CURT COMMENT ON TOPICS OF INTEREST
Ever hear the story of the monkey and the jar of chestnuts? You galley west. When the braggart arose and wiped the dirt from his
remember that the monkey inserted its paw into the jar, grasped a clothes and the blood from his nose he quietly remarked : "The
handful of the nuts, and was unable to withdraw the paw without un- trouble with me was that I took in too much territory the last time."
loosening the nuts. Being too greedy for that it held on until the Among others we are wishing that some of our big political leaders
master came along and punished the thieving monkey. would take in a little less territory.
The "Douglas Combine" reached its paw into the chestnut jar, It took thirty years of agitation and education to bring people to
grabbed a handful, and was too greedy to let go and thus get its a demand for the initiative and referendum. Will it take them that
hand out. Along come a few who had revolted, and before the com- jong to reaKze that even the initiative and referendum is not so great
bine could get loose it had received a terrific spanking as terrific as a reform as the land value tax? Of all men the farmer should be the
it was deserved. " most ardent single taxer, yet the average farmer will froth at the
mouth at the mere suggestion. And why is it that the "intelligent
As Admiral Schley said, "there is glory enough to go round," but farmer" can not understand that while the farm lands of the United
smong those w ho deserve especial credit for administering condign states represent less than 18 per cent of the total land value, the farm
punishment to the "Douglas Combine" is Katouc of Richardson. Al- jan(js pay 58 per cent Gf the total tax raised upon land. A tax on real
though numbered among the "wets" he is not one who is willing to cstate improvements is a tax on thrift and enterprise. The man who
sacrifice everything for the "wet" cause, nor would he stand for the Luys a ,ot and buUds Js fined for his enterprise. the man who buys a
decidedly corporation frame-up that the "combine" presented. All vacant lot and lets it He idIe is rewarded for his lack 6f public spirit,
the opposition needed was a rallying point, and Katouc provided the The farmer who improves his quarter section is fined for doing it;
point. The rest came so easy that the "combine" is hardly yet aware lhe man who Qwns the untilIed quarter section next to it is reaping
of what hit it. It merely knows that it was hit. where he has not sown and the enterprising farmer is furnishing the
seed and bringing the crop to the harvesting point for the other fel-
As a result of the whole thing the legislature is splendidly organ- ,ow Qur revenue laws are sniyindeed they would be ridiculous
ized and can now get right down to business. The senatorial fight were they not to men Qf enterprise and industry.
will be nil. Twenty years ago or even ten years ago a senatorial
scramble meant thirty or forty wasted days. This time there was no
excitement, no log-rolling, no oil room, no lobbying. Gilbert M. Perhaps some reader of this department owns a house and lot
Hitchcock was elected under the new dispensation without a ripple within eight or ten blocks of Thirteenth and O. If so, compare your
appearing on the surface. taxes with those of the Rogers tract lying on the south side of O and
t east of Thirty-third street. What made the Rogers tract so valuable?
Now let the legislature rush the direct legislation bill through Certainly nothing that the owner thereof has done to it. Twenty
without amendment or change. Then let it take up the county option years ago that tract was not worth $150 an acre. Today you could
question and settle it as far as it is possible for this legislature to set- nt buy it for $150 a front foot. Every dollar of that value was put
tie it. Then, after taking care of the different institutions and de- on by the men and women who have made Lincoln, not a dollar by
partments of the state, let the legislature handsomely equip a bureau the owner. The people who make the values should have some share
of publicity and immigration, and then adjourn and go home. therein. Think it over !
Just how the news columns of the daily papers are controlled by The street cars of Omaha are built for the "pay as you enter sys
the business office is evidenced by the flaring advertisements that C. tem" and the conductors stand outside. The street cars of Lincoln
Y. Post is printing in an effort to offset the disclosures of fakery are not built for that system, and the conductors stand outside, usu
made by Collier's. The daily newspapers have made no mention of ally in the way of passengers. The narrow platforms, the lack of
the fact that Collier's secured a verdict of $50,000 for libel against provisions for egress, and the generally dilapidated condition of the
Post. Post charged that the Collier's attacked his products because cars all go to make the "pay as you enter" system in Lincoln some
he would not advertise in that magazine. The jury rendered a verdict tiling more than an annoyance. . -
inside of two hours the largest amount of damage ever awarded in '
a libel suit. The trial disclosed that Post faked his "testimonials," Despite the nature of his crime and the short sentence therefor,
that he made absurd claims of medicinal virtues for his products, and one can not help having a bit of sympathy for Dr. Johnson because
that he got his start practicing mental healing. The trial further dis- of his age. Even the short sentence of two years probably means his
closed that Post's products are largely bran and molasses, and that ending his days behind the stone walls. But even though feeling
his advertising made claims for it not allowed by the government to something of sympathy for him, who will say that his punishment is
longer appear on the packages. Collier's verdict against the faker of not richly deserved? By its verdict the jury convicted him of sacri
"Wellville" was one of the biggest news stories of the year, but the ficing two lives that of a girlled to her ruin by a lecherous youth,
Associated Press and the United Press did not feature it. Neither did and that of a babe unborn. The calendar of crime may contain worse
any of the big daily newspapers that think more of Post's tainted dol- ones, but if so we have not heard of them. Newspapers and indi
lers than they do of giving their readers the facts and the news. vlduals are estopped from commenting on the'young man who led the
victim of Johnson's criminal practice to her downfall. If Amanda
U'Ren accent on the last syllable, please; of Oregon is the man Mueller's death serves to teach a lesson to other young girls she will
who is responsible for all the advanced legislation of that progressive not nave died in vain- But it: will not. There are scores of young
state. He has been agitating for a quarter of a century. Today he girls in Lincoln headed downward, not because they are inherently
sees success. Oregon, with the possible exception of Oklahoma, has bad, but because criminally foolish fathers and mothers are failing to
lhe best laws of any state in the union. Nebraska boasts of being the take the aforesaid girls in hand and keep them off the streets,
btst educated state in the union, but to date it hasn't developed any ,
LaFollette's, LT'Rens, Beveridges or Bristows. We've had men who Congressman Tawney is a bit late with his economy program,
have cut big figure in national politics and policies, but where, please, but just the same his remarks thereon are mighty pertinent at this
is the Nebraska man who has started in at home to reform things and time. The regret is that Mr. Tawney did not begin with it sooner,
g?ve the people long delayed justice? In this connection we are re- not waitingnntil his progressive constituents pried him loose from his
minded of the drunken man who threw his hat into the street and de- standpat job. His figures, however, serve to show up the Strenuous
dared he could whip any man in town. He got no response, where- One as a man who thought war, dreamed war, hoped for war and was
upon he jumped up, cracked his heels together and declared he could even daffy on the military program business. The eight years prior
lick any man in the county. Still no response. Then he declared, to Roosevelt's bloviating administrations the war department cost an
with emphatic adjectives, that he could lick any man in the United average of $24,000,000 a year, and the navy department $27,000,000 a
States. Biff! and a man smote him on the chin and knocked him year. Diiring the seven years of the Strenuous One's administration
