APRIL 16, 1903.
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT.
9
THS MERGES CASE
-y Without doubt the Occurrence of
greatest interest to the people whhh
happened during the week was th3
decision in the case of the Northern
Securities company, or the Merger
Case, as it is most commonly called.
It is the most sweeping anti-trust de
cision ever made in this country. The
United States court of appeals, sitting
in St Paul, has given Jim Hill and h'i3
partners the most stinging rebuke ever
administered by a court In this de
cision all four judges Caldwell, San
born, Thayer and Vandeventer con
curred. Every contention of the de
fendants is swept aside and a perma
nent injunction entered against them.
The opinion, written by Judge Thayer,
contends that th3 attempt of the
Northern Securities company to hoid
and vote the stock o the Great North
ern and Northern Pacific railroads is
in dirsct opposition to the provisions
of the Sherman anti-trust law; that
these are competing lines of road and
the merger destroys competition; that
any restraint of interstate commerce
is illegal; that the mere power to fix
common rates for competing lines,
whether the rates actually so fixed are
reasonable or unreasonable, is in con
travention of the law, and that a char
ter from New Jersey does not carry
with it the right to override a federal
statute. ,
The dailies are making great ado
about the decision, but The Indepen
dent doe3 not see that it will have
any practical effect, even if sustained
by the supreme court It will not es
tablish competitipn between thess
roads. It seems to this writer that
Dan Lamont, Grover Cleveland's old
chum, stated the facts when asked to
give his opinion on the decision of
the court Lamont is a director in the
securities company. He said:
"The same men who own and
- control Northern Securities own
and control ihe Northern Pacific.
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and
Great . Northern. What's the dif
' ierence? The Northern Securities
company simply made it , easier
for these men to run the roads."
The truth is that railroads are mo
nopolies, and supreme courts nor
congresses can make anything else
out of them. There can be no com
petition with a railroad and it is fu
tile to try. There is but one solution
to th3 question. The government
must own the railroads. If, as La
mont says, one set of men own all
these roads, a "security holding com
pany," while a convenience, is not a
necessity in destroying competition.
Perhaps in the seet bye and bye,
the people of the United States will
find all these things out and then
they will go to woik and apply -the
proper remedy.
These three great lines of railroads
are all owned by the same men. They
will never establish competition be
tween them, whether, there is a se
curities company or not As far as
competition is concerned, this deci
sion will not affect it in any way
Whatever.
RECENT ELECTIONS
The recent elections in Cleveland,
Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis go
far toward clearing up matters in re
gard to the chaos that has reigned in
the democratic parly. The democrats
carried three of these large cities and
lost one. Tom Johnson made a clean
sweep in Cleveland and so overwhelm
ing was his victory notwithstanding
that the corporations used every
means in their power to defeat him,
that it is generally conceded that
Mark Hanna, who was on the ground
and gave his full attention to the
campaign, has received the greatest
blow that has been dealt him since he
entered politics. What makes Har
na's defeat most stinging is the fact
that the senator tad the legislature
pass the now celebrated "ripper bill"
concerning cities with the firm con
viction that Tom Johnson would bo
(defeated and the power of the city of
Cleveland and all other cities in the
state would be In absolute control of
one man. Hanna calculated that with
a mayor of Cleveland elected in his
interests, he would not only have Tom
Johnson disposed of, but things fixed
to suit him for all time to come. Now
Tom Johnson holds that power and
not Hanna. This being the case, it is
freely predicted that Hanna may be
defeated for re-election.
In Chicago, Mayor Harrison was
elected for a fourth term on a dis
tinctively public ownership platform.
In St Louis the republicans were
defeated on account of the notorious
corruption of . their city officials, sev
eral of whom are serving in the city
council who have been sentenced to
the penitentiary and are out on bail
pending appeals in their cases. In
Cleveland, Chicago and St Louis, the
democratic platforms were all right
and men of the right stamp were nom
inated on them. In Cincinnati the
thing was the other way. A gold
democrat, M. E. Ingalls, president of
the Big Four railroad, was the candi
date, and the republicans carried the
city with a whoop and a hurrah that
left the "reorganizes" In a most hope
less condition.
Ingalls was one of the kind of demo
crats that all the republican dailies
have been lauding to the skies. They
have held him up as they have Judge
Parker and Dave Hill as a model for
all democrats. They found it easy to
do up Ingalls, just as they expect to
do up any reorganizer candidate that
they may induce, the democrats to
nominate.
ASSOCIATED PRESS MONOPOLY
All that nine-tenths of the people
know of the world and of politics they
get from the Associated press. The
character of the men who for a great
part make that news has often been
pointed out by The Independent No
great daily has seen fit to place a
correspondent in the Philippines and
all the news that the people get from
there comes through the Associated
press. It now turns out that the As
sociated press agent there was an ex
convict, who shortly .after the expira
tion of his sentence of seven years for
forgery was employed by it to furnish
the news that the people of the United
States were to base their political ac
tion upon. Previous to his sentence
for forgery he had been a confidence
man and a genteel swindler in Eu
rope, Australia, India and Egypt. In
the Philippines he went by the name
of Edgar G. Bellairs, but he has had
many aliases, among them Cheriton,
Elaine and Cameron.
He served the Associated press also
in Cuba and China. This is the man
who made r a medical lieutenant a
brigadier general, and another, an ad
venturer from Kansas, the commander
of a department of the United States
army, for upon his dispatches the
fame of Wood, Funston and Chaffee
rests. When he left Manila he was
given a farewell dinner by the army
and among those present to do him
honor were Major General A. R. Chaf
fee, commanding the division of the
Philippines; General Charles F. Hum
phrey, chief quartermaster; Colonel
Charles A. Woodruff, chief commis
sary; Colonel William P. Hall, ad
jutant general; Brigadier General T.
J. Wint, Brigadier General J. M. Lee
and the president of the American
chamber of commerce. There were
43 other men, ail distinguished in
army or in civil life, in attendance to
attest their friendship for the depart
ing journalist
This Associated press monopoly is
the most dangerous thing to good
government that ever afflicted any na
tion. It will continue as long as the
telegraph is in the hands of private
parties. In connection with the West
ern Union Telegraph company it con
trols a monopoly that threatens free
government All that the people know
about the "water cure" and other
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O M A H A .
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BPiO
S
mcde3 of campaigning in the Philip
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ex-convict
THE "STEAL" COHFOKATION
"Advertising is the material main
stay, says W. J. Ghent, in "Our Ben
evolent Feudalism," speaking of "our
moulders of opinion," "and the mer
chants and magnates who have lar
gesse to distribute must be humored.
'Publishers,' says the interesting cen
sus bulletin on 'Printing and Publish
ing,' 'are depending more on adver
tising and less on subscriptions and
sales for financial return.' Whether
it be the sensational 'yellows,' or the
less sensational, but characterless
'pihks,' or the staid and ponderous
'grays' of the press, the same' rule
holds."
Which calls to mind that the Oma
ha Bee's share of largesse from the
United States Steel corporation has
just come to hand in the form of a
full page advertisement, giving the
first annual report of that octopus.
This statement shows that for the
year ended December 31, 1902, the
gross sales and earnings were $560,
510,479.39, and that after deducting for
manufacturing and operating expenses,
general expenses (including Schwab's
salary and taxes), and other minor
charges, the net earnings for the year
were $133,308,703.72 or a trifle better
than 10 per cent on the $1,325,267,
583.43 worth of property which the
corporation claims to own.
But The Independent did not set
out to give an analysis of this report.
It simply wants to call attention to
the taxes paid by this corporation, re
ported at $2,391,465.74. That of itself
is an enormous sum sufficient to wipe
out the floating debt of Nebraska and
perhaps leave ' enough to build a
temple for the university without any
help from Rockefeller. Yet, enormous
as the sum is, it amounts to les3 than
two mills on every dollar of property,
and less than 2 per cent of the net
earnings.
The United States Steel corporation
paid a trifle over 18 cents in taxes on
each $100 worth of property held by
it and that includes every kind of
taxes, state, county, and municipal.
An $8,000 quarter section of Nebraska
land (say in Lancaster county) pays
about $35 a year in state, county and
school district taxes; $8,000 of steel
trust property paid but $14.40 in taxes
last year.
It ought not to be difficult for the
small taxpayer to see where he comes
In in a deal like this, or to see how
the corporation can afford to pay en
ormous prices for publishing full-
page advertisements of Its report in
the leading plutocrotic newspapers of
the United States.
The Nebraska supreme court . has
made the startling discovery that in
all Nebraska cannot be found a com
petent young woman, of populist or
democratic persuasion, capable of as
sisting Deputy Clerk Paul Pizey - in
preparing the "unreported" opinions,
and because of this discovery the
court has appointed Mss Howell of
Omaha, a republican, to do the work.
It may not be out of place to remark
at this time that such tactics tend to
strengthen the party organizations
which placed Judges Sullivan and
Holcomb where they are today!
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP
Municipal ownership has, in Oma
ha, at least, reached the same stage
which direct legislation reached long
ago. That is to say, no party dare
oppose it, and, therefore, it ceases to
become a political issue. There can
be no war without resistance.
At the coming city election four or
five candidates for mayor will crave
the suffrage of Omaha electors. The
present mayor, Frank E. Moores, "ma
chine," or Itosewater candidate;
Erastus A. Benson, bolting republi
can, or anti-Rosewater candidate; Ed
ward E. Howell, democratic; and
Judge Cunningham R. Scott threatens
to break in as an independent candi
date for mayor and will run by peti
tion, lie says that he will be elected
on a platform of municipal ownership
of the waterworks, equal taxation and
a city government by the people, in
stead of by crooks and gamblers.
As an act of simple justice to Gov-"
ernor Mickey, The Independent de
sires to say that it has been agreeably,
disappointed by his action in signing
the appropriation bills without cut
ting out any state university items
Iwt it can't help wondering if, when
he signed the deficiency claims bill of
something like $120,000, he recollected
the statements he made last fall on
the stump relative to ' "closing thd
books without a deficiency."
