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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1920)
n rn-tu'w 'iw mil tmmi The Commoner MARCH, 1920 11 The Irrepressible Issue Definite Mr. Bryan and Secretary Daniels, whenever Democrats sit down together prohibi tion persists in pushing into the party. Tlio latest occasion was the testimonial dinner to Homer S. Cummings, the National Democratic Chairman. Got Smith of New Y&rk, thougn unable to bo nresen't, did not fail to get into his telegram a reference to the eighteenth amendment as "a re striction against personal liberty which Prussia in her palmiest days never dreamed of." Gov. Edwards of New Jersey contrived to out wit an embarrassed dinner committee and de liver a prepared speech which- must have spoiled the taste of Secretary Daniel's soda water. Said the Governor of New Jersey: "I deny the right of men elected to congress It- mi totally uifferent issues ana without any ref erence to prohibition to saddle that condition on the American people without a referendum on the subject. "The issue was not presented on either Demo cratic or Republican platforms and the people were not consulted. "I deny the right of congress to legislate at all, except as a military measure, upon the right of the people of the states to choose the for,m of domestic economy and government they desire under the constitution "To me this situation is a political sacrilege and I purpose to carry the fight to San Francis co, regardless of what any man or any set of men . may think, so as to bring about a popular re statement of the doctrine of state rights and popular local home rule Upon which our fathers founded this government." Does anybody believe that Gov. Smith and Gov. Edwards are the only Democrats deter mined that the eighteenth amendment and the methods by which it was jammed into the feder al constitution shall not be glossed over in the interest of party harmony? The issue will not down. Mr. Bryan can no more shoot it out of Demo cratic councils than Republican leaders can ob- . scure it by dint of desperate party demonstra tions in other directions. A Republican legislature in this state has not hushed up prohibition by raising a hullabaloo over Socialist members of the assembly. Prohibition is another of the present issues whichcloave through party lines and bring the people of United States face to face with ques tions mora, .fundamental than the protection of party fences; Political managers may talk themselves hoarse trying to prove that party solidarity comes first and that prohibition is a settled fact which must not be dragged in to cause dissension. There are millions of Americans who are re solved that in spite of past mistakes, personal freedom shall not be shelved' and forgotten in the United States without a struggle. Prohibition is going to play a big part in com g Political campaigns in more than one section or the -country. No party can save itself by pre tending to ignore it. New York World. beneficent effeeta of , .i the saloon. HBUUUOn 0I D00z and berThofPemnWPeC!UPlCa f,0r tho roat n oer 01 employes in brewer es, distillers and S??nd hl JIT, ? b thrWn " "Pig ment and left helpless and starving has been meridiUlr hV th0 emoyment of all these tZ Lf ?rthlGr 0CCUPat! at higher wases. Ihe groat brewery properties of tho west that wore to stand die, monuments to tho arbitrary destruction of "property rights." aro busy turn ing out more wholesome and desirable products. iw?tates tllat wero (lly befre the federal prohibition went into effect, the wages that wore slobbered over the bar on Saturday ntaht, while the homes and families wore in need, have boon going to the grocery stores and (ho clothing stores and shoo stores. That is tho difference. One of the chief difficulties with eastern poli ticians is that they have not yet learned very much about the Unitol States and its people as a whole. They have not learned that tho politics of the country is no longer made between Bata via and Albany, or on a commuters' train be tween Peekskill and New York nor yet in Tren ton, New Jersev.. Manhattan Island mav bo the pocket nerve of the nation but it is not the heart and the conscience, or the. brain. It has become merely the part that it is, an important piece in the machine but by no means the entire works, nor even the main spring. Out in the great west, a mammoth empire, whore freer opportunities have built broader in dividual and communal character, and opened a wider and truer vision than is possible on Bax ter street or Fifth avenue, there is economic, moral, and political progress that eastern poli ticians, for the most part, do not comnrehend and have not yet even learned that they must try to comprehend. Leaving Chicaeo, and its vassal state of Illinois, out of th vockonine. the west may be counted on to bo solidly aeainst any party that tries to drag down prohibition or even to conuette with booze. And they aro not mere prohibition fanatics in that region either. Thev tried the other thing with characteristic western thoroughness. Peekskill, N. Y., News. THE PRICE THAT WOULD BE PATO Rastern Democrats who are disposed to in duce the Democratic National convention o re pudiate prohibition or to affect a straddling com promise on the matter of uniform application of le prohibition laws, may as woll understand in advance that if they were to work their will in Jne matter there would not be a state west' of lUe Mississippi river in the Democratic column on Jection day. This is not the view of fanatical Prohibitionists. It is the judgment of men who are m position to know and men who have never oeen identified with the prohibition movement, "lough most of them" have viewed-the wiping of the saloons with satisfaction, and have accepted prohibition as a moral and common sense proposition. Western states which have had prohibtion for jears could not be induced to part with it, un er any consideration, and their . neighboring Sf fhou6b they have lacked the moral and "JJteal courage to act independently on, the 'natter, are in full accord with the prohibition :"cy Conspicuous western leaders, editors, hn?m 1Ic mon who fought the adoption of pro iuXfr have s,nco confessed -the error of .their cIrI and leaner court records, better so- ' , ' jondttlons, business improvement, and com paratively or literally empty jails tetslfy to the PROHIBITION AT SAN FRANCISCO Gov. Edwards of Now Jersey has displaced Chairman Cummings of the Democratic national committee in the discussion of prohibition 'with Mr. Bryan. The change will add to popular inter est in the controversy. Gov. Edwards may be described as a wet of the wets politically considered, as the wettest wet in the country. He is in office solely by rea son of his pledged devotion to the wet cause, He -was its candidate last year, and elected by a large majority. Elsewhere, in the state races, the Rermblirans won. It was a Republican year. But, in New Jersey, the Democratic candidate for gov ernor, standing on a platform which he inter preted as promising that Democratic success should mean the making of the -ate "a wet as the Atfantic ocean," was easily elected. He prob ablv received a good many Republican votes. Mr Bryan may be described as a dry of the drvs-lpofiticallv considered, as the dryest dry in the country. He has led the dry cause in the Democratic party for years. On the question of prohibition these two men are as the poles apart. It would appear impos- sihle to bring them together. And yet both are Democrats, and likely to meet at San Francisco. Both are mentioned in connection with the Democratic nomination for President. While Gov. Edwards is not, and not likely to become, a formidable figure in the presidential emiauSn. the cause for which he stands is cer S to have vigorous champions at San Fran oVJn Luting on some sort of. recognition for it 1PJP '"Tatform. So that it is not Gov. Edwards In much as Uie anti-prohibition influence Mr. Brvanls now stacked im against. He has a fight ononis handl which will try his mettle and re sources as a political general. Mr Bryan could not support Gov. Edwards or Vifo rnnn for President standing on a plat any other man lor r re nullification mdirectlv of tne e Awards support Constitution, rcou iu demand- Mr. Bryan 'r r?f 2 enforcement of that ing and promising tUe igid e & TowainX Prohibition issue would not be worth acceptance tcrIally t0 the "pen" of Mr' BrS iustifying in many ways the judg n "f ZXy$e appraised him as a live e -Washington Star, THE ROMj OP HONOR States That Have Ratified tho National Woman Suffrage Amendment 1 WISCONSIN, Juno 10, 1919. 2 ILLINOIS, Juno 10, 1919. 3 MICHIGAN, Juno 10, 1919. 4 KANSAS, June 16, 1919. 5 OHIO, Juno 10, 1919. 6 NEW YORK, Juno 16, 1919. 7 PENNSYLVANIA, Juno 24, 1919. 8 MASSACHUSETTS, Juno 25. 1919. 9 TEXAS, June 28, 1919. 10 IOWA, July 2, 1919. 11 MISSOURI, July 3, 1919. 12 ARKANSAS, July 28, 1919. 13 MONTANA, July 30, 1919. 14 NEBRASKA, AugUBt 2, 1919. 15 MINNESOTA, Sept. 8, 1919. 16 NEW HAMPSHIRE, Sept. 10, 1919. 17 UTAH, Sept. 30, 1919. 18 CALIFORNIA, Nov. 1, 1919. 19 MAINE, Nov. 5, 1919. 20 NORTH DAKOTA, Dec. 1. 1919. 21 SOUTH DAKOTA, Dec. 4, 1919. 22 COLORADO, Dec. 12,1919. 23 RHODE ISLAND, Jan. 6, 1920. 24 KENTUCKY, Jan. 6, 1920. 25 OREGON, Jan. 13, 1920. 26 INDIANA, Jan. 16, 1920. 27 WYOMING, Jan. 27, 1920. 28 NEVADA, Feb. 7, 1920. 29 NEW JERSEY, FEB. 9, 1920. 30 IDAHO, Feb. 11, 1920. 31 ARIZONA, Feb. 12, 1920. 32 NEW MEXICO, Fob. 19, 1920. 33 OKLAHOMA, Feb. 29, 1920. 34 WEST VIRPINIA, March 10, 1920. ONE OF THE OLD GUARDS Okmulgco, Okla., January 23, 1920. ' Mr. Edgar Howard, Columbus, Neb. My Dear Sir: I read with much appreciation, your toast to tho Old Guard in the Commoner of January. While I may not bo one of tho Old Guard, I am proud that I was ono of tho Home Guards of Lincoln in 1900 and was with tho or ganization at Kansas City to the convention that year. I began to support Mr. Bryan in Pennsylvania in 1896 and have been for him every minute since and am for him now. I am vory glad to note the part Mr. Bryan is now taking in affairs of the party and it is my Judgment that without his advice they are due a defeat. Mr. Bryan is the only man that can fully mar shal the vote of the democratic party this timo and it is my judgment that he can with against any man. I find that twelve years of democratic rule has put in the saddle the pie-eating brand of demo crats and they may try to keep Mr. Bryan from asserting himself at the convention and for this reason we should be on our guard. Mr. Cummingsr indicates that spirit. Wishing you every success in the world and my very best cooperation in the campaign for Bryan for president I beg to be, Very truly, M. M. ALEXANDER. CAN ANY ONE BEAT THIS? "For President Wm. J. Bryan of Nebraska. Platform 16 to 1 without any moro delay or damphoolishness." Scribne? News, Friday, April 12, 1895. The above is a copy of an editorial "masthead" written by W. H. Weekes of The Press, who then owned and published the Scribner News. It ap peared, as readers will observe, fourteen months before Bryan's nomination. The Press undoubt edly may claim without fear of refutation that Mr. Weekes is tho original Nebraska Bryan man now living to see the great Commoner resuming his place as leader of democracy. The Scribner News was tho first paper in the whole United States to use Mr. Bryan's name as shown above. Norfolk, Neb., Press. WOMEN INDORSE LEAGUE; VETO TRAINING Indorsement of the league of nations and re corded opposition to universal compulsory mili tary training were the mqst important actions taken by the League of Women Voters at the. closing session of Us convention. Both measures were passed by comfortable majorities, tut only after there had been stubborn, spirited opposi tion from the floor. Chicago Tribune. fl ,? i w ti A 'n i , -it 'il H s I U m M t wi vtl ijatei,..! jml.