WAGEWORlSRo
THE
3"
VOLUME 7
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23. 1910
NUMBER 27
firiTRRFWT
j COMMENT
Before congratulating Messrs. Gooch
and Tobin upon their acquisition of the
Daily Star, I want to congratulate the
community The change in the owner-
ship and .the management oi tne star
will be a good thing for Lincoln. As
long as Mr. Thompson was connected
with the paper its usefulness was dis
counted. Not because Mr. Thompson
exercised any particular control over
its policies, but because it was well
understood that Mr. Thompson found
ed the paper to "get even" with cer
tain people. The time when such
papers cut any figure has gone, and
Mr. Thompson's connection with the
Star was an incubus that it would not
overcome. Mr. Gooch is a keen, shrewd
levelheaded man of business who is
wise enough to know that the Star
must stand for something sonstructive
if it would win. lie knows that it
must be a newspaper, and that it must
stand for measures, not for persons.
No "one rejoices more than I to see
Col. Tobin "land." Mr. Tobin is a
unionist of the right calibre. Many
months ago he went out on strike
against the Associated Press, and he
stuck like glue. He could have gone
back at a good salary after the strike
was lost, but he wouldn't and didn't.
He began practically at the foot of
the telegraph ladder again, and he
showed the stuff he's made of by work
ing right back to the top. I not only
congratulate Mr. Gooch on having
such a man alongside him, but I con
gratulate Tobin on being fortunate
enough to have allied himself with a
man like Gooch. .....
The Star has a golden opportunity
before it, and I expect to see it take
advantage of it. The Star's editorial
and reportorial staff has always been
a craekerjack. The trouble with it
was that it was handcuffed and leg
chained to a very great extent. That
will no linger be true under the new
management. In J. W. Cutright the
Star has a man whose newspaper abil
ity is 100 plus. As editorial writer and
gatherer of news "Cutty" will meas
ure up with the best of 'em every
where. Cline, Mosshart O, the whole '
blooming bunch! If the new manage
ment will just let "that staff go its
pace the Star will be a wonder. What
Lincoln needs is a daily newspaper
that will give the news without bias
and will not undertake to regulate the
sun, moon and stars in their courses,
1 the personal habits of men and women,
and the business activities of the city
and its citizens. It needs a daily news
paper that will not blow hot in the
morning and eold in the evening, but
will stand hitched, or go straight.
Among the big improvements in Lin
coln during the year 1910, I count the
acquisition of the Daily Star by Messrs.
Gooch and Tobin as the equal of any
of them. The benefits of the change
.1 r- t a 1 1
in tne mar s management are aireauy
becoming apparent.
The inains?ment of the Lincoln Trac
tion Co. shows a deficit of about $20.
(KK) for the last six months, and there-
upon announces a decrease in the ser
vice. It excuses the decreased service
on the ground thait compared with
' other cities of similar size it gives Lin
coln a greater service per car mile
than any of them. This is doubtless
true, but under the circumstances it
is an unfair comparison. From Ninth
street to Twenty-seventh street is eigh
teen blocks a mile and a half, or
three miles for the round trip. ' Over
the tracks between those streets are
operated the Cemetery cars, the East
S street cars, the University Place
cars, the Havelock cars, the Vine street
cars, the State Farm cars and Khe
Twenty-seventh and Y street cars
cyen ljnes in all. Every time these
' i ven cars make a round trip between
ZViz'A and Twenty-seventh they make
twenty-one miles. Yet of what partic
xlxt service is all thi to the points
teen those two streets! The trou-
" t i, there is too much "trunk line''
service and not enough "branch line"
or outside line service.
One may stand at Tenth and O
streets and see seven or eight cars
hiking eastward on O all in a bunch,
but only one of the number will take
one where one wants to go. Yet we
are asked to consider that the mile and
a halKjnade by those se.ven or eight cars
is a part of a grand total and two
ears would take care of all the traffic
originating between Twenty-seventh
and Ninth street going westward. Lin
coln Could get along with a reduction
of one-third in the miles of car ser
vice if it could have the service spread
out instead of bunching three-fourths
of it on one street in the distance of
a mile and a half.
We know of a Lincoln home owner
who has absolutely refused to mort
gage his place in order to purchase
an automobile. We'll give his name
to any reputable showman upon pay
ment of a liberal reward.
HOW NEBRASKA EXCELS
One of the "jokes!' of each session of the Nebraska legislature is the appointment of a commit
tee on "Mines and Minerals." The joke consists in the fact that there are no mines and therefore
no mining industry in Nebraska. In the legislative session of 1907 Senator VanHousen of Colfax
was made chairman of the senate committee on Mines and Minerals. On the last day of the session
Senator VanHousen startled the senators by submitting a comparative report the first ever made
by the committe. That report astonished the people, showing as it did that Nebraska, without
mines of gold or silver, coal or copper, iron or lead, was still producing more cereal crops bring
ing gold from the "grass roots" than her sister states produced in metals.
The report was commented upon from one end of the land to the other. It must have astonished
the men who journeyed across the plains of Nebraska in the early days to test fickle luck in the
gold and silver mines of the Pacific coast. They little dreamed that at the "grass roots" in Ne
braska lay more gold and silver in the way of potential crops than has ever been,vor ever will be,
dug from the bowel of the earth in the shape of minerals. . ; .
Astonishing as was the report of Senator VanHousen's committee, it is not to be compared with
the report that the same committee of the legislative session of 1909 could have made had it under
taken the same task. The Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics has endeavored to supply the
omission of the committee on Mines and Minerals, and begs leave to report to the world the
following comparison, the products of Nebraska being reckoned from the reports made to the Bu
reau of Labor and Industrial Statistics, and the figures of production of other states being taken
from the World Almanac of 1910.
NEBRASKA'S MINING INDUSTRIES
As miners the people of Nebraska dug from the soil of their state during the year 1909
gold in the shape of the following crops and products:
From Nebraska com mines..: $ 98,123,871
Gold mines of United States and Alaska 94,560,000 '
Balance in faver of Nebraska 3,563,871
From Nebraska wheat mines .. $ 45,287,483
Total sufrar production of the United States J 39,000,500
Balance in favor of Nebraska i , $ 5,787,483
From Nebraska oats mines . $ 23.861,389
Texas cotton J..... 19,440,000
...- Balance in favor of Nebraska... i..a.i!:. . . $ 4,421,389
' From Nebraska egg mines 18,360,000
Kentucky tobacco , 17,799,600
Balance in favor of Nebraska .". $ 560,400
From Nebraska live stock mines $ 106,771,163
Crude Petroleum of United States fc. 97,651,326
Balance in favor of Nebraska . 9,119,837
From Nebraska wild and tame hay mines .$ 68,600,652
Illinois coal 64,396,000
Balance in favor of Nebraska : $14,304,652
From Nebraska live stock, srrain, poultry, butter, eggs and fruit mines .$409,413,454
Coal of United States except Illinois ; 407,258,776
Balance in favor of Nebraska... $ 154,688
From Nebraska butter mines . $ 31,500,000
Colorado srold and silver mines . 28,305,000
Balance in favor of Nebraska $ 3,195,000
From Nebraska potato mines $ 5,909,202 ,
Arizona irold and silver mines 4,051,200 '
Balance in favor of Nebraska $ 1,858,002
From Nebraska alfalfa mines $ 17,745,930
Nevada gold and sliver mines , ; 16,775,500
Balance In favor of Nebraska $ 970,430
From Nebraska wild hay mines '. $ 29,760,010
Alaska grold and silver mines 19,968,200
Balance in favor of Nebraska i . $ 9,798,810
To:al agricultural, dairy, live stock and manufactured products of Nebraska $650,000,000
Total cotton crop of United States 552,000,000
Balance in favor of Nebraska $98,000,000
From Nebraska corn mines; $ 98,123,871
Total tobacco crop of United States 74,130,185
Balance In favor of Nebraska.: $23,993,686
From Nebraska cereal mines $171,000,000
Copper mines of United States 127,058,329
Balance In favor of Nebraska $40,214,414
From grass and sprain mines and refined into beef and pork.: $106,771,163 '
Iron ore of United States 60,821,976
Balance In favor of Nebraska $45,949,187
SOME ODD COMPARISONS
If the eggs laid by Nebraska hens in 1909 were laid in a double row, end to end, they would ex
tend 19,318 miles, which is more than treble the railroad mileage built in the United States in 1908.
If the total agricultural, poultry, dairy and live stock product of Nebraska in 1909 were loaded
irto standard freight cars it would make a train 10,004 miles long. The railroad mileage built in
the United States in 1909 woul d accommodate less than one-half this enormous train. The train
itself would stretch three times across the United States at its widest part.
The permanent school fund of Nebraska holds $950,000 of Massachusetts state bonds. Converted
into dollar bills and laid end to end this amount would reach north and south across the state of
Massachusetts.
If the permanent school fund of Nebraska were converted into dollar bills and the bills laid
end to end the ribbon of money would reach from Omaha to Salt Lake City, with several miles
of dollar bills left over.
It would take 110 modern freight locomotives to haul the butter to market that Nebraska manu
factures in the course of single a year.
Cherry county is big enough to accommodate the inhabitants of the globe, and allow each one
room to swing comfortably in a rocking chair, ...
One may breakfast at 8 a. m., eat lunch at 12 m., eat dinner at 6 p. m., all the while traveling
at the rate of 35 miles an hour, starting westward from Omaha, and then have two hours of travel
in Nebraska to enjoy the beautiful sunset.
A pound package of butter is six inches long. If all the butter made in Nebraska in 1909 were
placed in pound cartons and the cartons stacked up end on end, it would make a column of butter
the best in the world 6,826 miles high. Laid end to end it would parallel every mile of railroad
track in the state of Nebraska. ,
FACTS TO CONSIDER
The above figures are stupendous but correct. As a state Nebraska is considerably less than
fifty years old. Less than forty years ago what is now Nebraska was designated upon the maps
of the school geographies as "The Great American Desert. " .'
Nebraska produces the abundance above set forth with less than one-half of her tillable land un
der cultivation. Nebraska raises more of wheat, corn, oats, rye and barley per acre than any oth
er state in the union.
In addition to having the smallest percentage of illiteracy of any state in the union, Nebraska
has the largest permanent school fund of any state in the union.
On Jan. 1, 1910, the banks of the state contained deposits amounting to $185,080,005.56. an aver
age of $142.00 per capita.
ABOUT
POLITICS
I
J
If fairness towards organized labor .
entitled a man to the votes of. union
men, then Gilbert M. Hitchcock is en
titled to the vote of every union man
in Nebraska. He has paid out millions
to union men during the last two de
cades ; he employs more union printers,'
pressmen and stereotypers than any
other man between Chicago and
Denver; he is always ready to sign ah
agreement, and always ready to re-,
ceive a committee and do business with
it on a business basis. And in congress
his voice has time and again been raised
in protest against wrongs inflicted up
on organized labor, and in support of
measures proposed by the leaders of the
labor movement. And wben Gilbert M.
Hitchcock is-elected; to the United
States senate, as we believe he will be,
we may be sure that we have a sena
tor who will not forever be "gumshoe
ing" or straddling in an effort to chase
with the regular hounds or run with.
ithe progressive 'hares. ' "
Here's hoping that Prof. Crabtree is
elected superintendent ' of public in
struction by better than 30,000 major
ity. Not because we think that Prof.
Crabtree is any better fitted , for "the
place than his democratic opponent,
but because the (bigger Crabtree 's ma- ,
pority the more stinging the rebuke to
a little coterie of low-browed partisans
who sought to discipline 'him because
he would not assist them in prostitut
ing the public school system to parti
san purposes. .This coterie got a good
'blow between the eyes when Crabtree
was nominated. Now let. each mem- v
ber! thereof -have one on the , political
solar plexus next November. :
One year ago the fair was a financial
failure or nearly So. It rained four
days out of the five; 'but the fair's fail
ure was attributed to the , fact that
Lincoln was a "dry" city. - This year
the; weather was ideal and the fair
broke all records for attendance and
Lincoln is as "dry." now as it was a
year ago. "We are patiently waiting
for the detractors of , Lincoln to ex
plain. ' - s -
' Mr. Workirigmian, don't you let 'er.i
fool you this year on the senatorial
situation when you come to vote for
members of the legislature. You vote ;
for your choice for, United States Sena-
tor, and then absolutely refuse to vote ,
for any legislative candidate who has
refused to subscribe to "Statement
No. 1," ;
When you are told that "Lincoln is
full of empty houses," you tell your
informant that he is uttering an un
truth. There is one good place to get
a line on the empty house question, and
that is at the office of the Lincoln Gas
& Electric Light Co. Manager Adams
will tell you that there are fewer empty
houses now than there were a year
ago, or two years ago. He will tell
you that desirable residences, modern
or even partly modern, are hard to
locate. He will also tell you that there
are more occupied houses in Lincoln
today, by several hundred, than ever
before in the city's 'history. Lincoln
is growing, despite the "knocking" of
the disgruntled on the one side and
the fanatical performances of rattle-
brained reformers on the other:
The idea of a city like Lincoln ex
pecting to get a competent business
man to discharge the onerous duties of
mayor for the paltry salary of $1,000
a year it is to laugh.' Now and then
the city is fortunate in getting a man,
like Francis W. Brown, who is willing ...
to sacrifice private business in order
to advance the public welfare; but such'
men are, rare. Lincoln is a business '
institution doing business amounting to
hundreds of thousands of dollars every r
year. Men competent to handle that
volume' of business 'can command sal
aries' in thefive figures. Lincoln ought
to pay ' its'" mayor $2,500 a year, and
then insist, on ,hving, a $2,50 man to
1 . '
