KORB THAN MATERIAL ADVANCEMENT.
ma
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During many months now numbered with the past Will Maupin's
Weekly has been telling in detail the story of Nebraska's wonderful
terial advancement and prosperity. But it must not be understood
that Nebraska is progressing alone on material lines. In all that
goes to make for better citizenship, for better social conditions; in
all that, goes to contribute to the mental nad moral uplift of the
generation, Nebraska is taking a foremost part. It is of other than
advancement along material lines that we would speak, in this last
issue of a newspaper so long devoted to telling the story of Ne
braska's business prosperity and development.
Her cities are more and more attending to the betterment of
social conditons. We challenge any city of equal size in the United
States to excel Omaha's record during the last decade in the matter
of developing a park and boulevard system. Lincoln is awakening
to the great benefits of such a system, and with this growing knowl
edge she is laving the foundations for what will be a park system
of more than national fame. Without flourish of trumpets Hastings
has' established a system of parks and boulevards that is an example
for cities of even larger size to pattern after.
Nor has Nebraska lagged behind in the matter of contributing
to the literary glories of the present generation! She has given the
world of letters men and women whose names are familiar in every
educated family. Willa Sibert Cather, whose first journalistic work
was on Nebraska newspapers, is now numbered among the successful
literary men and women of the country. William R. Lighton, a Ne
braskan. is known wherever quaint stories of the frontier are read
not the impossible cowboy and Indian stories of the Beadle's Dime
Novel class, but the real cowboy, the real plainsmen. Oliver P.
Newman has made his mark as a journalist and as a writer of stories
that Krip the attention. He served time on Nebraska newspapers
before his name was listed among the successful story writers of the
.W.! lirw Shedd. Nebraska born and Nebraska educated.
has made his name known wherever people love to read stories of J
brain and brawn, of love and intrigue. Walter Wellnian, the famous J
journalist, got his first lessons in journalism in a Nebraska country
print shop. Elia W. Peattie, whose fame as a writer is secure, is
known and loved by boasts of Nebraskans who remember her first
as a splendid woman and second as a literary artist. For years she
was connected with an Omaha daily newspaper. Roger G. Craven,
another Omaha newspaperwriter, always too modest and unassuming
for his own good, wrote "In the Twilight Zone," which sooner or
later will take its place among, the really great novels of today.
The list could be extended almost infinitely. We mention a few
of those whose names come first to mind, but names that at once
attest the fact that Nebraska is doing her full share in making this
the literarv age of the world's history.
In are she is not taking a back seat. The whole are world
knows of Borglum, the sculptor, Nebraska born and fired with the
real Nebraska spirit to excel in his chosen are. Music We can
not begin to make a list of the wonderful musicians Nebraska has
given to the world. Mrs. Will Owen Jones among the pianists, the
Stecklebergs among the violinists, Frankel and Hagenow among the
orchestra leaders, Butler among the organists. If it was left to
Nebraska to furnish a Newell Dwight Hillis to fill most acceptably
the pupit once filled by a Beecher. It was a Nebraskan, Ma goon.
who showed himself as the best fitted man to map out the nation's
new policy when, after the war with Spain the United States became
a real world power.
Nebraska has sent her native born and home educated sons into
every quarter of the earth. They have builded and are building
railroads and irrigation ditches and power plants in South America,
in Canada, in Africa and in the Philippines. She has given to
sociologists the keen and humanity loving Ross, to -the world of
finance a Dawes, to the legal world an Estabrook, -to the world of
comedy a Montgomery and Stone, to the operatic world a Grace
Cameron and the Dovey sisters, to the base ball world a Stone and a
Crawford.
Nebraska doing her full share in all the activities of modern
life! Indeed she is and more than her share. Less than half a
century old she has given to every activity of life men and women
whose names will live in history. Piling up wealth as no other state
' has or can. Nebraska is building on a better foundation than mere
dollars and cents. - Measured by any standard, or every standard,
Grand Young Nebraska more than meets every test.
self and men. like him, and the most he has got out of it is the
knowledge that he has done a man's part in building a city and
the happiness that comes from such knowledge. May "Doe" be on
hand to write the "dope" for the Democrat's fortieth anniversary
number, and may we be right here in Nebraska to read it and profit
thereby..
THE BEST MAN FOE THE PLACE.
The office of commissioner of public lands and buildings is one of
the most important within the gift of the people of this state. The
man who holds it has charge of more than 35,000,000 worth of
property belonging to the taxpayers. He looks after the immensely
valuable school lands; he has charge of all the public buildings, and
it is up to him to see to it that the money invested by the state in
buildings and grounds is well spent. The school children of
Nebraska depend more upon the land commissioner than upon any
other state official, not even excepting the state superintendent.
William B. Eastham, the democratic candidate for commissioner of
public lands and buildings is the best equipped man by experience
and natural ability ever mentioned for the position. He is thor
oughly familiar with land conditions in those sections of the state
decision that a violation of the express provisions of -the primary
law is quite the proper thing. At any rate the primary law states
explicitly how a political party may be organized and its candi
dates given a place on the tieket as the candidates of a regularly or
ganized party. But this does not prevent the learned court from
deciding that a party organized in express violation of that law
has a right to have its candidates on the ballot as. the candidates of
a legally organized party. At least that is the way it all appears to
us, but not being skilled in legal technicalities, nor seeking to curry
political favor in the future, we may be mistaken. Anyhow w
opine that Addison Waite is just now earning, that little old 166.60
a month this commonwealth pays the secretary of state.
. f H i
CAN ANY STATE BEAT THIS?
We would call attention to the bonded indebtedness in Nebraska.
If there is a state in the Union that can show a reeord as good, all
things considered age, population, ete: we'd like to know it.
The state of Nebraska has not a dollar of bonded indebtedness.
and never has had. Nebraska never issued a state bond. Rut at
odd times she has held as an investment for her permanent school
fund as high as $6,500,000 of the bonds of other states. The record
of bonded indebtedness to October 1, 1912, is as follows:"
County bonds 1 3,601,500.00
Precinet bonds f"7 fym nr.
City and village bonds, exclusive of Omaha, South
Omaha and Lincoln I 6.002,212X2
School district bonds - . ; 6,010,653.80
Drainage district bonds . 3S9 94 j
Total .. 1633iJS3a,75
THE BETTING QUOTATIONS.
It is morally and legally wrong to bet. To bet on an election
is to disfranchise the bettors if anyone cares to lodge complaint.
But it may be interesting to know the Betting odds on the coming
election. Wilson is a 3 to 1 shot in the nool rooms f W Ym-fc
and Chicago, with Taft a 5 to 3 bet for second place in the voting.
In the same quarters 5 to 1 is offered that the lower house of con
gress will have an increased democratic majority. A few bets of
. to 1 are recorded that the. election will be thrown into the house,
but the amounts wagered are small. One bet 30 to $50 has been
recorded in Lincoln that the democrats will eleet every candidate on
the state ticket, and one 10 to $15 that Morehead will defeat
AKlrieh by 15.000. But betting doesn't prove anything, unless it is
where the commonwealth owns millions of acres of school lands. He '"at ne parties to the wager have more money than sense. But
knows the conditions surrounding those lands, and he knows what we 11 wa"er $ dog against a couple of 2 cats' that the democrats
they are worth to the users. He will see to it that the school lands wiI1 eleet more state officers on November 5 than the republicans.
are leased under terms that will favor the actual farmer and cattle
raiser, not the speculator, and to the ultimate profit of the state. He
has lived in central Nebraska for many years, is familiar with the
needs of the people, and is absolutely free from any influence in
imical to the people at large. He is a man of executive ability, of
undoubted integrity, and always working for the best interests of
Nebraska as a whole. He is broad-minded in his -views and wouldn't
waste a dollar's worth of the state's time in dubbing away on fool
questions of absolutely no moment to the taxpayers. He will give
the affairs of the office his entire time and the benefit of his ripe
experience. Good men have held that office, and good men have
aspired to hold it. Not one of them was ever better fitted for the
rightful discharge of its duties than "Billv" East ham. He is a man
who may be depended upon to do the right thing all the time.
SIMPLY WILL NOT INVEST.
K3L M0REHEADS FRANK STATEMENT.
Elsewhere in this issue appears a letter written by John II.
Morehead to T. W. Parker of Lincoln, president of the Nebraska
Federation of Labor. In this letter the democratic candidate for
governor frankly states his position upon questions of vital interest
to the organized workers of Nebraska. The letter was prompted by
the efforts of Mr. Morehead 's opponents to make Jt appear that he
is not in sympathy with the wage earners and at heart opposed to
organization on their part. There is every reason why Mr. More
head should be in full sympathy with, the (oilers. He has faced the
same problems they are facing, worked as they work and endured
what they have endured. As a member of the state senate he
showed his sympathetic understanding of their claims by working
for and voting for the enactment of the laws asked for by the or
ganized workers, namely, the factory inspection law. the building
law. the safetv appliance law. and others. He states without equivo-
. & . , e-- . . . 1 . . : l 1 I.
riu cto aii in his power it elected governor 10 secure recognition 01
Time and again we have called attention to the fact that Ne
braska needs interurban railroads. But Nebraska will not get them
until she is willing to give a fair show to the men who will have
To furnish the money. Men are not going to invest millions in a
hazardous enterprise knowing that the best they can get out of it
is no more than what they might get out of a sure investment in
farm mortgages. A few months ago a big syndicate with head
quarters in an Illinois city investigated the matter of an interurban
road between Lincoln and Auburn. The managers went to the ex
pense of making a survey, of getting figures showing the popula
tion within a certain distance on each side of the proposed route, of
ascertaining the production of commodities within a given territory
in short getting all the necessary . facts. The syndicate has the
money to build the road but it will not. Why? Because it figures
out that it would be a better investment to put that mouev into
farm mortgages, or into interurban roads in other states where the
development of resources is encouraged rather than discouraged.
Even if they built the road and after six or seven years of loss in
developing the traffic, the best they could get under Nebraska laws
is about one per eeiit more than they can get without risk and with-J
out loss by investing in farm mortgages. If anybody thinks that
capital is going to invest in public utility enterprises under those
conditions they've got another think coming. And while they are
thinking other states are interesting capital and developing their
resources.
It is about time Nebraska awoke to the fact that she hasn't got
capital of her own to develop these great resources and that she
must get it elsewhere or remain undeveloped. And if she gets it she
must give the investors something for their risk and their work.
SOKE STRAW VOTES,
We've been doing a little straw voting on our own account dur
ing the last few days. In one business block we found 4 Wilson
votes, 1 Taft vote, no Roosevelt .votes, 1 Debs vote, two dogs with
fleas and one young lady with a rat in her hair. In another business
block we found two men who couldn't vote because they were not
residents, one man who wouldn't vote for Wilson because he is a
Presbyterian, two men who wouldn't vote for Taft because he isn't
a Presbyterian, one boy who was eating peppermint drops and one
man who asked us to go out with him and take something. This
last man said he wouldn't vote for Ghafin under any circumstances.
We stood at the corner of Fourteenth and N and, accosted the first
fourteen men that passed, asking them how they stood on president.
Seven didn't know how they would vote, one said he waajfor Wilson
and six said it was none of our blankety blank business, ifany of
these straws show which way the political wind is blowing you are
mcicwuie to me uuormmioD.
ANOTHER WONDERFUL RECORD.
the needs of the waee earners bv adequate appropriations for the I There are 700 banks in Nebraska. Durinsr the. last eisht vears
a T 1... . , 1 .4. ; . . 1. 1 . I -,.. , , - . .
uai ur a. iu m iruri t -i v v vi uirr-hni it , mwm ausriiiiiuusf k rsajitrr. i m.ii raiisni x. loess or irecs
"bushwa;" only the matter-of-fact statement of a level-headed hnsi-jthan $2,500 to depositors. During these eight years these 700 banks
I have bad on hand an average of !?U0.(HH,U"u of deposits at all
. IT IS VERY AMUSING.
It is amusing to read some of the. arguments against the single
tax system that are advanced by opposition newspapers in Missouri.
To date we have not seen one that evidences even the least concep
tion of the single tax. All seem to think that it is a proposition to
raise all revenue by taxing the land. They appear to believe that
the farmer who owns 160 aeres of land will be taxed about 320
times more than the man who owns a city lot. They fail to grasp
the faet that the land itself is not taxed; that the tax is levied on the
land's value for use and occupancy. Missouri farmers own less than
25 per cent of the total land values of the state. They are paying
more than 60 per cent of the real estate taxes of the state. "Big
Business" in Missouri is using the Missouri' farmer to pull its chest
nuts from the fire.
ANOTHER REASON EVERY WEEK.
Every time the Lincoln city couneil meets the municipality
given another argument in favor of the commission form of govern
ment. Every council meeting sees a wrangle and a jangle; sees
flights of alleged oratory; sees insinuation and recrimination; sees
horseplay and child's play; sees about everything font real business
transactions performed in a businesslike way. It would be highly en
tertaining were it not so infernally expensive. It not long until
Lincoln enters upon the new era of municipal government, but few
and short as the intervening months are, there will be all too many
opportunities for a display of the same kind of activities that have
marked the council meetings for uany weary months of the past.
.
Our state is rich in natural resources not yet developed,
a condition, due to the lack of public knowledge of sack
wealth. We therefore, favor a liberal appropriatiom by Use
legislature for the purpose of giving publicity to the state's
resources. From the Nebraska Democratic Platform.
JUST TWENTX YEARS AGO."
John M. Tanner's South Omaha Democrat of October -I comes
o hand looking like a blushing bride. It marks the twentieth anni
versary of the Democrat and of "Doe" Tanner's career as the eda-
or of a daily newspaper in South Omaha. If "Doe" is not rolling
n riches as a result of his insistent ami persistent boosting for
South Omaha and Nebraska it is because he has beeu so busy housi
ng that he didn't take time to make money. There is only one
r Doc" Tanner and the South Omaha Daily Democrat Is his profit
d the profit is little enough compared with his efforts. He saw
(th Omaha founded : saw it change from a cornfield to the third
,rgest cattle market and packing market of the world; saw other
tunes.
j This, we claim, is
'.v- . : -f x .v. . .j...
en get rich on a "shoestring" as a result of the labors of him-
mighty good record. It speaks volumes
It is an evidence not only of care
ful and conservative business management on the part of the
bankers, but it is an evidence of strict supervision and regulation.
It might be used as an argument against a bank guarantee law,
but it would require a devious kind of logic. Without having any
statistics at hand we venture to claim that no other state in the
Union can show a better banking reeord than the above.
something: OF A PUZZLE.
We admit our inability to follow the legal logic of the grave and
reverend members of the supreme court of Nebraska. It decides
that the primary law is eonstfitutionaL then follows later with the
.
The decision of the Lincoln Commercial clnb to resume the hold
ing of "Made In Lineoln" expositions, first inaugurated by the
Ad club some four years ago, is to be commended-' These exposi
tions a rj" valuable in an educational way. The first of these ex
positions was an eye-opener to Lincoln people. Few of them
realized what remarkable development the city has made as a
manufacturing center. Future expositions will prove just as sur
prising, for Lincoln is growing as an industrial center at a most
gratifying rate. The Commercial club is planning to hold the next
exposition the latter part of the present month or the first of next
month, winding up with a banquet at which only Nebraska-grown
products find a place upon the bill of fare.