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The Commoner
V0Ii.317, NO. 12
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The Commoner
IStfUICD MONTHLY
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C
After reading what the President had to tell
congress we suspect that the kaiser won't even
admit that Mr. Wilson is of an agreeable address.
With ham at fifty conts a pound and bacon
keeping close company, it scarcely needs the
government adjuration to go without meat one
day a week, for the average family.
It isn't the shortage of fuel that is bolherlng
coal consumers so much as the shortage in ban
accounts left after they have contributed their
levy for the benefit of this industry.
After raising what it thought was a perfectly
good and big corn crop the west discovers that
a great deal of tho yield is of the soft variety.
In fact it is feared tli. a lot of it won't amount
to shucks.
A number of internal ditturbances in the
United States was reported during the closing
days of November, but an investigation discloses
that they were confined to those who had visited
the old homo for a Thanksgiving dinner.
There is one danger confronting Fuel Admin
istrator Garfield. It is that he will find out
through his present job what a lucrative busi
ness coal mining is that he will be disinclined
to go back to his old job.
Colonel Roosevelt might be able to secure
better consideration for his comments upon the
war if he could forget, during their composition,
that Woodrow Wilson is the man to be credited
with the fact that the colonel has been a private
citizen for a considerable number of years
Now that their newly-found friends of the
v bolshevik! are giving the German a look at tho
secret treaties of Russia with her allies, the
kaiser ought to ho willing to reciprocate and
show them tho secret treaties ho has with Aus
tria, Bulgaria and Turkey with respect to what
they intend to do with Russian possessions.
i " i -
The United States Brewers1, association, start
ed on a campaign to educate the people to the
beliof that beer is harmless, overlooked one ex
cellent argument. It m ght have pointed to the
fact that the greatest gain yet recorded on the
western front has been made by tanks.
Some confusion of mind seems to exist as to
what is meant by the railroad pool that the gov
ernment has permitted to be organized. At
least some persons have wondered If it was
formed by the government wringing some more
water out of their securities..
The American people subscribed fifteen million
dollars more for the war work of the Y, M. C. A.
than the nat'onal organization asked for. The
American people are learning to give with a
thoroughness and an enthusiasm that is the best
indication of whether they are with Woodrow
Wilson or not.
' With millions of bushels of potatoes and
apples and millions of dozens of eggs in the cold
storage warehouses of the country, and prices
on these products as high .as they are, it will bo
a little difficult to convince the buying public
that the man who invented this system was a
public benefactor.
Apparently the only way to make sure of a
dry majority in Oho is to have the vote of Cin
c'nnatl taken first or at least counted before the
result is known in the remainder of that com
monwealth. The political bosses on the river
won't know then how many more are needed to
beat prohibition.
Loyalty is not a matter of location but of the
head and. heart. If any of the soldiers in the
trenches or elsewhere w.uld talk about striking
while the country is facing the danger of war,
there would be no dissenting voice to the judg
ment of guilty of treason. A strike behind the
lines, in the factory or on the railroad, is not so
spectacular, but vital injury there is just as pos
s'ble. Loyalty demands of workers that they
stay on the job and of the rest of us that we see
the government does the right thing by them.
Less than a decade ago when Mr. Bryan tent
atively brought forward the necessity at some
tf me in the future of the government taking over
the railroads because they were unwilling or
unable to fulfill their functions as carriers he
was greeted as an impractical vis'onary. For
more than six months now the nation has wit
nesspd the control of the railroads through a
war board appointed by the President, and the
prediction is now freely made that through the
failure of the railroads to keep enough equip
ment on hand for the demands of trade the gov
ernment will take them over completely.
Patriotism is often a matter of pneketbnok.
This fact is proved bv the larere number of Pnes
of business in which high nrlces are maintained
in spjte of government pcIMr and the fact that
war profits arf not comnat'ble with loyaltv to
the- government. The automobile men have just
entered a vigorous protest because the govern
ment, needing alloy strcl for munitions, has in
dicated its intention of stopping motor produc
tion. Thev say it will injure the'r business. The
millions that automobile makers have made in
past years do not annarentlv satisfy them even
when the nation needs the steel they must use.
Large half-page advertisements of the United
States Brewers association have made their an
pearance recently in a number of newspapers
the country over. These plead that beer has
been given a bad name through its association,
iti sales with whisky, and that as a matter of
fact it is true temperance to drink th's bnvor
acre. Presumntlvelv th's is a calculated effort
to save beer from the destruction thb a nation
bent upon prohibition threatens. There are a
number of false statements in th's advertise
ment but these need not bo noticed. The fact
that it has been the brewer who is rPimSnS?
for the mutipl'catlon of saloon in this coUnlrv
and that it has been tho brewer who hnl
sistently meddled In politics where he nldo"
inpfnCrnmad0 the peonl determined to
SSto condemnation oAho
Woman's Suffrage
krUin- Ohio
It 13 some-consolation to know that the real
majority against woman suffrage in Ohio is not
ag large as it' appeared to be on tho face of tho
returns. The vote cast against prohibition was
523,720, the vote against woman suffrage 564,
972, or only about 41,000 more, although tho
majority against woman suffrage was over
140,000 greater than against prohibition. The
reason is to be found in the fact that only 420,
166 votes were cast for suffrage while 522,950-1
or over 100,000 more were cast for prohibi
tion. The suffrage issue was submitted juBt before
the election, too late to( bring the matter to the
attention of all the voters. Then, too, there was
some confusion as to liow to vote for suffrage.
Some voted "no" thinking that they were voting
against a referendum on the law giving suffrage
to women.
When all the facts are known the result is not
so discouraging to the friendr of suffrage but,
making all allowances, it is hard to understand
how any one at this late date can oppose the ex
tension of suffrage to womar on equal terms
with man. This reform is needed to insure na
tional prohibition in this country, and when the
war is, over suffrage will be needed throughout
the world to prevent future wars.
W. J. BRYAN.
, FORESEES PROHIBITION AND WOMAN
SUFFRAGE
From The Lewiston, Me., Evening Journal.
"Is the subject of prohibition too trite?" a
representative of the Lewiston Journal asked
Hon. William J. Bryan at the DeWitt hotel this
noon.
A smiie touched for a moment thecorners of
the great Commoner's mouth. "The subject of
prohbition," he responded, "is never trite. It
was never more vital than the present day. It is
worth discussing always."
He sat upon a wicker divan in a little recep
tion room opening from the office a command
ing figure, made a bit p'cturesque by the serai
military cape that fell below his knees. Even
were he not William J. Bryan, one would pick
him for 'attontion and admiration in any
throng. . n
"I see by the morning papers," said he, ' that
the judiciary committers in favor of both the
suffrage and prohib!tory amendments; and
Kltch'n, the democratic houae leader, is quoted
as saying that both will be voted upon before
Christmas. I believe that both will pass al
though the vote will not be the same. The south
and west are solidly for prolrbltion; and I th4nk
we will have sufficient votes in the Mississippi
vajley, and farther east to make the necessary
two-thirds. The entire west Is for woman suf
frage; and New York having declared itself, it
will have a tremendous influence 1n strengthen
ing the cause in the north and northeast. There
fore, while the support of the two amendments
w'll' differ, both will have a'two-thrds vote. I
believe both will be ratified; and thus, in the
near 'future, we may expect the triumph of the
two reforms which, in their far-reaching eff-cts,
are the greatest in recent years."
It is interesting to note that in the Iowa
const'tutional prohibition amendment election
the majority for prohibition outs'de of Dubuque
county was 5,129 votes. Dubuque county gave
a majority of 6,061 against prohibition. Du
buque county has been one of the menacing
centers of agitation against the prosecut'on of
the war, D'sloyalty to the governments in
terests seems to run tr-ue.
Some one asks if Iowa, having, by a popular
vote, rejected constitutional amendment, win
now re-enact a liquor l'cense law. It will not.
Anyone who examines the returns will discover
that- the majorities for tho saloon were rolieu
up by a small group of counties where Germans
predominate, To repeal statutory prohibition
it-will bo necessary . that a majority in eacn
house be secured. With the great majority oj.
the legislative districts voting dry, it is impos
sible to conce've of any such misrepresentatiou
of local legislative district sentiment.
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