8
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT
the Utbrasha Jndependen
Lincoln, tltbraska.
LIBERTY BUILDING.
1328 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 making remittances do not leave
money with news agencies, postmasters, etc.
to he forwarded fcy them. They frequently
forget or remit a different amount than was
left with them, and the subscriber fails to gel
prot e r credit.
Address all communications, and make all
drafts money orders, etc., payable to
the Utbraska Independent,
Lincoln, Neb.
Anonymous communications will not be
noticed. - Rejected manuscripts will not be
returned.
The leaders of the Rhode Island
democracy were all of the most radi
cal sort, worse; if such a thing could
be, than Bryan and Tom Johnson. And
they knocked out Aldrich and carried
the Etate!
Some of the mullet heads In Ne
braska actually believe that Mickey
will be governor after the 1st of Jan
uary. The poor creatures have never
heard of John N. Baldwin, the next
governor of Nebraska,
As Mr. De Hart points out, "fusion"
Is a term which must be defined with
reference to locality. In the Second
congressional district of Nebraska it
neans a union of the democratic and
ropulist forces. In the Tenth district
"of New Jersey it means a union of
Bryan democrats and republicans.
Secretary . Shaw has reversed his
ruling that banks could deposit with
the treasury state and city bonds as
collateral to secure government loans.
It is reported that Teddy sent for him
and plainly indicated that if that sort
of thing was not stopped he would
have to get a new secretary of the
treasury.
The amount of reforming that the
"friends of protection" will do to ex
tortionate tariff rates can be inferred
from the jubilation that was held at
the Massachusetts republican head
quarters the night after the election
over the defeat of Foss, who was a
republican that really wanted some
reforming done.
With a reduced majority in congress
the republican leaders are still claim
ing that the trusts can be more com
pletely overthrown by the party that
created them, and that the evils of
protection can be sooner abolished by
protectionists than by those who have
always opposed protection. Every
mullet head answers back: "Yep.
That's so."
The worst thing about trusts is not
their blood-sucking power. It is the
political . power which they wield. Out
in Colorado one of these trusts, em
ploying thousands of men, forced them
all to vote against an eight-hour law
in the mines and every other proposi
tion that was submitted to them which
was intended to benefit labor by con
stitutional amendment.
New York democracy, under the lea
dership of David B. Hill, has become
more "ring, streaked and slipped" than
Jacob's cattle. It went into socialism
and demanded the government own
ership of coal mines, and the attor
ney general, that they nominated was
elected by the prohibition vote. Pro
hibition and socialism is the outcome
of Hill's efforts to down Bryan and
beat the income tax.
IIAItltIS, IIKITFKLI), PATTERSON
The Independent remarked before
the election that it would have some
thing to say to Senators Harris, Heit
feld and Patterson after the votes were
counted, and it now proceeds to say
it.
No organization was ever so betrayed
by its leaders as the people's party has
been, and only the undying love of
liberty and devotion to principle of
the rank and file has preserved it
from disintegration. Loucks, the
chairman of the Omaha convention,
who was the loudest of all in his de
nunciation of republican policies,
turned traitor and went back to the
republican party. Senator Peffer, who
was chosen senator from -Kansas be
cause he had established one of the
first populist newspapers and fought
the corruption of the old parties in
Kansas, deserted and joined the ranks
of the men whom he had declared
were simply the minions of plutocracy
and greed. Senator Kyle from South
Dakota did likewise. Senator Allen
was defeated, but remains a populist.
That left the populist party with three
United States senators, Harris of Kan
sas, Heitfeld of Idaho and Patterson
of Colorado. These three did not de
sert their principles as had the oth
ers, but did what Avas almost as bad
they forsook their party and asked ad
mission to the democratic caucus of
the senate. The Independent does not
attack their motives. They, without
doubt, believed that that was the wis
est course in the interests of thei
constituents and for the furtherance ot
the principles which they were elected
to advocate. The Independent believes
that the action thus taken by them was
exceedingly unwise and foreboded
nothing but defeat. When the three
or four populist senators were accus
tomed to hold their party caucus in the
elevator, as the reporters were in the
habit of saying, they were an influ
ence that had to be reckoned with in
the senate. When they went over,
bag and baggage, into the democratic
party, instead of having more influ
ence on legislation, they had less. Then
the act took the enthusiasm out of
the populists in their states- and has
resulted, just as Tne Independent has
always held that it would each of
the states represented by these gen
tlemen has been captured by the republicans.
There was no necessity for this act.
The populist party was supporting
Bryan and the Kansas City platform
with enthusiasm. They advocated ev
erything that was in that platform
without mental reservation or evasion.
They believed that they had led the
democratic party up to it and were
confident that they could lead it on
until in the democratic platform, as
in the populist platform, would be
found a demand for the government
ownership of railroads, telegraphs and
municipal utilities. But the populists
were determined to hold their organi
zation until that time came. They felt
that if they abandoned their organiza
tion, the democratic party would make
no more advances. They feared that
the tendencies to reaction, backed as
they were by millions of dollars,
might in the end prevail, and men just
as plutocratic as those in control of
the republican party get control of
the democratic party and in that case
they did not wish to be left without
an organization. They knew how
much of time, money and toil it had
cost to get an organization that could
be relied upon to light trusts, banks of
issue and railroad domination of state
egislatures and congress.
That the going over into the demo
cratic party of the three populist sen
ators caused thousands of populists
to lose all courage and enthusiasm
and reduce the populist vote cannot
be doubted. The long lists of "stay-at-homes"
on election day shows that.
f populists elect any more United
States senators they will want to be
assured that they will not only not
7
break away,
hitching.
but will stand without
IIOWL FOR "MOKE MONET"
For two or three years The Inde
pendent has been calling the attention
of its readers to the inflation of credit
and the dangers involved in it for all
the people. Many bankers in the west
have taken the advice of this paper
and have kept their reserves as far as
pqssible out of Wall street. One
j banker who saw a part of a financial
article quoted in another paper sent
to the editor of The Independent for
a copy of that edition, and when he
was informed that there was not one
left, sent $2 to pay a typewriter for
copying it in full. After receiving it
he wrote to the editor saying if he
had had that article in .1893 he would
now be better otf by at least $50,000.
When the republican press, great daily
and little weekly, have been adver
tising the fact of the great increase in
deposits, claiming that the people had
$4,000,000,000 of money in the banks
Lecause deposits amounted to that
much, The Independent continued to
tell the truth about the matter so its
readers have safeguarded against this
enormous inflation. Very few pop
ulists in Nebraska who are readers of
The Independent are now in debt and
many of them have mortgages on the
property of the mullet heads, which
they will proceed to foreclose when
the panic comes just to give them a
needful lesson.
At last the bankers themselves are
beginning to repeat what The Inde
pendent has been saying for the last
three years. President Herrick of the
American Bankers' association, in his
speech last week at New Orleans,
very tersely stated the situation, using
almost the exact words of The Inde
pendent. He said:
"While we boast of an increase
of $4,000,000,000 in bank deposits
throughout the country in the
four years last past, we are not
unmindful of the fact that during
that period the banks have shown
no increase in the amount of real,
tangible money, such as gold, sil
ver and legal tender. The loans
have kept pace with this abnormal
growth in deposits. During this'
period also we have .become in
debted in the-way of temporary
loans abroad amounting, probably,
to $200,000,000. Does this not show
an undue expansion of bank cred
its and an overloading of the
money market with debt?"
It is now evident that all the ener
gies of the trust and Wall street bank
ing interests will be brought to bear
upon congress the coming winter to
further increase the currency. As all
the gold and silver mined is now
coined, no increase can be had there
and it must come in some form of pa
per money. Notes issued against as
sets will probably be the form adopted.
Then when the crash comes, deposi
tors will have nothing. Morgan, Gates
and the whole trust push will be down
at Washington this winter demanding
"more money."
There Is a hydraulic engineer out in
Colorado who should be granted the
grand prix for originality. Instead of
buildlrg reservoirs, he proposes to
manufacture glaciers. He says that by
tloodirg the canons in the mountains
one or two feet at a time and letting it
freeze, that very slight and inexpen
sive works will hold it and thus a
glacier can be built up many feet in
thickness which, when the hot weather
comes, will melt by slow degrees and
furnish water for irrigation and placer
mining.
In no other country on earth could
such a series of trials lasting four
years, as in tne case or itoiana a.
Molineux, charged with murder, have
occurred. The criminal law in this
country is a disgrace to civilization.
Molineux, after being once sentenced
to death, and held in prison for four
years, was acquitted by the jury after
deliberating thirteen minutes.
THE SCHOOL FUND
Heretofore The Independent has re
ferred to him a3 F. "Necessity" Prout,
because, as Senator Allen so kindly
showed in the Madison Mail, "Neces
sity knows no law." But there is an
other adage which declares that "Nec-
c sity is the mother of invention,
and it is from this standpoint that we
shall use the term this time always,
however, reserving the right to in
tend the other meaning when the at
torney general acts as he did in the
Standard Oil case, the starch case, and
others similar. Besides, we have a
notion that Norris Brown or W. L.
Rose really studied out the ingenious
argument we are about to mention.
As is well known to those who real
ly keep in touch with state business,
the greatest problem in Nebraska gov
ernment today, not excepting the tax
problem, is how to keep the educa
tional trust funds invested. Under
fusion administration a permanent
practice was made of buying general
fund state warrants as an investment,
and this gave temporary relief. But
it ought not to become a fixture in
Nebraska finance, because it means a
permanent floating debt paradoxical
as that may sound and good finance
requires that the state do business on
a cash basis, which would wipe out
warrants as a possibility for investment.
Section 9 of the constitution of Ne
braska, after reciting that these funds
shall "remain forever inviolate and
undiminished," goes on to say that
tney "shall not be invested or loanel
except on United States' or state se
curities, or registered county bonds of
this state." The supreme court has
held that a state warrant, issued
against a tax levy duly made, is a
"state security" within the meaning
of this constitutional provision. ,But
the question has never been raised un
til now just what might be included
in the term "state securities." It has
usually been the opinion of those who
had charge of making these invest
ments that "Nebraska state securi
ties" were the only ones constitution
ally available. ,
After some dickering with a firm
dealing in state bonds, the present
board decidad to buy $300,000 of Masr
sachusetts state bonds at a fisrure
which will net the school fund 3 per
cent The legality of this .course was
presented to the attorney general and
he advised the board that the term
"state securities" includes the bonds
of any state in the union, arguing that
the words "of this state" applied to
county bonds were added intentionally
in order to prohibit the purchase of
bonds issued by counties in other
states. The punctuation and language
seem to bear out the attorney gen
eral's contention. Although the deal
has been arranged, yet in order to be
sure about the matter, Treasurer Stue
fer will refuse to pay for the bonds and
a writ of mandamus will be asked fcr
of the cupreme court to compel him
to do so, and thus the whole question
can be judicially determined. The In
dependent compliments these gentle
men for adopting this course, which
is in shaip contrast to their acts in
the matter of converting a school land
lease into a sale contract.
What the court will do is, of course,
a matter or speculation. There 13
little doubt that the constitution would
not be violated by the purchase of
Massachusetts state bonds ,if the ques
tion hinges solely upon a construction
of the English used in the quoted sen
tence. And even viewed from the
standpoint of necessity, which is a
higher law than any mere arrange
ment of ink and white paper, there is
good reason why the court should not
be too narrow in its construction.
Naturally this will not release the
board from its duty to exercise sound
discretion in the purchase of invest
ments. If bonds of other states may
legally b? purchased, it doe? not fol
low that the bonds of ANY state woul3
