IJ 'J. ' I'. t ikf x t 5 9" r The Commoner. ISSUED WEEKLY fc Entered at tho Postofllco at Lincoln," Nebraska, H8. second-class matter. W I I.I.I am .7. II II VAN Killlor niul Proprietor lUqifAiin I Mktcai.kij AfiHuclnto Editor ClIAIlI.IiS W. llllYAN Publisher TCdltorlnl llooniH nnd lilslnes OlTlco 3'2-1-330 South mil Btrcot One Yenr 91.00 Six Month HO In Clubs of Five or more, per year... .75 Throe Jtfontlin - Single Copy 05 Samplo Copies Free. Foreign Post. Go Extra. HUll.SCimTIONS can bo sent direct to Tho Com moner. They can also bo sent through newspapers -which have advertised a clubbing rate, or through local agents, wlioro sub-agents have been appoint ed. All remittances should bo sent by poatofllco money order, express order, or by bank draft on New York or Chicago. Do not send Individual chcckB, stamps or money. 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Address all communications to THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb, and fittingly expressed by turning our faces for ward rather than back. Therefore, we bind ourself to specific future performances rather than to as.lt for votes by reason of our past achievement, however great it is. Our plat form shall bo a guarantee of performance rather than a confession of faith. Wo indorse such efforts as President Taft has made to fulfill the promises of the republican national platform and pledge him our support for all efforts for the enactment of progressive laws. Wo commend the fight made on Cannonism and Aldrlchism in congress, modifying the rules of the house of representatives and overcoming the senate leadership, so that the enactment of long dolayed public measures has been made possible. Wo pledge our loyalty to the republican na tional platform of 1908 and bind ourselves to carry out its declarations, accepting tho policy of protection as outlined in our party platform as the established policy of the nation and bind ing our Kansas members of congress in both houses to vote for a revision of the tariff law of 1909, using as a basis for fixing duties the difference between the cost of production at homo and abroad, with a reasonable profit for , 'American manufacturers. We do not recognize tho revision of the tariff of 1909 as a satisfactory fulfillment of the tariff pledge of tho republican platform. And we therefore pledge the people of Kansas that tho republican senators and congressmen from this state shall work and vote for legislation that will create an independent non-partisan tariff commission with ample power and sufficient ap propriation to ascertain accurately the difference between tho cost of production at home and abroad, and after having obtained such informa tion we hereby pledge our republican senators and representatives immediately to fix the duties upon tho basis of this information. ."Wo pledge our senators and representatives to vote for a joint resolution that will promote the revision of the tariff, one schedule at a time. We pledge our republican members of the lower house of congress to support and vote for a rule that will make the membership of tho more important house committees elective instead of appointive. We demand the strictest enforcement of the anti-trust laws and believe that violators of the law. should be imprisoned. While indorsing the amendments made to tho interstate commerce law by tho last session of congress we pledge our senators and repre sentatives to vote for such further amendments to tho interstate commerce law as will give The Commoner. power and money to tho interstate commerce commission to ascertain the physical valuation of tho railroads. Wo plodgo our Kansas republican senators and representatives to vote and work for effec tive laws that will prevent over-capitalization of corporations and will require all moneys re ceived for tho sale of stocks and bonds to tho actually invested for tho benefit of the property owned by tho corporation. And we further pledge our republican con gressional delegation to work for laws that will give the interstate commerce commission au thority over the issue of stocks and bonds of common carriers. We pledge our members of congress to con tinue the policy of the republican party now firmly established of caring for tho soldiers and sailors of the war of the rebellion and for those who carried the flag of liberty to the oppressed of other lands. Wo pledge our Kansas republican congress men and senators to voto on all measures con corning the conservation of our natural re sources along .the lines advocated by Ex-President Roosevelt as opposed to the lines laid down by those who are hiding behind the out-worn doctrino of state's rights, and wo demand that every possible effort be made to prevent private interests from obtaining unrestricted ownership or unchecked control over the vast mineral and water and timber resources of Alaska. We hereby pledge our Kansas republican mem bers of congress in both houses to make every effort to obtain tho submission to tho people of a constitutional amendment that will provide for the direct election of United States senators by tho people. We pledge our republican senators and con gressmen to the enactment by congress of a law regulating shipping of intoxicating liquors into states which have prohibitory laws. Wo favor an amendment to the United States constitution to provide for popular election of federal, circuit and district judges for limited terms; and we instruct our senators and con gressmen to labor for the early enactment of a federal code of civil procedure to simplify and expedite litigation in federal courts, follow ing tho reformed procedure now in vogue in the most enlightened and progressive states d'f the union. We endorse without qualification the administration of Governor Stubbs and we pledge the people of Kansas during the two years to come the same fidelity to public inter est that he has manifested during the past twenty months of his administration. We pledge republican members of the legisla ture in both houses to vote for a law that will place statewide public utilities, railroads, tele graphs, telephones, electric lights and power companies, street railway, distributors of gas, whether in cities or by pipe lines, express com panies and common carriers of ajl kinds, under the control of a state commission having au thority over the issue of stocks and bonds, hav ing means and power to obtain the physical valuation of the plants of these corporations, to fix and adjust rates upon their own motion and to regulate rates and services in the in terests of the people of Kansas and the investors and employes of these corporations. We hereby bind republican members of the Kansas legislature to vote for the enactment of a law that will compel corporations doing busi ness in Kansas to begin all litigation in Kansas courts and take no refuge in the federal courts until the litigation in question has been passed upon by the Kansas supreme court. We hereby instruct republicans in tho Kansas legislature to vote for a law that will make the second offense against the Kansas prohibitory law punishable by a sentence in the penitentiary. We believe that the first duty of every party is to put the responsibility of government as directly as possible into the hands of the voters, giving tho people veto power not only upon undesirable laws, but upon those who enforce the laws. To that end we pledge our state senators and representatives to that principle and declare for the following policies: To submit to the people in the election of 1912 a constitutional amendment giving the people the power to recall officers of city, coun ty and state governments whom they believe to bo derelict or unfaithful, under procedure similar to that now granted to cities of the first class adopting the commission form of gov ernment, and to give the recall promptly to the people upon every officer under legislative au thority. To submit to the people of Kansas a consti tutional amendment In 1912 giving them the Tight to Initiate legislation and to vote upon certain legislative enactments the amend- VOLUMB 10, NUMBER 8; ments that .have been adopted by tho states of Maine, Oregon and South Dakota, with a fivo per cent petition for a referendum vote and eight per cent for an initiativo vote. To adopt immediately the Oregon plan, which gives the people a right to vote at this general election for tho partisan nominees for United States senator. The enactment of a law which shall compel publicity of campaign contribu tions both as to source and to disbursement be fore primary and general elections, both for campaign committees and for Individuals, with severe penalties for violations. And we pledge republicans in the Kansis legislature to so amend the Kansas primary law that delegates to the national convention may be elected at the primary erection, and that the names of the candidates for president and vice president shall be placed on the ballot that the people of Kansas may instruct their delegates on nominations for president and vice president. We pledge all republicans in tho Kansas legis lature to voto for the ratification of the amend ment to the United States constitution providing for a federal tax on incomes. And wo pledge our congressional delegation too for a-law pro viding a graduated tax without waiting for the amendment. We pledge tho republican members in tho Kansas legislature to vote and work for a meas ure creating a commission under tho authority of the next Kansas legislature which shall make inquiry into the practicability of a working man's compensation law framed to meet labor conditions in Kansas. We pledge the enactment of an employers' liability law, following the orovisions of federal law and the advanced views of the supreme court of Kansas on that subject. We commend and indorse the bank guaranty law passed by the last legislature and wo call particular attention to the fact that it is tho only guaranty law that has received the approval of the superior federal courts. Wo commend the present state administration for its successful defense of the law in the courts and we hereby reaffirm our faith in the principles embodied in this law, and instruct our representatives in congress to favor such legislation' as will permit national banks to participate therein: We favor increasing the exemptions to direct heirs under the inheritance fax1 law. We pledge our republican members of the legislature to make such appropriation for the practical Work of the farm departments of tho state agricultural college as will bring it as near the practical everyday life of the farmer as possible. Wo favor a uniform system of county and township records and state publication of county o,nd township blank books. We send our greeting to Theodore Roosevelt and the new world's champion of the rights of man. in the world-old contest between rising humanity and the encroachments of special privilege. In all the above pledges, both as to matters state and national, we hereby add this para mount pledge, binding upon republican admin istration as well as upon republican lawmakers, state and national, to consolidate all appointive offices, boards and commissions where good ad ministration and economy havo common inter est; to reduce taxes levied direct and indirect, wherever possible in the national, in the state and in the counties and to spend no dollar of taxes without giving the taxpayers one hundred cents of value received. We hereby adopt the eagle as the party em blem of the republican party in Kansas. FATHER AND SON At the same election where Hiram Johnson, Insurgent, became the republican nominee for governor of California, his father, former Con gressman Grove L. Johnson, was defeated for renomination to the state legislature. Doubtless the father was able to- stand the shock of his own defeat in 'the great pride he felt over tho high honor that had been conferred upon his boy. 0 ' The American Homestead, a monthly farm journal of national scope, will be sent to all Commoner subscribers, with out additional cost, who renew their sub scriptions during the month of Septem ber. Take advantage of. this offer at once and send in your renewal. 0 0 0 3 ti)a m r ilc "NJi'j iflwftlfteJL