Ttr j '
-,-
The Commoner
10
VOL.. 20, NO. 2
by keeping him from that which Is sure to
load to ruin If continued,
Noxt I doslro to apeak for a' moment upon
the bill of rights. First, froedom of conscience;
it should bo guaranteed. A man should bo al
lowed to worship God according to tho dictates
. of his own conscience
FREE SPEECH AND PRESS
Tho tlmos roqulro that wo make a discrimina
tion regarding freedom of spooch and freedom
o tho press. Wo should protoct ovory individ
ual In tho oxorclso of froedom of speech ana
froedom of tho press In tho discussion of tho
acts of any official, In tho criticism of any pub
lic servant, and In tho advocacy of any change
ho may doslro mado Jn form or mothods or do
talla of government SO LONG AS THIS IS TO
BE SECURED BY CONSTITUTIONAL MEANS.
Thoro tho lino should be drawn. Any man
who1, attempts to uso froodom of speech or free
dom of tho pross to advocate tho overthrow of
this government by forco or violence should bo
sent to tho penitentiary or out of tho country.
Thoso who ADVISE forco should bo put In tho
samo class with thoso who EMPLOY forco. The
man who advlsos another to uso the torch or
bomb Is no bettor than tho man who uses thorn,
u his distinction should be very clearly drawn
so that wo may sacrodly protect tho rights that
nro nocossary to popular government, as frco
spooch and a froo press aro, and exclude tho
abuses that have no place In a government llko
ours. In this connection I may add that I think
tho time has como to mako tho English language
tho languago of tho United States. (Applause).
Thoso who come to this country to live horo and
Bhare its blessings should understand our
language, not only for thoir good, but for our
safety. If wo aro to submit groat causes to the
conscience of our peoplo, wo must have a
language in which to submit them. The man who
does not understand tho language of the people
among whom ho lives, the language that our
government uses in Its documents, and the
languago of tho press, is not in a position to un
derstand as ho should tho quostions upon which
he Is called to act.
EXECUTIVE OFFICES
A word In rocrnrd to offices. The governor
Should, In my judgmont, be elected for years
And I made nel'gible for re-election. I bolteve
te the short .ballot. Instead of having all tho
ytato officers go before the people when it is
nnnPnif lblQr OPOOplo to knOW thesTmen po -
I S ? WOlf 0,r cIalm with Intelligence,
I think that wo should elect the more 'important
ones and put upon them the responsibility of
Bolocting those who are to be associated with
thorn. I venture to suggest that wo should elect
the governor, tho lieutenant-governor, the at-
tornoy-gonnrol, tho auditor and treasurer Then
there should bo associated with them others whS
W 1 hove equal power and equal compensation
with those who are elected (not Inoltadlns the
govorrr), The appointive officers should bo
named by tho governor with the approvaleitho?
o tnM ir l0C il mcorS or oC thQ senate or
of a joint committee of the house and senate
floors each tho head of a department, should
Tt LtUH appointQd ? of departments con
stUuto the- governor's cabinet. There shou id
bo, a health department. Nothing is more im
Portant than the public health, and TchiUrs
welfare- dopartmonttho child of today Ib the
citizen of tomorrow-and the state therefore
n?U?H m ,Important business than TooE
after the children. Then there should be a la
bor department, an agricultural department n
department of railroads and hlghwaya aSd
tfepartmont of commerce. uwuys, ana a
11 BI-PARTISAN CIVIL SERVICE
A civil service system is necessary, and it
should be bi-partisan instead of non-partisan
The examination should bo retained to ensu?e
efficiency, and the rules should bo strict enough
to exclude incompetents, but thoso who reach thn
eligible list should ANNOUNCE thoV n0mfi
instead of CONCEALING their political am?
tions. INTEREST IN POLITICO Slrm? -iri
BE SUPPRESSED. It is contrary Jo VJ? N,T
Of our institutions to deny Sfe SET Pnffi l,
IFOR SERVICE BECAUSE OF THEffi S?
LICENCE, .Jhe right to give the counJt nL"
benefit of that intelligence on eve?? mZthQ
But if activity in politics is tbe permffi"?!11
civil service should be put upon atai nJSi"16
Ijasis. Clerical positions that aTno caTrywiUx
thorn the right to decide administrative Li
ahould be divided between the I several JSrtlS
in proportion to their voting strength in tho
state, county and municipality. When tho
names aro put upon- tho eligible list, the seloc--tion
should bo mado from representatives of the
parties that have less than their share. If you
retain the examinations as a quaranteo of fitness
and ability and then divide these clerical posi
tions jn proportion- to the voting strength of tho
parties, you will put tho civil service upon a
just basis. Instead of selections being mado in
tho dark, thoy will bo made in tho daylight.
Fraud is not possible in daylight as It is In
darkness.
Judgos should bo elected and not appointed.
The su promo court only should have power to
declare a law unconstitutional, and it only by
threo-fourths vote of tho court. It is not fall
to tho legislators or to those who eloct them
especially when wo have tho referendum
to allow what they have declared to bo the
people's will to bo overthrown by one judge.
When a majority decision- is permitted, a ma
jority of ono can nullify a law. If more than
one-fourth of a court stand for the constitu
tionality of a law, they give support to the ac
tion of those who passed It. It Is not fair to give
to one judge tho power to make his opinion su
premo, not only over a minority of his associ
ates, but over the entire legislature.
RECALL OF JUDGES
I believe in tho recall of judges and other
elective officers. If anyone says that the peo
ple should not have tho right to recall a judge,
my answer is that whenever you desire to put
a man above the people, you should put him
out of oflVn. A judge is the servant of the peo
ple just as every other official is. Judges are
not only public servants, but thoy are human
beings and liable to err. Thoy aro even liable
to be unconsciously influenced by bias. The
five supremo court justlpes on the electoral com
mission in 1876 voted according to their political
bias when the presidency was at stake.
justice and in their inherent conservatism that
lio U7fro m?re apt not to recall. a man
w-ho should be recalled than to recall ono who
shou d not be recalled. But, suppose the peo-
ww malCQ m4Istakes the people should have
what they want. It is better that ono man
should lose a salary, even if injustice is done
iw fn i UA Pe0ple shouId be dened tho
WLCide tU.eSe nations; the sense of
itihZ roS heart8 of th0 people is su that
if they recall a man and learn later that thev
d d wrong, they will be only too glad to do
h m justice When his position Is restored
hl fl&t0Pa Z wlU far more than overcome
the first reflection cast upon him.
I believe in good salaries, but thev should
not bo excessive. When you conside7saiarles
there ate two things to be remembered FiS'
the amount of money that a man spends de
termines his associations and Wa environment
When you raise a man's salary so hlfuw!
vaiuo or the honor conferred nnnn i,i
thing that can fairly "be taken "Sto confide
tlon as a part 61 the salnrv tj, onsltlera-
SS ".enorayK,nl&gtSh6caPn,aoCte ! 8'
looked. If you have any dfubt m to wW."'"
a man's salary should bo Increased 1? J fV 6r
When you furnish him a houae ?, Salary'
influence in fixing his standi 7nf t ?e some
can thus prevent the embarrLsment'1111
sometimes felt in our dlniomnfin . e have
a very rich ambassador HveT 80 e 25?,8l 7
to embarrass a poorer amhalZ S Vely as
ceedod him. v amljassador who sue- .
csIesRlThlTnothaX,Xthaa:er,i!0t in Ml
dlot should be re0,n?red0?WahLa.lUcZ,m0Ua VOT-
the punishments visited on cpimhSiq t y !S
that, some twenty-five years m w L1 rca11
failure in Lincoln and that aboV?Aad a ban1
a cab driver robbed a-passenger VhJT tIme
embezzled a half millioVdXs was se?1??0
penitentiary for five years while the cab dVho
was sentenced to seven years for taking UaZ
As far as human wisdom can enable yto do lb
you should see to it that tho punishment fits thn
crime; and, I may add, imprisonment js bette?
than fines. To fine a man a thousand doHars
for doing an offense when ho makes ten thous
and dollars during tho trial is not punishment
f?T yiCaS aS a tChicaS dgo was severely
.criticised for assessing a laTgo fine aralm m
Standard Oil 'Company. Some said it wa or
cossivo, and yot tho fino did not nearly oqual tho
amount of money that had been made by th
company while the trial was in progress. Th
people i who complained of that as an exorbitant
fine, did not find fault with relatively hicber
fines assessed against minor criminals.
PUBLIC COUNSELOR
In this connection it is worth while to consider
tho advisability of creating tho office of public
counselor. Such ail official could hear the com
plaints of the poor who aro in trouble and ad
vise them jyisely and -without change. Is there
any bettor way for a trusted lawyer to round
out his life than to bo the counselor of a com
munity one to whom the needy can go for ad
vice, with confidence that he will give them the
benefit of his accumulated wisdom?
Let mo say a word in regard to the enforce
ment of tho law. I believe in self-government
The local community- should be allowed to de
cide local questions as far as possible, but I call
your attention-to one exception that' you should
consider. You cannot entrust the enforcement
of a law like tho prohibition law entirely to the
community. Why? Because the power to pun
ish must be as wide as the' influence of the
thing to bo prevented. 1. reached the conclusion
a good while ago that a saloon is, in some re
spocts, like a slaughter house; any man can com
plain of a slaughter house who lives near enough
to it to be injured by th.e odor. So, any man
has a right to oomplain of a saloon who is with
in the radius of its evil influence. A saloon in
one town in tho state does not confine its evil
influence to that town. Tho state must have
power to enforce a state law; no wet community
should be permitted to defy state authority or
to. protect those who conspire against the wel
fare of the state. Tho power of the state to
suspend any officer in any locality who does not
enforce the law of the state should bo absolute.
You 'should remember also that the liquor habit
MAY incapacitate a man for deciding what is
right and what is wrong. A HABIT THAT CAN
MAKE A MAN FORGET THE MOTHER WHO
BROUGHT HIM INTO THE WORLD, BREAK
ALL THE VOWS THAT' HE MADE AT THE
MARRIAGE ALTAR AND IGNORE THE WEL
FARE OF HIS OWN CHILDREN MAY MAKE
HIM INDIFFERENT TO THE .OBLIGATIONS
OF CITIZENSHIP AND TPIE WELFARE OF
THE COMMUNITY. Those engaged in the busi
ness of creating this habit pan never be trusted
with the enforcement of laws against the traffic.
TPIE PEACE WAY
In speaking of tho officials in the governor's
cabinet, I. suggested a Secretary of Transporta
tion and Ilighways. I ask you to consider the
propriety of so writing your constitution, that
this state, whenever it 'desires to do so, may
have government ownership and operation of
railroads, just as a city should have power to
have government ownership of telephones, street
car lines or anything else that is local in charac
ter. And now, my friends, I urge you to consider
whether the constitution should not authorize
the construction of a Peace Way. I believe the
time has come when we should enter systemati
cally upon the building of highways. I would
like to see tho nation build a great Peace Way
reaching into every state of the union. It would
be a memorial to thoso who died in war and a
monument to the restoration of peace. It would
be educational as well as useful; it would bring
the word, peace, Into tho thought and conversa
tion of all ttfe peoplo for centuries to come. It
would be gratifying to havo the state of Nebras
ka enter upofi this and, if possible, sot the ex
ample. This nation is committed to peace; it
will help establish a; league of nations, and I can
think of nothing better than a Peace Way, which
is both patriotic and educational, with, which to
honor tho dead and promote universal peace. It
should connect all tho counties, as the National
Peace Way should connect all tho states.
PURITY IN POLITICS
Let me ask you to consider for a moment
purity in politics. We must have candidates and
campaigns; and wo should limit expenditures so
that thoro may be equality of opportunity among
tho candidates before tho people. Tho primary