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The Commoner
The Commoner. Letters. From the People
SSUED WEEKLY.
Wjm.iam .?. HnvAK
MdHornnil Proprietor.
lUC'lUlll) 1h MnCAI.HK
fftdatclCdltor.
CllAllI.I-8 W. BllVAN
I'liMlfthrr.
FdltorJnl nooms ami Uuslncw
On!eo 2-3E0 fc'outh 12th Strecl
)'!ilri(1iil11icM(flc nt I JncoJn, Neb., ns second-clou, mnttcr
.!. Vmr 81. CO
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THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Nob.
Tho -wonder is how tho employer of the secret
service men kept it quiet as long as he did.
Thoso "house insurgents" seem to havo ex
hausted all their energies in the prospectus.
Of course it is very reprehensible on the part
k&&Am th0 ri6bt t0 manage
A Chicago plumber named Lemon has just
married a widow who possesses a fortune. This
is. Lomon aid of tho genuine brand.
JK0r ny ai word, ln dQfenso o minine head
gearthank goodness tho price does not neces
sarily increase with tho size of the hat
VolV wiUS, ,u? n,oto that tllG esteemed New
York World is inclined to treat with levity tho
Bravo and serious charges of leso mejeste
i.Jlli? ,remibllcan- explanation of the treasurv
mo Son?' th UtS0 ls Iargei thin th?ta-
oxnia'ined onyeHrS ag "le same republicans
explained it on tho ground of "democratic ex-
travaganco and incompetency." mowauc ex"
Tho .battleship fleet was of such good ser
vice at Messina that wo may now expert an i
b stent demand for a dozen or more Sow battle
sh ps. Any old excuse is good with the hnitlt
ship builders and dreamers of empire
When a federal judge can deprive a mnn nf
his liberty by judicial ukase, and a nonSneJ
can be gagged for tho offense of cruWnc
government official, it will be high time for
Russia to send us a few missionaries.
Having been compelled to swallow the bittm
Pill, and having finished tho Zkw f e
faces, the republican machine fia S
-looking sanctimonious and ask in c- to if n w
The Omaha Boo says "Mr nn
Ployod ns editor of tho WoJid-jSu " om"
o tho deal by which the ,M vo? bulll,1!nrt
a tt nv TPnixmnni- MrtH T ' tin nnr thlnlr
that the democratic party can ever hope to win
in this country, if it ever does, it will be too
late to render much practical relief to the people.
You can count on the fingers of one hand, those
who practically control all of the trunk lines
of railroads in this country. You can count
with the fingers of one hand those men who
control the anthracite coal of this country. You
can count with the fingers of one hand those
men who control the oil of. the country, and
by the same means count the men who control
many of tho other leading industries of the
nation. What will bo the status of tho country
after eight years of Mr. Taft, eight years of
Sherman, eight years of Theodore Roosevelt,
eight years of Nicholas Longworth, the Lord
only knows. In the last campaign the demo
cratic party appealed to tho reason of the peo
ple and the republican party appealed to their
selfishness; the democratic party appealed to
the laboring people to support their own cause,
without success, while the republican party ap
pealed' to the "business interests" and the re
turns indicate that the "business interests" re
sponded to that appeal. This is, however, in
line with human experience. My judgment is
that the democratic party should be slow to
formulate its plans for another campaign. No
party slogan will suffice, and time alone will
give us a "pillar of cloud by day and a pillar
of fire by night" that will come any ways near
leading us out of the wilderness in 1912.
R. D. Swain, President Star Livestock Com
mission Company, Kansas City Stock Yards, Mo.
You ask, "How did it happen?" From the
fact that more voting "people" walked up and
cast their ballots for William H. Taft than they
did for William J. Bryan. Taft was stronger
than his party, Bryan weaker than his. Why did
it happen? Because the "people" think for
themselves and do not vote on the sayso of
spellbinders whose stock in trade consists of
what they call issues. Because they do not
believe that the man lives that can do the think
ing for eighty million people, especially so when
that man insists that each of his issues apply
to all the people, not considering that they are
scattered over a country reaching from the At
lantic to the Pacific, and from Manitoba to the
Gulf .of Mftvino, wiih us different climates, con
ditions and varied interests. They believe that
an all wise Providence intended that each one
should adjust themselves to the conditions that
surround them, do so cheerfully, and accept
the fact that different people see the same thing
in different lights from different view points
There is generally one in a ship's company that
knows something about everything, and when
lie is not sleeping or on duty, he is growling,
lhey make good sailors, but poor officers Thev
are called "forecastle lawyers." The "people"
J ,n.ot Pf a forecastle lawyer in the presi
dential chair From my view point Johnson or
Gray would have won out hands down, as I be
lieve conditions should have made this a demo
cratic year. I may be wrong.
mf ?' A- Stevens, Caney, Kan. Some -voters
willingly believed and some were made to b
ll th?ln Vent of democratic victory? the
effects of the present panic would continue lone?
er and possibly the threat that "wether panic
would ensue" would be made good by the Re
publicans. They believed the republicans had
They'TeHeved" nf g, "ft0 a Pat the?r wm
inoy believed that the democratic princinles
Ume6 StMt?id fUYLbetter r the cSuntry in
time but felt that the country could not wait
and lnust lmv th0 promIsed iramediate reTief
The democratic party can hope to gain control
of the federal government. I think in four" years
feTon08abcUanSn "" the Seed S
Mean majority two-thirds and ? ttHbu taP?
result to these influences- am1 e the
work: funds raised coMHntlv i execuve
well posted on SndSow taeSSi BISSTB'
meetings advertised, entertaining J 1 y,iciuity;
structive; plenty of music- &M Wel1 as in"
p r:noSHi
clean workers on election 1 bii,eaKOrs good
course for reformers f in the urnT ng tllQ
The Commoner and otiiers lomnd W0Uld say:
tion to their subscribed reliv T ques'
conditions over tho United nti to general
county, a-conoi.0 trtafe"
VOLUME 9, NUMBER 8
manufacturing interests. How tariff effects and
what reforms would benefit them, as a com
munity, .etc. The wearer knows where the shoe
pinches, here the reform begins. To get con
trol of the federal government, democratic so
cieties must be formed over the entire country.
Secure democratic literature and get subscrib
ers to democratic newspapers. So that labor
ers will not read and dream 6f republican in
fallibility, for four years. They will talk it
over with their fellow workmen, who in turn
dream over it. This endless chain of missionary
work will continue for four years more. Near
the end the democrats get busy, conduct a
vigorous campaign and have to physic their
patient to death to clear up his system from
republican poison. Why not try to keep, him
healthy all the four years.
Ralph McMurry, Denver, Colo. The course
that reformers should adopt in the future should
be the same course Mr. Bryan has already adopt
ed in the past and every democratic publication
in the United States should lend aid to the
effort The Commoner sets forth, and every man
in favor of those principles should each lend all
the influence he may possess, whether great or
small. It is best expressed in the language of
Jefferson, where he says: "No good measure
was ever proposed which, if duly pursued, failed
to prevail in the end."
Ben P. Earle, ' Charleston, Ky. The demo
cratic party can not hope to win unless the
business men, become more patriotic, and less
commercial. What I mean is to think more of the
perpetuity of our free institutions and les3 of
the dollar, that is to come on the morrow. "What
course shall reformers adopt for the future?"
Continue the same doctrine already taught, and '
adopt any course that the exigency of the times
offers to forward the same.
J'. A. Kinkade, Beloit, Kan. Keep up the
work of education until the people can be made
to see wherein their best interests lie.
John A. Myers, Hutchinson, Kan. Fears of
the panic and business stagnation as threatened
by the party in power proved to be the para
mount question and caused our defeat.'
THE COMMONER
(From the New York Sunday Democrat.)
Almost immediately after the defeat of 'Wil
liam J. Bryan for the presidency in 1900, ho
established in the city of Lincoln the paper,
The Commoner, a Weekly journal appearing on
Fridays, sold for a dollar a year, and each of
the pages being about two-thirds as large as a
page of this paper.
It was the claim of thoso who saw no merit
in tthis project of Mr. Bryan that "a weekly
paper carried no influence, being overshadowed
by daily publications; that Lincoln was a city
of small importance in the United States, and
that a paper emanating from it would carry lit
tle weight and, finally, that as an editor Mr.
Bryan would carry much less weight in politics
than as a campaign orator a field in which
he excelled."
.Wiser and more far-sighted persons, realizing
ffeJ?5n?us lnnc of the press in the
United States and the extent to which if has
superseded all other agencies of appeal for
political support, realized that Mr. Bryan was
on the right track for continued leadership of
the democratic party of the country and that
altCGUot ftfthe n?idate' op nameytiae candi
lat;;L?a Party for the Presidency so long
SLtV a newsl)aPer unconditionally under
his influence and control.
The Commoner, under Mr. Bryan's" editor-"
Si?;? n aCquired a lare eircu afion and an
c?rcuTatCioneVefor W ,'? Pportion thai its
circulation, for It furnished watchwords kpv-
?hroeUSSo1utathgeU,?e,lt? f0r Soorluopa eL
direct an ?, L mt7 alad " enMea to
ce neVVelt'Voapr X
It is the function of a daily paper to nrint
that Mr ttrvhn'L i i CT e of Tne Commoner
ment has nS? ip since its establish-
Se recent SlnvoJ nlute1X undisPted, and at
men'-itnw convention the "Bryan senti
E stakablo y gUt yearS 0f natation, waa
J.wJJtal.
s&airtrtinTHftMug