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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 29, 1912)
"KVT" ifm The Commoner, 7 NOVEMBER 29,' 1912 ":' ' chasing, power of tho monetary unit." He added: "The truth Is- that monetary contraction and monetary expansion are both evils from what ever cause they may come. The lesson of the hour is that we may suffer from gold inflation, which comes from natural causes Just as truly as from inflation through legislative enactments. Most people have an easy confidence that 'a dol lar is a dollar and always stays so. As a mat ter of fact no other units of measure are so un stable as units of money. While we have em ployed scientific experts to standardize every other unit the yard, the hour and the pound the best we "have ever done for the unit of value or purchasing power is to decree that it shall equal the purchasing power of a fixed weight in gold. The weight of the gold dollar remains fixed, but its value or purchasing power does not. To be-so careful about the size of the gold dollar and so indifferent to the pur chasing power it contains is as absurd as it would be to stipulate carefully as tp tho size of the package containing breakfast cereals, but to take no notice of how much cereal it really con tains. Let us face the facts. During the last fifteen years, although the gold dollar has re mained the same in size, its purchasing power has fallen to two-thirds of the dollar of fifteen years ago. This shrinkage in the monetary yard stick has injured all those who had expected to receive a fixed number of dollars salaried men, wage-earners, bondholders, savings bank deposi tors and many others. A servant girl who de posited $100 In the savings bank fifteen years ago comes to take the accumulation amount principal and interest to the sura of about $150, finds that this whole amount will buy no more than the original $100. Her" interest has accrued only fast enough to offset the deprecia tion in her principal." .' r w 5' j THE committee on wild' life protection of tho National Conservation association, has recently published an estimate of the money loss to the United States caused by the destruc tion of certain birds. A writer 'iri the Continent says: This cost is placed at tho astonishing , total of $400,000,000 a year.' The committee announces" its intention of seeking national legislation to protect the birds. All song birds, woodpeckers, blackbirds, quail, doves and night hawks are said to deserve special protection for the good they do in destroying insects. The committee urgeB farmers and fruit growers to consider the damage from insect pests which the birds help to prevent though the, grbwer whose cherries are attacked by birds, may view . the matter with mixed emotions. City and town, dwellers are asked to conserve bird life for thp reason that its protection will' increase the size of crops and thus help to decrease the cost of living. The National Association of Audubon societies held Its eighth annual pjeeting in New York a few- days ago. Secretary T. Gilbert Pearson reported that the organization had spent $60,000 'last year in tho protection of, birds. H. R. Dill of the University of Iowa re ported that he had checked the slaughter of albatross in the Hawaiian Islands by Japanese feather hunters. , i 5 ANEW YORK citizen undercook to poke a little ftiri at Henry Waiifcerson'a "figure of speech," and wrote to the New York Sun the following: "In your report of Mr. Watterson's article of "The New Dispensation reerrlng to Mr. Cleveland, he says: 'Thus he wrecked his party, wrecked it after it had reached what seemed a safe harbor, and left It a very hulk, upon the wide, wide sea.' I have always been atf admirer of Mr. Cleveland's versatility, of which a new -phase is here disclosed, and I am interested to' know how and .why he got' tho wreck out of the safe harbor and left it on the wide, wide sea." Mr. Watterson himself answered this query in' this way:, "Why, after he wrecked it, 'In port it drafted out to sea, you donkey!" V (v (V DR. SAMUEL WOODROW, pastor of the First Congregational church, Washington, D. O., and who, according to the New York American, is a cousin- of' President-elect Wilson, recently preached a sermon on "Social 'Unrest' in which ho said, in part: "A young man in New York inherited recently $65,000000, for which he tolled not, neither did he spin. His father had not either toiled or spun. This young man, if placed on his own resources, could not make flye dollar a week. I tell you that such sights as these cause more anarchists than all the radi cal street speeches that over were made. Sta tistics show that 70 per cent of all tho wealth of tho country is in tho hands of 5 per cent of tho people. It would bo much bettor if Rocke feller and Carnegie, instead of giving millions to found libraries and great charities, should have given tho people, by just wages and mod erate prices for the necessities of life, tho oppor tunity to earji the power to build their own libraries." & & & PRESIDENT TAFT will, after March 4th, open a law office in Cincinnati. Mr. Taft will have no partner, it is announced, and ho will enter into general practice. The New York American says: It has been generally supposed that tho president had enjoyed a long and luc rative law practice prior to his entering official life. As a matter of fact ho only practiced four years. IIo was admitted to the bar in 1880. lie was law reporter for Cincinnati newspapers, collector of internal revenue and prosecuting attorney until 1883. Ho practiced law until 1887, when Governor Foraker made him a judge. He served from 1887 to 1890. Ho was solicitor-general of tho United States from 1890 to 1892, United States circuit judge from 1892 to 1900, flrBt civil govornor of tho Philip pines from 1901 to 1904, secretary of war from 1904 to 1908, and has been president since March, 1909. Nearly a quarter of a century of holding oflico prevented Mr. Taft from follow ing his profession. But he counts on his ex perience on tho bench to aid him. V $r fr NICHOLAS LONGWORTH, son-iri-law of Theodore Roosovelt, is now enjoying a little fame on his own account. They are referring to his successful opponent as "The man who de feated Nicholas Longworth." Tho Nashville Democrat says: Stanley Bowdle, the demo crat who received ninety-seven more votes than Nicholas Longworth, is described as one of tho best and most successful pleaders at the Cincin nati bar, and his strong oratorical equipment stood him well in hand during tho campaign. He is forty-four years old and received all 'of his education In tho public schools of "Cincinnati. Ho has always been a bpok worm and is con sidered ono of tho best informed men in the city. Early in life he learned tho ship-building trado with the Cramps in Philadelphia. At ono timo ho spent a year in Mexico regaining his health in a mining camp and ranch life. He has a good law practice. He contended that Long worth had been a useless and needless expense to the plain peoplo of the district arid that the $60,000 paid him by way of salary' during his several terms represented an 'investment very largely along tho line of ornamentation and luxury for tho district. A vote of morp than 50,000 was polled. Jt & , . A CHICAGO, ILL., dispatch 'parried by .the Associated Press says: Mrs. Frances Sco-ville-Norton, .sister of Charles, J. Guitcau, wlio assassinated President Garfiehl, July 2, 1881, more widely known, however, for her excqni tional character and attainments, was found dead in her room in the homo of her daughter, Mrs. William De Hart Reeder, 5111 Waveland avenue. She was seventy years old and had died quietly in her bed while others in the house slept. After the trial of Guitoau, tho assassin's sister, touched by tho efforts that Attorney Louis P. Scoville had made to save her brother from the consequences of his crime, married the lawyer. But tho attachment did not prove lasf ing" and she soon divorced Scovillo and lator married George Norton, who died a few years ago Mrs. Norton was the author of several books, an ardent suffragist and ono of tho earliest advocates of pensions for' mothers, , MR. BRYAN'S SPEECHES Monroe Bragg, Pittsburg, Kansas: The commercial department of tho Kansas State m tf Niftf-mol n Plttahtire. Kan.. Manual -numiut, -.. v, , . ,' has found a new and very practical use for Mr Bryan's speeches. They are used in tho advanced shorthand classes, and are dictated from a phonograph. In this way the students enlarge their vision and gain skill at the same time when writing such subject matter. In one class a straw vote was taken to de termine which of the speeches of different public men was considered tho best. That of Mr. Bryan's on "Immortality" was unanimously chosen. CHARACTER OF THE HAPPY WARRIOR The Denver Nowa is authority for tho state ment that Woodrow Wilson's favorlto poom in "Character of tho Happy Warrior," written by William Wordsworth. Tho poom follows: Who is tho Happy Warrior? Who to ho That every innn in arms s.iould wish to be? It Is tho generous. Spirit, who, whon brought Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought Upon the plan that ploased his boyish thought; Whoso high endeavors are an Inward light That makes tho path bofore him always bright; Who, with a natural instinct to discern What knowledge cau perform, is diligent to learn, Abides by this resolve, and stops not there, But makes his moral being his prlruo care; Who, doomed to go in company with Pain, And Fear and Bloodshed, miserable train! Turns his necessity to glorious gain; In face of these doth exorcise a powor Which Is our human nature's highest dower; Controls them and subdues, transmutes, be reaves Of their bad influence, and their good receives; By objects, which might force the soul to abatf Her feeling rendered moro compassionate; Is placable, because occasions rlso So often that demand such sacrifice; More skilful In self-knowledge, over more pure, As tempted moro, more ablo to endure, As more exposed lo suffering and distress; Thence, also, moro allvo to tondorness. 'TIs he Whoso law is reason; who depends Upon that law as on tho best of friends; Whence, in a stato where men aro tempted stllj To ovll for a guard against worse ill, And what in quality or act is best Doth soldom on a right foundation rest, Ho labors good on good to fix, and owes To virtue every triumph that ho knows; Who, If ho rise to station of conimand, Rises by opon means; and there will stand On honorable terms, or else retire And In himself possess his own desire; Who comprehends his trust, and to the same Keeps faithful with a singleness of aim; And thereforo does not stoop, nor Ho In wait For wealth, or honors, or for worldly state; Whom they must follow, on whoso head must fall, Like showers of manna, if they como at all; Whoso powers shed round hira in the common strife, Or mild concerns of ordinary life, A constant influence, a peculiar graco; But who, if he be called upon to faco Some awful moment to Which Heaven has joined Great issues, good or bad for human kind', Is happy as a lover; and attired With sudden brightness, like a Man Inspired; And, through the heat of conflict, keeps tho law Tn calmness made, and sees what he foresaw; Or If an unexpected call succeed, Come whon it will, Is' equal to tho need;' Ho who though thus endued as With a' sens And facUIty for storm and turbulence '" Is yet a Soul whose master-bias loans ' To homefelt pleasures and' to gentle scones; Sweet images U which whoresO'or ho be; v Aro at, his heart; and much fidelity It. is-his daring passion to approve; - More brave for this, that ho hath much love: 'TIs, finally, the Man, who, lifted high, ; : Conspicuous object in a nation's eye, ' v Or left unthought of in obscurity r Who, with a toward or untoward lot, ! Prosperous or adverse, to his wish or not; Plays, in tho many games of life, that ono Where what ho most doth value must bo won Whom neither -shape, of danger can dismay, Nor thought pf tender happiness betray; Who, not content that former worth stand- fast. Looks, forward? persevering to tho last Prom well to .better, dally self-surpast; Whp, whether praise of him must walk tho earth Forever, and to noble deeds glvo bjrth, v Oh, he muBt. faJL to sleep without his famo, And leavo a dead, unprofitable name, Fin da comfort in himself and in his cause; And, while the mortal mist is gathering, draw His breath, In confidence of Heavens' applause This Is tho Happy Warrior, this is ho That, every .Man .in arms should wish to bo. , . , JfAGNIFICENT The Standard Oil compasyta dividend for da year, since the famous dissolution, smouats to 62.-per1 cent. Thig is a sample of republican party "truo busting." '"I 4 m ffl