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The Commoner
'.j;VQL. 21, NO. 10
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The Page Letters
A man by tho name oC Hendricks Burton J.
1b editing the lottprs of tho lato Ambassador
Walter H. Pago and printing the odited letters
In tho World's Work. Either ho ox Mr. Pago
is roBponsiblo for sovoral flings at Mr. Bryan.
Tho flrHt was a complaint that Mr. Bryan, when
Secretary of State, gave a loiter to a friend ad
drossed directly to a British official instead of
Bonding tho friend to Mr. Page. Mr. Bryan
know that Mr. Pago was not friendly had never
boon but even if he had boon friendly, why
was it necessary to send a frieiid to Mr. Pago
with a request for a letter to the ofllcial of am
othor land??' Mr. Bryan knew many
foroign officials personally. No slight, was in
tended and no friendly American ofllcial would
have mndo it a part of his memoirs.
Tho second item that has been paraded before
tho public is Mr. Page's protest to Mr. House
against Mr. Bryun's speaking on the subject of
peace in Europe. Mr. Bryan never planned any
trjp to Europe whilo Secretary of State. Mr.
Page's alarm was therefore unnecessary. But
facts are immaterial when ono wants to find
fault.
Tho third reference is still more important.
Mr. Hendricks calls attention to the fact that the
Kaiser notified tMr. House that Germany would
not, on tor 'info the Treaty Plan embodied in
Thirty Trdatieswith threo-qua'rters df tho world.
Mr. Hendricks, do tho Boston Traveler says, con
gratulates ; the: pountry on "the Kaiser's action
and bfeathlbls'sly announces that if tho treaty
had boon negotiated "William II might now be
sitting online throne of a, v.ictdrious Germany
with EuropQ for a footstool." Has Mr. Hendricks,
forgotten that President Wilson was back of all
tho Bryan treaties? WhileMn Bryan proposed
the plan and negotiated tho treaties, ho spoke
as the representative of President Wilson and, '
as President Wilson's representative, offered the
treaty plan to Germany as ; well,, as to tho.otlior
countries. It seems to have boon to the Presi
dent's special representative1, ' that the ' Kaiser
presented his refusal. Mr. f Wilson 'was so com
mitted to tho Treaty Plan r at ho secured its
inclusion in tho covenant of tho League of Na
tions. Does 'Mrv Hendricks ' moan to criticize
President Wilson for having been willing to'
make a troaty with Germany in June, 1914? Or
is Mr. Wilson to have the credit -when-, things
go well and Mr. Bryan- .tobear the blame-swhon
they go wrong?
Dealers in the goods that farmers ordinarily
buy ar.e complaining that they insist on measur
ing all prices in bushels of, corn, and then refus
ing tq buy. Corn is down to thirty cents a
buBhol, below prewar prices, and is the 'ono
medium of exchange that the farmer possesses
in abundance at the present time. Until those
who consume the corn d'roctly or indirectly re
fuse to. reduce the exchange, value of what they
have .to, sell,, the farmer is Justified in refusing
to trade .v If, his example, were followed by alL
others whoso income has shrunk faster than
prices, tho top hdavy prico structure would
speedily tumble.
Tho truth about the movement, among, western
grain growers to organize a corporation through
which to market its grain without the aid or
consent of tile Chicago board of trade has at
last come out', It 1s a socialistic enterprise. The
national grain, dealers' association has so do-"
dared Jt. A socialistic enterprise, it should be
understood, is ono Whore the producers seek to
absorb the profits of marketing 'their own grain
If tho profits are absorbed by. tho national grain
dealers' association it is not a socialistic organ
ization. 'Thus wo see what a great boon it is
to have somebody to make our definitions' for us.1
It is perhaps worth noting that right; after tho'
Chicago, chief of police had delivered himself of.
the declaration that "prohibition is not a fact
bu.t a fallacy" the state's attorney came put with
the cjiargp that he had evidence to show half
of the, policemen in Chicago were in a con
spiracy to sqll confiscated liquor, that they had
stored some: of It In a station house and delivered
pa,M lt !5 P patro1 w.aSon. ' No wonder it Is
a fallacy where such things can go on under a
chief's nose. , ,
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A peculiar,, , divorce case is reported from
Chicago,. Tho yifo of millionaire there has
begun,. suit, for divorce and seeks a large sum
for; tallmony.,; Tho queer part of it is -that she
declares absolutely that ther.e is no other, woman
in the case. That makes one millionaire who
haa overlooked. the privileges of his class
UNTERMYER TELLS TENANTS NOT TO PAY
UNJUST INCREASES
With the renting population of this city and
the moving van men facing an October 1, wnicn
promises to be tho most confusing moving day
in history, duo to re-renting by landlords of
apartments whose tenants are unwilling or un
able to move, tho Lockwood legislative commit
tee decided yesterday on fresh measures of re
lief. They will be embraced in an application to
the Appellate Division for a definition of prac
tically all the disputed points of the rent laws.
Action was taken after an opinion from Samuel
Untermyer. chief counsel for the committee,
condemning in severest terms and pronouncing
"fundamentally wrong" the recent decision of
Justices Cropsey, Lazansky and Kelby, in the
Appellate Term in Brooklyn, that landlords Fre
entitled to a 10 per cent return on the market
value of their proport'es.
A case is to be brought speedily to the higher
court, in which not only this but many other
conclusions, in which Mr. Untermyer sot forth
that tho Brooklyn justices had erred, will be
determined in such a manner as to provide for
the first timo a uniform rent law construction
for Now York City. Meanwhile Mr. Untermyor
advises tenants from whom increases are de
manded, which will give landlords a return of
greater than 10 per cent on their equities (sub
ject to' qualifications which are later explained) ,
to withhold payment of the increases until the
appeals have been decided.
In his opinion, which was rendered at a meet
ing of the committee in his offices, Mr. Unter
myer, advised against an appeal of the specific
Brooklyn Case of Hirsch vs. Wiener, on the
ground .that the judgment of affirmance was
proper, inasmuch as the landlord had been al
lowed only 7 per cent, return by the lower .court.
He' declares, however, that in its decision the
court interjected opinions which, "if permitted
to go unchallenged, will establish a vicious and
unsound precedent which the statute did not
contemplate."
Mr. Untermyer points out that the landlord
who won the Brooklyn case has already noti
fied his tenants of further increases from. 10 to
25 per cent, in accordance with the rule the
coiirt laid dpwn. On Mr. Untermyer's advice,
the' tenants are refusing to meet the demand.
. Mr, Untermyer holds that the "only reason
able basis of rental value" is the value of the
investment at the time tho rental was fixed'.- He
says a 10 per cent return on actual investment
is not unreasonable, -but a 25 p.er cent return on
the total value of property , regardless of invest
ment, is -Van unreasonable and indefensible al
lowance. " New York World. '
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A New 'York banker has discovered who is re
sponsible for the forced liquidation that every
body has been blaming on the federal reserve
banks. He says that it was the depositors in the
member banks. They spent too large a portion
of their cash, deposits went down and the banks
had to call in loans. The theory is a pretty one
but overlooks the established fact that no one
noticed anything was Wrong until the federal re
serve banks adopted the sliding discount rate
with the slide tilted upward. '
The Senate committee on privileges and elec
tions has recommended that Newberry of Michi
gan be given his soat on the theory that in or-
S?7fionn nHfw rd !t was essary to spend
$176,000, and that anyway Newberry's 'riends
Iw? fw Tn( w?Sout his connivance.' The
fact that the Republicans cannot even excuse
this on the ground that they need another Re
publican in the Senate did not deter the com
mittee from such stultification.
atr 0umnlns has become convinced that
the' Esch-Cummlns law governing the railroads
has proved a failure, and that a new way of con
trolling them must be devised. This fact w?
discovered some time ago by the general L?
uih iS 'W td, "W tna? thHew fob he -let
to somebody else than the original authors
It may not be that the modern maiden wn
born to blush unseen, but unless a me 5?i7
inary blasting 1 done it is certainly1 difficult ?o
discover whether she is blushing. umiLUIt to
,' "OTHERS"
titiC?mfT0n9y, r-eader wrltos tfaat the poem en-
Why Sudfe Bitterness?
Why do the Darwinites and the evolutionist
fly into a passion- when - anyone questions th!
soundless of the guess that links man in hlonS
relation to the apes and the monkeys? Can it
be that brute ancestry is so aristocratic that the
are proud of it? If the human race could ha
divided into two groups and the members of
each group could bo allowed to choose their
own ancestry, the believers in Moses would glad
ly allow the believers in. Darwin to go to tho
jungle for their forefathers, but as all must
come from the same source those who prefer to
-be made in the Image of God ought not to bo eo
bitterly assailed for rejecting the brute ancestry
hypothesis.
I supposed that those who feel that they aro
forced by reason to be evolutionists would bo
-grateful to anybody who could convince them
of the truth of the Bible account of man's crea
tion, but I have never been more bitterly ls,
sailed even in politics than I have .by those who
take offense at my defense of the Bible account
of creation. One man even refused to lunch
where I was the guest of honor because he did
not agree with me on this subject of evolution.
Just think of that! If I can afford to eat with
a man who imagines he has brute blood in his
veins, why should ho object?
Anger is not a fair substitute for argument.
Whether man's ancestors once lived in trees, as
the evolutionists are in the "habit of saying, or
were made by the Almighty by separate act and
for a purpose, is a very important question. It
cannot be settled by a look of surprise or an ex
pression of contempt. The question lies at tho
very foundation of man's character and vitally
affects the basis of ethics. Evolutionists will
have to "come down out of the trees," abandon
"tooth and claw" methods, and present such
facts as they that cast suspicion on man's family
history.
A large majority of the Christians of the
United States and the world believe the Bible:
those who desire to substitute Darwin's "Descent
of Man'. for the Book of Books may as well cool
off and prepare their ' side: of the case. Even
the preachers who have "been joy-riding with the
evolutionists will have to meet, the facts. "A
tree is known by its fruits," and evolution has
been bearing fruit long enough for us to tell
the character of the tree. A doctrine that car
ries more than half of the prominent scientists
and nearly half tho male graduates of our col
leges away from the Bible and. the Bible's God
cannot be defended as an AID TO CHRISTIAN
ITY. The evolutionists tell lis that they can
worship a God who created a germ of life and
endowed it with power to develop, as reverent
ly as they could worship the God of Moses; but
the question is not whether they CAN, but wheth
er they DO. The facts show that evolution IS
leading men away from belief in a personal God
and a personal immortality and that, too, with
out a single fact in the universe to support the
doctrine of evolution as Darwin applied it to
man. The evolutionists lay great stress upon
REASON why not apply reason to evolution?
That an all-wise, all-powerful, and all-loving(
God should create man in His image as Moses
declares He did is much more REASONABLE
than evolution or any other substitute ever of
fered for the Bible plan. W. J. BRYAN.
The women of Nebraska are supporting the
referendum on the anti-primary bill which the
last legislature attempted to make into a law.
The significant fact that just as soon as tho
women became voters the machine politicians
began maneuvering to get back to the-old con
vention system, under which the average voter
counted for nothing, has not been lost upon tho
new addition to the electorate""
Judging by the numerous -arrests of boozo
runners who use motor cars ttie old proverb will
have to be rewritten to read that a fool and his
auto are soon parted. ''- " "
A PROVISION FOR STATI? CONSTITUTIONS
(Suggested by Hon. j; E. Babb.)
nS?i , t: PQrsons having business with
i 11 U0(liea boards or committees thereof,
SJ5 ?ot mtGnrew or solicit .or communicate
witn the said public functionaries or the mem
S?2 ?oreioC otnerwise than in open meetings
pn'aiwllich a Quorum is Present, to tho
5ftSat the publIq an competitors of the ap
plicants, may be represented -and know what
Snfr ? on' and the legislature' is required to
SI?? nce8sary provisions to that end obligatory
iBih'th aS weU aa Persons baying business
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