SEPTEMBER 6, 1906
The Nebraska Independent
9
on various mooted questions in direct
appeal to the people is worthy of
praise:
"We have the same interest in good
government as has any other citizen
and the same right to display that in
terest. As the largest corporation in
the state and the largest taxpayer we
have a vital interest in sane and con
servative legislation and when (as
has too often been the case) there
is danger that the state will be swept
off its feet by appeal to passion and
prejudice made by designing dema
gogues for their own personal ends,
it becomes; a duty to oppose those
men, by fair and legal means in such
cases, and in such . cases only, will
the Santa Fe be found in politics. . In
dividual employes are unrestricted;
they may hold and express such views
as they think proper, but their action
is not to be taken as that of the com
pany, nor is the latter responsible for
their political opinions or utterances."
This is a clever way of presenting
the corporation as a legitimate factor
in politics the largest taxpayer of a
state. But it cannot justify the con
clusion as to the political privileges
of . corporations. This is where tax
ation involves no right whatsoever of
representation. We are speaking now
of private corporations and not of the
persons of interests represented. It
has been said of the corporation that
"its personality is an abstract concep
tion of the intellect, unassociated with
that of the persons from whom it is
created,, and its existence is ideal
only," and to admit an "abstract con
ception" to the standing in politics
of a natural person is hardly to be
defended. If the . corporation :may
legitimately,- mix in politics, then - it
is entitled to the right to vote; and if
entitled to the right to vote it should
be stripped of its limited liability and
exposed to the equivalents of the lia
bilities of natural persons such as im
prisonment or complete suspension of
all industrial functions for its own
profit, service in war, and so on.
The corporation may fairly claim a
right to be 'heard before legislative
bodies, but beyond this it may fairly
claim nothing in politics. It must
look for political protection and con
sideration to the . natural persons
whose interests are bound up in it,
and they have usually proved quite
sufficient in this respect for all rea
sonable purposes. Mr. Ripley's con
tention would justify corporation cam
paign contributions, but the common
sense of people has been quick to dis
cern the impropriety of such a course
and to pass upon it a general con
demnation. The corporations must get out of
politics and stay out. It is enough
that they may find representation in
politics by the natural persons com
posing them, acting as individuals but
in the light of their corporate interests.
"DEAD AND BURIED"
(From the Springfield, Mass., Repub
lican.) With all of the profound explana
tions of Mr. Bryan's renascense as
a political force, there are many who
persist in saying that this is "one
of the devil's own incomprehensibles."
There is nothing to be said which can
i
relieve them of their stupefaction.
From their point of view, Bryan seems
to have been raised from the dead.
The amazement of these astounded
people can be the better understood
by recalling the final judgments that
were passed upon the twice-defeated
leader, in the press, after the presi
dential election of 1900. If ever it
seemed opportune and fitting and ab
solutely safe to entomb a public man,
with an appropriate epitaph, the time
was immediately after the second
great defeat. As a last tribute of es
teem, a professor of the university
of Pennsylvania, in the following win
ter examined the press of the country
and made a collection of the opinions
on Bryan of the representative news
papers. The professor must have
.thought his labor of value chiefly as a
piece of obscure grubbing in contem
porary history which might prove of
interest a decade or a generation later
to students of the Bryan era. He
could not have supp6sed that within
five years these same opinions could
be reprinted as a demonstration of
the utter blindness of political writers
to the course of events and to the
changes in public opinion in the im
mediate future.
The professor's collection is at
hand, and, in view of the New York
.reception to Mr. Bryan the last of the
present week, it is more than instruc
tive, it is positively- entertaining to
read it over. The following is a group
of newspaper opinions on Bryan, the
man, after the election of 1900:
"Dead and buried beyond hope of
resun.tion."
"Janus-faced trickster."
. "Quack nostrum doctor." :
"Magician."
"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."
"Lightning rod man."
"Safebreaker."
"Court jester."
"Anarchist."
"Artful dodger."
"Divvicrat."
"Brazen footman to rapacious Tam
many tiger."
"Blatant demagog."
"Constitutional pessimist."
"Traitor."
"Apostle of sedition and class
hatred."
"Unscrupulous expounder of emo
tional popocratic politics."
"Un homme capable de tout."
"Buried under an avalanche of
votes."
The representative opinions of Bry
anism were no less emphatic and to
the point:
"Stamped out." .
"Its end has come."
"It stands condemned before the
world with none so poor to do it rev
erence." "All that the democratic party, un
der Mr. Bryan, has contended for has
been repudiated."
"The election "marks the deliver
ance from the combination of all the
lunacies of the past."
We have left behind "the whole
congeries of fads and follies and
hatreds that greedy and unscrupulous
men have gathered together in a mod
ern cave of Adullan for a menace to
ordered popular government."
Bryanism drew votes from a "con
glomeration of wild theorists, of dis
contented ignorance, of dishonest
debtors, of selfish silver owners, of
pelf-seeking politicians, of objectors to
law and order and the sanctity of the
supreme judiciary," who followed that
"Jack O'Lantern light of a man void
of understanding."
These sober judgments were almost
universal, and they were delivered so
recently that there is no American
voter who finds himself startled in
reading them once more. The quaint
lesson they teach today is that of all
our public men the "dead and buried"
one may be so full of life that no
grave can hold him. Mr. Bryan's pres
idential prospects need not concern
us; they are highly uncertain. But
the present situation at least is one
of themost instructive in our political
history concerning the possible long
evity of a public career. From the
"dead-and buried" viewpoint, we havo
nothing in our annals to match Mr.
Bryan.
The state fair is a hummer.
Subscribe for The Independent.
Roosevelt evidently is not a mem
ber of the proof-readers' union.
Send in a list of campaign sub
scriptions. Every voter ought to read
The Independent.
The summary of news in The Inde
pendent contains the news of the
world in condensed form. Read it.
The corn crop of Nebraska alone
this year will exceed in value the total
output of the combined gold mines of
the United States.
Bryan's New York reception was
the greatest tribute ever paid by the
people of a nation to . a private citi
zen since the dawn of history.
Send us the names and addresses of
your neighbors who would be benefited
by reading The Independent and we
will send them sample copies of the
paper.
Bryan's speech at his reception at
Madison Square Garden, New York,
did not please everybody, but there
is no doubt that it finds a response in
the hearts of a very large majority of
the American people.
People may be hopeless slaves of a
political party if that does not involve
the mutilation of the language. It
is well to remember that all things
have a limit, and Roosevelt has com
mitted the unpardonable sin. His case
is hopeless.
President Roosevelt's edict in favor
of mutilating the English language
has settled the question of a nomina
tion for another term by his party.
No sensible republican will longer
consider him available for re-election
under any circumstances that may
arise.
President Roosevelt's name has
been mentioned as the probable suc
cessor of President Elliot of Harvard
University. Since his edict adopting
the idiosyncracies of the so called
spelling reformers whatever chance
there might have been of his becom-
ing the head of that ancient and fore
most seat of learning has disappeared
forever.
Campaign subscriptions to The In
dependent have already begun to come
in in large numbers. Remember that
one dollar pays for seven subscrip
tions until after the election.
Every farmer, that can do so, ought
to attend the state fair and bring his
boys along with him. It will afford
them needed . recreation and at the
same time furnish enlightenment and
inspiration in the line, of their occupa
tion. The expenses of the trip will
prove to be money well invested.
Come and bring the boys along with
you. , '
In the reception given to Mr. Bryan
by the citizens of Lincoln upon his
return home, politics were forgotten
and the residents of the capitol city'
and of the state, who were present
on that occasion, gave free expres
sion to their pride in welcoming home
a son whose character sheds lustre
upon the city and state wherein he
resides. ;
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said:'
"The devil is always an ass." The
creditor interests and the annuitants
clamored loud and long for the demon
etization of silver in order to make
money scarce and dear and thus en
hance the purchasing powers of their
incomes and fatter their bonds and
mortgages. Through the ignorance of
the people whom they sought to rob
and oppress they finally succeeded.
When, lo and ' behold, it ' turns out
that they demonetized the wrong
metal. Gold, which was scarce and
in the opinion of the most eminent
scientific authority, at the time the
mints of India and the United States
were closed against silver, was sure
to become still scarcer year after year
is now produced in greater abundance
than ever before, the annual output
of gold alone exceeding the combined
output of gold and silver in 1906. Gold
is thus constantly depreciating in
value to the great injury of the credi
tor classes and those receiving an
nuities or fixed salaries, while the
production of wealth under the stim
ulus of rising prices has reached such
proportions that many industries are
complaining of a labor famine with
wages at the highest figures ever
known.
The publishers of The Independent
want agents everywhere to canvass
for subscriptions and sell Mr. Berge's
new book, "THE FREE PASS BRI
BERY SYSTEM." See advertisement
of book elsewhere in this paper. We
receive hundreds of orders through
the mails. It is the only book writ
ten upon a subject in which the peo
ple are just now vitally interested.
The people everywhere will want the
book. Ex-Governor Larabee of Iowa
ordered ten books before same were
off the press. We receive orders from
all parts of the country. This book
is a seller. All you have to do is to
tell about it. You can make $100 per
month. Write at once for terms. i
THE INDEPENDENT, Lincoln, Neb.