The farmers' alliance. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1889-1892, August 23, 1890, Image 1

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    YOL. II.
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 1890.
NO. 10.
notice to Subscribers.
EXPIRATIONS.
As the easiest and cheapest mekni ef not)
fylar subscribers of the date of tfcf.ir zplra
Sods we will rcrli thU notice with w r.lue or
rd pencil, on the ito at which their sub
Srlption expires. We will send the papr
ro weeks after expiration. If not reoeo
r ttiat time it w ill he discontinue
Marching for Freedom.
Tune Makching through Georgia.
Vohfoabo nrw nrP In ft fearful
plight.
For years they have been worse
than slaves;
it is a woful sight,
To see the way they have been robbed by
banks and railroads' might
But now they are marching for freedom .
Chorus.
Hurrah for Powers, a farmer true and grand t
Hurrah I For Powers we pledge our heart and
hand
And ne'er again shall lawyer or banker rule
our land
For we are marching for freedom.
They made this western desert fairly blossom
as the rose,
That they have toiled both long aRd hard our
State most amply shows.
But now old Shylock says 'tis his and mox-e
the farmer owes,
So now thy are marchiDg for freedom.
Oh, nevermore to party rule the farmer's
knee shall bow,
To work his own salvation out he takes a
solemn vow,
He'll vote for home and justice, for wife and
baby now,
For he is marching for freedom.
No banks shall corner the exchange provided
by the State.
No speculator shall get rich on wealth that
we create,
No railroad e'er again shall tax three-fourths
our crop for freight,
For we are marching for freedom.
Mrs. J. T. Keuie.
Industrial Democracy.
By Rev. Dr.
for August.
Lyman Abbot in The Forum
In much of the writing and speaking
on the subject of the industrial Situa
tion, it is assumed that the wages sys
tern, which divides society into two
classes capitalists and laborers, em
ployers and employed is the inherent,
essential, and permanent industrial
condition of society. It is, on the con
trary, of recent origin; certainly mod
ern, I believe transitional. A hundred
years ago the weaver owned his loom,
the tailor hi3 bench, the cobbler his
stall, the stage driver his coach, the
woman her spinning wheel. The in
vention of steam, the spinning nenny,
"the power loom, created a necessity for
organized labor. Individualism gave
place to combination, and combination
created capitalism. I believe, and it is
thisfaith which I wish to set before my
readers in this article, that as slavery
gave place to serfdom and serfdom to
the wages system, so in time the wages
system will give place to industrial de
mocracy.
What is industrial democracy? Aris
totle divided government into three
classes government by the one, gov
ernment by the few, government by the
many. We have added a fourth self
government. Thi3 is political democ
racy "government of the people, for
the people, by the people." Industria
democracy is the application of the
principles concisely stated in this Riot
to, to the organization of industry; it is
the doctrine of wealth of the people, for
the people, by the people. In this ar
ticle I desire to set forth the essential
characteristics of this industrial democ
racy toward which I believe all indus
trial changes are tending and will even
tually peacefully carry us.
The wealth of the nation is wealth of
the people; that is.; it springs from the
people. It therefore of right belongs to
the people. For what are its sources?
In twenty-five years the wealth
of the nation is reported to have
grown from fourteen billion to forty
four billion. Why? What is the secret
of this marvelous growth of wealth ?
It is, first of all, discovery. We have
found in this land unmeasured wealth,
which God has in ages long past stored
here forests in northern and north
western states, waiting to do obeisance
to the woodman's axe; water power in
north-eastern streams, waiting to be
lassoed and harnessed by Yankee enter
prise; harbors and great river ways,
built long before river and harbor bills
were dreamed of; coal in Pennsylvania
mines and oil in subterranian reser
voirs, waiting for pick and blast to call
them forth; wheat and eorn; resting in
western prairies until Prince Labor
should awaken them with his wand of
fruitful life; gold and silver in Colora
do and California mines, imprisoned
until civilization should unbolt their
prison doors and summons them
. forth. To whom belong of right these
treasures which are not of our making?
To the people first in posession of the
soil? Then they belong to the dispoil
ed Indian races. To the first discover
ers? Then to tlo Spanish and French
races; certainlv not to the present own
ers, who are neither the discoverers nor
their heirs or assignees. To the men
who bring them from their hiding
places ana makes them ot value to man-
kidd? Then the forest belongs to the
woodman, the coal mine to the opera
tor, the prairie to the cultivator of the
soil. Something might perhaps be said
of each of these hypotheses; the one Ivy
pothesis that cannot easily be defended
in the court of reason by any theory is
the hysothesis on winch we have in
fact acted that they belong of right to
the strongest (or to the most grasping
and unscrupulous) in a struggle not for
existenc, but for wealth, luxury and
power. This wealth has. oeen iiKe a
hower of gold pieces flung out into a
populous Italian street by a passer-by
"We have all scrambled for it; a few of
the strongest have won the prize, while
the rest look on with covetious eyes
This wealth of the continent belongs to
the nation; and justice demands such
methods of legislation as will give most
equitably to the nation this common
wealth, and to each member of the na-
tion his share of advantage in the com-
xnon store.
Next to discovery of wealth hidden
in the earth, is what we call invention,
which in truth is simply the discovery
and application of a like wealth hidden
in the forces of nature. We are rich
beyond all previous ages because we
have found a way to make nature do
our work and accumulate our weaitn
for us. God puts his muscles at the dis
posal of our brains. He is the genie of
the lamp who has come to do our bid
ding; to be, as it were, our drudge nd
servant. His water courses grind our
grist for us; his tire summons from the
water its secret energy and puts at our
service unesuniaiea norse power 10
drive our machinery for us; his lighten
ing comes from the clouds to carry our
messages ana light our streets and pub
lic halls and private houses. To whom
belongs these natural forces? There is
a reason in justice, and a reason in ex
pediency, why the nation should give a
yield to the men whose insight first dis
covers, whoes wisaom nrst applies to
useful service, these divine forces. But
the forces themselves are not private
property; they belong to humanity. The
very existence of our patent laws is pub
ic testimony to the truth that every
such force i3 public property; private
property only so far as the public
chooses to relexquish its larger right for
its ewn larger oeneht. Industrial de
mocracy claims as its own the crude
wealth hidden , in the earth, and the
more subtle wealth concealed in the
brces of nature. Mr. Edward Atkin
son estimates that seven persons can
with our improved machinery provide
bread for a thousand This fact, which
ought to reduce the labor and enhance
the wealth of the entire population, en
riches the few and leaves the labor and
the recompense of the many substanti
ally as before the labor but slightly
essened, the recompense but slightly
increased.
A third source of national wealth has
been in franchises created by the peo
ple for the public welfare, and trans
formed into private wealth through
public neglect and private sagacity.
The railroads of the United States are
estimated as worth above eight thou
sand million dollars, about one half of
which is represented by stock: Y hat
gives them their value? It is not the
road bed, the iron or steel rails, the
stations and surrounding grounds; it is
that the railroads are public highways.
Formerly our public highways afforded
poor facilities for locomotion, but they
were tree: now they anorcl admirable
facilities for locomotion, but they are
private property. The telegraph wires
aretne nerves of the nation; the rail
roads are its arterial system. The
body politic has sold or given away its
nerves and its arteries, lhe nation
could well afford to pay liberally, the
men who invented the telegraph and
created the railroad system. It could
afford to pay Avell for the poles and
wires, for road bed and stations. If it
chooses to leave pole and wire, road
bed and station under private control,
it may certaixly do so; whether that is
wise or not is matter for further con
sideration. Here it must suffice to say
that the wealth of both telegraph and
railroad, of long inter state lines, and
of short electric or horse-car lines, is
due to the fact that they are indispens
able means of intercommunication;
this wealth is derived from the public
and belongs to the pubic. Like the
wealth of the forests, the mines and the
prairies; like the wealth of the gravita
tion, fire, electricity; it is a wealth of
the people, and belongs of right to the
people.
All these values, and indeed all val
ves of any considerable cunsequence,
are themselves the product of that civi
lization which is the common contribu
tion of the nation. The wealth of
America has attracted hither millions
of immigrants, and has given to our
country a growthjunprecedented, which
fills the student of national life some
times with a sense of exaltation, some
times with a sense of awe akin to
alarm. But it is this immigration which
has created -the wealth. The hungry
mouths have given a value to our bread
stuffs; these multiplied homes have
made a market for our coal; these rush
ing hordes ofgimmigrants and traders
have enriched our railway companies,
No man ever, by himself, created or
ever can create wealth. Into the loco
motive have entered the hopes and
fears, the successes and failures, the
labor and achievements of many lives
now ended. The railroad owner can
not, does not, recompense the grave.
Your beautiful vase cost Palissy the
potter many a pang, though he never
saw it; and for the sake ot it his wite
and children often wrent supperless to
bed. Can you pay them? The wharf
age of New York City, which with reck
less lack of prevision we have allowed
to become private property, is valuable
solely because of the three million peo
ple who live on and about Manhattan
Island. Every farmer in Illinois helps
to enhance the value of the Illinois
Central railroad; every shopkeeper in
New York adds to the value of every
warehouse.
1 hus it is clear that our wealth is in
its source and origin a common wealth.
Our system of exchange is a rude
method of balancing values with one
another. Possibly there, may be no
better one discoverable; possibly no
amendment of it may be conceivable;
but no thoughtful man will contend
that it affords absolute adjustment or
represents a divine equity. The wealth
of every millionaire comes from the re-
sources of the land of which he has
go ten control; or from natural forces,
the chief grist of which falls into his
meal bags; or from public franchises
given by the state and created for the
state; or from the general advantage
which grows spontaneously out of the
presence and power of a generally dif
fused civilization and an increasing
population. The last part of it is that
which his own ettort has created, lhe
basis for a democracy of wealth is
found in the fact that all wealth springs
from the people. The basilar factor in
our civilization is that wealth, like po
litical power, is of the people. , ,
And therefore it ought to be for the
people. . At present it certainly is not.
it is not necessary, on the one hand, to
contend, that the rich are growing rich
er ana tne poor poorer; it is in vain, on
the other hand, to point to the truth
that wages are appreciating and interest
depi'eciating. 1 he fundamental fact re-
mains, that while in the United States
political power and public education
are distributed, wealth is concentrated.
The plutocracy which DeTocqueville
dreaded is here. Elaborate statistics
are unnecssary. Accurate statistics are
impoossible. A single brief statement
may suffice to illustrate a fact patent to
any observer oi nte or reader of the
daily press. Mr. Thomas G. Shearman
has made a careful selection and com
parison or statistics for the purpose of
considering the question, Who own the
United btates? and reaches the conclu
sion that 40,000 persons own one-half
the wealth of the United States; that
one seventieth of the population own
two-thirds .of its wealth; and that 250,
000 families, aggregating possibly 750.-
000 to 1,000,000 persons, own upwards
of thre-quarters.of the whole. A friend,
an authority in economics, to whom I
submit this article in manuscript to in
sure accuracy in its statistics, thinks
Mr. Shearman's estimate of the
number of owners too low. but
he writes: "It is quite certain that one
per cent of the families of America own
as much as the remaining ninety-nine
per cent;" and he adds that the concen
tration of wealth is worse in Great Bri
tain. If these estimates are either of
them even approximately correct and
the latter probably minimizes the con
centration it is clear that the second
condition of a democracy of wealth
does not exist in the United States; the
wealth which really springs from the
people is not in fact controlled by, or
administered for the people.
Industrial democracy does not de
mand simply a division of the wealth
of the nation among its 00,000,000 of
population. Such a division would
have to be repeated in every generation,
and would end, not in a common wealth,
but in a common poverty. It does not
demand that all labor shall receive
equal wages, and all men possess equal
wealth. It demands equity, not equal
ity. It does not adopt as its own the
motto of modern socialism: "From
every man according to his ability; to
every man according to his need."
That is the motto of the church, not of
the nation. It is the principle of benevo
lence, not of justice; and not benevo
lence but justice should be the basis of
the state. But industrial democracy
does demand, with Laveleye, "To
each producer, his entire produce, and
nothing but his produce." It agrees
with him that "the great problem of so
cial organization is to realize this form
ula of justice." I do not indeed hold
with Laveleye that "if this were once
applied, pauperism and divitisra, mis
ery and idlness, vice and spoliation,
pride and servitude would disappear as
if by magic," from' among us. Social
transformations are not wrought by
magic, but by patient labor and pain-
fully slow processes of evolution. There
would still be lazy folk who would
rather live by begging than by industry;
still inefficient folk who could live only
by servitude to the more efficient. But
organized injustice would disappear
from our industial organization, and
with injustice would disappear danger
ous, because reasonable, discontent,
and the division into the two classes of
the very rich and the very poor. So
ciety Avould still exist in grades, but no
longer in castes; and Lazarus would no
longer worry Dives with his importun
ity, nor Dives afflict Lazarus with his
scorn.
What is the true basis of ownership?
We brought nothing into this world;
no infidel was ever so skeptical as to
deny that proposition. How then do
we get anything? There are three ways.
We may create it by our own industry;
that is, it may be the product of our la
bor. It may be given to us by some one
who has created it by his industry,
either as a free-will offering or in ex
change for a product of our own; that
is it may be acquired by gift or pur
chase. Or we may take possession of it
without leave. In the latter case, if we
take it from a private owner, the act is
called stealing; if from a public fund.
it is called speculation, lhe wages
paid respectively to brain and brawn
are perhaps unfairly balanced, the val-
ues of the respective products of indus
try are perhaps unmatched. But the
great fortunes are not made by indus
try. They are made by men who have
had the opportunity and the ability to
get possession of the common wealth.
They have been acquired by owners of
coal and gold and silver mines, taking
as their own the wealth of the hills; by
oil corporations takiug as their own the
wealth of' the subterranean reservoirs;
by railroad kings taking as their own
public highways; by landlords taking
as their own the wealth of the prairies
and the greater wealth ot the suddenly
uprising cities, lhe just reformer will
not condemn these makers of great for
tunes. He may even commend their
sagacity in discerning the opportunity,
their forcefulness in seizing it, and their
generosity in using their advantage as
to make the public real sharers in their
wealth. But he will condemn the sys
tern which has to many workers given
very much less than the entire produce
of their labor, a5rd to many others has
given immensely more. Jay Gould
commenced life with a mouse trap; af
ter twenty-hve years he displays securi
ties worth $100,000,000. Who will claim
that he has created this wealth by his
industry Part of it? Yes; but most
of it our industrial system has enabled
him to take from the public stores
from wrealth of natural resources and of
public highways that is the product of
no man's labor and therefore of right
the private property of no man. Indus
trial democracy may be quite willing
that the ratio of proht between brain
worker and brawn worker, between
captains of industry .and privates of in-
dustry, be left to be determined in a
free and open market bv the law of de-
maud and supply; but it insists, and will
insist more and more strenuously, that
the wealth which is not the product of
individual labor shall not become indi
vidual property; that what is by its na-
ture common weaitn shall remain
wealth common to all the people.
Industrial democracy involves the
further principle that, as the wealth of
the nation comes from the people and
belongs to the people, so it should be
aaministereu Dy tne people. This is
the point concerning which most read
ers will be skeptical, and here the ad
vocates of the system will make their
stand. The doctrine that wealth is pro
perly a comjQon wealth, is familiar to
political economy and is the basis of the
doctrine of eminent domain. The doc
trine that is to be used for the people,
underlies the familiar doctrine of the
New Testament that wealth is a trust,
ana the equally familiar doctrine of po
litical economy that it must be active
to be profitable. But the doctrine that
the
common people are competent to
administer wealth, will be received
with the same sort of skepticism with
which its predecessors in the evolution
of democracy have been received. De
mocracy, the doctrine that the common
people are better able to manage their
own an airs than any one is to manatre
for them, is accepted by Protestantism
. it . . ..
in religion, by republicanism in politics,
and by industrial democracy in indus
trialism, lhe reformation assumes the
capacity of men to answer each for him
self the profoundest questions of life
Is there a God? Is the soul immortal?
Has God Spoken to the soul? How has
ijrod spoken to the soul? How? By
church, Bible, conscience, or all three?
What are the laws of right and wrong?
un what do they rest and haw; are they
are enforced? And it reirarda all
priests ana propnets as advisers not
.. , . . 3
rulers, servants, not masters, of the
people. Republicanism follows Pro
testantism in the evolution of liberty.
If man can settle for himself the
Eroblems of the kingdom of God,
e can settle those of the kingdom of
men. If he can solve the problems of
eternity, he can solve those of time.
Priestcraft being repudiated, kingcraft
follows. Democracy calls no man mas
ter and all men brethren; chooses its
own leaders, who become, like priests
and prophets of the church, advisers,
not rulers, servants, not masters. In
dustrial democracy carries this evolu
tion one stage further. It is the neces
sary corollary of religious and political
democracy. If the people are compe
tent to govern an empire, they are com
petent to govern a cotton mill; if they
can select servants to administer a
treasury department, they can choose
servants to carry on banking; if they
can conduct a gigantic civil war to a
fortunate conclusion, they can conduct
civil industries with successful results;
if they can select their own captains for
a few years of military service, they
can choose their own captains of indus
try. The real origin of what men mis
call our labor troubles is to be traced
back to Luther. When men were
taught that they had a right to think,
the whole world of thought was opened
to them; when they were taught that
thev had a right to govern themselves
in church, self-government, first in the
state, then in industry, followed as the
day follows the dawn In America, our
churches, our politics, . our school
boards, are based on the competence of
the people; our industries on their in
competence. Both views cannot be
right; one must overturn the other.
We cannot permanently have a state
based on democratic principles, and an
industrial system based on oligarchical
. !-! TT -1 11 t
principles. v e snau Decome, sooner or
later, consistently democratic or con
sistently oligarchic. The whole labor
movement, with its .organizations of
workingmen, its labor legislation, its
strikes and boycotts, its brotherhood of
industry, its demand for shorter hours
and larger wages, its rude and some
times barbaric attemps to exercise con
trol over industrial enterprises in which
it has no capital invested, its attempts
at co-operation, its proposed nationali
zation of land and industries, is all a
movement toward industrial demo
cracy; that is, toward such an industrial
reconstruction as shall recognize the
truth that wealth, like education and
political power, is of the people and for
the people, and therefore should be ad
ministered by the people.
industrial democracy is not anarch
ism and does not tend toward it. An
archism is the doctrine that government
is an evil and should be abolished; the
doctrine that "government is a neces
sary evil," pushed to its extreme by
strikiag out the word necessary; an ex
aggeration ot individualism; laissez
faire gone to seed. It is, indeed, the an
tipodes of democracy, for democracy
assumes in men a competence for or
ganizatioa, political, educational, indus
trial. J. he one is founded upon a pro
found distrust of man, the other upon a
1 r 1 1 i r t . . -
proiounu iaun in mm. : industrial de
mocracy is not nationalism or state so
cialism. It does not confound the func
tions of government and of industry; it
does sot propose to put two incongru-
uus uuues upuii me same organization.
It does not propose that the state shall
wn all the tools and order all the in
dustries of the community. It does not
necessarily even look in that direction.
It is certainly not individualism with its
pagan motto, "Every one for himself
and the devil take the hindmost," and
the equally brutal motto (which belongs
to the beasts of the forest, but not to
man made in God's image and for the
realm of mutual service), "The strug
gle for existence, the survival of the
fittest, and, as a consequence, the
tragic "unsurvival" of the unfittest.
Yet it involves something of each one
of these three systems. The industrial
democrat would, with the ararchist, re
duce government and enlarge liberty;
out, uniite tne anarcmst, lie would pre
serve government as a necessarA and
beneficent means of preserving liberty.
With the socialist he would give to
every man a share in the control of the
world's industries, and, consequently,
in their gains and losses; but, unlike
the socialist, he would adjust both con
trol and participation in the profits ac
cording to the measure of each man's
contribution, not in the ratio of his
need and the inverse ratio of his con
tribution. With the individualist, he
would leave each individual to a free
contract in the open market; but, un
like the individualist, he would recog
nize the truth of the aphorism, '" When
combination is possible competition is
impossible," and he would make unau
thorized and undemocratic combina
tions impossible by promoting combi
nations of labor and capital upon dem
ocratic principles; that i is, upon the
simple principle of the greatest good to
tne greatest number.
if 1 am asked to be more specific.
and to indicate what reforms industrial
democracy involves, and what are the
first steps it will take toward their real
ization, I reply illustratively, not com
prehensively. Industrial democracy
means tne recognition in private indus
tries of JFrof. Jevonss aphorism, that
combinations should be perpendicular.
not horizontal; that is, that there should
be a combination of labor and capital
in one organization, in competition
with a similar combination of labor
and capital in a rival organization, not
a combination of all capital in battle
array against a combination of all labor
Thus it means an extension of Drofit
sharing and co-operation, for both of
which the device of joint-stock corpo
rations is preparing the way. It means
certainly, not a nationalization of all
wealth, but such legislation as will pre
serve to tne people tne values which
properly belong to the people the
mme3 and oil wells, the undeveloped
ianu vaiues, tne iorests, the greaMran-
cnises, ana tne iorces oi nature Given
by our present patent laws too absolutely
A. 4. L. A. i. 1 1
iu me patentee, wuo is rarely the rea
discoverer or inventor. It means such
a reform of taxation as shall prevent
tne imposition oi taxes on the many,
to create a surplus in the treasury out
of which to pay bonuses or to lend
money to the few, whether the borrow
ers be manufacturers, railroads, ship
owners, sugar-growers, or farmers. It
means the total abolition of the methods
ot partnership now in vogue, by which
the state furnishes funds to certain
enterprises sometimes ecclesiastical
sometimes educational, sometimes in
dustrial and leaves the control in nri
vate hands, and the profits, when there
t.h- dnnHnn f w r. " i "."7ri
i piivaie pockets, it means
. uiuau nnnciuie
"No appropriations bv ff0nm0n tn
any organizations not under public con
trol and for the public benefit." It
means, not the conduct of the industries
of the community by the state, out the
regulation by the state of all industries
on which the life of the state depends;
of all natural and necessary monopolies,
such as telegraphs, railroads, water
supply, public lighting, and the like ;
and the absolute ownership and admin
istration by the state of all such indus
tries, m the measure in which cautious
experiments may indicate that the pub
lic can serve itself cheaper and better
than it can hire private corporations to
serve it. It seems to me to involve mu
nicipal ownership and administration
of all street-lighting, and all stret-car
routes; federal ownership of the tele
graph and telephone service; State reg
ulation of all mines ad oil wells; and
federal regulation, though probably not
ieaerai ownersnip, or an interstate rail
1 1 H 4. A. 4 1
way systems. -
These seem to me to be nrst steps in
the torward movement, let respecting
these specitic steps l am not dogmatic.
My object is accomplished if I have suc
ceeded in setting clearly before the
reader the process of the evolution of
industry from slavery, or ownership
of the laborer by the capitalist, to feu
dalism, or ownership by the capitalist of
the laud, with a lien on the laborer;
from feudalism to individualism, or free
competition, in an open market, of an
almost wholly unorganized industry;
from individualism to the wages sys
tem, or the organization of industry on
oligarchic principles under captains of
industry, responsible only to God and
their own consciences; from the wages
systom to industrial democracy, or a
system of industry founded upon, and
effectually applying, the principle that
wealth is of the people, should be for
the people, and must eventually be ad
ministered and controlled by the people.
PROMISE AND PERFORMANCE.
Does the Republican Party Want Lower
Rates ?
Ed. Richmond In the Venango Argus.
We invite attention to the following
plank in the republican platform, and
a few comments thereon:
We demand the reduction of freight and
passenger rates on railroads to correspond
with rates now prevailing in adjacent states
in the Mississippi valley, and we further de
mand that the next legislature abolish all
passes free transportation on all railroads ex
cepting for employes of the railroad compan
ies. Clearly depicted in the above plank
are two facts, or inferences that few
or any will attempt to deny ; that is,
rates are lower in the adjacent states,
and that ours are too high. If too high
how they have been for a series of
years. This confession comes from the
party who built these roads with Wants
f " , T 1 J, "J" I 1
oi puoiic lanus, suusiuies anu Donus,
and whose every legislative act has been
in their interest and against the shipper
and producer. Is it possible that they
have changed their policy and intend to
legislate for the people? The rapidly
increasing sentiment against extortion
is becoming dangerous, and they seek
to avert the danger by promises, plati
tudes and declarations that are not in
tended to be put in practice. A more
devoted trio of railroad men could not
be found In the state than Richards,
Benton and Hastings. Think you, they
will carry out the provisios of the
above plank if elected? Think you, the
party desires it to be done? rerish the
thought! Not an action of the party
breathes in sympathy with the plank,
as circumstances clearly demonstrate.
t is a well known fact that both Mr.
Hill and Mr. Lesse are not only willing
but exceedingly anxious that the secre
taries prepare a schedule of rates to con-
orm to the Iowa rates. The secretar-
ies are doing nothing ana drawing a
a . 1
big salary. Who is responsible for this
inaction ? Tom Benton, who has been
honored by his party with a renomina-
tion, which means a complete endorse
ment of all previous actions. Conse
quently we repeat, there is no sympathy
between the actual intentions of the
party and that plank in the platform,
t was placed there to pacify the clam
orings of a dissatisfied public. Again,
if that piank was a bona-fide declara
tion of principles, was intended as an
actual expression of party faith, why.
does not Tom Benton so accept it?
Mr. Hill and Mr. Lessee stand ready to
approve such action. Will he do it?
No, certainly not. It was not so intend
ed. What more propitious time could
t - , 1 - , T -?l 3 . . t
De asKeu ior. Aanroau rates is tne par
amount issue of Nebraska politics to
day. It has caused a mighty uprising
of the people, it is producing discord
and enmity in the ranks ot the g. o. p.,
which can to some extent be averted by
a single stroke of lom Jsenton's pen.
The party reluctantly says yes, the
railroads possitively say no. The posi
tion of the republican party of Nebras
ka is simply this, it has two sets of prin
ciples, one written and one unwritten;
one expressed, the other unexpressed
The party is allowed to dictate or form
ulate its written declarations, and to
express its opinion (excepting the Lin
coln Journal), but the unexpressed, un
written power- behind the throne (the
K. It.) governs the executive of the par
ty, absolutely. Their dictum is the law
of the Medes and Persians. Shall thev
be granted another two years lease of
relentless power. To every honest vot
er, we would ask this question, have
you evpr entertained a desire for lower
rates? If so, be contented and vote the
independent ticket, that is clean from
top to bottom.
Doing Good Battle.
Our own Opinion, of Hastings is doing
battle in the cause of the people. Its
convictions are deep and sincere, and
its utterances have the ring of pure me
tal. In an article on the present con-
Act in this state, it says:
We tight for wronged woman and
manhood; we fight to take the mothers
and daughters out of the city tenement
cellars and in the place of saddened
hearts and care worn faces, to fill the
former with ioy and light up the latter
with the beauty of health; we fight to
leave for our children the heritage of a
country free from debt, where honest
womanhood and manhood rule and
sefve and reign; where political rascal
ity has found its grave, and class legis
lation is a thing of the past.
Chase County Independent Candidates.
' For county attorney, W. C. Gilham,
of Lamar.
Couaty commissioner. Win. Thomas,
of Champion.
County surveyor, C. I. Brainard, of
of Imperial. Yours truly,
Andkew Nicol, Chm. Co. Com
STANLEY'S FIRST LOVE.
C UPl IPS JPSA JfKi WITH TUB ORE AX.
JSXl'J.OltEB.
foTo th Footlights In an Omaha Tho-aler-Tho
Foolish Youth EJecUd Ho
Hone to Fame, She Fell to the Grare.
With fame and fortune at his back.
Henry M. Stanley was enabled to suc
cessfully woo one of the most beautiful
ami talented women in England.
Early in the sixtiei" matters were
different Stanley was noted for noth
ing but poverty and persistence the lat
ter bred in his bone, and that has been
of incalculable benefit to him all these
latter years of uncertainty and priva
tion.
"Annie" was a variety actress who was
tlien gladdening the hearts of that won
derfully large floating population stream
ing into the great plains region through
the then new city of Omaha. She was
bright, vivacious, of very attractive
figure, and . knew how to entertain.
Stanley, who had been about the city a
few weeks, had, like many others, fallen
under her spell. Young and impression
able, he became enrolled as her devoted
friend.
"in ding means to gain admission to
the theater in which she was playing,
he found a seat close to the stage night
after night, watching the coy Annie
with all the eagerness of an infatuated
lover. Stanley s existence seemed cen
tered upon her. But Annie was fickle.
One night, it is related, a scene was pre
cipitated bv the love sick young man,
wiio had begun to realize that the object
of his affections was playing fast and
loose with him and was soliciting atten
tion from other gentlemen of larger
wealth.
On the night in question, as the story
go?s, ne was in ms accuscomea seat in
the theater, and when Miss Ward came
on to do her little Mact," Stanley was
observed to be in a condition : of excite
ment quite foreign to his nature. Misi
Annie was too palpably engaged in im
pressing her personality upon a rather
boisterous young man, who had the rep
utation of having cleaned out numerous
bar rooms, and was not on the most inti
mate terms of good fellowship with the
law loving element of the community.
Stanley is said to have stepped into the
aisle in a most demonstrative manner,
and a scene of excitement followed that
terminated only when he was summarily
and safely ejected through the front
door.
There were many stories related as to
what really happened an angry col
loquy with the actress, the public dec
laration that both he and she would be on
out of this world of heartaches and unre
quited love, and the final exhibition of a
very large and dangerous revolver,
Through the prompt interposition of
muscular spectators (who didn tso much
object to blood lettingjas to the disrup
tion of the programme and the possible
unsatisfactory termination of the even
iuor's entertainment) Annie ward was
evabled to get out of range of Stanley's
-reapon, and Stanley was ejected. An
nie was saved to die of alcoholic excesses,
and Stanley to discover Livingstone and
make known the secrets of the Dark
Continent.
Stanley's life at that time was a pecu
liar one. He had knocked about the
West a good deal, and had done some
fair newspaper work on a military expe
dition. Dropping into Omaha, he was
for a time out of employment, and de
veloped into a splendid specimen of pov
erty and general hard luck. His trousers
were "out" at the heels, his shoes were
apologies for foot gear, his linen even a
Chinaman would have scorned, and his
6t6ck of flannel shirts reduced to one.
He would get a job now and then none
of the Omaha dailies a day's work, no
more, at a time.
As for lodgings, he had none, and one
of the city editors of that period relates
how Stanley would appear nightly at the
editorial rooms of the Republican and
solicit the privilege of sleeping there, for
the reason that he had no money for a
bed elsewhere. It was invariably ac
corded him, and he made his couch by
scraping together a lot of old newspapers
and softening up the dictionary for a
pillow with a few Chicago or New York
exchanges. There he spent his nights in
refreshing sleep, with no covering save
papers; and making his toilet on arising
as best he could in the composing room,
he would start out every afternoon to
skirmish for food and a job. Soon after
ward Stanley went to New York, and
later he was in Abyssinia, Spain, and
then Africa.
Am Old Hoax.
Occasionally a correspondent seeks in
formation concerning the 1,000,000 post
age stamp hoax. It is firmly believed
that if a million stamps, are collected
and forwarded to a given address some
benefit will accrue to the sender. A
sublimated form of this swindle hai
originated in the fertile brain of a post-
ago stamp couwvur bv oitrtviu, vici .
He desired to get vast collections to or
out and sell again, and hit upon a plan
to set the whole civilized world to work
for him free of charge. He preyed on
the sympathies of people by announcing
that an orphan would be cared for in a
private asylum for every million stamps
sent to him. This worked well; and tm
next dodge was the starting of a mythi
cal mission in China, the holy fcisters of
which agreed for every million stamps
sent to save from the jaws of the croco
diles of the Yellow River at least one
Chinese baby, and then educate and
Christianize it. The stamps were to be
tent, not to Jerusalem or China, but tc
Munich or Stettin. The last claim on
the sympathy of the world that has been
made by this German is, that' for one
million stamps a home for an old lady oi
nn old gentleman will be provided in
one of three homes one in Iondon, an
other in New York, and the third ir
Cincinnati. For five hundred thousand
s tamps a bed will be endowed in a hos
pital, and for one hundred thousand i
home will be found for an orphan foi
ne year. There are agencies in variou
i ties to forward stamps to Stettin, li
..h estimated that this swindler has col
!ected over one hundred million stamp
ii tho United States a o ie.
A Life Romance.
A fashionable physician told an In
teresting, experience the other day.
Thirty yearn ago he was a boy in.
on of the villages near New York.
Like most lad of his ape, he had a
sweetheart, with whom he used to
nt tend prayer meeting, parties and
other affairs. Like some other vil
age maidens, this maid was capri
cious, and one fine day she'coolly gave
him the go-by for some other fellow.
To add insult to injury, she badgered
him about his prospects, and asked,
tauntingly what he was going to do
when he grew up to bo a man. Oh!
he was going to be a doctor, and a
great doctor. She laughed and said
contemptuously, as only wicked,
heart-breaking, girls can, that he'd
never amount to much because her
i mother had told her that he was very
stupid.
"Well, that s all right," responded
our doctor, grimly. You'll hear from
me some day because I am going to
moke a success of it."
The village lad kept his word. He
became a famous doctor, and at
tended some of the most celebrated
persons in the United States. He
rose constantly in his profession, and
had almost forgotten his village
maid when one day, not so very long
ago, he received a note from her ask
ing if he was the same person she
had known as a boy. lie replied
courteously, but without unnecessary
M'ords, that he was.
About two weeks later the lady
called on him at his office. She was
gray-haired and matronly. She had
seen his name hundreds, of timeu in
the public prints, but had supposed
that it must be some one other than
her former admirer. Then she asked
if he would do her a favor. Her hus
band had had reverses and was at
present a sort of demented paralytic.
She was too poor to provide for nim
and had vainly tried to have him ad
mitted to one of the hospitals for
incurables. The doctor pave her a
note to the superintendent of the
hospital with which he happened to
be connected, that wns tantamount
to an order for the admission of the
patient.
Two months alter the husband
died in the institution, and the widow
called to thank the doctor for his
services. A tear glistened in her eye.
and, with a deep sigh, she hinted at
how different things might have been
if her mother hadn't forbidden her
to have anj'thing more to do with
the stupid village lad. The doctor.
who saw the ticklish ground that the
widow was treading, rapidh changed
the subject, and soon alter bowed
the ladv out, with much dignity, to
receive one of his high-priced patients.
But ha wns verv absent-minded, and
shocked his new caller considerably
by the diffident manner in which he
asked after her symptoms. His
mind was with the Hudson river vil
lage girl of 30 3'ears ago. New York
Star.
Came to 8ee Sail and Dick.
From the New York Times.
Among the immigrants who landed
yesterday at the Barge Office was a
female stowaway who had crossed
the ocean in the White Star steam
ship Teutonic. She was a tall, mat
ronly looking woman and was well
dressed for one passing through the
Barge Office. She gave her name as
Mrs. John Jones and said that sh
was about fifty years old. Her home
is near Queenstown and her husband
is an old sailor and a pensioner otthe
Uritish government. A few j'ears
ngo her daughter came to this coun
try with a letter to the late Father
lliordan, who found a good situation
for her. The girl wrote home a num
ber of times to her mother. Tho lat
ter longed to see her daughter and
her son Dick, who had also come to
this country.
Last Thursday morning when she
saw tne Teutonic entering queens-
town Harbor the old woman put on
her best clothes and said she was go
ing to America to see bally and Dick.
As she did not have a penny in her
pocket her husband did not take her
at her word. At the dock she board
ed the White Star tender and was
transferred to the Teutonic. W hen
the vessel was out at sea the purser
asked her for her ticket. Although
she had neither ticket nor money,
the purser was not harsh with her. -
"Sure, he couldn't help but treat
me decent," she said, "because I was
respectable."
During the voyage
she was treated as well as the other
immigrant women. Gen. O'llierne
directed that she should bo detained
at the Barge Office while ho endeav
ored to find either Sally or Dick.
America's Dofenselessness.
There is nothing pleasant in the
testimony given by Gen. Nelson A.
Miles, of the United States army, be
fore a senate investigating commit
tee. He said that the entire Pacific
coast is defenseleps and that during
ten days the British fleet could de
stroy every town and city on Puget
sound, destroy our railroad system
there and occupy our outlets for
that northwestern country. An en
emy's ships could go up the Colum
bia river and destroy the city of
Portland. There is not an earth
work nor a single artillery soldier on
Puget sound. South of the harbor
of San Francisco there is not a single
?un in position, nor a soldier to de
fend the harbors and cities ot San
Diego, Santa Barbara and San Ped
ro. The city of San Francisco is ab
iolutely open to attack by an en,
ray's fleet.
o