t
.J
X
THE I7EBBA0HA IITDEPEITDEIJT,
Ilarch 22, 1900.
I
1
f J
1
T
. i
"J
III i
F .
CO Uebrasha Independent
Lincoln, Jlebraska
fesss:cldg corner oth and n sts
. Elhveth Yeab -Published
Evebt Thursday
x$r.OO,PER YEAR IN ADVANCE
. ,
When making remittances do not leave money
with newt agencies, postmasters, etc., to be
forwarded by them. , They frequently forget or
remit a different amount than was left with
. them, and the subscriber fails to get proper
-" credit,
Address all communieaYtona, and make all
. drafts, money orders, etc., payable to -
. Zbt. tltbraska Indtptndtnt,
' ' - '. Lincoln, Nebraska.
Anonymous communications will not be no
ticed. Rejected manuscripts will not be re
tnrned.' - The-Uoers retired from Bloomfontein
without the loss of a man, a - wagon or
gun. But Lord Bobs call it a ."rout.'.
The news from, Washington . is to the
effect that Nebraska's. Coal - Oil J ohnny
and the great . Mogul from Ohio are in
frequent consultation these days and
that Coal Oil Johnny- will - attend the
Nebraska republican convention after
all.
We used to say that the flag carried
liberty whereTer it went. ' Now they say
that it only carries trade and what liberty
is left is confined to the 45 states. Oh!
for some vast wilderness where we coula
go and hide our shame from the gaze of
mankind.
Mark Hanna says that thirty labor
aders have- protested to him . against
free trade with Porto Rico. We say to
him what we said to the Wharton Barker
bolters from, the ' national committee
when they claimed to have a majority:
"Please give us their names."
The people of Porto Rico are in the
utmost distress.'. Now come the trusts
and say we demand our. tribute from
that island, and the congress, the presi
dent and all the republican gang in the
house except three, tumbled over , each
other to comply with the trust demand.
Lord, Bobs always has time to count
the Boer dead, but he is too busy to send
an account, of the British defuncts.
Having lost twelve 'regiments of, soldiers
and a good 1 many guns, he doubtless
figures that the lists of dead if allowed
to be sent, would be injurious to the ad
ministration. When the crops failed by reason of the
'drouth and times were hard the rail
roads raised their, rates because there
was so little to do, and now that the
crops are abundant , they raise them
again because the . operating expenses
have increased. If any one objects, a
federal judge steps in with an induction.
There you have it. .
The Omaha Bee thinks that the Inde
pendent made a damaging admission
when it said that the present state offi
cials were human. Per contra, we sup
pose that if Rosewater and other repub
licans were elected, we would be relieved
of having human beings to rule over us.
Would they come under Kipling's de
scription, "half devil and half child?"
The republicans, have enacted tariffs
for labor, for infant industries and for
numerous other things and reasons.
Now they say they are going to impose
a tariff on Porto Rico for sweet charity's
sake. There is no other way to relieve
the suffering poor. Every mullet head
will swear to the genuineness of this last
motive. It is only for sweet charity.
The sight of this great nation of 70,
000,000 people which by the might of its
military power is taxing the little island
rretPorto Rico for the benefit of a couple
ropltfirustfl is one of the most disrermtable
: Swings ever written on the pages of his
.
f tory. But just wait a while. That chap-
t ter shall be erased. The christian peo
3 tiIa of this nation will ricrht that wronc.
When it was proposed at the peace
congress at the -Hague that dum-dum
bullets should be interdicted, England
defeated the ." propositien. . Now Lord
Bobs sends a wailing protect every day
against the Boers whom he accuses of
sing them.' Such protests come with
particularly fine appropriativeness from
an English general who is engaged in de
stroying two republics. . " '
The Cramps are building a big ship
for Russia. They got the contract be
cause they could do the work cheaper,
and make a profit, than any ' European
firm was able to do it. Now comes Mark
Hanna and wants congress to grant enor
mous subsidies to ship builders so they
can compete with the "pauper labor of
Europe,." Such a proposition but then
what's the use to talk about it?
' The republican majority in, congress
is kicking out ' elected members every
week and seating republicans in "their
places to strengthen their weak imperial
Istic majority. -And the republican
dailies continue to talk about Goebleism
in Kentuckey! If the worst that i3
charged - in - Kentuckey were true, it
would not compare with the rough shod
despotism of the republican majority in
eocstees, ... 7-" :;-; ' . -.
v ! i
It will perhaps bo something of a
surprise to the people living in New
Mexico, Arizona and Oklahoma' ' to
learn that they are not citizens of the
United States, have no rights guaran
teed to them under the constitution,
but are "subjects' whom congress can
tax as it pleases. We may soon look
for a line of custom houses to be estab
lished all around the borders of these
territories, where all sorts of manu
factured goods can go in free, but
every thing that comes out must pay
heavy duties. This is no fancy or
dream. It is just what the friends of
the administration say. , One of the cor
respondents of a great daily in answer
to a question on the subject replied:
"I would say that under, the
interpretation given to the constitution
by the committee of ways and means in
its receat report accompanying the
Porto Rican tariff bill, the District of
Columbia, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Ari
zona and . Alaska are not parts of the
United States any morethan Porto Rico
and the Philippine islands, and that
congress has a right to impose customs
duties upon merchandise smppea Be
tween those territories and the states.
In other words," according to the com
mittee s reasoning, congress can estab
lish custom houses on the borders of
Oklahoma and collect duties upon goods
shipped between Texas' and Kansas and
that territory under the same constitu
tional authority that allows a tariff upon
commerce between New York and Porto
Rico. . This extraordinary report was
signed by Representatives Payne of
New York, Dalzell of Pennsylvania,
Hopkins of Illinois, Orosvenor of Ohio,
Russell of Connecticut, Dolliver of Iowa,
Steele of Indiana, Tawney of Minne
sota and Long of Kansas."
PARTISAN INSANtTY.
A Lincoln physician handed the editor
of the Independent a card on which was
scribbled, what at first seemed a lot of
hieroglyphics like those to be found 'on
prescriptions:. After long study it was
discovered that it was not a prescription
and as near as could be made out it
read as follows: . . ' ; v
-"You have given -to your readers
several apt phrases that are coming into
common use, one, the pnrase, 'mullet
head,' which is used to describe a stupid
partisan follower. I see in some of your
later issues that you have coined the
phrase, 'partisan insanity.' You will
confer a favor upon the profession if you
will give an exact description of the
symptoms of this disease, which I for
one, have . no . doubt not . only . exists
but is becoming very pre vaJeV' -
One of the symptoms of this disease, is
the excitement the patient exhibits the
moment his party is mentioned. His
delusions seem to be permanent. At
all times he is firmly of the belief that
any man, or woman either for - that
matter, who does not belong to his party
is wilfully engaged in some horrible con
spiracy to bring ruin and general suffer
ing upon this nation. He so firmly
believes ( in his delusion that there is no
use to try to reason with him. . The best
way to quiet him is, as in other "forms
of insanity, to pretend to agree with
him. Any effort to get him to reason
only increases his excitement, which is
always to be avoided when dealing with
persons afflicted with any sort of insane
delusions., v
-Another symptom of this deplorable
affliction is 'the belief of the patient that
his party is sort of personality, a. mater
ial entity, that this personality isOen-
dowed with v all the virtues and is so
infallibly wise, that any criticism of its
leading men or the policies that it
adopts, almost throws him into spasms.
Sometimes he becomes so exaited that
he makes assaults upon the persons,
whom he, in his delusions, thinks are
opposed to his party, but more often he
simply indulges in fierce denunciations
of the most extravagant kind.
There are many other symptoms of
this sort of insanity which might be
enumerated, but the above are the most
common ones, and will 'enable any 'sane
man to detect , the individuals who are
so afflicted without much danger of
making a wrong diagnosis.
WRECK OF. THE REPUBLIC.
From what source does . congress de
rive its power to impose taxes an.d col
lect duties and imposts? From the con
stitution. If that power was not dele
gated to it by the constitution, it' could
do none of these things.. To that, any
man of a sound 'mind will assent. What I
is the provision of the constitution ' that
empowers ' congress tq: lay - and collect
taxes, duties and imposts? It is section
8, Article. I. ."' '' : . '-. '. ' -' '.
"The congress shall have power to lay
andv collect . taxes, - duties, imposts and
excise, to pay the debts and provide for
the ' common defense ! and general wel
fare of the United States,' but all du
ties," imposts and excises shall' be uni
form throughout the United' States."
There can be nothing more clearly
stated than that The words "United
States" is the name given to our great
republic which is composed of states
and territories. Duties imposed by
congress must be ' uniform throughout
these states and territories. Any law
that imposes duties which are not un
iform is in contradiction of the consti
tution. It is an abrogation of that in
strument. Such an act is the over
throw of the constitution. It is revolu
tion." : " . - ' .V;'
It was just such an act as that that
passed the republican house of repre
sentatives, imposing a tax, varying from
25 to 160 per cent, advalorem, upon
Porto Rico, . which McKialey himself
THE NEW DOCTRINE.
repeatedly declared is as much a part
of the United States as New Mexico or
Arizona. '; 7 '
As the Independent has said time
and again, despotism in this republic
advances step by step. If the consti
tution can be violated in me section it
can be violated in all sections. We no
longer, have a constitutional govern
ment, but simply a congressional des
potism, tempered only by the will of the
protected interests, trusts and banks.
That is the wreck of the glorious re-'
public that Washington established and
which has been the hope of the world.
It has been wrecked by the republican
party under the leadership of Mark
Hanna.
WILDEST WIL.DCATTING.
The printing presses have started up
in Washington and reams of paper mon
ey Are being run off while the express
companies are loaded down with pack
ages of paper money being sent to the
national banks all over the country. It
is announced that five of the national
banks of Omaha have decided to take
out additional circulation, as allowed by
the new currency measure, and have
taken steps to secure or have already se
cured the bonds required as a deposit to
secure the currency. The First National
intends to take out 1200,000 in addition
to the amount it now has,which will give
it 1650,000. The Omaha national expects
to add $100,000 to its present circulation
of $500,000. The United states national
has secured bonds so take out $100,000,
and the merchants', the Nebraska, and
the Union National banks have the mat
ter under advisement. '
The same thing will be done here in
Lincoln and every where else. This
scheme goes John Law and South Sea
bubble one better for Law had behind
his floods of paper money land, while
these national bankers have nothing but
a scheme for endless bond issues, that is
more paper behind the tons of paper that
is flying on the, wings of the wind out of
the issue bureau at Washington.
Over half a million of paper money with
which to flood the little city of Omaha!
Think of it! More of it in Lincoln. More
of it in every town in the United States
that can get the use of $25,000 for a few
days and .$6,900 permanently! A bank
of issue can be opened anywhere with
that amount. Take $25,000 and invest
it in bonds. Go down to Washington
and get the $25,000 back. Twenty-five
percent of it must be kept as a resesve
and the rest can be returned to the par
ties who loaned the use of it for a few
days for ''the purpose of establishing a
national bank.
Now is the time for the pops to get out
of debt. As prices begin to rise get out
of debt. . Let the mullet heads go into
big speculations. When the collapse
comes, and it will not be delayed many
months, let them go into bankrupcy.
And after that take to counting ties.
We know now what."sound money is."
It is an unlimited issue of paper by the
national banks.
Paragraph 5, section 9, of article one
of the constitution of the United States
says: "No tax or duty shall be laid on
articles from any state." When the re
publican house imposed export duties
upon goods going to Porto Rico they
simply tramped that part of the const!
tution under the feet and McKinley
said he would sign' the bill. If they are
not anarchists then there never were
such creatures.
The taxes proposed upon the people
of Porto Rico in the bill submitted in the
senate is equal to four per cent upon the
full valuation of all the property on the
island. If that is not Spanish despot
ism, double distilled, what is it? These
taxes go for the most part to pay , the
enormous salaries of republican carpet
baggers that McKinley will send to the
island in payment for party work. Some
of the most disgraceful of republican
heelers are in those islands now. Ne
braska has furnished not a few.
.McKinley is still determined that no
banker shall long remain in the peniten
tiary while he controls the pardoning
power, no matter what crime he has
committed. , The names of the bankers
he has pardoned would fill half a col
umn of this paper. The last one that
he let out was William Steele, the cash
ier of the national bank of Philadelphia.
That is the bank in whose wreck Quay
had a hand and was arrested, but es
caped conviction while the cashier was
sent-up for six years. .
After all it is the poets who are the
true statesmen. It is in their words
that legislators speak in every time of
stress. Whenever liberty is threatened
and advancing despotism terrifies the
hearts of the people, all men, and especi
ally statesmen, turn to the poets fos
language to express the hopes and
aspirations of the people. The Congress
ional Record these days is filled with
poetry. It is in the words of the , poets
that those who love liberty find . their
best weapons in. the fight against the
despotism that the leaders of the repub
lican party would fasten upon this
country. No poet ever wrote a line lhat
could be quoted against the Declaration
of Independence or the principles of the
constitution. All the poetry that lives
in the hearts and homes of the people
from . the days of the troubadours to
John G. Whittier is the song of liberty
and the enduring principles of populism
, GETTING THEIR BOODLE
The national bankers ae in extraordi
nary good humor these days. They are
receiving the boodle which congress has
legislated to them for their support of
Mark Hanna and McKinley. A Wash
ington dispatch says: s" ;
"The division of issue of the comptrol
ler of the currency's office is sending
new currency to national banks at the
rate of more than a million dollars . a
day and will continue to do so until the
full amount to which the banks are en
titled under the new law has been fur
nished, The new act permits the banks
to take out circulation to the par value
of those bonds, thus entitling them to
about $24,000,000 in excess of that they
have heretofore enjoyed."
Here is a gift to the national banks of
$21,000,000 to begin with. The bankers
take this money and- forthwith proceed
to loan it to the distressed people at a
high rate of interest and from it receive
a permanent income on which they can
live fat and continue to lord it over us
as they have in the past. It is a gift.
They make no return for it at all. The
bankers are made a ' privileged class.
They can live without toil. They do not
have to face the storms of winter or en
dure the heat of summer. The govern
ment prints money and givesit to them.
They can : loan it out, go to Europe and
live at the fashionable watering places
while the mullet heads toil raising corn,
cattle and hogs to pay interest. They
like that' way, these mullet heads. They
will continue to vote for it as long as
they live. They have a sort of inward
consciousness that they are inferior be
ings and it is their destiny to toil for the
bankers. They make no complaint.
But this $21,000,000 is only the begin
ning of the boodle that this republican
congress has voted to the bankers. There
is a great deal more of the same sort to
come. This $24,000,000 is only the for-
taste of the good things that McKinley
and Mark Hanna have laid up for them.
Some - of the items will be given next
week, - '
ALWAYS PERFIDY .
One can be sure that when the pres
ent leaders of the republican party make
a public declaration in favor of any one
policy they intend always to adopt and
enforce something diametrically opposed
to it, When for years they declared for
bimetallism, they all the .time, intended
to and did establish the gold, standard
as soon as they were "; in power. When
the president and the ways and means
committee declared for free trade with
Porto Rico, they forth with .proceeded to
impose a tariff. When they intended to
make the Philippines a; subject colony,
they all declared that they were 'for self
government in those islands. When the
treaty with Spain was up4 in the senate,
Senator Forker said: w --f
"I do not understand anybody to be
proposing to take the Philippine islands
with the idea and view of permanently
holding them and denying to the people
there the right to have a government of
their own, if they are capable of it and
want to establish it. I- do not under
stand that anybody wants to do that. I
havenot heard of anybody who wants to do
that. The President of the United States
does not, and no senator in this Chamb
er has made any such statement."
Senator Lodge said:
"Suppose we ratify i the treaty. The
islands pass from the possession of Spain
into our possession without committing
us to any policy. I believe we shall
have the wisdom not to attempt to - in
corporate those islands with our - body
politic or make their inhabitants a part
of our citizenship. I believe we shall
have the wisdom, the self-restraint, and
the ability to restore peace and order in
those islands and give their people the
opportunity for self-government."
Even Nebraska's Coal Oil Johnny
stepped to the floor of the senate and re
marked: : .
"I am unalterably opposed to any de
parture from the declared policy of the
fathers, which would start this republic,
for the first time, upon a career of con
quest and dominion, utterly at varience
with the avowed purpose and manifest
destiny of our republican government."
. Senator Wellington declared:
"Now we have them, it does not fol
low that we are committed to a colonial
policy or to a violation of those great
principles of liberty and self-government
which must always remain American
ideals if our own free institutions are to
endure. No country, and this country
least of all, can afford to trample on its
ideals. I have no fear that it will do so.
' I assure you, with some knowledge of
whereof I speak, that the - President is
committed to no policy calculated to dis
courage, much less strike down, the as
pirations of liberty-loving people all ov
er the world." , , .
Not one of these men ever intended to
carry out Jthe policy which they an
nouncedand as soon as the treaty was
adopted they went to work with all
their might and main to make the Phil
ippines a subject colony of the United
States. This sortof perfidy, committed
time and again, does not in the least dis
turb their following. . When the leaders
shouted for free trade in Porto Rico,
they shouted for it. When the leaders
faced about, every mullet head faced
about also. When the senators declar
ed for self government in the Philip
pines, every mullet head was for self
government. When the senators were
for conquest and subject colonies, so
were they. Can anything but partisan
insanity account for such insane doings?
The savage barbarity of the republican
party in its proposed dealings with the
little island of Porto Rico would be a
disgrace to the Sultan of Sulu. They
propose to tax those starving people $3,
000,000 annually for governmental pur
poses. "It is estimated," says Mr. Lit-
tlefield in his speech . against the bill,
"that $3,000,000 is necessary for the
wants of this island" It has only 900,000
inhabitants, and Gen. Davis in his offi
cial report says: ''I can only give food
for the hungry. Should the supply fail,
there would be a famine such as in the
past has swept over and depopulated
large districts in India and China." Im
agine the horrible greed of the trusts
that swooped down on congress, knock
ed over the president and the whole re
publican membership of the house ' ex
cept three and taxed these poor, starv
ing wretches fifteen per cent of the Ding
ley rates to fill their swelling coffers! If
that isn't hell, then hell is not half a
mile off.
One of the means of subverting and
annulling the constitution invented by
the republican ways and means com
mittee is the declaration that: "The
general and plenary powers of congress
had ' been modified by treaty stipula
tions." So it seems that McKinley can
appoint four or five trusty pets as a
commission and they can go and make
a treaty with Great Britain or any other
power that will take from congress itr
power to legislate for the interests of the
American people. This is treason worse
than that of Benedict Arnold.
The old argument that a national debt
is a national tjlessing is beginning to ap
pear again in the eastern dailies. Hav
ing provided for a perpetual national
debt in the recent gold bill, they must
perforce make a kind of a defense. In
the eyes of a plutocrat, a t national debt
is certainly a very great blessing. It
keeps the people toiling so continuously
to pay the interest that they have ' not
time to get together and talk about reform
and make themselves annoying to the
aristocrats'. In the last five years the
national debt has increased $462,000,000.
According to Lodge, Hanna, McKinley
and company, the constitution reads
something like this: ; We the people or
dain this constitution for the purpose of
establishing a government that shall
organize great armies, build a big navy
and then go about all over the world
hunting up people who are not capable
of self-government, offer to govern them
according to the highest style of the art,
and if they resist and fire upon the flag,
fight them until ; the last traitor is hung
and set up a stable government. After
that we will put a tariff on the goods
that they manufacture and make them
admit our goods free. This is the provi
dence of God and the destiny of this
nation.
The editor has received a letter in
which the writer, a farmer, says: "I
wish you would publish in the Indepen
dent all the decisions of the supreme
court regarding the supremacy of ; the
constitution in the territories." These
decisions, and they are all one way,
Would fill 30 or 40 columns of this paper.
We print the first one delivered by Chief
Justice Marshall in another , column.
But how do we know that the supreme
court will not turn around and reverse
all those decisions at their next session
just as they did in the income tax case?
The decisions of the supreme court must
be obeyed until they are reversed, but
all thinking men have lost all respect
for the court and their opinions do not
influence the action of men as they once
did. It is now looked upon as an ex
tremely partisan body whose sympathies
are all with plutocracy.
' That bill taxing Porto Rico was passed
against the recommendation of Brigadier-General
Davis against the protest
of the delegates from Porto Rico, against
the recommendation of Elihu Root, the
distinguished and able republican secre
tary jpf war, and against the recom
mendation of William tMcKinley, the
president of the United States, and
against the original recommendation of
the chairman of the commitee on ways
and means. Now let some old pop far
mer sit down and work out by the rule
of three the following problem. If two
trusts can knock out the president,, the
secretary of war, a brigadier general and
the ways and means committee in the
first round, what can the 3,000 trusts do
when they all strip for a fight at one
and the same time? Send the answer
to the editor of the chess column.
The "True Populist" sent out an edi
tion last week of 30,000 copies, printed
on fine paper and gotten up in the best
style of the art. An "Old Populist" like
the Independent cannot of course afford
anything of the sort. Such an ; edition
printed on that kind of paper, would
well nigh wreck the establishment. But
we hope the "Old Populists" of the state
will reflect that we have no fund to draw
upon and must rely wholly upon the
money that comes in upon subscriptions
and the advertising that we get to pay
the cost of getting the Independent out.
That being the case we will not try to
compete with this new thing called
"True Populism" but fight away ' as we
have been fighting for the last ten years.
From the way the old subscribers have
been out working for new subscriptions,
we are inclined to think that they' like
the "old populist" anyway and will stick
to it notwithstanding the inducements
held out to patronize a paper gotten up
in the fashion of the plutocrats.
LAW HADE VALUE
The republican orators are very fond
of saying "you can't legislate value into
anything," "you can't create value by
law." The bankers echo the cry when
they, think it is their interest to do so,
but of late they talk after, another fash
ion. Harvey, Fisk and f Sons J have re
cently issued a circular telling how con
gress has legislated additional value into
government bonds. It is one of the
regular Wall street circulars issued to
their customers. In speaking of the
gold bill they say:
"Among its other attractive features
the bill provides - for the issue of 2 per
cent thirty-year gold bonds, the reduc
tion of one-half per cent per annum in
the tax on circulation where secured by
these bonds, the issue of notes to the
full face value of the bonds deposited,
and the right to increase circulation at
any time, by the repeal of the restriction
which has heretofore . prevented its in
crease until the expiration of six months
from the last decrease in circulation.
"Many banks have, already, increased
their holdings of the old issues which
are to be refunded into the new 2 per
cents, and while there has been a ma
terial advance in the prices of all gov
ernment bon ds during the last few days,
they are still obtainable at prices mak
ing the new twos very attractive ' as a
basis for circulation. At present prices
every dollar invested in circulation will
realize over 20 per cent per annum. ; In
no other way. can such rates of interest,
absolutely free from risk, be secured,
and it behooves the banks to act promptly
in order to secure the full advantages of
the transaction." - ,.' -
' So the bankers are to. make 20 per
cent profit out of the legislation that
they "have put through congress! This
is not the statement of a wild-eyed pop.
It is the statement of a conservative
New York 'firm. " There has never been
an act of : any ; congress, parliament - or
legislative body on earth that equals in
villainy this horrible piece of robbery
entitled "an act to define and fix the
standard of value, maintain the parity
of all forms of money issued or coined in
the United States and for other pur
poses." The other purposes were rob
bery and extortion.
HARDY'S COLUMN
Farmers Party Cows and Hens Bix
by Fusion Thurston and Oil
- Fads Another Turn Referendum.
The Bryan party may well be styled
the farmers party and the McKinley
party may just as well be styled the
bankers party. The rich men are near
ly all in the republican party, especially
is it so through the east.
The cows and the hens,
' - Are the farmers friends ;
The pigs and the calves,
Work only to the halres;
The fruit and bees
Work only to please.
Bixby offers himself a live sacrifice on
the alter of his party, for legislator.
Wish to gracious we could run right
along behind him for the same office, or
in other 'words wish the same office
would run after us too. Wouldn't we
have fun in country school houses kiss
ing the babies and talking about the old
flag. I'd promise not to say a word
about the declaration or constitution for
I know that would mar the harmony of
any political honeymoon. Then it would
break all the fun in the middle for one
of us to get left. We would agree on
one thing, that Lincoln must have a sen
ator. He could vote for Thompson and
if Hanna counts Bryan out again I would
vote for him. I wouldn't object to vot
ing for Bix himself, wash the republican
mud off and he would be all right. If
we could both get there, wouldn't we
rip things up the back. , ,
.; ' - .. "K '. r: ; t; ;
Fusion has fused again and that wit-h
out melting, in fact we were all one
Bryan lump to start with. To have
mentioned any other name would have
shook the political . universe. He is. a
candidate with nothing to explain, cov
er up or whitewash. He is so clean and
well known that a lie will not stick to
him. In regard to his opponent there
will be no need of lying about him for
the truth is bad enough for all irritat
ing purposes. The dividend on Bryan
stock is increasing every day. We
could not help pitying the meanest man
living with Mark . Hanna tied around
his neck. More men, women and child
ren have seen and heard Wm. J. Bryan
than any other man who. ever stepped
foot on American soil and none but the
thieves, millionaires, trusts and corpora
tions can find a word of fault with him.
John Thurston's plea before the court
for the oil trust, was that the trust was
a great blessing to the common people
in putting down the price of oil. But
the price of oil is forty.or fifty per cent
higher than it was fivje years ago, and
twenty millions have just been handed
out as dividend on stock in one lump.
..,. '
It looks, from a level stand point, that
the fad of wearing glasses is becoming
too general. Let any person with the
most perfect' eyesight go . to a special
traveling optician and his eyes will need
a pair of special glasses ground to fit,
costing twenty-five dollars. Ten young
people wear, glasses now where there
was one fifty years ago. And it is a good
deal so with medicine. Tons are now
swallowed to pounds-then, notwithstand
ing the general adoption of the Homeo
pathic system ... -; , r ,
. 7: v,'v",'i7.: 7'7
The eastern plutocrats have taken
another step up the money stair, but
they are not at the top yet, by any
means. Bryan's mouth scared them off
their nest before they had finished lay
ing their whole litter. If they carry
this fall's election they will finish up the
litter next congress, which will be to
make the government, redeem all the
bask bills, that are issued, in gold, just
as they now do the greenbacks.
V::;- V ;7 " "
The republican gold bugs - now think
tney have got the banks hitched on to
us for at least thirty years. The new
bonds that - are to be issued are to run
that time and of course the banks will
be re-chartered for that length of time.
We do not see any need of keeping so
much gold in the treasury for the re
demption of the greenbacks through fear
of the endless chain, it - is
the ? banks that run the
chain all the government has to do is to
start a chain on the banks. Just pre
sent a few millions of bank bills for re
demption and we will soon hear a squeaL
, '
-- t'. j
Referendum means fee' refering off
government matters to a. vote of thj
people by ballot. Switzerland is said to
be the home of the referendum, but ii
has been from the - start, one . of thf
methods of procedure in our govern
ment, to a limited extent Our presenfj
national constitution was refered to thc
colonial or state legislatures and cannoft
be amended now only by such reference,
The same is true of our state constitu
tions with one exception. The chango
of state capital and county seat in
most states must be refered to a vote oK
the people. School district debts can
not be incurred only by vote of thfi
people. What we want is more of thii
referendum. Let the laws of congress
and of our state legislature be submitted
to a vote of the people. The silver dol
lar never would have been dropped bj
vote of the people. The war with th
Filipinos would have been voted dowi
two to one if the question had beer
submitted to a vote, and the war would
be stopped now and the islanders allow
ed to govern themselves if that questio
could be submitted. When a question
of any kind is submitted to a fair vote ol1
the people and a majority vote either
way, the vote should make it a part oj.'
our constitutional law and the court!1
should be made to respect it as such.
The initiative means the starting ol'
petitioning for a law. Here we will
have more difficulty. It would not do
to put through fevery notion of a single
man. It should take a certain per cent
of the voters to initiate a law.
News of the Week
The principal item of news from the
Philippines, this week, was the longest
list of died from disease, killed and
wounded that has ever been received in
any 'one week - since ' the war began.
The other news was to the effect that
the Filipinos were organizing their
forces in various parts of Luzon, and
that the city of Manila was no longer
regarded as safe. It is said that the in
surgent leaders hold meetings constant
ly in the city and' that practically the
whole population are in sympathy with
them. The prospect is that war will be
waged during the coming rainy season
by the Filipinos with more vigor than
ever before. The result of it all is that
we will have to send another army to
the Philippines next year, for the army
that we sent a year ago will be practic
ally annihilated by that time. Let the
fathers and mothers be prepared to send
more of their sons to Luzon's slaughter
pen for the benefit of the syndicates and
lovers of empire. .
- There are rumors that Russia is about
to interfere in the South African war
The Czar has been assembling for
months a vast army on the borders of
the v English . possessions in India.
There are now assembled over 150,000
troops and more are on their way. This
mobolization of troops is not for
nothing. . . ,
The readers of this paper have been
kept posted on this matter, but the poor
mullet heads have seem never to have
heard of it until the middle of this week.
One of their leading 'men came to the
editor of the Independent and asked to
be informed on the matter. He was told
that nearly a year ago the readers of
this paper were informed of the situa
tion and from week to week the devei
opements had been reported until twe
weeks ago it was announced in the
'news of the week" that Russia would
probably be the only power that would
lend effective aid to the Boers. As we
go to press it is announced that Russia,
in conjunction with France, is about to
issue a note on the subject and that the
subject matter has already been agreed
upon, Whatever there may be in that,
one thing is certain, that Russia has not
transported 150,000 troops and camped
them before the "gate to India" just for
the fun of it. -
The revolt that has occured through
out the whole United States against the
inhuman and despotic policy adopted by
the house ofj representatives in re
gard to Por.to Rico has resulted
ina halt being called by the republican
leaders and the bill has been laid on the
shelf in the senate for the present.
Meantime starvation, disease and death
increases in poor. Porto Rico. The in
habitants are meeting and sending the
most pathetic and piteous 'petitions to
the goverument of the United States to
please not starve them to death. A car
toon in one of the eastern papers illus
trated the condition most admirably. It
was a picture of McKinley and Weyler.
Weyler was saying: "I almost starved
the people who were at war against my
government, but you are starving those
who never raised a hand against you "
The substance of the whole matter is
this: The principal .products of! Porto
Rico and which must be sold to get
money to live on ; and pay . the cost of
planting new crops are sugar and tobac
co. - Spain has . forbidden them by her
tariffs to sell in that country and Mc
Kinley through the war department has
forbidden by high tariffs to sell in the
United States. Now comes the republi
can house of representatives and by a
law continues this discrimination. They
don't want charity. They want the
right to sell the products of the soil
which they have raised with their own
hands and that i3 what is forbidden
them. Congress says: "Let your sugar
and tobacco rot in your warehouses. If
you send it here it will interfere
with the contributions of the sugar