TALKING OF MEN AND THINGS
Thoughtful students of economics are
not slow to note' thai the Standard Oil
case decision is of more interest to so
cialists than it is to the disciples of any
other school. The socialists are not slow
to point out the fact that the decision
practically means the death knell of com
petition and the placing of the means of
distribution in the hands of the favored
few. "Economic determinism'' is the
name given the new economic law or
rather an old economic law just coming
to he recognized. It is time that the peo
ple of this country take cognizance of the
fact that they must do one of two things
either discover or invent some method
of restoring unrestricted competition or
proceed to take over for the use and bene
fit of all the people those things whose
value depend wholly' upon the public de
mand therefor.
Tom Johnson's last words were liter
ally a 'request that ho monument be
erected over his remains, but that his
burial plot be made into a playground
for children, and that they be allowed to
run and romp and play not only around
but upon his grave. Nothing could give
a cleaner insight into the great heart of
this friend of all humanity. And little
children happily at play around. Tom
Johnson's grave would be a greater trib
ute to his memory than the tallest shaft
of marble or most imperishable tablet of
bronze.
New York City has just dedicated a
ten million dollar - public library. We
can imagine how welcome a sweaty,
grimy toiler will be within its tapestried
walls and upon its inlaid, floors. Also
we can imagine what great benefit this
magnificent building with its art con
tents will be to the hopeless women and
children in the sweat shops of the East
Side, the broken men in the "bread line"
and the 20,000 children deprived of school
facilities. Ten million dollars would
have erected quite a row of model tene
ments to take the place of the foul- dis-ei'se-riddeii
and death-breeding tenements
that infest New York, many of them
owned by Trinity corporation and pour
ing their golden flood of blood-stained
;.nd tear-stained dollars into the coffers
of America's richest church organization.
Much as we love the beautiful and great
ly i s we endorse those things calculated
to elevate the public taste for art and lit
eiatme, we refuse to enthuse over any
leu-million dollar public library build
ings in the great cities where misery
stalks abroad by day and night.
Due note should be made of the fact
that the Nebraska supreme court this
week soundly slapped one of the most ar
logant corporations in America, namely
the National Biscuit company. This is
the cracker trust which two years ago
last February brazenly sought to influ
ence the newspapers of Nebraska against
proposed legislation by making- -advertis
ing contracts by wire, hoping thus to pre
vent adverse legislation. To the credit of
Nebraska newspapers be it said that the
scheme did not pan out at all well. Fail
ing to secure the editorial influence
sought, the cracker trust abrogated its
contracts. The cracker trust refused to
brand the net weight on its packages and
fought the case in the courts. The court
has now decided that the trust must brand
its packages. A few years ago, the crack
er trust suddenly closed its factories in
Nebraska. Later it sought to punish Ne
braskans by refusing to sell its goods
within. the state. As a result of this
damphoolishness an independent cracker
company was organized in Omaha, and
todav the Iten Biscuit Co. is showing the
National Biscuit Co. what live competi
tion means. Thus far the trust has failed
to crush its. competitor. There is abso
lutely no reason why a pound of the
cracker trust's product should be con
sumed in Nebraska, and many reasons
why there should not be. Nebraska-made
crackers for Nebraska cracker eaters is a
mighty sensible slogan;
It has suddenly daw ned upon Will
Maupin's Weekly that perhaps the Colo
rado legislature refrained from electing
a successor to Senator Hughes through
fear of repeating the Guggenheim mis
take. We can not find it in our heart to
blame any state, least of all Colorado, for
not caring to lake any chances on having
two senators like Guggenheim.
Nebraska soil is soaked from Richard
son to Dawes, from Dundy to Cedar. Of
course that does not insure a bumper corn
crop, but it gives great hopes. And it
does insure a bumper yield of oats and
wheat and rye, and mountains of alfalfa.
With some little knowledge of Nebraska's
grain yields in past years we risk our
reputation as a statistician on the pro
phecy that Nebraska's wheat yield in
1911 will pass the fifty million bushel
mark. With plenty of moisture in the
ground in those sections not irrigated,
and with the ditches in the irrigated sec
tions bank full of water, there is every
reason to believe that Nebraska is going
to set a new record for production this
year of our Lord 1911.
seems to have a cinch on a place in con
gress as representative of the Fifth for
many years to come. Why should he
drop that hunk of choice meat to grab at
a senatorial reflection in the often muddy
water of politics?
If Mr. Norris decides to hold on to his
place in the lowTer house it will not mean
clear sailing for Senator Brown. He
will have opposition, no matter what Mr.
Norris does. With Norris out of the
race, Silas R. Barton, present auditor of
public accounts, may decide to get in, and
in that event the senior senator will find
the going pretty fast. AVe are not aware
that Barton is a "spellbinder,''' or that
lie can uphold the palladium of our lib
erties in an orotund tone of voice aiid
with gesticulations calculated to charm
the birds out of the trees, but when it
comes to meeting the voter on the level
and talking as man to man, there are
almighty few in our ken who can give
that same Silas R. Barton any points in
the game. Pitted against the democrat
who was admittedly the strongest can
didate on the democratic ticket last fall,
Mr. Barton was high man on the re
publican ticket after Governor Aldrich.
That was a pretty good test of his sprint
ing ability, and Senator Brown should
take due notice.
When the Lincolnites who went on the
"Booster" trip presented Secretary Whit
ten of the Commercial Club with a hand
some watch and chain as an evidence of
their appreciation of his tireless work,
they paid a deserved tribute to that gen
tleman. It takes genius of a high order
to perform such service as Mr. Whitten
renders to the Commercial Club, and
through it to the city of Lincoln. Mr.
Whitten is always on the job, and while
he is paid a fair remuneration for his ser
vices the fact remains that there are
services which can not be paid for by
stated wages, but which may, in a meas
ure, be compensated for by just such little
evidences of appreciation as the one
shown the genial secretary by the
"Boosters." .
Will Representative Norris of the Fifth
district finally determine to get into the
senatorial fight next year? That ques
tion is worrying quite a few political
dopesters and aspirants just now. Mr. t
Norris is quite a levelheaded gentleman
and this journal of cheerful comment be
lieves that he will wisely decide to remain
in the lower house where . his seniority
will guarantee him some choice chair
manships in due time, and choice com
mittee positions all the time, rather than
enter the senatorial race and take
chances. If elected to the senate he :
would be without influence or committee
position lor several years. Mr Norris
Will Maupin's Weekly notes with great
satisfaction the exchange of courtesies
between the Commercial Clubs of Lin
coln and Omaha. The Lincoln business
men have just returned from a "trade ex
pansion" trip that covered the greater
part of Nebraska. About the time their
train pulled into Lincoln at the end of
the trip, Omaha business men started out
over practically the same territory on a
similar errand. AVhereupon the Commer
cial Club of Lincoln sent a fraternal mes
sage to the Omaha bunch, and the Omaha
Commercial Club replied in kind. There
are a few noisy busybodies who delight
in making it appear that there is enmity
between the Nebraska metropolis and the
capital city. Nothing could be further