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About The Nebraska independent. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1896-1902 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 1902)
Lincoln, Nebraska. Onr An Great Muslin Underwear Sale Began Thursday, February 20, and will Continue for Ten Days. This department is so well and favorably known for the quality of its goods that we feel it unnecessary to go into elaborate details. We carrk only first-class stock and mention only a few of the articles. Our stocy is complete, and includes a greater variety than we have ever offered , j Mail Orders Promptly Filled. State Bust Measure for Gowns and Corset Covers, and Length for Skirts or Drawers, and Age for Children Ladies Corset Covers, plain fitted styles, pearl buttons, sizes 32 to Qn 42, each Oil Ladies' Gowns, tucked yoke1?, V and high necks, lace edged, ruf- QKfi fle trimmed, each OJu Ladies' Drawers, tucked umbrella ruffles, edged with embroidery, -OQft full sizes, per pair L.OXJ Ladies' Full French Corset Covers, V neck front and back, embroi dery trimmed, and many other OKn styles, each Jb Ladies' Cambric and Muslin draw ers, hemstitched and tucked umbrella ruffles, extra values, OEn each tub Ladies' Gowns.yoke trimmed with four rows of embroidery insert ing, hemstitched effects, lace trimmed, V, square, and high neck styles, best values, great Efn variety of styles, each at. ....... JUu Ladies' Corset Covers, the largest assortment we have ever shown at any sale, 50 different num bers, each at. 50c Ladies' Drawers, handsome em broidery, ruffle trimmed, lace and inserting trimmed, umbrel la ruffles, dainty hemstitched ef fects in muslin or cambric, prices, per pair, from $5.00 down to . 50C Ladies' Corset Covers, full French styles, entire front of Val lace . inseriings,with Val lace trimmed neck and sleeves, embroidery trimmed full entire front, diag onal hemstitched tucked fronts, Exquisite styles in short or full lengths, ranging in prices from 56.00 down to Ladies' long Chemise, in numerous styles, from $1.00 down to Ladies Skirts, long or short styles, best values, in plain or neatly trimmed effects, each. at. , Special values in embroidered C I fft trimmed Skirts at 82.50 and..$ I iUU Ladies' High Grade Gowns, C I 0 DD French styles.all prices up tow 1 UiUU 50C 50C 50c Ladies' summer Gownsfopen fronts and chemise styles, puff elbow and full length sleeves, plain hemstitched effects, also dainty embroidery and lace-trimmed, made of tine long cloth, Nain sook, and Cambric, ranging in - prices at 3. $1.25. $,1.15, 97c and . . Ladies' full length Skirts, up to 44 inches long, handsome lace trimmed, too many styles to de- 89C power. ' With knowledge will come the use of this power. Ignorance if not a crime is the parent of all crime. When a Vander bilt can make fiat dollars by the fifty millions as fast as a steam press can print them, it is not strange he can leave 200,000,000 for his heirs. It is certain this can be done only by fiat. Since our daily bread does not re main from generation to generation, but is the result of someone's daily toil and is consumed day Dy day with out increase. 1NITIUM. scribe, deep flounces, insert I T ilfl J u.uu ing trimmed, from 2.50 up to Children's, Drawers, made of Ma sonville cotton, clusters of tucks, extension side bands, six worked button holes, per pair upwards , from ...... ,v. IOC 5C IOC IOC 2C Embroidery and Laces 500 pieces of machine torchon lace with inserting to match 15c val ues, at per yard Pt. 'de Paris laces in sets of ex quisite designs, per yard, from 50c down to Near Real or German Val. laces, white or real coiors, in full sets, beautiful trimmings on Swiss or dainty dresses, per yard, from 65c down to French or English laces, in great variety, at per yard, upwards from AH the latest styles in laces are carried by us. Irish White Cro chet all over laces, with bands, galloons and laces to match, in exquisite sets; beautiful laces in motive effects; Pt. Venice, Pt. Arab, Novelty Duchess, Batiste and imitation Batiste, filet ef fects, applique laces, shown in all the late colors. Books and Stationery All kinds of books, magazines, period icals etc. School supplies, writing paper, etc. Buttericks patterns and publications. We are sole agents for Lincoln. Cloak and Suit Department We are closing out all our Ladies' 1 vttit- Jackets at..... 2 V ! All our $15.00 to $20.00 Raglans at 2 OJb lv Melton cloth skirts in Oxford gray, 5 gores CO flfl 4 inch tailor stitching at. , t?-iUU Ladies' wool homespun skirt, in medium light gray, lined throughout, 2 $Q Q"7 rows satin stitching flounce effect, in all lengths up to 13 inches at. . .tZiU I Satin waists, lined throughout, in red, blue, brown, or castor, tucked front 09 flfl and back, satin tucked collar, at tpOiUU Taffeta silk waists, QQ flfl lined throughout iUiUU Baby Carriages and Gocarts We show this season a line of carriages and go-carts in all the newest and best styles. We guarantee every one in style, workmanship and price. Write us about them. We can save you money. Carriage No. 514, full sized, braided willow bed, upholstered in figured cloth, nice parasol, CQ 07 with rubber tires at $4.97; with plain wheels, at $UiU I Carriage No. 42, a high grade style, large and roomy, yet very light run ning, very pretty and durable, upholstered with plush rolls, double ruf-07 Kfl fle, satin parasol, rubber tire, patent axle wheels. Worth $10.00 for $ I iUU Go-cart No. 642, with fancy willow English roll, braided body, and is 7 cn the swellest and most up-to-date cart in the market, at . I iUU Go-cart No. 652, fancy oak body, strong and serviceable, very pretty, enam eled gear foot brake, rubber tire wheels, reclining bed, which (! Q7 makes it the same as a carriage, at, only . .$fau Parasols including rod and fixtures and upholstery cushions, for go-carts m at each from ?1.50 to , U I C Embroidery Embroideries will be in -great de mand; for trimming 1902 sum mer gowns. We are in a posi tion to supply every want. Beautiful embroidered ribbon bands, galloons and applique ef fects, in white, cream, ecru or black, per yard upwards from $1.50 down to. Beadings, in plain or fancy styles of Nainsook, Swiss or cambric, per yard from 50c down to ..... . Swiss Flounces, 10 to 27 inches deep, in the new solid embroid ery effects, with insertings and bands to match, per yard from $1.75 down to....... , 20C IOC 35C All-over embroidery, 45 inches wide, suitable for fine waists, OQ Kfl at per yard, 5.50,34.00 and. 0 did U New effects in all-over tuckings, for entire waists. 4 yard factory strips of embroid ery pieces of cambric edges, per piece , 4 yard pieces of Nainsook edges, per piece.... , 25c 50c Mai O rders to Yunca black silks are absolutely guar anteed.!" Sold only at this store. : ' '- . tncoln AH HONEST DOLLAR "Ialtlum" Takei a Fall Out of the Gold Standard A Philosophical Discourse on Various Units The honest dollar unit, what is it? A unit which remains the same today, yesterday and forever like all our other honest units of measures for ex change. The yard unit is a determined three feet of any meridian or of any imaginary line of length. Since all material things have the quality of length, this immaterial unit may be represented by any and every ma terial or any three feet of empty space. When I was a lad my father was a manufacturer of cotton cloth. In his counting room he had two upright posts, from each of which projected a sharp steel spindle placed exactly three feet apart. One end of the bolt of cloth was put upon one spindle and the cloth was moved back and forth from spindle to spindle. The imma terial three feet measured each yard and their county determined the num ber of yards the bolt of cloth con tained. The cloth was the only ma terial that represented and expressed the immaterial determined three feet. The . pound unit is a determined 16 ounces of the earth's material gravity. Since all things have weight, any and every material may express this im material unit. It is only necessary that it express the 16 ounces no more and no less. The bushel unit is a de termined 32 quarts of the earth's bulk in space. The unit can be expressed by , any material that surrounds and contains 32 quarts of empty space, the Immaterial unit. It would be absurd to call the material chip of the bushel . basket the bushel unit for that would be saying the chips which surround the empty space are the empty space. If our fingers were deft enough to pile up exactly 32 quarts of flat turnips we should need no basket. The unit of number is an imma terial one and representation by any and all material things, since each is one. . It seems evident all these units of measure are immaterial. The units are the soul. The materials that ex press them, the body. All the ma terial can do is to express in the ma terial measured lor exchange its sin gle unit. The count, the measuring, is a mental process since all units of measure for exchange have their birth, . use and home in the brain. It seems evident no material, from the nature of .things, can be a unit of measure. The body is not the soul. When "the soul goes out the body is dead. You cannot put a yard stick, pounl weight, qT) candy cathartic,. JDnctMs. Genuine stamped C C C Never sold In bulk. ( Beware of the dealer who tries to sell "something just $ iood." bushel basket, gold dollar, or a ma terial figure one into your brain. The material is the clothing put on the immaterial unit for our inconvenience and for accuracy. No one ever saw gold or any- other material used for a unit of measure. No one can imagine how it can be so used. A farmer's wife takes 50 dozen eggs to the store for exchange. She finds they are ten cents per dozen, or five dollars. She exchanges them for 40 yards of factory at five cents por yard, 20 pounds sugar at 5 cents per pound, 10 pounds coffee at 10 cents per pound, and 2 bushels of potatoes at 50 cents per bushel in all five dol lars. The quantity of the cloth is de termined by the yard unit. The quan tity of coffee and sugar by the pound unit. The quantity of potatoes by tha bushel unit. And the quantity of egfrrs by the unit of number. By what dollar unit are the material eggs exchanged for the merchant's material cloth, sugar, coffee and po tatoes? It cannot be gold, for no gold is used. They are exchanged by the price unit. Price of eggs, 10 cents per dozen. Price of cloth, 5 cents per yard. Price of sugar, 5 cents per pound, and so on. The material eggs expressing five dollar price units, are exchanged unit for unit for the merchant's five dollar units expressed by his goods, material for material, by the imma terial dollar price unit. It is not pos sible to exchange in any other manner. Suppose she had exchanged her eggs for a $5 gold piece. She would ex change her material eggs for material gold by the old immaterial price unit and then exchange her material gold, expressing five dollar price units, for the merchant's material goods equally expressing five dollar price units. There is no other, way of exchanging material for material except by the immaterial unit. Our wise solons in congress may continue to declare until doomsday that 25.8 grains of material gold is and shall remain the dollar unit of measure. From the nature of things they cannot use gold or any other material for a unit. They do not now so use it. They never did so use it. They never 'can so use it. .It is the impossible. Forever they, use the immaterial price unit. What is the price unit? The imaginary fiat dollar price of a few grains of gold. All things have the qualities of length, weight, bulk and number. These quali ties are not created by flat. They are continuously stored in products by time or labor. Who ever saw price written by nature on shrub, tree, or soul of man? There is no such entity or thing as price.. It is a will-o'-th-wisp, now here, now there and never anywhere.- It is a coinage of a devil'3 brain, a legal fiction expressed legally only by a few grains of material gold. If the earth would perish all true units would remain. . If gold should disap pear we would lose . our dollar unit. Constantly changing In all materials except gold, It makes all exchange a gamble and all men gamblers. If there was such an entity as price it could not measure the quality of time or labor stored. It could measure Its own quality of price and no other qual ity. , true units are determined immaterial parts of the quality they measure. No quality of product can be other wise measured than by its own unit. You cannot measure the quality of length by a pound weight or a bushel basket. It must be measured by its own immaterial unit of length and can be not otherwise measured. All things created are composed of the qualities of length, weight and bulk, and their sum makes the product. None of these qualities or the product itself are created by fiat. They are contin uous creations -and the sum of the qualities is product, or continuous time or labor stored. Time is but an other name for the earth's labor. One day its labor in making one revolu tion on its axis. One year its continu ous labor by which it journeys once around the sun. All product is con tinuous time or labor stored. It can only be measured by a determined im material part of itself, just as its qualities are by a determined imma terial part of the quality. Since all the qualities whose sum is product do have exact unvarying units of measure, it is a mathematical con clusion that product, the sum, must equally have an exact unvarying unit of measure created precisely as these are. If all the terms of the first part of an equation can be divided by two it is certain their sum, the other part of the equation can equally be divided by two, as 4 plus 6 equals 10. The imaginary price unit can only meas ure price. Falsehood is a parasite that cannot lift its head unless it has some real thing to climb. This fiat price unit, which has no real existence in the heavens above or the earth beneath or the waters under the earth, tied only to real gold, having gold its only legal representative, makes gold ' at fixed dollar price the arbiter of fate, king over the kings and emperors or men, the God of the world usurping the throne of the invisible in which here and now all the operations of the invisible life are carried on. It seems evident we can have no dollar unit in use until we rid our selves of fiat dollars and substitute the honest dollar unit for the dishon est fiat price unit. It seems evident this honest dollar unit must be a de termined immaterial part, of time or labor stored. Just as we can only measure quality stored by an Imma terial part of the quality. It can be proved by unquestionable history .that there was a time when this exact unit was used. This unit was five parts of time or continuous labor and was expressed by either 300 grains of sil ver or 30 grains of gold at the most ancient known ratio of 10 to 1, be cause it required five parts of time or labor to procure 300 grains of silver or 30 grains of gold. Since men are governed by names, they retain the dollar name and call the fiat price of the materials which express the real dollar unit, the dollar. The material became the fiat dollar and was made by law to command in exchange for itself at fixed dollar price any and all other materials at changeable price. The material gold and silver being a flat, unchangeable dollar and the only tender of the law of legal tender, all the price of labor or its product, labor stored": ' Two metals were essential to preserve any semblance of equilibrium of price. With but one metal and that hoarded there was no possible es cape for the poor devil labor from de struction. With the labor destroyed can the hoarder live on his gold? He cannot eat the food his ancestors created and must live on the fruits of present daily toil. With the laborer destroyed he must drop his gold and work if he would live. With all his hoarding nature has so ordered that he can use but one man's share. The tramp who gets his three meals, com fortable clothing and a good bed has the same. With the honest dollar unit expressed by any and all mater ials there would be no hoarding of dol lars. None thinks of hoarding yard sticks, pounds, weights, bushel bask ets or figure ones. The products of labor are limited by capacity of pro duction. Fiat picture dollars can be indefinitely multiplied in stocks, bonds, paper dollars, etc. As Vander bilt increased his stock of the New York Central $50,000,000 without add ing a tie or a rail to the railroad. These stocks drew interest and are payable in gold. When the interest on these fiat paper units outruns the capacity of production they lose their value. The people whose capacity of production is exhausted by interest are ruined and perish like the Romans, compelling barbarians to create a new civilization on similar lines. For the edicts and rescripts of th? worst tyrants of Rome codified by Justinian still largely rule. It would be absurd for our wise solons in con gress to enact by statutes that no lit tle girl could be taught to do the simplest sum In her head or work it out on her slate unless she brought a yellow or russet colored hog or his hired picture to school to cipher with. A white hog would be impious. Such a law would be less absurd than our law enacting that 25.8 grains of gold i and shall remain at dollar price the unit of value. The hog would repre sent the .unit one and the little girl might learn to cipher independent cf the hog. . The dollar of the gold, man represents nothing and hogs all. Theirs is an impossible attempt to create something , out of. nothing. Its object and purpose is to forever trans fer f rom-. labor's something in ex change for their . fiat nothing Our money system is organized robbery, materialized in. statutes sanctioned by law. The i details of this system of robbery can be exposed in so plain and so complete a manner that the ordinary school boy can see how It is done.. 'V ' 1 When Americans see the absurdity and iniquity of our present money sys tem they will banish it either, with the hughest guffaws or with a consuming wrath from the forum of politics, from the arena of the world. It seems use: less l to fight, monopolies, combines, trusts and leave the parent, this gold devil trust ruling. He will spawn new ones faster ' than we can scotch the old.. My countrymen, it remains for us to decide whether we will continue slaves of his gold' trust "or make our monev our servant. The money trust Postal Savings Banks Anent the recent wrecking of the City Savings bank of Detroit, the Omaha Bee says: "It apears pertinent to remark in connection with this circumstance that nothing of the kind would be likely to happen in the case of a postal saving3 bank, but if such a government Insti tution should be robbed, which of course would be possible, the deposi tors would not suffer. Every person who had a deposit in the bank would be certain to get it on demand. This is the strong point in favor of the proposition to establish postal sav ings banks, that the money of deposi tors would be under any ana all clr cumstances absolutely secure. This is the consideration -of chief import ance to the people who put their sav ings in the savings banks, the ques tion of interest on their deposits being of minor consequences. It is these people who ought to be strongly in favor of postal savings banks and such incidents ' as that at ' Detroit should have the effect to increase popular sentiment favorable to banks in con nection with the postal service." This is not a sudden conversion on the part of the Bee. Rose water has been pounding away on that line for years, yet he persistently trains with a party that is the bitterest opponent of such avowed "paternalism." THE REVENUE LAW Comment Upon the Nebraska Revenue Law Suggestions as to Another Plan Discussion Invited At every session of the legislature some enterprising member, a first termer usually, introduces a bill Cor an act to correct the evils of our pres ent revenue system. The bill Invar iably gets lost somewhere before it reaches the governor for his approval, and the people t Nebraska are obliged to peg along somehow with the old law. Credit is due the different legisla tures for refusing to adopt a new rev enue law until it has been thoroughly discussed not only in that body, but by the people generally in the campaign preceding the election ' of the mem bers of the legislature. Hasty and ill-considered legislation is always to be deplored. Beyond a doubt the administration of our present revenue law causes In equalities. The burdens of taxation are not evenly distributed. Some property bears more than its share, some bears much less than its share, and some escapes altogether. But where is the fault? Is it in some mat ter of detail in the law, or a funda mental defect? Or is it simply in the administration of the law? - The general provisions of our rev enue law were enacted in 1879. Let us examine into the method of fixing the valuation of property and see what, if any, defects seem apparent there: The first provision is that "all personal property, except as herein otherwise directed, shall be valued its fair cash value. Every credit for a certain sum, payable either in mon ey or 'labor, shall be valued at a fair cash value for the sum so payable; f for any article of property, or for la bor, or service of any kind, it shall be valued at' the current price of such property, labor, or service. Annui ties and royalties shall be valued at their then present total value. Eash tract or lot of real property shall b? valued at its fair value, estimated at the price it would bring at a voluntary sale thereof, where public notice had been given, and a payment of one third cash and the balance secured by a mortgage upon the property. Lease hold estates, including leases of school and other lands of the state, shall be valued at such a price as they would bring at a fair voluntary sale for cash. Where a building or struc ture owned by a lessee is located on land leased from another, the same shall be valued at such a price'as such building or structure would sell at a fair voluntary sale for cash." Could much improvement be made in these general provisions? About the only apparently unfair clause is that providing for the valuation of real property, which, under the provi sion can be valued higher than the price it would bring at a sale, either voluntary or involuntary, for cash ddwn. "Its fair cash value" is the rule laid down generally for assess ing property. What better could you ask? How much stronger could you make it? "Air personal property ... shall be valued at its 'fair cash value." Seemingly as plain as words could make it but how can-this value he ascertained? We have seen that even in the case of exchange; the estimates of the parties to the exchange differ. Who is to be the arbiter? WhoJs to say what the "fair cash value is? Under the law the assessor does thi, subject to the review of the county board, and also to the interference of the owner of the property. : Without having in view the acquiring by ex change, how can the assessor ascer tain the "fair cash value" of the prop erty he assesses? Is ' it to be the amount of money he will give for the property? Is it to be the amount of money some other person or persons will give, and if so, whom? Is It to ba the amount of money the assessor would be willing to . give if he were able to buy? s Under the circumstances it is un avoidable that ; the assessor's valua tion should at best be nothing more than an estimate of what the property lit Id U pi f3 p 1 ILL DR.F.L.OEARLESt SPECIALIST. ! CURED III 5 DAYS TO STAY CURED. NO CUTTING OR PAIN "We want every man afflicted with VARIOOCET.T BLOOD POISONNG, NERVOUS DEBILITY or allieJ troubles to oorae to our office, where we will explain to hies our method of curing these diseases. We is The la partly ular all men who hve become dissatisfied with treatment elsewhere. We will explain to you why you bare not bet oared, and will demonstrate to your entire satisfaction wh; we can cure you safely, quickly and permanently. Ouir counsel will 00s t you nothing, and our charges for a perfeoS cure will be reasonable and sot more than you will bo willing to pay for benefits conferred. Us CERTAINTY OF CURE. Is wkat you want. ' We give a written LEGAL GUARANTEE to cure you. TVe can and will cite yon by permission when satisfied that Information is desired by sincere people, to ewes that we have eured to stay mred which have been abandoned by family physicians and so-called experts. What we hare done for others we can do for you. If you cannot oau. write us a full and truthful statement of your ermptoms. One personal Tislt is preferred, but if it la impossible for you to call at our office write us a descrip tion of your case as you understand It. plainly stating your symptoms, your general physical condition, your ccoupatlon, etc., and you will receive In plain enrelopo a scientific and honest opinion of your case free of chargo. Treatment by mall a (specialty. Call on or address with stamp. Box Kti. HO? CCADI CC 9. ?CADI CQ Wain Office; Rooms 217 220 Richard Block LINCOLN, NEORASKA. ket, and the nearer home, he is th? better will ; be ' his estimate of such value. There he is acquainted with all the circumstances. He may have similar property. He knows the var ious obstacles standing in the way of exchange. , But it must 1 not be lost sight of for a moment that there is no such thing . as accuracy in making the valuation it is simply an estimate the very best that can be done. Th? assessor cannot render his labors any easier of accomplishment by carrying with him ' 25.8 grains of gold nine tenths fine the measure of value (save the mark) and making a physical ap plication of it to each object he as sesses. And were a dozen men-from the same - locality . to each place a valuation on the same property, with out knowledge of what the others had done, there would probably be a dozen different valuations. - And this leads us to the next ques tion: Who is best fitted to estimate the value of property? Undoubtedly, other things being equal, the man who lives: in the vicinity of the property. The township or precinct assessor ha? better means of knowing the value of property in his township or precinct, than any state officer or state board of "equalization" no matter how wise the officer or board may be. This remark. of course, applies to tangible property and not to intangibles such as rail road franchises and the like. sold for in the markets (approximati'. such value as nearly as could he doiv without an actual sale and transf of all the property) would permit t! county board, if it desired to levy th full limit allowed by law, to raise taxation a much larger sum than !j necessary to maintain county go ernment In its present state of ef ficiency. There is always the dan that the board might do such a thin And the people guard against such . contingency by keeping'the assess valuation down to the lowest possttv notch. In the more thinly populate ; counties the valuations are higher a cording to the real worth of the prOi erty, because county government mu be maintained and the full limit levi each year. Yet the valuations for pur poses of taxation made by the varitv; counties for county government at used as the basis upon which sta taxes are levied. And herein lies th injustice. . The suggestion that the powers of the state board of equalization be en larged so that it may raise or lower valuations, although intended in good faith to correct flagrant abuses in the administration , of our , revenue laws,; Is nevertheless fraught with danger. That is not only . too much power to place in the hands of a few men1. vnt it, la nlsn MrnfirvHner a. .few men to place a better estimate 01 inc value of . property-they have probably never seen, than is done by the as sessors themselves in actual view of the property. This is absurd on the face of it. The suggestion of Senator Dietrich that a steer in Box Butte county is just as valuable a oneMn Johnson, is a good illustration of what the board of equalization might do if its powers were enlarged., The assessor in . Box Butte county . can make a better estimate on the value of all the steers in his precinct than can Senator Dietrich or anybody else who is not acquainted in that locality. The same is true of Johnson county. Assuming that the steers were of the same weight and quality, it does not follow that they are of the same value. Locality cuts considerable . figure In estimating values. Put both steers to gether In Johnson county and they would doubtless be equally valuable, and this might be true if both were iu Box Butte. But no man can sit In Washington or Lincoln and make an estimate on the value of property he does not see and do it as well as tho man on the ground. This brings us to the question of di vorcing taxation for county purposes from taxation for maintenance of state government. The real reason why the burdens of taxation are not borna equally by the different portions of the state, in proportion to the amount and value of the property in these differ ent portions lies In the fact that both state and county taxes are levied upon the same valuation. The way o obviate the difficulty is to adopt a rad ically different system. Mere tinker ing with our present law ' without changing it fundamentally will do' no good. , The present law is about as good of its kind as the average legisla ture ever enacts. There may be. some minor defects that could be remedied; but no approach to equalization can he attained until the levie;3 for state and for county purposes are separated: Unless a law is backed up by pub lic sentiment it cannot be enforced( This is especially true where the com mand allows neither - discretion or the exercise of some other mental quaH ity. The command . to value personal property at its, "fair cash value" gives considerable latitude ; to the assessor. He estimates this. And his . estimate might differ widely from the estimate of someone else. And .necessity plays an important vpart in the result. , ;-.v-l y'-"Yr : r . ;.u--':," The county .board is the levying or taxing power.' . It has also the power of appropriatihg ' and ' spending the revenues raised;. for-Tcounty; govern ment. Within- certain limits as ,to r,ate the board Is autocratic and the law of self-interest causes the people to keep downthe assessed valuation to that point where by the levy eveu of . the maximum rate the board may not raise much In excess of the amount needed to maintain county - govern ment. The incentive to -extravagance afforded by an, overflowing treasury is always great and the people instinct ively seek to protect .themselves as best they may. In the older and more thickly populated counties, 1 of Ne- j braska a " valuation placed l upon the ! Were.it not for our present system of taxation for state purposes, would make no difference to the peopi of Johnson county how high or ho., low a steer would be assessed In Box Butte county. It . would make no dtf ference to the land owners of Bo-, Butte county if the assessors of John son county should return $50 land ' $5 an acre while they were taked rv the basis of $3 an acre on $9 land, long as neither county was ashed : contribute 5 mills on the dollar of a sessed valuation toward maintainir state government. As it now stani the respective contributions towar i state government stand in the rat: 5:3' when the ratio should be 50.0 a manifest injustice-to the Box Bur. land owner. How can these levies be separate'" The most rational method seems to-' to reserve for the purpose of taxati. to maintain state government the. properties which might be called lnte; county. That Is to say, the railroad telegraphs, telephones, express cou panies, palace cars, etc., or such pror erty the valuation of which is no -estimated by the state board of equ:i: ization and certified to the varion counties. Let these be taxed only i the state, and let all other propen v be taxed only for local purposes ar. contribute nothing toward state go ernment. In the year 1898 the railroads wr assessed on a valuation a little os -$26,000,000. The total taxes lei-i against them in all the counties, for In car and state purposes, amounted t $1,111,603.45. The total taxes ievi. ' that year for all purposes amounted t something-'tfver seven million doMnr During that year the state treasu: received approximately $1,250,000 a taxes from the several counties whi-: went into the four funds: Genera! sinking, temporary school and tempo rary university. Accordingly, it v.-n be seen that if the state were pr mitted to tax these corporations for it maintenance and the counties were :il lowed to tax all other property ther In solely for local purposes, the situa tion would not, in the matter of dol lars and cents, be materially dlfferen from what it was that year, excen that the valuation In any county mlgn be high or low without causing any other county an Injustice. The railroads in 1898 reported tin', their 5,542.47 miles of road in tl state had cost In bonds, stocks art other evidences of Indebtedness. t?i sum of $253,771,665. but the theu boar ! of transportation estimated from flv ures furnished by the Rock island an 1 Elkhorn roads that the entire system- might be duplicated for about mil lion dollars. On their own statement of cost the roads paid taxes on a val uation of but little over one-tenth cf that cost. Their net earnings that year were, nearly eleven million dol lars, out of which, of course, had to re paid taxes, interest and other fixe I hare-Ps before dividends could be - clared. Whether this suggested division f the property to be taxed would stan-1 the test of constitutionality, or wheth er an amendment to the constltuliu -would be necessary. The Independent r Is hot fully prepared to say at tn' time.- Correspondence is invuea ' the subject. Let us discuss the matter. V Is It C J. Smyth? In order to win in our state cam paign., W9 need something more thai: platforms. We need men and th right kind of men. Our candidate fa-governor-.-' must - be a man whom th people, know; cannot be controlled by the corporations. Speaking frankly, we know: it to be a truth that one of the arguments used-against a very deserving man Is that, his nomination for the . office of governor would in- , vite the hottest kindof opposition from the corporations of, this state. To my mind, that very fact should b an argument -in favor of the nomina- t tlnn of such a man. Metealfe's ad- Mi ' " ' ' mi 11 ii at fin MBMp.iJMMV"