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The Commoner
VOL. 18, NQ. 7
I
The Alabama
Primary
Alabama will hold licr primaries In August
uml tho (liiQHllon Ih wliothcr alio will follow tho
oxampio or hor Hlstcr states of tho houUi and
olcct a dry logiulnturo or allow hor wot news
papers and a few saloon politicians to doprlvo
the stuto of its nliaro in tho glory of winning
tho groatost moral victory of tho generation.
Look at your neighbors, Alabama. Iloro aro
tho Houtborn states that have ratified: Missis
sippi, Virginia, Kentucky, South Carolina,
Georgia and Toxns G. Toiiiigbbgo, Arkansas,
Florida and North Carolina aro Buro to ratify
no noon as thoir legislatures moot. That will
mako 11. Oklahoma is certain and Louisiana
1 almost aa suro. Aro you going to bo tho only
black spot in tho south, Alabama? No. Your
votora will olcct a loglalaturo that will ratify
and lluiB holp to rid politics of its most cor
rupting iniluonco. W. J. BRYAN.
NORTH DAKOTA HANK GUARANTY
'ALL DEPOSITS GUARANTEED
"700 North Dakota Banks Qualify Under New
Stato Law
"BISMARCK, N. D., Juno 29. Stato Exam
iner "Wators today mailed to 700 North Dakota
banks certificates showing tjiat thoy havo quali
fied to havo thoir doposlta guaranteed under
tho North Dakota stato bank deposits guaranty
act, which becomes offoctlvo July 1. North
Dakota stato bank doposlta, as shown by a re
port issued by the stato examiner today, aro
$05,590,409,54, an incroase of $4,385,872.02
over May 1, 1917, and an increase of $45,000,
000 over 1912."
Tho abovo shows that North Dakota has
adopted tho bank guaranty tystem. Good for
North Dakota. As South Dakota has also
adopted tho system, ono can now deposit in
flafoty from tho Canadian lino to tho Rio
Grande a white strip of guaranteed banks ex
tending through North Dakota, South Dakota,
Nobraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Toxas. May
tho atrip widen until it reachos tho Atlantic
and Pacific.
A OIIR1STLKSS CREED
Tho kaiser docs not mention Christ or quoto
from tho Now Testament. Ilia codo of morals
3s a Chriatloas creed. A triumph for hie achomo
or govornmont by forco would bo a roturn to
tho dark agC8. Such a thing is inconceivable!
It has taken conturics to overthrow tho feudal
barons and predatory familios tho world v ll
not pass under tho yoko again. This ia the
dying gaap of autocracy tho bloody end of a
gory system that has given all history a san
guino hue.
INDIANA DRY
Tho Indiana supremo court has declared the
prohibition law constitutional. That makes tho
Btato dry. It is tob bad that the domocratic
stato convention did not commit tho party to
tho ratitlcatlon of tho amondmont. But never
mind, tho hand that has corrupted and coerced
will soon bo cold in death, and all parties will
bo frco to take the side of tho homo against tho
saloon.
Under a people's gov
ernment the humblest child
cah. .aspire to the highest
prizes in business and in
state. It is the task of dem
ocracy to keep the way
open between the child and
the stars autocracy would
close it.
FIFTY YEARS 11ENOE
Fifty years henco tho masses in Gormany will
bo grateful that a force from without broke
tho. shackles and set their nation free. Defeat
to their ruling family means victory for tho
people.
It is estimated that at least a fourth of the
men that Nebraska has sent into the army came
from families where tho parents were born in
Germany or aro of German descent. This ought
to bo fairly good evidence as to tho loyalty of
the Germans of the stato and to bo considered
as evidence, in tho case sought to be made out
against them by the militant patriots.
DUTY
So closo is glory to our dust,
So near is God to man,
When duty whispers low "Thou must "
Tho youth replies, MI can." . '
SEND IT TO GERMANY
Tho Norris amendment providing for war pro
hibition does not prevent tho EXPORT of intox
icants. If we can credit the stories that come
from Europe wo could afford to export all the
whiskey in this country and GIVE it to the Ger
man soldiers. It is said on seemingly good au
thority that the first drive on Paris failed be
cause the kaiser's soldiers discovered the wine
cellars of France and stopped to sample the
champagne.
A Washington news item says that an official
dispatch from Paris has the following:
"Washington D. C, June 25. Plunder, of
Paris and loot from the rich countryside were
somo of the promises made to the German sol
diers by tho high command before the offensive
of Juno 9, according to an official dispatch today
from France. A German deserter related how
the. officers during the rest which preceded the
attack painted in glowing colors tho advantage
of an advance in a rich country, where the men
could live in abundance and recompense them
selves for their hardships. He said that meas
urea Wore taken to guarantee and apportion the
plunder, but soldiers wero warned that 'there
was not to bo a renewal among the guards of
tho regrettable incidents of Villers-Brettoneaux,
whore tho valiant guards of this diviaion, break
ing into tho cellars, became so intoxicated that
they refused to follow their officers.' "
Intoxicating liquor is good for the army that
does NOT use it. The more alcohol the enemy
uses tle sooner will they be vanquished.
W. J. BRYAN.
GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF WIRE SERVICE
Congress has authorized the President to take
over tho telegraph and telephone systems of the
country and operate them under government di
rection. The successful operation of the rail
roads is so dependent upon tho telegraph and
telephone systems that congress is to De com
mended upon its promptness in giving the Pres
ident the necessary authority. The operation of
the railroads, the telegraph and telephone
systems by the government will be a great ob
ject lesson to the public, and the many ways of
economizing by the government in the manage
ment of these great public utilities and the im
partial service that the government can render
will no doubt greatly increase the sentiment of
the people in favor of the government perma
nently retaining theae properties and operating
them with the sole object of giving the best
service possible at the least possible expense
00(nSr
DEMOCRACY'S HOPE
MVDmPinSTOnY SHALL
1SOT READ, A CENTURY HENCE
THAT THE OPPRESSED SUBJECTS OF t
tVMB1US KAISER WERE MoSS
LOYAL TO THEIR GOVERNMENT tt
THAN WERE THE FREE CITIZENS t
OF THIS REPUBLIC TO THE PUBLIC I
SERVANTS WHOM THEY THEM
SELVES HAD CHOSEN, AND TOA t
GOVERNMENT WHICH HAD GIVEN 1
S8SJ M0RE OP EDOM AND of t
HOPE THAN ANY OTHER PPOPT w o
HAD EVER ENJOYED. PEOPLE
0&00000
Suffrage in South
Dakota
Amendment B contains two' propositions, one
limiting the franchise to full-fledged citizens
and tlie other extending franchise to women on
equal terms with men. There is no conflict
between the two. Both should be adopted.
The war has taught us the value and respon
sibilities of citizenship, and we are now ready
to confine suffrage to tligse who are in posi
tion to live up to all the duties of citizenship
in peace and in war.
While the amendment excludes those who
have only partially complied with the condi
tions necessary to naturalization it properly ex
tends suffrage to woman who not only shares
with man the burdens of war but has demon
strated her ability to give material aid in the
prosecution of the war.
Th'e wife, the partner ol the husband in the
finances of the family, should be his partner
at the polls; the mother,, to whom the husband
confidently entrusts the care of the children",
should be entrusted with the ballot also; wo
men, who, in the schools, teach men the science
of government, are certainly competent to vote
themselves.
The world needs woman's vote even moro
than women need the ballot; her cc-nscience,
added to man's judgment, will .'hasten the tri
umph of every righteous cause.
W. J. BRYAN.
VOTE-YES ON AMENDMENT E.
The following list of questions and answers
relative to Amendments is issued by the Uni
versal Suffrage League, Huron, S. D. Ed.
What Is Amendment E? It is a patriotic
amendment which gives the ballot to South Da
kota women, but denies it to tho alien who will
not become a citizen of the United States. South
Dakota would give the ballot to its women, but
it would take it away from the alien who does
not propose to become an American citizen.
Why is Amendment E to be Voted on in No
vember? (1) Because the war has shown us
that women are a necessary arm o the govern
ment and at a time like this, the government
must be at full power, not crippled. ,
(2,). Because the enemy aliens who are not
trusted to fight for us, must not be trusted to
vote for us.
Who Will be Affected by Amendment E?
The women who are sacrificing so deeply for
the world struggle will be made to feel that the
government for which their husbands and sons
are fighting does not ignore their sacrifice. The
immigrant will be made to feel how precious
American citizenship is. The friendly alien
will be glad to wait for the ballot until he has
established his credentials of citizenship. The
alien enemy will be taught that . America has
no place for the man who would make finan
cial profit of the country of freedom and still
cherish ideals of military domination.
When Will People Realize the Importance of
Amendment E? Only when they realize the im
portance of guarding their own hearth-stones
by putting the ballot into the hands of the wo
men, the keepers of the home, and by taking
political privilege from men who still hold the
kaiser their liege lord.
Where Will Men Have an Opportunity to. En
dorse Amendment E? At the polls, in Novem
ber. Every patriotic American should make it
his business to get to the polls to vote "Yes"
on Amendment E. We can not fail to endorse
this patriotic amendment, while our boys aro
fighting for tho liberty we ajl ove.
Secretary Daniels had all the better of the
argument with Edwin Hurley and Bainbridge
olby. The latter gentlemen told the senate
committee that enforcing pro? Ibition around the
shipyards would result in a greatly lessened
efficiency because of the ill feeling it would
rouse in the breasts of the men. They admitted
that this was merely an opinion. Mr. Daniels
said that he had enforced prohibition in the navy
and at some of the shipyards in dry states, and
it had increased the efficiency of the men. Mr
Hurley and Mr. Colby und abtedly meant well,
but they have been confining their reading -on
prohibition to material printed by tho brewers.
Duty and today are ours; results and the fu
ture belong to God. Horace Greeley.
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