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About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (March 26, 1903)
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT. MARCH 26, 1903. t T r VAT':-. H watcn 4. 4.1 will happen I That' why your watch ' works should be protected by a strongfcase.. Gold alone is toft and bends easily If s used tot show only. The J AS, BOSS s ; STIFFENED GOLD VATCH CASE resists jar and Jolt. Keeps out. the 'dust. ; Reduces the expense of rcpai. Adds many years to the life of your .watch. , Every JAS. BOSS CASE is guaranteed i lor 25 years by a Keystone Trade-mark ' stamped Inside.' You must -" f look, for this trade-mark. '. , Consult the jeweler.,. . . Write us for booklet. ' ' THE KEYSTONE ' , WATCH CASE COMPANY, ' ' Philadelphia. '.'-" 3 1 r the Fowler bill with Itr provision for asset currency, that tbty turned with feverish hopefulness to the Aldrich bill with its provision to loan their banks government funds upon mu nicipal and other outside securities.' The asset currency provision would have enabled them to issue currency without government or any other kind of'bonds; the Aldrich provision would have released the government bond as security for deposits, and made them " available for an issue of cur- rencyi As it is, a government deposit without interest securtd by govern ment bonds is more profitable than a national ' bank currency, secured by government bonds, on which they must pay one-half of 1 per cent, and tie up 5 per cent of their face value In the " redemption fund. In conse quence of this situation, the deposit loans are being steadily increased, and the bank currency Just as steadily de creased. We have had one deception after another concerning the purposes of proposed . legislation . ever since the enactment- of the bank; law in - the '60's. Now we are told that one of tha purposes of the Fowler bill is to put a certain "burden of redemption" upon the national banks.- It is a most absurd and ridiculous proposition. Tho whole national combination could not stand alone ten days, if the assist ance of -government money and the national credit was taken away from it. To put any kind of government duty upon these banks can only re sult in more exertion of government powers to hold; them up. It has been quite a favorite "assertion from those who- repeat,' without understanding, what backers say, that the govern ment should keep out of the banking business. s Nevertheless the eastern banking interests have, for forty years or more, been scheming to place upon the shoul ders of the governmen,. the responsi bility and burden of holding up these banks, and thus holding off a finan cial catastrophe. On February 1 it appears by the public debt statement that there was an available cash balance of $363, 345,963 in the United States treasury? But how available T Well, 1150,000,000 of it is the gold reserve. Then there was . almost $143,000,000 of deposit loans in na tional banks. This 'cannot be called in without disaster. This makes a total of about $293,000,000 of the so called available fund3 not available at all, and leaves only about $75,000, 000 really available. ' The interests that control the na tional bank combine demand that the deposit loans" from the government shall not be decreasedand they have manipulated the situation until Mr. Shaw dare not decrease them. To do bo- would precipitate a financial panic While the bank situation is such that it Is ' essential to the safety of many of them that these deposit loans shall be continually increased, this can only be done by continuing to take out of the pockets of the people, by duties on imports, an amount largely In excess of what is required by the legitimate expenses of the govern ment Without such continuation of import duties, Mr. Shaw would be compelled to cease to increase such loans. He might be required to de crease those already made. The gov ernment's responsibility for the na tional banks continually increases. In stead of getting "out of the banking business" we are becoming each year more and more Involved in it We ar& furnishing a large part of the cap ital and all the credit The entire profits go to the banking corporations, while the nation receives not one dol lar in either profit or interest. It is so nonsensical that it is little short of idiotic for free trade leagues to advocate the reduction of import duties to a revenue basis while so many of the members of them refuse to do anything to destroy the power of the financial combinations, but, in many instances, are assisting in per petuating such power. i ; There is no hope for the success of any of the reforms, mentioned among the social and political questions of this day until the people elect an executive and a congress that will destroy this financial devil-fish that has thrust its tentacles into every di cision of every department of our gov ernment - .. FLAVIUS J. VAN VORHIS. Indianapolis, Ind. JEffEBSOtilAN CLUBS Mr. Hartley Bugrt-eits CaalitUa mt the Eastern Laad and Laber Reformer With the Wettera Transport. -Hob and If eaejr Keformara Editor Independent: I'm sorry if my impatient ejaculation offended any one. But, when on one page of your excellent Daner I read a stirrinar call to action, and then jn the other such lengthy and intricate discussions of abstract theories, I feel we are wast ing valuable time. ,The time for grouping principles and formulating demands for the next national cam paign Is not long, and upon the way these principles aro presented and these demands formulated evidently depends their acceptance or rejection by the -voting masses. ' Regarding the captain's humorous retort, I beg to say that I lay no claim to literary ability or. wonderful eru dition, and would rather see an im-, portant truth plainly and clearly pre sented in language as void of culture as that of David Harum, or as direct and simple as that of Daniel Webster, than to read the profoundest disserta tions clothed in the most wonderful and incomprehensible verbiage to be found in Noah's dictionary. But as the doughty captain has kindly thrown over my unsuspecting shoul ders the mantle of a prophet, let me rise to the occasion and utter a prophecy. It is this: "There is only one way In God's world in which the' reformers of America will ever overcome the po litical forces which defeated Mr. Bry an, and that is, by uniting the land and labor reformers of the east and the transportation and money reformers of the west With that unification they can do it easily!" Holding that conviction, as I do, the business of the hour seems to me, not to quarrel among ourselves over questions of value, but to go right at it and formulate a code of principles and a political platform upon which these two great forces may stand to gether. They are strong enough now to win the battle, without the adher ents which Captain Ashby's painstak ing and conscientious efforts, and wit ty relaxing gymnastics, will doubtless gain. Let us not stop on the way toward this glorious undertaking to dispute over the proper usage and definition of high sounding words, or over head aching "explanationa" regarding val ue and price, but push straight to ward the accomplishment of the no ble ends which I am convinced all these wrangling reformers have in view. To get right at it then, I re spectfully submit for the considera tion of all who believe in the wisdom of such a unity the following brief and clear definition of principles: PRODUCTION AND EXCHANGE. (1) All men are born with an equal natural right to stand on this earth and to use its richest resources and choicest locations. (2) The only "right to labor" is man's God-given right to work for himself, and to produce for himself from the richest .most convenient and most valuable natural resources of the Ian rf ia Ktrth , ' (3) The 8o-calle4 right of one man to work for another is not a right, but a privilege. A privilege that is asked for and begged for by the one, and granted or refused by the other. But the right of every man to produce is secondary only to his primary right to breathe. ' , . . .; (4) Not only is every American boy borntwith the right to work for him self upon, and produce for himself from, the richest and most conven lent' natural resources of the land of his birth; but he is also as naturally and as 'Justly entitled to stand at the approaches of: his country's greatest harbors, (its natural commercial gate ways) and exchangs. his product .with ms lenow proaucers l ana wun ior- eigners. Any - laws therefore which ignore or deny these obviously uni versal and fundamental natural rights are In the highest sense unconstitu tional and ought to be abolished; -be cause they outrage natural law, in terfere with the plainest provisions of the Creator, and are thereby in di rect conflict with the divine constitu tion of nature. 1 1 ' We demand, therefore, that when ever and wherever the good of so ciety, the necessities of business, the perpetuity of the home, or the security of the state, demand that exclusive ownership or possession of any of America's valuable resources or choice locations be vested in or given to any individual or corporation, it shall be with the distinct proviso that the holder, or holders, of such- resources and locations shall pay into the pub lic treasuries for the benefit of all the people, the full annual value of such natural advantages, exclusive of im provements. The chief object and purpose of such proviso being to se cure to every American boy, either directly or indirectly, the full annual value of his equal natural inheritance in the land of his birth. TRANSPORTATION AND COM MUNICATION. Recognizing our great railroad, tele graph and telephone systems as sim ply modern means of transportation, distribution and communication, and as improvements on the old highways and post-roads of former times ' We demand that all such modern highway facilities be acquired by the national government, as . the postal business was; and be operated at cost for the good of all the people. MON EY AND CUltRENCY. As the postal and" telegraph sys tems are but modern means for the exchange of thought, so money and currency are but commercial utilities for exchanging products.. We therefore demand that all mon ey and currency shall be issued by the national government direct to the people, and that no power or privilege to issue currency, or coin money, shall be delegated to banks or other corporations; and as money was cre ated to exchange wealth, not men; and as there would evidently be no use for money among a people pro ducing or possessing no wealth no matter how numerous the popula tion; and, as it is evident that a country of small population, but great wealth, has larger uses for money than a country of large population and little wealth ;and, as all experi ence shows, and recent republican leg islation has clearly proved, that the purchasing power of money chiefly depends upon maintaining a uniform relation or ratio between the quantity of the medium of exchange and the quantity of wealth to be exchanged, and that the desirability of each form of money, and the maintenance of parity between the several forms, mainly depends upon conferring, or withholding, the full legal tender function always accompanying real money ;and, as all the desirability and commercial value attaching to the several forms of money and currency aside from the commodity value at taching to the material and conferred upon it solely by the demand for it for other uses than money entirely depends upon conferring upon it or withholding from it that full legal tender function, and upon maintain ing the ratio above named. There fore we demand that all money, whether gold, silver or paper, be is sued by the national government as full legal tender; that the volume thereof be increased annually, or reg ularly, in such manner as shall main tain that uniform ratio or relation between the quantity of money and the quantity of actual wealth; and, that the coinage, or stamping, or is sue by corporations or Individuals of any other kind of currency, or pre tended forms of money, be absolutely and forever prohibited. PRIMARY REFORM RECOMMEN DATIONS. Whereas, By the methods now in use In the nominating primaries the voters in the two principal political parties have their candidates for leg islative oflice selected for, .them, in stead of by them; and, u 4 ' Whereas, It Is a well known' fact; that these candidates axe often"" se lected, not because of their, having any decided and well known political convictions, but because of their hav-: tng no-political convictions, or vein pliable ones, and because of their be ing therefore ready and willing to do, the bidding of the Interests procur ing their nominations; and,.- Whereas, Such candidates are se--lected and slated without any regard . whatever to the political desires and preferences of the masses of the vot ers represented. ... Therefore, we urge upon the pa triotic Voters of each state to prepare such . bills ; to present to their state legislatures as will do away, as far as possible, with , the , delegate - system, and provide for direct nomination by the voters in each party of all candi dates for legislative office; and to that end. we suggest the adoption at all suefcu nominating primaries of tho blanket ballet and booth system, now tn conorol iica at (ha olonf inno anrl the use; of blank ballots with party headings bearing the captions, "For Congress," "For State Senator," and "For Assembly," with a blank under each such caption for the name o the candidate desired by the primary voter. The principal object of this reform is to make it to the interest of aspir ants for legislative oflice to have de cided political convictions, and to de clare them in advance of the dates of nomination. But another purpose is to make the party machine the assid uous and obedient servant, Instead of the Insolent and dictatorial master of - the party voters; and to make the machine do the will of the people, in stead of compelling the people to da the will of the machine. If the act of voting at the primar ies were made the only valid way of registering the voter lor the election the reform would be more complete, because it would practicaily guaran- ' tee a full party vote at each, such pri mary-election. CANDIDATES. My choice of candidates on this platform would be, for president, TOM L. JOHNSON -of Ohio, : and for vice president, . , . . WILLIAM J. BRYAN of Nebraska. And my. reasons for urging these nominations are, . that Mrf Johnson has the confidence and admiration of -the one . reform element, while Mr. Bryan undoubtedly has the "other; and because Johnson is as truly and prominently representative of . the first half of this platform as Bryan is of the last. I believe Mr. Bryan to be possessed of more " patriotism than ambition. and to be more of a statesman and an American than a politician or a party man, and that he ought to have been elected president. It is because of this conviction regarding him. that I be lieve Mr. Bryan's patriotism would so overshadow his personal ambition as to induce him to accept second place on this ticket if he thought it his duty to his country to do it. To put this matter of coalition to an immediate test, I respectfully sug gest that every single taxer and money reformer who favors this olat- form shall send his name, and, if pos- sioie, his subscription ix the Nebraska Independent, and urge the formation of Jeffersonian clubs pledged to tho political advancement of these prin ciples. JAMES BARTLEY. Amsterdam, N. Y. A great dear of inouirv has hppn made concerning who Judge Adams is that issued the famous injunction for- Didding the employes of the Wabash system from quitting work. He is the richest judge on the federal bench. s a gold democrat and was annninto by Cleveland. That tells tho whoi story. When those fellows capture the democratic party and then the government we will know what to ex pect. ' HOW'S THIS? We offer One Hundred Dollars Re ward for any case of Catarrh tLat can not be cured by Hall's Catarrh Cure. F.J. CHENEY & CO.. Props Toledo O. We, the undersigned, have known J. Cheney for the last 15 years, and believe him perfectly honorable in all business transactions and financially able to carry out any obligation made by their firm. . . . West & Truax, Wholesale Druggists. Toledo, O. Walding, Kinnan & Marvin, Whole sale Druggists, Toledo. O Hall's Catarrh Cure is taken inter nally, acting directly upon the blood and mucous surfaces of the systom. Price, 75c per bottle. Sold by all drug gists. Testimonials free. Hall's Family Pills ar the best.
