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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (June 4, 1909)
fWtT- .v , FfiijrM?0gi$ii"'rr 2 The Commoner. I still moro exasperated at the evident. assumption that they nro a pack of dolts and blockheads who can bo bamboozled with Impunity. "It Is tlmo for congress to wake up to the facts. Either the consumers of this country aro going to got what they demand, genuine revi sion downward, with raw materials on the freo list, and without any administrative 'jokers' or any 20 per cent maximum trickery, or there Is going to bo the dickens to pay two years and four years hence In the republican party. Fail ure to comply with the demands of the rank and file will split the party wide open. "TheBe aro not threats. They are a plain statement of popular feeling as expressed in this state by individuals and as revealed in the columns of tho press of tho country from one end to tho other." Thero now, will the republican congress bo good? But why this belated wrath? "Who Is this man Aldrlch, tho "hoary old sinner?" He is tho same man who has controlled the repub lican majority in the senate for lo these many years. And who Is this awful man, Payne? He is Speaker Cannon's right hand man. And how do such unspeakable men happen to be in con trol of the republican machine? Because the righteously indignant newspapers like the Pioneer-Press helped to win a republican victory. But why does the Pioneer-Press rage? Thero is President Taft he can by bis veto prevent tho consummation of the foul plot-which Aldrlch and Payne have concocted. We have the guar anty of the "mighty hunter" that Mr. Taft Is a reformer and Mr. Taft himself, in a burst of con fidence, ventured to say that ho thought the revision would bo downward. Tho Pioneer-Press had a chance to help elect & tariff reform president and a tariff reform con gress, but It refused. Where will It be in 1910 and 1912 when tho republican party seeks an endorsement of its odious record? WANTED MORE DEMOCRATIC WEEKLIES At this time -when the great dailies are be coming moro and moro business enterprises rather than exponents of opinion, and especially when a number of them have become the prop erty of predatory interests, the country news paper increases In importance. It can be owned by tho man who edits it, and, therefore, has be hind it a conscience and a character that can be identified. It is olose to the people and can give voice to the sentiments of its readers. We have to rely more and more upon the country papers for the educational work that is neces sary to a correct; understanding of public ques tions. The coui toy newspaper can obtain its news from 4he i -rtropolitan daily, but it must do its own digesting and interpreting. There is a lot of difference between the man who writes what he is told to write and the man who writes what he believes, and writes be cause he believes ho has r message to deliver to his readers. Every county ought to have a democratic weekly here is a field for patriotic effort. The Commoner will be pleased t chronicle the birth of each new paper. TO DEMOCRATIC VOTERS Democratic voters, you can not begin too soon to select candidates for congress. In about a year the campaign will be on, and upon that campaign will largely depend the hope of the party in 1912. Let those democrats who be lieve in pure and undented democracy get to gether in each district and pick out a democrat who can not be bought or frightened. Tho trusts have stealthily secured control of some of the congressmen who were elected as demo crats, and they will have the influence of the trusts in securing a re-nominatlon. The trusts Jan ,Ve,7 J11 afford t0 Put UP the campaign , funds if they can control the congressmen after Snii ?,teel itrUSt' for stance, coufd put a million dollars into tho congressional mii paign without missing itand luHSone of many trusts) and a million dollars would sup ply a hundred candidates with ten thousand dollars apiece, or two hundred candidates with five thousand apiece. When you see that a con gressional candidate has money to spend find out where he is getting it. Tal'e it for gran d that he can not get money from a- prldatorv corporation without a promise, expressed or im plied and that he will pay the corporation ba?k out of the pockets of the people. We can bet tZ?ra ? havo rPbHcans in congress than republican-democrats' wo h virt-A ..?. cVan cans ad n,ak6 cap.tu, out oAlX r"sUteoXncy" to the trusts, but when a democrat becomes a representative of the trusts, his sins have to be borne by his party. Eternal vigilance is tho price of liberty. Look up tho record of your congressman and hold him to strict accounta bility. When a congressman forgets his con stituents ho forfeits his right to their support. If he votes with the trusts ignorantly he is too ignorant to be a congressman; if he votes with the trusts intentionally, he is not fit to bo a congressman. No time is to be lost; now is the time to organize the real democrats to secure congressmen whose democracy is real. GUARANTY OP BANK DEPOSITS The cause is growing. Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas now have compulsory systems for the protection of depositors in state banks. In Texas the state bank can choose between join ing the compulsory system and giving individual security, but so far every bank that has acted has decided upon the guaranty system. In Kan sas and South Dakota voluntary systems have been adopted, while in Colorado, Arkansas and Indiana the guaranty bin passed one branch of the legislature. Attorney General Wickersham has delivered an opinion to the effect that national banks are at liberty to insure their depositors, and insur ance companies are already being organized for that purpose. The fight made last year has had its influence, and in spite of republican op position to the plan, the protection of depositors is coming. The republican leaders have taken the side of the big financiers, but even the big ' financiers will in the end 1 o compelled to yield to tho just demand of the depositors for se curity. And so another democratic doctrine is being vindicated. The democratic party has something to be proud of when it can, even in defeat, control public sentiment and force Its ideas upon a reluctant opposition. THE NATIONAL MONTHLY The first Issue of Chairman Mack's new paper, the National Monthly, has appeared and it is a very worthy production. Besides editorial matter it contains a number of interesting art icles written by democrats of prominence. Tho magazine will bring democratic literature be fore a large number of voters, and that is the thing, most needed at this time. The republi can papers so outnumber those published by democrats that the reading public has little op portunity to understand the democratic position. Every democrat ought to read the National Monthly. Success to it. NOW IT IS THE TARIFF R. G. Dun & Co.'s weekly letter for May 21 says: "Almost every development, except the lengthening debate on the tariff, Is favorable, and the gains made in spite of the tariff dis turbance are a .fair indication of what may be expected when that is out of the way " ' Will It ever bo possible for the American people to obtain relief from impositions by spe cial interests without being threatened with commercial disaster when they undertake to legislate for their protection? ALDRICH AND BROWN rtT,hG Lincoln Web.) Journal (rep.), in de fending Senator Brown of Nebraska throws some light on the sacred protective system. In an editorial entitled "Brown vs. Bribe" this re publican paper says: "Senator Brown's colloquy with Senator Ald li L?Ver t?e ?umlce stone duty does its mite to help understand how a hog combine is made and maintained Senator Brown held that the Nebraska pumice stone deposits could be-developed and made to supply the American mar ket if encouraged by a duty giving the Nebraska product a special advantage during the ff quired to establish a market and get the industS under way. This, if Senator Brown's statement i correct exactly fits the condition coveredTy the principle of protection, a young industry need ng encouragement till it is able, once on its egs, to stand alone. Did the senate header enter into the merits of the case, applying the m-in coufdsr S mUCh? N 'thft aSySofe could see. His answer was, in effect, that Sen ator Brown did not deserve a duty on pumtee stone because he had refused to.vote for cer tain other duties, duties favoring industr ea i so wlnfrm infancy tha the' control foreign as well as homo markets., Which means that the question of principle does not enter into the calculations of Aldrlch 'and his band. He ren resents a coalition of ' interests, steel, lumber VOLUME 9, NUMBER cotton, wool, and such others as have to ba let in to make a majority of the senators Do you want protection? Your need is not facte and arguments, but votes to put on the counter Yes, it is all a trade and every intelligent re publican ought to have understood that as well last fall as now. Every high tariff bill passed in twenty-five .years has been passed in thai way. But how many republicans will vote against it on final passage? And all this about pumice stono? Who owns tho stone? How many would be benefited by that tax? But let us be grateful for pumice stone if it helps the people to understand the iniquities of the pro tective system. MRS. HOWE'S VISION Julia Ward Howe, one of America's sweetest singers, recently celebrated her 90th birthday Mrs. How recently had a vision which she de scribed in this way: "One night recently, I experienced a sudden awakening. I had a vision of a new era which is to dawn for mankind and in which men and women are battling equally, unitedly, for the up lifting and emancipation of the race from evil. "I saw men and women of every clim work ing like bees to unwrap tho evils of society and to discover the whole web of vice and misery, and to apply the remedies and also to find the influences that should best counteract evil and its attending suffering. "There seemed to bo a new, a wondrous, ever permeating light, the glory of which I can no attempt to put in human words the light of new-born hope and sympathy blazing. Tho Bource of this light was human endeavor in mortal purpose of. countless thousands of me and women, who were equally doing their part in the world. "I saw the men. and the women, standing side by side, shoulder to shoulder, a common, lofty and indomitable purpose lighting every; face with a glory not of this earth. All wero advancing with one end in view, one foe to trample, one everlasting good to gain. "And then I saw the victory. All of evil was gone from the earth. Misery was blotted out Mankind wa-s emancipated and ready to march forward in a new era of human understanding, all-encompassing sympathy and ever-present SnoeVstandin''01 Perf'Ct l0Ve' f PeaCe passlne There are many who aTe simple-hearted g5 1 believ that Mrs. Howe's vision de scribed the world as it will become through tho process of education. In the light of the moral awakening apparent on every hand, in the pres ence of the wealth of Individual effort toward the world's betterment these simple-hearted I?lJeei tha the very language of Mrs. Howe's beautiful hymn: JS.B nBnUde.d f?rth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat; M,J?i S.wlft' my soul to answer him! Be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on." ' ' FAILED thpThfLwt0Vi ?fulIotta calls attention to the fact that in all the evidence which the tp pub lean party has accumulated in ill effolt to f?fiti9rfan lnCrease ln the to1. has signall? SL thetnrPf?trt ItS contention'that it is Hmit Spii fftoin amount sufficient to cover abroad G CSt f Production here and CHEAPER The "business" Interests are insisting that asntheSSbi?rLthe bI11 SjouX. bS espTay fiffi iZTVL Street tfor7 "" LISTEN! The Man Who Wants to Know. But Don't Know, . And Yet rTiesT to Learn How to Know, WILL KNOW. BUT The- Man Who Thinks He Knows, -. And Rests Content In What He Thinks He Knows, - ; , WILL NEVER KNOW. John Uri Lloyd. JO&m btttuiaCStn,! fcA.