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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 15, 1905)
"vm'wi 8 The Commoner. Volume 5, NniDEn -" C JJ 111 -' -'jfiT- .,-"--" wi &CCURB6NT ' ' 1 1 . - I IHWu.. j, , - '-'' -T-r-ini-rT y ' x"li . :y ifx T UDGE JOHN F. PHILLIPS, of tho federal court I at Kansas City, has sustained themotion to quash the information filed against the, Santa Fe, and other railroad companies, charging them with granting rebates. Tho court held that it was without jurisdiction in the case! The court's opinion is interesting for various reasons. While holding that it is without jurisdiction, it took occasion to pass upon several more or less interesting points. 17 OR INSTANCE, the court gave to President JT Ripley of the Santa Fe, and to Paul Morton clean bills, saying that these gentlemen were not at all responsible. Then it declared that there was no violation of the law by the railroads, adding that tho greatest offender in such transactions is the shipper, and instead of going directly after the shipper under the law, the government seeks alone, by a contempt proceeding, to punish the railroad company who has been held up by the shipper, and that the government will never strike at the root of the rebate evil until it goes after the shipper as well as the railroads; that it is not fair play and "a square deal" that the rail roads should first be held up by the shipper and then punished by the government for being "held up," while the shipper gets the "rake off." The court suggested in the opinion that the railroads could best assist in relieving themselves from such an attitude by opening, rather than closing the mouths of those under their control, when their evidence was needed to get at the facts. WHITL? "JJEF CASBS under consideration Judge Phillips held that the discriminations complained of were not against the law at the time they were committed in 1902, he said that such discriminations are prohibited by the Elkins aw, enacted in February 1903, and he took pa s to say that this statute is amply sufficient to Zf hSUS ffenses- That this opinion win be e??don7 hv f pponents f Railroad legislation is C v Tm,rLitheul0mments raade the Kansas City Journal with respect to this feature. The Journal says: "This view of the rebate evil has been steadily urged by President Riplly, Mr Samuel Spencer and other leading railway offi- velt wS0nna7i? contended "J President Roose velt was on the wrong track in seeking to nut aomrtn(llSCrimnions by S the interstate ?L SSPce c1ommi,3sIon the rate-making power! As this railway rate question comes to be threshed out in the courts and in congress the b-ue path to reform of existing abusef will Te made clear, and the prejudices' and ignorances which have been engendered and fostered by demagogic politicians and sensational newspapers will gradually disappear." wbnipeis T H S,H WILLIAMS, leader of the mino J rity in the house of representatives, has in- ,p irdUCe.d a bjlJ T?ich w,u PvWe a test for the earnestness of the tariff revisionists in tho republican party. Mr. Williams' measure de clares the existing tariff schedules to be the maxi mum, tariff, and provides for a reduction of 20 per cent .from them as tho minimum tariff. The bill extends the operation of the minimum tariff to all countries which grant admission of art icles, product or growth of the United Stales at the minimum tariff levied by them. Mr m Hams explains that he selected 20 per cent ov& dpronce republican opinion, and to g?ve republicans who are sincere and honest in the $2SM? ?edUCf ,thc tarIff' an opportunity to act with tho knowledge that they would meet with no factious opposition but wouTd revive the hearty support of tho democrats," receive i- JllUJE MIL WXLLTAJfB Bays ho would not hp VV satisfied with tariff rovisiSn even ;S fa? as indicated in hte Wht, ha says i that this i fteP in tho right direction: He adds- ?TJnde? the fourth and sixth jgeUons of the Dingley law BO per cent is the rate reduction fixed as Se hn5S f iproclty treaties. Senator mUyl has Btated on the floor of the senate ihnf iii W P hmmt said that the CMl2S?8 were purposely placed 20 per cent too gh In order that one-fifth of the rates might cpnstitute a margin for reciprocal trade relations," The government is not an agency to make individuals or corporations rich, but is an agency to protect life, liberty, property, public morals and the pub lic health ar the lealst possible cost to ttie. tax payer, and with -the closest approximation to equality of opportunity and equality of burden bearing." MR. BALFOUR, prime minister and leader of the conservative party, has resigned. Loudon dispatches say that Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman has formed a: new cabi net. The downfall of the Balfour min istry has been anticipated for some time. Bal four became prime minister in July, 1902. His administration has been characterized by general weakness, and the" recent demonstrations by the thouands of laboring men out of employment pro vided the English public with new opportunity for observing the impotency' of the Balfour ministry. THE BALTIMORE SUN says: "There are some very able men among the British huerals, and Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman should have no difficulty in organizing .a cabinet of strong men. Mr. John Morley, Mr. James Bryce, Mr. Herbert H. Asquith and Sir Edward Grey are public' men of. the highest type. Mr. Morley and Mr. Bryce also rank among the first literary men. of the day. The liberals are in a minority in the house of commons, but it is. be lieved that if Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman ac cepts office he will have a majority in the house as a result of the general election which may be held in a few weeks All signs indicate that there has been a reaction against the policies of the conservative party, which is also divided on the question of tariff changes. The majority of the conservatives, under the leadership of Mr. Chamberlain, seem to be drifting in the direction of a protective tariff. On tbis issue, however, they have, been beaten in nearly every important bye-election in the last eighteen months." REFERRING TO THE change in the British ministry, a cablegram to the New York World under date of London, December 4, says: "It may be stated as certain that Lord Rosebery will be ignored in the makeup of the new cabinet and that John Morley will be one of Sir Henry's chief advisors. Mr. Morley is likely to go to the Indian office, and it is probable that Herbert Henry Asquith will be chancellor of the exchequer. The foreign affairs portfolio will go either to Lord Elgin or Sir Edward Grey, though the latter is likely to be made colonial secretary. "There is some uncertainty as to when parliament will be dissolved, but it is not considered likely until after the new year. Campbell-Bannerman has ex plained his .attitude on home rule for Ireland to thoHe liberal leaders known to be opposed to home rule, on the lines of the latest bills before parliament. Since his speech at Stirling, which raised such a furore, Sir Henry has not made any statement, but it, is confidently asserted in the liberal clubs that he Is ready with a policy which will satisfy the nationalists and at the same time avoid making the issue one of the most promi nent planks in his platform. An interesting feat ure of the political situation is the prospect of a closer alliance between the Irish and the labor parties in the new' parliament. James' Kelr Hardie, socialist and independent, in a political speech tonight frankly Invited Buch an alliance. He pointed out that forty-five labor members combined with seventy-five Irish members, wbuld have a voting strength no government could afford to ignore." , HP HE STATE) OF MISSOURI is just .now con f aduStil5FSf Investisaon into the -affairs of the Standard Oil company, and it predicted by the New York American that John J). Rbckefeller and his. associates "are about to face the blSSS fight of their lives." The. American s: f t Is promised by Henry Wollman, of this city, Who has been retained by Attorney General Hadley to J5S ecute the suit, that tho testimony w1Fbe9mdre: remarkable than that elicited in the insuSnce investigation. Mr. Wollman exneofs mi , to fasten to the trusted its offiS an S ,i?. ?b, by their own testimony most of tho nlii ct?rs which fliey have been charged from timo tn HVUh This taken in conjunction with the facUru ft missioner of Corporations Garfield and evorS?S his special agents have been in C IIW , several days gathering information nhm ir Standard Oil trust to be used in a oS , l?0 vestigation planned by Presiden Roove t i "' convinced the trust magnates that it win I be dlffl cult to avoid a thorough sifting of tho r affaffi in the near future." ualIS A CCORDING TO THE American, Mr. Wollman J is confident of his ability to shoW that tS merciless grinding methods of the trust, by whteh thousands of merchants have been driven c u t of husiness, have been responsible for scores of 82 cides all over the country of. men whose fortunes have been lost and prospects ruined in their fiKht for existence against the powerful Standard Oil trust. He'Will show what has already been testl fied' to in St. Louis, that the Standard Oil trust issued orders to its agents to undersoil comnetl tors at all hazards, and that the agents were provided with gauges with which to show that competitors' barrels were short in- measure. Drive the enemy from the field," was the man date of the trust. The Standard Oil company controlled ..about sixty per cent of the business in that territory, and within a short time, by dint of its system of underselling competitors, it had acquired 90 per cent of the trade in the Sedalia section.. It will be shown, it is promised, that the Waters-Pierce company sold to within fifteen or eighteen miles of Sedalia, and that the agents of the- trust were not permitted to go into that territory. The gauges sent by the trust to its agents were made so that they would show com petitors' barrels to be 'four or five gallons short. A part, if not all, of the sensational charges raade against JohnD. Rockefeller iand tho Standard Oil trust by Tho'hias W. LaWBon and Miss Ida M. Tarbell are expected to. tie proved. No better practical illustration of " the inside workings of "The System" could-he given, it is declared, than to bare to the public eye the manifold ramifica tions of the "greatest" of all combinations, the Standard Oil trust. REPRESENTATIVE PAYNE, republican, is the "chairman of the ways and means com mittee. . The New York Evening Post says that Mr. Payne recently informed the artists of Amer ica that they can not have the tariff taxes on painting and statuary removed. Mr. Payne ex plained that if any attempt was made to revise the tariff the "whole tariff question would he opened." He also told the . artists that lie had once befriended them by having inserted in tho McKiriley tariff "a clause removing the duty on works of art imported from abroad," but ho added "it was the Wilson tariff, if I am not mis taken, which placed the tariff on art in operation again." ' COMMENTING ON Mr, Payne's statement, the New-York Evenintr post says: "Well, you j . .- are mistaken, congressman. Tlie tariff on art was already, as we have "seen, in 'operation,' and the Wilson bill removed it see section 575 of the tariff act of 1894. Sereno E. Payne was a member of the ways and means committee at tho time; but, 6f course, he was too busy denounc in the Wilson bill to know what was In it. fl hus it was the ignorant and wicked democratic iarty that. realltf .'befriended' the artists of America; as soon as..; the party of intelligence returned to power, ilTproceedsd to clap on the tax again, to the -tune o'fl2p1.p'ei:fcont." UNITED STAGES SENATOR , PATTERSON, Editor of, the Denver News, has been fineu tor contempt In tlie sum of $1,000 by the Coloraj o supreme .court. 4 newspaper, dispatch from uu rango, Colo,, says that at a .meeting held in ti towri- a movement was.inaugurated,v having for purpose the raising of ; Senator Patterson's fine oy pqpular, subscription, ho citizen, map or woman, i be. .permitted to contribute more; than one cent K". 8 iii'uinu n 'vjirae- i :Vs