The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923, December 15, 1905, Image 1
- u fsmm' The Commoner. : WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR Vol. 5. No. 48 Lincoln, Nebraska, December 15, 1905 Whole Number 256 CONTENTS "Hysteria, amd Rancor" No Rktrkax DlCFEW ON aHoNXSTYW - "FOIXOWTETG RoOSEVTZLT" A No vel Contest BiJLeST TAIiK on Raxtkoads A G-eand Old Man . Mr. Beyan in Honolulu . "CJONSTETJCTIVE OeITICISm" Home Department Comment on Current Topics The Primary Pledge - News oe the Week & & A MICHIGAN SUGGESTION & Owosso, Mich., Oct. 28. Did you ever t stop to think what we a& subscribers to $ & The -Commoner could do in the way of & & extending its usefulness if we only set S 5 about it. There are perhaps 150,Q00-of,,us.s$. 6 taking this paper. Now it stands to & reason that we are in sympathy with $ s? what it advocates or we would not be & tf taking it. This being true why not one & & and ajl of us try to extend its usefulness & J? and do it in this way: Each week when & & we receive our paper and have read it, & & let's pass it along. We will probably find ? $ some article that appeals particularly to & us, or that we consider especially good. $ Let's encircle it with a lead pencil and ? 5 mail or hand it to a friend. Do this & 6 every "week. In a year's time we get & & fifty-two copies each. Supposing the & & whole of 150,000 of us would do as I sug- & gest, just think what it would mean. & It would mean practically an endless & chain of readers of The Commoner and, in my opinion, in a few months time & would double the subscription list. Let's & try it. & If you have old copies on hand wrap & $ them up in bunches and hand them out to . , some one who you think will read them. & & "Keep them' moving." & & F. J. M'DANNEL. . S ELKINS KNOWS The Kansas City Star says: "It would be wholly unsafe to look to Senator Blkins for a good rate bill. Hjs natural bent is all one way -toward the railways. But it is gratifying to note, from his statement of what he thinks ought to be done, that he has come a long way toward meeting the overwhelming sentiment of the country. He no longer talks about defeating legis lation. He practically concedes a number of points urged by the president." Has the .editor of the Star forgotten that "when the devil was sick, the devil a monk would be; when the devil was well the devil a monk was he?" Mr. Elkins may, in truth, "concede a num ber of points urged by the president;" but the Star stated the case in a nutshell when it said "it would be -wholly unsafe to look to Senator Elkins for a good rate bill." , If ever the time comes that Senator Elkins and Mr. Roosevelt agree upon a rate bill, Mr. Roosevelt will have made the material concession, while Senator Elkins will be found doing business at the old stand. SHAKE I'M WITH YOU "HYSTERIA AND RANCOR' In his message to congress, and referring to the corporation question, President Roosevelt said: "This legislation should be enacted in a spirit as remote as possible from hysteria and rancor." Of course there should be no "hysteria and rancor" in the transaction of public business, any more than there should be "hysteria and rancor" in the affairs of individuals. But it will occur to a great many people that it was hardly necessary for the president to warn a republican congress against "hysteria and rancor" in the framing of corporation legislation, unless, indeed, he meant to caution that body not to display too much rancor against a corporation-ridden public pleading for relief, and not to Indulge in too much hysteria while pulling corporation chestnuts out of the fire. Such phrases as those here used by President Roosevelt were coined in the mints controlled by the representatives of special interests. In their view every man is "hysterical" who raises his voice in protest against corporate imposition, and pleads for equal rights to all and special privileges to none; every man is "hysteri cal" who rejects the proposition that the Baers and the McCalls and the McCurdys are divinely ordained to control the property inter ests of the country and by reason of that high commission are entitled tt select our pubic officials and to control our public policies as well as our public and private funds. If the warning against "hysteria and rancor has any serious meaning it is that in the dis charge of every duty, whether that duty relates to the affairs of government or to individual concerns, raeij, should act calmly and without malice. But no one, outside of corporation cir cles will seriously contend that men confronted with the duty of protecting popular government from the foul hands of those who would destroy It should not act resolutely. No one is justified in accusing the American people of "hysteria and rancor" in the contem plation of the evils confronting them. In 189G they were bo calm, so far from "hys teria and rancor," that they gave their support to a political organization that had mortgaged Itself to a coterie of men whose purpose it was to prey upon the people. They are now so far from "hysteria and rancor" that, although the republican party has suffered to be put upon them Imposition after Im position, they have borne it calmly and have restored to power, and have again restored to power, the political organization which, so far as political organizations go, Is solely respon sible for their woes. They see sitting in the senate of the United States a number of admittedly unworthy men. Many of them are nothing more than the repre sentatives of special Interests. Some of them have been Indicted and convicted In courts of justice. The dishonesty of some others has been exposed before investigating committees. Yet they all hold their offices, draw their salaries, and continue to cast their votes against the pujpl lie interests. The people are so far from "ttjir teria and rancor" that there Is hardly a protest against this affront to the Intelligence and honesty of the country. It has been shown before the Insurance com mittee at New York that men In charge of great commercial bodies have stolen millions of dol lars of their policy holders money; that these men have committed perjury and have caused their subordinates to do likewise. Yet compara tively few of these men have retired from their " commercial positions. Those who have retired have been succeeded by men who, In the presl- . . ,. .,