MEN AND MATTERS
(Continued from Page 1)
Front national to state polities is not
far cry. We Tenture the prediction
that Taft will not have the Nebraska
delegation. The men in charge of his
Nebraska campaign quit living politi
cally about fifteen years ago. If our
old friend, John L. Webster, will just
take the stump and deliver again his
famous "cheap wheat" speech, the
Taft primary ticket will not get votes
enough to wad a shotgun. There is
some warrant for believing that the
astute leaders of the LaFollette move
ment actually engineered the Taft con
vention. At any rate that Taft con
vention and its ticket could not possi
bly have been made a better LaFol
lette campaign move.
Of course Chester IL Aldrieh will
be re-nominated for governor. Any
other republican candidacy is a joke.
And following their usual custom the
democrats are more than likely to
make Aldrieh's election a cinch. There
are thousands of republicans ready to
bolt Aldrieh if they can do so with
out being discovered and have any
thing like an excuse for doing it.
Without entering into the discussion
of personalities, we believe that John
II. Morehead is the strongest man the
democrats could select for the guber
natorial nomination. The nomination
lies between Mr. Morehead and Rich
ard L. Metcalfe. Both are splendid
men, well qualified for the position of
governor, and capable of giving the
state a clean, businesslike administra
tion. In choosing between these two
men democrats need only be concerned
about one question: 4 Which man is
most likely to poll the full party
strength and draw some from the op
position? To elect a democratic can
didate for governor it is necessary to
get practically all the democratic and
populist votes and a goodly percent
age of republican votes. So it is that
the democrats should concern them
selves chiefly, as between Morehead
and Metcalfe, with that one question,
44 which will be the stronger candi
date!" Persoual feeling will, of
course, enter largely iuto the settle
ment of that matter, but we are of the
candid opinion that Morehead would
be the strongest candidate the party
could name. ,
; That our primary law is woefully
weak in spots is evidenced by the fact
that such a damphool as Robert 6.
Ross of Lexington can get his name on
the ballot for president or anything
else. If the editor of this newspaper
were secretary of state he would say
to Ross and all of his ilk: "You can
not getyour fool name on the ballot un
less you get a mandamus from the
supreme court." There is only one
good feature about this Ross foolish-,
ness it serves to emphasize the neces
sity of amending our primary laws.
"Stale Senator Henry 1L Barting of
Nebraska City says he wants to come
back to the senate, and we're for him,
tooth and toenail. Just a year ago
this newspaper suggested that Senator
Bartling was good republican guber
natorial timber, and we havent
changed our mind a bit. Of course we
didnt expect that he would aspire this
year. But right here and now Will
Maupin's Weekly recommends that
you keep your eye on this upstanding
young man until the time comes for
the g. o. p. to select a candidate for
governor in 1914.
"Tom" Anld was wise in his day
and generation when he declined to
stand as a candidate for delegate from
the Fifth district to the g. o. p. na
tional convention on the Taft slate.
Mr. Anld is only nominally a resident
of Red Cloud, lie is in reality a resi
dent of Lincoln. And we opine that
t there are enough knives hidden up the
sleeves of Fifth district republicans to
make the Auld epidermis look like a
seive if ever a chance to use them af
fords itself. He might get through for
delegate-at-large, but as a delegate
from the Fifth well, it woidd be
about as easy as frying a paraffin egg
in a tallow skillet in the place Col.
Incersoll was wont to declare is not.
Apropos of the "Patronize Home In
dustry" campaign now on in Lincoln,
we saw a merchant who displays sev
eral of those cards is his window, buy
ing some articles in another store one
evening this week. He bought a cou
ple of boxes of candy, particularly
specifying the brand of a candy-maker
in Chicago. These he handed to his
wife. Then he promenaded up to the
cigar cas and bought a half dollars'
worth of 44 10 straight" cigars, over
looking several brands made in Lin
coln and picking out the product of a
Philadelphia concern. The moral of
this little incident lies in the applica
tion of it.
Of course we have candymakers in
Lincoln whose product is equal to that
of any candymaker in America. And
of course Lincoln made cigars are
just as good as those made in tene
ments by syphillitie coolies and serof
ulitic Cubans.
"On the whole," says the esteemed
Omaha World-Herald, "it seems safe
to predict that if Clark wins the en
dorsement of his own state he will
stand, at the beginning at least, on a
footing with Wilson and llarmon as
one of the three most promising can
didates." This confirms us in our
opinion that Champ Clark is the man
democrats will have to vote for next
November, unless they remain at home
or bolt.
My, my! Don't it beat all how
many of those 44 fool pop" ideas of
1SSX) are becoming the cornerstones
of the political faith of both republi
cans and democrats these days? Take
pretty near any old policy now advo
cated by the g. o. p. and the demo
cratic party, and trace back about
twenty years, and yoxi'll find that
there are the same old ideas that the
44 long whiskered pops" advocated
and the republicans and democrats
hooted at. When the pops suggested
the sub-treasury idea every financier
in the country went straight up in
the air and hollered "bloody murder."
They declared that only government
bonds were good collateral to back up
national bank notes, and that any
thing else spelled repudiation and
financial disaster. Look at some of
the bank notes now circulating and
you will see thereon words to this ef
fect: "Guaranteed by the deposit of
United States bonds or other securi
ties." Do you know what those "other
securities" are? "Blue sky," often.
Mr. Financier can deposit his "blue
sky" securities and issue bank notes
on them, but Mr. Farmer can not de
posit his wheat or his corn. But it's
all the same system.
And government ownership of the
telegraph! Bless your soul, the Ocala
platform was for that. And govern
ment ownership of the express lines is
just as sensible and from that it is
but a step to the government owner
ship of railroads. Those "long whis
kered old pops" are being vindicated
at a rapid rate these days.
"I like to read your paper," writes
Hon. L D. Evans of Kenesaw to the
editor of Will Maupin's Weekly. "It
is the boss booster, not only because
the editor is a clever writer, but be
cause he knows the state and its re
sources and possibilities so thorough
ly." AH of which commendation
spurs us on to still greater efforts in
making Nebraska known to the world.
NEW NORTH PLATTE DAM.
The secretary of the interior is ask
ing for bids for the construction of an
earth dam and auxiliary works on the
North Platte Irrigation project six
miles north of Minatare, Neb. Propos
als will be opened at the office of the
reclamation service, Mitchell, Neb., on
February 23. The purpose of this dam
is to create one of a series of reser
voires on the interstate canal. The
water impounded by this dam will be
used to irrigate about 36,000 acres of
the lower end of the North Platte pro
ject. Kearney Hub.
NO, HE IS THE BEST.
The Butler County Press, edited so
ably by C. F. Clark, expresses the be
lief that Hon. Champ Clark is the best
and strongest man for the democratic
nomination for president. Perhaps
similarity of names has to do with the
preference. Wayne Democrat.
CURRENT COMMENT.
(Continued from Page 1)
000 worth of it to outsiders. Do you
know of any other article of Ne
braska manufacture that reaches those
enormous totals?
The Lineoln Star denies the rumor
that after the primaries it is to become
a 4 4 straight' democratic organ, declar
ing that its chief ambition is to be
merely a 4 4 straight newspaper." The
Star's position on this matter has our
official sanction. The day of the
thick-and-thin, or "straight," party
organ, is past for which let us be
duly thankful. The Lincoln Star can
best serve the people by being a
"straight" newspaper, and such it is
evidently striving to be, and with
more than the usual amount of suc
cess. Whenever we hear a man com
plaining that this or that newspaper is
no longer "regular," but is an "in
surgent," we set it down that the
newspaper in question is thinking
much more of the poblie good than it
is of mere partisan service.
An evangel of the Adventists sees in
the growing signs of unrest and prep
arations for war the near approach of
the coming of the Messiah. He ought
to take something for it. We are de
lighted with every new symptom of
unrest. It means that we are going to
quit worshipping the god of things as
they are and seek after the things that
should be. We wouldn't provide a
palliative if we could. We want the
whole boil to "come to a head," break
and relieve the social system of the
centuries of accumulated disease and
filth. We have no patience with those
who are preparing for death; we are
concerned about those who are seek
ing to learn how to live.
For three nights this week a lot of
morbid and addlepated citizens flocked
to a loeal playhouse to witness the
gyrations of a female garbed in mas
culine clothing. She couldn't sing, she
couldn't dance, and she was about as
attractive physically as a eigar store
Indian. But she had received a lot
of notoriety by being arrested for mas
querading in boy's clothing, and the
fertile imaginations of the police re
porters wove around her a romance
that set people to talking. Is it any
wonder the people who try to do some
thing worth while often become dis
couraged at the exhibitions made by
the people they are trying to serve
We have no hesitancy in saying that
those who flocked to the aforesaid
playhouse to see this misled female
merely paid ten cents apiece to adver
tise their own mental limitations.
The proposition to make German a
part of the school curriculum is so
sensible that we are not surprised it
should have to be considered for a long
time by the board of education. Were
it some fool fad it would be jumped at
instant er. We are not a professional
educator, therefore -we have no
patience with. "a lot of the flub-dub and
fol-de-rol that has been grafted upon
our public school system. What we
want is a school course that will fit
boys and girls for the battle of life.
Under present conditions the average
high school graduate comes out about
as thoroughly unfitted for that battle
as four years of misdirected training
can make him, or her. We favor cut
ting out a lot of the fads and teaching
more eommonsense and morality.
A BEAUTIFUL SPECTACLE.
A few years ago the railroads were
always before the state board of equali
zation howling because their assess
ments were too high. The spectacle of
the Chicago & Northwstrn now howl
ing because its assessment is too low
would be deemed a miracle were it not
so plain why the howl is made. The
physical valuation board says the
Northwestern 's property in Nebraska
is worth about $37,000,000. The North
western says it is worth $45,000,000.
Is it because the Northwestern wants
to pay taxes on $45,000,000! Not by
several millions. Why, then?
O, the Northwestern knows that the
scheme is to allow it to earn only a
fair return on its physical valuation.
The higher that valuation the higher
it may make the rates. And no matter
how high the taxes, that is included in
the 44 operating expenses" and can be
gotten back in the shape of higher
rates. There you are double the
physical valuation, and then hoist the
rates,' plus enough to pay the increased
taxes. Don't imagine for a minute
that the Northwestern, or any other
railroad, is begging for the privilege
of paying more taxes.
TYPOGRAPHICAL UNION BALL.
" The twenty-ninth annual ball of Lin
coln Typographical Union No. 209
will be held at Bullard's hall on Thurs
day evening, February 22. It will be
what all previous Typographical Union
balls have been, a social event worthy
of remembrance. The committee in
charge is working hard to make the
ball the best in the history of the or
ganization a task that will make it
"go some."
.t- -
--
- '
""SB
ASHTON C. SHALLENBERGER
Ex-Governor Ashton C. Shallenberg
er, whose liekness appears above is
a candidate for the democratic nomina
tion for United States senator, to suc
ceed Senator Norris Brown. Governor
Shallenberger served one term in con
gress, where he distinguished himself
by securing the enactment of the pres
ent irrigation laws, a great boon to
the west. He also served one term
as governor, making an enviable rec
ord. There are thousands who belie -t-that
he would have led the state
ticket to victory had he not been de
feated for the nomination by a combi
nation that failed to take into con
sideration the welfare of the party. He
Named for and
From Selected Nebraska Wheat Best Wheat in the World
mm "w..r- vk i mm mm mm
A.
Best
By
The
Oven's
Test
;IDERT?
H-CBARBER &SCNS
LIBERTY
H. O. BARBER &
A GREAT BIG BOOST FOR
GRAND YOUNG NEBRASKA.
Wffl Mznpia' Weekly, the
best single-handed booster He-
braska has or ever had, came
out in a blaze of glory last
week with its "Nebraska la-
dnstries Number." Twenty-
four pages carried an immense
amount of highly interesting
matter regarding the resources,
attractions and opportunities of
Nebraska, and also numerous ad-
vertisements of mamrfictnriiig'
concerns who make good goods
in Nebraska and are sot afraid
to let people know it. Omaha.
Trade Exhibit.
... . t . . . -
ers in the country and stands high
the national eonneOs of his parry. He
has lived in Nebraska for many years
and is one of the pioneers of the south
western section, where he is engaged
in farming and stoek raising. He is
one of the best known eattle breeders
in the country and his services are
everywhere in demand as m judge at
fine stoek shows.
Governor Shallenbenrer is makin'
his campaign for the senate on
record he made as a congressman
as governor of the state. That
is an open book, and it should be
fully studied by those who have
best interests of the state at heart.
Made in Lined
SONS, LINCOF
A )
Nebraska'
Product
worthy 1
NebrasP
