the Nebraska Independent
Lincoln, Nebraska
PRESSE BLDG., CORNER I3TH AND N STS
Published ISvbby Thursday
31.00 PER YEAR IN ADVANCE
Whto making1 remittances do not ' 1T
money with news agencies, postmasters, etcV
to bo forwarded by them. They frequently
forget or remit a different amount than was
left with them, and the subscriber fails to' get
proper credit. . , ; " ; "-.
Address all communications, and make all
drafts, money ers, etc., payable to
the Nebraska' Independent,
. Lincoln '. Neb. .
Anonymous communications will not be no
ticed. Sejectod manuscripts will not be re
nrned.
.. ' -
There is no $2.50 or $3.00 weekly in
the United States that prints as much
original matter every week as the Ne
braska Independent, and its subscrip
tion price is $1.00, or in blocks of five,
60 cents.
The millionaires down at New York
city say that they are going to give
Prince Henry "a royal" reception. If
one should propose to give him a re-
!-- publican reception they. would without
doubt declare that he was an anarchist.
Senator Hoar in speaking of ' the
eilfp.n and sedition laws enacted bv the
Philippine commission said: "I think
it an abominal order." Anyone who
-mm -l. 1 1 1
snouia say tnac in me rmuppines
would be subject to a fine of $2,000 and
a year's imprisonment.
' The great advance made in modern
education by the plutocrats had a de
monstration in the good old Presbyter
ian university of Princeton the other
day when the student body attended
almost en masse the performance of
the slugger, John L. Sullivan, and
cheered until they nearly raised the
roof. There is the "survival of the
fittest" for vou.
The Independent acknowledges re
ceipt of a copy of the extra number of
the American Federationist containing
George H. Shibley's "Majority rule in
combination with representative gov
ernment." It is an able document and
deserves a careful study by those in
terested in better government. (10
cents. American Federation of Labor,
423-5 G st, N. W., Washington, D. C.)
' America seems to be the Mecca for
royalties. Prince Henry is coming
and quickly following him will be
Queen Margherita of Italy and the
heir apparent to the Japanese throne.
If the taxpayers have to pay the ex
penses of all these visiting royalties
as Is the fashion in Europe, it will oe
Quite a little burden. Royal person3
are paupers of the most expensive
variety.
Roosevelt is a civil service reformer,
but no president ever made . such a
series of absolutely disreputable ap
pointments as he has made from the
6tate of Nebraska. There has not
been one man of character and stand
ing among them and most of them
are so "tough" that half of the re
publicans of the state are protesting
against the public demoralization that
has resulted from it.
The editor of the St. Paul Phonograph-Press
makes excuses for the.
editor of The Independent because the
latter does not "date as far back" as
the days of Burrows and Powers. Th
editor of The Independent feels flat
tered. He was fighting in the ranks
of reform long before Burrows or Pow
ers ever attempted to organize the Al
liance. As a historian of the populist
party the editor of the Phonograph
Press is not a howling success.
Hon. J. D. Botkin of Kansas states
the question right when he says: "The
people's party was organized a dozen
years ago as a protest against exist
ing conditions, as an educator of the
people on public questions, and for
the purpose of restoring the govern
ment to the people from which it has
been wrested by organized capital."
That is just what . it was organized
! for. and it will never disorganize until
it has accomplished the , purpose that
brought it into existence.
The changed attitude of the radical
tariff grafters on the ways and means
committee of the house of represen
tatives in regard to reciprocity with
Cuba is generally attributed by the
plutocratic editors to the fact that
"they have heard from the country."
Nothing more silly could have been
said on the subject. They were called
to the White house and "heard some
thing there. That is the reason they
changed. When the facts in regard to
the passage of the Piatt amendmnt and
its acceptance by the Cuban constitu
tional convention were ? laid before
them they concluded that they had
better all shut up, and they did. That
agreement is in writing and it would
play smash with the republican party
he did not announce the' fact that Gen- j them
A GRAVE ERROR
It la a very grave error to say that
the populist ; party was organized to
fight both the "democratic and repub
lican parties. : If it had no higher mis
sion than that it ought to have died
long ago or never have, come into ex
istence at all. It was organized to fight
certain "policies and principles" that
were at the time . advocated ; by both
the old parties. Besides that the
founders of the party never dreamed Of
putting it in the position of simply an
obstructive force. It was to be a crea
tive, force. It promulgated a new line
of advancement for the industrial pop
ulation. Itv was - willing then and is
now, to ' do anything that will aid in
advancing the interests Of the great
common, people. A populist , cares no
more for a party or a party name, ex
cept as he may use them to advance
his principles, than he does for the
Akoon of Swatt. The first years of the
agitation, , populist speakers devoted
half their time to ridiculing moss
back partisanship and the worship of
parties They pointed out that while
there were two great parties, both or
ganizations were working for the same
thing and would give us the same kind
of government. Whether we had dem
ocrats or republicans in power, we
had high tariffs, national bank money
and opposition to the silver dollar, so
what was there in a name? Now there
seem to be a few populists who are
doing what Henry Ward Beecher ac
cused the Methodists of doing. He
said that they believed in falling from
grace and always practiced what they
believed. These men seem to think
that there is something sacred abotit
the name "people's party" and some
thing damnable and corrupting about
the names of the other two parties.
But the men who have been in the
fight from the beginning don't care a
rap what you call this thing that they
advocated Let it be called Jeffersonlan
democracy, Bryan democracy, indus
trial democracy, Lincoln republican
ism, state socialism, municipal social
ism or anything else that suits their
different fancies; what populists want
is the thing itself, they care nothing
for the party name through which it is
secured.
On the other hand, the populists
know the value of organization. They
have perfected an organization in the
states which has been the work of
years and cost immense sacrifices.
That organization is devoted to the ad
vancement 'of certain principles, some
of which the Bryan democracy advo
cate and some it does not. The pop
ulists do not believe in issuing any
kind of money, that has to have a re
deemer. They think that the swapping
of two kinds of dollars, one for the
other, 'if both are of the same pur
chasing power, a waste of time, and
that the making of two kind of dol
lars, one of which is of greater pur
chasing power than the other, is a
crime. The populists believe in the
government ownership of public util
ities and think that "governmental
control" is a farce and a fraud. Bryan
has not yet forced the democracy ful
ly up to these two planks of the pop
ulist platform, but his following is
animated by the same earnest desire
to get a government by the people,
for the people and by the people, In
stead of a government by combina
tions of capital, as are the populists.
The editor has received hundreds of
letters from Bryan democrats breath
ing as fervent a desire for good gov
ernment as were ever written by pop
ulists. These sort of democrats are
numbered by the hundred thousand.
The points of difference between the
populists and Bryan democrats are
few, though some think that they are
vital, while the points of agreement are
many. Every populist indorses the
Kansas City platform, but he advo
cates other things which are not in
corporated in. that, platform. If thers
were ever two political organizations
that could honorably co-operate, the
populists and Bryan democrats can.
As to the Dave Hill reorganizers, such
a party would not get one populist
vote. .
ABOLISH THEM
The position of the populist party in
regard to the industrial situation is
precisely that of the political econ
omists at the beginning of last century.
The king had been in the habit of
granting special privileges to court
favorites, creating monopolies and be
stowing them upon others for politi
cal or other reasons. That is exact
ly what has been going on In the
United States for the last thirty years.
Special privileges are granted by law
to bankers, railroads, telegraph com
panies, telephone companies, street
railways, water companies, lighting
companies in fact, the special privil
eges granted by our rulers exceed in
number and in value by a hundred
fold all that were ever granted by
kings. The revolt against the grant
ing of those special privileges which
was Incited by the works of the politi
cal economists at the beginning of the
last 1 century, enabled the world to
make an advance such as was never
made before. Now the old evils have
returned in .a new form and against
them the populist party and the Bry
an democrats array themselves. They
fight for the same ; principles that wa.s
umph again. . Special privileges have
created the modern fortunes and with
out them they never would, have ex
isted. Populists took for their motto
in the very beginning: "Special priv
ileges for none," and when an econ
omic system is provided where they
do not exist, every evil of .which we
complain will disappear. ' .
NOT FAR AWAY
Wherever the millionaires are the
thickest there vice, crime-and pauper
ism abounds. Some of it is of such
unspeakable character that a" decent
man does not like to think about it.
New York is the home of the mil
lionaires and there but words can
not describe .the woe, want and mis
ery. In the address to the public of
one of the great philanthropic institu
tions of the city there occurs this
passage:
It is a sad and humiliating ad
mission to make, at the opening
of the twentieth century, in one
of the greatest centers , of civili
zation in the world, that in num
erous instances it is not passion
or corrupt inclination, but the
force of actual physical want that
impels young women along the
road to ruin.
That state of things exists in a so
ciety that conferred on Vahderbilt spe
cial privileges which enabled him to
accumulate $200,000,000 in one short
lifetime, but it cannot provide work
honest, hard work for young women,
and they must seek a life of shame or
starve. That statement is signed by
some of the best men in New York city
and is not the ravings of a wild-eyed
populist. The millionaires have had
conferred upon the special privileges,
more in number and a hundred times
greater in value than all the kings and
monarchs of the earth ever gave io
their favorites, but it cannot bestow
upon the young women of the city tlie
poor boon of an opportunity to work.
The inhabitants of the cities of the
United States had better look out, for
hades is not half a mile away from
such conditions as that.
REPUBLICAN "ARGUHF.NTS"
The editor of The Independent has
received a letter from a lady asking
him to kindly give a summary of the
answers that are made by the repub
licans to the principles proclaimed by
the populist party and Bryan dem
ocracy and the arguments by which
they sustain their principles. The re
publicans have long since ceased to try
to maintain their policies by argu
ments. Here in Nebraska they public
ly and positively refuse to undertake
to do any such thing. They will not.
under any circumstances,' enter into a
joint debate. A summary of their re
plies when attacked in private is about
as follows: "Anarchy," "Socialism,"
"You want to ruin the country," "Ruin
credit," "Drive away capital," "Pub
lic confiscation," "We want sound
money," "You are lunatics," and logic
of that sort. It is very convincing to
a mullet head and when he hears such
phrases he is completely satisfied.
That settles the matter for him and
all his kind.
This writer has listened carefully
to many republican speeches and ho
has noticed that the things that please
a republican crowd and which they
cheer are all of that kind. Sometimes
during the last campaign' a venture
some republican spell-binder would
try to make an argument oh the money
question. Never one yet talked ten
minutes on that subject without con
tradicting himself half a dozen times.
The most common of such contradic
tions was the demand that they made
for dear money and high prices.
They never stopped to think that ii
money was so dear that a dollar would
buy ten bushels of corn, as it frequent
ly has done here in Nebraska, that
corn must be cheap and prices low.
The best summary of republican argu
ment that any man can give is con
tained in the phrases quoted above.
The last effort made by the republi
can party in this state was to put a
Bartley embezzler on the board of re
gents of the state university. That
was in accordance with the eternal
fitness of things. The ethics of repub
licanism as represented by Oxnard
and Chemist Wylle requires that the
true doctrines be taught: in our uni
versities. Who could see that it was
done better than one of the recipients
of Bartley's "philanthropy," as Tim
Sedgwick calls it.
Whether there is a censorship in
the Philippines or not, there is certain
ly one at Washington presided over
by one Madden, and he has a sub
censor in every town where there is a
postoffice. When any one of these re
publican postmasters takes a notion
that some weekly is dangerous to the
rule of plutocracy, he Just' refuses " to
admit the paper to the mails and the
publisher has to put a stamp on ev
ery paper or quit business. That was
what was done to the Pawnee Chief,
one of the reform weeklies in this
state. There is no trial,; the accused
has no'chance to present witnesses or
to be represented by counsel. An au
tocratic order is issued and that ends
it. There are : thousands of mullet
heads, like Mr. Shifaly ot Indiana,: who
deny that there is such acthing asim-
"XO.-'l'W '.. TJ. 0 ......
WHAT ECONOMISTS AtI I V
.i The Independent has been teiiirig its
readers fori four or five years that for
eign nations would certainly: retaliate
with high tariffs against this country.
The other day the German parliament
passed a law giving the authorities the
powr to levy a tariff against any coun
try eduai to that of jthe country fronj
which the - goods ' came. ; The Dihgley
law uts5 a duty on bacon and hams of
5 cents a pound; on cattle it is 27 W per
cent advalorem, and on butter it is -6
cents a pound. These duties are so
effective ; that foreign imports ate
practically nil. If the German protec
tionists copy -these American dutiesT
which do their .work so thoroughly, it
must be taken as a compliment. The
Germans cannot be blamed for follow
ing: where the Americans have led the
way.' -Nor can Americans who have al
ways claimed the right to make their
own tariffs and have paid no attention
to the remonstrances of foreign prp1
ducers deny to Germans the right tb
make their tariffs to please themselves.
That being ttfe case, where will the
meat trust find a market for its sur
plus? The industrial depression; in
Germany is ; very , severe. One writer
says that "it resembles the 'financial
crisis in the United States in 1857."
It seems, however, that . the "finan
ciers" have learned nothing from the
experiences of the past.1 They still de
clare that the cause of the soup houses
and ragged and starved thousands' i?
"overproduction." In other - words,
Germany- has produced so much cloth f
ing that-people must go naked. This
state of - affairs was all foretold by
the European economists in 1893. Ev
ery one of them, but particularly
Emile de Laveieye, said that if no in
crease iri the volume of money in Eu
rope was; permitted that there would
be a business depression of the .moat
serious character, and that the people,
not. understanding ; the cause or it
would resort to protective tariffs as a
means of relief. What the economists
said has come true in every parties
ular. . - ' '' : ' -x
The enormous increase in the volume
of money, in- circulation in the United
States has produced a measure of
prosperity here, and the very slight in
crease in Europe caused by the unex
pected and enormous output of goid
has mitigated the severity Of the de
pression over there. Had it not been
for that the governments of Europe
would have beert in the throes of civil
discord ;and perhaps revolution today.
In the United States there has not only
been ansincrease in gold and, silver
money,, as: reported by the director ot
the mint? .but an enormous increase in
paper money and credits. That has
given usi the whip hand in the game
of grab. in Europe there has been
no increase in paper money and a de
crease.. in credits. Those , facts fuily
account for the difference In the busi
ness situation. In Europe there is dis
tress, . in the United. States business
goes forward; There are certain econ
omic laws that are, as persistent in
their operation as is the law of gravi
tation. One of them is that the' ex
pansion of the volume of money .in
circulation results in prosperity, and a
contraction results . in misery. : ; These
laws have all. been stated by every
economist of . authority in the whole
world. While these well established
principles were denied and .ridiculed
by the republican leaders, as soon t
they were in power they began to coin
mOre. silver than was ever coined be
fore and v to enormously inflate the
paper currency.
An old populist friend writes: "You
must become discouraged sometimes.
I should think that, such a constant
battle as you wage would take all the
happiness out of life." Our friend is
greatly mistaken. The only true hap
piness comes from constant and ag
gressive fighting for the right. Wealth
does not give it. Power does not glye
it- Position - does not give it. The
more and the harder one fights against
wrong the happier he is.
; THE WEEKLY PRESS
The candid,: ; honest and . , fearless
weekly press is being recognized as
never: before. -; Perhaps that is tha
reason: that plutocracy, represented by
Madden in the postoffice department,
is determined to stop the increase in
their" circulation if ; it is possible.
There are a' few weekly papers that
have refused ; to be - bought either , with
hard cash it or advertising contracts.
They have had - a terrible battle to
fight a battle that Involved their very
existence, but they have fought .it, as
best they could. The great dallies,
nearly every one . of . which are -in the
service,-, either openly ; or covertly, , cf
the party of xomm6rcial greed and im
perialism, have ceased to, discuss fun
damental principles,; trying to keep
the populace amused with reports. Of
scandals, crimes and accidents. . have j
left an op6n' field 'for periodicals edl- !
ted rupon the plan of the New York
Tribune? when Horace Greeley con
trolled it. -s '; '.
The editor of The Independent has
received numerous letters during the
last- few weeks from eminent men;
professors -in universities, r lawyers I
ministers and busy business men, in
which there ' has. ben a pronounced
lose from that "hold "as long as Hiavegt5yqV 4,At&$P&A BaB JWLUa. combl
nation with
furnished . by the dallies. Many of
them v use.;- almost ' exactly the same
language in expressing their views.
They say that they cannot waste time
in trying to read the dailies, and taey
declare, that It is a waste of time, so
they have confined their reading to a
few, weeklies, where the news of the
world; such t as intelligent men are
interested: in, is condensed and put
in a readable form, while the editorials
discuss something different from ward
bosses and political chances of var
ious politicians.
"Prof. Vanderlip in a recent article
says: v. '
; "Of course the daily newspaper
must be read, but I believe the less
time there is put upon it, and the
iriore time there is left for better
prepared writing, the greater will
be the; gain. One can keep abreast
, of ; current events much more ac
curately if he gives comparatively
little time to the daily paper and
; a great deal of time to the week
ly, review.' Such journals handle
current affairs with dignity, keen
judgment," and much greater ac
curacy than is to be found in the
hurriedly prepared articles of the
. average daily."
This is exactly in line with the cor
respondence that has come to The In
dependent. If the increase in the sub
scription lists of other weekly papers
advocating r reforms and defying plu
tocracy bear any comparison to those
of The Independent, plutocracy, will
have to invent some new way of keep
ing the people in ignorance or its
reign will come to a hasty and inglor
ious end. Madden thinks he has in
vented the way. We shall have to wait
to see, whether it will prove effective.
" Another plan that will perhaps prove
more , efficacious than the one adopted
by Madden is td make up weeklies by
dumping into them some columns thai
appear in the daily. The cost being
only the press work and paper, they
can be sent out at an astonishingly
low rate. If a small portion ot. the
subsidy be used they can be sent for
nothing. These publications are worse
than the dailies, for the man who does
the dumping (it is ridiculous to call
him the editor of the weekly) can as
semble in these sheets the very worst
of the stuff that appears in the daily,
and that is what he generally does.
The west has been flooded with such
stuff during the last four or five
years.
MR. CRtJMPACKKR, ATTENTION
t The republicsm caucus of the house
has been holding sessions to devise
some way to cut down the represen
tation in the southern states, on the
alleged ground that a portion of the
negro voters of that section have been
disfranchised. Mr. Crumpacker Vwould
do .well to include in his plans the
state of Kansas also. There has been
a more extended disfranchisement of
voters in that state than in any other
in the union. The republican legis
lature did the deed when they passed
the anti-fusion election law. It rend
ers -utterly hopeless and helpless the
largest number Of voters of any law
eVer passed since voting began. It
was intended to put the government
of the state, into the hands of a mi
nority and to keep it there. It is the
foulest act ever committed by an Am
erican or any other legislative bo Jy.
It . has no parallel in the act of any
southern state for it practically dis
franchises every man in the state,
white or . black, who is opposed to the
republican' party. What good does It
do to a democrat or populist to go to
the polls and vote when . he knows
that on account of this law he cannot
make ., his vote effective in the elec
tion of any candidate? Of all the in
famies that the republican party has
committed' there is none that exceeds
the disfranchi!3ement of the majority
of voters in the whole state of Kansas.
Stealing the presidency was no worse
than that. .
The editor of the St. Paul Phonograph-Press,
a democratic paper, un
dertakes to teach The Independent the
fundamental principles of the populist
party. ' "It is astonishingly strange,"
says this new-fledged oracle, "that the
paper which is ordinarily regarded a
the state organ of populism so lightly
treats the very bedrock of populism,
namely public morality." And this
marvelling is because The Independent
maintained that the Douglas county
grand jury had no ground whatever
for indicting Meserve. Some people
are so constituted that whenever the
finger of suspiicion (s pointed at auy
one. no matter how unjustly, they con
ceive.itto be their duty to convict the
person immediately without a scintil
la of evidence, ' and then prate about
public morality and morality general
ly and attempt to create the impres
sion that they themselves constitute a
standard f ors the whole world to meas
ure iip to.,
: The Phonograph-Prass has not aT
word to say for the four years of con
stant, unceasing attention to business
which Mr. Meserve served the state;
for the reforms -inaugurated by him
and the board whereby state warrants
rose ; from a discount to par and a
premium; ? for the reduction in he
state's floating debt; for the entire
wiping out of the state's bonded debt;
for the large investments , secured for
the permanent. funds; for turning over
to his successor every penny chargea- j out,
It
political action of as corrupt a grand
jury as ever was called together, as
gospel truth and immediately coii
victs Mr. Meserve and feels astonished
that every populist paper in the stato
does not follow its lead.
PUNISHED BEFORE DEATH .
J. D. ' Rockefeller has ; brought ruin
to hundreds of families. There are
old ladies in the old oil regionss.of
Pennsylvania widows of , men onco
wealthy to whom John D. Rockefel
ler brought ruin and destitution by
criminal acts that would have sent him
to prison in any other country in tho
world. These old ladies live on the
plainest fare, they economize . every
lump of coal that they burn, they save
every crumb that falls from the sliso
of bread, but they have a clear con-;
science and trust in their God tht"
God of the widow and the fatherless.
The man who did this, the multimil
lionaire Rockefeller, although " he is
flattered by r the ministers of pluto
cratic churches, begins to receive his
punishment already. The widows ho
has made may have poor fare, but it
Is not as poor as that upon which he
is compelled to live. He spends; hi3
days in misery and his nights - in
sleepless restlessness. The diet pre-;
scribed for him is crackers and diluted,
milk. The famous criminal, although
he counts his wealth by the hundred
millions, is compelled by a Nemesis
that has followed him to live oh more
miserable fare than the poorest woman
whom he has robbed , and made a
widow in the Pennsylvania oil regions.
All the preachers on earth and all the
gifts that Rockefeller can make of his
stolen wealth, cannot prevent the pun
ishment that will follow him whiU)
he lives and for the eternal ages to
come. vvxssvNJi ""'. ,.:''.--:' w
JOB LOT OF ISLANDS "
Another job lot of islands, those be
longing to Denmark and Sweden, ly
ing south of Cuba, have been bought
by the authorities at Washington for
$5,000,000. The government at Wash
ington has gone into the absolute trade
of buying men, women and children as
well as the land they live on, without
the consent either of the people of tlio
United Stages who have to pay the bill
or the people who are bought and sold
like sheep in the shambles. There is
a great change in the republican party
since the days of Grant. When he
proposed to buy a small Island in 'the
West Indies fo.r a naval station the
whole party revolted and he had' to
give it up. In these latter days the
republican leaders bought 10,000,000
Filipinos at $2 per head. They have
proved to be. tlie, most costly purchase
ever made in the slave market. Now
they have bought another lot which
may be as refractory and expensive as
the first.
If the people of those islands want
to be annexed to the United States
and will so express themselves, and if
they are to be received on an equality
with our present citizenship, become
a territory with a delegate in con
gress and self-government at hom?,
The Independent will make no objoc
tion. But to the extending of our
colonial empire" it does object.
Such a policy changes our whole
system oi government, it sows ina
seeds of the dissolution of this repub
lie. It cannot, and all history bears
evidence to the fact that it cannot, cn
dure half a free republic and half a
colonial empire. Rome tried Jt
Greece tried it. We all know the re
sult. England tried it in this country
and it cost her nearly her existence
She is now trying it in South Africa
Spain tried it and nearly disappeared
from the map herself. England's ah
solutely independent and self-govern
ing colonies like Canada, New Zea
land and Australia are an entirely dif
ferent thing from this policy that our
government is inaugurating. It is
the 'policy of England In India and
South Africa. It means the destruc
tion of this government and the prin
ciples upon which it was founded.
Edward Everett Hale seems to have
the same opinion of the vain, glorious
boasting indulged in by the imperial
istic American that The Independent
has so often expressed. In a recent
lecture Dr. Hale told hi3 audience that
the people of Switzerland, consider
ing their fewness of numbers and the
hard environment which they were
situated, had really much more to
boast of in government, equal rights
and even in economic production than
the United States. But it Is natural
for - bloated plutocrats to boast and
there is no way to stop them.
When the farmers of Colorado com
plained of exorbitant freight rates and
killing discrimination against their
products, the puffed-up managers re
plied: "This is a free country. If
you think that the rates are too high,
no one is trying to compel you to ship
your products." Now the railroad
managers say that if they are com
pelled to pay the same rate of taxes
that the farmer and other owners of
property pay, they will be ruined, and
the farmers should make reply to
them: "This is a free country. If you
don't like the system ! of taxation la
this state, take your railroads and get
No one is compelling , you t to
it LIBRARY CENSORSHIP
The inslduous degeneration that
doctrines of imperialism have wo:
in men's minds shows in a thou
directions. It crops out every
and in the most unexpected pl.t
The action of the gentlemen conn
iilg Lllc jikiauo. jjuuiiK, nuiai; in
lishing a censorship over the rca
matter of a community is one of
latest instances. It seems that
one proposed to donate some L
on Christian science and the boari
dignahtly 'refused them. In def
of that action the Bee says:
The library board has rep .
from individuals and societies L.
on promoting agnosticism, soei
ism, prohibition and various isr
or religious tenets, and so long
it treats all alike, without fav
.. or discrimination, they have i
v; right to complain."
sorn, of the .arguments made in
last' iatmpaign by the republican s;
binders on the money question. "T
all alike," when the action of the ho
was ' to : decide that they would
treat all alike. There are quite a n
zens,' : too-who are prohibition;
agnosticssQcialists or Christian s- :
tists,j and they pay their shar
taiCAR tnwarH tYi& aunnnH of t h o ri
. . t v - r r , -
library. But this board censors out
works bearing the subjects in w -they
are particularly interested. H
water calls that treating all a!
While The Independent has no
for any of those' fads, it cannot .
yuiuiiug uui mat piuiocracy inn
to censor the public libraries as
as' the press. Some busy newsp
man may want to examine som.
those, subjects, or some masa.
writer may Jte preparing an essay
qneof them and he will find that ;
iuuav;uaa Dam LllUL uc suuuiu
investigate them. A public lit :
censored in any department is '
nigh a useless institution and
community might as well abolish i
w. "1 . THE 8AME STATEMENT
A tax on land would be an r.
- just and iniquitous system of t
ation, but a tax on land vain
would be the, most just and bl?
system that the . world has c
known. TOm L. Johnson.
By 'a tax on land" as distingui
from a "tax on .land values."
Jbhnsoii doubtless means a unit"
tax on 'a given area. ' It seems to
Independent that under the pr
system whatever tax is levied ac i
land is assessed according to the
ation of the land; but taxes are !
ijqt only against land yalues, but
"against values of other property,
body contends that the burdens of
ation are borne with anything
uniformity, but what puzzles Th.
dependent is to know why all
values except those on land si
not be taxed. : .,
The factors which enter into th
culation are so various that The !
pendent cannot see how It won;
possible to tax simply the value v
land Itself without also taxing at :
a part of the value which result
rectly from some act of the own
improving the land. Suppose !n
case of swamp lands that the o.
has put in a thorough dralnag?
tem and changed them from an
productive, unhealthful swamp
tile, crop-producing lands. ;
mueh5 of their value ought to be 1 1
How much i3 "land" value an i
much is .Improvement value?
deducting from their present
the cost of the improvement's; 'r
the residue as "land" value?
The Independent is willing t
convinced but it hasn't been y- -
ANTI-TKUST BILL
Congressman Shallenberger's t
trust bill mentioned in our Was:
ton correspondence In another cor
is doubtless carefully drawn a: '
enacted into law and enforced tr
fullest extent possible, would ha
good effect- But haven't we been
ulating" the railroads for a good r-.
years? Haven't we at present
legislation looking toward the a
tion of discriminations In fr
rates? Haven't we an Interstate
merce commission looking after t":
discriminations?
Undoubtedly if Congressman
lenberger's bill will prevent di r
ination in freight rates, it will -long
way toward solving the ir.
trial combinations problem; but
railroads are operated and own? !
private corporations seeking to '
ther their own Interests rather
to serve the public. Can discrin '
tion be absolutely prevented
private ownership of the roads?
Independent does not believe th
can. Nothing but puonc owners.'
the railroads will ever do it.
All the republican e-itors say
Dryden was elected senator from
Jersey over such eminent men as
Attorney General Griggs and ot.
because he was very wealthy. W
they get that far they stop. Why
they not tell the whole thing and
that the senatorship in New Jersey
put up for sale by the legislature .
sold to , the highest bidder just
offices : were sold in ancient Rome
o icpuuinu x-aiiiypiuvTtnis. country does not keep check with I secures - the!fi0mlnation ' will be the
r i a. T m . a m .