The farmers' alliance. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1889-1892, January 31, 1891, Image 4
Gfct farmers' 3UHance. Piibnefcea Ivety Saturday bf Tex Alliascx PcBusunro Co. Cor. lit millii, Lioooln. Hebb , J. J. , ....Ml tor . Basinets MiMiof In the beauty of the liffiea , i CSirist wu bora across the sec, With t glory In his bosom That transfigures you and me. As he strove to make men holy Let us strive to make them free, Since God is marching on." M Julia. Ward Howe. "Laurel crowns cleave to deserts, And power to him who power exerts.' "A ruddy drop of manly blood The surging sea outweighs." v "'V Emerson. "He who cannot reason is a fool, He who will not reason is a coward. He who dare Hot reason is a slaw. AN INFAMOUS OPIHION THS SUCCESSIVE STEPS OF . FATAL AND VILE CON- ' 8PIRACY. Jadges and Senates Have Been Bought K, 4WUi Ooid." Pope, ' The opinion of the supreme court as to the signing of the resolution to con yene a Joint convention of the legisla tare was given out yesterday afternoon. The opinion in short is that the con current resolutions convening the joint convention must be signed by the pre - skiing officer of each bouse, and the gov- oner, that if the governor refuses to sign, it must have a three fifths majority or the contest must be abandoned. . The opinion is simply monstrous. It is contrary to all known authorities and precedents, and is a reversal of former opinions of this same court. The opinion paralyzes the legislature as to the performance of one of its con stitutional functions and places the leg islative power of this state, which is a co-ordinate branch of the government, prone in the dust under the feet of a dis puted governor or t a trumvir of old women called, by courtesy, a supreme court. "" . ' L' The provisions of the constitution re- lating to the signature of concurrent resolutions plainly relate only to such a are to have the force of law. The fol lowing are the provisions. Section 15 of article 5 says: ana 16. Every bill passed by the legislature, bbvorb re bbcombs law, and every order, rraoluUon, or vote to which the oonourrenoe ' of both bouses mar be Beoemarjr (exoept on .oeatloai of adjournment), shall be presented o the governor t he approve he shall ilgn it, and thereupon It shall bbcom a a law: but If he do not approve be shall return It with hts objection, t the bousein which It shall have oririnated. whleh houne shall eater the obloo- at iarfe upon its journal, ana prooeea to the members elected agree to pass the saoae, inerioe mii. men we wree mine oi is shell I swat, together with we objnotiont, totheoUer bouse, by which it shaillikewlse reoooatdered: and if approved bv three- Mia of the members of that house, it shall b one a bAW.notwlthsUndlnf the objections . the governor, -'j.-.. ; ; ; - The nnal clause of Sec. 4 of same ar ticle says: "Contested elections for all of said offices meaning the executive offices, shall be determined by both houses of the legislature, by Joint vote, in such manner as may be prescribed by law,' The law in relation to such contests simply provides that the legislature shall by joint resolutions "fix the day" 4or the convening of the joint conven tion and the trial of the contest.' It will be observed that the joint reso lution in point is not a law within the meaning of the , constitution; and it is perfectly plain that the section quoted does not apply to such reso lutions. This monstrous opinion, . as we pointed out yesterday in referring to the Imposition, declares that the ques tion as to whether proceedings may be had to impeach a governor, or to try a contest in case of a disputed succession, must be submitted to the party in inter est for him to determine whether the case shall proceed. The idea , is mon strous, Under it the liberties of the peo ple jf Nebraska are lost, and supreme power is usurped by a branch of the government which has only a reviewing power, and a creature of , fraud is placed in the gubernatorial chair. The Independents have desired to proceed in a legal manner, and after the mandamus proceedings and after it was decided to pass a concurrent reso lution fixing a day for the contest, and the attorneys for contestants, after satisfying themselves by a .careful ex auiination of authorities that it was not necessary for the governor to sign such a resolution, to make assurance doubly sure went to the members of, the su preme court on two different occasions. and after a thorough discussion of the matter all the members of tho court expressed themselves not only that it was not necessary for the governor to tiign a concurrent resolution, fixing a time to try his right to the office, but that such a proposition was entirely atxuird ' No reasonable man can escape the conviction that the court was a . party to the trick to entrap the Inae pendents. That this whole thing is a vile con- gniricv. in which the supreme court is a party, and that the Independents have btwn led into a neat trap by asking for this opinion, there is no manner of doabt. . The Independents, in asking lor the opinion oi tne court, tacitly greed to abide by it. They should now proceed to legally and carefully adopt another concurrent resolution for a Joint convention, and submit it to Boyd for his slnatare, and let the final steps of this conspiracy be developed. THE FARMERS' IN THE FIRST STEP THEY FELL. When the supreme court made its first mis-step, when it embarked in ex cited partisan politics, when it cast lteelf cto the whirlpool of political excite ment that the maken of the constitution took especial care to keep them from by a constitutional provision, it did the state an incalculable injury. They took a step that actually led to the fatal one The steps which tbey have thus far taken are in violation of ihe funds mental laws of this and these American states, la violation of the letter and of the spirit and ot the practice nnder such constitutions stated by great courts and juaist to be " That (he determination of the results of all elections is not a matter for th&rdinary administration of the law and courts of justice but, is in its nature a political question, to be determined under the constitution by thi political authority of Hastate." T'V - A brief glance at some of the reasons given by great jurists and great courts for these principles discloses the error and shows how far astray the court of Nebraska has gone from correct prlnci pie. The reasons assigned by the supreme court of Kentucky and Indiana for con tiding these questions to (the legislature are to withdraw from the courts the pas sions and excitements to which these cases may be expected to give rise. The reasons given by the supreme court of South Carolina and Pennsylvania are to put to speedy end the choice of an offi cer so essentia! to the state. The rea sons given by the supreme court of West Virginia and Arkansas are that U is scarcely possible to believe that it was ever contemplated by those who made and adopted our constitution that we should have a person discharge the high and responsible duties of chief execu live omcer oi the state who had never been elected. The reasons given by Judge Cooley in commenting upon a constitution la words like our own were that "there are many reasons why the more suitable authority for its settle ment is the legislature of the state, which can act promptly and without regard to forms, while a judicial contest might continpe for months, possibly even for the whole term of office, and be embar rassed more or less with questions of plead ing and technical law to the incalculable prejudice of public interest and public order:" A f r -w : i We think nearly every court In Amer ica that has spoken upon this subject has spoken with like effect. How sug gestive are the above reasons and how prophetlo of tho consequences that fol low the departure from these princi ples. At this moment Nebraska suf fers every evil so Intended to be guard ed against. The court is regarded ss having embarked in this political case as deeply as its most zealous partisans. The loss of confidence among many citizens of the 'state, and even disres pect from others, has unavoidably fol- owed. .The speedy choice of an execu tive officer has been frustrated, an alien publicly believed to b ineligible, if not never to have been legally elected, sits lathe discharge of the high duties of governor of this state by the mandate of that court that should have kept its hands out of the case, and which over ruled the folemn determination of the i legislative body appointed to canvass that vote. A wide spirit of popular be lief is created - that by some illegal method unknown the offender Is to es cape trial altogether and tho office is to be filled for the entire term by a person that has no legal right to fill it. The decision of the court has substituted these technicalities and forms and em barrassments for promptness and cer tainty to the incalculable prejudice of publio interest and public order, which Judge Cooley says was intended to be avoided by placing this matter in the decision of the legislature. '" The sequel or the result Of their decision here goes even further, and our court has estab lished as a permanent law and rule of government in this state, binding them selves as well as the legislature, not in this pending cose alone, but in every case in this state hereafter, that no matter how illegal the count, no matter how fraudulent the returns, no matter how corrupt the candidate, no matter how bribed the voters, be he citizen or alien, patriot or traitor, man or felon, he is to be installed into tho office of governor upon the mere certificate in the hands of the speaker; of the house without a citizen or a court or an ofli- cer( or a judge or a legislature, or even, the supreme court itself, being able to raise a single obstruction or objection. The candidate, though red-handed though rotten in every fiber both in character and method, not only may but must be declared governor by the speaker of the house ofhe representa tives. The representatives can not even mildly protest, the court itwlf can not even mild ty protest; if it acts, it must lend a helping hand. The supreme court; the repository of the highest ideal of justice and virtue- and judgment in the stato, the legislature sitting by consenting, must compel the speaker to put even a felon in the guber natoral chair before it can question one of his designs, or even felonious acts, or hi character or qualifications. Nay, yet further, that great body of repre sentatives of the whole people, that especially constituted court of the whole people, before he alone or his acta can be tried, cannot meet even to ALLIANCE, LINCOLN, NEB., SATURDAY, JAN. 31, 1891. consider man or deed over all of tho matters confided to them by the consti tution except by the consent of the rogue or felon to be tried. Why, io deed, the court goes even farther ana declares that they, being the sole court on earth to try him, the evidence being lodged before them against him, and they having unanimously to a man de cided as representing the people of the whole state that they will try him, that the felon and the rogue can overrule their decision, vacate It absolutely and set it aside and declare It for nought as though it never had an existence, and ever can have an existence, except by another act or proceeding as complete, as conclusive and as exclusive' as though the authority of the executive department of the government had no existence whatever. The above con siderations are not, fanciful, and nnder the present proceeding for all purposes the notice of contest may be assumed as true, because according to the de cision of the court it does not seem to matter whether the charges be more, or less serious. , The doctrine of this court is they cannot proceed at all if their decision to proceed be overruled by the felon .who might be on trial. Fraud is charged in the notices mis-conduct of officials, corruption, bribery, statutory crimes and lesser offenses. The evidence of nearly a hundred witnesses lies before the court that is trying to proceed, the court is waiting the consent ol theculprit and offender to go forward. ''Will he consent? COUNTY MUTUALS. We desire to call attention to the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company of Richardson county. It was organ ized under our very unsatisfactory stat ute in June, 1887. Its by laws provide that it shall insure no city or village property, neither mills, shops, or unoc cupied buildings. It takes only farm houses and barns, and their contents, refusing even those unless they are as safe as can be made. The nine directors elected by the members at the annual meeting appoint a president and secretary. The secre tary charges each member one dollar for surveying his buildings and issuing. policy. It Issues five-year policies only. For each one hundred dollar policy, members 'must pay ten cents into the treasury to pay for blanks, books, and other expenses balance, if any, to be applied on loss, should a fire occur. Should fire occur, and funds on hand were , not sufficient this company as sesses policy , holders pro rata. : No assessment can ever be made until fire has occurred, and then only sufficient to adjust the loss. . , All the money stars at home, not a cent leaving Richardson county, The old line companies charge farm prop erty fifteen to twenty times as much as this company, and in many cases even more thin that. That is, the members are getting along1, by paying one dime for what they, formerly paid a dollar and a half to two dollars. This com pany has never yet made an assessment. A valuable house caught, fire last May, but it was saved with a damage of 125. The treasurer settled the damage and had over $50 left. i' This company has now over 180 members, with about $270,000 in poli cies issued. Its members would under no circumstances agree to disband, and recur to the old plan of protection. Persons wishing the 'farmers of Ne braska prosperity, will agree that an economy of this kind should spread all over the state. Gerdis of Richardson county has a bill in the house which would greatly improve the law for mu tual companies. This or some similar bill should be perfected and passed. Tho vexatious restrictions now in our law were placed there by the insurance ring for the sole purpose of preventing the .. formation of mutual companies. These restrictions should be removed, and any number of persons should be permitted to associate themselves for mutual Insurance on such terms as they might agree. It would no doub be wise to establish safeguards which would prevent individuals from run ning snide companies. The exorbitant fees now charged for incorporation should be reduced. The annual report of Wells, Fargo & Co. of precious metals produced during 1890 in the states and territories west of the Missouri shows: Gold, 932,156,916; silver, $62,930,881; copper, $20,569,092; lead, $11,509,571. The total value of the output is $127,166,460, comprising in the aggregate the chief product of seven states and three,territorie8viiThi& is a vast sunt to dig out of the bowels of the earth, yetin actual value-it is consider; ably behind what the farmers of. two states garnered from the surface. The corn crop of Iowa and Nebraska last year aggregated 800,000,000 bushels. At present prices in Chicago the crop is worth $144,000,000. Thus the chief staple of two states exceeds the value of the entire mineral output by nearly $17,000,000. And the farmer gathers his annual crop at considerably less ex pense than the miner. Bee. The above is one of the fallacious methods by which the occupation of farming is shown to be immensely profitable. But when it is considered that only about one-third of that corn was avail able for sale, the balance having to be used as subsistence, and when we re member that of tho one-third sold the railroads take three-fifths for carrying two-fifths to market, and when we do not forget that the shippers and board of trade men take 50 per cent, of the net proceeds of that part, the subject assumes an entirely different aspect. Savings Depositors and free Coinage. Chkage Tribune. The deposits of last year in the sav ings banks of the six New Englan SUtes, New York, Pennsylvania, am New Jersey amounted 11,279,000,000 agafcst 81.214,000,000 in 1889. Tb population of those States is"' abou 17,300,000 so that an Increase of 140,00 in the number of depositors was abou one for every 120 persons in that area, while the total number of 3,520,000 per sons who have savings-bank accounts it not far from one for each family of five persons. The increase in the deposit last year was over $17 for each depos itor, or $4 for each inhabitant. In the absence of statistics on the subject it is fair to infer that the other 43,000,000 residents In the United states save not less than three-fourths as much per capita as , those for which the amount is stated.. They should be able to save more than that, being fully as industrious, having somewhat less to pay for staple articles of food, and sret- mg fully as good wages. In discussing this question the New York Bulletin estimates that the total of savings put by each year by all the wage-earners of tne country must exceed saw, 000,000. and asks what they do with it, as the number of sayings banks in the West does not correspond with that at the East. The question is answered by the Cincinnati Price Current with the remark that so far as Ohio is concerned the savings of the people are very largely deposited each week in the building as sociations; which take the place of sav ings banks and "give the best facilities for laving small sums of money ever yet practiced." Supposing the accumulation by the 45,000,000, of people to' be no more than equal to that by the 17,800,000 at the East, we shall have a total of, at least two and' a. half billion dollars in the shape of money owned by the working classes, it is either at their command when called for at the bank or whan draws out from a private hoard. A de preciation of 20 per cent in the purchas ing power of the dollar, due to the pro posed unlimited silver coinage, would lessen the amount of savings by $500 000,000, making the economical workers that much poorer. The very persons who should most be encouraged, the bone and sinew of the country, those who not only keep sober and. honest themselves, giving no occasion for the employment of policemen, courts, or jailers, but are doing further good to so ciety by setting an excellent example to the rest, are the ones to be impoverished by free silver coinage. They are to be robbed and plundered of a large part of their slowly accumulated savings in order that aid and comfort may be af forded to a lot of others who have bor rowed money instead of saving it, and now want to pay the loans back in a kind of money worth 20 to 25 per cent less per dollar, than that which they ob tained from the lenders. We republish the foregoing from the Chicago Tribune to expose some of its fallacies: ' First, an increase of deposits Is no ticed in a time of great depression. This is not commented on by the Trib une, which is quite strange, as it would be In keeping with its opaque ideas to refer to it as an indication of great pros perity among the working classes. The fact is that it indicates exactly the op posite. The increase of money at finan cial centres in the form of reserves, or in savings banks at it low, rates of inte rest, - indicates stagnation of .business. anqUack of opportunities for paying in vestments. , People do not accept 8 per cent for money when they can just as easily get 6, and they do not let money lie idle when they can easily invest it at a profit The increase of depositors in savings banks may and does in this case mean anything but increased prosperity. ' .. : , . The writer goes on to figure up the amount of money the working people of the country "have at their command when called for at the bank," viz: $3, 500,000,000, or about one thousand mill ion dollars more than the total circula tion of the United SUtes. This shows the delusiveness of considering bank deposits as .money, and the folly of basing the resources of the laboring classes upon any such figures. But the beauty of this argument is yet to come. Having deposited two and a half billion for the working men the writer assumes a shrinkage of 20 per cent on the whole sum one thousand million more than exist on account of the free coinage of silver. First, if we concede such a shrinkage, it could not possibly be on more than three-fifths of the sum named. But conceding the point, tne writer entirely loses sight of the fact that a shrinkage in the purchasing power of the dollar is more than com pensated by an increase in the pur chasing power of products or labor. In other words, what the people as capital ists have lost, the people as producers have gained, ., Or, the control of money over products has been . by so much transferred to' . a control ; of products over money. The loss has been to the money lender, and the gain to the pro ducer. Instead of the argument of the Tribune being true, it is flimsy, false, fallacious. The robbery is going on day by day, and is increased as the purchasing power of money is in creased. The only way to effectually stop it Is by increasing the purchasing power of labor or products, i The Tribune Is workimr solely in the interest of the gold bug, the money ' power and the monopolies. V- DOO EAT DOG. The scheme of the insurance ring ot - this state is a very fine one. It first proposes, with the help of companies of other states, to drive out of Nebras ka all foreign ins nance companies. Having accomplished this, the state companies propose then to combine and drive out all the companies of other states. CLAIMING THE INDEPENDENTS. The gall of the man who organized the demo-repub-railroad combine pass eth understanding. His latest is the claim uui the independents in the legis lature only represent a minority, and therefore ought to yield to the voice of the railroads as expressed by the repub- demo caucus. That Is, he coolly bunches the republican and democratic vote the same as if it were cast by one party, on one side, and measures the independent vote by iiaTnU then says this is one of those rare instances in politics where the tail is allowed to wag the dog. Making every effort to overthrow constitutional precedents striving to subordinate the legislative branch of the government to a governor with questionable title it is not strange that Mr. Rosewater should desire to re pudiate that other wise constitutional provision which in certain cases gives a plurality power. Making a corrupt combine between traditional enemies like the republican and democratic parties and then speak' ing of the vile amalgam as one party will be refreshing to the honest farmer republicans of Nebraska. The Bee need have no anxiety as to the responsibility of the independents as representatives of all the people of the state. They can best represent those people by insisting that the contest for governor shall be fairly tried and de cided on its merits. Nothing is more important to every citizen than the question whether we are to have hon est elections and a fair count. LANCASTER CO. COMMISSIONERS. There is considerable dissatisfaction among the people of this countrv as to the board of county commissioners, it being thoeght that three men could do the business quite as. satisfactorily as five. This is undoubtedly true. The office of commissioner is a salaried office, the pay being 81,800 per year. Thirty-five dollars per week is very good pay, and in these hard times, will secure the services of a verv stood man. Of course there is nothing in the office above the salary. If these men can do the business, the thirtv-six hundred dol lars paid to the two supernumeraries is well worth saying. It seems as though nine thousand dollars in salary alone was quite a large sum to pay these commissioners. We are informed that the law under which the present board exists had its origin in Omaha, which is a srood rea son to believe it may be improved. ' THE INTEREST PROBLEM. The present legislature will soon find itself face to face with the interest prob lem, and in fact with the great financial question in its entirety. There is no question upon which there is more gen eral misunderstanding than this no question in regard to which there is so large a number of men interested in befogging .. and misleading the great plain people.; The subject is con sidered Intricate," and' few men have given it exhaustive jtudy. . : Our legislators will be asked to believe that any reduction of interest, or any attempt to enact stringent usury laws will drive capital from the state, pre vent the renewal of loans, and therefore cause the loss of many farms. Are these things true? First, the usurers are not the capital ists who make long -time farm loans, though many of them are the agents of such capitalists. . Second, the higher the prevailing rate of interest, the poorer the security is a prevailing financial rule. , , Third Capital, that is money, is timid, and only seeks investment on safe securities. If high rates of interest prevail heavy capitalists who loan on long time at reasonable rates are apt to distrust the securities and the ability of tLa , com munity to pay, and hence they refuse to- loan in such localities. The men who loan at usurious rates on chattels usually live in the community where they make their loans, so they can keep their eye on the chattels. The pres ence of these men, and the fact of their making loans at such enormous rates, actually repel the real capitalists who loan at legitimate rates, and thus leaves the community at the mercy of the chattel mortgage fiends. Stop ' this robbery, and money would flow in at reasonable rates oh good security.' It will be said . that there are many who are in such a condition that they must have money on chattels or go under; and that many farm mortgages will be foieclosed if an attempt is made to interfere with , the existing order. WjII, the present situation is anoma lous and unusual. That is to say, it only comes around in cycles of ten to twelve years. - It needs an unusual, remedy. It would seem as though a temporary stay law would be justifiable. But the'need for a usury law is im perative. The rate of interest should be strictly limited to the legal rate agreed upon usurious contracts should be invalid, and the vendor of commer cial paper should be made its guarantoi through all its transfers. tyMurat HaJsted says, that the con tinual agitation of the money question in this country, makes it impossible for us to pay any attention to real reforms and improvements. The proposition is undoubtedly true, only we wonder what he calls "real reforms." THEY GIVE IT AWAY. It is impossible for the members ot the monopoly combine to suppress their mirth over the result of their bulldozing tactiss. It is too good a job to keep. They laugh about Speaker Elder being scared Into canvassing the votes and de claring that Boyd and the republican state ticket were elected. Now tbey say that the Independents made fools of themselves in asking the supreme court for an opinion in reference to tho con current resolution. Yesterday two men were overheard discussing the situation, in the lobby of the house, "What a set of d d chumps them fellows are anyway; they cant see anything and they are so infernally atraid that they will be jacked up by ihe papers that they don't dare make an effort." "Yes," replied the other, "we've got them under control. The thought of the supreme court scares them out of of their boots, and we've got the su preme court with us for everything we want. They would whip us im this contest if they knew enough to standi together, but when they get ready to commence again we will set the so- m.om no ikon, an1 tho llr.M conscientious fellows- will run like turkeys." , "Oh, lh-1," replied the' other, "we've got the R. Rs., the bank the daily pa pers and the supreme court back of us, and if they do get over their scare we can buv enough of them at any time to-' helpus out,, They are as poor as the d 1 and it won't take much of a rolL" LEGISLATION AND THlfCONTESr. Some of the Independent members are very nervous about legislation which is demanded by their constitu ents. It may be well enough to go for ward with the work of perfecting such laws as are demanded. But aside from the appropriation bill for the relief of the west, there is no work of this legis lature so important to the people of this state as the correct settlement of the contest. The people of this state want to know whether a rotten repub-railroad-demo combine can seize their election machinery and foist an Omaha bum into the highest executive office, and carry off the plunderunchallenged. They want to know whether three old) men, two of . them . ex-railroad attor neys, can set themselves up to domi nate the legislative branch of the govern ment,and cut their outrageous opinions' to suit emergencies. They want to know if a judicial tyranny is to be es tablished in this state and all law be subverted. This is the great question. With Boyd as governor it is perfectly immaterial whether the laws the peo ple are asking for are perfected or not. They would either be defeated in one of the houses or vetoed. There is some good work that might wv sivkvuuQu v Am lUUnlii aya ait Via VUU" tract should be investigated. It Is very desirable for the people to know how it was obtained, how much it cost, and who got the boodle. V 1 ' The condition of the state treasury should be investigated. The treasury of the state of Nebraska is the bulwark of this Boyd fight. A place that i worth forty thousand dollars a year cannot fail to be a source of corruption. The people of this state would like to know where the money is, and how much of it is left, and how much cam paign found from the treasury went into tho Boyd railroad pool, and they have a right to know. ' ' This is legitimate and useful work at which the legislature can put in its- time.- A PUPPY EDITOR. ' ) The Journal of the 23d criticises our ar ticle on interest, but it only acknowl edges our existence by the term of "one of the financiers engaged in instructing-' the metnbers of the legislatuie," not even' alluding to the Dailt People. The editor of the Journal need have no fear but that The People will get be fore the people. Its failure to acknowl edge our existence as a cotemporary will not amount to much; But it is notice able that when it desired to commit a vile libel upon an individual it had no diffi culty in remembering his name. RESIGNATION. . To the , Nebraska Supreme Courts Mr. Burrows hereby tenders his resig nation as dictator. . tW Demo-republican is a new word coined, to fill a cryinir need. It is a word full of meaning and may be writ ten several ways and still be as sweet For instance, "dam-republicans," or 'np-democrats," but "lickem-independ- ents" will live longest and tell the story best. tgJohnC. Cowen played for the pit. Instead of arguing the point of law involved in the question before the supreme court, he harangued the crowd on the anarchistic tendencies ot the present legislature. A Boyd at torney denouncing anarchy is an inter esting spectacle. tfl Mrs. John Sheedv. do herebv protest against the further investiga tion oi the murder of John Sheedv. for the reason that L as a party in interest. have not signed the warrant for mv ar rest, nor given my eonsent to such an investigation. In rapport of my posi- tion l respectfully refer to the opinion of the supreme court handed to th joint eottventieo yesterday.