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The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
4
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Lincoln, Nebraska, December 20, 1907
VOL. 7, NO. 49
Whole Number 361
CONTENTS
WHY NOT TEST THEM?
MINORITY LEADERS CHOSEN
THE 'PRESIDENT REITERATES DECLINA
TION SECRETARY TAFT'S MOTHER
KENTUCKY
OPENING THE CAMPAIGN
RECRUITS FOR THE "MILLION ARMY"
SENATOR DAVIS' MATDEN SPEECH
E. F. DUNNE ON "THE REPUBLICAN
PARTY AND THE PANIC"
WASHINGTON LETTER
COMMENT ON CURRENT TOPICS
HOMjS DEPARTMENT
WHETHER COMMON OR NOT
NEWS OF THE WEEK
CHRISTMAS
Again we are approaching the Christmas
ceason, and the heart? of the young and the old
are made merry by, the joys and festivities that
throng the holidays. To the child it means toys,
sweetmeats tand the pleasures of vacation. To
the older ones it brings that renewal of youth
that comes from contact with the buoyancy of
youth. The children, not yet acquainted with
the joys of giving, are overflowing with happi
ness because of what they have received while
their parents, measuring life by a higher stand
ard, find a deep satisfaction in the joy that they
impart.
Let not the circle of kinship bound the gen
erosity that the season prompts, for it is not a
small gift that gave to Christmas its significance,
and to the Christian world this day so faithfully
observed. He in whose honor the Christmas tree
is reared gave the full measure of a life, and the
spirit that ascended from Calvary has entered
into the life of many millions, and that spirit has
given to those lives a fullness that they would
not otherwise have known. If the world's in
debtedness to the precepts of the man of Galilee
measures the bounty to be scattered on the com
ing Christmas morn, the world will be filled with
gifts and gratitude.
The Commoner bids its readers a Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year.
oooo
SIGNIFICANT
The Springfield (Mass.) Republican says
that Senator Aldrich's influence In the United
States senate is likely to be greater this session
than it has heretofore, and the Chicago Record
Herald adds: "In that case it will hardly be
possible for Aldrich to permit the rest of the
senators to do any thinking at all." This ad
mission by a republican paper is deeply sig
nificant when it is remembered that Mr. Aldrich
is admittedly the representative of the Standard
Oil interests.
OOOO
PROMINENT MENTION
Any person desiring advertisement can se
cure it. Now is the time when anyone can
secure the title of prominent democrat by send
ing in an interview to a republican paper saying
that he has always voted the democratic ticket
but does not believe that the democrats can win
this year. Fortunately, however, such inter
views are more than offset by the republicans
who confess that neither sido in the republican
party can hope to win.
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TOO BUSY WATCHING THE CLOCK TO WORK
Why Not Test Them?
The republican party Is in power in the
White House, in the senate and in the house,
but the division in the party Is rapidly growing.
The standpatter wants nothing done; the re
former is anxious to make at least a showing
of progress; the president has recommended
several things that the democrats have been con
tending for for years. Why not test the repub
lican party and find out how many Roosevelt
men there are in the senate and house? If
the democratic minority will take up the differ
ent propositions upon which our party has a
record and to which the president has given
approval and put the full strength of the party
behind these propositions, it Is possible that
some of them may be forced through. At least
it is possible to show that the republican party
does not support the president when his recom
mendations are democratic. In the next cam
paign the republican party will attempt to carry
water on both shoulders; it will endeavor to
so write its platform as to hold the reform re
publicans without alienating the standpatters.
Why not expose this attempt in advance by com
pelling the republican party to go on record in
the present congress for or against the presi
dent's recommendations? For instance, the
president recommends publicity as to campaign
funds, and even suggests that the expense of
the national campaign shall be paid out of the
federal treasury. While the latter recommenda
tion has never been endorsed b'y the democratic
party, it is entirely democratic. The people as
a whole are Interested In having the Issues fairly
and fully presented; for years the republican
party has sold legislation to the highest bidder,
and by putting Itself under obligations to preda
tory wealth has rendered itself Impotent to pro
tect the people. The small amount which would
bo appropriated to cover the legitimate expenses
of the campaign would be insignificant compared
with the amount that the people have year after
year been forced to pay to the favor-seeking
corporations that have been supplying the re
publican party with the sinews of war. Why
not hold a democratic caucus and prepare a bill
appropriating a sum equal to ten, twenty or
twenty-five cents for each voter, the amount to
bo divided between the national parties accord
ing to the vote last polled? Then let Individ
ual contributions be prohibited, or if permitted
at all, not later than ten or fifteen days prior to
the election, and then only on condition that
all sums over a minimum of say twenty-five .
dollars be at once made public by the contribu
tor. If the democratic party presents such a
measure, the republican majority will have to
accept it or go on record as opposing the presi
dent's recommendation.
The republican leaders ought to be com
pelled to consider the trust question also. The
president has made recommendations on this
subject which ought to be brought before con
gress but which will not be brought before con
gress by the republican leaders. For the first
time the president has drawn the line at mon-
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