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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 1905)
'-' ?T i a The Commoner. 3 JARY 27, 1905 lMllllMMMMnMMH mmmrm'fr"'im'v rCURB g "' mm n WhMfcjWfw. s. :irbF'" ..iT.ir.'n- jm i. -- m I - -,-.... rmuvs;y 6NT VOPICS J remiblican caucus in the Missouri legisla ture chose for United States senator, Thomas leidringhaus. A few days after the caucu3 liourned. Representative Grace, republican, anting in nart the city of St. Louis, intro- I. a rpnnliitinn nrnvirilnir for an investigation charxre that the St. Louis brewers had given feidringhaus $21,000 to be used in the sena- camDaicn. Many republicans vigorously d the Grace resolution, but with the aid of aratic votes It was adopted. Mr. Neidringhaus iirman of the republican state committee and beinc summoned before the Investigating HftPA nnnnintpd hv the legislature, ho gave Einteresting testimony. The Associated Pres3 t, referring to Mr. Neidringhaus's testimony, that lie denied that he made the contribution toned in the Grace resolution or any person lone so for him. He al30 denied that the fe $21,000 appeared in the statement filed Itho recorder of deeds by tne state repuDiican iittee, showing the campaign contributions. ZZ2r L NEIDRINGHAUS further, stated that he contributed out of his own pocket $1,800 to tpubllcan campaign tuna ana tnen, reiernng k S91 nnn contribution, he said: "A few days t the visit of benator Fairbanks to St. Louis I found that the liabilities of the state com ic were about $31,000, with practically no y in tne DanK. l was personally respumuuie 9 Dersons with whom the debts had been con- fl t snnlm of the matter to the chairman to executive committee, who said: 'You are a Kfor assuming that responsibility.' I replied: Convinced im I of the possibilities of carrying iburi with sufficient funds, that I will go any fith beforo I will stop tne campaign at tnis It.' About this time Senator Fairbanks came It. Louis, and. on the renuest of Addlphus Ih. who is a personal friend of the senator, a fcer was aranged at Mr. Busch's house, at which p former Senator Mason of Illinois, Congress- f Bartholdt of St, .lows, w. a. uicuey, utto fel. Senator Fairbanks and myself. During the ler I explained that I had be n retu3ea con- ltions by nrominent republicans and stated 'if I had $25,000 I would guarantee the state tlssouri would cast its electoral vote for Roose- fand Fairbanks.' Mr. Busch then said: 'I am ing to join with yourself and Mr. Stlfel to mtee this $25,000. I will assume hair that mtee if you and Mr. Stifel will assume the hnif ' t iTTunediatelv announced that I as- fed mv share, and Mr. Stifel agreed. It was Id, however, that we should make one more lal to the national committee for $25,000, and any time we should be fortunate enough to Ive this sum this guarantee snouia De re- fed to the guarantors." Cyy rREPLI to a question put by a member of the j committee, Mr. Neianngnaus statea mat ne under no obligation of any kind on account or guarantee to use any influence whatever to 2t legislation before the assembly of Missouri. K Neidringhaus further explained that the de- jency of $31,000 was reduced to $21,000 by collec ts and that the latter amount was taken care Mn accordance with the agreement between him- t, Busch and Stifel. lvir. Neidringhaus statea to I- committee that he did not consider the $25,000 Jdged by Busch, Stifel and himself in the light of Contribution to tne st te campaign iuna, as uau money been later secured from other sources nmnlrl Viava ViDnil rpflinilpil tn thfiTTI. Mr. Nfild- ighaus also stated that if the republicans had led to carry Missouri for Roosevelt ana i'air Sks he would have been personally responsible J half the sum subscribed. "VV-N ,BPRESENTATIVE COOK of Howell county I prpntpfl nnriRfrlprnhlfi Rt.iv hv tharEringthn.t. he offered money to influence his vote in favor feldringhaus. The senate committee on Inves- ition unanimously reported holding Mr. Neid- ;haus culpable in accepting campaign funds tm the urewing companies. The committee found tt these contributions were not used for the rpose of influencing legislation but said that Lwas the duty of -Mr. Neidringhaus as acting treasurer of the state committee to show in his statement of campaign receipts the source of tho contributions. ' ALTHOUGH Mr. Neidringhaus received tho ma jority of the vote in tho lower houso on the nrst day's balloting, he did not receive a majority in the senate, which i3 democratic. Therefore a vote on joint ballot was necessary. When tho houso met in joint convention, January 18, six republicans bolted NeldringhauB They were fol lowed by two other republicans. After one ballot had been taken, no election having resultod, ad journment was taken to tho following day. On Thursday, Jan. 19, the two houses met again in joint convention wthout any change in tho vote. On January 20, the house mot again and the eight bolting republicans were joined by another bolter. The vote on this, the fourth ballot, stood, Neidring haus 80, Cockrell 81, Kerens 9, Pettijohn 1 Eighty six votes are necessary to a choice. Tho conven tion then dissolved and the two houses adjourned until ten o'clock Monday, January 23. Those re publicans who bolted Neidringhaus' nomination have issued a signed statement in which they seelc to justify their action on the ground that Neid ringhaus obtained the nomination because of the claim that he had contributed to tho Missouri campaign fund the sum of $21,000. The statement says that it has developed that mo3t of this money was contributed by two St. Louis brewers and that Neidringhaus in fact contributed only $1,400. These bolters say that had these facts been known prior to the holding of the republican caucus Mr. Neid ringhaus would not have been the nominee of tho party. AN IN'-CRESTING letter, said to have been written by Field .larshal Blucher, has been discovered in the archives of a Polish family liv ing in Paris. The Paris correspondent for the New York American says: "The ancestors of thla family acquired possession of the document during the war that finished Napoleon's reign in France and Europe, the courier, carrying Blucher's letter, being caught by a detachment of French troops. The letter is dated from Compiegne, June 17, 1815, and addressed to Blucher's wife. 'Here I am sit ting in the room where sialic Louise celebrated her wedding night,' writes the general. 'There can be nothing more beautiful and pleasant to behold. Too bad I must be off tomorrow for I am due at Paris within three days. I still hope to catch Bonaparte and will surely hang the scoundrel to the. nearest tree, with weights on his boots. When he ia dead the emperors and kings may indulge in all the protesting they like. I want to see him good' and dead; I am tired of chasing after him.' The letter winds up: 'This place is full of tho most beautiful things that you would appreciate immensely, but I have no time to pack anything.' " ADMIRAL DEWEY, as president of the naval board, lias recommended the creation of a reserve list of the navy to which commanders and captains who are past a given age shall be trans ferred. Admiral Dewey says: "It is imperative that steps be taken to promote the younger officers to command and flag ranks, thereby prolonging their tenure of responsible commands and insur-. ing in the highest rank officers who have had ex perience in other subordinate duties." To bring this about the board recommends that all cap tains, on reaching the age of 60, shall be placed on tho reserve Hat, and that this age limit shall be decreased to 50 years; that all present cap tains and commanders formerly of the engineers' corps, and all other officers who on promotion to the rank of commander are by existing law re stricted to engineering duty on shore, shall be placed on the reserve list; that officers on the re serve list "shall perform shore duty only, and shall receive the same pay and allowances as officers on the active list performing similar duty; in short, that there shall be no difference between officers on tho reserve and thoee on the active list, except that the former shall not go to sea." The board further recommends that in order to provide of ficers for the new ships the course at Annapolis be reduced from four to three years until 1913, the number of midshipmen at the academy to bo maintained at Its present strength until that year; that tho ontranco ago into tho navy bo from 15 to 18 yoars; that tho graduated midshipmen bo com missioned after one year at sea after competitive examination; that ensigns after ono year bo pro- moted to the grade of Leutenant, junior grade. JOHN NICHOLAS BROWN of Providence, R. I., . I enjoys tho distinction of being tho richest small boy in tho world. The Brooklyn Standard Union says: "In 1900 tho boy's fathor, tho late John Nicholas Brown of Now York and Providence, bequeathed him proporty valued at $0,000,000. A later bequest from tho boy's uncle, the lato Harold Brown, added $4,000,000 to his available wealth. Ho is also the heir apparent to several other im-' mense 'estates, and if ho should reach middle life ho will be ono of the richest landed proprietors in tho United States." THE customs officers, as well as tho financiers, seem to bo somewhat interested in tho af fairs of Mrs. Chadwlck. A dispatch to tho Cincin nati Enquirer undor dato of Cleveland, Ohio, Jan. 12, says: "Nathan Looser, receiver for Mrs. Chad wick, has made an examination of tho jewels held by Henry W. Wuorst of Elyrla, Ohio, as collateral for a loan. Ho estimates their value at $17,000. Wuerst's claim amounts to $20,000. Tho moat valuablo piece in tho lot is a magnificent collar, sot with diamonds, rubies, pearls and other pre cious stones. Tho value of this collar alono la placed at $10,000. Tho entire collection is believed to have originally cost Mrs. Chadwlck $25,000 or more. It is stated that tho customs officers have succeeded In finding a number of additional lots of jewels brought into this country by Mrs. Chad wick upon which no duty was paid. It is estimated that the officials have up to this time located not less than $125,000 worth of such diamonds and jewelry. Those valuables wero either put up as security for loans or given away by Mrs. Chad wick. It is declared- that of all the great quantity of jewels brought into this country by Mrs. Chad-r wick, duty on less than $11,000 worth was actually entered and paid. So far as can bo learned no duty was paid on the jewels now in tho possession of Henry Wuerst of Elyria. A customs Inspector recently made a thorough examination of the lat ter property." REFERRING to tho speech delivered by Mr. Bryan at Lafayette, Ind., the Dubuque, Iowa, Telegraph sayc: "In other words Mr. Bryan would have the federal government own the railroads doing an interstate business and have the several states own tho railroads Coing business only lo cally, within their own boundaries. This assuredly, would relieve some of the tension of centraliza tion. However strongly one may believe in tho individualism of Jefferson and however much he may in principle be opposed to the centralization of power and to the government's encroachment in a .field of business that should be left to the individual who will operate public franchises for the public benefit on the most favorable terms, tho fact stands that when these terms are no longer determined by competition, but are dictated by a group of a few men who are buttressed in federal and state courts, in the national congress and tho state legislatures, protection of our very liberties, endangered by corruption, demand that we wipo out "the e-'il. Experience has demonstrated that we can not hope successfully to regulate the rail roads. The ono means of ending the abuses of freight rates, of corruption of the legislatures, tho courts and politics is for tho government to take over tho railroads. We must como to that some day and he is blind indeed who doe3 not discern, the irresistible onrush." SOME recently published statistics show that' the owners of tho coal supply have, accord ing to tho Washington Post, been making deals that "make Mrs. Chadwick'3 efforts look amateur ish, and which are perfectly safe and devoid of risk." Tho Post explains: "At the most conserva tive estimate the consumers are to be asked to contribute $8,000,000 cr $10,000,00p to the coal com- bine, above all questions of cost or ordinary profit. Tho statistics from an authentic source HHS&'--'-B' ..-...v I J &&.&! JL(.k.FU