Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1909)
p r,'srwv?1fwrr" T TT- y -- y OCTOBHft i, 19 7 m jnp t-ww f "hjitj, te , jm S!FOT(!r T "f" wrV,gr""s " """ from the attorney general of the United Statei that the orders of the federal court would b backed by federal troops if necessity required it The bitter controversy has been re-opened as a result of -the campaign in Alabama' for tho adoption of a constitutional amendment for pro hibition. Governor Comer has been stumping the state in tho interest of this amendment, and has been relentless in his criticism of Judgo Jones. These criticisms grew out of the rail road rate litigation, in which the enforcement of rates and regulations adopted by the legis lature was enjoined by Judge Jones. Tho issue was brought to the front by tho governor in re viewing his administration. He charged that Judge Jones was not qualified to sit in the race cases, because for years he had been attorney of one of the railroads. Governor Comer, fol lowing the issuance of federal injunctions, in structed the state officials to carry out the orders of the state courts, regardless of any action taken by the federal authorities. In the lan guage of Judge Jones, 'the governor at this time was insisting that it was his duty to enforce the laws of the state. If his legal advisers as they doubtless did informed him of the uni versal rule of law, it had little if any weight in serving him from his dream of forcible defianco of the laws of the United States. He seemed bent on bringing on a collision.' " A WRITER N tho Washington Post says: ""Men of imagination love solitude, and they are never less alone than when alone. Their teeming thoughts and pleasing fancies are de lightful company, and their day dreams tho sweetest comrades. In a passage on walking the New York Evening Post says: 'Pie who use's his legs is thereby enabled to use his eyes. Nature in all moods is the companion of him who walkB. A network of sun and shadow or a maze of muddy pools lies before his fedt. His dheek feels the impact of kindly breezes or tiarsher rain. The bend in the road lures him oriward and fills him with peaceful conjecture. Ai pleasant comrade at liis side seems not amiss tb-fnost, though Hazlitt and Stevenson cast their voices against ft, declaring that the full flavor of a walking tour is "best gained by solitude, Stev-' etfsbif better analyzed 'moods; but Hazlitt is the more lyric. He was among Jthe first of Anglo Saxon blood to sing the open road.' But to get the best results from walking, lot 'a pleasant comrade' go the other way. Reverie is a game of solitaire, with one player and no more. The late Tom Reed, as long as he was in congress twenty years always walked to the capitol from his home, unless the weather w.as the surliest and he went alone. Woo to the friend who sought to accompany that extraordinary man. He was frozen by operation of a reserve on the part of the" big un that caused him to take up or down when they reached the next crossing. And yet never was there a moro genial, companionable, glorious good follow than Tom Reed when in the mood; but he would have that morning walk from his home to the capitol to himself. John James Ingalls was an other famous man -who loved to walk alone, and would not have a companion. It was im possible for either Reed or Ingalls to be what coarse grained men call 'lonesome.' Their thought and fancies made brilliant company that a companion would have banished. L. Q. C. Lamar had this sort of endowment in even more extravagant degree than either Reed or Ingalls. Half his walking moments were spent in intro spections that turned to day dreams. - Such men are to be envied. They are of the cradle, not the coffin." President Toft's Tour At Omaha President Taft was entertained by the Ak-Sar-Ben, a local organization of busi ness men. It is claimed that the governor was slighted because he had signed the eight o'clock saloon closing law. Ak-Sar-Ben leaders say that Mr. Taft was not the guest of the state or city but of the organization. Governor Shallen berger sent the president the following message of welcome on behalf of the people of Nebraska: "President William H. Taft, Omaha, Neb.: On behalf of the people of Nebraska I extend to you a hearty welcome to our state. I wish you a safe and pleasant journey on your trip. "ASHTON C. SHALLENBERGER." At Denver Mr. Taft, in delivering a speech In support of the corporation tax, made an ex tended argument against the Income tax. In, brief ' his statement was that while le hoped th income tax 'ainehdme'nt tb the constitution' Would be adopted he is not in favor of imposing The Commoner. the tax which this amendment will author! oxcept in the event of war or some other great national calamity. Referring to this speech, th Omaha World-Horald says: "All this from a president who was bolicvcd, by millions of people, to be in favor of an In come tax when he was a candidate for their suffrages! All this spoken In behalf of a party that only yesterday excused itself for defeat ing the Incomo tax law on the plea that it was "afraid" it wouldn't bo constitutional! "Tho mask is torn off by tho candid Mr. Taft. There is an end to pretense. Besides, it is no longer necessary to deceive the people. Tho election is over. "Wo invito the attention of progressive re publicans to this groat roform leader of theirs, under whose unsullied banner they so triumph antly 'did up' tho Aldrich-Cannon crowd in tho national convention hardly moro than a year ago! "We must have no income tax now, he tells us boldly, because it will interfere with the pro tective system. It will bo a sacrilege to tho false idols of high tariff. It will provide ho much revenue, out of taxes levied on wealth, that there would bo less and less excuse for tariff taxes on poor folks' sugar and shoes and stockings and clothes. The Income tax would be a menace to the steel trust, the oil trust, tho big profits of the woolen and cotton mills and so is to be considered only as a last resort. Only in case of dread and grim necessity, If the laud were running red with blood, if all the taxes It was possible to pile on the bowed shoulders of the poor still fell short of meeting the awful need of tho government only thon would Wil liam Howard Taft consent to a tax on tho in comes of the nation's rich men; only thon Would he consent to allow this -wicked menace to tlio protective fetish for a littlo while to stalk tho earth! "The Taft who faces the great and progressiva west today. smilingly defiant, politely ihsolont to its dearest ideals, cheerfully scornful of its most cherished principles a,nd"polIcies,'i8,ia dif ferent Taft from tlmt ono who 'came xmong us as a candidate a twelvemonth' gone. That Taft carried the Rooseyeli negis before him. 'The Robsevelt halo: was above his head. With a brawny arm he hugged a RooseVolt nursing bot tle to his breast. From his lips fell dulcet words of encouragement and hope to those who were gnashing their teeth because tho LaFolletto platform had been tramplod under foot in tho Chicago convention. "But now that same Taft is using' the planks of the LaFollette platform fdr golf balls, whilo Joe Cannon and Nels Aldrich are his apprecia tive and admiring caddies." At Des Moines President Taft talked on tho railroad question. He said: "Another most Important amendment of tho Interstate commerce law part of which was specifically promised In the platform is a pro hibition against any interstate railroad company acquiring stock fn any competing railroad in the future, and a further provision that no railroad engaged in interstate commerce shall after a certain date hold stock in a competing railroad, and the further amendment that, after tho pas sage of the amending act, no railroad company engaged in interstate commerce shall issue any additional stock or bonds or other obligations except with the approval of the commission based upon a' finding by the commission that the same are issued, first, for purposes autho rized by law, and, second, for a price not less than par for stock and not less than the reason able market value for bonds, such price being paid either in cash or in property or services, and if in property or services, then at the fair value thereof as determined by the commission." In the same speech President Taft said: "It has been suggested that the law ought to limit its denunciation to those contracts in re straint of trade that are unreasonable. I do not favor any such limitation. It seems to be pro posed to leave to the judges to decide what com binations and contracts in restraint of trad ought to be permitted to exist and to be enforced on general grounds of public policy In other words, to have the court attempt to establish some lines between what are called good and bad trusts, as if the suppression of competition in some cases was a good thing and in other cases was bad. I can not agree that any such distinction can be properly made. All combina tions to suppress competition or to maintain a monopoly in whole or in part of interstate trado " are and should be in violation of tho anti-trust law and should be punished as such; and there is no room for the expression reasonable or un reasonable in this general view of the statute." Practical Tariff Talks . mt -- " ' " Will I 1, ,, ,. , n,M ,., , ,, , ,!,, y One of tho tariff schedules which defender of tho Paync-Aldrich law have been Insisting contained marked reductions is that covering metals and manufactures of metals. Tho clnlm is well founded, In a few particulars. As a goneral proposition tho revision of tho metal schedule is upward. In tho publication Issued by tho senate finance committee will bo found two significant linos. Ono of those shows that on articles of voluntary usean arbitrary clari fication mado by some one unknown tho per centage of tariff under the old law was 42.84. Tho equivalent ad valorem under the now law is 43.10. Under tho general designation of necessaries another classification arbitrarily mado It will bo found that tho old law carried a porcontago of 30.21. The equivalent ad valorem under the now law Is 29.71 per cent. nils Is a reduction on tho necessaries of one half of ono per cent. President Taft expressed his satisfaction With this law, and clnlms Mint t Is a substantial reduction from tho Dlnglcy law. One-half of ono per cent will bo regarded generally as a very Insubstantial reduction. Sup pose a merchant advortlsod substantial reduc tions in tho price of clothing, and when cub--tomors hurried to buy they found he was selling $10 suits for ?9.!H5 and $20 suits for $19.00, one-half of one per cent reduction! He would run serious risk of being branded as a fraud. f A reduction in the tariff, let It bo remembered, does not necessarily mean a reduction In tHo price of the article affoctod. If the stool trust found that It could not market its products at cost plus tho tariff it would sell them for less. If this market prico was 10 per cent less than tho sum of the tariff and production cost, it meant there was an -mess tariff of 10'per cent. A reduction in tho mctul schedule of 10 por cent, tho cutting off of the excess tariff; t would- not affect the price of articles thereunder' a particle. Tho metal schedule under both- tho DIngloy and the Payhe-Aldrich laws carries ox cess in almost oVory line. Tho entire 1n1iorcdHt' of producing stool and manufactures thereof 'in this country Is but 20 por cent of tho total pro duction cost, yet tho tariff on necessaries nlono is nearly 30 per cent, half again as much as Is paid for tho labor going into them. This ex cess tariff is used by tho steel trust and sub sidiary and allied companies to mulct the con sumer in America, while at tho sanio time -it enables it to market its products in competition with the world at prices much below those -charged Americans. Tho steel trust .gets out ' price lists of all its products. Tho ones issued to tho home trade contain one set of discounts, those to tho foreign trade another. Tho list Is a very exhaustive ono, embracing practically everything manufactured of iron or steel. Among other Items It may be noted that tho price of auger bits is quoted 39 per cent higher to tho homo trado than to tho foreign trade; cowbells are sold for 11 per cent moro at homo than abroad; bird cages 40 per cent more; bolts from 17 to 25 por cent more; braces about 36 per cent more; can openers 33 per cent moro; cartridges C4 per cent more; chains 11 per cent more; coffee mills 11 per cent more; harness snaps 33 per cent more; lawn sprinklers 19 per cent more; saws from 27 to 05 per cent more; screw drivers 37 per cent moro; trowels 47 por cent more; vises from 25 to 122 per cent more. Tho list could be extended Indefinitely. In other words, tho American consumer, through the levying of an excessive tariff, makes it possible by paying more for the goods lie buys, under tho tariff, for tho foreigner to pay less. Protection to tho homo manufacturer Is not, therefore, protection to the home consumer. C. Q. D. WAITING The Outlook, Theodore Roosevelt contribut ing editor, prints an editorial relating to tho lato Edward H. Harrlman. It Is not a particu larly illuminating article. If, however, the Out look would command for an editorial .entitled "Edward H. Harrlman" widespread attention let it print such, an editorial over the name of its distinguished contributing editor. The Outlook, woufd find 'tho world waiting to read the esti mate which one of America's "practfcaTraeh"' gavo of his old-time counsellor. 4 A V 4