10
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT
JANUARY 29, 1903.
i
THEY WOVT STAND IT
In" a constant reading of a large
number of dallies, not one Item has
been found in regard to retaliatory
legislation by European governments
on account of our exorbitant tariffs.
The Independent is the only paper
that has kept its readers informed in
regard to that matter and proves
again it3. value to those who wish to
know "the truth about everything."
Thi3 matter has gone so far that it
has become Impossible to longer ig
nore it and last week Senator Lodge
introduced a resolution in the senate
directing the committee on finance to
inquire whether certain countries are
discriminating against the United
States, and if so, what law should be
passed to give to countries preferential
duties which do not discriminate
against thi3 country. The resolution
refers to the discriminations of
France, Germany and Russia against
the United States.
Men who think that they can per
manently exclude foreign goods from
our shores and at the same time
build up a big foreign trade by sell
ing goods from forty to fifty per cent
less to foreigners than they sell the
same goods to us, will find that that
policy won't work out. Foreign na
tions will not neglect to protect them
selves. The Lodge resolution refers
to the very countries which The In
dependent has often said were apply
ing retaliatory legislation to their
trade relations with this country. All
of which goes toward proving that if
you want the news, especially the
news concerning the tariff barons,
trusts and plutocracy generally, you
must read The Independent.
The Nebraska supreme court, after
two trials at it, has got around to the
position taken by The Independent
that it has no authority to prevent
the reading of passages from the Bi
ble in the common schools. The only
sound position that can be taken by
any court in that matter is that the
Bible is to be treated exactly the
same as any other book. To take
any other position is to recognize it,
at least indirectly, as being of divine
origin, which is the very thing that
those who object to its reading deny.
A short time ago the house passed
a bill reducing the tariff rates on
goods imported from the Philippines
75 per cent. The bill went to the sen
ate and it has been reported from the
committee with very important a
mehdments. The senate committee
proposes free trade with the Philip
pines with the exception of sugar and
tobacco, and levies on them a tariff
of 50 per cent less than that con
tained in the Dingley schedules. Thte
tariff on sugar and tobacco was levied
at the request of the sugar and tobac
co trusts, they claiming that any
thing less woud "ruin those indus
tries" in the United States. It seems
that the senate is getting around to
ward that horrible, thing "free trade"
pretty fast. Free trade in coal and
free trade with the Philippines is
a pretty good start. If no awful con
vulsions of nature follow this start to
ward free trade, if the sun is not
blotted out nor the moon turned into
cosmic dust, perhaps the people may
be persuaded to go still further.
One of the results of imperialism
Is that the Asiatic bubonic plague has
obtained firm foothold in this coun
try and Mexico. At a meeting in
Washington, Surgeon General Wyman
and the representatives of the health
authorities of nineteen states, de
clared that the plague had a firm foot
hold in San Francisco and some went
even so far as to advocate the- -shutting
off of all railroad communication
with that city. People are dying by
the hundreds from the plague in
Mexico.
A republican up in the northern
part of the state says that The Inde
pendent is "too one-sided," and adds,
"that while I read the paper, I think
it would be better to give the republi
can side once in a while." Well, here
goes for the republican side: The
Crusts are a good thing. The great
business of modern times could not
be carried on without such organiza
tions and nothing should be done to
interfere with their success. They
have come to stay. Tariff , tinkering
would disarrange all business and pro
duce confusion everywhere, therefore
the tariff should be let alone. Imper
ialism in the beneficent form that the
United States has adopted is a bless
ing to mankind. It opens up thou
sands of situations to Americans who
go to the new possessions to fill the
offices and that is that much clear
gain. Selling surplus goods to for
eigners at 40 per cent less than they
are sold to our own people is the
proper method. It gives just that
much more additional employment to
American workmen. It should be con
tinued as the settled policy of the
United States. We should . have a
larger army and .navy. That takes just
so many men out of competition with
wage-workers and helps to keep up
wages. Now we hope that gentleman
will never again accuse The Indepen
dent with not presenting the republi
can side.
The resolution of Mr. Jenkins;
chairman of the judiciary committee
in the house, ordering that committee
to prepare a bill authorizing the gov
ernment to take charge of the coal
mines and coal railroads is about the
most blatant piece of demagogery ever
exhibited to the public. It is in line
with the policy pursued by the hous
ever since the session began. The
mines are all located within the boun
daries of the several states and are
under the jurisdiction of the several
states. Congress, as the constitution
now exists, could not enter the states
and take possession of the mines, un
less the supreme court would be will
ing to give the constitution another
wrench similar to the "appurtenance"
decision. As to the railroads, that is
another matter altogether. They are
public highways, crossing the boun
daries of states and come under the
jurisdiction of the national congress.
If the attorney general would enforce
the anti-trust laws now on the stat
ute books, the coal famine would very
soon come to an end.
Governor Bates of Massuchsetts was
very populistic in his recommenda
tions to the legislature. He most em
phatically indorses the referendum, the
taxation of franchises at their full
salable value and several other things
that the republicans, have been in, the
habit of denouncing as anarchy and
socialism. The truth is that the
message is a substantial reproduction
of the Williams platform that the
fool democrats of that state voted out
of their convention when they nomi
nated a corporation boss for gov
ernor. The great reduction in the
republican majority in that state and
the increase in the socialist vote has
evidently affected Governor Bates'
opinions on several public questions.
The city of New York has raised the
valuation of property so as to enorm
ously increase the income from taxa
tion. It is announced that this pro
cess will not be used for paying off
the debts that the city owes, but will
enable it to greatly increase the debt
and burden of interest. That is the
republican idea of financiering. The
populist idea would be to first pay the
debts, stop the interest and use the
money that is paid out for that pur
pose to make public improvements. In
that case the public would get the
money instead of the money lenders.
But as long as the city is ruled by men
who were trained in the schools that
Seth Low was brought up in, the
money lenders will benefit by in
creased taxation and not the people
The increased valuation of property
for taxation, it is said, will enable the
city to issue $100,000,000 more bonds.
The charter of New York city fixes the
debt limit at 10 per cent of the as
sessed valuation, and so the increased
valuation will allow, the issuing of
that amount of bonds. Watch for an
other era of corruption when that
money is available.
The democratic members of the
Colorado legislature, being a majority
of ono after all the unseating was
done, re-elected Henry M. Teller to
the United States senate. The repub
lican members and lieutenant gov
ernor refused to participate. Undoubt
edly there will be a contest As far as
The Independent is able to judge after
reading more than 100 columns of
newspaper reports while the fight was
going on, Senator Teller seems to
have a legal title to the seat Six
years ago he was elected without a
contest and if we remember rightly,
by an unanimous vote. All this trou
ble has come about by the fool policy
of the democratic party of that state
News of the Week
first The reply from South America
was that the shot fired by the fort was
a biank one. and fired as a warning
for the Panther to come no nearer.
In the first contest the German war
vessel got the worst of it It then
sailed away and came back with two
more warships of larger size and all
three began a bombardment. The big.
vessels had gone of long range and
could stand'outside of the range of
the small- gun3;of the fort and blaze
away in perfect'safety. It seems that
the fort was greatly damaged and
quite a number of Venezuelan soldiers
were killed and wounded. This attack
on a little fort with five guns, only
two of them of modern make, is
looked upon by the world generally
as cowardly. The Germans ' in their
defence say that they did it to make
effective the blockade, for the Vene
zuelans , were transporting coffee
across the country into Colombia,
thus making the blockade ineffectual.
The whole question resolves itself in
to the question of whether the block
ade is necessary at all or not. To
most men it seems that the dispute
could be settled by arbitration, which,
has already been agreed to, and that
the blockade and severe suffering
caused thereby is a needless cruelty
accomplishing nothing that cannot be
accomplished by arbitration. Vene
zuela has placed her interests entirely
in the hands of Mr. Bowen, the Amer
ican minister, who has returned to
Washington to take up the matter
with the powers.
It is said that the blockade insti
tuted by England, Germany and Hal'
against Venezuela has cut off the peo
ple residing on the little islands along
the shore from supplies and that hun
dreds of them are starving to death.
Starving innocent people and non-
combatants to death seems to have
become the chief reliance in war as
practiced by the great "civilized" na
tions. The British put the women and
children of the Boers in camps and
et them starve by the thousand. The
same thing was attempted in the Phil
ippines, but the people of the United
States soon let the administration
know that they would have no war
carried on in that way.
Venezuela was prominent in the eye
of. the world during the week. The
situation has been a most puzzling one
to the newspaper man who wanted to
get at the truth, and nothing but the
truth. Associated press dispatches are
always in the interest of money lend
ers and plutocracy and it won't do to
trust them, but by carefully watching
everything that is printed on a sub
ject, the truth, by the exercise of a
little intuition and common sense, can
generally be arrived at The first
news of -importance was that the Ger
man war vessel, the Panther, had
without notice and without provoca
lion bombarded a Venezuelan fort
Then afterwards it was said that the
Germans claimed that the fort fired
The agricultural . implement dealers
declared awhile ago that they were as
brave as Paul Jones and that they
would fight the trust to a finish. Now
they have all surrendered. They have
made what they call a "compromise,
that is, they will pay the price that
the trust charges and do no more
growling for fear that the trust will
not sell them any goods at all. The
farmers will have to foot the bills and
mo3t of them continue to vote 'er
straight so that they can have tha
privilege of doing so for all the years
to come.
MONEY SAVING
PRICES
These are only a few of the bar
gains, they are only afl indicator
on what basis we sell everything:
$1 Riggs' Dyspepsia Tablets.. 69c
The Riggs Celery and Sarsa-
parilla " : .. 69c
! 1 Cook's Hair Tonic. ... ..... .79c
$1 Cramer's Kidney Cure 79e
$1 Ayer's Sarsaparilla 79c
$1 Horlick's Malted Milk.... 74c
$1 Hood's Sarsaparilla 64c
$1 Paine's Celery Compound. 89c
$1 Lydia Pinkham's Com
pound $1 Miles' Remedies....... 64c
$1 Peruna 64c
$1 Pierce's Remedies 64c
$1 Kilmer's Remedies 64c
Miles Remedies 64c
$1 Wine of Cardui 64c
Cut Rale Pharmacy
1321 O Street.
I in nnn
UHflU
IRRIGATED
LANDS.
Good climate, healthy location,
rich and productive lands, abun
dant water from the famous Snake
River, never failing supply; good
crops always assured; you govern
your own moisture; no cyclones;
no hail storms; no rains to prevent
gathering of crops; more sunshine
in the year than any other state in
the union. Land with good water
riahta fnr Kale at from 110.00 to
$15 00 per acre; one-third cash; I
oaiance in six annual payments an
7 per cent, interest. Address,
PATRIE.
Market Lake,
Idaho.
!mTr55
3333553531
The canal treaty with Colombia ha!
been signed by the contracting parties
and it now goes to the senat for
confirmation. The treaty provides tor
a lease for a strip 12 miles wide for
100 years with the right to perpetual
ly renew and for the payment of
$250,000 gold annually for the lease,
beginning nine years after the date of
ratification, and $10,000,000 in goid
upon the exchange of ratification of
the treaty.
The trust bill that they are getting
up in congress has, after all the legal
verbiage is eliminated, just three
points. (1) Publicity, in the shape Of
full reports to be filed with the in
terstate commerce commission; (2)
prevention of rebates or preferential
transportation rates to the combines;
(3) the prohibition of discrimination
in prices in order to destroy competi
tion and create monopoly. As to the
first provision, all the trusts are in
favor of it. The second is so drawn
that no conviction can ever be ob
tained under it. The making of both
the receiver and giver of rebates sub
ject to the same penalty will prevent
the securing of evidence, as has been
proven in hundreds of cases where
such laws have been enacted. The
third provision, if government attor
neys were everywhere in active sym
pathy with the law, might result in
conviction in some rare cases, but
even that is doubtful. The whole thing
is simply a political move to allay
the indignation everywhere expressed
at the rapacity of the trusts. If
passed, it will not alter the trust sit
uation in the least.
According to the English papers the
suffering and distress in London is
the worst ever known. The charity
societies "are unable to supply the
wants of the starving and the English
papers are suggesting that an appeal
should be made to America for con
tributions. The Independent told th-
Londoners- what would happen when
they started the hooligans on their
bacchanalian revels every time a vic
tory over the Boers was announced
nnfl shouted for imperialism and de
struction of little republics. They are
paying the penalty now. There is
more suffering in London tnan ine
British ever inflicted on the Christian
Boers. To ask Americans to contri
bute, is to ask them to pay part of
the cost of annihilating two little re
publics. Let them pay their own war
bills.
The papers announce that President
Roosevelt and King Edward ex
changed greetings over the wireless
telegraph route. The messages were
of the usual" character, congratula
tions and expressions of friendship.
The Independent still has doubts about
this Marconi system being a commer
cial success. If it were all that the
papers claim there would be an up
roar at. the headquarters of the cable
companies and the stock market
would show a great fall in cable
stocks, but as far as all appearances
are concerned, the cable companies
are going on their peaceful way and
are not at all troubled about wireles?
telegraphy.
The plan to establish the gold
standard in the Philippines, that is
after the Japanese way of reducing the
legal tender power of gold one-half,
was wrecked in the house last week
and the United States monetary sys
tem extended over the islands. All
the democrats and 28 republicans vot
ing together, did the job. It begin3
to look like the constitution is mak
ing pretty fast time in catching up
with the flag in the Philippines. Prac
tically free trade and the monetary
system of the states is going a long
way towards it. The republicans are
finding out that the idiotic scheme of
republic and empire under one con
stitution won't work. There is to be
a mint set up at Manila to coin more
silver dollars which will be a full
legal tender for all debts public and
private, except, where otherwise pro
vided in the contract, both in the isl
ands and in these United States."
There was a little fracas in the
miners' national convention that was
somewhat amusing. One local union
