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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 1903)
W)wmmwmwmmp liJH ,IWWlWW;iWWWrWT-rW pmtyi"f xrvi'Y -"" if"n a PCTOBBR 2, 1903. instance, the Washington correspondent for the 3Mcvv York Tribune points out that the auditor' report makes the following disclosures: "At Albermarle, N. C., the average re ceipts for tne last live years have been $1.80, wiiiio the annual expense tor collecting thin amount has been $l,t)yl.98. At Annapolis, Md., it has cost $1,155 a year to collect $0.20 in revenue. At Beaufort, N. C., $46.30 has been collected annually at an expense of $1, 655.01. At Brldgeton, N. J., $1,572.01) has been the expense of collecting $lf&88. At Burling ton, la., $60.21 has been the annual receipts for Ave years at an annual expense to the government of $391.85. At Burlington, N. J., i rim m Rtor lias taken in MS4.4U a year, ior the doing of which he was paid $162. Chat tanooga, Tenn., does a business of $55.22 a year at an annual expense of $412.15. Cherry stone, Va., has a collector who has taken in, 40 cents a year for live years and received for this service $971.14 a year. A port designated as Eastern Maryland collects $31.56 a year at an expense to the government of $3,323.82. Edgertown, Mass., collects $616.67 at an ex pense of $2,420.67. At Galena, 111,, the sur veyor of the port receives $3t1.65 and collects $2.40. At Georgetown, S. C, the government pays $408.40 to collect $5.94. Humboldt, Cal., is a tax to the government of $3,070.02 a year, and yields a revenue of $911.32. Kennobunk, Me., takes in $12.22 a year at an expense of $131.90. La Crosse, Wis., receives $35.29 at an ' expense of f 363.12. Little Egg Harbor, N. J., does a customs business of $59.21 at an ex pense of $338.15. Just $9.16 is the annual re ceipts of the collector at Nantucket, Mass., for collecting which ho receives $362.25. It costs .$500 to collect $1 a year at Natchez, Miss. At Teche, La., the collector of the port receives - from the government $3,046.96 a year for col lecting $40.47. Forty cents a year is col lected in customs at Yaquina, Ore., at an ex pense of $1,034.70; while York, Me., collects 60 cents a year at an expense of $256." A little computation will show that In the Instances cited the government yearly expends the sum of $23,620.06 in order to collect the sum f $2,044.31. The utter absurdity of the system in vogue, is I7ell emphasized by the Washington correspon dent for the New York Journal when he points out that the annual collections for the porta of Albermarle, N. 0 Annapolis, Md., Cherrystone, iVa Galena, 111., and Yaquina, Ore., amount to $11.30, while the yearly salaries paid to the offi cials of these five ports ..amount to $4,740. In other words, the government pays each year the sum of $4,740 for the privilege of collecting $11.30 and this, therefore at a los3 to the government iDf $4,728.70. In his report the- auditor of the treasury de partment recommends a revision of the system of paying collectors and surveyors and it would seem that there should be no hesitancy on the part of congress in. adopting the very evidently sound suggestion. Is This a "Good Trust." : The Wall Street Journal says:. "It is seldom that a populous community, the center of a great industry, doubles its bus iness and more than doubles its profits in a single year, but that is what the anthracite coal region Is doing this year. "Last year but 31,000,000 tons of coal was marketed, while this year it is agreed that 60,000,000 tons will be mined and sold. In addition to this the coal will be sold at a higher price than the production of last year. The coal operator, transporter, miner all i 'classes of labor the storekeeper and the citi zens generally of the coal regions, will all be partakers of the sudden and remarkable in crease of profits. "The difference between the profits on 31,000,000 tons of coal and 60,000,000 tons of coal, at 50 cents per ton advance is enough to make any community rich in a single year." The difference is considerable, and, yet It will require more information than the public is now In possession ,of to establish the claim that even in the coal regions "all classes of labor" are par takers of this sudden and remarkable increase of profits. We know, to be sure, that the coal consumers The Commoner, of the country are the victim, and in this In stance they are victims of pure and unadulterated greed. According to the Wall Street Journal, the production has nearly doubled and yet the coal barons require a highor price than they did last year. Accepting the Journal's statement as cor rect, will any one maintain that "tho coal trust is one of those "good trusts" with which tho peo ple should not interfere? When we are told that while last year 31,000, 000 tons of coal were mined and sold, this year 60,000,000 tons of coal will be mined and sold at an advance of 50 cents per ton, does it not occur to reasonable men that it Is high time tho national administration undertook tho enforcement of the criminal clause of the Sherman law, which was designed to protect the people from Impositions? That very effective weapon, the criminal In dictment, has not been resorted to. Indeed, al though tho evidence showing the existence of a coal trust is Indisputable, the administration has made no serious effort to call to account that ag gregation of public plunderers. JJJ i John E. Osborne. The Commoner has suggested a numbor of per sons who are worthy to bo considered in connec tion with the democratic presidential nomination. It was announced months ago that every state could furnish men who were competent to dis charge the duties of the offlco if elected, and who could upon their oillcial records appeal to the democratic element of the country. Tho persons mentioned thus far have come from the eastern and southern states, hut there is no reason why the western states should not bo considered. Wyoming contains a democrat of in telligence and fidelity, namely, Hon. John E. Os horno, of Rawlins. He is a graduate of the Uni versity of Vermont, having received his diploma in 1880. He went to Wyoming the following year, and in 1884 was elected a member of the territor ial legislature. Ho was an alternate to the demo cratic national convention in 1888 and a delegate to the democratic national convention In 1892. He was elected governor of Wyoming in 1892 and was renominated in 1894, but declined to be a candidate again. In 1896 he was the chairman of the Wyoming delegation at the Chicago convention, and was prominently identified with the dominant element of tho convention. He was elected to congress In 1896, and in 1898 became vice chairman of the democratic national committee. He has twice re ceived the unanimous vote of the democratic mem bers of the Wyoming legislature for tho United States senate. Ho was made a member of the na tional committee in 1900. By profession he 1bj a physician, but he Is largely interested in the raising of live stock and in other business. The Commoner takes pleasure In suggesting his name among those to be considered, and in doing so ventures the opinion that ho would re ceive several million more votes than any candi date whose sympathies are with Wall street and whose administration would be controlled by the financiers, v fff Worth Remembering. Dr. Howard S. Taylor, city attorney of Chi cago, when he was in Nebraska on the occasion of the Fourth of July celebration at Fairylew, quoted in private conversation some lines, the authorship of which he did not know. But the lines are so excellent and the sentiment so pa triotic that they were written down for the benefit of the readers of The Commoner. They are worth remembering. Sentiments like these, so beauti fully expressed, are good to carry in one's mind. There is frequent occasion to use them, for they, ornament and strengthen a speech. Those wha are preparing themselves for the discussion 61 public questions aro especially interested in gath ering togothcr every tiling that can Illustrate or enforce an argumont Tho words aro as follows: "O, 'tis a goodly horltago, this noble land of oura! It boasts, Indeed, not Gothic fame nor Ivy man tled towers; But, then, Us Intorlinking lakes, its forests wild and wide, Its streams, the slnows of its strength, which feed it as thoy glldo, Its rich primeval pasture lands, fenced by the sloping sky, Its mlnc3 of wealth, as yet undclvcd, which 'ncath Its surfaco Ho, Surely a great destiny which wo alono can mar Is writ upon tho horoscope whoro shines our risen star!" "The Contract Idea." The American Economist rccontly asked if tho revision of tho tariff would not Involve "the violation by, the government of the contract of agreoment with certain producing interests namely, tho DIngley tariff law." Tho New York Tribune, a republican paport replied: "Wo havo heard a great many unpleasant things said about tho DIngley tariff law and its workings which we did not bollove. We never expected to seo its professed frlonds suggest what its enemies bavo souotlmc charged, that It was not, indeed, a piece of na tional legislation, but an instrument in a com mercial bargain; that It was not a revenue law passed for public purposes, but r. stip ulated price paid to certain business interests for value received." Commenting upon this, the Chicago Record Herald, another republican paper, recalls th warning given by William C. Lovering, a re publican congressman from Massachusetts. Ap pearing before the convention of the Furniture Association of America, and speaking in favor of tariff revision, Congressman Lovering declared that some of tho glaring Irregularities of the DIng ley law must be dono away with, and predicted that "nothing less than a liberal drawback law enacted at the next session of congress will save the protective tariff from a fearful onslaught if not utter demolition." Tho Record-Herald adds: "The truth Is that such excesses as those of tho American Economist amount to a justification of the warning of Con gressman Lovering. Their inevitable effect is to arraign the masses against tho classes. All thing considered it would seem advisable for tho repub licans to compromise on the Iowa Idea and to drop the contract idea at tho earliest possible moment" .,u J J J . 1 Glorifying Brute Force. It seems that Rear Admiral Taylor has beea expressing himself on tho subject of fighting, and is quoted as saying that "an element of pugnacity appears to be Implanted In us by Providence whick does not permit nations to bo satisfied without a occasional appeal to arms." Tho Yahoo, published at St. Louis, takes up the admiral's remarks and thus castigates him: "The remainder of Rear Admiral Taylor article is but a revolting resume of all th fiendish, blood-thirsty and diabolical instinct of primeval savagery, arrayed In all their hjdeous nakedness, to -prove, by their pres ence, that their existence is justifiable; nay, laudable. Because some men are brute, ha concludes that all men are and ought to b brutes. Such Is the ole justification of war because it is and ha been, therefore It ought to be; the doctrine ever preached y th bloody lip of cannon since first it leaped in. tongue of forked flame from the roaring moutlt of hell. The same argument would justify th supremacy of satan, and glorify all hi .works." s w
