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The Commonere
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
5
4
Vol. 5. No. 46
Lincoln, Nebraska, December 1, 1905
Whole Number 254
CONTENTS
Facts to bk Fobgotteit -
Have Thicy Been Punished?
Respect the Judiciary
Whitney Denied "A Squaee Deal"
Great in Waii, Great in Lovjs
A Good Example
"Very Far From Dead"
"Potent Promoters"
A New York Life Certificate
Home Department
Comment on Current Topics
The Primary Pledge
News of the Week
A GOOD EXAMPLE
The Minneapolis club, the chief business
men's club of Minneapolis, has just set an ex
ample of law observance that should be followed
by similar organizations. Recently Mayor Jones
decided to "shut down the lid" as the sayjng
goes, and as a result Minneapolis has been "dry"
for several Sundays in succession. As an incor
porated club the Minneapolis club could keep its
buffet open on Sunday, but at a meeting of the
directors it was decided to set an example, and
as a result the Minneapolis club is as "dry" on
Sunday as the ret of the city.
The club's action takes from the opponents
of Sunday observance one of their chief argu
ments. "The saloon is the poor man's club,"
they exclaim. "You close the poor man's club
on Sunday, but you let the rich man's club re
main wide open." But in Minneapolis the "rich
man's club" is also closed. The action of the
managers of the Minneapolis club is worthy of
commendation.
JJJ
GRAFT IN LITTLE THINGS
Graft is not to be measured by size alone.
Tiie little grafter is just as bad in his way as
the big grafter -who accumulates his thousands
and hundreds of thousands in a manner that will
not bear scrutiny. If graft 'is to be abolished the
work of abolition must permeate' all branches of
society, for graft is worse than the dandelion, or
Imrcock, or cockleburr root.
An eastern physician writes that he has been
offered a commission by the proprietor of a
'health resort" on every patron sent. That is
graft.
A New York physician was offered a commis
sion of 10 per cent on all business sent to a
crematory firm. At first thought this might seem
like a Jegitimate offer, but when one considers
the status of the family physician it takes on
the enrmarks of a very contemptible bit of graft.
Traveling men know full well that a small
"present" will often influence a department buy
er to favor a certain line of goods, but it is grati
fying to know that the traveling salesmen are
be-inning to fight that sort of thing. But the
buver who engages in it is guilty of a very con
temptible graft.
Tn our eagerness to abolish graft in high
places we should not overlook the "little graft
ing" that abounds on every side. Every species
of Kraft must be put under the ban if the national
character is to bo cleansed and given a chance to
lniDrove.
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NOW WILL THEY BE ADMITTED?
PACTS TO BE FORGOTTEN
If we accept the theory of some of our re
publican friends, the political party to which they
belong can do no wrong. According to their
theory that party is not to be held responsible
for the sins of commission or of omission in
its name and under its authority.
It was in the name and for the use and bene
fit of the republican party that "a hurry up call"
was" made, during the" closing hours. of ithe cam
pain of 1890, for a boodle fund .of $5,000,000.
That call was responded to. The men who , gave
it posed as "defenders of national honor; but. as
we have learned in the recent exposures before
the New York insurance committee, they had
small concern for their own honor when they
took other people's money for the enrichment
of the republican campaign fund.
The men whose frauds have recently been
exposed were, during the campaign of 1896, re
ferred to by republican newspapers as models
of good citizens, as "representatives of the busi
ness interests of the country," and as men whose
advice should be followed by patriotic citizens.
The American people know today that but for
the frauds and embezzlements committed by
those men republican victory would have been
impossible. Yet republican newspapers finding
it impossible to conceal or apologize for the
wrongdoing on the part of their patron saints,
expect the people to overlook the very important
facts that many of these embezzlements were
made for the benefit of the republican party;
and that they were made with at least the im
plied understanding that republican victory meant
a reign of frenzied financiering, an era of trust
building, new opportunities for plunder by so-
called captains of industry, and Immunity to those
who were willing to commit crime under the
guise of ."business enterprise."
In the name of the republican party the ma
chine, against which the good people of Phila
delphia -and Pennsylvania generally battled,
waged war against public interests. In Ohio tho
machine against which the people of that 3tate
revolted was, admittedly, the official representa
tive of the republican party. But now some re
publican newspapers 'and leaders, insisting yet
i that their party is the "God and morality" or
ganization, point to the overthrow of their party
in Ohio and Pennsylvania as victories for right
eousness, expecting the people to forgot the part
J)orne by the republican party and its representa
tives in those great contests.
Some republican newspapers and leaders
point to the contest for railroad regulation as
a battle for the people's rights. They admit that
the corporation lobby is using disreputable meth
ods to prevent the people from obtaining relief,
yet while all the time insisting that their party
Is "the people's party" they expect the people to
forget tLat railroad regulation failed at the last
session of congress because of the republican
senate's subserviency to corporate Interests; and
they hope that the people will overlook the facta
that if railroad regulation fails at the coming sea-
sion the failure will be because the
republican senate is wedded to Its corporation
idols and that the people have nothing to expect
at the hands of that republican body.
Boasting that the republican party may be
depended upon to provide a business administra
tion of public affairs, these republican editors
expect the people to overlook the gross extrava
gance, the private snaps, the embezzlements and
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