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The Commoner.
.VOLUME 5, NUMBER ,
WHERE ARE THE PHRASE MAKERS?
During political campaigns clever phrases
havobeon used to "such advantage that we have
been told by some eminent politicians that in
every national campaign the victory has been won
by some concise phrase. For instance, in 1896
we became quite familiar with such phrases as
"the maintenance of public integrity," or- "the
preservation of national honor," or "honest mon
ey," or "no llfty-cent dollars," or "a dollar good
the world over."
At the beginning of the campaign of 1900
it was decreed by the skillful men in charge of
the republican party that two of these phrases
were sufficient, and so during that contest we
became very familiar with the phrases, "Four
years more of tho full dinner pail," and "let well
enough alone."
The phrase makers in the republican party
do not appear to be quite so active just now as
they were during the campaigns of 1896 and 1900.
It is difficult to understand why this is so, be
cause in recent disclosures there is so much
good material. Thero are among the disclos
ures before the insurance committee at New
York, and in the developments consequent upon
President Roosevelt's active movement in behalf
of a popular reform so many things that pro
vide material for the phrase maker that one is
compelled to wonder why he is not doing busi
ness at the old stand. To be sure, thero would
be some difference between the phrases of 1905
, and the phrases of 1896 or of 1900.
Admitting, as we .are bound to do, that thou
phrase makers of 1896 and of 1900 were actuated
by patriotic and intelligent motive then we may
take it for granted that if they 'were today en
gaged in their old-time task the results of their
labors would be somewhat as follows:
Start the printing presses the public can.
be induced to buy the stocks.
A sucker is born every minute and suckers
.were born to be worked. . -
Open the mills, the trusts will take care of
themselves.
The stomach is a bigger target than the
head keep on talking about the full dinner pail.
One share of watered stock sold to the public
beats two snares of watered stock in the pro
moter's safe. ' .
Keep on relying on the cohesive power of
public plunder. m
"What's the constitution that it should be
allowed to prevent private gains at me expense
of national traditions?
Vested -rights "confer the privilege of doing
wrong.
It is cheaper to buy the laws you want than
to give justice to the people.
A seat In the senate is better than -two at
torneys in court.
Give the Napoleons of finance their way and
they 11 make money enough to buy all thi m,i ,
of lime necessary to preserve the Satlnn..?lorWe
. Public office is a private graft honor-
Honest moneyjs anything upon whirl. .,
may lay his hands. ' Wllic" a prook
-An honest dollar is the one you ep
The first Muty of the defender of nn.in ,
honor is concern for his own pocketbook nal
- Anything goes if you are not found out
No repudiation of the privileges nr ?i ,
the rights of the many areof SL w;
Preserve the bold standard that ; is ti, T'
lial cour for the highwayman 6 essen'
A dollar anust be good the world over n n .
the Depews, the Hydes, et al., may refresh uJat
selves at European watering places . T
exacting toil in behalf of the widows i n , ,theIr
servS. 'my-Cent dllarS'" bUt Sof;SS
Four -years more of peculation and mft
Of course it is always difficult to SL
upon the work of phrase-makers especIaKm
ployed for the exigencies of a preslden hi cZ'
paigh; .but these may perhaps provide a intl'
the republican phrase-makers who, while consi
Jious m 1896 and in 1900 seem to have recent
lost all interest in their art. The products of
heir facile pens were, however, so interesting
that we have the right to insist that the be
brought from theif retreats and urged to fiive
to the American people the benefits of their
high priced talents. eir
A MO NGTHEUNFAITHFU L.&TE WARDS
Ttl if a ICOllO nf ATmmm !-. - OO .i.1-- j-i .
-- . v Awrcmuuj. co uie unicago
Inter-Ocean, republican, printed an editorial in
which it arraigned Senator Piatt of New York
because he accepted policyholders' funds for use
in the New York state campaign. After convict
ing Senator Piatt of "corruption" the Inter Ocean
in that same editorial said:
The case was not the same as were the
gifts in aid of the national campaign against
free silver and repudiation. The success of
Mr. Bryan would have endangered the prop
erty of the policyholders. Those gifts met a
real danger, although in an irregular and
morally unjustifiable way.
W ?' x?Iarkson Albert Lea, Minn., has
written to the editor of the Inter-Ocean the fol
lowing letter:
I have read with some interest a recent
editorial in the Inter-Ocean ' entitled "The
Unfaithful Stewards." You ask the pertinent
question, "Now what legislation really hostile
to the policyholders could be enacted?" and
then you proceed to answer your question,
and to my mind you make a most complete
answer. Your reasoning is splendid, and is
an unanswerable argument. A little further
along'in your editorial you say: "The case
was not the same as with the gifts In aid of
the national campaign against silver and re
pudiation. The success of Mr. Bryan would
. have endangered the property of the policy-
ELECT THE POSTMASTER
The Washington correspondent for the Hous
ton (Texas) Post says that many, republican mem
bers of. congress are indignant because of "the
new plan of the president and tLo postmaster
general to ignore congressional recommendations
"ot0vlantershIps '' This correspondent adSs?
.So angry are some of the influential mem
bers of the majority that they are talking of -,trodiicing
legislation providing for Ue election
SwS2S?to cities of more than o!o8o
wouKdffi ZZST refrm' '
Why not elect postmasters not only in dtlai
of more than 20,000 inhabitants, but In all towns?
veant TJ"? ssmenTre
Ef fr o? ts?' i-y-ie
holders Those gifts met a real danger,
though in an irregular, and. morally unjustifi
able way.
It would be of considerable interest to one
' of your readers, at least, if you would explain
fully, by what process of reasoning you ar
rive at two conclusions that are so much
opposed to each other? f)o you assume that
the policyholders in question are all republi
cans? Or to put it better, do you assume that
all the policyholders are of the same mind In
regard to the proper solution of the silver
issue? Did it occur to you that Senator Piatt
and his kind could take the view, and that
honestly too, that they had a perfect -ight
to do the thinking for the policyholders, and
that they were justified in putting money into
the hands of one political party, and help
elect its candidates to office in the state, and
thereby shut off any hostile legislation? I
repeat, could not Thomas C. Piatt have de
termined his course in this regard by the same
process of reasoning that you assume to speak
for the policyholders in their supposed de
sires about the results of the national cam
paign of 1896?
If you choose to explain yourself in an
swer to this question, I should be pleased to
be enlightened on the subject.
If any one has observed that the Inter-Ocean
editor has replied to Mr. Clarkson, The Commoner
would be- pleased to be informed on this point
Bad as Piatt's practices were, republican edi
tors who-are not prepared to condemn the accent.
ancfe by the republican national commutes of
funds stolen just as Piatt's campaign funds were
stolen, will do well to "let well enough alone."
Thievery is thievery. When Piatt said "the
use of these contributions in the election pts
the candidates under obligations not to attack
the interests supporting them" he admitted tl.e
obligations he assumed for himself and his asso
ciates in accepting those contributions. At the
same time he gave an accurate description of
the expectations entertained by the men who con
tributed several hundred thousand dollars of
stolen funds to the republican national committer
Everyone knows that the men who contribut
ed to Cortelyou were no more interested In na
tional honor than were the men who contributed
to Piatt interested in the honor of the Gmpire
state. All of these men contributed liberally to
the republican national committee and to the re
publican state committee money stolen from 'he
trust funds committed to their care; mJ as the
Inter-Ocean says of the men responsible for the
misappropriation in the New York state campaign
affair, so it may be said of all the men con
cerned in the contributions to ttie republican na
tional committee "for them there can he nothing
but the condemnation given to the unfaithful
steward."
mitted to build up a personal organization com
posed of the postmasters recommended by him
but paid by the government and use this organiza
tion to defeat other congressional aspirants in
his own party? He should not. Why should a
chief executive be permitted to fill the most fre
quented office in the community with a postmas
ter objectionable to the community and reward
him for his services with the money paid in by
the community? He should not. Why should the
"Great Father at Washington," as thi Indians
cal him, be permitted to electioneer among the
colored voters of the north by appointing black
postmasters in the south against the protest of
,i1ietI!antr0nl?f the offlce? He ould not And yet
todav Th8Hre i)enly and notoriously "done
? ' I e election of Postmasters by the peonle
abuSs lYiaVS SerV0 WIU correct all PS
Slnwif J 1 inth?rmoW with democratic Prin
ciples; it Is consistent with the-doctrine of Zi
Ml -government. What object ? can be rS
inttnLS V prsldeut " the aspirants more
ultimately than the community and better S
of their qualifications? Is he more interested thfn
service1 T pt ' nTSZ
m,i i VT.WM y '""S t,l appointment, tho removal
i i ' , lestI acting appointment to "n uat w
ntohedjr the eommunil?, the rlghtaU interS-
of both the federal government and the various
communities can .be protected. Presidents and
congressmen will then run on their own merits
and not on the machines which they have built
up;. the public service will be improved and com
munities will be protected from the impositions
that are now practiced upon theni.
JJJ
VERY "COMPLETE"
The Kansas City Journal, a republican paper,
says that the decision of Judge Phillips in tfle
United States court quashing the injunction pro
ceedings instituted by the government against
the Santa Fe for violating the federal law against
rebates "is not only a complete victory for the
railroads, but also for President Rooseelt ana
Attorney General Moody."
It Is a "complete victory" for the railroaaj
because they escaped punishment for the,
wrong-doing; and, in the opinion of the Journal,
it is a "complete victory" for the president ano
his attorney general because Judge Phillips wen
a bit out of his way to relieve President IUlej'
of tho Santa Fe, and Paul Morton of any respon
sibility. , -
It seems, then, to be a-"complete Jctory
for everybody except the?-people. '
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