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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (April 27, 1906)
'""P; ? -..? v.t .. - r . .,-, ikv;m The, Commoner. 8 ; VOLUME '6, NUMBER 15 -rao-- wZ,m2m nail tr mi i i rn7 JV aw ni "Pmwii7p rniDDCMT r:npir, wSSSRmFr- "- wwffMrwt,'TO mm " TEHtafl v J rir?N .rsr-w iS J'' 8 f. r r I mp; "iar" av r. ..ifc fl ggtirrarsg''ft'" -353TK aSntT'tHl id&SifCiiV..-'v4Cw iig-J Ji' i VTHI " ii ii i m y t NfSiE7 S-N FRANCISCO was visited by a terrible oarthquake at 5:18 o'clock on the morning of April 38. Many house wore wrecked, hun dreds of lives were lost, while thousands of per sons were injured, Fire broke out spreading throughout the business district-. Property loss will exceed $250,000,000. Thousands of persons were made homeless and dostituto. One thou sand federal soldiers, under command of General Funston, were placed on guard in the city and orders were given that looters would bo shot at sight. Before three o'clock in the afternoon four men who attempted robbery wore killed. The people were pnnic stricken, and newspaper dispatches describe the scenes as heart-rending. The first shock occurred at 5:13, the sec ond was felt at 0 o'clock,, thus reviving the fears of (ho terror stricken populace. THE FLAMES FROM the wrecked 'buildings bocan to spread and in a short' time the entire business district was destroyed. The flret raged for several days, the water suplyEiving out and the fire fighters belngtifl,ule to stop the progress of the flamePoVhaps one-fourth of the city was saye&frdm destruction by fire. The supply of fob't in neighboring towns ran short . anjdUi:roYff3aU over the country special trains load rred with food and clothing were hurried to San Francisco. It is impossible yet to estimate tne number of lives lost. A special correspondent for the Kansas City Star says that estimates have been made varying all the way from 300. to 20,000, and while undoubtedly the loss is greater than the first figure given, yet it seems impossible ,that the total deaths can really reach, the larger aggre gate. Congress has already, appropriated two mil lion dollars and win probably increase it, while individuals everywhere are giving money, , food and clothing. . - GOVERNOR PARDEE, of California, issued a proclamation calling for aid- for the stricken people of California, and immediately in every city and in nearly every village in the United States collections were taken up and men and .Women hastened to send supplies to their stricken fellows. Promptly the United States senate passed a resolution appropriating $500,000, and the house increased it to a million, and later ar ding another million. An Associated Press dispatch eays: "R. A. Cole, a horseman, well known over the country, was at the Palace hotel in the midst of the scenes of horror Wednesday morning. 'My God, T never saw anything like it,' saicFMr. Cole. 'And I have seen things, too. I was in the St Louis cyclone and the Baltimore fire, They wore nothing. Man, you can't imagine it; it's indescribable. I saw all San Francisco staggering and rocking and then in flames. I wanted to rush down and jump in the bay and shut out all the awful sights. ! SANTA ROSA, ONE of the prettiest cities of California, in (lie prosperous county of So noma, was also wrecked. An Associated Press dispatch says: "There are 10,000 homeless men,-v women and children huddled together. The loss of life is not to be estimated. As the last great seismic tremor spent its force in the earth the .whole business portion tumbled into ruins. The main street is piled many feet deep with the fallen 'buildings. Not one business building Is left in--tnct. This destruction includes all of the county buildings. The four-story court house, is merely a pile of broken masonry. Nothing is left. Iden tification is impossible. What was not destroyed by the earthquake has been swept by fire. Until the flames leaped Into the heavens there was hope of saving the residence district. It was soon apparent that any such idea that might have been entertained was to be abandoned. This was ap preciated by the citizens and they prepared to desert their homes. Not even their household goods were taken. They made for the fields and hills, to watch the destruction of ono of the most beautiful cities of the west." ryUIAT HE MIGHT re-establish the San Fran-" X cisco Examiner at the earliest possible mo ment, twenty-four hours after the earthquake, W. R. Hearst had material for the equipment of a metropolitan paper valued at $500,000" on the cars hurrying to the west. The material was in charge of W. T. Leach, one of the' business man agers of the Chicago American. Mr. Leach, speaking to. a correspondent of the Omaha World Herald, said: "Wednesday morning, as soon as we learned of the magnitude of the San Francisco fire and that the- plant of the Examiner was doomed, acting under orders from Mr. Hearst, we commenced preparations for the re-publication of the paper in San Francisco. We spent a day-in buying new machinery and equipment and before night we had three cars loaded with all of the necessary machinery and material that will bo required in the publication of a news paper. Some of the material in the old Examiner may be saved and perhaps "can be used. We1 are not taking any chances on this. We are putting in a new and complete plant, and befone the end of next week we will a.gaitr"be' publishing the ExaminexOtfr Wrtpment is going through on ijio,i,astt;sL iiums ueuweou jimjugu aim liiu wuoi. iWe are sending supplements through for the first paper, but after, that we win be auie to get out the entire paper in San Franciscd. We have everything that we will need. The shipment 'has been bought, with the greatest care and includes the necessary number Of 'linotype machines, presses, sterotyping: outfits and' a small engraving plant." . - . ' THE MOB AT Springfield; Mo., which Hanged ' three negroes itnd burned their bodies on the- public square is everywhere denounced for its brutality, while the growing conviction that the victims of the mob ver'e ' innocent men has 'resulted in a widespread revolt against -mob law. Governor Folk ordered several companies of- the state militia to hurry to the scene, and several members of tke mob have been placed under arrest. The governor has denounced the mob in unmeasured terms. He has sent a deputy attorney general to Springfield for the purpose of assisting in the prosecution; and he announces his determination to exert every possible effort to send to the penitentiary the leaders of the mob. While there have, perhaps, been other mobs just as brutal as the one at Springfield, the impression that "the victims were' innocent men has aroused public sentiment as it was. never stirred before, and many incline to the belief that the result will be a greater reluctance on the part of individuals to engage m a mob, and a more determined purpose on the part of authorities to protect" the prisoners intrusted Xq their care. . .. THE, CORNERSTONE of the now building for the house - of representatives' loftlces was recently laid at Washington. President Roosevent delivered, an address entitled "The Man With the Muck Rake." -Mr. Roosevelt said that while he hailed as benefactors, writers and speakers who make truthful attacks, he had no usw for the literary man with the muck rake, lie, said that there is a disposition on the part ogjsome writers to "grossly and recklessly as . sault character," and these men were to be vigorously condemned. He protested against what he called "hysterical sensationalism." 'In the same speech Mr. Roosevelt said: "At this moment we are passing through a period of great unrest social, political and Industrial un rest. It is of the utmost importance for our future that this should prove to be not the un rest of mere rebelliousness against life, of mere dissatisfaction with the inevitable inequality of conditions, but the unrest of a resolute and eager ambition to secure the betterment of flie individual and the nation. So far as this move ment of agitation throughout the country takes the form of a fierce discontent with evil of a determination to punish the authors of evil, whether in industry or politics, the feeling s to be heartily welcomed as a' sign of healthy nfo. Jf, on the other hand, it. turns Into a mere crusade of appetite against appetite, of a con test between the brutal greed of the 'have-nbts' and tho brutal greed of the 'haves then if has no significance for good, but only for evil '' If it seeks to establish a line of cleavage, not -alone: the line which divides good men from bad but along that other lino, running at right angles 32 thereto, which divides those who are well off from those who are less well off, then it will be fraught with immeasurable harm to the body politic ,The wealthy man who .exults because there is a failure of justice in 'the effort to bring some trust magnate to an account for his 'mis deeds is, as bad as, and 'no worse than, the so-called labor leader who clamorously strives to excite a foul class feelitfg on behalf of some other labor leader who- Is implicated m murder. Ono attitude is as bad as the other, and no. worse; In each case the accused is entitled to exact justice; and in neither case is there need, of ac "tioii by others which can be construed into an expression of sympathy for crime." . .r 1 j MR.-ROOSEVELT said that efforts at reform must not be spasmodic, but must be marked by "honesty, sanity and self-restraint." He added: "It is important to this people to grapple with the problems connected with the amassing of enormous fortunes, and the use of those fortunes, both corporate and individual, in business. We should discriminate in the sharpest way between fortunes well won and' fortunes ill won; be tween those gained as an incident to performing great services to the community "as a whole, and those gained in evil fashion by keeping just within the limits of mere law-honesty. Of course no amount of charity in spending such fortunes in any. way compensates for. misconduct in mak ing tlibm. As a matter of personal conviction, and i without pretending to discuss the details or formulate, the system, I feel that we' shall ul timately .haye to consider the adoption of some such scheme as that of a progressive tax .on all fortunes beyond a certain amount, either given in life or devised or bequeathed li'iion death to any individuala tax So framed as to put it out of the -power of the owner of one- of these enormous fortunes to hand on' more than a 'cer tain amount -to any one' individual; the 'tax of course, to be imposed by the national and not the state government. Such taxation should, of course, be aimed merely at the inheritance or transmission in their entirety of those fortunes swollen beyond all healthy limits. The men of wealth who today are trying to prevent the regulation and control of their business in the interest of the public by the proper government authorities will not succeed, in my judgment, in checking the progress of the movement. But if they; did succeed they would find that they -had sown the wind and would surely reap the whirl wind, for. they would ultimately provoke" the violent excesses which accompany a-Yeform com ing by convulsion instead of by steady and nat ural growth." '.'' -Vs-Q ', ' THE RECOMMENDATION by Mr.-Roosevelt of an inheritance tax has attracted wide spread discussion. Washington dispatches- say that the republican leaders have privately con demned Mr. Roosevelt- because of his utterance. They say he is simply providing fuel for the flames that are burning too brightly Already. Re ferring to Mr. Roosevelt's proposition Mr. Till man says: "An inheritance tax is- hardly an adequate method of getting at ' stupendous for tunes, because it only comes once in a lifetime. I have, always been a strong advocate of an income tax, and a graduated one at that. I would be willing to vote tomorrow to put an in come tax-, law up to the -supreme court and see it it has not got new light. I would also sup port an inheritance tax. If a graduated 'inherit ance tax were provided, limiting the amount that could be devised to any individual, the question would arise whether such a law did not amount absolutely to confiscation. Let fortunes pay and not grow too big rattier than seize the whole fortune when the man dies. I believe that great fortunes are a menace to this republic, and something will have to be done to break them up. There is a general feeling that these for tunes are a menace, but it will take a campaign of education to arouse' the people before tho matter can take legislative shape."7 There are probably some Jegitlmate fortunes, like that of Marshall -Field and others that I know of, that have been accumulated- because oil "'the" rapid growth of the" country and the opportunities for shrewd investment that cannot and ought not " J ii$m?m