I
THE WAGEWORKER
Published every Friday by The Wageworker Publishing
Company, 1705 O Street, Lincoln, Nebraska
WILL M. MAUP1N, Editor
E. L. GRUBB, Manager
TBTTSTPHIKXH -.UMfrt.-' JIM TOHiaBg3B3gaKBSn
IE22ES3
I CURT CURRENT COMMENT I
Governor-elect Aldrich has begun shaking the "plum tree," and
as a result a large number of aspiring patriots are cock-sure the
government is going to the deminition bow-wows, while a compara
tive few are prepared to avow and aver that there never was such
a wise govemor-elct as the gentleman from David City. It all de
pends upon the point of view. There is but one viewpoint, however,
for the man whose interest in the upbuiling of Nebraska is greater
than his interest in the success of narrow partisan ideas, and that is
that the spoils system is a relic of the dark ages. As long as it exists,
however, it is only fair and right that an official should proceed
upon the theory that onlym en of his own party affiliation should
be in office.
Under the present system men are appointed because' of their
ability to "play politics" and not because, of their ability to dis
charge the duties of the various offices to the best advantage of all
the state. For this reason the state seldom gets the services of
the best men in appointive office and only now and then the ser
vices of really capable men in the elective offices. In the latter
case, however, Nebraska has been unusually fortunate" during the
last decade. This is due to the glorious fact that the independent
voter is becoming more numerous and may his tribe rapidly increase.
The spoils system is responsible for the displacement of "Warden
Tom Smith, whose services have been remarkably efficient. It puts
the Institute for the Feeble Minded at Beatrice in the hands of a
country doctor instead of leaving it in the hands of an experienced
and successful superintendent. The same game of politics leaves
the Kearney Institute in the hands of a man who has shown no parti
cular fitness for the position, either as an educator or as a disciplin
arian. Every two years for the past decade changing administra
tions have kept the state institutions and the several deportments in
a chaotic condition, and as a result the taxpayers suffer, the wards
the state suffer and only politicians profit. All talk about econ
omy in the adminstration of state affairs will be worse than idiotic
until the spoils system is relegated to the rear.
Adjutant General Ilartigan steps down and out the first of the
year, after making a record of which he and the state may well be'
proud. The only pleasant thing about General Ilartigan 's retire
ment is the fact that so good a man as Major Phelps is appointed
to succeed him. General Ilartigan has whipped the Nebraska Na
tional Guard into some semblance of a military organization in
stead of a heterogenous mass of incompetents. He should have been
left in to complete the work so well begun. But a better successor
than Major Phelps coiild not have been selected, and Governor
Aldrich may count himself fortunate in having a Phelps at hand.
Of course the incoming democratic legislature will do just as all
former legislatures have done load down the pay roll with a lot
of useless appointees, and thus make the state at large pay a lot
of political debts. There will be first lord of the cuspidors, a couple
of first assistant lords of the cuspidores, and three or four second
assistant lords of the cuspidors to"" do the work. There will be
useless doorkeepers, and gate keepers and superintendents of
cloakrooms, and superintendents of closets, and doorkeepers for the
galleries, and assistants for all of them. There will be 133 legis
lators, and twice that many appointees, all on a healthy per diem,
with lots of idle time. Any business firm that would load itself
up Avith so many idle and useless clerks and assistants would go into
bankruptcy in mighty short order. Yet the state will keep up that
sort of foolishness until the end of time.
For instance, 'there are the enrolling and engrossing committees
of house and senate. The law insists that all bills shall be engrossed
in pen and ink, and as a result these two committees will eat up
about $100 a day. Two expert typewriters in each committee could
do the work a whole lot better and with vastly greater promptness.
But that would make it impossible for, a lot of 2x4 legislators to pay
political debts at the expense of the taxpayers. A session of the
Nebraska legislature costs the state just twice as much as it should,
and the results are less than half what they should be if business
were conducted on a business basis.
Everybody around the state house will rejoice that Mr. Husted,
executive clerk in the governor's office, has been retained by Governor-elect
Aldrich. Mr. Husted has been in that position for ten
years, under three or four adminstrations. It is to be hoped that he
will be a fixture therein for many years to come, unless something
better shows up for him. There isn't a man around the state house
who is more popular, and it is because lie is always ready to ac
commodate, always on duty,-and always willing to render a service.
Louis V. Guye, who succeeds the writer as deputy labor commis
eioner, is a union man of Omaha, and has been identified with the
labor movement for years. If the incoming legislature provides as
it should for the Bureau of Labor Census and Industrial Statistics,
then the writer will congratulate Mr. Guye ; if it does not, then Mr.
Guye will have the writer's heartfelt sympathy.
Governor Shallenberger puts his finger on the real meaning of
the insurgent movement when he says that it is vastly more than the
mere reformation of the house rules. In doing this Governor Shal
lenberger took a rap at Congressman Norris, whose address at the
recent teachers' banquet would naturally lead the public to be
lieve that he took insurgency's whole aim to be merely the refor
mation of the aforesaid house rules. The voters of the country did
-not revolt against the house rules. Their revolt was against the '
absolute betrayal of their confidence by the requblican party;
against the whole rotten system of taxing the public at large to
enrich a few manufacturers combined into rapacious trusts ; against
an autocracy that has made a farce of our boasted democracy. A
mere change in the house rules would amount to nothing if "in
surgency" stopped there.
The American Economist, a high protective tariff organ maintain
ed by the beneficiaries of the protective tariff, remarks that when
Abraham Lincoln was asked his vieAvs regarding the policy of pro
tection, he replied:
"I do not knoAV much about the Tariff, but I knoAV this much;
when Ave buy manufactured goods abroad Ave get the goods and the
foreigner gets the money. When Ave buy manufactured goods at
home we get both the goods and the money."
We defy the American Economist to prove that Abraham Lin
coln ever said it. That quotation is not to be found in any of Lin
coln 's printed speeches or public documents. We do not believe he'
ever said it, for the reason that it is not a true statement. It is a
false assumption, so Jong reiterated that many people believe it,
and AA'hich has cost them untold millions in tribute to the eminent
and Avise gentlemen who maintain the American Economist as
a medium for the dissemination of their falsehoods.
Mrs. Mary Balder G. Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, has
been called hence. Much has been Avritten of this woman in recent
years, a great deal of it unkind, more of it unchristian and mighty
little of it scientific. The Avriter is not a Christian Scientist, be
lieveing that what Mrs. Eddy Avas pleased to call by that name is
purely natural, and capable of demonstration by any one regard
less of their beliefs in this or that system or religion. But this the
Avriter does knoAV : Christian science as practiced by the followers
of Mrs. Eddy has cured the hopelessly sick, it has made good men of
confirmed drunkards, it has made happy thousands of homes that
Avere little hells on earth, it has carried joy and happiness into
places that kneAV them not, and it has helped thousands to the road
to right living and clean thinking. Whether it is "christian" or
"sciontific," or neither, Ave care not. We are of those who measure
things by xtheir results and Christian Science has shown results.
What care we AAThat the name may be?
The census reveals that while Nebraska was gaining 125,914 in
population during the last decade, IoAra Avas losing about 11,000.
The very reason's that caused Iowa to lose in population should have
caused Nebraska to gain more than it did. People left Iowa by
the thousands on account of the high prices of farm land, the crowd
ed condition of the farms and the lack of opportunities for new
beginners in agricultural pursuits. If Nebraska had acted wisely
she could have caught many of those enterprising and migratory
Iowans on the fly. As it Avas the IoAvans passed through the state