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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (June 12, 1903)
'1II'WI'''"0'' -HW'-ft'-Tml' fiuitlyTy nr-T'--T-pjKwwrrwiT "MfW'tt"-' nwm " The Commoner. JUNE 12, liOS. ff PRESIDENT HARRISON ON LOTTERIES mtv T ' TV ' up ""W SOME ITEMS OF INTEREST i- loubmitted to congress July 29, 1890.) To tho Senate and House of Repre sentatives: The recent attempt to se cure a charter from tho state of North Dakota for a lottery company, the pending effort to obtain from the state - of Louisiana a renewal of tho char ter of the Louisiana State Lottery, -" and the establishment of one or more r lottery companies at Mexican towns near our border have served tho good purpose of calling public attention to an evil of vast proportions. If tlw baneful effects of the lotteries were coniined to the states that give the companies corporate powers and a li cense to conduct the business, the citi zens of other states, being powerles to apply legal remedies, might clear themselves of responsibility by the use of such moral agencies as wera within their reach. But the case i3 not so. The people of all tho states are debauched and defrauded. The vast sums of money offered to the states for charters are drawn from the people of the United States, and the general government through IU mail system is made the effective and profitable medium of intercourse be tween the lottery company and its victims. The use of the mails is quite as essential to the companies as tha state license. It would be practically impossible for these companies to ex ist if the public mails were once ef fectively closed against their adver tisements and remittances. The use of the mays by these companies is a prostitution of an agency only in tend to serve the purposes of a legiti mate trade and a decent social inter- course. . . It is not necessary, I am sure, for me to attempt to, portray tho robbery of tho poor and tho widespread cor ruption of public money and private morals which are the necessary inci dents of these lottery schemes. The national capital has become a sub-headquarters of tho Louisiana Lottery company and its numerous agents and attorneys are conducting here a business involving probably a larger use of the mails than that of any legitimate business enterprise in the District of Columbia. There seems to be good reason to believe that the corrupting touch of these agents has been felt by the clerks in the postal service and by some of the police offi cers of the District. Severe and effective legislation should be promptly enacted to enable the postofilce department to purge the mails of all letters, nowspapers, and circulars relating to the business. The letter of the postmaster gen eral which I transmit herewith points out the inadequacy of the existing statutes and suggests legislation that would be effecthe. It may also be necessary to so ret Uate the carrying of letters by tho express companies as to prevent the lse of those agencies to maintain com munication between the lottery com panies and their agents or customers in other states. It does not seem possible that there can be any division of sentiment a- to the propriety of closing the malls against these companies, and I there fore venture to express the hope that such proper powers us are necessary to that end will be at once given to the postoflice department BENJ. HARRISON. How the Tariff Has Been Tinkered & Just now there is a great outcry by the protection organs against tar iff tinkering." The American Econ omist leads off -with warnings that ".prosperity" is endangered if the sacred tariff is touched, and a mighty chorus follows its lead. Every effort has been made to suppress Governor Cummins and his Iowa followers who wero inclined to protest against trust exactions, and the efforts have ap s" parently been successful. At the same time it is not apparent why the re publican party should be so shy about "tariff tinkering." It has done enough of it An official list of tariff bills passed by that party was -published by the joint congressional committee in 1898, and it Bhows the following tariff measures: Act of March 2, 1861. Act of August 5, 1861. Act to increase the duties on tea, coffee and sugar, December 24, 1861. Act of July 14, 1862. .Act of March 3, 1863. Joint resolution of April 29, 1864, temporarily increasing duties. Juno 30, 1864, act to increase duties. March 3, 1865, act amending certain acts imposing duties on imports. Act of May 16, 1866, imposing du ties on live animals. June 1, 1866, act to protect lumber men. Act of July 28, 1866. Act of March 2, 1867. ; Joint resolution of March 2, 1867. Act of March 22, 1867. Act of March 25, 1867. Act of March 26, 1867. Act of March 29, 1867. Act of February 3, 1868. Act of February 19, 1869. Act of February 24, 1869. Act of July 14, 1870. Act of December 22, 1870. Act of January 30, 1871. Act of March 5, 1872. Act of April 5, 1872. Act of May 1, 1872. Act of June 6, 1872. Art of June 10, 1872. Act of March 3, 1873. Act of March 9, 1874. Act of Juno 3, 1874. Act of June 18, 1874. Act of June 22, 1874. Another act of the same date. Act of February 8, 1875. Act of March 3, 1875. On March 4, 1883, the republicans party lost control of legislation and did not regain it till March 4, 1881. Then It resumed business for two years, as follows: Joint resolution of March 11, 1882. Act of May 4, 1882. Act of December 23, 1882. Act of March 3, 1883. Anotheract of the same date. On March ., 1883, the republicans lost control of legislation until March 4, 1889, when it resumed business again, with the following results: Act of February 18, 1890. Act of June 10, 1890. Act of October 1, 1890 (tho McKin ley law). Act of December 15, 1890. Act of March 3, 1893. Again the republican party lost control of legislation, but resumed on March 4, 1897, with these results: Act of July 24, 1897 (the Dingley law). Another act of the same date. This brings the record to the date of the publication, and it shows two tinkers per day on several occasions. Since then there has been more or less tinkering, such as the suspension of the duty on coal, without any In dustrial disturbance. Most of these acts were not general" revision acts, but merely alterations of some spe cial features of the tariff laws, and the record proves that the grosser wrongs of the existing tariff could bo remedied without any bad results, if the tariff barons would allow it Indianapolis Sentinel. One in four Albanians dies by vio lence. " Scarlet fovcr is unknown in the tropics. The averago American uses l.'.G pins a year. Japan's shipyards turned out 41 steamers last year. In Paris 256,000 families occupy but one room each. . Tho Southern states know but littlo of labor striuos in any line. Twelve hotels In Now York city hav0 more than 3U0 telephones each. Safety pins are peculiarly American. Wo use 144,000,000 of them each year. It costs $400 to $800 in advertising to sell $1,000 worth of breakfast food. Canada's export trade por capita I just two and a half times as much as ours. Antrim, Ireland, has decided to re sume tho ringing of the curfew bell nightly. Albania has a population of a mil lion and a half who are nearly ail Mohammedans, Tho Salvation Army Journal, the War Cry, appears weekly in thirty different languages. Within eight months wo have re ceived enough emigrants from Europe to repeople Ireland. Tho economic structure of the king dom of Greece rests largely upon tho currant Industry. Many makers aro now building ga engines of 2,500 horse power, and aro ready to double this efficiency. The amazing richness of the Mis sissippi bottom lands is due large to the sediment deposited in times of overflow. The Postal Cable manager in Now Vor city experts by July 1 to send a message to himself around the worU In 40 minutes. A small quantity of borax will act as a preservative Just as well as a large quantity of salt If preservatives are really Injurious tho injury ia a necessary evil, unless tho meats aro proKorvcd solely by tho canning pro cess. Tho secretary of the treasury of Prussia and councillor of commerce, Uoker, are hore to learn of our rail ways, canals and steel works. England has nine submarine war vessels built or building, and Frame Las fifty. Their presence is oxpoeted to make blockndes Impossible. "Drowned in a tank of milk" must bo tho real cpltapn of a little girl near Middldtown, N. V., who was trying to get a driiiK of the lacteal fluid. Tho production of pig iron In tho United States last year was 17,821,307 gross tons; in 1901 It was 16,878,354 and In 1900 It was 13,789,242 tons. German trade statistics already show the serious damage done to trade with Latin American countries by tho action of tho kaiser againnt Venezuela There aro at the present moment In France 200,000 hotiHcs which have no windows, because incredible as it may seem thero Is still a French window and door tax. Charles Stevens, secretary of tho AntI-Vaccination league of Minneap olis, died from smallpox April 15. IIo had frequently denounced vaccination jib Inefficacious and a barbarous prac- There are not more than 1,000 gen oral advertisers in the whole country -an astonishingly small proportion of the total number of firms and corpor ations engaged' In advertisablc lines of business. Artificial camphor Is now made in Germany for the trade, as chlorhy drate of terebinth. It has a peculiar value in lessening tho dangers of ni troglycerin and making gelatin dyna mite more effective. Professor Bablnet has proved that comets, instead of having a solid bod with a gaseous tall, aro much lighter In weight than our air. Even If a comet were to strike tho earth it would hardly penetrate its atmos phere Pittsburg Dispatch. W ROCKEFELLER AND JESSE JAMES W Tho gifts of John D. Rockefeller to educational and other worthy public purposes are frequent and munificent But it is alleged probably without sufficient Justification that every time this richest man on earth makes a big donation to charity or educa tion, simultaneously there occurs a corresponding rise In the price of pe troleum. It is further stated that the cause of this advance In the market quotations is now so well understood that whenever oil goes up a cent th people all say that Mr. Rockefeller Is manifesting symptoms of generosity. Whether or not this method of alms giving is employed by Mr. Rockefel ler, it is certain that he did not ln vent It Robin Hood and his merry men pursued a similar course in their time, and it was not unknown among our own outlaws and freebooters. As an example an incident in the life of Jesse James may be cited. A long while ago when Rockefeller was a broker and speculator at St Louis, Jesse James, then the more famous man of the two, was also in Missouri and operating near this city around Lone Jack and in the Sni-a-Bar hills. On one of his expeditious James stopped at a farm house and found the poor widow who lived there in tears. Upon inquiry he learned, so tfie story goes, that she wept because she had no money to pay an overdue mortgage which her creditor had no tified her he was going to collect that day or take possession of her homi-. Jesse bade her be of good cheer, and, pulling out of his own belt $3,000 In crisp bills, generously gave It to th3 woman with instructions to pay her debt He then departed, hid himself and after the transaction between tho poor widow and the rich and grasping banker creditor was closed, the gal lant Jesse waylaid and killed the lat ter and took from his dead body the money which he, the desperado, had but a few hours before given away in charity. Mr. Rockefeller probably was not an Intimate acquaintance of Jesse James, although they both lived la the same state, and he Is not on rec ord as ever having approved of the outlaw's methods, even in charily transactions. Kansas City Journal, (rep.). The Colombian charge d'affairs at Washington on June 1 received a ca blegram from Bogota officially an nouncing that an extraordinary ses sion of the Colombian congress had been called for June 20, to consider the canal treaty. AN OLD AND WKLL TOIED REMEDY. Mns. WrasLOw's .oootiiiko Ftbup foi enlldrea teelhlrwr should alwnja be used tor cbUdrrn white terth-n?. it softens tho urns, allaja all pain, caret wind colic and la the best remedy for diarrhoea. TLwenty-flvo cent a totUe. it U the beat. M J 1 .. ,-. !