THE EXPRESS SWINDLE
The Express company swindle is so
outrageously simple, and simply out
rageous, that the wonder is the people
have stood for it as long as they have.
The owners of the railroads that carry
the express are also owners of the ex
press companies. Get that? Then the
railroad owners make themselves as ex
press company owners a rate for hauling
express that is only a fraction of the rate
they charge the individual for hauling
freight. Then the express company
charges more for hauling express than
the railroad company charges for haul
ing freight, but less than the government
charges for hauling by mail except.
Note the exception. The government
limit on mailed packages of merchandise
is four pounds. The express companies
will haul a four pound package for less
' than the government. lint let the pack
age weigh more than four pounds, and
up goes the price.
I Jut here's the big swindle: The rail
road owners add the small amount they
. allow tltemselves for hauling express to
the other revenues of the road. This
makes it possible to hoist freight rates,
for a road must have a certain margin
above operating expenses. Then the
same men who own both railroads and
express companies pocket the difference
between what they pay themselves for
hauling the express, and what they force
the public to pay them for hauling the
express. Get that?
What's the answer? The parcels post.
Let the government extend its postal ser
vice by increasing the weight limit and
paying the railroads just as much for
hauling the mail as the express com
panies made up of the railroad owners
now pay the railroads for hauling ex
press. It costs . no more, pound for
pound, to haul mail than it costs to haul
express. Yet the government pays 800
per cent more to the railroads for haul
ing mail than the express companies pay
for hauling express. Think that over,
too.
QUIT THE QUIBBLING
Will Maupin's Weekly has taken great
pains to make its position known on the
license question. It opposed license in
the last campaign, just as its editor has
always opposed license, and expects al
ways to oppose it. But a majority of
the voters have declared that they want
the license system reinstated, and Will
Maupin's Weekly is a believer in major
ity rule. Therefore this newspaper
makes bold to say that it detests the acts
of those who seek by technicalities and
subterfuge to overrule the will of the ma
jority. If some real friend of the tem
perance cause would firmly but gently
take one Poulson by the scruff of the
neck and the basement of the pantaloons
and heave him over the municipal tran
som, he would be doing both the cause
and the municipality a great service.
What a pity it is that great reform
movements are so often hampered by a.
lot of damphools who seek the limelight
and a fat salary? What a pity it is
that so many would-be reformers injure
their cause by unwise and ill-considered
action? Poulson's fool interference may
result in delaying the opening of salooi s
for a little while, but it is also making if,
more difficult to vote out the licensed
saloon in the future. Granted continued
life and health this newspaper's editor
expects to again oppose license when the
proper time comes. Right now he bows
to the will of the majority, reserving the
right while so bowing to be getting a toe
hold for the next struggle. But, in
heaven's name, haven't we had enough
bickering and strife and trouble over this
excise question without having a blat
ant, meddlesome, high-salaried, collection-seeking
importation from Ohio egg
ing us on to further attempts to cut one
another's throats. As a consistent,
persistent and insistent opponent of the
licensed saloon, Will Maupin's demands
that Boulson be suppressed and the will
of the majoirty allowed to rule until such
time as that popular will may be legally
and in an orderly manner changed.
THE INJUhCTION AGAIN
Do you wonder that the workingmen
of the country are losing faith in and
lines in Nebraska, and we have profited
cident that will, perhais, explain the
mystery to you. There is a strike on
among the employes of the Pennsylvania
railroad. Strike leaders at Altoona, Pa.,
made arrangements for a big mass meet
ing at an amusement park on Sunday,
June 4. The railroad managers through
their attorneys secured an injunction pre
venting the park meeting. On that
ground did the complaisant judge issue
the injunction? On the ground that the
park was to be used only for "moral
amusements." It is used every Sunday
for all kinds of sports and amusements,
but this judge declared that for men to
congregate and listen to addresses from
such men as Raymond Robins, Frank
Morrison, Frank Mulholland and Con
gressman Wilson would be "immoral."
We had thought that the injunction in
labor cases had about gone the limit wiien
a judge enjoined a Methodist preacher
from holding prayer meetings for strik
ing miners, but this Altoona case goes
a bit further. And yet some people
wonder why the wage earners of the coun
try are losing respect for and faith in our
courts.
A QUEER SITUATION
Draw a line north and south through
Nebraska so that the cities of York and
Norfolk will be just east of it. That line
will be about 70 miles wrest of the Mis
souri river. Between the line and the
river Jives every judge of the supreme
court of Nebraska. In other words, all
six judges of the supreme court come from
a strip of territory 70 miles wide with the
Missouri river as its eastern boundary.
The 340 miles of Nebraska territory west
of that line is not represented on the su
preme bench by one of its own citizens.
This is as unjust as having both senators
from Omaha or Lincoln, all the congress
men from one district, all the state of
ficers from one section, or all of a city's
alderman-at-large from one block. Tic;
more the voters of the state ponder thla
situation the more likely they are to re
tire a couple of the incumbents and elect
mn from the western section.
t
INTERURBAN CONSTRUCTION
If there are those who wonder why
Nebraska has no interurban electric rail
roads, the wonder is easily dissipated.
We have made vast strides along reform
lines in Nebraska, and we have profied
thereby. But in our eagerness to curb the
rapacity of corporations we have gone
just a bit too far in some directions. It
is . all well enough to put a stop to vot
ing bonuses to prospective railroads. It
is all well enough to prevent the water
ing of stock. But are we not hampering
development when we make it impossible
for men to construct electric railroads
unless they have the actual cash in hand
to pay for the work as it progresses?
Railroads, electric or steam, pushed into
new: territory are not expected to be div
idend payers from the start. They are
usually operated at a loss for several
years. Is it not proper, therefore, that
the mert who invest their capital in these
enterprises be allowed- something more
than a mere 6 or 7 per cent on their
money. They take all the risks, go with
out dividends for several years, do all
the worrying and pocket all losses. Will
men who can get 6 per cent with ab
solutely no risk take chances on losing
their principal in railroad development
when the same 6 per cent is offered?
Nebraska will not secure the develop
ment of interrurban lines until there is a
radical change in our present methods of
controlling and regulating the public
service corporations. This may be done
without yielding an inch of w hat we have
gained during the past decade. It must
be done if Nebraska is to keep step with
her progressive: neighbors. For a time
it was only natural that the people
should seek to cripple the public service
corporations, for it was a very natural
feeling of revenge for long years of ex
tortion and corruption. But now that
we have taken the second sober thought,
and now that commonsense and common
fairness actuates us all, let us so amend
our laws as to invite men of capital to
invest in the cosntruction of electric
lines.
THE HAND OF TIME .
The other day we picked up an ex
change edited by a very dear young
friend; an$ read therein a red-hot roast
of something or other, we have forgotten
just. what,. After reading it we laid tin:
paper aside and mused for a spell. .Tiuie
was when we considered it our bounden