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About The Plattsmouth journal. (Plattsmouth, Nebraska) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (May 22, 1911)
The- Plattsmouth - Journal f - Mllsiied Seml-Weeklf it Plittsaootk, Nebraska C 3 R. A. BATES, Publisher. Entered at the Foetoffice at Plattamouth, Nebraska, as aecond-claaa matter. $1.50 PER YEAR IN ADVANCE J PARCELS POST. "I am not ready, if I uu derstand the subject cor- 4 rcctly, to place the country f hierchants of Nebraska and the nation at the mercy of 4 the groat mail order house .J of the large cities who 80 $ earnestly desire a parcels H J post. I remember full well J the commencement of the J mail order trade of Mont- gomery Ward A Co., and J others. I have never heard J of that, class o(. business bearing a penny of local J j taxation, the upbuilding of J local communities in Iowa J J or Nebraska, of local J schools, churches or any- thing that goes to make the 4 J local communities vigorous 4 or towns a desirable place to ) live in or raise a family." $ J Congressman Loheek. 4 :o: What about, peroral ion Day? It is only a few days off onr week from next Tuesday. :o:- Uesides the questions of law involved, the supreme court may have shared the general reli.nlion that Standard Oil, if allowed to proceed unchecked, would even tually own everything there is lo own. -:o: Some of the Nebraska paper when they can llnd nothing else to write about pounce upon the brewers of Omaha. The brewers care less for what these hide bound papers say than they do of the winds that blow. :o : Some of the New York organs of the combination are fearful least Wood row Wilson becomes the democrat ic nominee for presi dent. The more Wall street and flu gang oppose the New Jersey governor tho more popular he he roines in the west. :o : The Burlington will expend $?5,000 in further improving their Plattsmnul h shops. The Durling ton folks have beep awful kind lo our people and our people should be for the Burlington llrsl, last and all the lime. Our people owe a great deal to Superintendent Daird for the interest be has taken in their behalf. :o: Doubtless this Standard Oil rul ing will lake rank as one of the "epoch makers," or, rnlher, "markers." Hut it is as certainly iot in itself a Duality. It is only an aid a very important aid lo the adjustment of the relations of bic business to the public welfare, It will help also to brighten "'he iwilight .one" between stale nntl federal Jurisdictions for the con trol of trusts, and it may lead to legislation thing some more do Unite line between legislative and judicial function in the govern ment. :os- The New York bankers who are traveling over and investigating the west would learn much of value If I hoy spent some of their time vlslling the actual farmers instead of devoting it all to boards of trade and bankers. Tho in crease In tho riches of the west is largely owing to alfalfa, but there is no report of any hanker bring ing that fact lo the notice of the eastern men. Thoy would learn also of tho demand for labor on the farm and might lake some in terest in getting a few thousand of able bodied men who have to b assisted every winter In the east ern cities, out whore they would become wealth creators and self supporting citizens. There are a good many other things that the farmers could tell them that they will never hear around banquet boards in the cities. The wealth of this nation is in its soil, and those who want the basic facts should go to the tillers of the soil. -:o:- It appears to the writer that the spirit which prompted Dec oration Day is gradually dying, from some cause or other. Is it because the old veterans are be coming too old to take matters and push them as of old, or is it hat the younger people, who now enjoy life and liberty under the protecting wings of that maarnill cienl old emblem, the Stars and Slripes, have forgotten that they owe the preservation of the Union to those, many of whom have passed to the Great Beyond, and many are following them every day? We trust Decoration Da will never be forgotten, not even when the last old veteran Jihs been placed in tho silent tomb. It is a noble tribute to those who are gone, to remember their valiant services to their country and their people by scattering flowers over the graves. The rising genera tion should all be taught to re member this day, so that they may take up the work when others are too old to do it longer. Decora tion Day should not be forgotten as long as the Stars and Stripes float over this land. -:o: REPRESENTATIVE GOVERN ; ME NT. "Are the people of Ohio si ill in doubt about the initiative urn referendum?" asks Louis F. Pos in the Public. "Are they still wil ling to give weight to the objec tions of lobbyists who live by In fluencing legislators and to the interests that lobbyists serve? Hasn't the grand jury at Colum bus made them realize that rep resentative government without the initiative and referendum doe not represent the people?" Undoubtedly the Ohio legts Iegilalio scandal, and like other scandals in other slates reflecting on legislative fidelity, is a "power ful persuader" to induce I he peo ple to put the initiative and ref erendum "gun behind the door." It shows how low representative government sometimes sinks, how misrepreseiilalive it may become. But it is, nevertheless, the cx- 'Ireme of absurdity to assert, as does the esteemed Public, that, without the initiative and ref ernduni "representative govern ment doe not represent the peo ple." Direct legislation ought to serve to holster up represent ative government. It ought to make the rule of the people more certain, and we believe it will. Hut that is not to say that there can be no such thing as rep resentative government without the initiative and referendum. Representative government is not a failure. It is the mightiest success the world has seen and it has done more for the world than has any other political agency. It has its flaws and weaknesses and failures, of course. So have the Christian religion and trial by jury and the writ of habeas corpus and the works of William Shakes peare and Michael Angelo. Hut representative government is still I he best form of government t hat the wisdom of man has devised and its beneficences, in Europe, as in America, are contributing won derfully, every year, to the lifting of the world to a higher plane. The experiences of many of the American states in the past few i, ears have proved how truly rep resentative can be representative government with or without the initiative and referendum. Look at what has been done in Wiscon sin, in Nebraska, in Texas, in New Jersey, in Oregon, in Okla homa. Oregon, with the in itiative and referendum, giving the people a direct say, has done no more in the way of salutary and equitable legislation than Ne braska has done without it. In any state where the people have a will they can have their way, and in those states where government is bad the fault is that the people have not willed to exercise their power or have not known what they wanted or have not cared what they got. 1 The World-Herald believes in the initiative and referendum, just as it believes in safety couplers and the telephone; it is a convenience to the people, a serviceable instrument, a short cut to safety. But civilization would not be a failure without any or all of them. It is showing scant respect for the builders of our country and its institutions to say now that all they dreamed and planned and accomplished would become an entire and hope less failure were it not for the in itiative and referendum. World- Herald. :o: NEBRASKA CROP PRODUCTION It is only when we measure and sum up what this state Is doing In crop production through an un broken series of productive years that we gel an adequate concep tion of the wealth creating strength of Nebraska. Corn wheal and oals are the gn at grain crops of the stale, but I hey are so closely followed by alfalfa grow ing, slock raising and feeding that in the production of wealth they are by no means an overwhelm ing part. Here is the record of production of corn, wheal and oal s,. for Ihejast ten years j'k. Ne braska.' Not a short year m?the ten, but a general average for the ten years has given this stale the records in average production of these crops per acre in the United States: Nebraska Corn Crop by Years. Bushels. 1 Ot,1 4 1.810 252,520,173 172.389.532 1904 200. f 12,3.35 190f ....203,551,772 2i3,782,500 HO? 179,328,483 IM" 205,7(57.000 l!W Iffl.5n5.000 1910 207,9 48,000 Wheat Crop by Years. ''"I 52. 000,885 1902 , 52.720.451 tfl"3 42.147,500 19i 31.453,0 43 1905 18,022,003 1900 52,288.092 1907 4!!8f8,nnn 1908 4 4.28 4,800 1909 45,590.800 1910 Oat Crop by Years. 1901 39.005,220 1902 1903 190 4 1905 1900 1907 1908 1909 1910 62,121,601 59,420,058 59,000,000 78,552,878 78,4(51,888 53,022,202 50,078,528 61,825,000 80,052,986 Grasp the fact from the above record that this state has in the last ten years produced over 2, 000,000,000 bushels of corn. It would take a continuous train from Nebraska to Liverpool ' lo handlo tho tea years' crop at one time. Take I ho averago price of corn for tho ten years and figure the volume of money tho ten years' crop would bring if mar keted at one time. It in when we consolidate the principal produc tions of this state In a series of years that we begin to realize the wealth that comes from the ground in Nebraska. Why should we not stand up for our home state and work together for its advancement in all lines of busi ness and productive expansion? Lincoln Trade Review. According to rumors, Platts mouth may yet have a celebra tion. :o: Mr-. TaTt is down sick now, like many other women, with house cleaning only half done. :o: Lady Decies being unable to deny herself any luxury, has been operated on for appendicitis. :o: The primaries are not very far distant, and still there does not seem to be very much stir among candidates. -:o!- The primary election will come off in August this year, but under the new law it will be held in April next year. :o: Five hundred thousand dollars in silver went to the bottom in the Merida, and now the mermaids can have their new spring hats. :o: It is not true that the secretary of war resigned because the militia officers were always in the foreground when the pictures were taken. Henry Van Dyke has resumed teaching of literature at Prince Ion, ami we hope he gives due at tention to the classic style of the baseball reporters. :o: The Woman's Whist league is meeting at Baltimore, and the combatants could better afford to break all the ten commandments than trump a partner's trick. :o: The Mexican mess will seem like smoking the pipe of peace lo Henry Sliinson, after his ex perience with the war paint and tomahawks of Tammany politics :o: The informer Abbetemaggio w as called a hyena in I he Camor ra trial. In our country the wit nesses feel like hyenas after the lawyers get through with them. :o: Wireless telegraph was a fac tor in rescuing 300 people on the steamer Merida, but lots of pas senger vessels are roaming the coast with no means of asking help buM browing a bottle over with a message inside. :o: The parcels post may be al right, but we fail lo see it that way, and we candidly believe it will prove an injury to western retail merchants. -:o:- The Reno divorce lawyers want all papers in divorce cases made secret. The marriage service should be changed from "until death do us part," so as to read, "until the newspapers can be bushed up' :o: The Mexican rebels are to have three cabinet ofllcers and a ma jority of the governorships. Can it bo that "patronage" was what these patriots were warring for? :o: The politicians arc kicking over the $29,000 for a children's bureau to protect 30,000,000 chil dren in this country. Meanwhile they spend four times that amount for a public building to mako some one-horse town vole tho right ticket. :o: Some ofllceholders should be learned to know when they have had enough. But in Cass county it would seem that some do not take readily lo that kind of learn ing. But the people are liable to leach them a lesson of knowing when to quit. :o: Stimson's appointment as war secretary is criticised on the ground that he doesn't know any thing about war. In view of his inexperience, we suggest that if he will put the army in that town in Indiana that is right in the center of the United State, tho enemy would not bo able lo get it. :o: In defining the Missouri Pacific railroad branches in Nebraska President Bush says: "Once let a dog get a bad reputation and nearly everyone is ready to give it a kick." The fault was with the Gould management in letting the road go to the dogs in the first place. :o: The plight of the republicans who find themselves unable to elect a president pro tern of the senate, although they have ten majority in that body, is due to the anxiety of the standpatters to humiliate the progressives. Sen ator Gallinger was selected by the regulars in their caucus be cause he was, for good and suf ficient reasons, the most offensive member of the senate to the pro gressive group. :o: OUR CANADIAN TRADE. Representative Shackleford of Missouri has prepared a table showing the business done be tween the United States and Canada in the five years ending with June 30, last. It is sum marized as follows: Horses We sold in Canada. .$14,172,475 Canada sold to us 2,519,211 Difference in our favor $11,022,874 Cattle We sold in Canada.. $ 1,578.179 Canada sold to us 1,193,796 Difference in our favor $ 38 4,383 Meat and Dairy Products We sold in Canada. .$17,011,017 Canada sold to us. . . . 90 4,191 Difference in our favor $16,100,826 Breadstuffs We sold in Canada. .$31.59(5,556 Canada sold to us 6.679,884 Difference in our favor $24,910,672 Difference in our . favor on above, items $53,030,755 Total trade in five years We sold in Canada. .$880,417,276 Canada sold lo us. . . 393,913,073 Total different in our, . " favor...' $492,503,703 The query naturally arises, why does Canada buy so much from us if products on the northern side of the line are so much cheaper than ours as to constitute a menace to our producers? The figures, il must be conceded, give point to the president's declara tion that reciprocity will prove a benefit to the United States in all directions. :o: NEBRASKA RICHES. A fanner from the north of the Platte writes that he has 125 acres of corn planted, some of it ts up and every grain as far as he can find of the rest is sprouted, the fall wheat in his neighborhood never promised so good a crop at this time of the year and that oafs, barley and alfalfa are all in a flourishing condition. There has been no cholera among the hogs and his wife is selling more eggs than she ever sold before. Reports from other portions of tho state are of like character. What this means to every citi zen of Nebraska, if the prospect holds good until harvest J time, few comprehend. Let them com pare tho time when crops failed in the state, when grass was growing between the cobble stones on lower Farnam street, when merchants were going into bank ruptcy, when thousands of men wero wandering over the country hunting for work, when many houses and stores wero vacant in every city and town, when the farmer bought little or nothing, when the railroads had little freight and few passengers, when the clearances in tho banks were so small that they were not worth reporting, when tho streets and parks were run down and neglect ed, when school teachers were hawking their warrants around to get money to pay their board bills, with these day after a few years of good crops. Now the farmer rides in an automobile, his house has modern improvements, his cribs are full, his cattle and hogs graze over the fields, the city dweller plans a trip to Europe, the stores are crowded with customers, the clearances in the banks run up into the millions, the streets are swept,"the boule vards extended and the parks are beautiful. That is the difference between years of good crops and years of failure. The foundation of all prosperity is the success of the farmer and he has brighter pros pects than he ever before had at this time of the year. World Herald. . :o: " MIXED PICKLES. j According to a newspaper poll of the senate the reciprocity bill will pass by a vote of 48 to 42. All the democrats but three are counted for the bill, the three be- ' ing Bailey, Simmons and Foster. And all the republicans but eleven are against the bill, the eleven who are for it being Brown, Bur ton, Crane, Cullom, Kenyon, Lodge, Lorimer, Penrose, Poin dexter, Root and Works. This is as hopeless a mixup as has been seen in congress for many a day. It is a republican measure that is at stake, an agreement negotiated by a repub lican administration; and il is the darling of the heart of a repub lican president. Yet 39 repub licans are against it, while only 11 are for it! : And 37 democrats are for it, while only 3 are against it and those three southern democrats who lean to the Aid-rich-Payne theory of the tariff! Reciprocity js republican doc trine. II has been written re peatedly into republican plat forms. It was fathered by James ," G. Blaine. It was lauded by Wil liam McKinley. It is indorsed, in its present form, by Theodore Roosevelt. It is being pushed by , President Taft. Yet there are three republicans against it in the senate where one is for it Insurgents have denounced, in the senate and out of the senate, democrats like Bailey and Foster and Simmons, because, they de manded tariff reform in general, but opposed it in particular when ever it touched on products In which their own states were par ticularly interested. And now these same insurgents, men like La Follette and Cummins and Brislow and Clapp, strike hands with Bailey and Simmons and " Foster to oppose reciprocity, and for the identical reasons that they denounced when Bailey p:id Sim- mons and Foster advanced them! Consistency and fidelity to fixed principles remains alone with the great body of the senate demo- -crats, who support I he reciprocity agreement because it's a step for ward in tariff reform, and who support the free list bill and favor a radical reduction in the woolen and cotton schedules because these, too, would be steps for ward. The regular republicans, like Penrose and Crane and Roof,, who favor reciprocity, are entitled to no credit, for they would stop there, crying "hands off" when ever an attempt is made lo reduce the tariff on manufacturers. TheJr action, like that of the insurgents, is dictated by motives that are purely selfish and local. It is the democrats alone who stand, as a body, for tariff reform on the pro ducts of the east the same as of the north. Their position is founded on principle and convic tions. World -Herald. -:o:- . A Suit on at Murray, Neb. Stop in and see my new line of samples for spring and summer tailor-made suits. I can please yon both in price and material and show you the latest, styles for the season. Satisfaction guar anteed. M. G. Churchill. For Sale. One Davis fi-inch bore by 10 inch stroke gasoline engine. Ha only been used a short lime. In quire at this o(Hce for further particulars. A good bargain. 5-lG-tfw. Try th journara Tint f a comma.