THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT.
July 24, 1902.
tb e Dtbraska Independent
El n col n, tltbraska.
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Th9 Ticket
For Governor.......W. H. Thompson
(Democrat, Hall County.)
Lieut. Governor B. A. Gilbert
(Populist, York County.)
Secretary of State John Powers
(Porulist, Hitchcock County.)
Auditor C. Q. De France
(Populist, Jefferson County.)
Treasurer J. N. Lyman
(Populist, Adams County.)
Attorney General ..J. H. Broady
(Democrat, Lancaster County.)
Commissioner Public Lands and
JBuHdlngs . J. C. Brennan
(Democrat, Douglas County.)
Supt. of Schools... Claude Smith
(Populist, Dawson County.)
The Roosevelt "vim" when applied
to attacking trusts seems to be very
much attenuated.
The youngsters in politics think
that they know it all, but no man can
play politics like sixty until he is
three score.
One reason why the sugar trust has
to charge so much for sugar is that the
cost of securing the necessary sena
torial assistance is enormous.
The mayor of Minneapolis fled, the
alderman who by that action was
mayor, ex-officia, went to Maine and a
reporter by the name of Tom Brown
is said to be in charge of the 'city.
Has any one noticed any talk In the
imperialist . dailies about "attacking
the army" lately? A short time ago
the republicans said that, they would
win the coming campaign on that Issue."
Any populist or democrat who backs
Up that infamous gang of moral and
political; pirates, of which Steve Elk
ins is the head and Dietrich the tail,
had better go way back and sit down
for about ten years. . .
The $20,000,000 paid for the Philip
pines included a job lot of priests and
now the brilliant statesmen who made
that deal are offering the pope several
i ik. j,v ii.
juiiuuua lu Ltxtvt; cuts saiu juu iui ui
priests off their hands.
The transport Kilpatrick wh!ch
sailed for Manila the other day car
ried 4,000 coffins in which dead sol
diers are to be brought home. The
imperialist looks upon that shipment
as only adding to "our trade with our
colonies."
The Cobden club has published its
final figures on the cost of the Boer
war. It is $1,100,000,000. But a small
part of it has been paid and the re
mainder will rest as an incubus upon
the labor of England for generations
to come. Such is Imperialism.
The hopes of the railroad corpora
tions of this state are all centered in
"our man Mickey." If he can only
be pulled through and carry with him
their other two friends, Prout and
Weston, they feel that they will be
perfectly safe from paying their share
of taxes. . -r
So many of the republican officials
of the city of Minneapolis have been
indicted and jailed or fled that the
papers announce that the city Is prac
tically without a government. The
Independent has often thought that
no government would be better than
the kind that the republicans furnish
and that seems to be the case with
Minneapolis. ,
; A working man slipped through the
guards established by the Union Pa
cific around its shops at Cheyenne
and was talking to the men imported
to take the place of the strikers. He
was , arrested ' by order of the court
for "intimidating non-union men."
Vote the railroad ticket and vote er
straight. Scabs must not be intimi
dated by being talked to.
Among the" severest "attacks on the
army" yet made public were those of
Root and Roosevelt when they official
ly declared that "in the recent cam
paign, ordered by General Smith, the
shooting of the native bearers by the
orders of Major Waller was an act
which suited the American name."
This attack which charges that army
officers "have sullied the American
name" is about the most severe that
has yet been made.
NOTHING TO ARBITRATE
The strike of the miners against
the anthracite coal trust is now In its
third month. It extends over the whol?
anthracite region. .The quiet . of a
cemetery brood3 over an immense re
gion of country and an Industry is
eliminated upon which , the comfort
and even the life of hundreds of thou
sands depends. The coal trust still
says that it has "nothing to arbitrate."
This condition can be endured during
the hot months, but the winter ap
proaches. The miners met In a na
tional convention " the other day and
issued a document that will commend
itself as strong and statesmanlike ai
anything published in recent years.
The bituminous miners will keep at
work and carefully fulfill every detail
of the contract that they made with
the operators. Meanwhile they will
contribute liberally to their starving
brethren who are on strike In Penn
sylvania. The coal trust makes no attempt to
open its mines and absolutely refuses
to arbitrate its differences with the
miners. The Independent can tell
these arrogant coal barons one thing.
It the miners continue ' to hold out
until cold weather and the trust makes
no attempt to open its mines, tliEt
road leads straight to revolution. Tho
American public, stolid and indifferent
as the majority seem to be to everjr
economic question, will not long en
dure a situation like that. Furnaces
and stoves all over the 'United States
have been constructed to use anthra
cite coal. In some places its use is
compelled by law. If this arrogant
trust refuses to mine coal and furnish
the Inhabitants of the United States
with it, a way will be found to get the
coal. There is power enough in the
government of the United States to do
that thing and it will be done.
EVOLUTION IN TAX REFORM
It must not be supposed that Ne
braska is alone this year in making
a campaign for tax reform. Down in
Kansas they are right in the thick of
as interesting a fight as was ever
witnessed; and over in Iowa the ques
tion is equally alive. Neither must it
be supposed that the fight in Nebras
ka is simply and solely an effort to
make the railroad companies pay a few
thousand dollars additional taxps.
Back of it all is a deeper significance.
The fight is really for tax reform all
along the line. It Is a protest against
tax-shirking in all Its phases, and
the meanest of all is a tariff on im
ports "crooked taxation," as Shear
man calls it.
Whether "for revenue only," as the
democrats ask, or for "protection,"
as the republicans urge, the tariff in
the crookedest, most unjust, most ex
pensive to collect of all taxes. Its
only redeeming feature is that it is
easy to collect it produces the "most
feathers with the least squawking."
The man with property worth $100,-
000,000 receives 100 times the benefit
of government that the man with one
million receives; and 100,000 times as
much as the possessor of $1,000 worth
of property and should pay taxes ac
cordingly. Under a just and equitable
system of taxation the milionaire
should pay taxes 1,000 times the taxes
paid by the thousandalre.
Suppose the tax is on coffee: it is
physically impossible for the million
aire to use 1,000 times as much coffee
as his poor neighbor, and he escapes
taxation, because the tax is wrong in
principle.
Inasmuch as all taxes must be paid
out of the Income of the taxpayer, Ic
follows that an income tax is theor
etically the fairest which could be
levied. The stock objection to it is
that it is inquisitorial that the tax
ing power must go nosing around in
private matters too much. But when
we stop to consider the customs house
practices,, where women even are
obliged to disrobe in the presence of
customs house officials (women, of
course), the inquisitorial objection
falls to the ground as between the
two systems.
The struggle In every state to com
pel the railroads and other public ser
vice corporations to pay their share of
state, county and municipal taxes is
developing public sentiment in favor
of public ownership faster than many
suppose. The discussions and law
suits make prominent the fact that the
franchises of these corporations are
commercially valuable; that they were
given to the corporations by the peo
ple; that the corporations have capi
talized them and are selling them cn
the market; and worse, that the cor
porations are taxing the people to pay
dividends upon stock issued to repre
sent these franchises. Just as fast is
the people learn' that they are taxed
to pay dividends upon the franchises
they- gave to the corporations, they
naturally inquire, Why did we give
them this valuable thing? Why
shouldn't we retain, it ourselves?
The discussions and law suits are
rnjaking prominent the fact that no
franchise can be commercially valua
ble without extortionate and exorbit
ant rates for , services performed by
the corporation to which it was given.
If rates were fair, there would be no
franchise to tax it would not be val
uable. : : -. ,- '
Right here let us emphasize the Im
portance of a clear understanding Z
the meaning of the . term "value." A
franchise is useful, indispensible. A
railroad could not be built without it
It could not be operated without it.
Suppose a railroad company expen da
$100,000 In building and equipping it3
road, and that its net earnings, after
making allowance for deprecation of
the plant, pay a fair return (the cur
rent rate of interest) upon $100,000. In
that case the franchise has no value,
although Indispensible. The total phy
sical property Is worth $100,000 ; tho
franchise, nothing.
But suppose the corporation Issues
$100,000 In bonds and another hun
dred thousand in stock, and that rates
sufficiently high are charged to pay
the current rate of interest on both
bonds and stocks, that is to say, oa
$200,000. The physical property is
worth only half that sum. The fran
chise has become valuable as well ai
being useful and indispensible. . It
was made valuable by exorbitant rates
for freight and passengers. t
The taxation of franchises is but a
step in the evolution. Not many
years ago, if the Illustration used
above had been presented to the aver
age man, he would have said, "Why,
they have 'watered' the stock $100,
000." But today it is well understood
that where a railroad's stocks and
bonds sell at par in the markets, it is
not over.-capitalized, not "watered."
Instead, it has capitalized against a
valuable franchise. Of course, it is
simply an evolution in terminology,
but it means much. "Water" is not
a subject for' taxation; a valuable
franchise is.
A vague protest against "watered"
stock has evolved into a demand for
the taxation of valuable franchises.
The next step will be to demand that
the public buy the tangible property,
take back the franchise, and operate
the two publicly for the public benefit.
RAMPAGIOUS CANADA STEERS
This government has to keep a cor
don of revenue detectives all along
the line between 'Canada and the
United States from Maine to Puget
Sound. It is all on account of the
tariff. On the north line of Montana
the revenue officers are having so
much trouble that they are proposing
to build a five-wire fence along the
whole line. The same steer, the mo
ment he steps over the line from Cana
da into the United States, is worth 27
per cent more than he was. That Is
all on account of the tariff also.' The
Canadian steers seem to be well ac
quainted with the fact and they are
continually rushing over the line as
soon as they are fit for market. The
revenue officers say that there is no
way of making ihe Canadian steers
behave except to build a good, strong
barbed wire fence. It is to be hoped
that if the fence is built that the wire
will .be bought over in Canada, for the
steel trust wire can be bought 20 per
cent cheaper over there than on this
side of the line. One thing is cer
tain, these Canadian steers must be
taught to obey the tariff laws or "the
cattle raising industry in the United
States will be ruined." The Canadian,
steer must be conquered. It will never
do to let him ruin the American farm
ers. If barbed wire will do it, then
let us have the barbed wire.
EARNINGS AND TAXES.
Railway traffic is enormous, and
railway earnings are surpassing
even the records of 1891. The
companies are encouraged by this
state of things to plan improve
ments of extraordinary magni
tude, involving expenditures which
in themselves promise to be a
powerful factor in the employment
of labor and the support of gen
eral prosperity. Des Moines Reg
ister. Evidently the Register hasn't had
any recent communications with the
Nebraska railroad tax Bureau. "Rail
way earnings are surpassing the rec
ords of 1891," but here in Nebraska
the railway assessment is cut down
$2,676,325, notwithstanding the mile
age increased 285 miles in the eleven
years. And doubtless these "improve
ments of extraordinary magnitude"
will be charged against "operating ex
pehses," so that future tax bureaus
can show that the Kankakee & Koko
mo pays upmty-umpsteen per cent of
its "net earnings" In taxes.
The iniquity of the supreme court
in defeating the income tax is enough
of itself alone to damn it forever. To
do it the judges had to reverse the
decisions of a hundred years made by
the greatest and purest judges that
ever sat on the bench. By that deci
sion the multi-millionaires who forced
imperialism, with all its cost of blood
and treasure upon this government, es
cape paying the bill. Nothing in all
history is more infamous.
Prout and Weston are both con
vinced that extravagant salaries to
railroad officials and enormous and
needless expenditure in equipment is
proof positive that the railroads
should not be taxed at the same rate
on the value of their property that
farmers are taxed, so they rally all the
big railroad attorneys to appear "as
friends of the court" to persuade the
judges that the railroads are so op
pressed with "extra corporate fran
chises" that their property must not
be assessed as other property is.
'THE PRICK LEVEL
The theory that money as well as
products respond to the laws of supply
and demand is now well settled. Even
republican politicians, who six years
ago absolutely denied It, now, tacitly
admit its soundness. The theory is
simplicity Itself: Any given desirable
thing is more easily procured (and,
consequently, cheaper) as the number
of its kind increases. No difficulty
was ever experienced in understanding
this when applied to wheat or corn,
but republican, politicians purposely
befogged the issue when speaking of
money. Even the "dullest could com
prehend that a heavy wheat crop or
corn crop means cheaper wheat or
corn. And it ought not to be difficult
to understand that a heavy crop of
money . means cheaper money. Of
course, the question of demand enters
into the calculation, but the supply is
of prime importance. If everybody
should quit eating wheat bread and go
to. eating corn, it would be possible
that a light! wheat crop would com
mand, but little or no price, and that
the heaviest corn crop would sell at
a high figure. But everybody will not
quit eating wheat and a good demand
can always be counted on, so that for
all practical purposes dear wheat or
cheap wheat depends first upon the
supply of wheat. , The price of wheat
(that is, its value expressed in terms
if money) will also depend upon the
supply of money. As with wheat, the
demand for money needs little atten
tion here people always need money.
Now, as between wheat and money,
say under normal conditions the price
of a bushel of wheat is one dollar. A
short crop of wheat would change the
ratio between wheat and money, and
wjheat might go to $1.50 per bushel.
But, with a normal crop of wheat, a
sufficient increase in the volume of
money could increase the price of
wheat to $1.50 per bushel. However,
under the latter condition, the price
of all other commodities would (other
things being equal) rise 50 per cent.
Accordingly, in' looking at the price
of but one or two articles, it Is not
possible, without thorough investiga
tion, to say whether the rise or fall in
price was caused by an under or over
supply of the things themselves or an
over or undersupply of money. But
when we consider the price of all the
principal articles of commerce (abso
lutely every one would be better, If
feasible), then the effect of the supply
of money becomes apparent.
There are tables-in existence show
ing the amount of hundreds of differ
ent commodities used, by the average
family in a series of years. If now
the average quantity of a given com
modity used by a1 family or individual
in a given length of time be multiplied
by the market price of that commodity,
and this process be carried out for
all the different commodities possJ
ble, and these products (numbers)
added together, the result will be what
is known as an index number. It
will represent the price level. Sup
pose this is done for the first day of
June and the number is 43,456; and
again for the first day of July and the
number is 40,283, It is evident that
prices on the average have fallen 5
per cent. Perhaps, because of hot
Winds, the price of corn has advanced
10 per cent in that month; but the
price of something else has fallen
enough to counterbalance it; and on
the whole, prices of everything have
fallen, showing conclusively that a
contraction of the money supply has
taken place. Ninety-five dollars will
now buy as, much on the average as
$100 did a month before; and there is
no doubt that there is only $95 in cir
culation where there was $100 before.
Republicans heretofore have utter
ly denied the truth of this theory.
Democrats have held that it applies
only so far as concerns gold and sil
ver coins "primary money" and pop
ulists have been inclined to limit it
to "legal tender money." But the
trend of economic thought seems to be
along the lines -suggested in the article
by Mr. Van Vorhis in another col
umn, 1. e., that the price level is af
fected by everything which serves the
purpose of a medium of exchange. As
Mr. Van Vorhis points out, the in
crease of gold and silver coin and na
tional bank notes since 1896 enorm
ous though it is -is not sufficient to
account for the great rise in the level
of prices since then; but the Increase
of nearly $1,400,000,000 in bank credits
in that time must be considered.
EDITORIAL "CHEEK"
It take6 "cheek" to run a great plu
tocratic daily, and lots of It. -Now hero
is the Chicago ' Record-Herald that
during the last presidential campaigns
heaped every insult upon populists
because they demanded "more mon
ey." It called them idiots, repudla
tors, anarchists, socialists, and hurled
at them every vile epithet that it
could invent. In criticising Count
Matsukata for saying mat the present
boom in the United States was not
based on solid foundations it replies
to him as follows:
There is a convincing refutation
- of the count's idea in, the present
condition of the currency. It is
not only established on a firmer
btisis than ever berore but is, rel
atively speaking abundant.
The per capita of gold and sil
lier,, which, was J3.38 in 1873, had
risen to $21.87 in IS 00. The
amount of money in the country
rose from $774,445,610 in 1873 to'
$2,483,567,605 in 1901; the amount ;
In circulation from $751,881,809 to
- $2,177,266,280 between the same
dates. At the same time the cir
culatlon per capita increased from
$18.19 to $28, and, from the circu !
lation statement of the treasury
department July 1, 1902, we learn
that the total in circulation on
that date was $2,246,529,412, while '
the circulation per capita was
$28.40.
The Record-Herald, while still de
nouncing populism, declares without
reservation that the present prosper
ity is caused by "more money." Tho
brazen impudence of such an editorial
course Is past all description. It has
been the course of the whole capital
istic press. The populists were right
in their demands for "more monej'"
and if these editors had a particle of
honesty they would say so.
TRUTHS RESTATED
No one who has even superficial
knowledge doubts the enormous influ
ence of the churches upon the na
tional policies. The ministers of the
different denominations meet the peo
ple face to face once or twice every
week. Hundreds of thousands of vot
ers look upon the words that are
spoken in the pulpit in an entirely
different way from those that come
from other sources. Many thousands
believe them to be more or less in
spired by the Deity. These are the
facts. Whether one is a believer cr
unbeliever it is not good common
sense to ignore the facts. What these
ministers have "said about wars cf
conquest and the discarding of every
thing else to devote the life to the ac
cumulation of money has had much to
do with the course this government
has adopted. The Independent has
waited long waited until hope was
almost gone for some clear, pointed
and plain statement from the pulpit
reasserting those fundamental truths
by which nations as well as individ
uals must be guided if the blackness of
degeneracy is not to settle down over
the whole world. Here and there,
there has been a voice heard in the
pulpit reasserting the old truths, but
they have been few and far between.
The sermon of Rev. Mr. Brown, which
was printed in The Independent about
three years ago, was of that character.
Dr. Rowlands and Rev. Marsh of Lin
coln have preached such s.ermons.
But the church at large has either
been silent or gone over to the doc
trine that Christian character and
morality could be shot into th?
heathen with Gatlin guns and Kra?
Jorgensen rifles. (That doctrine ?3
not half as bad for the heathen as for
the nation that proclaims it.) But at
last one leading churchman speak3
out, not in any equivocal language, but
in as plain and forcible words as
were employed by Jesus or Paul. The
fundamental truths upon which tho
permanency of all national life must
be based are restated. The words, am
those of Bishop Spaulding:
Tyranny is the foe of liberty,
greed of justice, brute force of
mercy and goodness; and wars
which spring from the barbarous
passion for conquest, from cov
etousness, from the savage de
light in victory won by cunning
and physical strength, pervert
judgment, destroy right feeling
and foster the vices which weaken,
harden and blind the people and
lead the way to destruction.
Unless we remain sensitive to
moral distinctions, unless we prc
s fer justice and mercy to the do
minion over the kingdoms of the
earth, we shall enter the open
ways along which the empires
and republics of the past have
rushed to destruction and shame.
If, then, we love America, our
country, if we believe in equal
opportunity and freedom for all of
God's children, let us turn from
dehumanizing greed, from vain
glory and pride to follow after
truth and justice and love.
THE STEEL TRUST.
A few days ago there seemed to be
a tendency toward a slump in steel
trust stocks. To check it Schwab gave
out a statement of the assets of the
concern. He figured them up as fol
lows: '
Ore properties $700,000,000
Plants 300,000.000
Coal and coal fields 100,000,000
Transportation properties. 80,000,000
Blast furnaces 48,000,000
Gas and limestone fields.. 24,000,000
Cash and cash assets 148,291,000
Total $1,460,291,000
Rumors have been very persistant
for some time on Wall street to the
effect that the steel trust was watered
beyond all reason and that there was
no possibility of paying dividends on
the stock for any great length of time.
The Schwab statement was to offset
these rumors. Whether It will have
that effect or not is somewhat doubt
ful. Any man can see at a glance that
$800,000,000 of the billion is pure guess
work. "Ore properties" and "coal
fields" make up that amount of the
assets. The value of that kind of prop
erty can only be guessed at. One thing
is certain, the steel trust could not
find a purchaser who would be will
ing to give anything near $800,000,000
for its ore properties and coal fields.
The truth is that steel trust stock Is
watered more than a hundred per cent.
Ca that double capitalization It has
been able to pay dividends so far, but
how long it can continue to do it is
very problematical. j
NINETY-FOUR. AND NOW.
The following Is a paragraph writ
ten by the editir'of The Independent In
1894: "A recent visit to Omaha and
Lincoln revealed the fact that there
are scores, perhaps hundreds' of va
cant houses in those cities. To the
question of why these houses were va
cant, the republicans reply that there
has been an overproduction of houses.
That the senseless ; booms that have
been promoted in both cities has re
sulted in building too many houses.
The populists say that ir there were
an increase in the volume of money
and a consequent rise in prices that
every house In those cities would
soon be occupied and many more built.
Families that are now crowded Into
two or three rooms would ; occupy
whole houses. Men who live In small
cottages would build larger houses."
Since that1 time there has been an
enormous increase in the volume of
money. The i output ot gold has been
the greatest ever known, mora silver
has been coined than in any six years
since the government was founded,
the bank money has been increased by
over a hundred millions. Nowtev
ery house in those cities is occupied.
Hundreds of new and finer . houses
have been built in the last few years
and a recent real estate circular says
"the demand for some grades of dwell
ings cannot be filled" and urges the
construction of many more houses of
those grades.
The condition of the two cities then
and now is known by all. Which were
right, the republicans or populists?
What has produced the very great
change?. If it was not "more money,"
what was it?
Eight years more will show that the
populists are just as correct in regard
to present issues and the republicans
just as far wrong as they were in 1894.
Trusts, imperialism, and equal taxa
tion are questions now. Mark Hanna
may buy elections, but he cannot an
nul economic laws.
EXTRADITION OF CRIMINALS
The extradition ot persons charged
with crime from one state to another
or from 'one nation to another is not
a matter of courtesy. It is generally
provided for in. treaties. The refusal
of the government of Canada to de
liver ' to ' this government two fugi
tives from justice, Green and Gaynor,
who were particeps criminis in swin
dling the government out of several
hundred thousand dollars and for
which crime Captain Carter was con
victed and is now serving his sen
tence, brings up the question for pub
lic discussion. Secretary Hay (1has ap
pealed J:q. the. British government,' but
while Canada is nominally a British
colony, she is in fact Independent and
the British, government ; will hardly
take any effective action in the matter.
Anjr government that makes Itself a
harbor for criminals lacks some of the
attributes of civilization. The first
refusal to deliver fugitives from jus
tice in the United States was done
with the full sanction of the national
republican party. A man charged
with murder fled from Kentucky to
Ohio and when his extradition was
asked by the government of Kentucky
it was flatly refused. Afterwards this
fugitive from justice went to the na
tional convention or the republican
party where he was given an ovation.
When this demand for the return of
Green and Gaynor comes up before the
British government it will have a very
convenient precedent to present for
failing to comply and no doubt it will
be made use -of. Mr. Balfour may say
that when Taylor is returned to Ken
tucky, the British government will usa
its good offices with Canada to get
those fugitives turned over to the
United States.
?OOD PLAIN ENGLISH
The Springfield Republican has a
pertinent, though a somewhat drastic,
criticism of army officers because they
do not know how to write good, plain
English. It has had a somewhat bit
ter discussion with the New York Tri
bune about the meaning of an order
issued at Manila ! which could be in
terpreted to mean two things entire
ly irreconcilable with each other. Af
ter that, it calls attention to the bung
ling order Issued by the federal com
mander at Chickamauga, which, being
misinterpreted by a division com
mander, opened a gap in the unioa
lines through which Longstreet
marched and , won a victory for tho
confederates. The Republican is right
in its demand that army officers
should be so trained that they can
write orders in plain English that are
capable of but one interpretation. Such
an accomplishment is of as much valuo
to an army officer as how to handle a
company, a regiment, brigade or divi
sion. A bungling order may lose a
battle any time.
The amusing thing about this edi
torial In the Republican is that In the
article following" it, the editor writes as
bungling a sentence as ever appeared
in print.. In speaking of exchanges
between ministers In the city an J
country the editor says:
"Such exchange, as we ; Lave
noted the church notices ; from
year to year, is by no means Infre
quent",', ; ...
There is , nothing grammatically
wrong with that Bentence, but it 13
A I A . .il. Ml I M
so constructed mat it Domers iwm '.
and most of them would have to read
It twice or' go slowly over it to un
derstand it. The repetition of the word
"noted," or what amounts to the samo
thing, the use of the word "noted
and "notices," is bad rhetoric and con
fusing to the mind. Then the words
"as we have noted" is, to say the least,
very bungling. How much plainer and
more forcible would the statement
have been if the editor had said:
"Such exchange, we have observed in
the church notices from year to year."
Even that is not up to the. standard
of plain English that The Independent
employs. In making such an an
nouncement The Independent writers
would have said: "We have frequent
ly observed such exchanges in th
church notices from year to year."
A Boston teacher of English onco
wrote to the editor of The Independent
requesting some copies of Nebraska
weeklies as he wanted to gather sen
tences from them to use as examples
of bad English in his class. The pa
pers were sent and tne result was re
corded in these columns. The Inde
pendent now suggests that Professor
Sherman of the state university sen1
down; to Massachusetts for specimens
of their papers, including the Spring
field Republican, to be used In the
same way in the English department of
the university.
ENRMOUS SALARIES
In the operating expenses of the
railroads are included the enormou
salaries paid to the officials, many ot
them receiving twice as much a3 does
the president of the United States.
This graft is one of the very best la
the whole United States. It is a dou
ble swindle, a swindle on the stock
holders and on the public. If we had
courts such as we had In the earlier
years of the republic It never would
have been permitted. A Delaware
Judge seems to have gone back to tho
old principles In. a case that was re
cently before him. John Thomas had
his income cut by -this Judge from
$10,000 a year to $15 a week. He was
general manager of the Thomas &
Davis company of Newark, Del., and
the other directors had their Income
cut in the same proportion. This
company, which makes wall-paper,
was organized in 1899, and the direc
tors promptly voted . themselves th
fat salaries which have Just been cut
off by the courts upon complaint of
stockholders. If such drastic meas
ures were consistently applied, there
would be an upheaval in the general
offices, of the railroad companies of
this country. An uprigbt. judiciary
would have done it long ago.
MORGAN'S PATRIOTISM
The army and navy offlcers declare
that as the steamships that go into
the Morgan combine are purchased
with American money, the United
States should have the first call on
them in case of war, while Morgan has
gone and bargained that right to tb
British " government. It has Jurt
dawned on these gentlemen of thm
army and navy that what the popul
ists have said all the time about tho
republican party is true. It is men of
the Morgan stripe who have made th
republican party, put It In power ari
kept it there. They have gone about
the country proclaiming that thoy
were the only patriots. The rest of us
were "copperheads.". All the time th
populists have said that these mn had
no country and no patriotism. The
only allegiance that they owned wa.i
to Mammon. To the god of greed they
would always be faithful. That is the
very nature of capital and It will
never change any more than the
leopard will change his spots or ths
Etheopian can change the color of his
skin.
TURN THE RASCALS OUT
Bishop Spaulding says that "po
litical corruption not only stamps
upon our name the brand of infamy in
the eyes of foreign . nations; it dis
heartens the best among us and make
reform seem Impossible. It not onlr
impoverishes, but it disheartens and
dechristianizes the laboring popula
tion in our cities. It Is the foe of civ
ilization, of religion, of morality, of
God and of man."
With one exception, this corruption
which has astonished the whole civ
ilized world has been under the aus
pices of the republican party. Its
managers have bought elections and
paid their cost with corruption funds.
Bishop Spaulding thinks the case
hopeless, and so it is if the republican
party stays in power. He says: "In
the presence of this moral plague even
the wisest and the bravest are be
wildered and dlscourasedj
The Independent has' said the same
thing many a time.
The disclosures made concerning th"
republican gang through the trials !n
the courts at Minneapolis are so much
worse than all that was ever charged
against Tammany that there is no
comparison between them. The great
republican dailies have very little to
say about it -nothing' at all editorial
ly. The republican'' editorial gang is
about as bad as the worst of the mu
nicipal corruptionists.