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VOLUME
LTXCOIi, IN EBK ASK A, AUGUST 16, 1912
NUMBER 22
MEN AND MATTERS
We can not help but wondering where Michael F. Harrington
is going to get off at in this eoming election. Michael was red-hot
for Wilson before the primaries. After the primaries he flopped
to the Bull Moochers, evidently believing that it was going to be a
really new political party. Now that It has developed that the Bull
Moochers is really nothing but a Roosevelt boost, and Roosevelt
stands for about everything that Michael has opposed for the past
thirty years high protection, federal incorporation, etc., etc. In
stead of a full state ticket of Bull Moochers, Michael is offered the
old ticket that he lias fought for years. It is our calm and unbiased
opinion that Michael would like mighty well to jump back before
lie lights.
Out of all this mess of people who are insisting that they are
the only ones entitled to power rights on the Loup river, we wish
the state board would make a selection and let the proper parties
go to work. We want to see that power developed, and we are not
caring nearly so much about the who as we are the how. This
thing has been fooled with long enough. Surely somebody is em
powered under the law to begin the work of development. It is the
business of the state board to decide. The law says the board shall
accept the recommendation of the state engineer, and the state en
gineer submitted his report months ago. Still the decision is delayed,
doubtless because there is a chance to "play some politics." It may
be a good thing for the cheap politician, but it is a mighty evpensive
game for Nebraska.
There are some people who continue to act on the theory that
h lie well stuck to is as good as the truth. ' This seems to be the only
explanation of the oft-repeated assertion that John II. Morehead
was opposed to the initiative and referendum. Some of the gentle
men of the direct legislation league hold that all who did not agree
absolutely with them on the matter of percentages were at heart op
posed to the bill. Such an assumption is an exhibition of gall, and
is also without foundation in fact. Senator Morehead was not
pledged to the bill for the simple reason it was not an issue in th.e
district he represented. He was, however, in favor of the initiative
and referendum. He voted for the bill. He supported every'amend
ment that was supported by Senator Skiles, who fathered the bill in
the senate. If Morehead was opposed to the initiative and referen
dum, then Skiles, head and front of the direct legislation movement,
was opposed to it. But the republican organs hope, by constant
reiteration of the falsehood, to deceive a few voters.
"Know Nebraska Better" should be the slogan of every school
district in the state. Every school teacher should study Nebraska,
and should fit herself or himself to teach the facts about Ne
braska. We opine that the average Nebraska schoolboy knows more
about England than he does about his own state. It is not enough
.that the pupil should be able to "bound Nebraska" and name her
principal cities and rivers. They ought to know something about
her soil and her climate ; about her products, her manufactures, her
past and her future. By cutting out a lot of fool fads and adding
on a few things worth while, our public schools may be made of
more service to the people.
Do not overlook nor forget the fact that in less than five years
Nebraska will celebrate her semi-centennial. It was Will Maupin's
Weekly that first suggested the holding of an exposition to celebrate
the anniversary, and it purposes keeping the suggestion before the
people. The state could well afford to appropriate a half-million
for such an exposition, the various counties could well afford to ap
propriate from $1,000 to $10,000 each, and a score of cities could
profitably invest from $1,000 to $5,000. Let Nebraska hold a big
semi-centennial exposition without asking Uncle Sam for a cent.
That fact alone would be a big advertisement for this common
wealth. And Nebraska has the men who know how to conduct big
expositions. It was Nebraskans who managed one of the biggest ex
positions ever held in the country, and did it with such success that
they repaid the investors. It was a record unique in the history of
big expositions.
does not make much of a hit with us. As a general proposition these
"liberal" churches are organized by men and women who do not
want to be genuine Christians, yet want something to salve .their
consciences. They first deceive themselves, then get the idea into
their heads that they are deceiving the Almighty. We never did
believe it necessary to join a church in order to be a good Christian,
but we always did believe it easier to be a good Christian by being
banded together with good Christians, hence our belief in the wis
dom of church organizations. But we, can not see the use of getting
together with a lot of people who want to define their own plan of
salvation, live like they want to instead of like they ought to, and
then victimize themselves by a sort of religious self-hypnosis. That
Denver organization will go the way of all similar organizations.
Judge Daniel Thaw Wright, the judge who sentenced Gompers,
Mitchell and Morrison to jail for exercising their right to free speech,
seems destined to get his. If his decision in that famous contempt
case is good law, there is no guarantee of free speech under the
constitution. We've made some progress in this judge-made law
business during the last two or three years, and it is going to be a lot
easier to get the scalps of these omnipotent federal judges since
Judge Hanford's health so suddenly failed him. We would advise
Judge Wright to hastily consult a physician. His health seems to
be failing rapidly. i
Just about the time everything in Nebraska has gone to the
demnition bow-wows for want of rain, along comes a gully-washing,
root-snatching deluge that puts everything to the good again. Ne
braska has but recently harvested the biggest small grain crop in
her history. She is going to haves a corn crop bigger than the ten
year average. She is going to have an apple crop that will make the
boasted apple crops of the northwest look like a basketful of culls.
When the last cutting of alfalfa has been stored away she will have
cut and cured $40,000,000 worth of that succulent clover, to say
nothing of $25,000,000 or $35,000,000 worth of other kinds of hay.
By the time the bells announce the birth of 1913 her hens will have
.made a twelve-months' record of about 250,000,000 dozen eggs, her
dairy cows will have made a record of about 50,000,000 pounds of
butter, and her manufacturing plants will have turned out about
$250,000,000 worth of finished products. Isn't she the grand old
state!
AN ANNOUNCEMENT.
Owing to the immense amount of labor required in .the
preparations for the Annual Edition due on August 30, the
issue of Will Maupin's Weekly for August 23 will be com
bined with that of August 30. Our regular advertisers will
be more than compensated by the extra number of copies
issued on August 30, which will be the date of the Animal
Harvest Home and Labor Day number,
This special edition will consist of 10,000 copies, not
less than sixteen pages and cover in colors, and be filled with
interesting facts and figures about Nebraska. In short, it will
be the handsomest and best number of Will Maupin's Weekly
ever issued a text book on Nebraska.
Our advertising solicitors, Mr. Smith and Mr. Winter
halter, are now soliciting business for this splendid edition,
and we commend them to the advertising public.
Quite naturally the railroads are worried about the inroads of
the automobile. And the worry is going to grow instead of diminish.
Some of these days a wise passenger traffic man is going to realize
the wisdom of making railroad travel easy instead of difficult, and
then we'll see a change. Nowadays you can get a 2,000-mile book
good on any road west of the Missouri river for $40. That's straight
2 cents a mile. Will some wise passenger agent explain why that
book is not good in the hands of the bearer instead of being only
good in the hands of the original purchaser? And why isn't a local
ticket good until used despite the date of purchase. And if you buy
a local ticket and are unable to use it, why do you have to go
through a lot of red tape and suffer long delay in order to get your
money back, instead of having it immediately redeemed by the agent
from whom you purchased it? ' Jf the railroads will take off a lot of
their fool restrictions and quit trying to punish the traveling public
for wanting to ride on their trains, maybe the automobile will not
continue to menace their prosperity to such a great extent.
The organization of the so-called "liberal church" in Denver
When Charles B. Gregory of Lincoln bought his present resi
dence property on South Thirty-third street the orchard was not ac
counted of much value. In fact, the presence of the orchard did
not add anything to the value of the property when the sale was con
summated. - The trees were in bad shape, infested with disease, and
the fruit always gnarled and wormy. "It's a played-out orchard,"
said everybody who knew it. Mr. Gregory is not a pomologist nor
a horticulturist, but he has got a fund of common sense, and used the
sprayer. It's a different orchard now. The trees today are hanging
full of apples, and there are few "windfalls." The apples are free
from worms. The plum trees are bending to the ground with their
loads of luscious fruit. A little intelligent effort and application has
resulted in making the orchard about the most valuable feature of
that particular real estate. The moral of this incident lies in the
application of it.
The rumor that Governor Aldrich is to be rewarded with a fed
eral judgeship in case of Roosevelt's election is a joke. Not that
Governor Aldrich would be out of plaee upon the federal bench, for
he would shine thereon by the side of some who now occupy it
which is not a great compliment for the governor, either. The joke
lies in the remoteness of the possibility of Roosevelt's election.
However, we believe that Chairman Thompson of the democratic
state central committee would do well to consult the convenience of
the rank and file rather than his own convenience, in the matter of
locating headquarters for the committee.
CURRENT COMMENT
That trouble down in Mexico ought to be stopped.. Of course
we don't' want Uncle Sam officially mixed up in it, but doubtless he
would wink at some methods of settlement that might be employed.
We suggest that a bunch of Texas cowboys ride over into Mexico,
whip the stuffin' out of the rebels, slap the cheeks of the federal
troops, and then serve notice that at the first signs of revolution in
the future they would ride over and assume control of the country.
A dozen cowboys could turn the trick. ' . . . '
It is not likely that Roosevelt will receive much support from
the men engaged in the postal service. It will be remembered that
it was Roosevelt who issued the famous "gag order" that forbade
postal employes from carrying their grievances to congress, or even
petitioning congress for better pay and working conditions. ; The
fact that the constitution guaranteed the right to petition for redress
of grievances did not cut any figure with Roosevelt, who is' far supe
rior to courts and constitutions when he gets to going. ,
' We regret to say it, but the average police chief is a mutton
head. Now comes Chief Neil of Denver and asks for an order pro
hibiting members of the Industrial Workers of the World from
speaking on the streets of Denver. That's just what the I. W. W.
talkers want prosecution and persecution. If the police authori
ties will pay no attention to them and just let them talk their fool
heads off, the I. W. W. crusade will mighty soon wink out. ' Make
martyrs of them, however, and they will prosper. Our British
friends are wiser than we. They permit any old kind of speaking
short of absolute treason and are not so awfully strict about that.
As a result every Sunday morning sees a hundred thousand people
around Nelson monument, with a hundred or more orators going
full swing. The police laugh, keep, the sidewalks clear and let the
orators orate. And after the steam has blown off evervbodv is
happy.
Over here our dumbheaded . police authorities club and arrest
and persecute, with the result that the persecuted pepole pose as
martyrs and profit thereby.' If we were running the police depart
ment of a big city we 'd let these orators orate their fool heads off
for a few weeks, and then the trouble would be over for a year or
two. - . '. . N f . f ' .' -.
The covert criticisms of Coroner Matthews because of inquests
and autopsies is not well founded. As a matter of fact Coroner
Matthews has held fewer inquests since he began coroner than ever'
before in the history of the county, despite the rapid growth of city
and county and the consequent increase in violent or mysterious
deaths: Nor has he used the office to further any particular under
taking establishment. It is a common practice for coroners to seize
every pretixt.for grabbing of fees, but Coroner Matthews is an ex-,
ception to the rule. The published criticism of Coroner Matthews
will not go very far with men who know a bit about how such
offices are usually conducted.
,We are growing weary of chronicling new record ' prices for
beef cattle. The latest one is $10 a hundred at South Omaha. If
there were plenty of cattle in the country and this price was being
paid we wouldn't care so much, for that would mean prosperity for
all of us. But the high price is due to a scarcity of cattle, conse
quently only a few profit, while the many are deprived of meat.
The Buffalo News is quite correct in its assertion that Jane'
Addams was the "best man at the Chicago convention last, week,"
meaning the convention of Bull Moochers. Miss Addams was really
sincere, therefore not posted as to the kind of a scheme put over
when that shrewd "nigger plank" was adopted. The plank was
framed to catch the colored vote up north and split the white vote
down south just as all the other planks were framed to catch the
unwary, the sentimental, the unthinking and the easily influenced. !
Miss Addams either could not understand that sort of trickery, or
else she was too honest and too humane to condone it. , i , .
, There are some ugly rumors afloat concerning the management
of the Industrial School for Boys at Kearney. These rumors are so
persistent that it is high time an investigation be made and the facts
made known. It is charged that there is a "shortage" or "deficit"
of $25,000 in the funds of the institution, a sum of such size as to be
of considerable moment to the taxpayers of the state. The Kearney
school is under the management of C. B. Manuel, a populist reap
pointed by Governor Aldrich as a reward for bolting Dahlman and
supporting the Aldrich candidacy. Mr. Manuel is also editor of the
St. Paul Phonograph, ostensibly a populist newspaper, which said
paper has been favored by being designated among those to publish
the constitutional amendments. Taken altogether the corroborative
circumstances emphasize the need of a thorough investigation of the
rumors. - , ' .;, .
It only took 7,000,000 pounds of twine to bind the small grain
crop of Nebraska this year. This is enough twine to wrap nearly
five times around the world at the equator. Figures like these em
phasize the immensity of Nebraska's agricultural production.
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