The Commoner.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
VOL. 13, NO. 7
Lincoln, Nebraska, February 21, 1913
Whole Number 631
The democrats who, as the result of the congressional and senatorial elections, are
entering official life should learn early that the secret of success in public life is to have no
secrets from tfae public.
Good for Congress
The Webb bill, substituted for the Sheppard
Kenyon bill, and passed by both houses of con
gress, is as follows: "Tho shipment or trans
portation, in any manner or by any means what
soever, of any spiritous, vinous, malted, fer
mented or other intoxicating liquor of any kind,
from one state, territory or district of the
United States or place noncontiguous to, but
subject to the jurisdiction thereof, into any
other state, territory or district of the United
States or place noncontiguous to, but subject
to the jurisdiction thereof, or from any foreign
country into any state, territory or district of
tho United States, or place noncontiguous to, but
subject to the jurisdiction thereof'whlch said
spiritous, vinous, malted, fermented or other
intoxicating liquor is intended, by any person
. interested therein, to be received, possessed,
sold, or in any manner used, either in tho
original package or otherwise, in violation of
any law of such state, territory or district of
the Unifed States or place noncontiguous to, but
subject to jurisdiction thereof, is hereby pro
hibited." The Commoner congratulates congress upon
the passage of this measure. The Commoner has
steadfastly urged the adoption of some such bill.
TJhree yearB ago it printed this editorial:
"Interstate commerce is used to override state
laws. What democrat is willing to put himself
on record against the proposition that the right
of the people of a state to control the liquor
trafllc is more sacred than the right of liquor
dealers to dispose of their product in dry terri
tory and in violation of the law? Mr. Bryan be
lieves that congress should pass a law recogniz
ing the right of each state to prescribe the con
ditions upon which intoxicating liquors can be
transported, sold and used within its borders.
He also believes that the federal government
should dissolve partnership with law breakers
and no longer issue licenses for the sale of
liquor in communities where local laws pro
hibit its sale. If it is thought unconstitutional to
discriminate, in the issue of licenses between
. different communities, the same end can be
reached by reducing the license to a nominal
figure and requiring the applicant for a federal
license to give written notice to the local
authorities, and newspaper notice to the local
public of his intention to apply for a license.
Now let those who oppose these propositions
meet them with arguments."
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CONTENTS
GOOD FOR CONGRESS
THE POSTAL VOTE
"HOW TO BE A USEFUL MAN"
LOOKING OUT NINE WINDOWS -GOVERNOR
WILSON AND THE STREET
SERIOUS TIMES IN WALL STREET
MEDIATION AND NOT INTERVENTION
STAND-PAT CIVIL SERVICE
CURRENT TOPICS
HOME DEPARTMENT
WHETHER COMMONER NOT r ..x
- NEWS OF TUE WEEK '
.WASHINGTON NEWS
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RENEWALS NOW DUE
Tho close of tho subscription year for
tho great bulk of Commoner subscribers
ended with the last issue in January.
Subscriptions ending at this time should
be renewed with as little delay as pos
sible in order to facilitate tho work of
changing and re-entering the addresses
on our subscription books and obvlato
expense of sending out statements an
nouncing that renewals are duo.
THEN AND NOW
Colonel Nelson, of the Kansas City Star, who
is struggling just now with the judge bent upon
committing him for contempt, has received tho
following letter from Theodore Roosevelt:
"Dear Colonel Nelson: What an extraordi
nary series of events the courts are perpetrating
at present. Apparently the reactionaries have
made up their minds that you, and the other men
like you,can.,be cowed. It seems to mo like
tying down the-safety valve in order to prevent
an explosion. What Lincoln said about tho Dred
Scott decision would undoubtedly render him
liable to be jailed for contempt of court if alive
and In Idaho today, and of courso his offense
was a thousand times greater than yours be
sides having the further resemblance that it
was a' great public service instead of an offense."
That would be strange reading to thoso who
were told that Its author once undertook to sup
press the New York World and the Indianapolis
News. Indeed, he actually sought to establish
the proposition that criticism of a public official
was equivalent to treasonable utterances.
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
Democracy Is indifferent to pedigree It deals
with tho individual rather than with his an
cestors. Democracy ignores differences In
wealth neither riches nor poverty can bo in
voked in behalf of qr against any citizen. De
mocracy knows no creed recognizing the right
of each individual to worship God according to
the dictates of his own conscience; It welcomes
all to a common brotherhood and guarantees
equal treatment to all, no matter in what church
or through what forms they commune with their
Creator.
JUDICIAL
Writing in the Louisville Courier-Journal, Mr.
Henry Watterson says: "Tho Courier-Journal
has no animus one way or another toward either
Mr. Bryan or Mr. Wilson." Of courso not. The
bitter things said of both Mr. Wilson and Mr.
Bryan by the Courier-Journal have been tho re
sult of the great editor's calm, judicial attitude
toward all men and all things.
SCOTT AND HIS MEN
Men, women and children everywhere are
singing the praises of Captain Robert F. Scott
and tho members of his Antarctic expedition
They haye given to men a high example of
unselfishness as well as lofty courage.
ILLINOIS
.- . Tho Illinois legislature has ratified the con?
-. stitutipnal amendment providing for ,tho direct
'election of UnitedStates .senators.
, The Postal Vote
Below will bo found an account of tho move
ment, now on foot, to secure legislation provid
ing for the poatal vote. It is used in Now Zea
land and ought to bo provided for In every
state. The Commoner has advocated this re
form for several years . Why should traveling
men, students and others, necessarily away from
home on election day, bo denied a vote? The
secrecy of the ballot can bo preserved and pro
tection can bo given against fraud, but provision
should bo made for those who find it impossible
to go to tho polls.
The following is taken from the New York
World: Eighty thousand travelling men living
in New York City loBt their votes last November
because the days of registration came when
they woro out on the road. Because of this
virtual disfranchisement Assemblyman David C.
Lewis of the Twenty-third district has intro
duced into tho legislature a bill to enablo travel
ling men to reglstcr"at5oilicrtlTftfeB than the
days set by law.
This bill of Lewis's is one manifestation of
a movement that will soon bo national in its
scope. Similar legislation will be sought in
every state in tho union within tho next two
years, and it is possible that at the end of that
time congress will bo asked to carry the project
still further. Evidently laws may be sought
which will enablo a man kept away from home
by business to voto wherever he may chanco
to be.
J. Maxwell Gordon, chairman of tho Com
mercial Travellers' Good Government associa
tion, is active head of this movement. Ho was
born in New York, and for tho past ten years
has been entitled to voto here. Being a travel
ling salesman his first vote of any kind was
not cast until last November. At no other
time was he in New York either upon election
day or registration day, and he might not have
.
,
61.
NOT AFRAID OF FINES
The following is from the news
columns of tho New York Herald, dated
February 12th: In a letter written by
John E. Parsons, recently termed at a
banquet as tho "Daan of the American
Bar," when ho was general counsel for
tho American Sugar Reflnirfg company,
which tho government Is trying to dis
solve as a trust, he advised Charles R.
Heike, then secretary of the corporation:
"It is better to take tho risk of tho impo
sition of a fine rather than comply with
the law." This was only one of many
important facts which developed yester
day when James R. Knapp, assistant
United States district attorney, intro
duced as evidence the letters obtained by
tho government which had passed be
tween Mr. Parsons and the officers of the
American Sugar Refining company.
Counsel for the company protested to
Wilson B. Brlco, special examiner,
against the introduction of these private
. letters, which was a surprise to the de
fense, but they wero read and admitted
Into tho record.
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Good for Illinois:
Next!"
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