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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (May 31, 1907)
'Tld It H .. 2 The Commoner. ft, VOLUME, 7. NUMBER 20 4, - - t-" a-vr '.I fl ti v. -i t t s .. ! ;JH l - I j Jt Is .almost thrco times the annual appropria tion for . tho stato univoriity, more than the ontiro state appropriations for high schools, fifty por cent moro than the state expended oh roads In 1905 and is moro than tho intorcsjt on tho jpublic debt of Maino. It will bo soon that the stato of Maine is rolioving these railroad companies of nlnety 'flvo por cout of their stato taxes in consideration of tho promise that tho said railroads will trans port over thoir lines "troops and munitions of war, in times of war, insurrection or civil com motion, free of chargo other than as heroin and in said act provided" Of course this grant Is a mere subsidy to the railroads, but it is amus ing to find tho subsidy predicated upon a prom ise to carry troops in a war that is not only not in sight but which may never como. Many absurd rcasohs have been given for subsidies, and many excuses havo boon soberly sot forth as a basis for appropriations, but it is doubtful whether tho official records of any stato pre edit such a mirth-provoking contract. Tho railroads had to stato some consideration in order to provont a subsequent administration or legislature from repudiating tho contract, and so this visionary consideration was solemnly Inserted in the document. Tho domocrats of Maino have been having a good deal of fun with tho republican party which is responsible for this agreement. They are suggesting that since the railroads are re lieved of thoir taxes by a promise to carry troops In timo of war, tho plain citizens of Maino should bo relieved from taxation on condition that they promise to enlist when this imaginary war breaks out. Tho rank and file of tho re publican party of Maine must be dull, indeed, if they can not see the joke that haB been per petrated upon them, and they must be as in " different as tho people of Philadelphia to the misconduct of their representatives if they do not rise in indignation and protest against such corporation domination. Tho democratic editors who spend so much time in pointing out the dangers of government ownership and so little time in informing the public of tho abuses that have grown up under private ownership might give a little editorial spaco to the contract above set forth In the meantime those who enjoy humor need not go to, the, expense of buying funny hooks and papers they can find much that is humorous in the serious arguments advanced by republican leaders and in the actual transac tions betwoen the various governments and the powerful corporations. The difference between, tho graft that has been developed in the build ing of Pennsylvania's state house and the graft of these Maine railroads, is small it .is only a question of time and degree. ' . oooo SELECTING A CANDIDATE These are busy times for the king-makers. The national conventions are only a little more than a year off, and the stato conventions will be meeting and instructing in less than a year. In both parties favorite sons are being brought out and tho availability of eligible candidates is being discussed. In the republican party the main question seems to be whethof the president will be allowed to pick out the republican candi date, or whether the republican Voters will have opinions of their own. Secretary Taft seems to be the president's choice, but Vice President Fairbanks is busy with his conferences and Speaker Cannon is conducting himself like one who would not prosecute the nomination for assault and battery if it took hirn by force. The democratic party is not without its excitements. In the news columns of The Com moner mention has been made of a number of mon whose friends have vouched for their wJll-" ingness to run and for their popularity. Now comes the veteran 1ourna.1fRt. Wah Watterson, and volunteers to ghfe Mr. Bryan the name of a democrat who, "without entang ling alliances with any of the money powers yet without any antecedents which could drive away conservative democrats, fills the specifica tions made in Mr. Stealey's Washington letter exactly; 'a good organization democrat who sup ported the ticket in 189,6;' who, in our judg ment, could still the discords and restore the harmonies, yea, fill tho loose sailn nf i ni,i Ship of Zion with hopeful gales, and perhaps prove an Abraham Lincpln to the lost sheep of the house of Jefferson and Jackson and Tilden." Who is this man whose name is concealed but whose personal fitness and political nre- jminence are thus vouched for? Mr nrvnn loes not pose as a Warwick, tta hnn ' ri sire to assume the role of candidate-maker. He Mdiy protests against the misrenresentatlnnR it his position by those who prefer some on else, but he Is not eager to h&vd hand In the making of a candidate. Tho would-be Warwicks should not forget that, after all, the question of candidacy can not be settled by a few leaders. Leaders pro pose but the voters dispose. Mr. Watterson may object to the initiative and referendum when applied to government although to do go .he must discredit the intelligence of tho people to whom his ejoquent appeals are made but ho will not deny that we have the initiative and referendum in the matter of nominations. The friends of the various candidates employ the in itiative; they bring the names of the candidates before the public but the people, through the referendum, sit in judgment upon the claims of candidates. Who are more interested than the people themselves in the selection of a can didate? And yet, from the manner of some one would suppose that the only thing nec essary to the selection of a candidate was agreement among ,the leaders. And who is a leader? Is it not one who is going in the same direction with the people and, as sdmeone has said, a little bit ahead? Mr. Watterson owes it to his party and to his country to bring out his candidate one if ho has but one, several if he has several. " Every member of the 'party owes it to the party to contribute his part, toward the party's suc cess'. The party is entitled to the most available man, and availability depends upon two things. First, no one is available who does not stand for democratic principles and policies as they are presented in the democratic platform, and that platform must represent the wishes of the voters. Second, among those who represent the principles and policies of the party as stated in the platform, the choice should fall upon the one who, all things considered, giv.es the best promise of strengthening those principles and policies before the public. No person is infal lible in judgment even a majority may make a mistake, but the responsibility of selecting a candidate is too great for a few leaders to bear; it rests with the voters.' ooo t -, THE VALUATION OF RAILROADS Messrs. B. E. Sundberg, o O.' CcCnestorp, T. E. Gashman, S. A. Nelson, Ole Q. Sageng, njefpr bers of the senate Committee of the "state of Minnesota, with the aid of an able and consoles tlous attorney Mr. James Manahan, have prepared a most interesting report on the value of the railroads doing business in Minnesota. They find that the capital stock and bonded debt of the Chicago, Great Western is $143,668 per mile while in actual value it is about $28,000 per mile. The Wisconsin, Minnesota & Pacific railway is stocked and bonded -at $43,134 per mile while it can be reproduced in its present condition for $16000 per mile. The committee finds that the capitalization of the railroads in that state, including stock and bonds, is about $50,000 per .mile taking all the railroads together, and that the actual value of the railroads is about $27,000 per mile. From this it appears that the railroads are expecting to collect interest and dividends on almost twice the value of the roads, measured by the cost of reproducing them. Is it not high time for an official valuation of the railroads of the United States so that the people may know to what extent they are compelled to pay extensive and extortionate rates? Who can oppose a law for the ascertaining of the value of the railroads? No one unless he is more interested in the rail roads than in the public in general. Their rep resentative in the United States senate, in the house of representatives, and in the state legis latures should make it his business to urge both state and federal legislation which will nhtnfn for the public information concerning the value of 'the railroads. OOOO 4 FAKE NEWS FROM LINCOLN There seems to be an epidemic of fake news from the city of Lincoln, and It all comes from Mr. Bryan's "friends" names not given. Several dispatches have been sent out lately purporting to state what Mr. Bryan thinks or what Mr Bryan fs going to do, and the information thus given out is usually collected from "Mr. Bryan's friends." One dispatch has "Mr. Bryan's friends" reporting that Mr. Bryan will not be. a candidate in, ,case President Roosevelt is nom inated. This dispatch brought .Inquiries ' from different parts of the country.' .It would seem unnecessary to( .deny reports sdnt. out to which no name was. atachqd, and yet It Has been neces sary to send a numher of telegrams to notify other papers that the report was unauthorized and that Mr. Bryan's real friends do not attempt to speak for him on important questions. As Mr. Bryan has a paper Tho Commoner through which he ape&ks every week, and aa he is speaking often, and giving jout interviews frequently, a newspaper ought to view with sus picion any report gent out from Lincoln or any where else purporting to state what Mr. Bryan thinks or intends to do. Every reader of The Commoner knows that Mr Bryan has endorsed the good things" done by President Roosevelt and has. done so with satisfaction, but he has also pointed out "the un democratic things that the president has said and done. Mr. Bryan has never aid anything or done anything that indicated a desire to have Mr. Roosevelt elected for a third term. In fact, the third term idea has been discussed in The Commoner with the same frankness that characterizes the discussion of other questions. Mr, Bryan is opposed to a second term, having attempted while In congress to .secure an amendment to the constitution making the president ineligible to a second term. During both of the campaigns in which he was a candidate he announced that he would not under any circumstances be a can didate for a second term. Il is hardly to be ex pected that he would advocate the election of the president to a third term. When the presi dent retires, in March, 1909, he will haVo served about seven years- and a half, and that is so near two fuU terms that no possible juggling with words can convert it into one term, The third term issue would of itself rule the president out, and while he has endorsed several democratic measures, he has not carried these as far as the democrats would have carried them, and has endorsed only a portion of the democratic platform, and the popularity which thepresident has won by carrying a few demo cratic measures for a little way shows how pop ular a real democrat would he who carried out all democratic principles. oooo SOME ROOSEVELTIAN COMPARISONS President Roosevelt's recent correspond ence with members of trades unions, in which he takes occasion to declare his friendship for the workingmen, naturally recalls to mind some other writings of Theodore Roosevedt'.. Before becoming a politician Mr. Roopevej , was an author, and it is interesting to compare .. the utterances of President Roosevelt in regard to workingmen and mechanics with the utterances of Author Roosevelt - on the same subject. Among other books written by Author Roose yelt is one entitled "Ranch Life and the Hunt ing Trail." On page 10 of that book Author Roosevelt days, speaking of the cowboys: "When drunk on the villainous whisky of the frontier towns they cut mad antics, riding their horsas into saloons, firing their pistols right and left from boisterous lightheartedness. They are much better fellows and pleasanter companions than small farmers or agricultural laborers; nor are the mechanics and workmen of a great city to be mentioned in the same breath." Workmen and mechanics of the great cities who feel that they are not worthy of be ing mentioned in" the same breath with drunken cowboys "riding their horses intp saloons, firing their pistols right and left from boisterous lightheartedness" will doubtless agree with President Roosevelt in his measure of "undo sirable citizens." ' . OOOO YOtJ'LL "SEE IT IN THE SUN" Notice! Any democratic paper which is will ing to assist the republican party by advocating a Wall Street democracy will -find it to its in terest to send a marked copy of its editorials to the Now York Sun. It will be sure to receive favorable comment, and such editorials may at tract attention in other republican papers. Dem ocratic papers which prefer to be democratic will have to content themselves with tho approval of the democratic vdtefs. - OOOO MR. BROWN, THE PARTISAN Chairman Brown,, of the Ohio republican committee, has not helped the canse of Secre tary Taft by his recent proclamation,. He an- Mr. m4t te. perEqnal success ,tban they are in reforms will not strengthen the secretary ap a reform candi date. In all reforms that the president has advo cated the democrats havo been with him, and Senator; Forakor has been against him. If 3m- . ." 'gyyy Jiit -1. t.V 41