Weekly Independent
$1.00 PKR YEAR IN ADVANCE
ISSUED EVERY FRIDAY.
HEMtY HITK1NS, Publisher.
THURSDAY, AUG. 22,1803.
E.otered at the post oftiee of Lincoln,
Neb,, as second class mail matter.
The People's Independent County
Ticket.
For District Judge:
A. S, TIBHETTS.
For Clerk of District Court:
ELI AS BAKER.
For Sheriff:
FltEI) MILLER.
For Treasurer:
A.II.WEIK.
For County Clerk-
C.EOIKiE II. WALTERS,
For County Judge:
i GEOIKJE W. JJEKCE.
I For County Superintendent:
. . II. S. BOWERS.
lVr Coroner:
L.W. LOW It Y.
For County Commissioner :
K. E. RICHARDSON.
Assessors:
First Ward,
T. E. CONNELLY.
Third Ward,
C. 0. BULLOCK.
Fourth Ward:
C. A.COOK.
Fifth Ward,
A. C. SIIEBICK.
Sixth Ward,
J W. EMliERSON.
Seventh Ward,
W. T. RuLOFSON.
JOHN MEAN OH.
J. V. TRAVIS.
WILLIAM C1IINN.
For Justice of the 1'eace:
S. B. I A MS.
OEOHGEW.BLAKK.
The goldocrats are on the run.
Give it to 'em.
Hon. Samuel Maxwei.i. will be
the next supreme judge.
The next great event in Lincoln
is the populist state convention -
August 28th,
What make? :
Th?n- laWnakes one thi'u. money
it t&ltit. another, r.-.n r it.
V -- n. 1
Mr Merchant, did iteveroccur
to you what a slave you are to the
coupon clipping money power?
There is no money but that
made by the government; there is
no wealth but that created by labor.
No wonder the misguided re-
" " j t 0 o - ---
scarce they can't get hold of
an f. me uuu-piuuucuji; udiitv-
.. .1 1 1.
ers allowed to borrow money of the
government and all other classes
denied that right, there will be no
peace in this country.
Ton. on, sweat on, you misguided
fool. When you get tired of cre
ating wealth to enrich the interest
grabber maybe you will begin to
think of Mollie and the babies.
The gold bugs, unable to meet
the silver issue are trying to laugh
it to scorn and brand it as a dead
issue. Ain't they making lots of
stink over a dead issue, though?
The more advanced prohibition
ists are begining to understand that
it isn't the over-consumption of
whiskey that hurts the country now
so much astheunder-consumption
of bread. They are coming over
to the cause of humanity and cast
ing their lot with the populists.
The Independent has always
tood on the Omaha platform, has
upported every ticket nominated
y the populist party and has never
nt its endeavors to belittle the
...l ... I 1
en wnom me pariy nas eic-
. . re 1
lea to oince so long as mey nave
rved the people faithfully. Fretty
od record, isn't it?
Sam Jones should give Ingersoll
st and tackle Grovcr Cleveland
John Sherman. If preachers
1 to strike the devil in a tender
e where it will hurt, let them
their batteries on. the crimes
ury, corporation robbery and
ess gambling. It will do no
to cry out against those who
y icidi; bu luuK as we are
about those who steal by
lu money? Law.
THAT PRISON CONTRACT.
The republican papers through
out the state are making much ado
about the condition of the peniten
tiary affairs and would have the
people believe it cannot be run ex
cept upon the contract system
j
which has been the custom in this
state for the past twelve or fifteen
years and which the last legislature
destroyed by legislation. It is given
out that there is no tunds appro
priated with which to run the insti
tution as a reason why it should
go into the hands of a contractor,
all of which is a republican lie.
The last legislature, as for years
past appropriated 40 cents a day
for the maintainenck of 350 prison
ers, more or less. Maintainence,
means maintainence food, cloth
ing, shelter, guards, medical treat
ment maintainence. This forty
cents per day, per capita was paid
to Mr. Dorgan, with which he pur
chased all supplies, food, clothing,
tools, etc., together with salaries,
from the warden down to the cheap
est employe. Under his contract
Mr. Dorgan was gfyen the labor of
the convicts whom 3ie contracted
to various manufacturing concerns
at from 40 to 50 cents per day.
For instance, 50 men to the Lee
Broom & Duster Co., at 45 cents
per day; 75 men to the Western
Manufacturing Co., at 50 cents per
day; 20 men to Mr. Buckstaff at 40
cents per day and so on. Until
very recently Mr. Dorgan had from
200 to 250 men employed constant
ly at from 40 to 50 cents per day
and it can be readily - Computed
what his profits were fromthe col
tract, providing the 40 cents ap
propriated for maintainen Was
sufficient to meet those epenses.
The visual amount for main 5 aintnce
40 cents percapita was appropri
ated by the last legislature, aggre
gating $100 0. r-. . Sj4 there is
nothing. 'ftf the way 1 preventing
the warJet! aiJAioard from
ninn 'i4fc?Ji5$nitentiarv. drawing
iilm the Mate funds for maintain-
e.ic. hiring out the prisoners to
i whatever contractor might wish to
procure their services and turning
the profits into the state treasury
monthly instead of into the pockets
of some jobber or dishonest state
official. If the prisoners cannot
be leased out to contractors the
state will be nothing out as the 40
cents per day will amply maintain
the institution.
Now as to the cost of maintain
ence.. It is carefully estimated that
30 cents per day will pay all run
ning expenses of the institution.
The Missouri penitentiary contains
$2,000 prisoners and that institu
tion is maintained at a cost of 30
cents per day including all supplies
and all salaries. It has 1200 pris
oners contracted to various manu
facturing instutions in Chicago, St.
Louis, New York and at ether
cities at 50 cents per day, which it
will be readiiy seen makes the in
stitution self sustaining. At the
Missouri penitentiary the salaries
are more than double those paid at
the Nebraska prison. In the for
mer institution the wall guards are
paid $45 per month, in our own
prison they are now receiving, and
have been during Mr. Iorgan's
reign there, $20.80 per month. At
the Missouri penitentiary other
salaries range from $60 to $150 per
month while here I hey range from
$25 to $50, the deputy warden being
the only employe who receives such
munificent salary, Col. I'ace,
warden of the Missouri penitentia
ry receives $5,000 per year, while
our own waiden is paid but $1,500.
And yet that institution is main
tained at 30 cents per dcy after
paying those remunerative salaries.
The labor of the convicts sustains
the prison with its 2000 inmates
and in two years prior-to the last
session of the legislature only
$35,000 was expended by the state
on the institution and this was for
improvements and repairs. Yet it
costs Nebraska $50,000, in addi
tion to repairs and improvements,
to maintain its little prison of 350
inmates and the republican machine
bosses and their organs are anxious
to continue a system that robs the
state of $50,000 per annum, or
nearly. Notwithstanding the fact
that the last legislature abolished
his robber contract system, the
robbers and light fingered gentry
of the republican party are endeav
oring to re-inaugurate it contrary
to law, in order to get an opportu
nity to loot the treasury.
Men in position to know figure
that Mr. Dorgan cleared up from
$800 to $1000 per week on his
prison contract. Estimating 40
cents per day for 350 prisoners,
$140; cost of maintaining them 30
cents per day, leaving a net profit
of $35 per day or $245 per week;
200 prisoners sub-contracted at 45
cents per day, $540 per week. This
is the condition of affairs regarding
the penitentiary as plainly as we
can state it. Few people know
how the business has been con
ducted in the past, but they should
look into it, investigate the matter
and send up a vigorous protest
against the state board entering
into any contract whereby the state
will be robbed of $40,000 to $50,000
per annum as it has been for years.
Let the state conduct the business
as it has started out to do, main
tain its own institution and turn
the profits from the labor of the
prisoners into the treasury and save
the state thousands of dollars an
nually. Dorgan made a fortune out of
his contract, and now that shyster
class of republican leg pullers who
were cussing him for what "their
corrupt party did are after a slice
of the same pie. The highway
robbers cannot steal themselves
rich so long as Warden Leidigh
and '.the, -pSpuRjt, party have the
reigns and that is wnajjmrts them.
The same conditions exists at the
Kansas penitentiary as at theMiss
ouri prison, it is self sustaining and
is run by the state. Joliet, Ii!.
Fort Madison la., and other neigh
boring institutions of four or five
times the dimensions ol our own,
report the same conditions self
sustaining, and yet it cost the tax
payers of Nebraska $50,000 per
annum to run our prison. Is it not
time o call a halt.
A letter adiessed to Col. Face,
warden of the Missouri penitenti
ary at Jefferson City will substan
tiate all that we have said on that
line.
MR. VOI XU THE PROPHET.
Last week we published a pro
phesy made by Joseph Young, as
to the condition of the idle poor
during the coming winter. In it
he told, of suicides from despond
ency and destitution through ina
bility to procure work. Hardly
had the ink dried on the paper
when the death of Frank Kren, a
Bohemian, is announced, died at
his own hand, from despondency
and inability to find employment.
He had recently come here from
Saline county and having sought
in vain for work, evidently feeling
life not worth the struggle for ex.
istence, spent his money in drink.
Having spent all his money in dis
sipation he sold his trunk for suf
ficient money with-which to pur
chase a revolver, and walking out
near Lincoln park took his own
life. When the body was found
there were six cents in his pockets.
This is only one of hundreds of
cases which occur daily throughout
this great land of "over produc
tion." And still our people con
tinue to vote with the party of plu
tocracy; follow the lead of political
ringstcrs whose policy has created
a class of millionaires on one hand
and paupers on the other. How
long do you think such a system
can exist?
Kren was buried Monday in pot
ter's field with as little ceremony
as though he were a brute, and the
taxpayers settle the bills. Here is
another blot on the damnable rec
ord of the g. o. p. in this land of
"over production," "restored con
fidence" and "returning pros
perity.'" A New Yokk correspondent of a
Chicago daily, a man who hasn't
any visible leanings towards pop
ulism, says that the convention
which nominated General John
C. Fremont for president, was a
"gathering of wild enthusiasts
who would be called cranks nowa
days." If it wasn't for the enthu
siasts and cranks, very few abuses
would ever be corrected in this
world.
Say!
Your MibKcriptioii is payable in ai
vance. Don't wait on us to present yoii
a bill. 1
A DEN OF THIVES. (
The church, or the Lord's house;
is being made a den of thieves bi
the rich robbers who toil not, noj
yet spin, but fatten on the fruits 6.
other men's toil by a system known'
as usury taking. They belong to
the church to give them respecta
bility and God knows the man
who lives on the fruits of his broth
er's toil by the aid of usury needs
something to give him respecta
bility rob their neighbors six days
in the week, pray and contribute to
the preacher on Sunday and flatter
themselves that they are good chris
tians and respectable men, and that
their "respectability" gives them a
free pass to heaven.
There are men within the pales
of the church who have never pro
duced one morsel of food, one par
ticle of clothing, one iota of wealth,
yet they are sleek and fat, live in
luxurious homes shine in so-called
society, all at the expense of their
brother men who have labored to
create the wealth they consume.
They are no better to and of no
more use to humanity than the
common street loafer who never
pretends to do a day's vork; in fact;
they are a leech on society and have
to be supported by those who work.
As a rule they are penurious and'
never indulge any of those "ex
travagant habits" which people
who live and let live indulge in; all
the money they keep in circulation
would add very little to the volume
ol trade.
n this we have no reference to
Christianity but to churchanity.
To the "respectable" loafer who
uses the church for a cloak, who
schemes to live without, work and
who has helped to make the house
of God a money changers temple
a den of thieves. If another
Christ were to visit this earth would
he not make a scattering among
the money changers?
TURN THE RASCALS OUT.
It is a well established rule of
politics, established by the old
parties years ago, that "to the vic
tors belong the spoils;" that when
a party ascends to .power and con
trol among its first official acts is
the lopping off of all official heads
of opposing partisans the artistic
wielding of the snicker snee, ir
other words.
In Kansas, when the state went
back into the hands of ths republi
cans, the first thing the republicans
did was to commence the work of
beheading populists. A'here the
law did not confer the power of re
moval upon the governor or there
were other obstacles in the way,
charges were trumped up against
them or the assistance of partisan
courts invoked to "turn the rascals
out." And not only has this coursej
been pursued in Kansas, but wherej
ever the opportunity has presented
itself.
Considerable complaint has beunt
made against Gov. Holcomb be
cause of his procrastination alon
that line, and now the heads of tin:
various institutions are coming iiti
for their share of censure. This
should not be, gentlemen. Gelt
out vour meat axes and ply theiii
well. , I
THE STATE FAIR
Omaha is making preparations
to trive the people the best faiir
held in this state for many yeans
The Knights of Ak-sar-ben and
the feast of Mondamin will
be
Ith
stxcial attractions together wi
many other new features. Oma
!ia
and the state board are advertising
the event extensively and doing 111
in their power to make it the sijc
cess it should be, the railroads are
doing their shaie and . Lincoln ajnd
her people should not be lacking.
While we regret that the great ex
position could not have been re
tained in this city yet Lincoln had
her share and all the state contrib
uted to its success. Now let Lin
coln and all the state join hajnds
with Omaha and make this the
greatest success in its history.
Lincoln will show that she is
not
built on a small scale. Keni
em-
ber the date Sept. 13th to 2otj
Fay your subscription.
W HAT li .MONEY!
U..S. Supreme Court: Moicy is
not a su.bstance but- an itnprpion
of legal authority, a printed legal
decree.
Supreme Court of Iowa: The
gold dollar .is not a commodity
having an intrinsic value, but mon
ey having a statutory value. And
every dollar has the same value
without regard to material.
North British Review: Metallic
money while acting as coin, is iden
tical with paper money, in respect
to being destitute of intrinsic value.
Funk & Wagnall's Dictionary:
In the legal sense property is not
money, and money is not property;
for property is. that which has in
herent value, while money as such,
has but representative value, and
may or may not have intrinsic val
ue. U. S. Monetary Commision 1877:
Money is the great instrument of
association, the very fibre of social
organism, the vitalizing force of
industry, and as essential to its ex
istence as oxygen is to animal life.
Without money civilization would
not have a beginning; with a dim
inishing supply it must languish
and unless relieved, finally perish.
The republican convention of
Lancaster county instructed 'its
delegation to the state convention
as to whom to vote for and we have
noticed some of the populist con
ventions have fallen into the same
rut.. County conventions are often
"fixed," as it is sometimes cheap
er. If a state delegation is to be
tied up why not send one man
to vote the county?
It is claimed there is a steady
accumulation of idle capital in the
money centres. That's easy under
stood. The American people have
either become so heavily bonded
and mortgaged they cannot go into
debt any farther or have come to
understand what fools they have
been in the past and refuse to go
farther in debt, hence no demand.
The city of Beatrice is in the
throes cf a political and financial
sensation. City Clerk Phillips
has been found to be a forger, hav
ing forged the mayor's name to
numerous city warrants, drawn
the money and fled the country.
His peculations are so extensive
the city is unable to tell to what
extent it has been robbed. Htfi
ricvi, enterprise seems to
011 the
wane. - iTasn't.Liocclu her i.
Hill, Bornhahi'-aewi Stephenson?
A
And Beatrice oni her Phillips?
Surely republicanism in that ham
let isn't up to the standard.
That Paul Yandelroort isn't al
together "all righf jin the line of
reform is demonstrate by his com
plete lay down with: the repubh-can-corporation-A.
y. A. gang
in the Omaha fire andpolice mud
dle. He is a populist (or pelf. As
is well known, the new commission
law was originated and passed as a
slap at Governor Holcomb and
Vandervoort joins the garng to help
carry cut their schemes. 'JLUher he
is crooked as a shephifd's staff
or he wants a job very pad. In
either event the populists should
put a brand upon him.
Wk heard of a hungry ra; printer
in this city the other day, 'io has
labored for years and V(led the
republican ticket to get home.
He has paid $1,100 on it lr hopes
to eventually have a slelt:r for
himself, wife and little cones He
is getting old now. Interest laving
gnawed away a goodly Iportico of
his vitals the sheriff took the rest a
short time ago, and nofv, as wiitcr
is coming on he must take his it
tie family into the street, or pay
reit. And still he Howls for tic
"grand old party," tfat damnable
institution that has l.reckfd mori
homes, filled more pjisons, asylum
and suicide eravefl made more
millionaires and Jaipers in the
past thirty years thajn any organiza
tion known to hist
ry. Jie ought
will the work-
to go hungry. Bu
ing people never C
jet any sense
pounded into thenir
Your subscriptioif
is payaoje in
advance. Come up
wo need money
like. the rest of man
nu.
scribers.
1
f
I I Snd in some S'K
Tin: democrats everywhere are
divided on the money question and
the poor old tariff is lost sight of
Ik you want to help sustain "a
good populist paper, giving all the
important news as well as Lincoln
city matter, send in your subscrip
tion for this paper together with,
that of your friends.
The fellow who raises the howl
about republicans holding office
under populist officials is the same
fellow who pays the republican
paper to pound him and his party
over the back and stands the pop
ulist editor off or beats him entirely
out of what is due him, or does not
patronize him at all. Consistency
is frequently a rare jewel with some
populists.
The most beautiful clothing, the
most palatial dwellings, the finest
equipages, the most delicate food,
are all created by the poor for the
rich to enjoy. Labor goes without
what it needs that idleness may
revel in and waste the abundance
of its possessions. A system which
promotes or permits such injustice
and inequality is bound to perish.
The question is whether it will
perish peaceably.
EvERVTHiNc seems to be running
siiiuuiu at uie insane asyinm. ur.
Abbot and Mr. Rewick are very
attentive to duty and have the in
stition well under control. Unlike
the penitentiary, there are no
chances for big steals and jobbery
and the republican black legs and
pie grabbers are making little or no
effort to get the institution into a
position to rob it and the state. Dr.
Abbot seems to be the right man
in the right place.
Western farmers used to burn
corn for fuel, while people were
starving in the easiern cities be
cause the railroads wouldn't carry
it unless they got the whole value
for freight. The Louisiana sugar
planters are in a similar quandary
now. They have 29,000,000 gal
lons of molasses on hand which
they can't sell and are talking of
burning it to get rid of it. When
we get a national economic system
such a thing as an over-production
of non-persishable food will be un
known. I.;v' i jc ; country virtually ruled
jl,y Great Br.mn. The khedive a few
years ago ws induced by the Roths
childs to undertake great public
j works, the means for which was fur
nished by the Rothschilds and other
British capitalists in exchange for
Egyptian bonds. So enormous were
these bond issues that the govern
ment soon defaulted on the interest.
Under pretext of "protecting Brit
ish interests" Great Britain then
took possession of Egypt, and has
virtually held that possession ever
since, acting much as a corporation
receiver in this country. This debt
rests upon an agricultural popula
tion of seven millions, and the land
tax is as high in some cases as $8. 20
per acre, the average being $4.56.
The wages for farm labor is 20 cents
a day. The khedive sold Egyptian
bonds to the Rothschilds and this is
the result. Cleveland has sold
American bonds to the Rothschilds.
What will be the result? Progres
sive Farmer.
At the free silver convention in
Washington on the 15th Represen
tative Livingston of Georgia said
the time had come for another dec
laration of independence. "It is
the purpose of the country from
which I come," he said, "to prose
cute the fight with coats off and
sleeves rolled up and not to desist
until the end." It was England's
purpose, he asserted, ' to control
the United States, and finding her
self unable to do so by force of
arms, she has undertaken to do it
by controlling our finances. Georgia
was determined that the issuance
of bonds should not continue. He
declareJ the ,ast
bond contract
whereby the Rothchilds had been
engaged to protect our credit the
nost disgrace! ui that had ever
liken place in the history ot tk
cluntry. ane cry iorsounu mon
wis a subterfuge, as all our peor
wire for sound money. The pre
pelt of international monetary co
ferlnce he ridiculed." That fello
bejAns to understand where we ai
M - 11"