t
t
i
VOL. XII.
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, MAY 2, 1901.
NO. 40;
Jms(" ji:sl-ljlj'-
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Vi
4
4 -
TKE TRADE WE BOUGHT
rai4 f soo.ooo.ooo for th rainp-
plMt 4 t TkrM HaaMlretbs of
rr Ceet f Trade
Of ail tt crazy dreams that ever en
t' the Leauii of sorkj old states
men was the dream that we were going
to ta?e an lmtBTJt trade with those
H lands in the foutfaern where the
t ar-footei Malay loved to lie la the
ade and rat banana and watch the
rock tsMitg- Trade follows the
ttg ity cried, trd on they went la
ii.e read ruth for gold and glory. The
first ax "ousting ba t- n made and our
tra with the Philippics is o small
that it tk it place ia the second
column of feir3&3. How large a per
centage of our total exports are actual
ly taken ty different groups of eoun
tri : show a at a slant by the fol
low tg tat ':
Per cent.
Great Drilila and Ireland.. ... 41.71
Ur:t-- is ro'oni and depend Vie 12.17
All Gont.nenLal Europ 34-57
All South America and Central
Africa. p!u Mexico. Cubi.
Porto Rico and a!! other Latia-
American countries 7.50
All Africa. .except British I .28
All Af'a (except British t. ia-
rlu China. Japan. te 2. S3
All Oranka lexcept British)... .73
Philippine- 1 lands 03
Total 100.00
Mark that last item as particularly
ujc.--ii'- I t!:ppiz.e exports .03 per
rent of the total. Thews percentage
were Scared on the oSlcial export sta
tistic of the ?tal year ending Jane,
! Yi. ty ils able and accurate a sta
titictan a any Hving. But you can
f-ure it for yarjrse.f. The total value
tit our Cia-.eric export for the last
t-ral jr 1 1 J was ll.370.7S3.371.
To this total the Philippine i&lands
ror-trl Voted an item of $2.523,24
(caoetly for army supplies! ; Cuba, $25.-2ZC.s-.-h:
Porto Rico, $l.2fci32; Hawaii,
ti2..'.-T-v". The j rcentasea will vary
a inT. froni tho-M for IS 59 above
quoted, but to little a to be of no coa-M-jaeac.
Tbsa Experts
Thr Is more Idiotic bragging about
oar wor.irr?al -xcess of exports. For
tli eirrt months ending with Feb
ruary, tie excess of exports of mer
chants was f il-2 24.J4. That means
ttil r.arly half a billion of goods have
rone out of the country, over and
a?ove what were paid for by goods
eorrtit.g in. To the country, therefore.
tte-e figures show a loss unless the
d;STrr-nce has been. Is now, or is to be
paid, in some way or other. It has
ret i-ea paid !n the past, for our ex
cess of exports has been almost coa
tinoous since 1S73. and foots up aa
nornou total. It is not paid with
go!4 or siiTer now. for during the same
eight months our excess of silver ex
ports wis $17.SS1.416. thus increasing
tie &srrepate of our export balance
Instead of paying any part of It; and
oar excess cf gold Imports during the
ms period was but $23.SK6&5 only
$53479 snore than enough to pay the
exported silver. Of the excessive mer
chandise exports cf the past eight
months, then, we have received back
in gold payments les thaa 14 per
crt What has become of the rest?
Chicago Public.
THAT FILE OF GOLD
llEtUU I tfe MIbS (U MillttHttd
ijiiXmr nmt ro4 Amy
It is probable that more weeklies
reach voters thaa the great dallies. If
th boiler plate furnished the repub
l:raa papers can be used to keep a
great, big lie circulatiag among the
people, ilark Hanna party leaders
think that they have made a perma
nent advancement. Why they should
keep sach a ridiculous lie going the
rounds as the statement that the gov
ernment has and owls five or six nun-,
dred millions of gold Is not apparent,
for it seems that any man of common
t'M would know that it was a He.
Perhaps the managers go upon the
plan that any man who would take
and read a republican weekly does not
have common sense. However that
may be. the republican weeklies have
articles from week to week declaring
that the United States has ia Its cof
fers nearly eco.O'0.000 gold dollars. The
Independent has called atteatioa to
this matter before and it does so again
for the reason that every republican
weekly that comes to this oSce keeps
repeating the statement- The follow
ing is the official statement sent out
from the United States treasury last
Saturday:
RESERVE FUND.
Gold cola and bullion ia
division of redemption.. $150,000,000
TRUlST FUNDS.
Held for the redemption of the notes
sad certificates for which they are
respectively pledged.
Ii vie lo a of redemption
eola $2S4.197S9
Silver dollars 425,003.000
:lver dollars of 1S:0.,
1.019.494
Silver bullion of 110 61.13306
Total , .$77153S9
Diri4c3 of iMue
Gold certificates outsfd g. .$2S4.137.9S9
Silver certificate outst'd'g. 425.003.000
Treasury eertlfi. outst'd'g. 52.159,000
Total $77159.953
GENERAL FUND.
Gold cola and buliioa...$ 6.743,046 40
Gold certificates. 28.523.4S0 00
Standard silver dollars. . 10,511,637 00
Silver certificates.. 4.71S.752 00
Silver bullion 2.157.426 2S
UfcitM Elates notes! 8.774.634 00
Treasury notes of 130.. 60.556 00
National bank cotes... ,38.123 99
traciiosai lilrer cola. 8,5SI.$77 35
Fractional currency.... 119 58
Minor coin 616,472 25
$138,429,223 85
la national baak depositories
To credit of treas. U. S..$ 91,959,430 49
To credit of disbursing
officers 6,306,291 05
, $ 98,265,721 54
Bonds and Interest paid. 2,971,327 70
Total $239,666,274 09
Less national baak 5 per
cent fund . $ 14,016,061 21
Outstanding checks and
drafts 5,858,113 95
Disbursing officers bal
ances 55,353,597 87
PostofSce department ac
count 6.044.964 03
Miscellaneous items.... 3,241,309 OS
$ 84.524,046 12
Bilance ...$155,142 227 97
The 284,000.000 of gold In the trust
fund not oaly does not belong to the
governmeat, but is as much in circula
tioa as are the 435,000.000 silver dollars
that are la circulation by means of
silver certificates. The government has
simply supplied a safety vault free of
charge to take care of the gold be
longing to bankers.
NOTES OF WARNING
Tby Com From Maay IJiflrent Quarters
Httildloff Md Lota Associations Hold
Meeting- 1b Lincoln
The building and loan associations
held a meeting In Lincoln last week to
discuss the present situation of their
societies, as McKInley's sudden infla
tion of the currency has caused them
many difficulties.
In the five-hour discussion of inter
est rates many Interesting opinions
were expressed and every phase of the
question dissected. President Bentley
called attention to a historic coinci
dence, bearing on present financial
condition. During the eighteenth cen
tury, he said, the British government
undertook to refund the public debt
at a lower rate of interest. The re
duction amounted to 2 per cent. This
cut into the incomes of thousands of
people. Immediately they sought more
lucrative Investments for their money,
and the result was the floating of
stocks and bonds of wildcat character
and an era of speculation with the in
evitable disaster. He protested against
being classed as a pessimist, yet pres
ent conditions In the United States
closely paralleled that cf Great Brit
ain In the eighteenth century. There
Is the funding of the government debt,
followed by widespread speculative
fever and unexampled inflation of se
curities. P. L. Hall, another banker,
expressed a similar line of thought.
In his opinion the present abundance
In the money market would not long
continue. A reaction from the spec
ulative mania was as certain as that
day followed night. We are loaning
money to foreign governments and
contributing means to relieve the ft
aaaclal stress ia Germany and' Ene
land. Already there are 'signs of a
tightening money market, which" in
time will make itself felt in the west
He thought It prudent for associations
to go slow and not make radical re
ductions In Interest rates.
Dr. P. L. Hall urged the associations
to simplify their business methods so
that the people at large can readily
comprehend them. "It Is no longer
necessary," he said, "to cover up a
high rate of Interest with premiums,
membership fees, etc. Premiums
should be abolished entirely, as should
membership fees. Let the rate of in
terest to be paid by the borrower be
fairly and frankly stated- Abolish en
tirely the payment of Interest on stock
Let the principle of mutuality reign
supreme and each shareholder share
in the earnings of an association ac
cording to the amount invested and
the time which it Is Invested.
-I feel at this time," continued Dr,
i Hall, "like raising a warning voice
- 1 till a i t a v, :
u Dunuiug auu iuau inn; pie ui luia
state by calling attention to the fact
that we appear to be on the eve -of
another era of expansion of values,
such as characterized the. period em
braced between the years 1887 and
1S33. And It behooves the building
and loan people of this state to guard
well their trust and not permit funds
of their associations to te loaned upon
values fixed by real estate speculators
or the gambler in futures. While as
yet in this state property values have
not risen above a normal basis, yet
with continued good crops and in
creased redundancy of money the wild
fever of speculation may suddenly
break forth. A building and loan as
sociation, construed as it is, can defy
dro?iths and panics If It is properly
protected during periods of expansion
and speculation. Carried through the
latter periods with judgment and dis
cretion an association will stand like a
rock when other financial Institutions
sink In despair."
Tie tremendous inflation of prices
on Wall etrc et last week and the reck
less dealing, oing beyond everything
known in the past has sent a shiver
through all financial institutions
There Is no possibility that some of
the inflated prices can be maintained
and interest paid on the stocks. To
pay interest on some cf these stocks
at their present Inflated values would
crash labor into the jearth and then
It could not be done." The next 'day
after these warnings were given In
Lincoln the Bee had the following:
"The scramble to get rich in a day
by capitalizing industrial ventures into
fabulous figures and speculating in
stocks and bonds secured by enter
prises listed at inflated valuations
contains dangerous seed of deception
The man who tries to lift himself over
the fence by his bootstraps is paral
leled every day by the nan who builds
up a fiction of wealth, soon to find It
an air castle vanishing into thin
space."
TRUSTS CANNOT RULE
A Population Armd With the Ballot and
Energized With the Instinct of Self
Frsservatlon Will Over-
throw Them v
The following article is by Arthur
McEwing and appeared in the Chal
lenge. The reasoning is mainly sound,
but in one part seems somewhat con
tradictory. He speaks of the "pro
letariat" and then of "a democracy
aimed with the ballot." The use of
that' word "proletariat" is not permis
sible when applied to the population
of the United States.' A proletaire is
a member of a class too poor to pay
taxes. The proletariat is the lowest
part of the lowest order. There may
be four or five hundred thousand in
the United.. States to whom the word
coiild be applied, but when that num
ber is compared with a population of
80,000,000, it is altogether too insigni
ficant to consider in relation to any
political movement. If a few writers
would drop the words "class-con
scious" and "proletariat they would
have a great many more sympathetic
readers. Mr. McEwing says: ' :
"In their present unrestraint the
trusts stand for the most forbidding
and injurious kind of socialism a so
cialism not for the public good, but for
private profit, the "communism of
pelf at which President- Cleveland
aimed his animadversion. It is ob
vious that that sort of socialism cannot
be enduring in a "democracy. A force
which has overturned thrones, put no
bility out of date, and given the race
the now rooted ideal of the govern
ment for the people instead of the
people for the government, is not to
be thwarted by aggregations of mere
men of business, who are neither
planted in the soil, nor buttressed by
tradition, nor blessed by the, church,
nor stayed by the superstition or the
ages. The trust has no crown on its
head, no order on its breast, no garter
on its leg, no venerable coat of arms
on its ccach or safe. It is new as the
telephone, and no more sacred than a
ton of coal.
"The trust itself points the way to
its conquest. By demonstrating the
power of associated effort for business
ends it is teaching the public the nec
essity for associated social effort en
forcing the need for the extension of
the domain in which society as a wnole
should supplant the individual and the
corporation.
"The trust is giving us a proletariat
as a by-product, the most significant,
important, and useful of its manutac
tures. Men do not need in this repub
lic to be reduced to grinding want in
order to become proletaires in their
political spirit. Whoever has been re
duced in circumstances and social im
portance by the trust becomes the
trust's enemy a proletaire for politi
cal purposes. The victims smart, and
fear for their children in a future
which seems to them to belong to the
trust. The trust is bringing together
classes hitherto separated in sentiment
and informing them with a common
hostility to the predatory rich. The
minor men of business, the myriads
of clerks, and all those coolies of com
merce who are privileged to wear
white shirts while earning their living,
like to possess the upper class" feel
ing and are commonly more capital
istic in their prejudices than capital
ists themselves. Their native attitude
towards manual laborers is that of the
household servants of the south to
ward the brawnier field hands. The
widening of the space between the
rich and the poor, and the steadily in
creasing difficulty of rising from the
status of an employe to that of an em
ployer, for all save the exceptionally
able or fortunate, necessarily tend to
awaken the underlings of trade to a
perception of the identity of their lot
and interest with those of the work
Ingmen.. In the professions radicalism
is already epidemic. The thousands
of young men, mostly ambitious,
turned out each, year by the universi
ties, in great part find themselves in
the situation of Danton, who made his
red mark so broadly on France. "The
revolution came," said he, "and I, and
air like me, threw themselves into it.
The ancient regime forced us to do so
by providing a good education for us
without providing an opening for our
talents." The many are taught by the
public schools to read, and the Declar
ation of Independence, with its doc
trine of equality, is a living document
to them. Against the gross inequality
in the distribution of wealth, against
the rule of federated money divorced
from any moving sense of public re
sponsibility, a rebellion is fermenting
As Taine says of France's final revolt
1n 1789, against the trust of the nobil
ity, which had lasted for a thousand
years: "It is the republican spirit
The entire middle class, artists, em
ployes, curates, physicians, attorneys.
advocates, the lettered and the jour
nalists, all-are won over to it; and
its aliment consists of the worst as
well as the worthiest passions, ambi
tlon, envy, craving for liberty, zeal for
the public welfare, and the conscious
ness of right." Though the trust is the
offspring of modern conditions, and is
doing its share in the evolution toward
a higher, civilization, there is no rea
son why the community should arti
ficially aid its undue development
feed it with tariffs and suspend civil
and criminal statutes in its favor.
That is to arm with extra horns and
tusks the fittest newcomer for War
upon-the old occupants of the habitat,
whose changing" environment Is al
ready killing them off. The prosecu
tions which end in decisions that are
evaded, and the popular rancor whose
voice swells in portentous volume, are
not to be" counted as useless. Before
the engine can move there must be
plenty of fire under the boiler. Nine
ty per cent of the coal's heat Is wasted,
to be sure, but the remaining ten per
cent makes the steam that does the
work. Along with direct assaults with
blows and arrows, futile but educat-i
ing, there is springing up out of hu
man needV a ' movement that is de
stined to break the trusts to harness, i
The celerity with which proposals have
become popular that not long ago were j
ranked as flagrantly socialistic, and
therefore deemed un-American, im
practicable and wicked, bewilders the
old-fashfoned and scares the timorous.
What were dismissed twenty or a doz
en years ago as the' vagaries of doc
trinaires or the schemes of hare
brained ' radicals, are becoming com
monplace vr in political platforms.
Classes once exempt from sympathy
with innovation and by tradition and
Instinct defenders of the sacredness
of property are now proletaires in
sentiment. They have felt the pinch.
Everywhere the masses, and in al
liance with them the superior intelli
gence that is not Insensible to the ob
ligation of public spirit, are favorable
to municipal ownership of public utili
ties street railroads, gas, plants, and
water works. v ;
"This is the road along which the
people must march to do conquering
battle with the trusts. If street rail
roads, why not. other railroads? The
nationalization of the country's high
ways must precede the subjugation of
the trusts as anti-social agencies.
While the railroads remain in private
hands, they will of commercial neces
sity confederate with the trusts, and
together Nthe two will continue to ap
propriate the power of government as
a shield -under which to exert the spoil-
ating power of monopoly.
"Socialism? Assuredly; as social
istic as the trusts themselves, with the
difference that the object is public
good, not private profit. The stream
of " modern tendency, the democratic
movement, is not to be stayed serious
ly by a fire of paper pellets. . Names
cf injurious import interfere with it
no more than appeals to conscience
and generous sentiment interfere with
the exactions of the trusts. Self-in
terest is regnant in human affairs. If
municipal ownership of public fran
chises and the nationalization of the
highways do not sufficiently check the
growth of the tumor of inordinate pri
vate fortunes, there will be further ad
vances along the socialistic road.
What is happening in overcrowded
England, where the land question has
entered practical -politics, will happen
hero. The' things which experience
teaches must, be done in order to give
opportunity to the common man, and
to preserve free "government, will be
done. And each forward step will
make the next easier. Palliative re
forms will giveaway to uprootings. The
taxing power will be exerted to remove
from the category of private property
whatever' by remaining private prop
erty harmfully affects the community.
There will always remain plenty of
things to buy and sell. The negro has
ceased to be an article of commerce,
and buccaneering has been abolished,
but capital in this day makes no com
plaint that its field is thereby distress
ingly cramped.-
. "Association of effort that is the
principle which has worked the ma
terial miracles of this century. It has
at the end of the century given us its
wealth gathering masterpiece in the
trust, and it is synchronously, but
much more slowly, evolving the polit
ical trust, the closer union of the com
munity for the attainment of common
benefits.. Until this trust overtakes the
others, we shall naturally have the
spectacle of the public welfare being
sacrificed at many points to private
welfare
"Fundamental changes do not ac
complish themselves swiftly. At best
the complex forces of conservatism, of
resistance, are so powerful that -the
community movement will proceed at
a snail's pace when measured by the
desire of those who suffer under exist
ing conditions, yet it will advance at
a gallop relatively, to the economic
revolutions of the past. The world
goes by steam now. Where there is
manhood suffrage, with as high an av
erage of prosperity as in the United
States, the changes may reasonably be
expected to accomplish themselves
Vith a minimum of heat and destruc
tive disturbance.
"This evolutionary revolution is in
evitable. For what is the alternative?
Is it thinkable that a democracy armed
with the ballot, and energized by the
instinct of self-preservation, will sink
into lethargy and accept poverty for
the mass and opulence for the few?
The trust itself is the pillar of fire
which reveals the road out of the econ
omic wilderness in which the harassed
and'eonfused'democracy for the histor
ical momentfindsitelf
POPULIST FUNDS
They Come From the Tollers, It Has no
Barrels to Tap, ao Corporations to
Milk, no Fat to Fry
That sterling and able populist pa
per, the Nebraska Independent, is mak
ing a heroic effort to raise money with
which to pay the Indebtedness incurred
by the fusion state committee during
the last campaign. It appeals to the
rank and file to raise the money by
popular subscription and its appeal is
not in vain, for although the contribu
tions are small, they seem to be com
ing from all sections and the necessary
amount will no doubt be raised. This
is a highly commendable movement
and ought to appeal to every true and
loyal populist in the sate. It Is a high
honor to belong to a party which -has
no Way of raising money except by dis
interested contribution of its members
It has no barrels to tap, no fat to fry,
no corporations to milk. Contrast the
two parties in this state. The sworn
statement of the republican state com
mittee shows that it expended the en
ormous sum of $58,000 in the state dur
ing the last campaign. The fusionists
expended about $5,000 and had to gcr in
debt for the most of that. The con
trast tells the whole story. The elec
tlon was simply bought. If you want a
corrupt regime you know where to find
Lit. York: Teller.
WASHINGTON EXCITED
The Cabas Commissioners Throw the A d
ministration Into a Panic Senator ' .
Pettigrew Still a Fighter
Washington, D. C, April 27, 1901.
The Cuban commission is here and
causing quite a stir in official circles.
The commission is being wined and
dined and flattered by all sorts of offi
cial attention.
This Is all very pleasant, but has
nothing to do with the Piatt amend
ment, which is the topic on which this
commission desires light.
The administration is following the
example of European imperialists in
trying to dazzle the representatives of
his subjects by his great hospitality
and thus make them forget that they
are -not accomplishing the object of
their visit.
Of course it is true that the admin
istration ha.s no power to change. the
action of congress. The Piatt amend
ment stands at least until congress
convenes . again.
It was pointed out in these letters
some time ago that the administration
made a point of having congress as
sume responsibility in the Cuban and
the "Philippine matterv McKinley and
his immediate advisers are shrewd. It
is so much better to make the whole
people, through their representatives
in congress, responsible than for the
administration to continue an imper
ialist policy on its own volition.
The Cuban commissioners must
have had some idea that they could
get concessions on the Piatt amend
ment or they would not have-taken
the trouble to come here. The pill is
being sugar-coated and gilded, but they
will go home realizing that it must be
swallowed. It must not be imagined
that there is indifference in adminis
tration circles over this visit. On the
cpntrary, there Is"- great excitement.
The president's forthcoming western
trip is completely thrown in the shade
by it.
.The air of excitement and bustle
about the White house and the var
ious departments would do credit to
the congressional season in its height.
The reason is this: The administra
tion is exceedingly anxious to have the
Cubans accept the Piatt amendment at
once. The hospitality to the Cuban
commission will be well Invested if
they-can be persuaded to go back and
report to their people in favor of the
Piatt amendment.
Congressman Cannon let the cat out
of the bag in an interview in Wash
ington., recently. He naively explained
that under the Piatt amendmentXht
Cubans would be given an opportunity
of showing whether or not they were
capable of limited self-government. If
not, there would be nothing left to do
except to annex the island and thus
have it right in our own hands. No
careful student of affairs has ever sup
posed that the administration meant to
keep its promise and make Cuba free.
It is merely a change of masters.
Meanwhile it is important to certain
interests to have the Piatt amendment
adopted and let things settle down so
the franchise grabbers and speculators
and carpet-baggers can get to work in
good earnest. Military rule keeps
business stagnant. It hampers the
free-booters in getting at their vic
tims. Senator Kyle has been airing his
troubles in Washington. He complains
that Senator, or rather ex-Senator Pet
tigrew is not going to stay whipped
and that in spite of Mark Hanna s per
sonally conducted campaign in South
Dakota last fall, Mr. Tettigrew is go
ing to try to defeat Senator Kyle for
re-election next fall. Kyle admits al
ready that he fears defeat. He de
serves it. He has been a traitor to the
party which gave him a place In our
national councils and he has made a
speciality of blocking every effort of
the working people to secure much
needed legislation. He has made the
industrial commission a farce. Mr.
Pettigrew will make a gallant fight
and progressive people all over the
country will hope to see him back in
the senate.
Haven't you noticed how fiat that
proclamation of Aguinaldo's fell, even
with the administration press. The lit
tle brown man apparently got scared
and did exactly what his captors asked,
but it is very much feared that his ac
tion has only : incited the rebellious
Filipinos to greater activity. It hard
ly seems fair to pass judgment on
Aguinaldo at this distance. He has
been carefully guarded and nothing is
sent out purporting to come from him
except through carefully censored ad
ministration channels. It is impossible
to know that misrepresentations may
have been made to him or whether he
is correctly reported.
,But assuming that he did turn cow
ard or was bribed into making the
proclamation urging his people to sub
mit to American sovereignty, all that
does not affect the principle underly
ing our treatment of the Filipinos. Be
cause Aguinaldo has come into camp
we are not excused from violating the
basic principles of government in at
tempting to conquer his people.
' Not a word is being said about need
ing less troops in the Philippines. The
return of the volunteers is delayed. It
is evident that the war department
has good reason to believe that Aguin
aldo is a white elephant on its hands.
Free he was a menace to us. Cap
tured he is worthless to his own peo
pie. They hunt up new leaders as did
the Cuban insurgents when fighting
Spain and the war goes on. Meanwhile
public sentiment is realizing with deep
disgust that we bought a . very thinly
plated gold brick when we took the
Philippines from Spain and that they
will never be of any commercial value
If we do conquer their Inhabitants.
He Lent a Hand
A Lincoln man whb has sharp eyes
for street scenes, was walking along O
street recently when he saw a large
dray broken down under a heavy load
of merchandise. ' One wheel had come
off and . naturally the load fell to the
pavement with a provoking twist in
the vertebra of the vehicle." The driv
er was vainly trying to lift the load
with the aid of a piece cf timber taken
from a pile where a new building was
being erected A laborer who was tak
ing his noon rest had . volunteered to
help. The combined force of the two
men was not sufficient to raise the axle
high enough to permit the wheel to be
put. on. While they, vainly labored a
strfclTli'HDf people, .hurried past, taking
no interest in the stlugsj j Final Vj: a
third man joined them. He"cxjrjietn;o
the scene another large oak plank that
was very much soiled with the mud of
the day before. He went to work with
a will and his strength was just what
had been needed. The load was lifted,
the wheel was put on and the nut
screwed again in place. A distressed
drayman was distressed no more and
drove off toward th.9 railway station.
The two assistants brushed the dust
from .their clothes ana 'hands and
moved back to the sidewalk. ' One
joined the stream of people homeward
bent, and the other sat down on a pile
of lumber to resume his noon rest.
The man : who joined the passing
throng was Dr. .E Benjamin Andrews
of the university of Nebraska.
BABIES VS. TRUSTS -
It Was Better That Even the Steel Com
bine Should Fail Than One of These
Little Ones Should Perish
In all the hells in China or any other
nation "sitting in darkness"- no infamy
can be found to exceed those which ex
ist in our own great cities. A reporter
of the Chicago American tells what
he' found at 7953 Union avenue In that
city, in the following words;
"In a bedroom" twelve by fourteen
feet, in a house which, from the out
side, gave little evidence of being In
habited at all, were twelve infants.
Two Women who said they were nurses
were in attendance. - Six tiny babies
endeavoring to take sustenance from
empty bottles, and with no other cloth
ing except a soiled blanket, were ly
ing on a bench, with neither d mattress
nor other covering, along one side of
the room. Two little 'ones were lying
on the bare floor. Another, whose face
was yellow from jaundice, and which
was thought could not live, was wheez
ing and crying feebly on a chair. - The
eldest was but eighteen months old;
three werebut six days old, and the
others were not older than six weeks."
Afterwards through , the exposure
made by printing what the newspaper
man had written, the affair got into
court where 'the facts related were es
tablished by unimpeachable testi
mony. One of these babies they had
named William McKinley, another
they named Jumbo, and still another,
which weighed less thatl three pounds,
they called Midget.
Rev. Thomas B. Gregory, in com
menting upon what the newspaper
man found, says:
"In our haste to be rich, in our life
and-death chase after the 'almighty
dollar,' we forget all about' the eternal
truth that the dearest and holiest thing
in this world is human life. The man
needs badly to be ' born again' who
does not feel away down in his heart
that the interests of any one of the
waifs in question kt 'William McKin
ley,' or of 'Jumbo, or, of the 'Midget'
are holier than those or all the 'trusts
together; and ' that it is . better that
even the billion dollar combine should
fgo under than that one of these little
ones should perish." ;
HORRORS OF INDIA -
Five Million of People JDled of Starvation
While England Spent a Thousand
Million to Kill Christian
Boers
If in Tennessee 900,000 people had
died of famine and plague; .if New
York instead of a million more had
50,000 less people than in 1891; if, al
though many sections had wholly es
caped, 5,000,000 people in the United
States had yielded up their lives in
five years because of hunger we
Would have but the parallel of the
appalling conditions in India just re
vealed by the new census.
Many of the Southern Indian pro
vinces with good crops have grown in
numbers, but the central states, which
would normally show an increase of
1,500,000, have lost 1,000,000 a total
loss of 2,500,000. . And these figures are
dwarfed by the harvest of death in
Oodeypur, where 45 per cent of the
people have perished, and in Bhopaul,
whose population is less by 808,000
than in, 1891. Even Bombay "Royal
and dower-royal, I, the Queen," so
Kipling quotes her is 50,000 less of a
city than she was ten years ago.
These results are not all ; they are
not even the worst that famine has
left. . Weakened bodies, mourning
mothers, emaciated, ghastly"conval-
escents" who will never again be well,
slaughtered buffalo that will plough no
more, ruined villages, weed-grown
fields all these are due to the years of
hunger and disease that money would
have made impossible.
Five million people have died pre
ventable deaths, twenty million more
have suffered beyond description, while
the world has made merry over fat
years, and while the government di
rectly responsible for India's ill-fare
has spent hundreds of millions how?
In making war upon another people;
in making South Africa a worse desert
than Bhopaul; in farm-burning and
deportation; in more suffering, more
anguish, more 'sorrows, .more corpses.
New; York world;
MORAL EDUCATION
The Lack of It Is Shown in Every Depart
ment ef Life It Showld be One of
the Chief Things Taught in '
1 the Schools
The Independent believes that thera
will bo a revolt against the universal
lylx.g now so prevalent. ,It has grown
to be so universal that all knowledge
is destroyed and there are no certain
and well defined truths upon which .
men can rase opinions left Deception
seems tc-oe the xtoek ia trade of stat
esmen, politicians, solilterg and, news
papers. The great reward given to
Funston for successful forgery and de
ception, he going so far as to change
the uniform of his soldiers to that of
the enemy, a thing never recognized
as permissible in war before, has giv
en standing to lying and deceit and
has the formal benediction of our .
Methodist president. Newspapers are '
becoming almost worthless, especially
so, the great metropolitan dailies. If
the craze for lying goes on, if its sanc
tion by the president and its universal
practice in the daily press is uncheck
ed, of course civilization will disap
pear. .
Whatever the cause of .this sad state
of affairs maye, it behooves all the
people o seek for a remedy. It seems
to The Independent that Chancellor
Andrews has offered the most practic
able. In the Educational Review of
New York he says:
We are on the threshold of a mo
mentous new development In this1 mat
ter. The time seems near, when our
public schools will be able to teach the
elements of morality in a positive way.
In the past they have not been allowed
to attempt this, because the simplest
moral teaching has been though to
involve dogma, and because churches.
have been afraid of one another. Pro
testants have feared that if a Catholic
teacher sought systematically to teach
her pupils self-restraint, purity, gen-
rosity, charity, truthfulness, and so
on, the lessons would reach down Into
religious-; doctrine, and some of her
pupils turn Catholics. And Catholics
have trembled lest if the Presbyterian
or the Lutheran teacher propounded
to her pupils any ethical lessons, t ow
ever rudimentary, youth brought up In
the ancient church would be In danger
of espousing such a teacher's faith.
This fear now seen to be groundless,
is on the wane and will soon disappear.
For all practical purposes morality
can be taught without dipping into re
ligion, and all sects are becoralng
aynre of this.
"In his Foundations of Belief Mr.
Balfour says: 'The two subjects on
which the professors of every creed,
theological and anti-theological, seem
least anxious to differ are the general
substance of the moral law and the
character of the sentiments with which
it should be regarded. That it is
worthy of all reverence; that it de
mands our ungrudging submission, and
that we owe "it not merely obedience,
but love: these are commonplace which
the preachers of all schools vie with
each other in proclaiming. And they
are certainly right.' To teach ordinary
morality you need not refer to or even
know any of morality's profbunder im
plications. '
"Public sentiment would sanction It
should we at once begin systematical
ly teaching such virtues as cleanliness
in speech and thought, thrift, temper
ance, fortitude, perseverance, veracity,
the rights of laws of property, publio
spirit, love of country, regard for par
ents, for the aged, for the feeble, for
the unfortunate and for brutes, and a
great variety of kindred virtues, form
ing a large part of what Is put clown
in books of practical ethics. There
are no parents who do not wish their
children schooled in these highly im
portant duties, provided the teaching
breathes a right spirit and is free from
prejudice. That kind of teaching is
quite possible. Catholics, Protestants,
Jews, unbelievers, will rejoice in it,
none fearing that it will collide with ,
religious dogma or attack church life
or fealty.
"Moral education is one of the splen
did new tasks which the school of the
20th cenury is to undertake and
achieve. A most useful-code of prac
tical morality will be propounded la
school, fastening upon children at the
very outset of their career the prin
ciples calculated to make them good
men and citizens. Then shall the
school, already influential morally in
a most praiseworthy degree, realize its
ideal a,s a social power, working limit
less and unprecedented good to society
and the state.
"Moreover, when the common vir
tues are well taught in the public
schools, when we bring before school
children In this effective way the dif
ference between the right and the
wrong in all the main particulars of
human conduct, the public schools will
make a new appeal to the patrons of
private schools. Without quarrel or
dispute it will be seen that all children
can be best educated under the same
auspices, sectwise divisions among el
ementary schools being no longer nec
essary. This reform in public school
ing is destined to bring about universal
interest and a common, undivided faith,
in it, all citizens without distinction
or creed applauding it with one voice.
"Confessedly, however, the schools
are not producing all the moral uplift
that is desirable. One admits that dis
content with schools has at this point
some justification. I myself maintain
that usual school discipline lacks in
attention to that will-training which Is
so important In the' formation of char
acter. And criticism in this respect,
as it is not without basis, is also not
without results. The rightful demand
on the part of the public that a costly
system of machinery like the public
schools shall render large and more
efficient service in shaping society's
morals is bearing fruit."
To wait for a new generation to grow
up under proper moral training is otf ;
course a slow process. But to whati
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