THE WAGEWORKER
Published , every Friday by The Wageworker Publishing
. Company, 1705 O Street, Lincoln, Nebraska
WILL M. MAVPIN, Editor
E. L. GRUBB, Manager
COMMENT OF THE TIMES
The present campaign -in Nebraska presents more complications
than all previous -campaigns combined. It is at once the dirtiest
the most unfair, the most uncalled for and most ridiculous of all
the campaigns in the forty-seven years of Nebraska's statehood.
It is not for us to locate, the blame for the present unfortunate con
dition, although we have our own ideas about that matter.
The charge is made that because Mr. Ilitchcock forced from the,
Republican icket in 1901 a. man who had borrowed -money of Joe
hartley, he should now retii'e from the ticket himself, .it .having been
shown, that Mr. Hitchcock borrowed money-of Bartley. Merely for
the purpose of keeping the record straight let at be here made known
that Mr. Hitchcock had absolutely nothing to do wit. hforcing Goold
from the ticket in fact knew nothing about the case until he saw
it in his own paper. The editor of this paper knows something about
that whole transaction. ,". ,. . ,,: f
In the first place, Goold was not exposed because he had. borrowed
money from Bartley, but because, after borrowing it 'he was ingrate
enough to stand up in the republican state convention and vote for
a resolution condemning Governor Savage for haying paroled Bart
ley. If there is one man lower in the'-Scale than a yellow dog, it
the man vhq will accept' favors and then turn against the man who
granted .the favor. That-was just'what Goold did, and" it was his
ingratitude that brought about Juts exposure, not the fact 'that he
had borrowed money from Bartiey. ' 'Dick 'V.Metcalfe, E. P. Hunt
and the writer of this article know something about that particular
case. Ilitchcock knew nothing about it whatever. x .
And what if numerous men did borroAv money;iof Bartley and
'a i 1 1 in "i: ' h ' i i : i i a.- Ti jil i "I P I l T ii '
repay ii eventually? ivven ir n is true xnat rnvwrey cieirauciea tne
state of a half million dollars vvhich we havfl;jn$yer. believed1 it
is vastly more true that he saved . the people, of-; this state untold
millions by so using the state's funds illegally; perhaps as to
bolster up scores of 'weak and tottering banks and enable them to
pull through the horrible panic years. .-There are scores of Nebraska
banks prospering today simply and solely because Joe Bartley saved
them by the use of state money' And, we have always believed,
and believe now, that if Bartley Jiad been, left alone instead of being
hounded, for political effect he Avould have made gocl .every dollar
of that shortage. He was decreasing it every dayj'rotn the day
he. left the state treasury ship up to and including the day of 'his
arrpst Anrl in mil1 limnlilp rvnininn -Tnp W:lfv. tnla-u-' -fn t Potior
man than the men who borrowed money, of him 'anidthep ' c.urged:"
Ezra P, Savage for exercising clemency. Wetare.iit.0inueh''-inters.'
ested in knowing whether Hitchcock bprrowed,money of Bantley
as we 'are. in knowing that he repaid it if he dul: borrow; itv. And
we opine he did, if he over borrowed money from- Bartley. - If all
the bankers of the state- were lined up on O street today and every
one who borrowed money of Bartley during 1892-95 asked to step
one pace "to the front, either there would be a pretty general step
ping forward or a lot of prevaricators standing still. " ':''
IL is our firm belief that it is time to drop' the Bartley business
as a political issue. Bartley suffered 'to make the republican party
strong, and was shoved forward as a political asset by the oppo
nents of the g. o. p. Let those w'ho remember -how Bartley saved
many a bank from going to the 'wall at least have enough of human
kindness to give him credit for the good he did before damning
him for political purposes.
That's a pretty nasty story that .they have sprung on Mr. Aldric'h.
And it was not saved up and sprung oh 'the eve of election, either.
There is plenty of time to refute every point that is not well estab
lished. Nor is it sufficient to say that oven if it is true he has re
formed. If we remember rightly the fact that- Mr. Dahlnian has
led a fairly good life since he resumed his own hame; was not allowed
to carry any weight in the minds' of those who are so bitterly oppos
irig him.-" As for us if-we hall to make 'choice betweeri a- candidate '
who shot the seducer of his sister and the candidate who bought
false testimoy in order to help a designing woman to get rid of
the husband of whom she had tired if we had to make c'hoice be
tween two such candidates we'd be out working like a nailer for
the man who killed his sister's seducer. ,
We frankly confess that our failure to warm up to Mr. Dahlman's
candidacy is not due to Mr. Dahlman's personality; Personally
we love the man. We cannot, however, warm up to his candidacy
on account of the interests that forced his candidacy upon the peo
ple. That is the whole thing in a nutshell. Yet we, believe that
Dahlman is going to be elected.
We have pretty good reason for entertaining that belief, too.
The interests that are backing the Da'hlman candidacy are work
ing night and day. They are leaving no stone unturned, and they'll
g'et out their full vote on election day. The people who are opposing
him are too much given to adopting resolutions, praying , without
working and neglecting to go to the polls on election day. If Dahl
man is such a bad man how comes that he has twice been elected
...... i - . '
mayor of Omaha? Simply because he polled all of what some peo
ple are please dto term the "vicious element" vote arid about half
of the so-called "church vote." You simply can not beat that sort
of a political combination. It elected Frank E. Moores mayor of
Omaha three times. It elected Dahlman mayor twice and it is
going to elect him governor-of Nebraska. The people leading the
opposition to Dahlman will pray and sing and shout and exhort
and then forget to do the practical political work that means votes
in the ballot 'box. But the other fellows will not neglect that part.
They will do very little singing and perhaps no praying, but they'll
be there w'it'h the votes on election day 'and votes, not prayers,
win elections. We may have the wrong diagnonis, but if we have it
will be the first time the diagnosis fadle'd in similar cases.
And to think that all this trouble now weighing upon the state
was brought about by people too impatient to wait a little longer
for a rational solution of the question. It, took us thirty years in
Nebraska to get' a railroad commission worth the name.' It took
us ten years to get the Australian ballot. It took us fifteen years
to get a. freight rate law and a reduced passenger rate law. But
just because we failed to get the initiative and referendum the
first time trying, we were plunged into this county option fight at
this time instead of exercising a bit of patience arid settling it in
practically record time by means of the dnitiative and referendum.
And the result is the dirtiest, nastiest political campaign the state
has ever seen. Families are divided, friends of a lifetime separated,
business stagnated and the families of good husbands and fathers
humiliated by the storm of abuse and villification hurled at them.
We, do not care a fig whether county option does or does not
prevail. If it does prevail, however, the liquor, interests of the
state will have no one to blame but themselves. Their utter disre
gard of law, of ordinary decency arid of civic rights has brought
upon their heads the present storm of protest. Had they even 'half
way obeyed the Slocumb high license law which they now hold up
as the best liquor law in the world, they would not now be pushed
to extremes to 'save themselves from utter annihilation. There is
only one good feature about the present situation, in our opinion.
If: county option prevails it will be giving the brewers and distillers
a punch that they have had coming for a long time. If it does
not prevail this time the mere fact that it was such a menace, and
a continuing menace, will "'have the effect of making the liquor men,
for a time at least, pay some 'heed to the Slocumb law and refrain
in a degree from flaunting and flouting public opinion. We'll get
some good out of . this dirty campaign anyhow. .
- But while excited somewhat over the county option question, and
milling around a bit over the personal records of Da'hlman and
Aldrich, and wondering what will happen next in the Bartley busi
ness, let us not forget that there are' several candidates for state
office who have not yet been attacked, and who are deserving, of
consideration. Does anybody know of any good reason why Silas
A. Barton should not be re-elected state auditor? And hasn't Grant
Martin demonstrated that ihe would be a mighty good iman to pro
mote to the attorney generalship of the state? Arid 'hasn't Prof.
J. W.-Craibtree time and again demonstrated that he is the best
possible man to put in charge of the state's public school system?
And could you find a more capable or more deserving man to elect
s, to the office of secretary of state than Charley Pool? Having seen
' political lines "shot all "to h 11," as our old friend Bud Lindsay
1 says, let's act sensibly this year, and throw aside all partisan baas
" and vote for the best men for the various offices, . ' ,