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About The Nebraska independent. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1896-1902 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 1897)
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT. Feb. 18. 1897 Nebraska 3nbqjcnbtnt M WEALTH MACMKS amd WfOOZJt aroMfttroMirr. fUSLISHED EVERY THURSDAY kdspsijdsqt Publifhiijg Go. At 1110 M Itntt, LINCOLN. - NEBRASKA. TELEPHONE M& $1.00 per Year in advance. Addrw U waaiilnUoM to, h mU all rattt, mo arton. U., parabl to t4 IXDIPINDSKT PCS, CO Livooli, Hss, TUB LEADERS HEARD FROM. Thb Independent presents this week quite a large number of letters on the proposed abandonment by the populists of the silver issue. Our readers will find these all well written and interesting, as they are very nearly all from leaders. We are receiving hundreds of these let ters, many of which we will never be able to publish; and not one have we received as yet that opposes the paper's stand. Many of the letters will have to go over to subsequent issues. We beg the pardon of "our readers for having devoted so much space to this matter; but it is really important more important, perhaps, than most of us realize. THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE. Those who advocate abandoning the silver issue contend that a further ad vocacy of that issue will cause the disin tegration of the peoples party and de stroy the reform press. Strange isn't it? that the very course which has built up the party and the reform press, if per sisted in now, will wipe them out. Exactly the opposite is true. If we abandon silver as an issue, or make any show of so doimr. we will not only cease to gain converts from the silver repub- tion of our constituency." licans, where we are now rapidly gain ing them, but we will lose thousands and thousands of those who have been with us in the past. BY HIS OWN WORDS. Mr. Washburn, in his last letter to the editor of this paper says: "I do not advocate the abandonment of silver, or any change in the platform, and my appeal must not be construed to mean tnat. iou ao no j uicrimiuc. between planks and issues." Really, this is kind. He don't advo cate any changes in the platform. We never supposed he did. Only national conventions can change platforms. The gentleman from Massachusetts may be powerful, but he is hardly as powerful as national convention. We did not ex pect him to tear np the silver plank and cast it aside. He, or all his conventions could not do that. But he did advocate abandoning silver as an issue, and that is all the Independent ever claimed. Now for the proof. In his original ap peal Mr. Washburn says; "Tim democratic party proposes to continue the silver fight. Two parties cannot exist on the same issue, Does that not imply that the people's party should abandon the silver fight? He refers constantly to paper money as our main plank and silver as a subor dinate' one. Along this line he uses the following language: "The substitution of our main plank for a subordinate one, as the fighting issue for the next four years, is in line with the best sentiment of our party." If you substitute one thing for anoth er, don't you abandon the latter? If you substitute paper money tor free silver as the fighting issue, don't you abandon free silver as a fighting issue? Then again he speaks about green backs and the railroad, question as "the twostrongest measures of ourplatform." Then free silver must be a weaker meas ure of our platform. " Again he says: "We ar now free to act separately on advanced lines and to emphasize the real issue our party was born to ad vance. Well, if greenbacks and government ownership are the "real issues," then sil ver must be a sham issue. Then, speaking still of greenbacks and government ownership, he says: "Tbey are issues free from the charge of mercenary motives to enrich a por- Mr. J. Burrows in a letter which ap pears in another column expresses afear that there will be a middle-of-the-road party in this state. The Independent hardly believes the fear well grounded. We remember that somebody tried to organize ; such a party last fall." They did organize it in Kansas and it got about a thousand votes. We think a gestleman named Bill Dech organized it in the Fourth District and it got 114 votes. No there are not enough fools among Nebraska populists for that. Fusion with the democrats seems to be the bugaboo that has caused some of our middle-of the-road brethren to scare at silver. Advocating silver doesn't necessarily make us fuse with the demo crats. Then what about the immense army n of silver republicans? Their natural home is the peoples party. They are coming to us, but tne minute we quit advocating silver, we cast aside the magnet which is drawing them. Chairman Butler of the national com mittee, advises going to Memphis, going into Yaa der Yoort's press association and fighting it out. While the Inde pendent believes that the meeting will be packed, yet we advise any populist editor who can afford to go to Memphis to do so. For, our part we cannot stand the expense of the trip and shall go to Kansas City. The cotton mills involving nearly 4, 000,000 cotton spindles have entered into an agreement to shut down two days of each week. It will be remembered that the last congress gave this indus try all the "protection" it asked. They have virtually no foreign competition in the home market. Why is . this? Wil j those extreme protectionists please ex plain. v There seems to besome misunderstand ing somewhere. There will be no con ference at Kansas City; and no author iced conference anywhere. The "inform al, unofficial conference" at Memphis has been repudiated by both the chair man and secretary of the national com mittee, the only authority for calling a conference at all. In his last letter to the editor of this paper (at least the last when we went to press) Mr. Washburn says that we are the only populist ia the United States who oppose his plan of dropping silver as a fighting issue. If he will read this issue of the Independent, he may re vise his op inion. There are others. Thejcorn crop of the United States ac cording tothe report of the department of agriculture for 1896 aggregates 2,- 283,000,000 bushels. The greater part of this is still unmarketed. People are starving for the want of it in India and other eastern countries. Why is this? Transportation charges are too high. Ex-Auditor Moore.is short in his ac counts nearly thirty thousand dollars, Thar is a growing suspicion that every thing is not right with ex-Treasure: Bartley. The Profits of the Sugar Trust on Its Refining Business Alone Was $236,240,000 IN 10 YEARS. This Calculation is Based on the Sworn Testimony Given by Henry O. Havemeyer, Its President, and John E. Searles, Its Secretary and Treasurer, Before the Legislative Committee That is Nov In vestigating Trusts. Then silver must not be free from this charge. All these are deliberate attempts to discredit the silver issue. But why at tempt to discredit an issue if we do not intend to abandon it? Is the gentleman from Boston in the habit of belittling is sues he expects to advocate? First he says that the silver plank is a "subordinate plank." Then he implies that it is a weaker measure. Then he implies that it is a sham issue. Then he implies that it is not free from the "charge of mercenary motives." Why did the gentleman issue an appeal with such language and implications in it if he does not advocate the abandonment of silver? But this is not all. In Mr. Washbnrn's letter of January 21st to the editor of this paper he speaks of "changing the fighting issue to scien tific money and the government owner ship of railroads." Well, if you change to something, you must change from something. That something is, of course, free silver, as that has been the ''fighting issue" iu the past. Really, if you change from a thing, don't you abandon that thing? If Mr. Washburn favors changing the fighting issue from silver to something else, don't he advocate abandoning free silver? But there is still more. Mr. Washburn'gathered bis sympos ium of letters for the Boston Herald. In publishing these letters the Herald uses this language: "Two weeks ago this morning the Her ald published the first intimation of the dissolution of the alliance between the populists and democrats, and of the practical abandonment by the populists ot Bryan ana tree silver. "The public announcement was made in the form of an appeal to the ooDulista of the United States signed by George a. wasnDnrn." Wherejdid the Herald get its intima tion that this meant "the practical aban donment by the populists of free silver?" It was acting as the organ of Mr. Wash burn ic'publiBhing his letters. It says this intimation came in the form of an appeal by Mr. Washburn. Evidently the Boston Herald, which has in a way acted as Mr. Washburn's mouthpiece, understood that he advocated the aban donment of free silver. Really,! when Mr. Washburn says he does not advocate the abandonment of silver, and'eharges us with not discrim mating between planks and issues, he merely quibbles with words. He evident ly means to say that he does not advo cate abandoning the silver plank by tak ing it out of the platform. Of course not. But he practically admits that he does advocate abandoning silver as an issue. That is all we ever charged. That is enough. British wheat imports The London Times says: "The subjoined table, which gives the value of our imports of wheat from various "countries for the eight months ended Aug. 31. shows that the United States has profited appre ciably by the partial failure of the sup plies usually put on the market by its competitors: 1896. 1895. 3,412,000 4,407,000 6,040,000 5,350,000 1,331,000 2,735,000 512,000 "1,639,000 2,000 889,000 Russia United States Argentina . . . . India Australasia British North America .. ... Other Countries. Totals Both Mr. Havemeyer and Mr. Searles have testified that about 1,500,000 tons of refined sugar are annually consumed in the United States, and that the Sugar Trust controls about 1,200,000 tons of that output and the price. Mr. Henry O. Havemeyer was called upon to and did give the committee a table showing the margin of profit to the re finer of sugar since 1886. The trust did not monopolize the business of refining sugar until 1887. The figures given by Mr. H. O. Havemeyer nnder oath show that in 1880, the year before the Sugar Trust came into exist ence, the margin of profit to the sugar refiner was .58 of a cent a pound. His figures showed that since the formation of the trust the margin of profit to the refiner has ranged as follows: 1887............ 673 cents per lb. 1888 , 1.26 cents per lb. 1889 '. 1.29 cents per lb. 1890 609 cents per lb. 1891............ .804 cents per lb. 1892 130 cents per lb. 1893.... 1.15 cents per lb. 1894 .884 cents per lb. 1895 882 cents per lb. 1896 .908 cents per lb. Taking these figures as the margin of profit on refined su gar in connection with the statement of Mr. H. O. Havemeyer and Mr. John E. Searles that the Sugar Trust controls the output and the price of 1,200,000 tons of the 1,500,000 tons of refined sugar used in the United States each year, it is easy to make calculations which will show the unnatural profits made by tbe trust simply on its refining business. The Sugar Trust refines and puts on the market 1,200,000 tons of sugar a year, according to the statements of Mr. H. O. Havemeyer and Mr. John E. Searles. 1,200,000 tons are 2, 400.000,000 pounds. The margin of profit in 1887 having been .673 of a cent a pound, the Sugar Trust would make on its output of 1,200,000 pounds $ 16,152,000 00 The margin of profit in 1888 having been 1.26 cents a pound, the trust would make 30,240,290 00 The margin of profit in 1889 having been 1.29 cents a pound, the trust made.: 30,960,000 00 The margin ot profit in 1890 having been .709 of a cent a pound, the trust made 17,016,000 00 The margin of profit in 1891 having been .804 of a cent a pound, the trust made .. 19,296,000 00 The margin of profit in 1892 having been T 1.3 cents per pound, the trust made... 31.200,000 00 The margin of profit in 1893 having been 1.15 cents a pound, the profit on output was 27,600,000 00 The margin of profit in 1894 having been .884 of a cent a pound, the trust made 21,216,000 00 ' The margin of profit in 1895 having been .882 cents a pounds, the trust made 21,168,000 00 The margin of profit in 1896 having been .908 of a cent a pound, the trust made 21,792,000 00 Total for ten years, using Mr. Havemeyer's figures as to the margin of profit per pound, and Mr. Havemeyer's and Mm Searles' state ment as to the trust's annual output being 1,200,000 tons, or 2,400,000,000 pounds 236,640,000 00 This on a capitalization that, in spite of excessive watering for speculative purposes, aggregates less than.. 74,000,000 00 Minimum valuation of experts on the real value of all Sugar-Trust properties....... 10,000,000 00 Maximum valuation of experts on the real value of all Suga-Trust properties....... 20,000,000 00 LET. THE PEOPLE KNOW, Six weeks have now elapsed since the new state treasurer was inducted into office, and beyond the fact that several questions relating to depository banks haye been submitted to the supreme court, the public knows very little more about the condition of the treasury than before. The Independent respectfully sug gests that it is about time to let the people know what has become of their money. Has it been turned over or has it not? We have been reliably informed that it has not. Outside of the depository banks, there seems to be yet a sum of half a million or more that has not been turned over. The law provides that this money shall be turned nover at once. But in this case six weeks have elapsed and still it is not in sight. The bad feature about this is that if Mr. Bartley should be short three or four hundred thousand dollars in his ac counts, this delay might furnish a loop hole of escape for his bondsmen and the state be left to hold the sack, as it was in the Capital National bank failure. The people would like to know the truth about the state treasury. Turn on the light. 631,000 1,288,000 826,000 827,090 .13,214,000 16,073,000 WILL BE HELD IN NEVADA. The legislature of Nevada has repealed the law forbidding prize fighting in that state , and as a result the great Corbett Fitzsimmons battle will be held at Car son City. , TURN ON THE LIGHT. In last week's Inpependent we re ferred to a certain "middle of the road" populist who aided in the election of the goldbug Pritchard to the United States senate from North Carolina, when a pop ulist might have been elected. We have now investigated far enough that we are absolutely satisfied as to the truth of the statement. The prom inent populist is Thomas E. Watson. We have it from three sources. 1. It is openly charged and denounced by the Caucasian, of Raleigh, the populist state paper. 2. We have it in a private letter from Hon. John M. Devine, formerly of this state, now of Washington, D. C. 3. We have it in an interview from Sen ator Butler. Mr. Devine's letter charges that Mr. Watson wrote a number of letters to members of the legislature in Pritcbard's interest. The Caucasian article is sim ilar to the statement of Senator Butler, which is given below: "What," the senator was asked, "do you think of ex-Vice-Presidential candi date Watson's course in the contest?" "Mr. Watson's course," he replied, "does not surprise me in the least. It is perfectly natural for a man who pre ferred the election of McKinley to that of Bryan, and so proved his preference by failing to vote for Bryan, to favor the election of Mark Hanna's man, Pritchard, to the United States senate in preference to the election of a straight populist senator, especially when tbe vote of that senator determines whether the gold men shall have a majority of the senate or the peoples party shall have the balance of power in that party to protect the interests and welfare of the people. It is very noticeable that nearly every fellow who posed as a mid dle of the road populist in the last cam paignevery fellow that was such a straight and conscientious populist that he could not afford to vote the joint electoral tickets, when enough such votes would have meant the election of Bryan instead of McKinley has been howling and working for the election of Pritchard and against the election of a straight populist for senator from North Carolina. This is true of nearly every one of the few middle of the road popu lists in North Carolina; and even of certain prominent so-called middle of the road populists in other states, who were so anxiouB for the election of Pritchard that they wrote letters and sent tele grains to. Raleigh in Pritchard 's inter est, endorsing the action of the bolters, and advising them to vote for Hanna's candidate instead of for a straight pop ulist for Unit3d States senator. And chief among these was one Thomas E. Watson. Developments in the near fu ture may throw some light on this med dling and strange procedure on Mr. Watson's part. But suffice it to say, that these facts throw some light on Mr. Watson's character and the motives that prompted him to pursue the strange and foolish course that he did in the last campaign. TO RAISE REVENUE. The plan of the incoming administra tion to raise additional revenue is begin ning to take form." It will fall princi pally upon the necessities of life upon coal, lumber, wool, and sugar. Coal is produced in this country in larger quan tities than any where else in tbe world. It will be taxed, and men will contribute to the support of the government accor ding to the amount of coal it takes to keep them warm. If they try to keep warm with woolen clothing, there is no escape, for they are to be treated in the same manner. The poor man eats as much sugar as tbe rich man, and there fore a tax upon sugar compels him to contribute as much as the latter to tbe support of the 'government. Do you think the trust will pay the tax? Yes. How? By raising the price on sugar. Cause of Insomnia. "Insomnia is caused by a surplus ot blood in the brain, and the only way to cure it is to remove the cause," says a very wise doctor. "Long-con tinned mental labor should, of course, be avoided. It keeps the blood vessels of the brain constantly filled, and when it is over they canoot contract. Tight clothing tends to throw the blood to the brain, and it shonld be avoided. The feet shonld be kept warm, since cold extremities interfere with circulation. Unless the malady results from moral oanses, a little oar and common sense are all that arc necessary to core it," MR. GAGE'S VIEWS. ' McKinley's new secretary of the treas ury is not only a pronounced gold-bugi he is an opponent of all sorts of gov" ern men t paper money. He favors only one kind of paper money, viz., national bank notes. It might be incidentally mentioned in this connection that Mr. Gage himself has been a national banker all of his life. He therefore voices the sentiments of the national bankers in demanding that they have an absolute monopoly of the paper currency of the country, ' Here are Mr. Gage's views on the dif ferent kinds of pap?r currency as given out by himself: "The greenback controverts the prin ciple of paper money, viz.: That every note injected into the commercial system should represent an existing commercial value. , .. "The treasury note is a standing evi dence of a foolish operation the creation of a debt for the purchase on a falling market of a commodity for which the purchaser has no use; it lies open to the just charge of being both idiotic and im moral. . "The national bank note nearly con forms to the true principles of paper money, but the unreasonable require ments of security paralyze its efficiency and operate to destroy its elasticity. "The silver certificate encourages the use of silver to a larger extent than is consistent with the safe preservation of that metal on a parity with gold." Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad. Not satisfied with hav ing destroyed silver, the gold-bugs now propose to go a step further. They now propose to destroy the government paper money. REAL HARMONY. One or two of the letters published in this week's Independent urge harmony. We agree with them. We always favor harmony, but never at the expense of principle. The "re-organizers" have forced this issue. By their calling of conferences over the protest of the chair man and secretary of the national com' mittee; by their attempts to retire the silver issue; by their furnishing neces sary votes to elect a gold-bug republican senator irom jxortn Carolina, when a populist might have been elected; by their persistent attacks upon Butler, Allen, Weaver and others; by their con stant talks of "reorganizing" the party these people have brought on the fight. Now is the time to settle it, be fore this fall's conventions. Let us turn on the light and get at the truth. Let us have the matter over while we are about it. Then, when it is over, we wilj have real harmony. IN THE AUDITOR'S OFFICE. When the Hon. Eugene Moore turned over his office as auditor to his populist successor, Hon. John F. Cornell, it was supposed by every one that the books of this office would prove that there had heen at least one honest state official. But such was not the case. Mr. Cornel and his deputies Mr. Lichty and Mr. Pool proceeded at once to make an in vestigation and determinethe exact con dition of tbe affairs of the office. Their work is not yet completed. At this time there is due the state of Nebraska ac cording to his own books, the sum of 927,482 of which amount Mr. Moore has paid into the treasury the sum of $ 1,500 leaving a balance due the state of f 25, 932. Mr. Moore's friends insist that he will make this good, but if he does he wil! be the first state official short ia his accounts that ever did. Nine weeks have passed since he turned over the office to Mr. Cornell and $1500 is all he could raise in that time. THE SUGAR TRUST. The examination now going on before the Lexow committee is bearing great fruit. In another place we give a state ment of the profits of the great concern. The Havemeyer's by their own testi mony are guilty under the laws of the state of New York, where they live, of "conspiring to monopolize a necessary of life and to control its supply and pri." The punishment prt scribed by tbe laws or JNew lorK lor tne crime is "a fine not exceeding f 5,000 or by imprison ment not longer than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment." Do you think tbe Havemeyers, who have confessed their guilt, can or will be pun ished by either fine or imprisonment? What a spectacle it would make, a sugar trust magnate in jaill Our jails and prisons are well filled, but not with this class of thieves and robbers. 1 000 ash $ I Rai, Multisrry A Oiaee HedK kt about fm nr. APPLE. I to 4 ft. 0: Cherry. to 4 ft, $16; Concord irrap Tlncaf 1 VBW. Pii TUP iMi-k, Iconpltta Prloa Lilt Fra. JJmmb Nur., Jnten,Nb HARDY'S COLUMN. Laws for the Misses and Not for the Classes A Long Row of Repub 1 can Defalcations. Everybody expects tbe present legist Jf ture to pass a few straight out populist laws. Tbe republicans are going to be disappointed and so will be the corpora tions, trnsts and blood-suckers if it is not done. It has always been easy to legislate for tbe classes against tbe masses, but to turn things around is like pulling a cat backward by the tail. The responsibility is upon the party in power, for the entire machinery of the state government is in their hands, excepting the court We want a law to protect a mortg agees from deficiency judgmeots. When a man borrows money, gives a mortg age on property, that property should Eay the debts. Hundreds of our best usiness men are now tied up and weighed down by judgments which can not be paid. They should be released and set free to dive into business again. . Next time they will' be more careful. ' Then the people who deposit money in our banks should be protected as well as the bill holder. We don't like the idea of taxing one banker to make up the stealings of another one We might call it an honesty insurance system. But then what will we do with the money? If we should, by any lightning stroke, get the same kind of state officers that we have been having the last eight years, j every dollar;would be in thefirst bankthat il broke, or in some worthless gold mine. ; The better way would be to require se- i curity, the same ns for the bill holder." Our state, county, city or shool distric'l bonds might answer, and even fartlO mortgages. The banker could collect tlier interest on the mortgages and bonds just as well as he could it they were in his j own possession. There would be no more ' runs on banks. It is expected that the expenses of gov ernment will be reduced by reducing salaries and dismissing unnecessary em ployees. The people want to know that taxes are not going to be any higher than they are now. We wunt to be able to say that to new comers proposing to settle in the state. Of course we have got to ngnt otnee noiders and office seekers, for, as a rule, taxeaters are not taxpay- i1 ers to any great extent. 1 The farmers will be greatly disappoint- 1 ed if the South Omaha stock yard j charges are not reduced. Other state i legislatures are working on that line. Our election laws as applied to cor porations need a thorough revision. The i idea of railroad companies furnishing maneyVind giving free transportation to oue party and charging full fare for the other party is UDjust. What the road gives away must be made up by those who pay. Give us a stringent law and if it is not respected cut down the fare to two cents a mile two years from now. Then keep on cutting till they can't afford to carry any body free. The maximum freight las is still in the balance, so it would not be best to legislate any further on that line yet. t Our registry and ballot laws are alto gether too expensive in cities. One place of registry for four or five voting preAU cinctu is sufficient. Two dollars, or three at the outside, is pay enough for a clerk or judge of any election. Give us legislation on these points, gentlemen; if not, we will give your seats to girls and let them make our laws and you wear the curls. Some plan should be adopted to more equally tax our people according to property possessed. Poor mens' houses in cities are assessed nearly .what they will Bell for, while palacial residences are not assessed 10 per cent. The money loaner generally goes scott free. Every registered bond and every recorded mortgage should be taxed as much as live stock on farms or merchan dise in stores. But it will take sand to pass and enforce such a law. It is still more unjust, the system of collecting revenue for the United States govern ment. Men whose income is less than $300 a year pay more than Vanderbilt or Morgan. Their millions are in no way taxed for the support of tbe national government. A hundred millionaire ought to pay more than a dirt shoveler ' on our streets, but he don't. A pretty row of republican stumps ws have got into, here in Nebraska. Four years ago the state treasurer put out of sight, in one chunk, a quarter of a mil lion, besides numerous small pieces hid away by penitentiary and asylum man agement. Several other thousands dis appeared in trying to impeach and con vict the rascals, but it was of no use as . long as every city, county and state offi cial had some of the boodle. Now it is still worse and the boodle runs up into half million chunks. Another treasurer has gone wild and the school fund suffers sacred as we have always held it to be. , Will the Journal or some responsible -republican tell us why our last republi-K can state treasurer put the state's money into banks as fast as he got it instead of paying off state warrants? Is there any other reason, only that he' got a rake off in every inch transaction? Will they aiso teil us whether ex-Auditor Moore is an available candidate for gov ernor? Will he have boodle enough left to carry him in? . The Twenty-eighth Charter day of our state university has come and gone. New lines of advancement have been drawn and new and far out stakes of progress struck. We are proud of our university. President Carter's address was scholarly, but it did not tickle the nerves of reform as did the address of Prof. Herron two or three years ago. We would like to become acquainted with the boys and girls on the farms of this state. We were born, raised and ed ucated on a farm. We used to get bothered once in a while and send ques tions to Greeley's Tribune, and never failed to get helpful answers. Now we would like to help some one else as much. Send in your questions. Lincoln has several extensive libraries and we will look up and answer questions if we can Did you ever know that every April fool" pullet you can hatch is worth an acre of corn to make money. Try it. Go into the chicken business. It is a good busi ness for boys and girls. Windmill Ohoap. '4 We have on hand a good new windmill steel tower, with anchor posts complete which we will sell at a bargain for cash" or will take a cow forpart payment. J. I. M. Swig art, Lincoln, Neb. V