The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, July 02, 1903, Image 1
5 Voi. XV. LINCOLN NEB., JULY 2,1903. No." 6.- OHIO POPULISTS y National Commltteenaaa Graot Expri ff9 ConrlHan That tha Moaey Que tlon is SUU Vital and Paramount Editor Independent: Your letter cf May 16 and 28, 1903, and a copy of the Henry George Edition of your val uable paper were duly received, for which accept thanks. I note your re quests,1 but will be unable to answer them except in a general way. Since 1896 the populists in Ohio have fol lowed the leadership of Bryan and . I believe they are willing to continue to follow him wherever he may lead, providing he does not abandon the money question. Since 1900 they have acted independently because of the peculiar conditions existing po litically in this state. They will not abandon the principles of the people's f party as announced in the platforms of 1892 and 1900." They distrust the democrat leaders in this state and many of them believe that they are merely adjuncts to the republican par ty' and they will not be governed and controlled by them unless they stand squarely on the Chicago and Kansas City platforms. If the democratic party should in 1904 abandon the money question the populists will abandon that party and will insist upon acting independently of other party organizations. It must be understood that those of us who . left the republican party because of the money question will never affiliate with any organization that does not make that question the paramount one as it is now and always has been, i Bryan has been true to his convic tions, although in 1900 he was in riuced to put aside the consideration of the money question and to take, up what many thought to be a matter of more vital importance, viz: 'imperial ism." I thought then that he and ali those who w.r in control of the democratic party made a mistake in -so doing and I know it now and, I think he does. I am one oPthose who believe that no permanent good can .tomes from the discussion of political questions that are of no general im lortance. The fight fcr political pow er must be made b ' the plain people o this country upon the money ques tion arid that alone, and that fight, must continue until success crowns ' their efforts if they ever expect to re ceive any permanent benefits. Every political question takes its root in the money question and when that is solved as it should be the rest of them will disappear. In 1896 the money question was for th? first time in the history of the world made a political issue and the reason we did not suc ceed then is that the people had not fufficient information upon the sub ject to enabla them to vote intelli gently upon it, and those who debated the question upon the stump were not , qualified, except in a few instances, to convey to them proper information. When it will be igain made the para mount issue is a hard question to an swer. ' If the democratic party in 1904 should abandon that question it will i be defeated by an overwhelming ma jority as it ought to be. If it should i- would be an evidence of eowardici? or. its part and the people are dot yet prepared to ssport a policy of cow ardice nor to elect cowards to politi cal office. If our contention 'in 1896 were correct it is certainly correct row. If it were of sufficient import ance to be made a chief political issue .then there is no reason why it should not continue to be. -. A good many people seem to think that if we had single tax or if the .tariff were revised and the protective feature abandoned or if we had free !trade we would have general prosper ity and the people would be contented and happy. It is singluar how easily people are drawn away from the con sideration of the great question, the money question, that concerns their temporal welfare and made to believe that some other remedy is necessary in order to make them prosperous. If the people of this country should adopt the theory of single tax and if. should be carried out in all its full ness or if they had free trade pure and simple, conditions would not be changed for their permanent good; prices would not be affected. It must , : be understood that it is rot a question of .taxation nor of tariff 4 nor! of free : -' "trade that is Important' It ! is the (juestion of money that concerns us all, for without money taxes cannot by paid however levied. The people ujust provide themselves with the means for paying taxes before con sidering the question of taxation. They must understand .that 'they can pay taxes more easily with money when it is plentiful than when it is scarce.1 They must understand that there is no way to relieve themselves from the burden of taxation nor from the grip cf the monopolist and usurer, except with money. Money is the great panacea for substantially all the po litical ills that the people are af flicted with. To abandon, therefore, the fight for a just and proper mone tary system which would give to the people ample money with which to do their business and relieve them from the necessity of going to the money scavenger to borrow what they ought to be able to buy is to basely surren der to our implacable enemy an 1 leave hope behind. , It is absolutely essential to secure appropriate finan cial legislation so as to furnish to the people not less than one hundred dol lars per capita and this can only be done through the instrumentality of a party that is pledged to carry out this work. I am afraid, however, that the tsurer is permanently in the saddle and that he . will dominate and con tiol public affairs in this country in the future. It is certain that he will do so until the people become familiar with this all important question. Let us go forward in thi3 work and make the fight for a new and better financial system, one that will bring permanent and lasting relief to the toiling millions. You can count on me to render all the assistance in my power to help this cause along, but I will not devote my time nor energies ror money to the exploiting of any fake question, such as the single tax, tariff or free trade. I like the sub stance of things, and not the shadow. Any movement, therefore, looking to wards the organization of a party that stands for the money question will re ceive my hearty support. I believe that" a whole lot of other things should be done by the govern ment, but the money question should be the first one that should be settled and I would rather go down a thou sand times in a contest over that question than to succeed upon any other. As a result of the legislation that has been secured by the money barons 1Z per cent of the people who labor in the shops, mills, factories and mines in this country are constantly within sixty days of the poor-house I" this to be taken as one of the strong evidences in support of such legislation and a reason why the gold standard should be maintained? This is the condition that the usurer and his agents and attorneys have fast ened upon this people and which they insist shall not be interfered with, the strangest thing ' about it all is that those who stand nearest to the pcor-house are those who shout the loudest in favor of the usurer and his methods. . I believe that the democratic party at- its next national convention will adopt the republican party's position upon the money question and will at tempt to create a fake issue over which the campaign of 1904 will be fought If it should then it is safe to conclude that, there is no hope of re lief through the democratic party and the people's party must take the init iative in the great work of revolu tionizing the American government at the polls. GEO. A. GROOT. Cleveland, O. Oklahoma Vacancy. VR. -E. Bray, formerly of Enidr Okl., member of the people's party national committee, is now at Wayland. N. Y., where he is editor of the Wayland Register. In a personal letter to The Independent Mr. Bray says he is. run ning a neutral paper, but that person ally, outside, of the office, he is a "howling Bryan democrat and don't care a continental who knows it." Ha says that there is no pdpulist organiza tion in New York state, and believes the contest in the Empire State dem ocracy will be. between v Hill and Hearst. Mr. Bray's removal to New York creates a vacancy in the Oklahoma quota of national committeemen. Ar rangements should be made to fill thl3 at the Denver meeting. ' -; 1 " 1 Madden Educational Subscriptions A BevieiD of the Work Being Done, A short review of events in the life of The Independent, occurring within the past two or three months, may ne of interest, especially to our increas ing list of new subscribers. As all our old subscribers know (and we have many of them who "came all the way over the trail'.') The Indepen dent is now and always has been a populist paper; that is to say, it is a supporter of the people's party and a teacher .'of the economic reforms as enunciated at its national' convention in Omaha, 1892, and later. But some of The Independent's most crergetic subscribers have been of that school of political economy devel oped by Henry George, and for want ot a better name known as the "sin gle tax." From time 'o time in the rast The Independent has published communications from these single tax subscribers and argued with them edi toriallyfor The Independent then te lieved and still believes that the mon ey question is the vital, presing, urg ent one before any other. However, these single taxers showed such hearty good humor in. all their controversies with The Independent, that it was decided and announced on April 9 (wholly without consultation with any single taxer) to issue a spe cial number to be known as the Henry George Edition wherein the single taxers might take the whole paper for presenting their side of the case. How well they did it may be in ferred from the fact that the Henry George Edition was sent to persons all over the civilized world to Scotland, England, Australia, Canada, New Zea land; in fact, wherever the works of Henry George have been read and studied.- Able writers furnished The Independent enough well written manuscripts to fill a hundred-page pa per, of which enough was selected to fill b pages. Something over twelve thousand additional copies were print ed and these were bought and circu lated by the single taxers. The Independent had made a rate of $1 per hundred for the ... Henry George Edition, barely paying the mechanical cost of producing the pa per, depending upon the extension of it) subscription list as a reward fcr the large amount of extra work de volving upon the .editorial force in handling the single tax manuscripts if we must use the commercial glasses now universally prescribed by our economic eye-doctors. The rate was the same whether the hundred were tr. be sent direct to the purchase? in a bundle, or mailed In single wrappers tc at hundred different persons, whose names and addresses the purchaser furnished. The success of the Henry George Edition, especially as an educator in political economy, was too much for the plutocrats to stand, and Czar Madden began the tactics so familiar to those who have watched his course with reference" to Wilshire's Maga zine. The Appeal to Reason and other publications. lie notified the post master at Lincoln, and the postmaster in turn notified The Independent that complaint had been made that . . . "large number of copies of the issue of Ma;-. 14, 1903, were mailed at the pound rate of post age to names furnished by persons interested in the circulation of the - publication, in .violation of para- - graph 5; section 456, P. L. & R." To this The Independent answered, setting up the facts just as they were, contending that no violation of the laws and regulations had been intend ed and holding that the test of viola tion in a cas like thb hinges upon what the department means by the 'word "interested." In order that Mr. Madden might know what sort of "interest" the single taxers had in circulating the Henry George Edition, a letter was written to all those who purchased copies (which were mailed to list of names furnished by them), asking that they write the third as sistant postmaster general a letter in forming' him. Copies of - these let ters wer ealso 1 sent to The ' Indepen dent and they are such Interesting reading that we must print a few ex cerpts, omitting the purely formal parts. They are interesting because they show the independent spirit of the single taxers the spirit that does not cringe before a czar like Madden, but treats him simply as an American citizen engaged in performing work lor wages, as any other laborer might, and with no right to do other than the work he Is hiivd to do. . . I, as a contributor to that is sue, desire to make a statement re garding my "interest" in it my "in terest" probably being similar tothoso of the other contributors. I remitted the sum of $4.05 for 405 copies, of which 85 copies were or dered sent to persons of more or. less prominence whom " I knew to be in terested in the philosophy of Henry George the single tax question, many of whom would probably be Induced to subscribe for the paper' which gave promise of becoming more than ever ar. open forum for economic discus sion. Of the remaining number. 170 copies were ordered for myself, 100 for Wm. A. Gray, Central Phosphate Co., 25 for Wm. S. Skclly, Phosphate contractor; and 26 for D. A. Trice, farmer, "Rural Route No. 1." all of whom are active Henry George pro pagandists and regular subscribers to The Independent, for local diatributlon or for redistribution through the mails at 1 cent each or at the rate o 1 cent for each 4 ounces. All four of us subscribed 'for the papers with our own money. We had no pecuniary in terest in the paper or In any adver tisement in it our- "Interest" being wholly concerned with the economic discussion anticipated. - A very large .number of think ing voters are coming, rightly or wrongly, to regard the postal censor ship of the last few years as rabid par tisanshipas prostitution on the part of the public's- servants for pluto cratic ends. If the postal department H not self-sustaining, why does it not compel the railroads to carry it printed matter at the same rate as they charge the express companies for the same service?- That the public is discriminated against in this partic ular is no secret. Then the depart ment could show a handsome surplus. Or, If it considers that only selected printed matter should have the benefit of the second-class rates, why does it discriminate in favor of such low grade mental pabulum as the average monthly advertising sheet, like the , Homeside Magazine, etc.,- whoso only excuse for existence is to advertise comparatively worthless novelties permitting them to load down the mails with thousands of tons of mat ter which is practically worthless to the subscriber while drawing the line at every paper which tries to make the people think on the larger questions of the day? Why not make postal rates high enough to cover the cost of service and let all printed matter good,-bad and indifferent go through at the same rate? Then there would be no need of a "Russianized" censorship. - Which were better for public, mor pls (not plutocratic interests), for sub scribers who recognize merit in a pa per to call the attention of others to its excellence by sending them cop ies through the mails and thus in creasing its circulation, or for th.j paper to expand its circulation by the doubtful gambling device of a guess ing contest? It is not a proper function of govern ment to say what the people .shall read. America is not yet ready for a Tcrquemada. The federal govern ment is getting too paternal. It is getting to feel too much like a step father to most of us. Every unjust (whether consciously or not) ruling of the postal department but hastens the downfall of the party which is 're sponsible for it or the downfall of the republic. But "smug" plutocracy can say, with the. French aristocracy "After us the deluge." The country sadly needs a Jefferson or a Jackson to pry apart the parasitic classes from their privileges and reaffirm the In- I