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About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (April 30, 1903)
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT. APRIL 30, 1903. ent anxiety of these banks to keep up the speculative price of stocks. There is only one thing about this situation upon which the country can be congratulated. In large degree, the first effect of a money stringency must be a shrinkage of stock gam bling transactions, and a shrinkage In the inflated values given to diluted stocks. In the shrinkage of loans and discounts that must occur when there is stringency in money, legitimate in dustries and legitimate commercial transactions may be, for a limited time and to a limited extent, protected by 'the shrinkage in speculative credits. - The fact is that there, is so much concealment, and so many false state ments, that it is difficult to predict, except in a general way, what will occur In the future, or when it will occur. It must be apparent to every thoughtful man that the near future looks dangerous. We shall look with some anxiety for each week's " report of the New York clearing house, and for the next abstract of the comptroller of the cur rency,, but when they come we shall not be sure that they disclose the whole truth. FLAVIUS J. VAN VORHIS. Indianapolis, Ind. . QUESTIONING CANDIDATES' A Settled Policy Majority Rule Program for This Tear and Next Other Is sues Provided for . Experience of the past year demon strates the great value of questioning candidates. In California organize! labor and the direct legislation league questioned candidates and reversed the action of the republican state con vention, and the necessary two-thirds yote for the submission. of a consti tutional amendment for the referen dum "and initiative would have been secured had it not been that half the senators held over. In Missouri, tcfo', the action of the repubk an state con vention was reversed, but as the dem ocratic party declared in its platform for the submission of a constitutional amendment for majority rule the hold-over senators, being largely democratic, were brought into line. The absence, however, of specific de tail in , the democratic platform left the hold-over senators and those un pledged to organized labor, free to in sist on' conditions that will almost nullify the system. ' The only portion of ; much use is the direct initiative as to the constitution itself, - In Mon tana the action of both the democratic and republican state conventions was reversed. . .... ' -The foregoing demonstrates the val ue of questioning candidates. The or ganizations that do not make nomi nations rcan easily determine the ' is sues. This is the vital function. No candidate dares openly oppose major ity rule or- many other issues that have been kept in the background through the monopolists' control of the two leading parties Third party politics have been used with almost no immediate success, while the open sesame the questioning of candidates r-was within reach and untouched. The anti-saloon league , was among the first in this country ho discover the secret, and its remarkable line of successes is a tribute to the effective ness of the plan and the" capabilities of the managers. At the annual meet ing of the Missouri state federation of labor, January, 1902, Mr. Isaac Tay lor, of Kansas City, introduced a res olution for a joint committee on di rect legislation, "the purpose of which shall be to interrogate, all candidates for legislative positions upon the sub ject of direct legislation, and to se cure the pledges of candidates on this proposition, and such other legisla tion as is demanded by the Missouri state federation of labor, and to make public such information, to the end that the next general assembly may be composed of men who may justly conform to the wishes of the toilers In securing 'equal rights for all an.5 special privileges for none.' " This program was adopted a year ago last January. The writer, when the system came to his notice, real ized something of its value, and through the national federation for majority rule began sending to state federations of labor copies of the Mis souri resolution, with jchanges suited to the conditions. i During the early summer of last year, we learned that the "Washing ton state federation of labor was planning to question candidates, but I have never been able to get a reply from inquiries. However, at the an nual convention of the American fed eration of labor last November, rep resentatives from the Washington fed eration introduced a- resolution for a national system. It includes question ing "candidates and bringing ; before the county conventions the demands of organized labor. This resolution, No. 140,, was reported favorably and unanimously adopted. And there was introduced by First Vice President Duncan, resolution 121, commending the questioning of. candidates in th-j several states, and providing that the system shall be used to secure the referendum and initiative- in -national affairs. This resolution was also adopted unanimously. At the annual session of the Wash ington state grange, June 3-5 of last "year, the master of the state organi zation was instructed "to appoint a grange committee in each count7 where there is an . organized grange. The duties of said committee shall be to interview th various legislative candidates and to persuade them to use their best efforts if elected to the legislature to, secure the . passage of a bill to amend the state constitution providing for direct legislation, which shall be submitted to the people, as required by the state constitution." Doubtless there are many other in stances of a systematic questioning of candidates in this country. Recent investigations of political progress in New Zealand by - Prof. Parsons, show that much of the success there nas been due to questioning candidates. Profiting by the past year's experi ence the system is being improved and extended. The county and state conventions of all the parties will be notified of the demand for the sub mission of a constitutional amend ment. The questioning of nominees will be completed much earlier in the campaign. The details as to majority rule amendments will be fully sped-, fied by enumerating some of the de tails and for the balance reference will be made to the South Dakota system and that of federal Switzerland. Mass meetings have been successful in Chi cago, and will be used freely, if neces sary. At the meetings held by candi dates they should be questioned oral ly, and repeatedly. In this way they will publicly commit themselves. Cit ies can send committees to the legist lature, as Chicago is doing. Instead of a formal federation for majority rule, local leagues of the unorganized ; are being " formed, leav ing organized " labor, f organized farm -ers,, and organized business men each to do their own questioning and con vention work, or do it through a joint majority rule"' committee. To Btinn ulate action in these " organizations Is one. of the -chief functions of "the local' leagues. VA "single , individual, by us-, lag : its;-Mteriea'd;, : can- stimulate ate-; tion in the local grange, frade union,; and chamber", of commerce; can ques tion candidates,, call meetings," write for the press; and take such other ac tion as , will .insure the election of nominees fwhd "areV pledged to major Ity rule Jn; place; of rule by the few. If all the trustwoHhyandldates in a district whp: have a likelihood of be-' ing elected pledge themselves to the improved system, they may be ques tioned on other issues .until there is reached a vital question upon which they differ. Thus the league can bring about a live campaign and then do its best for the side if favors. In subsequent campaigns the work can be continued by taking up issue after issue. The league is to be a pace-making organization. A perma nent institution, just as. nominating organizations are' permanent The men who run the party machines are interested in making ar living from their profession, therefore the non partisan organizations should deter mine the issues and w,ill do so. Con ventions will be notified and nominees will be questioned. There is much work to be done and at once. '. .Ten states elect " legislatures this year: Ohio, Iowa, Kentucky, Mary land, New York," New Jersey, Massa chusetts, Rhode Island, South Caro lina and Mississippi. In each of these states the candidates for the legisla ture should be pledged to give the voters an opportunity to. ballot upon the termination of monopoly rule. This can . easily be accomplished through the combined action of or ganized labor, organized farmers, or ganized business men, and majority rule leagues. ; In all the cities and villages of the country where the referendum and Initiative does not exist the system can be installed at the next elect!,- by questioning candidates. Ask them whether, if elected, they will vote lor rules of procedure whereby the peo ple may instruct their representatives in the citv council. In this way the people in several cities have protected themselves. ) There is no need to wait and organize a successful state cam paign, then wait two years to ballot on a constitutional amendment, and afterward wait two years more for the legislature to provide by statute the details of the system. Cities that have liberated themselves are Win netka, -111., Geneva, ;. III., Detroit, . To ronto and Vancouver, B. C. The ma jority rule committee of the Texas state federation of labor has sent to each central union in the state a re quest to appoint a committee to pre sent question to aldermanic candi dates. , A single individual in a city can, at no expense, secure its imme diate liberation. " .. Next year there are not only city elections, but in all but four of tha states a legislature is to be elected; while in national affairs, a new house of representatives is to. be elected, one-third of the senators are to ne elected, and the remaining two-thirds can be instructed. Already a consid erable number of congressmen are pledged to vote for rules of procedure for the referendum and initiative. This year's fight for self -government in most of the legislatures is arousing public opinion1, thereby helping to carry congress next year. The trust question is the dominant one. And "Strangely enough," writes the phair man of the questioning committee in Missouri, "we find It easier to pledge congressional candidates than legis lative nominees." J, Preparatory to sweeping the coun trycity councils, legislatures, and congress the national and state ref erendum organizations are merging in a majority rule league with national, state, and district committees, and a league is to be formed in each com munity. Charters for the locals are being issued upon application of sev en or more adults. Here is congenial and effective work for such of you as have at heart the welfare of the race, and at the same time you can benefit yourselves. The most popular men in Chicago and other localities are those who are leading the majority rule movement, Now is the time to organ ize a local league. "There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." GEORGE H. SHIBLEY. Washington, D. C. Labor Fores Editor Independent: The force of demand. What is it? The robber with his pistol demands money. Is it his demand or the fear he will ex ert his labor force and explode his weapon that compels ,,our money? Evi dently his demand "has no force only as enforced by the use of his labor force. Had we no fear of his vio lence ;his demand would be fruitless. Our bodies require food. The labor of the., life uses up the food we have eaten. This labor of the life requires new fuel to take the place of the fuel consumed. If no food is supplied the labor of the life begins to feed upon our tissues and we suffer the pain of hunger. The . force of. demand, so called, seems to resolve as all forces do into the one force of the labor of growth or life. The more labor done, the more food required to supply the place of the fuel labor consumes. Since it is labor force, why give it another name? 1,000 hogs, 100 sheep, 10 cattle, each equal one horse. Why? Because it requires the same contin uous time or labor to bring one horse to maturity that it does to bring the 1,000 hogs, the 100 sheep or the 10 cat tle to maturity. Some seasons it re quires but one bushel of wheat to procure three bushels of potatoes. Again one bushel of wheat will pro cure but one-half a bushel of potatoes. Ir. the -latter case we say there is a short crop of potatoes w,hile there is an average crop of wheat. The fact is we have stored the same amount of labor In the small yield of potatoes we usually do in the average yield, and the small number of bushels com mand in exchange about the same amount of labor stored in the wheat that a full crop of potatoes does. The relative price of commodities is deter mined by the labor stored. If. few raised potatoes and many raised wheat, this might make an exception to the general law that the relative price of any commodity is determined by the time or labor stored in the producing it. Labor force restored makeli price. However human ingenuity may per vert for robbery it cannot abrogate natural law. The ultimate of exchange forever remains the continuous time or labor intelligently stored. The in telligence that creates and governs is known to us through his works through hi3 labor stored. All force seems to resolve itself into labor force. Intelligently controlled it gives to all plenty and peace. Its unit ap pied will remove many of the gyves with which crafty greed has shackled ignorant labor. F. W. ANTHONY. Mattawan, Mich. (Mr. Anthony, in common with the Marxists, falls into the error of look ing at certain articles, noting certain phenomena, and then laying down a rule which is conceived to apply to all valuable things. ; It Is certainly a fact that the value of certain things, which may be quickly produced in indefinite (though not infinite) quantities, falls with a decrease in cost of production and rises with an increase in the cost. But this is not true of all valuable things. And it gives no warrant for the assumption ' that "the relative price of commodities is determined by the labor stored." Even the Marxist? are too shrewd to make such a state ment. By their expression of "so cially necessary labor" they avoid the embarrassments sure to arise from such an ill-considered statement. How is the "relative price" of land determined, especially virgin soil? Whose labor is stored there? Labor force applied to land, or some material taken from the land, results in SUPPLY of products but has no thing whatever to do with DEMAND. The act of exchange never produced a commodity. The act of production never caused exchange. The farmer's energy expended in overcoming the adverse forces of nature, in fining the soil, killing the weeds and beetles, planting the seed, and harvesting the crop, may result in a crop of potatoes. But these acts will not convert the potatoes into wheat If he wants wrheat, having failed to grow any himself, he must exchange something for it. When he comes to exchange pota toes for wheat, his energies are now directed not to overcoming nature'; forces, but to overcoming adverse possession. He gets the greatest pos sible quantity of wheat for the least possible quantity of potatoes, who1' regardless of the energies expended in producing either of them. It may be that this particular potato grower ex pended a great deal of energy in grow ing his crop. His soil may have been, inferior, the season drouthy. He may have carried fertilizers and water to beat old Mother Nature in her efforts to destroy his, plants. But his pof tatoes are no more valuable to the wheat raiser than potatoes of equal quality grown under more favorable conditions by another. As to what he will give for the potatoes, the wheat grower, consciously or uncon sciously, makes a mental estimate of the quantity of the force of demand for potatoes and for wheat, and com pares the degree of that force for one bushel of potatoes with the degree for one bushel of wheat. The potato grower does likewise and a ratio of exchange is agreed upon. The robber illustration is defective; There could be no force of demand for the vast majority of things if there were no private ownership, or for anything incapable of being, held in the exclusive possession of any per son, or for anything the supply of which exceeds all known uses of it, Associate -Editor.) Likes It. Editor Independent: Among twenty-two papers I am a subscriber to The Independent is by far the best it has the right ring to it; in fact, it is the only paper I read that I can de pend upon for honest news. I am in love with the Lincoln Independent. Long may it live! N. A. KEARNS. Marmaduke, Ark. 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