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Commoner.
VOLUME 6, NUMBER 30
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The Commoner
ISSUED WEEKLY
WHXIAM J .1JRTAK
', Editor and Proprietor.
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THE COMMONER. Lincoln. Nob
Mr. Perkins of Sioux City may well point
with pride to the fact that he died in the last
ditch.
Mr. Fairbanks would be pardoned for be
lieving that the fight on the ice trusts iB a direct
attack on his boom.
An official of the sugar trust refused to pro
duce certain bxsoks before the grand jury. He is
still at large, not being a mechanic or a striking
workman.
An exchange declares that the Germans are
the greatest ever when it comes to the adultera
tion of foot products. Must we now discard the
toothsome sauer kraut?
The revolutionists have condemned the czar
- to death -and the czar has-condemned the revol-
ntloniBts to death. But the czar is doing the
i-j most of the" dodging.
"Where is our gold?" frantically asks a New
York exchange. Is the question asked as an as
sessor or merely as a matter of curiosity. The
answer from New Yorkers will depend.
"Wizard" Burbank says he is going to "im
prove the watermelon." If Mr. Burbank really
wants to help out he will devote his time to
bettering the opportunities to get melons.
The St. Louis Globe-Democrat says the echo
of all trusts is: "I don't remember." ' Certainly
they forget many things, but they always remem
ber their best friend and helper, the republican
party.
The Associated Press carries a dispatch
dated July 28 stating that the Standard Oil com
pany has been caught billing a 5,000 gallon car of
oil at 2,000 gallons. Yet the Associated Press
claims to be a news collection agency.
A Newport millionaire gave his .first .grand
son a check for $10,000,000. A mechanic friend
of ours gave his first grandson a dose tf medi
cine that children cry for, and we'll ' wager a
cookie he has the better baby of the two.
Th0 Paris aeronaut who couldn't make a
promised ascension because. the supply of hot air
was too limited should have taken the precaution
to have on hand a lot of republican leaders who
believe in letting the tariff be revised by its
Speaker Cannon Bays he opposed the "labor
bills in congress because he did not believe in
legislating for "special classes." This is calcul
ated to create a laugh among the corporation and
linancial classes who have. been securing special
favors from Speaker Cannon.
Pertinent Political Pointers'
Following are extracts from the bulletins is
sued by the democratic congressional committee:
The Panama canal commission has elected
J. B. Bishop as secretary of the commission at
a salary of $10,000 a year. It would seem that
this should recompense this favorite of President
Roosevelt for the refusal of the senate to con
firm his appointment as a member ot the com
mission, the salaries of the commissioners being
$7,500. It will be remembered that the appoint
ment of Mr. Bishop as "press agent" with a sal
ary of $10,000 aroused a great deal of criticism
and congress abolished the "press agent's" office.
Why the secretary of the commission should re
ceive $2,500 a year more than the commissioners
is still a matter of mystery and open to the
charge of paying extra and exorbitant salaries to
presidential favorites.
After some years of filling and backing the
administration has decided at last to enforce the
eight-hour law on all government work. This
belated compliance with the demands of organized
labor is viewed as an effort to in part remove
the cqmplaints of workingmen against the repub
lican party, but this concession will have "no ef
fect on the political campaign upon which the
labor leaders have entered. Their bill of griev
ances against the republican party Js so serious
that nothing but the defeat of republican con
gressmen who have refused the legislation that
the labor leaders believe necessary for the pro
tection of the workingmen will now satisfy them.
will he have the courage-to denounce Penrose
the successor of Quay and endorse the cause of
the people, who through the. reform organization
known as the Lincoln republicans, are trying to
wipe out stain and corruption of political
bossism.
- It will be a crucial test of how much the real
reform spirit animates Mr. Roosevelt and how
greatly his mind' is bent on vivifying reform ef
forts in others.
The issue is plain, on the one side is the
old Quay gang, now headed by Penrose, and still
backed by the corrupt trusts and corporations
that have so long dominated the old common
wealth. On the other hand are the plain people
striving to overthrow corruption and grafting and
laying aside political partisanship to attain that
much desired' end.
It is a great opportunity for President Roose
velt and he will have the undivided attention of
an his fellow citizens, everywhere, who are fight
ing for real reform and who trust to find him un
conditionally recorded on the side of decency and
righteousness.
The view taken of the relation between the
employer and employe in the great "protected"
industries of this country is well illustrated by a
story told recently by Mr. Stephen A. Knight, of
Rhode Island. Speaking of th'e man for whom he
once worked in a cotton mill, "a man who wa3
once governor of the state and a great advocate
o "protection for American labor," Mr. Knight
said:
"It wap his custom to make a contract with
his help on the first of April. On one occasion
a mother of several children who were em
ployed in the mill complained. that the-pay seemed
small, and suggested that a better contract might
be offered her.
" 'You get enough to eat, "don't you?' asked
the employer. -
"'Just enough to keep the wolf from the
door,' she replied.
"'And you have enough clothes to wear,
haven't you?' he continued.
"'Barely enough to cover our nakedness
said she.
"'Well,' said the employer, ending the inter
view, 'we want the rest.' And he undoubtedly
considered his point of view the just and rea
sonable one."
If the working people get enough to keep
the wolf from the door and barely enough to
cover their nakedness, while the great "gover
nors" and tariff barons get "the rest," the aim
of all tariff legislation is fully accomplished,
American labor is protected, and the country is
prosperous, according to republican ideas of
prosperity. This rotten system that robs widows
and orphan children of the fruits of their labor
in order that "protected" interests may prosper
is bad enough; but the pretense that it is for
the benefit of the laboring people is much worse.
The excuse is worse than the offense. Yet the
poor people of the mining and manufacturing dis
tricts too often accept both the system antf the
pretense, and vote to fasten the evil upon their
fellow citizens for all time.
Another republican revolt is occurring in New
Jersey, and Senator Dryden, the president of the
Prudential Life Insurance company, is in danger
of defeat. In his evidence before a committee
of investigation, he admitted giving large sums,
of money, rightfully belonging to the" policy hold
ers and stockholders, to republican corruption
funds, of which $10,000 was to the Roosevelt cam
paign fund and justified this diverting of trust
funds, on the ground that the interest of the
company would be endangered by democratic suc
cess. As his own success is now endangered the
policyholders may well dread the outcome for it
may require the whole surplus to suppress the
revolt.
The "boxer" movement in Mexico, which is
giving the government there so much concern, is
gaining great strength by its demand: .. "Mexico
for the Mexicans." Everywhere there is a feel
ing of unrest where the people are exploited for
the benefit of an oligarchy of wealth. The labor
people even here are revolting against the repub
lican party which has through the tariff and the
trusts fostered monopoly at the expense of the
great mass of the people.
.. Brazil and Costa Rica have both modified
their tariff on imports. Are they afraid of the
big stick that Secretary Root carries around with
him?
Why is it that Norway is constantly increas
ing her merchant marine and built sixty-five
steamers besides sailing vessels during the past
year and yet she pays no subsidy? Is it because
Norway has a tariff for revenue and the United
States stands pat for protection that fosters
trusts and high prices?
i. ?re a g00d deal of work for the man
with the hoe, but the muck rake is not being
worked overtime,- although there is sad. need for
it in many places.
The republicans have had such bad luck -with
reforms that they have" concluded in the future
to stand pat and' let the tariff still plunder us.
When President Roosevelt on October 4 ad
dresses his fellow citizens at Harrisburg upon
the dedication of the "bronze doors" of the new
capitol of Pennsylvania, he will have a great
opportunity to advance the cause of good govern
ment. The time will be just about a month be
fore the people of Pennsylvania will be called
upon to decide between the "regular" republi
cans and the Lincoln reformers. The "bronze
doors" will record for ages the most corrupt and
degraded government that a free people ever sub
mitted to, for the ringleader is embossed thereon
In enduring bronze.
. President Roosevelt can hardly endorse Quay
or his audacious and unscrupulous methods; but
The state elections will be of more than
' usual interest and importance this year and will
be watched closely, as the result in several states
will -have great bearing on the presidential elec
tion two years- hence. The important fact is
the schisms -in the republican ranks in the usually
strong republican states of Pennsylvania, Iowa,
Massachusetts and Wisconsin .and the factional
fights in Ohio, New York, Illinois, Rhode Island,
New Hampshire and Vermont. These party dis
turbances must have more or less effect on the
campaign for congressmen and the election of
legislatures that will select "United States sena
tors and as the democrats . have nothing to lose
in the states mentioned, for their representation
in the present congress Is at the .minimum, they
may .make surprising gains. There Is a genuine
reform feeling prevalent and if the republican
reformers find themselves cut off by machine
methods from tariff revision and a "square deal"
their only resource is to quietly vote for decent
democrats.
General Grosvenor, who has been discarded
by his outraged constituents,, will be put on the
stump by the republican congressional committee
to-delude the voters of other. congressional dis
tricts, where he is not so well known.
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