12
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT
JANUARY 29, 1903.
THE SOCIAL UNREST
&(Btlii in Labor and Social Ut Mortinenli
by John Graham I5rook
The The Macmillan Company (CG
Fifth avenue, New York) are to "be
congratulated upon the" really live
books they have been publishing of
late on economic and sociological sub
jects. Following Ghent's "Our Ben
evolent Feudalism" comes 'The So
cial Unrest" by John Graham Brooks,
being the result of twenty year3 of in
vestigation and "studies in labor and
socialist movements."
The author, in a personal and in
troductory chapter, confesses that a
eood deal of the evidence in his book
is of a more personal nature than he
could wish, but he says: "It was sev
eral years before I learned that for one
branch of economic and social study,
tbe 'live questions, like strikes, trade
unions, the influence of machinery,
etc., very few books existed that had
more than slight value.- Their treat
ment of the subject was too general.
Much of the literature is scarcely in
. print, before it is out of date because
of the extraordinary mobility and
change of our commercial order. The
reaction of this swiftly changing
mechanism upon our entire life gives
us a series of problems but partially
expressed in books and differing in
important ways from anything that
Europe offers."
Viewed as a whole "The Social Un
rest" covers the subjects of trade
unionism and socialism thoroughly
and satisfactorily to all except ex
treme socialists, extreme individual
ists, and capitalists who rail against
paternalism if the laborer asks legis
lation in his interest, but who prac
tice paternalism night and day in
their own behalf. Mr. Brooks seems
to favor increased legislation looking
to a more perfect state of trade un
ionism, and to look upon socialism as
a last resort in the event' that capital
persists in its present course of try
ing to crush the labor organizations.
The socialism he regards as likely to
become effective is in reality populism
"the new consciousness of difference
between a really private business, like
a grocery store, and one that has
ceased to be private in that sense"
as, , for example, a railroad or coal
mine. ,
' "Whatever may be said of the 'new
socialism' with its opportunist yield
ing to larger experience," says the au
thor, "the socialist with a formula will
neither get nor deserve very serious
attention. A universal formula, like
that of the 'three rents will fare no
better than the others." In his in
vestigations he shows that the social
ists of Germany and elsewhere in Eu
rope have been obliged to recede from
their position demanding the complete
annihilation of "capitalist production."
They have been obliged to admit some
modification of the Marxian philos
ophy. The "acrid dogmatic atheism"
has given way since it became known
that "religion has a much deeper hold
upon large classes, especially in the
farming districts, than these jaunty
critics in the seventies ever dreamed."
In private many of them admit that
Marx's fundamental doctrine of sur
plus value is unsound; aud some of
them challenge his fatalist theory of
history. They have found that the
farmer is not yet extinguished, and
not likely to be. Oh the whole they
have maintained Marx socialism only
so far as it could be applied. The
Marxian abstraction that the big fish
of industry are gradually destroying
the little ones is found "to have lim
itations undreamed of by the master."
In summing up the part the farmers
of the United States have played in
the social unrest, Mr. Brooks says of
populism, "Stripped of its padding and
accidents, it is a socialist propagan
da" which is doubtless correct. Not
the book socialism of Marx and En
gels, but the practical socialism of
New Zealand and other countries
where "infallible" and "inevitable"
theories must in practive have their
sharp corners worn off by contact
with actual conditions.
It will pay every reader of The In
dependent who can afford it to buy
this book and giveit a careful reading.
ta 394 pages are bristling with facts
practical knowledge gained by Mr.
Brooks In more than twenty years of
study, which will be helpful to every
trade unionist, populist, socialist, or
other, person who is a factor in the
social unrest. Price, $1.50. Can be
had of the publishers or from this
office.
Grain Keeling
Lincoln last week was crowded with
Visitors attending all sorts of state
meetings. Cattle breeders, beekeep
ers, chicken fanciers, insurance men,
etc, found meetings to their liking
and put in an enjoyable two or three
days. Reports of these various meet
ings will be found at length in the
various dailies and farm papers. In
asmuch as most of them pertained to
technical matters relating to the vari
ous industries represented, and as The
Independent's field i3 along political
and economic lines, no detailed report
i? thought necessary in these col
umns. There was one meeting, however,
which was a political meeting in the
broad sense of that terra. It had noth
ing to do with the republican, demo
cratic, people's independent, or any
other partisan organization. It will
never result in a "party" with candi
dates in the field. Yet it was essen
tially political, and as such The Inde
pendent feels like mentioning it more
at length. It was the meeting propos
ing to organize a. farmers' co-opera
tive grain association.
Credit for a great deal of the slav
ish work of getting the meeting called
together, is due to Prof. C. Vincent
of the Central Farmer, Omaha, who
has been going almost night and day
help: I to organize local shipping as
sociations at various points. The ob
ject was to effect an interstate asso
ciation, taking in Nebraska, Kansas
and Oklahoma. James Butler, secre
tary of the Kansas organization, was
present, as was also C. B. Hoffman of
Enterprise. Kas., president of the
Kansas millers' association.
The first session was held in the
court house at Lincoln. Almost every
foot of available standing room was
taken. Delegates were present from
a great number of local associations;
and there were plenty of agents of the
grain buyers' trust oh hand to stir
up trouble. For a while the meeting
reminded one forcibly of an old-time
farmers' alliance convention and to
one not used to the vehemence of
farmers in debate, it seemed certain
to break up in a row.
But it didn't. Butler addressed
them. Then Hoffman made a speech
that went home. Combination is the
order of the day he declared, and if
the farmers would avoid the losses
they are now sustaining from the
shipping trust, they must combine and
act in concert in marketing their
products. Two cents a bushel could
be saved at each end of the line and
it was worth fighting for.
lie outlined the plan for organizing
the farmers' co-operative shipping as
sociation about as follows: It will
be incorporated under the laws of
Kansas with an authorized ca,pital of
$200,000, divided into 20,000 shares of
$10 each. It will build or buy eleva
tors in Kansas and adjoining states
and territories to buy grain directly
from the farmers and sell to the best
markets, dividing profits among the
stockholders in the way of dividends
upon the stock and premiums upon
the grain bought from or sold to stock
holders. Stocks will receive 8 per
cent dividends from the net earnings
after passing such amounts as a wise
and conservative policy may dictate
into the reserve and betterment fund.
The balance of the net earnings will
be divided among the patrons of the
association who are stockholders. Tne
man who ships 5,000 bushels of grain
through the association will receive
five times as much premiums on grain
as the shipper of 1,000 bushels, pro
vided he holds a proportionate amount
of stock. The exact method of mak
ing these divisions cannot now be
given. Those details will be ar
ranged by the board of directors.
J. S. Canaday, Minden, was chosen
chairman, and John Reese, Broken
Bow, secretary, to act until the per
manent organization is effected. An
other meeting is called to be held in
Lincoln, February 11, at which time
the permanent organization will be
made if one is to be made.
The movement is not essentially dif
ferent from the grange and farmers'
alliance, except there is no secret or
ganization. In spirit it is the same
an attempt to co-operate and save the
undue profits of middlemen. Experi
ence has shown the rocks upon which
prior organizations have been wrecked
and it is hoped that this one will profit
by the mistakes of the past
The Legislature
Aside from the usual routine neces
sary before anything of importance
in legislation can be accomplished, the
principal work this week ha3 been
clone by the joint committee on rev
enue law. Up to Wednesday "star
chamber" sessions of the committee
have been held and considerable boom
ing done on the outside for the bill
which was drawn up by the Kansas
commission. Apparently the Union
Pacific railroad was much in favor of
the bill. Frank Harrison, chief lob
byist for the road, and brother to the
president of the senate, is daily sing
ing the praises of the Kansas law.
But whether this is simply a bluff to
prevent any legislation, is a matter of
conjecture. The opposition to the
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Mention this paper.
FARMERS GROCERY COHPA
Established 12 years.
226-228-230-232-234-236-233 No. 10th St., Lincoln, Neb.
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Kansas bill in Kansas is very pro
nounced, and it is an even chance that
it will not become a law there.
Tuesday night the revenue commit
tee decided to present a complete bill
for a revenue law, taking the present
law as a basis and making such
changes as are deemed expedient and
just. As an emergency provision it
has been agreed, so it is said, to
amend the section (No. 75) wherein
the levy for general fund purposes is
limited to 5 mills and make it 6 in
stead. If this is done, it means no
revenue law this session, because most
of t. e inequalities of levy grow out
of that absurd limit of 5 mills, espe
cially as the board is required to levy,
sufficient to meet the appropriations'
which is all the limitation necessary!
The limitation of 6 mills is, how
ever, but little better than 5. It
should be not less than 10, because
no equalization is possible at G mills.
Six and a half mills on every county"
for general fund purposes, would last
year have made the levy $1,169.947.1,.
One-half the appropriations made by
the legislature of 1901 to be drawn
against the general fund amounts to
