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The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
Vol. 6. No. 29
Lincoln, Nebraska, August 3, 1906
Whole Number 289
CONTENTS
v Mk. Bkyam's Letter .'
r
The Peace Amendment
. 'at a tot and tub 1906 slogan
The Same Old Stoey
Evils of tiie Banking Law
TnE Woeld's a " Whispeeing Gallery"
Russell Sage
The Pall in the Value op Gold
Editoeials by Commonee Readers
Comment on Cueeent Tones
Home Depaetment
Whethee. Common oe Not
News op tiie Week
WHERE HE "GOT ON TOP"
The St. Louis Globe-Democrat says: "Mr.
Carnegie is in a triangular perplexity as to who
will be on top when the United States, England
and Canada absorb each other. Where . was it
that Mr. Carnegie got on top?"
'Where was it?" Well, he "got on top" when
ever the - republicanpary&had, the . opportunity.,
of making tariff laws. ,
Recently he "got on top" when bids were re
ceived for 7,328 tons of armor plate. The Mid
vale company, an independent concern, submit
ted a bid $35 lower than that offered by the trust.
The navy department gave the Midvale company
the contract for 3,664 tons at the price bid and
then gave to the Carnegie company a contract
for the same number of tons at the price bid by
the Midvale company, although the Carnegie
company had lacked $35 of reaching the Midvale's '
price.
So it seems that even though Carnegie has
genuine competition he "gets on top" whenever
the power to put him there rests with the repub
lican party.
-JJJ
MR. BRYAN'S AMENDMENT
- The Kansas City Journal (Rep.) complains
because Mr. Bryan received some . attention at
the London peace gathering. The Journal says
that Mr. Bryan became "the hero of the hour"
although he had "never given any time or labor
to the great cause and had in all probability
never given the proposition a serious thought."
It is needless to say that Mr. Bryan has -given
considerable time and labor to the cause
of peace, and those who do not know that he
has given considerable thought to the particular
proposition which was, at his suggestion, adopted
by the London gathering, may learn something
to their advantage by reference to an article
printed in another, column of this issue.
JJJ
THEY WON'T SUFFER
The republican congressional committee an
nounces that it will depend upon dollar contribu
tions by the 'rank and file fr this year's cam
paign fund. It was later announced that at the
conference held at Oyster Bay it had been' agreed
that the republican party would "stand pat" on
the tariff question. If some of the rank and' file
happen to be a little slow in responding and
the committee runs short two or three dollars,
perhaps the tariff barons will make up the small
deficiency.
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THE "PLUGGED" EAR
THE CHRISTIAN'S MECCA
Mr. Bryan's Twenty-ninth Letter
We were agreeably surprised In Jerusalem
and Judea, but disappointed to learn how few
Protestant Christians visit this city which may
without impropriety be styled the Christian's
Mecca. Possibly tne wretched harbor at Joppa
if harbor it can be called may frighten some
away, for when the weather is bad passengers
are often carried by, and yet it does seem that
there should be more than four thousand a year
from the rich and numerous churches of Europe
and America. More than ninety thousand pil
grims visit the Mohammedan Mecca each year
although the Mohammedans are poor and the
journey, is difficult. Port Said is only a hundred
and thirty-five miles from Joppa and Alexandria
less than three hundred miles, and more than
ninety-nine thousand persons disembarked at
these ports last year. Making a liberal allowance
for Egyptians returning from Europe, for immi
gants from- Europe to Egypt and for invalids
visiting Cairo in search of. health, it is still true
that many times as many go to the Nile as travel
to Jerusalem, and of the less than four thousand
tourists who visit the Holy City less than one
thousand continue their journey to Nazareth and
the Sea of Galilee. The number which I men
tion does not include the Greek Catholics or the
Roman Catholics, but is an outside estimate of
the number of Protestant Christians. The rail
roads which are building and the carriage roads
in process of construction will make travel easier
and may increase the number in the' future, but
it is difficult to explain or to understand why so
many have come near to, and yet passed by with
out seeing, the places made familiar to the Chris
tian world by the Books of the Old and the New
Testament.
We lauded at Joppa when the weather was
fair, but were detained a half day that they might
"de-ratify the ship," as the Turkish authorities
describe rat-killing upon the ship a custom in
augurated after the rat had been convicted of
carrying bubonic plague. Joppa is on the edge
of the Plain of Sharon and, as an abundance of
water can be secured at a reasonable depth, the
city is a garden. Orange trees thrive there and
the fruit Is excellent. Two places of interest are
shown, the homo of Tabltha and the house of
Simon the Tanner, the latter immortalized by the
vision which taught Peter the universality of
Christ's mission.
The railroad to Jerusalem crosses the valley
of Sharon which at this season of the year is
exceedingly attractive. The crops are growing,
the fellaheen are at work in the fields and every
where the wild flowers bloom. The Rose of
Sharon had many rivals, if the plain looked in
olden times as it. does now. The principal sta
tion on the plain is Ramleh through which con
quering armies marched for ages. From time
immemorial Palestine has been a prize of war.
When it was not Itself the object of conquest. Its
occupation was necessary to the acquiring or
holding of other territory. The Persians, the
Egyptians, the" Parthians, the Sythians, the
Greeks, the Romans and the Turks have all over
run this country not to speak of the numerous
wars of the Israelites and the expeditions of the
Crusaders. From Alexander the Great and
Caesar to Napoleon, no world conquering general
overlooked Palestine and yet, out of Palestine
came the Prince of Peace.
South of Sharon lies the plain of Phillstia, a
narrow strip of land between the hills of Judea
and the 3ea, a small region and yet It supported
a people who warred for centuries with the Chil-
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