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The Commoner
VOLUME 12, NUMBER 53
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The Commoner. ,
ISSUED WEEKLY
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Entered at the. Postofllco at Lincoln. Nebraska,
rb Hocond-elass matter.
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THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb.
black soil, and the broad, satisfied smile of the
owner toll the story.
The cultivation of potatoes for industrial pur
poses, is also a recent industry in Holland.
Potatoes aro also produced in large quantities
for edible uses. About 69,000 acres of potato
land produce 40,000,000 bushels of potatoes
annually, which are ground into potato-flour,
of which 80 per cent is exported. This is 10,
000,000 bushels more than that used for the
same purpose in Germany. Most of the po
tatoes, for Industrial purposes at least, are culti
vated on landi which in protection years was
considered unfit for tillage. In the same dis
trict, very heavy small-grain is now also raised,
and the straw "therefrom furnishes the raw ma
terial for a large and flourishing straw-board
manufactory. These two manufacturing indus
tries together, which employ all surplus labor
in their respective localities, were conceived in
atid developed out of the present system of free
trade. All these figures, facts or statist'es that one
might tabulate indefinitely, go to mow that
Holland's agricultural prosperity is great. The
proof of it lies in the yearly increasing profit
ableness of the farm, the Improved condition of
the farmer, and the swelling annual exports of
products of the soil. Several farmers told me
that this was tho result of free trade. They
have no antagonism in the way of retaliatory
tariff measures in countries where they market
their produce. A year or two ago, there was
much agitation in favor of a tariff on flour to
protect a small milling industry that has grown
tip but the threat that the United States would
retaliate by raising the duty on bulbs and plants,
defeated the measure in the Dutch States gen
eral, m
' A wholesorafrfresult of free-trade in Holland
is the absence of great industrial trusts and
monopolistic combinations, with their evil and
unlawful operations. The small, independent
farmer, tradesman, and manufacturer, are a
bulwark of strehgth in the land. Instead of
many small tirfrrprlses being merged into one
or more large ones, and the small owners be
coming hirelings in the great concerns, each
man has his own business and is a more con
tented and valuable member of society.
Statistics also show that wealth is much more
equally distributed in the Netherlands than in
the United States. There are altogether 1,358
people in the country who have annual incomes
of from $5,000 to $10,000. Another group of
47 have incomes of $40,000 a year and upwards
the total income of the 47 being about $3,500
000 per annum. Holland has 568 millionaire's
onnoDutch curreny- Of these 568, there aTe
302 who possess only one million florins ($400-
HVl 110 have ono and a half million florins':
136 from two million to five million florins: 15
from Ave million to ten million; and only five
with over ton million. The aggregate capital
of the five latter is only $34,000,000. One of
the five has about $10,000,000, and is considered
the richest man in Holland. He is not engaged
in any business; all others aro active business
men. The remainder of the 6,000,000 Hol
landers have incomes of less than $5,000 an
nually. In spite of the nation's great aggregate
wealth, it is not a country in which great private
fortunes have been amadscd. There are no idle
rich. Unlimited competition has prevented the
growth of a favored class. Tho independent,
competitive business policy of Holland Is the
juv.iv uu wnicn ner national prosperity is
CURRENT TOPICS
T:-IE story of the Illinois senatorship is told
by the Washington (D. C.) Post in this way:
V henever J. Hamilton Lowis comes to town and
hits the lobby of the Willard ho is almost im
mediately surrounded by a crowd of friends and
admirers, but recently when he walked into the
hotel the greeting accorded him was more en
thusiastic and clamorous than ever. The uni
versal salutation was,- "How aro you, senator?"
To which the Hon. J. Hamilton replied blushing
ly, "Not yet; "not yet." Mr. Lewis bears his
prospective honors with becoming modesty, and
insists that the Illinois legislature has not yet
chosen him to represent his state in the United
States senate, and may not do so. "You see,
nobody can tell what the legislature is going to
do," said Mr. Lewis. "It would be audacious
for me to say that a sufficient number of mem
bers of the legislature will vote for me to insure
my election, although in the senatorial primary
my vote exceeded by 12,000 that of any presi
dential elector. The democrats will lack 4, per
haps only 2, of a majority in the legislature on
joint ballot. There are about 24 or 26 pro
gressives, and the remainder are republicans.
I have hope and reason to believe that I shall
get the votes of the democrats and enough re
publicans or progressive votes to elect me to
the senate, but then, no one can tell any more
what an Illinois legislature may do, even when
a man is the undoubted choice of his party in
the primaries." Asked what the progressives
might do, Mr. Lewis said: "I really do not
know. Of course, I have seen it mentioned that
there may be an agreement among the republi
cans and democrats whereby I might be chosen
to succeed Senator Cullom, and that Senator Cul
lom might be elected to fill out the unexpired
term of Mr. Lorimer. I do not know, as a matter
of course, whom the republicans would favor.
Both Mr. Cullom and Mr. Sherman are excellent
gentlemen, and fitted by character and qualifica
tions for United States senator."
to to to
NOT only are Roosevelt postmasters being re
tired under the Taft regime, but Mr. Roose
velt himself, is being punished, and worst of all,
he is being punished with respect to the trophies
he brought from Africa. A Washington dis
patch to the New York American says: Theo
dore Roosevelt two months ago visited the Na
tional museum to inspect the faunal exhibit
collected by him on his African hunting trip
and was pleased td find the trophies prominently
displayed In the main hall. Today the only occu
pant of the hall was a lone camel. It will dis
appear soon and join the trophies removed to
obscurity by the regents of the Smithsonian in
stitution. All trophies will probably remain
hidden until their captor is purified of the sin
of political insurgency. No explanation is given
that the main hall of the museum is now to be
a hall of fame. Heading the list of the members
of the Smithsonian institute is President Taft,
and after him are included all the members of
the cabinet. Interest in the exhibit, ,it is said,
has been dimmed by recent political activities on
the part of the distinguished naturalist.
& S &
CERTAIN disputed points in the life of
General Stonewall Jackson was the subject
of an address recently delivered at Williams
burg, Va., by Dr. James P. Smith. A dispatch
to the Richmond Times-Dispatch says: -Dr.
James Power Smith was the chief speaker at the
meeting of Phi Beta Kappa at the College of Wil
liam and Mary recently. The subject of the
address was "Disputed Points in the Life of
, 'Stonewall' Jackson." As an aide to the great
strategist, Dr. Smith knew as no other living
man does, the closest and most personal facts
of Jackson's life and spoke out of a rich and
beautiful love. The Imputations of over-ambition,
lack of humor, of awkwardness, were all
answered by Dr. Smith with point and evidence
He showed. the great-hearted, deeply religious'
sympathetic, human nature of the man and
illustrated it with mirth-provoking and de
lightfully droll stories and with incidents
of such heart-interest as to bring tears to the
eyes. He showed the lack of historic basis for
the famous Barbara Frietchle story, but nnlrf
a beautiful tribute to Whittier, who immor
talized the story which was told him by Mrs
Southworth, the novelist, through a poem which
Dr. Smith declared to be true to Jackson's hu
mane spirit, if untrue as to real fact He
showed the humanity of Jackson by stating that
as his aide, the speaker himself handled $30,000
raised under the general's direction for the re
lief of the suffering people of Frederick, Md
The story of Jackson's little friend, Jennie Cor
bin, was told, and how she would come to his
quarters to play and the general would send
the little maid home with his gold braid wound
about her hair. Then, at last, when the mes
sage came that the little girl was dead, her
grown-up playmate sat far into the night hours
grieving over the little friend that he was so
soon to join. In illustration of the great man's
sense of humor, Dr. Smith told many charmingly
funny stories. Never, he said, had he seen him
more hilariously moved than when he received
a letter addressed to "Mr. Stone W. Jackson,"
which began, "May it please Your Lordship."
It was from a woman recently from Ireland,
who sought the release of her husband from the
guardhouse.
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CONCERNING Washington's industrial laws,
an Associated Press dispatch says: Since
. the state industrial laws went into operation in
October last year, there have been 228 acciden
tal 'deaths in hazardous occupations covered by
the act. In 133 cases pensions were awarded to
dependents. One hundred and four men were
killed in lumber and milling, and employers
have automatically paid $403, 00d into this state
fund. Claims have been paid to injured lum
ber workers and dependents of $289,000, and
-there has been set aside in reserves, $114,000
to meet pensions. The next greatest death loss
was in the coal mining industry, with twenty
one fatalities. In all, the commission has col
lected $1,200,000,- has paid out on claims $600,
000, has set aside reserves on claims altogether
approved of $284,000 and has a cash balance of
$316,000.
S &
TT-IE first women's jury in Kansas made a
record. An Eldorado, Kan., dispatch to the
New York World, tells the story in this way:
When the first women's jury in a Kansas court
of record entered the jury room to begin its
duties the twelve paused, a trifle uncertain as
to the first move. "I believe we should pray,"
one said, so the twelve women bowed heads in
silent prayer; then one juror led in a spoken
supplication for guidance. The jury organized
by electing as foreman its oldest member, Mrs.
Hattie E. Riley, who has lived in Eldorado forty
years. Three hours later the twelve women,
escorted by a woman bailiff, returned to the
court room. The forewoman gave the written
verdict to her husband, W. Lv Riley, a regular
court bailiff. It" awarded the plaintiff $1,200
damages, based on alleged misrepresentation of
a quarter section of land in' Gove county. A
year ago the same case was tried before a jury
of men. They could not agree on a verdict.
S & S
THE smallest republic in thejworld, says a
. writer in the Philadelphia Public Ledger,
is that of Tavolara, a little island situated about
seven and a half miles from Sardinia. It is a
little more than a mile In length and has a
population of 55. The sovereignty of the island
was accorded in 1836 by King Charles Albert to
the Bartoleoni family. Up to 1882 Paul I.
reigned peaceably over his little island kingdom,
but at his death the islanders proclaimed a re
public. By the constitution of the republic the
president Is elected for 10 years, and women
exercise the franchise. A democratic form of
government seems quite the fashion now. The
tiny republic on the little Island has the same
principle of liberty the larger nations have, and
France on one side and the United States, the
greatest democracy in the world, on the other,
will take the hands of this least republic and
bid it godspeed.
J &
THE romance of the Rothsqhilds is just now
interesting literary London. A London dis
patch to the Houston (Tex.) Post says: London
is Interested in the efforts which are being made
yJi, LonJon bouse of Rothschilds to stop the
Publication of a book dealing with the history
of the famous financial family. The volume is
entitled "The Romance of the Rothschilds," and
the publisher is. Everleigh -Nash, who, it is
understood, told his friend ht he was de
termined to go. on with the .booJc despite the
objections of the Rothschilds. Arrangements
nav also been made by N.aah for simultaneous
t;T'Mi''--"