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The Commoner.
VOLUME (12 NUMBER 38
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111 New Commoner Readers from One Township
Oliver Van Syoc, Milo, Iowa: Enclosed find draft for .$27.75 to pay for 111 campaign subscriptions to The Commoner. When. I read in
The Commoner of n certain township in Indiana sending 100 subscriptions, I set out to beat them in my township. I am a private citizen,
living in licllmont township, Warren county, Iowa, and have no political obligation whatsoever; my township has always gone republican and
my county has never been democratic. My 111 subscribers are from 111 people, each paying for their own naper, except four, who wore al
ready Commoner subscribers and each of these sent the paper to a friend. My list consists of 45 republicans, G4 democrats, 1 prohibitionist
and 1 socialist. Eighty-six are people who have never read your paper. Now I challenge any township in the United States to beat us.
A GOOD AMENDMENT
Senator La Follotto has introduced a resolu
tion submitting an amendment making it easier
to amend the federal constitution. A newspaper
dispatch says:
"Senator La Follette by a resolution proposed
a radical change in the method of amending the
constitution of the United States. By the terms
of the resolution a majority of the two houses
of congress would have authority to propose a
constitutional amendment, or it might bo pro
posed on the petition of ten states acting
through their legislatures or through popular
vote."
The La Follette amendment is in the right
direction but it should go further. It should
permit ratification by a majority of the states,
providing tho states ratifying contain half the
population of tho United States.
Thero Is no reason why three-fourths of the
Btates should bo required. Tho present con
stitution enables a minority to prevent progress.
SO SUDDEN
Tho reform impulse sometimes comes on one
very suddenly. Take Mr,. Roosevelt's case, for
Instance. When, last winter, Mr. La Follette
pointed out the dangers which a second Taft
term would bring, Mr. Roosevelt refused to take
sides with him against tho administration. Now
the danger is deemed sufficient cause for a new
party.
ALONE!
A cartoonist, after reading the president's
pathetic appeal for an unamended constitution
and his enthusiastic indorsement of himself as
the last surviving champion of that constitu
tion, might be excused for recalling a declara
tion that the children learn in'school. Why not
a picture of the good ship Constitution on fire
in mid-ocean and just below: ,
The boy stood on the burning deck
)Vhence all but him had fled,
The flames that lit the battle's wreck
Shone 'round him o'er, the dead? '
Senator Beveridge, In his speech as temporary
chairman trotted out the same old protective
tariff ffraud tliat has been .exhibited every four
years by the republican party. If the manu
facturers are to be permitted, to write our, tariff
lawB they can do it as successfully through the
old republican party as through a new republi
can party.
Tt took Mr. Roosevelt seven years and a half
as president to say nothing against the steel
trust. How long will it take him under Mr.
Perkln's management to do something to pro
tect the people from tho steel trust?
If Mr. Roosevelt has earned a third term be
cause of tho service he has rendered to the re
publican party, how many terras will he be en
titled to if ho succeeds in organizing a successful
new party?
They used to "say that nothing but hard times
could produce a new partyj but here we have a
progressive democratic party and an entirely
new party with good crops.'
Mr. Roosevelt thinks that a great revolution
Is coming unless, .he is given a third term. No
need for alarm. .He is thp ,only blood spot on
tho moon.
Mr. Taft now sees the .'mistake he made , in
AUowing himself to be indorsed so highly in
1908. 4 He could not live, up to the advance"
notices., r ' t
' " : i l
Editor Hamilton Holt of the New York1 in
dependent pleads for an "endowedMiewspaper."
Well? Carnegie, Rockefeller or Morgan?
WHY THE DEMOCRACY SHOULD WIN
The New York Independent prints the follow
ing statement made by Mr. Bryan to the New
York Independent at Baltimore: "Because it
has won the right to put its principles into prac
tice. While in the minority during the last
sixteen years it has dominated public opinion
and coerced the republican party into accepting
many of its ideas. It is the only great party
today with a policy and purpose and an
enthusiastic membership. The republican party
is divided between the staudpat element and the
progressive element, and the progressive ele
ment is divided into two factions. Each branch
of the republican party would rather see the
democratic party win than to see the other
branch of the party triumph. The policy of the
present administration is only an indication oi
what would happen if either of the three fac
tions in the republican party obtain control of
tho executive office. Until the republican party
passes through the struggle in which it is now
engaged and is unified along some line of action,
it can not hope to administer the government
with satisfaction to the public. The demo
cratic party passed through its regeneration six
teen years ago and is now in position to leaci
tho progressive forces of the country.'
' '
rwa? h,n notified of Mb nomination, Presl.
dent Taft is now very much in the position of
SSn,imal at thUSt its paw int0 urn and
didn't know how to let go.
Yet, may not Theodore Roosevelt beas badly
Eo'nwm ab?U Mb Wn ability as he was about
the ability of the man he foisted upon the coun
try as his successor?
If the "Bull Moosers" and "Steam 'Rollers"
I wlnUG A0 te" what kn concerning one
get m?sry PStmCe authoriti will have "o
to Il.eqllired 10'000 words from President Taft
by hSSi RoT pVevi0Usly eipted fp"
hG indlcatins are that this is one year
wherein the people will not be deceived bv
"Political hysteria" upon the one side and "calm
political poise" upon the other '
0q000
WANTED--A DEMOCRATIC CAM
PAIGN FUND BY POPULAR )
CONTRIBUTION
Governor Wilson has announced that '
no campajgn contributions will be re
ceived from corporations. This act S '
the democratic candidate for the presi
in'I.W1.1 be a?P y democrats who
TrTnll Party Kbe free from the con
trol of the special interests. The na
tional committee must, however, ha
money with which to carry on the cam
paign and this money must come from
the people. The Commoner will assiS
m the collection of this fund and it will
receive contributions, acknowledging The
Smf to AtS ?lumns and silvering e
fund to the treasurer of the democratic .
nauonal committee, Every dempcVat
nSA Ba7e Somo part ln thls work.
S?b?,?fni asj!amed 1 m0 a small con
ation. Give what you can afford ,
and eery penny will be acceptable. 1
Hnn WV1 hint: Circulate a subscrip
2 WjJ once among the democrats of .
your precinct and send the proceeds to
,pfat9ner offiqe without delay.
The democratic national committee must ,
be supplied with funds immediately
HAVING FUN WITH "MARSE HENRY"
The newspaper boys are having fun with
"Marse Henry." The veteran editor of the
Courier-Journal insists that he feels very com
fortable and is "resting easy," but his hysteri
cal actions belie his words and "the boys" are
unkind enough to remind "Marse Henry" of
the fact.
Referring to one of Mr. ,Watterson's ill
natured criticisms of Mr. Bryan, the Sioux City
(Iowa) Journal says: "It is true that in 1904
Mr. Bryan missed a cog and failed to get tho
nomination. His misfortune extended to denial
of absolutism in writing the platform. But Mr.
Bryan did not bolt. He took his medicine,
though the faces he made on the stump gave
him tho reputation of a contortionist. But ho
did not bolt. His method of speech- suggested
the disquietude of his mind, it. is true. But ho
did not bolt. He held to it that the democratic
party had a future, and he looked forward to
being a part of it. The spirit, pf; prophecy was
upon him, He was able to demonstrate in the
democratic national convention of 1908 that in
1904 the democratic party had made an egregi
ous blunder.- Mr.. Bryan was rehabilitated and
again made the leader of his party. The result
of the election inil908 did not make Mr. Bryan
president, but reproduced the figures to prove
that Mr. Bryan was a better man than Judge
Parker. Mr. Bryan did not care-if or .himself (if
that is the suspicion that is in Colonel Watter
son's mind)', but he was moved by ambition to
save the democratic party to the people. It is
worth while to note with what courage he placed
himself in subordination at Baltimore. He hit
some of Colonel Watterson's friends hard, and
lodged his Louisville friend in the hole from
whence there was nothing for him to do but to
cry out that he would support 'Satan.' The
reference, to be sure, was to Governor Wood
row Wilson. Ifi Mr. Bryan did not have his way
altogether at Baltimore, he had enough of it to
save him from nervous prostration. 'As the case
stands, Mr. Bryan is a national hero. The proof
is presented in the rush to use both hands in
exchanging greetings. Mr. Bryan is for Wil
son this year beyond a doubt. He is enthusias
tically so. If the New Jersey governor is elected
we can thank Mr. Bryan for it, and Mr. Bryan
can continue to point with pride to his faithful
ness to the democratic party, at whatever per
sonal sacrifice, all for the uplift,, the disenthrall
ment and the glory of the common people. It ill
becomes Colonel Watterson to exhibit envy."
THERE ARE OTHERS
An Associated Press dispatch from Washing
ton says: "One hundred and twenty million
dollars was filched from the American people
during the last' fiscal year by swindlers who
operated largely through the United States
mails, according to a statement just made public
in a formal report to Postmaster General Hitch
cock. This is an increase of $50,000,000 in tho
aggregate of the ' previous year. Of those who
are alleged tov have operated the fraudulent
schemes, 1,003 were arrested by postoffice in
spectors. During the year which ended June
30 last, 452 persons were convicted and sen
tenced nd 571 cases are awaiting final disposi
tion. Postmaster General Hitchcock's order to
inspectors to collect evidence that would war
rant criminal prosecution of tho swindlers
gradually, is building a wall of protection against
such frauds around tho American people."
This, however, is not a mark compared to the
amount filched from tho pockets of the people
through tho trust system and other highly pro
tected republican party policies. If the federal
authorities would only prosecute the influen
zal men who conspire against the lives of the
people, with Tjialf the zeal th.ey employ in tho
prosecution of the ordinary violators of the
law, the results would be Immediately notice
able in the cost of living.
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