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Vol. XIV.
LINCOLN, NEB., APRIL 23, 1903.
No. 48.
I
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THE BUSSES BEQUEST -
Ur. Sampioa Beg arda the Bhodet Scholar
hlpi at Oxford m MUfortune '
la DUfuiie
Editor Independent: The provision
In the will of the late Cecil Rhodes for
two three-year scholarships, in per
petuity, at Oxford college, England,
for each state and territory of the
American union, has naturally created
much interest on both sides of the At
lantic. : . -
The writer fields to no one in ap
preciation of the importance of edu
cation, and the. value of college and
university education, nor is he obliv
ious to the good generally resulting
from interchange of ideas between
representatives of different nationali
ties. Ordinarily, therefore, a bequest
of thi3 character would bewelcomed,
but, under the circumstances of the
present case, Mr. Rhodes' action can
not be considered otherwise than as a
possible misfortune in disguise. -.
It is an open secret that, with re
gard to the South African war, Mr.
Rhodes was an accomplice before the
fact, because the destruction of the
two republican governments in South
Africa would directly and powerfully
contribute to his plan for British fed
eration in that continent. Nor is it
less well known that a considerable
portion of his vast wealth was ac
quired directly or indirectly through
the criminal exploitation of Africa
by England. But we pass the ques
tion as to the right or propriety of
using even for education the proceeds
of public plunder, and proceed to a
consideration of more practical im
portance. Mr. Rhode3 is quoted as giving the
following reason for the bequests in
question, in common with similar be
quests to all the British colonies and
Germany:
"I desire to encourage and foster an
appreciation of the advantages which,
I implicitly ... believe, will result from
a union of the English-speaking peo-
pies throughout the world, and to
encourage in the students from the
United States who "t will benefit by
these scholarships an attachment to
the country from which they have
sprung; but without, I hope, with
drawing them or their sympathies
from the land of their adoption or
. birth."
And Mr. William T. Stead is quoted
as saying of Mr. Rhodes' educational
bequests:
"The central principle of his scheme
is that every English-speaking colony
and every state and territory in the
American union shall be offered a
scholarship of the value of $1,500 a
year, tenable for three years, at Ox
ford. By this means Mr. Rhodes be
lieved it would be possible to make
Oxford the center of the spirit of race
unity, where students from every part
of the English-speaking world would
meet, on common ground, in the most
famous of the old universities." -
While this sounds well enough, we
are pertinently reminded of the lan
guage employed by President Wash
ington in hi3 letter of January 28,
1795, to the commissioners of the Dis
trict of Columbia, In connection with
his plan for a national university at
Washington, as follows: : .
"It has always been a source of
seripus .reflection and sincere regret
with me that the youth of the UUlted
States should be sent to foreign coun
tries for the purposes of education.
Although there are doubtless many,
under these circumstances, who escape
the danger of contracting principles
unfavorable to republican govern
ment, yet we ought to deprecate" the
hazard attending ardent and suscept
ible minds from being too strongly
and too easily prepossessed In favor
of other political systems before they
are capable of appreciating their
own." .
And again, in his letter of March
16, 1795, to Governor Brooks, of Vir
ginia: - "It is with indescribable regret that
I have seen the youth of the United
States migrating to foreign countries
In order to acquire the higher
branches of erudition and to obtain
a knowledge of the sciences. Al
though it would be injustice to many
to pronounce the certainty of their
imbibing maxims not congenial to re
publicanism, it must nevertheless be
admitted that a serious danger iat.enn
. countered by sending abroad atnon
other political systems those who have
not well learned the value of their
own."
Before the Spanish war the declar
ation of such a purpose as is attri
buted to Mr. Rhodes might ' have
caused little apprehension. But with
in the last five years we have been
making history, strange history, and
making it fast. The facts that Eng
lishmen and Americans come of a
common stock,, that they have a, com
mon language, glory in a kindred lit
erature, have a jurisprudence funda
mentally alike, and political institu
tions similar in some respects these
facts have been assiduously employed
as a reason for our adoption of Eng
land's foreign . policy a policy that
may be spelled in three words per
fidy, murder, robbery. The British
war on the South African burghers
and our war upon the Filipinos con
stitute the twin infamies of the age.
and the one has actually been used in
moral support of the other. Almost
every act of tyranny against which
the Declaration of Independence pro
tested we have committed in our ap
pendix to the "war of liberation" in
Cuba. Everything possible to official
America at Washington, during the
last five years, has been done, and is
now being done, to Imperialize the
United States; and England and every
other monarchy in, Europe is watch
ing the attempted transformation
with ill-disguised satisfaction.
Mr. Rhodes has avowed a bad pur
pose 'With an honesty to his credit It
goes without saying that the author
has no sympathy whatever with the
Rhodes scheme of South African fed
eration under the British flag, or with
his larger idea of Anglo-Saxon federa
tion under an imperial policy.
Under the circumstances, a fellow
ship at Constantinople or St Peters
burg for American students -would be
less dangerous to American institu
tions than a scholarship at Oxford.
Turkey and Russia are undisguised
despotisms, which are at once and
permanently repellant to the Ameri
can mind. But the partial resenbl
ance of English political institutions
to our own, together with the kindred
jurisprudence and literature, tempts
the American to temporize with the
monarchical idea, to close his eyes to
the atrocities and misery which have
invariably accompanied the forcible
extension of British sovereignty In
every quarter of the globe, and to be
lieve the miserable cant and hypoc
risy with which Britain has uniform
ly cloaked her selfish attacks upon
the rights of man.
It is hoped, however, for the honor
of American manhood, that those
American students who avajl them
selves of the Rhodes bequest will,
upon every proper occasion, proclaim
in the land of George III. the politi
cal principles of George Washington.
JOHN SAMPSON
" Washington, D. C. .
Do you want to read tin best books
on political economy? Then write a
card to The Independent today.
THE MERGER CASE
Interesting Inside History of Northern Securities
Case Never Before Made Public
HARRIMAN-VERSUS "JIM" HILL
Wily New Yorker Too Much For Minnesota flagnate Outcome of Case
Suits Harriman Exactly
The Independent is able to lay be
fore its readers the secret of the whole
movement to bring a case against the
Northern Securities company and give
them a few facts, not heretofore pub
lished in any paper. The movement
was both political and financial, but
at the bottom of it all was an effort
of the Harriman Interests to get con
trol of the Northern Pacific. The
stock of that company is divided into
preferred and common, but the own
ers of the common stock have a right
to retire the preferred. Hill owned a
majority of the common and Harri
man the preferred. That gave Hill
the whip hand. Then the Harriman
crowd proposed a "community of in
terests," the common stock was trans
muted into the securities of the
Northern Securities company wit'.
certain regulations that deprived it
of the power of retiring the preferred
stock whatever might happen to the
securities company.
Then the Harriman crowd sent
agents all over the six states through
which the two roads run to stir up a
great row about the merging of the
two roads. - A large number of news
papers were, induced to take up the
question and show the wreck and ruin
that would- follow the . suppression of
competition. It worked like a charm.
The republican politicians in those
states were frightened out of their
wits. They declared that these six re
publican states would be lost to the
party unless something was done. The
governors held conferences. Urged on
by the Harriman interests, the papers
grew more vociferous. Finally a con
ference was held in Washington in
which many men prominent in the
republican party in those six states
took part. Among them were the
senators and representatives in con
gress. The president was told that
if something wasnot done-that those
six states would be lost Then the
president ordered the attorney gen
eral to investigate -the matter. It did
not take Knox long to find out that
the merger was contrary to law and
the suit was instituted. The presi
dent was assured by all the great
financial interests which center in the
Harriman gangt that it vwas necessary
to the "business interests" that the
case should be immediately tried and
a bill was rushed through congress
to expedite the hearings.
Every lawyer knew that there was
plenty of law on the statute books to
annul any such a scheme to destroy
cpmpetition, and the counsel of the
GreatNorthern told' their employers so
before the scheme was inaugurated,
but the Harriman crowd completely
outwitted the other side.. They
pointed to the fact that there were
scores of other railroad combinations
of exactly the same character and the
government had never Instituted any
prosecutions, that, in fact, the repub
lican party could not afford to do it
and would not do it. So they went
ahead.
A few minutes after the news of the
decision reached New York, a news
paper man-called on Harriman and
asked him what he thought of the de
cision. Harriman was so - delighted
over the success of his scheme that in
his excitement he unguardedly re
plied: "It suits me exactly." That re
ply, led to an investigation and it was
found that the order of the court, be
cause of the destruction of the com
mon stock, would give Harriman con
trol of the Northern Pacific and that
Harriman had Hill down and was
trampling that great railroad mogul
beneath his feet
. Now that this gang of Wall street
pirates has successfully used the pres
ident, congress and the United States
courts to down a rival, they have
joined their forces with all who are
of like occupations and are snowing
under the cabinet, the president and
the leaders of the republican 'party
with telegrams and protests to the ef
fect that "there must be no more trust
prosecutions," or a panic will result
and the republican party will be put
out of power.
The readers-of The Independent can
rest assured that they have a true
history of this affair. They cat even
verify a good part of it by putting to
gether little items that have appeared
here and there in the financial col
umns of the creat dallies, but. ,thn
same dailies will never: -arlnt a. cnn.
nected account of the matter. ! , ; ;
BAVY DISCIPLINE
Bev, Herbert 8, Blg-elow'e Sermon Flat;
Klulaf Doet not Hake Flag
Lovers
"" A case of discipline on board an
American man-of-war was used as the
text of a sermon Sunday evening by
Herbert S. Bigelow, pastor of the
Vine Street Congregational church, "
Cincinnati, 0.
The case was that of a .seaman who
was heard to call the United States
flag a dirty rag. For this blasphemy
the fellow was compelled to kiss the
flag six times and to swear that he
would never again speak disrespectful
ly of the flag or allow any jone else
to do so in his presence.
"This news item is interesting,"
said Mr. Bigelow, "because ,it reminds
us of the childish way in which men
used to treat each other. There is
nothing very grim or tragic about it
It is only amusing. But it illustrates
very well the principle which is rare
ly practiced new, but which once was
common practice among men the
principle that a man's thought could
be regulated, or his heart changed by
violence or threats of violence upon
his person. .
"In the day when Baptists were
looked upon as heretics the Canton
of Zurich decreed that all the Bap
tists should be drowned. If these
pestilent fellows persisted in their be
lief in immersion their Calvlnlstlc
brethren proposed to give them
enough of it
"In the Virginia colony It was a
capital crlmo to speak 'impiously' of
the Trinity. . The same penalty was
Invoked for 'blaspheming God's holy
name.' One of the modes of punish
ment provided by the law of Virginia
for the man who should curse sacred
things was that 'a bodkin should be
thrust through his tongue.' The sec
ond offense of Sabbath breaking was
punishable by whipping and the third
offense by death. Non-attendance at
divine worship was punishable by
whipping -and the penalty for the
third offense was 'the galleys for six
months.' ,.
"The. law made It. the first duty of
a man on arriving in the colony to
repair to the minister and be exam
ined as to the orthodoxy of his relig
ious faith. If he proved unsound he
was to be instructed. If he refused
to go he was to be whipped. If he
refused the second-time he was to be
whipped twice, and be compelled 'to
acknowledge his fault on Sabbath day
in the assembly of the congregation.'.
If he refused the third time he was to
be 'whipped every day until he makes
acnowledgement"
. "In Virginia, in 1634, a man by the
name of Coleman was excommuni
cated for forty days for 'using scorn
ful speeches and putting on his hat
in church.'
,"11656 the Boston colony enacted
that any person denying any of the '
books of the Bible should be whipped
or fined and, If obstinate, banished.
Earlier than that there was a law
which banished Jesuits and which
punished them with death In case
they returned after being banished. ,
"Those old heresy hunters in Bos
ton removed a governor of the col
ony because they were not satisfied
with the orthodoxy of his opinions.
In 1650 one William Pychon was sum
moned before the magistrate to an
swer for a book written on the Atone
ment The court ordered that the
book be burned in the market place -by
the hangman and appropriated 25
pounds to a preacher to write an an
swer to It. .
"Compare these dark ways with
this noble declaration of William
Penn: 'I abhore two nrincioles in
religion, and pity them that own :.
them; the first is obedience to author
ity without conviction; and the other
is destroying them that differ from
me for God's sake. Such a religion
is without Judgment, though not
without teeth.' .
"Thomas Jefferson said: 'It Is er-.
ror alone that needs the support of
government Truth can stand by it
self.' In what a painful school have
we been taught that lesson! Yet,
thank God, we have learned it In re
gard to. matters of religious opinion
and we are the first nation in the his
tory of the world to embrace the gos
pel of religious freedom in all its full
ness.,
"Now we know.witfc Jefferson that