colleges in the country in a few
years.
If. the stockholders of the Equitable have a
right to control the company it might be a good
plan for the state of New York to buy a majority
of the. stock and run it as a state company and
limiting new risks to citizens of that state. A
state company could furnish insurance at actual
cost and not only save the people an enormous
sum in premiums, but give policy holders abso
lute security.
Paul Morton announces that Senator
Depew will no longer draw the $20,000 per year
that has been paid to him in tho past. What did
he do to earn the salary? Surely the expense ac
count needs overhauling when the genial Chaun
cey drew four times as much, for doing nothing
as the United States paid him as senator for
doing harm. How would it do to publish tho
salary list of tho Equitable, Mr. Morton?
VOLUME 5, NUMBER 28
The czar may yet have to call on the Japs to
subdue those mutinous Russian sailors.
I-.
"Spades should be trumps on the Panama
canal," declares. tho St Louis Globe-Democrat.
Has tho presence of-so many tricks in tho canal
zone impelled' the Globe-Democrat to speak ot
cards?
The Commoner's exchange list is one of tho
largest in the country, and it is therefore a manl
fest impossibility to scan thoroughly all the news
papers reaching this office. Editors are asked
which they think may be of interest to the read
to mark any articles appearing in their columns
ers of Tho Commoner.
The London bank manager, who managed to
sequester a paltry $250,000, has gone to prison
for twenty years. He made two grave mistakes.
The first was in not engaging In the business
in America. The second was in not sequestering
a million or more if determined to engage in that
sort of thing.
The Chicago Record-Herald regrets that a
man who has made a record for so much good
diplomatic work as Mr. Bowen should come to
such a "miserable end." Other government em
ployes should take warning by the Bowen incident,
and when they see their superiors grafting just
keep as mum about it as possible.
The New York World spends the time be
tween campaigns denouncing the eminent gentle
men whom it so cordially and enthusiastically
praises about the time the same conventions are
to be called and candidates nominated, xbo
World seems determined to permanently transfer
its comic section to its editorial page.
And now they are discussing whether a cab
inet officer can live on his salary. Well, if more
of our cabinet officers tried to live on their salary
provided by law they would understand better
the difficulty that the majority of the wealth pro
ducers find in living on their income. When gov
ernment salaries are made too high, those vmo
draw them get out of touch and out of sympatny
with the common people.
President Roosevelt, in his speech at the
reunion of his class at Harvard, entered a pro
test against the increasing expense account or
the students. He argued for more economy ana
democracy. He is right. The college boy who
spends money liberally not only separates himseii
from the best students, but is likely to spend to
pleasure seeking the time he should spend in
study. The president's advice was wholesome.
The Lincoln (Nebraska)' Journal recently said
"Nothing makes anarchists so fast as unequal
Justice. Whenever two men steal and one s scu
to jail while the other is through personal iniiu
ence readmitted to polite society, one or more a
archists are made." The Journal -then &
to demand the punishment of Alexander Hyde,
et al. But what has it to say now that the stions
arm of ,the administration has protected i"
Morton from prosecution?
The New York Times is very much alarmed
for fear a railroad regulation law might fall iw
the hands of a president ua
May Be friendly to the railroads.
Necessary says that tho business ; meg
Yet might be "apprehensive enoUjO
even if they were confident
that Mr. Roosevelt would continue to be pn.
dent for an indefinite number of years, jmi
becomes frantic at the thought that .some . w
else, and worst of all a democrat, might De t
ed. Just think of it! And yet it may be nee
sary to elect a democrat to carry out tne oc
cratic Ideas that have added so much u
Roosevelt's popularity.
"Thy
Neighbor as
Thyself"
The Western Christian Advocate a18,
learned judge?' as saying-that "only as tne f
ciples of cnriBtianiior "-- tt
vail in the. minds and hear
of men, and in society at ter
can there be any fustmen
JJl PUUU lib"-- - - , VJYlW
industrial, and commercial competition. 1Ica.
legislation can not be delayed until an w tt
tion of Christian principles removes tne u
from our midst, still there is no doubt 1
commandment "Thou shalt love thy jeign" u
thyself" furnishes tho rule for the ultimate
tion of all economic problems.
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