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The Commoner.
VOLUME 11, NUMBER 85
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Btamp out this socialism and anarchy. This
struggle means as much to us as the war of
the rebellion.
"I wish 1 knew one honest man who would
act in accordance with his conscience regardless
of what might happen. God gave it to mo to
live with human beings from the time I was
at the bottom unil I reached the top rung of
the ladder, and I've found but few honest men
who have the courage of their convictions.
"How long can a man hold public office who
1b unfaithful to the people? Not more than one
term. The power is in the people right now.
Wo need no recall."
Mr. Lorimer also tells the veterans that their
work is "not yet done;" thai "it Ib not always
necessary to carry a gun that the people's
government may live;" that "sometimes it can
be protected at the ballot box" (an excellent
sentiment, by the way.) He denounced the re
call as a club to make "honest men dishonor
themselves," and he commended the president's
veto of the recall of judges.
Here we have it from the highest authority
on corrupt government that the initiative,
referendum and recall are the very essence of
anarchy and socialism that the struggle means
as much "to us" as the civil war. It means even
more to "us" for whom he speaks.
Tho initiative, referendum and the recall
mean more than war to tho Lorimer brand of
politicians; war means defeat to one side with
peace afterward, but tho initiative, referendum
and recall mean extermination to tho system of
exploitation for which Senator Lorimer stands.
It is refreshing to have Senator Lorimer an
nounce that tho people can not be trusted; that
law making must be left exclusively to the
legislature to SUCH a legislature, for in
stance, as "put him over."
Many opponents of the initiative, referendum
and recall are not as frank as Senator Lorimer
in expressing a contempt for the intelligence of
the people, but back of the opposition to these
reforms is a lack of faith in the capacity of
tho people for self government. This is the
fatal defect in the opposition. These reforms
are growing and will ultimately triumph be
cause THE PEOPLE CAN BE TRUSTED and
because an overwhelming majority of the voters
BELIEVE that the people can be trusted. As
soon as tho initiative, referendum' and recall
are understood they will be indorsed by practi
cally all the people by all but the plutocrat
and tho aristocrat and Senator Lorimer's op
position will assist tho people In understanding
the real issue. His opposition discloses the
character of the opposition and the reason why
tho opposition is angry. ,
NOT ONE IN TWENTY
Secretary McCluro; of the National Wool
Growers' association, returned from Washington
to' Idaho through Omaha and the Omaha World
Herald of August 18 reports him as saying-
"The general opinion is that the (wool) "in
dustry is limited to a few individuals, but the
census shows that last year there, were more
than 600,000 individual wool growers."
Well, assuming that every wool grower is a
voter, that is less than one voter in twenty
Why should the one man tax the other nine
teen for his. benefit. There is no good reason.
And why do some congressmen and senators pay
more attention to the one man who has sheep
than to tho nineteen who are taxed for his
benefit? Because the wool grower is supposed
to put his pecuniary Interest in sheep above
everything else and to vote for the man who
.will protect him no matter what the man thinks
or does on other subjects. When the wearers
of woolen goods form an association and send
lobbyists to Washington to threaten legislators
the senators and members of congress may-pay
some attention to the consumers. Tho conflict
'between tho tax eater and the tax payer i3 an
unequal one because the tax eater is always on
guard at tho national capital while the tax payer
is at work trying to raise the next' assessment.
ANSWER TO INQUIRY
Oelweln, la., July 25, 1911. The Commoner,
Lincoln, Neb. Gentlemen: As a reader of The
Commoner I wish to ask, through its columns,
the following question: Is Champ Clark!
speaker of the house of representatives, in" favor
of the Initiative and referendum as it applies, to
our state governments? Thanking you in ad
vance for this favor, X am, yours truly L. E.
Larson.
The Commoner is informed that Mr. Qhtfk
voted in favor of the intiative and referendum
when they were adopted in Missouri. Ed.
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DEMOCRACY
Lee Francis Lybarger, Mlffllnburg,
Pa.: Here is a' definition of democracy
that is certainly worthy of a place in
The Commoner. I found it an an old
scrap book and asked permission to copy
it off for you:
"What is democracy? Sixty years ago
at a banquet, Senator William Allen, of
Ohio, answered the question in the fol
lowing language: Democracy is a senti
ment not to bo appalled, corrupted, or
compromised. It Tcnows no baseness, it
cowers at no dangers, it opposes no
weakness. Fearless, generous, and
human, it rebukes the arrogant, cherishes
honor, and sympathises with the humble.
Destructive only of despoticm, it is the
solo conservitor of liberty, labor, and
property. It is the sentiment of free
dom, equal rights, and equal obligations.
The stupid, the selfish, and the base in
spirit may denounce it 'as a vulgar thing,
in tho history of our race the democratic
spirit has developed and illustrated the
highest moral and intellectual attributes
of our nature."
.Best wishes for your continued health
and seemingly unerring vision of the
right.
THE CALL OP THE BRUTE
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yico Admiral von Ahlefeld, a retired naval
officer of Germany, has written an article on
"World Peace" which concludes as follows:
"According to natural laws only the weaker
and inferior will and must go down. That this
is so is salutary from the point of view of the
perfection of the human race, and who the
weaker Is can be determined only by war, never
by a, .court of arbitration. People who are well
acquainted with the African hunting grounds
assure us that game thrives best when it grows
ufl with beasts p.f prey. As soon, however, as
gJhgKV36 man .kills off the predatory animals for
the sake of eternal peaqe the. high-class game
also disappears. ' '
"In this case, too, nature teaches that fight
ing ennobles while peace leadB to degeneration.
.Our view is, therefore, expressed in a few words:
Comprehensive world courts of arbitration are
an absolute impossibility; if they were possible
they would not give us world peace and if
they gave us world peace it would be a mis
fortune for the perfection of the human race."
This quotation is given that the readers of
The Commoner may see to what degredations
the war spirit can bring a human being. The
idea that war ennobles that man would be
come degenerate unless kept up to battle-tension
by an occasional blood-letting this idea
belongs to the past. The German admiral is a
survival .of the dark ages. To be a man it is
no more necessary to fight like a dog than it is
to eat like a hog or bellow like a bull. There
is a moral realm which Ahlefeld has not ex
ploredhe is of the brute, brutish.
AN ENEMY'S ADVICE
The Chicago Inter-Ocean, in suggesting a
democratic candidate for governor, says:
"Illinois democrats are beginning to consider
possible and available candidates for governor
next year. ' v
i "We are not In democratic politics and hold
no commission to advise the democratic party
Yet because of the conviction that the public
'welfare is best served when there are two strong
partes, with leaders commanding public respect
we take leave to mention certain facts." '
Doesn't that sound familiar? That's the wav
the corporation papers all begin when they start
out to select candidates for BOTH parties Thev
are so interested in tho "public welfare" that
they (reluctantly, of course) consent to aid In
the selection In order that there may be "two
strong parties, with leaders commanding public
respect," etc. That was the way republican
papers introduced praise of Judge Parker in
1904 and they are now praising Governor Har
mon in the same old way.
THE BREWERS' ATTACK
. Mr. Bryan has never been popular with those
..who would use tho government to aid their pri
vate ventures. Last year when the democratic
organization in .Qmaha Bold itself, body and
boots, to the liquor interests, pitched its cam
paign on the Issue of "scratch my back and I'll
scratch yours," nominated a man for governor
who was openly. Ip favor of ultra liberal liquor
leeislatlon, Mr. Bryan asserted his independence
by bolting the nominee and speaking -in opposi
tion to the issue. Dahlman was defeated for
governor and another big interest swore undyinc
hatred to the man who fears nothing but wrone
Last week some of the party workers and pro
fessional politicians held a convention "in Omaha
and denounced Mr. Bryan. Their action has
been heralded across tho country and given wide
publicity by the servitors of the plunderbund in
general.
While the liquor question should be kept out
of politics a great many men who do not believe
in prohibition will not follow the policy of
"hands off" if tho liquor interests are to join
hands with the other interests and attempt to
destroy all those who do not subscribe to all
they ask for in the way of legislation to further
special privileges. South Bend (Ind.) New Era.
THE REORGANIZATION FARCE
The following editorial in the Chicago Tribune
tells the story of the reorganization farce that
the Standard Oil company Is now presenting to
the public:
."The officials of the Standard Oil company
of New Jersey have notified its stockholders of
the way in which the dissolution mandate of
the supreme court is to be carried out. Each
of them will be given a' certificate of stock in
each of the thirty-three corporations owned by
the Standard an ownership which the supreme
court held was illegal. Consequently, the few
men who are now owners of a majority of the
stock of the Standard will retain control of the
subsidiary corporations with which it has been
ordered to part company. There will be as little
change in the real situation as there was when
the oil trust as it existed under the agreement
of 1882 was dissolved, because of the action of
the supreme court of Ohio in 1892.
"The plan adopted then was essentially the
same as the one proposed now. Individual
holders of the trust certificates got in exchange
a proportionate share -in each of1 "the- twenty
companies which we're ' in the' trlfsf. At the
meeting at -which. the plan, was adopted 'Mr.
Dodd, who had drawn up the trust agreement,
said the change would 'make no difference with
the management of affairs. Your interests will
be the same as now. The various corporations
will continue to do the same business as here
tofore and your proportion of the earnings will
not be changed.'
"Will the present plan of dissolution, if ac
ceptable to the supreme court, make any change
in the management of affairs? Nominally the
thirty-three corporations now owned by the
Standard of New ersey will be independent of
it, but their officers will be elected by the men
who control it. Their relations with it will be
as amicable and non-competitive as are those
of the independent steel and iron men who eat
Judge Gary's 'friendly' dinners with the steel
corporation. The officially divorced oil corpora
tions would do what H. H. Rogers said the men
in the oil business did before the trust of 1882
was organized 'work in harmony.' No con
tracts, no agreements, just 'harmony.' "
Could a fraud be more transparent? Can the
supremo court see this conspiracy organized
.under the eyes of the judges and not protest? . Is
this the use the judges intended the company
to make of the supreme court decision? And
will a democratic congress stand by without do
ing anything to protect the public?
THE PRAYER
"He leadeth me, O blesseu thought,
Beside the waters still."
And with the, words she bowed her head,
Obedient to his will.
'What though the world in strife should knock
Against the lowly door;
His rod, his staff, doth comfort her,
And grief can come no more.
"Through pastures green" that stretch away
Through all eternity,
What matter all the weary strife
To spirits thus set free? " "V
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O mother, with tho folded hands
Upon her tired breaBt,
The valley and the shadow passed,
In perfect peace find rest.
- Frank Fair in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat
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