Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1922)
-ggjw vygpwrvmjfi)igmrx"' Ihe oner WILLIAM J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR .f VOL. 22, NO. 7 K 1! v Law or Lawlessness The Demccrats have a splendid chance to con trol the next House and make large gains in the Senate, PROVIDED the wet Democrats do not destroy our prospects hy trying to make the party serve the liquor interests. Prohibition is here to stay. .No intelligent wet has any hope of repealing the Eighteenth amendment; neither lias any intelligent wet any hope of a law per mitting the manufacture and sale of intoxicat ing beverages. So long as the Eighteenth amendment remains the Supreme Court will be compelled to nullify any law permitting the use of enough alcohol to make beverages intoxicat ing. All that the wets hope for is a majority in the House or Senate just enough to enable them to block appropriations for enforcement. Any man who represents the wet side of the con test will oppose appropriations and thus invite an era of lawlessness in which the liquor traffic can do as it pleases. The real question is law or lawlessness and that issue supersedes all others. We cannot have government without obedience to law. Wherever, therefore, the enforcement of the law is threatened, other questions must be post poned. The drys greatly outnumber the wets hut the wets think of only one thing, namely, where they can get a drink; they are more in tense in their feeling and therefore more active in their efforts. The drys must be vigilant and not permit the wet's to win a point. We should not only have a working majority in both houses but wo should have a TWO-THIRDS VOTE as we have had in the three Congresses past, so that we can override vetoes if necessary, and impeach judges in case they fail to enforce the law. Law, like a. link in a chain, .is only as strong as its weakest paint, whether that weak ness is found in a faulty wording or a failure to enforce. The law may be perfect and the en forcement one hundred per cent efficient, but it will profit nothing if a wet judge rofuses to pun ish those who are guilty. Those engaged in bootlegging havo no sense of honor, and, there fore, are indifferent to fines so long as the fines do not absorb all the profits derived from mak ing illegal sales. An impeachment of a wet Judge guilty'of violating his oath of office would Jave a wholesome effect on other wet judges. The moral influence of lawlessness is injurious in proportion to the prominence of the offender; a wet judge can do more harm than a host of bootleggers. Wherever there is a wet candidate with any chance of election the dry forcos should "nite to make his defeat" sure. W. J. BRYAN. SECRETARY WEEKS REACTIONARY Secretary of War Weeks has stepped forward 0 claim the prize as the champion reactionary in the President's cabinet. Ho attacks the direct Primary, the agricultural bloc," and the 3 8th amendment. Of course, Weeks opposes them 1 s opposition is one more proof that the primary 8 wise, the bloc a blessing, and the amendment; a necessity. ' Wi ,T, BRYAN. Lincoln, Nebraska, July, 1922 rimuwii huli fta, -n7jriMwrai Whole Number 759 Nebraska Politics The election in Nebraska this year ..includes the election of a United States senator, six con gressmen, governor, all state ofllcers, the elec tion of members of the legislature and the 'elec tion of all county officers. The primary for the selection of candidates will be held on Tuesdav, July 18. Four political parties have candidates in the field., In addition to the Democratic, Republican, and Prohibition tickets, a new political party has made its appearance under the name cf Pro gressive party. When the Progressive party was formed during the winter, the intention was to make it the farmers' party oi a combination of farmers and laboring men. When the party was finally organized and in the field, however, it de veloped that most of the candidates -and mem bers of the party organization were composed of lawyers, real estate men and other business callings, with very few farmers or Inhering men on the ticket or on the campaign committees. A contest and finally a split in the Progressive party ranks occurred, and the party now has two sets of candidates in the primary fighting each other, which has destroyed any chances that the new party may have had to become a political party of formidable strength. One branch of, the Progressive party is called the Mid-Roaders and the other branch of the Progressive party is called Fusionisls, the latter having filed some of their candidates on the Democratic ticket also. The Democratic party, if successful in nomi nating its strongest men, has a splendid op portunity to carry the state in November. Tho political tide is running strongly against the Re publican state administration, which has more than trebled the taxes in the state in the last four years. The do nothing policy of the present Republi can national administration has greatly disap pointed all classes of the people, not only in Ne braska, but elsewhere throughout the country, and the feeling that the people will turn to the Democratic party for relief, not only -in the stnto elections this year, but in tho presidential elec tion two years from now, is causing unusual In terest and activity in the primary contest in Ne braska as elsewhere. Charles W. Bryan, publisher and associate edi tor of The Commoner, is a candidate for govern or on tho Democratic ticket, having" filed for governor on the last day that filings could bo made. The effort being made by an outside po litical organization to nominate candidates en the Democratic ticket which in the belief of many would divide the Democratic party and prevent it from being in a position to give the people in Nebraska relief from high taxation this year or to be in a position to have Nebraska in tho forefront of the national fight two years from now caused Mr. C. W. to file as a candi date. He is oppos'ed to any backward stop being tak en on what has been accomplished in Nebraska, . He is in favor of strict law enforcement, and hlH platform is so practical and specific in its plans for reducing the cost of government, cutting out extravagance and putting the state's business on a basis of economy and efficiency that his candi dacy should appeal to all Commoner readers. His qualifications for the position of chief executive of the state are so well known, and his success in fighting the battles of the common people in the city of Lincoln, vouched for by tho leading Democratic men and women, and by the wage earners of his home city irrespective of party, make further endorspment unnecessary. Ah friends of The CJommoner in Nebraska who know what The Commoner .stands for are urged to make every effort possible to nominate Mr. Charles W. Bryan on primary day next Tuesday. Below will be found his statement to the vot ers of Nebraska, followed by his platform, en dorsements and recommendations of his record in his home city and state. To the Voters of Nebraska The campaign upon which we are entering in Nebraska is a most important one. The peo ple of all classes regardless of party affiliation are demanding relief from excessive taxation, extravagance and inefficiency in the manage ment of their state affairs. The Republican nrty when it came into power in this state ound the state government being operated at 1011111 - fllmllf si 0 000,000 fcr the bien- ? WhV receiving, good pWces for tlieir g?ain and livestock, and they found the wage-earners employed and receiving good wages. No sooner had the Republicans taken charge of state affairs than they became intoxicated on Democratic prosperity and went on a, debauch of joy-riding, extravagance and inefficiency, of duplicating administration heads, of adding an army of expensive and unnecessary employes to the state's payroll, adding to the cost of govern ment and increasing the taxes until the people of the whole state are crying for relief. When the cost of government jumps from $10,000,000 to ?30,000,000 in four years, it is time to call a Ne braska Primary Day, July 18, 1922 '..i. .jimh'im'WbtiMLiJi:iii..