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About The Wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-???? | View Entire Issue (May 2, 1908)
ySee the FleetXV Sen Frcncisco Day (f 1 1 MO tr hWVhips. r tcrai ra I I mmA m .warm of torpado ct ll 4m I II ttrealMt Show of American f3r Pfl Ftfcrd trip tCliferai. 5 I I oBOiiLit .flU! VU1HK r V- Ucicn Pccific Jkjl j I Inquire fSjdL ill I I LL SLCSSC1 vJlf? W I A FLIIN SIGIN of satisfaction is shown when a. deader is recommended . by his . customers. It is oar happy lot to say that oar oldest patrons are our best salesmen. They Know Coal bought here is always dean and free from slate, and they also know that a ton with as mpaiw a ton never less. Has yoor expe rience been altogether of ..that character. ADAM SCHAUPP COAL CO. -J , 1218 O SL Yard, 18th and R. Ml 182. Ant 3812 REAlX X estate l3 ScS ICSi St LINCOLN ft CJIT cr 0VEC:2aT Ccda to Crf:r Fcr Do r.loro r Do Loss n Shccpo Deck to Your Dcc!i "T ISSUED DY AUTHORITY OF C Q 145 ScS u:::ld MOO TO! LflDEIL Tta IfctcS VJCsr gPalnt Co. ggg Modern Decorators, Wall j Paper, Moldings. Etc p o rest ri75 (Continued from page 1.) were tied by his superior. The com pany was not liable, and he was in structed to pay Merritt $58 and to say that after a while they might give him a job as night watchman, where he could earn about 912 per week. "But remember.'" said Brown. We can't make any agreement in writing about siring you a job. Ton will have to take my word for it, The unfortunate man had no alter naive but to fight the International Harvester company and to devise some new way of earning a livelihood. He had one relative, an uncle, who al though poor, had managed to save a few hundred fTollarx. From him Mer ritt borrowed $200 and rented a little store near one of Chicago's crowded public schools. He laid in a small stock of candies and school books. His little capital was not enough to pro Tide all of the articles that the child ren called for. and his profits from the nickels of the children, amounted to about seventy-five cents per day. Xlerriit returned to the lawyer's of fice and suit was brought against the International Harvester company for $2,000. An overworked and underpaid employe in the office of the harvester company one whose duty it was to at tend to the routine details of damage suits up to the time of trial neglect ed to file in court the proper papers answering Merritt's claim for dam ages in the time fixed by law and Mer- ritt's lawyer took a default against the company, and a judge entered judg ment for $2,000 in his favor. A few days afterwards the lawyers for the company appeared in court and asked to have the judgment set aside. They explained that the young law clerk in the office of the company had forgotten about the case and that the company had a good defense. The judge ordered the company to produce its witnesses, so that Merritt's lawyer might cross-examine them. If the company showed that it had a good defense then the judge would set aside the default and submit the case to a jury, where both sides might have their witnesses heard. If -the company failed to show that it had a good defense the judge would or der the judgment to stand, and Mer ritt could then collect the $2,000 quickly. On the day set for the inquiry into the facts, an important witness, a for mer employe of the company was not brought to court by the company. Putting a Witness Out of Reach. Merritt's lawyer had secured a written statement from the witness showing the company's negligence. If called to court, the witness would have told the judge that the man who pulled the levers on the crane and cut off Merritt's arm was an incompetent man; that he was an ignorant work man, chosen from the common labor ing gang only a short time before the accident, and that the witness, who was an expert crane man had notified the superintendent of the company be fore the accident that the man was in competent ari careless. This witness was taken out of the state by Mr. Brown the day before the hearing, and he was paid $25 for his tSnie in keeping away from court. As the hearing was not an actual trial. Merritt was not allowed to testi fy or produce witnesses, and he found that the law does not favor defaults. The judgment was set aside, but only on conditions that were quite favorable to Merritt. The judge di rected that the company pay Merritt $100 at once; that he be given leave to soe for $ T.aOtf instead of $2,000, and that the company should not remove the case to the Federal court. In or der to escape the payment of the judgment for $2,009 the company ac cepted these conditions. And Merrit felt half-glad over the decision. He might be defeated and get nothing for his arm, but his fight was now worth while. He had secured a chance of collecting $7,500 from the harvester company for the loss of his arm. The suit came on for trial March 1 and. lasted until March 23. The de fendant corporation contested the case biterty and called over fifty witnesses. The verdict was in favor of the in jured man for the full amount he asked. $7,500. i But Merritt is far from having the $7,500 in his pocket for a verdict of a jury is far from conclusive. It is lit tle more than the first skirmish in the long legal battle that will almost cer tainly be fought. The harvester com pany may now appeal to the appellate court, and if Merritt wins, another ap peal may be taken by the harvester company, this time to the supreme court of the state. After another year of waiting the plaintiff will learn the final result of his suit. If be defeats the great- cor poration in all the courts, he wia get his money some time m the year 110 or 1911. It is assumed that the harvester company will" contest this suit as it has consistently done with similar suits heretofore. The lawyers who appeared to defeat "Merritt we the regularly retained trial attorneys tor the International Harvester company West. Kckaart. & Taylor. The senior member of that firm is Roy O. West. Keep that name in mind. Another lawsuit is pending in the circuit court of Cook county that has a peculiar .relationship to the suit of Walter Merritt. It is a mandamus suit brought by the Illinois Tax Re form Association in the name of a tax payer against Roy O. West (remember the name). Fred W. Upham, and F. Dl Meacham. constituting the board of review of Cook county, to compel them to do their duty and assess tne person al property stock holdings of Cyrus H. McCormick and eleven others, who, to gether, own more than ninety per cent of the $120,000,000 of stock In the In ternational Harvester company. The suit names the following per sons as joint defendants, and sets forth the amount of stock at its fair cash value held by each: . Fair cash Owner value, 1907. Cyrus H McCormick $1150.000 Harold F. McCormick 11,250.000 Anita McCormick Blaine. . 11.250.000 Mary V. McCormick ll,2oO.OOO Nettie McCormick 11.250.000 Stanley McCormick. ...... 7.500.000 William Deering 5.625.000 James Deering .- 5,625.000 Charles Deering 5.625,000 Richard F. Howe.,....;.,.. 1.875,000 John J. Glessner 1.875.000 W. H. Jones 750.000 Total $84,937,500 The tax payer sets forth in his pe tition that these big stockholders in the Harvester Trust now owe to Cook county. $4,500,000 of unpaid taxes for the years 1903. 1904, 1905. 1906 and 1907; that up to and including 1906 the net earnings of the company were over $27,000,000. after setting aside $4,500,- 000 for reserve, and that the earnings for 1906 were $8,600,000. The com pany has laid by for a rainy day the comfortable surplus of about $9,500,- 000. Roy O. West is chairman of the re publican state central commlTtee of Illinois. He is also chairman of the Board of Review of Cook county, for which he receives a salary of $7,000 per year, and his duty is the review the assessments of all real and person al property. At some hour in the day Mr. West puts aside his personality as a lawyer for the International Harvester Com pany and takes up his personality of employe of the state with the duty of determining how much taxes the In ternational Harvester company should pay. At exactly four o'clock in the afternoon, let us say, Mr. West lays down the papers in case of the Inter national Harvester Company versus Merritt. West counsel for the plaintiff, and takes up the papers in the matter of determining how much taxes the In ternational Harvester company should par- The stock of Mr. West's client, the International Harvester company is now earning over seven per cent, and is. therefore, worth par. The Board of Review should assess Cyrus H. McCormick alone $15,000.- 000 annually on his stock in the Har vester Trust, and the other stockhold ers should be assessed in proportion. During the four years from 1903 to 1906, inclusive, this representative business man of Chicago paid not one dollar of taxes on his great fortune. represented by stock in the Harvester Trust. The small assessment made in 1907 for back taxes, a total of less than $1. 000,000 on -the stock of all the big stockholders of the company, has iorced cyras ti. McCormick to pay about $500 per year for each of the four years of delinquency, or about one-four-hundredth of his honest share. His associates have - dodged their taxes in the same ratio. Why do not the proper officials of the city, county, or state collect these unpaid taxes? Why should private citizens have to do the work that their public servants are paid to do? Because the officials are a part of the system a combination between big business and big politics in Illin ios; Roy O. West, counsel for the In ternational Harvester company; Roy O. West chairman of the republican state centraTcommittee; Roy O. West, chairman of the board of tax review for Cook county. ' These two lawsuits will grind their way slowly through the wheels of jus tice, or injustice, in the courts of Cook county. In the meantime, back of the faded curtain that divides the small living room from the candy store in the Mer ritt household another baby has ar rived, While these captains of industry, stockholders of the harvester trust, are making about $10,000,000 per year profits, and while they fail to sched ule for taxes a dollar's worth of their great wealth, represented in the stock of the trust, the McCormick Theologi cal Seminary of the Presbyterian church, founded by Cyrus H. McCor mick. pioneer in the harvester field, is turning out young ministers, who go forth to spread the Gospel of Christ. Meanwhile the wheels in the factories of the Harvester company periodically tors out cripples, to become charges j on the community. Colliers' Weekly.! tijtade in lincoln IVIade by friends J rEFT INOOLN KONEY ! IN LINCOLN (g No better flour sold on the Lincoln market. Every sack warranted. We want die trade of Union men and women, and we aim to deserve it. If your grocer does not handle Liberty Flour, 'phone us and we will attend to it. Ask your neighbor how she likes Liberty Flour. We rely on the recommendation of those who use it. There IS a Drees Shirt Lfcids Vilh The Union Label It seDs for a DoBar and bears the Label of the UNITED GARMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA UNION INDIANAPOUS SHI R T Insist on Getting THE &.ODZL and if your dealer will not get it for yon, we will send ahirta, eaiijiaa; charges prepaid, to any address in the United States or Canada for SI rh We make laundered nexlisree shirts with caffs llwlwil i also coat shirts. Pleated bosoms in all patterns and stylos, if yoa them. THE MODEL Royal CSoe Shirts are indigo dyed, fast colors and so warranted. MODEL SHIRT CO., New York Office, 350 CERTUBX DCMANATOUS, LYRIC THEATRE Ct 39 p. o. POLITE VAUBZUSUaE Uteri's rtsUr flijxssaj. Prices tcy ICs, lss Fter TZt ft uwoftrSJsxB? Sfc::s C::ri:2 Ttis are made by Union Labor and Fair Employers agreeing to arbi trate all differences. Believers m Industrial Pc and Fair Treatment of labor, should ask their shoe dealer for shoes bearing this stamp. The product of Fair Employers and Fair Labor merits the patronage of all fair minded persons. Ask your dealer tor Union Stamp shoes, and it he not supply you, write BOOT AND SHOE WORKERS UNION 246 Sammer St.. BOSTON; MASS. vie The Dr. BcnJ. F. Dally Sanatorium Uncwla. Nebraska For non-eon tagious chromic diseases. Largest, best equipped, most beantifnlly fnmished. Your Cigars Sheuid Daar Tfcla LabcL It is insurance against sweat shop and tenement goods, and against disease. ...