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About The Wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-???? | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 1909)
r 3 ITJ rtTiTD PRfff77VV K TRAD E? ULg) J .LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, FEBRUARY 27, 1909 NO. 47 SUBMIT THE CHARTER TO THE VOTERS OF LINCOLN If the proposed city charter is a good one, the people of Lin coln will ratify it. If the proposed city charter is a bad one, the people of Lin coln should be given an opportunity to reject it. In any event the people of Lincoln should be given an oppor tunity to pass judgment upon the proposed charter. This can only be done by submitting the charter to a referen dum vote. And the men who object to thus submitting the charter to a referendum vote will bear watching. If it is a good thing to provide for a referendum vote on such a simple matter as an ordinance, how much more is it a good thing to submit to a referendum the matter of a charter that has to do with an entire and radical change in the plan of municipal gov ernment. The claim that the present charter has already been passed up on is utterly and unqualifiedly false. A little history concerning this matter of changing to the commission plan of government may not be amiss at this time. Jjast summer the attention of many people was called to what is known as the "Des Moines plan," which is a commission plan of city government. The idea met with favor, and it was suggested that in order to get at the sentiment of the people the matter be voted on at the general election. Now mind you, the matter was not legally submitted, nor was it voted on as by law directed. No notice of such election was ever advertised or posted, the question was not printed upon any legal ballot, and no legal return was ever made. Under the guise of "just an attempt to get at public senti ment," City Clerk Pratt had some tickets printed and the election judges or some of them were asked to hand out these tickets and keep a separate return on them. Not all of the precincts were supplied with these tickets, and in some of the precincts that were supplied the judges neglected to hand them out. In other precincts many voters were not informed that such a ballot was being taken, and thus, in view of the failure to legally submit and advertise the question, many voters were practically debarred from expressing an opinion. No one doubts, after studying all the facts, that the commis sion plan would have been carried jhad it been legally submitted and voted upon. But it is not true tftat the proposed charter would have carried by a vote equal to that ast in favor of the commission plan last fall. The people who expressed their opinion last fall ex pressed the opinion that they would like to try the commission plan, but in so doing they did not bind themselves to accept any old' kind of a charter that might be framed up. The Wageworker favors the commission plan of government of municipalities. But first of all it favors allowing the people to say what kind of a commission they prefer. It opposes allowing a few idealists to frame up a charter and foist it upon 8,000 voters without their consent. It favors a commission plan that will divide re sponsibility among men elected to bear that responsibility, pay them a reasonable wage for their work and then compel them to at tend to the work. It opposes a plan that will make a bunch of fig ureheads and open an unlimited field for the placing of favorites in soft berths. It opposes a plan that' disfranchises a large number of honest, hard-working and home-building citizens in order to give more force and effect to the votes of men who insist that the pos session of wealth, and treasurers and legal lore marks the possessors as the logical keepers of the welfare; of the workers and toilers. The Wageworker is opposed to the May election date for more reasons than one. First, it disfranchises nearly a thousand voters whose means of livlihood compel them to leave the city before the date set for election. It is true that the men who are to be thus disfranchised are only "ignorant Russians," but they are also hon est, hard-working, frugal citizens who are building homes, who are honest and quick to pay their obligations, and who are paying taxes for the support of municipal institutions. By reason of the nature of their work they bring thousands of dollars to Lincoln every year, and this money goes into the legitimate channels of Lincoln trade. The Wageworker holds that such citizens are entitled to as much consideration as the drones of society who live on the unearned in crement. Secondly, The Wageworker opposes the May election date for the reason that it is unfair and unwise to thrust sudden responsibility upon the newly elected excise board. ' With an April election date the excise board has several weeks in which to con sider and pass upon excise matters. With the May date the newly elected board has but a day or two in which to meet this heavy re sponsibility. , But above all, The Wageworker believes in home rule. It fa vors allowing every municipality to run its own affairs as may best suit its citizens, subject only to the. general laws that must bear alike upon all citizens of the state. The people of Lincoln, not the legis lators of Nebraska, have the right to decide what municipal rules shall govern them. This right the people of Lincoln will not have if the plans of a few self-constituted guardians of the people sue-' ceed. The present legislature can not foist a charter upon the people of Lincoln without violating the platform pledges of the legislative majority. The battle cry of that majority was "let the people rule." One of its platform pledges was the initiative and referendum. If the people of Lincoln are to rule Lincoln they must be given a chance to say whether or not they approve of the charter. If 'the platform pledge is to be carried out the charter must be referred back to the people. If the proposed city charter is a good one, the people of Lin coln will ratify it. If the proposed city charter is a bad one, the people of Lin coln should be given an opportunity to reject it. . Let the people rule ! Among the Live Workers Here, There and Elsewhere The annual ball of the Brotherhood ot Locomotive Engineers, Division No. 98. was seriously interferred with by King Boreas. Monday evening was . wet and rainy aud windy, making it disagreeable to go outside of the doors or one's own home, and for this reason the attendance at the ball was not nearly so large as was to have been expected from the number or tickets sold. But despite the un toward weather conditions there was a goodly attendance. Nearly one hun dred couples took part in the grand march, and fully three hundred spec tators sat in the balcony and enjoyed listening to the excellent music ani watching the dancers. The Auditorium was tastefully dec orated with patriotic colors, and rail way signal lights of red, white and blue were strung lavishly about. From the stage a huge locomotive head light shone out upon the dancers. The grand march was led by the chairman of the ball committee, Mr. J. F. Duffy, and his daughter, Miss Anna. From its close until midnight the enjoyment was shared in by ths hundreds present. The committees having the ball in charge were as follows: Ball committee J. F. Duffy, chair man. W. T. Leahy, Fred Farquar, C. Hook and D. Helming. Floor commit te J. E. Johnson and E. Bignell. Reception committee J. S. McCoy and wife, John Gleason and wife, A. L Cl!yberg and wife, Edward Ralf- fi rnrer and wife, and A. J. Bignell nml wife. During the evening refreshments of coffee, sandwiches and punch were served, and this feature was by no means overlooked. Measured from the social stand point the ball was a complete success, and the engineers are not complain ing about the financial success. The net receipts would have been larger bad it not been for the weather, but despite this drawback a neat sum will be carried over to help defray the expenses of the big meeting' in Lincoln later in the season. The ball was given for this purpose, and the engineers received cordial support from friends and business generally. The big meeting will be held in Lincoln during the last week in Juno, and leading members of the Brother hood and the Auxiliary will be pres ent from all psrts of the country. Grand Chief Stone has arranged to be present. The local division is plan ning to show the visiting brothers and sisters a royal good time, and those who know of the enterprise and en thusiasm of the local locomotive en gineers are resting easy in the assurance that the visitors will go away impressed with Lincoln and Lincoln's hospitality. t injected into the stock of the new company something like one and one half millions of dollars worth of what is commonly known as water; and "Whereas, The payment of interest and dividends on this will largely fall on the wage-earners of this city, since they and their families are the prin cipal patrons of said company; there fore be it "Resolved, That we protest against this action- and-- demand that - some means be devised whereby the valu ation allowed by the state railway commission or some system whereby the interests of the people of Lincoln and suburbs will be protected, be made the basis for capitalization to the end that interest and dividends be paid only on a fair and actual in vestment; and be it further "Resolved, That we favor the pur chase of the street car system by the city at the earliest date practicable." The appointment of standing com mittees was deferred until the next meeting. Some interesting talks were made concerning the proposed city charter,- but no definite action was taken. The Central Labor Union met Tuesday evening and elected officers for the ensuing year. A lot of detail business was looked after and some attention was paid to the recent street railway merger. The following offi cers were elected: D. J. Hanna, President. A. B. Woelhoff, Vice-President. F. A. Kates, Secretary. T. W. Evans, Treasurer. The internal troubles of the Inter national Electrical Workers was brought up, but the central body de cided it was not in a position to take action. This matter was threshed out at the Denver conven tion. The following resolution was adopted, referring to the recent mer ger of Lincoln's street railways: "Whereas, It appears from the rec ords of the nuige'r of the Lincoln Traction company and the Citizens' Railway company that there is to be PENSION THE FIREMEN. Senator Ransom of Douglas has in troduced a bill providing that all metropolitan cities and cities of the first-class shall pension all firemen of the paid fire departments who shall have first served twenty-five years and shall then elect to go on the re tired list. At tiie deiath of the pen sioned fireman the pension shall con tinue to his widow as long as she lives and remains unmarried. In case there is no widow, then the pension shall be paid to the minor chiWren.-- MOORE GOT A BUMP. Well Known Burlington Engineer Gets Hurt in a Wreck. George H. Moore, the big Burlington engineer who is better Known as "Sandhill" Moore, was in a wreck at LaPlatte early last week. . A work train failed to get into the clear in time to let the fast train which Moore was pulling go by. Owing to a fog the signals could not be seen and there was no flagman out. Moore reversed and apolled the air and then jumped. In alighting he sustained some severe bruises and a fractured clavicle. He was brought to Lincoln and taken to St. Elizabeth's hospital. He is getting along all right, but it will be a week or two before he again mounts the footboard. Lincoln's War Was Against All Kinds of Servitude Abraham Lincoln's memory was celebrated last week in all kinds of ways, by all kinds of people and from all kinds of motives.' Pagans deified him for the ephemeral things he had doue;,... others . honored., him : for the, eternal spirit that led him on. Re actionaries celebrated his dead and sone achievements; progressives drew inspiration irom his ideals. Literal :sts confined his words for liberty to t' e nairow ar.d temporary occasion of the anti-slavery struggle; national . minds Kavo to tnem the breadth and scope of the in earessible conflict be tween special privilege and common right, of which the anti-slavery strug gle was but a passing phase. For ourselves, we regard Lincoln as greater than his epoch. Backward over the course of history he saw in other forms the very conflict in whicli in one of its forms he was a par ticipant; forward into the mysterious future he glimpsed still other forms of that same conflict. In homely phrase he described the spirit of the defenders of privilege in all ages, past or to come, and Inclusive of his own, as the spirit of those who say to their fellows, "You -work and toil and earn bread, and I'll eat it." Who can read those of Lincoln's words without i esBfaincJ.aat bjs perception ot the . principles of liberty was limited by no single battle in the war for liberty. Who can doubt that he saw, beyond the slave of the cotton field driven to work, the advancing shadow of the slave of the factory begging for work? It is not what Abraham Lincoln did in a national crisis, but the. undying principle he involved, that exalts his name and preserves his memory. Louis F. Post, in Chicago Public. GETTING READY TO DANCE. Thrilling Stunt Being Pulled Off Daily at Lincoln. First Araiwal Ball JOURNEYMEN BARBERS' UNION Lincoln Williams9 Mall Tlwrsday, March 4 BRISE'S ORCHESTRA. UNION MUSIC. TicRets, $1.00 Barbers Making Every Preparation for a Merry Time. "We've been a long time making up our minds to give an annual ball," lemarked the old-time barber as he adjusted the towel around The Wage worker man's neck, "but we are goinj . to make up for lost time by giving our members and our friends one of the best ever held in this good town." "Getting busy, eh?" queried the man in the chair. "Busy! Well I guess yes. Say, the committee is working their heads off arranging for a little the swellest time ' you ever read about. Wiiliams' hall, where our ball will be held, has one r . of the finest dancing floors in the west, and we've selected an orchestra that is strictly all right. We are going to make it a bali that will commend us to the good people of Lincoln, and set a precedent that will cause us to give a ball every year." "What kept you from it all these ' years?" "Well, we were a little different, I guess. And again we have not gone into the society game to any great extent. Our hours are long, you know, and bv the time we have stood around on our feet twelve hours a day we don't feel much like the giddy waltz and the entrarcing two-step. we decided that to keep- of the game we would have to give a ball, and we are going to make good, too. We want all you union men to help us make the first ball a success." By this time the face powder was on and the towel off. The first annual ball of the Journeyman Barbers' Union of Lincoln will be held at Wiliams hall on March 4 the day that Presf-' dent Roosevelt steps downrhd out and William Howard Taff steps up and in. You can not forget the date, if you want to. Kni you shouldn't miss the dance if you can help i c. giddy waltz . I o-step. But vv-v Cartoonist Spencer of The Omaha World-Herald Pictures the State's Free Employment Bureau I Look for the label and take' nothing wearable or smokable without it. '