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The Commoner.
VOLUME 10, NUMBER 28
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well understand that there is a difference In
the party as to principles and policies, and that
tho platform will represent the views of those
who control the convention. If a change has
taken place in the views of democrats, then a
change ought to take place in the general char
ter of the platform, hut Senator Rayner does
not indicate that any change has taken place
in the views of democrats. He asserts that the
platforms written by the rank and file of the
party and satisfactory to tho rank and file were
had and Indefensible and that we must have
different platforms platforms written from an
opposite point of view. In other words, now
that we have had three defeats on platforms
with which the democrats were pleased, we must
try to win a victory upon platforms that the
democrats do not like but which will be satis
factory to "we," us and company, who are to
"rise in our might."
It is a matter for the voters. Senator Rayner
asks: "Will Mr. Bryan and his followers permit
tho democratic party to nominate a president
of the United States and to send to the
party a platform of its own construc
tion?" That is not tho only question that
may be asked between now and the conven
tion. Will Senator Rayner and his followers
permit the democratic party to nominate a
president of the United States and to send to
tho party a platform of its own construction?
Or will he and his followers rise in their might
and insist upon a platform entirely different
from the platforms that we have had? Will
they insist upon a candidate who did not sup
port the ticket in 189G? Have we no men fit
for tho nomination among tho six and a half
millions who voted the ticket that year?
These and similar questions will be consid
ered by the voters, and when they have acted
wo shall see whether tho democrats who de
feated the 'democratic party in its former cam
paigns will go out and defeat it again.
Practical Tariff Talks
The cotton hosiery schedule is another one
wherein Is illustrated the truth of the oft-repeated
charge that the tariff boars heaviest upon
the cheapest grades of goods, the kind the ordi
nary individual buys. Under the Dingley law
cotton hosiery costing less than $1 a dozen
(wholesale) wore taxed G7.ll per cent. Under
tho Payne-Aldrich law these bear a tariff duty
of 87.95 per cent. Stockings costing $1.50 per
dozen were taxed under the old law at 58.32
per cent, and are now taxed at 7G.37 per cent.
Stockings costing from $1.50 to $2 a dozen
taxed at 51.41 per cent; now they are taxed
61.81 per cent. These are tho three grades most
generally sold in the storeB all over this country,
retailing at 25, 35 and 50 cents a pair. There
was no pretense of downward revision on this
schedule. For a good many years the stocking
industry had prospered in this country. Figures
presented to congress listed a dozen or more
factories that had more than doubled their net
worth under the operations of the Dingley law.
When the tariff-making was on last year these
besieged congress for an increase, claiming that
their principal competitors, the Germans, had
doveloped to a point whero their competition
menaced the American industry. Turning to
the figures, however, it will be seen that the
importations amounted to only about 11 per
cent of the total used in America.
The percentages given above mean this: That
the ordinary stocking retailing at 25 cents a
pair pays a duty of 7 cents, a raise in cost of
about 2 cents a pair. The average foreign price
for these is $1.00 a dozen pairs. The duty and
freight and insurance add 90 cents a dozen. If
there was no duty the importer could lay these
down in this country at 85 cents less a dozen
than It now costs him. But hero the republi
can doctrine of protection steps in. It says:
"Let us give this 85 cents to the manufacturer
so as to encourage him to go Into the business.
He can, if he so wills, divide part of it among
his workmen in the shape of larger wages than
foreign stocking makers get and the remainder
he may keep to build himself up to a point
where ho can meet his competitors on an even
footing." Under the Dingley law, which ga
65 cents a dozen protection, tlie business de
veloped wonderfully, while tho imports fell off.
The. government figures prove this. Tho domes
tic output in 1900 was $27,000,000; in 1905,
$43,000,000; in 1908, about $5G, 000,000. Tho
imports In 1908 were $G,600,000, almost the
same as twenty years ago, while In 1900 they
were as low as $4,000,000. Thus the business
more than doubled in eight years while the pro
portion of importations decreased one-half in
twenty years. This shows the ridiculous side
again of the protectionist claim that a tariff
can ever build an industry up to the point
where it will stand on its own bottom. The
larger the growth of the stocking industry, the
more protection It has demanded. And it got
it. Tho result is that where the price of stock
ings has not been advanced the quality has deteriorated.
One of the things they urged before congress
was that a number of the mills in this country
had been forced to close because of German
competition. It was shown by the opposition a
little later that the mills that closed were some
that had run too close to the financial shore
during the 1907 panic, while the major part
of them were mills that vere equipped to make
special styles, such as fancy and embroidered
hosiery, which had been displaced in the popular
fancy by solid plain colors. It was also shown,
apparently to the satisfaction of the senate,
which reduced the hosiery schedule to the same
figures as provided in the Dingley law, but later
receded to the house demand for an increase,
that the greater part of the pressure for an
increase came from the manufacturers of seam
less hosiery. All of the seamless or full-fashioned
hosiery used in this country is made here,
and the increase was asked to protect against
any foreign makers of that class of goods get
ting a foothold here. C. Q. D.
v9
"PAYNEFUL"
W. T. Gates, Flemington, W. Va.,
Dear Mr. Owen: It is Payneful to
know the people do not rule, it is Payne
ful to know they do not get what they
want. It is also Payneful to know they
do not get what they are promised. Bill
Nye once said he knew a family who
were never known to be sick, because
they were known by every one as Called
wells. If Bill waB with us today I feel
he could see signs of small Paynes In- this
well family.
ACUTE ON ONE SIDE
The World-Herald says that county option is
not an acute issue, and in a labored editorial
protests against its being brought into this state
campaign. Strange how one-sided the acuteness
is. Those who are opposed to county option tell
us, in one breath, that nobody cares anything
about the question and that it is highly im
proper for any democrat to suggest that it be
discussed at "the state convention, and in the
next breath they tell us that the issue is so im
portant that our party will be overwhelming de
feated if it declares for county option. If it
is not an important issue why should demo
crats leave the party because the party takes
a position on the subject? If it is an immaterial
matter we can not lose many votes, no matter
which way the party declares. If a great many
people leave the party in case the party adopts
a county option platform it means that it is an
Important question and therefore it is impor
tant that the party's position shall be the cor
rect one.
There is no doubt that the liquor interests re
gard the question as acute. Mr. Bryan has
abundant evidence of that. One man, writing
on the letter head of a distillery, says: "As you
will note by the letter head I am in the employ
of a distilling company and have been for the
last fourteen years, therefore am in position to
do my own thinking as to the best manner in
which to handle the liquor traffic." Of course
he has a right to do his own thinking, but one
might question whether he is in a position to
decide fairly and impartially. In the courts the
man who has a pecuniary interest in the result
of a suit is not allowed to serve on the jury. The
distillery employe concludes: "I can not sup
port you in this movement and if you persist
in forcing a county option plank into the demo
cratic platform when the hopes of victory are
so brilliant I will never support you in the
future."
Would he be less indignant about it if the
chances of victory were less brilliant? Here is
a difference of opinion. Is not the distillery
employe trying to force county option OUT of
the platform? Mrk Bryan, while not a distillery
employe, Is also in & position to do his own
thinking and he thinks county option ought to
be endorsed. He is doing all he can on that
side and the distillery employe is doubtless do
ing all he can to induce the party to take the
distillery side. It remains to bo seen which will
have the satisfaction of being with the majority
at the state conventon.
FROM A REPUBLICAN PAPER
The Nebraska City (Neb.) Press offers this
editorial: "William J. Bryan has placed him
self on record as being unalterably opposed to
tho democratic party being the tail-end of a
brewers' procession, a worthy stand on the part
of any man, whether he he democrat or repub
lican. Mr. Bryan knows far better than his
most bitter enemies that the stand he has taken
is one of the most unpopular moves a man in
public life ever made. But it will soon be time
for Mr. Bryan to laugh, even as at this present
moment he has a perfect right to smile. The
democratic party, in order to be saved from the
rocks of party disruption, must cut loose from
the domination of the liquor interests. The big
leaders know it, the press Is talking it, and there
are plenty of signs in the air that eventually
Bryan will have been proven correct in his state
ments. The day has passed when any intelligent
body of men can be herded like sheep and be
marched to the polls and vote for a continuation
of a policy which has done so much to put poli
tics in bad repute. Mr. Bryan has not lost any
of his cunning; we do not know that he has
espoused the temperance cause through any de
signing purpose we do know that he is right,
and in this instance, as in many others, right
will finally prevail."
State of North Dakota, Supreme Court,
Chambers- of John Carmody, Associate
Justice, Hillsboro, N. D., July 8, 1910
The Commoner, Lincoln, Neb. Gentle-
men: I will now, as I have in the past,
do everything that I possibly can to elect
good, real democrats to congress and
not corporation democrats. In fact, I,.,.
had rather see a republican elected thaii
a corporation democrat. Will do every-
thing I can to advance the interests- of '"
The Commoner. With best wishes, I
remain. Sincerely yours,
JOHN CARMODY.
SELF-INTEREST OR INTERFERENCE?
If a man tell you that he is opposed to county
option, ask him why he objects to allowing the
people of a county to vote on the liquor ques
tion. If he says he is afraid his own county will
go dry ask him whether it is his own thirst or
his sympathy for others who are thirsty . that
makes him willing to deny to the people the
right to le. If a man opposes county option
because he Is afraid his county will go dry he
confesses that he is interested in defeating the
will of the majority of his county on this sub
ject. But suppose he says he is not afraid
of his county going dry? What is his' attitude
then? It is that he is not content to have sa
loons in his own county but insists upon forcing
them upon counties that do not want them.
Isn't this attempting too much? The man who
wants a saloon near him but not too near
merely that he may have a place to drink ought
to be content with county option. The saloon
is on the retreat; it has enough to do to get a
license anywhere it will overtax its strength
if it tries to go everywhere.
The man who opposes county option will have
to meet the question: Are you fighting for sa
loons because you want them in your county
or because you want to compel counties to per
mit saloons against the will of the people? Ts it
self interest or interference which?
THE COMMONPLACE
"A commonplace life," we say, and we sigh;
But why should wo sigh as we say?
The commonplace sun in the commonplace sky
Makes up the commonplace day.
The moon and the stars are commonplace things,
And the vflower that blooms and the bird that
sings;
But dark were the world and sad our lot
If the flowers failed and the sun shone not;
And God, who studies each separate soul,
Out of commonplace lives makes His beautiful
whole. Susan Coolldge. '