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The Oomiiioiier
'VOL. 39, NO. 2
,v'
The Commoner
ISSUED MONTHXJT
Bntored at tho Postofflco at Lincoln, Ncbrawka,
n second-clasH matter.
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Ifldit. Rms. and BtiHlnoBa Ofllco, Sulto 207 press Bldg.
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TUB COMMONER, JMNCOLN, NEB.
And Now York, also? This is TOO much.
The "concert of powers lias a musical pound,
but nupposo sorno of tho choir got off tho tune.
mi ii- n -ii i . ii i j i J
The enforcement law will not bo turned over
to tho care of any wet nurso tlie real .mother
will raise thu child
The walls and groans now heard from the wets
ara simply tho after pains. Tho child is bom' and
th suffering will gradually decrease.
'a1 wcret treaties that arb now coming tg,s
.light show hew easy it sed to fee to give -away
.
(Hber jeople's property in the dark.
,Tt was the votes of tho "WOMEN. God bless
taera that made Now York ratify. No wonder
the wot politicians oppose woman suffrage.
Is it the rich of Newport or tho poor of Prov
idence that are responsible for Rhode Island's
"backwardness on tho prohibition question?
Wonder if tho President know about nil thoso
aocret treaties when lie put thatclau3e id the
fourteen conditions. If not, ho made a mlgEty
good guess.
Ratification got onthe front page of tho east
ern papers for two-days an'd" then -it dropped
back to a few lines in the last column of' the
'ateonth page, 4
The wets might liave controlled one state if
they could nave put Milwaukee, St. Louis and
Cincinnati in one commonwealth without any
country district to offset them.
.'.
At last accounts the kaiser was still writing
away at a furious rate. As he has apparotitly
been a failure at everything else, maybe ho will
produce -something worth reading.
A Wet legislator has Introduced a bill to create
ft separate state named i'Llberty," to bo com
peted of Now York City and a fow nearby coun
ties. Why not call it Personal Liberty.
Shooting a revolutionist may becomo necessary
iwt a limb sometimes has to be amputated '
to save the body, but it is better to begin earlier
and get tho poison out of tho plood. Reforms
prevent revolution. ' .
. ' ' '
That Whistler oil painting for which an Amer
Joan recently paid $200,000 turns out Jo bo "The
Bar Maid, That explains it. Some of the rich
Now Yorkers will soon be willing to give more
tka that fov anything that will remind them
of a wloon.
n
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ti XMC1UIUA 4J.U&UVJ3 VIA XUaiiUIIU HGBTT1S ITIOMnorl
f , inosV Hi?ViHnirlv nf thn TTnltnrt cA.t .
m ink the war. $e says wo entered at the eleventh
u a. r.ww Mr. r- ""' v -uva. Am uie aaste
f;H twkt &mea us io nave more soldiers in Franco
iJh fJra.t Britain hail wlinn lm riv.u.
fn.
Nebraska 36
' To Nebraska goes the honor -of casting the
thirty-sixth and decisive vote for tho ratification
of the national prohibition constitutional amend
ment. On tho final day, January 16, a pretty
race for the premier honor was staged between
Nebraska, Missouri and Wyoming, but at 10:32
a. m. Nebraska completed the legislative process
when the senate voted to concur in the house
amendment to a senate joint resolution providing
for ratification. The only vote cast against the
resolution in either house was by Senator John
M. Tanner, domodrat, whose seat was won by
only six votes, and whoso election is beingcon
tested. Missouri missed the goal by a narrow margin.
A short time after Nebraska finished the task,
it passed the Missouri senate by a vote 22 to 10,
and tho house by 104 to 36, Wyoming ratified
lator in the day by unanimous vote.
Although the vote for ratification in both
houses of tho Nebraska legislature was prac
tically unanimous, the state almost lost its place
as one of tho thirty-six through friendly tivalry
between the two branches of the legislature. A
ratification bill was introduced in gach branch
of the legislature, and each desired that its own
particular resolution should be the one that was
to be, passed as the joint act of the legislature.
On the morning of January 15, the day before
tho final ratification by Nebraska, the following
tologram was received by the associate editor
of Tho Commoner:
"Chicago, 111., Jan. 15, 1919,
"Charles W. Bryan, Lincoln Nebraska:
"Thirty-one states ratified. Five, including
Wisconsin, probably ratify today. Nebraska must
not fall below thirty-six. Please confer with
governor immediately, have certificate of ratifica-
. tion ready, sign immediately house acts. Then
' send special messenger to Washington.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN."
Upon TeceJpt of the above telegram Charles W.
Bryan immediately conferred with the governor
and leaders of both branches of the legislature.
All wore anxious that Nebraska' should be one of
the thirty-six states to ratify, but they were not
aware that immediate action wa3 necessary if
Nebraska- was to be Included,
At tho time the above telegram was received,
the lower house had its own resolution on third
reading before final passage and had passed the
senate bill on second reading. If the members of
the lower house had held out for their own bill
it would have taken three more days for the
senate to pass the house bill and Nebraska would
have lost its place on the roll of honor. Under
the decision .f the parliamentary leaders, of the
house and senate, it would take one more legis
lative day to pass the senate bill which would
complete the ratification. Mr. Bryan, in order
to save time, suggested that the house convene
at fiveminutes past midnight on the night of
January 15 and place the senate bill on its final
-wfnas?wndf thG Relative day, January 16.
While this plan seemed to be satisfactory to tho
house leaders, and while they were conferring
on the subject, an amendment was offered to
the senate bill by a member or the house at
taching the names of the authors of the house
bill to the senate bill. This amendment vas
for tho bill to again go to the senate for the
senate's acceptance of the ajnendment As hl
senate was not in session, andTouTnot be un
til the following morning, and no time could be
gained by holding the midnight session ti,!
house adjourned until. 9 a. m.fjanuary i
Immediately upon convening the bona 'rt
pleted its part of the ratification and ?S J??"
was waiting for the' house to SH0
amended bill so that no time wis ios T tie
senate hurrying through its acceptance of 3 )l
ments to expedite the slgninir of EJraP"
bill, and the governor had the ?tt?rn?CaUon
pared in advance ready for slgnh o & ?Pe"
warded to the secretary of state at tvw6 f0r"
While Nebraska was the thirTLthfh?Bton-
GOtfEJDOWN 3FOR THE LAST TIMF
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Praise God from, whom all blessinpn flnw
John Barleycorn is' sent below!
Exchange.
out blow to John Barleycorn and feel that they
have .been well repaid for their continuous
activity during the past six years in behalf of a
dry Nebraska and a ealoenless United States.
Hereafter, In Nebraslta, no person born in a
foreign country can participate in any election
until ho has obtained full citizenship which
means at least five years' residence. The con
Btitution formerly permitted voting after six
months' residence. The fact that Nebraska is
now a dry state, with her erstwhile brewers en
gaged in other business, makes it unnecessary to
have a constant supply of n'ewly-arrived immi
grants foKr voting purposes.
The German "breweka to going to ask tho
Americans for 'more' inrain they want to im
prove their beer. Let -us hope that some plan will
be adopted by which the export of foodstuffs for
such a purpose ' he VOLUNTARY. Step up,
gentleman all'who want to" take bread from
their children and send It. to the brewers of
Germany, here is your chance.
Ralph Pulitzer writes that drunken soldiers,
some of them officers, are giving the people of
Paris abad opinion of the United States, but
his paper, the New York World; is leading tho
fight for booze in the United States. He ought
to make his editorials harmonize with his news
columns.
The wets havo always been please'd to class
prohibition as one of the "blue laws." Yet Con
necticut, the home of the original" famous blue
laws, has been the only state thus far that has
refused to ratify the national, prohibition con
stitutional amendment.
-i ii i i. . ii. ii .. . i. in
On another page will be found a strong edi
torial written by WJL Hearst: for his papers,
It is a song of xejoicing and "stjdkes a high noie.
Will the -other New YorlteSii;ors follow Mr.
Hearst's example or-.wlll theyi'ontinue to mourn
the death of John Barleycorm-atfd slander those
who supported prohibition? ;
" ' ' Il" iiiinmwiii
When the people of a city-yote to give a gas
company a franchise to do business and furnish
illumination therein wo presume "it would be
perfectly proper, in referring !-lo"i. the result, to
Bay that a ligh't vote was cast. ,
SHAStE, ON NEJV XOBIC DEMOCRACY
New York's democracy.inlhb'iegislature put a
final stain on tho,jartyts honor "when it "died in
the ditch" with fee saloons -r- and it did so not
only after forty-three states had ratified the
amendment but' when. it was certain that the
Empire state would cast in. her lot with tho
friends of th$ amendment.
The liquor Interests 'must have had a firm grip
on the souln of these men to he .able to compel
them .to defy the consciencoof. tho state when
they knew they were impotenttsMtay the tide
.that has overwhelmed the traffic in strong drink.
Now that this corrupting force is' dead is it not
possible for the democrats of New York to re
organize and put the party in thSt state in lino
with the progressive thought cHlie- country? e
have important workbef?jreus. Will New York
democrats help, or nvust reforms- continue to
come in spite of thjMn?' '''P J. BRYAN.
m.
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