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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (May 31, 1907)
FyfgET1EwB,jiH tsywKz ' t ?5v?y 3 MAY 31, 1907 , T (M . 'H t .-. a" M-v -..' iii 'i retary Taft Is to bo presented as a reform can-. didato, he must be a real reformer, not a sham u t and a pretense, If he is a tfeaUroformer, ho Is nvj-Hvimore Interested in eliminating Senator Foraker than in eliminating the democratic party, ana his friends, If they are reformers, ought to bo more Interested in principles than in party name. - - If Chairman Brown speaks with authority, the republican reformers will bo willing to All -the- senate up with corporation attorneys and thus thwart the will of the people provided the republican machine is allowed a control of the patronage and name the man who is to draw the presidential salary. Chalrmau Brown's re cent statdment gives color to the charge that a tie-up was made in Ohio by the terms of which -the so-called reform element is to be given an - endorsement of Secretary Taft and the corpora-" tion element is to be given United States son ator. But while such a bargain may have been made, it will be difficult to carry it out if there are republicans who realize the danger of cor porate domination in politics, and they will not be satisfied with any agreement that surrenders the party organization to predatory wealth. The bosses, may plan but the voters, even republican voters, will have something to say about the -carrying out of the plans. oooo MUNICIPAL INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM The Commoner, having made note of the ..-...-fact that the city of Lincoln, Neb., has adopted "3l ' . the initiative and referendum, is in receipt "of i, It -V - -- ij' ' 4 : v I I' ,' r ,f ' several requests for jin explanation of the sys tem' as it operates under the Nebraska statutes. The statute, enacted in 1905, reads in part as "follows: ' ' "The right to propose ordinances for the : government of any City, or other municipal sub division of the state of Nebraska, shall in addi tion to being exercised by the mayor and city council of such city, or the governing author!; ties-of such other municipal subdivision of this statev be vested in the voters thereof as herein- MVafteY provided." The statute then provides that when twenty per cent of the votprs of the city or municipal subdivision petition tor an ordinance, the 'same shall 'be submitted to the voters at a special election to be held not earlier than thirty days ' "nor later than sixty -day from the time of filing " the petition. If in the meantime the council ' enacts the ordinance petitioned for with amend ments of its own, both the ordinance petitioned for and the ordinance as enacted must be sub- , mitted to popular vote, each properly designated. After an ordinance is enacted by the au- , thorities twenty per cent of the voters of the municipality may by" petition compel its sub mission to the voters of the city for adoption or rejection. The law provides how the petitions must be framed and also for the proper qualifications ' of those who may become signers. A specified number of petitioners must make affidavit that all signers are bona fide citizens and that their signatures as attached are genuine. - ' "Whether or not a city will operate under the initiative and referendum is left to the de 1 cision of the voters. OOOO THE PRIMARY PLEDGE As this copy of The Commoner may be read by some one not, familiar with the details of the primary pledge plan, It Is necessary to say that according to the terms of -this plan every demo crat Is aSked to pledge himself to attend' all of the primaries of his party to be held between now andjthe next democratic national convention, un lessunavoldably prevented, and to secure a clear, honest; and straightforward declaration of the party's position on every question upon which the .voters of the party desire to speak. Those desiring to be enrolled can either write to The Commoner , approving the object of! the organization and ask ing to have their names entered on the roll, or they can fill out and mail the blank pledge which Is printed on page 14 of this issue. OOOO A QUESTION OF AUTHORSHIP George Fred Williams tells a story that has, an annlication to present day politics. Accotd- irig'tQ th'$ story there was a debate in a colored .ward the 'side of the negative," Finally a colored brother in the rear or tne room injected a ques- The Commoner. tion '-"Suppose a case," said ho, "suppose tho egg is a duck oge, then who Is tho mother of. the duck tho duck that laid tho egg or tho hch what sot on tho egg?" This argument caused consternation in tho ranks of tho speakers on tho negative, but tho presiding officer was equal to tho occasion. Ho rapped for order,1 and aftor scratching his head answered: "Ducks am not before de house; chickens am do question; therefore I rules do ducks out." President Roosevelt has been hatching out policies which tho democratic party originated, and it becomes a very interesting question "Who' am do mother of the chlckon" who shall have tho credit of authorship? As there Is no pre siding officer to rule out tho arguments present ed in behalf of tho affirmative, tho democrats will insist thrit as they advocated these policies long before the prosidont took them up, they shall not bo denied credit for them oven though he has acted as an incubator and hatched these policies out. OOOO WARS The Sioux City Journal, always a welcome visitor to The Commoner's exchange desk, de spite its many political shortcomings, says: "Mr. Bryan is the friend of International peace, but that is another matter. Mr. Bryan is a good man, but the flesh Is weak when it comes to feeling sorry over the strife raging in tho re publican party. There is hardly any territory on the map of the United, Statqs claimed by tho republican party that is free of war. The blood shed in many states Is up to high water mark." Mrv Bryan has so trained himself as to be able to take a very philosophic view of the state of affairs outlined by the dsteemod Journal. His dislike of war is, of course, modified somewhat by circumstances and the kind of warfare being waged. When Texas imported the Guatamalean bug to wage' warfare on the boll weevil Mr. Bryan approved. When the chief agriculturist of Kansas turned the ladybugs loose to wage war upon tho wheat-destroying greenbug, again Mr. Bryan applauded and wished that the war should be waged to a finish. So, too, when viewing tho Internicino strife now waging in the republican ranks, Mr. Bryan, remembering the boll weevil and tho greenbug, is quite willing that this warfare should con tinue until, .like tho famed cats of Kilkennoy that fought and fought until Instead of two cats there weren't any, there will be no more repub lican party, but an organization that has a higher conception of citizenship than the more desire to use it to advance tho selfish interests of tho few at the expense of the many. Despite his advocacy of peace, national and International, Mr. Bryan is not yet ready to declare against wars of every kind. He Is trying to raise a little wheat, and he has some friends in thek Texas cotton belt. OOOO PRIVATE MONOPOLY v The corporations which secure municipal fran chises are not so objectionable as'the industrial monopolies, because the city authorities always reserve the right to regulate the service charges, and yet public sentiment Is steadily growing 'against tho sale or lease of municipal franchises. The industrial monopoly, not being under the su pervision of any authority, municipal, state Or na- t tioual, Is free to employ whatever means It pleases to exact tribute from the producers of raw ma terial, from the purchasers of the finished product and from the operatives.. Not content u with its power over its patrons and its employes, It bank rupts its rivals. The protective tariff and the railroad rebate have been the mainstays of the Industrial monop oly. The former has kept out the foreign rival and the -latter has enabled the trust to drive Its competitors from the field. A reduction of Impprt duties would lessen the ability of the trust to ex tort from consumers, and a law authorizing the g admission, duty free, of articles entering Into com petition with the products of a convicted trust, would act as a powerful deterrent to monopolistic combinations. 0 We have already entered upon the experi ment of railroad regulation and the roads them selves seem anxious to have the rebate system stopped. - And well they may be, if the Interests of the. stockholders are considered, for the rebate ' is a 'net loss to the railroads. It has existed, partly ' because, directors or officials have been pecuniarily interested in the shippers favored, and partly be cause 'the trusts have controlled enough shipping tQ-make their business a prize to the roads. Ab solute, equality of treatment between the trust and Its competitors would very materially lessen i power over tho market. i:r . But tho advaulngo which 'mcre-sli2o 'gives to a great corporation has been underestimated by tho1 public. A corporation with 'a 'capital of flvo hundred millions and with manufacturing plauti scattered all over, the country has a' tremendous 'advantage over a competing Corporation with a cnpltal of five, ten or even twenty-five millions. The larger corporation while maintaining, or even raising, prices elnewhcre, can undersell tho smaller corporation In the hitter's territory. After bank rupting Its rival, or forcing It to sell Its plant, the trust can raise prices and recover Its losses from Uie community. This Is not only what can bo done, but tills Is what has boon done, over and over again. Many manufacturers who won repu tation and achieved success under former condU tlons have learned, to their sorrow, of how little value are reputation and business experience when pitted against the unscrupulous methods of the trust magnates. A Tho time Is at hand when tho public must deal with the single corporation which aspires to a monopoly of the market. ' Fortunately our dual form of government furnishes a means of apply ing a complete remedy. The states exercise tho right to create corporations, but the federal govern ment Is supreme In the sphere of interstate com merce. A federal statute of a few lines will pro vide for an Interstate license and forbid a stale corporation to do business outside of the state of Its origin without securing 'such a license. A few more lines will set forth the conditions upon which the license may he secured conditions which will make a private monopoly impossible. If congress can withdraw from a lottery company the right to use the mall or the express lines for the car rying of a lottery ticket, It can withdraw from a would-be monopoly the right to employ the rail roads, the mails or the telegraph lines to aid its conspiracy against the people. This remedy was first suggested about seven years ago; It wastlien embodied iirthe democratic national platform of 1000; It has since been in dorsed by the head of the bureau of corporations and more recently by the president. There can scarcely be any doubt of the constitutionality of such a statute when It Is remembered that the private monopoly has always been an outlaw. The license system would enable the govern ment to Impose any reasonable conditions and the most effective condition would be one arbitrarily fixing the proportion of the total product that the licensed corporation would bo permitted to con trol. Experience would determine what that proportion should be. It Is necessary to draw-a distinction between tho natural man and the fictitious person called a corporation. Man has natural rights, inalienable and inviolable; the corporation has no rights ex cepting those given It by law. There Is measurable equality between Individuals; there Is an almost Immeasurable Inequality between corporations. It does not, therefore, follow that, because the nat ural citizens of one state stand upon an equal footing with the citizens of other states, corpora tions created by a state must recolv the same treatment accorded to natural persons. Tho end to be secured is the dissolution of every private monopoly now In existence and the prevention of new ones. When the people clearly understand tho principle Involved In a private monopoly and the -evils that result from It they will have no difficulty In making and enforcing laws -necessary for their own protection. As yet only a few monopolies have been Interfered with, out puniic sentiment is growing and the time for action Is near at hand. THE MAN WHO WINS The man who wins is the nmn who works The man who tolls while the next man shirks; The man who stands In his deep distress With his head held high In the deadly press Yes, he Is the man who wins. The man who wins In the man who knows The value of pain and the. worth of woes Who a lesson learns from the man who falls And -a moral -finds In his mournful walls. Yes, he Is the man who wins. The man who wins Is the man who stays In the unsought paths and the rocky ways, And, perhaps, who lingers, now and then, To help some failure to rise again, -Yes, he is the man who wins. And the man who wins Is the man who hears The curse of the' envious' In his ears, But who goes liiAj Way with his head held high And passes tUe'vrecks of the failures by-r For he j's. the man who wins. '' ' Baltimore News. ' 1I 4 K