. r- -t fS , ""'r WT"t? -fT f ' WV t?f r f ipn'mt 4t5$9F$?mjFifyW' KfMTY" V
t
The Commoner.
"VOLUME! 9, NUMBER 3J
Ki
L
R
b"H-
E(
f i
5
Fft:
$
(ff
;!
I
The Commoner
ISSUED WEEKLY.
Entorcd nt tho Postofflco tit Lincoln, Nebraska,
kji second-class matter.
Wixijam J. BnvAK
Editor nnd Proprietor
Richard Ii. MKTCAinm
Araociato Editor
Cuarijcs W. Bryan
Publisher
Editorial Rooma and Bufllncaa
Ofllco 824-830 South 12th Street
One Year $1.00
Six MontliN CO
In Clubs of Flvo or
moro, per year.. . .75
Three HonUiS.. . ... .25
Single Copy 05
Sample Copies Frco.
Foreign Post. Be Extra.
8UI1SOIIIPTIONS can bo sent direct to Tho Com
moner. Tlioy can also bo sent through newspapers
which liavo advertised a clubbing rato, or through
local agents, vhero sub-agents have been appoint
ed. All remittances should bo sent by postoAlco
money order, express order, or by bank draft on
Now York or Chicago. Do not sond individual
checks, stamps or money.
DISCONTINUANCES It is found that a largo
majority of our subscribers prefer not to have
their subscriptions interrupted and their files
broken in caso they fail to remit beforo expiration.
It is therefore assumed that continuanco is desired
unless subscribers order discontinuance, either
when subscribing or at any timo during tho year.
PRESENTATION COPIES Many persons sub
ncribo for friends, Intending that tho paper shall
stop at the end of tho year. If Instructions aro
given to that effect they will recelvo attention at
tho proper time
RENEWALS The date on your wrapper shows
the time to which your subscription Is paid. Thus
January 21, '09, means that payment has boon re
ceived to and including the last Issuo of January,
1909. Two weeks aro required after money has
boon received before tho date on wrapper can bo
changed.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS Subscribers requesting
a. chango of address must give old as well as new
address.
ADVERTISING Rates will bo furnished upon
application. ' ..,,
Addros all communications to - i, .-'. .
THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Nob:
on What it uses; for, according to Senator
Bailey's "Abrabian Nights" political economy,
the increased cost of taw material would come
out 'of tlie trust's profits and 'not out' of tho con
sumers' pockets.
1 Of course such a proposition is absurd, and
Senator Bailey in his effort to make it plausible
merely succeeds in making it more ridiculous.
Senator Bailey has told us often, and lately
with very solemn mien, that it is folly to fine
the trusts, because they take the amount of
the fine from the pockets of the people. "Why
a trust is able to recoup itself for a fine and not
for a tax, Senator Bailey does not attempt to
tell us, and we accept his forbearance as evi
dence that ho is not quite devoid of all respect
for our intelligence.
The truth as to this proposition is not far to
seek; but Senator Bailey will not go in quest
of it, because to do so would emphasize the in
Jury he did the democratic party and the pea
' pie of Texas" when he violated the Denver plat
form. It is true that the tariff on tho manufactured
article usually marks the selling price when there
is no competition at home nor fear of creating
effective competition. There is so little competi
tion among lumber manufacturers, for example,,
that they charge up to the limit of the tariff's
allowance. But where there is competition
among home manufacturers tho selling price is
less than the tariff's allowance, and it varies as
the cost of manufacture varies, and the cost of
manufacture varies with the cost of the raw
material. Senator Bailey is cognizant, of course
In the privacy of his own mind, that there has
lately been a steep advance In the price of
wheat, and he will find, by inquiry of any grocer
that the price of Hour Is perceptibly higher than
it was three months ago, and yet the duty on
flour la now what it was then.
The platform which Senator Bailey violated
and then reviled in the hope of excusing his
violation enunciated no free raw material doc
trine. What it did do was to declare that when
competition at home was reduced to such a point
that the price of a commodltiay cQuld be mam
tained at the limit of the tariff's allowance, re
gardless of fluctuations in the cost of manufac
ture, that commidity should go on the free list.
, ,.eaSy PS bajJ nrobaWy extended beyond
the limit of the reader's patience, and yet we
have not considered one-tenth of this speech's
Sophistries. For that disappointment there is
some recompense, however, In the belief that
those we have ignored, like those we have taken
cognizance of, are so glaring as to be obvious to
every man who Is not blinded by his own par
tiality or prejudice. Senator Bailey does "not
seem to have any very clear conception of tho
tariff question, but wo aro sure that his attitude
toward it is one that, whether ho will it so or
not, promotes and facilitates the cause of tariff
robbery.
MUST HOLD TO THE DENVER PLATFORM
(Editorial in Houston, Texas, Chronicle)
In replying to Bryan, Senator Bailey dis
cusses the free raw materials issue at length.
The present democratic national platform, the
Denver platform of 1908, is the party law until
1912, when another platform shall be promul
gated. This party law Senator Bailey has vio
lated , not only in voting for a tariff on free raw
materials, but in his other votes in the senate
in tho interest of the trusts.
The free raw materials issue amounts to
simply this: The democratic tariff for revenue
only demand, it is proposed, is to have a raw
material exception. That is, when the republicans
place a duty on the finished product, the demo
crats are to demand a' duty on the raw material,
partly as a tariff graft for its producer and
partly in the idea of punishing the manufacturer.
This is all wrong. The democratic party must
hold to the Denver platform and not swerve
one hair's breadth from the true principle. Tho
democrats must continue to demand thorough
tariff reform without any exceptions. Introduce
an exception, let a single democratic congress
man demand protection for raw materials, or
the imposition of a duty thereon to punish the
manufacturer or to get even with him, with
or without the idea of incidental protection, ad
vocate the levying of a single dollar of duty for
any purpose whatever except the necessary rev
enue of the government, and the manufacturers
of the east are upon us like a plague of locusts.
We have yielded an inch and they Will take an
ell, nay, a league. If we demand a single dollar
unjustly they will demand millions because we
have ceased to oppose their crookedness.
If it be objected that the interests already
have a tariff that is the highest in history, that
the republicans won in the national elections
in 1896, in 1900, in 1904 aud in 1908, the an
swer is that because Big Loot has won for the
time being is no reason for us to make its vic
tory perpetual by departing from principle and
beginning to demand Little Loot. In 1892 tho
democrats won on the tariff reform issue and
they can win again on it- if they do not compli
cate it with inconsistencies which the dissatis
fied xepublicans, who are already near-democrats,
and the independents will be sure to interpret
as bad faith.
President Tqft's Tour
At Ogden, Utah, on Sunday President Taft
spoke at the Mormon tabernacle and at Salt
Lake City he spoke at the Y. M. C. A.
Speaking at Seattle President Taft announced
that he would, in his coming message, urge
congress to nact the ship subsidy law. In dis
cussing ship subsidy, President Taft declared
that if a war should come at this time, the
United States would not have enough vessels
to carry coal to its fleets. And it would be
doubtful, under the neutrality laws, he added,
if the United States would be able to buy foreign
vessels in the emergency.
Referring to the president's tour, Farm, Stock
and Home, printed at Minneapolis, says:
"In the first speech President Taft made upon
starting on his tour of the country, in Boston,
he said he was going out to 'meet the people
to exchange ideas with and get pointers from
them, and so on. If his experiences In other
cities were or will be duplicates of those in
Minneapolis, his chances of meeting more than
one class of people have been and will be mighty
slim. He was taken possession of b7 representa
tives of the aristocracy of the city upon his ar
rival here, was given an auto ride to all the
attractive points In the city and its suburbs, his
auto followed by eight or ten others, and guard
ed by a bunch of mounted policemen numerous
enough to keep ordinary people at a respectful
distance from his highness; and in the evening
he was entertained at a banquet at a cost to
the entertainers of $20 each, which gives an in
telligent idea of the class of people who were
present, and to them he made the only speech
he delivered in the city. If any opportunity waa
given him to learn the opinion df the great mass
Of citizens of himself and his policy the oppor
tunity was kept carefully concealed. Presiden
tial tours for the avowed purpose of 'meeting
the people' are fraudulent fakes."
Concerning Mr. Taf t's visit to- Tacoma, Wash
the Associated Press report say: '
Mr. Taft took up the criticism made that the
administration was not carrying out the Roose
velt policies, and said:
"I am bound to admit that Mr. Roosevelt's
knowledge of the west is greater than I have
for he had lived in the west and loved it better
than he did his own home in tho east; but I
was in the Roosevelt cabinet four years, and
became Imbued with tho determination to carry
out the Roosevelt policies as I understood them.
No one can have a higher opinion or feel more
gratitude to my predecessor than I have. There
is a disagreement as to just what the Roosevelt
policies are. We have' heard of Catholics of
whom it was said that they were more Catholic
than the pope. Occasionally we find gentlemen
so earnest in 'support of tho Roosevelt policies
that they are more Rooseveltian than Roosevelt
himself. I am doing the best I can to carry out
the Roosevelt policies as I understand them,
and as I was in his cabinet for four years I had
at least fair opportunity to know what they
were."
BALLINGER AND PINCHOT
After giving his approval to the course of
Secretary of the Intoric- Ballinger, and declar
ing that ho, Ballinger, is thoroughly in har
mony with the Taft administration the presi
dent says that Pinchot will be retained. In a
letter addressed to Mr. Pinchot, the president
says:
"I wish you to know that I have the utmost
confidence in your conscientious desire to serve
tho government and, the public, in the intensity
of your purpose to achieve success in the matter
of conservation of natural resources and in tho
immense value, of what you have done and 'pro
pose to do with reference to forestry and kin
dred methods of conservation; and that I am
thoroughly in sympathy with all of these poli
cies and propose to do everything I can to main
tain them," insisting only that the action for
which I become responsible or for which my
administration becomes responsible shall he
within tho law." ' . i
In other words, Mr. Pinchot will be .expected
to work in harmony with the Taft administra
tion, whose law is the law of Ballinger.
MASSACHUSETTS DEMOCRACY
The democratic convention of Massachusetts
has adopted an excellent platform. The first
plank deals with the tariff question and de
mands an immediate reduction of tariff duties
on the necessities of life. It also contains a
plank opposing imperialism and favoring the
popular election of United States senators and
direct nominations. In addition to these planks
and some good planks on the labor question, it
declares for the election of "only those candi
dates for the legislature pledged to the ratifica-1
tion of a constitutional amendment for an in
come tax." The democrats of Massachusetts
are to be congratulated upon the stand they
have taken on these questions, and especially
are they to be commended for insisting that
candidates for the legislature shall be pledged
to tho ratification of the income tax amend
ment. The opponents of the income tax have
counted on all of the New England states to
oppose the amendment, but they are likely to
be disappointed. Among the mass of the people
the sentiment is strong in favor of the Ihcoin
tax, and it would not be a matter of surprise if
a number of republican candidates for the legis
lature were left at home if they retuse to prom
ise to ratify the income tax amendment.
BUT WHAT OP ALDRIOH?
William Allen White, writing in the Empori
'(Kansas) Gazette, says:
"There is a great deal of boisterous talk from
the gods of the machine, about insurgents who
have 'been read out of the party.' These edi
torial expressions will serve to show that tho
Insurgents have public opinion behind them, and
that they aro still the bone and sinew of the
party and It Is encouraging to reflect that not
one of them has been discouraged or dismayed
by the thunders from the Winona Sinai."
But what about Senator Aldrich? He waa
and la the republican leader, recognized not only
by President Taft but proved In tire record o
republican legislation.
- - ... --ltf- rr- u tj-
wnti!fcv'W"''WBafeaiai'''iWi 'r "-&
4-u,
Slmlfe
ifYN4i - Sum . t 4 ST. J iV J