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APRIIi 9, 1909
The Commoner.
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Work of the Nebraska Legislature
Tlie bills of general interest passed by Ne
braska's democratic legislature, which has just
adjourned, are as follows:
House Roll No. 1. Oregon plan of selecting
United States senators.
H. R. No. 36. Appropriating $20,000 for the
erection of a monument to Abraham Lincoln
on the state house grounds.
H. R. No. 80. Forbidding the use or sale
of giant firecrackers or dynamite caps for
Fourth of July celebrations.
H. R. No. 89. Providing that the material
and weight of binding twine be stamped on
each ball together with the date of manufacture.
H. R. No. 118. Providing for examining in
to the Banity of persons condemned to death
by a board composed of the superintendents of
the state's asylums for the insane.
H. R. No. 127. Fixing penalties for adver
tising false pedigrees of animals.
H. R. No. 131. Forbidding the intimidation
of voters by threats of loss of employment.
H. R. No. 140. Putting paints under the
pure food law so that contents and ingredients
must be labeled on the cans.
H. R. No. 144. No judgment may be re
vived after it has lain dormant for more than
ten years.
H. R. No. 201. Providing for the vestment
of title to homestead in minor children on death
of parents.
H. R. No. 242. Providing for the publication
of campaign contributions fifteen days prior to
election day.
H. R. No. 374. Prescribing the number of
men in a railroad train crew.
H. R. No. 423. Guaranteed bank depos'its
law.
H. R. No. 533. Providing for the admission
of national banks to the benefits of the state
guaranty fund.
H. R. No. 192. Permitting railroad passes
to be issued to the dependents of those em
ployes who .die in the service.
H. R. No. 66. Providing for an annual grand
jury in every county except where especially
ordered otherwise by the court.
H. R. No. 130. Providing that warehouse
receipts shall bo negotiable.
H. R. No. 163. Providing that the attorney
general may call on county attorneys for aid in
criminal cases appealed from their counties to
the. supreme court.
. H. R. No. 358. Fixing the maximum freight
rate on crude and fuel oil in carload lots.
.' H.. R. No. 464. Regulating the practice of
professional accounting and providing for a
licensing board.
,. H. R. No. 474. Providing for licensing of
dentists under the supervision of the state.
H. R. No. 486. Making the branding of net
weight compulsory on certain kinds of goods
products of wheat and(corn and allowing the
manufacture of bleached flour.
H. R. No. 578. Regulation of the issuance
-of stock and bonds by corporations under the
supervision of the state railway commission.
Senate File No. 136. Memorial asking con
ing congress to appropriate $500,000,000 for
harbors And waterways.
S. F. No. 159. Forbidding the organization
of fraternities in high schools.
S. F. No. 65. Requiring clerks of district
courts to furnish divorce statistics to state -board
of health.
S. F. No. 130. Decrees of divorce to become
effective in one year.
S. F. No. 315. Providing pension for teach
ers in the cities of the metropolitan class after
they have served thirty-five years in the pro
fession and twenty-five years in the particular
city from which the pensior is to come.
. ' S. F. No. 71. Reciprocal demurrage law.
S. F. No. 95. Railroads must pay damage
claims within sixty and ninety days under
penalty.
S. F. No. 18. Establishes an osteopathic ex
amining board.
S. F. No. 143. Requiring railroads to equip
depots with telephones.
S. F. No. 408. Stock Issued by corporations
to be void unless authorized by the railway com
mission and preventing the issuance of watered
stock.
S. F. No. 152. Authorizing regents of state
university to establish a school of citizenship.
S. F. No. 123. Authorizing accident insur
ance companies to pay old age Indemnity.
S. F. No. 262. Providing for the branding of
milk cans and making it unlawful for any but
the owners to use them.
Sf' No 10, Prviding an annual stato oc
cupation tax to bo paid by corporations on cap
ital stock. Tax ranges from $5 for $10,000
capital stock to $200 for $2,000,000 capital
stock.
S. F. No. 81. Forbids the sale of liquor on
railroad trains, except in dining cars.
S. F. No. 109. Establishes the open pri
mary law and allows voters to write in names
on ballot. Candidates to select committeemen
and committees to select state dolegates for
state convention (to write platform) to be held
prior to the primaries.
s- F- No. 240. For cleanliness of bakeries,
packing houses, creameries, groceries and other
places where food is prepared.
S. F. No. 100. Forbidding political parties to
nominate candidates for judges, regents of the
state university, state superintendent of educa
tion, or county superintendent of schools. All
such candidates must go on the ballot without
party designation and be placed there by
petition.
S. F. No. 225. Forbidding non-resident
agents to write fire, accident and fidelity insur
ance policies.
S. F. No. 133. Providing for the physical
valuation of railroads and bther companies.
S. F. No. 283. Daylight saloon bill. Fixing
hours from 7 o'clock a. m. until 8 pm.
throughout the state.
S. F. No. 235. Providing for the indeter
minate sentence of persons convicted of certain
felonies.
NEBRASKA'S DAYLIGHT SALOON LAW
In the enactment of a law providing that all
saloons must close by 8 o'clock p. m. opening
no earlier than 7 o'clock a. m. Nebraska has
taken the lead in conservative temperance legis
lation. It Is distinctly to the credit of this great
state that it is the first to enact a law so in
keeping with the calm, intelligent thought of
the country. It is distinctly to the credit of a
democratic legislature that a daylight saloon
law is among the important reforms brought
about through its deliberations and Governor
Shallenberger is to bo congratulated upon hav
ing given It his approval. It may well bo be
lieved that the thoro-igh enforcement of the
daylight saloon law will result in such good to
society, to the the state and to all the cities
thereof that even many who now bitterly oppose
it will be brought to realize its excellence.
Letters From the People
L. E. Perkins, Denver, Colo. I would like
to see The Commoner re-open the fight for the
free and unlimited coinage of silver at 16 to 1.
H. Stillman Doubleday, Brooklyn, N. Y. Is
it not evident that the American voter has not
kept pace with the cunning or wisdom of his
exploiter, and that he needs to be educated out
of his indifference, prejudices and mental
lethergy and into a realization of his duty and
his personal responsibility for the existence and
persistence of every civic injustice and enor
mity that exists with the sanction of this United
States government? He should educate himself
into knowledge of righteous government and
the way to secure it. Such education Is my need
and yours it is the universal common need.
James K. McGuire, Syracuse, N. Y. The
Italian shoe shiner, near our New York office,
said to me shortly after election: "Me demo
crat, but vote for Taft. 'Why,' customers say:
Tony, bad business, more hard times Bryan,
much good times Taft; so Tony votes, more
business, more shines." An Italian laborer at
Camillus, N. Y., near here makes his wedding
depend on the defeat of Mr. Bryan. Another
draws out $600 from the savings bank before
election, ready to return to Europe in the
event of Bryan's election, redeposlts the money
the day after election. I know personally of
fifty men, at least, mostly union workers, who
believed they would fiud themselves out of em
ployment after election if democracy triumphed.
"What fools these mortals be."
Dr. J. M. De Veiling, Ridgeland, Miss. I was
very sorry November 4, 1908. But I am now
glad. Why? Because Bryan would have been
caused to suffer the equal tortures .of Galileo
The people arc not yet ready for Bryanism.
neecussirsmWOr thy r"ea'dy fr GaI1Ie0'a copor-
. SJiw iE tJohn8011' Pittsburg, Kan. This is
a pocket book ago not a conscience age. Tho
great wonder Is that wo do as well as we do
with apparently nothing but defeat and only
expenso and finally humiliation for our reward.
hmv ??? can e.xplaIn why thcro aro 80 my
brave and conscious voters who will come up
year after year for their whole life and vote
our ticket only to bo defeated
HHnir- 'n"' PrIofnd8h!p, N. Y. I Used to
think as Mr. Bryan does when ho says ho be
lieves like Lincoln in tho "plain people." I
a. l, ?Ut, ' !mv? about come t0 the conclu
sion that about nine out of ten aro "fools."
When they know just how things are, they had
fSPhfaV0 10 :i,r?tml80" of a clay's work now
than "eternal salvation horeaftor." They live
so near the hunger line that a promfso of a
day s work does tho "business." The democratic
party can never win when a few traitors can
Jl ! W 10l 8t,ate 1Ik0 Now York- This stato
should always bo democratic and would bo but
for deals and sell outs. In my opinion tho
Bwmi? ,de2la that 80ld thIs 8tat, were accom
plished the same way and tho same time that
the middlo west states were fixed.
L. C. Long, St. Paul, Minn. I sorved three
years in tho union army under a colonel who
was a West Pointer and a democrat. Ho taught
me nevor to consider myself whippod as long
as there was a chanco for another fight.
Stephen G. Price, Marshall, Mo. Some plan
must bo devised to have our circulating medium
rreo from any commodity value or any other
value save a representative value, such as a
piece of paper upon which a deed is written.
iplp! has no value yQt as a deed it carries
with It the value of tho property It represents,
no more no less. Human ingenuity thus far has
Jfi . pr,ovIde such a circulating medium and
until this is done genulno democracy can not
thrive except In tho formative period of a na
tion. Graft and commercialism will ultimately
undermine all ideas of equal rights, patriotism,
morality and in fact spirituality.
"A COMIN' AND A COIN' "
The Sioux City (Iowa) Journal says: "With
the confidence of both the public and 'the big
interests' tho Taft administration should be in
advantageous position to make progress." Does
the editor of the Sioux City Journal really be
lieve that progress under such conditions will
be substantial so far as public interests aro
concerned?
"RATHER A CHILD"
Rather a child would pray for me
Than some one in a marble shrine,
For the love that lisps at a mother's knee .
Is so wondrously fair and fine
That the words go straight and the words go far
With a grace that they have alone
Go out and onward past star and star
Till they tremble unto the throne.
Rather a child should lisp my name
In a blessing when comes the night
Than to hear it breathed while the candle flame
Lends the altar a holy light, - ;.
For the shrill-sweet voice of a child can rise
On the mystical wings of love .. '&.
And cleave the silence beyond the skies .y
To the listening ear above.
The bedtime prayer, the white, white gown,
And the light that Is low and dim,
The fair, wee head that is bowjng down,
And the message sent up to Him!
Then you know somehow that the pure child
heart Is anear to the Soul of Things;
For sighs that rack and for tears that smart
A Gllead-balm it brings.
Wonderful, too, the simple trust
Of the child in the boon It asks
It can lift us up from the shreds and dust
With a strength to renew our tasks
For a child asks not as we older ones, '",
But It asks with a heart that knows
The hand that fashioned tho farthest suns ,, "
Lent the grace to the climbing rose.
Rather a child should pray for me
Than the godliest man on earth, .'
For the prayer made in th childish key
Is the prayer of greatest worth t
And I sometimes think that the good God sees
How we trust, and has gravely smiled
At the simple words and the bended knees '
And the faith of a little child.
Wilbur D. Nesbit in Chicago Record-Herald.
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