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The Commoner.
UARY 29, 1909
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fris could seldom bo questioned when fully
Iderstood. In one thing, however. In the
t he played in the midnight judiciary, it is
icult to find a trace of broad-minded states-
mship. And yet at the end of his term he
a great service for his country an act tno
ect of which is still felt in our government
k appointed John Marshall chief justice of the
Ipremo court.
"The downfall of the federal party was final.
his first great political party in America had
lloted the ship of state upon a stormy sea for
reive years, but now at the close of the cen-
iry it suffered an irrevocable overthrow. The
sderal party embodied in its doctrine much
Lat is of permanent value in human govern
ment; and it did a great service to the country,
md was necessary to save the new born nation
rom anarchy. But it was too centralizing in
ts tendencies, and from this cause the party
ras never popular; for the people, ever jealous
if their liberties, feared that the government
rould become tyrannical and oppressive. More-
ver, the party committed the unpardonable
lln in passing the alien and sedition laws, and
the sovereign' people sat in judgment, and
assed upon it the sentence of death. But
these laws were the occasion, not the cause,
)f its overthrow. The vital defect lay in its
mistrust of popular government its want of
confidence in the people."
SEDITION IN 1909
The New York World, discussing its own
prosecution says:
"There has been nothing quite like it In this
country for the last 109 years not since the
federalist party went to wreck and ruin under
the infamy of the alien and sedition laws and
Thomas Jefferson became president of the
United States.
"The real issue involved in this case is not
one that affects merely the New York World.
It is not an issue that affects the freedom of the
press. It affects the freedom of speech as well
and reaches out to the constitutional rights of
every citizen of the United States.
"If Mr. Roosevelt could muzzle the World by
instituting or instigating criminal proceedings in
federal courts f6r what he called in his message
of December 15 'a libel upon the United States
government' he could muzzle every newspaper
and every individual that ventured to criticise
the official acts of the president or of his ad
ministration. "He could muzzle Mr. Bryan and The Com
moner. He could muzzle every democratic
newspaper, every independent newspaper, every
republican newspaper that refused to make it
self his creature. He could muzzle every mem
ber of congress that criticised him from the
stump or from the platform or from any place
except the house and senate chambers. If the
World is guilty of 'a libel upon the United
States government' for what it has said about
the Panama' canal purchase Judge Parker must
have been equally guilty of 'a libel upon the
United States government' for what he said in
denunciation of Mr. Roosevelt's method of rais
ing a campaign fund in 1904."
AFTER 109 YEARS
Commenting upon the proceedings instituted
by Mr. Roosevelt, the Omaha World-Herald
says:
"It Is notable that Mr. Roosevelt is trying
to do now, under the common law, what the
federalist party tried to do, more than a cen
tury ago, by the enactment of statutory law.
As the New York World says truthfully, the
federalist party 'went to wreck and ruin' in
consequence.
"The most objectionable section of the sedi
tion law of 1798 was that providing that any
person who should write, print, utter or publish,
or aid in doing so, any false, scandalous or ma
licious writing against the government, con-?
gress or the president, with intent to defame
them, or bring them into disrepute, should be
liable to fine riot exceeding $2,000, nnd impris
onment not exceeding two years.
"The circumstances at that time were vastly
different from now. This was a young and
struggling republic, and French emissaries,
headed by the notorious Genet, were busy striv
ing to incite the American people to rise against
their own government. If circumstances could
ever justify the course adopted then, and which
Roosevelt is now adopting, circumstances justi
fied it at that time. But, to quote from that in
valuable handbook, 'The American Statesman,
'The law did not accord with the disposition
and liberal views of the American people. It
was of doubtful expediency, even under the
circumstances that gave rise to it. Much less
toleration would it find at the present day.'
"Nearly forty years later that stanch feder
alist, John Quincy Adams, discussing the alien
and sedition acts, said: 'The prosecutions under
the sedition act did but aggravate the evil which
they were intended to repress. Without be
lieving that either of those laws was an infrac
tion of the' constitution,' it may be admitted
that they were not good and wholesome
laws, inasmuch as they were not suited to" the
temper of the people.
"Matthew Lyon, a member of congress from
Vermont, was imprisoned for four months and
fined $1,000 under the sedition act. In 1833,
many years after his death, a law was passed
refunding to his heirs the amount of the fine.
"Thomas Jefferson, when, largely because of
the odium attached to this act, he became presi
dent, directed nolle prosequis in all the prosecu
tions which had been instituted under it. Later
he wrote, in explanation and his attitude is
one to bo commended now to President Rooso
velt:
" 'Those prosecutions were chiefly for charges
against myself, and I had from the beginning
laid it down as a rule to notice nothing of' the
kind. I believed that the long course of service
in which I had acted on the public stage, and
under the eye of my fellow-citizens, furnished
better evidence to them -of my character and
principles, than the angry invectives of adverse
partisans in whose eyes the very acts most ap
proved by the majority wore subjects of the
greatest demerit and censure.'
"It was 111 years ago that the federalist
party asserted the right of the executive to
punish, under written law, the public press for
criticising the government, on the ground that
such criticism was sedition. That attempt sent
the federalist party to its grave.
"Today the successor of that party, through
the administration at Washington, is asserting
the same right, though the sedition act expired
by limitation March 3, 1801, and none has since
been so hardy as to propose its revival.
"It remains to be seen if, after these hundred
years, the American people are prepared to re
verse, by giving their approval to the course, of
the present president, the overwhelming verdict'
rendered in favor of the liberty of the press by
their patriot forefathers."
A DEMOCRATIC MEASURE
Hon. Fred Humphrey, of the city of Lincoln,
a member of the house of representatives of the
state of Nebraska, has the honor of introducing
in the house, bill number one, which reads as
follows:
HOUSE ROLL NO. 1
A bill for an act to secure a more certain
selection of the people's choice for United States
senator, to provide for a form of statement in
regard to election of United States senator to
be made in their nominating petitions by candi
dates for legislative nominations at the prima
ries and to prescribe the form of ballot and
statements thereon to be used at the primaries
for the selection of legislative candidates.
Introduced by Fred B. Humphrey, of Lan
caster county.
Introduced and read first time January 11,
1909. Read second time January 12, 1909, and
referred to the committee on privileges and elec
tions. Sent to printer JanuaTy 12, 1909.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State
pf Nebraska:
Section 1. Any elector seeking nomination
as a candidate for the legislature at the pri
maries where such candidates are chosen may
include in the application to have his name
placed upon the official primary ballot provided
for In section 58G6 of Cobbey's Annotated
Statutes for 1907 any one of the following
statements, but if he does not do so the officer
with whom the application, is filed -shall not, on
that account, refuse to file his petition or- place
his name on the official ballot:
STATEMENT NO. 1
I hereby state to the people of Nebraska;
as well as to the people of my legislative district,
that during my term of office I will always
vote for that candidate for United States senator
in congress who has received the highest num
ber of the people's votes for that position at the
general election next preceding the election of
a senator in congress, without regard to my in
dividual preference.
(Signature of the candidate for nomination.)
If the candidate shall be unwilling to sign
the abovo statement, then ho may sign the
following statement as a part of his potition: '
STATEMENT NO. 2
During ray term of offlco I shall consider tho
vote of tho people for United States senator in
congress as nothing more than a recommenda
tion, which I shall bo at liberty to wholly dis
regard, if tho reason for doing so seems to mo
to bo sufficient.
(Signature of tho candidate for nomYnatlo'n.)
Section 2. That part of the official primary
election ballot which contains tho names of can
didates for legislative nominations shall havo
printed thereon, immediately following the
names of thoso candidates whoso applications
includo Statement No. 1, tho following words
promises to vote for people's cholco for United
States senator" and immediately following the
names of thoso candidates whoso applications
contain Statement No. 2 tho following words,
will not promise to vote for people's choice
for United States senator." Tho form of that
part of tho ballot containing tho names of thoso
who are candidates for legislative nomination
shall bo substantially as follows:
For state senator from -r-th district. Vote for
Richard Smith, promises to vote for people's
choice for United States senator.
James Brown, will not promise to vote for peo
ple's choice for United States senator.
William Jones.
For representative from th district. Vote for
Wilbur Able, promises to vote for people's choice
for United States senator.
William A. Adams.
Frank Alger, will not promiso to vote for peo
ple's choice for United States senator.
Elton Ankony.
Tho Humphrey bill was considered by tho
Nebraska house of representatives January 22,
was reported favorably by the committee of tho
whole and ordered to a third reading. This
was accomplished by a strict party vote, the
democrats voting aye, tho republicans no. In
spite of the fact that tho republican party In
Nebraska has professed to be in favor of elec
tion of senators by the people, not a republican
vote was cast for this measure. '
EPITHETS
Hero are some of the names applied to Theo
dore Roosevelt by Congressman Willets of Now
York:
Hay-tedder. (A rake for gathering hay Into
rows.)
Tyrant.
Always good to laugh at.
Warrior alone in Cuba.
Governor of New Ydrk by a fluke.
Boneficiary of assassination.
Mammoth Jocularity. '..
Gargoyle. (A spout projecting from a roof
gutter, often grotesquely carved.)
Curious figure.
Eccentric exception to all rules.
Solecism suit generis. (An absurdity, or barr
barism, in a class by Itself.) "'
Mixed-metaphor vlvant. "-
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Comet. . .,isJ3Mmib'
Fountain of Billingsgate.
Exigent. - -y,w'
Implacable. ' T
Bogus hero.
Nero fiddling while Rome burns.
Surely Theodore Roosevelt must look to ,his
laurels so far as concerns the use of epithet.
THE GOMPERS INJUNCTION
A. K. Grow of Spokane, Wash., writes Tho
Commoner as follows:
'" "The Commoner Greeting. What a flood of
light you turned on the Gomp'ers injunction
matter in your article of January 1, 1909! It
Is worth all the sparring that has been made on
the subject heretofore; so plain, so simple and
so practical that a wayfaring man, ever so stupid,
can not fail to. note the difference between a
financial corporation and a labor corporation or
union. I note, too, that the state of Montana
has a judicial decision in behalf of the Fed
eration of Labor, which shows the public mind
is waking up to the fact that human rights be
long to humanity regardless of the position
which it may occupy for the time being."
Benjamin Franklin described a high tariff as
something wanted by its advocates "for their
private interest under pretense of public good."
But Ben Is a whole lot deader than Uncle Joe.
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