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The Commoner.
3
OCTOBER 20, 1911
Courage and Inspiration from California Election
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A BRYAN SUPREME COURT
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In its essence, there was nothing local about
the California election, for It was the ancient
fight between the many and the few between
people and privilege that Is being waged In
every state in the union. As a result of the
overwhelming victory won by the people,
courage and Inspiration, in reviving flood, will
sweep across the country, for now we have
proof that concerted popular attack can level
any fortification that privilege may raise.
No commonwealth seemed more utterly
enslaved than California. For years the
Southern Pacific railroad has controlled Its par
ties, named its officials, framed its laws, and
drained the blood and marrow of Its people. As
a result of Its corrupt control, councils, legisla
tors, judges and senators danced to the pull of
the S. P. string as a result of old Collis
Huntington's dictum, "All the traffic will bear,"
the shippers of the state were allowed only such
return as amounted to a living wage.
Francis J. Heney, in the San Francisco graft
prosecutions, sounded the first note of revolt,
but a corrupt judiciary and a "kept" press pro
cured his practical defeat, and the "system," re
adjusting its battered mechanism, resumed its
all-powerful way.
Then Hiram Johnson announced himself for
governor, and in a year-long campaign aroused
the people to definite and concerted action. The
legislature elected with him did not dare to
violate pledges, and as a result, constitutional
amendments were framed, passed and submitted
to the people.
These amendments the initiative, referen
dum .and recall and an enlargement of the
powers of the railroad commission stand for
popular power and control, and their adoption
means that the people of California are free!
Thus, in practically two years, the most per
fect special privilege "machine" in the country
has been smashed into such bits that tho next
generation will pick up half-buried pieces with
the same wondering curiosity that children now
give to Indian arrowheads. What one state
has done, another may do!
The overwhelming vote by which the recall
of the judiciary was carried will, of course, bo
viewed as a rebuke to Mr. Taft. This is a nar
row view, for while the result necessarily in
volves Mr. Taft's humiliation, hi personal In
clusion In tho right waa no moro Important
than a pebblo's effort to stem a tidal wavo.
California's sad exporlonco with Its judiciary
Is not unlquo in tho annals of commonwealths.
Not a state in tho union that has not had Its
laws put aside because they happened to conflict
with some judge's views of what was wlsost and
best. Every effort to correct injustice and
establish moro equal conditions has shattered
against tho stone wall of tho judiciary.
As Senator Owen has said, "A judge upon tho
bench Is merely a lawyer employed by tho
people, at a salary, to interpret tho law. Ho
does so in tho light of his environment, In
fluenced by his education, by his previous politi
cal and judicial predilections." To assume that
election works instant and miraculous change
that decisions are made in a vacuum is to
argue human Infallibility, and from this ridicu
lous assumption has flowed the despotism and
disregard of human rights that aTo now com
plained of.
Those who control are served. Special -privilege
has hitherto controlled tho bench In largo
degree, but when tho right to recall Is pos
sessed, the people will control.
The recall of judges, when considered, is not
revolutionary, but merely evolutionary. When
the federal constitution was adopted In 1787,
none of the judges wero elected by tho people,
although there was a greatly restricted suffrage.
Now we have universal suffrage practically in
every state and woman's suffrage in Ave yet
thirty-five states have decreed that judges shall
be no longer appointed, but elected by tho
people. If tho people aro sufficiently wise and
conservative to elect, why are they not suffi
ciently wise and conservative to dischargo? By
what subtle alchemy may "the splendid and in
telligent voters I see beforo me" bo suddenly
turned into a "mob?"
The direct legislation league of Colorado,
among the first uses of tho Initiative, will sub
mit an amendment providing for tho recall of
all elective officials judges included. In view
of the California result, there can bo little doubt
of its adoption, for Colorado, no less than Cali
fornia, has suffered much from a judiciary not
subject to popular control in tho slightest de
gree. Denver News.
PRACTICAL TARIFF TALKS
Tho thorough-going manner in which tho re
publican party has heretofore kept its pledges
to its campaign contributors whenever a tariff
revision was in progress is nowhere better
Illustrated than in the Payne-Aldrich tariff
measure. Take the case of the beef trust. Tho
provisions schedule will disclose how ample are
the folds of -protection in which that infant
industry is wrapped. Although it has stamped
out all effective competition and not only domi
nates the home market, but ships large amounts
abroad, tho beef trust is sheltered from foreign
rivals by any number of duties. Fresh beef,
veal, mutton, lamb and. pork the chief pro
ducts of the trust are protected by an import
duty of Vz cents. A great deal of the fresh
meat it places in cold storage is shipped abroad
and sold for less than at home. Tho foreigner
does not pay the meat tax.
markets. Free hides was supposed to bo a blow
at the beef trust, but It has for years been
entrenching itself In the slaughtering business
in Argentina, one of tho chief hide supply
centers of the world, and It Is asserted by men
who should know that it is one of tho big fac
tors in the fixing of prices of cattle and hides for
export from that country. Shoe leather is
dutiable at 1 per cent. Leather for belting,
rough leather and sole leather carry 5 per cent,
while leather gloves aro protected at from $1.25
to $4 a dozen pairs.
. LaTd, one of the by-products of slaughtering,
carries a duty of 1 cents a pound. The beef
trust absolutely controls this market. Beef
extract is protected by a tariff of 35 cents a
pound. "Embalmed," canned and dried meats,
chiefly produced by the trust, are dutiable at
25 per cent. Another large by-product, tho
Boups, are protected by varying duties. Horn
buttons, for which the trust furnished the horn,
!arry a duty of a cent a line on the card. Poul
try feathers, when prepared for use for milli
ners, carry a duty of 20 per cent. All manu
factures of horn or bone aje dutiable at 35 per
cent. One source of large revenue In the largo
packing house comes from the sale of certain
drugs or drug bases. Tho chemical schedule
provides heavy protection against the pauper
. and competing drugs of Europe.
r Through its control of the live animal
Slaughtering of the country, the beef trust has
-come to be tho largest factor in the leather in
dustry of the country. Controlling the hides it
nas been able to very largely control the tan
' nery business, and it is quite generally admitted
that the prices for leather fixed by the trust
tanneries is the price of leather In all tho large
By reason of Its domination of the live animal
killing of tho country, the beef trust fixes tho
prices which are paid to tho raisers of cattle,
hogs and sheep. It can do this because there
is but one real buyer on the markets, the repre
sentatives of the various companies making up
the trust. For proof of this read the govern
ment report upon the industry. Originally a
duty was placed on live animals to protect tho
men who raise these for the food market. Tho
trust has grown so large that it Is able to
benevolently assimilate as much of this protec
tion as It pleases. Calves carry a tariff tax of
$2 a head. In 1909 tho trust handled at its
fourteen packing houses in various parts of tho
country 900,000 calves. If it absorbed all of
the protection this meant $1,800,000. All
cattle valued below $14 & head carries a tariff
duty of $3.75 per head. Prime steers, which aro
included in the exceeding $14 & head clause,
carry a duty of 27 per cent. In 1909 tho
packers handled nearly 12,000,000 head, which
represented $45,0Q0,000 protection.
An import duty of $1.50 per head is placed
on hogs and the same amount on sheep, while
lambs carry 75 cents per head. In 1909 tho
big packers handled 23,000,000 hogs and 10,
000,000 sheep and lambs, upon which the aggre
gate protection was $47,000,000. Excess pro
tection has been defined as "just that much
moro room to turn around In in tho matter of
price fixing." A little mathematical calculation
Will disclose tho Immensity of this room pos-
Bible for utilization by the beef trust, C. Q. D.
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This would doubtless bo Mr. Bryan's
notion of an Ideal supremo court of the
United States: Chlof Justico, tho Hon.
William JonnlngB Bryan of Nebraska;
associate justices, tho Hon. Jeff Davis of
Arkansas, tho Hon. Theodore Uooflovolt
of Now York, Tho Hon. James EdgaT
Martlno of Now Jcrsoy, tho Hon. Robert
Marlon La Folletto of Wisconsin, tho
Hon. Ollio James of Kontucky, tho Hon.
Jamos K. Vardaman of Mississippi, tho
Hon. Richmond Pearson Hobson of
Alabama, tho Hon. Robert Latham Owen
of Oklahoma. That's tho kind of a su
premo court to administer Justice with
out respect to persons and do equal right
to tho poor and tho rich. Editorial In
Now York World, of October 8.
A Wilmington, Del., reader of Tho
Commoner sends tho following:
It appears that the supreme court, as
at the present constituted, is entirely
satisfactory to tho World, but If that
court had to be reorganized from top to
bottom, this would doubtless bo Mr.
Pulitzer's notion of an Ideal supremo
court of the United States:
A PULITZER SUPREME COURT
Chiof Justico, tho Hon. J. Plorpont
Morgan of Now York; assoclato jus
tices, tho Hon. Nelson W. Aldrlch of
Rhode Island, ox-senator; tho Hon. J.
B. Forakor of Ohio, also ox-senator, tho
Hon. Joseph Woldin Balloy of Toxaa,
to bo ex-senator; tho Hon. George F.
Baer of Pennsylvania, president coal
trust; tho Hon. William Lorlmor of
Illinois, still a senator; tho Hon. Judson
Harmon of Ohio, formerly corporation
attorney; tho Hon. Richard Balllngor of
Washington, ex-cablnet officer; tho Hon.
Joseph Pulitzer of Now York. J. F.,
Wilmington, Del., Oct. 9, 1911.
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TEAOII MEN TO RESPECT THE LAW
Goorgo Hlllyor, Atlanta, Ga: "The Sherman
anti-trust law stood on tho statute books and
was constantly violated, in thousands of in
stances for nearly twenty yeaTs beforo a single,
solitary conviction was had under it. Viola
tions of the laws forbidding all crimes, from
illegal trusts or murder down to tho 'blind
tiger,' or gambling, aro so common and every
where Increasing, as that it may bo fairly said
anarchy already exists In many localities and
will, in tho end, exist everywhere unless some
remedy Is found some heroic remedy bravely
applied. Tho real fault lies In defective crimi
nal procedure. What Is tho use of enacting
laws to define and punish criminal trusts and
other crimes when tho trusts by having plenty
of money with which to hire lawyers and can
vass Jury lists and employ tho wicked weapons
of defense, wrongfully contrived, and grown
up In criminal procedure, by which thoy can
and do nearly always shield the guilty? Theso
things aro a burning shame. The Commoner
could work wonders In finding and successfully
advocating tho right remedies and reforms in
methods for law enforcement beforo it is toe
late."
JUST PUBLICITY, THAT'S ALL
Tho Waterloo (Iowa) Courier says that Mr.
Bryan's challenge to President Taft (in the
matter of certain supreme court appointments)
is unworthy because it implies bad faith on the
part of tho president of tho United States with
out sufficient grounds. "It Is unworthy of
Bryan's reputed high character," tho Courier
asserts.
To urge publicity with respect to the in
fluences behind successful candidates for places
on tho United States supreme bench does not
imply "bad faith" on tho part of Mr. Taft any
moro than a law requiring publicity as to cam
paign funds expended in Mr. Taft's behalf. And
Mr. Taft says ho is in favor of publicity with
respect to campaign funds.
Why not, then, have publicity with respect
to tho influences that mako supreme court
justices?
It will bo remembered, also, that Mr, Taft
Introduced this "challenge business." One who
is so free with challenges ought to be prepared
to meet a few on his own account.
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