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WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
VOL 20, NO. 6
The Profiteer
Must Go
Tho producers and consumers are in no mood
to permit tho profiteer to continue his exploita
tion. Ho is skimming all the cream off the milk.
He is not only doing injustice to those yhom he
is supposed to serve but he is threatening our
yhole industrial system:
The only test of .wages is to be found in their
purchasing power. What good does it do to
double wages if prices rise still more rapidly?'
And it is truo on the farm as well as in the fac
tory, and adjustments move more slowly on the
(arm. Onq can not, when lie plants, know the
price of tiie commodity1 at harvest; time. When
he begins to feed a calf at weaning- time he
can not know what the price of beef will be three
years afterwards when the calf is ready fo1rthe
butchQk If the middlemen are permitted to ex
act an unreasonable toll men will be drawn from
both farm and factory in trade, and the larger
the middle class becomes tho larger the burden
thrown upon those who tqtf. The higher the
per cent of profit .allowed to those who buy and
Mil, the harder it will be to persuade the farm
er's sons to remain on the farm the more dif
ficult it will be to induce the artisan'd sons to fol
low their father's craft.
Eventually the end must come to this satur
aalian feast of greed "-Why not now?" Justice
demands that a limit be fixe'd to the middle
man's profih the very existence of our indus
trial system demands itj .Why delay?
We limit the rate of interest that a banker can
charge and the bankers are honorable men.
Why should a manufacturer, wholesaler, or a
, merchant he allowed to charge without limit?
We need a usury law for business as well as
for hanking. The UNNCESSARY middleman
"iould be ELIMINATED tlie USEFUL middle
man should bo COMPELLED to serve at a
REASONABLE rate. Justice must not wait.
W. J. BRYAN.
MUSGROVE'S GREAT OAMlPAIGN
Mr. Musgrove, the prohibition candidate
Bainst Senator Underwood, made a splendid
ac against great .odds. . To have reduced the
nderwood majority from 40,000 (at tho form-
' election to 1,800 is in itself a victory Con-
Jwulations. Mr, Musgrove,.-you have, robbed
Underwood's election -of any value to the
8- He is pledged against any reopening, and
V Qmi)hnnll ,... .......
..imb iiromuuion as. an issue you uim-
tributea
O'Neal,
materially to the defeat' of ox-Governor
THE PEOPLE'S SIDE OPEN
drivf UDublican candidates and platform are
that5 S.near tho Wa'll. street side of the road
U we wU1 have 'to drive on the people's side
Waut to eo around them and wo do.
Lincoln, Nebraska, June, 1920
An IMPORTANT CHANGE
Tho Republican platform, as reported by tho
sub-committee, urged Republican governors, in
states that have not yet ratified, to call special
sessions of their legislatures. The platform as
adopted omitted the reference to tho governors
and urged tho legislators to ratify. Quito an
important change, which the suffragists will not
fail, to notice. Tho governors of Connecticut and
Vermont can continue to obstruct ratification.
TOO MUCH TERRITORY
The Cincinnati brewers are so elated in mak
ing "Cox governor of Ohio that they seem to
THINK they can make him president, but they
forget two things; first, that tho nation is bigger
than Ohio and, second, that the deception that
they practiced has been exposed and can not bo
repeated. They are taking in too much territory
and besides they can no longer work under the
cover of darkness.
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NO COMPULSORY MILITARY SERVICE
The Republican platform has one shining
omission it does NOT indorso universal com
plusory military training. That would seem to
put an end to the ambitious plan for training all
the young men in the United States in the art
of taking human life; Peace had at least one
victory in the convention.
A WARNING
If any Democratic candidate with rich friends
is thinking of making a money campaign, the
fate of General Wood and Governor Lowden
ought to be a warning. This is a poor man's
year-neither Harding or Coolidge is rich. Our
candidate must run on his merits, not on any
one's pocketbook.
KENYON'S SERVICE
Kenyon ought to have been made tho Repub
lican candidate in return for service rendered by
his investigating committee. But the bosses
would not honor him even with iho vice-presidency.
But he strengthened his party and im
proved its chances.
CONTENTS
,MSSSSS5 JEM.
m HKYANON THE MANDATE
. tSdImocrItic FMSIDEOTIAL
1 CANDIDATES
WOMEN IN POLITICS
WARDING WET
nV.Mi CHICAGO LETTERS
THKfof O&CA, UUUfr
Whole Number 734
The Democratic
Platform
No one is in position to announce in advanc
the subjects that will be trcatod In tho Demo
cratic platform to ho written at San Francisco,
but I venture to submit an outlino with the rea
sons that lead mo to boliove that tho subjoots
mentioned will receive consideration.
First The national administration will bo
endorsed and the splendid economic reforms se
cured will be enumerated and cniphnslzod. They
constitute an unparalleled record of accomplish
ment. The conduct of tho war will bo praised.
Mistakes of course wero made, but they were?
overshadowed by colossal achievements that
astounded Europe, and oven astounded ourselves.
Second The treaty will present an Issue. The
party stood together In favor of ratlftca"Tfon with
out reservations, us long as that seemed pos
sible. When it was demonstrated that ratifica
tion without reservations was impossible, tho
Democratic Senators divided into 2 groups tho
members of one group, 2. 'I In number, more in
terested In the treaty and the League of Nations
than In tho phraseology of tho rosorvations,
joiucd with 34 Republicans to secure ratification
with reservations, while 20 Democrats, preferring
defeat of the treaty and tho League of Nations,
or at least, delay, to acceptance of the proposed
reservations, joined 17 irreconcilable foes of
tho treaty to prevent ratification. Unless a
compromise is reached before June 28, tho con
vention Avill endorse the course pursued by the
23, or the course pursued by tho 20. Tho over
whelming opposition to tho policy of ratification
without reservations, as shown by tho vote at
the primaries, will probably defeat any effort
to make the treaty an issue in thccnmpalgn. An
easy way out is to pledge the party to an amend
ment to the constitution providing for ratifica
tion of treaties by a MAJORITY .vote. Tho Re
publicans would undoubtedly support such an
amendment, and, both parties accepting it, tho
Senate could ratify tho treaty with reservations
already agreed upon, and take it out of the cam
paign, leaving any needed changes to bo mado
afterward in the League.
Third In this connection, it is likely that tho
convention will declare in favor of a cloture rulo
in the Senate 'enabling a majority to close debate
and proceed to a vote. It was. a platform dec
laration by the Democratic convention of 1908
that put an end to Cannonism in the House of
Representatives, and it is time to take another
step toward democracy.
Fourth The convention is quite sure. to de
clare against universal compulsory military
training. The Democratic caucus in the Houso
condemned it by a vote of 10C to 17, and a poll
of the Senate showed nearly as large a percent
age of the Democrats of that body against it.
The demand for economy, growing more and
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