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The Commoner.
VOLUME 8, NUMBER i5
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W
TUB WOOD PULP BUNCOMBE
Tho spoakor of tho national house has
Introduced his resolution for an independent
investigation of tho paper trust and tho allega
tions that have boon made against it by tho
publishers. Tho resolution was passed yester
day and tho speaker appointed an investigating
committoo. But if any of tho standpatters
iraagino that thoy are fooling anyone their ca
pacity for self-deception is extraordinary.
Who takes tho resolution seriously? Who
will take the investigation seriously in view of
its origin and purpose? It will bo regarded as
an invostigaton for "Buncombe county only.
Tho now trust busters aro in no hurry. Though
thoro is "nothing doing" in congress, it is not
expected that tho work will bo completed be
fore adjournment. And then the national con
ventions will monopolize attention, and no on
will romomber wood pulp. After that the dog
days will furnish an oxcuso for a slow pace.
Our standpat friends intend to "exploit" the
resolution in their "deestrlcts," to point to it
with affected pride as a statesmanlike substi
tute for revision. Thoy will run the risk of
hooting and jeering. Their little game is too
transparent. Their only serious argument that
thoy could not touch wood pulp and paper with
out reoponlng the whole tariff question Was
gone when it was shown that the admitted need
of forest-saving furnished a complete and con
vincing reason for treating the wood pulp and
paper duties as belonging to a separate and dis
tinct category. Tho house minority is on record
as acquiescing in such treatment of these duties.
Tho anxious standpatters know that telling quo
tations from presidential messages and resolu
tions of manufacturers and clubs and other or
ganizations were at their disposal to justify to
all minds tho singling out of the schedule in
question for revision at this time. They are
reckoning without tho common sense and the
humor of their constituents.
(Tho above is not n Commoner editorial. It
was not taken from any democratic paper. It
appeared as an editorial in that devoted old
republican newspaper, the Chicago Record-Herald
issue of April 22.)
tv V jV &
"THE FULL DINNER PAIL"
The state labor department of New York
)n April 19 issued a bulletin in which it is
stated that at tho close of 1907 one out of every
throe union men in tho state was idle. The
trades union policy is to not only shorten the
working day, but to limit the number of
working days per week in order to insur3 work
enough for their members to provide against
want. For instance, the International Typo
graphical Union has a law prohibiting a mem
ber working more than six consecutive days if
there is any member of the union looking for
work in the local jurisdiction. Many local
unions adopted a flve-day law early last winter
In order to distribute the work among more
men. Other unions do the same thing, and this
served In large measure to tide many men with
families over tho winter. But if one- out of
every three union men in Now York state is out
of employment, what must be the proportion of
jobless men in the unorganized trades and occu
pations? Tho campaign Blogan of "The full
dinner pail" would elicit r-oro jeers than cheers
if offered to the workingmen of New York today.
w w w j5
IIENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman is dead
When ho was chosen prime minister of England
those who knew him intimately felt that his
selection was a vindication of the doctrine that
patience and courage when joined with merit
are invincible. JDuring his entire public career
Campbell-Bannerman stood unflinchingly for
democratic ideas. He was never discouraged
when he found himself in tho minority: on tho
contrary, he has felt as confident in his position
when he has had to maintain it amid taunts and
jeers as when his epeeches brought forth an
plauso. Ho was not as great an orator as Glari
stone but he had a persuasive manner and hia
?pneecheUsBe hUmr We brillIancy to
i af ? outl1lnlnS tho Poliy of the liberal partv
last December, ho credited the victory at tho
polls to several causesthe tariff ouesHnn f
Chinese question, the educatiSna prob ' a" ,1
municipal questions. Ho pledged his nartv to
Hnnai? ?m'mS an,d boldly advocated Tfeduc
tion of military and naval expenses Hn nninJlS
out that there could be no rSSSimSt ta? tSS
ation if tho appropriations for armaments and
for armies continued to increase. He has been
called a "little Englandej," but that did not
deter him from uttering a protest against the
rivalry which seems to bo going on in Europe
in the building of warships.
In viow of his utterances in favor of arbi
tration and against militarism it was most ap
propriate that he should deliver the address of
welcome at the recent session of the Interparlia
mentary Union, better known as the peace con
gress. His speech on that occasion was an
epoch-making deliverance. In no uncertain
tones ho threw the influence of his ministry on
tho side of peace and opened the door for the
adoption of a far-reaching proposition in favor
of the submission of all questions to investiga
tion before hostilities are commenced. He used
tho North Sea incident as an illustration and
urged the extension of tho powers of the board
of inquiry. His now famous exclamation, "The
duma is dead long live the duma," illustrates
both his moral courage and his devotion to rep
resentative government. The sentence was a
part of his peace congress speech and was ut
tered, in the presence of the duma representatives
who left Russia before tho proroguing of that
body. It electrified the audience and has been
widely commented on throughout Europe.
His death will be keenly regretted In all
sections of the world. England has lost one of
her great characters and liberty has lost one of
its faithful champions.
W 5 W &
THE WORLD DODGES
Writing to the New York World T. K. Van
Dyke of Harrisburg, Pa., says:
Hero are three questions for the, World
to answer:
1. Did the World support Bryan in
1896 and 1900?
2. Will the World support Bryan in.
1908 if ho is nominated by the overwhelm
ing vote of the national convention?
3. For whom does the World speak,
naming specifically "the Interests" which .
control its utterances?
Over Mr; VanDyke's letter the World prints
this headline, "Answered with Pleasure," and
below the letter appears the following:
Answers:
1. The World did not support Mr.
Bryan in 1896. It supported him in 1900
on the issue of the un-American policy of
Asiatic colonial government.
2. Tt is not easy to conceive of circum
stances in which the World could conscien
tiously support Mr. Bryan for president this
year.
3. Tho "interests which control" tho
utterances of the World are tho public In
terests. Ed. World.
But the World does not answer Mr. Van
Dyke's third question. He asked "For whom
does the World speak, naming specifically 'the
interests' which control its utterances." And
the only answer which this great newspaper
makes to this question is: "The 'interests
which control' the utterances of the World are
the public interests."
But that by no means answers the ques
tion. It is mere assertion and leaves the reader
dependent upon the word of tho editor of the
World which, in this particular, may be of no
value.
Let the World state the extent of the finan
cial interests hold by its owner, Joseph Pulitzer
in railroad companies and in great corporations
commonly known as trusts. yorauons
With this information the readers of rh
World will be in better position to Teterm
the special interests for which the New Yo?k
World is carrying on its campaign of mTsrlnr?'
sentation with respect to democrats 2 T
not the favor of the World anTiTs maSs
REDUCTIONS AND INCREASE,
The Philadelphia Public Ledger creatlv a
precates any strike against a reduction
wages, and insists that managers with common
sense always try to deal openly and falriTSu?
their employes. Then it says- y With
"In New England the cotton mills were mm
pelled to face tho situation nSii om
made a clear, frank, convincing statement Mf"
situation to their operatives and hmJ f h1
Zr,kT accepted tlfe Shle toerSV
SnSSS 'TheV110 eThere
rrelghtkXaPas A
roads that the business was not being done. The
reductions were made and accepted."
That is all very well, a far as it goes-
but it doesn't go far enough. Just as soon as
business falls off the managers begin retrench
ing, and -wages are the first to suffer the cut
That is the invariable rule in all productive
enterprises that are not bound by wage con
tracts. But when business revives and begins
to boom, wages are tho last to feel the upward
impulse. The railroad manager who draws
$40,000 or $50,000 a year salary finds it easy
to announce a ten per cent reduction in tho
wages of the section men, the round house
"wipers," the car cleaners and other unskilled
men. He seldom thinks of a ten pur cent reduc
tion in his own salary and the salaries of his
well paid lieutenants. The cotton mill owner
finds it easy to reduce wages ten or twenty per
cent during dull times, but ft requires a long
time for him to restore the wages when business
is again booming. Perhaps if the great corpor
ations were as quick to increase wages in good
times as they are to lower wages in hard times,
there would be fewer strikes.
W w w bV
SAVING THE BOYS
No one expects perfection at once in the
administration of juvenile court 'laws, but the
marked success of Judge Lee Estelle of Omaha
in reaching and saving the boys is an evidence
of what great results may be achieved in this
great work. So long did society enact laws to
protect itself from the individual that it over
looked the necessity of enacting laws to protect
the individual from society. But of late the
protection of the individual has been given at
tention with the result that we now have child
labor laws, employe' liability laws, safety ap
pliance laws, and other laws of similar charac
ter. ' At the very foundation of all these laws,
however, is the law protecting the children from
the greed and carelessness of society. The old
plan of herding delinquent and so-called "in
corrlgibles" in the same "bull pen" with old
and seasoned criminals was only a plan for the
propagation of crime. It made criminals in
stead of protecting society. The new and saner
plan is to prevent boys and girls from becoming
criminals. They are not only protected from
the greed that would rob them of their child
hood and their chance in order to profit by their
toil, but they are protected by being taken from
bad environment and put in the midst of proper
surroundings.
v 4. rerluires not only a knowledge of boys,
but the knack of interesting them and gaining
their confidence, in order to successfully prose
cute this great work. Judge Estelle possesses
these attributes in rich measure, and his work
in Omaha is bearing rich fruit. It is gratifying
to know that such men are growing more and
more in demand as Chautauqua lecturers. When
men of great legal learning, like Judge Estelle,
tell society how to handle the "boy problem"
great results may be expected results that will
be of incalculable benefit to society. Those who
have heard Judge Estelle are a unit in endors
ing him and his work as a judge and as a lec
turer. His years of experience in the work, his
warm and tender sympathies, and his magnetic
personality, combine to make him markedly suc
cessful in this great work.
5 2X 2 iX
UNCONSTITUTIONAL?
An employers' liability bill passed the
house and senate, and now it is reported that
there is a serious defect sufficient for the courts
to declare it unconstitutional. Perhaps, how
ETSfc judifIal V1 a this measure, like
thl electibn0"' had "aftGr the PresIden"
,?
THE PIE PUMPKIN
Now that the season for planting the fruit
ful seed in the fertile soil has arrived, we would
call upon the Washington Herald to join with
us in a crusade of much more than passing
moment. We refer td the need of campaign
ing for more enlightenment as to the pie pumn
kin of commerce. Too many there be who
Imagine that any old pumpkin is good enough
for pie filling and that all that is necessary
is to shove the seed into tho ground by the
pressure of the ball of the thumb and let it
?JV .: Such France ;s not only appall
ing, but it is responsible in large measure for
L wCad?UC? ofT the feculent pumpkin pie.
Iho Washington Herald has been so valiant in
its defense of the pumpkin pie that we feel
j&ft.