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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1922)
1 ttmwY?rr OCTOBER, 1922 The Commoner 5 b A Great Victory for the People THEY KNOW WHAT THEY WANT (Edgar Howard, in Columbus, Nob., Telegram.) Last winter ox-Mayor Charley Brya: , now a city commissioner, conducted a municipal coal yard in the city of Lincoln. He bought coal in large quantities and retailed it to the people at price far below the price demanded by Coal Trust. The municipal coal yard saved ? 150,000 to the people of Lincoln and vicinity in one year. Coal Trust got busy and carried the municipal coal yard into court. The court Rilled the plan to get coal to the people at low cost. The ruling of the court was that, the people had never given the city commissioners power to enact a munici pal coal yard ordinance. ' xTho Commissioner Bryan called upon the friends of cheap coal to circulate petitions for a referendum vote on the question." Did the people of Lincoln vote in favor of a municipal coal yard and, cheap coal? They did. Was it a close vote? More than ten to one in favor of thecity coal yard. It was a great victory for Charley Bryan, and a great victory for tho former victims of Coal Trust. In this connection it is known in some quar ters, and I state hore as a fact, that for more than two years the big corporations have main tained in Lincoln a bureau of "information." That's the name they gave it. The business of that hureau was to write for the daily and coun try newspapers columns of news and editorial matter calculated to make the people believe that it is bad for the people to have any public utilities owned by the people, but that all such things ought to be owned by corporations. Those hypnotizers worked earnestly to earn their big salaries, and I really believe they did earn them, because they put up some fine arguments for a bad cause. But the people of Lincoln, and of the whole country, are getting their eyes' open to the need of publicly-owned public utilities. They are not wanting a city, a state or a nation to engage in competition with private dealers in any commo dity, but thoy are getting ready to exercise that competition whenever the discovery shall be made that any article necessary to the comfort of the people Is controlled by a trusti The next step will be for the national government to own and operate all the coal mines, to the end that the country may no longer be robbed by Coal Trust. And the next step will be for the parent gov ernment to own and operate all the railroads, to the end that the producers of the country may nave opportunity to get their produce to the mar Kot places at a charge which will leave some Profit to the producer. ' The leaven o! good sense is working among the people. MUNICIPAL COAL MAKES A CLEANING IN LINCOLN ELECTION Municipal coal has become a settled feature Iff ;i1Q. city of Lincoln. The people settled it thi? votes at a special election held for fnJ expess Purpose last Tuesday. The majority K 1 imumcipal coal was immense. ' There were Jrnnn m GS CaSt f WhIcl 4'721 were for the favm ? t and 424 aeainst eleven to one in iJL,;' In several precincts the vote was unan oS in J ono vote boilie cast against it. It is tK, e y that had a ful1 vote been obtained, larcn SI y would havo been Proportionately as did n'ftf i ny PQPl0 who favored the question it wn?,ii tIme t0 vote as tuey said thev knew owZom ?arry anykow. Lincoln is for public fair n i f anybdy happens to ask you, on any I m reasonable proposition. start wn! Coal has aad hard sodding from tho toemW I the "PePle wero for Jt certain it, ma of tbo council wore strongly opposed to aSairiBt umiay tel1 you now tnat they never were the iipL ut smooth as they are in smearing Prints ,?ople' thoy cannot cover their feet the ini . case' The clty coal combine and Were rcle of the chamber of commerce and all ft1?81, ltt and thG citv lesal department tabliBhnS i thoir ddest to prevent its being es firyan ??, winter bt Commissioner C. W. IOUSht it through the council and gave the People excellent service and saved them some thecal11; depa'rtnf 'K T'T to har8 the courts on several nrf7, d,ragged ll into decision from th ? bud?'8 anfdt?nally sot a council had not LtahlE, nUrt,tbat the c,ty accord with Cp?fvMed thls dePrtment in continuatloVof8 nVnicipa 1 Wei ' tV ? have .spoken on the wAl'imoZ BaiVbyThrCe11 D dUbt handed and" aCTtaBt the te? VnSi nanaea and alone he scrapped the council the Incidentally we might remark that Tuesday's cftvw if ?nCt lnl8 Pr foro-nner of what thi InUa ?r IP' Bryan in November when tho voters come to choose a governor. Things have come to a pass where the public needs men who will respect the public, who will respect them selves and their oath of office and who will do things and do them for the public instead of a little ring or special interests and C. W. Bryan has given numerous demonstrations on these lines to the people of this city. And the feeling out in the state seems to bo equally as strong for C. W. as it is here at homo It looks very much now as though he will win in a walk Lincoln Herald. SERVING NOTICE In words as clear as any that could be em ployed, Senator Borah tells Europe how it may gain American favor for cancellation of its eleven billion dollar war debt. He tells Europe's statesmen that the American people could never be greatly interested in any proposition for the renunciation of any part of the debt to the United States unless the proposition is accom panied by a definite and specific plan supported by guaranties for practical disarmament both by land and by sea. He tells them that "there is nothing to be gained by our concelling the debt, or any part of it, i the gigantic military and armament programs in Europe are to continue. It would amount in practical effect to our aid ing and and abetting the building of these great military, establishments and therefore abetting war. If cancellation is to be considered at all, it should be considered in the interest of hu manity, of economic sanity." Here is language that kings should be able to understand, and re publics, too. It will have the backing of an American congress of like mind with Senator Borah, for more progressives are on the way. Of course the American debt will not prevent Eu rope from making ready for another war if its people will permit their rulers to bring it on, for the budget makers of these nations have not considered this debt as any part of a problem in fluencing their appropriations, quarrels or can cellations. But so long as this debt remains to remind the American people of the cost of war, they will send no more argosies abroad volun teering the sacrifice of American youth in the racial and commercial quarrels of Europe. When nations adopt a pay as you go policy in the con duct of wars there will be fewer wars. New York Sun. WHY THE rUBLIC PAYS Coal prices are from 10 to 20 per cent higher to consumers than a year ago. The operators say that they had a large overhead expense that could not be avoided even when the mines were idle The men say that because of the shopmen s strike there is a shortage of cars and this means that as they are limited in their work to but a few days a week they must have better pay for the days thoy do work. The retailers say they had to keep their offices open even when there was no coal to handle. All of this sounds very nlausible and fair until one sits down to analyze Ft All these are costs resulting from the strike, which was caused by the failure of the operators W, , i minors to agree on a wage scale, not trough any fault of the public. Why must the througn any iu exl)enses and the orgam- XrthKusthen,1, particular the op- erators, none ot them WOnTHX WOMAX CANDIDATE Mrs. "Ben 0, plon or the Senate nWiscosa rmnjs of P MMVtM dry RepuMicans. World's Salvation Rests in Word of God On ovory hand and in ovory land wo sco tho strugglo Is to got as much as possible from tho world without regard to tho serv ice by which rewards should bo meas ured. Tho ignoring of tho divino law of re wards makes more difficult tho probloms of taxation, the industrial situation, tho on forcomont of law, tho elimination of tho profiteors, and tho establishment of world peace. There never was a time In tho world's history when it was moro Impor tant that tho world should got back to God and obey tho first and groat command ment, "Thou shalt lovo tho Lord thy God with all thy hoart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," and tho second, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thysolf." William J. Bryan, In his addross to tho Sunday School Convention at Kansas City, June 27. - TO STUDENTS Mr. Milton Thomas, Editor-in-Chief, "The Troy Student," Troy, N. Y. My dear Sir: Answering your inquiry, I beg to submit tne. following sentiment: There is no new advico to give students. Times may change and condi tions change but tho individual is tho same. Ho needs tho same amount of exorcise to make his body strong, tho same amount of intellectual training to discipline his mind and the samo spiritual development to guide his lifo. If ho gives his attention to his body only ho may bo come perfect physically but merely a perfect brute. If he gives his entire attention to his mind he may become a perfect mental machine but a machine is valuable according to tho use that is made of it. A good education will contribute as much to the success of a criminal as to success in honest business an educated criminal can do more harm and bettor avoid capture than an uneducated ono. The develop ment of the heart must keep pace with tho de velopment of the mind the bigger the ship tho larger tho rudder necessary to guide it. Whether an education, therefore, is a bono fit to the one which has it and to those about him depends altogether upon his conception of life and this, I feel, does not have as much at tention in our schools as it should have. If civilization is to bo measured by tho harmonious development of body, mind and heart, it Is very important that the student shall have a strong moral character as well as a strong mind antf body. Very truly yours, W. J. BRYAN. EXPLOITING THE TOURIST Every American who returns from Europe tells the samo story of an apparently concerted effort on .the part of the shopkeepers and cus toms guards to compel America to pay the costs of the war. An American must pay four or five times as much for goods as a native and then they arc taken from him at the frontiers of Ger many and several other countries on the ground that the articles are not exportable. We decline to be much annoyed over this situation. Thero is no law-compelling Americans to travel in Europe, any more than during the war there was any necessity for them thrusting their presence into the war zone and then demanding protection. A DISTILLER'S PLAN The New York Times gives considerable space to an intervew with Lord Dewar, a British dis tiller, who argues against prohibition and advo cates "education" in its place. If the Times wants to be fair it hould now hunt up a pro fessional burglar and get an interview from him arguing the superiority o.f moral suasion over safes and burgler alarms as a means of protect ing banks. ONE THING .SURE Taxes arc never going to bo reduced by a party that declares it is impossible to reduce them. Neither Is better government to be se cured from a party that insists that the exist ing government is the best government pos sible. Omaha, Neb., World-Herald. 'l ' ti .& Wtaat .' ufe, .