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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 1907)
ft The f&iawb&S NOVEMBER1 1, 1907 ' ' V' '.t fn a triilv lilttor form. Will' IfcbeVh ceded oven now when congress again convenes? . Are we yet persuaded' where the evil rests and aro wo l determined fearlessly to apply the axe to its root or aro we not? That Is the question of the present hdur." Nearly every community knows what clear ing house certificates aro because nearly every community has been dealing In that Icind of paper recently. The Public Ledger well de scribes as3et currency as "approximately what we are compelled to put out everywhere now in the shape of clearing house certificates." The trouble right now is that the business of the country is absolutely dependent upon the whim of the coterie of men who have obtained a corner upon the available cash. This is a temporary corner because the people will not a-nd cannot long submit to It. But the asset curroncy plan will require the people to per manently place themselves subject to the whims of the financiers. These financiers will be able to Issue a considerable portion of the currency without security, without expense upon their part, and' then they will bo able to contract or expand tho volume of currency as suits their purpose. We shall see whether the .'American people, with all of the striking lessons they have had put before them, will permit this new yoke to bo put upon them. oooo COIMPARATIVE STATISTICS The value of the statistics put out by tho government bureau of labor is readily seen after studying the latest bulletin issued by the de partment. The statisticians employed to prove unexampled prosperity give figures to prove that the wage rate per hour in 1906 was fully twenty-five per cent higher than the wage rate per hour in 1892. They prove tho fact, too; and here is the way they do it: During the last ten years the hours of work have been materiallj reduced, especially in the building and prtatong trades, without reduction in pay. Thte has bpen accomplished by thorough organization. The carpenter who worked ten hours a day for $3 in 1892 earned $3 a day, which was at the rate of thirty cents an hour,. In 190.6 that same carpenter made $3 a day, working only eight hours, which was at the' rate of 37 cents an hour.. The 1906 hourly wage when compared with the 1892 hourly wage shows an increase of just twenty five per cent. But the government statistician will experience difficulty in convincing the car penter., that the increase per hour has added anything to the total daily, weekly, monthly or yearly 'wage. OOOO PRESIDENT BUTLER'S DANGEROUS '.' ' u TEACHINGS ; ,,' ', In an address delivered at Chicago Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Columbia univer sity, said: "The character of a corporation does not -depend upon its size, but upon the principles and policies .which actuate its management. Corporations the.mselves have no moral . quali ties; it is corporate officers and managers who are good or bad, honest or dishonest, as tho case may be. "The problem of creating and developing a public service corporation that truly serves the public Is simply the problem always and everywhere present in our life of .securing for positions of trust and power men who are not only intelligent,' but upright, who are not only efficient, but hWest. It is not combination and co-operation1 that' are' to be feared and antago nized, but only monopoly and discrimination. ' "We arB 'fade to face with economic con ditions that tiro hew, and with economic abuses that, though manif'oldr have grown up slowly and in the dark. There is ample power in our ; institutions, in our constitution and our laws to check and to remedy them all. "There is now reason to believe that the ( Sherman anil-trust law commits the nation to , a policy which is too extreme, to a policy that, In putting an end to certain admitted dvils, . also puts an end to certain demonstrable bene fits. Many of us believe that the act unduly . exalts the principle of competition and fails to lay due1 emphasis upon the public benefits which may follow from properly regulated and' supervised co-operation. pf "The distinction between combinations' . which are reasonable and may 'well be permit s' tdd and those which are unreasonable and must at all hazards b6 forbidden, is one which- ought not to be surrendered or overlooked. It is a most important question, therefore, whether the time has not come when this act should bo amended in order to relievo not corporations, but the peoplo from limitations upon .their busi ness activity which this act imposes, although in reality they are not necessary , in, tho public interest." , ," Prosidont' Butler asks in brief that tho peoplo surrendor some of tho all too-small moas ure of protection they now have. What has been accomplished in the way of giving the public material relief from tniHt imposition which would justify an educator in saying Hint the anti-trust law is "too extreme?" As a mat ter of fact that Jaw is practically unenforced in spite of the fact that tho peoplo aro overywhoro complaining of trust impositions. Not ono con spirator against the lives-xxf tho peoplo has been placed behind the prison bars. We have had talk and talk and talk; newspaper Interviews galore and banquet speeches in plenty, but this law which President Butler says is "too ex treme" lies upon the statute books practically unused so far as genuino relief to the public is concerned. President Butler in referring to "combinations which aro .reasonable and may well bo permitted, and those which aro unreas-. onablc and must at all hazards be forbidden," means to say that there aro good trusts and bad trusts. But like all who make that claim ho falls to designate ono good trust. lip is emi nently correct when ho emphasizes the impor tance of securing intelligent and upright men for positions in these great corporations. Whou ho says "the character of a corporation does not depend upon Its size but upon .tho principle and policies which actuate Its management," ho means to say judged in tho light of other por tions of his address that even though the whole product be controlled public Interests aro secure provided tho men in authority with the monop oly are intelligent and honest. President But ler ought to bo careful how ho teaches such doctrine to the young men entrusted to his care. Tho better doctrine Is "a private mon opoly is Intolerable and indefensible," and how ever intelligent and honest a coterie of men may be they may not, so far as public interests aro concerned, be trusted with the power of mon opoly over a people's necessaries of life. This is so because .however holiest one may be wo aro all too apt to resolve theno questions along tho lines of our own individual Interests, just as some of the oppressors of tho American peo ple today have preached to their Sunday school classes the. absurd notion that these trust mag nates are the trustees of Cod ordained to con trol the wealth of the country and distribute it for tho benefit of tho peoplo who create It OOOO A MOLLYCODDLER n Thp Topeka (Kan.) Capital, a republican paper,' makes strdrig"bid for a place ih tho niollycoddle column when It says: "After all, it looks as though Dr. William J. Long could take care of hlmselC His description of thd president heroically slaughtering ' weakened 'mother bears' in the spring and then turning about and preachirfg 'to hunters to spare our remaining bears Ironi destruction, Is good enough. Unliko othpr4 members of tho'Ananlas club, DrA Long Is ready to give Teddy blow for blow, the rest of th'ti Jclub being milksops and mollycoddles." OOOO BE WARNED IN TIME With every bank in the United States prac tically closed, so far as active business Is con cerned, it Is not difit'pult to make the average man believe that there is something radically wrong with our monqCary system. And the peo plo will be told indeed they are already told by financiers, big and little, and by tho local echoes of the financiers'that what wo need is "a more elastic currency" or "an emergency curroncy." "Elastic currency" or "emergency cur rency," or by whatever name it may be known', It Is the same old asset currency for which Con gressman Fowler has for years contended; tho same currency provided for in the Fowler bill, in the McCleary bill, in tho Aldrich bill and in similar measures, every one of which measures was condemned by republican editors and re pudiated by republican orators, the pdoplo be ing assured that there was not the' slightest danger that the republican party would adopt such measures, ? ' ' ' , There are many' thoughtful men who really believe that tho present day panic was brought about for the purpose of forcing through con gress an asset ourrohoy bill, thus giving, to tho-finunolors-.nbsolutcj control ovor tho people': money. And thcao financiers know, what many of tho peoplo thomsolvea do not know, that con trol ovor tho people's money means control over time people. , , Tho nssct curroncy is tho thing for- whlah tho money trust has for yearn contondod ijnd . ono. of tho thingH it moBt dcslron. It will bo a sorry day for tho Amorican people when lhy sloop so soundly as to pormlt theao- money gamblors to place upon the statute bookH mum. a mcasuro as is contemplated by tho American,. Bankers' Association. . . - ' Do not forgot to drop your representative, and your senator a lino to lot him know that your eyes aro upon him. Toll him frankly that, tho man who goes on record with a voto In ftlvor of asset curroncy placos upon him-., self an Indelible brand tho brand of Wall Str ot. OOOO "STAMPED WITH FRAUD" . ' . . lit' A Commonor render asks for information,- concerning the Standard Oil-customs house Mica! In New York. s ' . In January, 1900, the New York Worl"d,$ ppoodtho fact that "Hie ropubllcan ndinfulotra-.. tlon, having sold tho old customs houno to tho City National bank, better known as tho Stand ard Oil bank, Instead Of collecting tho purchase price of $3,205,000, nnd depositing it in tho United States treasury according to lav, had "directed" tho Standard Oil bank to "credit?" tho United -States with $3,215,000. Tho World showed that this uctually left tho purchase Trlco in tho hands of the purchasers to loan out at tho prevailing rato of four por cent, while tho balance of tho purchase price, $50,000, wau loft unpaid, oven by crediting It as a deposit and this was done In order to enable the Standard. Oil bank to avoid paying taxes to tho local au-- thorltles, on tho theory that It did not own tho property. It will bo scon that by this arrange mont, the bank obtained the use of all tho money it wa3 presumed to have paid for tho purchase 'of the building and at the same tlmo avoided paying taxes-on tho property while tho bank further sought to compel tho jrovornmont tp pay to tho bank ront for tho property, 'while" tho now customs house was being erected. In tho houso in February, 1905, an effort was made under tho leadership of Ifoinmonway,, (now senator) of Indiana, republican, and chair-' man of the committee on appropriations to pay ' the' bank $130,000 for rent for the customs ' house. The Washington correspondent for t'hc , Detroit Free Press, describing tho fight on llio . flodr df tho house said: "Tho opposition was load by Mr. Sulzer of New York, supported by Mr. Williams of Mississippi, tho minority leader, both of whom denounced the expenditure as a public scandal UtVd lrt the interest of Jhe stand ard J Oil company, wlfcn, It was alleged, waa, behrn'd tho National City bank, tho pu'rti&Jer" of tho building 'from tho government. Although the bduk was alleged to have bought tho prop-, erty1 for $3,000,000' and to havo credited tho amount to llQ government, It developed tlint'ij'd'' title had passed to It and that In consOafcorfcJ. i was paying no taxes to the state of New York; Tho failure of the government to give a deed wag ' ascribed to bo due to the Influence of the Stand ard Oil company." , ""Replying to a question submitted ' by Mr,. Williams of Mississippi, Mr. Hemmcnway.aduilt- K ted that no deed was passed from the govern ment to tho bank and that the bank was not paying taxes for the building. While admitting that Secretary Gage made "a bad contract." Mr. Hommcnway insisted that it was tho duty of the government to comply with its terms', .,, . ' '' Mr. Williams declared that the wholq rji)B action was stamped with "fraud and dishonor.'' ' Mr. Sulzer, who made the motion to strlkq , out thd proposition for tho appropriation, said; --. "It is a notorious scandal, a steal and' a fraud, and I can not understand why tho ' City" National bank has not been compelled to -pay to tho government tho three million dollars purchase money for tho building, In stead of tho money being simply transferred on the bank's books, except that it wa9 duo ' to the influence behind the bank. Every ono In this chamber knows what that in ,'flu.ence is. It is the influence of the great .Standard Oil trust that owns that bank, M and the influence 'that bank has had' Jh r governmental affairs' of this country' ."" A "'' Mr, Sulzer's motion to strike out :io.apprqr priation prevailed byJ a vote of 93 to 77. v inlniirT.JlniAWi.iaH I- .-,$ u-