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The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
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VOL. 7, NO. 41
Lincoln, Nebraska, Octobei25, 1907
Whole Number 353
CONTENTS
ANOTHER STRAW MAN .
AN OBJECT LESSON
"RESTLESS INDIVIDUALS"
REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN FUND
THE NEW ISSUE
MR. TAFT ON IMMIGRATION
THE RALLYING JEtAILROADS
"SOMETHING DOING" IN VIRGINIA
WASHINGTON LETTER
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE
COMMENT ON CURRENT TOPICS
HOME DEPARTMENT
WHETHER COMMON OR NOT
NEWS OF THE WEEK
AN OBJECT LECSON
Have you heard from Virginia? If not you
will bo interested to know that the people are
beginning to apply to politics the good old
iloctrine that no one can serve two masters.
For some twenty, years a distinguished Vir
ginian named Henry T. Wickham had been
serving his district in the Virginia state senate.
He came from an old family, stood high in
society and had a largo circle of personal
friends. He was, however, general attorney for
one of the large railway systems and by his
political influence a'ided his road In matters
before the legislature. At least this was
charged and a fight was made against his re
nomination on this ground. The fight was
started by Professor Dodd of Randolph and
Macon college, who reviewed Mr. Wickham's
record and charged that he served the railroad
at the expense of his constituents.
The voters took the matter up and rallied
about the standard of a retired naval officer
who was brought out against the senator. At
the primary the former naval officer won by
a decisive majority and the railroad attorney
can now devote his entire time to his client
and the people of the district can have the un
divided services of their senator. In another
district the same question was raised against
a candidate and the candidate resigned his posi
tion with the corporation.
Good for Virginia! Her people are entitled
to the services of representatives who will rep
resent them.
It is possible that a man may side with
the people again Bt a corporate client which
pays him many times as much as he receives
from the people POSSIBLE, but not probable
and it is not safo to take chances on the fidelity
of such a man. As a rule, no man can serve
two masters and a conscientious man will ot
try. It is time the democrats were investigat
ing the records and business relations of the
public officials and candidates who oppose effi
cient legislation. Virginia has set a good ex
ample. It is a valuable object lesson.
oooo
A VIRGINIA. HINT
To. those, who pretend they fall, to under-Btand--and.
those, who really, do not understand-
Mr. Bryan's answer to the question,
"What is a democrat," a citizen of Strasburg,
Va., offers this hint: "It would seem that the
man who can not distinguish between one set
of principles that would give justice and equal
. rights to all and another set that pretends to
1 be for the public good bu"t really conceals within
their scope the deadly blight of special privilege
is either uninformed or dishonest."
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WHO WILL HAUL DOWN THE FLAG?"
Another Straw Man
Whenever a "republican wants to be sure
of demolishing his opponent, he builds up a
man of straw and then makes his attack with
vigor. This is to be expectod in those politi
cians who are more Interested in their party's
success than they are in the triumph of any
principle, but it Is a little disappointing to find
the editor of a high class publication like the
Outlook resorting to the "straw-man" method
of fighting. In its issue of September 7 the
Outlook has an editorial entitled "Inaction,
Extirpation, Regulation," and in this editorial
the editor outlines three distinct policies which,
he says, "are proposed in relation to the rail
ways and other great corporations." Tiien he
proceeds to describe the three policies as ho
sees them. He says that Judge Parker is the
representative of the first, declaring "that this
view is not based merely on, a doctrine of states'
rights Is, moreover, evident from the fact that
believers In the Parker doctrjn'e, including Mr.
Parker himself, are as ill disposed to commend
the attempts of the states to control the rail
ways and the corporations as to support the
policy of the federal administration. All such
attempts are, according to this view, to use a
newspaper phrase, throwing bombs at .capital
and sapping the foundations of the financial
and commercial structure.' This view is essen
tially critical, it is not constructive, because
according to It, there is nothing to construct;
whatever evils exist can best be remedied by a
rest cure."
Judge Parker can say whether or not his
position is. correctly ..stated, and if misstated,
he is in position to set himself right. Presi
dent Roosevelt's position Is discussed from the
standpoint of a friend and an admirer. Ho la
represented as favoring, regulation. "According
to this doctrine," says' the Outlook editor, "of
which the president is the most conspicuous
advocate, agreements and combinations among
railways and Industrial corporations are, on the
one hand, not essentially evil but, on tho other,
are not allowed to remain unchecked or un
controlled it Is tho business of the government
so to regulate as to avert their real though in
cidental evils while preserving them as great
agencies for civilization." Secretary Taft is
represented as occupying the same position as
President Roosevelt and as ar:ulng for tho same
thing but answering different arguments from
those answered by President Roosevelt.
In order to provide a golden mean for the
president, tho Outlook's editor puts Mr. Parker
at one extreme and Mr, Bryan at the other.
He says: "In contrast to this doctrine (Mr. Par
ker's) indeed at tho very opposite extreme, is
what we call the policy of extirpation. Of all
the political leaders who advocate this policy,
Mr. 'Bryan is still the most conspicuous,"- And
then ,lie proceeds to state Mr. Bryan's position
as the, editor of tho Outlook sees it or would
have' others see it. Ho thus describes it: "The
formation of great railroad corporations, direct
ing immense railway lines, he regards not as
legitimate development but as a dangerous out
growth; and huge combinations created for
the manufacture and distribution of widely used
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