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About The farmers' alliance. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1889-1892 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 3, 1891)
THE FAKMEKS' ALLIANCE, LINCOLN, NEIL, SATURDAY, JAN. 1891. FARUEBS' ALLIANCE . PUSUSKED EVERY SATUDAY BT TH1 Alliance Publishing Co, COR. lltb AND M 8TCL, L.KC0LN, - - NEBRASKA. J. BURROWS. - - - Editor. J. M. THOMPSON. Bestow Hft. la the beauty of the liHIea Christ u born crow the tea, With a glory in his bosom That transfigures you and ma. As Ha trove to maka men holy Let us strire to maka men frea, Since God ia marching on." Julia Ward Howe. Lsursl cravmt dtsvi to deserts, And power to him who power worts." A ruddy drop of manly blood Tfc surging Ssa oUtwslghs." Emerson. - -; h cannot reason It a fool. He who will not reewn is a eowt;d, He whd dare hot HakOn U a sUvo." EDITORIAL. THE METHOD OF PROCEDURE. The claim of the partisans of Mr. Boyd that, in pursuance of the so-called . opinion of ex-Judge Lake, the candidate for governor baring the highest number of votes on the face of the returns mast be declared governor, is absurd in the highest degree. The constitution is in tended to guard the right of suffrage, and give to the people an assurance that they shall have an honest vote and a fair count. But an aspiring politician and a lot of ruffians sieze the election machinery of a city, and if they can hold it long enough to secure a de posit of ballots sufficient to elect their man, no matter how illegal they be or by how much fraud procured, they have fixed the face of the returns, and under this construction their candidate must bo seated. Of eoure, when seated, the only recourse is by the slow process of the courts, and he would inevitably hold his seat until tho end of his term. It is plain to see that under this construction the ends of justice would be defeated. Further, under this construction free and fair elections would hereafter be impossiblo. It offers a premium for crimes against the elective franchise. Any vile combination that could success fully rape the election machinery of a great city might foist its creature upon the people. The constitution plainly says that the man having the highest number of votes shall be declared duly elected, and it wisely gives the legislature the power to determine who has the highest number. In the present contest the vital question at issue is who has tho highest number, and this fact must be determined before the declaration can be made. This is plainly the intent of the constitution, . and is the only method by which the de mands of the people of this state can be complied with. If, after a fair investigation, it is shown that Mr. Boyd has the highest number let him be seated if he is eligible to hold tho office. If, on the other hand, Mr. Towers has the hightst number, let him bo seated. The seating of a governor where the election is contested, by arbitrary vote without an investigation by the only power authorized by tho constitution to investigate, would be an outrage upon the people of this state, and iwould go far to destroy all conlidence in the effi cacy of the popular election to deter mine the will of the people. Since writing the foregoing we have examined the opinion of the supreme court of appeals of West Virginia, of March 12, 1880, in the case of Goff vs. Wilson. In this case Nathan Goff petitioned for a mandamus to compel . W. Wilson to deliver to petitioner the office and insignia of governor of the state. The constitutions of that state and Nebraska in the case of contested elec tions are identical, and the circum stances of the contest of Goff vs. Wilson were quite similar to our case. The de cision of the court was that the sole power to pass upon the returns, deter mine the validity of the elections, and declare who was elected to the office of " governor rested with the legislature, and that the supreme court of that state had no jurisdiction in the matter. There is no precedent to tho contrarv, and every decision and precedent is in line with that decision. (See Southeastern Reporter, Vol. IX, Pps. 26 to 81.) Omaha Defies the Legislature ! ! She Defies the Positive Provisions of the Law and Conceals Her Fraudulent Ballots, and Refuses to Permit Them or the Poll Books to be Sent to the Legis lature! No stronger testimony was ever fur nished of the spirit of utter lawlessness and defiance of all law than was exhib ited in Omaha on Saturday. The stat lite, section 75, on elections requires the notaries taking the evidence to issue an order requiring the county clerk who has possession of the poll books and ballots to deliver them to such person to be traiiSffiMed to the secretary of state for the use of the legislature hear inj the 'contf t. Such an order was formally iued and served on Saturday and the county clerk alxsolutcly refused oln-ilirnce to it. The ttatute wss read to tiiui' and he wa aaked why he would not obey it. and he f aid he would not do so as he was answerablo onlv to Douglas county. He was -then person ally subpoenaed, and contemptuously refused to produce either ballots or poll books. What reason could there be excefri that the books and ballots contain evi dence of.t he frauds and that they have not yet hud time to fix them. Is not this an attractive specimen of Boss Tweedisin? "What are you going to do about it?" CURRENCY BASED ON LAND VALUES. We have received from a valued cor respondent, an article frpra tho Toledo Blade under the above imadlug, which is about as full of mifapprebenslotii and mtsaiatemtnts of historical facia as it could be. The writer says : " The ex periment of basing a r-??r currency on !and va'ues has been tried several tiaiea, and has always ended in disaster." He then notes the case of French assignats issued in 1790, as one of those instances. Now what were the facts as to tho as signats. The land of the clergy and part of the nobility had been confiscated by the government. There were two sets of claimants to the laud,the gov eramentde facto and the clergy and no bility who had been dispossessed, and who were waiting just over the border for the aceession of their rightful king to the throne, when the confiscated es tates were to be returned to their right ful owners. The title was in dispute there was no settled ownership to the lauds and the actual possessors of them were liable to be ousted at any time. Next, the asignats were not issued on those lands in any correct sense of the term, nor in any sense of the term as now understood and advocated by those who are asking for the issue of money on land security. The assignats were promises to pay money that is, coin and the government promised that the estates, when they were sold, should be used to redeem them. The government having no title to the lands, the assignats were necessarily under a cloud. But in addition to this the government Issued more assignats than the lands would have sold for in good times with an un clouded title, The proposition to issue money on land, as now understood, had never been made in those times. That proposition is to issue not loan money on land security to those who could give that security, the same as now to bank ers on bond security. The money would be secured by a mortgage, would bear a low rate of interest, and would remain in circulation, as long as the mortgagee chose to- pay the interest. When the mortgage was paid, or foreclosed, the amount of money it represented would be retired. It will be observed that specie p. ays no part in this transaction. The money is not to bo a promise to pay specie, but is complete in itself. The legal-tender clause, and circumscribing the volume of its issue, would always maintain it at par with coin. Now We say that this experiment has never been tried. Various schemes of loaning promises to pay coin on land se curity have been adopted, anl have generally resulted in au over issue of such promises. Tho cedula of the Ar geutiue republic lias no similarity what ever to the proposed land currency. It was a promise to pay gold in quantities entirely beyond the wealth of the gov ernment, with an interest so exorbitant that even the wealthiest government would have fallen under it. Our conti nental currency offers no instance at all similar to the proposed land currency. Mr. Window's scheme for the issue of $300,000,000 of interconvertible bonds, and the issue of treasury notes, i. e., promises to pay gold to convert them into, without furnishing an additional supply of gold to, float the notes with, is Ss purely a wildcat scheme as was ever proposed in this country. If it was put in operation a Wall street combination could bankrupt the treasury and compel a suspeusion at specie payments in a week.- ' - MORE CITY BONDS PROPOSED. We understand that an ordinance to provide" for an election for the voting of $100,000 bonds to aid in the erection of a union depot has passed its second read ing in the couucil. - "Now we have just this to say about it. The proposition to tax the people of this city and county to give money to corporations that are worth their hun dreds of millions is simply infamous. The council that would pass such a bill under the . present financial conditions should' attend a hanging bee every Sun day and furnish a subject by lot until they were all disposed of. To the working men of this city we say, you are the men who pay the taxes. Taxes are not paid out of accumulated capital, but they are paid out of current earnings. The men who earn the money each year pay the taxes. If you will study this question a, little you will not allow yourselves to be walked up like cattle by railroad and council boodlers and voted foe bonds which you erroue ously think rich men have to pay. This proposition and the late electric light contract convince us that Tweed ism is growing in Lincoln, and that this council needs watching. Mr. Kotcwater, the Alliance and Mr. Burrows. We have received a copy of the Weekly Bee of Dec. Dec. 24, containing an article of nearly a co!eu over Mr. Rosewater' signature, entitled "The Dictator hows his hand." This article is devoted especially to Mr. Burrows, and aboHndsin complimentary epithets, such as "ingrate," "dastardly," "libel ous," "impostor," "mountebank," etc., tc. The immediate occasion of Mr. R 's artiele seems to have been an item in the Alliance of Dec. 20, in which we intimated our opinion that Mr. Rose water had left the state to avoid testi fying before the contest committee. Mr. R. says that we knew he was in the state and had appeared before the com mittee at the very time we wrote the item. In t'jis Mr. R. is mistaken. While our paper is dated Saturday, our forms are closed Tuesday evenirigj-and when ihatj p?p?F W5R$ 't P"?8 we had no tuowledge that Mr. had relurtloa or testified. In onr next issue we quote from his testimony about the country editor', which is proof that we had no desire to misrepresent Mr. R. la that matter. But Mr. R's article takes a much wider scope, embracing something of the history of the anti-monopoly move ment in this state, assuming with his accustomed presumption and arrogance, that Mr. R. was the father of the move ment, and holding Mr. Burrows up as a base' ingrate because he presumes at this time to antagonize the Bee. and as serting that he is inspired solely by the desire to supplant the Bee in the favor of the people. As Mr. R. has provoked an allusion to history we will state one or two his torical facts. While it is true that we did for some years travel nearly in the same road with Mr. R. it is also true that we were always compelled to be on the alert to resist his cunning schemes to convert the independent movement and the Alliance into a mere private appendage of the Bee office. At the celebrated Hastings meeting, when the anti-monopoly party was organized, a state alliance organizing committee was formed. Mr. Rose water proposed to take into the employment of the Bee an organizer for each county who should also act as agent for the Bee, and pay him $50 per month. This offer was re jected, as it would have accomplislied just what Mr. R. most desired, namely made the State Alliance merely a state bureau of his paper. Mr. R. then ap pointed a general agent for the Bee, and made every effort to secure for him a roving organizer's commission, though he was ineligible to membership in the Alliance, and was so dishonest that no business man dared trust money in his hands. From the time the Alliance was organized until the day Mr. 11. joined the money power against it his every effort has been to gain a foothold in it so that he could use it for his own pur poses.. And when it finally reached the point when it was entirely independent of him, he became its covert and unre lenting enemy. , ; With an audacity that is amazing Mr. Rosewater claims to have rescued the editor of this paper from obscurity and conferred upon him whatever place he may have before tho Nebraska public. As a matter of fact it has been the con stant effort of Mr. R. to keep every leader of the Alliance in the background and arrogate to himself all credit for the movement and tho change of public sentiment in favor of it. Every man who knows him knows this to be true. We are indebted for our position in the hearts of the farmers of this state to their belief in our integrity and faith fulness to their cause, and to nothing else. The term "Ingrate" used by Mr. R., does not apply. We owe Mr. R. no debt. He has used us when he could: but we are firmly convinced that his temperament is so different from that of other men that he is incapable of the sentiment of friendship. Mr. Rosewater says ' we practically acknowledged the falsity of our charge that he was in the combine to defeat Judge Reese, while pretending to be for him. This is not true. We simply acceded to his request to publish his de aial on certain conditions, which he did not comply with. Mr. Richards sup ports our charge, saying "it was patent to all that Rosewater was allied with the Burlington to secure Judge Reese's defeat," and that he then turned on the Burlington and accused it of defeating him. - Mr. Rosewater says that when we started this paper he cordially greeted us as a co-laborer. Let us see. After we had been some time conducting the paper, and it was developed that it was to achieve some influence in the state, Mr. R. intimated a desire fo a conver sation. We met the next time an op portunity occurred, and the wishes of Mr. R. were developed.' First, an in tense hatred of the temperance move ment was uppermost Next, the ma chinery of the republican party was to be taken possession of and the hosts of reform led into its fold. The first idea we did not sympathise with, the second we believed utterly impossible. We discovered that our lines diverged, and we made nq pretense in any other di rection. Mr. Rosewater went his way, and he had no right whatever to com plain because we went ours. Mr. R. says we have conspired to un dermine the Bee. There is not a grain of truth in this. On the contrary. It in Mr. R. in connection with a certain man who is too blind to wo that his reign is ended and his ambition futile, who has determined to nndermine and destroy Mr. Burrows and bis paper. This is apparent to the most casual observer. Every day all the abuse of Mr. Burrows that can bo found in the railroad press is compiled in the daily Bee, and parad ed under the heading "The Fallen Dic tator," or other obnoxious head-line. The insane idea has seized these men that Mr. Burrows is a dangerous aspi rant for the U. S. SeDate. The idea never occurred to us till it was thrust upon us by the papers. We reject this idea utterly. To become a candidate would immediately impair our indepen dence as an editor. The necessity a candidate is under to conciliate this in terest and that would be a gag we would sever for a moment submit to. These little souled gentlemen may rest in peace. We shall never be a candi date for U. S. Senator pr any other of fice, " M; RdiGwater" slyS We send out se cret edicts and instigate resolutions against the fieri, this is absolutely fates. We never to a living soul have iPtlm.ated a desire for such resolutions. By tho same token we have not pub lished one-tenth of those that have been received. Our paper is now enlarged and we may publish more of them. Tne cry of "dictator," which origi nated with the Bee, is as baseless as it is contemptible. The men of tho Alliance know this editor much better than the Bee does, and they can not be fooled by any such nonsense. Mr. Rosewater, in the exuberance of his im igination has raised Mr. Burrows into a mammoth jobberwok working for selfish purposes by dark-lantern methods. This idea makes true Alliance men smile, not to say langh. No man is more frank or open in his methods nor more free from a dictatorial spirit than the editor of this paper. There is ho object that wc cherish and no end that we desire to at tain that is not proclaimed openly to all the world We accept the gage of battle Rosewater has thrown. If he wants war he shall have it. We shall furnish our country readers as good a paper as the Bee at $1 per year in clubs of five. It will have some qualities the editor of the Bee can not impart to a paper because he does hot possess them himself, namely, hon esty, integrity, truth. : We now ask our farmer readers to prove their respect for us by their support of our paper. RELIEF FOR WESTERN NEBRASKA. The subject of relief for the. western counties of this state is one of the first that will claim the attention of the 22d legislature. A large population is to be provided for, teams are to be fed, and seed furnished for next spring's plant ing. From the best sources of informa tion we are convinced that between $200,000 and $300,000 will be required for that purpose perhaps fully the lat ter sum. In 1875 the state appropriated $50,000 for the grasshopper sufferers. The population of the state at that time was less than one-fifth of what it is at present, and the area "and population to be relieved now are correspondingly greater. ' . The most economic method of obtain ing the large fund required, and that will impose the least burden upon the people of the state, are points of first importance. There is probably now in the treasury nearly if not quite $500, 000 of the permanent school fund. This fund can only.be invested in U. S., State, county or municipal bonds. This money is presumably now deposited in banks, which are paying the state treas urer probably 4 per cent for its use, and are loaning it to the public at 10 per cent. While it remains in this way un invested it brings nothing to the state. We see no reason why the state should not bcrrow this money for the purpose named, at not more than 4 per cent., issuing its bonds therefor. The interest on these bonds would accrue to the per manent school fund, and the transaction would be quite like taking money out of one pocket and putting it into another as far as the state is concerned. The bonds could be issued for twenty years, but payable at the option of the state; so that whenever there was a surplus in the 7 treasury some of these bonds could be paid. ?i f ' Money in the east is being loaned at less than 4 per cent. The city of Brooklyn placed some bonds a short time ago at 3 per cent, and they sold at a premium. ' We regret that there is a constitu tional restriction placing the limit of our state debt at $100,000, (Art XII, Sec 1). This fact is a sound argument in favor of r a constitutional convention. A limit that was well enough in 1875 is absurd now. But we believe the legis lature may authorize the counties to issue relief bonds on which the perma nent school fund may be loaned, and that the state may become the guaran tor of such bonds. This is a subject of great importance, and should receive close attention from all members. , r BJTln reply to Brother C. S. Tunis, we would say the State Alliance of Ne braska belongs to the National Farmers' Alliance, but not to the National Alli ance and Industrial Union. It elected forty delegates to the former body, which meets at Omaha, Jan. 27, 1801. o o o 9 P By This Sign They Hope to Conquer. In every contest in which the interests of the people are against the corpora tions snd the money jiowcr money is thrown in the scale, like the sword of Attila, to overbalance right and justice. In tho case of the present contested elec tion this is eminently tme. The cor porations were in the combine to elect Boyd. They are putting money into a pool to seat him, regardless of law or justice. Ever since it was determined to begin the contest a purte has been accumu lating. The bankers' associations of this and other states were appealed to ostensibly 16 raise money to prevent ad verse financial legislation. But the per sons who were raising this money, and their interests, and the persons who have the custody and disposition of it, pfn$ out With unerring certainty the uses to which H will la "putt When the legislature convenes $50,000, $100,000, will be at band ready for its demoraliz ing and corrupting uses. By wresting from their control one of the co-ordinate branches of the state government the fruits of the splendid victory won by the farmers can be snatched from their grasp, and in no other way. The inquisition that was instituted by the corporation managers at Omaha into the associations, past party affilia tions, habits, character and means of the members-elect bad no other motive than to find if possible members whose poverty or circumstances might aid the villains in waking them their victims. We do not believe this search bore any fruit. We do not believe there is one member that has been elected by the independents who can be approach ed or corrupted by money or other in fluence. Treachery is not popular now-a-days, as the prompt condemnation of Van Wyck for his action in the late campaign abundantly proves. But if money can corrupt men they will be corrupted. If they can be led astray from their associates and their pledges by any known device or agency that is available to the corporation lobbyist, they will be so led. The only way for the independent members to do is to band themselves together in one compact body like a band of brothers, ' recognizing that the interest of each is the interest of all, and act together as a unit on all questions which are of a party nature. This is the first principle of organization, and is vitally necessary to success. In fact, this is vitally necessary if anything is to be accomplished in the direction we have been striving for. Every selfish ambition should be laid aside until this unifying of the independent forces is accomplished. The question of who shall be speaker, or president of the senate is entirely subordinate to the other question as to whether the inde pendents will elect those officers or per mit some other interest to do so. The man who for a moment opposes such a unification of our forces cannot be trusted, and may be hoping to gratify his ambition by making combinations with some other element. We hope our members will be fully warned by this hint. THE VAN WYCK-ROSEWATER-BOYD CANDIDATE FOR SPEAKER. It is Johnny Watson, of Nebraska City. This fellow was speaker of the last house . He is a first-class railroad tool. He can be depended upon to do the dirty work of the Boyd combine. He will have the open support of Rosewater and Boyd, the democrats, and such republicans as will follow them, and the covert support of Van Wyck and such members, if any. as he can delude into the ruinous belief that he is on their side. We also have it straight that Dr. Coleman, who is simply a tool of Dave Butler, and other of Butler's henchmen whom we could name are in this combine. This means a diversion of some of the labor forces if possible, and the prevention of organi zation by the independents. - We have the sublime spectacle pre sented to us of the two great prophets of anti-monopoly and reform entering into a dark-lantern conspiracy with the democratic party to take the republican party into the democratic camp to seat a fraudulently elected governor, and thus snatch from the people the fruits of their victory in the late "election, and using as their tool the worst railroad boodler in the state. . ' Let the dance go on. If this scheme is endorsed by any number of republi cans there will not be enough of that party left at the next election to mop out a back-house. : ' ' LOOK OUT! Dave Butler is on the ground with his lieutenants. These men are well known. We can name them all. But ler's sole occupatipn for years has been the handling of corporation boodle. That is what he is here for now. No man can associate with him without being smirched. Bear that in mind. These are not opinions merely. We have plenty of hard facts to back them with. - The Omaha papers and the Lincoln Journal have wickedly and viciously garbled the reports of the testimony in the contest case, and suppressed what does not suit their purpose. No real in formation can be gained from their reports. Municipal Suffuse. A strong effort will bo made to intro duce and pass Wi, in lhn legislature, giving municipal suffrage to the women of the state. The Nebraska Woman Suffrage association and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union have both appointed their committees to work for it, after full discussion in the state conventions of each society. As the constitution of the state invests the legislature with power to enfran chise the women in municipalities, and as our coming legislature is expected to be in the control of liberal, progressive and independent men, the women have strong hopes of securing this measure of justice. The concerns of city governments are such as naturally interest women vi tally. Their systems of schools, police regulations, sanitary matters and the control of the liquor business affect the homes so closeJj aa to make the plea of vomen for a voice in the maaagemeat of them eminently sensible and just. The bankers and business men who, in order to keep trade brisk, will license saloons in spite of the protests of the women whose homes are thereby im perilled, may oppose a measure that will give those women a legal right to vote against the license, but it will be a just rebuke to their mercenary deeds. Kansas gave women municipal suff rage, and reports from there testify to its practical benefits. There seems to be a tendency to take one step at a time in regard to woman suffrage, and this is sometimes the best method of progress. The proposed step would be an edu cator and an experiment in the direc tion of tho larger reform, viz: equal suffrage. Associations of laborers are usually very favorable to this measure, because they perceive how capitalists under mine the power of labor unions in their struggles for shorter hours and fairer wages, by substituting the cheap labor of a disfranchised class that cannot or ganize its forces, thus making wife and sister rivals of husband and brother in the industries to the detriment of both classes. As evidence of this a national labor convention representing 500,000 men recently sent a petition to congress ask ing for measures to protect women in their right to vote. The day of justice draws near, and as labor reaches up lo claim its crown, woman, the unpaid laborer of all the centuru a, will stand by her brother an equal sharer in a common inheritance. ' It is much desired by those having chargQ of this measure that Alliances and individual members shall send to members of the legislature from their respective localities their request for a favorable vote on this measure when it comes before the legislature. Friends of the measure will do well to make a note of this and act promptly. Such communications should be addressed to Mrs. Upton, 2130 R street, Lincoln. DEFYING THE PEOPLE. The administration correspondent at Washington telegraphs to the Omaha Bee that some very funny things are happening in . connection with certain Nebraska postoffices since election. 1 He says that the patrons of a number of of fices have petitioned for the appointment of men who voted the independent ticket to the position of postmaster in the case of a vacancy. That's gall, isn't it! For instance, there are scores of offices where only nine out of ton of the patrons voted the independent 'ticket, and still they think they are entitled to a postmaster out of their own ranks! It must have been a severe shock to the postoffice de partment to receive such a silly request as this. i! Then the Bee correspondeat continues his wail in this manner: " The three re publican congressmen from Nebraska whose terms of office expire March 4th will retain their positions for the next two years so far as recommendations for official positions are concerned, and their advice will always be sought with reference to any matters concerning Ne braska. The new democratic congressmen-elect from Nebraska may hold their seats in the house, and vote if they wish to, but their influence will not cut any figure elsewhere." i ! The present republican congressmen from Nebraska were elected by a major ity aggregating over 25,000. This year they were beaten by a majority aggre gating 26,000, or a change in heart of over 50,000 voters. If the Harrison ad ministration thinks it good policy te defy the plainly expressed wishes of the vot ers of this state in this matter, let it sail in. If the independents can manufac ture campaign thunder any cheaper than this free donation, the tariff on the raw material will surely have to be re duced. 1 " ""' ESWithin a few weeks or months at most, nearly every county in Nebraska will have one or more alliance papers, and then Jay Burrows will not have as soft a fleecing snap as he has formerly had, and Jay no doubt will be sour and severe. G. I. Independent. Now you're shouting! The more in dependent papers there are in the state the more demand there will be for this paper. " ' " STATE PRINTER FOR KANSAS. Editor C. B. Kies has been endorsed by a convention of Sedgwick county as state printer for Kansas.' No belter se lection could be made. ; ;