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republican leaders would not countenance . lils -candidacy
In 1908, although the LaFollette element
In the republican party is bound to grow. The
only question is whether the republicans .will
nominate some outspoken opponent of . Roosevelt
ism or select a compromise candidate with the
idea of keeping both elements together. If an
an ti -Roosevelt man is nominated, the democrats
may expect a large support from the Roosevelt
republicans, provided, of course, the party so con
ducts itself as to deserve the confidence o re
publican reformers. If the republican convention
nominates a compromise man not entirely satis
factory to either side, his campaign is likely to
be -as listless a campaign as the democratic -campaign
of 1904.
"From the standpoint, therefore, of expediency
as1 well as from the standpoint . of principle the
democratic party must make a' courageous 'fight
in behalf of necessary reforms and take advant
age of the education which has come through the
radical utterances of the president. The con
servatives went into the last convention promis
ing victory and pointing to two democratic defeats
as a reason why they should be entrusted with,
the party leadership. They can not make that
argument this time, for they led the party to an
overwhelming defeat in the east as well as in the
west. The conservatives can help win a demo
cratic victory if they are willing to follow and
support those who have advocated reforms: They
have demonstrated their inability to lead the
party to success along conservative lines. Their
plans were a failure in 1904, and there has been
an immense development of radical sentiment
since.
It is folly to talk of putting the democratic
party in a position to appeal to the owners of
swollen fortunes and the financiers of predatory
wealth. It would be folly from the standpoint
of 'expediency; it would be criminal ' from the
standpoint of principle. .
JJJ
z
:;,;: .DOWN WITH the'silVer trust
- ..,- a . :M -'':if: . . --;. ?.?
- 3t One of The Commoner's exchanges says: v"If
...possible, legal action will be brought :against -the
mlver tnust which is boomed by Bryan." The edi
tor who wrote the paragraph is guilty of a mis
representation of Mr. Bryan's position, and -it
would' be a reflection upon the editor's intelli
gence to say that the misrepresentation- was un
intentional. Mr. Bryan has-never boomed the
silver trust, and he is as mtich interested in the
overthrow of the silver trustif such a trust
existsas he is in favor of the 6verthrow of any
other trust. If there is a Silver trust, let the
administration begin action against it. If there
is any trust which has no friends it is a silver
trust, for the advocates of bimetallism oppose a
trust on principle and oppose a silver trust as
much as any other trust, while the advocates of
the gold standard ought certainly to be willing
to prosecute this particular combination
onfnindi lQtr the,1crIn?,ln"l clause of the statute be
enforced. Let the silver trust magnates be.hunt-
inr?Z ?? P bwl e bars. If we can not
Snnf? U IS ef lrust senates, the sugar trust
magnates, the tobacco trust magnates, the whisky
trust magnates, the starch trust magnates, the
yalt trust magnates, the cracker trust' magnates,
the harvester trust magnates and the other trust
SSS? 5?' V ce,;tainly &t to be able to, im
pnr S0"J e silver trust magnates. Hunt them up!
the TtaW Sn Vhe wtallists will be
ine last to cry "Hold! Enough!"
JJJ
. THE PRESIDENT SUSTAINED BY THE FACTS
of S?cTeSlr0ytlTSSe F be found an abstract
tho nroqWent ,., . ps The mir issued by
imonPfe,l8,aLuf?a.?. 5 criticism
were QuMETJt.
form nsDonlXVn ,been Ir,tea- th PUMc can
Auirc. us opinion upon the nresidpnt'a nniu"
Whatever constitutional lawyers may decide cSn
cerning the power of the president to discharge
?L ofTrptate n UUbiaSed person toy Sat
the offense was grave enough to justify the Presi
dent in doing whatever he has Jower to do It
is inconceivable that fair-minded people should
Si Snu th RreIdent r attempting to reHeve
trnnn " servIce of the raenace of a body of
troops whose members will shield a groun of
?lmnlnalS' The evIdence shows that some ten to
twenty members of the battalion' deliberately went
remainder11 ol X"8 eTd,tion and fifhe
gumy ones ' tto trPS refused to ,d,sclos the
The critics of the president say hat the in-
Commonefi
nocent shbuld not suffer with the guilty. That is
a sound proposition when the innocent can 'be
distinguished from the guilty, but in this case
the question is, shall the innocent members of
the community suffer from the presence of the
troops or shall -the innocent members of the bat
talion suffer for refusing to join the government
in the preservation of law and -order. There is
no principle in law or in morals that requires
that greater consideration should be shown to
the innocent soldiers who prefer to conceal the
guilt of their comrades than to the public in
general. .
. The second ground of criticism urged by those
who take issue with the president is that the
soldiers ought not 'to be required to tell on each
other, and the case is put upon a level with the
case of schoolboys who do not tell on each other
when caught in some Hallowe'en prank. The
cases are not at all similar. There is a very
clear distinction between the sports of the school
boy and the commission of crimes. If a dozen
schoolboys were present when one or two, of their
number killed a fellow student, no one would
justify the silence of the boys who looked -on.
They would be required to tell what they saw
even though it resulted in the punishment of their
comrades. And still more is it the duty of
soldiers sworn to support the constitution and the'
laws to assist in bringing to punishment those
who are guilty of criminal offenses eyen though
the guilty parties belong to the same company.
The friends of the black man, whether they
be themselves white or black, can not afford to
defend crime or the shielding of crime. It may
be that the president has gone beyond his author
ity; if so, the question ought to be discussed as a
legal one. Those who assert the moral right of
colored soldiers to shield comrades charged with
.a capital offense will not give any material, as
sistance in the settlement of the race question.
JJJ
THE MONEY QUESTION
I.
.VOLUME C, NUMBER 4,
nation is ..entirely difterAnf mt.. .
wining tn TiWvr, .11 - "u wan whft ,.
nds Um
of necessity1' is withdrawn from thohSi1118 n
cable dispatch from St. PeteSh l lh" les3'
.,, I ULirey amerent. Tho mn ,.
willing- to.; work is discount i,L?an
the undeserving profit by his law- lv?,ds H
-, wTft. $,bney .question is a" very Impudent 'thing.
It "keeps 'obtruding itself 'in'the' 'most iiripolite
way. Jtfstvs our financiers" k think ' they' have a
satisfactory' Philippine' Currency, silver i-ises in
.value and the Philippine dollars go into the melt
ing pot and then something has to be done to
reduce their weight and keep them in circulation.
""And then the bankers who said we had enough
money ten years ago are clamoring for more
in, spite of the fact, that there has been an
enormous. increase in the volume of gold coin
and a large increase in the silver dollars occa
sioned by coining the seigniorage and a con
siderable . increase in the. banknote currency. In
spite of these additions to the country's currency,
the bankers now demand that they be permitted
to issue emergency notes at least, and many of
these want a. general authority to issue aiset
currency. "Why does not the money question stay
settled and b.ehave itself?
Even in England they are having difficulty.
A member of parliament rises to ask whether the ,
silver dollar in the Strait Settlements has been
recently debased whether the British government
is tampering with the currency.
One might suppose from the financial papers
that the advocates of free silver were the only
ones guilty of stirring up the money question,
but it seems that the self-constituted champions
of an honest dollar are the ones, who are always
wanting something done. They want the silver
dollars retired; they want subsidiary. coinage sup
plemented by the melting of silver dollars; they
want dollars with nothing back; of them but the
banks assets. .When will they be satisfied to let
the money question rest?
JJJ
COMMUNISM FAILS IN. RUSSIA
News comes from St. Petersburg that the
czar has issued ,a ukase which permits the peas
ant to renounce his share in tho communal owner
ship .of village land and become the individual
freeholder. This change has been under discus
sion for some time,- and the reformers of Russia
have regarded it as one of the important meas
ures of relief. Experience has shown thaf the
ownership of the land by the communities has
fTIIf thG IndustrIous by raakiS em pay
1 ? Idler J? Wel1 for "selves. It raises
the old question a very old question namely
How can you encourage industry without securing
to the industrious the reward of his toil? Volun
tary co-operation rests upon a sound basis and
Should 'be encouraged. Under a voluntary co-oper-ation
each partner is stimulated to effort because
the partnership can not continue unless all parties
are satisfied. Under- forced co-operation the sft.
cable dispatch from St. Petersbu g
sands interested in n, .m 'iy8. Thou.
watch the result of the change in Ru88k7 m
it throws lightupon the issue .between t?Zm
ualist and the socialist." While civUi
recognizes that it is right to plvce S SFfi
burden of keeping the unfortunate PS t
from what cause the misfortune arises, a W
ferent question is presented when it , X
to compel the energetic, the industrious Z t
enterprising to share their profits with those 2
ack energy; industry and enterprise. While thai
is a wide zone in which religion, fraternity 2
the spirit of brotherhood may work, we no
found any safer principle yet for the econom
world than that which insures to each Sfr
of society a reward proportionate to his contribu
tion to society.
JJJ
GOVERNOR DAVIS' PROGRAM
Governor Jeff. Davis, of Arkansas, who be
gins his senatorial term next March, has already
laid out for himself an important work in his
attack upon the bucket shop and the exchange
gambler. In a recent interview he says that the
senate does not need harmony so much as an
old-fashioned row. He complains that "the raco
of life at this time is not the fair and equal
one which was in the minds of . the framers o
the government; that the combinations of capital,
called trusts, have defeated the objects of tho
constitution and the law."
Governor Davis adds: "But the trusts are
not the only evil. There are the bucket shops.
The bucket shop has brought more misery, ruined
more homes,- wrecked more business, made more
straight men crooked and destroyed more lives
than any other agency." He describes the New
York cotton exchange as a "bucket shop "where
a few gamblers1 stand around a Ibrass railing and
make a plaything' of the south's. great staple."
Good for Davis! He will find' plenty, to employ
-his. leisure hours if he Will .give, .his attention to
the exploiters who grow rich gambling on the
price of the f armer.s product. 'It is strange that
the people of the' city who. live., upon what the
farmer raises should be ,as Indifferent as they
are to the farmer's welfare. Senator Davis can
render a great service if he can awaken the
people of the cities to the importance of protect
ing the agricultural classes from the speculator
and the market manipulator.
JJJ
tK WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT
Among.the many letters' received at The Com
moner office, an: occasional, one comes from some
earnest democrat who, having, labored for many
- years for reforms which to him seem manifestly
just, concludes that nothing can be done becauso
progress has not been as ra.pid as he had hoped.
There is, -.however, no reason for discourage
ment. Never has the reformer had more reason
to be happy than now, for there is abundant
evidence of a public awakening that presages
reform.
Let a few instances of progress suffice. Take
the election of senators by the people. Sixteen
years ago there were advocates of it, but it had
never received -the attention of congress. About
fourteen years ago a resolution " proposing the
necessary constitutional amendment passed the
house; it passed again twelve years ago. Those
houses were democratic. Two republican con
gresses, followed and nothing was dono, but tho
sentiment continued to grow until even a repub
lican house passed the resolution. Since that time
two other republican houses have acted favorably
upon the resolution, und the democratic national
convention has -twice declared for it. Something
like two-thirds of the states of the union have
endorsed the proposition, and there is no doubt
01 its ultimate triumph. It does seem that a
reform- so obviously necessary should be more
easily secured, but it takes time to get matters
before the public. The election of senators by
direct vote of the people is coming, and it is
coming because those who labor for it have hope,
and having hope, continue to work.
Twelve years ago the democratic party in
cluded an income tax in its revenue bill. The
measure was opposed by an element of the demo
cratic party and was strenuously opposed bv the
republican party. The supreme court, by a majority
of one, declared the law unconstitutional, and the
one vote was cast -by a judge who changed his
mind between the first and the second hearing.
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