The Commoner WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR rc: VOL. 8, NO. 12 Lincoln, Nebraska, April 3, 1908 Whole Number 376 CONTENTS ALL GOVERNMENT AT WASHINGTON? THE PEOPLE? PSHAW! THE HANDFUL OP MEN WHO RULE AMERICA DEMOCRATS READY TO HELP IN ALL GOOD MEASURES ARE STATES TO BE STRIPPED OF THEIR POWER? DEMOCRATIC STATE CONVENTIONS MILLION ARMY PLAN WASHINGTON LETTER COMMENT ON CURRENT TOPICS HOME DEPARTMENT WHETHER COMMON OR NOT NEWS OF THE WEEK LIGHT, MR. PULITZER, LIGHT! The New York World is calling for "pub licity" with respect to Wall Street. It is sup porting a resolution introduced in the New York legislature providing for the investigation of the stock gambling practices now countenanced by the New York stock exchange. A very good measuro, indeed; all of which reminds us that democrats in all sections of the country are calling for publicity with respect to the motives of the New York World in na tional politics. But while finding time to attack democrats who have criticised corporations such, for in stance, as the steel trust, and who have insisted upon railroad regulation, the World has not found it convenient to tell its readers the ex tent of its owner's financial interest in the concerns that are to be regulated. And this brings us again to the question, "What is the extent of the financial interest held by Joseph Pulitzer, owner of the New York World, in railroad companies and in great cor porations commonly known as trusts?" lrl 5 &t rt NO TIME FOR THE PEOPLE It will be remembered that in March, 1907, the democrats in the senate killed the ship sub sidy bill, which had passed the house by repub lican votes. Senator Carmack of Tennessee led in the filibuster which resulted in the defeat of this iniquitous measure. Now the republican senate has passed a ship subsidy bill and the measure goes to the house. It seems that the republican party has ample time to pass meas ures demanded by the financiers, such as the Aldrich bill, and measures demanded by the subsidy grabbers, such as the shipping bill. But when the people demand tariff revision and other important reforms they are expected to be satisfied with the assurance that if they will again trust the republican party with power they may have such tariff revision as the "friends of the tariff" think the people are entitled to after the presidential election. fr (jj i (,Jv WHY? Senator Hopkins of Illinois is quoted as saying: "There is no more reason that a man should be guaranteed the return of his funds placed in a national bank than a farmer should be guaranteed his crop." Why, then, does the government require of national banks a guarantee for the return of government funds? T - i "SEE, THE CONQUERING JIKHO COMICS!" All Government at Washington? In his first Inaugural address Jefferson set forth what he deemed "the essential principles of our government, and consequently those which ought to shape its administration. " In this statement of principles he presented his views respecting the spheres of the general gov ernment and the state government as follows: "The support of the state governments in oil' their rights, as the most competent admin istrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican ten dencies; the preservation of the general govern ment in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at homo and safety abroad." Jefferson placed his defense of the state government upon two grounds; first, that it is more competent to administer domestic con cerns, and second, that it is a bulwark against centralization. So tenacious was he about the preservation of the state's influence that he in sisted an amendment should be added at once specifically asserting that "the powers not dele gated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively or to the people." Jefferson's part in the adoption of the ten amendments is referred to In a letter which he wrote in 1802, while he was president, to Joseph Priestly. He says: "One passage in the paper you enclose me must be corrected. It is the following: 'And all say It was yourself more than any other individual that planned and established the constitution.' I was in Europe when the constitution was planned, and never saw it until after it was established. On receiv ing it, I wrote strongly to Mr. Madison, urging the want of provision for the freedom of re ligion, freedom of the press, trial by jury, habeas corpus, and substitution of militia for a stand ing army, and an express reservation to tho state of all rights not specifically granted to tho union. He accordingly moved in tho first ses sion of congress for these amendments, which were agreed to and ratified by the states as they now stand. This is all tho hand I had in what related to the constitution." The ten amendments cover many subjects, but they all relate to two things, viz.: tho pro tection of the individual and the assertion of the doctrine of local self-government. Tho In dividual was safe-guarded In his right to wor ship God according to the dictates of his con science, in his right to speak his rnlnd and to put his thoughts on paper, in his right to as semble and to petition, in his right to bear arms, in his right to trial by jury, and in his right to hold property, rio careful were those who insisted upon these amendments that after enumerating all the rights they could think of, they added amendment nine as a precaution. "The enumeration in the constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or dispar age others retained by the people." Tho tenth amendment carries the same doctrine a little farther, and gives tho state the benefit of the presumption as against the general government where a power Is neither granted nor denied. The reservation of power to the state Is all the stronger because it is specifically set forth in the amendment. Had the language of the amendment been inserted in the constitution Itself, It would not have shone out so boldly. The constitution was ratified with the under standing that the amendments would be added at once, and they were in fact, submitted by the first congress, and In a short time were ratified by the necessary number of states. There can be no doubt that those who lived at the time of the adoption of the constitution favored the v.