8
THE NEBRASKA nDEPENDENT.
the Utbraska Independent
Lincoln, Hebraska.
LIBERTY BUILDING.
J328 0 STREET.
Entered according to Act of Congress of March
3, 1879, at the Postoffice at Lincoln, Nebraska, as
second-class mail matter.
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY.
FOURTEENTH YEAR.
$1.00 PER YEAR
When tnafcingr remittances do not leave
money with neiri agencies, postmasters, etc.,
to be forwarded by them. They frequently
forget or remit a different amount than was
left with them, and the subscriber fails to get
proper credit
Address all communications, and make all
drafts, money orders, etc., payable to
tbe tlebraska Independent,
Lincoln, Neb.
Anonymous communications will not be
noticed. Rejected manuscripts will not be
returned.
The people got a lot of elementary
education during the anthracite coal
strike on the subject of political econ
omy. It was in the school where only
fools will learn, that of experience,
and it was costly.
Nebraska responded to Mark Han
na's cry to- "keep on letting well
enough alone." Which means that
Nebraskans are willing to pay half a
million dollars a year in taxes which
the railroads ought to pay.
Now that the contest is closed for
the present, perhaps some of the gov
ernment officials at Washington who
have spent the last three months on
the stump, will name one of those
"good trusts" that they were always
referring to in their speeches.
The republicans were victorious in
Porto Rico and carried the elections
there by exactly the same methods
that they carry them in the states. In
many of the towns the opposition par
ty were so intimidated that they did
not try to vote. Charges of fraud are
made everywhere.
Tnere were 1,500 thrashing crews at
worK in Nebraska on election day av
eraging ten voters to each crew and
nearly all of these men wanted the
railroads to lower freight rates and
pay their share of the taxes. How
many thousand more of the same kind
were husking corn nobody knows.
The chief article of export from the
island of Mindanao is rubber, but the
astute Chinamen have cornered the
crop and ship it to Hong Kong where
the British get it. But we keep an
army there and every week we are
told how some of our boys have laid
down their lives either in a hospital
or on the field fighting, and all for
the benefit of the Chinamen.
The present election demonstrated
the fact that the railroads own Ne
braska. Many have suspicioned this
for some time, but there is no doubt,
about it now. Perhaps the Omaha Bee
is right in prayerfully supplicating the
roads to "consent to a rational and
equitable basis for the taxation of
their properties." It is idle to boast
about compelling them to do anything.
They select the republican candidates
for office and what could you ex
pect? Rosewater is fearful that if the rail
roads of Nebraska do not grant his
prayer and consent to be taxed more
heavily, that the people of Nebraska
may "lay a rough hand on the rate
making power." Not the slightest
danger. Doesn't he know that J. H.
Ager will be circulating about the
state house lobby this winter among
those 110 republican members of the
house and senate? Doesn't he know
that Baldwin's "man Mickey" could
write a very pretty prohibition veto?
EFFECT OF TBtJTII TELLING
New Zealand continues to lead the
world. There is where the workers
had sense enough to all vote one ticket,
the result of which was that they
took charge of the government. Since
that time New Zealand has continued
to forge ahead in prosperity and the
leadership of the whole world In gov
ernment of the people, by the people
and for the people. The reason why
the men who produce the wealth in
New Zealand got together sooner than
in any other country in the world was
because they had in reality a free
prepp there. The capitalists were not
as shrewd as those in this country and
failed to buy up or subsidize all the
great dailies and the agricultural press
as they did in the United States. Pa
pers there did not universally refuse
to print articles on economic subjects
as they have done in this country and
in consequence those questions were
universally discussed. In this coun
try questions of that sort were put
upon the "index expugatorious" in
more than nine-tenths of the papers of
this country. When such articles were
offered here, even though written by
the very ablest men and scholars of
the very highest repute, they were
either refused publication altogether,
or, if printed at all, were cut up into
sentences in such a way as to destroy
all their force and then interspersed
with sarcasm and ridicule. The editor
has in mind two articles that were sent
from Lincoln one to the Boston Tran
script and one to the Brooklyn Eagle
that were treated in that way. Both
of them were able, well written ar
ticles by eminent men who had made
a special study of the subjects treated.
Today there is not a paper in general
circulation, especially in the eastern
states, that will print an article on
the trusts, on the financial condition
of the country, on the so-called favor
able balance of tfade, on the lending
of millions of money to the bankers
without interest, or any of the other
questions vitally affecting republican
policies that is not favorable to them.
The editor of The Independent knows
of more than a dozen of instances
where men of national reputation as
scholars, economists or sociologists,
have tried it and they have all been
treated in the same way. Their ar
ticles, though offered free, were re
fused. During the last campaign there have
been a few breaks in this line of pol
icy and the effect was tremendous. A
few days of truth telling in a great
daily was sufficient to overthrow large
plutocratic and corporation majorities.
The Omaha Bee refused to support the
corporation candidate for congress in
Omaha and the Chicago Record-Herald
refused to advocate the election of two
republican candidates in that city. At
this writing the Omaha man is badly
beaten and at least one of the Chicago
men and probably the other also. All
that these two papers did was simply
to "tell the truth" for a few days. It
was simply straight, forward, honest
journalism. No false charges were
made, no "roorbacks" printed the day
before the election when it was too
late to deny or disprove them, noth
ing of the sort was indulged in. The
power of truth telling proved to be
irresistible. Both in Chicago and
Omaha very great sums of money were
spent to elect those candidates. Great
corporations threw their whole force in
favor of the defeated candidates and
in Chicago several federal judges dis
graced the bench by appearing for the
disreputable candidates on the hust
ings. Notwithstanding all this, when
the people got hold of the facts, they
voted right
All this shows the great power of the
press and accounts for many things
that seemed unaccountable in the be
havior of the people toward trusts, the
concentration of wealth and all those
policies that have resulted from a gov
ernment by the corporations and mon
eyed syndicates. The people do not
know the facts. As soon as they know
the facts they vote right.
The voters must not only he in
formed of the facts, but the informa
tion must come in such a way that
they will believe the truth when they
read it or it is told to them. A demo
cratic paper sent to voters with ex
actly the same statements that were
contained in the Omaha Bee or Chica
go Record-Herald, would have had no
influence upon them. It is so very sel
dom that a republican paper can be in
duced to tell the truth in its editorial
columns or permit it to be told in com
municated articles, that to rely on
them would put the day of reform off
so far in the future that the present
generation would have no interest in
it The question therefore arises:
"How can the truth be got to the peo
ple in such a way that they will be
lieve it?"
Those who are tired of paying taxes
that the railroad corporations and the
rich ought to pay and weary of the ex
tortions of the trusts can find no bet
ter way to get the truth to the people
than by sending to them a paper like
the Nebraska Independent It is writ
ten in the common language of the
people and makes strenuous efforts in
the getting up of every issue to pre
sent those facts that will enable all
to see where the continuous rule of
plutocracy and imperialism will fiinal-
y land this republic. Now is the time
to get such literature in the hands of
the people much more so than in the
heat of a campaign when the ordinary
partisan will believe nothing but what
he finds in his own party paper. Some
thousands of the readers of The In
dependent have used their efforts in
years past in spreading its circulation.
Counties where a portion of the cam
paign funds have been spent in that
way have stood as solid as a rock
against all assaujts and misrepresenta
tions, and now that thousands of read
ers in other states are engaged in the
same methods of getting the truth to
the people, it may be predicted that in
the not distant future The Independent
will, in a great measure, do for reform
what the subsidized dailies and pluto
cratic weeklies have done for the
trusts, . corporations and national
banks, that is, put the government in
the hands of reformers, who will not
pay double interest to the banks and
then lend them millions for nothing, or
build a tariff wall behind which the
trusts can find shelter while they rob
the people by extortionate high prices.
TK QUAINT MAGAZINE
Ye Quaint Magazine is the very apt
title of a little bi-monthly publica
tion by Amos W. Rideout, 7 St. Paul
St., Boston, carrying this motto: "To
be different." Well, it is. It dabbles
a little in the occult. Has an astrology
column edited by Dr. Deroli. Has
good support from advertisers. Prints
a neat little dialect story, a column of
odd advertisements, brief book reviews,
etc.
Quainticus, who writes the brief
book reviews, says a good word for
The Independent, for which we feel
grateful. When Boston can see any
good coming out of Nazareth, it is a
good sign. The reviewer says:
"The Nebraska Independent
(Lincoln. Neb.). To any one in
terested in economic questions, es
pecially if they are of a radical
turn of mind, I recommend this
weekly publication. Its articles
are all exceedingly interesting,
very readable, nothing dry and
dusty in it. To my mind it is far
and away a better paper than Mr.
Bryan's Commoner. It is $1.00 per
year. I think you can have a sam
ple copy for the asking."
Correct, Mr. Quainticus, as to the
sample copies.
Editor Rosewater of the Omaha Bee
pleads with the "railroads of Nebras
ka" to be good and permit the repub
lican state board to raise their as
sessment next year. Knowing that
Baldwin and conferees selected Mickey
some days prior to the republican con
vention, and knowing how strenuous
ly Weston will fight any increase, Mr.
Rosewater sees the futility of appeal
ing directly to the republican officials
themselves, and goes direct to the
source of authority with his request
THB STATE COMMITTEES
Now that the campaign is ended The
Independent desires to call attention
to the excellent work done by the fu
sion committees. Although the result
is adverse, it is not due to any errors
of omission or commission on the part
of those in charge of the campaign.
Chairman Weber and Secretary Farris
of the populist state committee, and
Vice Chairman Scott of the democratic
committee, deserve great credit for the
work they performed.
It is idle to deny that this was a re
publican year all over. President
Roosevelt's interference in the coal
strike had great effect Bountiful
crops and good prices told heavily in
favor of the republicans, because so
many see only surface conditions.
Handicapped by lack of funds to ac
complish needed work of organization,
often without sufficient to pay postage
on a few thousand letters, these gen
tlemen accomplished a great work. It
is too often the case that those in
charge of the campaign are either
praised too much or blamed too much
for the result But the thoughtful, ob
servant man knows that the fusion
committees performed their duty well.
If the populists and democrats who
shucked corn on election day had done
their part, the result would have been
different.
WE WONT DENY IT
There is no use trying to deny it
This "is' an era of prosperity for the
national banks. The people thought
when Secretary Shaw announced that
the banks need no longer keep re
serves against deposits made by the
government that that was a pretty
good thing. Under the old system they
could get interest on their bonds and
then get all they paid for them back
again in national bank notes which
are largely a legal tender. When the
regular treasury statement came out
telling the . people that the national
banks had increased their circulation
all at once $13,482,736, inquiries began
to be made how all this came about.
Secretary Shaw made two new rulings
for the benefit of the banks and to in
crease their profits. The first was
that the banks need not keep reserves
for government deposits where the de
posits were secured by bonds." That
allowed the bankers to loan out about
$20,000,000 which the law required
them to hold as reserves. The other
ruling was that banks could get gov
ernment deposits, that is mon
ey belonging to all the people, without
interest, on colatteral such as munic
ipal and other bonds. By a little man
ipulation that allowed them to in
crease their circulation thirteen mil
lion and a half without any further
increase of capital. Yes, it is true, this
is a great era of prosperity for the
national banks. Don't you wish that
you had some of that prosperity that
the republican administration is hand
ing out to the banks? The bankers are
a highly privileged class who now have
something like $150,000,000 of the mon
ey taxed out of you and the rest of us
on which they pay no interest. Sup
pose you write down to Secretary Shaw
and tell him you would like to have a
few thousand dollars of government
money without interest and see what
he will say. If money is to be handed
out to one class of citizens without
interest, why should not all have a
share? A few years ago when some
farmers wanted the government to
loan them money on real estate secur
ity at a reasonable rate of interest,
every plutocratic paper in the land just
howled and raved, but they all think
it is all right to loan it to bankers
without any interest at all.
About 5,000 republicans who went
around declaring that they would nev
er vote for Mickey, when the test came
and the lash was applied, did vote for
MU.lrey. These creatures are no more
freemen than a black man on a south
ern cotton plantation before the war.
To control a man it is only necessary
to control his purse and in this age of
the world to control his power to bor
row amounts to the same thing.