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Lhicoln Letter
Current Gossip from the
STATE CAPITAL
Legislative and Otherwise
H R 2G4 by McMulIen of Gage ap
propriating 180000 from the general
fund of the state for the erection of a
womans building a horticultural
building and other structures at the
agricultural farm was placed on gen
sral file Inasmuch as the committee
z not favorable to the appropriation
if 100000 for the erection of a wing
at the Kearney normal school there Is
liable to be a big fight on the approp
riation for the university It is said
there will be less than 350 pupils en-
rolled at the agricultural farm next
years while there Is liable to be 1300
ai the Kearney normal school Inas
much as there is over 1000000 to be
appropriated for the Lincoln institu
tion there issome feeling that an even
distribution Is not being made Some
contend that no appropriation for the
university should be made out of the
general fund as the one mill levy will
be sufficient untar proper management
to meet all the uirements of the in
stitution
The house on Friday recommended
for passage the -joint committee prk
mary bill rushed it through committee
of the whole and then passed S F No
5 by Gibson the employers liability
bill Indefinitely postponed Harveys
legislative annexation and recommend
ed the Lee annexation bill for passage
while the senate side tracked the joint
committee anti pass bill and recom
mended the King anti pass bill with
amendments for passage The also
amendments for passage They also
submit to a vote the question of a
constitutional convention
After devoting two sessions of the
committee of the whole to it the sen
ate in committee recommended for
passage Kings anti pass bill as a sub
stitute for the joint committee bill
recently passed by the house As fin
ally amended the bill is not quite as
stringent as the house bill but is
much more severe than the King bill
fwas originally As it was introduced
It was modeled after the national law
on the subject but as the senate fin
ally recommended it it is more strin
gent than the national law The house
measure was not considered
The state conventions of next year
probably will be confronted with the
proposition of indorsing or turning
flown amendments to the constitution
enlarging the membership of the su
preme court to seven members fixing
the salaries at 4500 and of district
Judges at 3000 and to permit the leg
islature to designate methods of ap
peal b the supreme court Since the
aeclsion of the supreme court that
amendments may be voted on by
Straight party ballot the greatest diffi
culty of amending the constitution has
been done away with
Some objections have been raised to
H R 432 a bill to impose a license
fee on all corporations doing business
In this state which- are organized un-
der the laws of Nebraska or under
the laws of any other state The an
nual license ranges from 5 to 200
and it is believed by the friends of the
bill that it will raise 150000 annually
to help pay the expenses of the state
The fee is based on capital stock of the
corporation to be taxed The bill
was introduced in the senate by the
senate judiciary committee and a du
plicate was Introduced in the house
In the suit of the state against The
State Journal company to recover 85
000 alleged to represent the price of
court reports which the defendant is
charged with selling the supreme
court denied the motion of the state
to amend its petition Two former de
cisions were against the state in this
suit the court holding that the court
reports were not the property of the
state that the reporter of the court
sells copies of the opinions to various
publications and that anyone is priv
ileged to publish them
-After two hours of strenuous dis
cussion the senate in committee of the
whole recommended for passage the
judiciary committee substitute for the
Burns pure food bill The only attack
on the measure was in the interests of
the druggists who were represented
on the floor of the senate by Senator
Luce of Harlan who is in the business
The principal difficulty came in amend
ing section 9 which originally required
all patent and proprietary medicines
containing poisonous substances to be
labeled poison in large red letters
y Governor Sheldon has signed S F
114 by Thomas of Douglas known as
the bulk sales bill an act to prevent
merchants from selling their stocks of
goods without notice to creditors The
bill has no emergency clause
The emplyoyers liability bill as in
troduced in the senate by Gibson and
passed by that branch of the- legisla
ture was passed in the- house and is
ready for the governors signature
There were three bills of almost iden
tical wording on this subject in the
legislature They were by Gibson in
the senate and by McMulIen and Cone
In the house The Gibson bill departs
from the provisions of the other two
In that it applies only to railroad men
engaged in the operation of trains it
Is the fellow servant act almost the
same as passed by congress
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The 2 cent fare bill signed by thq
governor and now in effect was draft
ed by a Joint committee comprising
senators and members of the legisla
ture Senator Wiltse of Cedar was
one who put In a great deal of time
looking up the legality of the proposed
measure The bill Is merely amend
atory of the present statute which
fixes the passenger rates at 3 cents a
millo The bill changes the word
three to two la addition there is
Inserted a clause which states that nc
railroad shall be required to sell a
ticket for less than 5 cents This was
put In to apply to Interurban lines and
to the sale of tickets on roads where
stations are less than one mile apart
The bill changes the age at which half
fare rates shall apply from children
under 10 years to children under 12
years which is now the rule in force
on all roads in this state
An argument which has been
triously circulated to defeat the ter
minal taxation bill has been the decla
ration that it would impose double
taaxtion upon the railroads In counties
under township organization and
therefore be unlawful or else knock
the townships out of their proper share
of taxes That statement is effect
ively met with a decision of the su
preme court of Indiana which will be
offered by Clarke of Douglas in his
fight for the passage of the terminal
taxation bill The court holds there
with respect to a similar law that the
fact that property is taxed in a town
ship cannot release the railroad from
paying its just share of taxes for mu
nicipal purposes to -the town which
may He wholly within the precincts of
that township
The home insurance companies of
the state won their battle in the senate
when they succeeedd in Wiling S F
No 212 a bill by Aldrich of Butler
county providing for an annual ac
counting and apportioning of the sur
plus of life insurance companies doing
business in the state The home com
panies contended throughout the insur
ance fight that this bill would bar
them from competing with eastern
companies in other states because of
the reciprocal insurance laws which
prevent an insurance company writing
in any state a policy not permissible
in the home state
Without giving it a hearing before
the committee of the whole the senate
killed H R 175 wliich provided for
the assessment of real estate mort
gages as a part of the real estate and
not as personal property and fixed the
statuts of the mortgage for taxation
purposes as the county within which
the mortgage is located and not the
residence of the owner The revenue
committee reported the bill for indefi
nite postponement and McKesson who
has a similar bill in the senate made
a fight to have the bill placed on gen
eral file
Efforts to revive the defunct pro-
vision of the Gibson anti brewery bill
and incorporate it in another measure
pending in the senate were promptly
sat down upon by a majority of the
senators The provision was to limit
the number of saloons to one for every
1000 The bill under consideration
was S F No 295 by Patrick to pre
vent the location of saloons within
three miles of military reservations
The only amendments adopted were
one to include Indian reservations and
to exclude Fort Omaha from the pro
visions of the act
Governor Sheldon permitted H R
No 116 to become a law without his
signature The bill provides that re
porters in district courts shall receive
10 cents a page for making transcripts
in criminal cases where the defendant
makes an affidavit of poverty
The senate in committee of the
whole recommended for passage
tor Sacketts bill relating to the con
fiscation of coal in transit by railroads
The bill requires the roads to pay the
value of the coal within sixty days
The senate indefinitely postponed S
F No 403 by Hamer of Cherry an
act to permit precincts townships
cities or villages to issue bonds in aid
of steam railroads
A bill by Marsh of Seward to compel
Christian scientist healers to report
contagious diseases to health author
ities was recommended to pass after
a sharp contest in the house
Patricks bill providing a new trial
shall not be granted in criminal cases
for error of the court where it is shown
there has been no miscarriage of jus
lice was recommended for passage in
the senate after a lively fight against
it led by King of Polk The bill is in
tended to prevent the reversal of cases
for mere technicalities which do not
affect the merits of the case King
stoke against it declaring it was pre
jrdicialto the interests of thedefend
mt in criminal cases and virtually al
lowed the judges to saywhether jus
tice had been done or not
A prohibition amendment to the
constitution will not be submitted to
the people for ratification at the polls
next year The prohibitionists were
unsuccessful in their efforts to resus
citate SrF No 399 previously post
poned
Forcible annexation of South Omaha
and Omaha died without a struggle in
the house At the same time the bill
to put the question to a vote of the
people of both cities was advanced by
the committee of the whole to third
reading and will probably pass
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CARE OF EMPLOYES
RAILROADS 8PEND LARGE SUMS
FOR COMFORT OF MEN
Considered by Up-to-Date Officials
is Most Profitable Investment
Immense Clubhouse at
West Philadelphia
To keep the men who run the rail
roads up to the highest efficiency
mark transportation officers now con
sider that they can make no more
profitable Investment than in rest
houses pensions insurance and relief
funds Y M C As schools and libra
ries The welfare of the men behind
the throttle is as carefully considered
as the man behind the gun of a bat
tleship Welfare work among the rail
roads began systematically with the
establishment of Y M C As Now
there are no less than 200 railway as
sociation branches representing roads
which employ at least 800000 men
In the largest railroad Y M C A in
the country located at West
On the Tampico branch of the Mexi
can Central railway a bull wrecked a
train resulting in the death of two
trainmen and the injury of several
passengers- says the New York Herald
correspondent at San Antonio Tex
It was a clear case of the bull but
ting the train off the track The train
was of freight cars with a coach in
the rear There were only seven cars
and all of them went into the ditch
The bull a large imported animal of
the black Spanish fighting breed was
seen on the track ahead and all the
whistling and alarms the engine driver
could give failed to cause him to move
The train came almost to a stop and
gently pushed the animal off But be
fore the engine driver regained speed
the animal was again on the track
braced with head lowered and chal
lenging the train
The engine driver gently jolted the
animal off a second time and the per
formance was repeated
This vexed the engine driver and
the animal seeming to desire a collis
ion the train was backed up a quarter
of a mile and then with a good run
ning start struck the bull
Instead of being thrown off the track
the animal was carried under the pilot
of the engine and the entire train
went into the ditch The fireman and a
brakeman both Mexicans were killed
It is reported several of the pas
sengers were shaken up very much
The bull was killed
Gospel on Longest Railway
The railway which crosses Siberia
is by far the longest in the world
The tremendous distances traveled
and the religious character of the peo
ple have given rise to the chapel rail
way carriages for divine service
These are fitted up Inside like a
church and they serve not only for
travelers by rail but for periodical
worship by vthe inhabitants of remote
villages on the great plains
j Holy Land Railroad
A small passenger steamer has
been launched on the Lake of Galilee
in connection with the railway in the
Holy Land
naJnytL nmmwijira
amusements and restaurants are tii
equipment of the resthouse The Mj
gest of these is the Filbert street
haven in Philadelphia which cna
more than 30000 and is used ever
day by at least 1000 men
Increase Efficiency
For men who are compelled to lay
over between runs the Y M C A or
the resthouse is a godsend Like tho
associations the resthouses cost a lot
of money but nobody can estimate
how much they save by keeping train
men in good condition for work that
requires the clearest minds dnd the
soundest of bodies Libraries and
reading rooms have been made still
another avenue for the profitable in
vestment of railway funds A regular
chain of libraries 108000 miles long
either supported in whole or in part
by railroad funds has been estab
lished throughout the country and
maintained by 48 different roads
Pensions and the savings fund add
more millions to the railroad disburse
ments directly benefiting their men
As corporations wake up to the neces
sity for a pension system they inves
tigate the system adopted by the
Pennsylvania to provide for old em
ployes From the time the pension
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Twenty five hundred railroad empl oyes use this building as clubhouse and
school It has an auditorium seating 1200 ample facilities for recreation and
educational work
phia 2500 railroad men are provided
with all the comforts- of a first class
clubhouse and many advantages that
no ordinary club possesses An audi
torium where an audience of 1200
can be comfortably seated and facil
ities for study make it a great educa
tional institution
No Cash Dividends Here
It is not by accident that there are
so many of these rest recreation and
educational oases located- along the
lines of 125000 miles of American rail
roads They represent a policy just
as well defined as that which demands
the best roadway or the most efficient
locomotives The big investment in
volved officials believe is a dividend
not in cash but in improved morals
more regular habits better service
fewer suspensions for infractions of
rules an all around higher type of
men and a better understanding be
tween the men and -the railroad
Resthouses fill in the gaps between
the associations on some of the rail
roads Comfortable beds for night
use couches where trainmen to use
their own picturesque expression can
pound an ear for an hour or two
lockers books and periodicals games
ANGRY BULL DITCHES TRAIN
Tossed from Track Enraged Fighting
Bred Animal Returns to Attack
fund was established appropriations
for it have amounted to something
more than 2000000 and the annual
disbursements average 400000 at the
present time
Then there is the savings fund con
ducted for the employes to whom
three and one half per cent interest
is guaranteed Between Pittsburg
and Philadelphia there are 1000
agents who are designated savings
fund depositories and at a place like
Altoona there are often from half a
dozen to 20 men in line to make de
posits after working hours Since this
savings fund was established it has
paid out 1225000 in interest
Relief Funds
To all these provident institutions
the name under which they are
grouped in railroad bookkeeping add
the relief fund Nearly all the older
railroads have some such institution
as this and on a road like the Long
Island with between 5000 and 6000
employes the annual disbursements
exceed 20000 a year The Pennsyl
vania fund has received 3500000
from the company and disburses
every year nearly 1250000 in acci
dent sick and death benefits
WWWWiiVSAAVWVWlW
HOW TRAINS ARE HELD UP
Wild Animals and Insects as Well as
Men Do the Work
The achievements of those robbers
and desperadoes who hold up or
wreck railway trains are occasionally
paralleled by wild animals
In Siberia for instance it has hap
pened on at least one occasion that a
bear has jumped on to the locomotive
of a train and attacked the driver and
guard In one case of this kind bruin
met with so vigorous a rebuff that he
fell back on to the line and was caught
by the wheels with fatal results
In Canada it has more than once
been found that the passage of a train
has been disputed by a moose deer
The moose always got the worst of
the encounter
Ostriches often cause a stoppage of
trains in South Africa They stick
their heads in the sand ballasting of
the tracks and as they are too valu
able to kill the train is stopped till
they are captured or driven back to
the farm from which they may have
escaped
Even insects may bring trains to a
standstill The white ant or termite
accomplishes this feat by destroying
the sleepers on which the rails rest
That fish should interfere with
trains would seem impossible but
they do so in India by being sucked
into the apparatus for watering loco
motives at country stations And once
a railway trolley car passing through
flooded country was stopped a large
fish becoming jammed in one of the
wheels
Even weeds may hold up a train
as in Ecuador where the vegetation
along the track grows so rapidly that
if it werenot regularly kept down
traaffic would be impossible
Owl Caught by Locomotive
While an early morning express
from Glasgow to Aberdeen Scotland
was passing Alloa Junction about five
a m a bar owl flew across the
track and was Jaught by the locomo
tive Miles farther on when the train
stopped the bird was found clinging
in its death grip to the handrail of
the smoke box The owl has been
stuffed and is now carried as a mas
cot by the engine driver
up-
Round About New York
Gossip of People and Thing
in the Great Metropolis
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QUIET RETIREMENT OF
MORGAN FROM WALL ST
Wall street has been look
THAT
ing forward to anxiously and
with much speculation for several
years has actually come to pass In
the House of Morgan The old
man as J Plerpont Morgan Is gen
erally called In the street has to all
intents and purposes gone into retire
ment and in his place in the most fa
mous banking house in America there
reigns J P Morgan Jr or Jack
as he is more frequently called and
spoken of in the same district No
one can cry The King is dead
Long live the King for the head of
the house is very much alive Only
he has handed over the practical ad
ministration of his banking concerns
to his son while in his magnificent
new library on East Thirty sixth
street he is spending the evening of
his days in the pleasure of the col
lector amid his collections Like all
the things the elder Morgan does
this change in his banking house was
accomplished with little flourishing of
trumpets So quiet and gradual has
been the process that until the last
few weeks but little attention has
been paid to the important change
which has for several years been go
ing on In the house of Morgan Of
late Morgan Sr has not been in
any too good health and for more
than a month has not been in the
heart of New Yorks China
THE
town which was wiped out offi
cially at a recent meeting of the
board of estimate when a new park
to occupy the acre and a half block
bounded by the Bowery Doyers Pell
and Mott streets was authorized is
owned largely by Chinese firms and
individuals and includes the Chinese
theater in which several Chinese re
cently were shot to death in a high
binder war the joss house and all
the other oriental features which
have made the locality the most pic
turesque plague spot in the city Be
fore the year is out most of the in
habitants will have moved to Brook
lyn where they are establishing a
new Chinatown and the narrow
crooked streets around Chatham
Square are affording their last pic
turesque spectacle to the rubber
neck tourists in the celebration of
NEW YORK A FRUITFUL
FIELD FOR LAWYERS
thousand lawyers are
EIGHTEEN
living more or less luxuriously be
2ause of the controversies of indi
viduals and the results of crime in
the metropolis Ninety two others
candidates from the law schools were
admitted to the New York bar a few
days ago and there is scarcely a
week in which a locally prominent
legal light from some other part of
the country seeking a wider field and
higher fees is not added to the stead
ily increasing number New York has
a population of approximately 4500
000 and this means that there is one
lawyer to every 250 individuals not
a very large number from which to
draw a clientele it would seem when
the lawyers themselves and those
who cannot afford the luxury of law
are subtracted Yet most of them
have an opulent look that speaks elo
quently of prosperity and suggests
builders are planning to
MANSION
invest 20000000 within a year
along the one mile stretch of Million
aires Row in Fifth avenue H C
Frick has practically closed a deal
for the purchase of the Lennox li
brary site in Fifth avenue between
Seventieth and Seventy first streets
The property is in the midst of the
storm center of the 100 and its
dimensions are 200x125 feet The
library trustees have asked legisla
tive permission to sell the ground
The price asked is said to be 3000
000 Mr Frick now has a ten year
lease of the George Vanderbilt man
sion on the Fifty first streeet corner
at 50000 a year During the past
few months more than 6000000 has
been paid for mansion sites in upper
Fifth avenue Most of these buyers
will erect homes to cost double the
price- of the land Others who have
been holding costly sites for the past
financial district at all Evory tlmo
the stock market tumbles disquiotlng
reports are circulated from one end
of Wall street to the othor that the
old man is seriously ill and iu
spite of frequent denials from other
members of the firm Including
Jack the reports persist and corao
to the surface at every favorable op
portunity But there seems to be
nothing Immediately alarming In Mr
Morgans condition The affairs of
the great house of Morgan are now In
the hands of three men J P Morgan
Jr George W Perkins and Charles
Steele Mr Steele Is tho legal man
so that the heavy financial work for
merly the joy of the old mans life
is in the hands of Jack Morgan and
Perkins Not that these are the only
members of the firm but they are the
active ones The Morgan firm has 11
partners but the members other
than those mentioned are littlo more
than head clerks J P Morgan Jr
is by no means an inexperienced boy
He is 40 years old and his training
In the intricaries of banking has been
long and thorough Whether he will
prove the genius in the world of busi
ness that his father has been remains
to be seen But if genius consists in
an excessive devotion to hard work
he may compare favorably with his
illustrious father
CHINATOWN WIPED OUT
NEW ONE IN BROOKLYN
the Chinese new year which is now
on All the business transactions ol
the last 12 months have been closed
every Chinaman has paid his honest
debts all the prayers have been said
and the advent of the new year
which occurred on the morning of
February 12 was celebrated with the
explosion of thousands of firecrack
ers which a special ordinance of the
board of aldermen passed at the in
tercession of Little Tim Sullivan
who ranks next to Confucius in the
Chinese calendar of saints permitted
to be hung in ropes and festoons from
house to house across the streets
Togged out in their brightest native
garb the inhabitants of the quarter
are making the customary New Year
calls and imbibing much rice and
liquor So far not a Mongolian has
been killed however and in that cir
cumstance is read the sad fact that
j the glory of Chinatown has departed
rzeXBA
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an inquiry into the methods by which
it has been acquired There is the
field of politics of course and in
New York that takes care of many of
the poorer attorneys while practice
before the civil and criminal courts
of the city and state accounts for a
goodly number of pleaders but it is
to the enormous volume of business
transactions that the majority look
for support Many of the great finan
cial and commercial institutions have
prominent lawyers at their heads and
all of them are equipped with one or
more salaried employes whose legal
advice is indispensable in transac
tions involving as they frequently do
millions of dollars In addition to
these sources of income there were
more than 115000 transfers of real
estate last year involving about
1345000000 and most of them pro
vided handsome fees for lawyers
FANCY PRICES FOR SITES
ON MILLIONAIRES ROW
few years are giving final instructions
to their architects As a result of
the great wave of prosperity that has
swept the country recently it is prob
able the last remaining vacant sites
along Millionaires Row will be cov
ered by mansions Prices are noth
ing less than fancy on proud old
Fifth avenue At the south end of
Millionaires Row land is bringing
12000 a front foot At the far north
end beyond Andrew Carnegies man
sion it is sought at 5000 a front
foot Very little land is to be had at
those prices None will be for sale
soon because Millionaires Row is fill
ing fast and owners are so wealthy
that they do not think of selling
When the last few sites are taken by
mansion builders the entire stretch
of the row will be cornered so far as
outsiders are concerned It is not
difficult to foresee a time when a site
on that part of Fifth avenue will bo
almost priceless
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