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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (July 31, 1908)
tTfWP'1' t : v'T --' . r JA yUIJY-31, 11908 Commoner. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm TUB FARMER'S INTEREST A Cadillac, Mich., reader of The Commoner K .writes: "The farmers should be with us on tho . .tariff and trust questions. Around hero tho .farmers are getting four and one-half cents a "-pound for hides against eleven cents a year ago. - .Yet the price of leather is as high as it was f . last year and no immediate promise of a reduc . tion, and his shoes and harness are costing him V. fully as much as a year ago. This year our 7" farmers received fifteen cents for wool against "' a price of twenty-four a year ago, yet the Amer ? lean Woolen company that controls about 70 - per cent of the leading woolen mills of the coun- - try is charging as much for woolen cloths as a v year ago and the farmer must pay .as much for 5? his clothing as he did last year and he is lucky if ho does not get more cotton in his clothes than he does wool. Let us direct our efforts to convince the farmers and laborers that j ' their interests lie with us. Along that line lies v the road to victory." Y Yes, and the farmers should be with us . on the question of an economical administra tion. They should be with us in tho protest ' against the exercise of arbitrary power by the ', speaker whereby the house of representatives i has ceased to be a popular government. They should be with us in tho condemna- . . tion of the misuse of patronage; in the demand ' for railroad regulation that will regulate; in i the advocacy of publicity for campaign contrl- .'1 butions BEFORE election day. . -j They should be with us in the opposition to that centralization which would destroy our i system of government and ultimately make it -V necessary for the farmer, as well as other citi- r" zens, to look to the national capital, rather than to the state capital and the county seat, when seeking relief from corporation abuses. i , They should be with us for the popular "l election of senators; for the income tax; for r- V the guarantee to the laboring men, as well as V tto all men. the right of trial by jury; for the . vf armor has a deep concern in the welfare of the . '.-laboring man Who is the consumer of the farm- " sir's products. They should be with us on the guarantee of bank deposits; for what shall it profit a farmer if he obtain high prices for his product tind then have no place where ho may, with absolute confidence,' deposit his hard earned money? .:' ' They should be with us upon the great . ' question "shall the people rule" for the farmer has a deep and abiding interest in popular gov ' eminent; and if he does not already know it, '' ". investigation will reveal to him the fact that in . ' the language of the democratic national plat form " 'shall the people rule' is the overshadow ing issue which manifests itself in all the ques- tions now under discussion." ; , 2& t2" 5 "GIVE THEM A JURY" On May 7, 1896, when the contempts of court bill was pending in the United States senate, Mr. Bryan, then editor of the Omaha World-Herald, printed this editorial: "Senator Hill has reported a bill regulat ing punishment for contempt by United States courts. When the contempt is committed in the presence of the court, summary punishment is permitted as now, but when tho contempt is committed beyond the court room and not in the presence of the court, the offender must bo arrested upon complaint duly filed and must be given a trial as in criminal cases. The ac cused can have a jury only on condition that the court permits it. This is a defect which will doubtless .be corrected before the bill passes. While it is true that a judge would generally hesitate to refuse a jury when demanded, yet it is dangerous to leave such a question to the discretion of the court. If it is said that tho request would always be granted, why not make it a matter of right rather than a matter of . grace? If the judge Bhould, in the exercise of his discretion, refuse a jury, it would be sure to arouse hostile criticism and might work great injury. Senator Allen should watch for this bill and introduce an amendment guaranteeing a jury trial, whenever demanded by the accused." "AFTER THE ELECTION" A' dispatch to the Chicago Tribune under date of New York, July 22, follows: "The re port that the Standard Oil company is about to announce an increase of $500,000,000- in its capital stock was received with great interest in the-financial district-here today. Similar rumors have been circulated several times in X- tho last few years, particularly in tho wost, but ' generally they have boon met with denials by the Standard Oil intorests. A prominent finan cier who has close relations with tho Standard Oil company said: 'I am sura that it i3 tho samo old story revived again and that thoro is nothing in it. Certainly this would bo a moBt inopportune time to take any such action, with a presidential election only a few months ahead of us. I suppose it is possible that something of. that kind may bo done some timo in tho fu ture, but not this year not now.' " This would be "a most inopportune timo" to pump a half billion gallons of water into tho Standard Oil stock. If anything like that is dono it will bo In accordance with other repub lican plans "after the election." "After tho election" tho tariff will bo re vised by a party that derives its campaign funds from the special beneficiaries of tho tariff. "After the election" the contributions to tho campaign fund will bo published when it is too late for the people to learn that tho trusts pay the bill for tho republican campaign. "After tho election" Standard Oil trust stock will be watered if that course suits tho purposes of tho Rockefellers and tho Rogerses; and "after the election" should tho people re elect the special privileges' party they will pay dearly for their indifference to tho solemn warn ing confronting them on every hand. O v v MISREPRESENTATION Tho New York Sun says of tho organized workingmen of tho country that "they aro nat urally resentful of Mr. Goinpers' promise to sell their votes in a body for his own personal ag grandizement." Timo was when tho New York Sun made some pretense of being reliable, but if this statement is the measure of its present relia bility a great change for the worse has como upon it. Mr. Gompers has not promised to . "sell" the votes of organized labor. An inti mation that he has done so is a gratuitous in sult to a man who has won high place in tho regard of his fellow workers by his storllng integrity and his earnest devotion to the cause of organized labor. Neither has he promised to deliver tho votes of organized labor to any ticket. An Intimation that he has is an indict ment of his intelligence, which has served to make him the head of a great organization num bering upwards of 2,000,000 members. Are republican organs so afraid of an Intelligent labor voto that they seek to keep it in ignor ance of tho facts and appeal to prejudices and passions instead of to reason? &fi i&ri 2r lift UNFORTUNATE In the light of the bitter criticism visited upon Judge Landis by Judge Grosscup in releas ing the Standard Oil company from fine, it will not do, of course, to criticise the court, al though we have eminent republican authority for such a course I. e., Theodore Roosevelt's criticism of Judge Humphrey's beef trust de cision. We make bold to say, however, that the New York World puts it forcefully, although calmly, when It says: "It Is unfortunate this most harsh condemnation of a judge by his higher associates should have been for his at tempt adequately to punish tho Standard Oil company." l&r? 1r 1&& A SUGGESTION TO MR. SHERMAN Associated Press dispatches say that Rep resentative l James S. Sherman, tho republican nominee for. vice president, will make a-tour of th,ewest in behalf of the republican ticket. We suggest- that Mr, Shermanwho is Speaker Cannon's right hand' man in tho house, tell tho people what he thinks of the republican revolt against Cannonism. By tho time Mr. Sherman gets through ex plaining to republicans tho methods of tho Cannon-Sherman oligarchy in the house, ho may havo some time, to deyote to his widely ad vertised "arraignment of democrats. w fr ils NOT ISSUES! Attorney General Wade H. Ellis of Ohio who was a member of the committee on reso lutions in the republican national convention, issued a statement in which, referring to tho propositions voted down in the republican con vention he days: "Of the seven omissions ho (Mr. Bryan) refers to, six are In, no sense issues before the people at this time, nor has there been i any attempt to make them such by tho admin istration, nor 'by! any! oth'or Inllubntlnl Jolomcnt in tho party. Tho'sevcnth concerns injunctions." Many republican papers supproHHOd this portion of Mr. Ellis' statement. The reaHon for tho suppression will bo readily undrntood when it in remembered that among the propositions which Mr. Ellis says aro "In no sense Issues beforo tho peoplo" aro the following: Publicity of campaign contributions. Ascertaining tho value of railroads. Tho national Income tax. The encroachment of prodatory wealth. Popular election of United States senators. Mr. Ellis has,- perhaps, noticed that since tho publication of his statomont tho republican candldato for prosldont has glvon proof that ho has discovered that tho peoplo havo some concern in tho publlclty-of-campalgn-contrlbu-tlons' proposition. & Jt jfi b SHAME ON YOU, GOVERNOR! Edward W. Iloch, republican governor of Kansas, In an Interview printed in tho Chicago Tribune, speaks rather lightly of Judge Gross cup's decision In tho Standard Oil 'case. Tho Tribune quotes the govornor as saying: "The upper court seems impressed by tho fact that Judgo Landis was 'hard' on the Stand ard Oil company. I was always impressed by tho fact that tho Standard Oil company was hard on mo and on every ono elso that it got a crack at." The Trlbuno takes tho trouble to nay that Govornor Hoch made this remark "scornfully." Shamo on you, Governor Iloch, for intimating: that Judgo Landis was not entitled to the drub bing ho received. Jb fcTV nt O NOT AN INCH CONCEDED Tho New York Evening Post says that the democrats "practically concede New York to the enemy." Tho Post is mistaken. New York is democratic ground and every Inch of It will be contested. M w i3 i2 ANTI-IMPERIALIST LEAGUE Tho following dispatch carried by tho As sociated "Pre&V explains itself: Boston, July 10. The executivo commit tee of the anti-imperialist league issued a state ment today recommending that the friends of the league withhold their votes from William H. Taft for president and support William J. Bryan. The statement says: "Wo believe In tho declaration of inde pendence. Its truths aro not less self evident today than when first announced by our fathers, are of universal application and can not be abandoned while government by tho peoplo en dures. "Wo boliovo in the constitution of tho United States. It gives tho president and con gress certain limited powers and secures to every man within the jurisdiction of our government certain essential rights. Wo deny that either tho president or congress can govern any person anywhere outaido tho constitution. "Because wo thus believe, wo recommend our friends and felldw citizens to withhold their votes from William H. Taft, who stands upon the republican platform which denies Independ ence to tho Philippines and looks t" local home rule as the only goal to be attained. So long as these islands are held as posses sions in defiance of the principles of the declara tion of independence and without constitutional authority, the United States is pledged to the tremendous task of fortifying them and their . defense, in time of war, while they remain a con tinuous menace to American labor and Ameri can industry. "Though, other ways of opposing the atti tude of Mr. Taft may be welcomed, it is obvious direct support of Mr. Bryan Is an effective means of rebuking imperialism, because of his sincer ity, and his earnest purpose to secure to the . Flllpipos their independence, and because he ,. stands upon a platform which, meets upon this vital issue our unqualified, approval. "Wo recommend to our members and to the members of allied leagues and to our friends generally that they preserve the independence of the movement, take the most active part in the pending political campaign and in particular in their respective districts vote and work for the candidates for congress who will oppose the policy of imperialism. "ANTI-IMPERIALIST LEAGUE, Per 'Executive Committee: Irving Winslow, Secretary' I k