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The Commoner.
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The Commoner.
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THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb.
of them were deserters from the United States
army. Some of them had served terms in the
penitentiary in different states. Two of those
deputy sheriffs clubbed x seventeen year old
boy half to death right here in this city. The
boy committed the offense of watching a ball
game from the right-of-way of the steel trust
railroad. Those two worthy officers were after
wards arrested and served a term in the county
jail. Many others committed flagrant violations
of our laws. The importation of those thugs
Into this strte Is a direct violation of our laws.
Governor Johnson's attention was called to the
matter at the time hut nothing ever came of it.
The big lumber barons and the railroad mag
nates and the large Iron interests have and do
now control this state and determine who Its
officials shall be, While '.hey have furnished
work and cheap food to a" lot of people, at the
same time they have been & menace to an Inde
pendent American form of government. "The
trail of the serpent Is seen from one end of
this fair state to the other." And our governor
will never qualify in Minnesota like St. Patrick
did in Ireland.
JOHN D. BRADY.
that the iron interests do not always Insist on
a republican. For instance, during the last two
state campaigns the steel trust provided the best
of facilities for their employes throughout the
iron range to hear the democratic candidate
for governor discuss the Issues and give rea
sons why he should be elected.
The steel trust acquired their holdings origi
nally on the Missabe range through John D. .
.Rockefeller from the Merrltt Brothers of this
city. The Merritts opened up the Missabe range
and built the Missabe railroad, but they were
frozen out during the panic of 1893-94 and the
greatest iron range in the world became the
property of John D. Rockefeller and his asso
ciates for a paltry sum. Previous to this great
property going Into the hands of what Is now
known as the steel trust, the Merrltt Brothers
being short of funds made a proposition to the
people of St. Louis county that If they would
vote bonds to them to the amount of $250,000
they In return would give the county stock in
the road at par; but after Jhe road became the
property of Rockefeller the county commission
ers of St. Louis county refused to take shares
In the Massabe road in lieu of this $250,000.
They gave as their reason for not taking them
that the road would be a liability Instead of an
asset. The road is said to be the best paying
piece of railroad on earth and some people are
so unkind as to say that the county commis
sioners were improperly influenced. The people
of St. Louis county are still paying Interest
to the steel trust on the $250,000 bonds. The
steel trust owns the road, they own the bonds,
and they own the mines,, and there Is no chance
so far as I can see for them to lose out.
There has never been a man for the last
twenty years elected to any office great or small
In this county, with one single exception, who
has had the opposition of the iron interests.
I would like to go farther Into the history
of the. steel trust of this county in regard to
- taxes they have paid and the way the valuation
on their property'has raised from time to time.
They have always shown that they have the
ability to fully protect all the rights that they
havo in this county regardless of how they
have acquired those rights. They havo always
respected the majesty of the law, when the law
did not interfere with them. Two years ago
there was a strike throughout the ranges. The
steel trust imported into this city and county
more than one carload of plug-uglle3, 'ruffians
and thieves from outside the state, and had
them sworn In as deputy sheriffs, contrary to
a state statute, and they acted as peace officers
in this county for five or six months. Many
NOT SJiEAKED IN"
Jackson, Minn., July. 28, 1909. Editor The
Commoner: In a letter appearing in The Com
moner of July 16, my friend, Mr. Alfred Jaques,
of Duluth, discusses the tonnage' tax question
in connection with Governor Johnson's veto of
the bill passed by the last legislature of this
state providing for a tonnage tax on Iron ore.
In such letter Mr. Jaques says that the plank
relating to a tonnage tax was "sneaked into the
last democratic state platform of this state,"
and for that reason considers it of no binding
force as a party utterance.
Mr. Jaques Is a man of character and stand
ing and I feel sure would not make this charge
unless he believed It to be well founded. But
he is mistaken. He was not present at the con
vention which adopted the resolution in ques
tion and has evidently been misinformed as to
the facts.
The platform of that convention was prepared
and drafted by a sub-committee of the commit
tee on resolutions. Senator Moonan, who was
a member of that committee, publicly stated In
the state senate last winter that he was the
author of the tonnage tax plank in that plat
form, and his statement was true.
After being presented by Senator Moonan this
plank was discussed and fully considered by
the sub-committee and agreed to without dis
sent. Each paragraph of the platform was after
wards read to the full committee and agreed to
in the form in which it now appears. It was
then reported and read to 'the convention by
Mr. O'Brien, the chairman of the committee, and
adopted by a practically unanimous vote. No
utterance of that platform was more carefully
considered, better understood or more generally
favored than this tonnage tax plank and the
claim that It did not express the views of the
convention in reference to a tonnage tax finds
no support in the facts.
I have no desire to engage in a controversy
over this matter but having been a member of
the committee which drafted this platform I
feel that Mr. Jaques' statement ought not to go
uncorrected. T. J. KNOX.
THE TONNAGE TAX
St. Peter, Minn., August 10, 1909. In The
Commoner of July 16, Alfred Jaques of Duluth,
tells the public that the tonnage tax measure
was "arbitrary and tyrannical," and declares
that the plank demanding or indorsing such a
measure was "sneaked into the state platform,"
and te consequently does not consider It bind
ing. Now will Mr. Jaques inform the public
through The Commoner why the governor ad
vocated an "arbitrary and tyrannical" measure
before election in various sections of the state?
If the object of Mr. Jaques' letter to The Com
moner of the 16th was to justify Governor John
son's veto of the tonnage tax bill, then I cer
tainly can not dispel the belief that the explana
tion I ask for is pertinent, and that any citizen
voter is entitled to an answer from Mr. Jaques.
DEACON DONHAM.
SUGGESTIONS TO COMMONER READERS
Robert R. Durst, Moundrldge, Kansas. I fur
nished about seventy copies of The Commoner
for about three months before election last year,
mostly to young voters, and this township made
a change from a republican majority of 20 to
a democratic majority of 24.
VOLTFME 9, NUMBER 1$
HELP THE PEOPLE OP MONTEREY
A terrible condition of affairs exists in Monte
rey, Mexico, and vicinity as a result of the flccis
of August 27. Eight hundred bodies have al
ready been recovered in Monterey while twerty
thousand people are homeless- The Ameri-.is
people are asked to give aid to the strict n
people of Monterey. The Commoner urges :!s
readers to lend a hand in this labor of lo-.
Contributions may be sent to Hon. Philip C.
Hanna, United States consul general, Monterey,
Mexico.
EODUCATJONAIj SERDSS
(Continued from Page 2)
are invalid, that are pointed out by the majority
opinion, yet it does not appear that they are so
intermingled with the valid portions that they
can not be separated so as to leave an enforce
able statute. The act in question would still
be enforceable by omitting from its first section
the following words: "Endorsed, recommended,
censured, criticised or referred to in any man
ner." With these words omitted the first sec
tion would provide that candidates for the judi
ciary and executive school offices "shall not be
nominated by any political party or any political
convention or primary or at any primary
election."
Applying the same rule to the feature of sec
tion 3 of the act which limits the number of
signatures to five hundred names in any one
county and with these words omitted: "Not more
than five hundred of which shall be from one
county," the section would then read: "The
number of signatures shall not be less than five
thousand when the nomination is for chief jus
tice" or judge of the supreme court."
The limitation of five hundfed signatures to
any one county is not essential to the practical
operation of the act. With this feature omitted
five thousand voters from any portion of the
state would nominate and thus the relator, by
his own showing, would not be deprived of any
substantial right. The act would then merely
change the place of nomination from the floor
of the party convention, or from the party pri
mary, to the body of the people without regard
to party affiliation. Has a political party an in
herent right to nominate part candidates for
non-political offices? Are not all the people
greater than a mere party subdivison of the
people?
Cooley in his Constitutional Limitations, 7th
Ed., p. 247, concerning a legislative act says:
"The constitutional and unconstitutional provi
sions may even be contained in the same section,
and yet be perfectly distinct and separable, so
that the first may stand though the last fall."
In support of this view the author cites many
authorities. The majority opinion contains a
citation from State v. Ins. Co., 71 Neb. 225.
Fairly construed It reaffirms the rule laid down
by Judge Cooley.
Blair v. Ridgley, 41 Mo. 63: "Outside of
society, and disconnected with political society,
no person has or can exercise the elective fran
chise as a natural right, and he only receives
it upon entering into the social compact subject
to such qualifications as may be presented by
the state or any body politic."
People v. Barber, 48 Hun. 198, 201; "The
elective franchise is not a natural right of the
citizen. It is a franchise dependent upon law
by which it must be conferred to permit Its ex
ercise. (Spencer v. Board of Registration, 1
McArthur, 169; 29 Am. R. 582.)"
That part of the act which provides that can
didates for judicial and educational offices can
not be censured or criticised Is evidently intend
ed to be merely advisory. It will not be serious
ly urged that either judges or educational offi
cers should be Immune from deserved censure
or criticism by any person who has or thinks
he has just cause for complaint.
The inducement for the passage of the act la
not expressed in its details, but is found In its
broader language which Is expressive of a laud
able desire to separate the judiciary and the
school system from partisan political control by
non-partisan nominations and non-partisan
elections.
In the belief the judgment of the trial court
should be reversed and the act in question sus
tained this dissent is submitted.
V
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