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Commoner
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WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
VOL 21 NO. 10.
Make Reserve Board
Representative
It took a good while to get Agriculture, Labor
and Commerce represented in the President's
cabinet. Those threo great groups were not rep
resented until within forty years. A Secretary of
Agriculture was provided for something more
than thirty years ago, then a Secretary of Com
merce, then a Secretary of Labor.
These three groups ought to be represented
on the Federal Reserve Board. That board, by
regulating- the currency, exerts a large influence
on the farmer, the laborer, and the business
man. The Reserve Board deflated the farmer;
it is largely responsible for the sudden drop of
nearly one-half jn farm prices. Indeed, this
drop now stands "in the way- of returning pros
perity. No farmer Md a voice in the decision
that so affected his welfare. Why not have
as one of the Directors of the Reserve Board. a
PARMER who actually FARMS and is, therefore,
in sympathy .with-agriculture,?
If th:6t&rvkef(ip,nti'ot buy, the manufacturers
can not keep their mills going, and when the
mills close down labor is thrown out of employ
ment. The Federal Reserve Board is, therefore,
largely responsible for the present industrial
condition. Why not have as a Director on the
Federal Reserve Board a LABORER who LA
BORS and, therefore, is in sympathy with the
wage-earners?
The third group in size and importance is the
business man not the banker who assumes to
speak for the business man, but the business
man who, instead of being a banker himself, is
a patron of the bank and is, therefore, an acute
sufferer if the Reserve Board contracts the cur-,
rency. Why not have as a Director on the Re
serve Board a BUSINESS MAN who it NOT
a banker but a man in sympathy with the busi
ness men of the country? '
What logical objection can there be to such
a reorganization of the Federal Reserve Board
as will make it impossible for lawyers, bankers,
and college professors to have entire control of
It? Surely the farmer', the laborer, and the
business men who constitute at least three
fourths of the entire country ought to have a
voice in the control of our currency system ,
which so vitally concerns each man, woman and
child in the nation. W. J. BRYAN. .
MARCHING TOWARD MONOPOLY
The propose'd merger of all the railroads into
nineteen great systems is only a step toward
gigantic private monopoly, compared with which
other private monopolies will seem like infants.
Then there will be but one issue before the counr
try, viz., whether the government will own the
railroads or the railroads own the government.
IAY ON, M'DUFF
Henry Ford announces a drive for clean, poli
tics. "Lay pn;McDuff;".'The Commoner tyttl he
the last to "cry,: hold, enough ! "
Lincoln, Nebraska, October, 1921
Whole Number 750
. ti
STARTLING FACTS
"The records of the Internal Revenue
Bureau show that corporations of the
United States have made net profits
amounting to $47,000,000,000 during the
past five years. After paying taxes of all
sorts, there is left n&t profits of $38,000,
000,000. Fo,ur-fifths of this amount was
made by less than 10,000 corporations, and
more than $19,000,000,000 was made by
about 1,000 corporations such as the
Steel Trust, Du Pont companies, Standard
Oil, Bethlehem Steel, and others. These
corporations, numbering only abou(L0,?
000 out of a total of 317,000 in the United
States, are paying more than half of our
excess profits taxes. So it will be seen
that these big corporations that took adr
vantage of the Nation while its life was
jeopardized by war and profiteered to the
extent of billions and billions, are the chief
beneficiaries of a tax bill which gentle
men have the effrontery to declare is a
measure affording the people relief from
War taxes." '
The above is an extract from a forceful
speech by Congressman Henry B. Steagall
of Alabama, before the House of Represen
t,ativ.es.Jn which he laid bare the iniquities
Oif the proposed Republican tax revision
program. The speech, which is reproduced
in another part of this issue, should bo
read and re-read, and then passed on to
your neighbor.
PROGRESSIVE REPUBLICANS AT WORK
Press dispatches indicate that thd progres
sive Republicans of the Senate are gettiiig busy.
Whether they are acting on their own initiative,
1 or are stirred to activity by the amendments
proposed by the Democrats of the Senate, may
be a matter of conjecture, but that they are
moving along Democratic lines is certain. They
propose to restore the higher rates on. higher
incomes that is right; and they propose an in
crease in the inheritance on large fortunes Why
not? They will find all the progressive Demo
crats voting with them.
Why not let the excess profits ta stand? No
platform demanded its repeal; it is only pres
sure brought by big business. Let the excess
profits; tax remain: it measures the amount of
exploitation going on in the country, f
W. J. BRAN. '-'
PROTECTING TENANTS
On another page will be found a New York,
dispatch which tells how Mr. Untermyer is pro
tecting the tenants against extortionate rents.
A few big lawyers like Untermyer would change
Che situation in a short time, but most of them
seem to be retained on the other side.
i"
An Aid to Disarm-ament
While- disarmament in itself, is desirable, we" -can
hardly hope, to make much progress at Jt
unless at the same time we can provide a tri
bunal for the settlement of questions that have
heretofore been settled upon the . battlefield.
While the administration is hostile to the League
of Nations, it will be remembered that none o
the objectors to the covenant found fault with
the provision taken from the thirty American
treaties, providing for the investigation of ALL
disputes before resort to war. This plan, if in
force throughout the world, would make war al
most impossible. The plan, accompanied by dis
armament, would make war a thing of the past.
It is to be hoped that the two remedies can be
adapted at the same time, for each clearly aids
the other. Treaties providing for investigation
are less likely to be violated when armies and,
navies are reduced to a minimum, and the' treaty. ;
plan makes it! possible for the armies- and ,nayje
to be reduced to a mjnmum. - V1 '?'''
W. J. BRYAN.' " '-
TOO FAST AND TOO SLOW
ti The rules of the House of Representatives at
. Washington permit the House to move too rapid
, ly and the rules pf the Senate permit unneces
sary delay. The House rules should permit
, amendments and roll calls on amendments. Tbo
Revenue bjll, raising several billions of dollars,
was forced through with but one opportunity
giyen the minority for amendment. That stifles
the minority and permits the majority to escape
responsibility. A majority of the majority con
trols and the minority of the majority party Is
compelled to- acquiesce or join the opposition.
In the Senate, on the contrary, the minority
has too much power. In the Senate the rules
should be so amended; as to allow the majority
to close the debate after a reasonatyie tlmje, and
, In the House the rules should be so changed
as to allow, the minority to require a separate
vote on amendments to at least a reasonable ex
tent. W. J, BRYAN.
HEARING FROM THE COUNTRY
, The New York Times lectures the finance com
mittee of the Senate for being influenced by "let
ters, petitions, telegrams and other appeals"
from the country against the retroactive pro
visions of the revenue bill. It calls attention to
the "formal and public declaration of the thou
sands of manufacturers," which seems to have"
been ignored. The masses jiavo VOTES and
votes compel respect. Watch them next year.
FREWE'N ON SILVER. r " , . 'Kr
The readers of The Commoner wHl be interr
estod to read oh another page Moreton Fireweh'ii:
comment on the silver situation in 1894 and to-,
day. Mr. Frewen is an authority on internationr
al finances. -"
'... ' WETS WEAKENING
?.,' In 1919 the wets of Brooklyn were quite , hi
" j larious over the great victory won by Judge Has
. kell on a wet platform. This year he polled about V
one-sixth of the Republican vote for mayor and
the wets are busy explaining. The weta are
-weakening. '.
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