I
15
CAPITAL ITY HAT
NEBRASKA LEGISLATURE GET
TING DOWN TO REAL WORK
JQINTRAILRQAD COMMISSION COMMITTEE
Gets into Action and Discuss Best
Methods of Regulating the Trans-
portation Companies Other
News of Interest
How to proceed in the joint com
mittee to draft railroad legislation is
the question that now agitates the
members of that body The committee
IiaB held several sessions at which
the problems were gone over in some
detail and in which several proposi
tions were made by individual mem
bers Suggestions were listened to
from the newly elected railway com
missioners with the exception of Rob
ert Cowell of Omaha who was not
there
It appeared that there is little senti
ment in favor of a flat two cent pas
senger fare though a measure of some
sort reducing the passenger fare per
haps to 2 cents will be agreed upon
That this sentiment exists in the
houso was shown by the action of the
house railroad committee in recom
mending for postponement a two cent
passenger fare bill by Representative
Whltham of Johnson It was drawn
however to provide a one cent rate
for children under twelve which
would have included all young chil
dren
The committee realizes that it is
confronted with a multiplicity of prob
lems There is first the question of
what general plan to follow in em
powering the commissioners to regu
lato rates whether to give them
power to make rates in the first in
stance or not This once settled there
is still further the question of how
to settle this power upon them Some
mombcrs thought best to make sev
eral bills so that in case the courts
failed to sustain one there would be
others on which to fall back
As to the number of bills to be en
acted some believed one clear com
prehensive and cc icise law was suf
ficient Others thought possibly one
on the powers of the commission and
the method of procedure and another
fixing the compensation and organiza
tion would be enough
To Bring Constitution Up to Date
Senator Aldrich of Polk has intro
duced a joint resolution senate file
No 140 the purpose of which is to
secure the full and complete amend
ment of the constitution and make it
an up-to-date instrument The resolu
tion provides for the appointment by
the governor- within ten days of a
constitutional revision commission of
five members to be selected from the
citizens of the state and not more than
three to belong to any one party This
commission shall meet at the capitol
within one week and after examining
the constitution shall formulate a
series of amendments which shall cure
defects and make the constitution con
form to existing conditions No
amendment shall be accepted except
by the unanimous vote of the commis
sion The commission shall report to
the governor and legislature as soon
as possible and submit amendments
to be submitted to the people for
adoption or rejection The pay of the
commissioners shall be 25 per day for
not to exceed twenty days and the
clerk shall be paid 10 per day and
stenographers 5 per day each
Child Labor Bill
The Clarke child labor bill is bring- J
ntr rmifh discussion It would I
have been recommended for passage
thpast week but for the fear that it
might lead to trouble in the country
where there is a habit of working
young men under sixteen years of age
rather regularly Mr Clarke asked
the house not to endanger a good law
and one that was needed in the cities
of the state for some rather imaginary
difficulty Speaker Nettleton and
Representative Farley were not op
posed to the bill but they raised the
objection as did Lee of Douglas that
there might be some families who
would depend on the support of child
ren under sixteen These Mr Clarke
said were extremely few It was
stated in the farming communities it
would be possible for one farmer to
cause another trouble by causing his
arrest if he worked hisboys too hard
Rather than insist on the measure at
that time Mr Clarke moved thai
further conference be had on the bill
State to Buy Bonds
Having been authorized by the board
of educational lands and funds to pur
chase 117000 of the Mississippi state
bonds as an Investment for the state
school fund State Treasurer Brian
stands ready to deliver the money for
the bonds He has received consider
able money during the first two weeks
in January and now has funds to take
up the proposed purchase The bonds
are to be bought at a rate that will
netihgtate 375 per cent Interest
Shall We Have Commission
Shall Nebraska have a state elective
railway commission This question
is to come before the supremo court
of Nebraska February 5 It is consid
ered to be one of the most important
legal questions that has arisen in the
past twenty years when an appointive
railway commission was created This
commission was declared unconstitu
tional about ten years later by the su
preme court that body having decided
that the title of the bill creating It had
been changed some time during the
progress of the bill from one house
to another
In the present test suit in the su
preme court the railroad attorneys are
privileged to appear as friends of the
court to present their side of the
case in the event they desire to com
bat the constitutional amendment
Dairymen Want a Commissioner
The dairymen of Nebraska believ
ing that their industry has become a
powerful factor in the material pros
perity of the state and that the state
is therefore enriched by the addition
of millions of dollars will ask the
legislature to give them a dairy com
missioner It will be asked to make
such an appointment and attach a sal
ary for the commissioner and inspect
ors The dairymen want a more rigid
inspection of dairy products
They say that in testing milk and
cream for commercial purposes it shall
be made unlawful to use any methods
not laid down by the dairy commis
sioner and fully endorsed by the pro
fessor or animal husbandry of the
state agricultural institution who shall
prescribe and furnish the food com
missioners most accurate and practi
cal methods to be used in testing milk
and cream and rules and regulations
governing the same
Second it shall be unlawful to sell
any milk cream or dairy product to be
used as food that has been put in any
pail separator vessel churn or other
implement which is in an unclean and
unsanitary condition at the time or
operate in the manufacture of any
dairy product in any creamery or fac
tory any implement or vessel which is
in an unclean and unsanitary condi
tion
Third it shall be unlawful to sell or
offer for sale any milk or cream from
diseased or unhealthy cows or from
cows kept in filthy and unsanitary
manner
Want a Board of Examiners
The Nebraska Optical Society is in
terested in a bill providing for the
appointment of a board of examiners
in optometry The bill defines the pow
ers of the board which shall make
such rules and regulations not incon
sistent with the laws as may be nec
essary to the proper performance of
its duties The bill provides that per
sons desiring to commence or continue
the practice of optometry after Jan
uary 1 190S be required to take an
examination before the board to de
termine his qualifications There is at
present no law governing or regulat
ing the practice of optometry and the
design of the bill favored by the so
ciety is the protection of the public
from the practice of those who engage
in optometry who are not qualified to
do so The public will understand
better what is meant by the term when
it is explained that optometry Is what
is practiced by opticians
The Price of Railroad Fare
Several bills relating to the rate to
be paid for railroad fare have beenN
Introduced the rates named varying
Senator Phillips of Holt has one in
which he names 2 cents as the maxi
mum charge He has also introduced
an anti free pass bill or a bill intend
ed to give publicity to the names and
addresses of persons who receive free
transportation for persons or property
His plan is to require the railroads to
file an annual statement with the
county clerk containing the names of
all persons within the county who
have received free passes for persons
or property and the reasons such
passes were given
No State Fair Levy
The house overwhelmingly voted for
the resolution of Tucker of Douglas
that all appropriations shall be made
in specific amounts and not in mill
levies This means that the state fair
management must ask the legislature
for a specified sum and can not have
the one eighth mill levy it desired
U of N Charter Day
Preparations are being made at the
state university for the charter day
exercises Friday February 15 when
a crowd of several hundred visitors
are expected in Lincoln The program
will be the best ever presented and
the students at the big school are man
ifesting much interest in the plans
for the exercises
Adultery Bill Passed
Bills on third reading have been
reached in the senate S F No12 by
Root of Cass making a lighter penalty
for adultery and defining the crime to
consist of a single offense instead of a
continuous offense was read the third
time and placed upon Its passage
Twenty eigh senators voted for it and
It was declared passed with the emer
gency clause McKesson of Lancaster
voted in the negative
I
NEWS ITEMS IN NEBRASKA
The Burlington has begun work on
the new depotat Minden
The new Methodist Episcopal church
at Edison has been dedicated
The ice harvest a very satisfactory
one is proceeding In all directions
Fire destroyed the houso of Peter
Kohler in Burt county Nothing was
saved
Seward citizens are considering the
matter of holding a chautauqua thero
the coming summer
The county commissioners of Wash
ington county estimate that 90000
will be needed to run the county the
coming year
John Sams while shelling corn near
Arnold had his right hand ground up
in a horsepower so that amputation
was necessary above the wrist
Oliver G Myers and Mrs Carrie E
Carpenter were found dead in bed in
a room at Lincoln Death was caused
by asphyxiation by fumes from a gas
stove
The state of Washington has accred
ited the Peru Normal certificates thus
permitting normal graduates to teach
in that state without further examina
tions
C C Hughes former assistant gen
eral superintendent of the Northwest
ern railroad on its Nebraska Wyoming
division will probably locate in Fre
mont
A telegram has reached Fremont
from Washington slating that Presi
dent Roosevelt has nominated Daniel
Swanson for reappointment to the po
sition as postmaster of Fremont
A number of firms and families in
Auburn are now burning Nemaha
county coal James Hayes owner of
the mines located on Honey creek be
tween Auburn and Peru shipped the
first carload last week
The trout pools of northern Nebras
ka will have a considerable addition
to their population this summer when
the eggs which have just been re
ceived by the state commission are
hatched and the fry distributed
At the request of the members of
Russell post Grand Army of the Re
public Fairbury Congressman Hin
shaw has secured from the war de
partment the donation to the post of
one of the cannon captured in the
Spanish American war which will be
placed in the city park
Some forty prominent property own
ers have petitioned the board of coun
ty commissioners of Cass county pro
testing against the action of the board
in reappointing Anderson House as
superintendent of the poor farm They
charge corrupt practices and extrava
gance
Copies of a petition are being circu
lated at Ainsworth to be forwarded to
Congressman Kinkaid asking that the
service pension bill be amended in the
house to provide pensions ranging from
10 at the age of GO to 25 at the age
of 75 and to do away with all boards
of examiners
Adjutant General Culver of the State
National Guard in his biennial report
just issued advocates a plan for build
ing permanent armories for all the
companies of the guard His plan
calls for the organization of an asso
ciation to collect funds and build me
morial armories at each guard station
to be dedicated to the great soldiers of
all wars of this country
John Samuel Jay who was caught
In the shafting of the sugar factory at
Grand Island while leaning over the
same to clean some windows and who
was terribly injured after several
days of intense suffering succumbed
to his injuries His clothing was
caught he was whirled about the
shafting and to the floor and many
bones were broken and internal in
juries caused
Congressman Hitchcock has re
ceived a letter from Mr and Mrs
Henry Doorly his son-in-law and
daughter dated Kingston January 12
giving him and his family the assur
ance they already felt of the safety of
the Omaha tourists in the earthquake
district They were to leave Kingston
that day and are supposed to have
gotten away before the shake oc
curred
The Nebraska Volunteer Firemens
association elected these officers
President J V Hyder York first vice
president Mark Mortenson Fremont
second vice president Bert Galley Co
lumbus secretary E A Miller Kear
ney treasurer Henry Graff Seward
board of control George Howe of Fre
mont J F McNee of Kearney R N
McAllister of Grand Island R H Rey
nolds of Norfolk and John McKay of
Blair
The TJnjon Pacific has asked eight
passenger conductors running into
North Platte to have their photo
graphs taken to be used in an adver
tising pamphlet that the company will
Issue The feature of these eight con
ductors is that their combined weight
is 2090 pounds or an average of 261
pounds each The conductors to be
represented in this group are Mooney
and Layton of the Wyoming division
and Madden Wallace Powers Clap 1
per Shoemaker and Keene They are
a bunch of big ones and every ounce
of them represents gentlemanly quali
ties and efficiency as employes
Henry Oltman aged 70 years has
been arrested at Madison on the
charge of incest He is charged by
his 18-year-old daughter with being the
parent of a child to which she ia
about to give birth
The exhibit of the Nebraska Corn
Improvers meeting in Lincoln last
week is said to have been the best
ever seen at an association meeting
A Shamel of Chicago who has been
judge of the Nebraska corn show for
the past five years said that It sur
passed anything which this state has
heretofore exhibited
New York Up in the Berkshire
Hills there is a vast estate contain
ing many thousands of acres in one
of the most beautiful regions of
America and which belongs to a
small community of which the large
majority must soon pass away
Seven miles this estate runs along
the country roads Spurs from the
Berkshires cross it and lovely valleys
He between
In one of these valleys clusters a
group of houses which have slowly ac
cumulated during a hundred years and
more Good houses they are well
built and large filled with every con
venience and comfort and surround
ed with trim gardens shaded drives
and deep fruited orchards It looks
like a little paradise In summer The
place would be suitable for a great
charitable or educational institution
a sanitarium or summer boarder en
terprise There are many rich farms
in the great estate In the hands of
those who knew how to manage it the
whole would form a holding of great
value As it Is the title rests in a
community of about -80 persons of
which the majority must in the course
of nature die within the next few
years and into which no new mem
bers are entering
Who is going to become the final
owner of the great Shaker property
at Mount Lebanon N Y Which of
the younger women of the community
will be the last survivor of an organi
zation formed more than a century
high type of character and intelli
gence Indomitable workers the pro
ceeds of their toil put into a common
treasury made the community rich al
though the members possessed no in
dividual property The buildings and
grounds to day are full of comforts
and improvements which have been
added by the busy skillful hands of
one generation after another
It would seem as if plenty of peo
ple who live in neither comfort nor
plenty outside would be thankful to
enter this peaceful retreat and know
they were provided for for life with
no harder work than they would do
anywhere But they do not come The
Shakers are anxious to get new mem
bers They do not want the sect to
perish from the face of the earth Its
dwindling numbers are a matter of
distress to them It is for this reason
that they have within recent years
adopted a more liberal policy In for
mer years the world was never per
mitted to enter their gates except for
strictly necessary business Two
years ago they took the unprecedent
ed step of calling a peace convention
which attracted many distinguished
speakers and visitors They serve
dinners through the pleasant weather
now and the automobile folk from
Lenox and Stockbridge find these an
agreeable goal Last summer for
the first time in history one of the
families took summer boarders
These activities have been profita
ble but morethan profit the Shakers
songht new material from which to re
plenish their dwindling numbers
Conservatism Triumphed
This policy seemed good at first
During the summer of the peace con
vention seven new members entered
the North family By winter all were
gone The history of two of them is
an example of the rest Both were
men in the prime of life one an
American who had been the financial
editor of a big daily paper the other
a London merchant Both belonged
to that small but persistent percent
age of the population to whom com
munistic life is attractive Otherwise
there was nothing to take them to
the place for no Shaker receives any
personal emolument All goes into
the common treasury
These two men saw possibilities In
the place They advanced various
plans for making it more profitable
They entered with enthusiasm Into
the idea of moderninzing the whole
organization bringing it in touch with
the preesnt day world getting in
fresh Jjlood and building up a strong
growing organization once more
They were allowed to do nothing
Everything they proposed was vetoed
by those in authority and they be
came conscious of an unspoken but
acute jealousy
Gradually they saw they were to be
reduced to simply two pairs of hands
doing the manual tasks that were or
dered like little boys Their brains
were not wanted their new ideas
were not wanted and they had to
take orders from men who were men
tally their inferiors Then they went
away and by winter the rest of the
seven had followed them
One Womans Experience
A young woman went to Mount
Lebanon last summer thinking per
haps she might join She was a
dreamer and an idealist She had
had a hard and poverty stricken life
for a few years and she was penni
less The ilfe attracted her the work
was congenial she liked all the ma
terial conditions But she found that
should she become a member she
would never again have a moments
privacy Working or sleeping an
other woman would be always with
her Eldres3 Anna would road all lot
tors she sent or received and she
would ask the eldress permission for
overy act of her life a3 a child does
its mothor At tho end of six weeks
she left to begin her struggle with
poverty again preferring that to
prison life
Mother Ann Lee who foundod tho
Shaker sect was a remarkablo wo
man says the New York Press LIko
most founders of rollglona the sub
liminal was on top In her and she
Baw visions and droamod dreams
Powers were claimed for her which
correspond to what are known a3
clairvoyance and healing by sugges
tion nowadays She had a career
which shows her to have been a
strong character and probably had
her followers lived the ordinary fam
ily life the sect would have been a
flourishing church to day replenished
in each generation with tho children
of the members
Mother Ann had some very ad
vanced ideas for her day For in
stance she believed in tho absolute
equality of man and woman and
Shakerdom has always been conduct
ed on that basis But democratic
government was not known In her
day and she made the rule of her
communities despotic through an
elder and eldress at the head of each
family appointing their own succes
sors and with no check on their au
thority
Eldress Anna now holds the reins
with a hand of iron in the North fam
ily She is of the type of the born
priest Her face is that of the ascetic
and the devotee She is able consci
entious and profoundly religious but
she is an autocrat
One Scandal in Community
There was one scandal at Mount
Lebanon once just once but it is
still whispered with bated breath
One brother now in his GOs entered
the community at 13 bringing 4000
with him With the flight of years he
was made elder being a most able
and devoted member A few years
ago after the brother had spent near
ly 50 years in service of the com
munity a new sister entered She
was a stranger young and fair but
most exemplary in her conduct and
obedience
To the horror of the whole family
ago and what will she do with this
vast deserted place when by law it
passes into her hands For no new
members are entering the Shaker
commounity to remain permanently
The community is slowly but surely
dying out
Survivors Will Be Women
The last survivors will undoubtedly
be women The great majority of the
members are now women about 65
out of the 80 The younger members
are all women These younger women
are mostly in the fifties although the
remarkably youthful appearance of
all Shaker women makes them look
in many cases at least 15 years
younger The great majority of all
the members are aged women ran
ging from the seventies well along
toward the nineties
Eldress Harriet Bullard who is at
the head of all the Shakers in the
United States is well over SO So is
Eldress Anna White the head of the
North family the most distinguished
family in Shakerdom These old wo
men are marvels of activity and
achievement for their age like all
Shaker women Yet they can hardly
live many years longer and consider
ing the large number of them of about
the same age there must within the
next few years be a marked diminu
tion of numbers
How will the few who remain man
age this great place already too vast
for the survivors Miles of Shaker
territory lie unoccupied and unproduc
tive One great house in the valley
with its big bams and outbuildings
stands vacant Its family died out
within a few years past and it is
quietly falling to decay
Nobody joins the Shakers now
People enter from time to time stay
a few weeks or months and then go
away The Shakers have taken chil
dren from time to time to raise and
have raised them well But when they
were grown these children nearly al
ways slipped quietly away into the
big world outside
Rich and Prosperous
Yet a hundred years ago that valley
at Mount Lebanon was a busy hive of
industry Inhabited by hundreds of
hardy thrifty New Englanders of a
it awakened one morning to find Bro
ther Ephraim and the new sister
gone Worse yet Brother Ephraim
who bandied the banking business of
the family had taken not only his
own 4000 but 6000 more being
every cent of the familys ready
money Rather than betray its shame
to the world the family made no sign
and never strived to recover its 10
000
One morning all wet with sleet
and cold as ice Brother Ephraim
came creeping in and told his tale
with sobs and tears He followed the
authority of Adam strictly and laid it
all on the woman She had bewitched
him he said He could not resist
her but Just as soon as the money
was gone she had left him and then
he sobbed again He brought back
not one dollar of the 10000 It had
flown with wings for they lived high
After 50 years of celibacy Brother
Ephraim had gone on one grand
bust
The crime was one even more de
testable to the Shakers than to ordi
nary folk But Brother Ephraim was
so useful a man that they had been at
their wltB ends to get on without
him So they took him back and set
him to work and he lives a chastened
and humbled man and a firm believer
in the superman
End Must Be Soon
That is the only scandal Shaker
land ever had They are clean hon
est hard working people who live the
simple life with plain living and high
thinking None of the vices of the
age are theirs Yet year by year
there are more of those strange silent
Shaker funerals when by night with
out music flowers or weeping they
carry out a rough plank box to a
nameless unmarked grave Nobody
comes to fill the vacant chair and
soon a picturesque historic experi
ment the only experiment in Ameri
can Protestant monastic life will see
its end The only question Is which
of the Shaker sisters will be left the
last possessor of that seven miles of
land and the group of great empty
houses with their century old memo
rles
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