8
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT
JANUARY 8, 1903.
Zbe Htbraska Independent
Lincoln, Utbraska.
UBERTY BUILDING. 1328 0 STREET.
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Address all communications, and make all
drafts, money orders, etc., payable to
tbf Utbraska litdtpwdtnt,
t . Lincoln, Neb.
Anonymous communications will not be
noticed. Rejected manuscripts will not be
returned.
Roosevelt is proving to be a mor?
prolific talker than Bryan, but the
dailies have no remarks to make con
cerning his "jaw" or the amount of
wind he uses.
This is an era of prosperity, never
theless there are more people in these
United States suffering from cold and
want of fuel than there were In the
days of "the Cleveland soup houses."
: The plutocratic preachers of Chica
go are rouring out the vials of their
wrath upon the head of Dr. Bascora
for hi3 opinions concerning universi
ties accepting part of Rockefeller's
loot.
. One of the causes of the shortage of
coal in Chicago and other citie3 of
that state is the Illinois law allowing
mal mines. That
was a direct way of building up an
invincible monopoly. - , .
Governor Cummins and his "Iowa
Idea" has been sat down upon pretty
' hard at Washington. The tariff is to
' continue as a shelter for the trusts as
long as the, republican party is in
power. What will poor Cummins do
now?
General Schalkburger, for some time
acting president of the Orange Free
State, says that "the power of rule
lies in the Afrikander who will re
main loyal to the British crown while
righteousness reigns and his rightful
portion is allotted him."
Did you ever reflect upon the far-
' reaching effect those injunctions had
that Teddy got issued against the
meat trust and the railroads? The
meat trust kept on raising the price of
meat and the railroads continued to
increase the freight and passenger
rates.
The Manila American wonders
"why, in view of the fact that the na
tives of these islands have been Chris
tians for over 300 years, that so much
hue and cry is being raised among
the various missionary societies as to
the best method of 'Christianizing' the
Filipinos."
Rockefeller got angry at a little
town in Illinois because the city coun
. oil ordered his trust to move its plant
on account of the danger of fire. Now
the people of that town have to go si?,
miles to the next town to get oil. h,
the Standard Oil trust a good trust or
a bad trust? Teddy won't answer.
The doctors have given the culture
of lemons a tremendous boost. Those
in charge of bacteriological labratcries
all over the country are unanimous in
their declaration that lemon juice will
Instantly kill typhoid germs in water.
Two or three drops In a glass of water
makes an end of the germs and it can
be drunk with perfect safety.
PROTISIOR JENKS
When one looks back to the fierce
contest waged over the money ques
tion in 1896 and 1900 and remembers
the part taken therein by professors
of political economy who abandoned
the teachings of all the authoi Lies on
that subject at the command of 1 po
litical party, stultified themselves and
disgraced the profession to which they
belonged, he can only comfort himself
by reflecting that human nature is
weak. Among this class of professors
was Jeremiah W. Jenks, who held a
chair in Cornell university. The re
striction of the coinage of silver in
India was fully discussed. It was
nointed out time and again that that
restriction was in the interest of the
British officeholders in that country
and would work untold hardships upon
the native population, perhaps pro
ducing widespread famine, a result
that did follow. It was shown that
the industries of India were taking on
new life and were exceedingly prcs
norous and that the increased pur
chasing power of the rupee effected by
an arbitrary order in council at Lon
don, would ruin thousands. Ah that
and more, too, was proclaimed by the
honest economists of Both England
and the United States. At that time
Professor Jenks was in the ranks of
the gold standard advocates. The
other day at the meeting of the na
tional society of economists he spoke
as follows:
"The stoppage of the free coinage
of silver in India in 1893 was the re
sult, not so much of a general busi
ness depression coming from the de
preciation in the value of silver as
compared with gold, a3 of injury to
the government in distinction from the
people and to certain classes in thf
community. Together with this injury
to some classes went, doi btless, ben
efit to others. The total benefit or in
jury to a country from a change in
its currency system must be found by
noting its effect upon the different
classes and by estimating the relative
importance of these different classes
in the community. In India, for ex
ample, during the' period of the fall
of silver, the classes who were pro
ducing goods for export, speaking gen
erally, felt a stimulus in their indus
try, and made uncommonly large
profits. In certain cases, doubtless,
this increase in profit led to increased
investments of capital brought over
from Europe. This increase in profits,
however, was at the expense, to a con
siderable extent, of other classes in the
community. While producers for ex
port gained the consumers of imported
goods lost.
"Wage-earners received their pay
in the depreciated currency, but in
many cases, owing to the fact that
their purchases were mainly of goods
which were valued onthe silver stand
ard, they often did not feel any loss.
The loss was really felt when the sil
ver rupees passed on from hand to
hand, finally coming into the posses
sion of those who needed to buy goods
valued on the gold standard. As a
matter of fact, in India the government
officials were in all probability the
chief sufferers. The nttive peoples,
in many cases, did not suffer appre
ciably." Professor Jenks understood these
Uings just as well in 1896 and 1900 as
he does now. His position then and
now shows the effect that money has
in closing the mouths of some mtn
who pose as teachers of science or in
opening them when their masters so
order. Just now those masters are
making an attempt to do in the Phil
ippines just what the British did in
India and Professor Jenks comes
bravely to their aid. After a few re
marks that do not bear upon the real
question at all, he concludes as fol
lows: "Inasmuch, therefore, as our gov
ernment has the duty and has ex
pressed the intention of administering
the Philippines for the benefit of the
Filipino, it seems essential both for
their Fake and for the sake of the gov
ernment 'tself that the gold standard
be established and maintained."
If there was ever a non sequiter
that equalled that since man made
his first attempt to reason, The Inde
pendent will give a five dollar bill to.
the one who discovers it.
REPUBLICAN ANARCIIY
It has been twelve years since the
republican party under the leadership
of Blaine, formally announced reci
procity as one of its policies. During
that twelve years not a reciprocity
treaty has been ratified. It has been
used all that time as a fraudulent cam
paign cry. The republican platform
of 1896 had these words:
"We believe the repeal of the
reciprocity arrangements nego
tiated by the last republican ad
ministration was a national calam
ity, and we demand their renewal
and extension on such terms a3
will equalize our trade with other
nations, remove the restrictions
which now obstruct the sale of
American products in the ports of
other countries, and secure en
larged markets for the products of
our farms, forests and factories."
This is the first time in the history
of parliamentary government that any
party became so degraded as to open
ly repudiate its platform. They have
sometimes done it by indirection, but
never in the brazen way that the re
publican party has. It is a long step
toward anarchy. When the people
become convinced that they can place
no reliance in party plal forms, there
will be no usa of voting. It under
mines the very foundations of free
government.
THE DECLINE OF ORATORY
It is related that the erstwhile John
Mellen Thurston of Nebraska and Col
Henri Watterson of the Louisville
Courier-Journal once upon a time met
somewhere and (probably over a hot
bottle and a cold bird, or vice versa)
discussed the decline of "oratory.
"Why," said Thurston or Watter&on
it matters not which "there are only
three orators in all America me, and
you, and Chauncey Depew." "I can't
see the use of dragging Depew into
this," drily retorted Watterson or
Thurston "he's not present."
Doubtless man is evolving from a
state of ear-mindedness to one of eye
mindedness. He learn3 by sight what
he formerly learned by ear. Spoken
language preceded written language,
and very naturally the human mind
received impressions more readily at
first by listening than by seeing at
least so far as concerns the thoughts
received through the medium of
language. Naturally for a long time
te orator was supreme. He alone
could reach and sway the ear-minded
multitude. And, although in a way,
he is still popular, yet with ail his
powers of persuasion he cannot com
pete with the stammering, halt-of-speech
individual who sits in an ob
scure back room and writes out his
thoughts. Just as in the art of wa
the finest specimen of physical man
hood is, in the shedding of human
blood, no match for the hollow-chcSted
German professor who compounds
some hellish explosive; so in his pow
er for weal or woe the man wit 11 the
silver tongue is'no match for him
with the brass pen.
The American people still love to
listen to oratory but not as pupils.
They want entertainment, and not in
struction, by word of mouth. When
they want to learn they read. Even
for their entertainment they are not
dependent upon their sense of hearing
The Macmillan company report -that
over a million topics have been sold
of six novels alone in a very short
space of time. These are:
Mr. Crawford's new novel
Cecilia. (Just published)... '03,000
Mr. Wister's The Virginian. .175,000
Mrs. Athertoh's The Conqueror 70,000
Mr. Major's Dorothy Vernon
of Haddon Hall 120,000
Mr. Allen's The Choir Invisi
ble
JuO.000
(Mr. Churchill's The Crisis 400,000
THE COURTS
No man can fail to see, if he gives
a little attention to. the subject, that
the foundation of the robbery and ex
tortion practiced by the trusts and
railroad corporations is -in the courts.
Another thing he will also discover, if
he investigates a 'little further, and
that is that just as the couHs get away,
from responsibility to the people, ic
that measure do their decisions tend
to uphold tru&ts and combinations.
First he will find that judges who are
elected by the people for short lerms
are those whose decisions have been
against aggression. Tin longer the
term, the less is this the case. Judges
selected by an appointing power, espe
cially if their terms are for life, lean
more and more to the side cf plutoc
racy. The decision of the supreme court
of the United States, and that alone,
has enthroned the railroads and given
them a power to discriminate and ex
tort unreasonable rates ftom the peo
ple. It declares that to give the in
terstate commerce commission th9
power to reduce rates is a delegation
of the power to legislate. When the
states pass maximum rate bills re
duce rates by legislation then it says
that is confiscation, taking private
property without compensation foi the
benefit of the public, so that is also
unconstitutional. It, however, em
powers congress to delegate the au
thority to govern 10,000,000 people to
a commission and declares that that
delegation of power to legislate is
constitutional. This twisting and
turning, wriggling in and wriggling
out is all in the interest ,of plutoc
racy. , "
Government by injunction, adopted
by the courts in the last few years,
has all been in the interest of com
binations of wealth. It cannot be
successfully denied that the courts of
this country are "the bulwark behind
which trusts and all aggregations of
capital engaged in exploiting, labor
find safe refuge and from which they
sally forth in their raids on mankind.
This is not to deny that there are jusc
judges and that there is a miajrity
of such on the supreme bench of the
United States. How larg that minor
ity would be if their votes were need
ed by plutocracy at any time, no man
can tell.
These judges grow more autocratic
every year. Not long sin :e several cf
the highest in the land in public in
terviews declared that the decisions of
the courts should not be allowed to be
criticised. They would establish the
law of lese majesty in this country anct
enforce it in regard to the decision of
the judges. That is nothing less than
the re-establishment of the old doc
trine, "the king can do no wrong,"
and applying it to the courts.
While these facts stare every man
in the face, the doctrine is most se
dulously preached by the daily press
and plutocratic magazines that the
courts are a sort of divinely appointed
and inspired Institution and that any
man who criticises them is at heart
an anirchist. They have created a sort
of psychological influence pervad'ng
all society which in the words ol an
other has brought to the defense of
the sanctity of the courts "landlords,,
and capitalists, stock exchange wolves
and shop keepers, protectionists and
free traders, young street walkers and
old nuns undei the common cry for
the salvation of property, religion, the
family and society," and that even
words containing an inference that the
courts might be biased must be stud
iously avoided. As far as The Inde
pendent is concerned, it will speak
its opinions about the courts as freely
as about anything else, and it be
lieves with some of thj founders of
this government that a l'fe-appoinied
judiciary contains the tceds of the
greatest danger that this republic will
ever have to meet
Hon. Soren M. Fries, representative'
from the 48th district (Howard coun
ty), wa3 a caller at Liberty Building
Tuesday.
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