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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1921)
?T The Commoner ,gB-ei,N0.5 8 ' i TWi "5JS' "TW Stv whothor it bo clothes, paper, shoos or sausage. 3. Wo need to consider well the present banking and financial laws and policies now apparently controlled by a small' group of men for the benefit of the few and to tho injury of tho great masses of our people as well as the nation itself. 4. Wo should have a law enacted and pro vision made that will furnish loans to the farmers at tho same rate as tho government makes loans to the private banker and at actual cost. 5. We need to encourage production, but above all wo should bo fair in tho recognition of the rights of Russia that wo may open up trade with her and not allow that trade to be diverted into English hands. I question wheth er, ad a nation, we have been honest with our solvos in our understanding or treatment of the Russ'an people and tho'r attempt to organize a government of and for the people. 6. Wo should cease to bo longer at war in theory with Germany and aid in creating with her a market for our agricultural products and help Germany to become a producing country. As big broad-minded men we should be as generous in our attitude as was Lincoln and Grant at the close of the Civil War so long as an honest attempt is being made to do right on tho part of those who espoused the cause agairist world democracy. 7. Wo need a law enacted that will discourage farm tenanoy and encourage farm ownership and rural development. 8. We need a law enacted that will encourage home building and discourage tenancy and land lordism; a law as good as the home builders law of North Dakota. 9. We need to enact laws that will put a stop to all forms of profiteering and make profiteer ing a penal offense, and yet I recognize that prof iteering 1b not a cause, but the result of existing conditions and improper laws. 10. We should have a law enacted putting a stop to all forms of gambling and speculation in the essential commodities of life, like wheat, flour, clothing, etc., without in any way destroy ing tho effectiveness of legitimate trade condi tions. 11. We should have laws enacted and honestly enforced that will extend the benefits of the federal land banks more fully to the needs of our farmers and establish in conjunction with these, rural credit banks. 12. We should have law.s enacted and en forced that will protect labor as fully as capital is protected and with proper tribunals to safe guard their interests and lives. 13. We should have international laws and agreements that will establish a league of na tions, an international tribunal or an organiza tion that will tend for world peace and disarma ment on sea and land and which will not em broil the United States in the petty European political affairs. 14. Above all; we should have laws enacted and "enforced that shall at all times protect the right of free press, free speech and free assem bly, with every individual held responsible for his words and actions, and a law that shall free all those now held for political offenses and which shall never again -permit of the abuses that have been encouraged and tolerated during the late war. 15. There should bo a law that will make in dividual members of corporations or monopolies acting as an executive or administrative board amenable to the laws of our land just as fully as we individuals or members of firms, and on conviction these members sent to prison as are individuals or firm members. In other words to put a soul into a corporation that can be reached. When the president or executive mem bers of such boards face the penitentiary they will become more reasonable and respectful to the needs of the people. 16. I believe that we shall never prosper again as we might until we put all systems of transportation more fully under government con trol and have the roads operated in the inter est of our people and not for the financial bene fit of a privileged few, 17. We should take steps that will make, with the cooperation of Canada, possible a waterway from the head of the Great Lakes to the ocean for ocean-going vessels, 18. We should have laws enacted that will put quacks and charlatans of all kinds out of business and give them an opportunity to earn an honest living in place of fleecing innocent victims under sanction of law. u 19. We should have laws enacted to conserve our national resources, a law that will effecti ly do so, and to have these resources aa public utilities developed under governmental control or ownership. wi, w nhill 20. The timo must soon come when we shall need to take oyer and operate in the interest of ?he people the coal mines of this country and to develop the water power so as to furnish elec tricity for heat and power wherever it can be U The foregoing are some of the few things that can be only briefly touched upon at this timo and which should receive the attention of every thoughtful young man coming before the public who seeks through service to aid in bettering the conditions for those who, in the years to come, shall follow us. U. S. to Join Euro pean War Bodies (By Arthur Sears Henning, in Chicago Tribune.) Washington, D. C, May G. President Hard ing accepted today the invitation of the allies to name representatives of the United States to participate in the supreme council, the repara tions commission, and the conference of ambas sadors. This resumption of participation in the coun cils of the allies the President aims to carry out without entangling the United States in European affairs. The American representatives will participate in the deliberations, but not in the actual decisions of the several confer ences. s Thov o.'Jll Vinvo nn tinwor in Virr1 fha TTnttorl States to participation in or support of any specific course of action. The United States will commit itself only by legislation or treaty in dealing with foreign questions in which there is a direct or indirect American interest. HARVEY THERE FOR HARDING George Harvey, American ambassador to Great Britain, will represent the- President of ficially in the supreme council, which, however, is an unofficial body composed of the heads of states for conference on general policies. Roland W. Boydence, a Boston lawyer, will be an unofficial American representative with out a vote in the reparations cbmmission, a body created by ' the Versailles treaty to assess" the indemnities. Hugh C. Wallace, ambassador to France and eventually his successor, Myron Herrick, will he an unofficial American observer without a vote in the conference of ambassadors, which works out in detail the supreme council's poli cies. President Harding announced the decision of the administration following the cabinet meeting at which it was discussed and approved Shortly afterward Secretary Hughes made pub lic the allied invitation and America's reply LLOYD GEORGE'S MESSAGE The invitation was conveyed in the following message from Lloyd George, British prime min- "As president of the allied conference, which is just completing its sittings in London, I am authorized with the unanimous concurrence of SJuS? pwer-here Presented to express to the United States government our feeling that the se ement of the international difficulUes in which the world is still involved would be ma nr f M?ted by the co-operation of The 2wi SJStes; and am' thefore, to inquire whether that government is disposed to be ren! dea8teentat aXiS" fUt,Ure' aS U was at an eaSE elate, at allied conferences, wherever thev ii meet at the ambassadors' conference wSch WePare' united11 tlonBSniSten? YES, SECRETARY HUGHES SAYS folTowin'r'pr50 SGCretary HughGS sent the Powers represented at the allied contor?nne London, you are to inquire whetneJ tw n the conference of ambassadors in Paris Si the reparations commission Tis' and on Ihe government 3t the TTnitnri a maintaining the traditional po cy SS"8 from participation in. matters of ,Lfnention ropean concern, is deeply inYeresfed'tfproS: er economic adjustments and' in . the just set tlement of the matters of world-wide import" ance which are under discussion in those con fereiices, and desires helpfully to co-operate in the deliberations upon these. questions." BOYDEN TO RESUME WORK "Mr. George Harvey, appointed ambassador to Great Britain, will be instructed on his ar rival in England to take part- as the representa tive of the President of the United States in the deliberations of the supreme council. "The American ambassador to France will be instructed to resume Kis place as unofficial ob server on the conference of ambassadors, and Mr, Roland W. Boyden will bo instructed to sit again as an unofficial capacity on the reparations commission. "The government of the United States notes with pleasure your expression of -the belief ot the representatives of the allied government assembled in London that American co-operation in the settlement of the . great international questions growing out of the world war will be of material assistance." FIGHT OVER COLOMBIAN TREATY A Washington dispatch, dated April 20, says: The Colombian treaty has met the curious fate of being negotiated by Democrats, rejected by Republicans, and finally adopted because of Re publican championship. In April, 1914, the treaty, negotiated by Sec retary of State Bryan, was signed at Bogota, the Colombian capital, and on June 10 was submit ted to the Senate but ratification was blocked by a Republican minority. Shortly after he was Inaugurated President Hardinghowever, urged an overwhelmingly Republican Senate to ratify tho treaty. The fight oyer the matter is as old as the Re public of Panama, the independence of which led to the treaty. Early in his first administra tion President Roosevelt had negotiated with Colombia a treaty providing for the purchaso of this isthmus for $10, 000,000 fn cash and $250,000 a, year. This was . rejected in the Colombian Senate.- Shortly afterward, Nov. 3, .1903, Panama re volted from Colombia, and ten days alter was recognized by the United States. It was charged that not only had American naval forces pre vented Colombian troops from putting down the rebellion but that the revolt itself had been planned in the United States and used by Presi dent Roosevelt to secure the Canal Zone. Hia action at the time Was characterized as "taking the isthmus while congress debated." As recompense for United States recognition, Panama ceded to her guarantor of Independence the Canal Zone, and the work of linking tho two oceans was begun almost at once. The treaty asnegotiated by the Wilson ad ministration recognized the injustice of tho United States' action, and. expressed "regret" for. the manner in which the isthmus was acquired. , This clause wan later stricken from the pact, however, as a needless apology. Tho more substantial features of the treaty were that the United States was to pay to Colombia $25, 000,000, $5,000,000 at once and $5,000,000 a year for four years. It is also provided that Colombian citizens and goods were to have equal rights with American, and 'that Colombia was to recognize the independence of Panama. The men who have opposed the ratification of the treaty for more than six yeaTs justified the action of President Roosevelt. by saying that the refusal of Colombia to ratify the first treaty ?,V0W,ed that that country was attempting to hold up" the United States, and that such tac tics were blocking the progress of a necessary Piece of work. More recently they have charged that the treaty sustains the contentions of those who say the United States arranged tho i anama revolution, and thus places a stain on the memory of President Roosevelt. President Harding urged the ratification in order to enable the United States to gain the friendship and confidence of ihe South American - rAei!u , s' and u is sa1d that his' visit to South America shortly after liis election was in largo part responsible for the view he has tafzen. Retailers and wholesalers are still scolding the buying-public because it "refuses to pur chase as freely as it did a year ago, Meanwhile the bankers are scolding the retailers and whole ?SS ior. rQfUBins to take the 'necessary losses incident to a complete" readjustment of condi tions, and says that until they reduce prices SJt Uying publIc n the same, proportion jb they have been ruced tohem. thipgs wi" take, a turn for the fetter.. .viK .w.WS.,. Jlilirfi'ii&Sl