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ernment of the United States is @n unlawful act under the pro-
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lawful matter was unmailable, as well as The.Commercial or
oi oN oré 0. Instead of holding up Thé Republican the post-
master accepted it either at a very late hour Wednesday night
OLDEST NEWSPAPER
INSOUTH OF COUNTY
VOL. XXXIX.
Meyersdale’s Old Reliable Newspaper
Held Up By Democratic Postmaster
On Independence Day
After our laboring diligently in order to get last week’s
issue of The Commercial out before the Fourth, which fell on
Thursday, which resulted in the complete edition being off
the big press Wednesday evening, said papers are still held at
the Meyersdale postoffice at the time this is being written (Sat-
urday afternoon). All the papers we could get ready for mail-
ing before 7 o’clock Wednesday evening were deposited at the
local postoffice, when we were notified that we could not de-
posit the balance on Thursday morning as that was a legal
holiday. We were compelled to hold these other papers at the
Commercial Office until Friday, when they were deposited in
time to be delivered the same day at all nearby points. Not-
withstanding the instructions which the Commercials repre-
senative was given by the postmaster personally, the Meyers-
dale Republican was delivered to town patrons on Thursday,
which was a legal holiday, and the Meyersdale route papers
went out on Friday morning.
When The Commercials were not delivered yet on Satur-
day morning inquiry was thade at the postoffice. We were
informed by a clerk that all of our papers were still in the post-
office. We next asked the Assistant Postmaster about them
and she referred us to Mr. Shipley, the Postmaster. Asked for
his reason for delaying our papers, Mr. Shipley replied that
“We have not had time to distribute them yet,” and he walked
away, absolutely refusing to discuss the matter or give us any
satisfaction as to when the papers would be delivered, or any-
thing.
Late Saturday afternoon we succeeded in wringing from
Mr. Shipley the information that he was holding our issue of
July 4th on account of objectionable matter which appeared
in an article relating to the arrest of Comrade Debs at Cleve-
land, Ohio, on the previous Sunday. In speaking of the espion-
age law we used the term “infamous espionage act,” the word
“infamous” assumably being objectionable, and sufficient rea-
son for the postmaster’s discrimination against The Commer-
cial. We use the word discrimination advisedly. If The Com-
mercial is to be judged in contempt of the espionage law by
using the word “infamous” to describe it then The Republican
must be also judged in contempt of the same law. In last
week’s issue of our contemporary we find the President is criti-
cised for an alleged policy of watchful waiting “more distaste-
ful to the American spirit than the brand which was employed
in Mexico.” This is not the only criticism of the government’s
war conduct appearing in that issue of The Republican. But,
as you will observe, we did not directly and deliberately criti-
cise a law of the United States or the government of the United
States, when we employed the term “infamous espionage act”
in an article telling about the arrest of our venerable comrade.
‘We referred to-the law which he was charged with having wvio-
lated. That was all. On the other hand, criticism of the gov-
visions of that same espionage law, and, from an unbiased point
of looking at:the mater, The Republican containing such un-
or on Thursday morning, and distributed it on Thursday, a le-
gal holiday, after having personally instructed a representative
of The Commercial that none of our papers could be deposited
at the postoffice even, on the Fourth of July. :
It is well known that The’ Commercial under its present
management has won the disfavor of the ring of grafters who
had for some time been having everything their own way and
running the town to suit themselves, without regard for the
interests of the public. It is also known that more than one
effort has been made to induce the present management of The
Commercial to seek other and more comfortable quarters. A
disgraceful mud slinging campaign has been conducted against
us by The Republican for quite a while. Secret work has also
been resorted to. We are not so situated financially to employ
the services of a detective agency to get the information but
by a number of blunders made by our enemies and by other
means we have been able to get wise to the drift of the thing
and to secure enough information to substantiate our claims
that there are “dirty deeds done in dark alleys” by parties who
are interested in the destruction of The Commercial. The
postmaster, by taking the action he has against The Commer-
cial, places himself in the position of an ally of those grafters
and wicked fellows we have just alluded to. Whether he does
so wilfully and conscious of the fact, we can not assert, and
we do not so charge. We have asked for an authorized inves-
tigator to determine that point.
In connection with the controversy which the postmaser’s
action has brought up it may not be amiss to quote at this time
two letters which are on file in The Commercial Office, which
are as follows:
“Editor Commercial,
Meyersdale, Pa.
ar Sir: .
be I want you to know that I, personally, appreciate the splen-
did and generous manner in which you are handling liberty
loan publicity—not only local publicity matter, but that which
I have sent to you There is no doubt that what you have
done has been of material assistance in the sale of the third
liberty loan bonds. My hope now is that you will continue
your good work to the end of the campaign on May 4th.
Even if your community and county have ‘gone over the
top,” your influence in other communities and counties make it
exceedingly important that you continue your good work.
I am especially anxious to have you read the matter that
I send you and use all of it that you can. As you know much
of it is written by writers of national reputation.
If you have any suggestions to make, I shall be more than
have them.
glad i Very truly yours,
(Signed) M. H. LAUNDON,
Publicity Secretary.
Cleveland, O., April 15, 1918.”
«pmditor, Commercial,
Meyersdale, Pa.
Ir: . -
Dear Br very much pleased to note your patriotic contribu-
tion of Liberty Loan advertising in the Meyersdale Commercial.
I know you do not care to be thanked, but Ido want you
to know that I keenly appreciate your generosity. I think you
may be sure that what you did materially aided the sale of Lib-
erty Bonds in your community.
With best wishes, I am
Your very truly,
(Signed) M. H. LAUNDON,
Publicity Secretary.
Cleveland, O., May 18, 1918.”
THE MEYERSDALE COMMERCIAT,
MEYERSDALE, PA., JULY 11, 1918.
DETERMINING THE ISSUE FOR THE
PRESENT ASSEMBLY CAMPAIGN
DRY LEADERS WHO ENDORSED WET CANDIDATE
FEAR POLITICAL POWER OF THE PLAIN PEOPLE
MORE THAN THEY DO THE LIQUOR INTERESTS
LIVENGOOD AND STOTLER, PROMINENT IN PRESENT CAVIPAIGN, ARE
NOT THE ONLY “SAD MISTAKES” TO BE WRITTEN INTO HISTORY
OF THE DRY MOVEMENT IN THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA
e
JOKER IN PROHIBITION AMENDMENT.
The Commercial charges the so-called Dry Leaders with
being insincere in the present campaign. We believe that we
have in our possession evidence sufficient to convince any honest
man or woman that this charge is true and correct, and we sub-
mit the evidence to the public in this article for proper consid-
eration, believing that the man and the woman who is consistent
as well as sincere in advocating temperance legislation will re-
pudiate “fake” leaders and condemn the questionable tactics
which have been and which are now being practiced by those
self appointed “leaders.” bs 2
Before entering into details it is perfectly proper to state
that neither Mr. Cockley nor Mr. Lepley can be truthfully said
to be the allies of the liquor interests, Both of the now famous
bolsheviki editors are total abstainers, who never touch, taste
nor handle intoxicating drink. However, they have not allied
themselves politically with the dry organization in this cam-
paign, although formally invited to do so. But, if Mr. Cock-
ley and Mr. Lepley do not cast their votes with the drys in
‘Pennsylvania’s next Legislature, nobody, will be to blame but|
the temperance people of Somerset County. Get this matter
clear in your minds, people. The Socialist Party has taken no
position officially on the liquor question, léaving its Assembly-
men free to vote on any side, or to refrain from voting, when
the queston is put to them. Furthermore, in Somerset County
the voter at the general election will either have to cast his
ballot for the Dry Federation or for the Soeialist Party’s candi-
dates for the Assembly and Senate. From a political standpoint
the Socialists have everything to gain by taking the wet side of
the liquor question in Somerset County, in opposition to the Dry
slate, and nothing to lose. But, not being professional politi-
cians, they hesitate to take the step. Clean men do not align
themselves with a gang such as the booze crowd except when
there is something very important to gain by such an alignment,
and if the support of the liquor interests should become essen-
tial and a fact in the campaign against “fake” Dry Leadexs this
year, it would be purely of a negative, not a positive, character.
Mr. Cockley and Mr. Lepley could’not and would not support
class legislation at Harrisburg, whether it be framed by the
booze crowd, the contractor crowd, the railroad lobbies, or
other big business interests. Bothi{gentlemen are interested in
labor legislation, and are intenself sincere about it. That is
the reason, and the only reason, y the so-called Dry Leader
THE PLAIN PEOPLE'S
FRIEND AND GUIDE
NO. 19.
EUGENE VICTOR DEBS
THE MAN AND HIS WORKS
"AS OTHERS SEE HIM
y JOHN SWINTON
The great New York editor who heard Lincoln in Cooper
Union, New York, in 1860, wrote as follows after hearing Debs
from the same platform in 1894: “I recalled the appearance,
the manner, the voice and the speech of Lincoln as Debs stood
before me thirty-four years afterwards. It seemed to me that
both men were imbued with the same spirit. Both seemed to
me as men of judgment, reason, earnestness and power. Both
seemed to me as men of free, high, genuine and generous man-
hood. TI ‘took’ to Lincoln in my early life as I took to Debs a
third of a century later. In the speeches of both westerners
there was cogent argument; there were apt illustrations; there
were especially emphatic passages; there were moments of
lightning; there were touches of humor; and there were other
qualities which produce conviction or impel to action.” : .
“I confess that I was as much impressed with the closing words
of Debs’ speech as I was with those of Lincoln. Lincoln spoke
for man; so spoke Debs. Lincoln spoke for right and progress;
so spoke Debs. Lincoln spoke for the freedom of labor; so
Debs. Lincoln was the foe of human slavery; so is Debs.”
FRANKLIN McPHILLIPS
The correspondent wrote as follows in the Detroit News
after hearing Debs in that city: “The public is beginning to
understand Eugene V. Debs, the poet, orator, wit, epigramatist
and lover of humanity. Debs is no ordinary man. In ten
thousand. he would be conspicuous. Debs has a great heart
and a great soul and his countenance mirrors both.”
REV. FRANK DEWITT TALMAGE
The following tribute was paid by the preacher to Mr.
Debs: “Among all the speakers I have ever heard there has
not been one who came nearer to my idea of Abraham Lincoln
than Eugene Debs.”
ALFRED RUSSELL WALLACE
The famous scientist, writing from Parkstone, Dorset, Eng-
land, said: “Eugene V. Debs is a great man. With a few
more such to teach and organize the people the cause of justice
must prevail.”
1
EUGENE FIELD
The poet said :“If Debs were a priest the world would lis-
ten to his elonuence, and that gentle, musical voice and sad,
sweet smile of his would soften the hardest heart.”
FREDERIC AUGUSTE BARTHOLDI
The great sculptor who modeled the colossal statute, ‘“Lib-
erty Enlightening the World,” in New York harbor, wrote of
Debs: ‘He is endowed wth the most precious faculty to which
one can aspire—the gift of language, and he uses it for the
proclamation of the most beautiful and generous thoughts.
would much prefer a wet Assemblyman to a practical represey -| His beautiful language is that of an apostle.”
tative of the plain peo le. 3% . ; fe nail
~~ “Now then. We are speaking about Somerset County.
Here is the situation, get it straight. | Accept no substitutes—
even though the war is not yet over. The voters steps into the
voting booth on the Fifth of November, 1918. For Assembly
and Senate he will vote for the Dry Federation or for the So-
cialist Party’s candidates. The Dry slate is the same on all
tickets, excepting the Socialist ticket. The candidates on the
Socialist ticket believe in progressive labor legislation, the
Drys do not. The Soctalist may be for temperance legislation,
or against it, or non-committal—that is a matter which you,
not they, are to decide. The Drys say they are for it. But
whatever position Mr. Cockley and Mr. Lepley do take as a
policy in the campaign will be zealously maintained, the main
issue being regarded, however, as a labor issue and not the
temperance issue. Notwithstanding this, the side they prefer
to take on the liquor question can be readily seen by a careful
glance at what follows.
It so happened that in the campaign two years ago Mr.
Cockley and Mr. Lepley were nominated for Assembly on the
Socialist ticket. But before their nomination at the Primary
Election, both gentlemen had pledged themselves to the support
of temperance legislation, which is a matter of record and can-
not be disputed. = Prior to the Primary seven candidates had
announced themselves as contestants for the republican nomi-
nation. Five of those seven pledged themselves to the support
of temperance legislation, although one of the five, who was
elected in the general election, voted for the notorious “Dick”
Baldwin for Speaker of the House, and sided with the booze
crowd on other important questions of public policy. But, of
course, that is another story. Those five particular candidates
for the nomination, prior to Primary Election Day, held a con-
ference at the county seat at which three of them withdrew,
assumably for the purpose of keeping the temperance vote from
being scattered too much, as it was feared that would result in
the two other candidates, who were termed “wets,” carrying
the nomination away from the “drys.” Then came the Primary
Election, in which Mr. Speicher, a socalled “wet,” and Mr. Lohr,
a socalled “dry,” were nominated. Had the Dry Leaders been
really sincere they would have favored a candidate who was
pledged to support temperance legislation, instead of endorsing
the “wet” candidate on the republican ticket. Did they do it?
Yes, they did not. Probably it was not good policy for a dry
politician to endorse any but the republican candidates. You
know, the republicans are in the majority in Somerset County,
and no candidate could expect to be elected to public office
except as a candidate on the republican ticket. All right. Mr.
Ruppel was elected Judge several years previously, and he was
not a candidate on the republican ticket. Mr. Ruppel was sup-
ported by the temperance workers, and he was elected. This
is another matter of public record which no person will dispute.
All right. Then the matter of policy is settled. The fact is
that it was not a matter of policy sosmuch in the last Assembly
campaign as it was a matter of principle—or lack of principle.
That is perfectly clear.
When the result of the Primary Election was made public,
showing Mr. Speicher and Mr. Lohr as the republican candi-
dates, Mr. Cockley, who in addition to being one of the Social-
ist candidates for Assemblyman was County Chairman of the
Socialist Party, promptly communicated with the state and the
county headquarters of the temperance organizations which
had charge of the campaign, and which are now combined in
ment of one of the Socialist Party’s candidates in the general
election, to conduct a campaign against the wet nominee on the
republican ticket. The precedent established by the election
of Mr. Ruppel previously, was referred to, and the situation
was thoroughly understood by state dry headquarters, as ad-
mitted in the reply to Mr. Cockley’s letter. The Dry Leaders
went so far as to request Mr. Cockley to personally recommend
the Dry Federation, requesting them to consider the endorse-|
HORACE TRAUBEL,
Editor of the Conservator, and literary executor of Walt
Whitman, writes: “The four letters that spell Debs have
added a new word to the vocabulary of the race.” oni, cl,
“Debs is not so much size as quality. He has ten hopes to your
one hope. He has ten loves to your one love. You think he
is a preacher of hate. He is only a preacher of man. If man
is hate then Debs is a hater. When Debs speaks a harsh word
it is wet with tears.”
JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY
The world-famed “Hoosier Poet” said: “God was feeling
mighty good when he created ‘Gene’ Debs and he didn’t have
anything else to do all day.” The poet and Mr. Debs had long
been personal friends. When, Mr. Riley was ill and confined to
his room Mr. Debs sent him a bouquet of his favorite flowers
and it was this incident that inspired one of Riley’s sweetest
and tenderest dialect poems, herewith reproduced :
Them Flowers
(To My Good Friend, Eugene V. Debs)
Take a feller ’ats sick, and laid up on the shelf,
All shaky, and ga’nted and pore, ;
And all so knocked out he can’t handle hisself & ba
With a stiff upper-lip any more; :
Shet him up all alone in the gloom of a room,
As dark as the tomb, and as grim,
And then take and send him some roses in bloom,
And you kin have fun out o’ him!
* Continued on last page.
AN A AA eS Tm
mmm,
——~——
a candidate for endorsement, and the request was complied
with. Mr. Lepley was recommended. Then followed delay
after delay, until the general election was at hand—with the
Dry Leaders silently endorsing, or at any rate not opposing, the
wet candidate, Mr. Speicher. And by so doing they empha-
sized, and subsequent political events determined, the issue for
the 1918 Aggembly Campaign, the “wets” being defeated in the
Primary filebtion this year on all other tickets, leaving only the
Socialists in the field as opponents of these self-appointed Dry
Leaders, who are now facing defeat in the general election with-
out an issue—unless it is the opinion of conscientious temper-
ance people that the Socialist Party’s candidates ought to es-
pouse the “wet” cause and give them something to fight in the
present campaign. The cause of the plain people is the only
(real issue ,and is the dominant issue from the Socialist point of
view, and it will receive the most consideration by the candi-
dates of that party. The Dry Leader is without an issue, how-
ever, when he has no “wet” opponent, and it would naturally be
a splendid thing for Mr. Cockley and Mr. Lepley to take the wet
side of the liquor question, from his point of view. Do you
agree with him or do you think and act for yourself?
Let us remind the temperance workers that with Mr. Liv-
engood and Mr. Stotler occupying prominent positions in the
leadership of the Dry Federation in Somerset County the sup-
port of labor cannot be counted on in the general election, Mr.
Livengood is known to labor in the southern section of this
county and Mr. Stotler is known to labor in the northern sec-
tion. With labor in the southern and the northern sections
united against a common enemy, defeat is imminent. Consider
the fact. Decide at your leisure upon the action you consider
proper. Remember how “fake” leaders deserted you in past
| campaigns. Then repent quickly.
Remember this also: There is a joker in the Prohibition
amendment.
Had your Dry Leaders fully informed you of all this?
ha
Liberty Loan campaign opens if its mailing right
1 S are perma-
nently taken away by the postoffice department?
= ll
Where will the old reliable Commercial be when the fourth