go down to defeat because they are not
big enough and broad enough to do it.
Earl O. Eager, who was elected to the
legislature as a "wet" republican last
fall, has filed as a candidate for railway
commissioner. Mr. Eager is a fine, up
standing young man with about as much
ability for the job as the average ribbon
counter clerk has for managing a. depart
ment store. It is doubtful if he knows a
tariff sheet from a side track or could
tell the difference between a differential
rate and a semaphore. And yet Mr. Eager,
has the brains and the ability to learn,
and those who imagine his candidacy is
a joke would do well to laugh now. There
might not be an opportunity for cachin
nation later. Doubtless Mr. Eager is
banking on his "wet" record to pull him
through. If such be the case he would
better have saved his filing fee.
Nebraska lost a splendid citizen and a
progressive builder when Ben T. White
answered the final summons. Mr. White
was a member of the new school of rail
road attorneys who thought with the peo
ple who saw the inevitable and welcomed
it as a change from intolerable condi
ditions. He brought the Northwestern
into closer and more friendly relations
with the people, to the immense profit of
the railroad and to the satisfaction of the
people. Open-handed, generous, and
firm, though kindly, he made friends who
stuck close to him. He performed his
life's work well, and dying left behind the
priceless legacy of a good name.
1 The Louisiana sugar planters insist
tltat a reduction in the sugar tariff spells
ruin for them. Well, so be it! In 1909
Louisiana produced 350,000 tons of cane
sugar, worth $21,000,000. This was
$2,000,000 less than the value of Nebras
ka's, oats crop for the same year. Yet
under the pretense of "protecting" the
Louisiana sugar planters the sugar- con
sumers of the United States were
mulcted in the sum of $250,000,000. In
heaven's name pension those Louisiana
sugar planters to the extent of $21,000,
000 a year and put sugar on the free list.
We've been protecting the cane and beet
sugar industries of this country for
twenty years, and in no single year of
that two decades has 10 per cent of the
sugar consumed been raised in the coun
try. It's time to stop the costly farce.
Judge Wright of the District of Colum
bia is merely exhibiting his animus in the
Gompers-Mitchell-Morrison case. No one
can read the history of that case with un-
prejudiced mind and arrive at any other
conclusion that Judge Wright is a narrow-minded,
prejudiced ass, swollen ter
ribly with his own importance.
Will Maupin's Weekly trusts that
when John Mitchell mounts the stage of
the Lincoln auditorium on the evening
of July 27 he will be fronted by an au
t dience that forces the use of the."S. R,
O." sign. Mr. Mitchell will lecture on
"The Principles, Purposes and Ideals of
the Trades Union Movement," and no
man in America is better equipped to dis
cuss the subject. He is one of the great
men of this generation, and his is a mas
ter mind. He kntnvs men, and knowing
them can sway them as perhaps no other
labor leader has ever been able to sway
them. And he always sways them for
their good and for the good of the repub
lic. Men like Mitchell are doing more to
suppress anarchy than all the police, all
the judges, all the laws. He represents a
movement that is standing like a stone
wall between this nation and bloody revo
lution. The day that marks the crush
ing of the trades union . movement in
America will be the date from which the
speedy downfall of this republic is count
ed. No matter what your prejudices or
your honest convictions may be concern
ing organized labor, you owe it to your
self and to your country to hear John
Mitchell.
The report that E. H. Marshall is a
candidate for county treasurer as a re
sult of a tie-up between a couple of banks
deserves no credence. Mr. Marshall has
been an active business man for forty
years. A few weeks ago he disposed of
his business interests, and after loafing
for a week or two discovered that it was
the hardest work he ever performed. He
cast about for something to do, and be
ing an expert accountant and a thorough
business man he conceived the idea of
running for county treasurer. He an
nounced his candidacy on his own voli
tion, and frankly admits that it was not
because of the "insistence of friends."
He asks for the place on the ground that
he is fitted for it, is willing to perform
the duties for the salary paid, and ready
to assure everybody that if elected he
will conduct the office properly in the
interests of the taxpayers.
In the meantime Louis Helmer is mak
ing an active campaign for the county
treasurership, and is making good prog
ress. No one questions his ability or his
honesty. That he would make a capable
official is beyond question. This much is
sure, whether Marshall or Helmer, Lan
caster county's f inancies are sure to be
in safe and capable hands. Believing this
not a single member of the staff of Will
Maupin's Weekly is losing a moment's
sleep over that particular office.
It is rumored that Senator Norris
Brown is disinclined to engage in a fight
for re-nomination. Be that as it may,
. Senator Brown will not be re-nominated
without a fight.
State Auditor Barton has announced
his . candidacy for congress in the Fifth
district. If this means anything at all
it means that. Congressman Norris is
going to get into the senatorial race, for
it is hardly likely that Barton would
contest with Norris for the congressional
nomination. , There will be. some lively
political doings in Nebraska during the
next twelve or fifteen months.
WELL) WHAT OF IT?
We refuse to become excited over the
rumor that the Burlington interested it
self in locating the new agricultural col
lege at Curtis. What if it did? Is not such
activity justified, even on the part of a
corporation ? The men who manage rail
roads are not philanthropists. They seek
to make money. They would not remain
long in the railroad business if they did
not. And the location of the college at
Curtis means increased traffic for one
Burlington line, and consequently more
profit for the entire system. But it.
strikes us that there is no reason why the
Burlington officials should have discrim
inated against one exclusive Burlington
point in favor of another Burlington
point. The Burlington had a cinch on
the college location from the minute the
college was made possible. Time was when
we were just foolish enough and narrow
enough to froth at the mere mention of a
corporation, but we have outgrown that
sort of thing. The man or politician who
expects to make a hit with us by damning
the corporations merely because they are
corporations is going to meet up with dis
appointment. So long as the aforesaid
corporations deal squarely with the peo
ple so long will we treat them fairly. But
whenever, it so happens that we are con
vinced the jcorporations are ,, trying . to
gouge the dear public, then will we chide
them in severe language and do some
thing much more painful than merely
slapping them on the wirst.
"THE PASSING OF PROTECTION."
V
The esteemed Kearney Hub grows wor
ried over remarks calculated to . re
mind it that "protection," as advocated,
by the tariff republicans, is "passing.
Well, why shouldn't the old tariff graft
pass? Time was when "protection" may
have served a useful purpose, but if that
be true the time long since passed. The
American industry that can not stand on
its feet now ought to be permitted to lay
down. Measured by his output the Amer
ican workman is the poorest paid work
man in any civilized country. The indus
tries receiving the highest rate of "protec
tion" are notoriously the industries pay
ing the lowest wages. Under the guise of.
"protecting the sugar industry" the sugar
consumers of this country are taxed
$250,000,000 a year, and that is eight;
times more than the total sugar produc
tion of the country is worth. We pro
tect the American workingman by giv
ing his employer a chance to import
cheap foreign labor and compel home con
sumers to pay from 20 to 30 per cent more
than the foreigner pays for the same
goods.
Why shouldn't that old graft pass
and speedily ?
