Vol. XIV.
LINCOLN, NEB., DEC. 25, 1902.
No. 31.
HOW TO WIN IN INDIANA
Mr. YauVorhU Diicuuei the Com of Ite
cent Defeats and SujgefcU a 1'Ian
of Action
Editor Independent: Tlie Indianap
olis Sentinel is funny over the recent
defeat and makes merry over the 4ues
tion, "Who is responsible for it?'
The democratic organization all
over tho United States in a proper and I
regular way selected delegates, and
sent them to the national convention
at Chicago. That convention in a
proper and regular way made a plat
form and nominated candidates. The
platform was such that it received the
support of over two million votes from
voters outside the party. A large num
ber of republicans, headed by such
men as. Senator Teller and Congress
man Towne, and almost all the popul
ist party supported the ticket. These
more than two million votes added to
the democratic votes ought to have in
sured the election of the ticket, but
it did not. It is certain that, if Mr.
Bryan had received the vote of ev
ery living democrat who voted for
Cleveland, the more than two million
votes additional would have elscted
him.
Who were the men that prevented
this? They were democrats, or called
themselves such not democrats who
left the party, and openly and hon
orably allied themselves with the re
publican party, but men who remained
with the party in appearance and
name often even taking part in its
committee work but who secretly
voted the republican ticket. Thou
sands of such instances have since
come to light all over the country.
No men can be blamed for changing
h!3 part:' associations, if the party to
which he has belonged makes a plat
form that he does not believe, and he
can find another party that comes
nearer expressing his beliefs. The
man who remains with a party and
claims memborship in it, and at the
same" time supports the other party is
dishonest and hypocritical. The man
who disbelieves in the principles for
which a party stands, and yet holds
to its organization, is unreliable and
dangerous. We must respect men v. ho
differ from us, when they openly de
clare their convictions and honestly
and courageously stand by them, but
the man having no convictions but
professing to have, or believing one
thing professes another, deserves only
public execration and personal con
tempt. In politics as everywhere else
concealment and pretense are indica
tive of p'urposes neither honest nor
patriotic.
lome of the men who betrayed the
party in 1896 occupied responsible
places in the councils of the party or
ganization. In this state, Sterling R.
Holt, chairman of the state commit
tee, deliberately plotted to assist the
republican party. He suppressed lit
erature sent to him for distribution,
and assisted in the distribution of re
publican literature. He held the posi
tion without rebuke from the Sentinel
until it was thought that no campaign
in this state was possible. It was as
dastardly a treachery as was ever per
petrated in politics. The Sentinel has
never had a word to say in condemna
tion of Holt's treachery. If street re
ports are to be at all credited, Holt is
one of its stockholders. At any rate,
he has recently erected a building ex
pressly for the Sentinel, and which
is now occupied by it This party
traitor is in good standing with thp
Sentinel.
Mr. Taggart is another Sentinel tool;
or was until recently. Taggart at
tempted to run with the hare and
bark with the hounds. He wanted to
be in favor with both sides, but was
neither. He attended and took part
in secret meetings organized to give
aid to the republican party. The Sen
tinel was then, and is now, fully con
versant with Taggart's want of politi
cal reliability. It was the particular
champion of Taggart for mayor in
1897, and was most bitter towards any
one who opposed-him. The Sentinel
has supported T. Taggart for national
chairman, but it docs not mention his
name any more. The Sentinel wanted
Fleming for state chairman. Tag
gart pretended to be for Fleming, in
duced Fleming to be a candidate for
the place, then assisted O'Brien to de
feat him, and, when Fleming and the
Sentinel discovered the trick Tom Tag
gart had played them, they danced
around his collar in lively style.
It will not be forgotten that the so
called proprietor of the Sentinel was
the recipient of favor from Cleveland,
and was never running over with en
thusiasm for the Chicago platform. It
required some time for it to get very
much energy into its pages.
Of course, as between Bryan and
Cleveland, the Sentinel Is for Cleve
land. It is not a question I'bout
whether Bryan or Cleveland caused
the defeat of 1896. It is a question in
this state, however, how much of the
responsibility for that defeat iests
upon Mr. Cleveland's friends, amonc
the number of which is the Indianap
olis Sentinel. Ever since 189G, the
Sentinel has been active in its efforts
to make it pleasant for democrats, who
opposed the Chicago platform, and
quite as active in making it unpleas
ant for those in or out of the party,
who had been in any degree conspic
uous supporters of that platform. It
is very strange, indeed, if the Senti
nel really desired the success of the
party in 1900, that neither it nor its
particular friends, nor the state com
mittee, had any hospitality to offer to
those who desired to assist the party
to elect Mr. Bryan.
There is not much doubt that if Mr.
party had been betrayed until they
had no heart in the state platform,
plainly intended to deceive them. It
is a low estimate to say that 75 per
tent of the democratic voters in this
state are Bryan democrats. They can
control 90 per cent of the township or
ganizations in this state if they will.
We want to see them do it. When
they do it, we are ready to help them
carry the state. What is the use to
go into another campaign with the
traitors of 189G and 1900 in a position
to betray them again? The party can
not succeed with men in control of
it, who are in politics for the pur
pose of adding to the profits of ireir
business, whether it be publishing a
newspaper, manufacturing beer, or
running a bank.
Fl.AVlUS J. VAN VORHIS.
Indianapolis, Ind.
IKE CURRENCY QUESTION
Opportunity to Ropes
"I observe myself," said John Rusk
in, in Fors Clavigera, "to be getting
into the habit of always thinking the
last blockheadism I hear, or think of,
the biggest. But thi3 system of mer
cantile credit, invented simply to give
power and opportunity to rogue3, and
enable them to live upon the wreck of
honest men was ever anything like it
in the world before? That the wrf tch
ed, impatient, scrambling, idiots, call-
Money and the Taxing Power
BY W.JI. ASIIBY.
AU R'ghts Reserved.
It gives The Independent great pleas
ure to announce to its readers that ar
rangements have been completed for
the publication in serial form of Capt.
W. H. Ashby's work on political econ
omy, "Money, andUiB Taxing Pow
er." This will be published in in
stallments of about two columns a
week, beginning January 1, 1903, un
til finished which will probabiy be
some time next summer. The Inde
pendent's policy will be to progress
by easy stages, giving our readers no
more each week than they can read
conveniently and mentally digest. Well
written criticisms of any position tak
en by Captain Ashby will always be
welcomed.
Captain Ashby has for years been a
student of political economy, and for
a long time accepted without ques
tion many of the so-called fundamen
tals of the science. But as his inves
tigations proceeded he was at times
confronted with obstacles that were
insurmountable and which necessi
tated his taking a circuitous route, or
a retracing of his steps and search for
a new path. Finally he resolved to be
gin at the beginning and survey his
own road through the forest of politi
cal economy, accepting no landmarks
and blazings which did not show un
mistakable evidence of authenticity
under the searchlight of reason. "Mon
ey, and the Taxing Power" constitutes
his field notes in making this survey.
In part Captain Ashby 's work i?
iconoclastic. He has no reverence for
idols simply because they have been
worshipped for generations. Yet his
conclusions in many respects are in
harmony with those of the great econ
omists. Written in the clearest of
English, and avoiding as far as possi
ble the stilted style adopted by most
writers on political economy, it can
not fail to give our readers a rare
treat.
Tell your neighbors about this new
feature of The Independent. Let them
try a three months' educational trial
trip subscription. A silver dime will
pay the bill. And if at the end of that
time Captain Ashby's instruction has
not become a necessity, it will be easy
to discontinue. Don't forget the date:
January 1, 1903, when the first in
stallment will be printed Begin at
the beginning and don't miss a number.
Bryan had come to this state after
the Kansas City platform and had re
pudiated the whole Indiana-Cleveland-Hill
outfit and called upon the voters
to stand by him in support of that
platform, he would have polled many
more votes than he did. The party or
ganization in this state was controlled
by those who hoped for favors from
concentrated wealth. It was the set
tled policy of the state committee to
discourage all discussion of the finan
cial questions. The columns of the
Sentinel and the doors of the state
committee room3 were wide open to
gold-bug prodigals; but the allies re
ceived but scant courtesy from either.
We have no blame to lay at the door
of the party masses. They are not
responsible for the actions of the men
who have had control of the organi
zation. We are ready to assist them
in the support of the principles of the
Chicago and the Kansas City plat
forms; but there is not a ghost of
hope of success unless they take pos
session of the party organization from
the precinct up to the state conven
tion, and exclude entirely from the
party councils the men, who have been
twice responsible for the defeat of
the national ticket. Of course, the
Sentinel does not care now to have the
matter of the responsibility for the
last defeat discussed. In this cam
paign, the Sentinel had everything its
own way, but the rank and file of the
ing themselves commercial men, for
sooth, should not be able so much as
to see this plainest of all facts, that
any given sum of money will he as
serviceable to commerce in the pocket
of the seller of the goods, as the buy
er; and that nobody gains one farthing
by "credit" in the long run. It is pre
cisely as great a loss to commerce that
every seller has to wait six months
for his money, as it is a gain to com
merce that every buyer should keep
his money six months in his pocket
In reality there is neither gain nor loss
except by roguery, when the gain is
all to the rogue, and the loss to the
true men. In all wise commerce, pay
ment, large or small, should be over
the counter. If you can't pay for a
thing don't buy it. If you can't get
paid for it don't sell it. So, you will
have calm days, drowsy nights, all
the good business you have how, and
none of the bad."
Custer county, the home of warring
populist, factions, finally dropped bacV
into the republican column. But shr
has to pav for it. The first draft cost
her $1,143.(53. Because the sma'lest
school apportionment (December, '98)
ever made to her by the fusionists wa
$(5,001.23. This year she gets $4,837.55.
The difference would pay 3 cents a
bushel for shucking 38,000 bushels of
corn.
Mr. Drllart (.omiiieuta ou tho I'renlclent'
Hwut'uiUn IlrcMrding au Elastic
I urrencj
Editor Independent: The president
says: "It is necessary that there
should be an element of elasticity In
our monetary system."
How much "elasticity" ought there
to be? The president makes no an
swer to this question. Who shall de-
tide as to th'e quantity of elasticity?
The president answers this question
by saying: "Banks are the natural ser
vants of commerce, and upon them
should be placed, as far as practicable,
the burden of furnishing and main
taining a circulation adequate to sup
ply the need 3 of our diversified indus
tries and of our domestic and foreign
commerce; and the issue of this should
be so regulated that a sufficient sup
ply should be always available for the
business interests of the country."
Evidently Mr. Roosevelt thinks that
the "banks" should decide as to the
volume of money and currency. This
is equivalent to saying that the "stand
ard measure of value" should be de
cided by the banks and not by the gov
ernment (or people generally, as rep
resented in congress). To say that
the elasticity of the currency should
be decided by the banlfs, is to say how
much and how little the volume of tho
money and currency shall be, and this
is to decide the "measure of value" for
the nation, which includes the "needs
of our diversified industries and of our
domestic and foreign commerce." Mr.
Roosevelt thinks that the "currency
should be so regulated (by the banks)
that a sufficient supply should be al
ways available for the business inter
ests of the country." Does he think
that there should always be money
enough to supply the "needs" of Wall
street speculators? or would he disre
gard thetr "neethry
The president suggests "that all fu
ture legislation on the subject should
be with the view of encouraging tho
use of such instrumentalities as will -automatically
supply every legitimate
demand of productive industries and
of commerce, not only in 4he amount,
but in the character of circulation; and
of making all kinds of money inter
changeable, and, at the will of the
holder, convertible into the estab
lished gold standard." The president
speaks of "legitimate demand of pro
dutive industries and of commerce."
Does h; consider the "industries" of
Wall street "productive?" Does ho
think that the business of WTall street
is a part of "commerce?" If it is a
part of commerce, is it a part of legiti
mate commerce, for which money or
currency should be provided by the
banks? He also speaks of "automatical
ly" supplying money and currency by
the banks. How is it possible for the
banks to supply currency (or money)
automatically?.
I have heard people say that the
government could regulate the cur
rency automatically, but I have never
heard it claimed that the banks could
regulate the currency automatically.
The president has in mind such "in
strumentalities" as will make "all
kinds of money interclr ngeabie," and,
at the will of the holder, convertible
into the "established gold standard."
But he does not specify the "instru
mentalities," and therefore we are left
in the dark as to how he will regulate
the currency "automatically," except
that the banks will do it, in some way,
"automatically;" which is an impos
sibility. He also thinks that all kinds of
money must be interchangeable and
they must all be convertible into the
"established gold standard." This i3
equivalent to saying that the govern
ment ought to exchange gold coin for
silver coin, whenever the holders of
silver demand the exchange. This
would make all moneys interchangea
ble, as long as the government is able
to give gold coin for silver coin. But
suppose the balance of trade turns
against our country and all the gold
goes away, how is the government to
give gold for silver? Suppose, again,
the gold and the silver coin should
both go away, would not this produce
too much elasticity of the currency? If
it would, is not the president's plan
defective? He assumes that we must