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The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
VOL. 10, NO. 11
Lincoln, Nebraska, March 25, 1910
Whole Number 479
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Electing Senators
The house of representatives has, on four oc
casions, approved of the plan to elect United
States senators by popular vote, but the senate
has rejected that plan. Democrats and repub
licans alike favor that method yet so far as the
republican congress is concerned the popular
"Will in this reform goes unheeded. There is,
however, a disposition in various sections to
put the reform into effect in other ways. In
Oregon they have the plan where the people
declare their preference and the candidate for
the legislature may, prior to election day, tell
the people whether he will, in casting his vote
for senator, be guided by the popular choice. In
Oregon a republican legislature was chosen but
the democratic candidate for senator received
a majority of the votes cast at the general elec
tion and so wo had the novel sight of a demo
cratic senator being elected by a republican
legislature. Nebraska has adopted that plan
and, unless the threats of republican politicians
to have the plan declared unconstitutional pre
vail, that method will be used in Nebraska this
year. Where states do not have the Oregon
plan a candidate for senator may be chosen
by the democratic state convention. That has
been done on several occasions in Nebraska and
it would be well if in every state where senators
are chosen this year the candidates for sen
ator submit their claims to their party to be
passed upon in state convention.
One of the important tasks of the American
citizen is to reform the United States senate.
The senate will be reformed when it has been
brought closer to the people. Democrats must
work steadily in the effort to make the popular
election of senators part of our fundamental
law. In the meantime, they can put their theory
into practice by requiring their party to nomi
nate the candidate for senator so that the people
may know just what they have to expect in the
way of a United States senator in the event of
that party's success.
WOODRUFF IS BOSS
New York papers call upon New York repub
licans to depose Timothy L. Woodruff. These
papers say that Senator Root ought to be able
to take hold of the leadership in a determined
way. But it was only a few days ago that
Senator Root measured swords with Timothy L.
Woodruff and it was clearly demonstrated that
Mr. Root was not in the class graced by Mr.
Woodruff.
WIDESPREAD SUFFERING
The editor of the Houston (Texas) Post and
the editor of the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch
have organized a mutual admiration so
ciety. The proprietors of tho two papers pay
$he freight and the readers suffer the consequences.
CONTENTS
ELECTING SENATORS
GOOD SIGNS
HIGH SOUNDING PHRASES BOILED
DOWN
-NOT ALWAYS "FOUND OUT"
THE FIGHT ON CANNON
WHERE THE OLD SHIP IS LEAKING
CANNON OUSTED FROM THE RULES
COMMITTEE
MR. BRYAN IN PERU
TIMELY QUOTATIONS
CURRENT TOPJCS
HOME DEPARTMENT
WHETHER COMMON OR NOT
NEWS OF THE WEEK
WASHINGTON NEWS
0
HIGH SOUNDING PHRASES BOILED
DOWN
Boil down all the high-sounding
phrases in regard to the central "bank"
and they como to this: A scheme
devised to compel the country banks, and
through them the entire business inter-
ests, to pay tribute to a central "bank"
or pawn-shop for performing a service
which the country banks themselves
might perform more efficiently and econ-
omically.
Do not the bankers of the country
realize that the creation of a central
bank is but the first step to tho Intro-
ductlon of the branch banking system In
the United States?
A central bank to bo efficient must
have branches, and here wo will have
the branch system already applied to
note issues.
Why should a country bank have to
beg a central bank, managed in some dis-
tant ty, for a few notes with which to
move the crops?
' Which is the better judge of the local
needs for currency in Dakota or in Texas
the central bank, managed by high
financiers in the distant city, or the offl-
cers of the local banks who are an actual
part of their business communities?
Are the country banks and the busi-
ness interests they sustain to be depen-
dent upon the pleasures of the central
bank management? Bankers Magazine,
New York
' ;M
NOT ALWAYS "FOUND OUT"
The New York Times recently said: "What
does it avail Mr. Taft now, what has it availed
him since the Winona speech, to repeat his feeble
defense of that dishonorable deception (the
Payne bill) ? Fifteen millions of voters can not
be lied to and not find it out."
Referring to this statement the Bristol (Va.)
Herald-Courier recalled the fact that it was
the New York Times "which published tho
forged Cleveland letter during the last presi
dential campaign and did whatever else it could
to defeat Bryan and elect Taft." The Herald
Courier might have told the editor of the New
York Times that whether the people "can not
be lied to and not find it out" depends in a
degree upon the newspapers. When the Now
York Times published that Brandenberg letter,
reported to have been written by Grover Cleve
land, the Times plainly "lied to" the people who
depend upon its columns for information. So
far as The Commoner knows the Times has not
told its readers that the Brandenberg letter was
a forgery. So far as the New York Times was
concerned, its readers were "lied to" and they
have not yet found it out.
IN A BAD CAUSE
The new editor of the Richmond (Va.) Times
Dispatch who, while he was editor of the Charles
town (S. C.) Newfl and Courier, rendered con
siderable service to tho republican party, refers
to the late Thomas C. Piatt as "one of the great
est moral forces in his party." If that is the
best that may be said for the republican party,
it is strange that a gentleman of Colonel Hemp
hill's high personal character could be persuad
ed to work enthusiastically, as he has, for
republican party success.
OF COURSE HE LIKES IT
Andrew Carnegie pays a' high tribute to tho
present republican tariff law. He says that Mr.
Taft was right when he declared that it was
the best tariff law ever put upon the statute
books. Of course Mr. Carnegie likes it. He
!' gave liberal contribution to the republican cam
paign fund with the understanding that the tariff
measure would bo "the best ever placed upon
the statute bootau"
Good Signs
Democratic dinners held in various sections
of the country nowadays are well attonded and
tho participants show markod enthusiasm. Jef
ferson Day, April 13, will bq generally cele
brated by American democrats, notably at Wash
ington City, and at Indianapolis.
Tho managers of theso banquets report
unusual demands for scats and in every section
of tho country there aro signs that give tho
democrats reason for hope and courage. Jef
ferson Day ought to be observed in every county
in every state of tho union. Indeed at this
moment when tho principles of Jefferson are
boldly aBsailed by tho dominant party, it would
bo well if in overy precinct throughout this
country men could gather, not merely for tho
purpose of paying tribute to an individual called
Jefferson, but for tho moro important business
of holding aloft the banner upon which aro in
scribed tho principles to which this nation owes
its birth and to which it will owe its preserva
tion. "Into tho monumental act of indepen
dence," says one writer, "Jefferson poured tho
soul of a continent." Tho thing he wrote Is
known as tho Declaration of Independence. Old
fashioned men and women revere it, but tho
dominant leaders of the dominant party sneer
at it and violate its principles. It remains, how
ever, "a passionate chant of human freedom"
and Americans must adhere to its great central
truth if they would preservo their government
in the spirit in which the fathers founded it.
Let Jefferson's birthday be celebrated through
out America. The Commoner sends cordial
greetings to democrats who will bo assembled
at Washington and Indianapolis, and at
other points throughout tho country. Lot
us observe this day, not alone for the sake of
one man's memory, but for tho sake of tho well
being of the people of tho nation that man
helped to found. Let us remember that tho
words we use in paying tribute to Jefferson will
be useless if we do not practice what wo preach,
applying the Jeffersonian rules to our own con
duct in the politics of our country. Jefferson
was a great politician. Ho did not, however,
deal with the people as some do, holding tho
word of promise to the ear only to break it to
the hope. He did not advocate the election, to
public office, of men whoso largest concern was
in some special interest. With him a public
office was a public trust, a public official was a
public servant.
Nearly fifty years ago Abraham Lincoln wrote
a tribute to Thomas Jefferson. The concluding
paragraph of Mr. Lincoln's tribute is appropri
ate at the present time. Let that paragraph be
read to democrats everywhere and not only to
democrats but to men of all political parties.
Mr. Lincoln said: "All honor to Jefferson, to
the man, who, in tho concrete pressure of a
struggle for national independence by a single
people, had the coolness, forecast, and capacity
to introduce into a merely revolutionary docu
ment an abstract truth, applicable to all men
and all times and so to embalm It Uhere that
today, and in all coming days, it shall be a re
buke and a stumbling block to tho very har
bingers of re-appearing tyranny and oppression."
DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES
Democratic principles honestly applied would
tend to the cure of every ill with which we aro
confronted. It would prohibit national incor
poration bedauso that would destroy our system
of state and federal governments. It would
prohibit tho passage of Mr. Taft's railroad bill
because that means centralized power on all
railroad matters. It would prohibit ship sub
sidy because that means taking from the pockets
of the people to put into the pockets of indi
viduals. When William H. Seward in 1858 delivered
his famous speech on "The Irrepressible Con
flict" he said that he was an earnest man talk
ing to earnest men and he intended to .devote
himself to the establishment of the fact that the
democratic party then in power had forfeited
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