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and ft largo part, of tho campaign to waken our
pcoplo as a wholo to a lively and effective con
demnation of tho low standard of morality im
plied in such conduct on tho part of great busi
ness concerns. Tho first duty of every man is
to provide a livelihood for himself and for
thoso dopondont upon him; it is from every
standpoint desirable that each of our citizens
should ondeavor by hard work and honorablo
methods to secure for him and his such a com
potonco as will carry with it tho opportunity to
enjoy in reasonable fashion tho comforts and re
flnomonts, of lifo; and, furthermore, the man of
groat business ability who obtains a fortune in
upright fashion inovitably in so doing confers
a benefit upon tho community as a Whole and
Is entitled to reward, to respect, and to ad
miration. But among tho many kinds of evil,
social, industrial and political, which it is our
duty as a nation stonily to combat, there is
none at tho same timo moro base and more
dangerous than the greed which treats tho plain
and simple rules of honesty with cynical con
tompt if they intorfero with making a profit; and
as a nation wo can not bo hold guiltless if wo
condono suph action. Tho man who preaches
hatred of wealth honestly acquired, who incul
cates envy and jealousy and slanderous ill will
toward thoan of ha fnllnwn wTm hv tiirJff nnar.mT
j and industry have become men of means, is a
xnonaco to the community."
Tli la is a splendid illustration of tho man
t nor in which tho public is robbed by private
monopoly. It Is time that the private monopoly
I was exterminated, for its .extermination, Instead
' of destroying business, will revive business and
J at tho same time" relievo tho public from one
I of its greatest menaces.
PLEADING WITH TUB SPEAKER
Nowspapor dispatches say that President
Roosevolt invited Speaker Cannon to tho White
i House, May C, and bluntly told him that unless
ho allowed tho houso to do something for tho
public intorests he would bo responsible! for
. republican dofeat. Tho president particularly
wanted tho wood pulp bill passed.
Referring to tho conference between tho
president and tho speaker, Waltor GlhnanTn.
a dispatch printed in tho -ChTcago Record
Herald sayo:
"Why pass a bill simply because tho -'
nowspapor publishers want it? The coun
try, will declare wo havo discriminated in '
favor of the newspapers and we will receive
tho righteous swatting of the voters be
cause wo havo done something for them
and not for tho rest of the people."
This, in substance, is understood to bo
the Cannon argument, or excuse, for not
yielding to widespread pressure anent free
. listing pulp and paper. It is an excuse.
however, that has been readily met by tho
. now plan of action at the White House.
f r Xou wanJ to d0 something for the
; rest of tho people as well, you havo tho
"' 2j!Eoo That was ln wibBtonco tho an
; ewer given to Speaker Cannon todav
''Here's the postal savings Dank propodttoj"
It has been urged by tho administration, ?a
,JSnni,?te,?8t 5 th0 wnol PeP10' and the
people, having studied tho matter, want tho
system established. They want ; that just
as much as the publishers want wood pulp
' pi;intPaPr on the free list. You alone
?w!n thL Way of both Propositions. 'Act
In both matters, or get off tho lid and lot
the house act and then it can not bo. said
that congress was discriminating in favor
of any single interest."
This, must bo interesting reading for re
publicans who yet believe that the repubiicat
party intends to represent the people. epuDUcan
Here the president of tho United States
Invites tho speaker to tho White Hour? nm?
Pleads with him to give republican publ shers-
?nn C0UrK' Pub8ors generallyi-re o? from
tariff imposition And when the speaker 2S
that a wood pulp bill would bo a danLS
object lesson for voters who yet iraaginf that
tho foreigner payB the tax and that "So 15
of the people" will then demLd some reliof
tho president says he might give "the S f
the people" the postal savings bank "Unc?e
Joo" hr right so far as the object lesson is coi
cerned. A great many republicans who w"
for years patiently submitted to tariff wnnV0
&,,;? ndt tart "Svsssss
And why not tariff rovision? If it ia enn
for tho newspaper publisher why not give it
The Commoner.
to tho consumers generally? And how does It
happen that this great political organization,
whose leaders insist that It is the party of tho
people, tho "party of God and morality," can
not bo persuaded to legislate in public Interests.
It can hardly bo coaxed to give enough in
the way of remedial legislation to which tho
republican political managers may point as an
excuse for tho re-election of their party to the
control of tho national government?
I&fc IV V v
PULP, SOPHISTRY AND PliAIN PACT
Our Washington correspondent states' oh
high Canadian authority that the Dominion
parliament te not expected by any well-informed
person to impose an export duty on wood pulp.
Such a measure, it is true, has been advocated by
certain interests, but it is vigorously opposed by
other Important and politically influential in
terests,, and no action is at all probable for tho
present and immediate future.
This disposes of the last refuge of the so
phists and artful dodgers who, having deter
mined to do nothing that might in any manner
or degree affect tho tariff, have been hard put
to it to find plausible reasons for their unpopu
lar and indefensible position on the wood pulp
and print paper question.
The whole affair would be farcical If it did
not involve a grave and far-reaching assault on'
representative government. It is not the inter
ests of tho publishers alone that are at stake.
Were that the case it would be injudicious for
the press to agitate the matter regardless of
other injustices in the antiquated tariff act
The Stevens bill in relation to wood pulp and
paper is earnestly favored by all who realize
the need of forest preservation and prudent
utilization of our natural resources generally.
It embodies an explicit recommendation of the
president based solely on that need, and it could
and ought to be passed on its own merits
strictly, and without reference to the demand
for tariff revision. A majority of the republi
can members of the house would gladly vote for
it on those national and general grounds. The
mJnQrltyris anxious to vote for it and would
pledge itself to abstain from confusing amend
ments "reopening the tariff question," '
,w ?iut a Bma1 eroup of eminent standpatters
defy the majority, flout the president, treat his
messages with contempt, refuse to consider or
hold hearings on the bill, resort to subterfuge
after subterfugeall in order" to avoid straight
forward action. That eminent "trust buster"
Undo Joe, introduces a resolution for an Ind'e
Fn5?nt i1!?1! ry by a commltteo that has nothing
flrJLr "i1? w.00,d pulp estlon and whose
findings would bind no one and hold out no
?S2? 2egiBlation; and that other eminent
trust buster, Congressman Man, is made the
inquisitor in chief to put the publishers on thl
defensive and obscure the real, the paramount
arguments for the wood pulp and pajier pTopo-
r,n n?"!m TiU a11 theSG trlcks deceive?
Do the individual representatives imagine that
their constituents will be terrified by the names
of Cannon, Payne and Dalzell and accent as S?
ficient the pitiable plea that the house could
do nothing against the veto of the triumviratl?
The individual representative will have to facl
win noUt8"gon" Wn dIStrI' and bwwSK
(Tho above is not a Commoner editorial
It s not taken from any democratic Sr
It appeared as an editorial in that devoted I old
republican newspaper, tho Chicago Record.
Herald issue of April 28.) decora-
"A STRONG TAFT MOVEMENT"
Writing from New York to hi t,q t,
Chicago Record-Herald, William E CuXJ
"Thoro is, a strong Taft movement tSSI
Street. You would ho surprised to Vnn
That sounds familiar Cnm
will remember that du"5 the 2'?
tho Taft press bureau, located a? C im1
sent out, according to the Sn!L I umus 0-
printed slips hewthSllfS? '
ness Hope Lies on Taft," "AmalnSn i "
Candidate," "Big Wall Stf w TaftLls Best
Financial' Interests to AVrist i?Sr8e ?ll? on
Following are extracts from the TV1"
"Mr, T.affs long record llTJZtL1'
VOLUME 8, NUMBER i8
Jty, good judgment, and, above all snnfHr i
tho great and successful accomplishments of' ht
career We must not lose s ght of the far?
that there is a temperamental difference in thn
two men, Hoosevelt and Taft. By nature
by training as a lawyer and as a judge Mr
Taft has always manifested a thoughtfuf ' atti
tudo in his judgment, and a great deliberation
and conservatism in his actions. Neither iB ft
conceivable that a man of his force of charactoJ
would be controlled, when in tho full power or
the presidency, by any outside personally"
In its issue of MarcH 9, the Washington
Herald prInted an interview with General
Kief er. a 'member of congress, in which he saTd
ff iih? TlB for Taft nnd dId not believe that
retoKatlyis bd T.TX
S odmthtnye ft auaL
issued by a subordinate at Te IKmbS Office
Later the Omaha Bee, a leading Taft or
appeared that wi& respect to We Roosevet
policies Governor Hughes, Senator KnoVsneai
er Canoon, Vice President Fairbanks and the
otters were quite as much for aZ f Secretary
"NOW LETTEST THOU THY SERVANT"
At a dinner given to Senator Knox bv tho
Americus Republican club at Pittsbun? Mr
S'whf nerro fTLSL t
hahd aeVcasef0aghfLa V iSioS
furrow " mer who never turned a
thPrT?cf Mr- sworth said: "I want to say
there is one thing in which I asree with him
Mr Bryan has repeatedly and Si? Idvocatod
that this government should own abd?malntaln
legations and embassies in the various capitols
sular:t0abHshmUd Wn and taTncon!
suiai establishments in some of th& -nrinMfJhi
Ports. In that proposition I am In ahsolute SS
cord with Mr. Bryan: in fact, it is 'fS of
mine which I am apt to ride upon all occasions '
qnoh1?6 apProval f Mr. Nicholas LoSgworth
&&&&
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CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS
S?. n01?. commlttee "as at lait reported
tho McCall bill providing for publicity as to-
nTPJllfnWC?ntrlbutions- The McCall bin is the
bill which has been urged by the publicitv or!
ganizatiop of which Mr. Perry Belmont 2 r
S; This ? one of the measures whichPMr
Williams, as leader of the minority, has urfed
upon congress and it is to be hoped that h a w?n
succeed in forcing action. Refusal of th a ri
publican majority to allow thf Mil to come to
a vote can be construed only as an l effort !n 1!
McCallhoniTsU?ntUSr,f rne "he"
McCall bill is intended to compel publicitv as
to campaign contributions and pVblicitv te
death to tho corrupt methods which have been
employed during recent years. If we c Jn com
pel the publication of cinWbutton? betora th
election, contributions given fir a corraSt rar
pose will be very much lessened, for Preda
tory corporations cannot make public contribu
"onfs t0 a c ampaign fund without huruSg tho'
cr'ato b? SUSS emiPt t0 help' The demo!
crais Dy favoring this law show that thev ara
trying to purify politics; the republicans by on!
theco'rruntLTinfl116 lntiTte Association wUh
an SSSF SJUGnCea which ave t0 so-large
2L?oWaiLv?S t the private.
.. Uv..iS uinuinauons.
. ti
LlttleneW ?? nnnufaCtUr offers Congressman
Action of ti0,v0o ii1!e.wi11 ProVe-to the satls-
thaVtftfniS;X? J1!? mn or wornen-
American Vo7wnrm A8 Ji S.. thing fpn
tlonAifi roonVf , xa congressman 'Llt
ueneiu resigned in orrlor n rvA
smethods. He has displayed bnOnB-abU- to make 'SSSFSSr pay here 'ls a ?"
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