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The Commoner,
VOLUME 10, NUMBER .51
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loss lie can show that in the crucial campaign
'of:i896, when the party began it'd flghtf for re
forms, he helped Wall Street 6r that he -ha
'slncd'that time been converted to Wall Street
inethodSr
Can the voters of the democratic party be
deceived? Will it allow the organization to
pass into the hands of those who stand for
the exploitation of the people. When, sixteen
years ago the Wall Street' crowd controlled the
party the name democrat almost disappeared
In the west and the populist party became a
formidable force in the south. At the present
time socialism is appealing to the dissatisfied
and tho adoption of a reactionary policy by the
domocrats Is sure to swell the ranks of tho
socialists as their ranks were swollen In 1904.
When tho plutocratic papers join the demo
cratic party they do it to disgrace itthe reason
given by the young fellow who married into a
family he did not like.
"f V-
LAFOLLETTE'S PROPHECY
' , In April, 19 00, Senator LaFollette delivered
his famous speech on tho railroad bill. While,
the senator was speaking Senators Aid rich, Hale
and 'others retired to the, cloak; rooms.. Then
-Senator LaFollette said-:
',. ' "Mr. President, I pause In my remarks to say
"ihis. I cannot be wholly indifferent to the fact
that senators by their absence at this time in
dicate their want of interest in what I may have
to say upon this subject. The public is Inter
ested. Unless this important question is rightly
settled, seats now temporarily vacant may be
permanently vacated by those who have the
right to occupy them at this time."
A similar note of warning to the "system"
senators was struck by Senator LaFollette dur
ing the debate on the Payne-Aldrlch tariff bill
a year ago, when he said:
"When I began this fight in this chamber four
years ago in behalf of the public interest and
against the forces of special privilege, I stood
alone aB a republican senator. Now there are
ten of us engaged In the same fight. I warn
you that If you refuse to consider every proposi
tion advanced in behalf of the public and carry
out your determination to make this tariff legis
lation but the instrument by which special in
terests may, through special privilege, enrich
themselves by unjust exactions from the public,
the public will hold you responsible and prove
its resentment as certainly as elections are held."
These, cloak room senators learned a great
deal on the evening of November 8, 1910.
. POOR PLACE FOR FORCE
A five round hotly contested boxing match
was "pulled off" by a prize fighter and his box
ing partner before a state hospital for the crim
inal insane at Matteawan, New York. New York
papers say that the inmates of the institution
"greatly enjoyed the treat." Undoubtedly the
insane should bo given entertainment, but the
display of force or physical prowess is not the
thing for an asylum. Entertainment that leads
these unfortunates away from the very sort of
thought that has made them what they are
should be "presented to the inhabitants of the
Matteawan'' institution.' Miss Peckenrldge of
the famous Kentucky family, who has devoted
her life to the service of the insane, has the
right idea when she pleads that these unfortu
nates be treated as children and so entertained
and trained. Surely .no -one would "pull off" a
hotly contested boxing match before the kindergarten.
MARTINE'S "CHIEF ABHORRENCE"
The New York World a newspaper that is
unfriendly to Mr. Mar tine, the democratic nom
inee for the United States senate from New
Jersey, prints the following:
"Martine was an- advocate of direct primaries
twentyrfive years ago; ha is an inveterate tariff.,
reformer, and in the platform he published be
fore the primaries he stated his views thus:
" 'I favor a taTiff for revenue only, and op
pose the scheme of present republican protec
tion as un-American, unfair and unjust, in that
it does not favor all alike; its burdens are paid
by the consumer and bread-winner to enhance
the wealth of a special few. In its workings tho
present tariff has built up great combinations
and trusts that are conniving against the cardi
nal principle of free government, though de
priving the citizens of our land of equal oppor
tunity. The cost of living has enhanced
through its operation from fifty to sixty per
cent, while wages have increased but from fifteen
to eighteen per cent. Its enforcement if rob
bery for. the masse; hence I oppose it.
-'" 'I . hold -that the "blessing 'of government
should, like the dews of Heaven, fall on all and
equally alike.'
"Martine was one of the most enthusiastic
supporters of Bryan when the Nebraskan was
candidate for president, and subscribed to his
sixteen to one theories. He believes in the In
initiative and referendum and in state and fed
eral control of public utilities.
"-Martinet chief abhorrence is the rule of the
'special interests.' In his public utterances for
yeafs he has laid most of the ills of mlsgovern
ment in New Jersey at their doors. He asserts
that tho public service, "railroad and insurance
interests are still dominant and he is for meas
ures that will curb their power."
It will occui- to a -great many people that
the publip will not suffer by the election to the
United States senate of a man Whose "chief
abhorrence Is the rule of the special Interests,"
and who holds that "the blessings of government
should, like the dew of heaven, fall on all and
equally alike.'" - . ,
TJBDE REORGANIZED SUPREME COURT
' Wall Street pronounces the supreme'eourt as
now constituted to be "conservative," but it
makes the mistake of counting Justice Vande
vanter among the "radicals." Judged by his
record he is ultra conservative.
The New York news bureau organ of Wall
Street says: "Members of the bar of the United
States supreme court, in trying to classify the
probable attitude of the court In its new mem-,
bership, reached the conclusion that the court
is now more conservative than it was"when the
oil and tobacco cases were on hearing last term.
Of course, no man would attempt to forecast the
actual division of the court on any of the ques
tions before it, but lawyers here align them in
about this 'way:
"Conservatives Chief Justice White, Justice
Day, Justice Holmes, Justice Lufton, Justice
Hughes. Total, five. -
"Radical-Justice Harlan, Justice Vandevari
ter. Total, two.
' "Uncertain Justice Lamar, Justice-McKenna.
' Tqtal,- two. " '
"Some are inclined to put Justice Hughes in
tho uncertain list because he is regarded as a
politician, but Hughes' friends say that he will
decide according to the facts in the case and
that his mental make-up in law matters is con
...... THE MOTHER KNEW
An attorney sp'eaking in a Vincennes, Irid.
court Toom in defense of a man charged with
killing' the defcpoiler of his home, referred to
the. dead man as "a friendless black scoundrel."
The dead man's "mother sitting in the: court room
sprang to her feet and shouted over and over
again: "It's a lie a lie a lie!" No wonder
that in the uproar of hisses there was also much
applause. Jt is not safe to refer to any man
as "friendless" so long as his mother lives
for the mother-love may be depended upon to
assert itself under all circumstances, and the
men who applauded that fine show of mother
love In the Indiana court room" prob'aDlynew '
what they were doing.
which he was correspondent. The telegraph
editor, acting on the reflection that a naught, ,
more or less,' mader little difference, added io tlfe
importance of the itefn By increasing the find'
to $500. In the same office the correspondent
of the Associated Press abided. The item was
passed to the patrons of that great news-gathering
agency, hut with the added improvement
of a naught. Mr. Longsdorf s distant and re- '
mote relatives, some as far away a Germany,' :
immediately sat up and took notice and he was
the recipient of many kind and congratulatory
letters over his good fortune. Yearg passed,
and the incident was forgotten by its origfnal- -chronicler
until one day he happened to pick
up a family story paper, and among th,e flotsam
and jetsam headed "Items of Interest" lie ob ""'
served the following interesting bit of news.:
"William Longsdorf, an aged and eccentric
bachelor of Beeville, Texas, has jiist foundi
$50,000 in bank notes in an old boot, where
he had placed them years ago and forgotten the
incident."
But, most unfortunate of till When Mr.
Longsdorf took his $5Q note toth.. village bank':'
to get it changed, the cashier was dubious of
its loolts,- and forwarded it for inspection to'.:
the nearest subtreasury.. It. wag. returned within
the following legend' sfamped across "its face: .
"Counterfeit."
ADVICE TO BOYS
Replying to a recent inquiry Mr. Bryan said:'
There is no NEW advice to give to boys, and '"
there are no NEW boys to advise. The boy is
the same that he has been and he is not likely
to change much in the years to come. His im- -pulses
are the same that they were centuries
ago; the dangers that confront him confronted
his father and his grandfather in their boyhood
days. If I were suggesting a warning to boys "
I would not suggest' better one than that em
bodied in the text, "The wages of sin is death."
That is the law, and it cannot be repealed. Tho '
honest, truthful, industrious boy will succeed in
proportion to his intelligence, but no intelligence .
can make up for lack of honesty, truthfulness
or industry especially is . it impossible to sub
stitute anything for honesty and truthfulness.
Laziness will limit one's adcoiriplishments what
ever his other good qualities- may be, but TJe
can outgrow laziness just as he can outgrow
lack- of education or intelligence, but it is much
more difficult to outgrow a lack of honesty or
a lack of truthfulness.
Possibly I ought to suggest that patience is a
virtue which should be added to the. ones al- ..;
ready mentioned. Impatience has led many
young men t3 ruin; they have not been willing ';
to wait for a fortune to come through legitimate
accumulation, and through their haste to get
rich they have fallen. The boy should "learn
to labor and to wait." Character is built slow-.
ly; but it can be lost in a day. The farmer must
wait from seed time until the harvest, however
long it may seem, before he gathers his crop, "
and so the boy must be willing to plant In the
springtime of life for the harvest that he will
gather when he is grown.
What a ohange there will, be when the senate
freezes 'Out 'the men who over-reach the people
by manipulating legislatures. HJ '
A BIT LATE
Heads of departments in the federal govern
ment have reported a cut of fourteen million
dollars per year in the estimates for the oper
ating expenses of the government during the
next" fiscal year. It would have been better
had this cut been made last year, but it is never
too late to do" good and so the people will be
thankful for this concession even though it may
be suspected that the results of the recent elec
tion had something to do with it.
NEWSPAPER INACCURACIES
The following true story, prepared for The
Commoner by a citizen of Beeville, Texas, illus
trates the inaccuracies that sometimes creep into
items of .news. What you see in the papers can
not always be relied upon, even when there is
no motive for misrepresenting:
William Longsdorf, an ged and one-time
prosperous bachelor of Beeville, Tex., retrieving
the habiliments of former days, rardmed his feet
into a pair of old boots which he had some years
before cast aside. An obstruction in the toe of
one of them, much to his delight, proved to be a
$50 bill. The village newspaper man duly
recorded the find in the columns of his paper
and also sent it to the nearest city paper of
The change that has come over some
of the democratic congressmen since
the election recalls a passage in Little
Dorrit.. The great novelist, in discussing
the circumlocution office, says: -, .
"It is true that from the moment when
a general election was over, every re
turned man who had been raving on
hustings because it hadn't been done,
and who had been asking the friends -of
the honorable gentleman in the opposite
interest on pain of impeachment to tell
him why it hadn't been done, and who
had been asserting that it must be done,
and who had been pledging himself that
it should be done, began to devise, how
it was not to'be done."
This is quite"an accurate description
of the conduct of those gentlemen who
,Won office by denouncing the republican
party and its methods and. now protest'
against reforms which they so recently
advocated. . .
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