The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, March 12, 1903, Page 2, Image 2
2 THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT , : v . . march 12, i903. . Q Keystone When yon buy a watch, first select the work and &a Uil the jewsier you want a Jas. Boss Stiff ened Gold Case. To protect yourself from decep tion be guided by the Key ilouo trade-mark which you will Hod in every . mawSi Better than an all-gold ease becanse stronger; cheaper becanse no gold to wasted. The Jas. Boss Case is guaranteed for 26 years. Won't wear thin. Bend for book. ' The Keystone Witch Cue Comptay, Philadelphia.1 7 meaning they were. intended, to convey.- - ,;" '" - Can you truthfully "say that your club is not a part of the eastern po litical movement, by which it is in tended, if possible, to take the public mind off the financial question? Is it a. a A. I A. 4.1 i A. - M J uvi i as -ast ias larger nan oi ine members of your club, that controls its action, is in accord in sentiment with the sentiment of what we usual ly denominate the "financial inter ests?" ; ' . You know that, while you may dis tinguish the members of it by various political names, there Is practical unanimity in their desire that the money question shall not be made prominent. If this be true, then it strikes me as little better than a quib ble when you say that the club is not Influenced by these sentiments. You came to Indianapolis and, In a few hours after you arrived, there was a banquet at the Grand hotel, the oc casion of which was your presence. It Is immaterial who got it up. The inference is justified by the circum stances and what occurred that the purpose of it was to create the impres sion that the - money question had ceased to interest the people. You may not have had any such intention, but your club was the instrument by which, through you as its representa tive, : the attempt was made, as I stated in . the article. I.said in addi tion, to what you quote that, "When the time comes for congressional ac tion, they (these two clubs) always pet together. . . as they did when the Wilson bill was under consideration." I have been an observer, of the ac tions of the two classes of influences represented by the two leagues for a good many years. I say very deliber ately and sincerely that the purposes! or both, judging by what has occurred in the economic history of the country, have been almost purely commercial and pecuniary. "Patriotic duty," no doubt, controls some, but I am afraid, if there was nothing nearer or more personal in interest thin the welfare of the masses of the. common jjeopia of the country, It would not take long to count the active members of either league. t . , .- During the only interview I had with you, while you were in this city, I was surprised to hear yon state that you knew very little about the finan cial question. How are you able, then, to charge that I am "prejudiced" or "fanatical" in my, yiews of the ques tion? The words are, quite familiar as stock arguments from the mouths . . . a i i . ... uuu ucuo ui iucu wuu.na.vts uul iikp you. admitted their 'want of Informa tion, hut who nevertheless disclosed it. . .. ...... You seem to think the league very broad because it has made; a motto of Jefferson's words, and applied them to the one purpose of your league. The words were not uttered from so narrow a viewpoint To cramp and shrivel these immortal words tn m the dimensions of -how a tariff shall be applied to imports is not evidence of a very broad grasp of social and economic conditions. If is gertainly not broad enough a grasp to justify your , league, or any member of it, m implying that any one, who does not think that the tariff .question Is all the question there is in 'American politics, is possessed of only one idea. To me nothing seems more "absurd and ridiculous" than formthe ofllcial representative of a club that, con fessedly, has but one Idea, and seeks to occupy the whole political field with that idea, to talk about "subserv ience to a single idea," when some other question Is forced upon the at tention. In my judgment, there is no hope of a correct settlement of the tariff question In the interest of the people until the financial question is adjusted according to correct econ omic principles. I suggest, therefore, that those of your league, who are actuated by ideas of "patriotic duty," give a little time and study to the money question, so that they may be able to understand how the question is related to tho- question of foreign trade and duties on Imports. When they do, they may be able to see that my opinion of the protective tariff league of New York and the American free trade league of Boston is not without foundation in facts. agree with you (no dif ference what may be correct in prin ciple concerning protection and free trade) that a tariff now, for any oth er purpose than revenue, is robbery. But must I shut my mouth about ev erything else? Must I allow myself to be humbugged and deceived by a fight over this question to the exclusion of every other question? 1 confess that I have no longer any patience with that political insight that is not able to see that, the tariff question, while in a certain sense important, is only a bagatelle in comparison with ques tions that involve the surrender of the prerogatives of government to the control of private' Interests. And I must be pardoned if I am sometimes forced to doubt the sincerity of the devotion to what seems in comparison so trifling a cause. Sincerely yours, FLAVIUS J. VAN VORHIS. Indianapolis, Ind. , REPUBLICAN TRUST BUSTIK6 The Pirates do aet rear Publicity Hera Than They Wo aid a Dose of Soothing- Syrup A senator recently declared that the trusts did not fear a publicity bill any more than they would "a dose ' of soothing syrup." This is true, and more than true. The publicity meas ure has been admitted by many news papers, without regard to partisan alignment, to be as mild and milky as the trusts could desire. All the publicity provided for in the Nelson amendment, which is a law, is the re quirement that the chief clerk and secretary of the new department of commerce "make diligent investiga tion into the organization, conduct and management of the business of any corporation engaged in commerce among the several states." The spectacle of tne secretary and his clerks patiently and laboriously making diligent investigations into the carefully prepared books of the com bines, while the suffering public stands helplessly by with the trusts plundering its pockets, is Indeed a striking one. The measure provides, that this in formation, when finally' gathered, will be presented to the president, who in turn shall examine It, and who may then make suggestions to. congress to legislate away, any, evils which the facts show to exist. The information so collected shall be made public only if the president wishes to give it out, and under the amendment a president friendly to the trusts could suppress it all. This, then, is the much heralded publicity. The clerk of the new de partment of commerce, Mr. James R. Garfield, will collect the information, or whatever he can obtain, from the unwilling trusts; he will then give it to Secretary Cortelyou, who will in turn hand it over to President Roose velt, who can examine and suppress it, or publish it, and make recommenda tions to congress for legislation. This is a long and devious course to find out something that the whole country knows about and to inform congress of how the trusts are robbing the peo ple. It will take some astonishing mental Juggling for campaigners , to convince the people that there is any thing to trouble the trusts, in such a program. Denver News. "THE SPARTAN IDEAL ';:.L;;v.''"v -. ' v. Mr. Sampsoa' Criticises lresideat Ileote Telt's Letter to Mrs. Vaa Terst-The Qttss'tloaef Motherheed ' Editor Independent: In the papers of February 12 appeared a letter from President . Roosevelt to a Mrs. Van Vorst, published as the preface of her book 4 entitled,- "The Woman; Who Toils.'!. , , ; - - - - ' The letter is characteristic as illus trative of the chief executive's strcs uousness. With such strenuousness the undersigned has no quarrel be yond the observation that undue stren uousness is admittedly a chief evil of American individual life, and that na tional strenuousness is sweeping the republic into the maelstrom of em pire. ,. .: ...... . Nor does the writer fail to appre ciate the several -manly virtues incul cated by the president, and his state ment that the most valuable posses sion in life are those that cost ef fort .-. :, !. But the chief executive's ideal is evidently the Spartan Ideal an ideal worthy to a limited extent, but whose comparative value for individual and national life may be determined by the fact that, while Sparta is but a name, Athens, which stood for a dif ferent and broader ideal, has been a power in civilization for twentv cen- .turies, and will continue to be a world power, . in the best sense, so long as the race shall endure. - , It is chiefly with the president's conception of parenthood that the writer is compelled to differ. Large families of healthy children appears to be his. domestic ideal. The trouble here Is similar to the trouble with the chief executive's conceDtion of our national life, involving the sacrifice of American ideals to territorial ag grandizement "namely, the subordina tion of the spiritual to the material. With "the president, quantity seems to be the chief consideration. Quality is comparatively unimportant As for health, the writer would per haps go further than the chief execu tive, and advocate the prohibition of marriages likely to result in un healthy children, with drastic penal ties for illegitimacy. - But on the oth- et hand, the question of family size is not properly a health question at all. The, ability to have a large fam ily, of healthy children involves no obligation whatever to have such a family. Man is more, infinitely; more, than an animal. In this supreme- con cern, character, education. ooDortun- ity, should be the controlling determi nants. .. The larger the family, the less opportunity there is to mould the character of each child, the less opportunity to educate it broadly, the less opportunity has each child for self-development and a life of high service to his fellow-men. And. as Emerson says, "America is but an other name for opportunity." But the president would abridge this priceless heritage of the American citizen. To subordinate character, education, opportunity the highest interests of life to sensual gratification or the pride of numbers--this is to commit. an unspeakable wickedness. To bring into being an Immortal soul without its God-given riKht to the best nos- sible inheritance, not onlv nhvslraiiv. but also intellectually, morally, and spiritually this is the great crime against society. To be well born is the fundamental right of every hild of God, and to the neglect of this right are chiefly attributable the evils of tne social state. But perhaps the swarms of healthv children, the swarms of healthy men ana women, in an tne great centers of population, whose reformation defies the charitable Instrumentalities of so ciety, afford the best practical com mentary on the chief executive's doc trine. As for the race-suicide, complete or partial, which the president deems the greatest of possible national evils, it would seem more practical, in view of the steadily increasing population the world over, to ponder the problem of poverty the poverty that ever in creases with so-called "progress," the poverty that is chiefly attributable to over-population. Nor can the writer Indorse without qualification the chief magistrate's as sertion that "the greatest thing for any woman is to be a good wife and mother." As a general proposition it might be true, were society differently constituted. But so long as church and state subordinate women in the domestic relations, so long as a com paratively low estimate of woman and her mission prevails, she is quite as likely to achieve her greatest develop ment and usefulness outside of mar riage as in it The error of the presi dent is here again a fundamental er ror, namely, that women exist pri marily to advance the comfort and pleasure of men. The truth is, that women exist no more for men than men' exist for women.'' The ministry J of the sexes to each other should bo of mutual dignity and importance; or. If there Is any difference, the order of creation would suggest that em phasis be placed on the service ren dered by men to women. It is no more woman's mission to be good wives and mothers than it is men's mission to be good husbands and fathers. The chief object of mar riage is conceived to be the develop ment of character through the recip rocal influences of the .sexes in this most' intimate of relations. The rear ing of children always falls heavier on the mother than on the father, and a large family almost certainly proves an embargo on the mother's personal development the development which should : zealously be guarded, as her. most sacred trust. Parenthood should . be distinctly incidental to marriage important but subordinate to life's supreme object, the development of character. To be a wife and mother may be a blessing to all concerned. Too often it is a dire eviL And to be a good wife and mother, one must first be what is greater than, either a roy al woman. Only -as she is such, should she accept the sacred respon sibilities of wifehood and motherhood. JOHN SAMPSON. . 2420 14th street, N. W Washing- ton, D. C. Predicts Political Revolution. -At the recent convention of the West Virginia state grange, a resolu tion indorsing the optional referendum and direct Initiative in governmental affairs was unanimously adopted. This is the eighth state grange that has declared for majority rule six hav ing made the declaration since Decem ber 1. ( - In reporting the action of the West Virginia grange, the master, T. C. Atkeson, dean of the college of agri culture in the state university, says:' "Evidently, the referendum idea is growing in this country. A political revolution of some kind is not very far in the future. Just what form it .will take it is now impossible to say." The growing movement for an in crease of power in the people through the right to a direct ballot is an in dication of the . prpbable character of the revolution. It can be installed in national affairs through rules of pro cedure, and therefore can be provided for in the election of next year if a majority of the ; congressmen, , are pledged and a majority of. the senators are strongly instructed.1 V The Declar ation of Independence was the result of instructions, and it " is quite prob able . that the final chapter in the change to majority rule will be . se cured by instructions. ; , Let us make the Independent School of Political Economy a great body of truly educated men and women, and thus counteract the evil being done bv the National Economic League, with its plutocratic college presidents, trust magnates, and Grover Clevelands. ; Dn Shoop's Rheumatic Cure Costs Nothing If It Fails. After 2,000 experiments, I hafe learned how to cure Rheumatism. Not to turn bony joints into flesh again; that is impossible. But I can cure the disease always, at any stage, and forever. I ask for no money. 'Simply write me a postal and I will send you an or der on your, nearest aruggist tor six bottles Dr. Shoon's Kheumati finre. for every druggist keeps it Use it for a month and, if it succeeds, the cost is only 5.50. If it fails, I will pay the druggist myself. , . I have no sam; es, because any med icine ; that can affec"' Rheumatism quickly must be drugged to the verge of danger. I use no such drugs, and it is folly to take them. You must get the disease out of the blood. My remedy does that, even in the most .difficult obstinate cases. No matter how Impossible this seems to you, I know it and take the risk. I have cured tens of thousands of case3 in this way, and my records show that 39 out of 40 who get six' bottles pay gladly. I have learned that people In general are honest with' a physician who cures them. That is all I ask. If I fail I don't expect a penny from you. m ' Simply write me a postal card or a letter. ; I will send you my book about Rheumatism, and an order for the medicine. Take it for a month, as it wonY-harm you anyway. If it fails, it is . free, and I leave 1 tLa ' decision with you. Address Dr., Snoop, Box 940 Racine, Wis. ; ' Mild cases, not chronic, are often cured by one or two bottles. At all druggists.