Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Plattsmouth journal. (Plattsmouth, Nebraska) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 9, 1911)
f The Plattsmouth - Journal r- i l.i'ii'.xi Siai-'Weeklf It PUitsxsA l!tri:tl r R. A. BATES, Publisher. Er.ttrvJ ,t the I'wHolTice .1 phtutr.outh, Netimka, ,eir.j-c:.3. matter. $1.50 PER YEAR IN ADVANCE Tbe legislature will vol get down i to business proper until about next Tutday. :o: Every few days a blizzard coms along to merely repeat the theory that Nebrabka climate bas "modi fled." Friend of good government, See ing from West Union, Ohio, should warn their lve not to look back, remembering the fate of Lot. :c:' Alfalfa Is to be served at a banquet In Denver this week. Colorado may progress to the point where every citizen will have a alio In bis kitchen. :o: If the present legislature mill do as well as the last one did by the people, tbey can return home and their con atituents will rise up and blew them. :o: Senator Lorlmer must wish some times that be had been elected to some other deliberative body, where bis Innocence would be more appre ciated. :o: Irin't there some fancier In the vicinity of I'lattsmouth that has grit enough to tackle the poultry show proposition? The buKinesg men will assist liberally In tbe matter. :o: Mexico may have an excellent army, but It seem to be surrounded by general who are so busy'gettlng ready" to do great things that tbey haven't time to do anything worth while. :o: While biiKlnuHM Is a little slack after the holidays, our merchants and business men generally should be maneuvering for tho coming spring and summer. :o: Governor Harmon is right the democratic party believes In a re--publlc that Is a republic; the case against the republican party Is that It Is European and rotten rather than American and honest. , :o: The right way to choose United States senators is, of course, ?o elect them as a governor or any other state officer Is elected by direct vote of the people, the highest man getting the office regardless of party. That cannot be done until the national Constitution Is amended. :o: Every farmer you meet wants a new road law, one that will make good roads. They are tired with monkeying with the roads we have Enough money is spent but the peo ple don't hcciil to realize tho benefit they ought to, and they demand a law that will do the business. :o: .. - John Kelley, of Furnas, could not tie re-elected from his county by the people, and feeling tho necessity of sojourning In Lincoln this winter, lie prevailed upon his being elected serge ant-at-anns of the hourte. John always wunU to bo among the favored. :o: The meetings of Organized Agri culture -will be bold at Lincoln, Jan uary ICth to 20th, 1911. Eighteen ftate organizations participate In this annual meeting. In the discussion of lUilnialH, Tuesday will be devoted to horns, Wednesday to swine and Thursday to cattlo with full dlacus- Hlnns on the silo on Friday morning :o: Tho democrats are not lackllng in material for president. There Is Folk, of Missouri; Harmon, of Ohio; Mar shall, of Indiana; Wood row WlUon, of New Jersey, and who knows Champ Clark may conduct himself as speaker In such a manner as to rise to the front as tho most popular can didate. :o: School teachers, it would Boon. from the following from the Lincoln New, are needed In Nebraska: "Many Nebraska schools are In need of teachers, according to reports coming la at the office of A. A. Reed, state hlgli school Inspector. Numer ous reasons Lave combined to make a shortage in tbe ranks of capable teachers and Mr. Reed bas bad many opportunities during the past week to fill places over the state. Several of tbe leading b!gh schools are among tbe applicants for teaching material. Failures, marriage, and the need of increasing tbe force the second semts- ter are the chief causes of tbe de mand." :o: Should congress refuse to admit the murderer of Cov. Coebel, aa a member of lhat body? If a man has twice been convicted of murder by a Jury composed of people of his own utate, Is be a fit man to enter the balls of congress as a member of that body? Not any more so than a horse thief or a burglar. He killed Governor Coebel, and it was proved that he did, and we believe the new congress should refuse to admit him. It Is not the Intention of the Ameri can people to reward murderers and borne thieves. Tbe first thing we know, Taylor, the fleeing criminal of Kentucky, now In Indiana, will be returning to be rewarded for murder. :o: Governor Shallenberger should feel bigger and better after the de clsion of the supreme court than h5 would bad he been re-elected gov ernor of Nebraska without opposl tlon. The bank guarantee law hat lngbeen sustained in his efforts to have the measure passed by a demo cratic legislature, passed on ty United States District Judge Van I) venter, of Wyoming, who declared it unconstitutional and then to the supreme court, where Van Deventer's decision was reversed, the measure becomes a law. He sees tbe fruits of labor accomplished just as he steps down and out as chief executive of Nebraska, but it Is wUh one acclaim that the people rejoice and send the following message to the greatest governor of which the state ever boasted: "Well done thou good and faithful servant go up higher." :o: i;mii.iih.ssi; altiiknativk. The subcommittee having in charge tho lorlmer investigation made a re port of more than seven hundred pages. When the committee as a whole voted to exonerate Lorlmer the members who had not served on the subcommittee had less than two days to read and digest the evidence. Sen ator Ilevcrldgo, for one, declared that be could not vote until he know what he was voting on. He has used the holiday recess to study tho transcript of evidence, with the probable result that ho will oppose the majority re port. Fenator Dorah declares that if there Is no minority roport ho himself will offer a resolution declaring Lo ri mer's seat vacant, for Dorah, too, has been studying the evidence. It Is qulto certain, therefore, that tho Iorlmer cose will go to tho floor of tho houso and bo put to a record vote. If It does, tho members of the committee who had not served on the subcommlttro will liavo the cmbar rawing alternative of declaring that they know what tho evidence was when they voted without reading the evidence. Ono horn of the dilemma is likely to bo about as embarrassing as the other heforo the friends of de cency got through with their work In this cose. :o: Till! I iti:. K SEASON. Tho season of freak legislation hard upon us, and advance notices are already being received. One the early announcements Is from New ally counfound confusion In the pro Jersey and bears upon a topic that Is cess of doing so simple a thing as not entirely new, to-wlt: the matter of branding married iopl In some way tiat will IJLt.fy thtm brfure a!l lie jt.i tnJ tius pre-tm inttn frono r-akiLg pret-ni-jL5 of EingV'oT.f u.ght suppose litre was a con- j Le-s. Ite law, as ar.d ' i drafied by a cirtaia wean's club, would require tvtr Carried tan to ' wear a parti.a.'ar kind of ring an i '. would impose a penalty of two years In Ftate's pri.-on for its violation. J i No doubt in a short time e shall 1 Lave the others. Somebody will want law to discourage roosters from croing, to forbid the making over of father's pants for the boys, to compel fat inen to travel by freight, to pro hibit corn from growing on Sundays and holidays, and a dozen other wild and disordered legislative dreams. If it were cot for tbe sustaining hope that some day one of them m il lspring something that will be really funny and thus will compensate us for the pain of the rest, we should be in fa vor of a law prohibiting the introduc tion of freak bills and making It a crime for newspapers to report them or advertise the names of their authors World-Herald. :o: - A SLICK TKICK Tl'KXFI). The Lincoln News has unearthed a scheme by which the whole country was "buncoed" as neatly as it was by Dr. Cook and his north pole dis covery. It calls to mind the de natured alcohol question. We were told by eminent scientists and others who were not scientists but were schemers that If we took the tax off alcohol a wide field of usefulness mould be opened up to replace gasoline as a .fuel for engines, lamps and other things. You have noticed that while the tax bas been removed nothing of the kind predicted has happened. Denatured alcohol is 45 cents a gallon on the market and this Is more than twice as much aa gaso line and entirely too high to make Its use profitable. The support of the farmers to the plan to take off the tax on alcohol was secured by a show ing that It would lead to the utiliza tion of much of the waste products of the farm. They have not received any benefit, nor has tbe general pub lic, but tbe manufacturer gets cheap er alcohol. To make alcohol requires a still American Inventors have not responded to the need for small stills that may be set up on the farms for the using of rotten apples, corn stalks, small potatoes and the like. Many of these are In use In Europe, where they are manufactured, but when farmers came to Investigate the still question tbey found a tariff of. 45 per cent la levied on "them, enough to make their importation practically prohibitive. There Is no doubt that a wide field of usefulness walls on denatured alcohol, but the gate is closed now." :o: FKXCK IX THE GOVKKXMKXT. Breathes there a man with soul so dead who does not believe that he is a part owner of this government of the brave and free? Dut the sense of proprietorship gets several hard knocks when one considers the num berless devices there are to keep the government aloof from him and the rest of "the rabble." "Here Is something that Tom, Dick and Harry and I want our govern ment to do right away," says this brave and free citizen. If be says that of his state government he finds that its agency for doing It Is 178 men, split into two divisions and aoout 104 committees and having only sixty or so days to attend to all the neetla of Tom, Dick and Harry and him. If his demand Is to his national U'crnment, he likely finds In the ay h senate which was not elected b people; a constitution which ne.i,.her he nor his ancestors nor any body clso's ancestors ever voted for; and possibly an obstruction comes from a court which no "populace" has created and with tho naming of whoHo Judges he has had no more to do than with the naming of the courts of Europe If ho bas In mind his municipal government, he finds that groups of ward aldermen and of aldermen-at- is large and mayor and several sub- slderary boards must hold committee of meetings and conferences and gener adding two and two. Finally, If his appeal Is to the Inla ;-jm be Ends mat ; tbe preeJ o expensive that iracy to dis oua.-ge tie people from taking a tai-d in t-eir o n affairs. Government of the ptoj.le, by the: people, for the people has not perish-! el from the earth. It is more con- gcioas and self-assertive tlan ever. But it needs to get rid of a lot of barbed-wire fencing Kansas City Star. :o: Reports from Washington indicate a certainty of Nebraska retaining her six congressmen. Good. :o: It is now Governor Aldrich. May he do as well as bis predecessor. We know he can't do better. :o: Governor Shallenberger's address upon retiring, is one of the finest doc uments ever delivered in the state house. :o: If tbe democrats Harmon-ize in 1912, there won't be a grease spot left of Taft. :o: The talk of war with Japan has again taken precedence in Washing ton. How much money do they want for the navy? :o: Dave Mercer, former congressman from tbe Omaha district, has been heard from. He says Japan never did have any love for America. Well, who cares? :o: Tbe legislature adjourned Thurs day afternoon until Tuesday at 10:30 a. m., at which time it is expected the boys will get right down to busi ness. :o: The president has got all he can do to hold down the Balllnger load, without aiding Lorlmer. Tbe fact Is they both ought to be "fired" bodily But will they? :o: Two years out of office In Nebras ka makes a lot of hungry republi cans, and tbey are scrambling over one another to see who can get to the pie counter first. :o: Doctor Cook may have been sin cere in his hallucination. On such a day as Monday almost aiy citizen could imagine that the North I'ole was Just around the next corner. :o: A 110,000 hen and several valued at $5,000 each, are on exhibition at the poultry show in Topeka, Kansas, this week. They evidently belong to the almost extinct species that used to lay eggs. :o: It is reported that an Ohio man has a beard that reaches from his chin to the ground. However, since that Adams county affair, we are not surprised at anything we hear from the Buckeye state. :o: Warden Tom Smith is to be con gratulated upon the excellent condi tion in which he leaves tbe state prison. No warden ever left It In better shape, and we doubt if ever one left it in as good shape. :o: It will soon be Senator Hitchcock In reality. Then the state of Nebras ka can boast of a senator w ho will do something for his state and his peo ple, and not use the high position for the purpose of building political fences. :o: "He who is not for us, Is against us," is a true saying, ana win noia good with reference to several who are trying all the time to give Flatts- mouth a black eye. But all they can do is talk, and that is like chaff thrown to the four winds. to: Don't sit down and hold your hands because tho holidays are over Begin the New Year by hustling. Be gin to hustle right away. You did a lot of good work for Flattsmouth last year, which is bearing fruit, now see if we cannot do as much, or more, this year. :o: Bank robbers have gotten away with over 1100,000 in Kansas within the past few months, and none of them captured. Evidently the offi - clals down In the Sunflower state are ::i':ve aid r'e- tnleavoritg to make a re'ord some-, thing tlmilar to the Nebraska offi- cia in letting them all gt-i away. :o: Use Lincoln Star calls Durkett down good and plenty on account of his a ertion that the people of Ne braska want Taft for another term. Tbey want Taft about as much as they did Burkett last fall and you know how bard he got hit. Hurkett is a sort of a Josher, anyway, and he is feeling around the president to see if there is not some place for him. :o: It may not be generally known that the term "alma mater," w hich is uni versally applied to colleges and uni versities where men receive their scholastic training, is of purely Cath olic origin. It had its source at the University of Bonn, and drew its in spiration from the beautifully-chiseled statue of the Mother of Christ known as the Alma Mater placed over the principal portal of that cele brated seat of learning. :o: Tho republican managers who per sisted in having Mortensen's name placed upon the ticket last fall for railroad commissioner, knew that It was simply an attempt at bulldozing. The legislature did right in refusing to declare his election along with the other state officials. Governor Shal lenberger when he appointed Mr. Fucse to fill out the unexpired term of the late Mr. Cowglll, knew that he was to serve to the end of Mr. Cow gill's term, which expires January, 1912. But then the thirst for official pie makes some fellows use all kinds of bluff to get their bellies up to the pie counter. :o: VOKKEKS AXI) LAWYERS. A Yais college professor engaged in sociological research work says that most of the modern laws have been written and forced through congress and the legislatures by wage workers and farmers and the consequence is that we have a maas of legislation, sometimes contradictory, sometimes unenforclble, often unconstitutional and in many Instances producing ex actly opposite effects from those in tended. The end sought in most of these laws was highly commendable and some of them have been of great benefit, among them factory inspec tion, child labor laws, regulating the hours that women may work, fire escapes, ventilation of factories, pure food lams, liability for accidents and requlrlnp safety appliances. All such laws he claims were originated and their enactment secured by wage workers and farmers. This professor says he has been searching for facts and those are the facts, but the work has been most bunglingly done. He, However, points out the terror that always hangs over the law maker the fear that hl3 work may amount to nothing, because the courts may declare it unconstitu tional. Then he chides the courts for Interpreting the constitution in favor of wealth, and against the wage workers, and in the spirit of the ages that have passed. He even expresses a doubt concerning whether the courts should have such power. If that professor will start some re search work concerning the laws that have been secured and drawn by law yers he will find the same state of affairs. The lawyers have not been able to draft enactments that stood the test of tho courts any better than the wage workers. Some of their mcst Important laws tho Sherman act, for Instance have been in tho courts for years, millions of money bas been spent in trying to get the courts to tell the people what they mean and the courts have not yet said w hat they mean. The Imperfection of language, the various meanings that may be attached to words are as groat a stumbling block to tho lawyers as to the wage workers. A thorough re search will, convince the professor that the wage workers have done quite ns well as the lawyers at law making World-Herald. :o: SCAKi:i TAKU T BARONS. When the electorate of the nation manifests a determination to protect itself, It is time for someone to get scared. Sometimes It Is the represen tatives elected by the people, who have betrayed their trust In their am- bi:ion to please those wno profit from the special legislation. Whenever the representatives of the people begin to jret scared, then it is time for those who have enjoyed special benefits at their hands to begin to get scared. In the recent election tbe people gave the high-tariff promoters In con gress and the executive branch of the government something of a scare. They dlscloKed their Indisposition to longer submit to the extortions that have been practiced upon them for the benefit bf the mythical Infant in dustry. Congress accordingly got promptly scared, and now It is claimed that the president has ex perienced something or a change of heart also. It is now the turn of the beneficia ries of the tariff to get frightened, and we are told they are. The Amer ican Protective Tariff league, a com bination of Interests seeking protec tion for themselves. Is greatly alarmed lest the president should suc ceed In negotiating a satisfactory reci procity treaty with Canada. He is suspected by this league of an ambi tion to negotiate a reciprocity treaty if only for the purpose of mending his position before the people. And so tbe members of the league are crying out in alarm against what it terms an effort to "Cobdenize the United States." Just what it expects to gain by this is not apparent. There seems to be no room to doubt that quite a large proportion of the Ameri can people would like to Bee the United States "Cobdenized" suffi ciently to break the grasp the mem bers of the American Protective Tar iff League have upon the popular throat. No citizen who stands in the attitude of a consumer is going to be frightened by this cry, and the tariff beneficiaries are manifestly already sufficiently frightened. The Immediate effect of reciprocity with Canada would be to open that country's markets to American manu factures and the consequent retention of American factories in the United States, as well as to provide a great and convenient market for American food products. Even on the theory of the protectionists such results could only prove of benefit to the United States. If the president should succeed in the negotiation of a broad and liberal reciprocity treaty with Canada he will have done much to better his stand ing among the people who are aroused against the already high and growing cost of livings-Lincoln Star. :o: In his message to the Indiana leg islature Governor Marshall said: "The fellow who wants to show you a good time the day after he is intro duced has an ax to grind, and he in tends to chop his own wood with It." Also, "Tho man who flies high in office has someone holding the string to his kite." Well, aint that about the truth? Of course it Is. :o: If we were in Secretary or State Wait's place, we would feel like we we were filling out someone else's time and taking pay that did not be long to us. :o: . Probably Senator Lorlmer Is not surprised to find that Senator Bev erldge favors unseating hlra. Beve- rldge has more than once showed himself to bo rather "cranky" on the subject of public morals. Do you want an AUCTIONEER? If you do, pet one who has Experience, Ability, Judgement. Telegraph or write ROBERT WIKINSON Dunbar, Neb. Dates matlo nt this office or the Murray State Hank. Good Service Reasonable Rates Poultry Wanted Highest market price paid or poultry and all farm produce. II ATT PRODUCE CO,