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The Commoner
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The Commoner
ISSUED MONTHLY
KIntoreil attlio PoBtofflco,at Lincoln, Ncbraslcu,
riH aouojul-clans inn t tor.
WILLIAM J. BRYAN. CHARLES W. BRYAN,
Editor and Proprietor Associate Ed. and PubllHnor
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TUB COMMONER, LINCOLN, NEIl.
That phrnso, "further argument is unneces
sary" waB never coinod by a member of the
United States senate.
Some of tho republicans soem to think that
a reservation in the hand is worth -two resolu
tions in tho bush.
Tho merchants can go into court and collect
a debt from the citizen. Why not a local trade
commission before which the citizen can Call the
morchant on the charge of profiteering?
The darkest blot on the war was that while
our, soldiers were, bleeding on- the -battlefields1 -
abroad their parents were boing bled by the1
profiteers at home, and the bleeding at home
increases cftor the bleeding in Europe stops.
Tho objection is raised by those officials who
lmvo no particular desire to get aftcr-the money
grabbing business men that it is impossible to
define, to tell what a profiteer is. Wo suggest
that the job be turned over to any workingman
with a good, vigorous command of language.
Ml I I .. Ml I I H
We saw somewhere not long ago tho state
ment that there is one spot in tho ocean where
tho water has a depth of over seven miles. Our
guess, however, is that it will take a longer pole
than that to measure the deep wator that cer
tain republican senators have got their party
into over the League of nations.
A fifty thousand dollar farm has been voted
by tho. state of Tennessee to Sergeant York, who
hold tho hero record of the war. That's mpre
substantial as a reward than offering him a
republican nomination for congress in that state
and oven if he did get a public office ho would
got more out of the farm than the office.
Mr. -Bryan was criticised because he- advocated
tho acceptance by the senate of the treaty with
Spain in 189 8 notwithstanding the fact that it
committed the nation to a colonial policy en
tirely, out of harmony with her genesis and her
professions, but he successfully defended him
self on tho ground that the "first duty was to
soouro peace, and policies could afterwards be
determined by tho people themselves. The same
logic applies to tho present situation.
INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM
The world is chaotic just now, but it will set
tlo down in a' little while with tho people in
more complete control of the government of the
world than Qver before. Democracy is spread
IncJ This country is now ready for the initiative
and referendum, the last step necessary to in
sure the rule of the people.
,. UNITED STATES STANDS ALONE
v The lonesomeness of our nation becomes mo
and more apparent as the secrets of the Parte
conference are revealed. No alliances please
The Mistakes of
Watterson
jVlr. Wattson dr Henry Watterson as he Is
gonerally known is writing a series of articles
which purport to be history as ho views it. The
seventeenth article of tho series contains the
following misrepresentation:
"Through Mr. Cleveland tho party of Jeffer
son, Jackson and Tilden was converted from a
democratic into a populist, falling into the arma
of Mr. Bryan, whose domination proved as bale
ful in one way as Mr. Cleveland's had been in
another, the Unal result shipwreck, with tho
extinguishment of all but tho label.
"Mr. Bryan was a young man of notable gifts
of speech and boundless self-assertion. When
he found himself well in the saddle he began
to rule despotically and to rido furiously. A
party leader more short-sighted could hardly be
imagined. None of his judgments came true.
As a .consequence the republicans for a long
time had everything their own way, and save
for the Taft-Rooseyelt quarrel might have held
their power indefinitely. All histcry tells us that
the personal equation must be reckoned with in
public life, Assuredly it cuts no mean figure in
human affairs. And, when politicians fall out
well the other side comes in."
Mr. Watterson's assertion that the democratic
party was converted into a populist party illus
trates the loss of vision one suffers when he
looks at a question through himself. Because
Mr. Watterson left the democratic party in 1896
(following the leadership of President Cleve
land) he endeavors to put the blame on the
democratic party instead of accepting it him
self. He joined with the gold democrats in an
effort to foi'm a separate party and only after a
ludicrous failure returned to the democratic
party, but -he has never quite forgiven us for
refusing to follow him into, the wilderness What
ho called "shipwrecked"' was really the rescue
. of ,the party from the forces .that threatened
to annihilate it. .In 189 G the democratic party,
polled a million more votes than it ever polled
before, and it did this in spite of the desertion
of Mr. Watterson, President Cleveland and his
cabinet, and all of the democratic office holders
whom- tho President could influence, and in spite
of the opposition of all of the railroad mag
nates, .all tho trust magnates, all of the Wall
street financiers and all of the big newspapers
that Wall street could control. The democratic
party polled more Votes in 1896 than it ever
polled afterwards, until 1916. Mr. Bryan's vote
in 1900 and in 1908 was a little below the vote'
in 1896. Even President Wilson's vote in 1912
did not quite reach the democratic vote in 1896
1900 and 1908, while Mr. Parker's vote In 1904
fell a million and a quarter below the demo
cratic vote in 1900 and 1908, in spite of the
fact that Mr. Parker had the benefit of Mr'
Watterson's enthusiastic support
The charge that Mr. Bryan "began to rule
despotically and to ride furiously" is fully an
swered by the fact that he had the democratic
party with him all the time, except foi -the few
months covered by the Parker campaign Then
under. leadership of Wall street, the demo
cratic organization tried the fatal experiment of
following the guide of such discredited leaders
S r' rs0n- Durine tlle time referred to
by Mr Watterson,. the democratic party con
tinued its fight for democratic principles and
laid the foundation for the great economio nd
VaiT "A00 place tween 1912 anume
Mr Watterson says, "A p.rty . leader more
shortsighted could hardly be imagined Noe of
his judgments came true." This charge is suffi
ciently answered by the fact that Mr. Bryan has
been actively connected with every reform tha?
has been accomplished, while Mr. Watterson las
contented himself with snarling when i?n ??
not bite. He has stood by the ZS i ,?id
Picturesque epithets, wlZ Se dem SticTr
has marched by, too intent on its great wnXI
humanity to heed the discordant voTcesr t hll
who could find fault, but coi id 1m6'
worth considering. Slve no advice
During the time when Mr. Watto i,
throwing stones and decayed : vogSSSoS Sfb.?Sn
passing throng, the democratic paHv las SS
in securing a change in the eleotnn L ?t ,!e
States senators, m that thov Tvi 5 f U,ulted
directly by the people an ZoZl ?W cllosen
ment that P-m&tlT'SS
the burdens of government. Q --".
which even a war coujd not ahnir y ?ni
legislation, the 'abolition of govern a?U'trt
junction, the promise of ultimate f??nt by ,n
0 to' the 'Filipinos and an eighSr dP?
leading in these reforms, and Mr a ""
heartily supported all of them th"?ryan has
party has aided in the submi'ss on i?m
suffrage, and in the submission and ?Lm
of prohibition a majority of th?lWt,flcatt
the senate and house voting for Mr?1'
has supported- suffrage and prohil iw r,m
Mr. Watterson ha been hissing m hiIe
at tho motheis and wives, wl o Isk for?""?"
in the shaping of the enVironmSta ha 25
surround their children and emptying i,bal
wrath upon those who stop the maVufac u 8
saS8 and th CrrUPt,0n $?
Mr. Watterson charges up the rennhHM .
to Mr. Bryan; it would be a reflectioj ul !
intelligence to assume that lie does not kn t
hat it was the desertion of the democra ic I X
in 1896, by men, who like himself, prefiSdi
republican Victory to the triumph of an anil
Wall street democratic party, that inaugurated
sixteen years of republican rule.
He begins ib reckon democratic defeat from
1896, and yet he is old enough to know that
the congress elected in 1894 two years before
Mr. Bryan's leadership began had a larger
republican majority than any subsequent con
"gress has had. Democratic defeat began when
men like Mr. Watterson joined President Cleve
- lan( in tho attempt to carry tho democratic
party over to the John Sherman idea of finance
Tho fight which began within the democratic
' party after the defeat in 1894, was made neces
sary by .the apostacy of democratic leaders, who
sought to make the party the subservient tool
of Wall -street. The fight was won, and tho
party was stronger in 1896 than it was in 1894,
but it took time to educate the people. It was,
however, time well spent and made possible the
reforms that have followed. The fight of 1896,
while it did not restorer silver, vindicated the
quantity theory of money. Silver's restoration
failed only 'because- an unexpected increaso in
the gold supply raised prices and gave the world
a chjeapor.dpllaivr'v,:.- W. J. BRYAN,
, COULDN'T BE WORSE
The-rcapitalists profess to be afraid that the
federal government would, under 'public owner
ship, use. the railroads in politics. No danger
from that source. The railroads have been in
politics for-, a generation. They have elected
governors, legislatures; senators, congressman,
and judges, -and they plan to bo in politics next
year and in the years to come. The government
cannot possibly do worse than the railroad mag
nates have.
The meropolitan newspapers appear to be
holding their own very sturdily. All of them
were opposed to wartime prohibition being con
tinued, and wartime prohibition was continued
by an pvenyhelming vote.
THE OFTIMISTSEES THE DOUGHNUT, TUB
' . ' PESSIMIST THE llOLia
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