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About The Wealth makers of the world. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1894-1896 | View Entire Issue (July 11, 1895)
a LINCOLN, NEB., THURSDAY, JULY 11, 1895. NO. 5 VOL. VII. I SO MOVES THE WORLD. "W aleep and wake and aleep, Dot all things more: The Snn DIM forward to hi brother Snn : The dark Earth follows, wheeled in br ellipse; And human thlnira, returning on them eel tub, Uot onward, leading op the golden year." Prince Bismark is very seriously ill. Prof. Huxley is dead at the age of 70. The RubberTrust is quoted as having cleared $3,000,000 last year. Two cyclones reported in Pennsylvania last week. Considerable damage was done. - The Indiana supply of natural gas is nearly exhausted. This is indicated by diminished pressure. Vice President Stevenson and Governor McKinley were the Fourth of July orators in Chicago this year. Chicago, thanks to her vigorous Civic Federa tion, has driven out at least half of her criminal element. July 6th, a cyclone created fearful hav oc at Baxter Springs, Kansas. Five peo ple dead, twenty badly injured. The Leader store in Chicago has failed and is in possession of creditors who hold $230,000 chattel mortgages against the oinpany. . The city council room at Jacksonville, Til wan th seene of a free fiirht between the city officials July 5th. It was a general nsticutt melee. Tha nntim urn. fa of Kansas was drench ed with a three inch rainfall the night of July 4th. Great damage to railroad ana other bridges is reported. Members of the Chicago board of edn fttfrn. lwi bv Mr. Rosenthal, are attack ing the gigantic school book trust known as the American Isook company. V A rinr. in Bonton .Tulv 4th. The A. P. A. men engaged in it are to be arrested on the charge ol murder, jonn W. Wills was the man murdered. Frederic Hellman of Chicago killed him eelf, wife and four children on the night of Julv 4th. by turning on the gas. It was a deliberate act. " Out of work. John P. Young. editor of the San Fran. isco Chronicle, has published a ten page newspaper article in favor of bimetallism The article would make a good sized vol vine. Thorn worn mnnv fAtnlities the 4th of July. One hundred or more people were . . a. i .v r 1 1 III 1 enousiy injured at j-zanaue, in., oy nanic caused by rocket falling into, and exploding a large lot ol nre worKS. Rand McNallv & Co.. of Chicago, the Licrirest crintine establishment in the world, which has been boycotted for a .year, has become a union office and the boycott is declared off. New York City had its first "dry" Sun day June 30. The police were easily vic torious. The doors of a number of closed -saloons were placarded thus: '"We voted for reform, and this is what we got." Since 1800 England has had fifty-four fnrtv-t.wo. Russia twentv- three, Austria fourteen, Prussia nine one hundred and forty-two wars by five nations, with at least four of whom the gospel of Christ is a state religion. There was a big riot at Siberia, Perry country, Ohio, July 4th. One thousand persons took part in it. Three men were killed, four fatally hurt and fifty seri ously wounded. It was an anti-Catholic -attack on peaceful Catholic picnickers. Business failures for the first six months of 1892 numbered 5,391. For the same period in '93, 6,239; for '94, 6,528, and tor '95, 6,597. This year's lailures outnumber all previous years; but they are smaller failures, lue big iish survives and swallows the little ones. Winona, Mo., with a population of 600 was swept away by a flood July 5th. The home of nearly every resident was wrecked by the water which to a depth of several feet swept the streets. Eleven persons are known to have lost their Jives and seven are missing. The U. S. treasury deficit for the fiscal .year ending June 30th was about $ 43, 550,000. Last year's deficit was $70, 000,000. The government expenditures for the last year were $356,250,000, of which pensions took $141,391,623. The postal service deficit was $11,000,000. The gold reserve is now reported at $107,000,000. The Niagara Power Company now has ten dynamos of 5,000 horse power each 50,000 horse power running, or ready to run, converting gravitation into elec tricity, which by copper wire can be con ducted near or far, wherever power is wanted. This ought to have been a gov ernment enterprise, so that the working people would be benefited by the work of Uod. The national debts of European na tions, ''mainly incurred for war purposes, have reached the inconceivable total of tweuty-three thousand millions of dol lars." "One-third of all the revenues that are drained from labor is devoted to paying merely the interest on the cost of past wars, one-third for preparations for future warsand the remaining third to all other objects whatsoever." An author on the Pacific Coast, Fitz gerald Murphy, has written a social play in four acts, entitled "TheSilver Lining." The chief characters are a banker and a larmer, representatives of the creditor classes and the debtor masses. The play nouse was torn to pieces. Henry Ad I - A ' y - is said to possess intense human interest and vividly portrays tne reiauousnip oi the West and South to the money lend ing interests of the bankers. The play, it is predicted, will create a sensation when put on the boards in Chicago next Sept ember. Tbe Omtbk Platform Reviewed. NO. 4. , "Transportation being a means of ex change and a public necessity, the gov erumeut should own and operate the railroads in the interest of the people." A potent argument used by railroad attorneys and henchmen, in reply to complaints of railroad oppression, is that the people cannot get along with out the railroads. That is in a measure true. Without means of ready transpor tation for the products of their toil the people cannot prosper as they have the right to. But this is one of the strongest arguments for government ownership. Anything which is necessary for -the wel fare of all the people should never be placed exclusively in the hands of a part of the people by the government. Thia abuse has led to most of the oppressive monopolies which exist among mankind. But railroad building requires such a large outlay of money that no individual orcompany will undertake their building without such exclusive privilege. It is therefore necessary, to save the people from needless and grasping oppression, that the railroads should be owned and operated by the government only. This, I believe, is now conceded by a large majority of the people. But it is objected that though possible in theory it is impracticable. It is claimed that however just and Expedient govern ernment ownership might have been at the first, there is now such immense amounts of capital in vested in the railroads that the govern ment is unable to buy them even if the companies were willing to sell; that the government could not afford, anyway, to pay the prices which . the companies would ask, and a sale forced by tbe gov ernment or at a price not voluntarily agreed upon by both parties, would be unconstitutional and therefore void, as well as unjust. But ihese conclusions chiefly arise from the assumption that the railroad system is like the common business of the people and therefore subject to the same rules. This assumption is not true. They are authorized by special charters, issued on the expressed, or implied, conditions that the railroads should be built and operated in the interests of the people; and, like other conditioned privileges, when the conditions are broken the privi leges should be forfeited. The objection that the government is unable to buy the railroads on account of the vast investment of capital therein is based on a misconception of the facts in the case. The estimated cost of the railroads in the United States is about $30,000 per mile. The present estimated worth is considerably less. The bonds issued ostensibly for build ing the roads averaire $32,146 per mile. Aggregate about $5,500,000,000. Now tbe very fact that the companies have issued stock to the amount of about the worth of the roads, that they have re ceived grants of land and money from the people and the government sufficient to pay a large part of the value of the roads.in excess of the value of the roads, and now aim, in their charges for trans portation, to collect from the people who patronize them a high rate of interest on thesuraof the bonuses, stocks and bonds, proves that they are managing the roads for their own rapid emolument without any regard to the interests of the people or the principles of common business honesty. This being the case and their charters having been thereby justly for feited, the only question remaining to solve is this: How may the railroads be transferred from the present owners to the government without adding to the burdenaof the people, and at the same time without violating the constitution of our country, or commonly accepted principles of statutory law? In the first place the charters should be revoked by act of congress. Then the roads should be condemned for sale for the use of the people. They should then be appraised at their actual value. The government should buy them at their appraised value, and as in other similar cases the bonds should first be paid off. As these, exceed the value of the roads, the legal obligations of the government would be fully discharged and the ownership revert to the govern ment, to which it rightfully belongs. I know it will be objected by some that such a course would wrong the innocent stockholders. But we must remember tat in ordinary business transactions that man would be considered unfit to transuct business if he should buy pro perty which was already bonded for more than it was worth, and if he pur chased the stock before the bonds were given he would be a party to the same and could not claim the role of innocent purchaser. In regard to the inability of the people to pay for the roads; the cost to the peo ple for their use under the present system is sufficient to fully pay for them in less than 15 years with a reasonable rate of interest on the purchase money, while the payment in legal tender notes would create no burden for the people but the responsibility of supporting and protect ing the government. II. - """ - J; omknisy CO.. Toledo, 0. 1 Dispatch. Bold by Drnggleta, 7te. ' AN DNCORRUPTED JDDGE The flation Hears What It Should Heat From Jnitioe Brown IATUBAL U0B0P0LY CONSIDERED His Remarkable Address to The Law Graduates at Yale College in Which He Describes Our Situation He Talks as a Populist Would Associate Justice Henry B. Brown, of the United States Supreme Court, ad dressed tbe graduating law class of Yale College week before last, and spoke so plainly and forcibly that good citizens must needs be moved by what be said. Hissupportof the Populist demands, vir. government ownership of natural mono polies, isa most complete answer to those who are afraid of anything socialistic, The one way out of our difficulties is to gradually enlarge the sphere of govern ment services until it shall have control of all natural monopolies and perfectly organized industries. "While the signs of the material devel opment and prosperity of the country were never more auspicious than at the present, it is not to be denied that the tendmicies of the past thirty years have produced a state of social unrest which auirurs ill for the future tranquility. The processes of combination have resulted not only in putting practically the entire manufacturing industry ot tne country in the hands of corporations, but have enabled the latter to put an end to com petition among themselves by the crea tion of trusts to monopolize the produc tion of a particular article. Upon the other hand, labor, taking its cue from capital, though more, slowly, because less intelligent and alert to its own in terests, is gradually consolidating its various trade unions, with the avowed object of dictating the terms upon which the productive and transportation in dustry of the country shall be carried on The reconciliation of this strife, if recon ciliation be possible, is the great social problem which will confront you as you enter upon the stage of professional life. "While I feel assured that the social disquietude does not point to the des truction of private property, it is not improbable that it will result in the gradual enlargement of the functions of government and to the ultimate control of natural monopolies. If the govern ment may be safely intrusted with the transmission of our letters and p apers, I see no reason why it may not also with our telegrams and parcels, as is almost universally the case in England, or with our passengers and freight, a state ownership of railways, as in Germany, France, Austria, Sweden and Norway. If the state owns its highways, why may it not also own its railways? If a munici pality owns its streets and keeps them paved, sewered and cleansed, why may it not also light them, water them and transport its citizens over them? "Such at least is the tendency of mod ern civilization in nearly every highly civilized state but our own, whose great corporate interests, by parading the bug bears of 'paternalism' and 'socialism,' have succeeded in securing franchises which , properly belong to the public. Tli9 fear, too, that these monopolies might be used for political purposes has hitherto proved an insuperable objection to their exercise by the state, but the de velopment of civil service reform has of late been so rapid and satisfactory that its introduction into this new field of use fulnesswould follow asa matter of course and would obviate the most formidable difficulty in the way of the proposed change. "Universal suffrage, which it was con fidently supposed would inure to the benefit of the poor man, is so skillfully manipulated as to rivet his chains and to secure to the rich a predominance in politics never enjoyed under a restricted system. Probably in no country in the world is the influence of wealth more po tent than in this, and in no period of our history has it been more powerful than now. So far as such influence is based upon superior intelligence and is exerted for the public good, it is doubtless legiti mate; so far as it is used to secure to wealth exceptional privileges, to trample upon the rights of the publie, to stifle free discussion, or to purchase public opinion by a subsidy of the press, it in vites measures of retaliation which can scarcely fail to be disastrous." After referring to the manner in which corporate powers are secured and used for dishonest purposes, Justice Brown said: "Worse than this, however, is the com bination of corporations in so-called trusts to limit production, stifle compe tition and monopolize the necessities of life. The extent to which this has already been carried is alarming -the extent to which it may hereafter be carried is revo lutionary. Indeed, the evils of aggregat ed wealth are nowhere seen in more odious forms. If no student can light his lamp without paying tribute to one company; if no house-keeper can buy a pound of meat or of sugar without swell ing the receipts of two or three all-per oniy vading trusts, what Is to prevent the en tire productive industry of the country becoming ultimately absorbed by a hun dred gigantic corporations?" . ENDORSED OMAHA. PLATFORM Kentucky Populists In State Conven tion Demand Free Sliver Coinage Louisville, July 5. The state conven tion of Kentucky Populists met in its second day's session today and adopted a platform reaffirming the Omaha plat form. It also demands as follows: "A demand for free and uulimited coin age of silver on a 16 to 1 ratio without askinir the assistance of Great Britain. "A demand that national banks be abolished and the national government issue legal tender notes for silver. "A demand that the addition to the natioual debt by interest bearing bonds be stopped. "The recent Democratic issue of bonds which. were sold to tbe Rothschilds is de clared an infamy. "A demand that the parity of legal i i 1 ; x -1 1 tenaer money ue maintaineu. "A demand that it be unlawful for con gress to stipulate any kind of money in payment of debts. "A demand for an amendment to the United States constitution to provide for an income tax. Itdeclaresthat they view with alarm the recent acts of congress in regard to the bank tax, and trusts that the will of the people will be sustained uy a reversal of these decisions. "A demand that the trusts be crushed. "Demands retrenchment in every part of the government." Afterlistening to the women and debat ing the question at length, the woman's rights planks were overwhelmingly re jected by the convention. "THERE IS NO LAW" So Says an Eminent Lawyer and Governor "There is no such thing as law," was the surprising and comforting piece of information given by Governor Clark of Arkansas to the graduates of the law de partment of the Arkansas University last week. The governor had just pre sented diplomas to the young men, which the recipients might naturally suppose were evidence that they knew some law, as a result of several years of study. GoyernorClark explained that there were some rules accepted as law, but these were so complex in principle as to render the law a myth. Ninety per cent of ap pealed cases could be decided either way, lie averred, and lawyers on the bench were frequently divided on the question of what is the law. Every merchant, manufacturer, work inginan and farmer in the land ought to read Mr. Clark's statement until he has committed it to memory. It is their misfortune that they believe that there is such a thing as law. It is only a hoodoo interpreted by judges to suit themselves or the men that hired them. The great monopolies haveunder Btood this for years and it has always been-their aim to secure the election and appointment of judges favorablo to their interests. There is no law that cannot be driven through with coach and four provided a venal judire can be secured. Amid the Woods, Kicks, and Jenkinses with Fuller, Shiras and their outfit at Washington have demonstrated this. What under heaven is the country coming to, if we have bo law and venal judges can make law as they or their masters see flt7 Talk about auarchyl We have it now in its worst form. This paper has al ways maintained that, but it was neces sary that some eminent lawyer prove it before the people generally would be lieve it. Now we have the proof. Labor Advo cate. Solid Eastern Ignorance Kane, Pa., June 29, 1895. Editor Wealth Makeus: ' I am now traveling in Pennsylvania, and wish that you had the opportunity of seeing eastern ignorance and eastern prejudice on economic questions, that I have. People here seem to think that the Rocky Mountains are mountains of silver and that it can be mined by the carload as coal is mined here. I find a few here who have allowed the truth to enter, and dare to stand up for sufferinsr humauity. These are called cranks, fanatics, fools, anarchists, etc., and it takes a brave man to stand up against the persecution of paid hirelings of the money power. Uur cause is gain ing here; but we will be a long time get ting relief if western and southern voters continue to support nominees of the Demo-Republican party of goiuism. ine reform elements of the west must unite. W. P. Hatten, of Fullerton, Neb. "Standing Like a Stone Wall" Bavett. Texas, June, 1895. Editor Wealth Makers: PUaaa finn tnt- fliiltaprintinn tn TnlC Wealth Makers. It is a splendid Pop ulist paper. I am not able to take it now, but will give you a lift next year durinirthe big campaign of '96. Texas ropuusts nre "standing hko a. stone whII" for tli Omnlia nlatform. We are 200,000 strong in Texas, and will carry Texas in '96. Populists, stand to your gunsl D. C. Gibson. aOc'tifl November' lstl w ah !'v Land and Money. , The profit, so-called, which is strictly the result of effort, physical or mental, is obviously subject to world-wide competi tion, and must therefore conform to the general living standard prevailing in the trade or profession concerned. It is wrong, therefore, and misleading, to speak of such increase as profit, for an equivalent must have been rendered, ap proximately at least, in each case. But a consideration of rent and interest brings us face to face with an entirely dif. ierent problem. These two leading factors of the indus trial situation (land and money), one the seat of all production, the other the chief instrument of exchange, not being the product of, or producible by individuals, it follows that any increase derived from the mere possession, or loaning of them, is pure gain, and the loaner being still in full possession of all his natural ability to produce, or distribute, retaining still his full power to compete, is clearly occu pying a position of advantage. On tbe other hand it is obvious that the bor rower is reversely, in exact proportion, at a disadvantage. So long as the mere possession of an article enables the possessor to acquire a clear gain, a gain not subject to redistri bution in any degree through living or other expenses, so long must wealth con tinue to accumulate, with almost mathe matical precision, in the hands of a con stantly diminishing number. I may be over sanguine, but I believe the general recognition of these facts will far transcend, in human benefit, the dis coveries and uses of steam and electric ity. Given perfect freedom to produce and distribute, on equitable terms, with the advantage of modern invention in ad dition, who can predict the result, and its significance, physically or spiritu ally? ' Stand Pat . Said a good Populist brother, wbc had read our editorial "Hold Your Ground," in last issue, "don't you want the help of the silver men?" "To what silver men do you refer?" we ask. "To Sibley, Warner, Morgan, Jones o' Arkansas, Turpie, Teller, Bryan, Bland, etal." Yes, we would like to have their help, but we will not get a bit of it. These men are not trying to save a principle but a party. The educational work of the Populists has created a sentiment for currency re form. In many rtates it is overwhelming. These party leade do not want real cur rency reform, but they must do some thing or lose the suppoi t of their adher ents. So they take a small part of the queatiou of finance; a part which if granted would work no harm t-? plutoc racy, and by a big hullabaloo t.-v to magnify that in the eyes of the rank and file of their party and if possible keep them from joining a party that demands nt lor the social change which u aaaifettng n.nnrliiiifr thnrninrh in ireform lelf everywhere among the eommoa people. It sometning tnorougn in Feiorm. ii inspire tbe people with courage and chew Our work is not with the leaders, bul ti fellowship in the great truggi that la be wail the runk mid file. Our help will not" them-" " come from the leaders but from the rank pro'- RM ' Ind,BB' th j ui rm. i i i .niter oi -me van Dennett national Team, and file. Ihe leaders are sharp enough,..: -h. taken nain. to run thrm,h th. to know what the country needs, andork and pronounce it a grand collection i that free silver is but a small part oir d a high order of moelo." what it needs. When education hasdoneTh Ern,F1ld ndF,r"''y,: h- ., . . , , ,, ,. . , ten left to Mr. OeorKe Howard Olbeoa to intro- its perfect work and Populism has be-lce a tone into the eon of the party, and come powerful through accessions fro mi write a aehe of patriotic song which are the rank and file of the old parties, thenrd r our nteratnre tor ... , , -ii t j i- ftlnee of motive and real merit from a literary these leaders will be inside our lines mt of view, while at the tame time the are not grasping for the loaves and fishes andl all lacking In the maiical qnalltr whk-h moat swearing that they are original reformers'co"i"r,iT " PT" e' "Jr ng tonche But not till then.-New Charter. V 115 ""??! Tbe Effect of Fusion. Arborville, York Co., Neb., 1895. Editor Wealth Makers: In regard to my paper, I cannot pay for my subscription until I harvest a crop. I have had two failures of crops, one following another. If you care to send the paper until then, all right. A dollar is as scarce as hens' teeth up here. I wish to tell you a thing or twoabout our party up lere. When our tickets came out on election day all our converts from the Republican party which we had labored for the last two or three years, bolted, saying: "I am not going to vote a Democrat ticket." So we got left when we might have been solid Independent. There are a great many Republicans here that acknowledge the Republican party is not what it ought to be, but will not come over to the independents for the reason of the ballots being marked fus ion. It this cannot be stopped any other way, why can't the Independents have their caucuses and conventions after the Democrats, so they can't endorse the candidates of our party? Why can't the Independent party send a committee on the day the ballots are printed and see that our party is not imposed on? Yours truly, H. K. Ballard. Ball and Steamship Ticket Ajjency. For rail and steamship tickets at lowest rates to any part of the world call on A. S. Fielding, City Ticket Agent Northwestern Line, 117 S. 10th St. 49t apply at U. a U. depot or sity tiokei I America's Uncrowned King;. The uncrowned king of America has re. turned from his trip across the sea. Par nell used to be called an "uncrowned king," but he held his place on sufferance ot popular approval, and so was no true king. President Cleveland is at times re. furred to by his enemies as a "czar," but the duration of his powers is fixed, and he is no true king. The real uncrowned king of America is one who is not de pendent upon popular approval, ,s the duration of whose powers is not fixed, who is obliged to account. to no one for bis movements, and who dictates not only to politicians but to railroad mag nates, bankers, and trusts, and who by a nod of his head and a turn of his wrist decrees the rise or fall of values, the ebb or flow of prosperity. There is but one such man, and his name is J. Pierpont Morgan. To him the president appealed when this nation of seventy-five millions was floundering on tbe verge of bank ruptcy. He heard the appeal, set hisown price on his services, and extended the costly protection of his kingly arm. He went to England, and lot those who had been selling out American securities be gan to buy. He spake and the gold ceased to leave thecountry. He returned and when he set foot upon the western hemisphere the planet tipped. The stock exchange almost ceased to do business until he was heard from in a public state ment. Tbe railroad presidents hastened to him in a body, prostrated themselves and cried, "Help us or we perish." Trust magnates came and cried unto him, "Un less you reorganize us, we are lost" Nothing like this man's apparent power has been seen since the republic was born. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the nation's prosperity depends as much upon what J. Pierpont Morgan says and does as upon the condition of the crops or the decrees of congress. The fact may not be discreditable to him. On the con trary, it is due to undoubted financial genius, which has been exerted for the most part, not as Jay Gould's was ex erted, in wrecking great enterprises, but in sustaining and developing them. He was not responsible that the government got into a bog and had to call for help.. He was not responsible that the railroads were unable to adjust their differences and had to appeal to him. Scanning his conspicuous record for the last fewyears, we do not see what there is to reproach him for. But, all the same, there is no more alarming symptom of industrial, economical, and financial disease than the tremendous powers that have become vested in this man. What system is this that concentrates in tbe hands of a single individual the power of life and death al most upon a nation's industries? We have done away with crowned monarchs, and, politically, we have a republic. What, in all soberness, we ask, is this fact to avail us if we retain an industrial system that gives to us in place of a political monarch or a political oligarchy a financial monarch or a financial olig archy of more unbounded sway over the destinies of the people thanemperorsand kings ever expect to wield ? It is time to do some thinking I Voice. . -uhjui auu aitmii ! In anlckenlntr and Dcrradlnc th trntmiin Foot Coverning at 20 per cent discount. Foot-Form Store 1213 O St. Wnlttaker Wichita Plant MortgagaoV Wichita, Kan., July 11, Francis Wbittaker & Sons have given a mort gage of $300,000 on their packing plant here in favor of Benjamin F. Edwards of St. Louis. W. H. Thompson of St. Louis released a $50,000 mortgage on the plant. The establishment will soon be in fall operation. Blew Open tha Safe). EtJPB, Kan., July ll.Ths safe in the Santa Fe depot at this point was blown open by professional burglars and about 930 in cash secured. No elue was found, except a necktie (four-in-hand), which was used to tie a sack on a sledge-hammer and which had oa it the stamp of the Economy Clothing bouse of Carthage, Mo. Governor Cnlberson for Silver. ArSTur, Texas, July 11. Governor Cnlberson, in a letter to Hon. John Bookhoul of Dallas, comes out for tha free and unlimited coinage of silver at WtoL Knights Templar Boston Excur sion. For. the above occasion on dates August 10th to 24th inclusive, the Northwestern line will sell tickets at one fare for the round trip. Choice of routes from Chicago. Make your plans to go by this short line east. City office 117 So. 10th SW Depot Cor. 8th and S. 519
