CURRENT COMMENT
Mr. Bryan's real friends are not the gentlemen who are talking
about "stampeding" the Baltimore . convention or endeavoring to
work up "Bryan sentiment" before that convention meets. His real
friends are those who have taken him at his word and are striving
to unite the party and nominate a progressive democrat behind
whom Mr. Bryan and all the democratic workers can work with a
good conscience and a good will.
If Mr. McKelvie, republican candidate for lieutenant governor,
did say at St. Joseph that he is an independent in politics and only
affiliates with the republicans "because he has to be with some
party," it is to Mr. McKelvie 's credit. It is not this utterance that
will militate against Mr. McKelvie 's election. He will have to over
come the handicap of youth. We may be mistaken, and somewhat
old-fashioned, but we hold that the lieutenant governorship is a po
sition demanding experience in legislative work, knowledge of men
and political methods and organizing ability of rare quality. We
opine that men old enough to be Mr. McKelvie 's grandfather, and
who are yet comparatively young men, will hesitate to put them
selves under the guidance of a lieutenant governor who hasn't been
voting more than five or six years.
The consolidated telephone company may be able to prove thaj;
an increased rate is warranted. Doubtless business houses that have
heretofore been compelled to pay $8 a month for two phones will be
glad to pay $5 for one phone giving the same service. But there
are about 12,000 houesholders who will have to be convinced that
an increase of 25 per cent is warranted in their case. But phone
users should be open to conviction, and if the company can pro
duce the argument to show that the increase is warranted, then the
increase should be granted. But the number of Missourians per
thousand of population is increasing.
Mr. Roosevelt characterizes as a "Tom fool notion" the proposal
to limit the presidential tenure to one term of six years. But Mr.
Roosevelt is quite liable to characterize as "foolish" any proposed
reform that he either does not propose or appropriate to himself.
Common sense dictates the change. Under the present system a
president spends his first term building up a machine to re-elect him
self, and if re-elected spends the second term rectifying the mistakes
of the first term. A six year term in which a president has nothing
to do but make good will be a welcome relief from present condi
tions and, we might add, dangers. We wish Mr. Roosevelt would
advocate a few "Tom fool" things like that, rather than so many
other kinds of fool things.
The supreme court of the United States has upheld the validity
of the Nebraska liability law. That liability law covers only men
engaged in the operation of steam and electric trains and cars,
therefore is not broad enough in its scope. But it is an entering
wedge. The commission now drafting a general liability law may be
depended upon to do its work well and fairly. Nebraska ought to
be getting in line with the progressive states that are showing a dis
position to give human life and limb as much consideration as goods
and dollars.
Omaha has sold her water bonds, but she hasn't yet secured pos
session of the water works. She is paying $875 a day interest on
the bonds, however. The city is ready to turn over the money, but
by technicalities and worse the owners of the plant are staving off
turning the plant over, and it may be another two years before the
matter is settled. Omaha might hasten matters by changing the or
der of things, building an entirely new water plant, and let the old
company do a stunt of whistling.
" The first proposition to elect United States senators" by direct
vote of the people appeared in congress in 1826. On May 15, 1912,
congress submitted the proposition as an amendment to the consti
tution. It has taken a long time, but the people have finally won
over the opposition of their own representatives. There is a good
deal of a joke about this "representative government" system of
' ours.
Will Maupin's Weekly is vastly pleased to know that so many
live Nebraska cities with active commercial clubs are organizing
publicity bureaus. Cities like Fairbury, Beatrice, Superior, Hastings,
Holdrege, McCook, Sidney, Kearney, Grand Island, Fremont, Nor
folk and a score of others have many attractions to offer the home
seeker and invetsor. To make these attractions properly known is
to secure home builders and investors. A live commercial club, aided
by a live publicity department, is of immense advantage to any
c,ity. It has taken a long time to stir Nebraska up on this matter
of publicity, but the leaven is working beautifully now. When the
state gets into the game with a publicity department that is well
officered and supplied with adequate means, we may expect to put
a stop to men leaving Nebraska for other and less favored places,
and also to end this thing of thousands . passing Nebraska by to lo
cate in' the northwest.
Doubtless you have heard of the man who became dissatisfied
with his home and offered it for sale through an agent. The agent
published a description of the property in the papers next morn
ing, and when the owner read it he hastened to the agent and
shouted: "Take it off the list! I didn't know it was such, a fin
property, and I'm going to keep it myself." The trouble with too
many Nebraskans is that they do not know what a wonderful state
they live in. ,
A few days ago a representative of Will Maupin's Weekly was
talking to a friend, and the subject of opportunities in Nebraska
came up. The representative mentioned Cheyenne county and im
mediately his friend said: "Why, Cheyenne county don't amount
to anything; there's no good land there." Then the records were
appealed to, and this is the result: What Cheyenne county has
done she can do again, and in 1909 she produced 315,000 bushels of
corn, 464,000 bushels of wheat, 361,000 bushels of oats, 28,000 bush
els of barley, 123,000 bushels of rye, 13,000 tons of hay, 99,000 bush.
els of potatoes, 46,000 bushels of speltz, 4,000 tons of alfalfa and
2,500 tons of sorghum. The value of her agricultural crops in that
year amounted to $1,195,000. In that same year Cheyenne county
shipped to market 9,300 head of cattle, 1,400 head of hogs and 900
head of horses and mules. She also shipped to market 4,200 pounds
of dressed poultry, 10,200 pounds of live poultry, 11,000 pounds of
dressed meats, 84,000 dozen eggs, 33,000 pounds of butter and 20,
000 gallons of cream. Her spring wheat averaged 28 bushels and
her winter wheat 22 bushels per acre. Her oats averaged 54 bushels,
her barley 39 'bushels, her rye 37 bushels and her alfalfa 6 tons
per acre. There are thousands of acres of Cheyenne county land
nntilled that are just as fertile as the acres that bore these splendid
crops. And Will Maupin's Weekly contends that a county with a
record like that has got something worth while to offer the home-
seeker and investor. The man who undertakes to speak slightingly
of Nebraska, or any part of her, in the presence of this newspaper,
is going to be confronted wtih some startling facts.
The Burlington has a line running from Greeley Center to Bur
well. If that line were extended from Burwell to a connection with
the Billings line at Thedford, it would open up a good section of
country, passing through Loup and Blaine counties. Loup, without
a mile of railroad within her borders, produced $511,000 worth of
agricultural products in 1910. Blaine, with a few miles of railroad
in the extreme southwestern part of the county, produced in the
same year $460,000 worth. These two counties contain a lot of fer
tile land that is unoccupied because the markets are too distant.
Railroad facilities would open up these fertile lands to cultivation,
making homes for settlers, adding to the taxable wealth of the state,
and providing business for the railroads. About sixty miles of
road building would make the connection and open up approxi
mately a thousand square miles of good territory.
We commend to the Commercial Clubs of Omaha and Lincoln
the policy of the Kansas City Commercial Club. Instead of sending
out a few bills announcing the hour of arrival for ' booster" trains,
the Kansas City Commercial Club took liberal space in the news
papers of the towns to be visited. Instead of announcing the arrival
only by the ringing of bells and the tooting of whistles, the Kansas
City club shouted the news from between the column rules of the
local papers. When it comes to boosting for the city and the state,
commercial clubs should not overlook the fact that the best medium
for the aforesaid boosting are now cowbells and steam sirens, but the
modest though tireless country newspapers that keep right on boost
ing when commercial organizations are asleep, whistles without
steam and cowbells as silent as the stores that refuse to advertise
because "everybody knows us, anyhow."
This newspaper claims another vindication. When the govern
ment statisticians were dolefully predicting that Nebraska's wheat
crop was frightfully damaged, and local pessimists were, as blue as
bag of indigo, Will Maupin's Weekly was insisting that the wheat
was in fine condition and that Nebraska was going to produce a
bumper crop. We so insisted because we know a few things about the
recuperative ability of Nebraska soil. We so insisted because we
are right here on the ground and know more about local conditions
than any be-spectacled statistician figuring away in a musty office
in Washington. We so insisted because we know Nebraska farmers,
Nebraska climate, Nebraska soil and Nebraska possibilities. And we
claim a vindication now because all of the prognosticators of disaster
and purveyors of pessimistic plaints have admitted to be true every
claim we have been making. We will now stop the press long
enough to allow our admiring friends to crowd about us and com
pliment us upon our knowledge and foresight.
The Chancellor, Omaha, in expressing its regrets over the
defeat of Mr. Metcalfe for the democratic nomination for governor,
should not go to the extreme of misstating facts concerning Mr.
Metcalfe's successful opponent. Its statement that "Mr. Moorehead
took no position upon any of these vital questions" is unfounded
and unfair. The best evidence of the Chancellor's misstatement is
the statement issued by Mr. Moorehead during the primary cam
paign. It is true that Mr. Moorehead did not deem it neeessary to
go into infinite detail, but it is true that he took a position in
favor of revenue reform, reform in the management of state's insti
tutions and reform in insurance legislation. But, after all, is not
the record of a man's service as a public official and his record as
a citizen, about as good a declaration of principles as the average
printed declaration of an aspiring candidate? Measured by this
standard Will Maupin's Weekly asserts that Mr. Moorehead has
taken a very pronounced stand upon the vital questions mentioned
by the esteemed Chancellor.
'FIZZLE WATER."
The traffic in carbonated waters is becoming immense. More
and more men and women are taking to the libations that are free
from tomorrow's headache, and exercise a good influence on the
health and disposition of the drinker. C. L. Elwick, manufacturer
of carbonated drinks, 225 South Eleventh street, is building up a
splendid business by catering to those who want the best in that
line, coupled with the assurance that they are being supplied with
something absolutely pure. Mr. Elwick is catering to a high class
trade, and the fame of his products is rapidly extending. Not only
has he a large business in supplying Lincoln, but he is shipping im
mense quantities of his goods all over the state. He is employing
a number of people, paying good wages and working them under
sanitary and mutually satisfactory conditions. This concern is one
of the flourishing manufacturing institutions of Lincoln and is de
serving of the patronage of people who want the best of goods and
also desire to build . up home enterprises. If it comes from El
wick 's it is the best to be had, and always conforms to the most
rigid demands of the pure food laws.
FREMONT LANDS THE NEXT.
George Wolz, who is some politician and mayor, believe us, went
from Fremont to Hastings and pulled off the 1913 convention of
the Nebraska Federation of Commercial Clubs. George asked for
it smiled, worked the glad hand racket and landed. Mayor Wolz
is the republican ' candidate for state senator from Dodge county,
with no opponent on the democratic ticket. We don't know how
he does it, buts that's his way. And when Senator Wolz gets to
senatoring we know somebody who is going to be behind the Ne
braska Publicity Bureau bill and shoving to beat the band.
LAUGH NOW, FLETCHER.
Will Maupin, editor of Ditto's Weekly published in Lincoln, was
a candidate for the democratic nomination of railway commissioner,
and he was among the number who did not connect with a life boat
when the primary ticket Gigantic went down into the awful abyss
of the ballot box. The last issue of his paper devoted much space
to a write-up of Lincoln hospitals, no doubt for the benefit of other
democrats on the ticket who reached shore and will need succor
after the November election as badly as they need suckers now.
Beaver City Times-Tribune.
THE MAKING OF BROOMS.
A broom, so necessary in the conduct of every well regulated
household or business, is a little thing in itself, but in the aggre
gate the broom industry is one of the largest in the world. And
that Lincoln is the headquarters of the largest broom making con"
cern in the world may be a fact of interest to Nebraskans. The Lee
Broom Co. 's factory at Twenty-first and Y streets, Lincoln, is only
one of the several plants operated by this company, but it is one of
the largest and gives employment to a small army of people. Its
effect upon the the volume of business transacted in Lincoln is no
ticeable in the bank clearings. The immensity of this concern is evi
denced by the fact that when, two years ago, the broom crop of
this country was practically a failure, the Lee Broom Co. sent its
agents to Hungary and acquired almost the entire crop of that
country, shipping it to Iowa and Nebraska and there making it up
into the finished product. There are but few civilized or semi
civilized countries on the globe where Lee brooms are unknown and
unused. This company takes the bulk of the broom corn product of
this country, shipping it here by the trainload. Every-twelve
1 1 1 1 T T. f . . . . ...
juuxiiua iixc jjcc aji uuull kjm. a puuiis wiii snip in an average 01 irom
275 to 300 cars of raw broom corn, convert it into finished brooms
and then ship the brooms all over the world. This means that the
name of Lincoln is carried around the world. The huge plant at
Twenty-first and Y streets is a model of its kind Equipped with
the latest machinery, with immense storage facilities, light and sani
tary work rooms, excellent shipping facilities, and with a constantly .
increasing force of workers, it is rapidly becoming one of the great "
manufacturing plants of the west. The yearly output is something
tremendous, to be measured in trainloads instead of in car lots.
AMERICAN ACCIDENT INSURANCE CO.
The American Accident Insurance Co. of Lincoln, Nebraska, has
superior claims upon Nebraska people. It is a home institution; it
is conducted upon a high plane of efficiency by men who, arevour
neighbors. It brings large sums of money to Nebraska, all of which
is invested in Nebraska, thus aiding in the development of the state.
It offers as secure protection as any foreign company can, pays legit
imate losses promptly, and assists in bearing the burdens of state
government. This rapidly growing company is appealing on the.
ground of merit. Will Maupin's Weekly supplements this appeal
with another the wisdom of keeping Nebraska money at home,
thus building, up our own institutions instead of those a thousand
miles away, employing our neighbors and friends, who are thus en
abled to build their homes among us, patronize our local business
institutions and help us to bear the burdens of taxation. For rea
sons based on common sense and enlightened selfishness, Nebraskans
ought to be building up big insurance companies here at home in
stead of building them up a thousand miles away and sending good
Nebraska money abroad, never to return. v
l Jf Iff
Rofrigorator
Save enough ice to pay for them
selves. . Ample in size, Sanitary,
Economical. .
$10 to CCD
It is economy to buy a North Star
because of the Savins: in Ice
A full line, low in price, fully
warranted. Garden Tools, etc.
HOPPE, HARDWARE, (00 f.'o. (Oft
JOHN BAUER
DISTRIBUTOR OF
Dick Bros. Celebrated Bottle and Keg Ceers
Anheuser-Busch Budweiser
White Rock Mineral Waten and Ginger Ale. McAvoyi Matt Marrow
Abo a Fine Line of Wine and Liqoora for Family Uie
Phoness 'BcU 817; Auto 1817
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA