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The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
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VOL. 10, NO. 27
Lincoln, Nebraska, July 15, 1910
Whole Number 495
Postal Savings Banks
Tho republican administration has kept 1U
pledge and established a postal savings bank.
The bill is faulty in some respects and certain
provisions are fraught with danger, but it could
hardly be expected that the party now in power
would frame a bill entirely for the benefit of
the masses. Whenever it attempts a' reform It
is apt to mix in so much that is for the benefit
of the financiers as to reduce very much the
value of the reform. But the postal savings
bank is established, and the principle embodied
in it is an important one. The republicaa party
confesses that after sixty years of power only
broken at rare intervals it has given us a sys
tem of banks that are insecure. The only ex
cuse for a postal savings bank is the need of
security. The national banks are not secure
enough, and the republican party saw no way
of making them sufficiently secure, so it did
the next best thing, it embarked the govern
ment upon the banking business. The demo
cratic party asked for the guaranty of deposits
first and for the postal savings bank as an alter-
' native in case the guaranty bank could not be
secured. The bankers opposed both plans but
were not able to overcome the tremendous sen
timent in favor of greater security. The banks
ought to learn something from the establish
ment of the postal savings bank. They ought
to know by this, time that as the postal savings
bank oamo into existence because of the un
willingness of the banks to protect their de
positors, so it will continue to grow unless the
""banks-adopt pome -method of securing the de
positor against possible loss.
The democrats should rejoice at the estab
lishment of a postal savings bank, first, because
it increases the security of depositors, and sec
ond because it can be used as an object lesson
to convince bankers that something must be
done for the protection of ordinary depositors.
We should now go ahead and correct the faults
of the postal savings bank law. We should
limit the very large discretion given to those
in charge, a discretion which may be used for
the consolidation of the deposits in great cen
ters, and we must insist upon the enlargement
of the scope of the law to meet needs that have
not yet been sufficiently considered. Trust
funds, for instance, should be given access to
the-postal savings bank. The executor, admin
istrator or legal trustee who holds funds in
trust should be permitted to use the postal sav
ings bank for the protection of his ward. The
small merchant should be given a chance to pro
tect his bank account, and there is no reason
why so low a limit should be placed upon the
amount that the individual can deposit. The
law does not go far enough. Let us rejoice at
the advance thus made and go forward to give
the law a larger usefulness.
CONTENTS
POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS
THE NEBRASKA BATTLE
DEFEAT IN OHIO
EMBEZZLEMENT OF POWER
"CATCH-MY-PAL" A TREMENDOUS
NICKNAME
IF THE PEOPLE RULE, WHY DON'T THEY
GET WHAT THEY WANT?
CHOOSING A SENATOR
CURRENT TOPICS
"GLAD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY," BY
CHAMP CLARK
HOME DEPARTMENT
WHETHER COMMON OR NOT
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE
NEWS OF THE WEEK
WASHINGTON NEWS
DEFEAT IN OHIO
Some of the corporation papers in Ohio are
rejoicing over what they call Mr. Bryan's de
feat. The turning down of the resolution in
favor of nominating a senator was not a defeat
for Mr. Bryan; It was -simply an exposure of the
corporation tendencies of somo of the demo
crats in Ohio, and exposuro of tho inconsisten
cies of still others. Mr. Bryan can afford to
bo turned down by any state convention that
cares to go on record as tho Ohio convention
did. Ho has been turned down many times
before and there aro probably many such turn
downs in store for him yet, but ho still believes
that the democrats of Ohio could 'make a better
fight facing tho enemy than In running from
the enemy, and Mr. Bryan believes that as long
as tho democratic party haB men like John R.
McLean aspiring to the senate it can not afford
to leave tho voters In doubt as to whom the sen
atorial candidate Is to be in case of victory.
Governor Harmon may have satisfactory rea
sons for throwing his influence on the side of
those who are opposed to nominating a senator,
but if so he has not yet made them public. Pos
sibly he thought that the nomination for senator
might have lessened his chance of election, and
his election may be so important at this timo
that Ohio can afford to throw away the chance
of electing a democratic senator. That is a
question for tho democrats of Ohio. But Mr.
Bryan finds some consolation in the fact that tho
fight brought out a brave man, as it did in tho
case of Mr. Baker, and it is worth a fight to
discover a brave man. Ho finds some consola
tion also in the fact that thoro were about two
hundred and fifty unterrifled democrats who
stood up and voted for the nomination of a
senator in splto of the administration, the brew
eries and other corporations that do their work
in the dark. May the tribe of the faithful increase!
THE GOSPEL OF WORK
Nothing strikes the foreigner more forcibly
In traveling through our country than the fact
that everybody is at work. There is no leisure
class here as there is in most countries, and
there Is very little of the sentiment so power
ful in most countries that puts an odium upon
the man who works with his hands. The stu
dents who come from South America to tho
United States take back this lesson, and it is
one of the most important ones they can carry.
The American youth feels it no disgrace to work
his way through college, in fact, most of them
realize beforo they get through that there is a
real advantage in being thrown upon their own
resources and made to understand the value of
money as well as time. There is a' value in
work aside from the profit derived from It. It
gives a spirit of independence and a conscious
ness of service, and both of these are necessary
to the highest achievements.
NOT A "PERSONAL VICTORY"
Tho Omaha World-Herald, in an editorial re
ferring to the Lancaster county, Nebraska, dem
ocratic convention, says that tho adoption by
that convention of a county option plank was
due to "an eloquent and rather pathetic appeal
to his personal frlendB and neighbors," mado
by Mr. Bryan.
This statement is as true as some of the other
statements made by tho World-Herald upon
subjects relating to tho liquor question.
The fact Is, that the county option plank was
the test In every precinct in Lancaster county
and the newspapers announced on the follow
ing morning and before the convention had been
held, and beforo Mr. Bryan had made his "elo
quent and rather pathetic appeal," that county
option had won.
The will of the democratic voters thus ex
pressed at the primaries was registered in the
convention in favor of county option by a vote
of 134 to 30.
Many friends of the World-Herald are at a
loss to understand the habitual inaccuracy of
that newspaper in matters affecting the liquor
trust.
The Nebraska Battle
Oa Tuesday, July 5, Mr. Bryan gave to the
nowspapors the following statement:
I find upon my return to Nebraska, aftor am
absence of nearly six weeks, that Governor
Shallonborgor has announcod that ho will not
call a special session of the legislature, ovon
If given written assuranco that tho initiative
and referendum resolution would pass both
houses. Wo had secured tho pledges of slxty
nlno members of tho house, nino more than 'the
necessary sixty; wo had secured tho pledges
of nineteen senators, and tho proraiso of throe
more that they would support tho resolution if
aBkod to do so by a majority of their constit
uents, and wo were ready to circulate tho peti
tions in these threo districts, with reasonable
probability of success. Two additional sena
tors, who voted for tho resolution in tho regular
session, declined to say how th6y would vote
at a special session, although they declared
themselves in favor of tho initiative and refer
endum. The pledges actually secured, coming as they
did from a majority of tho democrats in both
houses, from a majority of tho total membership
of both houses, from nearly seven-tenths of tho
house and from almost three-fifths of the sen
ate these, together with the promise of tho
threo senators to obey the wishes of thoir con
stituents, as those wishes might bo expressed
by potltions, would, In my Judgment, have
Justified the governor in calling a special sos
sion at once; surely this showing would have
justified him In waiting for tho petitions to bo
circulated in tho threo districts. But tho au
thority to call a special session is vested In tho
governor and in him alone and, since upon tho
advice of those upon whoso judgment ho re
lies, he has determined not to call the special
session or even to hold tho matter open longer,
the special session plan must be abandoned. I
am grateful to tho senators and members who
announced their willingness to vote for the in
itiative and referendum, and feel sure that they
will bo indorsed by their constituents. I am
gratified, too, that a majority of tho democratic
members of tho senate and house stand ready
to vote for the Initiative and referendum, and
thus not only give effect to a thoroughly demo
cratic principle but comply with the demands
of tho democratic platform adopted last year;
The defeat of tho special session plan is a
disappointment. In tho statement given out
when Inquiries were sent to tho legislators I
stated that the submission of the initiative and
referendum amendment besides securing a great
advantage to the state would, to a large extent,
eliminate county option as a party issue, and
enable us to conduct our campaign along na
tional lines. Some of the more partisan repub
licans accused mo of trying to secure an ad
vantage for the democratic party an accusa
tion which amounted to tho confession that, tho
republicans were not prepared to defend tho
national policies of their party; but fair-minded
men In both parties recognized tho propriety
of making the fight on national Issues without
asking which party would derive most advantage
from It. We havo six congressmen to elect
and one United States senator and these ought
to be elected on national Issues, but the gov
ernor's refusal to call the special session will
make It difficult, if not Impossible, to give to
national issues a paramount place In tho cam
paign. If I had had tho hearty co-operation""?
of tho two democratic candidates for governor.
Governor Shallenberger and Mayor Dahlman,
and the support of the World-Herald, tho prop
erty of Congressman Hitchcock, one of tho can
didates for the United States senate, the special
session would havo been called before this, tho
initiative and referendum would have been sub
mitted, and we would bo ready to challenge
the republicans to defend their national meas
ures. Now, however, wo must address our
selves to tho liquor question there is no escape
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