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The Commoner.
VOLUME 7, NUMBER 35
14
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AN AWKWARD SUBJECT FOR MR.
TAFT
Secretary Taft's program of in
dciliiltely deferred tariff revision,
"uiltil after the next presidential
election," has not won him the favoij
of that stalwart janitor of protection
the American Protective Tariff
League. Far from being conciliat
ed, it posts him in its organ, the
American Economist, as a republi
can who is; weak in the faith and un
worthy of countenance as follows:
"By His ofllcial record regarding
free trade in the competing products
of the Philippines and free trade in
Panama canal materials and supplies,
and by liis public utterances at Bath
a year ago and at Columbus a few
days ago, Mr. Taft stands plainly in
view as a presidential aspirant whom
protectionists can not consistently
support."
And yet Mr. Taft should have been
forgiven when he said as he did at
Columbus, that the tariff should "at
least equal a differerce in the cost
of production in this country and
fLOFTlS
ISYSTEr
You Can Own it IMumnml oriWntoIi.
Wo ioikI ono on approval. If joullkolt, pay 1-6 on
detUory, balance 8 monthly payments, catalog rreo. w mo now,
KIFTIS 111(08. CO., Itfnl. K CO, 03 StnloKl., Chicago, III.
MR. METCALFE'S BOOK
"OF SUCH IS
THE KINGDOM"
And Other Stories from Life
NOW READY FOR DELIVERY
JOHN M. HARLAN, A.tocUtc Juitice. United
State Supreme Court: ' Your little book, 'Of Such
it the Kingdom,' has been read by me with more
than ordinary intereit. Indeed, I have read it
through twice,- No one can read thetc stories from
life without bothintcreit and profit, or without hav
ing a higher conception of his duty to God and to
hit tellowman.
abroad and proper allowance Bhould
bo made in this difference for the
reasonable profits to the American
manufacturer." Not even the Amer
ican Protective Tariff League would
declare for unreasonable profits.
For his trouble in getting into line
with the standpatters and going as
far in his definition of protection as
a prudent man should go Mr. Taft
finds hlmsolf proscribed and brand
ed by the organ of protection. At
the same time he has lost standing
with the conservative revisionists by
modifying his bold Bath pronuncia
mentd. In electing as a candidate
to bo an echo of his chief Mr. Taft
can not shout for himself. Tariff
revision is not one of "My Policies."
No one has heard Mr. Roosevelt say
anything about the inequalities of
tho Dingley law for some time. It
is a subject that "My Candidate" will
have to handle gingerly. New York
Sun. ,
I
Cloth bound, .printed from olear typo on
ncavy pnpor..Buti siuo unu uaoic stamps, yuu
pages, sent prepaid on receipt or 81.00.
' Address
RICHARD L. METCALFE
Cairo The Commonor LINCOLN, NEBR,
SPINNERS. IN DARK
The labor conditions of men and
women carry many wrongs. But the
crowning wrong is to allow defense
less little ones to be wasted and
workworn 'before they are hardened,
to allow them to be robbed of the
opportunities of tliis earthly life that
means so mightily for the eternities,
to allow them to be quenched and
trampled for a few pitiful pennies
that would not keep a child of the
rich in money for bon-bons, nor pay
for the fringe on the embroidered
blanket for my lady's pampered dog.
We have over 8,000 children work
ing in our silk mills. In her out
put of silk America vies with Europe
and the Orient. But let this be no
boast, for across the lustrous fabrics
piled in bright bolts oh the shelf and
counter, or hung in shimmering,
fiower-hued garments in our show
windows, stretches the gaunt shadow
or tne ntue cniid.
In the hard coal regions of Penn
sylvania, following the anthracite
mines, wherever the coal breaker
rises against the sky to suck in the
boys ou of school and sunshine,
there also rises the sillc milk to draw
in the girls from play and school.
Because of the greed of the dividend
seekers, because of the indulgence or
the indifference of parents, because
of the ignorance and innocence of the
children concerning the great gift of
youth, because of the forgetfulness
of the public that permits this waste
of the most precious stuff of exist
ence for all these reasons the child
ren, daily and nightly are suld to
the Setebos of the silk mill.
The anthracite coal commisisoners
astonished the nation with their rev
elation of child labor. They found
a typical case in little Helen Sissack
of the Cambria silk mills of Dun
more, Pa., a girl of eleven who had
for a year worked nights in the mill,
beginning at 6:30 in the, evening and
staying till 6:30 in the morning.
Haggard, hungry and faint after the
night's work shifting aud cleaning
the bobbinp, tiis child had an hour's
walk in the chili of the morning over
the lonesome fields to her home.
What did the mill baron give this
girl for her pitiful effort?. Three
cents an hour! , Three cents she got
for her surrender of sleep and
strength, play and study, at the very
time of her life when she most need
ed every budding force to make her
a fit vessel of honor to carry on the
gift of life to generations to come.
Chances of being marred or
maimed, of contracting tuberculosis
and all the long train of diseases
that send a girl into womanhood de
pleted and defeated these are the
burdens we add to the labor weight
laid out upon the little maidens' that
work in the silk mills. But worse
than all these hurts of the flesh are
the injuries imposed upon the soul.
Incessant drudgery at day work robs
a girl of play, of rest and often
makes her feverishly eager to rush
into coarse evening pleasures, which
too often are the only pleasures her
training fits her 'to enjoy. But the
girl who works nights is under still
more dangerous influences. Thc;
moral evils that stalk in darkness
dog her path. Edward Markham In
Cosmopolitan.
tance above the ground. No harbor
likes to. We seem to be particularly
sensitive to height. It makes us ner
vous. Most barbers will not under
take a job above, a certain number
of feet in the air. Of course, if you
insist, I will shave" you here, but you
would probably get a better shave
ten floors below this one.'
"Well, just out of natural cussed
ness I refused to humor the fellow's
whim. As a consequence he nearly
cut my throat. Whether he did it
through nervousness, as he claimed,
or pure cussedness of his own, I don't
know. Whatever it was, that is a
peculiarity of barbers that I'd like to
have explained." New York Sun.
The Omaha World-Herald
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THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Nebraska
HARD KNOCKS
" Jim Johnstone, the famous base
ball umpire, said recently Jn New,
York that baseball crowds were far
kinder to umpires than they used
to be.
"This is true of, theater crowds,
too," said Mr Johnstone. "Why,
W"ith provincial, touring companies in
the past, maltreatment was regularly
expected. In fact, the companies
profited by it, in more ways, than
one.
I "I know of a company that was
playing 'The Broken Vow .in Paint
Rock, a one-night stand. The aud
ience didn't like "The Broken Vow,'
and eggs, cabbages and notatoon
rained upon the stage.
"Still the play went on. The hero
raved through his endless speeches,
dodging an onion or a baseball every,
other minute,- and pretty sore from
those missiles ' that he hadn't been
able to do.dge.
"But finally a gallery auditor, in a
paroxysm of rage atfd scorn, "hurled a
heavy boot, and the actor, thorough
ly alarmed, started to retreat.
"'Keep on playing, you " - fool
hissed the manager from the wings,
as he honlrpfl l-n fh Unni- mUi, .,, ,..
-- - t --- - uvswu mm u,u um
brella. 'Keen on till w p-a- thb
other one.' " Minneapolis Journal.
THE GREEN INN
I sicken of men's company
The crowded tavern's din,
Where all day long with oath and
song
Sit they who entrance win;
So come I out from noise and rout
To rest in trOd's Green Inn. t
Here none may mock an empty purse
Or ragged coat and poor,
But silenc? waits within the gates,
And peace beside the door;
The weary guest is welcomest,
The richest pays no score.
The roof is high and arched and blue,
The floor is spread with pine;
On my four walls the sunlight falls
In golden flecks and fine;
And swift and fleet; on noiseless feet
The four winds bring me wine.
Upon my board they set their store
Great drinks mixed cunningly,
Wherein the scent of furze is blent
With odor' of the sea,
As from a cup I drink it up
To thrill the veins of me.
It's I will sit in God's Green Inn
Unvexed by ran or ghost,
Yet" ever fed, and comforted,
Companioned by mine host,
And watched at night by that white
light
High-swung from coast to coast.
Oh, you who in 'the house of strife
Quarrel and game and sin,
Come out and see what cheer may bo
For starveling souls and thin,
Who come at last from drought and
fast
To sit in God's Green Inn.
Theodosia Garrison in Scribner's
Magazine.
WILLIS J. ABBOT
Succeeds !
HON. CHAMP CLARK
f nn iV?PeJ desiring a stro,n democratic political letter from Waahing
AMeSiCA1? PESSSSOCrATio ' ABBS " f-rm th
TIII3 LETTER l& TWO COLUMNS tN LENGTH,
THE PRICE IS 75c PER LETTER.
rJ..Wlll TePJaco In, th0 AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION service the
Democratic y terf a,o long wrltteny CONGRESSMAN CHAMP CLARK.
Address American Press Association, 45 Park Place, New York
TOO HIGH FOR THE BARBER-
"I heard something new in the
harboring business this morning,"
said the gray-headed man. "I am
occupying a' room on the top floor
ul a sKysqraping apartment hotel.
This morning J sent for a barber to
C'ome up an shave me. He came,
but when he saw what an altitude
he had attained he. looked uneasy.
i " 'Would it inconvenience you to
cpme down to the regular barber
shop?' he asked.
i "I answered that it would not par
ticularly put. mo out, but thai j would
like to know .the reason for his re
quest " 'The fact is,' he' said, I never
like t( shaye anybody at 'this dis-
ODRAMPING WITH TRAMPS
Allen Updegraff, Yale poet and ex
janitor of Upton Sinclair's Helicon
Hall colony, was talking in Baltimore
about his long tramping expedition
tojthe Fiji islands,
Crossing the -continent," said Mr.
Updegraff, "I shall fraternize with
the tramps I meet on the way. I
find tramps interesting. In many
things they are learned, and they are
often intelligent and witty.
"I once had the acquaintance of a
witty tramp in New Haven! He told
me one day of a passage at arms he
had just had with an old philanthro
pist. 'Stopping the old man, the tramp
said piteously:
" 'Kind friend, will you give me
the price of a loaf of bread? I have
not tasted food for two days
"The old man at once gave the
trainp a nickel. Then he proceeded
on his way. But at the next corner
he saw the tramp come forth from a
saloon wiping his lips on his coat
Sleeve, and he .said indignantly:
l"You are a pretty fellow! You
told me you hadn't tas'nd food for
two days, and when I give; you a
riickle you go and spend it oh beer.'
" 'But, boss,' said the tramp, 'I
hadn't tasted beer for two days and
a half.' "Washington Star.
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