The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
VOL. 10, NO. 12
Lincoln, Nebraska, April 1, 1910
Whole Number 480
A Pathetic Plea
In his New York effort to correct the mistake
ho made at Chicago while indiscriminately at
tacking newspaper men, Mr. Taft made a pa
thetic plea. He told of some of the vexations
of the presidential office, how they drove the
occupant nearly to distraction. He said he had
been criticised for doing so much traveling but
explained that it was a' great relief at times
to flee from the criticisms at the national capi
tal, board a special car and hurry away to visit
among the people, many of whom had never
seen a president and most of whom were willing
to accord him courteous reception in spite of his
mistakes. There was no mistaking the presi
dent's deep feeling. Plainly he was worried.
Some of the plain people, who accorded Mr.
Taft enthusiastic reception in spite of his mis
takes, could tell him how to rise above the
troubles now surrounding him. They could tell
him in the first place that he should have chosen
at least one member of his cabinet who was out
of sympathy with the trust system, who believed
in popular government and who could advise
him that the way to all the peace which a use
ful, active man may have these days, is through
devoted service to the public interests and re
lentless antagonism to the forces that would
prey upon the public welfare.
Why does Mr. Taft fail to adopt this course?
The answer is he was elected by the very forces
which he ought now be antagonizing. The
trusts provided the republican committee with
its campaign funds and Mr. Taft received the
united support of the special interests. News
paper dispatches reported That his brother, a
multi-millionaire, had, assured all. Street that
the republican candidate woiiTd bew"safe and
sane," and John D. Rockefeller himself gave out
a newspaper interview assuring the business
world that they could depend upon the republi
can nominee. As soon as he was elected, Mr.
Taft surrounded himself with cabinet advisors
who had received their training in the circles
where trust magnates most do congregate. Then
when the republican party revised the tariff up
ward in spite of an implied pledge to revise it
downward, he declared the result to be "the best
tariff law ever placed upon the statute books."
Surrounded as he was by Wickershams and Bal
lingers he recommended the sort of legislation
for which the special interests are most anxious.
From ship subsidy to national incorporation, ho
has shaped his recommendations to suit the pur
pose of the system to which the republican party
owes its repeated successes and to which the
American republic owes its present day deplor
able condition.
No American citizen likes to see the president
of this republic in an unhappy frame of mind.
Every patriot 'would have the president as free
from care as is possible. Everyone would have
him complete his administration with credit to
himself and honor to the people. Would you
learn, Mr. President, of the paths of peace?
Then cut loose from Aldrich and Cannon. Turn
your back upon Aldrichism and Cannonism. Hold
out the hand of welcome to LaFolletto and to
the faithful democrats who, co-operating with
LaFolletto in the senate and with insurgent re
publicans in the house, are ever ready to co
operate with the president once he sets his face
toward the rising sun and takes his stand for
the people rather than for their oppressors.
Abandon your efforts to forco national incor
poration upon tiro people. Drop the central bank
scheme, the ship subsidy scheme, the centralized
railroad regulation scheme. Call upon congress
to give to the people tariff revision that will
be in keeping with tho pledge your party made
and which you repeatedly interpreted prior to
election day. Make your administration rep
resentative of tho integrity and the democracy
of tho American people.
Regrettable as it is you have great cause for
worry, Mr. President. Your administration is,
admittedly, more servile to the special interests
than any other administration in American his
tory. In the opinion of many calm, thoughtful
men yo.ur administration has brought a crisis
upon this great government of ours; it has
placed popular government in peril and repub
licans, as well as democrats, in the east
as well as in tho west and south, are asking,
with respect to the American republic, "What
shall wo do to save it?"
CONTENTS
A PATHETIC PLEA
PRINCIPLES AND MEN
NOMINATING SENATORS
"REPUBLICAN PARTY" IS THE ISSUE
TWO 1910 ELECTIONS
MR. TAFT'S REASONS
THE FIGHT IN LOUISIANA
EDUCATIONAL SERIES: PARTY PLEDGES.
WHERE THE OLD SHIP IS LEAKING
THE NEW RULES COMMITTEE
KITCHIN DESCRIBES CANNONISM
GAMBLING AND INVESTMENTS
CURRENT TOPICS
HOME DEPARTMENT
WHETHER COMMON OR NOT
NEWS OF THE WEEK
WASHINGTON NEWS
CirAMP CLARK BT AL
.' It must not be forgotten that Champ Clark
and his democratic, associates in the house are
entitled to hearty congratulation for the good
fight they made in the Cannon controversy. Mr.
Clark and his followers waged their fight skill
fully. They played the -highest sort of politics
in joining with the members of another party
in the hope of giving 'good resulte to the public
interests. Democrats everywhere were glad to
know that their representatives in congress pre
sented a united front to the' enemy. Commoner
readers in every congressional district ought to
send a note of thanks to their congressmen.
They are accustomed to criticism, let them have
some kind words at the moment when it will
do them good and when it will do the party and
the country good, too; for words of encourage
ment are very helpful to the honest public
servant.
POOR EXCUSE
Some of the republican insurgents who joined
in the vote of confidence to Speaker Cannon
seek to justify their conduct by the statement
that they could not be expected to join with
their democratic allies in assuming the respon
sibility for legislation. The Chicago Record
Herald, a republican paper, makes complete an
swer to this absurd excuse. The Record-Herald
says: "What pending legislation that is really
progressive and popular are the democrats fight
ing? When and where has the party line been
drawn in recent years to the injury of the peo
ple? Did not the democrats support tho Roose
velt measures when they were being pushed
through congress? Did they vote against the
railroad bill, the pure food bill, the income tax
amendment? Are they not prepared to voto
for conservation, for additional commerce regu
lation, for tariff revision downward?"
WHAT WILL HE DO?
Constantinople cablegrams say that Oscar
Straus, United States ambassador to Turkey, has
been summoned to meet Mr. Roosevelt at Cairo,
Egypt. Mr. Straus is a warm personal friend of
Mr. Taft, and the fact that he has gone to meet
the former president is presented by the Taft
men as an offset to the report that Mr. Pinchot
was invited to confer with Mr. Roosevelt.
Prophets are without honor and those who
are inclined to assume that role in this par
ticular case will do well to remember that Mr.
Roosevelt's practice has not always been entirely
in accordance with his preaching. Mr. Roose
velt might conclude that the effort to bolster
up the Taft administration would be as exciting
as a South African monkey hunt.
Principles and Men
Defending tho failure of republican Insur
gents to aid in ousting Mr. Cannon from tho
speaker's chair, tho Lincoln, Neb., Journal, re
publican, says:
"The degree In which men separate principles
from persons is one of tho best of all tests of
their civilization. Only savageB massacre a de
feated army. It Is a tenet of our religion to
hate the sin but love the sinner. One of the
most inspiring sightB ever presented by tho
American congress is tho calmness following last
week's storm, tho capacity those men show to
differ radically in view and interest and yet
associate in calm good temper, 'and ne'er pre
sent their injuries to their heart, to bring it into
danger.' "
It is all very well to separate principles from
persons but if we are to bring about tho estab
lishment of a particular principle In public af
fairs we do not glvo the administration of those
affairs into the hands of men violently opposed
to that principle. Tho Journal draws a beauti
ful picture of the capacity of the Cannonites and
antl-Cannonites In tho republican party "to
differ radically in view and interest and yet as
sociate in calm, good temper." That notion Is
not borne out by the attitude of Mr. Cannon
and his followers or, for instance, by tho
speaker's address before the Illinois association.
When it came to tho nomination of a new rules
committee the Cannon men saw the importance
of having men to represent principles and so
they saw to it that not an insurgent was nom
inated for that committee; on tho other hand
they put none but stalwart Cannon men on
guard.
', The American, people can, not fight the great
trust system' with confetti. Real representatives
of the people fight this system under great dis
advantages and they must make every blow
count. This does not mean that any element
of personal hatred shall enter the battle. One
may look tenderly upon the good personal qual
ities of the speaker, his marked ability, the great
endurance he displays for one of his age, his
genial, personal characteristics and yet, remem
bering that, with all his virtues, ho is the repre
sentative of the trust system that is oppressing
tho American people, move upon him without
mercy and drive him from political power.
NOMINATING SENATORS
Governor Marshall of Indiana has endorsed
the proposition made by democrats generally
that the democratic state convention for In
diana nominate a candidate for United States
senator.
In the absence of a law making it possible for
the people to vote directly for senatorial candi
dates, the nomination plan is good. The people
of Indiana are deeply concerned in the character
of the man who will succeed Mr. Beveridge in
the senate. They have the right to know the
identity of the man whom the democratic legis
lature will elect to the senate in advance, if pos
sible, of the election of the legislature. If every
democratic aspirant for senatorial honors in In
diana shall submit his claims to tho democratic
state convention it is safe to say that those
claims will be given due consideration; and it
is also safe to say that the chances for securing
a senator of superior character would bo far
better if the candidate were chosen in advance
by tho state convention than if the office were
permited to become the football of politics In a
legislative contest.
This applies to other states where the Oregon
law is not in force.
In an editorial entitled "The Democrats and
tho Senatorship," tho Indianapolis News, an in
dependent republican newspaper that often sup
ports democratic candidates, says:
"Much opposition exists to the choice of a
senatorial candidate by the democratic state
convention. But if tho democrats could only
imagine themselves in the midst of tho cam
paign they would perhaps see tho wisdom of
