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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1907)
""jf";' f Jt ' " v ' APRIL 5, 19OT The Gommonef. 15 W "W T HARRIMAN AND HILL Quite so. Mr. Hciiry M. Whitney, of Boston, director In the Boston & Maine railroad, is entirely right. Mr. Harriman and Mr. Hill by the consum mation of their monarchical schemes are doing more for the government ownership of railroads than all the writers and orators in the country. The principal economic reason for leaving the roads in private hands Is the expectation that the public will thereby enjoy the benefits of competi tion among them. This expectation is illusory at best, but Hill and Harri nan have definitely destroyed all ra tional hope of competition. They may assert that it still exists, but the pub lic looks rather at what they do than at what they say. The people are also jealous of the existence of this imperial power in the possession of one or two men. It looks dangerous. The opinion is be coming common that, if economic power must be so concentrated, the concentration should bo where the voters can control it. Hill and Har riman have also by their action, re futed the objection that the railroads cannot be managed by a single bu reau. .They are so managed now, though it is done rather badly, with waste, wreck and great loss of life. The people are inclined to believe that it could be done better by a govern ment department which would attend to the business- strictly- and not divert needed time and attention to specu- Infinns in stocks... The fear that , government ownership would lead to the creation of a great political machine has also lost iis; point. Civil service rules together wltl labor unions put such 'a .possibility out of the question. And even if thta were not so the public finds the pres ent political activity of the railroads ivore dangerous than any such ma chine could be. The corruption1 of gov ernment which they accomplish by their inveterate lobbying, by issuing passes and by other well-known meth ods, surpasses anything which a mere political machine could cause. Thus Mr. Whitney was exceedingly well ad vised in remarking that Mr. Harriman and. Mr. Hill are in reality the most effective promoters of government ownership. Portland Oregonian (re publican.) THIEVES AND THIEVES Pour Nebraska cattlemen who con spired to steal 200,000 acres of govern ment land have beqn condemned to pay the penalty for their crimes. Two of them are to pay a fine of .$1,500 each and serve one year in a county jail; two of them must pay $800 each and spend eight months in jaU. It can not be said that this is an 'excessive punishment for the theft of 200,000 acres of land. Suppose that thesd men had been convicted of stealing $200 in cash or that by force 4they had held up a cit izen and taken a dollar from his pocket they would not have got off so easily. There is a defect in the laws when greater thieves escape with penalties mild in comparison with those imposed upon lesser thieves. If the man who stole $173,000 from the subtreasury is ,found to be a trusted employe of the government no greater punishment can be inflicted upon him than upon a sneak thief who takes an overcoat worth $15, while the mini - ruum penalty in the latter case is one year and in the former case six months. Whether viewed from the standpoint of punishment or warning the penalty inflicted upon the land thieves is not likely to have" a great deterrent effect. JTo serye one year in a county jail, ijwhere money will procure luxuries and where there is no hard labor to per form, is little enough to pay for the use for years of 200,000 acres of land. The government is making a good be ginning In prosecuting the men who seize the public domain, but the next convicted criminals should be given the extreme penalty of the law if the practice is to be rendered unpopular. Chicago Tribune. IN LAND. WATERWAYS We have simply failed to realize the possibilities of these three or four trunk streams, Ntheir innumerable trib utaries and the smaller rivers which Providence has planted as potential highways in nearly every state in the union. We liave, instead, permitted the annual appropriation for rivers and harbors to degenerate into a mad scramble for local favors, the upshot of which is influenced more by polit ical pressure or favoritism than con siderations of the national welfare. These river systems should be, today, auxiliaries to the railroads of the coun try. They should be more. Furnish ing cheap transportation to finished or crude products to the ports of the. Gulf of Mexico or those on either the Atlantic or the Pacific coast, they should, a decade ago, have constituted a checkmate against the rapacious ag gression of the rail lines. Atlanta Constitution. TIMES NOTGETTING WORSE No one, Indeed can view the spirit ual life of the time without feeling that it is one of high activity and not of somnolence. This, comblned-with the practical testimony that we have in all Unit wo are doing both in an official and an unofficial capacity for tiie general uplift, must bring comfort and assurance that whatever shape passing developments take, thoro is no decrease of real faith, of real, hope, of cheerful endeavor, of high resolve; and no diminution of the spirit of human brotherhood. And this surely is to have the face set toward the light. Indianapolis News. THE FAIRBANKS BOOM Mr. Fairbanks is both nurse and nursed. A neat-fitting nurse's cap is hardly needed to complete the solici tous make-up with which he attends to his own presidential boom. His boom really ought to be called only a ripple; there is nothing loud-sounding about Mr. Fairbanks. With cat-like tread he passed from one meeting to another in Chicago the- other day, W'indlng up with an address to the uni versity students, whom he thrilled by affirming his belief that "knowledge in power." New York Evening Post STAND PAT FOR SHARP PRACTICE There has never been In the legisla tion of tills country a sharper practice than Unit of the introduction of the icoiproclty feature In the Dlngley law and the subsequent repudiation of the whole matter. It Is Uie conspiracy of the trust Unit did it, and it is time it was undone; it is time we wore having a prosperity that was not turn ing out inulti-milllonairos by the score. Ohio State Journal. VOTES IN FRANCE AND PHILADELPHIA In France a man may, in certain instances, vote as many as five times. In Philadelphia (lie number of times depends upon the size of the majority the machine Is figuring on and the pop ulation of the graveyards. Washing ton Heruld. WHO SAID TALK IS CHEAPI Congressmen spoke 0,000,000 words and appropriated $1,000,000,000 at the short session of congress. If congres sional words are going to cost $11 each the country may find it necessary o send a bunch of deaf mutes to the national legislature. Omaha Bee. Let Me Pay He Postage oijmyoi free JSook. to w These Books cost mo 25c each in thousand lots yet I will send you one FREE, be cause I want you to know about SPLIT HICKORY BUGGIES Made to Order Sold Direct From Factory on 30 Days Free Trial Guaranteed 2 yoars. Over 100.000 SPLIT HICK ORY VEHICLES now in use. My Direct Factory Prico SAVES YOU BIO MONEY. This Book gives descriptions and prices of over 125 styles of Vehicles and Full lino of HARNESS. Address me: H. C. PHELPS, Pemmldent, . Tha Ohio Carriage Mfg. Co., Station 123 Cincinnati, O. 7nmml!jiBilY2wiMYMl aiFTrirji a tjTji: mnrair vMdJti'm fca Den't buy a Vehicle of any kind until you get out Now Vohiol Catalog iWeS.iipon30DaysTr.al AjaBlfcJBlll IT Tli hum I 'CryjllgZll X. X I V XJI4mI X i MWHk Inri W UumrmntmM fill Piief Amova Wramn KHhimaHl. X. X I X tXitM a. vjf JUSa 'Jl V UfAIii M xX wftlfiri Mk wom iSySI WaW IXUJjyM'MJL IK lBmmmmYWVaaam m aan i vmer-iniwmmaramr s&c. l i m. m I Ti i i h le.r'ju ' "r-s jsr l Ok ukbbbm Tamtmmaaaaaaaui nm rmmawawmwr-39 JSKaaaaammmaaaaaaaaam , K SmaWaaaawSSaaaaaawaaaamk SWEmmi -HvSRaaaaaaL JpjBP V X XrVX vrvWvSir a1 'KyCP wv'JK: J3pZX1 ?XJVr vs Li MvSvx 1 v ii C vY aam x l yn l x s2r x IwPV. AvvVf 1 C zr PtN XVr I atU aau ixWxN x Ever-y Vehicle Made lr Our Factory is Fully Guaraa tsd WHITE A PflSHTflll FflEl I ARfil? II I IlSTRATFIl ftATAI flfilir V. 71 war m mmt mm m pr rBBOt m u'bh - oww m mas m bmsw wmi m rawiVflVwa W i av o buw luuaw vuiuuiurouuuu)i Ul VBnl6iaK(IUU nirnBIl oor aJUilKU iuduuu . v i.w .ca kw pw ad ias duu vw juu juov ajwit wjomia f uuiuu IB UJXUO XllO bWU GVIJKr P&Kvf luuit a tuiuivu ijihj iu niuiuo, Ui. OUrCMIUAOU SPECIAL BUUUTi reprouueuu xu wio iKkuaicutvnijustMiiisi plain. All yehlcles are stiipped direct from our factory. Our prices are the very lovroat. Baur HI A R VI LP is uo our aiioaiaaiagiy low arises and tita meal liberal tarma avar aiiaraa fa you. n i painted and finished. The doncrlntloHii ure comnlota jid MARVIN SMITH GO. CHICAGO- ILL- t Am the Paint Man 2 Full Gallons Free to Try 6 Months Time to Pay ""fc tiuarantoo t-potanz viaargosm aWmmmmLmmm. aaawiW$aaaa mmWPBaWJ !&.. TrkWm&A'aaammmmmmmmmm m IvaaaamX4.WcK&&Maaam aaaaaamW.aaaaav' y St. Loul3,Mo. AM the p&lnt man. '" I have sc-new way; of manuiacturine and selling paints. It's unique-'-.'. better. It revolutionized the paint business of this country last year. Before my plan was invented paint was sold in two ways either; ready-mixed or the in trredients were bonnht.and mixed by thepainter. Ready-mixed paint settles on the shelves, form ine a sediment at the .bottom of the can. The chemical action in ready-mixed paint, when standing in oil. eats the life out of the oil. The oil is the very life of all paints. Paint made by the painter cannot be proper ly made on account of lack of the heavy mixing machine. ... My paint is unlike any other paint in the world. It is ready to use, but not ready-mixed. My paint is made to order after each order is received, packed in hermetically sealed cans with the very day it is made stamped on each can by my factory inspector. X ship my thick pigment, which lis double strength, freshly ground, in separate cans, and in another can, I ship the pure, old process Linseed Oil the kind you used to buyyears ago. Any child can stir them together. I sell my paint direct from my factory to user-you pay no dealer or middleman profits. My $100.00 Cash Guarantee I jfuar&niee, ander $100 Cash Forfeit, that the paint I am offering you does not contain water, benzine, whiting, er barytci and that my Oila is pure, old fashioned Unseed oil and contains ab solutely ho foreignsubstance whatever. I cvaranteethe freight on six gallons or over, (p My paint is so good that I make this wonder fully fair test oiler: When yon receive your shipment of paint, you can use two full gatlont that will cover 600 square feet of wall two coats. If, after you have used that much of my paint, you are not perfectly satisfied with it in NOTE My 8 Year Guarantee Backed! by $50,000 Bond every detail, you can return the remainder of your order and the two gallons will not cost you one Penny. Ho other paint manufacturer ever made such a liberal offer. It is because I manufacture the finest paint, put up in the best way, that I can make this offer. I go even further. I sell all of my paint on six month time, if desired. This givesyou an opportunity to paint your buildings when they need it, and pay for the paint at your convenience. Back of my paint stands my Eight Year officially signed, iron-clad Guarantee. For forther particulars regarding my plan of selling, and complete color card of all colors, send a postal to O. L. Chase, St.'Louia, Mo. I will send fny paint book the most com plete book of its kind ever published abso lutely free. Also my instruction book entitled This Little Book Tells How to Paint" and copy of my 8-year guarantee. Om Lm CHASE, The Paint Man. Dmpi. 87, . Lmulm, Mm. 91 J tl : Mri'i i fi.IT .latffa'V; riiirj&M:tltontomm'itom. t:!!!j!Ll12- p -i .ljav . Jt- I Ji U. 41 4- I