TALKING OF MEN AND THINGS
Elsewhere in this issue will be found the
platform upon which Fred Kind is making
his race for the republican nomination for
the excise board. In the opinion of Will Mau
pin's Weekly, Mr. Kind has hit upon the
only rational solution of the several ques
tions now before the people. He. insists
that the excise question shall be decided
wholly upon its merits, regardless of the per
sonal opinions of the candidates for the sev
eral offices. He pledges himself to abide
by the decision of the majority of the voters
if they decide to continue the present pol
icy he will enforce it to the best of his abil
ity. If they decide to change he will abide
by the plan to license only twenty-five sa
loons and impose a license of $2,000 a year.
We commend Mr. Kind's candidacy to the
thoughtful voters of Lincoln. His platform
is a good one, and what he says he will do,
that he may be counted upon to do.
If the present excise boaVd wants to "tote
fair" it will submit the question of "wet or
dry". without any complications whatsoever.
Let it be put plainly and squarely : "Shall
we continue the present policy, or shall wc
license twenty-five saloons at $2,000 a year
each?" Let the issue be squarely drawn.
Will Maupin's Weekly is committed to
the candidacy of Mr. Armstrong for mayor
because it believes his business experience,
his ability and his acquaintance with men
peculiarly fit him for the office. But the
supporters of Mr. Armstrong's candidacy
have their work cut out for them. It will
have to be frankly admitted that the chances
are against his being nominated. The rea
sons are plain to those who study the situ
ation. Mayor Love will receive the solid
support of the "drys," republicans as well as
democrats. A number of "wet" democrats
will want to vote for some friends on the
democratic ticket, which they can not do if
they vote for Mr. Armstrong, hence they
will vote the democratic primary ticket. This
means a divided "wet" vote as against a
rolid "dry" vote. Again, there are a few
superficial thinkers, or those who never think
at all, who will oppose Mr. Armstrong be
cause of his connection with the gas com
pany. This connection will cut no figure
with those who know Mr. Armstrong, or
who arc aware of just what that connection
is.
Mr. Malone is go;ng to be "knifed" in
the house of his political comrades, the dem
ocrats. In other words, the scheme is to
rominate him as the democratic candidate,
then bolt him at the election. The scheme
is being worked up by "dry" democrats.
Other schemes arc afoot, every one of them
calculated to intensify the unfortunate situ
ation Lincoln finds herself in on account of
this nasty whisky fight.
Which ever way it goes this spring, in
heaven's name cai't we agree to abide by
the result for at least two years? No one
who knows even a little bit about the local
situation will deny that this constant
wrangle is knocking the everlasting day-'
lights out of Lincoln. The side that loses
will "knock," and keep it up, thus giving
Lincoln a black eye the year around.
Will Maupin's Weekly was among those
who deprecated Mr. Bryan's efforts to in
ject county option into the last state cam
pairn, and the result foretold by-its editoi
have come to pass the almost hdpeless di
vision of the democratic party cn a question
that has no place in politics. But Will
Maupin's Weekly has to laugh every time
it hears some radically "wet" democrat de
clare that Mr. Bryan's action last cam
paign "killed Bryan." Mr. Bryan has sur
vived more political killings than any man
that ever lived, and today he is about the
liveliest corpse in the political arena. In
about twelve or fifteen months a lot of dem
ocrats who have been dancing above what
they deem his political grave will be eating
right out of the Bryan hand.
The Bryan banquet in Lincoln on March
18 promises to be about the biggest ban
quet of the kind ever pulled off. Some of
the biggest democrats of the nation will be
here to eulogize to his face the man who
refuses to remain-politically dead. Among
them will be Senator Owen of Oklahoma,
the gentleman who so incensed the unspeak
able Bailey that he picked up his dollrags
and started home to Texas. A lot of demo
crats who will attend that banquet will be
almighty sorry that Bailey was not allowed
to get all the way home to remain forever
and a day.
The Business Men's Association is work
ing overtime, and it now has a complete
organization. W'alt Dawson has charge
of the campaign, and Walt is some or
ganizer and manager, thank you. H. K.
Burkctt is president of the executive com
mittee. The vice presidents are Robert
Joyce, F. C. Phillips, H. J. Amen and T.
P. Harrison. The members of the finance
committee are G. W. Holmes, Lew Mar
shall, Herbert E. Gooch. The committee is
now out with the referendum petition, and
it is expected that requisite 2,000 signatures
will have been secured before the end of
the week.
The bill proposing to compel insurance
companies in Nebraska to deposit their
securities with the auditor of public ac
counts may be all right, but it does not look
good to Will Maupin's Weekly. As matters
now stand each company retains control of
its securities, which are subject to inspection
by the insurance auditor. The bill proposes
to put all these securities in the hands of
one man, thus intensifying the risk. The
state does not purpose guaranteeing that
the securities will not be stolen or lost
through speculation, and speculation with
$20,000,000 worth of negotiable securities
would be almighty easy. It simply means
that instead of lessening the danger of the
securities being lost or frittered away, they
are to be put in even graver danger. The
state has no suitable safety deposit vault.
I': would be impossible to furnish a bond
big enoueh to safeguard $20,000,000 worth
of securities, and the state will not be re
sponsible for them in any way, although it
is proposed to give them into the state's
keeping. No opposition will be made to the
passage of the bill if the state will guaran
tee that thev will suffer no loss or deprecia
tion through its actions.
Collier's Weekly continues to pour the
hot shot into Fakir Post of Battle Creek,
but the daily papers pay no attention to a
subject that should be near and dear to
them their own character for honesty and
integrity. Post declared in substance that
his big advertising contracts made him the
subject of blackmail. Or, in other words,
he accused Collier's of trying to blackmail
him. The issue was squarely drawn and
Collier's accepted the challenge. Post was
adjudged guilty of libel and fined $50,000.
Did the daily papers make extended notice
of the verdict? Not much but they did
grab at the page and half-page ads that
Post flung at them like a master flings
bones to his dogs. The Battle Creek faker
has managed to keep the news of that ver
dict out of the daily press save two or
three socialist dailies. The labor papers
published by private individuals have given
the facts all -possible publicity, but the or
gans of the national and international unions
have been suspiciously silent. It was one
of the biggest pieces of news in a decade,
but big newspapers are now edited in the
counting rooms, and Fakir Post spends a
million a year with the daily newspapers. It
is easy to see why the daily papers didn't
tell the story. There's a reason. There's
that $50,000 'verdict, too.
A thousand retail merchants have peti
ti6ned the legislature to enact the McKelvie
publicity bill into law. Commercial clubs,
organizations of business men in various
lines, real estate men, and men of all walks
of life interested in the development of Ne
braska want the bill enacted into law. There
never was a bill introduced in the legislature
that was backed by such a strong and unani
mous demand. The legislator who votes
against that measure Votes against the best
interests of Nebraska.
County option is as dead as a doornail,
at least for a few months. But it is not a
bit more thoroughly deceased than capital
removal. The capital movers may not know
it, however, and keep right on wasting time
and money.
Senators Brown and Selleck voted
against the best interests of 500 skilled me
chanics of their own county and in the in
terests of a half dozen exploiters of cheap
girl and woman labor in other counties when
they voted against the bill to put the label
of the allied printing trades on all printed
matter for the state.
Senator Owen defended the Arizona con
stitution with such effect that it was en
dorsed by a majority of the democratic sen
ators over the protest of Bailey of Texas.
That is what made Bailey so peevish that
he tendered his resignation. He saw in the
vote his own downfall as the reputed leader
of the democratic side. Bailey never saw
t1-e dv when be was entitled to be ranked
alongside cf Owen for ability, honesty of
purpose anc! fidelity to democratic principles.
Oklahoma City is having the same bit
ter experience now that many another over
boomed city has endured. Omaha had her
turn at it about twenty years ago; Lincoln
had it a year or two later, and Kearney had
it bad about the same time. For the past
five or six years Oklahoma City has been,
the wonder of the commercial and indus
trial world. But she overplayed the game a
bit, and is now somewhat in the dumps. But
she will recover more rapidly than most
cities for she has a wonderfully productive
country round about fertile soil, coal, gas
?nd iron. Just as soon as Oklahoma . City
can cast up her accounts and square away
rain she will resume the old gait, and next
t'ine she will have better wind and staying
power.
Manager Garman of the Acme Amuse
ment Companv cinched his reputation as a
sriapny after-dinref talker at Tuesday's
meeting of tVe Ad Club. We do not gree
with him on the virtues of advertising on