if1"
mm
VOL. XI L
LINCOLN, 2STEBRASKA, JUNE 14, 1900;
NO. 5.
1
WU II I 1 1 II III II i
ir 1 1 -V -VJ
A HEARTY WECOME
mu mmA i
Jteri J;fl tliit-ff.4.
)m.hti ur
Xwr X w Aire
r&rt t.f ti- d-:ru-.n cf the Boer
f sivn rae tu Omh lt week
ere a-e-1 iy rt
titling
the-a U.t tbey -rf welcosae and that
iLe pej4 erf tbi elate tLi heartily
jzl'Xiii th tb brate httie re
public brh er cki&r ucb beroie
f ztt lx h'r-r -lf gi erases t. A '
Trvr'.')C irirt tii-iiat therity ball
and publsc ELrfTtic be in the
tsetr. ita pioe were
T'drd ilb and caty turned
away wL-j rwil swt r-t ir.. Speech of
eksHEe si yn.-rtby were made by
il-jtrrts 1"' jr.r, W, J. Bryn and
other. Mr. Brr. rpk in fart a
fjC :
"I rao- a- a cx'.iirz. - as Au.-ricn
eitixee - to fce prei;t with other A furri
cn Citixet to ii--t tbe
4 the liirr fr , to -in tth you
in peert-Uiir u Iberu our i.patby for
tbr.r cue, aiii . 1 eari tiy b-4ive
tbe yiLj atiy ! ti-- Atwncin pe.-'ple.
1 trut llfc.t ..'.e day will never come
wbe a cat-; !L:if fo ijlje-rty will
y&ia'.bv ,i aid. T..e-e- i.ov. bte j
LjCiorei u ty ri.;nj: V "- our yn
jlby. fiM!i u AsrririLs tbe op
j.r! ui.jTj u a-it tbeoi Vj gain tbat
iifce-rty bicb i c-at to u.
rb jer. on 1 oration day,
we carry Cower W j 1' on tbe grave
of our j4iier dead. Iu tb-e flowerm
tbe ded ar.y K"mmi No! It U to
ho&or tbe i:t ii. tbat tbi k jtg cutJin
1b f.aictait, 1 kud tbat the may expres ,
tbejr irea'u'yde f jt n bat tbe teroic dead
. m m . i ft - a
i.ate joie i r u-v. ii t nara 10 ;
ui'iertat4 tbe f-eUt-g of tbe tnan who
ha rjttipatbt Uff tbe iSuer cau. but k
lia i c. :ocea.ir. n iar poiiiicai reawfrns. f
VVbeg a rtnits can 1 beard a very able
ertoon. wbici ba a!a clung by me, j insurgent army has treated prisoners of
c tb vxt. 'A be tbinketb. o be is. i war as prisoners of war. Every Ameri
Wby biI4 ai. American citizen who j can prisoner who lias been held by
fee? lor tb l'rT f;! i ex pre him- '
-iif I do &ot Low on can do other i
than cbo tbe emu i f tbe two rpub-
lie in ie:erer:."etj tt-at of a motarcny:
aa Amttu-iXk citizen L La learned to J vent ion of General Otis. It was he who
k-tt ai trterate oar form of govern- f conceived the idea of calling the insur
er tt. gent columns robber bands,'' Even
"1 here ofte a tirve when ti tnilbocs j when the instirj rmy, nWnaed, of
of Aiir-.ran bare tbat pnviSeg j ficert-d and intrenched better than otxr
of rir,r and caui.z tbeir balSotn agaicat own, fought day after day against over-
tbat a jyiii. ist rattan f troersrnent .
wtk-b fai to czxtj oct tbeir wishes.
and bet tbcjwe la.- ! are aert counted !
I be:ev that tbey ul
be an expreweioo
of tbe Aoerican ipi for tbo- people
tirbtitg Ivt tbeir independence.
- We kjw by biury tbat a mon
archy irerea-e government by tbe
ivfiett of tb ieju decrease.
and
tbat a grntirf-nl by oon-ent of
tbe
ir.-j i&cea.rs o mx.arcL decrease, s
Ve kir tbat if a m.arcby oercotne
tb.e to republic, turrca.est by tbe
pec:e ffi-..
" it i r a ;4 ttat the lii of the car-
tyr t- of xb- envr-i'h. If it i
luurl tbat tbee rrpubik ball tie over
rome, tbey will C-A Late fougtit in vaic
ivHiseUai tbe men wbo die dj rnre for
h'rty tbaa tbey L. lite, and ere tbe
etrug i irtrr I te.ji-ie tnat tbe iiuer
mui ar ie from a buncred tieid and lib
erty ul be itrVjfKXi.
There are iws any -;.g wbo ay
tbat becaii III g.and i-t mpatbixed uttb
u iunr .g tbe Sjanib Aeuericac war we
ouLt to ay nothing aain't urh a
frsendiy tt-ei. I deny that uch yiu
-amy bxi u to act f r Kr.gSand. We
did tot ced tie sympathy of Krglar.d
dunsjf tb r?pairh"Auencan B'ar. We
c-ed tbe jtvby of w nation on
earth. We bate r-eived norbicg tbat
A.tl'i,jtt w Uj fx.ua Ant and be!p
lew ti bert. i betng crumbed. We
hii n-t be unitiindfui of our dutie
to tb pe . of tbi world struggling
Usr Ibeir Uirte - we, tbe greatest na
tUan on earth, fondei liberty.
"A'm t.t,t keep inspired with tbat !
e-ve and revere&re fur tJUe name i
of L5erty Ul every Au-encaa citizen '
ce diitt ot hi knee &x.d a-k the '
of tte to bnr t i,rlory Vj the
i-f
lb: CXScIuOS f-JT the cioe of Mr.
Br? an" ;- a tbe ngnai fur a
cbrer and a grand ru-h f -r tbe tage to "
abaite bi band, a well a that of Mr, ,
Ttej Were lor Brjaa
New York t ept into lin with
tbe deooeracy of tbe nation under tbe
lea-iervLij of Mr. Bryan, and former
ten Hill regained control of tbe
party machinery m tbe democratic late
c-f-tetkra yesterday.
Without di-nurg tote the oaven
lon intrtetei tt deigate at large
Iatki H. I!:i, Kiaar i Murjby, Ihcbard
Crrer and Auguitu Van Wvck-to
vote :a tb raxa Citr contention fur
Mr
i.ryam
Tber iu
tiO be.itati'in. no er.-4 Of
f reure.isoUiekery in tbi ocanitnou.
endur-ment- Many of tbe
men no
V"e-3 y.eray la m-'rucU i were
b.tter j5utt of Mr. Bryan four years
".
Tbe Cbi-atgo platf'Tra wa not in
dored ut tL c3tcton pleijjed the
v.jt of the party is New York to
any $. latitats adapted by tbe national
contents..
A iar e lody of deiegate under the
Se&4irbip of Norman II Mack, of Buf
falo, frjgnt in cwBitnitte for either an
&4jf-aect of tbe Chicago platform or
tbe otniwk of tb resolutions altogeth
er. The crr-rtmi-e. which threw the
r-pos..bi sty for rarmitg tbe Chicago
piatftras cpon tbe national convention,
fairly rtj.r!ente-i tb opmfcmof an over-
be icing tzyrixj of delegate.
It i txA an exaggeration to say that
tL ire trttst acandal, exposed by the
Journal, enabled Mr. Hill to retrain his
1 leadership in the state.
lit the morning session the convention
biased the names of Mavor Van Wvck
I and Augustus an Wyck cot- gentle
tabuaUonof reproach, but fierce, angry,
old-time democratic hisses.
That gate Mr. Hill his opportunity.
He knew tbe temper of the convention.
During the rece he notified the Tam-
j many and Brooklyn leaders tbat if they
utate committee to him and re-elect
Frack Campbell chairman of that body,
tbe names of Norman C Mack and
Frack Campbell would be substituted
a debates at-large for those of Richard
Croker and Augustus Van Wyck whose
names are writ large on the stock books
of tbe ice trrifcL
Tbat ended it. Tbe leadership was
! surrendered to Mr. Hill, who has no ice
; trut fctock. James Creelman.
A PROGRAM OF MURDER
IjrX u nut Foriret tbe Fat of Hloodjr
hpitla once the Mitre of
the WbaU World.
Is there an American man or woman
who can read without a shudder tbe an
nouncement that our troops have been
ordered to treat the Philippine insur
gents a bandits? That was the policy
of (Jeceral Weyler, the monster of the
nineteenth century, toward the Cuban
iniurgenU. Is our flag to be stained as
Spanish flag was
stained with the
blood of unarmed prisoner of war?
A man does not have to "sympathise
with Agutnaldo in order to protest
against this awful program of murder
in cold blood. Men who publicly de
clare mar for political objects and who
openiy take the Meld with arms in their
band 4 are soldiers, not bandits. The
l'bilirpine insurgent government de-
clared war regularly, and its troops have
A t a. a .
mace war accoraing io me usage oi civ
iiization. There may be a difference of
opinion In the United Stntes regarding
iuc menu or aemenic oi cue insurgent
cause. Hut one thing is certain, the
Agutnaldo a army will bear witness to
tbe fact tbat the Filipinos do not kill
prioners.
I tis new barbarity is a personal m-
whelming numbers in Luzon, General
Oti denounced them as "robber bands."
It is true that the Philippine troops have
cent rally ceased to tight in massed bod-
ie-; it U true that they forage
for food
But our troops have done the same
thing. Soldiers who seize food supplies,
means of tra asportation, clothing or
munitions of war to aid them in con tin
uing their fight are not bandits.
This nation w on the edge of an abyss
of -bame. If the country does not pro-
tet against the policy of Weylerizing
the Pnuippmes tbe story of our struggle
for mastery in the archipelago will turn
tbe sentiment of the civilized world
, against us. It will be the darkest, the
iiio-t loathsome page in American his
tory. 1 am not now discussiag the
i ouetion whether a nation is ever justi
bed in thedding human blood- for the
ake of trade. That is another issue,
liut I do not believe tnat tnere is an
" American citizen who will assent to the
ignoble, unsoldierly butcnery of. prison
er of war which General Jtihas inaug
u rated. Men who are brave enough to
exio tbeir lives in a public cause
' even if it tie held tbat the cause is a
wrong one deserve at least our respect
a- soldiers. Let us not forget the fate
which has overtaken blood guilty Spain,
once mivtres of the whole world. If
her crime in the field have stirred the
heart of humanity against tier, can we
imitate her example and hope to escape
; an inheritance of guilt and shame?
' James Creelman.
The Stats Fair
' The indications are that the Nebraska
state fair will be a huge success this
year. The fair will be advertised as
never before, and all because after years
of injustice toward the country press
the btate fair management has decided
: to deal justly with the newspapers of
j tbe etate. They are no longer "compli
I mentary" tickets, and there are no hu
I miliating conditions attached. Secre-
tary Fumas has realized that every
i newspaper in Nebraska pays for its state
j fair tickets ten times over every year,
j therefore he is sending out tickets that
are to be honored under all conditions.
Tbe man or woman who presents the
ticket i- tobe admitted to the grounds.
This i brcause the ticket has been
; paid for. Now that justice has been
done the country editors, they will turn
; in and advertise the coming state fair as
a atate fair was never before advertised.
; And advertising judicious advertising
! will make a success of almost any-
World Herald
' .i.,: :a . :.,a
i the rrt nf the Ktate fair manaement.
' mnA it vrrtn!atM ita friwna rf ha
1 count rr tre tiron their victory in the
0 K
Hht for th rurorrnition of their richts.
Now let us all jotn in making the Ne
braska state fair for 1900 a three-time
winner. World-Herald.
When sending in clubs of subscrip
tions IX) NOT FAIL to mention the
premium you desire. Best plan is to
cut out the premium list and check the
article or articles desired. Remember
we are neither hypnotists nor mind read
ers and must depend solely on you to
state plainly what you want.
Farmer' Club
Meeting.
The Lancaster Farmers' club will hold
its next meeting at the home of Mrs.
Deitcb, 2J miles northeast of Malcolm,
June 2L G. S. Paswatees. Pres.
Clyde Hole!beck, Secretary.
THE PIRATES DISPERSE
After Spending:! Six Months ln Devising
Ways to Fleer the People for the
Benefit of the Syndicates,
. Congress at last
Adjourns. "
Washington, D. C, June 8, 1900. The
worst congress in the history of the
country has adjourned.. For the first
time since political parties have been
organized legislation has been intro
duced, promoted and passed by the ma
jority party for the sole purpose of se
curing campaign contributions.
It is true that the Gold Standard bill
was passed with enormously increased
powers given to the National banks to
pay for contributions to the campaign of
189G.
But for the first time can it be said
that legislation was introduced and
passed with a specific understanding
that a certain percentage, of the appro
priation should be turned over to the
chairman of the Republican National
Cammittee, Senator Hanna of Ohio.
The "striker" methods of a corrupt
cily council have been transferred to
the Congress of the United States.
The most notorious of these successful
schemes of corruption is the armor
plate grab, whereby the armor plate
Trust is assured of contracts, the net
contracts of which, will exceed $7,000,000
at prices three times the cost of manu
facture. Senator Pettigrew made the
charge outlined above on the floor of
the Senate, and m proof of his charge of
present purpose "on the part of the repub
lican managers he quoted Mr. Charles
Cramp of the Cramp ship-building com
pany who told him personally that his
firm had given $400,000 to the republican
campaign fund in 1892, with the expec
tation that his farm would be reimbursed
by government contracts. The republi
can defense of this charge was pitiable
indeed. Senator Carter, of Montana,
who received the money, put up the baby
cry that Senator Pettigrew had Teceived
this information in confidence and that
it was unfair for him to make it public.
But it is just that sort of information
which the public wants to receive.
But in twenty different directions
Hanna's schemes for accumulating an
enormous campaign fund have been put
into operation. They are varied in char
acter. Over $50,000,000 of naval con
tracts are to be provided for. If it was
worth $400,000 for the Cramps to take
their chances in 1892 it is safe to say
that the combined ship building plants
of the country, with a $50,000,000 dan
gled before them, will "bite" to the ex
tent of $o,000,U00. Were this bait not
big enough the Ship Subsidy steal of
$120,000,000 is still held in reserve in the
republican bait.
The most impudent hold-up which
the republican leaders engineered is the
anti-Trust law. The republicans re
ported from the judiciary committee of
the House an anti-Trust bill amendatory
of the Sherman act. With one import
ant Democratic amendment forced upon
it, exempting trades unions from its op
eration, the bill seemed so desirable that
it received the practically unanimous
support of all parties in the House.
When it reached the Senate, despite the
utmost efforts of the Democrats to
bring it to a vote, the bill was side
tracked into a committee where it will
lie until next winter.
Now Senator Hanna can hold his right
hand out to the dear people and say,
"see what we are going to do with the
Trusts." But his other hand will be be
hind his back and he will whisper in an
aside to the Trusts, "Cough up or we'll
pass it next winter."
The coughing is distinctly audible
even this early in the campaign.
The eight hour labor bill is being han
dled in exactly the same way. It was
passed in the Honse and stalled in the
Senate. Now Hanna says to the labor
organizations: "Re-elect Major McKin-
ley and we will let it become a law." To
the government contractors he says in
stage whisper: "Pay your assessment
and we will defeat it."
The republican campaign fund raisers
have entered upon the grandest scheme
oi Diacamau ana Dunco tnat tne coun
i ?iJa. . i At
try has ever witnessed
With three years in office gone and the
long session of Uongress at an end in
which the republicans have been in full
possession of every branch of the gov
ernment not a single measure of general
importance in the interest of tke people
nas become a law. On tne other hand
to reckless extravagance in appropria
tions is coupled legislation in reckless
disregard of public and party pledges.
The Porto Rican tariff bill is but one of
many striking examples of a deliberate
violation of pledges.
The appropriations for the current fis
cal year reach the enormous figure of
$709,000,000. Enormous though they
are they do not include the usual appro
priation for river and harbor work, for
public buildings, for the $50,000,000 of
naval work authorized or for any portion
of tbe $140,000,000 covered by the Nicar
agua Canal bill. There is an increase of
$32,000,000 in sundry civil expenditures,
or over $3o,000,000 m ordinary naval ex
penditures and of over $90,000,000 in ar
my expenaitures. uespite ail tnese in
creases it is further certain that a defic
iency bill will have to be brought for
ward next winter covering well up to
$40,000,000 in the various branches of the
service. Government expenditures are
now on the basis of nearly $10 per capita
and show signs of increasing rather than
of decreasing.
a ne ways ana means committee was
authorized to sit this summer and form
I i I Ml ' V . -v . a
mate diiis ior tax reduction, it is now
announced that the committee will not
begin its sessions until after the fall
elections. The reason for this is that
Adartc xianna prererrea to nave nis own
private understandings with the various
i A. a. 1- a. 1
r V WT m a i
interests which want changes in internal
revenue and tariff taxation, rather than
to have too much publicity given by
public hearings before the wiys and
means committee. ; Hanna will see to it
that his campaign!. fund throbs respon
sive to the appeals!: of special interests
for relief. .... , -1 r
There is soma humor in the campaign
after all. Marie Hanna has witnessed
with some trepidation the fact that the
democrats are getting to be altogether
too fond of quoting Lincoln. So he con
cluded to engineer a counter stroke. It
would be a fine scheme to assemble at
the Philadelphia convention all the sur
viving members of the republican na
tional convention of 1856. The presence
of these venerable men would serve to
enthuse the assembled convention and
lend eclat to an- otherwise cut and dried
operation. A careful research developed
the fact that fourteen of these ancient
men were still alive, ardent for the prin
ciples which Lincoln represented. But
here draw the curtain over Hanna's
wounded feelings they are nearly all
populists now and are going to vote for
Bryan next .November.
Another incident which worms in the
bud of Hanna's happiness is in connec
tion with the CubanecandaL Rathbone,
the director of Cuban posts, has made
good his bluff. He . threatened to pull
down the pillars of the republican tem
ple if .the administration should attempt
to disturb or harm him. It is needless
to say that he is neither disturbed or
harmed, and although he has been re-
leved from duty, his salary and emolu
ments still go marching on. In view of
this fact it was cruel on the part of Sen
ator Pettigrew to make "a speech on the
floor of the senate and have published
in the Congressional Record the full re
port of the Ohio legislative committee, a
republican organization, which showed
up how way into the senate was bribed
and bought and this same man Rathbone
was the chief manipulator! of legislators
in Hanna's interest. He was afterward
smuggled out of Ohio and kept at a con
venient distance in order to prevent the
investigating committee from putting
him on the rack. It is a safe assertion
that Rathbone will not be harmed.
It is interesting to Jiote" at the same
time that .Postmaster: General Smith's
newspaper, the Philadelphia Press, has
the effrontery to claim editorially that
every criminal in. the Cuban postal fraud
is under arrests The editorial follows in
a long and labored attempt to minimize
the crime and to maintain that every
criminal will be punished. All this in
the face of the notorious fact that not
one-fourth of the criminals have been
apprehended, and that not one of them
has yet been brought to trial.
iVA McDOMALD Valesh.
The-republican organization has writ
ten itself down a3 the party of high
taxes, boodle expenditures and special
privileges, the latter to be paid for in
generous contributions to its campaign
fund, winch m turn is aimed at the
purity of the ballot, heretofore regarded
as the "palladium of free institutions.
The congress which has just adjourned
could have abolished the great bulk of
the war stamp taxes had it felt so dis
posed, We; say this upon the authority
of Secretary Gaee, whose official state
ment to congress, dated. May 28. sets
forth that receipts on that date from
internal revenue were ?v67,812.70 and
from customs $970,992.3.3, bringing the
total revenue for the4 fifal year from all
sources to $543,20G,e52.8W- Of this total
the sum of $26o.471.209.31 came from
internal revenue, which includes the
revenue derived irom tne war stamp
taxes. tm J
The total disbursements' for the fiscal
year up to and including May 28 were
$450,561,79331, leaving an excess of re
ceipts over expenditures amounting to
S(j2,644,180.58, exclusive of the $150,000,
000 gold reserve. The excess of receipts
over-expenditures on April 30 was $58,-
490,205.93. March 31 the excess amount
ed to $54393,150.34:
It will be seen from these figures that
tne surplus, in spite of heavy war ex
penditures, is climbing at the rate of
about $4,009,000 a month, so that by the
end of the calendar year it is apt to
reach $90,000,000 or $100,000,000.
The estimated receipts from the war
stamp taxes for the year are from $45,
000,000 to $50,000,000. It is easy to see
that congress could have wiped out the
stamp taxes and left in the treasury at
the end of the calendar year a surplus
ample enough to meet all possible na
tional necessities.
But the war power is too useful a
privilege for the party in control to let
go. "It will even glory in a treasury sur
plus of 100,000,000 exacted from the
business of the country and in a form
that should only be tolerated when the
direct-necessity exists. Denver News, i
A National Infamy
For a secretary of war and a United
States senator to embroil this nation in
controversy with Germany, is an inter
national infamy. It is an affront to a
friendly power and to the millions of
sturdy citizens in the United States of
German origin. It ought not to pass
unrebuked, and the Times looks to the
cultured diplomat at Berlin, Andrew D.
White, to administer the rebuke by ex
pressing to the German court and peo
ple the evidences of the cordial goodwill
of this republic. Buffalo Times.
McKinley's Rascals
All sorts of shifts and makeshifts are
being tried to excuse McKinley for the
appointment of the rascals who looted
Cuba. While the mullet head editors
were busy about that McKinley appoint
ed another man of the same sort to a
federal judgeship in New York who re
ceived $5,000 as his share of the swag
for assisting in engineering a deal to sell
the government a yacht for $80,000 that
only cost $30,000. The candidate is re
pudiated by the bar of New York state
generally as being unfit for the position.
But the candidate has a strong backing
nevertheless. All the other thieves are
standing by him.
A GOOD DOCUMENT
Every Reader of the Independent Should
''' Take aa Interest in Circulating:
the Following :
The following editorial appeared in the
State Journal last Saturday morning.
tie day of the reception of the Boer en
voys by the citizens of this state. Every
populist can do some good work for the
party by circulating it among his Ger
man fellow-citizens and those members
of the republican party who still love
liberty and desire to see the two little
republics live. It will be noticed that
the Journal . says "a Pittsburg gentle
man," without giving his name or the
name of the publication in which the in
terview is said to have appeared. When
ever a newspaper man sees an article be
ginning in that anonymous way, he puts
it down as a fake concocted by the writer
furnishing it,, and in ninety-nine cases
out of a hundred, that is true. The
Journal editorial was as follows:
"A Pittsburg gentleman who has lived
in the Transvaal tells his people who are
wanting to invite the Boers right over
here to settle and 'till the soil,' that the
invitation would be all right for the
grazing lands of Wyoming, but in Penn
sylvania the Transvaal Boer would soon
become a public charge.
"The trekking Boer of that province,
he says, tills no soil; he tills the Kaffir.
He may be likened unto a multitude of
his pop friends who do not farm the
farm but who farm the farmer.
His favorite amusement is to sit
in the shade of his porch and smoke
a large pipe, and watch his blacks, his
wife, and his ungrown children as they
rustle around and keep the stock prop
erly fed and watered.
"The Boer tillers of the soil live in
Capetown, Natal and the Orange Free
State that was. They are industrious
and thrifty, and seek the education of
the schools. The Transvaal is settled
by the Boers who will not work them
selves so long as there is a Kaffir boy or
girl to catch and reduce to order with
sjambock. He plows for no crops, he
works not with his hands, but he gathers
a bunch of cattle, camps out on the great
plains and table lands and kopjes and
lets his black cowboys do the rest. He
is the European Dutchman gone to
seed." .
TOM PATTERSON'S RECORD.
The Last Fight That He Made In the
Democratic Convention for Free
Coinage of Silver.
Mr. Walter Johnson sends the follow
ing for publication in the Independent.
The record is what occurred, in the
national democratic convention of 1892.
Shortly afterwards Mr. Patterson left
the democratic party and joined the
populists. Mr, Patterson would not use
the term "intrinsic value" now. A'great
deal has been learned about economic
terms since then. Mr. Johnson stys:
I take from my own note-book the
following account of Tom Patterson in
the democratic convention of 1892, as
clipped from the Chicago Record:
"After the chairman had succeeded
in partially restoring order, Mr. Patter
son said:"
"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the
Democratic Convention: There is a
matter of difference between the mem
bers of the committee on resolutions.
The difference relates to the coinage
planks hisses, and is embraced in the
use of one single word 'free.' The
speaker addressing you accepts the uni
mous amendment that is suggested by
the word. The substitute offered is the
resolution of the committee, word for
word, with the addition of the simple
word that I have suggested. I desire,
for the information of the delegates, to
read the substitute exactly as it stands."
Tom then reads the democratic plank,
in which one thief accuses another thief
of stealing. Then Tom continues:
"Gentlemen of the convention, if you
will do me the honor and kindness to
bear with me a short time, I will en
deavor to tell you why this difference
has been brought before this body of
delegates. The difference, fellow dele
gates, was fundamental. It was not a
matter of whim. It has been charged
that the free coinage men of the west
and south ought not to foist the extreme
views of bimetallists upon the demo
cratic convention. Cries of 'time, time.'
"Free discussion and a respectful hear
ing is due to every honest advocate of
an honest cause. Loud applause. And
though you may differ from me, there
are millions of people in this " country,
whom you are seeking, who do not differ
from me. and who will feel toward the
party as you conduct yourselves toward
their representatives for the short time
thev may be before you." Loud ap
plause and also cries of "time, time." A
delegate from the platform: "Go, on. go
on! That is from the gallery and not
the delgates.
Mr. Patterson: "I will go on. I will
try to speak through, though unless I be
partially heard if it takes all night.
fLoud applause. It has been charged
that the free coinage men of the west
and south came to this convention to air
what has been denominated as their ex
treme views on the coinage question.
On the contrary, they are satisfied to
receive from this body its expression of
faith as the . most pronounced opponent
of free coinage loves to assert as his be
lief. We agree that the free coinage of
silver shall consist " Cries of "time,
time, and "Uo on, do on."
Mr. McKenzie of Kentucky "Mr,
Chairman!"
Tne (jnairman "r or wnat purpose
does the gentleman from Kentucky rise?"
r Mr. McKenzie I rise for the purpose
of making a suggestion to tbe gentle
man from Colorado.
The Chairman "The gentleman from
Colorado yields to the gentleman from
Kentucky."
Mr: McKinzie "It must be evideat to
that gentlemen that in the impatient
temper of this convenoion that it is not
the time to make the address that I
know so much interest attaches to, as he
is making. I therefore suggest that the
whole matter be recommitted to the
committee on resolutions." Cries of
No! No!"
Mr. Patterson "All we have asked is
the recognition of the doctrine of free,
bimetallic coinage as a doctrine of the
democratic party; not the coinage of a
seventy cent dollar, but the coinage of
gold and silver dollars of a fixed parity
and each dollar containing metal of
equal intrinsic value. The only matter
of dispute between us and the commit
tee was whether or not the i -ocratic
eonvention would recognize the bimetal
lic coinage of dollars of equal intrinsic
value as a part of the democratic faith,
or take refuge under the same kind of
a contemptible straddle that disgraced
the republican convention at Minne
apolis" Cheers.
"Gentlemen of the convention, I recog
nize and respect your impatience. 1
have said all that was necessary to
bring before you the matter of difference.
Having done that as a representative of
the free-bimetallic coinage men of the
convention, I have done my duty, and
the responsibility now rests with you."
The Chairman "The question is on,
the adoption of the" amendment offered
by the gentleman from Colorado."
The motion was put to the convention
and declared lost
Walter Johnson.
Populism in England
Populism is making grand strides in
England. Recently more "tramways."
a3 they call them over there, have been
taken over to public ownership and
now there is an extensive movement for
the government ownership of the rail
ways. A recent cablegram says:
London, June 8. England's commer
cial travelers have inaugurated a cam
paign for the nationalization of the rail
ways of Great Britain. The companies'
recent decision to charge for excess bag
gage has excited the antagonism of
the commercial -men's fraternity, and
the annual conference of travelers' or
ganizations which has just adjourned at
Norwich has resolved to agitate for re
lief from what are denominated the ex
tortionate charges of the railways. The
travelers advocate government owner
ship and declare that they propose to
carry their grievance into the politics of
the kingdom. - ,v
' No O&nce orMn .and Jim
- What is there in a name?
I never thought there was anything
till I "ran up against the William combin
ation in Nebraska. The entire reform
movement has Williams sticking out all
over it, like protuberances. First there
is the chief of all, William J. Bryan.
Then there is Senator William V. Allen;
there are ex-Congressmen William A
McKeighan and William L, Greene;
the present congressmen vlliam L
tstark and William rseville; tnere are
Governor William A Poynter. Secretary
of State William F. Porter, and State
Superintendent William R. Jackson,
There is Judge William H. Westover,
prominent candidate for governor. There
are William A. Jones, William F. Wright,
W llham H. Ashby and V uliam H. Dech,
all mighty men in their day not to
mention Attorney General Willis D. Old
ham and State Librarian Wilbur F,
Bryant, both first cousins to all the other
Williams. What chance has a John or
a Jim or a Charlie up against a combin
ation like that? J. A. E.
THE WAGE SLAVE
The Man Who is in Danger of Want or is
Constantly in Dread of Want
is,"ot Free.
The Independent nas often in years
passed used the terms wage slaves and
serfs. It did it advisedly, for those are
the correct terms to describe hundreds
of thousands of men in the United
States. We are glad to see that so emi
nent a writer as William Dean Howels
takes the same view of the matter and
publishes a letter in the New York Jour
nal in which he takes the ground that
the poor man is a slave. Mr. Howels
savs:
What chance has the poor man today?
Has his conditions improved? Thes
are questions not hard to answer.
No man has a chance who hasn t got
a job.
The circumstances surrounding the
poor'man have improved, but the condi
tions are the same.
The conditions are no different today
than what they were in the ancient days
of white slavery in Greece and Rome.
This is indeed a beautiful a grand
country in many ways. It is rich with
the spirit of progress and invention,
rich by nature; but the poor man s con
dition is no better than it he were a
slave.
All this country has done for him has
been to give him a little more elbow
room. He has a great, beautiful country
to roam over, but he is no better off, in
fact not so well off, as the slaves of old.
We used fondly to figure the Ameri
can who earned his bread in the sweat
of his brow and voted with his party, as
a sovereign, and we invited him to re
gard himself in that light.
Really, however, without the means oi
livelihood in his own hands, but in the
the hands of another, he is scarcely the
regal shape we figured: him. The work-
ingman out of a job cam have little joy
of his vote, and if he is very poor, if he
is not making both ends meet, he can
hardly will good to others, the sovereign
act of the freeman, because he has none
to will. .
It is true that he may rebel, that -he
may renounce his employment when he
has one and does not think himself just
ly paid, but without the means of u fell
hood he has no choice except to seek
some other employment, and this choice
is scarcely freedom. He may, of course,
become a tramp, and in the loose play of
our circumstances he may not sutler
more than many others who remain
patiently at work.
But, then, it is our circumstances that
befriend him, not our conditions; these
are the same for him as the working
man's conditions everywhere. '
1 he only moment of sensible or posi
tive political sovereignty for him is that
of voting; but in that moment he parts
with his sovereignty for a term of
months or years, without respect to the
men who shall make his laws, judge
them, and execute them.
He chooses, he elects, he gives, and
the gods themselves cannot resume
their gifts," much less a poor devil who
has voted with his party and has nothing
to eat
For such a citizen of the freer state
iberty can scarcely be said to exist in
the sense that it exists for the more for
tunate. He cannot choose, he cannot
sacrifice himself for others, for he is al
ready sacrificed; he can impart no ad
vantages, for he has none, and he can
have none till he has bettered his for
tunes. He remains in the savage neces
sity of self-assertion, in the warfare
which manifests itself in strikes, riots,
mutinies, murders. The poor man
knows, if the rich man does not know,
that f.ne poorer man has always less
iberty than the richer man, just as cer
tainly as that he has less money. If he
has not the means of livelihood in his
own hands he cannot come and go when
he will; he cannot command his time; he
cannot choose the kind of work he will
do, as the richer man measurably can;
he is often enslaved to hateful and
oathsome services for, others, such as
each should do for himself. Till a man
is independent he is not free; as long as
he must look to the pleasure or the profit
of another man for his living he is not
independent His employer may not
mean to oppress him; he may be hia op
pressor very unwillingly, as when his
own adversity-obliges him to cut down
his hireling s wages, but he oppresses
him then, however unwillingly, and he
oppresses him when " he casts him off
to seek some other support, not knowing
whether he can find it or not. This fact
often comes home to the humane em
ployer, especially in the case of hire-
mgs who have served him long and
well, aad more than any other it tells
with the conscience against the whole
relation of "hireling and him that hires."
The hireling may have all those rights
which are inseparable from the old ideal
of liberty, and which we vainly suppose
are the proofs of liberty. He may have
the right to speak freely, print freely,
pray freely, vote freely; but he cannot
manifestly use his right, though war
ranted in it by the constitutions and the
statutes in all the states, if he is afraid
another man may make away with hu
means of livelihood for doing so.
It is needless to say that the personal
equasion will have much to do with the
character of the event Many perhaps
most employers are of a character so
noble and of a self respect so fine that
they would abhor to interfere with the
constitutional rights of their hirelings,
and there are hirelings so brave that
they would starve and see their wives
and little ones starve before they yielded
their rights. But slavery was none the
less an evil because there was now and
then a heroic slave. The man who is in
danger of want or even in dread of
want is not a free man, and the country
which does not guard him against this
danger and this dread, or does not as
sure him the means of livelihood, is not
a free country, though it may be the
freest of all the freer countries.
The violent unrest which we call labor
troubles is nothing more nor less than
an endeavor for the liberty which the
working classes think they see the em
ploying classes possessed of. It see ma
to be a question of more wages with
them, and primarily it is a question of
more wages, but ultimately it is a ques
tion of more power, more ease, more
freedom. It is a question of business,
of the means of livelihood, and how to
secure every man in the means of liveli
hood, and so guarantee equal freedom to
all, is the great problem for statesman
ship to solve.
Standard Oil Degeneracy
Williams College, of Williamston
Mass has certainly not received any of
the beneficent dispensations of Provi
dence from John D. Rockefeller, known
as "honest dollars." This is to be in
ferred from the remarks of Dr. Bascus.
who thus alludes to the Standard Oil ,
gang:
"I suppose that in the last thirty years
the Standard Oil company has done
more mischief in the country than all
thieves, pickpockets and burglars. They
have wrongfully transferred more money
than all these. The opinion of the Am
erican people has been altogether altered
by the doings of this company, which
has thoroughly debauched us. 1 think
Rockefeller is worse than a thief. That
word does not fit him. That he is a good
Baptist brother is the damnation of it
all. And we allow such a man to endow
a theological university 1 This man has
stripped family after family and man af
ter man of his livelihood.
Edgar Howard for Congress
Hon. Edgar Howard was nominated
for congress by the three fusion parties
in the First district and accepted the
nomination. There will be a raging hot
fight in the First and Dave Mercer will
find that kissing babies will not prove
such a successfnl card hereafter as he
has made of it in former campaigns.
The large foreign element in that dis
trict, every man of whom is an ardent
sypathizer with the Boers, opposed to
the republican policy of imperialism
and large standing armies, will not be
won over by Dave's famous tactics this
time. ' The prospects are that Howard
will be elected. There is a hard fight
ahead, but he knows how to makeJt.
i (
