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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1917)
n 16 The Commoner VOL. 17, NO. 1 th democratic party. Tho democratic party ilmply aiked that the laboring man bo given the Sam guarantee that the constitution gives to the meanest criminal In the land, namely, the right of trial by Jury whon ho is accused of com mitting a crimo. And romombor that the man accused of violating tho statutes of the country, la accused of violating that which was deliber ately writton upon tho statute books by a legis lative body, made up of senate and house, and tho executive. But tho judicial process known as government by injunction, was built upon a Judgo-mado law. Tho judge took his pen and wroto out an order that had tho force of law, and then, having wroto tho law, ho acted as prosecuting attorney and brought before him tho man accused of violating his law, and then acted as judge in his own case. That is what govornment by injunction was. And all wo askod was and now wo have secured it the right of a laboring man to a trial by jury if ho is accused of violating a judge-made law, and tho alleged contempt was committed outside of tho presence of tho court, so that it must be es tablished by ovidenco. That is all wo asked. And yet it took ub twenty years to got it. J joico that tho democratic party has for the first time drawn tho line between a human being with a soul and inanimate property. SHIPPING LAW BENEFITS' SHIPPERS Tho shipping law was another reform, and that also camo in response to a demand. A shipping trust, taking advantago of tuu exigen cies of tho war, was practising extortion upon tho American shipper. In some cases they wore charging seven times as much to carry a bale of cotton across tho ocean as beforetho war. Last March tho secretary of commerce announced that at that time they wore charging four times ' as much as two years beforo to carry the farm ers' provisions Ave times as much to carry tho , millers' flour, and nino times as much to carry a bushel of whoat.. The President asked congress to authorize tho creation of a government-owned and controlled merchant marino that would not only lay out tho now trade routes for the benefit of our commerce, but, whenever occasion re quired, enter into competition with ocean car riers and thus protect the people from extortion. Wo also have a child labor lav, and I rejoice that tho democratic party has put itself at tho head of the movement for social justico in this country. This law says to tho money-mad em ployer: "You shall not dwarf the body of a child; you shall not stunt tho mind of a child; , you shall not coin the blood of a child into il legitimate dividends. We liavo also an eight-hour-day law. Was this , a new domand? No. As long ago as 1908.it was writton in tho platform of both the demo cratic and republican parties; every party in this country has been committed by its platform to an eight hour day, but Candidate Hughes ob jected to the way it was secured. When he objected to the plan we proposed, without proposing any plan himsolf, ho remind ed mo of the merchant wiio, in turning over to his son the business he had built up, told him how to be popular without cost. He said, among other things, "Subscribe to every church that is proposed to bo built, no matter what denomina tion, that will make you friends and then fight tho location and save yourself from having to pay the subscription-" , The eight-hour day is an important thing for the toilers, and I am glad that the wage earn ers of this country appreciate what the Presi dent did for them, and tho courage that it re quired for him to step out and take their side, and fight their battles for them. Do you know the difference between him and Mr. Hughes in this respect? Mr. Hughes vetoed a two-cent fare law in New York, and threw his influence on the side of the railroads. If he had signed the bill tho railroads could have "gone Into the courts, and if they could have shown the bill to be unjust they could have suspended it. When he vetoed It, therefore, he took tho side of those who had another remedy, and did not need him, but in doing -so ho decided against he patrons of the road WHO HAD NO OTHER LEGAL REMEDY. Mr. Hughes criticised the President, and said he ought not to have favored the eight-hour-day law, wliich meant that Mr. Hughes would have again taken the side of tho railroadsithat had another remedy. When the President signed that bill ho did not hurt tho railroads; ho could not kurt them. They h the courts, and if they can show that tho law Is unconstitutional or unjust they can suspend It. Mr. Hughes would have decided on the side of the railroads that had another remedy, and did not need him. But Woodrow Wilson decided on the side of tho men who had no other legal remedy and WHO DID NEED HIM! Our administration has to its credit another reform tho promise of independence to the Filipinos. Some republicans seem to think that the Filipinos are tho only people interested. They were mistaken. Our nation was moro in terested than the Filipinos. It was to them an act of justice; it was to us an act of necessity. For eighteen years wo nave stood before the world under the suspicion of having trampled upon tho Declaration of Independence. There are but two theories of government; there never have been more than two. One is ours, namely, that "governments derive their just powers from tho consent of the governed." There is only ono other, namely, tho theory of monarchies and em pires, that a government is sixteen inches in diameter, round in shape and fired out of a can non. It is the theory that governments rest on force; that a government can be thrown, irke a net, over helpless people, and those people com pelled at the point pf the bayonet to obey laws in, the making of which they have had no voice. That is tho policy of emperors and kings. For eighteen years the voice of this nation has been silenced in tho councils of the world, for wo did not dare to proclaim the people as, the source of power, while we were committed to a policy that denied the fundamental principles of that doctrine. Now, our nation can stand erect, and if, hereafter, any subject of monarchy tells us that there is no difference between a republic and a monarchy, we can toll him it is false, and point to our government's promise as evidence of a republic's power to resist the temptation to exploit helpless people in the name of humanity. PEACE TREATY PLAN And if you will pardon me, I will refer toohe .other, thing that I regard as an important re form the treaty plan that we have presented to tho world. When this administration came into power, the twenty-six arbitration treaties we then had furnished no more machinery for peace than the treaties of the old world. They had two serious defects. One was they only ran for flvo years, and then died. The presumption was given to war and not to . peace. Under those treaties, if one of them expired by limitation at the end of five years, and the President wanted to renew it and a majority of the senate wanted to renew it, yet, because it had to be ratified by two-thirds of the senate, a minority of the sen ate, one more than a third, could stand in the way of the extension of the treaty, no matter how earnestly the President and a majority of tho senate desired to have it extended. That was the best kind of treaty that we had when this administration began, but what was worse, those treaties had four exceptions questions of honor, independence, vital interests, and the in terests of third parties; and when you read the exceptions you wondered out of what war could grow, if not out of tho exceptions. Questions of honor! Why, when a man is mad, every ques tion Is a question of honor. And Vital interests! What is not vital when a man's blood is up' When a man is mad, lie swaggers around and talks about what he CAN do, and he generally over-estimates it! When he is calm, he thinks about what he OUGHT to do, and listens to the voice of conscience. Our thirty treaties, negotiated according to this new plan, cure the defects of which I have spoken. In the first place, instead of running for five years and then dying, they never d?e. They give the presumption to peace, and not to war; they run on, and on, for twelve months after one side or the other has asked that the treaty be discontinued; and if neither s'de asks that the treaty be discontinued, the treaty runs on and on, forever. I beTeve that neither side will ever ask that one of these treaties be dls- JS? ?U V. nV? SUch faIth ln these treaes that I believe that a thousand years from now the name of Woodrow W'lson and my name will bo linked together in these treaties in the cap itals of the world, amWhnt these treaty. L furnishing machinery by which peace can be pre served with honor, will, ten centuries hence bo preserving fo peace of our nation. ' I hive briefly reviewed some of the more imnort. nt reforms that have com within the last w years, and now, my friends, it is worth while to ask Vhy these reforms have come. The studv of the past is of little value if it is merely to contribute to our pleasure. It is immensely valuable if we can learn from tho past what ia to come in the future. If a surveyor says that tho extension of an established lino a certain distance in a certain direction will reach a certain point, it Is not a prophecy; it is merely a statement of fact. Tho laws that govern- human progress are just as clearly defined; when, therefore, we understand the forces that have been at work, we can tell what is Coming hereafter, as well as understand the past. When a few years ago my wife and I visited South America, we crossed the Andes into Southern Peru. We left the ocean afMollendo, and followed a mountain road up three thousand five hundred feet. Therer we came to a level plain, a sort of bench, some eighteen miles in width, and several hundred miles long. When we reached this plain, we saw innumerable dunes of, white sand; they differed in size, but were uniform in apl pearance. Each one was crescent shaped, the points of the crescents towards the mountains beyond. AND THOSE SAND DUNES MOVED WITH THE PRECISION OF AN ARMY TWO HUNDRED FEET A YEAR, FROM THE EDGE OF THIS SHELF TO THE MOUNTAIN. It was a wierd and impressive phenomenon. For Hours after we crossed that plain I could think of noth ing but those sand dunes; and when, that even ing, we reached the city of Arequipa, I consulted an encyclopedia to find out the cause. The explan ation given was that at that point there is a con stant trade-wind blowing from the west; that it carries the fine sand from the shore up the mountain ravines to this plain, and there forms the sand into these dunes, and then movesHhe 'dunes across the plain. And so, my friends, there is a force as con stant' and .unvarying, that forms'" reformers into groups, and carries forward these reforms. IT IS THE SPIRIT OF DEMOCRACY that is at work in the world. You will find these reforms dif fering in magnitude and in importance, but all moving in the same direction; and back of them is that constant force. It is that force that has compelled us to act, and when our brief day is past, it is that force that will compel those who come after us to continue the work in the same direction. If we understand the force that has brought about these reforms, we can look for ward. It is not prophecy, it is not predicit'on, it is mOrely a statement of fact when we say that these same forces, working on the hearts of men like ourselves, will produce certain results. We are not relieved from our duty by the fact that this generation of democrats has wrought as no former generation has. It simply enables us to'take up new questions, and-if you will hear with me for a little while longer, I desire to pre sent for your consideration some new questions which, I believe, lie immediately before us. As I talk to you I need hardly remind you that I have no power to coerce or conrpel. For twenty years I have never had an office that I could give to anybody as a reward for his working with me in any cause or ior anything. I have simply been able to appeal to people, and state tho reasons that influence my judgment and guide me. I ask your attention while I tell you of the reforms that are, in my judgment, ripe f5r action. NATIONAL BULLETIN NEEDED In the first place there is a very pressing need for a means of reaching the voters and inform ing them in regard to the questions upon which they-ire to vote. The value of government by thb consent of the governed depends largely upon the information those have whose consent is required. Something has been said about tne south and the west. My friends, when x spe5 without rostra nt --my praise of the south a a west Is even more earnest and more enipbati than the eloquent eulogy of my friend from California. I love the south and the west, anu tho ideals to which they are attached; but J would do injustice to the east if I told you ta the people t)f the south and west .were at netu different from the people of the other section of our country. It is not a difference in peopi it is a difference in their means of informal .r' '