Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 1910)
'Wtw ""nnVT MWt71kMtt'MKMWHU i a MIKHHItlUB II" i' "" ntmMijtm x j JANUMtY 7, ltlt " " ' ; ' points out, in his scholarly contribution, that floe need today of a new party for economic readjustment,- for corporate reform, for tariff re vision, is precisely the same need that called the republican party into existence when the Missouri compromise was repealed in 1854. The seven, years of the Roosevelt administration aTo characterized by tho eminent durist as the period of awakenihg--jr-period of sentimental revival with RoQsovelt as the preacher and on the Taft regime he sees laid tho duty of accomplish ing, the reform outlined by his predecessor. No results have yet- been shown and there is no prospect of any, he says, and concludes that this failure may lead the workers of tho country to band themselves" together in a new party. Tho tariff, as Judge Grosscup sees it, is not the purely-economic question that it is commonly sup posed to be, but a question of fundamental hu man right, tho right of every man to an indi . vidual share in property. 'The central flguro of the period of awakening,' said Judge Grosscup, 'was President Roosevelt, but no one saw moro clearly than himself that his administration had accomplished little in the actual work of re framing the laWB to carry out its spirit no one saw more clearly than he that his work was chiefly that of . preacher of righteousness. To his successor wholly selected by himself was left tho constructive work that was expected to be-done. Roosevelt had summoned tho people; had Impaneled them as a great jury before whom to frame and to whom to submit tho con structive proposals that would carry out tho purpose of the awakening. The proposals them selves he left to be framed and submitted by his successor. And upon that understanding his successor ivas overwhelmingly elected. The first of these proposals "was tariff revision. That proposal was distinctly framed in the conven tion that.nominated Taft. It was submitted by him; pointedly to the jury, of the people. The verdict '.returned was 'for revision not make believe, 'bu't a real revision; and nothing re mained after that but to put the verdict into judgment at the special session of congress. Whether cthe verdict has been put into judg ment or whether it was set aside Senator Aldj rich wielding the real authority of the party in power, the president satisfied with a concession here and there around the, edges will be ,de. tetftfiije'u; irieedjly'iyrt by ,what the president' says,lb.tit-"by what experience shows the tariff beneficiaries can do under cover of the so-called revision'.' And if experience shows that this, the' first promise of the new' administration, has been ' broken, ' then what? Is it not then time to inquire where we are?' " ;v J ' 10 TN 'ANALYZING his subject, "Prosperity with JL" Justice," Judge Grosscup Insists that the right' of every man to have the surplus of his labor coined into property, without. loss or di version to any one else, is just as fundamental a human right as are the rights to possession of the bread a man earns by the sweat of his face, of an open field for mind and soul development and! of free and untrammeled exercise of the right of franchise. Our banking system, he points out, enables the big corporations to oper ate largely with the savings of the workers. Ho quotes Seator Dolliver for the statement that the people pay, in tariff taxes, $2,100,000,000 annually. Of this huge sum, he declares, only one' dollar in seven has gone into the govern ment ' treasury. The remainder, he shows by statistics, does not go to the laboring man as a bonulJ over labor costs in foreign countries, p but into the coffers of the trust magnates them selves. "Mr. Taft promises," he proceeds, "that tho present commission of tariff experts shall bo employed in getting together data for a bet ter taTiff next time. The trouble with this promise is that it is the only thing saved, out of an otherwise utterly wrecked promise simply a promise that the next promise will ndt bo broken " Tho article advocates the sharing of the profits of large corporations with employes, not as a present but as a matter of right. our present tariff policy and our present corpora tion policy," says the writer in summing up, 'twin wrongs feeding on twin human rights, are fast becoming Institutions, aid as such are fast becoming intolerable. What Political or ganization will take up the cause of this new attack on human rights? What political or ganization, coming fdrward as did the young re publican party in tho generation preceding us, will stand for the man in the common walks Of life, our brothers in blood and race, m i the young republican party stood for thosewh were our brothers only in the larger family of man kind? Tor dner I am willing to give that or- The Commoner. ganlzatlon my humble aid. If that aid can bo rnnexer--0diIthInln-oxIat,nB Party, I am SSwi0! BOlon& wlth ". If to sive that aid effectively, I must caatasldo political connec tions in which I havo spent a good part of my life, I am ready to do that. My iather, at tho beginning of his maturity, that ho might bo on the right side of tho great human causo in volved in tho slavery question, left tho party in which ho had been born. Both of my grand fathers, in the same cause, left tho party In which they had grown old. I can, If necessary, follow their example. All that I wish to know all that an awakened public mind will wish to k".w wI11 be that at last wo havo associated with a movement that Is In earnest. Let no one think that tho world is going to stand still. Let no ono fear that tho material civilization, from which our prosperity in tho mnss comes, Is going to stand still. But the relation of tho individual to this property in tho mass can not, on the other hand, bo made to remain as it is today. That Is a problem that has existed since man's race began and will exist whllo time en dures. Upon the settlement of that problem aright depends the future of mankind." IF THE 158 largest cities of tb United States were to merge thomselves into ono great corporation they would need a working capital of $1,250,000,000, or just about the equivalent of tho capital stock of the United States Steel corporation turned Into hard cash. The United States census bureau has made an investigation as to tho cost of municipal government, how the money is spent and who gets it. Tho result of this investigation Is described by the Associated Press in this way: "The net amounts spent on public works and departments, or collected from taxes or other sources of revenue composed about 58 per cent of the total transactions for , 1907. The remaining 42 per cent was spent in cidental to the conduct of the city's business or in transactions where the city acted moroly as a fiscal agent, as in tho collection of revenue for the state or county. To maintain tho 4epart ments of city government' is 36 per .cent pf thp total cost. During 190,7 the 158 cities enumer ated collected nearly $60Q,000,Q0Q Jp their, own,,, revenues and then, borrowed moro than $400,- 000,000 for improvements. But an American city as a collective institution is far from a bank rupt. During 1907, after paying for all main tenance and operation and Interest upon debt, the cities of tho United States had among them $122,000,000 to push new work. It costs moro than $103,000,000 a year to protect life and property; it costs more than $37,000,000 for sanitation and the preservation of health; tho leading item of $109,000,000 is for education, and for recreation we spend least of all, a little more than $12,000,000. It costs $3.37 per cap ita in New York to maintain the police force, and it only costs 49 cents In Oshkosh. It costs $3.42 in Washington, and It only costs 44 cents in Lincoln, Neb. It only costs 40 cents per capita to maintain the fire department in Newport, Ky and It costs 44 cents in Harrlsburg, Pa., but It costs $3.02 in Atlantic City. The tendency of municipal ownership shows itself in some di rections. Of these 158 cities, 116 own and operate ttfelr own water plants. Only seventy six of them own their own market places. In summing up the costs of all the items of city government it appears that interest upon bor rowed money makes almost as great a showing per capita as any other item. It averages $3.40 per capita, and goes up as tho size of tho cities increase." ALL THE WORLD is interested just now In David Lloyd-George, chancellor of the, Brit ish exchequer, and the commanding figure-in the great political contest now going on. Re ferring to Lloyd-George, a writer in the New York World says: "The rage with which his opponents assail him is their tribute to his tal ent T Mr. Balfour is the polished, scholarly Sari amentary orator who addresses the people $tn the distant air of his class. Mr . AsQuith Is a creat pleader of any cause or policy he may idonf but he lacks the fire to thrill an audience n? woSgmen and the imagination to enter ?nto their feelings and capture their hearts. Mr. 1 lovMeorgo is of and from the people. By biri and sympathies he is bound to them. Suc rflhaV not dulled his Insight or chilled his C e2L l a reformer of tho conditions in which BriCrlve. As a public speaker ho has been compared to Mr. Bryan, but M r. Lloyd-George has a more genial nature, a nimbler wit and lens of the pulpit mnnner than Mr. Bryan. Speaking at the National Llboral club a fow days aftor tho house of lords throw ; put tho budget, Mr. Lloyd-Goorgo quoted Car lylo e remark, 'It Is wonderful how long a rot- ' ton institution will hang together, so long as It la not roughly handled,' and addqdj 'It lo time It woro handled firmly. You can not with" menacing speeches cast down oven Iho most rlckoty and glmcrack of Idols.' Ao for tho favorlto tory argument that the liouso of lords wns controlled by mon of buslnoss and achlovo mont, h ropllcd: 'You havo got Just a few in tho house of lords, and tho rest of thorn aro of no moro uso than broken bottles stuck on a park wall to keop off poachers. And that Is what they aro there for to keop radical poach ers off their lordly preserves.' Lord Lansdowno had been forced Into rejecting tho budget against his own better judgment, 'but having boon forced, seolng no way out of It, being In tho trap, ho thought ho might as well eat tho checso, and not leave It for tho consumption of any other mouso or rat.' Tho groat financiers had In dulged In a good deal of plain speaking at his expenso, said Mr. Lloyd-George, and ho wished to show his appreciation of tholr stylo. Lord Rothschild and Lord Rovolstokc had complained that BrltlBh Investments wore absolutely of no uso at tho present moment, and tho only fit thing to Invest In whs somothlng foreign. 'These two noblemen aro groat exporters of British capital. They aro making n compotont and a rospectablo living out of that huslness. And when I hear these two able financiers say that the British fish smells rather strongly and that tho foreign fish on tholr stalls is both sweat and wholesome, then I say, my lords, you aro two very good salesmen.' As for surrendering tho power of tho house of commons to redress wrongs through tho control of the finances, Mr. Lloyd-George regarded' It as the greatest act of folly any democracy could perpetrate 'Every grain of freedom,' he said, Ms moro precious than radium, and tho nation that throws It away Is tho most wanton of prodigals.' " TTERE IS A nrottv story from llfo told by JLJu thot Morrill. M('Kanv News: "U& was thajA worst boy In school; sho Was tho t&idhcr. fetio was angered by his stubbornness; ho wna do-,, fiant. Sho took him to tho Lall torpurilBiuHont.' Angrily sho administered tho penalty and then somehow a groat wavo of pity for tho boy swept over her. Sho looked at tho worn coat of tho little fellow; she thought of tho frail body de prived of nourishing food; sho thought of tho hard and loveless homo and of tho starved soul of tho poor kid. Tears sprang to tho teacher's eyes as the boy waited for further punishment. Then he saw tho tears. Ills own eyes grew moist and overflowed. Thinking of how tho s poor boy had no chance, in an impulso of lovo sho put her arms around the boy and they cried together. That Is religion. She and tho boy both found it." ACTS OP HEROISM performed by a negro aro told In a Kansas City dispatch carried by the Associated Press as follows: "Heroic rescue work on the part of Washington Johnson,"" a negro Janitor, saved the lives of a score of persons In tho Rialto building, a five-story struc ture at Ninth street and Grand avenue, which was destroyed by a fire caused by a gas explosion. Tho loss Is estimated at $300,000. Johnson dis covered the flro and, realizing that a number of physicians and medical students wero sleeping on tho upper floors, ho rushed through the halls shouting an alarm. When ho believed every body had escaped he mado his way to tho street. There ho learned that Charles R. Manley, a medi cal student, who slept on the fifth floor, was still missing. Without a moment's hesitation Johnson rushed up the stairs to tho top of tho building.. As he started through the ball on the fifth flodr ho met Manley dazed and half . choked, groping about. Taking tho stifled man by the arm the negro guided him through tho smoke and flames and the pair reached the street just as a second explosion shook tno building. The second explosion occurred Just as twenty firemen entered the building, aix of tho firemen were thrown s distance of several feet by the force of the explosion, nut none suffered more than minor injuries. After throe hnnrs' work the fire was under control, having Len confined to the Rialto building. The loss falls principally upon Albert Marty, owner of tho building. Tho insurance totals two-thirds of the loss." I ; .: 4 m v"T.