THE IJEBBAGUA niBiSPEITDEITT.
April 5M0GO.
Zl; UzZrzcha Indtpzndtnt
Llactlm, JltbraskM
tZESSS. CUXC CORNER I3TH AND N STS
Elbvksth Teab
PUBLISH BP EvEBY ThUBSDAT
St.OO PER YEAR IN, ADVANCE
Wbuk mkking remittances do not Imts money
frritk now -ncis, postmasters, etc, to be
forwarded by tbenx. They frequently forret or
remit a different amount than was left with'
tneas, and the rabeeriber fails to get proper
credit. .
Address all communications, and make all
drafts, money orders, ate, pay able to t
Zbttlthrask Independent,
: ' Lincoln, Nebraska.
anonymons communications win not be no-.
ticed. Rejected, manuscripts - will not be m
tamed. " , ' . i
According to McKinley, a "plain duty"
Is a duty. of fifteen per cent of the Ding-
ley tariff on everything that the Porto
Bicana have to sell and ; our goods to go
in free. " .." . s ""'
All the socialist and f uzzie wuzzie
papers have been greatly enlarged dur
ing the last few weeks. How did it all
happen? ' .. ' .;-.- -:"
The way things are arranged in Ne
braska, and especially in the towns and
cities, we have to go andy vote two or
three times a year and . then we never
get anything that we vote for.
The make up of a fuzzie wuzzie paper
is like this: Twelve columns of abuse
of the fusion populists and the demo
crats, not one word against the republi
cans or a line advocating populist prin
ciples. Whenever McKinley does a cowardly
or despotic act like his policy toward
Porto Rico, Beveridge ' jumps up in the
senate and says it is providence. That
settles it and the mullet" heads are all
satisfied: . '-
Read the "Special Offer" for campaign
subscriptions to be found on page 8.
Remember that "faith without works is
dead" and that good intentions and res
olutions to send in clubs without work
a vaileth nothing.
Keep the special oner lor campaign
subscriptions in mind. - Do a little mis
sionary work in your neighborhood It'll
help the result this fall. Education al
ways wins populist victories.- Educate
a few of your neighbors by sending
them the Independent.
Is congress a creature 'of Hie constitu
tion or is the constitution a creature of
congress? Right there will be the divid
ing line in the next - campaign. The
e t I 11 a
populists nom inai congress has no
powers not expressly granted in the con
stitution and that it can neither! extend
cor diminish its operations anywhere.
The attention of the readers of the
Independent is called to the market re
port to be found on page 5. It is fur
nished by the well known H. R. Penny
& Co., of Lincoln, and covers the weeks
transactions. Anyone desiring special
information as to the market for any
particular product should write them.
Fully one-half of the republican voters
come from the Negros of the south and
the slums of the great cities. A large
part of the remainder are the unthinking
crowd that have been taught to "vote 'er
straight" and always. The residue are
in rebellion. That is the condition of
the republican party today. '
General Wheeler made a bad slip i
his report to the secretary of the navy
on the island of Guam. He said: "There
is very little money on the island and
wages are low. "A small volume of
'puuo buu iuw w ogca is wunii LllO pops
have always said go -together and Gen-
jjeral Wheeler confirms the statement.
3 '
The Chicago Times-Herald prints a
list of seventy-eight., republican daily
papers that have denounced McKinley's
Porto Rican tariff robbery, from which
we gather that there is a row in the mul
let head camp, it will all amount to
nothing. The republican following have
been drilled so long in the practice of
vote 'er straight" that ' they don't know
how to do anything else. J -
Why not invite your, neighbors to sub
' M .. J.1 W - 1 t m. . -set
ecnoo ior mo xnaepenaenti lo .one
new subscriber until November 6, 35
cents to three new subscribers $1.00--
to five new subscribers $1.50 to ten
new subscribers $3.00. Send in a club
Can't you do it today?' Now is the time
to plant seed to . harvest this falL Sow
a few in your neighborhood. You.11 be
surprised at the goodjthey'll do.
in a very large numoer oi city elec
.tions this spring the question on which
the election was fought out was the mu
nicipal ownership of city public utilities.
The republicans carried Omaha on that
sort of platform as they did many other
city elections in various parts of the
country.' The populists and democrats
everywhere advocated it It shows the
wonderful growth of populist principles.
Populism marches on.
TEARING DOWN THE. HOTJfeK . '. .
The bill to tax Porto Rico and which
I in effect declares thajl ttfKfrf staV?
i can hold nations in sLoi!ioUax theLa
without their consent and govern them
by partisan majorities in congress with
out any restraints put upon'them by the
constitution, passed thvsroate 4 a-ma j
jority of nine.
The wr!UQs jjiiBjujaiiiiir that would do honor to the divines
who refused to
vote for it were Nelson,
Davis, Simon, ' Mason Wellington,
Proctorand Hoar. There is no
manner of doubt, that every one of
these would have voted for the bill if it
had been necessary to do so to carry ' it
except Hoar. Hoar has some of the old
Puritan blood in him and has been
brought up from childhood to venerate
the constitution and declaration of inde
pendence. The others are simply tools
of the trusts and have been placed in the
senate' by their contributions and influ
ence.' " . -.
This vote makes the paramount issue
in the next campaign whether this re
public shall become an empire, abandon
the constitution and declaration of inde
pendence and start forward on the same
path that led Rome and every former re
public to its final downfall, or whether
we will continue to be true to those uni
versal principles of liberty that made
this nation great.
Bryan was the first man in all these
United States to discover the ultimate
plans of plutocracy and the first to raise
a warning cry. The editor of the Inde
pendent met him the next day after he
made that famous .speech at the Omaha
exposition. Bryan asked what we
thought about the position taken by
him. It was replied that there was no
doubt that the position was correct, but
the question was whether it was wise to
add another issue to the mapy for which
we were contending. Bryan replied in
words to the following effect: "It seems
to me now that we will first have to fight
to keep the house we, live in. If these
tendencies go on unchecked, the house
will be torn down over our heads."
It is not claimed that those, are his
words verbatinvbut they, are substan
tially. " That was away back in the very
beginning of the Spanish war before any
one had sounded a note of alarm. - They
made a very deep impression upon his
hearer. In view of this action by the
house and senate they come to mind
again with a force that must make every
man who loves his country and believes
with Lincoln that the declaration of in
dependence was written for, all people
who dwell on the face of the earth and
for all time, that we now bavei-a .fight
before us that involves ' more than the
tariff, more than any other question that
has ever beeii - presented to the Ameri
can people since we first declared our in
dependence- from England. '
. In this fight we .will have the majori
ties from the slums of all; the cities to
overcome 'and it must be fought by the
farmers. The farmers of South Africa
today are dying on the plains , and hill
tops to maintain the same principles for
which we must fight the' first great bat
tle with ballots. Let:i6it?great ex
ample spur us on to suffer, to endure
and to sacrifice, that all men everywhere
may continue to enjoy the blessings for
which Lincoln gave his life. r ')
WHAT ABOUT THE HOT
The Independent would like to round
up the republicans of this state and ask
them a few plain questions. They would
interest those who live on the farms as
well as the dwellers in the towns and
cities. What is going to become of your
boy under this new .system : that has
grown up under the rule of the republi-
can party, in the United States? It
seems that at present, and much more
in the future, there will be but two
things that he can do to make a living.
He can work on the farm or he can be a
hireling for a trust. He cannot go into
any business connected with iron or
steel. That is in the hands of a trust..
He cannot engage in mining except as a
wage worker for there is the coal trust
to squeeze him out. If he should try to
raise sugar, deal in tobacco, flour, or any
of the common necessities of life, any
such an attempt would result in disaster
and he would fail completely for all of
these things are hvthe hands of trusts
and no outsider will be allowed to enter
into business in any one of them. ' What
will become of your boy? What will he
do for a living? You have been whoop
ing it up for the republican party ' for
many years and this is the condition that
government by that party has- left you
in. Are you going to continue to whoop
for that party? Or will you try to change
these conditions so that your boy may
have some of the opportunities that
your father left you? .
For more than twenty years the econ
omists of all nations have not ceased to
tell you what the result of the policies of
the republican party would be. The re
sults are, here. They are .seen by all
men. What do you propose to do?
The Rev. Byron Beal disported some
ecclesiastical logic to the gaze of the
citizens of Lincoln the . other day that
made the most- sleepy open wide their
eyes, it appears that along with a lot of
anti-saloon men he .S&ggg
vote for Mr. Loomis. TIeBqfa4 tempesvj
ance advocate oi national reputation
came to the city and addressed the larg
est audience that ever assembled in the '
city to hear a temperance,. lecture. V; In.
that speech . Mr. wpoj
churches for their lack ofsiitrJusiasM'
in the temperance cause and told ' them
! that reform must begin in the house of
of God. Rev. Beal says that this was an
I assault upon the church and he comes
out in a public letter and says that he
will violate his pledged word to vote for
Mr. Loomis, and to support ' the church
he will vote for the saloon candidate.
There is an exhibition of , ecclesiastical
of Fourteenth century.
A Nebraska . republican editor can
make more kinds of fool of himself than
any other creature on this round earth.
Now here is the editor of the Wilbur Re
publican who remarks with all the grav
ity of an owl that: '"At the fusion state
conventions- held in Lincoln, Saline
county did not get a thing." Saline
county got its full quota of delegates to
the populist: and democratic national
conventions and that is all that any
county got. ,' , - -
The republican party is divided on the
Porto Rican tariff, on the Philippine
question, on the reciprocity treaties, on
the Nicaragua canal,, on ' the shipping
bill, on the Cuban question, on the orga
nization of a standing army and almost
every proposition that this administra
tion has advocated. So far Mark Hanna
has been able to keep the doughmen that
he elected to congress in line, but the
rank and file are in rebellion. Bryan
will be elected.
The imperialists have figured - it all
out at last. They say there are three
kinds of citizenship, federal, state and
territorial and a man may be all three
kinds or only ' one kind. And they say,
furthermore, that if a man is all three
kinds or only one kind, he is essentially
a subject. Therefore, this objecting to
"subjects" is all nonsense. Now you see
what imperialism has done for you in
one short year. You can imagine what
it will do in four years more- if the re
publican party is kept in power.
' The new Philippine commission called
on the secretary of war the other day
and had a long private conference. It
is said that William, the Wobler, Presi
dent of the United States, Emperor of
the Philippines, Guam, Porto , Rico and
Cuba, has given this commission author
ity to do what it pleases when it gets to
the end of its journey, 7,000 miles from
home. It will take more than the whole
products of a hundred of Nebraska's
best farms to pay the salaries and ex
penses of these gentlemen. Plant more
corn.
When McKinley sent our young men
to the Philippines to Jro destroyed in a
tropical hell and thousands of them
were killed, died of disease, went insane
or committed suicide the ministry .stood
by him almost to . a man. But .when
they heard that he drank a glass of wine
at a Chicago banquet they went wild
with rage and hundreds . of them .began
to denounce him. Upon the eccjesiasti
cism that produces such results, the In
dependent has an opinion, but it pre
fers not to express it for fear the print
ing machinery would break down that
tried to run it off. .
Col Bixby backs up the fuzzie wuzzies
in their charge that Tibbies is an abso
lute failure as a farmer, a newspaper
man and a politician. Now as the .fuz
zie wuzzies in every state in the union,
where they have . a paper, have been de
voting columns to abusing him, Col.
Bixby should ' have considered that Tib
bies was disposed of and that the f uz-
zie wuzzies did
not need his aid. But
the colonel in the generosity of his heart
probably thought that it would not be
out of the - way to show them that he
was with them. So he loaded up his
blunderbus and fired in the air.
There has been a new development in
republican government lately. . We have
had several new things since Mark Han
na took the reins in his hands. We have
become accustomed to bull pens, injunc
tions and things of that sort. They are
old and stale. The republicans of Ken
tucky go all these sort of things ten bet
ter.' Governor Taylor issues pardons to
criminals before they are tried and con
victed. He has evidently been reading
the protestant charges made against the
Pope in the times of Luther and con
eluded he would go the Pope one better.
luvery onee in a while some paper
starts out and advocates in a vigorous
way the doctrines of the peoples party.
The result is an enormous increase in
the circulation. That was the case with
the Missouri Valley Democrat and Jour
nal of Agriculture. Like many others,
as soon as it quadrupled its circulation
it stopped (its able discussion of the prin
ciples that gave it its enormous increase
and now comes to this office as a namby
pampy agricultural sheet. The editorial
page which was wont to be filled with
some of the best .writing in the United
States is now, devoted to talk about
"How Soil Waters Escape," ."London
Food Supply etc." This is an old Mark
Hanna trick. It has been played on
perhaps a hundred papers in the last
l6nir years. It will be seen that it is far
better to let these new found defenders
alone and stand ' by the papers which
have stood by these principles through
all the ups and downs for years. When
a man subscribes for this paper he knows
hat principles it is going to advocate
not oniy wis year, out the next year
also. ' -.
SECRETARY HAY'S FOIXT I
The republican dailies have been laud
ing Secretary Hay to the skies, for his
wonderful diplomatic elriil . in getting
Europe to agree to an open door in China,
What has really been accorded to the
United States can lie derived solely from
the record, and that is as follows: -
France says that she is ready to do for
the United States what she had already
stated before Secretary Hay had asked
her any questions, and refers him to a
speech of M. Declasse,' made it oh" Novem
ber 24 in the Chamber of Deputies.
Von Buelow tells Secretary Hay that
what Secretary Hay has asked has been
carried out in its fullest extent by Ger
many from the beginning.;,
Lord Salisbury says that what Mr.
Hay asks is the policy always advocated
by Great Britain, and. that she has no
intention of departing from.it....
The Italian Prime Minister, Venosta
(Italy having no port in China,) assures
Secretary Hay that Italy will maintain
he open door. .. ...;r;.'l: '.',
Viscount Siuzo says for, Japan that
she will consent if all the - other powers
agree. V:--:
Count Muravieef says for Russia that
his imperial government has, by the
opening of Tahen Wan, shown ' how she
feels, but adds significantly- that as to
the ports outside of Russia's sphere, the
settlement of the ' matter of 'customs be-
ongs to China herself. , i ;v
The reply of Russia is very significant.
Russia will enter into no European com
bine to rob and exploit China. . It will
not countenance the scheme for the di
vision of the Empire among the western
uropeah nations. It will take no part
in the McKinley-Salisbury plan. -In fact
it is a regular snub to Mr. Hay. ' '
irShOIDENOUSH
Anything of which it can- be said:
"It's English, you know," goes witfy this
McKinley administration. . The further
back into English despotism that they
get for precedents, the better they .' like
it. So in announcing their policy, that
the constitution does not follow the flag
and that that body is a despotic law
making power, they copied the r act of
George III and the British parliament
hat started the American revolution.
That act was as follows! ?
"The king's majesty, by and with the
advice and consent of the lords spiritual
and temporal and the commons of Great
Britain, in parliament assembled, had,
hath, and of right ought to have full
power to make laws and statutes of suf
ficient force and validity, to bind the
colonies and people of America, subjects
of the crown of Great Britain, in all
cases whatsoever." " '" " ; "
Stripped of the quaint old English in
which it is written, that is just what the
imperialists in the house and senate pro
pose to do. They can tar Porto Rico or
any of , the territories r4il the United
States and make statutes of i full power
and validity without their consent . and
without any representation. : , Imperial
ism is the same in all countries - and all
ages, and thisMcKinley'ort does not in
the least differ from that of George 111
and the English parliament ef the last
century. 7 'fV1' v: .
Some of the imperialists , think that
they have made an unanswerable argu
ment in favor of annexation if they
prove that it is profitable to annex a
certain territory. Any , 'one of these
gentlemen might step over into Canada,
view its fertile lands, and make the
same argument, but somehow they never
do, and if any one else did they would
be horrified. The annexation of that
part of Canada that extends over the
outlet to the great lakes would no doubt
be very advantageous to all the north
west. Why don't they advocate the an
nexation of that? Beveridge might go
up into the Klondyke'and find a nugget
of gold, then exhibit it on the floor of
the senate and demand the annexation
of that region. Why not? If his argu
ment in relation to the Philippines is
sound it would apply also to any part of
Canada that we might want.
According to the bills turned in by
the secretary of the United States sen
ate, the seriators use enormous quanti
ties of quinine, calomel pills and witch
hazel, besides hair brushes towels and
soap enough to wash and wipe dryhalf
of the population of Washington. These
little stealings are so disgraceful that it
makes one blush to think about it. These
high and mighty senators will pilfer!
The only redeeming feature about the
whole matter is that fourteen of them re
fused to engage in the disgraceful busi
ness. Outside of the house and senate
the petty pilferers in Washington are
very severely . dealt with, It is a pity
that the same law could hot also be
made to apply to these mighty digna
taries. . - ' -
After all the claims that the war in the
Philippines is over, McKinley has issued
an order making the Philippines a di
vision with a Major-General in command
and four departments under him each
to be commanded by 'n Major-Gen
eral. It will require , mora .troops and
more generals to attend to that division
thaniwere employed by the whole United
States before the war with Spain. This
is empire. This is the result of the re
publican policy. Let the farmers plant
more crops, cultivate more acres, work
longer hours. All the generals, all these
soldiers must be paid in gold. McKin
ley is the enemy of mankind. ; -
All values are created by legislation.
What would a corner lot .on Broadway
or even on Wall street be worth if all
legislation- was wiped out? Not a farth
ing a foot. What would the bank stock
of the United States be worth if the
legislation creating banks was destroy
ed? What would railroad "bonds and
stocks be worth if the laws under which
they were created were done away with?
We repeat all values in all civilized na
tions are created and exist because of
legislation. Think of the hypocrisy of
John Sherman when he used to stand
up in the United States senate and say:
"You can't create value by legislation!"
What would one of the old jurists who
gave dignity to the courts of the "United
States have said to this claim ef Mc
Kinley and the millionaire senators that
congress could extend or restrict the
constitution? Think what would have
happened in a court presided over by
John Marshall if one of them had ap
peared before him with such a plea as
that. But there is no telling what these
modern and degenerate judges will say.
They may take a notion to declare that
the constitution was only made to apply
to the first four years of ; Washington's
administration. That would mot be a
whit more ridiculous than their income
tax decision. ' ,
Attention of the readers of the Inde
pendent is called to the article entitled
"Agricultural Education," to be found
oh another page.. Mr. Beck, deputy state
superintendent makes some valuable
suggestions for the improvement of the
public schools along lines of agricultural
education. Nebraska is pre-eminently
an agricultural state and everything
that benefits that industry results di
rectly or indirectly to the benefit of every
inhabitant of the state.. To improve the
farm and farming should be the object
and study of those engaged in it. Read
Mr. Beck's suggestions and help him in
the splendid work he has begun.
One little judge is bigger than the
president, the house of representatives
and United States senate all combined.
The government at Washington' has just
found that put. Congress passed a bill
and the president signed it reducing the
exhorbitant telephone charges in the
District of Columbia. One of the little
judges in the district has decided that
the reduction was a confiscation of
property and annulled the whole act by
his pigmy fiat. The members of the
house and senate were at first somewhat
astonished, but finally concluded that
the little judge was bigger than . the
whole lot of them and that there is now
no way for the people of the District to
get relief. -
ATfETVSPAPER MICROBE..' 1 r
Some inch's sbils are smaller than7 a
microbe that has to be magnified 10,000
before it is distinguishable to the naked
eye,' and there , is less in them when
found, than in a vacuum that has been
produced by an exhaust pump worked
with a ten horse engine. . A short time
ago the State Journal pretended to give
an extract from the Philistine " which
Mr. Ebert Hubbard wrote after his visit
to Lincoln. This newspaper microbe
who edits the State Journal cut right
out of the middle of Mr. Hubbard's re
port the following paragraph and print
ed what preceded it and what followed:
"There is a man by the name of .Bryan
living at Lincoln. He was in New tYork
when I was there, but I met his wife
and children. Mrs. Bryan is a rare soul,
quiet, discreet, sensible and sane. Evi
dently she believes in her husband most
thoroughly; and as for her daughter, a
rosy roguish little Miss, she looked me
over carefully and then delivered her
self thus: 'You don't look like my Papa,
a bit. He is better looking , than you
and I like him lots the bestest, don't
you, Mamma?'
And Mamma said she did.
"Lincoln, I believe, is a republican
town, but whether they vote for Bryan
or not, they all agree he is a strong, sin
cere and honest man. To talk of an hon
est politician sounds like a paradox, but
Bryan's neighbors will all tell you he is
a most exceptional individual, one who
has grown wiser, kinder and mors judi
cial as the years have passed. Bryan
may be wrong in his logic, but I do not
think it is possible for a sober man to
meet him, face to face, and feel that he
is in the presence of a demagogue."
WORKING FOR PRIZES
About $180,000,000 of bonds have al
ready been offered by the banks in ex
change for the new 2 per cents, besides
a large amount of outside parties. The
presentation by the banks is for the
purpose of getting back the money dol
lar for dollar, while the bonds draw in
terest the same as if their face value
was not returned in full. The others
are presented to get the benefit of the
thirty years extension of the national
debt. These new 2 per cents are quoted
on the market at 105 "when issued" and
106 if ready for delivery. What can be
the matter of the people of the United
States that they will quietly submit to
this last open robbery by the banks?
There is not a line in republican papers
in defense of it and has not : been from
the beginning. Give to the banks seven
or eight hundred million of bonds that
are worth 107 on the market at par and
return to them the full amount in mon
ey! Think of it! And not a protest
from anywhere except in the populist
weeklies. . ; - '
. This thing is wormed - on the ' same
plan as that of the owners of big plan
tations where hundreds of negroes were
owned and worked. It is said that the
overseers would hang up some tempting
sides of bacon the first day,; he turned
the negroes into the cotton fields and
announce that they were to be given to
the ones who picked the most cotton.
At night the cotton would be weighed
and the prizes would be distributed.
But that was not the end of it. Every
negro was required to pick as much cot
ton every day after that through the
whole season as he did the day he was
working for the prize, and if he , didn't
he got flogged. - The bankers are work
ing the people oa the same plan. They
are hanging up a few little prizes in the
way of a fictitious prosperity created by
a flood of bank money. After that, for
thirty years the time. they have extend
ed the national debt they will flog the
mullet heads into , the production of as
much wealth to be turned over to them,
as in the days of the bank inflation.
FARUER EDITORIALS ,
And now comes ? the Rev. John W.
Hamilton Esq., of Cincinnati, O., plead
ing the cause ' of Great Britain, but
more especially to whitewash his idol,
Wm. McKinley, the godly man ' who
sings hymns so heavenly and serves the
devil so faithfully, and says: 4,The sym
pathy that goes out to the Boers from
our people is ceaseless. That they are
not what they seem not entitled to
sympathy that what we hear - about
their fighting with the bible in one hand
and the mauser in the other is all bosh.
That over every church in , the land ' is
written, "No Hottentot needf apply' no
room for Kaffirs and dogs; that Jesus
Christ is only for the white man; that
the republics are not republics at all;
that they are governed by two of the
families. That the British must win
and should win. Their victory is for
Jesus Christ. That wherever the Union
J ack waves there is liberty and free
speech, etc. -
Of course like king like subject. The
king never did wrong, neither the sub
ject (see India), ditto McKinley for he
sympathizes with the British, our late
enemy, (see Civil war), ditto, Hamilton,
he, too, is English, don't cher know.
Mr. McKinley showed his respect for
the people of this country when he for
warded the Boer request for "mediation
upon a platter and received it back with
th anks. Ditto, af tertha t stiino moment
when he spoke to congress ; about "our
plain duty" he flopped and now wants to
put up a tarriff instead. , The ' common
people don't know much,, about states
manship, but they can give a reasonable
guess whether -a man is honest and sin-
cere- aiter witnessing a iewpoiiucai
flops in imitation of the show bill.
What a stride! - ' Is this - comedy or
burlesque? Bishop Hurst of the Pro
testant college atf Washington suggests
to Mr. McKinley that his university has
a place for him at the headbf the law
department, when1 his term-- of official
flopping is over. It must be that his
decision on the anti-canteen, law is his
high recommendation.' Surely . the rec
ords don't give him credit " for anything
more than a common pettifogger in his
own state. . Almost any member of the
infant class from the remotest sod school
house in Nebraska is equal to a clearer
interpretation of that law.
HARDY'S COLUMN
Gone John Sherman not in it Taxa
tionPan-American Congress Col
or Line Paying Instead of Receiv
ingMutual Insurance Another
Brooklyn Bridge.
Another of the early Alliance and Peo
ples party men has gone over the snowy
range. Joseph W. Hartley died last Sat
urday morning after a short illness with
pneumonia. A true man has gone, true
to his convictions, to his friends and, to
his God. Hartley and Burrows 'were
men of conscience and courage.
'
If John Sherman owned as large an
interest in Porto Rican sugar and tobac
co as he did in Kentucky whisky, before
it was taxed, they would let it come in
free, but some one else owns it and the
sugar trusts, on this must be protected
er they will not pay any more corrup
tion money to re-elect McKinley.
The tax system of Italy is one ahead
of the American system, in exempting
the rich and scorching the poor. The
man who uses a mule and cart to haul
his garden truck to market is taxed, but
the man who drives four horses before
a thousand dollar coach, is not taxed a
penny, because he receives no profits
from the use of his rig. By the same
rule a thousand dollar house is all that
is profitable and all over that should not
be taxed. It is a good deal ' that way in
Lincoln now. '
. . - .
Another Pan-American congress, fb
meet in Mexico, is being .talked of. The
little republics on this continent will un
doubtedly go into an alliance, against
the United States, to protect themselves
against our. growing meanness. They
will need such an alliance if Hannaism
and McKinleyi3m sprout and grows
another four years. ,
The Cubans are now in a sweat about
letting their colored people vote and
hold office. The whites are in the ma
jority as a whole but in many localities
the blacks will rule. Then the whites
don't care to all vote solid one . way for
fear of race trouble. The liquor ques
tion divided both races in the ' southern
states when they voted on prohibition.
Questions of eeneral interest should do
the same every time. , '
Cleveland was offered $16,000,000 more
for the bonds he sold if congress would
make them payable in gold but congress
would not do it. Now McKinley takes
those same bonds back, with all others
out, and return gold bonds and pay $80,
000,000 to boot. That is goldbugism.
v .
r Minnesota has more than a hundred
mutual township insurance companies,
limited by township boundaries. Cost
of running and losses only figure' up to
eighteen cents on a hundred dollars the
last year. The best life insurance com
pany we ever knew - was composed of
fifty men paying in one hundred dollars
each and the money put into United
States bonds, a thousand dollars of which
was handed over at the death of a mem
ber. : . !; : v ' -vv
Another 'Brooklyn bridge " spanning
East river,is well under way. The towers
on each side of the river are being con
structed of steel and are to be 335 feet
KirrVi Tha HicfannA tiAfurAAn fa 1 .000
WgUt UU ..fcj W.. . WW WWVTWV 7
feet. The wire cables are to be 18 inches
in diameter and of sufficient strength to
hold up 80,000 tons. ; A rapid transit
tunnel under the river is also talked of
and when built, will undoubtedly be ex
tended fifteen or twenty miles through
each city under ground.
Markets
The attention of the readers of the In?
dependent is called to the market re
port to be found on page 5. It is fur
nished by the well known H. R. Penny
& Co of Lincoln, and covers the week's
transactions. Anyone desiring special
information- as to the market for any
particular product should write them.
News of the Week
The thing of all absorbing interest in
Washington this week has been the dis
cussion of the tariff on Porto Rico. The
situation has impressed many men more
powerfully than anything that has here
tofore occurred, is the power of the
trusts over the machinery of the repub
lican party. As far as the voice of the
people has been . heard it , has been a
universal protest against making an
empire of this republic and establishing
colonies to be taxed and governed with
out their consent. In this protest hun
dreds of republican newspapers ' have
joined and many of the old leaders of
the party. But it , has all been for
naught. The trusts, under the guiding
hand of Mark Hanna have swept all
these protests aside as easily as if they
had been only cobwebs and the decision
of the government has been .that from
this on, our country, once the land - of
the free and the home of the brave, from
this on is to be an empire. It is to
engage in wars of conquest and hold
nations in ' all parts of the world
subjects. -
as.
An enormous meeting was.held in New
York last Thursday night," to protest
against the taxing of the starving people
of Porto Rico. Thousands of people of
all creeds and politics gathered at Car
negie hall, and were addressed by promi
nent men. of all parties. ' . Among the
speakers were Senators Allen and Mason,
several congressmen and prominent men
in, the professione'and1" other e walks "of
life! Telegrams from all parts of Porto
Rico were received and read, pleading'
that they might live under the blessed
aegis of the constitution and enjoy the
same privileges that other citizens of the
United States enjoy.
Meantime the fight has gone on in the
United States senate to the exclusion of
everything else. . Under the influence of
the prodding iron of Mark Hanna, sena
tors have arisen and repudiated every
principle of free government and . advo
cated: a course toward the poor, people of
Porto ' Rico . that would have disgraced
Spain in the days of her undisputed
despotism. One senator, and he a re
publican, summed the whole thing up in'
these words: "Free rum and taxed
bread. Free rum and taxed clothing.
Free rum and taxed medicines." - And
that too when these people stand holding
up their hands sayiag.- "We are few in
numbers and poor. We cannot fight.
We cannot resist. We must submit.
We only ask the right to earn our daily
bread by the sweat of our brows and be
able to sell the products of our labor in
the exchange for products that we can
not produce on our little island." . It . is
the most shameful thing that the world
has ever seen. ,
Against this disgrace there seems to
be a genuine protest in the republican
party. Mark Hanna's prodding has not
been effective upon all of the republican
senators. The organization against im
perialism begins for the first time to
show signs of enough earnestness ; to
throw off the party yoke. But very few
as yet have declared that they would not
support McKinley for president, but
there are a few. These have . taken for
their motto the following words of
Charles Sumner: . '
"I hear the old political saw that "we
must take the least of two evils." .
For myself, if two evils are presented to
me, I will take neither. There are oc
casions of political differences, I - admit,
when it may become expedient to vote
for a candidate who does not completely
represent our sentiments. There are
matters legitimately within the range of
expediency and compromise. The tariff
and the currency are of this character.
If a candidate differs from me on these
more or less, I may yet vote for him.
But the question before the country is of
another character. This will not admit
of compromise. It is ' not within the
domain of expediency. To be wrong on
this is to be wrong wholly. It is not
merely expedient for us to defend
Freedom when assailed, but our duty so
to do, unreservedly, and careless of con
sequences." The platform adopted by the Nebraska
democratic convention has been de
nounced in all the eastern gold bug
papers as the vilest populism and., an
effort has been made to induce the people
to believe that notwithstanding the im
perialism of McKinley, his , Porto Rican
tariff, the renunciation of the constitu
tion, the repudiation of the Declaration
of Independence, the usurpation of con
gress in declaring that it is greater than
the constitution and all the other des
potic acts of the administration, that
the republicans were bound to stick to
him. But that is not the case at ' all.
More than a hundred republican, dailies
have been denouncing this new found
