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The Commoner.
4
VOLUME 10, NUMBER T
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The Corimoner.
ISSUED SVEEKLY.
. i
Entorori fit tho I'oHtofflce r.t Lincoln, Nebraska,
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Wm.mam J. JIllVAN
Kdltor nml Proprietor
ItltiiAun I MivtcM.vn
AnuvliiXv Kdltor
ClIAIII.KH W. IlftVAM
I'tilrilrticr
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THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb.
drawn bo as to apply only to a certain class of
corporations; or, (c) tho right to grant or ro
fuso Incorporation will bo vested in some fed
eral oillco holder.
To placo this discretion in a foderal oillco
holder is to grant to him tho power to specify
which particular trust or combination shall bo
llconsed to prey upon the people of the United
States a powor greater than that possessed by
any tyrant of modern times a power more
dangerous than any exercised by Louis XIV in
tho hour of his most absolute and tyrannic
rule.
if tho act bo so drawn as to apply only to
certain classes of corporations, what shall this
classification bo?
Shall It apply only to those corporations pos
sessing a. certain amount of capital? Or to
thoso which exercise a more or less comnleto
monopoly?
Shall wo solomnly ascortain first, that a con
corn is so large as to bo dangerous, and then
grant it a special prerogative and privilege not
possessed or oxorcisod by thoso institutions
which aro smaller and loss dangerous?
Shall wo romovo the great and powerful from
tho purview of stato control- yet subject tho
?at?diinUd struBgling lnBtIttion to state legis-
Tho more statement of such a proposition is
so appalling as to shock even tho dull sensibili
ties of a special "pleader of monopoly," even
though ho bo president of tho United States.
The only remaining condition, therefore is
that tho law shall be so framed as to permit all
Institutions engaged in interstate commerce to
Thta hSB ?h GS f USi PrlvlleS8 d Protection
This being tho case, let us see to what extent
It will affect tho business of our country
ii?t0,ltly'i ,l lMUtutIon will avail itself of
tho law unless the privileges to be obtained are
greater than thoso which exist under state or
ganizations If the law does not confer such
benefits and privileges, then no Institution will
over seek incorporation under it.
If it does contain advantages superior to
those which can bo exercised under state organi
zat on, then all institutions engaged in inter
stato commerce will flock to Washington andin
sist upon securing to themselves the benofi s of
tho national incorporation act. OGnonts of
Who, then pray, may wo justly and reason
ably expect to at once abdicate state citizenslUn
and seek refuge In Washington? CKlzensuIP
1. All railway companies.
2. All telephone and telegraph companies for
all are engaged in interstate commerce ,
3. Every great manufacturer, for all shin i,p
yond the borders of their resident state.
-. -. muruucQ companies, for they do busi-
ness In different states and have long been seek
ing protection under the federal government
against the legislation of the states in which they
do business.
fi. The great financial institutions which are
engaged in dealing with the citizens of the dif
ferent states.
G. Great wholesale and jobbing houses, selling
their wares in different commonwealths.
7. Stock yards companies.
8. Tho packing houses.
But why prolong the specifications? The all
embracing effect of such a law will bo to cen
tralize in the city of Washington the control of
over 90 per cent of the great business institu
tions of the land. And at the same time, to
deprive the sovereign states of the right of con
trol and regulation over a corresponding volume
of business.
Tho president blandly promises us the gov
ernment will be good. That the government will
not permit monopoly. And yet the very pur
pose of this bill is to permit monopoly.
The president tells us that the business of
these institutions will bo wisely regulated by
tho government. The experience of all the years
demonstrates that instead of the government's
wisely regulating these institutions, the concerf
trated lobby of all the predatory interests of the
country will effectually regulate the government.
Tho proposition appalls the imagination and
arouses the opposition of every patriot, regard
less of party. It Is at war with the history of
our country. It is violative of the sacred pre
cepts of the constitution as they have always
been understood in the past. It proposes a com
mercial, financial and governmental revolution.
It can only be accomplished by assassinating the
liberties of the respective states and by anni
hilating principles of local self-government.
It will deprive the. people of my state, Mis
souri, and of your state, Nebraska, of the
power to protect themselves against abuses, no
matter to what extent those abuses may go.
Under our present system of laws, the people
of the state have the right to prescribe the con
ditions upon which foreign corporations may do
business within their borders. If their repre
sentatives In their general assemblies do not re
spond to their will, they may right the wrong by
the election of others who will voice their senti
ments and guard their rights.
But once this impudent and infamous proposi
tion is crystallized into law, the people of Mis
souri may cry aloud for relief. The people of
Nobraska may join in the protest. The people
of a dozen or twenty of the great American
states may, with one voice demand relief. But
so long as the corporations and monopolies can
hold a majority of one in either branch of the
national legislature, our protests will be in vain.
The monopolies knew their business when
they capitalized Taffs campaign for the nomina
tion. They understood where their interests
lay when they made the trade with Taffs repre
sentatives in New York City shortly before the
election and took his representatives' pledge in
lieu of their financial support.
Practical Tariff Talks
Hardly any household in America is so humble
or so grand but that matting of some sort is
not to be found on the floors. The republican
congress, however, in fixing the tariff tax on
this class of house furnishings followed out a
policy that is apparently directly in the interest
of the users of the higher grades of matting
and against that of those whose position in life
requires them to limit their purchases to the
poorer qualities. In brief, the tariff on mat
tings, plain, fancy or figured, manufactured from
straw, round or split or other vegetable sub
stances, included in what are commonly known
as Chinese, Japanese and Indian straw matting
valued at not to exceed 10 cents per square yard
was raised from 3 cents to 3 cents a souara
yard, while the tariff on all higher priced mat
ting was cut from an average of about 9 cents-1
7 per cent and 25 per cent ad valorem added--,
to tho same figure, 3 cents. uuea
Jjp'?Sd in anotller way, the percentage of
tariff on the cheaper grade was raised from 36
to 43 per cent of its value, while that onh
dearer grades was cut from 83 per cent of u
ifnV0 U ? Cent' the tariff on the matting
of the poor being raised and the tariff on JSf
matting of the well-to-do cut in i two and Lro
The ten cent value represents the prke Xch
the importer contracts to pay the manufaSurS
in Asia, which reaches 17 to 24 cents in the
New York market, and 40 cents to the house
holder. The dearer grades run as high as $1.50
a yard in the retail store. There was no tariff
on matting prior to the time Mr. Dingley began
moulding his law. Then, because the ingrain
carpet industry protested, congress levied the
tariff as given above. But the ingrain carpet
industry did not revive very much because a
perverse people insisted on buying matting and
refusing to buy the carpet. So it was that last
year the ingrain manufacturers were down beg
ging for a duty of 10 cents per square yard on
the cheaper grade. They didn't get it, because
democratic members pointed out that it was not
the business of congress to deprive people of
what they wanted in order to force them to buy
what they didn't want. Trade experts declared
that the decline of the ingrain carpet business
was due to the fact that it had become an obso
lete fabric.
The straw matting industry in the Unitejd
States is so small that the carpet men and the
importers who appeared at the ways and means
committee had not heard of it. Their testimony
was that no straw matting, only paper matting,
is made in the United States, that it is all made
in the orient from grass grown under peculiar
conditions. t This brought before the committee
a Massachusetts man who runs a mill in Kenne
bunk, Me., which uses grass grown in Texas.
He said that whereas all oriental matting is
made on wooden looms operated by hand and
foot power, his concern has power looms that
make a high grade product that sells in America
for a better price. He asked that the tariff" on
the medium and lower cost grades be retained
at 3 cents, and that a specific duty of 12 cents
per square yard be placed on the higher cost
grades. It was refused. There is nothing in
evidence or of record to show why.
The lace curtain is no longer regarded as a
luxury. Most every American housewife likes
to have a set of these at each of her more im
portant windows, but if any of these good women
construed the promise of the president to re
vise the tariff downward to mean that they
would get their lace curtains at a lower price,
they are doomed to disappointment. The in
dustry in America is purely exotic, the child of
a protective tariff, and at every step the cost
increases because at every step the tariff drops
in to levy a toll. The Nottingham curtain, the
standard of the industry, requires highly-skilled
labor. The curtains are constructed on intri
cate machines, every one of which must be im
ported, at a tariff tax of 45 per cent. The fine
yarns specially spun for the industry which tho
manufacturer is obliged to-use and without which
no lace-curtain machine can be operated are all
imported at 50 per cent duty. The workingmen
had to be imported, and they are all protected
because of the tariff duty on their finished pro
duct, 55 per cent. And the householder pays
all the expenses, plus the profits from maker
t0 seller- C. Q. D. .
DISAPPOINTMENT
SSr.ES.,7 Lincoln's blrtMay Droiosea
''Here's a toast to Mr. Taft: May he continue
to disappoint both extremes, and in patience 3
soberness, work out the policies of the ct22
SSftS; him' P60Ple Wh Placed tW-TSipSSl!
But Mr. Taft has not disappointed the v
o'fThenne.'063 bUSineSS at the Wanltree! cd
"ODD MA AT TwrkTTi.
Washincton dlRnntnh u xt .
World: x ua 1NOW xov
"Old Man People don't ever get much
from the government. The drlpSSS
from the sanctuary may strike evm
erally missed. The constitution i!S
w wuya invoiced to prevent Old Man Peonin
n Mm TBlcurinS anything belonging Pto
him. I have no patience with such rot
Such Was the rlnlnnnl TT TO'
Jeff Davis of Arkansas today in annoX"
l bnasnkhiDiirosition to the wkes
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