1!PHHH
JIW
'ir-p1 """
ww'wwiamiw'1"' "-ygB"
,4ljf?i
4
-A
"T&T
The Commoner.
.
CHARLES W. BRYAN, PUBLISHER
VOL. 8, NO. 38
Lincoln, Nebraska, October 2, 1908
Whole Number 402
0 '
FIGS OF THISTLES?
0
44 THE CALAMITY HOWLER"
Collier's Weekly Is on the list of
publications to which republican man
agers point with prido as he support
ers of Mr. Taft. Following arc extracts
from an article that appeared recently
in Collier's Weekly:
"The election and subsequent death
of Mr. Taft would mean the occupancy of
the White House by an official fat
fryer who has during several years past
approached, with deferential hat in hand,
the president or treasurer of most of tho
largo corporations in the country. It
was in tho course of this official function
that Sherman was profanely turned
down by Mr. Harriman, with bitter de
nunciation of tho republican party and
reeking messages for the head of that
party, that the party and the head of it
had not been grateful for the $250,000
which Mr. Harriman collected and gave
in 1904. Penrose, as one of the execu
tive committee of nine which is to do the
actual -work of the republican campaign,
is an error of .tasto and judgment, but
not a great deal worse. With T. Cole
man Dupont, of. Delaware, however, the
case differs. Among the combinations
now being prosecuted by the-federal gov
ernment is thataKKreeration of companies
known as .the riowden, trusts Mii. Dupont...,
. is president of the $50,000,0.00 Dupont
Powiiek company',1 president of the fl0r
000,000 International Powder Company,
director of the International Smokeless
Powder company,. and .vice v president. of
the holding company, the DelawareSer
curities company, which, owns a majority .
of the stock of the Laflln and Rand
Powder company."
"Suppose that Mr. Tart being sue-.- ;
cessful; should be approached by Mr.
Dupont thus: 'I am one of the ten men,
including Chairman Hitchcock, who have
put you over the plate. I don't want to
be reminding you continually of the obli-
gation; there is one small piece of pa-
tronage I should like, and 1 shan't speak
to you about patronage again dur-
ing your administration. There is a '
deserving young friend of mine whom I
should like to have appointed to the posi-
tion lately held by Mr. Turdy, in charge
of that bureau of the department of
justice which is seeking to break up my
company, deprive mo of some of my
property, and declare me a violator of the
law.' Something analogous would have
been the presence of Harry Thaw two
years ago on a committee of ten to col-
lect funds and promote the election of
Jerome as district attorney.
"A minority plank calling for a stat-
ute providing for publicity of campaign
expenditures was thrown out of the
committee on resolutions by a vote of
52 to 1, and was rejected on the floor of
the convention by a vote of 880 to 94
Nebraska and Idaho and parts 6f Wiscon-
0 sin and Indiana favoring it. The amount
of Bourbonism still left in the republican
party is far too large."
Senator Hopkins of Illinois is quoted as
saying: "There is no more reason that a man
should bo guaranteed the return of his funds
placed in a national bank than n farmer should
bo guaranteed his crop."
Why, then, docs the government require
of nntional banks a guarantee for the return of
government funds?
f
I
I
I
"fcEWARd fF Wl WW .
w, THE ELECTION Of THfi 4 WW iM
pf29 DEMOCRATIC TICKET WILL . JWK tCJSL Wfe
. ' ' :.
Not Very Convincing-to These Men
MR. BRYAN TO MR. ROOSEVELT
From Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mr. Bryan gave
to the Associated Press his reply to Mr. Roose
velt's attack upon him. Mr. Bryan's letter fol
lows :
MILWAUKEE, Sept. 26, 1908. "Hon. Theo
dore Roosevelt, President of the United States,
Washington, D. C. Dear Sir: While I have not
yet received your letter and shall not until I
reach home, next week, I have read a copy of it
in the press, and beg leave to submit the follow
ing reply:
Mr. Haskell, having voluntarily resigned
from the committee that he might be more free
to prosecute those who have brought charges
against him, I need not discuss the question of
his guilt or innocence further than to say that
the public service ho has rendered and tho vote
of confidence he has received from the people of
his state ought to protect him from condemna
tion until the charges can be examined in some
court where partisanship does not bias and where
campaign exigencies do not compel prejudgment.
I would not deem it necessary to address
you further but for the fact that you seize upon
tin charges and attempt to make political capital
out of them. You even charge that my connec
tion with Mr. Haskell's selection as a member
of the resolutions committee and as treasurer of the
committee raises a question as to my sincerity as an
opponent of trusts and monopolies. As an indi
vidual and as the candidate of my party, I re
sent the charge and repel the insinuation. I
have been in public life for eighteen years, and
I have been sufficiently conspicuous to make my
conduct a matter of public Interest I have
passed through two political campaigns in which
party feeling ran high and epithet was ex
changed. I have no hesitation in saying that you
cannot find an act, a word or a thought of mine
to justify your partisan charge.
I have never been informed of any charge
that had been made against Mr. Haskell con
necting him with the Standard Oil company or
with any other trust. I had known him as a
leader in the constitutional conventio- of Okla
homa and had known him as one of the men prin-.
cipally responsible for that excellent legislation
since adopted by a majority of over 100,000, 70,000
of which was furnished by republicans. I had
known of his .election to the governorship of that
great young .stale by a majority of some 80,000;
I had known that the constitution was adopted
and that Governor Haskell was elected in spito
of the efforts of your administration and in 'spite
of the speeches made in Oklahoma by Mr. Taft.
You say that It was a matter of common
notoriety that Mr. Haskell was connected with
the Standard Oil company. I have a right to as
sume that if so serious an objection had existed
to Mr. Haskell's election and had been a matter
of common notoriety In Ohio, as you say, Judge
Taft would have felt it his conscientious duty to
warn the people when he spoke in Oklahoma. If
ho did not have the knowledge, why can it bo as
sumed that I had it. And if he had It, how can
you excuse his failure to communicate the infor- t
mation of tho peoplo of Oklahoma. If you feel
it your patriotic duty to denounce Mr. Haskell
when ho is only a member of the national organi
zation, how much more would Mr. Taft have felt
it his patriotic duty to denounce Mr. Haskell when
he was aspiring to be the chief executive of a
great state?
I could have no knowledge of the suit to
which you refer '.hen he was appointed chairman
of the resolutions committee of the democratic
m
f I
i
m
ri
;
i
dilllftlimfllilii in r it..'' -mVtLk.
daiMtlWiMin li liii MfiMi .111 JUfcjMJgfcat.U& Oirtrd
-',. ,. .