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The Commoner-
ISSUED WEEKLY
Entered at the Poatofllco at Lincoln, Nebraska,
KM HccoiKl-clusn matter.
William J. IIhyam
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THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb,
JAMES WAS RIGHT
It sooms that Congressman Ollio M. James
protested against tho action of tho state com
mitteo of Kentucky in leaving out tho senatorial
nomination In Issuing tho call for a primary.
James was right on this subject as ho is on
others. It would not take long to build up tho
democratic party if all its representatives in
ofllco were like James, thoroughly democratic at
all times. In addressing tho committee he said:
"Gentlemen of tho committee, I believe our
party was honest, candid and sincere in three
groat national platforms. We have said: 'We
favor tho election of United States senators by
a direct vote of tho people, for this is the gate
way to all other reforms.' We not only wrote
it in our platform, declared it as our faith but
from ovory platform and stump in the republic
democratic orators advocated it with wonderful
power and irresistible eloquence. I believe it
is our duty now In our party affairs to as nearly
approach this pledge, this promise, this bond
of honor which wo gave to tho people in our
party affairs as possible. I believe that every
democrat in Kentucky has as much right to a
voice in selecting our senatorial nominee as he
has to a voice in selecting our nominee for
governor, for auditor, for treasurer, for attor
ney general or for any of tho other state offlcers.
Tho moro than 240,000 democrats in Kentucky
havo as much right to a voice in selecting their
nominee for United States senator as for anv
ofllco within tho gift of tho people, for it in the
most important ofllco in our dual form of gov
ernment sayo one, and that the presidency alone
fhJStl nPnnmSry 0r convenon you tell each of
tho 240,000 democrats everywhere within the
confines of the commonwealth whom ho shall
support, and yet you deny the right of the great
body of democracy to say to fifty-five men in the
legislature whom they shall support
"Tho democrats who live ln the republican
counties of the state, who are not so fortunate
to bo in a district which is democratic are de
nied absolutely any voice whatever in the It
lection of their United States senator Yet n
one will say that their loyalty to democracy is
not as great as that of any democrat who is in
tho majority Six times the house of rlp?esent
atives of tho United States has passed an amon
ment to the constitution, providing for ? tCiteht
of the people to elect their senators by a direct
y.,t0- Todi such a resolution providing tor
nf n SS1 Is pendinS before So senate
bv th I? Sta,teS' havIng been recetly Passed
by the house of representatives. Your own
The Commoner.
legislature in Kentucky, recognizing the people
should havo tho right to select their senator, has
many times memorialized tho congress of the
United States for tho passage of an amendment,
giving tho right to tho people to elect their sen
ators by a direct vote. When your candidate
for governor is nominated, he must go belore
the people and ask their suffrage at the-polls,
but under our system tho nominee for uniteci
States senator is neither selected by the people
nor do tho people havo an opportunity to pass
upon tho nomination. I believe in giving tho
people a chance to cast their ballot. Shall wo
turn our back upon this democratic doctrine of
a lifetime? Shall we say it is true we advocate
it on tho stump and write it in our platform,
but when opportunity offers to show our faith
by our work, to act it and live it, we do not do
so?
"Tho senato today is fifty per cent million
aires. Why? It is because the people have had
no opportunity to select them. Scandal and
bribery are constantly throwing their black
shadows upon seats in this great parliamentary
body. Why? It is because the voice of the
people Is not heard, and the democratic oppor
tunity is not given to the voter to pass upon
them at the ballot box. Corporations, monop
olies and combinations have been enabled to
select their champions and place them there,
because the public will has been throttled. I
make bold to say that I do not believe there
is a single candidate for the democratic nomina
tion for United States senator who will have the
courage in the open to oppose the nomination
of a United States senator at the same time and
in the same manner that you nominate your
other state offlcers. If those who seek the ofllco
are unwilling to come in the open and attempt
boldly to throttle the public will why should
they ask you to do it for them?
"The voice of the people is the voice of God,
and it is equally true that the voice of the people
should be the voice of democracy. Let your
call provide for the nomination of a United
States senator along with the rest of your state
officers. Free this great office from the trickery,
trading and corruption that has attended in the
past, the selection of the United States senators
by the legislatures in the various states of the
union. The honest democrat will welcome it.
Tho dishonest one is not to be considered. Our
sister stato of Indiana met this issue in a cour
ageous way the democratic convention of that
stato nominated the Hon. John W. Kern for
United States senator. They went before the
people in an open, honest, frank fight, and
swept the state triumphantly, electing the legis
lature, the state offlcers and the senatorial
nominee.
"The democratic party of the nation never
faced a greater- opportunity. The eyes of the
whole nation turn to it with hope and expec
tancy. They are trusting us. Let us not betray
them. Popular government is not a failure.
Democratic principles are growing more popular.
Equal rights to all men and special privileges
to none have survived. Thomas Jefferson was
not only the founder of our party, but he fought
for the election of United States senators by
a direct vote of the people. Include the sena
torial contest in your call, vindicate the wis
dom of tho father of democracy, Thomas Jeffer
son. Vindicate your three national platform
declarations. Vindicate the state legislature
when it asked congress for such a right. Vindi
cate the six houses of representatives which
have passed such a resolution. Vindicate every
democratic orator in the land, who from plat
form and stump has advocated it, and above
all, vindicate yourself and the democracy of
Kentucky, and the democracy of Kentucky will
love you for it."
GORE OF OKLAHOMA
Extracts from Senator Gore's remarks before"
the investigating committee:
"I have but a few words to say. I shall
neither analyze the evidence nor answer the
argument of counsel. I shall engage In no
crimination or recrimination. Least of all shall
I enter upon a defense of myself .against tho
aspersions cast upon mo. I need not remind the
committee that those charges stand upon the
uncorroborated word of a single witness who
was driven by the most powerful motive to
malign and to misrepresent.
"Mine has been the common fate of everv
one who makes such a disclosure. He thit
5fBupt.a,.,leJ?t of BerPents need not be sur
prised if he hears the serpent's hiss or if he
feels the serpent's sting. Other instances are
not wanting in our history. "races are
"Theirs has been the common refuge of all
VOLUME 11, NUMBER 3
those against whom such disclosures are made.
Tbey answer with charges and counter charges
and like the scuttle-fish, darken the water and
seek to escape in the darkness of their own
making.
"I knew that those who would undertake to
debauch would not hesitate to defame. I knew
that all that malice and all that money could
do would be done to discredit me. Senator
LaFollette and I foresaw those consequences
and discussed the eventuality.
"It was an ordeal of fire which any man would
prefer to escape. Any one would seek to shun
such a sensation and to avoid the notoriety en
tailed. I therefore, exhausted every resource; I
tried every expedient; there waB no alternative
left; I had no choice; I went to the last ditch;
I placed my back to the wall. It came to pass
that silence would be criminal. There may be
those who still think that my silence even then,
would have been golden, but it might have cost
the Indians millions of dollars.
"While I knew that the viles of wrath and re
sentment would be poured out upon me, there
has been a measure of malignity that I dreamt
not of, but If I had known in advance that the
assaults would have been a thousand, times
worse than they have been, I still should not
have been deterred from the discharge of my
duty as I saw it. I had no right to calculate
upon consequences either personal or political
to myself.
"My experience in this affair has demon
strated how much easier it is to remain silent
and secure, rather than to wage war upon wrong
doing and wrong doers of a certain description,
especially if they chance to be both powerful
and venal. My experience in this affair has
been a terrible example, and a terrible warning
to others to purchase security at the price of
silence and neglect of duty. There are those,
it seems, who would have this committee, add
to the terrors of that example, and to the
terrors of that warning who would have this
committee place the finger of silence upon its
lips and signify to all others that they who
would be safe must be still, and speak not lest
the accused should have the power, as he will
have the disposition to reap ruinous vengeance
upon his accuser. - ' . . "
"While this bitter cup has been pressed to my
lips I have not murmured. I still believe that
I rendered some service to the Indians, and
that service compensates me for all tho sacrifices
which I have incurred. I still believe that I
may have helped to save the Indians from three
to five millions of dollars, and that saving and
that service more than compensate me for all
calumny which has come upon me in the past
and for all that may come hereafter. I pro
nounce no eulogy upon myself I simply did my
duty as I saw it, and I shall abide in the faith
that the truth will triumph."
GIVE US LIGHT
Editor of The Commoner: The Baltimore
jubilee is a thing of the past. Will you please
let the readers of The Commoner know whether
the extremes got together or not? Did the dog
get his tail ln his mouth or the tail get the
head? Also what big interest that was doing
a lawful business was ever threatened by the
success of the democratic party? Why so much
stress was laid on a middle of the road
policy between the conservative or reac
tionaries and the radical? If this was not a
bid for the corruption fund that the favored in
r0? h?Teiee? contributing to the republican
SSJE t. b,e uture work of the democratic
25SLSLto liB a wrong by Piece meal or a
scheduled reduction toward the right? Are they
going to demonstrate "at what rate per annum
!nnCSSbfe?,n5e8 a llBht" In theIr tri work?
m?Slr n?ok J011611 tne ideas of the ban
8S?ft wi e,F banuet) the previous even
SS W York' t00k the through train for tho
nul cmnr Pat? n?1 us & on thia repast
SSJt ? ?ere, Ti11 be a reat many of tho
X? , d e 0f tbe democratic party working
S?,hii?e SUCC?SS ith0 radlcal wing of the r
publican party. No one that has at heart tho
teMtaS? f ?l8 . and has been
23U; F I the principles of real democracy, is
at anv hbnno ?eftracd by a milk and water diet
at .any banquet. Yours respectfully
A NEW YORK READER.
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