flftorton's History of Iftebraska
authentic, Complete
(Copyrighted 1909. AH rights reserved.) By courtesy of Editors and Publishers of Morton's History, the Publishers Newspaper Union of Lin-
coin, Nebraska, is permitted Its reproduction In papers of their issuo
CHAPTER V CONTINUED (1G)
Douglas very plauBlbly If not conclu
lvoly established hiB contontlon that
ho at least was breaking no now
ground and springing no BurprlBo In
what ho regarded as the Incidental re
peal of tho Missouri compromlso. In
hla noted speech In Chicago, October
23, 1860, he had very explicitly and
broadly generalized tho principle
which ho substituted for tho compro
mise: "These measures are prodlcatcd on
tho great fundamental prlnclplo that
every people ought to possess tho
right of forming and regulating their
own Internal concerns and domestic
institutions in tholr own way. . . .
These things are all confided by tho
constitution for oach state to decldo,
and I know of no reason why tho same
prlnclplo should not bo confined to
territories."
Ho cited tho forclblo fact that tho
two great political parties whig and
democrat In their national conven
tions In 1852 "adopted and affirmed
tho principles embodied in tho com
promise measures of 1850 as the rulcB
of action by which they would bo gov
erned in all futuro cases in tho or
ganization of territorial governments
and tho admission of new states."
Soward, Chase and Sumner woro tho
principal leaders of the opposition to
tho KansaB-Nobraska bill. Perhaps
they had a finer ethical and philan
thropic instinct and purposo than
Douglas. This Ib doubtless truo at
leaBt of Ohaso and Sumner. It Is true
also of Lincoln, whom the now oppor
tunity presented by the pasBago of
the bill lured out of tho hiding into
which ho had gone discouraged aftor
his unfortunate participation with the
whig party in its opposition to tho
Mexican war, and discouraged also by
tho easy ascendency of Douglas in
Illinois. But tho position of Douglas
was far different from that of either
of the statesmen named. Ho had the
tremendouB responsibility of loader
ship of a party which was virtually
without opposition and whoso domi
nating eloment was fatuously bent, as
it continued to be to its self-destruction,
on the expansion of slavery. To
Douglas fell the colossal task of hold
ing tho dominating pro-slavery ele
ment of his party at bay without de
stroying the party and the Union. It
would be rash to Bay that Seward,
Chase or Lincoln, who were all am
bitious, practical politicians, would
have done differently in Douglas's
place. Seward and Lincoln repre
sented politically the echo of dying
whiggism, and Chase had cut loose
from the democratic party. It was
therefore easy for them to join the
now swelling choruB of the North and
of the civilized world against slavery.
But Douglas had tho misfortune at
this critical juncture of being the re
sponsible leader of the dominant party
and personally ambitious as well.
Though Seward and Lincoln, and per
haps ChaBe, were already shaping the
now anti-slavery republican party of
which they were to become the am
bitious leaders and the prime bene
ficiaries, yet as their aim was more
remote than that of Douglas, its ele
ment of selfishness was not as ap
parent. Certain it is that in their
early leadership of the republican par
ty Seward and Lincoln compromised
on the slavery question more than
Douglas evaded omre than it was
possible for him with hiB impetuous,
Napoleonic, dictatorial spirit to trim.
The dramatic halo of the Civil war,
from whose embrace death snatched
Douglas all too soon for he had
promptly and unequivocally thrown
his weighty influence on the Bide of
the Union hides all but martyrdom
and salntshlp in the character and
career of Lincoln, and illuminates, If
It does not exaggerate the moral hero
Ism of Seward and Chase. It is not
likely that an Impartial estimate of
these early republican leaders will
ever be written. For an opposite rea
son no impartial or just estimate of
Douglas has yet appearod.
After the passage of the Kansas
Nebraska bill there was a memorable
struggle in Kansas for six years be
tween the pro-slavery and anti-slavery
forces, both augmented by organized
colonization from other states, until
the unhappy territory was admitted
as a state without slavery in Janu
ary, 1861, just as tho southern states
were busy going out of tho Union
Actual experience In Kansas with tho
popular sovereignty plan of adjuBt
raent was sorry and sorrowful Indeed.
But this was a sorrowful and vexa
tious question, and under any plan
there would have been an lrrepres
slble' conflict .It should suffice that
thoueh under Douglas's plan freedom
was born in sore travail, yot It seems
not improbable but for that plan it
had not been born at all; and it is to
the eternal credit of the courage and
caDacity of Douglas that there Is no
doubt that freedom won the day under
his leadership against tho now blind
and mad greed and aggressiveness of
the South and the truckling policy of
Buchanan's administration. In the
trial of a mastorful statesman's char
acter and career it should be esteemed
a weighty matter that throughout his
course and after he had compassed
"the Kansas-Nebraska iniquity" this
"subservient demagogue" remained
the idol of his party in me worm;
that thn confidence of the exacting.
destructive slave-power of the South
was, on the other hand, always with
held from him, until it Inally accom
plished his undoing as well at that
of his party and the UdIm.
Whllo calm and rlponcd public opin
ion will not hold that Douglas ought
to havo considered uncompromisingly
and oxcluslvoly the wclfaro of the
slavo or tho Immoral quality of 'slav
ery, whore tho life of tho Union, as
well as that of his party, was already
at stake, yet, obviously, ho lacked that
Bontlmental regard and sympathy for
tho negroes in bondage which tho civ
ilized world now applauds in Garri
son, Phillips, Sumner and Chase, but
which in effect cooperated with the
fire-eating sentiment of tho South In
precipitating the war which otherwise
might havo been avoided. Porhaps
Douglas played a hard-hearted as well
as a desperate game, not guiltless of
finesse, with his overbearing, cunning
and outnumbering southern party as
sociates; and porhaps ho was over
selfish In yielding to tho preposterous
demand of a part of them for tho
ropeal of the compromise. But it
would be rash as well as unjust to
draw the sweeping conclusion that his
ultlmato motive wns not patriotic or
that ho did not sincerely believe that
his substitute for tho compromise of
fered the most practicable solution of
tho momentous and vexatious ques
tion with which he waB confronted.
It was apparently not until somo
years after its passago that Nebraska
was relegated to tho rear In the name
of tho Kansas-Nebraska bill and was
thus deprived by Its Jayhawker neigh
bor of its immemorial precedence and
of tho full fame or notoriety of its
relation to this famouB or infamous
act. Douglas constantly referred to
t as tho Nobraska bill as late, at
oast, as tho tlmo of his debates with
Lincoln in 1858: but in his noted ar
ticle in Harper's Magazine, of Septem
ber, 1859, he commits tho error or
stating that tho. act "is now known on
tho statute book as the Kansas- Ne
braska act." The act is in fact en
titled in tho Btatute as "an act to or
ganize tho territories of Nebraska and
KansaB": but the Illinois democratic
convention of I860 called the measuro
by Its present name. Tho misnomer,
and tho usurpation by Kansas of first
place in the name, may probably be
credited to tho fact that it 1b more
easily Bnoken In that form, and that
the spectacular and tragical political
procedure In "bleeding KansaB" dur
ing the years immediately following
tho passage of the bill gave the terri
tory the full place in the public eye
to the exclusion of Nebraska with the
comparatively tame events of Its or-,
ganlzatlon.
Thus Louisiana territory was con
ceived by the exigencies and on the
threshold of a mighty international
struggle which resulted in the anni
hilation of the greatest and most im
perious of potentates; and Nebraska,
child of Louisiana, was conceived by
the exigencies and in the beginning
of a great national struggle, in which
the no less imperious power of human
slavery was also to meet Its doom.
The organic acts for Neuraska ana
Kansas which were finally adopted
contained a guarantee, not found in
the bills offered by Douglas in 1844
and 1848, that the boundaries should
not "Include any territory which by
treaty with any Indian tribe is not,
without the consent of said tribe, to
bo included within the territorial Hin
ts or jurisdiction of any state or ter
ritory; but all such territory shall be
excepted out of the boundaries and
constitute no part of the territory of
Nebraska until , such tribe shall sig
nify their assent to the president of
tho United States to be included with
in the said territory of Nebraska."
This clause was inserted In the Indian
provisions of the Richardson bill,
doubtless aB a result of the strenuous
opposition to the organization of the
territory on the part of the east and
southwest, and it was retained in tho
Dodge bill.
The bill of 1844 provided that "the
existing laws of the territory of Iowa
shall be extended over tho said terri
tory," but "tho governor, secretary,
and territorial judge, or a majority of
them, shall have powor and authority
to ropeal such of tho laws of tho ter
ritory of Iowa as they may consider
Inapplicable and to adopt In their
stead such of the laws of any of tho
states or othor territories as they may
consider necessary," subject to the ap
proval of Congress; thus following tho
principle of tho original provisions of
the Ordinance of 1787 for territories
of tho first grado. This bill of 1844
followed the Ordinance of 1787 In pro
viding for a second grade or repre
sontatlve government; but while un
der tho ordinance five thousand free
male inhabitants woro required as a
condition precedent to legislative gov
ornment, under tho Douglas bill tho
requirement was fivo thousand inhab
Hants merely, only excepting Indians.
The ordinance provided that an elector
should own fifty acres of land in his
representative district, and that to bo
eligible to membership In tho legls
lature one should own two hundred
acres of land "within his district; the
Douglas bill required no property qual
ificatlon in either caso, but that mem
bers of the legislature should havo
the same qualification aB voters.
While the ordinance did not, specific
ally at least, exclude negroes from tho
elective franchise, tne Douclas oil
limited that right to free whito male
citizens for the first election and om
powered tho legislature to deflno tho
suffrage qualifications tnereartcr.
On tho 7th day of January, 1845
A. V. Brown of Tennessee, member
of the House committee on territories
reported a bill amendatory to the
Douglas bill which required that there
should bo five thousand white inhab-
tants beforo tho territory should bo
entitled to a legislature. This bill
ulso changed the provisions of tho
original bill relating to tho judiciary
system.
Tho boundary described In tho bill
of 1848 differed from that of tho bill
of 1844 In starting whore tho 40th
parallel of latitude crosses tho Mis
souri river instead of at the confluence
of the Kansas and Missouri rivers a
ittle above 39 decrees: in running to
tho 43d parallel instead of tho mouth
of tho Niobrara river a little to tho
south, and then following the river to
that parallel; and on the Bouth in run
ning along the 40th parallel instead
of the devious course, ending at the
east on the 38th parallel, as already
outlined. Tho bill of 1848 followed
Brown's amendment in requiring five
thousand whito inhabitants before
chanco to leclslatlve government and
also In tho provisions for tho Judi
ciary, and the bill of 1844 In requiring
tho approval of the enactments of the
ogislature by Congress before tney
isould becomo valid. In other re-
Bpects tho bills In question are all
essentially alike.
Tho boundary described in tne lticn-
ardson bill of February 2, 1853, dif
fered from Us predecessor of 1848 In
following tho summit of the Rocky
mountains on the west Instead of a
right lino south from tho point of
ntersoctlon of the northern line wun
the mountains which did not appre
ciably alter tho western boundary of
the part of the territory included in
the bill of 1848 and in adopting the
northern line of New Mexico and the
parallel of 30 degrees thirty seconds
nstead of the 40th parallel as me
boundary on the south.
In tho Richardson bill the feature
of legislation by the governor, secre
tary, and territorial judge is leu out,
and legislation by a general assembly
from the first Is nrovlded for; out an
enactments of tho legislature must be
approved by Congress to become ef
fective. Only free white male citizens
could vote or hold office. Since the
territory was to pass Its own laws,
the provision of the bin or imh, ex
tendlne the laws of Iowa over tho
territory except as they might be re
pealed by the governor, secretary and
udge was dropped, wun mese ex.-
ceptlons the bills were essentially
alike.
The boundaries in the Dodge bill of
December 14, 1853, were identical with
those of the Richardson bill, and the
bills were otherwise alike In all Im
portant provisions. The boundary of
the final organic act differed from
that of tho Richardson and Dodge
bills in taking in all of the remainder
of the Louisiana purchase on the
north, except that part of Minnesota
ying west of the Mississippi river,
nstead of running only up to the 43d
parallel; and on the south in running
down to the 37th parallel instead of
36 degrees 30 seconds. There are two
other important points of difference
between the final organic act and the
bills which preceded it, namely, that
of tho famous provision with regard
to slavery and the dropping or tho
provision that legislation by the ter
ritorial assembly must be approved
by Congress to become operative.
This proviso was retained even In
tho substitute of January 23. 1854.
The other bills also provided that the
governor Bhould act as superintend
ent of Indian affairs in place of .those
officers stationed at St. Louis, but this
feature was dropped from the final
bill.
Tho similarity of the main provi
sions of all these bills Is explained
by the fact that thev. like the organic
acts or all the territories wnicn nave
been organized since 1787. except tb;t
of Florida, which was patterned after
the Louisiana act. were constructed
upon the framework of the Immortal
Ordlnnnce of tho northwest, territory.
Nebraska was distinguished In blng
tho first territory with an elective
lopislature whose laws woro not re-
ouired to be submitted to Conrrpss
for approval before becoming effect
ive. This submission wns not re
quired by tho Ordlnanco of 1787. pre
sumably because tho governor, whoso
assent to leclslatlve acts was renulred.
and tho upper house of tho legislature
were nnpointed by the president of
the United States. There was a de
parture from this prlnelnlo In tho case
of the territorial governnnnt of Or
lenns tho first government estab
lished bv the United Statos within
mo Louisiana purchase Though tho
governor and tho leclslatlve bony,
consisting of a council of thirteen
members, were nnpolntr-d by the nres
Iclont. yet. as thev wore residents of
tho territory so lately alien In fact,
ami still so In spirit, It was doubtless
deemed discreet that Congress should
havo tho power of vetoing their en
actments. Tho organic acts of tho
earlier territories, such as Indiana,
Mississippi, Michigan, Illinois, and
Kontucky and Tonnesseo of tho south
west torrltory followod closely tho Or
dlnnnco of 1787. Missouri, tho first
territory organized afor tho original
division of tho Louisiana purchase
Into tho territory of, Orleans and tho
district of Louisiana, was at once al
lowed a legislative assembly, though
tho members of tho upper house wort
appointed by tho president. 0
o (To be Continued)
Monument to Poe.
Tho "Puritans" are not all dead yet;
indeed, they are "alive and kicking."
Not long ngo they told us that it
would never do to put Edgar Allen
Poe upon tho roll of fame, becauso his
works showed that ho was lacking in
"moral purpose;" nnd now that it is
proposed to erect a monument to him
in Richmond, ya., where he did much
of his best work, wo find that somo
"Puritans" are opposing tho project
on the ground of Poe's alleged "vices."
Now, we are not careful to answer
In this matter. Wo might easily point
to tho testimony of Col. John Willis,
and Mr. William Wertenbaker, who
were fellow students with Poe nt the
University of Virginia, and who clear
ly disprove R. W. Griswold's libels up
on him as a student. But for the sake
of the argument, admit that, morally
speaking, Poe's life was Irregular, and
in some respects even vicious. And
what does It all prove?
Poe's admirers are not raising a
monument to a prohibitionist," but
to a poet. If the object of the move
ment were to honor a prohibitionist,
why not put up a shaft to Rov. Dr.
Swallow, of Pennsylvania, whoso can
didacy as a cold water candidate for
high political preferment does not jin
gle harmoniously with his name, or
why not erect a statue to tho Hon.
Joshua Levering, tho Baltimore coffee
T.nster, who aspired to be president
at tho United States on the total ab
stinence ticket, and let both -of them
-n joy the thing while thoy are alive?
If moral delinquencies, or even great
crimes are to bo fegarded as discounts
upon a man's literary merit, ' then
where would David's fame be? Does
history, sacred or profane, give us any
account of blacker crimes than he
committed in the matter of Uriah, the
Hittite?
One of the finest bits of heathen
morality eyer written is Sallust's in
troduction to his history of Catiline's
conspiracy; and, indeed, tho whole
wrk Is justly regarded as superb.
Shall Sallust be thrown out of the col
lege course because his private mo,--
itls were unsavory?
Addison was not always sober, but
nil Christendom is still resounding
.vith his noble hymn:
'When all Thy mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view I'm lost
In wonder, love and praise."
Tom Moore was a fashionable diner-
out man about town, and yet:
"Come ye disconsolate, where e'er ye
languish"
is undoubtedly one of the most popu
lar and enjoyable hymns In all psalm
ody. Sterne and Swift were both coarsely
obscene and 'both clerical miscreants,
but "Tristram Shandy" still lives and
"Gulliver's Travels" will live as long
la a the language.
Pope, we are informed, robbed him
self of his own letters, sold them sur
reptitiously to a book seller, and then
raised the "hue and cry" after the
ti'lef. But this in no wise affects our
enjoyment of hl3 exquisite "Rape of
the Lock."
A few years ago, when the whole
land was in the midst of the throes ot
tho "free silver" controversy, thous
ands of people who knew nothing of
Poe, were unconsciously paying their
tribute to his genius by nick-naming
thrir opponents "Gold-Bugs" a name
evidently taken from one of the most
Ingenious of hiB tnlos.
His "Rationale of Verse," is the only
ir'itiBe wo have ever seen on that
mbject that was worth reading. His
definition of "poetry" is the only one
wo havo ever seen that will stand the
tost of criticism. Ho calls it "the
rhythmical croation of beauty."
Vc Co not believe that Poe's theory
of poetry was defensible; and, Indeed
l o frequently violated it himself. If
"passion" Is to havo no part In poetry
what beconos of "The "Raven," or of
"Annabel Lee?" If "horror" is not a
poetical subject, what are wo to say
to "Tho Conqueror Worm?"
It Is coming generally to be held
that In rhythm, meter, music and mel
ody Poe was easily tho first of Ameri
can poets. In these particulars, indeed,
we can mention no British poet who
oxcels him. '
In tho powers of analysis and of
ratiocinatlvo gonius, he leads all our
tale writers. If any American author
deserves a monument that author is
Edgar Allen Poe. Birmingham News.
Judge a soldier by his past, a philos
opher by the futuro.
Peace with men and nations lute
I'just so long as and no longer than
neighborly love and good behavior.
The National Government and Child
Labor.
In November Senator Beverldgo an
nounced that ho would Introduce a bill
in Congresti which would havo the ef
fect of regulating tho employment of
children through an application of tho
tho Interstate commerce power. Tho
suggestion was rather startling in its
novelty, and at first many of tho lead
ing members of tho National Child La
bor committee were inclined to oppose
tho Beveridge bill as lacking feasibil
ity. They Boon came around, however,
to a unanimous adoption of the meas
ure, and thus, however Congress may
decide, . the subject has been by the
president's message and the Baverldge
bill, lifted into the highest cort of na
tional prominence. The Beverldgo
bill does not directly prohibit the em
ployment of children in mines and
factories. What it does is to direct
railroads and other public carriers that
the products of factories and mines
employing children under 14 must not
be accepted for shipment into other
states. The shipper will be required
to give an affidavit to the railroad that
children are not employed. Tho bill
does not attempt to deal exhaustively
with the subject of child labor, but it
may be expected to reach coal mines,
cotton mills, glass factories and var
ious other large industries whose out
put is a matter of general rather than
of local commerce.
The passage of such a national
measure would not relieve the states
of an Imperative duty as respects the
employment of children in many pur
suits and callings which have no rela
tion to Interstate commerce. But if the
nation standardizes the 14-year limit
and at one stroke takes the children
out of the great mills and factories, it
would seem pr6bable that the states
would be more likely to adopt the
standard and apply it for local purpos
es than if the general government had
not exercised Its own power. The sub
ject is likely to. be discussed both in
Congress and elsewhere from the the
oretical standpoint of states' rights
versus the extension of national func
tions. In a general way the education
and protection of child life must con
tinue to belong to the states. There is
no danger that they will not have left
to them a sufficient authority to do far
more than they are at present wise
enough to attempt for the welfare ot
the rising generation. American
Monthly Review of Reviews.
The Harriman Railroad System.
The results from the operation ot
this huge machine are sufficiently well
known. The gross income of the sys
tem for the last year rose $170,000,000.
This is a larger gross income than that
of any other railroad system in the
world, the Pennsylvania alone except
ed. The dividend disbursements for
the year are at the rate of about $28,
000,000, net that Is, actual disburse
ments to the public. This, again, is a
larger annual distribution than that of
any other corporation, the Steel Cor
poration alone excepted.
All this is a strange change from the
old water logged Union Pacific of 10 or
15 years ago, which staggered' along,
wantonly loaded with debt and fictit
ious capital, to the crash of '93. The
change, the remaking and rebuilding,
I think it fair to say, has been Mr.
Harriman's personal work. Of that
there can be no question. He went In
to the Union Pacific as one of several
widely divided groups. In not more
than a year he was very actively in
comma ad, and yet a little later, abso
lutely. In the beginning Wall Street
referred to tho Union Pacific as the
Kuhn-Loeb road; today it is very dis
tinctly the Harriman system. Ameri
can Monthly Review of Reviews.
Unrest in the Army.
That General Carter is right whon,
in his annual report as commander of
the department of tho lakes, he says
that there exists "a serious spirit of
unrest" among tho army officers is be
yond tho questioning of anybody who
has had an opportunity to ascertain
their real feelings. One and a large
cause of this disquietude is undoubt
edly that emphasized by General Car-,
ter the belief that the security ofl
tenure which has been one of the fow
compensating features of an army ca
reer is menaced by the current propo
sitions to take in the future less ac
count of seniority in making promo
tions and more of the preferences of
the promoting powers. New York
Times.
The production ot copper in the
Ualted States in 1905 exceeded 01,
000,000 poundB.
