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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 24, 1936)
The Frontier D. H. Cronin, Editor and Proprietor Entered at the Postoffice at O’Neill, Nebraska, as Second Class Matter. | One Year, in Nebraska $2.00 One Year, outside Nebraska ... 2.25 Every subscription is regarded as I an open account. The names of subscribers will be instantly re moved from our mailing list at ex piration of time paid for, if pub lisher shall be notified; otherwise the subscription remains in force, at the designated subscription price. Every subscriber must understand that these conditions are made a part of the contract between pub- I lisher and subscriber. ADVERTISING RATES Display advertising is charged j far on a basis of 25c an inch (one column wide) per week. Want ads 10c per line, first insertion, sub sequent insertions, 5c per line. THE NEBRASKA SCENE by James R. Lowell Candidates running for election to the unicameral legislature are facing a stiffer political catechism than was ever put up to candidates for the two-party, two-house body. The three main questionnaires have been put out by the P. T. A., Ne braska Federation of Labor, and the Nebraska Progressive League. The Nebraska Congress of Par ents and Teachers wants to know whether legislative candidates will support legislation forcing a study and investigation of the entire field of state taxation with the object of revising our system of taxation so as to more equitably distribute the cost of all state service, including education. This group also wants to know legislators’ views on old age secur ity for teachers; raising the educa tion qualifications necessary to secure a teaching certificate; rais ing educational standards for the youth of Nebraska, and views on ratification of the child labor amendment to the constitution of the United States. The labor group is concerned wih the views of prospective legis lators on i.-e of prison labor; re peal of the anti-picketing and crim inal syndicalism laws; the child labor amendment; minimum wages and hours of labor; garnishment of wages; awarding of state contracts to the most advantageous rather than to the lowest bidder; unem ployment insurance; company lab or unions; arbitration in labor dis putes; and the question of whether both man and wife should be on the public payroll. The Nebraska Manufacturers as sociation is interesting itself in the labor questionnaire, and is advis ing candidates to arm themselves with all the facts before pledging their votes. Nebraska labor apparently fav ors repeal of the anti-picketing law, which was enacted in 1921, later to referendum, and has re sisted several attempts to repeal. The law simply provides that in case of strike, picketing will not be permitted, and it does not deny the right to strike. It does, how ever, protect the right to work. The manufacutrers declare that since the passage of the anti-pick eting law Nebraska has enjoyed a high measure of industrial peace. President R. A. Freeman of the Manufacturers’ : association says: “Strikes can, and often do, become an extremely burdensome war to be borne by a community. The honest, sincere working man of a state deserves protection if he i . . , It .ft t VaflL wants to work. The anti-picket it l law protects him in this right . . . “To repeal the anti-picketing law would be a distinct step backward. It has been on our statute books for more than 15 years, and as I have already said, was approved by an overwhelming majority at the polls. It is confidently believed today that most of our citizens are still convinced of the soundness and fairness of this law." The state progressive league aims to put the legislative candid ates on record as to whether they will "protect the natural resources of the state from the encroach ments of private interests." Candidates are asked to commit themselves as to whether they fav or a state central power authority, raising fees for power site leases, municipal ownership, and lobbying in which members of the legisla ture receive entertainment and em oluments. Meanwhile it appears that at tempts to hold the unicameral leg islature unconstitutional will be disregarded. A suit to void the districting act because of alleged inequities in population was beaten in the Lancaster county disrict court. It was argued that the Nebraska legislature inadvertently omitted Sarpy county in the congressional districting act, but Assistant At orney General Murphy pointed out that the courts held the act valid and added the county to the proper district. Murphy admitted the error in the statute, but argued that the evidence showed it was a mere misinterpretation of a map and legally corrected by the court. The district judges upheld Murphy’s view, and reprimmanded the instigators of the suit for their action in attempting to create a chaos in state legislative affairs. It was indicated that the case will be taken to the supreme court, but political prognosticators say the unicameral setup will be upheld and Nebraska will duly embark up on its one-house experiment next January, In the Nebraska political scene, the Lowell Service summarization of political trends shifts this week to the third district where the sev erity of the drouth has caused a swing toward the national admin istration during the past few weeks, and, incidentally, to Gov ernor Cochran. There still appears to be a slight Landon-for-president majbrity -in the 3rd, but the promptness with which the administration stepped in to relieve victims of the drouth in this hardest hit section of the state in 1936, has raised the Roose velt. stock somewhat. Governor Cochran also has been working hard to insure speedy drouth relief, and while Dwight Griswold (R) had a majority over Cochran two months ago, the consensus now is that Roosevelt-Cochran on the democratic side, and Landon-Gris wold on the republican, are about even in the 3rd. Simmons (R) is rated to edge out over Norris for U. S. senator, with Carpenter (D) trailing, and Stefan is picked to retain his job as congressman from the 3rd dis trict. Dick Johnson is favored over his democratic opponent from Omaha; Harry R. Swanson (D) is a big favorite for secretary of state; Dr. T. W. Bass likewise is ahead for state treasurer and is one of two or three republicans given an al THE RICOCHET p|p3? I I I_ Copyrtjht 1938, Ay 1W Chkafc Trfbun* most certain victory for state of fice; Jurgensen is ahead for lieu tenant governor; Marsh <R) looks best for auditor; the Swedish names of Olson (D) and Swanson (R) for land commissioner make this a wide open race; and Good (D), because of his greater experi ence, is expected, to come out ahead in the 3rd for railway commis sioner. Political forecasters attach con siderable significance to the state labor convention at Grand Island last week when five candidates were endorsed. The Roosevelt for (president. Cochran for Governor, and Norris for senator endorse ments are not unexpected but the prognosticators were a bit sur prised at the convention’s putting the stamp of approval on the two republican candidates, Johnson for attorney general, and Bass for state treasurer. Johnson, who worked his way thru law school at Lincoln as a laborer and who has been active during his career as a lawyer as a champion of laborers’ rights, na turally comes in for labor endorse ment. However, the only reason for Bass’ endorsement, as the po litical soothsayers see it, is his commendable past record as a state officer and the fact that he ranks head and shoulders over his demo cratic opponent ir^ qualification for the treasurership. Reapraisa) of state school lands, ordered by the 1935 legislature, has made little change in the net value of the lands in the counties that have been surveyed to date. However, in Red Willow county, the valuations were increased from $78,585 to $105,905, while in Kim ball bounty the appraisal was low e.ed from $220,506 to $189,776. Since last August mineral leases have been granted by the state board, of educational lands and funds on 28,952 acres of state school lands. Hopes of striking oil in the state have accounted for putting $2,895 in the state school fund, the leases being granted at 10 cents per acre. The state would collect 12 per cent royalty if oil were found on its lands. The state has 1,638,000 acres of land of which $118,876 is under sale contract. Lands not under sale contract are subject to lease. Lessesses pay 6 per cent of the ap praised value as rental money. Lands leased usually are of the poorer class,the better having been long ago sold by the state, before I such lands were withdrawn from sale by act of the legislature. Revenue from state lands for all purposes during the calendar year 1935 totaled $629,717. About two thirds of this was from rental of leased land. With income from bond interest, about a million dollars a year is derived from state funds and lands, all going to county and school dis trict to pay expenses of public schools. When school lands are available for lease, an auction is held, but the bidding is on a pre mium in addition to the rent. The premium is paid only once and in advance. The 1935 legislature ordered a new system of appraisal. Under the new act, all the school land in a county is classified in about a half dozen classes, based on ad aptibility for cultivation or graz ing and upon topography and type of soil. The state then is required to apply the same per acre valua tion to the same type of lands in the same county. The county boards act with state officers in determin ing valuations. If repeal has done anything to the bootleggers, still operators and hangers-on of the “moonshine” era industry, it has given them a shield of apparent respectability and a “bulk” customer list, a survey of state and federal enforcement ac tivities reveals. Fred Parker of the Nebraska Beverage Dispensers association estimates that several thousand gallons of raw alcohol are being sold daily in Omaha. In addition, stills are pouring great quantities of “corn” whiskey into the city. The situation is not as bad out state, but the bootlegger industry still hangs on. The raw alcohol goes largely to “bathtub” gin fans, who still pre fer their private recipes, the heav ier “kick” and the lower prices to the labeled and stamped brands sold by licensed dealers. Failure of most out-state towns to permit sale by the drink is blamed by Parker for the flourishing moon shine and bootleggingbusiness that continues. Since last July the federal and state investigators have seized nearly 100 unlicensed stills in Ne braska, several of them with capac ities for turning out from 500 to 700 gallons a day. Not all the moonshine turned out in Nebraska is sold here. Last fall, federal officers uncovered a still near Arlington, Nebr., capable of a daily output of 700 gallons. The bulk of the product was being trucked to Chicago. The federal tax on alcohol is $3.50 a gallon. Rough estimates indicate a loss of $20,000 to $30, 000 a day. What to do about it is a tough problem, and the next leg islature no doubt will consider it at length. •A third party was formed in Nebraska last week for the first time since the bull moose organiza tion in 1912. It is the new Union party, with William Lemke, of North Dakota al presidential can didate. Still Burn Oats Despite Cattle Feed Shortage CHICAGO, ILL.—Despite the fact that cattle raisers are forced to buy expensive foreign oats and oth er fodder or watch their herds starve, stocks of grain are still be ing destroyed in the midwest and elsewhere under government direc tion, according to authenticated re ports filed here. These conditions will play an im portant part in boosting the cost of living another 12 to 15 per cent by spring, latest available estimates show. Meantime farmers are complain ing that their crops are being de stroyed on a settlement basis far below the prices commanded by foreign shipments, which are being shipped in to meet the demands. A typical instance is reported by the Erie (Kans.) Record in a despatch reaching here. The Rec ord says: “Earl Smith, who resides six miles west of Chanute and who signed up with the government in the soil conservation program, re cently was forced to burn two and one-half acres to comply with his agreement, this in spite of the fact the corn crop in his section is a to tal loss and other feed is very scarce. “The oats were cut and raked in to windrows and Mr. Smith figured on giving the surplus oats to some of the neighbors who were badly in need of feed, but he was informed that this was not permissible and that the oats must be burned. “The oats burned represented 15 per cent of Smith’s total acreage and he said he was told that he would receive between five and sev en dollars an acre for the reduction, payment of which would probably be made in September. “The oats would have averaged around 20 bushels to the acre. “Mr. Smith has been buying feed for his livestock since burning the surplus bats.” t- *1 - - - - PAYING THE PIPER The New Deal party has very little to say about government finances. Evidently, the adminis tration high command has decided ♦hat the least said about taxes and debts and deficits, the better. Perhaps the figures are so vast as to be beyond easy comprehen sion. Moreover, we haven’t begun paying for the spree yet. The piper hasn’t asked, for a settlement. And until he does, government extrav agance and deficits will remain more or less academic subjects with most of us. Therein lies the hope of the New Deal and the danger of the country. For the public debt and the public rate of spending have reached truly dangerous proportions. It would be mad enough were we to face no more than repay ment of what we now owe. But nobody knows how much more debt we will have incurred before a halt is called. Re-election of Mr. Roosevelt means a continuation of this mad spending spree; a staving off of the inevitable; frantic cling ing to a fool's paradise, bought and maintained with borrowed funds. In the end, it means disaster for millions of American taxpayers.— Kearney Hub. - * . CANT LAUGH THIS OFF It has been effectively demon strated that Governor Cochran thinks all he has to do is “laugh off” everything seriously involving his administration. The governor is wrong. Just recently he attempted to “laugh off” a charge by Dwight Griswold, Republican candidate for governor. Griswold, in a speech at Kearney charged that Governor Cochran had deliberately concealed an ex haustive report dealing with con ditions at the state penitentiary. The penal report, Griswold said, was made by a nationally-known prison authority praised by J. Ed gar Hoover, head of the nation's G-men, for his ability. Griswold charged that the typewritten re port was filed with the board of control in the spring but that it was immediately pigeon-holed by Governor Cochran. Cochran laughted and said, “there’s absolutely nothing to it,” when reporters asked about the prison report. However, there were admissions made by others of the administration that a survey of the penitentiary had been made but the report was not in “final form i PROMISE Consumer Taxes “Not only must the government income meet prospective expendi tures, but this income must be secured on the principle of ability to pay. This is a declaration in favor of graduated, income, inherit ance and profits taxes, and against taxes on food and clothing, whose burden is actually shifted to the consumers of these necessities of life on a per capita basis rather than on the basis of the relative size of personal income.”—Frank lin D. Roosevelt, Looking Forward, 1934, pages 104-05. “We favor maintenance of the national credit by a federal budget, annually balanced on the basis of accurate executive estimates with in revenues raised by a system of taxation levied on the principle of ability to pay.”—Democratic Plat form 1932. “Such a revision of our corpor ate taxes would effect great simpli fication of the tar procedure, in corporate accounting, and in the understanding of the whole subject by the citizens of the nation.”— Franklin D. Roosevelt, Message to Congress, proposing new tax bill, March 3, 1936. ! PERFORMANCE Consumer Taxes | in 1930, “we find that those taxes ; bearing most heavily on the well l to-do, contributed . . , 68.2 per cent ; of its (the National Government’s) total internal revenue and customs receipts, while miscellaneous taxes and customs recepits, bearing most | heavily on the Consumer, contri ' buted only .. , 31.8 per cent of such receipts .... “In 1935 the Taxes based on ability to pay contributed 38.7 per cent of the internal revenue and customs receipts . . . there has been an increase in the proportion of revenues contributed by Taxes based on consumption to 61.3 (per cent).”—Robert Jackson, Treasury Department, before Committtee on Finance. “What is known as consumers’ taxes, namely the invisible taxes paid by people in every walk of life, fall relatively much more heavily upon the poor man than on the rich man. In 1929, Consumers’ Taxes represented only 30 per cent of the National Revenue. Today they are 60 per cent . . . ”—Frank loin D. Roosevelt, letter to Roy W. Howard, September 2, 1935. and therefore could not be made public.” Griswold met this weak alibi of Cochran with the flat statement that the report was in final, type written form, that it had been for months and added that it spoke in very plain terms of bad conditions at the prison. “It is well known in informed circles at the statehouse,” Griswold, said that greatest caution has been taken to conceal this government report from the people. Cochran is particularly anxious to keep it in its secret hiding place until after the election.” News of the secret report came to light after Governor Cochran had boasted that the state saved $2,500 last year in fuel costs and went on to praise the educational work being done at the penitent iary. Griswold declared that it came in poor graee from a governor who last year spent more than $22,000, 000—the largest in the state’s history—to brag about saving a mere $2,500 and particularly when he was “sitting on” the revealing report by the national prison ex pert. Despite the determination of Governor Cochran to keep the prison report from the people, Griswold predicted that it would be made public before the end of the campaign. BRIEFLY STATED Mrs. Anna McKenna returned to her home at Sioux City, Iowa, last Thursday. Editor Kelly, of the Atkinson Graphic, was in the city Tuesday on business. Mike Rotherham, of Ewing, was | looking after business matters in the city Wednesday. Leo Mannafelt, of Norfolk, was looking after business matters in this city the first of the week. Mr. and Mrs. Dean Streeter were at Brunswick Sunday visiting at the home of Mr. Streeter’s mother. S. J. Weekes made a business trip to Omaha last Monday morn ing, returning home Tuesday night. Gib McCreath was down from Atkinson last Monday visiting his many old time friends in this city. Mr. and Mrs. M. F. Ruzicka made a business trip to Martin, S. D., last Sunday, returning home Tues day. P. J. McManus had the front of the Schulz store repainted the past week, which enchances its appear^' ance. ., Norm Johnson, of Burwell, was looking after business matters and visiting old friends in this city last Friday. # Mr. and Mrs. Charles McManus and Mary McManus went to Sioux City Monday on a business trip, re turning that evening. Francis Dempsey, of North Bend, was in the city last Thursday and Friday visiting with his parents and with friends here. Miss Mary Ryan came up from Sioux City the latter part of last week for a short visit with rela tives and old friends here. 1 Owen McPharlin came op from Omaha Monday night, on business, and for a short visit with his mother, Mrs. J. H. McPharlin. J^O MATTER how ^ much you earn, un less you accumulate some of it in bank you will remain poor all your life. The O’NEILL NATIONAL BANK Capital, Surplus and This Bank Carries No Undivided Profits, Indebtedness of Officers $125,000.00 or Stockholders. • . • V 1; Hi.' • . MEMBER FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION C. W, Kirkland was down from Francis precinct Wednesday look- i ing after business matters andir. cidently visiting old time friends. -;—L_ it):: Several O’Neill residents expect to go to Ewing this afternoon to assist the citizens of eastern Holt in properly celebrating' their Free Day. > .• • i *,: 1 i ^-i-i --.. *. •, i • Mr. and Mrs. Charles Mullen drove to LeMars and Remsen, .Ia., last Sunday for a short visit, with relatives, returning home Monday morning. ■!-«--*-- ,,i! Joe Rieser, of Spender, affjyed in the city today to spend a couple of days visiting with the Robert Schulz family and with Miss C.lara Blackburn. C. R. Hough, deputy commission er of Public Lands and Buildings, and C. W. Lawson, both of Lin coln, were in the city this nfiopipng on business. | Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Mills ,Jeft for Broken Bow, Nebr., Wednesday morning to spend a few days visit ing with relatives and friends in and around that city. , Bernard McCafferty came down from Casper, Wyo., Monday morn ing to spend a few days vis^in^' with his mother and other rela tives and friends here. -'— li Plumbers are now busy pn.the new court house and plasterer^ are getting ready to start plast^ing and the new structure is beginf]ing I to look like a real building. Fred and Clarence Saunto re turned Tuesday night front Sioux City, Iowa, where they had been attending the funeral of their stepmother, Mrs. Abe Saunto. CORONADO TONE MASTER RADIOS! You haven’t seen the pt;\v ■ est until you’ve seen ( tlije Coronado Tone Master Ra dios. New Style, New Torle, New Features — Twin Tone Columns and Golden Voice Acoustical Panel bring a p^w appreciation of fine mpsic. 8-tube A. C., $49.95—Other's up to $89.95—6-tubte Battety, $44.95—8-tube, $59.95. I •' D Passengers in the smoking .U compartment on my train |P were arguing about why fj railroad business is piclr II ingup. vi A factory owner said it was because of this new Free pick-up-and-delivery of less than carload freight. This is door-to-door service with no extra charge added to the freight bill. , • A traveling salesman said it was because so many passen ger and freight trains now run on faster schedules. There was a school prin cipal in the group and he said it was because train travel is so much cheapet for passengers. He said passenger fares are at the lowest point in history, with substantial reductions if you buy a round-trip ticket—and no more sur charge for riding in sleep ing cars. T • One man, a farmer, said he liked something he could de pend on, that’s why he was traveling by train. ! . il: • ...I Another man, a newspaper .re porter, said people were ip favor of railroad travel be cause it is by far the safest. He quoted a lot of statistics from a book called,” Live and Let Live:” • A banker we all know by name said railroad tax pay* mentsmeana lotin this state. • Weareproudofrailroadachieye ments, appreciate the public’s good will and increased patron age, and pledge continued prog i I ' • WESTERN RAILROADS and THE PULLMAN COMPANY B