The
. Plattsmouth - Journal
Published Ssml-Weeklf at
R. A. DATES,
Entered at the I'ostofFiee at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, as second-cla a
matter.
$1.50 PER YEAR IN ADVANCE
Last year's total Are losses amount
ed to $281,470,650 "partially cov
ered by Insurance."
:o:
It will be conceded that the St.
Louis Judge who decided that a
thicken Isn't a nulBance didn't make
a foul.
:o:
It might be well to declare a pause
In the work of aviation until some
sort of an areoplane life-preserver is
produced.
o:-
This is certainly not a very mild
winter In this section, when 15 and
10-Inch lee Is being put up from the
Missouri river.
:o: .
The member of congress from the
west that voles for the parcel post,
had better take to another direction
when congress adjourns.
:o:
The 20 million dollars set aside by
the government to aid western Irri
gation projects is calculated to make
the waste places boom as well as
bloom.
:o:
The New York financiers should 1
find Borne way to rebuke Charles M.
Pcli wab. He Is giving out Interviews
on the business outlook that are opti
mistic. The Iowa legislature has endorsed
New Orleans for the location of the
1915 Panama exposition, over San
Francisco. Of courso, New Orleans
Is the most available location.
:o:
George Gould's retirement from
the railroad business Is Indicated by
yesterday's New York dispatches, In
dicates that he Intends to devote all
of his time to being a father-in-law.
:o:
The fight that some members of
:the legislature aro putting up on
'Omaha, is all uncalled for, and the
fellow who got tip the other day to
deride Omaha members, simply made
a damphool of himself. That's all.
:o:
In discussing the action of the
mipreme court upholding the validity
f the guaranty deposit law, the
Omaha Dee actually, but perhapB In
advertently, admitted that the repub
lican party was treated to a real
financial panic in 1907,
:o:
The way they aro Introducing bills
In the legislature they are liable, to
exceed the number Introduced two
years ago, and then have a sifting
committee that will throw away
three-fourths of them.
:o:
A fellow by tho name of Gault (It
ought to bo Gall) from Clay county,
has Introduced a law In the house of
representatives to prevont newspa
pers from criticising a candidate for
office. Somo newspaper In Clay
oounty must have went after Mr.
Gait pretty heavy during the cam
paign, and he lias become consider
ably Incensed therefrom. Or, may
be, he Is after gome cheap notoriety
:o:
It seems, from all reports, that the
liotfls In Lincoln aro not getting their
ustiul number of members of the leg
islature this winter, and most of
tlicin have taken up their winter
quarters with ipHvato families and
bonri'l.ig houses. The people who go
to Lincoln, as well as the members
of the legislature, don't Intend to any
longcr be robbed by the Lincoln
hotels.
:o:
In Ms late book, "Democrats and
the Overman," Prof. Charles Zucblln
Implies tho belief that the commis
sion plan of government for cities
will eventually be "translated" Into
similar plans of government for Tho
stateB and the Ration. 'Tbe'Vashfu
thinkers," to use somebody's phrase,
Plattsmouth, Nebraska
Publisher.
who still believe that, while effective
government Is good for little cities,
big titles (let alone the states and
the nation) must still have ineffective
government, will be quite appalled at
the boldness of the Zucblln view.
:o:
A few years ago Governor Carroll,
of Iowa, was nothing more nor less
than a country newspaper editor. He
was successful In seeking the nomlna
tlon for state auditor, in which ca
pacity he served four years; then he
was elected governor and Is now
serving his second term. We knew
Governor Carroll well when he was
editor of tho Illoomfleld (Iowa) Re
publican, and always considered him
a good man. Hut newspaper men
will get to tho front once in a great
while.
tor-
Tuesday, January 17, is the date
upon which the legislature of Ne
braska is expei ted lo carry out the
mandate of the people and elect Hon.
Gilbert M. Hitchcock to the United
States senate to succeed Hon. Elmer
.1. Uurkett, who has drawn tho salary
as such official1 tho past six years.
The people have expressed a prefer
ence for Hitchcock by almost 20,000
majority, and a majority of the mem
bers of the legislature being pledged
beforo election to carry out the will
of the people as expressed by ballot
there will be no especial cause for
doubting the final result, and yet It
will attract a great many men to the
capital as this will be the first time
since the organization of the state
that a democrat has been elovated to
such position.
,, ,;o: .
I'Alt.MKKS SIKH LI) IK CAUTIOUS,
Farmers should be cautious about
going into stock companies of any
kind. A corporation Is an artificial
person, framed and devised by law
the object being to give the corpora
tion the same power that the Indl
vldual has, and besides endow it with
practical Immortality and free the
Individual members from obligation
to pay the debts of the corporation
while giving it full power to take the
profits. We can not do without these
corporations. They differ from the
natural man that God made In this
If one part of a man Is paralyzed, the
other part suffers, "if one member
suffer, all the other members suffer
with It," but 51 per cent of the stock
of a corporation ran paralyze the
other 49 per cent and rob It blind, If
It has a mind to, and not Buffer a
little bit even at the hands of the
law. Therefore farmers want to
fight shy of corporation stock, unleBs
they can own the majority; and they
need especially to fight shy of stock
In a newspaper; for In this caso a
large Bhare of the earning power lies
in tho personality of the men who
control It.
One of the best ways to get rid of
the temptation to Invest In these
frauds Is to absolutely refuse to allow
the newspaper that advertises them
to enter your house. If the postoffice
department would really tend to Its
business, it would charge all news
papers that carry these fake adver
tlsemcnts third-class postage on their
entlro Issue and thus make It unprof
itable for them to accept them. The
government has recently arrested one
gang of scoundrels In New York
which It Is estimated has robbed
goou, nonest people or aoout one
hundred million dollars. The first
mall that arrived after their arrest
brought In twenty thousand dollars
and the leading Now York papers car
rled the advertisement of the concern
that same day. Therefore If a paper
comes to your home which advertises
these get-rlch-qulck schemes, simply
forbid It entrance. None of these
schemes can be carried on Tery ex
tensively without the aid of the
newspapers, and they are partlcepi
crluiinls, that Is parties to the crime.
Reliable newspapers refuse to carry
such advertisements at any price.
The cheaper the paper Is In price, the
more likely it is to carry this kind of
advertising, and put this kind of
temptation before the eyes of the
boys and girls. I
. :o:
HLMOCKACY OX TKIAL.
It hardly seems credible that In the
ugly struggle between the wets and
the drys In the legislature, control of
the Important committees affecting
corporation Interests Is being be
stowed upon legislators who may be
Justly Buspected of favoritism for
such Interests.
In no surer way would the major
ity In the legislature strangle the
hopes of the party In this state. If it
should appear at the close of the cur
rent term that any of the advantages
which the people have secured In
their long, stern and patient warfare
against corporation domination, had
been lost to them, it would mean the
absolute shelving of the democratic
party as a political factor In Nebras
ka for many years to come.
For many years the republican
party In Nebraska, strongly entrench
ed In Its control of state affairs, was
a servile tool of the corporations. Its
conventions were regulated by cor
poration political agents, and Its pub
lic officials, when they had been
elected, were abjectly obedient to cor
poration commands.
But there must always come an
end to that sort of government. It
ran Itself out In Nebraska. Following
the birth and decadence of populism
In this state, there was a getting
pway from corporation rule. It came
ttigely through the republican party,
flhlch was forced to relinquish Its
former corporation allegiance.
Dining the recent years It has been
equivalent to his defeat for a can
didate to even be open to suspicion of
corporation leanings.
The masses have lost no whit of
their resentment against corporation
control of public affairs. They are in
no mood to tolerate official subserv
ience to such Interests.
No party could commit 'political
suicide In any-quicker or more cer
tain way than to show the slightest
relenting In the policy that tho state
should govern the corporations rather
than that the corporations
Bhould i
govern the state.
The democratic, majority is on
probation. If It would not be hurled
rom power In the next Nebraska elec
tion It must carefully guard and pre
serve the advantages over the aggres
sive predatory Interests that progres
sive republicanism has won for the
people Lincoln Star.
If the weather bureau sticks to its
cold wave forecast long enough It Is
likely to come true.
:o:
Even Senator Burrows must realize
that the supply of whitewash In the
Lorimer bucket Is almost exhausted.
:o:
A New York magistrate rules that
It is disrespectful to chew gum In
court. Tobacco and the rag are the
only things that can be chewed with
Impunity.
:o:
Senator Borah gives numerous rea
sons for the election of United States
senators by direct vote, but many of
his colleagues think his plan savors
too strongly of legislating themselves
out of office.
:o:
Soveral resolutions providing for
ratification of the Income tax amend
ment to the federal constitution are
already In and the house has a bill
providing for a repeal of the open
feature of the primary law ana a
return to the closed primary. "
:o:
Evidently the county optlonlsts are
not In any great hurry to get their
moasuro beforo the legislature, as up
to the present time no bill on that
subject has yet been Introduced. We
had an Idea that a county-option bill
would precedo all others, but they
loom to be rather meek about It.
to:
Some of our businessmen, who
hare refused to pay the pitiful sura
of fifty cent per month for the are
UghU oa Main street, should recoa
sider the matter. Are we to go back
Into darkness Instead of reaching
out for more light? Reconsider the
matter, gentlemen, before the lights
are removed.
:o:
Governor Aldrlch, the man who
told his former neighbors and f rlend3
back in Ohio how he was going to do
things In Nebraska, has not made a
move in the direction of his accusa
tions that there were Irregularities In
the primary elections In Omaha. Let
Aldrlch show his hand In this matter,
or acknowledge that he wa ssimply
"talking through his hat."
:o: 1
According to Andrew D. White, the
number of murders In the United
States last year was 8,975, an In
crease of nine hundred over the year
before, and only one murderer In
eighty-six was given capital punish
ment. However, it is only fair to the
American system of criminal Juris
prudence to say that several other
murderers were chlded.
:o:
Lincoln Star: Just as It was being
whispered around that a woman who
had written most of the clever things
that had made his paper famous had
quit Its service and gone east to work
for a maga.ine,tEditor Ed Howe, of
Atchison, announced his determina
tion to give his paper away, so that
the truth or falsity of that malicious
report can never be determined.
-, :o:
Interesting details of frauds' are
told In the report of Robert S. Sharp,
chief inspector of the postoffice de
partment, to the postmaster general
for the fiscal year ended June 30,
1910. Within the year 1,680 post
offices were robbed as compared with
1,969 In the previous year. There
were 2,363 arrests, of which 417
were postoffice burglars, as compared
with 2,389 arrests the previous year,
of which 416 were postoffice burg
lars. Of these arrests, 100 were
postmasters, thirty-five assistant
postmasters, ninety-five clerks In
postofflces, twenty-six railway postal
clerks, thirty-six letter carriers, thirty-seven
rural letter carriers and
nineteen mail carriers.
:o:
Senator Borah Is more than Justi
fied In pressing his resolution to sub-
mlt to the state legislatures a con
stitutional amendment for the direct
election of United States benators.
Having failed to procure a date for
bringing this question to a vote, and
considering the status of the ques
tion beforo the people and before
congress, he is right In using reason
able parliamentary advantages to
procure action. The legislatures of
thirty-one states have adopted reso
lutions favoring the popular election
of senators. In the year 1910 alone
the democrats of twenty-seven states,
In convention, Indorsed this method
and the republicans of ten states In
cluded It In their platforms. The
democratic national platform of 1908
Includes a plank Indorsing this sys
tem of choosing senators. A similar
plank, offered by Senator La Follette,
was rejected by the republican con
ventlon of that year. The house
adopted the resolution last session,
as it has many times In the past. It
Is high time to put every member of
the senate on record on this question,
and Borah Is going to do It Kansas
City Star. .
:o:
Many of the readers of the Jour
nal are perhaps not familiar with the
manner of electing United States
senators. Under the laws of the
United States, the two houses are re
quired to vote separately for senator
tomorrow (Tuesday). On the day
following, (Wednesday) the two
houses are required to meet In Joint
session at high noon and read the
record of the votes, which the two
houses took on Tuesday. If it ap
pears upon reading tho record that
Congressman Hitchcock received a
majority of both houses ou tho pre
vious day, he will then be declared
duly vlected United States senator
and no other vote will be taken. It
Is customary for the senator-elect to
be Introduced to the Joint assembly
and for htm to make a short address.
This will occur at noon on Wednes-
- 'day. After the 4th of next March
Hon. G. M. Hitchcock will be senator
by the will of the people of Ne
braska. :o:
THE INCOME TAX.
One of the first tasks the legisla
ture ought to set for Itself Is the
adoption of the Income tax amend
ment to the federal constitution. It
ha3 been ratified in the nine states of
Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, South
Carolina, Oklahoma, Georgia. Missis
sippi, Texas and Alabama. The five
states of Massachusetts, New York,
Virginia, Louisiana and Rhode Island
have rejected it. There are forty
eight states now, and to secure Its
passage thirty-six must vote favor
ably upon It. Only twelve, It will be
noted, are necessary to defeat It
Senator Brown, who Is the author of
the amendment, states that he has
assurances that at least four of the
states that have acted unfavorably
will ratify It at their next sessions
The amendment is a very simple one,
consisting of a single sentence to the
effect that "the congress shall have
power to levy and collect taxes on In
comes without apportionment among
the several states, and without re
gard to any census or enumeration."
This course Is necessary because the
supreme court of the United States
overturned the precedents of a hun
dred years and declared the Income
tax levied by the Wilson bill to be
unconstitutional. It is possible that
with the supreme court made up of
almost entirely new men, a different
decision might bo rendered. Justice
White and Justice Harlan, now on
the bench, dissented from the former
decision, the court being divided,
five against an income tax and four
In favor of it. Practically all of the
big nations xf the world levy this
kind of a tax, which bears heaviest
on the weatlhy, and it was one of
this country's main reliance in war
time Lincoln News.
:o:
HKLF.GOVF.KX.Mi:.T.
Representative Gruber, of Thayet
county, one of the leauing and level
headed democratic members of the
house, Is reported by the Lincoln
Star as very much disgusted with the
methods of selecting the standing
committees by the house itself In
stead of by the speaker. Mr. Gruber,
having served for six days and almost
as many nights on the committee on
committees, Is quoted as follows:
"If I ever come back to the legisla
ture I'll vote to let the speaker ap
point the committees. I've always
talked against Cannonism and I came
here In favor of the plan to have the
house name its own committees. Now
I say the speaker should appoint. It
saves lots of hard work, trouble and
grief, and the results are Just as sat
isfactory, If not more so."
It Is easy to sympathize with Mr.
Gruber's point of view, and a great
many excellent people will no doubt
agree with him. But It should be re
membered that self-government,
wherever and however exercised, has
always Involved "hard work, trouble
and grief." And very irequently the
results are unsatisfactory. Some
times, It may be conceded, a benevo
lent despot for example, a speaker
vested with absolute power would
give as good or better results.. But,
after all, It Is the system, the theory,
that must be considered.
Who can guarantee that there will
always be a fair and just and honest
speaker, like John Kuhl, of Ran
dolph? Who can guarantee against
a Speaker Cannon? Who, specially,
can be oblivious to the fact, repeated
ly demonstrated In Nebraska history,
that when the full power of commit
tee appointments Is vested In the
speaker, the special Interests combine
to bring about the election of a
speaker who will "listen to advice" In
making up the committee lists?
Almost a week's time was con
sumed In the selection of the commit
tees of the Nebraska legislature by
the two houses themselves. But It
cannot be Bald that this was not time
well spent. The committee assign
nients doubtless are not satisfactory
to everybody; are not wholly fair,
perhaps. There may have been nils
takes, even Individual cases of Injus
tlce. And yet It will be pretty gener
ally conceded that both bouses have
been effectively organized, and with
out the slightest taint of scandal or
suspicion.
The World-Herald, while It has a
great deal of respect for the judg
ment of Representative Gruber and
other able and loyal legislators who
feel as he does, still believes in the
committee on committees." World-
Herald.
:o:
Public Sale
The undersigned will sell at Pub
lic Auction at the F. F. Guenther
farm, 6V4 miles west of Plattsmouth,
and four miles north and five miles
west of Mynard, and 7',a miles east
and 1 mile north of Louisville
ON THURSDAY, FEB. 2. 1911,
the following described property, to
wlt. Sale to commence at 12:30
o'clock sharp.
SEVEN HEAD OF HORSES.
One gray mare, 9 years old, weight
1,400.
One gray horse, 10 years old,
weight 1,350.
One bay horse, 12 years old,
weight 1,250.
One gelding, 3 years old, weight
1,200.
One span of black ponies, 7 and 8
years old, weight 1,800.
One gray horse, four years old,
weight 1.230.
10 HEAD OF HOGS.
One Poland China boar and ten
head of shoats.
FARM IMPLEMENTS.
Three farm wagons, one as good
as new.
One good top buggy.
One sleigh and bells.
Four dozen chickens.
One fanning mill.
One Marseilles elevator and der
rick, complete and good as new.
One McCormack binder.
One two-row stalk cutter.
One 3-sectlon harrow.
One riding cultivator.
One walking cultivator.
One Western Belle riding Lister.
One walking lister.
One 14-lnch walking plow.
One two-row St. Joe machine.
One corn planted; 80 rods of wire.
One cider mill.
One Hoosler seeder.
Two sets of work harness.
One set of buggy harness.
One single harness.
One saddle.
Two sets of leather fly nets.
Two pair of stable blankets.
One pair of woolen blankets.
One lap robe.
Household goods and many other
articles too numerous to mention.
The UBual terms given, with one
year's time, and good bankable paper
bearing eight per cent.
Wm. Dunn, F. W. Gunther,
Auctioneer. Owner.
P. T. Becker, Clerk.
If you wish to purcnase Adeline
Plantation Land, Louisiana, where
every acre produces 35 tons of sugar
can to the acre and corn runs at
from 60 to 90 buBhels, take the
Payne Special from Omaha on Pe
cember 20th, January 3d and 17th.
Fare for the round trip only 32.50
sleeping car berths, meals, etc., with
out expense to you. For further par
ticulars write or call on Associate
Agents, the
Windham Investment Co.,
Plattsmouth, Neb.
Mr. William Schutz drove In from
the farm today and transacted busi
ness with Plattsmouth mercbants.
Legal Notice.
State of Nebraska, county of Cass, ss.
In the matter of tne estate of John
George Hansen, deceased.
To all persons Interested:
You are hereby notified that there
has been filed In this court by John
Wunderlich, administrator of above
estate, his final report together with
pennon lor final settlement thereof
and praying therein that said report
uo nuuwea ana approved, and that a
decree of distribution and assign
ment be entered and that said admin
istrator be discharged and his bond
exonerated.
You are further notified that a
hearing will be had upon said peti
tion and report before this Court In
the County Court Room at Platts
mouth, In said County on the 31st
day of January, Ian, at 9 o'clock
a. m., and that all objections, If any,
must be filed on or before said day
and hour of hearing.
Witness my hand and the seal of
the County Court of said County this
7th day of January, 19U.
(Seal) Allen J. Beeson.
County Judge.
Do you want an
AUCTIONEER?
If you do, get one who has
Experience, Ability, Judgement.
Telegraph or write
ROBERT WIKINSON,
Dunbar, Ileb.
Dates made at this office or the
Murray Stats Bank.
fed ttrritt EttMiailt Kates