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The Commoner.
VOLUME '.12, '.NUMBER'. 3
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The Commoner.
ISSUED WEEKLY
Entered at tlio Pontofllco at Lincoln, Nebraska,
ati Kucond-clasn mutter.
WlU.IAM J. IlllYAN
Kdltor ntxl Proprietor
Ilir;iiAlti J MvrrcAi.iT.
Afcfiocluto Kdltor
OlIAllt.lcn W. JJltYAN
lnhlllicr
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THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb.
ing upon tho demonstration of his grip on tho
loadorship, is apt to unsettle things in the house,
unloss, indeed, Chairman Underwood is swept
along In tho stampedo Bryan precipitated. If
Undorwood stands pat on his tariff program
and continues to discountenance radical changes
in the Shorman law, his boom will have the
Bryan steam roller to reckon with. It is char
acteristic of Bryan porhaps tho weakest point
in his leadership that ho never tries to find
common ground for tho party factions to stand
on. Washington (D. C.) Post.
LET TI1ID CANDIDATES REPRESENT THE
VOTERS, NOT THE INTERESTS
Tho following editorial appeared in the
Cincinnati Enquirer of January 2nd: There
aro still a few ultra-consorvativo democrats who
cling to tho idea that a man who abandoned the
party in 1896; a porson allied for a lifetime with
tho combined interests of tho country which
opposod tho party in 189G, 1900, 1904 and 1908;
an individual with a rocord of nononforcement
of tho Shorman law whon ho was directly
chargod with that duty, can bo nominatod for
tho presidency in a democratic national conven
tion. These gentlemen resido mostly in the south
orn and the oastern states and usually are close
to tho interests which would be benefited by
euch a nomination.
They havo never boon contented since tho
democrats of tho country ousted them from
control of tho party in 189 G.
No statements as to political sentiment of the
country will ever move them to admit they were
fiver in error; they may conceal their antipathy
to progression, but are always ready to respond
to tho call of tho wise men of Gotham, the Cap
tains of industry, with headquarters In Wall
itreot.
Of course, they desire to name tho candidate
for tho party.
They need to name candidates for both poli
tical parties, and then they would be certain of
Safety from tho law and what they term radical
&ggrosslon.
They did that for years and were supremely
comfortable. J
When they could name both they selected the
one they believed most amenable to their claims
and their wishes.
Tho democratic party will have neither their
policies nor their candidate.
Such a candidate can not bo nominated, but
1C mIAnatod would draS down to defeat the
candidates upon tho national, state and local
tickets in every doubtful state and in many
claimed as democratic. j
The democrats who might be able to win posi
tions in township, city, county and state elec
tions should not bo barred from success by a
VenMt nomination that would surely pro-
In prior articles we have alluded to the dis-
Fighting for Popular Election of Senators
Friends of tho popular election of senators
are making a strong light for that reform.
Following is a special dispatch to tho Louisvillo
(Ky.) Courier-Journal.
Washington, Jan 1G. Indications are that
thero will be an agreement between the house
and seriate on the bill providing for the direct
election of United States senators. A conference
was held today without complete success, but
tho house conferees appeared confident that the
senate managers will, within a day or two, ask
for instructions to agree on the house resolu
tion with the Bacon amendment superseding that
offered by Senator Bristow.
If this authority is granted by the senate the
resolution will be whipped into shape at once for
passage by both houses. The long fight waged
by Senator Borah, of Idaho; Representative
Ollie James of Kentucky; Representative W. W.
Rucker, of Missouri, and others will be near an
end. With the Bacon amendment added, the
Bristow amendment rejected, the law will pro
vide for the direct election of senators and will
stipulate that in states, where this action is not
taken, congress may step In and organize the
election. The Bristow amendment, conferring
on congress the power to organize state elections
whenever it chooses, has met with tho solid
opposition of southern democrats, and the house
has instructed Its conferees under no circum
stances to agree on that. It was to mitigate
tho force of the Bristow amendment that the
Bacon amendment was proposed.
When tho legislation was last beforo the
senate, the vice president broke a tie and made
possible the passage of the Bristow amendment.
Southern democrats fear that this amendment
,.,m Qr.Tif fim vntinc of all neeroes with the
result, in states like Mississippi, of electing ne
groes to the senate. The "progressives," who
hold the balance of power in the upper chamber,
claim that they supported the Bristow amend
ment because had it not been passed the entire
legislation would have failed. Their assertion
is that above the controversy as to which
amendment shall bo passed, they want the prin
ciple of direct elections enacted into law. It is
stated that the house resolution, as amended
by Senator Bacon, will he agreeable to them,
however, and if tho senate conferees ask for
such instructions, the "progressives" will vqto
to grant them.
Treachery may come from the regular repub
licans. These voted for the resolution as
amended by Bristow because they did not believe
that the house would accept it, and they hoped
thus to kill the legislation. It requires a two
thirds vote to pass this legislation through
either body, because it contemplates an amend
ment to the constitution. Should the regulars
decide to absent themselves or vote against the
resolution on final passage, while such action
would cloud their own records, it would kill
the legislation for this session. It' is the con
census of opinion it will pass eventually, how
ever. The house conferees hope for action within a
week. They believe that the move will be made
in the open senate about as follows:
The senate, it is believed, will recede from
the Bristow amendment by a majority vote and
instruct the conferees to agree on the resolu
tion in that form. When this Is done the house
expects ratification of the action, in both cham
bers by the two-thirds vote required.
asters brought to the democrats of Ohio in 1904
through the refusal of the voters to support a
nomination .they deemed reactionary.
Below we give tho pluralities in each of the
congressional districts in Ohio at that election.
District.
1 Republican plurality 20,526
2 Republican plurality 17,627
3 Republican plurality 6,032
5 Republican plurality 324
G Republican plurality 2,337
7 Republican plurality 9,378
8 Republican plurality 11,265
9 Republican plurality 18,640
10 Republican plurality ...... 11,781
11 Republican plurality 9,984
12 Republican plurality 7,177
13 Republican plurality 1,050
14 Republican plurality 9,869
15 Republican plurality . . . .,. 532
16 Republican plurality 9,589
17 Republican plurality 2,276
18 Republican plurality ,. . .20,467
19 Republican plurality 30,335
20 Republican plurality 12,389
21 Republican plurality 29,786
Twenty republican congressmen elected and
their democratic opponents snowed under, not
through their unpopularity, but through the dis
satisfaction with the supposed control of the
combined Interests at the national convention.
The gallant Fourth district was the only con
gressional district in the state to send a demo
cratic congressman, who was elected by 1,795
plurality.
Do the democratic members of our present
delegation believe their constituents are in favor
of reactionary candidates?
Do they believe they can carry their dis
tricts as democrats with a man desired by Wall
street interests, or a man who has for years
been known as their agent, representative and
recognized as their favorite at the head of the
democratic ticket?
If they do, let them study the returns given
above and they will feel less acutely the dis
appointments that will surely arrive next No
vember if such a candidate should be nomi
nated for president by the democratic party.
The democrats can elect the next president
and control both branches of congress ff they
SS n mmist,ake ln their nomination for the
highest office in the republic. They can carr?
state after state and county after county.
What folly then to slaughter thousands of
democratic candidates for the minor offices to
gratify the combined interests or the ambitioS
of one of their favorites. ammuon
Harmon's Record
' "Fifty Measures, Many of Them Distinctly Pro
gressive Measures, Became Laws Because, the
Oliio Governor Did flot Sign Them Witliin the
Period Required by the State Constitution.1
, The managers of Governor Harmon are
endeavoring, through the medium of circulars
and pamphlets widely circulated, to induce his
acceptance as a progressive democrat. In this
they ingenuously seek to show that it was the
governor's strong personality and leadership
that was responsible for the enactment of the
many splendid laws by the 1911 session of the
Ohio legislature, which was democratic in both
branches. The record does not bear this out.
A number of the claims put forward on Mr.'
Harmon's behalf have been proved, by the
record of that session, to be unfounded. Fifty
measures, as The Commoner has stated, many
of them distinctly progressive measures, be
came laws because the governor did not sign
them within the period required by the con
stitution of Ohio. Yet most of them are claimed
in this literature as a presidential asset and
proof of Mr. Harmon's progressiveness.
There were a number of other bills that be
came laws through the approval of the gover-'
nor, and on the face of the record it is easy to
claim them as due to his championship. One
of the laws listed as "a measure which Harmon
pushed through the legislature" is that provid
ing for the direct election of senators by the
Oregon plan. This requires candidates for tho
legislature, regardless of party, to either agree
?nrhVagree to be bound in votinS or sena
tors by the popular result in the state.
mii'JL??? that Governor Harmon signed this
bill when it was presented to him a day or two
sSurTtAT beCml a law Without 'hS
fiS JSI a lt te a.lso true that to a speech be
fore the democratic members and in a sDeciS
SagAhe UJged'ln very mlld terms, ite pa
sage. At no time does the record show that he
nonnefryf.mUCi interested in Its fa Sid to
?ect did hUtt,eranCea he made nPa the sub-
T show Ins KIT S r flre 0n Ita behalf
io snow just what he did say, and how much"
& WoSfll110 JJS tt W H
caucus? 0t ttem- the democratic
by'dirlceVV0ri ? e,eCtlon of Beator
vy airect vote is not a local matter. The nf fn
United States is aroused on the subject I e
United0 iE5 e da7 When tho ma' of
united States senators vote for an amendment
question ST.? Pf" ME3t
"ag question to the states, how many year to
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