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About The Nebraska independent. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1896-1902 | View Entire Issue (April 30, 1896)
The Wealth Makers and Lincoln Independent Consolidated. LINCOLN, NEBR., THURSDAY, APRIL "30, 1896. VOL. VII. NO. 47. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LIARS. The Whole Story About the Censure of Senator Allen by the Senate Abosolutely False. THE MANNER IN WHICH THE POPULIST KNIGHT OF THE WEST 1 FIGHTS WHEN THE ENEMY HURL THEIR FORCES UPON HlHT Falsehoods Denounced. 'Thieves Called by Their Right Names, Populist Men and Principles Defended. No Braver Knight Ever Lead The fearful power within the control of the Associated Press, ' occupying as it does,, the news columns of every daily paper in the United States, is something terrible. A weekly paper fighting that power, is like the naked savage, with bow and arrow and war club, combating troops armed with the modern repeating rifle, Hotchkiss and Gatlin guns. But the Independent is going to fight to the best of its ability with the weapons it has, hoping that it may at least check the advance of the enemy until the better weapons for this warfare can be supplied, Last week Truthful Anninhada special dispatch in the State Journal, written in Washington as follows: "Washington, April 17. (Special.) Senator Allen's performance in tne sen ate todav. of which a full report appears in the press dispatches, was neither crditable to himself or to the dignity of the body of which he is a member, a or the first time in the history of Nebraska one of its senators was forced to take his seat for disorderly conduct in debate and was subsequently only allowed to pro ceed upon the motion of one of his demo cratic colleagues. With that recklessness of statement for which he is noted, Sena tor Allen took occasion to denounce the senate committee on Pacific railroads, of which Senator Gear is chairman, and characterized it as being controlled by C. P. Huntington and as having refused to call before it opponents of the Pacific railroad funding bill. He was sharply and properly rebuked by Senator Gear of Iowa, chairman of the committee, who in a few wordH placed Senator Allen's po litical career, with its remarkable twists . and turns among the parties, before the senate and forced the Nebraska senator into a defense of the party's position, which he bad assumed. This lead up to an eulogium upon General Weaver by Senator Allen, a vigorous attack upon that Iowa blatherskite by Senator Gear, the virtual giving of the lie by Senator Allen, a scene of more or less disorder in the senate and the humilati on of the Nebraska senator. It was a mortifyng spectacle and will still further decrease Senator Allen's influence in the upper house. The Associated Press dispatch which went into all the dailies in the United States was in substance the same, Then there appeared in the editorial columns of the dailies in Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago, the most severe and malignant criticisms on the disgace- ful conduct of the great populist sena tor. No paper outside of thegoldite ring being able to get the dispatches from Washington giving the truth concerning the transactions in congress, the only thing to do was to await the arrival of the Congressional Record to find out what did occur. The Record containing the verbatim report of what was said, and official report of the action of the senate, came to hand the day the Independent went to press, and it being a weekly its readers cannot get the truth about the matter until still seven days later. Now what is the truth about the mat ter? The whole story is a malignant falsehood. The senate instead of cen snring Senator Allen, by a vote fifty- seven senators being present decided that Allen had not violated the rules of the senate, and permitted him to pro ceed with his remarks. Senator Allen was not reproved but endorsed by the senate! When the senator took the floor again he repeated in still stronger language what he had said about Senator Gear, and the senate having previously decided that he was in order, the plutocrats and railroad senators dared not to further interrupt him. To enable the reader to understand the whole matter, it is necessary to state that Senator Hill had been speaking for about three days in fact, filibustering to prevent the consideration of Senator Peffer's resolution to investigate the in famous bond deals. Senator Hill yielded the floor to Gear of Iowa to introduce the Union Pacific railroad bill. Then this colloquy oc curred: Mb. Allen. With the consent of the Senator from New York Mb. Hill, I should like to ask the Senator from Iowa if this is what is known as the Frye bill? Mr. Gear. No, sir; it is the committee bill. It is somewhat changed from the Frye bill. It is the bill prepared by the committee, which embraces the settle ment of both roads. , Mr. Allen. I infer that the committee on Pacific railroads has concluded its ex amination of witnesses. Mr. Gear. I think so. Mr. Allen. I should like to ask the The Hosts of The Oppressed. Senator if any of the shippers along the line of these bond-aided railroads have been invited to appear before the com mittee? Mb. Gear. As I stated once before to the Senator from Nebraska when this question was before the Senate, public notice has been given of all the hearings, and shippers, boards of trade, and every body else could have appeared before the committee and have stated whatever they chose. Mb. Allen. No further notice has been given? Mr. Geab. No further notice has been given. Mb. Allen, Mb. Gear. Simply a general notice? Simply a general notice, the same notice as has been given at all the hearings by committees in both branches of congress during my service in either branch. Mp. Allen. I should like to ask the Senator also whether any specific invita tion has been extended to any boards o trade or chambers ol commerce or grangers or alliance organizations to furnish data and appear before the com' mittee? Mr. Geab. No specific invitation has been sent to anybody. - Mb. Allen. What class of witnesses have appeared here, and representing what interests; MB. Ueab. I nave not time to re capitulate all the evidence. It fills a large book. The Senator can get it by application to my committee room, and find out what class of persons came be fore the committee and read it, which suppose he will do. Mb. Allen. Yes; I can read. Mr. Geab. I know you can. MR. Allen. 1 simply desire to say a few words, if I can have the permission of the Ssenator from New lork. Mb. Hill. Certainly. . Mr. Allen. Mr. President, several weeks ago this question was up, and it was then notorious that Collis P. Hunt ington and his lobbyists because that is the proper designation for them were here in force to influence the action of congress in legislation upon the sub ject of the Pacific railroads. I then called the attention of my honorable friend from Iowa, for whom I have the highest respect, to the fact that no in vitation had been sent to the patrons of these roads and to the people who were affected by this legislation, either to ap pear before the committee or to lay be fore it any data in their possession. I had hoped at that time that the honor able Senator from Iowa, who is at the head of this committee, would have sent out an invitation which could have been done for 2 cents a 2 -cent postage stamp would have carried the letter to the National Grange and the national and state alliances of the states through which these railroads run, and the boards of trade, the chambers of commerce, and the great body of shippers and people whose interests are affected and deeply affected by this proposed legislation, to appear before the committee and give evidence and furnish data. I suppose, of course, that the honorable Senator would have done that. I had no doubt that he would do it when his attention was drawn to the fact.- I regret to say, Mr. President, that it does appear to me as though there had been a studied effort on the part of the Pacific Railroad Com mittee to cut on those people from any opportunity to appear before the com mittee or lay before it necessary evidence and data, and by that means get a full, free, and fair expression of popular senti ment upon the subject. Mr. (Jear. Mr. President, if the sena tor troin Wew xork will permit me tor a moment, I beg to say, in reply to the statements made by the Senator from Nebraska, whom I have known these many years in all the different political affiliations and parties with which he has been connected during the last thirty years, that, as 1 said before, a public notice was given that the committee were to have hearings in regard to a iroposed settlement on the part of the 'entral and Union Pacific railroads of the debts they owed the Government. The only notice, as I have before said, that I have ever known to be given by a committee of congress in regard to a proceeding of this kind went out in the Associated Press dispatches. After some further talk. Mr Allen said: Mr. President, with the indulgence of the Senator from New. York and the Senator from Kansas, I wish to accupy the time of the Senate for just a moment. 1 am not inclined to engage in a quarrel with my distinguished friend from Iowa, for whom I have very great respect in deed Mb. Gear. You can not get into a quarrel with me. Mr. Allen. For 1 have known him since I was a barefooted boy. I believe him to be an honest man and I know him to be an able man, but I can not under stand, and the Senator will have to ex plain his explanation to me before I can understand it may be in consequence of my dullness wby the people of this country haveno right, why they have not been invited, to appear before this com mittee and make their grievances known. I speak of what I have seen with my own eyes. 1 have been in the Pacific Railroads Committee room on two dif ferent occasions when this so-called in vestigation was going on, and I have seen the supreme magnate of American railroads and American politics, himself the embodiment of force and corruption, Louis P. Huntington, sitting there, ap parently a lord over the committee and everybody around him, and his lobbyists occupying the seats in the committee room; not a farmer, not a merchant, not a man living upon the prairies, not man living along the line of the railroads there not one. The Senator from Iowa says that has not been the custom to Bend out notices to these people. Mr. President, if it has not, then the custom ought to be changed. A precedent that excludes the great masses of the people who are affected by legislation of this kind from an opportunity to be heard before this committee, or any other committee congress, ought to be revoked as speedily as possible. I am not going to make any charge against the committee I would not do that, for I recognize that they are all honorable gentlemen: Brutus was an honorable man also. I recognize their honesty and their capacity, but I can not help but be impressed with the thought that there was a studied and a fixed purpose and I say it now a studied and fixed purpose to exclude these people from any representation be fore that committee or an opportunity to lay before it their wishes or any facts in their possession. This bill I do not know what it is, but if it is read, and I shall ask to have it read and put in the record, so that shall appear tomorrow morning means what f lean read it as well as though bad it before my eyes at this moment, It means an extension of the debt of these railroads to the nation substan tially upon the lines laid down and die tated by Mr. Huntington. In the course of the colloquy that fol, lowed, Mr. Allen, recited the names be ginning with that of Lincoln, of all the presidents for whom he had voted. Then Mr. Gear said: rne senator irom meDraska has given us his political history. I congratulate him that out of seven Presidential votes he has given four or five at least on the right side. When he voted for James B, Weaver a gentleman of my own state- he voted for a man who is in favor of confiscating all therailway property and public property, the telegraphs, and everything of that kind and issuing ir redeemable paper money for them; who stood then and stands now on the same platform that the Senator from; Ne braska stands on the Ocala platform The Senator from Nebraska has been a republican. All right. He has been democrat, he says. I respect a good honest democrat. Today he represents the populist party, occupying a position be- t weenthe two parties according to his way but really with his guns aimed toward the republican party and looking all the time to the democrat party, with which he affiliates. That is his political record At Senator Allen's request the Gear Union Pacific railroad bill was ordered printed in the record, after which Mr, Allen said: Mr. President, I have just one word to say in reference to the last remarks of the Senator from Iowa. I regret very much that he has taken occasion to assail the populist leader of 1892 at a time and in a place where that gentle. man can not be heard, for I assure you, Mr. rresident, and the country, too, that if James B. Weaver were presen t here and it were lawful for him to speak in this Chamber, the language of the Sena tor from Iowa would have been a little more moderate, a little less offensive than it has been at this time. Mr. Gear. I beg to say to the Senator that I have met the honorable gentle man whom he supported for the Presi dency in the other branch of congress. I am ready to meet him at any time. Mr. Allen. It was under compulsion. It was never voluntary. Mr. Gear. Not at all. Mr. Allen. It was under duress. Mr. Gear. Not at all. Mb. Allen. It was under duress. The world can rest assured that is was under duress. Mr. Gear. Iam not m the habit of meeting folks in that way. - Mr. Allen. James B. Weaver is one of the most illustrious and intelligent citizens of the United States, a man of great character, a man of great ability, of great mental force, of great attain ment; a man whose character can not be impeached by any honest man, and I can not understand it I did not see it, but I heard it how reference to a man whose character is so well established in all these respects, and whose name has been mentioned herein derision, is greeted with a significant guffaw, from one of distinguished representatives of the state of which he is an honored citizen. I heard the guffaw. I did not seethe facial expresHion at the time it was uttered. Mr. President, it will not do for the Senator from Iowa to stand in this Chamber and say that James B. Weaver wants to confiscate property. There is not a child 5 years old who does not know that that statement is false. Mb. Gear. Does not the Senator con sider Mb. Allen. I do not undertake Mb. Gear. Will the Senator from Nebraska yield for a question? Mb. Allen. Ihe senator from Iowa can not crawfish out of the statement. Mb. Gear. Will the Senator answer a question? MR. Allen, les, sir. Mb. Geab. Does the Senator take the ground that it is the right of the govern ment to take all the corporate property of this country the railways, telegraph and telephone lines and pay for them in unlimited issues of greenbacks? That is the ground that James B. Weaver stands on. the Ocala platform, for X nave beard him argue it and defend it in bis own Con gressional district. I was there when he moved into that district in L&'JJ, the Council Bluffs district, and spoke against Mr. Uager. I heard him argue in faror i of that idea. That is the platform h stands on. I call it confiscation. Mr. Allen. He does not stand on that platform. mMr. Gear. You can dispute with James B. Weaver himself. Mb. Allen. No, I will not dispute with James B. Weaver himself; I dispute with the Senator of Iowa. He is in the Chamber. I am his equal here, and any where else, for that matter. He can not stand here and utter falsehoods of that kind against one of the greatest and most illustrious citizens of the United States because he happens to be a pop ulist and go unwhipped of the rebuke bis language justly and necessarily deserves. Mr. Hoar. I call the Senator from Nebraska to order aud ask that his words be taken down. Mr. Allen. I call the Senator from Massachuetts to order and demand that his words be taken down. I resume my seat under the rule until my words are taken down. Mr. Faulkner. I move that the Sena ator from Nebraska be allowed to pro ceed in order. Mr. Hoar. The words have to be taken down, and they have to be ruled upon by the chair. Mr. Faulkner. There is nothing in the rule which requires the Chair to rule upon the question before such a motion is made. The Presiding Officer, The chair did not hear the first observation of the Sen ator from West Virginia. Mit. Faulkner. The motion I make is that the Senator from Nebraska be allowed to proceed in order. The Sena tor from Massachusetts suggests that the Chair must rule upon the language as taken down as to whether it is parli mentary. The rule simply requires that the language shall be read from the desk for the information of the Senate. It does not require that the Chair shall submit the question to the senate if a motion similar to the one I have made intervenes. Mr. Chandler. I ask for the reading of the rule. The Secretary read. Mb. Hoab. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The Pbesidino Officer. The absence of a quorum is suggested. The Secretary will call the roll. The Secretary called the roll. , The President pro tempore. Fifty five senators have answered to their names. There is a quorum present. Mr. Gorman. Let the words be read. Mb. Faulkner. I suppose that under the rule the proper proceeding is to have the words taken down and read. I have made a motion that the Senator from Nebraska be allowed to proceed in order, The President pro tempore. Have the words been read to the Senate? Mb. Faulkner. They have not been read. The Pbesident pro tempore. The Secretary will read the alleged censurable words to the senate. The Secretary read as follows: No; I will not dispute with James B. Weaver himself. I dispute with the Senator from Iowa, He Is In this Chamber. I am his equal here, and annwhere else (or that matter. He can not stand here and ntter falsehoods of that kind against one of the greatest and most Illustrious citlsens ot the United States because he happens to be a populist, aud go unwhipped ot the rebuke his language justly and necessarily deserves, The Pbesident pro tempore. What action will the senate take. Mb. Faulkner. I move that the Sen ator from .Nebraska be allowed to pro ceed in order. Mr. Hoar. Is the motion debatable? Mr. Faulkner. It is not debatable, as is expressly stated in the rule. Mr. Hoar. 1 asked the Chair, and not the Senator from West Virginia. Mr. Faulkner. Very well. The President pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair it is not debatable, Mr. Hoab. l so understand it. The Pbesident pro tempore. The Sen ator from West Virginia moves that the Senator from Nebraska be allowd to pro ceed in order. The motion was agreed to. Now that is the official record. The man whom the senate sat down upon was the republican Senator Hoar of Mas sachusetts, and not the populist Senator Allen of Nebraska. Senator Hoar called Senator Allen to order. The Senate bad his words taken down and read again to the senate' After investigating the matter and find ing no violations of the rules of the Sen ate, it allowed Senator Allen to proceed. It would be a tine set of pariiamentory rules that would not allow a senator to deny a false statement. It is done nearly every day in the year. The verbatim report proceeds as fol lows: ... Mb. Allen. Mr. President Mr. Gear. Will the senator from Ne braska yield for one moment? Mr. Allen. Certainly. Mr. Gear. To the language used by the senator from Nebraska I take no ex ception. I have lived among the people wh?re I have made my home for more years almost than the senator has lived in his life. They know best whether the words he has stated are true or false. I am satisfied now, if I never was before, of the truth of an old adage. When I got into this unfortunate altercation with the senator from Nebraska I made a mis take. It is an old saying that you can not "touch pitch without being defiled." I am sorry that I had the altercation with him. Mr. Allen. Mr. President, I am very glad indeed to be able to defile a gen tleman who has seen so much of this world and who has had such a varied ex perience as my distinguished and always amiable friend, the senator from Iowa Mr. Gear upon whom I look more as a misguided father than in any other re spect. I also thank the senator from Massachusetts Mr. Hoar for having my words taken down words that were perfectlv parliamentary. Of course it served to interrupt the proceedings here and to deprive me of some time to dis cuss this matter. I am always glad to know that theamiabie and distinguished senior' senator from Massachusetts has a kindly eye upon me aud watches me to see that I do no damage in this chamber, and who is always especially careful of what I say when I am discussing popu listic doctrines and populistic statesmen. When called to order by the distin guished and always amiable senator from Massachusetts I was denying the statement made by the honorable junior Senator from Iowa that James B. Weaver is a confiscation 1st. Let me pro ceed at that point and repeat the state ment briefly. I said, Mr. President, and I repeat, and I am sorry to be compelled to repeat anything here, that James B. Weaver is one of the most illustrious citizens of the United States, and I am glad to have this distinguished audience and presence here to listen to me when I state that there is not a man between the two oceans or between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico who is better equip ped from his experience as a soldier and his experience as a statesman, his great education and his great capacity, to dis charge public duties than is James B. Weaver. I have a larger audience now than I had a few morai nts ago when I was called to my chair, and I wish to call attention to the fact that when I mentioned the name of this illustrious soldier and statesman as a distinguished citizen of the' United States a guffaw from the junior senator from Iowa, aud ible all over the chamber, greeted the statement. Mr. President, populist as I am, in competent as I necessarily must be to discharge public duties in the estimation of the junior senator from Iowa and his sympathizers and associates, living out on the prairies among the coyotes and prairie dogs, I have been taught better manners than that. I would not greet the name of the humblest citizen of this nation with a rough guffaw in the senate of the United States or in any other place where I could be put. The honorable junior senator from Iowa says that James B. Weaver was a conflsoatlonist, and wanted to confiscate the railroads and telegraphs of the United States. I said, and I repeat it, the statement is false. There never was any truth in it. I do not mean by that to reflect upon the junior senator from Iowa. I do not mean to carry with that the implication that the honorable sen ator from Iowa made that statement maliciously or knowing it to be untrue. 1 simply say, as a matter of fact, that it is false; that is all. I repeat, the honorable junior senator from Iowa and my always amiable and distinguished learned friend the senior senator from Massachusetts never ren dered this country the valuable services. never gave the intellectual or the moral force to the upbuilding of this nation that James B. Weaver has given to it; never. That, Mr. President is greeted with a smile and a grin and an audible expression of disapproval, as the name was greeted a moment ago in a like manner and in a rougher manner. Mr, President, there is no more law-abiding citizen than James B. Weaver. He is one of the greatest lawyers the state of Iowa ever produced. 1 doubt if he has an equal as a lawyer in this chamber. He is a very great lawyer and is illustrious in courts of this country where many men who sneer at his name wouid not be permitted even to take a back seat. He is not only a great lawyer, but he is a distinguished soldier, whose valor has been illustrated upon more than thirty fields of carnage in this country, and he bears upon his person honorable wounds. Now, sir, because that man happens to be a populist, because that man, whose ancestors came to this country long be fore the Revolutionary war, who is an American citizen from the sole of his feet to the crown of his head, happens to look upon political questions a little different ly from the juniorBenatorfrom)Iowa and my always distinguished and learned and accomplished friend from Massachusetts, his name is to be met with a sneer and his defenders are to be called down in this chamber as violating the rules, for speaking in his behalf. No, Mr. President, he is not a connsca- tionist. The statement is untrue. James B. Weaver believes in the doctrine of the populist party. He believes that this is a government of the people, as it should be; a government by the people and for the people. He is not of that class of statesmen who sail under false colors, who give their words to tha people and consecrate their lives and give their votes to the corporations. There are some statesmen in this country who do that. James B. Weaver believes in the gov ernment ownership of railways, in the government ownership of all telegraphs and telephones. Dos the honorable sen ator from Iowa have any argument that he can use against the accomplishment of that purpose? Does he not know that over thirty of the nations ot tne earth today own and operate their own rail roads? It is something to be laughed at, is it not? It is something to be greeted with scorn and guffaw when the name of a man who believes in that happens to be mentioned here. How are you going to get possession of the railroads? The honorable senator from Iowa, for whom I have great re spect and whom I love as a son should love a father, seems to think tnat it is impossible to accomplish that result and the senator laughs again as though it was funny and a thing to be laughed at. Mr. Chandler. Will the senator from Nebraska allow me to interrupt him? Mb. Allen. Certainly. Mb. Chandler. We are cot laughing at what the senator says; we are laugh ing at the way the senator says it. We can not help that. Mr. Allen. 1 was not referring to my amiable friend from New Hampshire. Mr. Chandler. I laughed in sym pathy with Che senator from Iowa. Mr. Allen. It seems to De laugnaDie. The doctrine of eminent domain seems to have escaped the attention of my learned friend frt m Iowa, Of course my always learned and distinguished friend, the senior senator from Massachusetts, un derstands it in all its ramifications. And what is that doctrine? What gave a railroad corporation power to go across your farm in Maine and take your prop, erty and construct its railroads upon your farm and exclude you from it? V here did that power come from? Why, it is the constitutional , inherent power in every sovereignty, known as the power of eminent domain. Is it not the taking of private property upon com pensation for public use? That is the d?ttrin Jt WM established in the state of New York in the case ofBloodgood vs. The Mohawk River Railroad years and years ago, and has become the set. tied doctrine in this country that wher ever the public interest requires the tak ing of the citizens' private property for public use it can be taken under the power of publio domain. The public in terest alone is to be consulted, and com pensation is to be given to the owner of the private property. I ask my honorable friend from Iowa and his sympathizers nnnn t.ha nth.. side of the chamber whv this trmrarn. ment domain, the same inalienable power that attaches to the natinn&l government, and when the public inter est requires the great railway and tele graph systems to be reduced to govern ment ownership why the irovernmant cannot condemn them, if necessary, and rtl will ama. A-1. m . . uuivuwk, mem, paying a lair equivalent for them, and operate them in th tnra. est of the people at large? uamestf. weaver believes in that doc trine. Why, sir, he is fortified by every constitution in the forty-flve stales of this union and by the national constitu tion itself. .- He is fortified by every con stitution of every country on which the sun shines today, And yet there is a doctrine which has never ocmirrad m th junior senator from Iowa. No doubt it has occurred always to the distinguished bcuuiiu- irum Massachusetts, now, what is wrong about it? I did not bring on this discussion about James b, Weaver. ' ' . Then the honorable senator says that James B. Weaver wants to take a limit less volume of worthlese paper money and buy the railroads with it Mr. Weaver never gave utterance to a senti. ment of that kind upon the face of the earth-never. Why stand here in the senate of the United States, in the full glare of public sentiment, in this place where publio sentiment is formed and fused, and hold up the distinguished citi zen of thiscountry who is 1.500uiilesfrom here as the leader of a doctrine of this kind when it is absolutely untrue, when he does not believe It and does not ad vocate it now, and when his party does not believe in it and has never advo cated it? . ....... Now, Mr. President, returning my thanks again to the honorable and dis tinguished and very learned senior sen ator from Massachusetts for his careful attention to my conduct and language. I resume my seat and turn the floor over to the senator from New York. Mr. Chandler. I move that the sen ate proceed to the oonsideration of ex ecutive business. That Senator Allen's severe denuncia tion of Huntington and his lobbyists was justified by the facts, in nrovan h Senator Morgan's minority report in which he says: Four men who owned the atnrfc In t ha Central Pacific Railway company and a lew wno owned that of the Union Pacific company built them under contracts made with themselves through a "con tract and financing" and a "Credit Mo biller" which they also owned, and they have blazed up before the country in a glitter of wealth that eclipses the wealth of the greatest monarchs of the earth. I hey swarm through the corridors nf the capitol with agents and lobbyists and complain of the ingratitude of the republic, while extolling themselves as j having become burdened with riches, the fruit of their genius. Refusing to ac- ' count for the trust funds they have re ceived and carried into their collossal fortunes, which would more than place these companies out of debt and still leave them rich, they demand that con- gross shall wait a century for the pay ment of what they have left to use as 4 ocranir nf nmd anil .kail .n..J.. them under a new contract and new con ditions this great national highway for half its value. Going at It Right. Plattsmouth, Neb., April, 24, '96. The populist party, organized a polit ical reform club in this city which now has 107 members. They hold their meetings once in two weeks, on the first and third Wednesday of the month. They have taken up the reading and dis cussing of the Seven Financial Conspir acies. The meetings are well attended. Where there was only about sixteen or seventeen that would attach themselves to the organization one year ago, we now have over one hundred and good prospects for a much larger number at an early date. Rob't J. Vass was elected president, Henry Hempel, record ing secretary and M. S. Briggs corres pondingsecretary. The next meeting will be held on the sixth of May. Every bod y is invited to come and hear the truth. Arm in Arm. Bud Lindsey the negro saloon keeper of Lincoln will go arm in arm with John M. Thurston to St. Louis, aud help de liver the state of Nebraska over to Mc- Kinley. It has come to a pretty pass when negroes with such a vile reputation as Lindsey, are allowed to assist in nomi nating a candidate for presidential honors. Red Goud Nation. Leaves an Aching Told. The American National Bank of Denver closed its doors April 22. This caused a run on the National Bank of Commerce which however stood the strain. The president of the Americal National gives as the reason of its failure, the general stringency and loss of custom. One more aching void in the best banking system the world ever saw.
