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About The Nebraska independent. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1896-1902 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 1899)
STTKFX.EILv'EBiTT - TO The Wealth Makers and Lincoln Independent Consolidated. VOL. XL LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1899. NO. 8 - : : : i : 7Z . . .. '. Z ' T . . . . . . . : T ARE TOO GOING TO : REMEDY FOR TEUSTS. CONGRESS NOW HAS THE POWER TO BRING THEM TO BOOK. A Tax on Securities In f ' ' o Act ual Property and s .,..' 'Upon Ex cessive Dividend ad Accumula tions the Plan V closed. The power of a trust to tax the peo ple by charging unreasonable prices is a feature of the trust question that has received but little attention, although it constitutes the real clanger in the consolidation of our manufacturing in dustries. So long as the consumer is able to buy at equitable prices he doea not care whether a commodity is pro duced by 1,000 independent firms or in dividuals or by one vast corporation with 1,000 stockholders. He wants his "money's worth," no more and no less, and it is no concern of his to inquire how or by whom an article is made. But when substantially all the factories in an industry are gathered under the control of one board of directors, with' power vested in them to raise prices at their pleasure, the people have the right to inquire into the character of the Tender and to protect themselves against extortion. Heretofore manufacturing has been legally and popularly regarded as a pri vate business, as much so as running a grocery or a farm. It would be worse than socialistic for the state to inter- fere with the farmer by dictating the price at which he shall sell his product, and so long as manufacturing remains a private business it would be an equal ly dangerous invasion of private rights to Interfere with the liberty of the pro prietor to distribute his products in ac cordance with his own interest and judgment But when all the competing .manufacturers of a necessity of life or trade get together for the express pur poso of overriding the laws of competi tion and supply and demand they leave behind them their rights as private citizens and by their own act challenge public supervision and control Their position becomes a quasi 'public one, like that of a railroad or municipal monopoly. The people must defend themselves Taxation without representation was the just cause of the American Revolu tion, even though the taxes imposed by England were collected for the use of the state, and the colonies shared in the benefits of their expenditure The taxes now imposed on the people by the trusts are a hundredfold more burdensome and more widely extended than the colonial taxes. They are collected by corpora tions. and their proceeds enhance the fortunes of trust proprietors whose wealth, without this enormous addi tional revenue, is already a menace to liberty. Nearly half the manufacturing ' industries of the nation are already con solidated in trusts, and another year or two like the last two years will bring practically all the necessities of life and trade under their control. Their aggregate of capital stock is now greater than all the capital em ployed in manufacturing in 1890, as shown by the census returns of that year To add to the difficulties of the question, the trusts have unloaded a large portion of their securities on the public, and the innocent lambs who have invested in this more orluss liquid property (capitalized taxin;r power) are likely to set np a tremendous bleating that will bewilder and frighten the "man behind the ballot" when any serious effort is made to defend the peo ple against "government by tho trust, of tho trusts nn J for tho tru.sta" nni r the dictation of .financial czars whose avowed policy is "get all you can ont of the putlic." Tho effort that have been put forth by some of tho states to control the trusts have only succeeded in demoa strating that the states are powerless to cope with tho question. Texas, for ex ample, may prohibit a New Jersey cor porction from doing business within the state of Texas, but is powerless to pre vent a citizen of Texas from iroimr to. New Jerary to buy all he wanta of the' i a . . . 1 . f .... .4 , . .... prCMJIlClS Ol lUW 11 linn u uinuiuutiuu in Texas. Nor can the Btate prevent the trusts from sending travelers through its territory to sell their products under the protection'of the interstate com merce clause of the federal constitution This same clause prevents any state from int'Tfcring with its own citizens who desire to sell to a citizen or corpo ration of another state. Nor can any state prevent a foreign corporation from collecting for goods sold, because the federal constitution expressly says, "No state shall pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts." . When the Sherman antitrust law was passod by congress, it was hailed by the uninitiated ias a deathblow to these combination, but the opinions of the best constitutional lawyers In the sen ate, expressed while the law was under discussion, have been confirmed by the United Btate supreme court Congress has no jurisdiction to regulate manu facturing industries, that power having been reserved by the states. . In the famous sngat trust case, in which tbs attorney general sought to restrain the AmerU in Sufrar Kenning company irom (completing the purchase of certain re fineries located in Philadelphia which would give it a monopoly of sugar re fining in the United States, the supreme conrt held that such a monopoly was not interstate commerce, and hence was outside the control of congress. A curi-1 ous legal anomaly is presented here in the fact that the supreme court will not allow the states to interfere with the distribution of the products of a trust on the ground that sale across state lines is interstate commerce, while the same court will not allow congress to interfere, because a monopoly in manu facturing and the subsequent and neo-, essary sale of the product throughout the Union is not interstate commerce. It has been proposed to give congress the necessary power by an amendment to the constitution, but such an amend men must bo approved by three-fourths of the states, and the money and polit ical influence of the trusts can easily play on the jealousy of our political parties so as to defeat approval in 13 or more states. Action along this line is a waste of powder and time. Even if suc cessful it would require a generation to bring it about and get congress to act efficiently under the authority to be conferred by such an amendment Congress already has the power, through an indirect channel, to bring the trusts to book. While possessing no direct jurisdiction to regulate corpora tions, it has unlimited power to tax their earnings, their securities issued and their dividends. An annual tax can be collected on all their stocks, and this tax can be graduated so as to fall lightly or not at all on the small legiti mate companies, but heavy enough on the large concerns to squeeze all the water out of their capital A good feature of such a law would be a tax of say 10 per cent annually, like the tax on state bank notes, on all securities issued in excess of the actual property of a company. Another necessary fea ture would be a heavy tax on the pay ment of excessive dividends or the ac cumulation of profits in excess of the amount necessary to pay a reasonable return to the investor. Such a law. collecting a prohibitive tax on excessive issues of securities and excessive dividends and profits, would draw the fangs of the trusts and make them harmless, while preserving to the producer and consumer the advantages of consolidation. It would stop the game of the promoters, who are unload ing unlimited issue of wind and water on the innocent investor, but it would make the stocks of companies that com plied with the law almost as safe an investment as government bonds. It would p''tect the public against extor tion in tiie "rices of commodities, with out attempting the impossible task of regulating prices by law, because it would take away all motive on the part of director: to accumulate profits which could not be distributed Last, but not least, it would be a good thing for the trusts, beca.iae tho restraint on specula tion and e::tcrtion would hold them down to a i:irgin of profit that would make blackmailing competition impos sible. It. L A. in Chicago Record. Ilonrsty Doesn't Pay. A Chicago dispatch says: Professor Herman E. Von Hoist, a noted author ity on the constitution and head of the department of history in tho Chicago university, has written a letter to the board of review in which he holds it does not pay to be honest. He filed a schedule of his personal property and now asks that his schedule of $37,047 be withdrawn. . . If Ms declaration stands, he writes, be will be taxed not only twice but 10 and 20 times as high as many hundreds if not thousands who are notoriously and demonstrably in mnch more affluent circumstances. This assertion, he says, he could readily prove at any moment to everybody's satisfaction, though his circle of acquaintances is but smalL He could point out scores of men who live in mansions, keep one or more car riages, have a butler, footman, costly objects of art, etc, and yet have de clared much less personal property, many of them not as much as one fourth. , He ventures to hope for a favorable consideration of his petition, because he is a man of 60 years, and his ability to earn anything is likely to be very soon terminated. The board will hold the professor to his first schedule and declaration. The Chlcngro Trust Meeting-. A local paper says of the trust con ference to be held in Chicago on Sept 13-18: Governors, senators, representa tives and college professors, board of trade men and members of commercial associations and delegates from labor onions and from farmers' organizations will be present , Among the prominent men who will attend the conference are New York Senator Chauncey M. Depew, John O. Carlisle, W. Bourke Cockran and Fran cis G. Thurber; Nebraska, William J. Bryan and Governor Poyntcr; Colorado Governor Thomas; West Virginia. Gov ernor Atkinson; Iowa, Governor Shaw and Representative t Updograff ; Kan sas, Governor Stanleys Illinois, Govern- ' or Tanner, Senator Cullom and Presi dent Draper of tho University of Illi nois; Michigan, Governor Pingree, Pro fessor Adams of the University of Mich igan and Russell A. Alger; Wisconsin, and William F. Vilas; Missouri, Sen ator Cockrell; Kentucky, W. CP. Breckinridge, and South Dow Sen ator J. W. Kyla, Mldroavdera In Georgia. At a recent conference of Populists held in Atlanta the candidacy of Barker and Donnelly for president and vice president was indorsed, Bays the Atlanta Constitution. Colonel Peek stated that Candidate Barker would come to Atlanta imme- , diately after the Mississippi meeting i for the purpose of consulting the , Georgia leaders in regard to the outlook ' for the party in the state. J It was also stated that both Barker and Donnelly would speak in Altanta during the state fair, when a great rally ' day would be held by the Populists bf ( the state. The day for this meeting has . not been decided, but will be announced at an early date. A full ticket will be put in the field, it was decided. Just who will head this tibket no one can say, but if actions indicate anything it can be safoly said Colonel Peek will cut no small figure in the deciding of the question. In fact, everything looked yesterday as if he would be called upon to fill the place cf the late leader, Colo nel Thomas E. Watson, who has for all time, he says, retired from the political arena. , , A Mixed Prosperity Howler. Organs of McKinley prosperity should be caref al and keep in tune. In a recent issue of one of the goldbug sheets we noted a number of squibs designed to prove the existence of general prosperity throughout this highly favored land, and yet in the same paper we were startled to observe a long editorial on the "Problem of the Unemployed." It is evident that there must be still some unemployed or there would be no "problem." Journal of the Knights of Labor. Pennsylvania Populists. The People's Party of Pennsylvania is to hold a state convention in Phila delphia in September to put forth a platform and nominate candidates for the offices to be filled at the election in November. -, Robbers Help Each Other. Mr. L. M. Lockwood. an oil producer and a recent witness before the indus trial commission, testified that discrim ination of railroad companies in favor of the Standard Oil company gave the latter a profit of 400 per cent, while tho independent refineries were being rap idly driven into bankmptcy. - JUST WATER. Bat Its Constant Dropping Balned m Very Painful Blister. To learn just bow much pain would be caused by the constant dripping of water on the body several students at Wichita, Kan., have tried it. A gallon of water was to be loosed drop by drop from a height of three feet, the drops falling at intervals of about two sec onds. A gallon of water contains about 61,440 drops, and at this rate it would take over 34 hours to complete the task. One of the students was seated at a table, and allowed his left band to be fixed Immovably to the table, so as to Insure every drop strik ing the same spot on the back of the hand. The apparatus for dropping the water was adjusted and the experiment began. For the first 45 minutes he ex perienced no inconvenience, save his hand becoming uncomfortable from be ing wet constantly with the cold water. Arrangements were then made to keep the water at blood heat, and it soon be came more comfortable. In about two hours a slight redness began to appear, which gradually got as big as a quarter. The third half hour U j drops were scarcely felt at all, the hand being ap parently numb to the water, although sensitive to the touch of anything else. The red spot Increased until it was larger than a silver half dollar, and the dripping of the water began to be come slightly painful. It was noticed that if any one told a story or did any thing to divert the student's attention from his hand he did not notice any pain at all, but concentration of thought upon the hand made the pain grow. The water was ketft steadily at close to 98 degrees. After about six hours and a half the red spot, which had been first a bright red. slowly turned to purple, and a blister began to rise. Tbe pain bad Increased gradu ally up to th stage, and tbe young man said he felt as though every fall ing drop came with tbe force of a ham mer, the pain reaching the shoulder, and even a little beyond. After ths blister had rilsed the blows from ths drops were not so severe, but he said they were bad enough, being a dull feeling like slowly pushing down upon it. After about eight hours and wenty minutes tbe water was shut oil. About 15.900 drops had been let fall, ths rats being a little above the nedule, only one quart and two, ounces of water having been used. M:ney to Lend On Battle, hnrswi oorn at Inw rutm interest. It. II. Cnristy 1127 O street. Advantages ef Snmag. Soiling possesses so many advantages over pasturage, especially where dairy ing on high priced land is contem plated, that every dairyman should carefully study the question of adopt ing the system. A good deal depends upon the supply, character, and oost of labor at the farmer's command. It may be profitable to practice partial soiling. Careful experiments have demonstrated that by feeding cows entirely on grosn forage crops in the stable, from two to five times as much milk will re sult per acre as from pasturing tht same land. It was an old saying that the cow tramped three times as much as she ate. Of course, many farms contain considerable proportions of pasture land that cannot bt tilled, but for tillable land, the profit in soiling Is very great Many mc.e cows can be kept on a given area and the pro ductive capacity of the land can be rapidly increased. The saving of ma nure and its application to best ad vantage is one of the great gains in Boiling. But for -this sytem of feeding some little calculation is required, and a variety of green crops is necessary to present a well arranged succession throughout ths growing season. In other words there must be no break; the supply must be certain and ample. The careful and experienced dairyman will 1 plan to grow perhaps twice as much of every crop as he expects to use. Ths surplus will not be wasted; it can be dried or stored in a silo. It is stated on good authority by the soil ing system well managed, one acre of productive land will feed two cows for five or six months; three acros for 11 vs cows is considered a Conservative es timate. The time of exercise should, however, be not overlooked. ' One of tbe points gained by the soiling is the saving of food required through the useless exertion of the animal in pro curing its food at pasture. Moderate exercise should accompany soiling, and a small pasture lot shoula be provided convenient to the cow house. Ex. Lout Pigs. Many farmers sometimes wonder what is the matter with their plga when there is nothing the matter ex cept lice, says Wallace's Farmer. They are not accustomed to looking for lice except on the older hogs, and pigs frequently are so badly Infested that the constant irritation from day to day brings on indigestion, diarrhea and other symptoms of cholera. We knew of a number of cases last spring where pigs were supposed to have the cholera and were entirely relieved by the application of the well known and efficient remedies for lice. If you can do nothing else, fill a barrel two-thirds full of water, pour a gallon ef kero sene on top of it, take your pig by the ear and souse him in and 'put him In a clean place where he can not pick up a new assortment from the pens and bedding. A better method, how ever, is to prepare kerosene emulsion according to the recipe we have fre quently published and apply it to the whole herd. No man can afford to feed a lot of miserable lice. The annual losses from hog lice, cattle lice, horse lice, chicken and sheep ticks on the average farm would pay the taxes. Why not save this? Protecting Shade Trees from Insect Dr. Howard, the entomologist of ths department of agriculture, has been making some investigations of the in sects which so seriously affect Amer ican shade trees, In some cases de foliating entire streets. He describes three species of these destructive sorts and also indicates the methods used in various parts of the country to counteract their work. In New Eng land thousands of dollars are spent annually to destroy gypsy moths and other tree killers and some of ths largest shade trees in the country have been successfully sprayed with poi sonous solutions. Dr. Howard recom mends a practical line of work for small towns and villages troubled by such insects. The average house holder seldom has more than a half a dozen shade trees in front of hl grounds, and it is a matter of compara tively little expense and trouble for any family to keep these trees in fair condition by burning, destruction of bag worms in winter and other simple remedies. America's Tellew Poultry. It Is an odd fact that tne great American poultry-consuming public Is greatly prejudiced In favor of the yellow-legged, yellow-fleshed fowl. That it is merely a matter of fashion, or fad, is amply proved by the fact that ia all other countries the preference Is given to the whlte-meated birds. France Is recognized as authority upon the edible qualities of all the foods devoted to the use of man, and 1 1 that sunny land the Houdan standt pre eminent. They have been bnd for generations for the express purp ose of use as a table delicacy. They ire a bird of medium weight and arte breast predominance; being uali boned and fine fleshed, wim a a nail amount of offal, they are a crofit hie of dressed Houdan and La Fiecne fowls can be seen at the numerous stalls. These are reared in small flocks by the villagers adjacent to the city, and sold to professional dealers who make ths daily or weekly tours. Inland Poul try. , : ... 8PANI3HBRAND8 Oa a Woman Uaok IdeatMed . He as en Adeem tarsss. New York World: The arrest is this city a few days ago of a young woman whose back bore the marta of ths three-lashed Spanish whip, and whose left ear had been "shortened" by ths executioner's knife, bears evidence to the fact that barbarous treatment of criminals Is still practiced in the South American as well as in some European countries. Louise Johnson, alias "Lit tle Lou," whom tbe polios call the clev erest confidence woman In tbe country, was arrested recently on a charge of shoplifting. Tbe police seldom have difficulty In apprehending her, for the missing ear Is a tell-tale mark. . In this respect the woman's ease Is similar to those of a score of other crooks who have felt foreign prison tortures and have been released, marked for life. The case of the Johnson woman Is regarded by Capt. McClusky, chief of detectives, as probably one of the most remarkable In its extreme cruelty that has ever come under his observation. The wife of "Big Tom" BIgelow, the English han't robber, young, educated and beautiful, she was arrested in Bra zil less than five years ago, charged with robbing a Spanish countess or several thousand dollars' worth of dia monds. She had a, typical South Amer ican trial, was sentenced to receive 40 lashes on tbe bare back and to have her left ear cut off. Forty lashes usu ally means death to a woman, but this did not alone satisfy Brazilian justloe. That the woman survived her punish ment is remarkable, but at a criminal she Is no longer a success, for though she wears her hair plastered down over the spot where the knife passed sh cannot hide the disfigurement Some months ago a well-dressed Italian was arrested by detectives who regarded his actions ia the banking district as sus picious. He was questioned at police headquarters, but protested his Inno cence of criminal Intent He was about to be released when one of the detectives observed an ugly scar on the man's forehead. On examination, it proved to be a brand, ths letter "T Questioned, the man confessed that he bad been released from a Servian prison, where he had been branded as a thief. Several instances are cn record at headquarters where prisoners hav been proved international criminals by the marks of tbe knout and the whip upon their bodies. Caeaaaaev Helen Diseases. The April bulletin of ths Ohio Ex periment Station thus summarizes th report of experiments in the treatment of cucumbers and melon diseases: The cucumber pickle industry con tinues to increase la Onlo and the yields of pickles have been mora satis factory for 1898 than for ths previous year. The abundant rains, well dis tributed, and the high mean tesater atures for ths growing months have contributed to this end. The downy mildew of oucumbers and Allied plants.Plasmopara Cubensis, has been fully as destructive to th plant during the season named as in 1897, but owing to th arllsr harvesting of the crop th actr reduction of yields has been only about oat-half as groat from this causs. - Anthracaose of cucurbits, Colleto trlchum Iagemaxlum, has Increased ia abundance and destructiveness. A wilt of cucumbers and muakmeloaa, referred to a species of Fusarlnm, has also prevailed, besides the usual wilt disease. Phyllostlcta Cucurbltacearum and Cercospora Cucurblta hav also been found, spotting encumber leaves as well as Cercospora Citrullina upon watermelon foliage. , Co-operative spraying exprieaU apon a commercial seal hav given aa Increase of seventy-five bushels psr acr upon sprayed, compared with un prayed cucn-rber pickle vines, at tacked by downy mildew. The profits from this treatment were not so large as would, have accrued from similar work In 1897, for reasons pertaining t earlineBS of crop. The practicability of saving the late crop of cucumbers from downy mil dew, by use of Bordeaux mixture, is fully demonstrated by the experiments made. Spraying for this purpose need not be began earlier than July 26 to August 1. If a crop of pickles or cu cumbers is harvested by August 15, spraying for downy mildew Is not re quired. Spraying of anthracnose, downy mil dew and leaf blight of muskmelons is still recommended, although some fail ures are recorded. Previous recommendations as to the treatment of late tomato plants with Bordeaux mixture to prevent tomato leaf blight Septorla Lycoperslcl, are mala repeated. Chicago or this East? The Through Express From COLORADO KANSAS NEBRASKA Tia Omaha Chicago Express from Kans. City Tn addition to Pullman Bleeners. Free Cbair Cars, and the Best Dining Car Ser vice in the World, are equipped with BUFFET LIBRARY SMOKING CARS furnished in elub style and supplied with latest periodicals, uiustraieu papers ana a select library of recent fiction. ARE YOU GOING TO . Colorado or the West? TRY THE COLORADO FLYER. Fast, carries dining ears and Pullman sleepers. Loaves Omaha 6:40 ft. m.i Kansas uty G:au p. m.; be. josepo mu p. m., and arrive at Denver and Colorado Springs next morning. , Jho. Sebastian, E. w. Tbommou G.P.T.A.,i;hicagO. A..r. T.A., Topeka, Kana Fiunk IT. Baknes, C. P. & T. A., Lincoln. Nebraska. , Secure a Home f in Idaho. The choicest garden spot west of the Rocky Mood tains. A splendid opportunity for enter prising people of moderate means to secure a home In this favored country. AGRICUL TURAL LANDS, abuudauc of good watr, and the best RAIL ROAD FACILITIES. Purchase your tickets via the OREGON SHORT LINEf Tbe shortest and. best line to all points in Idaho, Oregon, Montana and tbe Pacific North west. For excursion rates, ad vertising matter, etc., write to D. E BURLEY, u. v. a., Halt Lake uty, Ltan. 4 ' A Mountain Tourist In search of grand and beautiful 1 err finds such a profusion of riches ia Colorado that before planning a trip it will be well lor yon w gain an toe infor mation possible. Tbe Denver k Rio Urandf Railroad publishes a series of useful illustrated pamphlets, all of which may be obtained by writing to 8. K. Hooper, General Passenger and Ticket Agent, Denver, Col. FERRETS English and Fitch Ferrets will Iclear your barn and grain aries cf rats. Far sale cheap in any number. Will drive rats, ground squirrels and gophers. Will furnish a god day's port hunting rabbits. Write me for prices. Bend in your orders at onee, for prices go np each month. Thos. 8. Da Vinson, 1433 Rose St, Lincoln, Neb. H.1119 for Thousands. If yon are looking for a new borne, yon cannot do better than to investi gate the advantages to settlers in ths new state of Utah. No climate ia the world is more even tempered and no country offr greater natural resources. There is much land to be bad ebeap. Take advantage of the half rate in effect on the first and tbird Tuesday of each month to go to Utah to look over the field for yourself. Ke that your tiokets read via tbe Rio Grande Western Ry., which will carry you through the eenter and most favored part of the state. For copy of "Pointer to Prosperity" write to Geo. W.Ueinti, Salt Lake (Sty. tt The Great Rock Island Route is plac ing interchADgable books 00 sal at an coupon offices west of Miesourl river. Theae books are good on 87 different railroads and will be a great advantage to eomdOTCial men and traveller, Tbe net rat is 2o per mil ia Kansas, Uliav sour; Nebraska, Oklahoma and Indian Territory. j Irrigated Land ii V 0