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About The Plattsmouth journal. (Plattsmouth, Nebraska) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 1909)
The Plattsmouth - Journal Published Semi-Weekly at Plattsmouth, Nebraska R. A. BATES, Publisher. 5 t; cu it B:i it Ptitt nitii, jjriikt, siacini-cla s matter. $1.50 PER YEAR IN ADVANCE What a lot of difference the Im mediate circumstances sometimes make In one man's opinion of an other. The "good fellow" today be comes a scoundrel of deepest dye to morrow, If In the meantime he has tread upon our toes. For Instance, Teary has lately expressed his opinion of his rival, Cook, In the euphonious terms of "liar" and faker," but It was not always thus. In Peary's book, "Northward Over the Great Ice," the writer referred to Cook In gentler terms as follows: "To Dr. Cook's care may be attributed the almost complete exemption of the party from even the mildest indisposition, and, personally, I owe much to his profes sional skill and unruffled patience and coolness in an emergency. In addition to his work in his special ethnological Held, In which he has obtained a large mass of most val uable material concerning a prac tically unstudied tribe, he was always a helpful and indefatigable worker." This tribute, It hardly need bo said, was written before Cook became a rival of Peary in the quest of the north pole." WIIKN TAFf MKKTS DIAZ. On Saturday, Oct. 16, President Taft is scheduled to meet President Diaz of Mexico, on the border line of the two countries, shake hands with the octogenarian ruler of the southern so-called republic and In dulge In the platitudes and lilgh twundlng phrazes of diplomacy with a man who, if a tenth of what is told of him is true, rivals in des potic methods pnd heartless cruelty tno lately di-posej sultan, Abdul Hamiil, or Adbul the Damned, of Turkey. It lies been difficult to got et ihe nt'tuu! conditions in Mexico, owin? to the fact that the press of the , country is cither subsidized or Intimi dated and that almoBt Insurmount able difficulties are thrown In the path of tourists seeking enlightment. Put enough has been learned to make it reasonably certain that Diaz has been a blight upon Mexico's progress and a disgrace to civilization. In the American Magazine for CMobcr John Kenneth Turner be gins a series of articles based upon ft Is personal experiences and re fiearches in Mexico, that will startle and should arouse the liberty-loving people of the United States. Unless the conclusions of Mr. Turner are grossly exaggerated, the country is In a deplorable condition and, in view of the high character of the magazine which vouches for Mr. Turner's articles, and the fact that they are corroborated in . large measure by other Information at hand, there Is no reason to doubt their truth. A largo proportion, of the popula tlon of Mexico Is living In virtual slavery. These slaves get no money They are beaten, half starved and worked almost to death. Sometimes, If they become refractory, they are bvaten to death. They have no hope of better conditions so long as Dlai remains dictator of the republic in name but despotism In fact. Hut i While on Saturday, October, 16 President Taft is pouring honeyed words of compliment Into the ears of the wrinkled old vulture who fattens upon the miseries of his unfortunate people, it will be well enough for the people of the United States to pause and reflect upon the conditions in Mexico and to ask themselves if there really is any good reason why this nntlon, through Us official rep rrsentntlves, should profess absolute blindness to the terrible condition existing on Its borders and profess to see only virtue and prosperity where crime and degradation stalk hand In hand? :o: NTANIliWT Olt NON-PARTISAN? publican to vote his party, when It is headed toward reactionary policies under reactionary leaders or to vote against it? If he votes with the party, and all the other progressive members vote with it, is it not certain to keep on going in the same direction, and with greater confidence? If, on the other hand, so many progressives cast a "vote of protest" that there is no mistaking its sign! flcance, is not the party more likely to adjust its policies so as reason ably to satisfy the demands of these numerous members whose continued support is indispensable to Its suc cess? Progressive Democrats were con fronted with this same question of policy in 1904, when the reactionary element captured the party and nomi nated Judge Parker for president, So many thousand of them, in all sections of the country, voted for Roosevelt, by way of protest, that reactionary control of the Democratic party was dead as a mackerel the morning after eclctlon. If tholr votes had been cast unanimously for Parker, however; if he had per chance been elected, the Democratic party might still be serving Mam mon, just as the Republican party is doing under Taft, Cannon and Aid rich. Lx-Longressman Foss of Mas sachusetts takes the view that it is better to do as the progressive Dem ocrats did, and vote to rebuke one's own pnrty when It has proved flagrantly faithless. In a letter ex plaining why he is a candidate for lieutenant governor on the Deniocra tic ticket, he says: partisan, in that it Is entirely in the keeping and under the auspices of the standpat element of the party. Should this campaign win it will be hailed as a standpat victory, reflect ing the sentiments of the people of Nebraska. This Is why, should the Demo cratic candidates be elected, the vic tory would be more a non-partisan than a Democratic victory, Just as the defeat of the Republican candi dates would be not so much a Re publican defeat as a standpat defeat and a repudiation of Republican re action. World-Herald. :o: A Pennsylvania man has Blept for twenty-one years In a chair tilted against the wall. To what heroic measures we men must go to keep cold feet off'n our backs. :o: Gifford Pinchot, having left the president's traveling company, Is back at Washington, and is again making a good deal of noise. All the same, the relations between the president and Ballinger and himself seem to be serene, Notwitbstanu ing the bitter antagonism between Pinchot and Ballinger, according to the president both the contestants are right. The logical Interpretation of the settlement is that the natural utilities In water power which be long to the government are to be re tained for impartial distribution and, at the same time, to be turned over to monopolies, all of which means that monopolies are to have the whole. This disposition of the mat ter Is precisely the same in effect as the prentended reduction of tariff duties. In that case monopoly tri umphed over the masses of the peo ple; in this case, notwithstanding Plnchot's bluster, monoply will get the best of the government's pos sessions. :o: IWYIXO VOll WASTK. the task of exhausting our natural resources, apparently feeling that, unless we used them up, they would get away from us. And now that we find that they are getting away from us through our prodigal use of them, we suddenly realize that we must do something to same them. :o:- XAT1VK IiOKX CANDIDATES. The people want public officials who comply with the law in every respect. :o: Is he not a fine officer who waits to be requested by the county com missioners to make his quarterly re ports long past due? we ask the voters of Cass county. :o: The Weeping Water Republican has opened its "mud batteries" on the Journal. We are not in the busi ness of skinning skunks at the pres ent time, but will wait until the prices are higher. :o: The idea of a little one-horse Re publican sheet pitching into the Lin coln Star because that paper has come out in favor of a non-partisan udiclary! It reminds one of the old saying of "a mouse knawing at the heels of an elephant." It is with pride the Journal points to the number of Cass county native born candidates on the Democratic ticket: Frank E. Schlater for Treasurer. D. C. Morgan for Clerk. Ed. S. Tutt for Sheriff. Miss Mary E. Foster for Superin tendent of Schools. A. J. Snyder for Register of Deeds. Five of the nine Democratic can didates for county officers born in old Cass! And how commendatory in the Democratic party of Cass county to recognize true worth and ability in native-born sons and daughters of the county! A most graceful compliment to the products of one of the oldest and best coun ties in Nebraska. And the voters will not fail to recognize this same merit and ability at the polls on NO' vember 2. We have bifn Intimately associated in this long and arduous struggle to induce the Republican party, our pnrty, to redeem its solemn nledees. honor Its avowed principles, regard ing these great and dominant issues f reciprocity and tariff reform. I have at last, as I believe have tens of thousands of other Republicans, get completely out of patience. I feel that the time Is now at hand when the beat men of both parties must stand together, regardless of party designation, and demand the legislation that the interests of Mas sachusetts need, and which will lighten the burdens of the neonle. rresiaeni Tart, in his Winona speech. asserted that those who had voted against the Payne-Aldrich bill had 'abondoned their party." If thev have, thank God for it! If Repub licanism of today means subserviency of public welfare to the ultra-pro- tectea interests then It is time that we know it. Wherein does my course essentially differ from that of so many insurgent Republican sena tors and congressmen who iolned the Democratic party on this tariff measure Just as I am doing? How long are you going to stand for this sort of thing? For my part I am going to fight. When I see the cost of living, the high prices of food, clothing and other necessities or uro, I think It Is time that narty considerations give place to higher motives. "He serves his party best who Berves his country best." The standpat Aldrlch-Lodge hierarchy of tne KepuDitcan party has buncoed and bluffed us to the extreme limit and it would Beera that their time ana our turn has finally come. There Is no other state this fall In which progressive Republicans can so easily and Bafely follow Mr. Foss advice as they can In Nebraska, They can register here their votes of pro test without involving the sacrifice of single office essential to party supremacy. , There are only non-partisan of flees to be filled at the coming elec lion in Nebraska. Judges of the supremo court and regents of the university control no pnrty patron age. They cannot legitimately use their offices In any way to further party advantages, in a campaign or at any other time. The Democrtlc candidates, more over, stand squarely on a non-partl son platform. They are making no partisan appeal. Neither they nor the party to which they belong could construe their election as a partisan victory. On the other hand, the campaign of the Republican candidates Is distinctly partisan campaign. It I A few days ago President Taft said that he would ask congress to appropriate $10,000,000 to be used for planting trees to take the place of those that have been wantonly destroyed. The object Is good, and no doubt the appropriation Is nec essary. Nevertheless, the Chicago ournal is right when it says that the proposition is one "to tax the plain people $10,000,000 to replant forests! aid waste by greedy lumber barons haste to garner vast unearned profits through their tariff privilege." 'The American people," it says, "pay special tax to the lumber kings to destroy our forests and another special tax to plant new trees." This, of course, Is quite In line with our general policy. We talk about con serving natural resources, and are very anxious lest our coal and ore beds fall under the control of mono polists, and yet by. "protecting" coal and ore we put a premium on the exhaustion of those deposits. We tax the trees off the face of the earth and then propose to tax them back again into life. And so of coal and ore. The same thing is true of our ship ping. On this subject the Journal says: The American people pay a special tax to enable the steel trust to de stroy our once great shipbuilding in dustry by charging the American shipbuilder more for raw material than his British, competitor pays for the same material from the same mills. Mr. Taft coolly demands that the American taxpayers furnish an other special tax of $8,000,000 a year to restore the shipbuilding industry, Why not equalize matters at the ex pense of the steel trust by the very simple process of reducing the tariff on their products to a point where American shipbuilders can save that $8,000,000 a year by low costs? Hut that Is not our way. Our way Is to hire men to waste our resources Oh, no, the Journal does not have to be in a hurry to convince the voters of Cass county that C. D Quinton has already failed In his du ties as sheriff. If an officer is re quested time and time again to per form his sworn duty and then fails in that duty, we say he Is not a fit man to hold the position. :o: The county attorney, the county clerk and the county treasurer have nothing to do In the way of compell ing an officer to present his quar terly reports to the county commis sloner8. The county commissioners are the officers to see that the law Is carried out in this respect, and nearly everybody knows it. :o: -:o:- THK LINCOLN STAR TELLS WHY The World-Herald directs atten tion to the argument advanced by the Lincoln Star why the people of Nebraska should next month elect those candidates for supreme Judge who are running on the Democratic ticket. The Lincoln Star is a Republican paper, its president ana cnier owner is the ambassador of the United States to Mexico. He was appointed to this important position, one of thelhqnestly tutionul! What are the people going to do about it? Are they willing, forever, to have their laws passed on according to the Instructions of Victor Rosewater and the Republican state central com mittee, or do they want them passed on under the constitution and ac cording to the facts? This is the advice of the Republi can Lincoln Star, and we commend it to the consideration of our Re publican friends: If the state really wants a non partisan or bi-partisan supreme court, it is in a position to get it this year. The supreme court is now composed of six Republicans and one Democrat. The latter is a candidate for re-election, so if he and the other two Democrats are chosen for the of fices the division of the court will be four Republicans to three Democrats, still leaving the Republicans in the majority. , It seems but logical that the people, if they are anxious to have a court divided between the two major parties should vote for the three Democratic nominees, other things between the Republican and Democratic candidates being equal. Are "other things equal" between the Republican and Democratic can didates? The Star answers that ques tion frankly and truthfully in Bay ing: Without casting reflection upon the abilities of the three Republican candidates in any way, it may be said that the Democrats who have been selected for the positions are at 'east the peers of the Republicans. They are upright gentlemen whose abilities as jurists have been tested. If elected to th6 supreme court they may be depended upon to perform their duties intelligently, capably and If he is not a pretty specimen of humanity and a noble officer who is delinquent in making his reports to the county commissioners, for at least half the time these reports have been due, to ask for a third term; and then wait so long to do his duty? Candidly, Mr. Voter, do you think such an officer worthy of a third term, even if the third-term proposition is right? :o: Don't try to lay the blame of Qulnton's non-conformity of the law In falling to make bis quarterly re ports on anyone else but the county commissioners. "Where was the Democratic county attorney? Where was the Democratic county clerk? and where was the county treas urer?" is asked. Why, they were at tending to their official business, and complying with the law In making out their regular quarterly reports. a'nd then to hire other men to repair that waste, while at the same time continuing the conditions which have produced the waste and also contlnu tng paying wages to the wasters. It Is not fair, however, to hold Mr, Taft responsible for this foolish and fantastic policy or at any rate It Is not fair to hold him solely responsl ebl for it. lie is but following a precedent of many years' standing Ills policy in this regard is that of his party, and also, be It Bald, that of his predecessor. For a generation and more the country has been en gaged In just this sort of business :o:- When we confine ourselves to the true facts in the case of Quinton, why should there be any defense? The commissioners know that he Is delinquent on these reports. Even should he file these reports on next Tuesday, that would not signify that he had complied with the law. The law, says he shall file such reports "on the first Tuesday In January, April, July and October." Has Quln ton complied with the law? That's what the people want to know. :o: WHY WK WONDKR. Commissioner Swltzer Bays that Mr. Quinton, made reports for first and second quarters of 1909, and if this is bo the quarter ending October 1 is the only one this year for which he has not reported and the commis sloners met October 5, not a very long delay to cause huch a howl to go up. Weeping Water Republican In the commissioners proceedings of October 5 the following appears "A resolution was this day receiv ed requesting the Bheriff to (lie his quarterly reports according to law and the board instructed him to til all quarterly reports on or before next regular meeting of tlie board.' If there is only one report due why did the county commissioners instruct the sheriff to lilo "all his quarterly reports?" And why did Commissioner Swltzer flay that he was after Quinton to file nil his re loftles In the diplomatic service, by Theodore Roosevelt, and has con tinued to serve under William H. Taft. Nobody has ever questioned the loyallty of D. E. Thompson to the Republican party. When D. E. Thompson's paper comes to the support of Democratic candidates, for non-partisan reasons, it means that no loyal Republican need hestitate, on his party's account, to do likewise. And we invite attention to the reasons the Star gives for advising Its readers to vote for Judges Sulli van, Good and Dean. The Judiciary and the public schools, It declares, should be taken out of politics. Partisan courts courts whose members were elected for partisan reasons and who are all members of the same political party mean par tisan decisions. Theq result too often, In the forcible language of the Star, in "nullifying good laws, enact- ed under the spur of public demand, simply because the party which put them Into operation was opposed to the party ot which the deckling court happened to be a member.' The people of Nebraska do not need to be reminded that this Is true. They have had recent proof of the fact; proof that leads the Star to add: "In fact, it Is such outrages that have caused the present wide spread demand for a non-partisan or bi-partisan Judiciary." The late legislature, the Star re calls, responded to that demand by enacting a non-partisan judiciary law. A partisan court promptly an nulled that law, after one of the judges had appealed to the Republi can committee for advice as to whether he should proceed, as a can didate, on the assumption that the law was constitutional or unconstl This is the simple truth. Judge Sullivan, one of the Demo cratic candidates, is the best beloved and best trusted jurist in Nebraska, whose prior service as chief JusticS of the supreme court of Nebraska has shed luster en that tribunal. If there Is any Jurist in the state who might be ranked with him, In enjoy ing the esteem and confidence of the people, it is Judge B. F. Good, his associate on the ticket. Judge Dean, of Broken Bow, the third candidate, was appointed by Governor Sheldon. His dissenting opinion in which he upheld the non-partisan judiciary law was a model of clear thinking and sound reasoning. His brief serv ice on the bench has shown bim to be a Democrat, who trust the people, and Is anxious to uphold their laws, rather than an aristocrat who dis trusts them and is only looking for an excuse to invalidate their laws. Why should any Republican, parti cularly any progressive Republican, hestitate to vote for these three men, who believe for the most part as he believes, and are headed in the same direction he himself is facing! World-Herald. -:o:- Money Comes In Bunches to A. A. Chisholm of Treadwett. N. Y., now. His reason is well worth reading. "For, a long time I suffer ed from Indigestion, torpid liver, con stipation, nervousness, and general debility," he writes. "I couldn't sleep, had no appetite, nor ambition, grew, weaker every day in spite of all med ical treatment. Then used Electric Bitters. Twelve bottles restored all my old-time health and vigor. Now I can attend to business every day. It's wonderful medicine.". Infallible for Stomach,, Liver, Kidneys, Blood and Nerves. 60c. at F. O. Frlcke ft Co. Dressmaking. MRS. ROSA NORTON. Washington avenue and Ninth St. Low Urates for Autumn T0THE HORTHWESTs Cheap one-way Colonist frits to ih North west, Puget Sound and California, September 15th to October nth; daily through trains to the Northwest via the Great Northern; also via the Northern Pacific. To California, daily through tourist sleepers via Denver, Scenic Colorado and Salt Lake City. ROUND TRIP TO PACIFIC COAST: -Very low Seattle and California round Irip excursion tickets on sale during September. This is the last chance to obtain these cheap rates for the greatest railroad jour ney in the World. EASTB0UND: Special round trip rates to Chicago, Kansas City, Lincoln, Omaha, St. Joseph, St. Louis, August 28th to Septem'xr 5th and from September 11th to September 19th. Daily low thirty day round trip rates from Chicago to Atlautic cities and resorts. September is the last month for the special vacation rates to Colo rado. Ilomescekers' excursions September 7th and 21st. 1 Consult nearest ticket agent; he has latest advice, .of special rates. V. L. riCKKTT, Ticket Agent. L. V. Wakklky, G. P. A., Omaha. mm Is it the duty of a progressive Re not only partisan, but factionally We have been tolling feverishly at ports six months ago?