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The Commoner
VOL 15, NO. 4
Lincoln, Nebraska, April, 1915
Whole Number 672
A False Cry
Evidence accumulates that the predatory In
terests are preparing to wage the next national
campaign under false pretenses. Recalling the
success which they have achieved in past years
by deception and misrepresentation they have
evidently determined to repeat their efforts to
obliterate in the public mind the line between
honest business and the favor-seeking corpora
tion; the "plunder bund," seeking to hide behind
legitimate enterprises and claiming for itself the
immunity that, by common consent, is granted
to corporations properly organized and honestly
conducted, and the subsidized newspapers, whoso
support the privileged interests are always able
to command, these are clamoring for a return
to the days when business "will be free from at
tack; when enterprise will be encouraged and
thrift appreciated." For a generation the bene
ficiaries of special legislation the corporations
Which, either because of unfair laws or in the
absence of laws that should be enacted, have col
lected tribute upon the public all are in full
cry for a return of "the good old days" when
officials were lifted into place and power by cor
ruption funds, when the republican party sold
legislation at public auction and gave immunity
in return for contributions.
What has the democratic party done to disturb
any HONEST business man? To say that the
cure of recognized and admitted abuses is an
attack on business is like calling a physician a
.murderer when, in the patient's interest, heV
lances a boil. The democratic party has been
lancing boils only a few, to be sure, but they
were boils .that had come to a head and were
ready to open.
What business interest has been injured by
democratic legislation? To what business has
in justice been done? The new tariff law is the
most equitable that we have had in a generation.
Insofar as it has reduced the profits of protected
interests, it has simply taken from them the pow
er that they have heretofore employed to tax the
multitude. It is true that we now collect through
an income tax part of the revenue that was
formerly collected through import duties, and
there's the rub. Men who would bo ashamed to
openly condemn the income tax are seeking to
find some excuse for returning to power the
party that tried to prevent the adoption of the
Income tax. Surely the consumers will be lack
ing in appreciation of the service rendered them
if they permit the election of a president, a sen
ate, or a house hostile to the income tax.
What is there in the new currency law to
which any legitimate enterprise can take excep
tion? Every business man should raise his voice
in thanksgiving for the benefits which it con-'
fers; every small banker should appreciate the
aid extended to him, and that, too, largely with
out any effort on his part. One can hardly find
It in his, heart to blame the small bankers for
having joined in the protest against the currency.
bill BEFORE it was passed, for they acted under
coercion thoy were in danger of being crushed
in the folds of the financial serpent and were not
in a position to protect themselves. Only tho big
financiers have reason to complain of tho cur
rency law and their only complaint Is that their
grip upon tho nation's throat has been broken.
What fair-dealing corporation has boon in
jured by the anti-trust legislation? Tho Clay
ton law and tho law providing for a trade com
mission have brought a boon to the ninety-nino
worthy corporations by restraining tho one-hundredth
corporation which sought to eliminate
competition. No corporation need be afraid of
the anti-trust laws, new or old, so long as it re
spects the law of competition and endeavors to
furnish good quality at a fair price. Corpora
tions engaged in legitimate business and thoy
constitute the vast majority may bo compared
to those engaged in the industry of horse 'rais
ing, while the comparatively few predatory cor
porations may bo likened to those who make
horse stealing their occupation. To accuse tho
democratipparty .of attacking business merely
because it has declared war on mothqds which
Violate the moral Jaw, as well as the statutes, Is
as senseless as it would bo to condemn tho law
against horse stealing on tho ground that it was
an interference with the horse industry of tho
country.
It is a reflection upon tho intelligence of tho
masses to assume that they can be deceived by
tho hue and cry which is now being raised by In
dustrial pirates under the plea of "protecting
business." The selfishness and sordidness of
this attempt to deceive the public ought to havo
been apparent even before the democratic party
had an opportunity to put its principles and pol
icies into practice; surely deception ought to bo
impossible now when the people not only see,
but enjoy tho benefits pt tho legislation framed
on the theory that this, being a government of
the people, and by the people, should also bo
FOR the people administered according to tho
maxim "equal rights to all and special prlvillges
to none."
W. J. BRYAN.
CONTENTS
A FALSE CRY
"THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH"
DELIBERATE DISTURBANCE OF BUSI
NESS PROHIBITION IN GREAT BRITAIN
IOWA DEMOCRACY'S OPPORTUNITY
THE DRDtfK BILL OF THE NATIONS
IOWA'S NATIONAL COMMITTEEMAN
A REPUBLICAN WIELDS THE AXB
POSTAL THRIFT
MR. BRYAN. ON "WHY I LECTURE"
A CASE IN POINT
PRESIDENT WILSON'S BUSINESS
MESSAGE
MR. BRYAN ON TOTAL ABSTINENCE
TO WASHINGTON BANK CLERKS
"The Wages of Sin
Is Death"
Last fall Mr. Roger Sullivan gave tho state of
Illinois to tho republican l-arty; this spring ke
turned ovor tho city of Chicago to tho republi
cans. Having control of tho state organization
ho gave tho democrats of tho stnto their choice
botwoon hlmHclf and defeat when confronted
with, this alternative thoy decided that defeat
was to bo preferred to 'a democracy porsonlfled
by Mr. Sullivan and tho kind of politics for
which he stands. In tho city of Chicago he also
dominated tho organization and gave the demo
crats of that city tholr cholco between a Sullivan-controlled
city and defeat thoy, too, chose
tho latter. Is his revenge against progressiva
democracy satisfied or does ho contemplate still
further assaults?
Governor Dunne, a progressive democrat, pre
sides over tho great commonwealth of minors,
and Mayor Harrison, a progressive democrat,
presides as chief executive of tho city of Chicago,
but Sullivan, an enemy of both, deliberately
plotted to deliver tho party in both city and
state to the reactionaries. It was "rule or ruin"
and, not being able to rule, he proving again tho
old truth "THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH."
How long will It take the rank nnd file of the
party In Chicago and Illinois to learn the folly of
following such leadership? Tho only hope of
success tho only hope of good government
lies In a constructive policy along progressive
lines, and in the entrusting of tho management
of the party to those who work for tho advance
ment of the public weal. The democratic party
has put its hand to the plow of reform and will
not turn back. Under the guidance of our splen
did progressive president It Is entering upon a
new era and it is entering that new era with con
fidence; Its aims are lofty, i""j standards aro high;
it is time for the Illinois division of the army to
change its organization and get in step with the
democracy of tho nation. Its experiment with
Sullivanism is too costly to be repeated; tho op
portunities to render service are too great to be
thrown away; the issues are too important to be
trifled with. W. J. BRYAN.
DELIBERATE DISTURBANCE OF BUSINESS
On another page will bo found an editorial
which recently appeared in tho New York World
entitled "AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE." The editori
al quotes a few sentences from tho utterances of
President Thomas, of the Lehigh Valley railroad.
Tho World is none too severe in its denunciation
of the plainly stated purpose of Mr. Thomas and
those for whom he speaks to prevent the return
of prosperity, with a view to coercing the publie
Into tho adoption of his political views. Mr.
Thomas, though conspicuous, is mroly the rep,
resentativo of a certain class of corporation offi
cials, who, presuming upon their business i
portance, attempt to Intimidate the v6teri . 'fi
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