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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1910)
" "" WWyTTWV " f Commoner. I APRIL 1, 1910 u it this end in view I am making my plans to make the race against him for the democratic nomina tion, and shall make my campaign along the line of tariff reform and the binding forco of the party platform. I can't conceive how an honest man can accept an election at the hands of the people on a certain platform and then violate the fundamental principles of that plat form as soon as he is elected and at the very first opportunity. That is what our man did, and I believe that he is going to receive one of the most stinging rebukes at the hands of the people this fall ever administered in that way. You are doing a great work for the party in this and I am glad that you are leading the fight so bravely. I glory in your faithfulness to duty in spite of the temporary set backs of the principles for which you are fighting. The people will finally come into possession of this 'government, and when they do there will bo .no limit to the prosperity of this country. EDUCATIONAL SERIES Three Republican Views The New York Tribune, republican, condemns the democrats of the house in this way: "Most .difficult of comprehension is the purpose of the democrats, unless it be assumed, as some con- tend, that they never see beyond their noses. The extent of the anti-Cannon sentiment throughout the country had reached proportions which few of the regular republicans compre , hend, but the democrats have appeared to bo fully alive to the situation. The fear that the house would bo lost to the democrats next November has been chronicled with entire frank ness in this column, and it has also been made clear that this fear was based almost entirely on the unpopularity of the speaker. Now the democrats are bending their every energy to assist the republicans to rid themselves of Jthe incubus, and the republicans have offered noth ing in return. In the opinion of some of the ablest politicians in the senate the democrats are making their customary blunder, pulling the republican chestnuts out of the fire just as the republican party is about to meet the gravest crisis it has faced sinco 1890." The Kansas City, Mo., Times, republican, pays this high tribute to. the democrats: "If the democratic leadership in the house had been Bhort sighted or desirous merely of playing poll tics, it might readily have missed its opportunity last week. It is conceivable that the leaders might have felt that the Cannon rules would be a valuable political asset for the next campaign. 'Had they desired to make a show of fighting them, but with the purpose of accomplishing nothing, their course would have been easy. They could have professed great eagerness to join the insurgents, but they could have insisted on such radical changes as to make an alliance im possible. That would have been the old-fashioned politics of the case. That such a' course was not adopted, but instead that an earnest, vigorous and intelligent fight was made by the house democrats to revise the rules in the in terest of the general welfare, was due primarily to the honest leadership of Champ Clark of Missouri." The Indianapolis News., republican, says: "We . think that a word is due to the patriotic part that the democrats in congress have played. In stead of "playing politics" to make confusion .worse confounded and to egg on the strife as a mere internal party faction fight, they have stood to the rack on the side of the people. It shows patriotism and able leadership, and will set them forward as aiding us in getting a gov ernment by the people. They have thought more of this than of partisan advantage possibly saw both in the same action. Be this as it may, they ' have acted as representatives of the people, and so they have their share in the effort to restore government of the people to the people." WORKS OP ART ' Senator Burkett of Nebraska has Just Issued a campaign manifesto containing 169 editorials from as many republican organs, testifying to his efficient services. Every one of the edito rials is a work of art, which is strange, con sidering the fact that many were taken from ' newspapers whose editors never before wrote such beautifully worded editorials. The American Homestead, a monthly farm journal of national scope, will bo sent to all Commoner subscribers, without additional cost, who renew their subscriptions during the month of April. Take advantage of this offer at onco and send in your renewal. PARTY PLEDGES Hon. W. H. Thompson of Grand Island, Neb., addressing the democratic banquet held at Syra cuse, Neb., March 22, spoke as follows: A party platform is an individual pledge of each member of the party to its fulfillment If the party is successful at the polls. The pledge is no stronger on the part of the candidate than of the party, or of each individual of the party; the one promises and the other vouches for the fulfillment. I am a party man and believe this to be a 'party government; that parties are essential to its perpetuity. Washington recognized this as a fact. As a party government this nation has 'grown and developed into one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of the earth's nations. Tho connecting of one's self with a party, and re leasing one's self therefrom should be entirely an act of individual volition; one of conscience and judgment. For such change no censure is due, for no one can truthfully be said to be in a position to sit in judgment. I have no patience with one who assumes to be his brother's conscience-keeper, or the one who hurls epithets or ridicule' at the one who has honestly changed party affiliations. Yet I have a supremo con- ' tempt for the public officer who betrays his trust or fails to keep his platform pledges, a well as for the voter who will barter his right of suffrage. These are the two most dangerous agencies in any free government. The one thing that most militates against a nation is the laxity with which the constituent holds the contract with his official agent. Hero is the most sacred of contracts, as its binding forco depends entirely upon the conscience and honesty of the one in office. Yet how often tho contract, the platform pledge, Is broken with reckless disregard of consequences of duty slighted. And with brazen effrontery will this same officer ask for a re-election, and so often succeeds. We teach business honesty in our homes and in our schools. Why not couple with this every day business integrity, political honesty and patriotic duty, so that a child may carry it with him all alone the after years? Each voter checks up his employes and calls for an ac counting where only dollars and cents are at stake, yet he neglects to call for an accounting of his public agent, the officer he has helped to employ, though he may have voted away rights to him as sacred as liberty and freedom under the stars and the stripes. When one comes back to tho voter for re-election, the voter should sit, platform in hand, and say, "let's check up." The democratic party has been most fortunate in its platform declarations. It has occupied a unique position. It has been the student of conditions and given the voter the benefit of its thought. It has grubbed, plowed, harrowed and sown every field that has brought glory to tho republican party since 1896. It declared in '96 that the volume of money per capita was at least a half too small; that to increase it would awaken the sleeping industries, cause the smoke to roll out of every idle chimney of the nation. The volume was nearly doubled, and, lo and behold prosperity was hero. They said that poor Cuba lay bleeding at our very door; that duty demanded we should fly to their rescue; that though they spoke another - tongue, still under our star of freedom we were their brothers, and under tho law of laws wo were our brother's keepers, and with a united effort our leaders joined, and through tho patriotism of America's sons, behold Cuba free. We said that rather than gun-boats, brass buttons, the whiz of the bullets and the roar of the cannon, an international peace conference, and behold the meeting at The Hague. We said that under our constitution the creature waB never greater than the creator, and the creator had a right to regulate the creature, and behold the interstate commerce act. We said we favored an Income tax and an amendment to tho constitution, if need be, to enable us to have it, and behold it now being submitted to the states for their approval. We said we favored the conservation of the nation's natural resources, and behold Pinchot appointed by Roosevelt and bounced hy Taft. We said we favored an amendment to the law governing injunctions, and behold Taft now belaboring congress to at least glvo it life by a congressional enactment. Wo said there were trusts. Ilanna said thero were not. Behold tho Standard Oil now tremb lingly pleading with tho supremo court and Taft, asking for an amendment to tho Sherman anti-trust law so that the trust may still live as a federal incorporation. Wo favored a postal savings bank, so enacted as to mako it compulsory to leavo tho depoHits in tho locality received. Behold republicans joining with tho democrats in trying to enact such a law. Wo declared in favor of amending tho rules governing the lower house of- congress so as .to shear the speaker of his czar-like power, and behold the Cannon rule going over tho transom. These laws never could, and never would havo been enacted, or conditions brought about, but for the crystallization of tho idea by its .demo cratic adoption and open discussion on tho hustings and through tho press. Strange as it may seem, these very acts are tho life and only hope of the republican party. Stranger still are tho position and actions of the republican leaders in reference to the democrats who aided, and the republicans who joined In thus rejuven ating this sinking ship of state of tho republican party. From Taft, Aldrich and Cannon down the lino of standpatism these men receive tho lash, the scourge, tho ridicule, the Infamy and anathemas from LaFolletto down. Mark my words, thero is a Roosevelt awakening and a' Bryan conscience abroad in the land, and that with tho aid of the magazines and the un purchased press, thero will bo more Independent voting this fall than over before marked tho way of political parties. You talk of the honest laboring man. In tho history of our country he has never been so shorn of his strength by the operation of our laws. He has not a weapon left but the ballot. , If he has been purposely wrong ho is enjoined. If he flees to tho boycott ho is hurled into prison if he does not obey it. He can not strike with a view of lawful success, for if ho does he is met by a lawless band of strike-breakers hired for the special purpose and kept in waiting for tho occasion, organized as a private standing army. He can look to no court, as no court has jurisdic tion of his case or his trouble, owing to its peculiarity of conditions and ramifications. Let us pledge ourselves anew to glvo them a court of arbitration so that under the benign influence of our government he too may havo a refuge of safety and a hope for a fairer field and blighter day. LABOR TROUBLES Edward J. Baker international president of the Brotherhood of Leather Workers, says that his people have tho support of the American Federation. He says they are now demanding an eight hour day and a fifteen per cent Increase. An Associated Press dispatch from Chicago, March 22, follows: "An Increase of three cents an hour to switchmen and of $5 a month to switch tenders and tower men of several railroads is granted in a decision of tho federal arbitra tion board announced here today. Tho increase is retroactive, going into effect February 10, 1910, on the following railroads which became involved In a wage controversy with the switch men's union of North America: Chicago and Eastern Illinois; Chicago switching district. Chicago Great Western, entire system, except . Twin Cities district. Rock Island, entire sys tem, except Inver Grove, Minn. Terminal Trans fer railroad, entire system. Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, yards only. Michigan Cen tral, Chicago west of Detroit river. Pero Mar quette, entire system. Wisconsin Central, Chi cago switching district. The advance is justified by tho arbitration board on the grounds of in creased cost of living, approximated at 25 per cent, in the last four years." Philadelphia dispatches say that the sympa thetic strike throughout Pennsylvania for tho street car men in Philadelphia has gone to pieces. Tho labor unions of Philadelphia may take the lead in the organization of a new political party. Paper mill workers at Franklin, N. H., an nounce their readiness to go on a strike. Officers of the New York Central railroad in timate that they will grant concessions to their men rather than havo a strike. .Aforauli ,lMttitftoMmulklMitMil && it a !,jm&J .rsw.i, ututfitUtufefii- -mr.il i nf . tn; .' - . .. -..itrjs.i.uil .. tul.. . 4tt jjw.t d&Uta -