"iffwn1 "" ' ivwyiw.'
The Commoner,
VOLUME 8, NUMBER g
U
a
L
v
r
SOME INTERESTING QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
"Tho titno Is
olhlcal (1H'hLIoiih.
Jdk throughout the
lug (lint thoro Ih
than I he malting o!
Mr. Hryan concluded Ii Ih "Tlioti SlniU Not
Blear ncIdrcMK at Curuoio hull, Now York, In
till nu vuilf. .... .. II
ripo for a consideration m
Thoro Is it mornl awnkon-
lund and people are icarn-
something morn lmporlant
iiifiiiov. Business men, in-
.,, i ..fiiiiuiuir tin. 11 ittiltfli Lv dollar until they
fall exhausted Into I ho grave, aiv going to sot
a limit to their accumulations and. having se
cured enough lo supply their needs, givo to
society the henofll. of tlieir business ability and
experience. This moral wave will not expend
Itself until dishonesty has been driven from
business, corruption from politics and injustice
from government."
At the conclusion of Mr. Hryan s speech a
number of questions were asked from the
audience and answered by Mr. Bryan. These
questions and answers follow:
Q. Is it wise for a public man like Presi
dent Roosevelt or yourself to use such a term
as "predatory wealth," thereby stigmatizing
a class?
A. I answer in the a Urinative. When you
say that predatory wealth Is bad you mean pre
datory wealth, and I have no objection what
ever to the president or any other man, stigma
tizing wealth that is predatory. (Applause.)
Q. Ih it right to tax tho people and lend
tho money thus obtained to individuals or to
privato corporations In any form of subsidy?
A. This asks a question thai can not be
answered in a word. What we call subsidy I
believe wrong; and yet 1 would not say that
under no circumstances should a government
lend money, raised by taxation. T believe it all
deponds upon whether tho money Is lent for a
public purpose and for tho public interest, or
for a privato purpose and for individual profit.
(Applause)
Q. If tho tariff should be revised and tho
United States should allow free trade, would
not the country be Hooded "with foreign goods,
and our country's industries suffer?
A. No ono is advocating free trade and no
revision that Is advocated could by any possi
bility Mood this country with foreign goods to
the detriment of this country; and the people
who are now selling abroad in competition with
tho world could put a restraint upon the flood
by selling at homo as cheaply as they sell
abroad. (Laughter and applause.)
Q. Secretary Taft, when asked at Cooper
about thl problem of tho unemployed
relation to tho government replied, "God
T don't." Mr. Bryan, do you know?
T approach this question with some hes
for 1 do not want to say anything that
would put mo In tho class to which It has been
committed by tbo secretary of war. (Laughter.)
But my answor is this: All questions of this
kind must bo considered from two standpoints:
First, tho temporary remedy and second, tho
permanent remedy. If a child falls and breaks
Its arm, as the resuT of carelessness, it is not
sufficient to tell tho child how to keep from
falling again. It Is necessary that the arm shall
bo set and the child cared for, even though its
sufferings are tho result of its own carelessness.
And so. temporarily, wo must provide for every
human being In need. T will not admit that
any man in this country should bo allowed to
starve to death, no matter how careless ho may
have been In not providing for the future. But
while wo must make temporary provision for
tho necessities of those who actually suffer, we
must make permanent pr vision against tho re
currence of such conditions, and tho best way
to provont a recurrence of these conditions is
to cbango tho laws by which a few mon have
been able to secure an unfair proportion of tho
results of tho toll of all tho people. (Great and
prolonged applause.) Thoro is no difficulty in
this country about production. We produce and
consume something Hko throe times tho amount
,.. .,,,, .uuuiuu in cuiisuiiipa ny anv other
people. The trouble is with tbo distribution
and T believe that the way to reach tho difllcul v
10 wunuraw privileges and fnvnHHe, .i
nnnni !..,. ., !,. ...ill mil, Ullll
t",mi "i.- nun win secure an
Union
man in
knows,
A.
itation,
is
to
ovory man's labor and
an
th
open door to
a reward fm iio m
Q. Mr. Bryan, do you stand for immodHtn
id radical tariff revision, and do you ro ?esont
o democratic party in so stn,unr9 ,CiUCScnt
A 1 Will .lo.,. !. ,..x :bL
. vi uiu mm part urst T
(Laughter ami n,l s "" , ' ",,,,L "0t
that 1 Co not .liia tor UoTooXwho S
am
themselves democrats. (Applause.) Whether
(lie revision that J stand for is considered radi
cal or not is a question of opinion. I stand
for immediate revision. I will have it tomor
row If I can't get it today. (Laughter.) I
would rather have lftid it yesterday than today.
(Great laughter.) Now as to that word radi
cal, it is a matter of opinion. I used to be
radical. Now I am very conservative Laugh
tor.) What people thought was radical a few
years ago is now regarded as not only conserva
tive but necessary. ( Applause.) And many who
thought that I was dangerously rabid a few
years ago now think that I am inexcusably slow.
(Laughter.) I believe in the immediate revi
sion of tho tariff, downwards not upwards, and
I would commence by putting upon the free list
the articles that come into direct competition
with the articles controlled by the trusts.
(Groat applause.) I would gLo these men a
certain length of time not too long, (laughter)
say, a few months, and I would say to them:
"Tf you don't stop conspiring behind this tariff
wall wo will tnko the wall away and make you
compete with the world." (Great applause.) I
would then proceed to make material reduc
tions in tho necessaries of life, and I would go
through the tariff and I would pick out the
fraudulent paragraphs that were put in by
stealth for tho purpose of securing advantages
that oven the framers of the law did not under
stand, and one of them would be the duty of
1.r0 per cent that was put in for the protection
of oil, after it had been put upon the free list.
Tf vou read tho statute, you will find it says
that If oil comes from a country that puts a
tariff on oil, then we shall put a similar tariff
on oil from that country, and it happens that
our only competitor In oil is Russia; she puts
a tariff on oil, and therefore while on its face
wo havo a free trade in oil, yet reallv we have
not got It at all. i Applause.) T would then
proceed to make such other reductions as were
possible and when T say possible, T mean that
the laws aro made bv the representatives of the
entire country, and in the making of the law
you havo to consult the opinions of these people
who represent all sections of the country and
T would proceed as rapidly as possible to make
such reductions as would be necessary to put
our tariff upon a revenue basis, so that our
tax laws would bo made for the purpose of se
curing revenue for the government and not for
tho purpose of enabling a few people to get rich
at. the expense of the rest of the people. (Ap
plause.) Q. You said that the proposed asset cur
rency would c:ive us a no-cent dollar. Is this
a fair statement in view of the facts that assets
worth dollar for dollar and guaranteed bv na
tional banks will bo held as security for it?
A. T am permitted to use the language of
mv opponents and thev talked about the silver
dollar as a fifty cent dollar; thev said that if
you melted it it was worth onlv fifty cents. Lot
them applv the molting test to their dollar and
find out how much it is worth. (Applause.) The
silver dollar was never a fifty cent dollar. Tt
was a one hundred cent dollar, because the law
declared that you could use it to discharge vour
debts at one hundred cents en tho dollar. These
people who are so careful about the use of lan
guage were quite indiscriminate a few years
ago. (Applause.)
Q. ITas not President Roosevelt taken the
wind out of tho sails of everybody except social
ists? Then, where is the room for Bryanism
domocraoy? A. I am not sure that I can answer thic?
question to the satisfaction of the man who
asked the question, for he evidently believes
that tho president has done everything that cin
be done by anybody or by any party except tho
socialist party T do not agree with him at nil
The president has tried to do some things He
has not tried to do everything that is necessary
For instance he has not tried to secure tho elec
tion of senators by direct vote of the peonle
and that is a very important reform. AnS he
has done some things that T do not thinir it
ought to have done. But. my -friends, te eid
ers of his partv have not assisted him to fln
even what he tried to do.( Applause ) a
far most of his recommendatiSns 1 ave not bee'n
acted upon. Tf this wore a political moH?
would toll a story that ill strn t? i?i2etlnF J
(Cries of "toll it." "lot us have " f Point
just overlook the fact that this is not V n!m7 ,
meeting and T will tell the story f wiS01?
A-n old colored man married n wtri gllter,)
as he thought, extravSJd he UllS
that she wanted money all the time. He said
"Sho wants a dollar today and fifty cents to
morrow, and a. quarter the next day, and then
she wants another dollar, and then another u ty
cents, and then another quarter, and it is just
a dollar, a half dollar, a quarter all the tiim
One of his friends said to him: "But what ran
she do with so much money?" He replied: I
don't know. I hain't gin her none yet." (Great
laughter.)
Q. When you speak of "watered stock."
as not representing property, do you or do
you not recognize goodwill as being as valuable
a property as is mere tangible property? Wo ild
you confine stock issues to actual tangible
property?
A. I think the question a fair one. There
is such a thing as goodwill. If a man has built
up a business and established a trade and won
the confidence of people, his business has a
value larger than the mere tangible property
would indicate. But you will find that good
will is not a large factor in the monopolies that
have been established. That goodwill is pre
served under competition. What we complain
of is not the capitalizing of a little goodwill,
but it is the capitalizing of the power to rob
the public the goodwill of the public is a thing
that trusts have not yet capitalized.
Q. You have condemned the stock ex
change in toto. Don't you recognize the fact
that millions of securities that are gilt edged
and solid are bought and sold there every week
on a high basis of honor?
A. I have already answered this. I stated
that there is a legitimate function for the board
of trade, the chamber of commerce and the
stock exchange. We need institutions of this
kind, but it is not necessary to have a large
part of the transaction gambling in order to re
tain the benefits of the stock exchange, and
what we ask for is legislation which will
make gambling impossible, and such legislation
is not popular on the stock exchange. (Applause.)
Washington Letter
Washington, D. C, February 17. As a re
sult of the recent decision of the United States
supreme court setting aside as unconstitutional
the law known as the Employer's Liability Law
so strongly urged by President Roosevelt, Rep
resentative Sabbath of Chicago has introduced
a bill Intended to accomplish much of the same
end. This bill is based very largely upon studies
of European legislation on the same. topic, par
ticularly legislation in France, England and Ger
many. It covers all cases of accidents to em
ployes in interstate and foreign commerce to
which the regulated power of congress extends.
It provides for sick and death benefits to the
injured employe or his surviving widow and
next of kin, and the establishment of a com
mission of awards to fix the amount of benefits
in each individual case. The usual provisions
for enforcement and for an appropriation for
necessary expenses are included.
Mr. Sabbath says, speaking of his bill. "I
have introduced this bill because I believe the
burden of misfortune should not be borne by
the employe, but should also be borne by tin
employer. More far reaching laws in this direc
tion have been adopted in England and Germany
and more progressive countries where they are
giving entire satisfaction."
A similar bill will be introduced within a
tew days by the same representative providing
for benefits to employes in the public service
or the United States, excepting the army and
navy, who sustain the injuries in the perform
ance of their duties. Whether either bill will
get out of the committee in this congress may
be doubted. But both deserve passage.
w i ? ?on newspaper has gone some
5 i, irto detail in estimating the chances of
Hughes election. Its figures are interesting,
wwJ1 S, dimcult t0 believe that thy a
SnI? !' T1ey,were compiled by men whoso
S .In Tni0tigiven' but two of whom I know.
c for Hughes. V Certainly not enthusias
wm Summarized the prophecy is that Hughes
Holm ?, miin ed. n the fourth ballot- The
S11"',6 UJat Taa the first ballot will
get about three hundred and thirty-three votes,
or about one hundred and fifty short of the
,.. a ..y.nafc-'iManr. f i rflftHiM-ilHtrHi ar