CURT COMMENT OF THE TIMES
A Paris dispatch to the World-Herald
conveys the interesting information that
Theodore Nairs of Newport, Neb., is over in
Egypt looking for dead and mummified
queens. He wants to dig 'em up and relieve
'em of their jewelry. Of course, if Nairs is
looking for dead queens, Egypt may be the
place to find them. If he were searching
for real live queens he wouldn't have to
leave Nebraska. Right here in our. own beT
loved state we have,, the queenliest lot ol
queens, and the most of them, to be found
anywhere in all the wide world. Not a "dead
one" in the whole lot. And there is no need
to search for them, either. They may be
seen any day, by scores and hundreds and
thousands. Mr. Nair can fool away his time
on the "dead ones" if he so desires, but a
lot of us who think we have far better taste
and judgment on the queen question are go
ing to remain in Nebraska and continue to
meet up with the live ones.
The excise board of Lincoln seems to
have overplayed the hand of the "tight lid
ders" when it raided the German Family
club. The resultant commotion promises to
make the "committee of fifty" work over
time this coming spring to keep the lid from
blowing off.
An evening paper this week tells the story
of a man who died at the county poor farm.
Nothing unusual about that, however. The
unusual thing is that the old man feared that
he would be buried in the Potter's field and
begged piteously to be buried by the side of
his wife, who had preceded him to the othet
shore. The evening paper comments favor
ably upon the fact that a number of peopie
belonging to the same church that the old
man held his membership in hustled around
and raised enough money to gratify the old
man's last wish. That was all right, of
course, as far as it went. But it strikes Will
Maupin's Weekly that it should have been
much better and more in keeping with the
Christ spirit, if those brethren in the Lord
had hustled a bit earlier and kept their
brother from the necessity of ending his days
in the poor house.
If any considerable number of people in
Nebraska want to vote on the subject of
capital removal, for heaven's sake let us have
a vote on it. Certainly Lincoln is not afraid,
providing the rules of the game are fair.. But
the legislators who want to vote on removal
and refuse to allow Lincoln to compete be
long to that class of "sports" who want the
cards marked their way and permission to
play them under the table.
The manufacturing industries of Nebraska
are growing at a gratifying rate. Agricul
tural Nebraska will have to hustle if it re
mains ahead of industrial Nebraska. From
1900 to 1910, the population of Nebraska in
creased 18 per cent; the number of wage
earners in manufacturing establishments in
creased a fraction over 21 per cent. The ag
ricultural population showed a " decrease
during the ten years ; the industrial popula
tion showed a handsome increase. The
value added to raw material by process of
manufacture increased 52 per cent '-vastly
more than the increase in farm products. In
dustry expanded in five years more than
twice as much as the population did in ten
years. The contention of the wage earners
that they should be given more consideration
by the lawmakers is clearly well founded.
... . ' - v. . ', -.
A million steers and' cows are "killed jind
skinned in Nebraska every yfear. Ev'erjr hide
is shipped east of the Allegheney mountains
to be tanned into leather. Then the leather
is shipped back to Nebraska in large quan
tities and manufactured into shoes, harness,
saddles, trunks, valises, etc. Massachusetts
and Connecticut get the profit that comes
from tanning, Massachusetts and Connecti
cut workmen get the wages, and the rail
roads get the haul two ways." Arid we can
tan , hides in Nebraska just as well as they
can 1 anywhere else in the world. Why' are
we' not doing it," thus employing men right
here at home who will contribute to the up
building of the state?
The Columbus Telegram offers a sugges
tion for the reformation of our revenue laws.
Briefly it is this : "First, the employment of
a state tax ferret, whose duty it will be to
dig down underneath the returns which
wealthy criminals make to the assessor. Sec
ond, the employment of a special detective
by each county board, the detective to work
under the directien of the county attorney,
and then secure grand jury indictments
against every man who has sworn to a lie
when listing his property for taxation." The
chief trouble with the proposed reform is
that it would merely aggravate the evil. Our
entire system of tax gathering is asinine,
archaic, antedeluvian, and little - short of
criminal in that it breeds criminals. Will
Maupin's Weekly offers as a substitute the
following: "Remove all taxes on real es-'
tate improvements ; tax the land according
to its value for use and occupancy, and then
confiscate for the use and benefit of the
state all personal property over a certain
amount that may be found" to be unlisted
for taxation by the owner. As long as we
continue to put a fine on thrift and enter
prise and a premium on each of them, we
may expect a constantly enlarging crop of
liars.
When Governor Aldrich asserted that the
Third ward of Omaha cast three times more
votes at the last election than it had male
inhabitants, according to the 1910 census, he
seems to have been laboring under a mis
taken notion that the record of arrests in
the Third ward was the government's cen
sus figures. The facts are exactly opposite.
The figures of the 1910 census are not avail
able as to wards and precincts as yet, but
the 1900 census shows that the Third ward
of Omaha had three times as many male
inhabitants two years old and over as it
cast votes last election day. Instead of
casting more votes in proportion than other
subdivisions of the state, it really cast fewer
votes in proportion to the actual number of
inhabitants. If the governor's proof of elec
tion frauds in Omaha are based on no better
evidence than that he has cited, we greatly
fear that he will be unable to induce the
legislature to give him authority to appoint
judges and clerks of election in cities of the
metropolitan class.
It is said that the president of France re
ceives more salary per month than the pres
ident of the United States receives epr year.
Well, aren't some presidents worth more
than others?
A lot of blue-visaged statisticians are bus
ily engaged in trying to convince us that the
world is fronted by starvation owing to the
fact that bur production per acre is decreas
ing, while the population is increasing. It
ii's -to" lailgh, of course:-" These -statisticians
pbihtout'-tha-t we consume' every year every
graih : we raise, and millions- of people cry
piteously - for" more. We "dor nothing' of the
kind. We waste about half of what we
raise, and we haven't yet solved the problem
of getting what we do raise to people who
need it. Nebraska is amply able to support
a population of ten or twelve millions, and
then some produce left over to sell to peo
ple in poorer but better advertised states.
The Albion News very pettinently asks
why all this hue and sry about making
the postoffice department self-sustaining.
"Why' asks the Nsws, "is it necessary, or
so desirable, that the one department of our
governemnt that comes most directly into
the daily lives of all the people should be
the only one to pay its own way? How
about the deficit in the war and navy de
partments, or even the agricultural depart
ment? These all call for countless millions
of dollars, and are of value to the eoople
only indirectly. The postoffice faicilities and
efficiency affect every man, woman and child
in a direct manner every day of the year.
Why should not the revenues of the gov
ernment be expended for the greatest good
to the greatest number?"
In 1890, when it was certain that a vote
was to be taken on prohibition in the fall,
Oamha prepared for a stuffed ballot box by
making a stuffed census count. This year
the census was neglected, while the ballot
box was stuffed to the limit. Result : Thre
times as many votes in the Third ward as
there were inhabitants. Also a disagree
ably pointed message from Governor Aid
rich. Lincoln Journal.
Of course Governor Aldrich never said
that the Third ward ' of Omaha cast three
times as many votes as it has inhabitants.
And of course the ballot box was not
"stuffed" in Omaha. No one knows this bet
ter than the Lincoln Journal. The Third
ward of Omaha had 11,682 inhabitants in
1900, and has more now. It cast just 1,897
votes, or 377 less than the registration. The
ward had a male population of 6,067 in 1900,
and has more now. Instead of casting three
times as many votes as it had male inhab
itants, the ward cast less than 31 per cent.
The Third ward of Omaha is unsavory
enough in all conscience, but that is no rea
son why more slime should be thrown over
it. And just about how the city of Lincol- .
is in no osition to have one of its leading
newspapers forever casting reflections upon
other cities and towns in Nebraska whose
internal affairs are not conducted to its en
tire satisfaction.
We are now fully advised through auto
mobile literature that the 1912 models will
be reads for inspection in a couple of weeks.
Gee, if we could collect a lot of 1912 sub
scribers we might be able to catch up on
some of our 1910 business also 1909, 1908,
1907, and other year business.
Everybody whose opinion counts for any
thing agrees that the dairy department of
the State School of Agriculture is a fine
thing. And why wouldn't a poultry section
be equally fine ? Don't overlook the fact
that the egg and poultry product of Nebras
ka is quite a bit larger than the butter and
cheese product, measured in dollars and
cents.
A great many people will wonder why it
has been decided to erect the Lincoln statue
on the west side of the state house, facing
J street, instead of on the north side facing
Fifteenth street. Few people come from the
west on J-, while thousands come from the
north-:on Fifteenth. More people comeifrorn