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Vol. XIV.
LINCOLN, NEB., MARCH 19, 1903.
No. 43.
THE QUALITY OF HARMONY
Mr. Van Torhli Inelata That Democratic
Harmony Cannot be Secured by lg-
noring the Money Question
Editor Independent: One -who did
not know the able editor of the Clark
County Citizen might conclude that
there was a certain poverty of intel
lect in the editorial department of the
Citizen, when it does not find some
thing to say in an Answer that is not
assertions based on assumptions ; that
ought to be known to be untrue. Of
course, when it is desired to straddle
a question, and present a smiling faci
of approval to antagonistic elements
in. the party, it must not be expected
to be entirely consistent or candid.
The Citizen expressed its "contempt
for the traitors 6f 1896 and 1900," but
qualifies its contempt by the phrase
"in a political sense. ' How contempt
in a political sense differs from con
tempt in any other sense I do not
know, unless by "political" is meant
Pickwickian. This much is certain,
tnat it was the financial question that
furnished the motive for the treach
ery. The traitors to whom he , refers
must have believed that this was the
only "democratic principle" worth
considering.
, If I understand the Citizen, it pro
poses to drop this question to get
these traitors to "harmonize." Be
cause I say the question is too im
portant to be dropped,, and because I
say that there is a large number of
voters In its party and over, two mil
lions outside of it who are not will
ing to pay such a price for such a
quality of harmony, it asserts that I
believe the ; "demand for bimetallism
is the only democratic principle." The
trouble with my friend Brayfield is
that he doesv not distinguish between
a principle and a mere incident to a
principle. As an "old-fashioned demo-
crat" (whatever he may mean . by
. that) , r , he does not distinguish between-.democrat"
as a party name
and democratic as principles of gov
ernment No party under any name
has a patent upon 'democratic prin
ciples. Many republicans are as firm
believers in the wisdom ; of applying
democratic principles to this.govern-
- ment as any of those who name them
selves "democrat." Many such re
publicans have not yet fully realized
that their party has abandoned some
of, if not all, the mpst important
democratic principles taught by Jef
ferson, that were the very basis of
its organization.
' The trouble with the Citizen is, that
it wants to be in harmony with cer
tain men in its party who have done
the very same thing, and who in
1890' and 1900 preferred the success
of the republican party, without dem
ocratic principles, but with a finan
cial plank that suited them, instead
of trying to get rid of this undemo
cratic element and trying to draw to
its party, from all parties, all those
who believe in a democratic form of
. government
Now, the Citizen wants "all sorts
of people" to help elect the candidate
of its party. Does it mean by this
that it wants party success, principles
or no principles?
It pretends to be disturbed about
my tariff views, and says that I do
not "take kindly to the doctrine of
tariff for revenue only." While I am
not much concerned about the tariff
question from any point, of view, this
is an attempt to put me in a false at
titude that is : unworthy my friend
Brayfield. If there is ny really dead
; question in our politics today, it - is
the question of "protection and free
trade." This contest has, for many
years, been a humbug more to throw
dust. in the eyes of the masses than
for anything else. But I have no ob
i Sections to repeating, for the benefit
of my friend, what I have said from
; the rostrum' hundreds of times since
1896; that the republican party has,
by its own acts, forced the country to
; a situation in which tariff for pro
tection is an impossibility, ' and in
which the only rational and honest
. application of duties on imports must
j be for revenue and for nothing else.
The application of duties on Imports
for any other purpose, is a public in
i Justice that is equivalent to robbery
of our consuming masses.
;; ;'; The Citizen may call me a republi
can if it desires, but, if there is any
principle for which Mr Bryan stands
that J. do not . approve, it has escaped
my attention. If the Citizen is dis
posed to classify me as a republican,
I will consider it a favor if he will
qualify by calling me a Lincoln re
publican. I am certainly not a Han
na republican. Or, if he desires to
call me a democrat, I insist that he
cannot express correctly the situa
tion as it is, unless he prefixes the
name of Bryan, and calls me a Bry
an democrat I am most certainly not
a "Cleveland democrat." In the po
litical situation as it now standsLin
coln republican and Bryan democrat
are complete and perfect political
synonyms. . - , -
I am sorry if I did anything to pre
vent the Citizen from publishing my
letter to him, but I had no' means of
knowing how long it would take to
find space, and thought I had waited
long enough. If the Citizen had ac
knowledged receipt and expressed his
intention to publish, I should not
have published elsewhere.
FLAVIUS J. VAN VORHI&
Indianapolis, Ind.
BIGELOW'S SERK0N
"Bender Unto Caeear the Thing Which
are CaeearV
The Independent has made arrange
ments to receive each week an
abridgement of the sermons preached
by the Rev. Herbert S. Bigelow, pas
tor of the Vine Street Congregational
church, Cincinnati. If other preach
ers had as clear a conception of eco
nomic questions and were as fearless
in their utterances as is Mr. Bigelow,
it would not take long to arouse the
people to the point where they would
correct the crying evils of our times.
Text: "Render unto Caesar the things
which are Caesar's."
It would be too much toffirm that
Jesus, when he uttered these words,
intended to do more than to disclaim
any intention to incite people to in
surrection against the Roman rulers.
- But if Sesffir had hadf "a perfect
knowledge of modern civilization, and
if he had aimed to . reduce to a single
sentence the advice most needed at
this time, he could not have improved
upon the words of our text
What is the greatest menace to re
publican institutions? What is it that
threatens the life of our civilization?
Ninety-nine out of a hundred would
give the same answer. Too great
wealth in the hands of the few.
Recently a train, loaded with peo
ple, was arrested in its course, and
ordered to return a distance of some
twelve miles, meanwhile holding an
other train upon a side track, merely
to satisfy the whim of the wife of a
Vanderbilt.
Thus by line upon line, precept up
on precept, here a little, .there a lit
tle, mear are learning that there has
already arisen in this country a priv
ileged class. and that between the
privileges of this class and .the liber
ties of the many there is an irrepres
sible conflict
But how have we come to this?
There -can be but ,one answer. We
have not rendered unto Caesar the
things which are Caesar's. There
are powers which should have been
retained and exercised by the govern
ment in trust for all the people. These
powers we have allowed to pass into
the hands of private individuals. The
monopoly privileges which belonged
to. Caesar, that is to the people, we
have by special patents or franchises
or. acts of legislature, conferred upon
trie vanderbilts and their kind. ,
Thus we . have fostered the growth
of uncrowned i kings who are levying
tribute upon this nation, in compari
son with which the tribute 'Of King
ueorge was as nothing.
The Standard Oil company is pay
ing an annual dividend of 80 per cent
upon all its watered stock. The enor
mity of that extortion and the patience
with which we endure it are enough
to make Ueorge III. green with envy,
This extortion would stop tomor
row if people were agreed on the
proper method of stopping it as thor
oughly as they are agreed that it
ought in some, way to be stopped.
These extortions continue, not be
cause people have lost, their love of
liberty, but because the agitation of
these questions has not as. yet crvs-
talized into definite and effective ideas
for dealing with this new form : of
tyranny. : '
We hear proposals for limiting, by
law, tne amount of wealth a private
citizen may accumulate. That is like
the proposal of an Indiana legislator
to make the circumference of a circle
exactly equal to three times its diam
eter. "
We shall have no relief, on the con
trary, matters will continue to grow
worse, until we take from these peo
ple," not their freedom tu accumulate
without limit, but the governmental
powers which they have been allowed
to grasp and by which - communal
wealth is diverted into their private
pockets. - .
Delaware has recently chosen a
United States - senator. Delaware
Hardly. After ,the Delaware legisla
ture had gone through the form of
electing Mr." Allee, Mr.' Addlcks said:
"It gratifies me to make one of my
best friends, J. Frank Allee, United
States senator."
Where did Mr. Addlcks get the mil
lions with which he corrupted the
state of Delaware and made his friend
senator? ..... ..,", ,
He got these millions in Boston.
He got them in the form of dividends
upon .watered gas stocks. Virtually
the Boston common council has been
Issuing to this man franchises con
ferring upon him a monopoly of the
business of supplying the city with
gas, and also giving him the legal
privilege to charge more than the gas
is worth.
The people of Boston have been con
tributing to a corruption fund to be
used to debauch legislatures in Dela
ware. If you trace that corruption to
its source you must go back to the
Boston council. Nay, you must go
back to the ignorance and indifference
of the people of Boston. Stop Issuing
to these men the legal privilege to ap
propriate to themselves the people's
money, and they . will not have the
millions with which to buy seats in
the United States senate. 5
In the little city of Lancaster, p.,
the attention of the visitor is at onco
drawn to a magnificent stone build-ingy-wkieh
in its elegance and cost
liness overshadows everything in the
town. This is . a public; building,
erected . with the profits of the mu
nicipal gas plant Jt is the pride of
the city. It is the property of all the
people. ..
. Is not that better than erecting cas
tles for a few franchise barons?
Render unto the people the things
which are the people's.
The (J. O. P. Religion
1. We believe in the old war taxes
to prevent trade with Europe, and the
new war taxes to force trade with
Asia.
2. We believe in excluding unedu
cated Europeans, who wish to enter
our territory, and including unedu
cated Asiatics, who wish to keep out.
3. We believe in borne rule for
Ireland,- but alien rule for the Span
ish islands.
4. We believe that whites and
blacks have a right to govern them
selves, but not browns governing
themselves.
5. We believe' in the Monroe doc
trine, which forbids Europe in Inter
fering with self-government in Ameri
ca, and Venezuela, but permits Ameri
ca to interfere with self-government
in Asia. - ,
6. We believe that governments
derive their just powers from the con
sent of the governed in America, but
contempt for self-government In the
Philippine archipelago.
7. We believe that taxation with
out representation is . tyranny when
applied to America, but philanthropy
when -applied by us to other nations.
8. We believe that forcible annex
ation is "criminal aggression," but
that payment to non-owners of twenty
million of dollars makes it "benevolent
assimilation." ' .
9. We believe that militarism and
foreign broils strengthens despotism,
abroad, and republicanism at home.
10. We believe that American pol
icies have made little America, but
European policies will make a greater
America.
11. We believe in smashing the
trusts, but in letting the friends of
the trusts do the smashing.
12. We believe in settling the coal
strike by arbitration, but by the coal
operators being the arbitrators; and,
further, . we are opposed to the coin
ing of silver at 16 to 1 by the demo
crats, but we believe it is a good
thing to bring on prosperity when
done by us. . .;? .. .
THE NEGRO PROBLEM
Mr. DeHart BUcue& the Eacc Qaetioa
. Give the Black a Chance
Editor Independent: The south
seems determined to elect another re
publican president and to do ittlfc
1904. For twenty-five years the south
has been quiet about the negro. But
now if the president invites Booker .
T. Washington to dinner there is a
great outcry; or, if he appoints a ne
gro for an insignificant postofflce, 1
there is another outcry. For a quar
ter of a century the south hai been "
burning negroes whenever it suited ,
her purpose, and the north has said ;
little about it The people of the
north are willing to let the south
alone as long as they stay on their
own territory; but when they come
north and tell tho. president that he
must not invite a ntgro to dinner
simply because he is a negro, and that
he must not appoint a negro to office
simply because he is a negro, then it
becomes a matter of national politics
and the north has a word to say, - -
The president appointed Dr. Crum,
a negro, collector ot the port,; of
Charleston; and lot another great put
cry. The appointment hangs fire Jn
the senate, and It is supposed that ev
ery senator from the southern states
is opposed to confirmation of the ap
pointment The southern senators are
opposed to the negro, simply because .
he is black, and not on account of his
unfitness for the office. This ought to
make every northern senator in favor
of him. There are so few northern
democratic senators that they are not
worth speaking of. Some of the
southern states are sending republi
can senators; Delaware, Maryland,
Kentucky, West Virginia, for. in
stance. There are more republican
senators from the south than demo-"
cratic senators from the north. '
counting West Virginia as one, which
give the democratic .jparty about 32
senators, or abulTonFtnlrd, leaving
about two-thirds to the republicans.
This - shows that the democrat can
not defeat the nomination, of Dr.
Crum.V without aid from the republi
cans. Can it be possible that the re
publicans would, unite with the demo
crats on such an issue? 4 '
The blacks were freed from the
bondage of slavery by the civil war.
The 13th amendment to the constitu
tion of the United States guaranteed
their freedom. The 14th amendment
made them citizens; and it was sup
posed that the 15th amendment would
give them the right to vote on all
questions, the same as the whites.
The 13th amendment declared that,
"Neither slavery nor Involuntary ser
vitude, except as a punishment for
crime whereof the party shall have
been duly convicted, shall exist In the
United States,vor any place subject to
their jurisdiction."
The 14th amendment declared' that,
"All persons born or naturalized In
the, United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the
United States and of the state wherein
they reside." - ,
, The 15th amendment declared that
"The right of citizens of the United
States to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States, or by
any state on account of race, color or
previous condition of servitude." -
It; was supposed that these amend
ments would give the negroes the
right to vote, but It seems that they do
not? The republicans made these
amendments, and they are under obli
gations to see that they are enforced
according to their letter and spirit
For a quarter of a century the ne
gro question has been a local mat
ter., In 1876 there was a question as
to who was elected president, Hayes
or Tilden. Nobody was elected by the
people. For the purpose of deciding
the matter, congress created a com
mission. This commission "could not
be created without southern help; and
the south helped, with the understand
ing that if Hayes was declared elected
he was to remove the army from the
southern states and allow the south
to manage her state governments in
her own way. Hayes was ' declared
elected and the army was removed,
and, since that time, the whites be
came the ruling class; the negroes
having no right which white men are
obliged, to respect The peope of the
south vote the democratic ticket in
national elections, not that they care
so much for the democratic party, as a
national organization,' but it is a choice
A:'