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NOVEMBER 1, 110
The Commoner.
15
"If the People Rule Why Don't
They Get What They Want?"
J. N. K., Carthage, Mo. There
are a good many reasons "why tho
people don't rule."-Abraham Lin
coln, than whom no greater states
man since his election as president,
placed capital secondary to labor.
Now the dollar is considered before
the man. Ho believed in the hon
eaty and sincerity of what present
day republicans designate as the com
mon herd and incapable of self gov
ernment. Mr. Lincoln was always
guided by public opinion and of a
higher morality. He was the leader
in formulating that opinion, and as
lie was honest, he believed in the
honesty of tho people and In their
capacity. He viewed and deprecated
the rise of the capitalistic class as
more dangerous to the perpetuity of
the union than was tho rebellion.
Republicanism since his time, has
dwindled until it has degenerated
into a political cesspool, and men
seek office for the graft it affords
them. Insurgency in tho republican
party will never cleanse that politi
cal cesspool, and if the Insurgents
want genuine progressive reform
they will have to become democrats.
United action by them and their con
stituency with democrats will pro
duce beneficial results, otherwise
their endeavors will be failures.
"Wo have had presidents far more
deserving of impeachment than was
. Andrew Johnson, men who violated
j their oath to support the constitution
j and the congressional laws enacted
" thereunder. Tho people do not as
they should" hold the big" stick and
do not rule. They never will so long
as capital and corporation influences
dominate the government, and in my
opinion (which may be sneered at)
such domination will be continued
if tho present administration retains
its usurped power until overthrown
by revolution. Then they who
brought on the storm will meet he
cyclone. When a political party can
only be held in power by misleading
their partisans by false and malicious
statements, promises made which fail
to materialize, that employment of
labor depends on high protection
(tho tax of which enriches the bene
ficiaries and impoverishes the many),
it only requires that they who labor
be educated to have knowledge of
present conditions. Labor will find
employment whether we have a tariff
or do not have it. The cotton crop
of the south protects the labor in all
the industrial mercantile corpora
tions of the country, and not tho
tariff. United action by the cotton
planters, by drastic measures in
their power to adopt, would show tho
fallacy that protective duties give
such employment. Should they con
spire to hold their product, tho
courts might decide against their
conspiracy as In restraint of trado;
and tho conspiracy entered into by
Aldrich, Payne & Co., and their ben
eficiaries in the late law of tariff en
actment comes under aliko in re
straint of trade and in discrimina
tion between citizens. Multiplicity
of commissions, of new offices, giving
greater patronage to the administra
tion, increases its hold of power and
prevents rule of the people
W. F. Hood, Animas Forks, Colo.
If tho people rule! It is to laugh,
or swear, as one is inclined. I have
not been able to express my opinion
concerning tho last presidential elec
tion (to say nothing of tho threo pre
vious ones) in writing that would
pass the United States mail inspec
tors. Ignorance and prejudice on
the one hand, and deceit and cun
ning on tho other, Is the reason why
the people do not rule. So it is self
evident that the remedy is educa
tion a painfully slow and heart
breaking process. Some wag has
said that "Life Is just ono d d
thing after another." How appro
priate that Is applied to our political
life! How do we learn? During or
after the silver campaign of 1890 the
Hon. C. S. Thomas of Denvor said:
"The people will have to think it
out through their stomachs." Now
ono would think that that method
would knock the persimmon, but It
didn't. I think the next campaign
was won by the slogan of tho "Full
Dinner Pail," coupled with tho
threat, that if Bryan was elected
they need not come back to work.
Now it seems that that was a fallacy.
Ono of the surest Ways to learn any
thing Is first to learn how not to
do it. There is only ono drawback
to itr and that Is, that before we
learn all tho ways how not to do it
wo are dead. As long as labor has
no more self-respect and manhood
than to "lick tho hand that smites,"
as they did the last election, they do
not deserve "a full dinner pail." But
I firmly believe, that in another gen
eration, this will be a pretty good
country to live in. And all brought
u i"1 " """"HlK-'
Remedies are Needed
Wore wo perfect, which wo are not, medicines would
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come weakened, impaired and broken down through
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through countless generations, remedies are needed to
aid Nature in correcting our inherited and otherwise
acquired weaknesses. To reach the seat of stomach
weakness and consequent digestive troubles, there is
- nothing so good as Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discov
ery, a giyecrio compound, extracted from native medic
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Weak Stomach, Biliousness, Liver Complaint, Pain in the Stomach after eating,
Heartburn, Bad Breath, Belching of food, Chronic Diarrhea and other Intestinal
Derangements, the "Discovery" i3 a timc-proven and most efficient remedy.
The genuine has on its ) cvt -v
You cantafford to accept a secret nostrum as a substitute for this non-alcoholic,
medicine, op known composition, not even though the urgent dealer may
' thereby make a little bigger profit.
Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Pellets regulate and invigorate stomach, liver and
bowels. Sugar-coated, tiny granules, easy to take as candy.
about by tho initiative, referendum
and recall, which being Interpreted,
means tho people rule. Even then
the millineum will not bo at hand,
simply because humanity is not per
fect and probably never will bo, but
then all mistakes will bo of tho head
and not of tho heart. In other
words, the mistake will not bo as
now--mnliciouB docoit as exempli
fied in tho Payne-Aldrich tariff law,
and Buch would-bo laws ad asset cur
rency, ship subsidy, and the lack of
such laws as the income tax, In
heritance tax and any other honestly
enforced tax law. If our laws roflect
public sentiment, what a fine aggre
gation of raBcals wo arc. Wo aro as
bad as the fellow who was slightly
under tho influenco of John Barloy
corn and robbed his own trunk. But
we aro not all drunk. After tho na
tion has had tho initiative, referen
dum and recall for a fow years wo
will abolish the American house of
lords, not only as undemocratic, but
infernally expensive, especially whon
you consider how they aro elected.
Forty dollars per vote in a genoral
election would spell quite a sum. The
reason tho people don't rule Is there
aro too many who boiiovo that
"Jones pays tho freight," and that
the tariff Is not a tax. In regard
to the latest fallacy, which I suppose
will last about a generation (and tho
democrats aro about as deep in the
mud as tho republicans aro in the
miro) Is this, that tho tariff must
only cover tho difference In cost of
production at homo and abroad.
Again, It Is to laugh. Is the wage
paid per day the only factor to bo
considered? Perish tho thought. It
is a fact conceded by all that tho
efficiency and daily output of tho
American steel worker and the fac
tory worker is several times that of
the daily output per man than of
any country on the earth. Further
more, if this is not true, how can
wo undersell tho foreigner at his
own aoorr tho difference in cost
of labor production! Rats! And
again rats! "Come, children, it Is
timo to go to bed." But tho fact
remains, that tho government has to
havo a revenue. How is it to bo
raised? That is the question of the
hour, yes, all hours. That is good
for a chapter or two of its own. In
the meantime, you can bet your last
simoleon that it will not bo raised
directly and on tho square for some
timo. Tho children aTo not ready
for that yet. They like to bo hum
bugged too well.
R. W. Safford, Moscow, Idaho.
In answer to the question put by
Senator Owen, I wish to say that to
assume that tho people rule is a
delusion, for a majority of the peo
ple will assert that we do rule. Now
for some of the reasons why we do
not rule: Apathy and Indifference;
a subsidized press; party prejudice,
caused by listening to ono side; in
timidation and coercion of employ
ers, and tho influenco of the many
thousands of federal employes who
desire to hold their jobs. All these
together with the subtle influence of
money used to corrupt the people
and the law-making bodies are rea
sons why the people do not rule,
and for the same reasons do not get
what they want, or in other words
what they ought to have. Apathy
and Indifference we might point out
as a prime cause why tho people do
not rule. With a great many voters
he who serves them Is only a passing
incident, whiio with the privileged
class who profit by legislation It is a
constant thought with them and
quite important who is elected to the
legislature and to congress. Here
is where the subsidized press that
is independent between times comes
to the scratch In the campaign and
I does tho work of the "system." "A
chain is no otrongor than Its weak
est link," and tho government la no
stronger than tho peopio mako it. I
am a firm believer in tho Initiative
and referendum and bollcvo whon It
becomes tho universal law of tho
land and firmly adhered to wo will
como nearer having a government of,
by and for tho people.
Lot Mt Stnd You
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,
SHfcscrifcers' Jiavrfi$ittfl Depf.
This department Is for tho benefit
of Commoner subscribers, and a Hpeclal
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the lowest rate has been made for
them. Address all communications to
The Commoner, Lincoln. Nebraska.
-TEXAS RANCH FOR SALE MY 40
1 acrcB, 5 miles northeast of Mercedes,
under fine canal. Two crops may pay
for land in one year. See me working'
on ranch, or write to mo at Mercedes,
Texas, Irving Besly.
FARM BARGAIN- WELL IMPROVED
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tenant houses, cotton gin, saw and,
grist mill on place, with plenty of
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40 acres in Bermuda pasture with run
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Hosier, Waldo Ark.
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