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,
