Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 9, 1906)
Ti- -y "I'M WW tffW jkr . -il! ? X"-rf-' ;' ' ' .,',' : -Vy' ' ' " "'" tw.. 8 The Commoner. violence mustbe met by violence; who decreo the outrages which startle, If they do not shofilc the civilized world; who have agents in the vil lages toaching the peasants that it is not a cruel fate, as they had supposed, which must be sub mitted to, but a relentless foe which must bo struck down, that has crushed and twisted and contorted their lives; who have at their command dynamite with which to kill and men and women rea-dy to be killed in killing; and whose activities are safe from interruption because they them selves are not known even by their own comrades and agents, who therefore could not, even if under pressure they would, betray them to the police. These men, and almost they alone, know their own minds; and they have simple faith in the end which they have in view, and which they pursue as calmly as a woodman .who hews his . way through a forest ax in hand. By its methods of repression the government is driving the revo lution into the masterful hands of these men." THIRD ASSISTANT Postmaster General Mad den charges that most of the fourteen mil lion dollar deficit in postal receipts is chargeable to publications that have unlawfully taken ad vantage of the one cent rate. The Houston (Texad) Post says that this charge is not war ranted, and adds: "The deficit is caused by the enormous price paid the railroads for carrying the mail and the plundering by the railroads charging exorbitant rents for mail cars and also by the rapid increase of the rural free delivery routes. One dollar. a hundred pounds is a good price for carrying sacks of newspaper mail and many of the greater newspapers are sending their newspapers for the news agents by express or fast freight at a lower rate. The railroads for the year ending June 30, 1904 the last official report received for carrying the mails $44,499,732. and for the same period the express companies paid the railroads $41,875,635. The weight of the express matter carried must exceed the weight of ' the mail carried many times, which indicates how the railroads, by the aid of a complacent repub lican congress, are paid subsidies far greater than the service is fairly and reasonably worth." . .s T luD SJATBS Postal commission, J" v Vs lnv?stig;ating the alleged violation: nLf o? 7 by Pu?1Icatl0s enjoying the one. cent postal rate consists of Senators Penrose of Penn- StrSS Glay Gergia' and Carte of Montana; SS? Sr-e?tatlVeB 0verstreet of Indiana, Gard- fril?e ;TeiW' and Moon of Tennessee. Re ferring to this commission the Houston Post says "Newspaper publishers should keep their eyes open to the Investigations of this joint committee are "XrfnnSf T &U the Wublloan mJSSJS ?w 0riou!y railroal sympathizers, and see that the mail facilities of newspapers are not recommended to be curtailed or abolished The me piesent cheap rate as any advanpp in tho scdbeVUn11 haVGi ? the rite nM t i? needed ls the Auction in P id t0 the railroads and for postal cars and every congressman should be nledmJ? tn tal revenue would be turned into , ? surplus- THE AMERICAN REVIEW of p,i duced extract fJ Reviews repro ve Flnancla Review o?Lv?iartl?le- Printe in article pointed out that ll ' Londou' whIcl profitable; that the reserve EST" iS singly that the cost of matiaSlnt d?,are excessive; reduced If the staU tool? I CUl? be Immensely Are and life assurance'omces'VJ1 W.rkinS of lessened reserve funds aid i,?11 that with the agement an addition or some li?nS8ot,nan be made to the revenue o? thf w'.200 could meat, enough to JusX! ?, e British vem duction of the income VJna subsstantial re national debt. This writer savt Si811 the the commercial world li! ? that nothing in the security of a we n-os55?S???S. GVen remoW -such is the opin on of a great li Ifnsur1ance office, The net result is thnt L actarial authority, government annual votn fZJ0 tho las surance companieeion a Sani 8h life as" fourteen millions, there mJ? ?tlay of about thing over one milli oTL return of sme The figure is a very Tt'rik I J ! Seven per ont. the more significant whin6 ne' and ifc PP all companie! goof bad nnt member that come within iJ Life Assuralnce Companiec Act, 1870," are includ ed in the return. It is probablo that no other interest or industry in the country could shbw collectively such a handsome yield on its capital. A REMARKABLE THING, according to tho Review of Reviews writer, is that this high profit is shown, in spite of the extremely costly system- of working which competition, it seems, compels the companies to adopt. Roughly speak ing, nearly a quarter of the total premium in come of the companies goes in managerial and office expenses and commission. With fire offices this fraction is still larger. The writer admits that large reserves are an essential condition of sound insurance management. But it is a ques tion whether these "mammoth and over-growing funds do not represent too high insurance rates, rather than cautious finance. The companies work on a basis theoretically sound, but in prac tice fallacious. The mortality tables are out of date. As a rule they go back to 1872, since which year sanitary science has made such strides that the death-rate has been materially reduced and tho average duration of life prolonged. The cal culations of the companies, moreover, are not based on the selected lives with which they usu ally deal, but on those of the general population, including, of course, the notoriously short-lived. Consequently they are constantly paying enor mously less in death claims than they expected, or might have expected. Twenty years ago one of the largest companies testified to its deaths one year being 26 per cent below the number expected. Again, the average duration of a pol icy in a British company is only five years, and lapsed policies outnumber those on which claims are paid by two to one. Yet companies still cal culate on the assumption that every policy will mature. The, "epidemic" argument is used to these boards; but the write? does not think it does' justify them nowadays. The reserve funds "might be reduced by one-half, and the compa nies would still be well within the margin' 'of safety." ' . ' :" ...... ;,;. '-' ' ' '."'.'--. A PLEA FOR STATE Insurance Is, made.by this same writer, who proceeds to argue from what the government has already regulat ed (gas, electricity, telephones, telegraphs, etc) that it is not so revolutionary a proposal that it should also regulate insurance. In Germany it does so to a certain extent already. Of course in New. Zealand, state 'life and fire assurance are well known, and the former long established. Considering how wasteful and extravagant is the present system of insurance, he thinks govern ment regulation quite justifiable. Sweep away the present offices, substitute a single, well equipped office, and the public would be as well, probably better, served. Moreover, it would have absolute security. That a government concern would be much less costly than many private ones is not a point needing elaboration. The writer admits that comparison with the postoffice insurance business is not altogether exact, yet its expenses of management are about Sy per cent as against about 23 per cent for the life In surance companies, aniL.28 per cent for the whole of the insurance companies combined. Even sup posing the state expenses of management were, in practice, 7 per cent, what an immense saving 13,000,000 and over. SOME ONE HAS found a hint of a motor car in the Bible. A writer in the New York Tribune says: "It is the vision of Nahum, the Elkoshito, concerning the burden of Nineveh. In the account given by this seer of the military muster and array of the Medes and Babylonians against the doomed city of Nineveh, the mistress of witchcraft, when 'the people in the midst of her were'women,' the Elkoshite has this remarkable-verse: 'The chariots shail rage in the streets, they shall jostle one against another. in the broad ways, they shall, seem like torches, they shall run like. the lightnings.'" '' WRITI1?GiNJHB World's Work for October, Zack McGee says: "Near the center of the senate chamber, directly, in front of the vice president, sits a large, burly, aurly-looking man, with a tremendous square head set upon a pair ,,7iwT HU"lv &"uiuers, tne corners of his mouth drawn down nearly to the lower margin of his heavy, square jaws. He is clean shaven- tVOfiUME 6, NUMBER 43 that is, he is shaven; nerhans if wo before' yesterday that he , shlved S th(Iulay slightly gray hair is disheveled and fo thick' just such clothes as you wouTd expect to 2n a man who says on the floor of toe senate 'i nn a rude man and don't care.' But wuen he liT from his seat and addresses the chair in n , Sf Pitched, almost whining voice standh l " a hi$h' nervously, one shoulde? slightlv ii?f EOmewhat tively tread more softly or ston in Zt 7 , the many nocks in the visitors' iiILiPack8' craned to get a better ew and fhPrfllGS aro tTelront ine iront. The only thing that ever hannenq in but I sometimes manage to break the glass.' '' THE CLERGYMEN -of Hartford, Conn ' are 1 aroused over the suggestion that the bustom ?irS5tXIIllCTrt wlBl'PW be abandoned. rS Sfer savtSUHti0n th New Have Conn ) jxegister says: "The announcement was made a few days ago that the supreme and sunerio? courts would get along in the fatare without the toerfis TfS t0 diVine XZw tnere -is no legal provision for the fee The announcement was no sooner- made than the gergymen of Hartford, represented by Rev S ?he fou?f!SeTde protest t0 ey sheriff of the county. 'It is my opinion wrote Mr tfel- sey, that the better sentiment of the people will GZZSll SUSta!n the 0ld custom' I am' s?e I ex ShSn t Se?wen 0f the clergymen of Hartford' when I say that all very much hope the old cus tom may be retained. The following clergymen (naming them) have been interviewed today and have consented without hesitation to offer them selves 'for this service-Without coinfrensattin ! W they desire you to record their names J Toeing ready to be called upon whenever needed. Mr Kelsey and his associates are entirely right when seamen T,hliH ? jUd t bSttS wSoS! nti? the State m sustain the old custom. Whether the prayers offered are effective in wfnfgt neninffrhe nerves of ustIce or not may be left to those to discuss who feel so inclined, but what is more to the point is that opening court with prayer has tradition and history to support it, and in addition it embodies the God-fearing sentiment of the founders of the colony. The reverent preservation of all such customs and practices makes for a higher citizenship, just as their abandonment makes for a lower citizenship. -The clergymen of Hartford have acted in the ig h?3t Possible spirit of usefulness, and there should be no more, heard about the abolishment of the practice." MY SHIP One bright day in the long ago . . -: And many the years that have passedi'since then . .-:- -,'. She sailed away to the golden land, :. " With the greed that lives in the hearts of men. The sea was smooth and the sky was fair TEhiTWt? &Ulls SVung at her slanting aide; While high at the peak her colors hung The flaunting flag of her master, Pride.- :" Far to the isles in the tropic seas She sailed where the wealth of their depths is doled, - . - And she anchored there where the lulling breeze Makes hearts forget the lust for gold. " '" '"' And there, in the crystal depths, were pearls, ' Rf v if0!? lay rlch on thQ shining strands, ' ... But Youth forgot, and haughty Pride : Could ill afford to soil its hands. Battered and grim, like a phantom ship, ?-'V u mm 1 1 plng cripple, she homeward crept, ' -with tattered sails and dangling spars, "$ And weathered decks by the ocean swept,;? ... No flaunting flag flamed at her peak, " -:' No words of welcome were said, ' -' '' ", And this, my ship, I sent away - 'fVC Game. back with Pride, the master, dea... ,c "-?:i. ' "-Will N. Griffln In Milwaukee Sentinel; 'J ;- ;- . dbr v w -wwj