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About The Alliance-independent. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1892-1894 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 1892)
8 THE ALLIANCE-INDEPENDENT. filjc farmers' Alliance, THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT CONSOLIDATED. Published Etert Thursday bt The Alliance Publishing Co. Cor. llth and M Stt., Lincoln, Neb. BOARD Or DIEICTSRS. O. next, Pm . J. M. Thompsoic, Sec'y. 8. Ed. Thormtoh, V.-P. J. F. MurriBD, Treaa. C. D. PlBTLI. Subscription One Dollar per Yeab B. JCdwix Thobhto, Managing Editor ciis. n. Pibtlk, BuBlnegM Manager. E. A. M curat..; Advertising Mg'r N. L P. A. OUR AVERAGE Weekly Circulation for Past Five Months, 21,971. People's Party National Ticket- For President, GEN. J AS. B. WEAVER of Iowa. For Vice.Prosident, (JEN. JAS. G. FIELDS of Virgniai. For Presidential Electors, T. O. FERGUSON, Nemaha County. J. R. CONK LIN, Douglas Count y. JOHN I. JONES, Cedar County. R. R. SIIICK, Seward County. W. A. GARRETT, Phelps County. PETER EBIJERSON, Howard County. E. E. LINK, Frontier County. T. II. TIBBLES, Cuming County. STATE TICKET. For Governor, CHARLES II. VAN WYCK, Otoe Co. Lieutenant Governor, C. D. SHRADER, Logan County. F Secretary of State, J. M. EASTERL1NG, Buffalo County. For Auditor, LOGAN McREYNOLDS, Clay County. For Treasurer, J. V. WOLFE, Lancaster County. For Attorney General, V. O. STRICKLER, Douglas County. For Commissioner of Public Lands and Build ings, J. M. GUNNETT, York Connty. For Superintendent of Public Instruction, II. II. I1IATT, Custer County. For Conjures First District, J E HOME SHAMP of Lancaster. As A calamity howler Judge Crounse takes the cake. Majors stood faithfully by the rail wads during the last session of tho legislature. The dale for opening the World's fair has been changed from October 12 to October 21. Majors is the choice of the railroads for lieutenant governor. Shrader will be the choice of the people. The Independent is a new reform paper just started at Harrison, Sioux county. We wish it success. Judge Crounse has returned to Nebraska. He is not happy; He his been reading up on crop statistics. Can tho people of Nebraska afford to entrust the highest office in the state to a man who doesn't know, enough to know that Nebraska produced a good crop in 1889? The state fair was a decided success in point of attendance. The displays in most departments were very crood ? But there is a general, and ' we believe a ' well founded impression, that" the agricultural displays were not upto L MORE ABOUT NEBRASKA MORT GAGES. In this discussion it is Impossible to discuss at length the mortgage record of each county but there is particular reason for devoting considerable space to SARPY COUNTY MORTGAGES. On January 21, 1889, a memorial from the State Farmers' Alliance was pre sented to tho legislature of Nebraska calling attention to the rapid increase in mortgages, and the depressed condi tion of the farmicg industry. This memorial was treated with con tempt by the republican majorit&s In the two branches of the legislature. The republican press and politicians raised a great howl over it. They de clared the statements to be false, that the allianc3 had slandered the state, and pronounced the memorial a "howl of calamity." John Jenkins, who was then deputy labor commissioner under Thayer, im mediately set to work to counteract the injurious effects of this terrible calam ity howl." Ho f elected Sarpy county as a basis for his investigation. This was manifestly unfair, for Sarpy is the smallest county, one of the oldest settled, jaost favorably located, (being just south of Omaha, )and most prosper ous counties in tho state. He mado what purported to b3 a complete and very thorough investiga tion of "Farm mortgages in Sarpy county," and published the results in his annual report for 1889 and '90. He made several elaborate tables purport ing to show the exact condition of things m detail. He interviewed the agents of loan and trust companies and published their views. Mr. Jenkins showed to the satisfac tion of himself and the money loaners generally, that tho mortgage indebted ness was not large, and that there was nothing to justify tho "many rash, if not vicious statement" of the calamity howlers who had indulged in the "wholesa'o manufacture of statistics." At the very time when Jenkins was cooking up his Sarpy county figures, the government of the United States was preparing to take a census or. mortgages in all tho states of the Union. This census was taken in 1890, and showed the amount of mortgages in forco January 1, 1890. Now let us compare the results of Mr. Jenkins' investigations with those of the United States census officials: Farm mortgages of Sarpy county in force Jan. 1, 1890, according to Jenkins $468,618 The samo according to U. S. census 803,534 It looks very much as if Mr. Jenkins indulged in a "wholesale manufacture of statistics," doesn't it? Jenkins' report was published in 1890, and remained an undisputed bases for abuse and ridicule of the alliance till May, 1892 when the United States cen sus bulletin came out giving the true figures. So much for the attempts a hired servant of the people to deceive them. Now let u9 turn to the official mort gage records of Sarpy county for the nine months ending June 1, 1892. Tho following are the results shown: Increase in farm mortgages, $162,859 " -" city " " 31,274 " " chattel " " 36,036 Total increase in 9 months $230,176 The population of Sarpy county is about 7,000. Hence the mortgage in debtedness of that county increased as during these nine months, (and that certainly is a fair estimate) tho total mortgage debt of Sarpy county at the close of this year will be $1,900,827. That gives us $271 per capita, or $1,355 per family. during nine months $33 per capita Tf wfl Kunnnsn the incrfiiisA frnm .TA.ri. terbadeveiiri m. nw: Xi? V i nrvrniTQWFAvm and FlELP are!- r TALK STATE ISSUES. Many independent speakers make a mistake in talking general issues to the exclusion of state and local issues. Thousands of votes can bo won by a judicious presentation of matters which come home to the people of the state that cannot be won by a discussion of national affairs. It is especially im portant for candidates who are running for state offices, and for the legislature to remember this fact. Tho writer recalls the casa of a fine old gentleman who was running for the legislature two years ago. He went on the stump with a lengthy and learned discussion of the financial question. This was all well enough. But when the old gentleman was confronted with the question: "What do you propose to do if you are elected?" he was at sea. He didn't know. He hadn't considered the matter. There were too many men in this category two years ago. The very best recommendation any candi date can have is his ability to serve the interests of his constituents in the office for which he is running. The record made by tho indepen dents in the last legislature, if properly presented, will win thousands of votes. On exposure of the crookedness, and rottenness which exists in the manacre ment of our state institutions will win thousands of votes. General issues should receivo a large amount of attention, but state and local issues must not be neglected. Judge.Crounse's slander on Ne braska would not have much effect if the people knew the circumstances. But how are tho people of the eastern and middle states to know that ho is ignor ant of the history of his own state? They know that he has been a con gressman and a judge, that he is now assistant treasurer of the United States, and a candidate for governor of Nebraska. They naturally suppose that ihe knows something about Ne braska and her people. When he tells them the alliance was organized in Ne braska because we had two crop fail ures in succession, they naturally sup pose it is true. If they know that Judge Crounse is an aristocrat who has no sympathy with the common people of Nebraska, who takes no real interest in the affa'rs of his state, ard hence is childishly ignorant, concerning them, they would probably take no stock in his glanderous reports. Bryan and Fields met in their joint debate in Lincoln, September 12. The opera hou?e was crowded. Fields opened. He read most of his . speech. H e did better than most of his hearers t expected, but is no match for Bryan as a debater- To the average independ ent it looks very much as if each proved that the other was not the man to represent this district in congress, in which case the natural and sensible thing for the people to do is to leave both at home and send Shamp to con gress. J. Sterling Morton is an aristo crat, a narrow minded, bigoted parti san, and a gold-bag of the strictest sect. Democrats who want to see a re form of abuses in this state will give HON. 0. D. SHRADER. The corporations arc making a harder fight on Shrader than on any other man on the independent state ticket. They are do'mg this for two reasons; First. Tom Majors, the republican candidate, is their most faithful, and valuable tool, and they .think there is a possibility of hisbecoming governor. Second. They expect to elect a ma jority in the senate, and they do not want the actions of that majority ham pered by an independent presiding officer. In order to create prejudice against Mr. Shrader the tools of tho corpora tions are circulating reports to the effect that he is an extremist, a crank, an anarchist, a man who has no respect for law etc. They refer to him as "Dn the Constitution" Shrader. These are base misrepresentations fit only to come from men who have lost all respect for truth and fairness. Mr. Shrader is the very farthest from an anarchist. He is a quiet, thought ful and conservative man. Ho does nothing hastily or rashly. Ho is a student and a thinker. He is slow and careful in making up his mind, or de ciding upon a course of action, But when ho is fully convinced of the right eousness of a certain course, he acts with great force and persistenc3. Mr. Shrader never said "D--n the constitution." . Asa me nber of the hous3 he was a faithful defender of the constitution. At one time ho believed the supreme court had overstepped the constitution al limits of its power and authority and invaded the rights of a co-ordinate branch of the state government. Mr. Shrader wa3 not alone in this opinion. As good legal talent as there is in the state sustained the opinion. At that time, Mr. Shrader went to speaker Elder, and in a private conver sation urged him to carry out the plan laid down by the independents iegard ing the contest. Elder said he was afraid the supreme court would put him in jail. "D n the supreme court" was Shrader's emphatic reply. This was spoken in a low tone, and in a private conversation, but it was overheard by a reporter, and soon appeared in print. We believe an outrageous abuse of power on the part of a partisan supreme court justified Mr. Shrader's remark. If C. D. Shrader is elected Lieutenant Governor, as we believe he will be, he will be the most faithful a supporter of the constitution that has ever filled that office. In representing the voters of Nebras ka to be a lot of ignorant cattle, Judge Crounse has proven himself to be no worse than the demagogues who con trol his party. They have been do'ng the same thing for two years. The cry of last year "one good crop will des troy the alliance" was based on the idea that the farmers are a lot of ig noramuses who don't know what they want, and that one good crop was all that was needed to dispel their discon tent. The truth is that the machine men of the g. o. p. look with contempt on the farners and laboring men of this state. Before this political fight is over, they will find that the tables have been tarned. When the farmers and labor ing men get their eyes open, the con tempt comes the other way. Already the county treasurers of Kearney, Nance and Nuckolls counties have responded to our call for facts re garding the county funds. We expect to hear from others soon. ' These re- mV A-Jlt-l a a. i r f l i A f v V
