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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1910)
i The Commoner. JTTLY 1, 11 w Where Battle Rages OHIO DEMOCRATS The Ohio democratic state convention met at Dayton June 22. Governor Harmon was en dorsed as a presidential candidate in the fol lowing resolution: "We invite the attention of the nation to .Tudson Harmon and the work he is doing in Ohio. Two years hence it will have heen com pleted, then we can spare him for larger duties. He believes that guilt is personal Is acting on that belief. at home, and would act upon it In larger fields. A high sense of duty provides hia only motives for official actions,, and his sense of--justice alone-compels judgment; Pirnr-'. ness and' strength." mark him. the man to sup plant vacillation and weakness The nation." needs, a reaL man and the Ohio democracy here., presents and indorses" for the presidency in 1912 Judson Harmon." Newton D. Baker of Cleveland, supported by the Cleveland delegation and Tom Johnson men generally, led the fight for the nomination, by the convention of a candidate for senator. The resolutions committee by a vote of 19' to 2, re fused to adopt an endorsement plank. . Mr. Baker offered a minority report and he was wildly cheered -by Ms; supporters. -- The-prop'osi.-tion to nominate & candidaterfor senator, ywas,'. however, defeated, by. a vot4 ofr 1,H)99l ttr 254. Judscn. Harmon was. renominated, for governor and. Atlee- Pomerine- of Canton was. nominated for lieutenant governor. The leading points of- the Ohio democratic platform are: . "We submit the record made and making by the present democratic, state administration. "Instead of protecting and defending graft ers, as was the way of republican- officers; the present governor is having '.hem prosecuted and sued for the return to the state of the many thousands of dollars secured by fraud and wrong-doing. "The governor Is handicapped in the task of purifying and improving the public service, by the opposition of a hostile legislature and re publican state officials. "We demand the election of United States senators by direct vote. "We demand the revision of the present un just and oppressive tariff, reducing rates so. as to lower the prices imposed on the consumers; the need of revenue for the economically con ducted government must be the guiding princi ples instead of the demands of favored interests. "We beliove in the conservation of our nat ural resources and we denounce the adminis tration, especially Secretary Ballinger, for dis missing from the public service tried and true officers whoso only aim wa3 the preservation to the people of such resources." Governor Harmon, on being renominated spoke in part as follows: "The voters of the country have often been Imposed on by tariff taxes levied ostensibly for public revenue, but really for private profit. But they were never before fooled by a promise of substantial reductions of these taxes, broken In their faces as soon as their votes were se cured. A power so insolent in its control of the law-making powers must be overthrown without delay and will be if the American people Tiave not lost their spirit. "There can be no relief as long as the inter ests which profit through tariff laws are allowed to frame them, as thus far they have always done. It has just been shown in the most strik ing way that these have complete command of the republican party, as an organization. In surgency is merely a protest. They scoff at it. The only agency by which they can be dislodged la the democratic party. "The election of state officers will turn, as it should, on the Important home affairs, which are now the chief concern of our citizens. I shall refuse to be drawn away from these. What the present administration has done and tried to do is known to all and the question is, shall It be approved or condemned? "But good government means just the same In Washington as it does In Columbus and if the discussions which the state campaign In volves shall help the voters to elevate the public service in both capitals at once I shall be doubly glad to have had a part In them." Governor Harmon referred to the honor ac corded him by the democracy of Ohio and the renewal of confidence and continued: "I shall keep on trying to make the phrase "serving the people' a true description and not false pretense or a figure of speech. It ex- pretties the vital Idea of democratic government. "A chief magistrate does not serve the peoplo who usee the powers entrusted to him to ad vance his own or any other than the public in terest or fails to use it to safeguard the general welfare whenever it Is endangered by neglect, incompetence, wrong doing or the passage of unwise or unconstitutional laws. "Efforts to continue reforms In the state will have a further effect this year. The need of reforms is still greater in the federal gov ernment and It can bo met in the eloction of congressmen. The waste of public funds which, to the extent of $300,000,000, is openly con fessed, is well worth looking after, especially now when the people, who have to make it up, aro. everywhere struggling to meet the cost Of living,, And neither economy or watchful regard for the common welfare is possible in Washing ton while the- reign- of the favored goes on and the : practical genius of our people,, finds such, small-expressions in the conduct of their public business.' lng study; and just a In the case of the pli olo graphic negativo, so was it with tho montal nega tive, a final quick completion of all tho details, each in its right place with tho propor omphaals, and the wholo thing at last fixod indelibly In a bath of comradeship. Although I never voted for Mr. Bryan, being of tho opposite political party, and although I havo shared in some measure at loast most of tho popular notions (if not hallucinations) as to tho dangerous qualities of his political doc trines, I have found him as a man ono of tho cleanest, stralghtcst, bravest, strongest, and ablest men I havo ever mot. I can say this now without being charged with any political motive, and I am moved to say it by the fact that Mr. Bryan's open and aggrcsslvo , espousal of- the cause ok temperance Bhows that he is ready to stand for what ho thinkB is right . irrespective of its offect upon his political for tunes. Cbristinn Endeavor World. MINNESOTA REPUBLICANS The Minnesota republican state convention met at St. Paul Juno 21. It nominated O. E. Eberhardt, present governor, as its candidate for governor. Then it unanimously nominated Seriator-'MosesE. Clapp, insurgent. The plat-' .-.form .Gtfdarsedt. the administratioh of President Taffr, declaring.lt to be "wise and conciliatory," and, by an overwhelming vote it tabled a reso lution re-affirming' "our unalterable 'support of the policy promulgated by Theodore' Roosevelt." Then it endorsed the work of the entire Minne sota delegation in congress "for their efforts in endeavoring to secure legislation in the interests of the people." It defeated a resolution de nouncing the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill and fin ally as a sop to tho insurgents it adopted a' resolution in favor of "conservation along tho lines suggested by Theodore Roosevelt." PENNSYLVANIA REPUBLICANS The Pennsylvania republican convention com pletely dominated by Senator Penrose met" at Harrisburg and named the following, ticket: Governor Congressman John K. Tenor, of Washington county. Lieutenant Governor Congressman John M. Reynolds of Bedford county. Secretary of Internal Affairs Henry Houck of Lebanon, incumbent. State Treasurer Former Congressman Charles F. Wright of Susquehanna county, in cumbent. The platform adopted indorses the national and state administrations and declares that the tariff bill recently enacted is in accord with the republican policy, expressed in tho last' platform. DEVELOPING A MENTAL NEGATIVE I will warrant that if you over developed a photographic negative, or watched one while it was being developed- you found the process ex tremely fascinating. At first you saw only a milky white surface without design or form of any kind. Then came spots here and there. Presently you recognized something; quickly, quickly then the whole scene sprang into view, and you held your breath lest you might carry the process too far and lose it all. It was in the summer of 1896, a hot day in July, and during our Washington convention. I was standing in front of a newspaper bulletin board reading the astonishing statement that some one named W. J. Bryan had been nominat ed for president of the United States by the na tional democratic convention. That bulletin board became a mental negative to me. At first it meant nothing at all; then two spots appeared, one of which meant that the democrats had "gone off" again, and the other said it must be an Irishman. Now that mental negativo has been developing In the bath of time ever since, and last July at St. Paul, while attending an other Christian Endeavor convention, thirteen years intervening, the negative came out a por trait complete in every line and tono, and a day's close fellowship with William Jennings Bryan, at the table, on the platform, in con ference before the populace, has fixed Indelibly In my mind and heart tho outlines of a great American, a noblo Christian, and a true dem ocrat. , As I go back over those thirteen years and follow the development of this man's character as it appeared to my mind's eye on the slowly developing mental negative, I find It a fascinat- BUYING A PIG IN A POKE" Prior to the meeting of tho state convention tho Columbus (Ohio) Citizen printed this editorial: "It should not require a club to persuade tho Ohio democracy to bo honest with itself in this senatorial matter. If ono Is necessary, though,, the voters have.. tho. club "THE. DEMOCRATIC. PARTY, IN AND OUT OF OHLO HAS BEEN DECLARING FOR THH POPULAR ELECTION OF SENATORS MANY YEARS. TUB LAST STATE CONVENTION DIRECTED THE PARTY COMMITTEE TO IN CLUDE THE INDORSEMENT PROPOSITION IN THE CALL FOR THIS ONE, A DIRECTION WHICH THE COMMITTEE DELIBERATELY IGNORED. "Twice tho party has Indorsed senatorial can didates in convention. It is a ridiculous argu ment against further indorsements to complain, as 'Bill' Finley does, that neither was olected. If the democrats can't name a satisfactory can didate, they don't deserve to havo the legisla ture. It Is pretty certain ihat the peoplo will not give them authority to elect an unknown. Ohio peoplo are too shrewd to buy a pig in a poke. "Governor Harmon argues that since tho pri mary in which Dick ran alono was Ignored by democratic candidates, tho party now has no legal way to pick a candidate. He also conr tends that, sinco tho state committee did not include tho senatorial indorsement in the con vention call, the delegates have no right to in dorse, since they have not been selected with that end In view. "This is more quibbling; technical lawyer talk. "Getting down to brass tacks, there is no legal or regular fashion in which any party In any state can pick a senator. Neither a pri mary nor a convention has any binding force on any member of tho legislature anywhere. It will take a constitutional amendment to give tho people the right to elect senators. "But remember that there is nothing binding upon presidential electors in the popular vote for president. Legally the Ohio electors in 1908 were free to vote for Governor Hughes or Theodore Roosevelt instead of Taft. Yet tho moral obligation on presidential electors is never Ignored. "In like fashion the people all over tho coun try have come to take a hand In picking senators, either through primaries or by demanding state convention indorsements. Such indorsements have been violated, as was the Toledo conven tion pledge to M. A. Hanna. But the violators had to quit politics. The last Illinois legislature ignored the primary victory won by Senator Hopkins and several grand juries are now busy with men who were 'persuaded' to vote for 'Billy' Lorlmer. It Is safe to say that the demo cratic members of the next legislature will re spect any moral obligation the party puts upon them. They had better. "The people of Ohio want to know whom the democrats will elect senator if they get the legislature. Tho people are not Interested In any technical 'or political difficulties tho demo crats may have in picking their candidate. An indorsement of the man by the democratic state convention will be perfectly satisfactory as a' declaration of intention. Moreover, this is now the only means left to that party." The Citizen has described the situation accu rately. Every Ohio democrat who assumes the rank of leader ought to understand that the party which in its methods and its candi dates gets the nearest to the people will make' tho greater progress in the effort to secure th people's endorsement. l . i t !' ;i i ! M .,, . I Tai ill I iT)fl .,.'! V tfvtarrfe.1.i -jMiiidiniiiilltiSlwfiiiiif .TrfrkinttrimifAtf fusntttoAtffife jl'iir M1F , Jfadc mittoSdj iJumiMAkJU-p