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The Commoner
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former, because ho will have to spend so much
time explaining why ho is for protection on a
fow articles that ho will not have time to op
pose protection on other articles. It might, as
well bo understood, the sooner the better, that
democratic protection is not a bit superior to
republican protection and that protection wheth
er democratic or republican, inevitably invites
bargaining, trading and corruption.
The democratic party has thrown away oner
half its chance of victory by its failure to stand
unitedly against every proposed increase and in
favor of every proposed decrease. It can, how
ever, take advantage of the other half of its
chance if its candidates will deal honestly With
the public, and give assurance of fidelity to
tariff reform.
If we can secure a democratic congress and
pass a measure providing for substantial reduc
tions wo can enter the next presidential cam
paign with confidence. If, however, we secure
a bare majority in congress and then oitr party
is rent asunder by -a division on the tariff ques
tion, as the republican party was divided over
the Aldrich bill, our prospects of success in 19i2
will be greatly reduced.
"SATISFIED"
The senate committee confirmed the, nomina
tion of Judge-Horace H. Lurton. A Washing
ton dispatch carried by the. Associated Press
says:
"President Taft was deeply gratified today
by the prompt action of the senate in confirm
ing the nomination of Judge Horace H. Lurton
to be an associate justice of the United States
supremo court. The president told his callers
that ho knew Judge Lurton's record in nearly
every detail, and ho was entirely satisfied with
his impartiality in dealing with every subject
affiliated with capital, labor and the trusts. The
president told several of his callers that he felt
a gross injustice had been done Judge Lurton
in the criticisms that he would, favor corpora
tions in all of his decisions." ,r
The president is also satisfied with Senator
Nelson W. Aldrich. In his Boston, sppecb, he
told tbb people that gross injustice! had been
i,donQ'jfthe3jJUiode, Islaridv senator ;. thaWinstead
i . ot J "being - a friend of the 'special interests , Mr.
Aldrich had a deep and abiding affection for
popular government and the- pe.ople might con
fidently rely upon his devotion, to their welfare.
POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS
feAnd now the dispatches say the republican
eadefs are going to humor-the president and
pass his postal savings banks bill.
Good! The xdemocrats ought to try to per
fect it by providing for the deposit of the money
in the nearest banks, state and national, but
they ought not to oppose it. Even a very im
perfect postal savings hanks measure is be'tter
than none and it can be perfected later, after
experience has shown its defects.
" The postal savings bank instead of taking
the place of the guaranteed bank will compel
the banks to provide a guaranty system. By. all
means let us' have the postal savings banks now
If we can get them the guaranteed bank will
come later.
DIt. GEORGE F. KEIPEtt
Dr. George F. Keiper; formerly of Pierce, -Neb.,
died recently at his home in California.
For many years Dr. Keiper was a hard working
democrat in Nebraska. As a member of the
state senate he was a; faithful servant of the
people. Wherever duty called him Dr. Keiper
was always found on the firing line. He ought
to be remembered long by the people in whose
interests he was always battling. He will be
remembered by every one whb "knew him per
sonally and understood the tenderness and the
strength of his great character.
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A manufacturer of colored "picture ffi
post cards" recently sent out a circular
letter soliciting business, in which ap-
pears the following: 0
"The tariff bill which is now in effect
haB increased the cost of foreign made-
Post Cards from $2.50 to $4.00 per
thousand.
uo you realize wnaj; tms means?;'
joiiette'fl Matrazme. -
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LaFollette's Magazine,
t -. W- ' 00 0
Tolstoy's "Farewell
Leo Tolstoy has written what he calls his
"farewell message," as follows:
My farewell message to thowbrld-at my age
every greeting is also a farewell is my view
as to how life should be framed in order that
it may bo henceforth, not as heretofore, bad and
sad, but as God wishes and as we wish our
selves; that is, that it may be full of happiness
and contentment.
The attainment of this aim depends upon
the conception we have of our lives. If my
conception of life is that my body (the body of
John, Peter or of Mary) Is given me in order
that I may find in it as 'much pleasure, joy and
fortune as possible, in that case my life must
always, under all circumstances, be miserable
or bad. The reason is that what I desire every
one else desires. As everyone wants the great
est amount of pleasure, and: as the sum total
of pleasure remains the same there Is
is not enough to go 'round. Therefore every
man who lives for himself must take something
from others, he must combat others, hate others
and make others unhappy. Even those who
attain their purposes are never happy; they are
tortured lest others should deprive them of their
wealth, and envy others who have accumulated
more than they.
The life of all men who live In the 'body must
be miserable. All such men are unhappy. But
to attain such happiness a man must understand
that the real life is not in the body; that hap
piness is not reached in obeying the body's dic
tates, but In obeying the dictates of the spirit
which lives in all men. The spirit asks for
spiritual happiness. And as the spirit is one
In all men, it 'asks for the happiness of all. To
wish all men happiness, however, means to love
all men. ,And the more a man loves, the freer
and the more joyful is his life.
The World is so constituted that, despite the
best efforts nomian can. live as hisvnody demands,
because what his body demands is sometimes
unattainable,; and , even if ip be ,, attained, that
is only atHhe -cost of fighting with' 'other's. But
the spirit' thpi soul, can always ilive happily,
because all that it demands is love, and to-.attain
love no man has to fight with another. The
more a man loves the nearer is he drawn to
others, Why, then, do we not love? Each will
be happier and more contented the more he
loves, and he will make others happier and more
contented at the same time.
All holy and wise men of the world, and
Christ himself taught that our lifejig miserable
through qurselves; that the powerwjilcli sent us
into life, which, power we call Grid; did not send
us in order that we might torture ourselves, but
rather that we should attain the happiness which
we all desire," They taught also 'that we fail
to attain tjie desired happiness biily when we
misunderstand life, and do as we ought not
to dp.
We complain of life; we complain that it is
ill ordered. We fail to understand that it is
not our life which is ill ordered, Dut that the
mistake is ours in doing what we ought not
to do. We act as acts a drunkard who complains
that there ate too many drinkshops, forgetting
that the drinkshops could not exist If there were
not so many drunkards.
Life is given to us that it should be happy.
It is our own business to make It happy. -The
way to make it a certain chain of unbroken hap
p'iness is to live in love and not in hatred.
We hear on all sides that life is bad and
miserable because of its bad institutions; we
need only, we are t6fQ.,xto change the bad in
stitutions into good ones and life will change
for the better, Do "not believe that. Do not
believe that any particular institution can make
life either better, or worse. Those people who
most thirstily seek for the best institutions are
often themselves living in discord and quarrel
ing. The institution which some propose as
the best others declare to be the worst; they
desire to substitute their own ideals, which op
ponents agree to be very bad, And even if all
institutions were the best conceivable, men
could not live with them owing to their being
used to a bad life. At present ve are used, to
a bad life and we are content with it, We
pretend that we would live better amongst bet
ter institutions. But how can institutions be
better while men remain bad?'
Must men.be made better? At present all
they do is. t6 promise you a gpdtf life if you
leading a, bad-life, fight with other men, over
throw them by force and kill 'them' in order to
attain better conditions of life. That is you
- ' VOLUME 9, NUMBER 51
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are promised & better life If you become wor
than you are. That" Is a,, delusion. There i!
only one way to attain a bejterjife, and that is
to becomo a better man.; , '
Happiness, the happiness ..of yourself and of
others, can never be based upon a fallible insti
tutioh sustained by force,, but only upon the
health of the soul. Only (through the soul can
the Individual of the community attain the
greatest happiness. The 'true happiness which
every human heart pants for lies not in insti
tutions upheld by force, it can be attained at
any moment of life, and even of death, by the
path of love.
Such, happiness was granted to' us hundreds
of years ago. Men, however, failed to under
stand it and did not grasp it Now the time is
come when we must accept it; first, because the
folly and suffering of our lives have gone so far
that our state is unbearable; second, the teach
ing of Christ' has now become so plain that no
man can fail toee it. We reach salvation only
by realising that- our lifedoe not Test in tho
body, but in the spirit of God which.lives within
us; that therefore .all the efforts hitherto direct
ed to the improvement of our bodily life must
be directed to one -siifgle and essential work;
that each must extend nis love not only to
those who love him, hut, as Christ says, to all
.men, especially -to those who are alienated from
us, or hate us. Today our life is so far removed
from that ideal that it seems impossible to trans
fervour interest from worldly things to the one
essential and unaccustomed work of love.
That, however, is a delusion. To love all,
even those who hate us, Is really not so remote
from our souls as to hate till and fight with all.
A change In our conception of life is not impos
sible; the real imposslbllfy is to continue the
fight of all against all In which we are now
engaged. Only such a chaiige can deliver men
from the sufferings they now endure, and the
change must therefore sobher or later come.
t Why- should we torture "(ourselves instead of
reihembering that the greatest happiness is
destined for us? All .depends upon ourselves.
The path is: easy and- direct' and brings nothing
but happiness. - - " ti.
An 'objection is raided, by those who suffer,
' by' 'the ''poor and the oppressed. y "That is all
right," they say, "for .tire; Tichaiiu the' rulers
of men. They nave their enemies in their power
and can afford to love them. For us, who suffer
and are oppressed, that is another matter." That
1b not true. The rich and the rulers of men
must change their conception of life with the
poor and the oppressed. It Is still easier for
the poor than the rich. The poor need do noth
ing against the command of love; they need take
no' partHn deeds of violent. With this all the
obstacles to love vanish by themselves. For the
rich the' gospel 0f love is Harder to accept and
follow. To accept this gospel they must first
resist the seduction brought by their power and
wealth. That is not easy. 'The poor and tho
oppressed have no such obstacles to overcome.
The human 'race grows as the individual. It
grows In the consciousness of love. In our age
this consciousness has- attained such clearness
that it te plain that love saves us and should be
the basis of our life. We are witnessing today
the last convulsions-of the dying age, which
is based upon violence and not upon love. The
time is coming when all will see that these
fights, this hatred, and all these institutions
founded upon force lead only to our happiness.
The time is coming when all will see that the
one, -the simplest, the sole attainable means of
salvation, is the means indicated by our con
sciences; and that is the love which is the ground
principle of all our lives.
'According to a legend, the Apostle John in
extreme old age was obsessed by one feeling
which he gave expression to In the words:
"Children, love one another." That was tho
counsel of a man "who had reached the extreme
limit of life. It is in that way that the life
of man must develop when It reaches a certain
stage. .
All is simpje; all is clear. Man lives that
Is, man is born; he grows, matures, decays and
dies. Can the object of such a life Ho within
itself? Surely not. "What is the object?" we
ask. "What am I?" The answer came:
"A being -who loves." At first it seems as If
man loves only himself. But a short experience
of life and a little thought are enough to show
that such love has no aim. ' Whom then shall
we love? A man loves his relatives, his friends,
all who love him in return. Af first that seems
, to $atisfy. But not always, FJrstly these men
and women, are imperfect; secondly, they
change; thirdly, they "die. V Whom then shall
-men love? There is but one answer. We must
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