The Commoner
JUtY- 5$ 1907
has beon demonstrate, to be sound, and every
day Increases the number, of those who" believe
as the democratic platform in 1900 stated, that
a private monopoly is indefensible and intol
erable. The party's position on the tariff question
is vindicated. Our protected manufacturers, by
selling abroad in competition -with the world,
admit that they do not need the tariff to com
pete at home. There are more tariff reformers
in the United States today than there ever were
before.
The party's position on the railroad ques
tion is vindicated. It has been demanding reg
ulation for more than ten years, and the unani
mity of the sentiment in favor of regulation
shows how strong the democratic position, is.
The president has secured a little regulation but
very little compared - with what the country
needs.
Our party's position on the labor question
is vindicated. We demanded arbitration in three
campaigns, and arbitration grows stronger each .
year. Wo denounced government by injunction
in-1896. The abuse of this writ becomes more
and moro apparent.
Events have vindicated the party's position
on imperialism, and the best informed republi
cans now admit that ultimate Independence is
the only solution of the Philippine question.
The president has even adopted the demo
cratic doctrine of an income tax and Is favoring
an inheritance tax also to prevent the transmis
sion of the swollen fortunes to the next gener
ation. When has a party in power lost in pop
ularity so rapidly as the republican party has?
When has a party out of power increased its
strength more rapidly than the democratic party
has? And it is a positive and aggressive democ
racy not a timid corporation democracy thaf.
has coerced the administration into the adoption
of democratic ideas.
If a party is strong in proportion as its
principles are strong, then the democratic party
is growing rapidly in strength. If the people
Jike democratic policies when those policies aro
put into operation by republicans, they can not
greatly fear them when put into operation by
democrats.
But there is another indication of victory.
The democratic party is more united than it
has been lor many years, and this unity Is due to
two Causes. In the first place the money ques
tion, which-defeated the democrats in 1896, is
out of ' the way. The advocates of the gold
standard have lcept the gold standard, and the
advocates of more money have secured from
new discoveries of gold the increase that they
sought to secure from the restoration of bimet
allism. There is no division in the democratic
party among the rank and file. There are a
few papers under the control of favor-seelring
corporations and a few salaried attorneys who
would make the democratic party the tool of
predatory yealth, but they are impotent to carry
out their plans. While the democratic party is
united, the republican party is more divided
than it has been in recent years, and this divi
sion can not be healed. The standpatter and
the republican reformer are at outs, and their
controversy grows more bitter. The republican
reformer is shouting that something must be
done, and the standpatter, his hands to the
elbows in the pocket of the public says, "let well
enough alone." No matter -what the republican
party does, it can not please both sides. All
that the democratic party has to do is to be
'loyal to the interests of the people and make
.a strong fight on a strong platform and victory
, is within its reach.
oooo
A RAILROAD VIEW
The Kansas City Journal says: "The ver
iest tyro in the railroad business ought to know,
and every business man in or out of it does
knowr that the value of- a Railroad has nothing
to do with the rates it charges for traffic."
This is refreshing. There are at least three
plans upon which railroad rates can be based.
First, on what the traffic will bear; second, on
the rates fixed by other roads, and third; on a
basis of value with a view to earning a reason
able return on the money invested. If rates
are fixed according to what the traffic will bear,
then the railroad is in the class with highway
men and takes whatever it can secured without
stopping to ask what is just. If it bases its
rates upon competition with other rates, all it
has to do is to enter into agreement with the
other competitors and then it can join with
them in charging whatever the traffic will bear.
. If the competition Is protected, then its rates
must have some- connection with the value of
the property unless the competing roads are in
a position to ignore -values and substitute an
arbitrary basis of rates. If the railroad is a
common carrier and permitted to exorcise tho
right of eminent domain on tho ground that it
partakes of a public character, It can not justify
tho charging of higher rates tlan necessary to
. secure a reasonable return upon tho investment.
To say that a railroad costing $25,000 a milo
has a right to collect dividends on fifty or seventy-five
thousand a mile, or, as in some cases, on
$100,000 a milo, is to deny that the railroad
owes any obligation whatever to the public.
The language quoted from the Kansas City
Journal was used in answer to Mr. Bryan's sug
gestion that we must first ascertain the valuo
of tho railroads because it is impossible to
determine what rates are reasonable until wo
know upon what investment the railroads should
be permitted to earn a profit. Mr. Bryan ex
pected that tho Journal would bo opposed to
the valuation of railroads but ho did not ex
pect that paper to frankly admit that in tho
opinion of its editor the value of the road had
nothing to do with the rates. Objection has
been made to the subsidizing of newspapers,
and yet, like all other evils, this evil has soma
compensating advantages. Only a subsidized
newspapor or a paper run in tho interest of tho
railroads would present so unreasonable an ob
jection to the valuation of tho roads. It Is
possibly fortunate that tho'extreme railroad pos
ition is thus stated so that tho voters can under
stand what they have to oppose. If they get any
reforms, they will have to fight for them, and
they can fight better when they understand how
little concession they can expect from those who
dominate the great corporations and use them
for the exactment of toll from tho public.
OOOO
WINNING BY JUSTICE
The president has authorized Secretary of
State Root to notify tho Chinese ambassador that'
he will recommend the reduction of the indem
nity agreed upon at. the close of tho boxer
trouble. Tho indemnity claimed by the United
States was $24,440,000 and some six millions
have been paid. It has been found that $11,
000,000 will cover our loss and expense in
curred, and the president will ask congress to
reduce tho amount to the actual loss incurred.
Thb is an act of justice which very "nat
urally impresses the Chinese with our fairness
and the Chinese ambassador has, in eloquent
words, expressed his nation's gratitude. Our
nation strengthens its. position when. it gives
evidence of Its desire to do justice to all in its
international dealings and tho president has
made no mistake in reaching the conclusion
which has been announced.
Some forty years ago our government vol
untarily reduced an indemnity which Japan was
paying and the Japanese always speak of it in
extending a welcome to an American. As na
tions collect indemnity by force it is the moro
important that they should scrupulously avoid
anything like extortion. Our nation sets a splen
did example in refusing tp accept more than
the damages actually suffered and time will dem
onstrate that from a commercial standpoint as
well as from the standpoint of morals it pays
for our government to be just.
OOOO
IUOH CRY, LITTLE WOOL
In his address to the Michigan legislature
President Roosevelt gave utterance to words
that commend themselves to the thoughtful con
sideration of the people. He said:
"The only party allusion I shall make today
is to say that the republican party in 99 per cent
of its make-up and in all its highest thought is
essentially the party of Abraham Lincoln's plain
people, and shall continue to be such."
Old-fashioned doctors used to speak of a
"green stick fracture" when called to set the
broken bones of some young child who had'met
with an accident. The words "green stick frac
ture" were expressive, as will be admitted by
those w.ho know hoV a green stick will twist
instead of breaking off short like an old stick.
The "green stick fracture" of youth is recalled
by this "big stick fracture" of facts. The jepub
;llcan party of today is as unlike the" republican
party of Abraham Lincoln as day Is unlike night.
' Today it is the party of trust magnates, tariff
barons and corporation managers. One of the
president's chief advisors is the acknowledged
leader of all corporation lawyers. The leading
senators of his party are notoriously the spokes
men of selfish interests. The treasurers of his
party's campaign committees instinctively turn
to the great trusts and corporations for the vast
. sums used to finance republican campaigns. It
trades tariff schedules for trust support and sac
rifices the Interests of the plain people upon the
altar of slush funds. It is the safe haven, the
city of refuge, for every exploiter of the people.
Its highest thought Is along the low lovel of
financial gain, and tho flag which in Lincoln'
time was made to fly over a people wholly froo
has been made by it to fly ovor a people who
havo no voice In making tho laws undor which
they must live. Boasting that it Is a party 6f
republican Ideals It has becomo a party of co
lonial practices, advocating taxation without rep
resentation and government without consent.
It is well that President Roosovolt made no
further allusion to party if other allusions ho
might havo made were as peculiar as tho ono ho
did make.
OOOO
FAR-REACHING CORPORATE INFLUENCE -
Tho investigations which havo beon going
on during tho last few years havo brought to
light many iniquities. Tho sourco of corruption
funds has been exposed and tho Inner workings
of high finance revealed. Somo day tho Investi
gation will be carried Into tho courts and wo
shall learn whether tho judges who preside at
the trial of corporations havo any pecuniary
interest in tho cases which come boforo them
not necessarily in tho particular case, but In
tho result which follows Important decisions.
It Is now moro than ton years since Senator
Pottlgrew, of South Dakota, In a speech In tho
United States senate, called attontlon to the fact
that when a suit was brought In Now York for
tho purpose of dissolving tho joint traffic asso
ciation, it was found that only ono Judge out
of tho eight judges in that circuit was qualified
to try tho caso because of the othors holding
stocks or bonds of some of the railroads that
wore defendants. The far-reaching Influence of
the great corporations Is not fully recognized.
It is not easy for a judge to bo absolutely im
partial when his decision may effect tho valuo
of his own property. Ono of tho objections to
allowing watered stock to be jssued la that
when issued, It gets Into tho hands of pcoplo
who regard themselves as innocent purchasers
even though they might havo Informed them
selves by investigation and such persons re
gard any attack upon the corporation as an at
tack upon their vested rights.
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