8
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT
JANUARY 22, 1903.
the tlebraska Independent
Lincoln, Hebraska.
LIBERTY BUILDING. 1328 0 STREET
!
Entered according lo Act of Congress of March
?, i79, at the rostoffxe at Lincoln, Nebraska, as
tecoud-clafs mail matter ... .
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY.
fourteenth year.
$1.00 PER YEAR
When ,. making ltmiltances do not leave
' money with news agencies, postmasters, etc.
to te forwarded 1y the in. Tbey frequently
Icrget or remit a different rn-.cunt Hum-was
Jeft with them, cud the tubscriler fails to gel
propercredit.
Addiess all communications, and make all
draftf, money orders, etc., payable to
the Kebraska Independent,
Lincoln, Neb.
Anonymous communications will not be
tcticcd. Rejected manuscripts Mill not be
returned.
The republican big medicine bag is.
still safe and remains in the family
of Aldrich.
The Independent's circulation i3 in
creasing in the larger educational in
stitutions of the country.
The Indiana legislature has passed
a bill prohibiting child insurance and
providing a penalty of $1,000 for issu
ing such a policy. Some of the vile
eastern legislatures would do well to
go and do likewise."
Captain Ashby's article on "Monay
and the Taxing Power," although as
yet only in the preliminary stages, is
attracting considerable attention. Stu
dents of political economy will do well
to read each article carefully.
T 1 . .1 1 T" 1 ., t M 1 J.
it is,sam mai ivocKeiener 13 auuut
to tax the people of the United States
.another . $10,000,000 7by , again raising;
the, price of, oil, one-tenth of which1
.her will; fdevote ,toJeharjty.; by . giving;
onnthfir million in the f!hicaen uni-
versity.. . .,
The 'persecution of the Baptists in
New England never retarded thv
growth of the denomination. The mod
ern John the 3aptist, whose surname;
is" Rockefeller, may do" the denomina
tion Immensely more harm than perse
cution ever did.
- The people of Areola, 111., headed by
the ministers, lawyers, bankers and
policemen, looted a train of sixteen
cars loaded with coal. After they
got their houses warmed up they all
went to church and sang: "Praise
God from whom all blessings flow."
Professor Garner, who has devoted
seven year3 of his life to studying the
language of monkeys, says he has
learned only seven words so far. If
he had devoted half that time to read
ing the editorial drivel in the great
dailies, he would now know the whole
language.
The policy of The Independent is to
get every man who is opposed to the
republican party, that is, opposed to
exorbitant tariffs, trusts, railroad dis
criminations and imperialism, to vote
for the same candidates. If that can
be done by organizing a new party,
then let us organize one. If it can be
done" by adopting a new name, very
well let us do that.
The most dangero-is ignorance th's
world has, or ever will have to con
tend Avith, is educated ignorance.
Think of tile position, that the "wise"
and "learned" took in relation lo
economic questions in 1890 and 1892
when the "unlearned" farmers were
promulgating principles through the
farmers' alliance which all the world
has since been forced to acknowledge
-t3 t8 -af-iha-fecst importance to the
welfare of mankind.
REPUBLICAN MEDICINE BAG
; For years whenever a republican
spell-binder announced to a cheering
audience that "the foreigner pays the
tax" -they always answered back with
a mighty shout: "Yep, that's so."
But now a change seems to have come
over the spirit of their dreams. The
house and senate with' the exception
of five republican members, who were
all directly interested in the coal
trade, voted to pas3 a bill to remove
the tariff on coal for one year as a
means to relieve the coal famine and
bring down the price. If the foreign
er pays the tax, this will be a great
favor to the people of Nova Scotia and
other coal operators in Canada and
Great Britain who have been shipping
coal to the United States for the last
few months.
In every Indian tribe , there is a
medicine bag, sacred and holy. A
certain family is put in charge of it
and they keep it from generation to
generation safe from the sight or touch
of the remainder of the tribe. The re
publicans have a like custom. The
tariff is a sacred thing and it is in
the charge of the family of Aldrich.
No matter what distress comes upon
the people, how many suffer or die,
the tariff must not be touched. In
this matter of coal they held fast to
their medicine bag. No schedule is al
tered. The tariff on coal will be col
lected as usual, but it will all be paid
back to the importers. That is what
the bill provides that was rushed
through congress in a few hours.
The tariff provides that all anthra
cite coal carrying less than 92 percent
carbon shall pay the same duty as bi
tuminous coal. As there is no an
thracite with such a percentage of
carbon, there has been the same duty
on it as on. bituminous. Notwith
standing this, the republicans have in
sisted that anthracite was on the free
list. The president demanded that the
tariff should be taken off and Aldrich
to save the sacred tariff schedules of
fered an amendment that the law
sh.ould.be so construed as to place an
thracite on the free list which was
adopted. So the "big medicine bag"
of the republicans remains untouched
;in the hands of the Aldrich family,
and "the foreigner pays the tax."
Remember you should send your
order for a 1904 recruiting coupon
book. You can easily send ten or
more subscribers for 1904 recruits
within the next month. It costs you
nothing (0 try. Any coupons not sold
may be returned.
THE USELESS DAILIES
The value of The Independent a.?
compared with the great plutocratic
dailies can be plainly seen when a
review of the way this coal famine has
been treated by them is made. In thi
very- beginning The Independent
pointed out that there could be no
real scarcity of coal. Bituminous coal,
lying near the surface, covered a large
part of the middle states and was to
be found almost anywhere except in
the arid and semi-arid regions, and it
was found in very large quantities in
some places even there. The supply
of coal was abundant, that no man
denied. As to getting it to market,
there had been 5,00u rr ics of new rail
road lines laid during the last year.
The roads had purchased hundreds ot
new locomotives and thousands of
freight cars during the year. They
had straightened their curves and
lowered their grades. In every de
partment their equipment had been
increased. It was nonsense to say
that the roads could not haul coal
enough to keep the people from suf
fering from cold. These were facts
that were within the knowledge of
every man of ordinary intelligence.
When the people began to call for
coal and could get none, what did the
great dailies do? They said that there
was a coal famine and let it at
that. They published editorials treat
ing upon the following subjects: "The
Passing of the American Indian." "A
Diplomat Who Ought to ..Succeed."
"Western Leadership in Education.".
"Dr. Abbott, on Printing Criminal
News." "Senator Aldrich's Coal
Bill" (this was a. discussion, not of a
bill introduced into congress by Sena
tor Aldrich, but how a dealer had
made Aldrich pay $18 a ton to warm
his private residence, Warwick Neck
Castle), . and "Where the Bachelor
Has a Chance."
Jf the managing editors of these
papers had followed the same policy
that they dp in a sensational murder
case, the moment, the scarcity, of coal
and exorbitant prices began to attract
attention they would have set the re
portorial staff at work to get the facts.
Assignments of reporters would have
been so made that one would have
been ordered to search every place
where coal was stored and to count
unloaded coal cars on the sidings in
and near the cities. Their special cor
respondents in the various towns and
cities would have been ordered to do
likewise. The amount -of coal thus
held back from market could have
been known to the people within twenty-four
hours. The names of the firms
and the men who owned the coal and
were thus plotting to rob the people
and cause suffering and death could
have been made public. If in any of
the suffering communities there were
public officers not elected by the cor
porations, and there are always a few
such places, prosecutions could have
been immediately . begun. But the
dailies did no such service for the peo
ple. They passed the matter by un
til the suffering became so intense that
the rights of property were no longer
regarded and people in many places
were confiscating coal, sometimes
whole trainloads at once. In other
places magistrates announced that
they would not find guilty or imprison
any person for stealing coal. In one
place all persons serving sentences for
stealing coal were released in a body.
mhen, when concealment was no long
er possible, a very little effort on the
part of the dailies showed that there
was more coal in Chicago and near
vicinity than was ever before known
to be at this time of year. In one lit
tle town not 20 miles from the heart
of Chicago one railroad had side
tracked 3,000 cars loaded with coal for
so long a time that they were covered
deep with snow. At another place
coal had been dumped on each side of
a railroad track as high as it could
be conveniently piled for nearly a
mile. At that they stopped.
Now all this information could have
been published weeks ago, and would
have been published if the dailies had
not been under the influence of cor
porations, trusts and predatory hordes,
organized under the shelter of the re
publican party, for the purpose of
preying upon mankind, and furnishing
money with which to buy elections.
The editorial writers on the dailies
could have brought this predatory
raid to a sudden end without even en
gaging the news gathering corps at
tached to each daily if- they had so
wished. A few sharp editorials along
the line of those that were printed in
The Independent, based on facts
known to all men, would have brought
the raid to a sudden ending. But in
this crisis, the dailies, as always, re
fused to serve the people. They al
lowed the predatory hordes to sweep
down upon the poor and rob and de
stroy without any. rebuke from them.
Send for a book of 1904 recruiting
coupons. Help to extend the circula
tion and influence of The Indepen
dent in your locality. You'll find it
easy to sell them at the exceptionally
low rate we are making for subscrip
tions to run until after the next presi
dential election. Do your part in
helping to restore a government of the
people, by the people, and for the
people.
Patronize our advertisers.
CANNOT REASON
There are some statements in Mr.
Hand's letter to The Independent last
week concerning the stay-at-home
vote in Buffalo county that are per
fectly astounding. Mr. Hand is on
the ground and ought to know bet
ter the. conditions there than , the edi
tor of this paper, but when he says:
"You cannot reason with these vot
ers," that is, men who left the re
publican party to join the populists,
he makes a statement that argues
sadly for the future of .This, republic.
The men who will not vote for, a
man like W. H. Thompson, honored
and loved by all who know him, who
has lived a life of uprightness and in
tegrity, who has devoted thousands of
dollars of hi3 earnings and. years of
his time to the cause of reform, who
has always been found on the right
side of every public question, run
ning on a platform identical with the
populist platform, simply because, he
was called a democrat, are not the
men through whose action good gov
ernment will ever be obtained. Mr.
Hand's assertion that these men, for
merly republk&ns, will not vote for a
man -unless he bears the populist
brand, no matter what his character,
ability and earnestness in reform work
may be, is to place them alongside of
the republican mullet heads, who
know nothing but to vote 'er straight.
Any man who knows anything,
knows that if the republican party,
with its predatory . hordes of tariff
grafters and trust pirates is ever
overthrown, then all opposed to it
must vote for the same candidates.
This writer will never forget the
time when W. H. Thompson came in
to the populist headquarters in the
crisis of what proved to be a success
ful campaign, and finding the com
mittee without even a postage stamp
or money to buy one, sat down and
wrote his check for $1,000, by the use
of which the campaign was carried
to a successful issue. A populist was
at the head of the ticket that -year and
seven-eighths of the state candidates
were populists. A man who won't
vote for a man of that kind; and who
will not listen to reason, cannot be a
populist. He is simply a partisan lun
atic and any reform movement would
be better off without him.
But The Independent thinks Mr.
Hand is mistaken in his diagnosis.
The reason these mes did not go to
the polls and vote was because they
did not have the information that
ought to have been furnished. Their
homes are flooded with the misrepre
sentations and lies of the cheap re
publican papers.' The party has tak
en no action towards supplying-correct
information to the mass of its
voters. The Independent has only 15,
000 or 16,000 circulation in the state.
How many readers of this paper
stayed at home? How many of them
are such partisan lunatics that they
would rather see the trusts and cor
porations in power than to vote for
any man who was not branded pop
ulist? We have elected a good many men
to office bearing the populist brand,
who have deserted us. Some have
gone back to the republican party and
some have gone over to the democrats
while holding offices to which they
were elected as populists. Just be
cause a man bears the populist name
does not insure that he will be a bet
ter servant of the people or a batter
reformer than if he is known by
some other name. We have had
much sad experience along that line.
It is certainly enough to convince any
man who can reason at all, that a
name is not the essential thing. There
must be something more than that.
To paraphrase Burns
"The name is but the guinea's stamp,
A man's a man for a' that."
Two or three more generals are left
who may become commanders-in-chief
in the Philippines. They are welcome
to all the glory they can get out of it.