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The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
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VOL. 7. No. 9.
Lincoln, Nebraska, March 15, 1907.
Whole Number 321.
CONTENTS
OUR DUAL GOVERNMENT
THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESS
"THROW THEM OUT"
PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE
MEN OF GENIUS
THAT TRD? TO THE INTERIOR
NEW HAMPSHIRE DEMOCRACY
GOVERNOR HOKE SMITH ON RAILROADS
CALAMITY PROM REPUBLICAN NEWS
PAPERS COMMENT ON CURRENT TOPICS
HOME DEPARTMENT
- WHETHER COMMON OR NOT
4
NEWS OF THE WEEK
HE republican congress
At its short session recently closed the repub
lican congress broke all records for extravagance,
and subserviendy to special interests.
It appropriated nearly $1,000,000,000 of the
public money
"V It increased the salary of senators and repre
sentatives fifty per cent.
' ' It passed the Aldrich currency bill which takes
a step in the direction of asset currency by increas
ing from $3,000,000 to $0,000,000 the amount of
national bank notes which may be retired during
any one month and gives to the national banks
the use of government funds without interest
It tried to fasten upon the people the ship
subsidy, which steal, having passed the house by
republican votes, was defeated in the senate by a
democratic filibuster.
Here are some of the things which the repub
lican senate either directly ignored or deliberately
defeated:
Tariff revision.
Popular election of senators.
Income tax.
. :. t Inheritance tax.
Copyright law revision.
:J ' Philippine tariff revision.
. ! Citizenship for Porto Ricans.
Child labor bill.
Beveridge's effort to require the date upon meat
products.
,LaFollette's valuation bill, or anti-stock water
ing measure.
LaFollette's efforts to obtain for the people jus
tice in the matter of the mails carried by the rail
roads. It was a great congress great in its waste of
public money and great in its willingness to serve
the special -interests.
OOOO
"THROW THEM OUT"
What can bj the matter with republican pa
pers these days? The New York Press talks very
much like an old time populist organ. That big
republican paper warned the republican congress
not to engage in the ship subsidy steal, saying:
"Probably the special interests can jam through
the subsidy loot measure. They don't spend years,
brains and millions in acquiring a grip on legisla
tive bodies without getting something back. But
when this job is done the American people can do
to the members of the house performing it what
the voters of Grosvenor's district have done to
him throw them out of the public service."
-,-; The "job" was defeated, but the opportunity,
i. .i as well as (he duty, of throwing a republican house
iililft;;P.t ofi $e public, spr,icetis.bDfqye: the people... ,
THE FIFTY-NINTH CONGRESS
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JUSTICE!
OUR DUAL GOVERNMENT
It is not strange that from the very beginning
there has been a conflict between the federal gov
ernment and the state governments. It could hot
be otherwise. The line between two states can
bo drawn upon the earth's surface and marked
by pillars or a wall; the boundary line between
two nations can be located and established by vis
ible monuments; but it is different when we come
to deal with theories of government and with
ideas. In the realm of thought words serve as
pillars and sentences as boundary walls, but
words are subject to definition and sentences to
construction and some human tribunal must be
entrusted with the authority to define and con
strue. "
Our forefathers had even a greater difiiculty
in drafting the constitution. In addition to differ
ences of opinion as to the meaning of words and
as to the interpretation of phrases, they were at
variance concerning theories of government, meth
ods of administration and the balancing of pow
ers. They were agreed in desiring an independent
government, and they recognized that the articles
of confederation were insufficient to support such
a government as was needed, but the members
of the convention represented all shades of politi
cal opinion and all degrees of confidence in a re
publican form of government. Besides two dis
tinct schools of thought, led, respectively, by Jef
ferson and Hamilton, there were those who stood
between the extremes and endeavored to compro
mise conflicting opinions.
Jefferson was ndt a member of, the cpnstjtu-: , ,
tional convention, but he was already recognized
as an exponent of the most democratic element,
while Hamilton, a member of the convention, was
the champion of the most conservative position.
The controversy was not sectional, for delegates
from the same state were to be found on opposing
sides of fundamental propositions.
Alexander Hamilton contended with great
ability and earnestness for a centralized, consoli
dated and aristocratic government. He presented
a draft of his plan and defended it at length; his
speech, as reported at the time by Madison and
afterward approved by Hamilton himself, is pre
served in the debates on the adoption of the fed
eral constitution. The Hamilton plan contained
the following general provisions:
First. The supreme legislative power of the
United States of America to be vested in two dif
ferent bodies of men; the one to be called the as
sembly, the other the senate.
Second. The assembly to consist of persona
elected by the people, to serve for three years.
Third. The senate to consist of persons elected
to s.erve during good behavior; their election to be
made by electors chosen for that purpose by the
people.
Fourth. The supreme executive authority q
the United States to be vested in a governor, to
be elected to serve during ggod behavior; the elec
tion to bemade by electors chosen by the people
in the election districts aforesaid. T,he authorities
and functions of the executive to be as follows:
to have a negative on all laws about: to be passed,
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