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About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (May 28, 1903)
MAY 28, 190 3. 7 Th9 Workingman I 'i . t . Cincinnati. May 24. "The Work ingman His Friends and Enemies," was the topic of Mr. Herbert S. Bige low's sermon this evening at the Vine Street Congregational church. , Mr. Bigelow said in part: "Job had his comforters and the workingman has his counselors. In this gratuitous advice the latter has profited as little as the former. One of the most erratic of these friends of the workingman is the district attorney of New York. Re cently he said to an audience of la borers: ojon't accept any wishy-washy stuff about the brotherhood of man or eco nomic forces or inherent rights. Evpr since man has been able to stand on his hind legs, he has been striving for all he can get. If you are strong you win, if you are not, you lose. Distrust all men who come to you with broad schemes for settling all social and economic questions permanently. Can any scheme be invented which will be a cure-all for evils to come? Not on your life." If Mr. Jerome were to get up in the night for medicine for a sick child, he would probably make it a matter of conscience, not to mistake If C ... Jm HERBERT S. BIGELOW. carbolic acid for castor oil. This ad vice which he offers so jauntily to the workingman is sheer poison. No doubt the doctor means welL But it men were held responsible for the character of their thoughts as for their acts, we should say this advice of Mr. Jerome were a case of malpractice. This advice has not even the merit of the Derbyshire charm for sick cattle which was used with the words: "If it does thee no good, it will do 'thee no harm." A noble sentiment this: "Away with wishy-washy stuff about the brotherhood of man. Stand on your hind legs and grab all you can. Might is right" - That is atheism at work. That is tv.e doctrine that there is no God, applied to the labor problem. Too many men are guilty of this practical atheism who would resent the charge of being atheists. Fortunately not all acknowledged atheists are so thor ough going as Mr. Jerome. No doubt there is enough latent po litical" power in the hands of the la borers in this nation to take every thing in sight. If they saw fit to use the strength they have, they could make New York in 1903 what Paris was in 1793. In a single night they could tear down the republic and er rect the commune. Labor is Samp son. If he were so minded he could, with one sweep of his right arm, brush away the pillars of state and bring down to ruin the good as well as the evil in our social structure. What is to hinder the working peo ple, when they learn their power from playing the tyrant? This is what we might expect, if they were to take the advice of Mr. Jerome, to stand on their hind legs and take all they have the power to take. But this republic is secure, and popular insti tutions are safe, just because the av erage man is controlled by his con ception of what is just and right Al though the majority of the votes are and Will always be in the hands of the so-called laborers, we need have no fear as a nation, because, notwith standing the admonitions of Mr. Je rome, -brute force is not likely to take the place of ethical ideals, as the con trolling principle of conduct Mr. Jerome affects a fine scorn for the economic reformer. There is noth ing in his words to suggest that there are skillful physicians, as well as Attacks, among economic reformers as among doctors or medicine. une might infer from his language that lc would be more profitable for the workingman to read the reports of the latest prize fight, than to waste his time on such books as Progress and Poverty, or Shearman's Natural Taxation. It is quite the fashion to condemn all plans for economic betterment, as though they were all offered as pana ceas. Doubtless the reformer, in .his enthusiasm, expects too much from his plan. Republican . institutions have not saved the world, as some ex pected, but that does not prove any thing for monarchy. Some abolition ists Thought the labor question would be settled by the emancipation proc lamation. - "Was slavery made right by the fact that they expected too much from abolition? Today there are men like William Lloyd Garrison, Tom L. Johnson, Bol ton Hall and Clarence Darrow, and a host of earnest and thoughtful peopK who tell us that we would do mud to unshackle labor if we were to take the unearned Increment of land value for public purposes, and thereby re lieve personal property and improve ments upon land from the burden of taxation. Then some fellow says with a swag ger, "Another panacea. A cure-all. Will it work? Not on your life." Suppose Mr. Jerome's baby has the colic. The doctor prescribes castor oil. Will Mr. Jeromen scout the idea and insist that if his baby is strong it will get well, and if it is not, it will die? Will he say to the doctor: "Pan any scheme be invented which will be a cure-all for babie3, for. all evil3 to come?" ' "I take no stock in your theories.'' This is a customary remark with which men who are supposed to be thoughtful and cultured, dismiss the suggestions of the economic reformer. Suppose the man who planned the Brooklyn birdge had been as con temptuous of theories of mechanic?:, as our vaunted statesmen frequently are of theories of political economy. No doubt. Mr. Jerome would adm:1: that it would be disastrous to con struct a bridge on an Incorrect theory. Now there are good and .bad ways of raising public revenues, just as there are good and bad ways of building bridges. What would be more reck less in a leader of public opinion thai to advise people to give no heed to the theories for economic betterment, but to go blundering along in a blind. unreasoning and unethical contest of strength? No doubt this is what Mr. Jerome vould call a practical talk to work- ingmen.' Oh, these practical men! The practical people are now engaged m collecting fresh air funds. A cir cular has just been handed me by the postman which contains an appeal for alms with which to send Iittla children into the country. Among other things the circular says: 'It behooves us to avail ourselves of the privilege of giving, for two weeks, the only breath of fresh air, with good food and beds, that many of these dwellers in the tenements re ceive during the hot summer months." What a monstrous confession! What an indictment against our social conditions! And what do these practical men propose to do for the society so dis jointed that many, for even two weeks of fresh air, have to depend upon the alms of the favored few? Why, th-2 practical suggestion is to select out of this multitude of Les Miserables a few hundred to be taken on a charity ex cursion. But if some one reminded us that half the land within our borders is unoccupied, and that our system of taxation puts a premium on vacant land and a penalty on improving land, and that by reason of this blunder homes are made dear, wages are re duced and the people are crowded, and if. tO raliotro rrto ttora rna nrr poses a sensible change in the meth od of raising taxes, then your practi cal man will declare in his omnisci ence: "Can any scheme be Invented which will be a cure-all for evils to come? Not on your life." How en thusiastic some men grow jn telling us what can't be done! If the money contributed to fresh air funds were spent in collecting and parading to public view the hundreds of dead babies that perish every sum mer for lack of fresh air, practical men might be moved to look into some broader scheme of social betterment and take less satisfaction in the ab surd attempt to bail out the ocean of human misery with the spoon of charity. jlill!lllillilll!lilllllllllllll!llll!llllll!l!i!llllllll!l!!lllllillll!lllllilllllllillllilllllllli IQrocerie - Special June Combination EE j We Pay the Freight EE We will deliver the following 110.00 combination to any town in S the state of Nebraska, freight prepaid by us, any time during the Er month of June, 1903. . Reference: Firat National Bank or The In-. r dependent. EES 5 50 lbs Best Granulated Sugar... . fl.00 ss 20 lbs Choice Prunes, New Crop , . . .50 s 2 25 Bars Good Laundry Soap 1-00 E 2 lbs High Grade Japan Tea 1.00 S3 - in Milt jjnff iinnee an. S 61bs Fancy Bright Apricots .75 5 4 lbs Fancy 4 Crown Large Raisins.... .50 ss 5 3 cans Beatrice Corn .25 ss Z a 3 lb cans cans Tomatoes .25 ss G lbs Fancy Head Rice 50 5 1 Can 16 oz. Cream of Tartar Baking Powder... 25 ss 3Pkgs.l0cSoda.. : .25 ss s 3 Pkgs 10 Corn Starch .25 3 Pkga loc Gloss Starch ; .25 SS lib Pure Black Pepper. .25 , ss . 1 Bottle Lemon Extract -10 SS 1 Bottle Vanilla Extract .10 - ss 5 2 Doz. Clothes Pins... .05 ss 3 cans early June Peas .25 All the above for 110.00 I Orders for customers outside of the state of Nebraska ss s - add 75c to pay part of freight ss 5 tjgf Branch & Miller Co. are entirely responsible and the goods are ss S lirst-class. We recommend the above combination to the favorable con- ss 5 sideration of our readers. The Independent, S3 I Branch & Miller Co. s ,Cor. lolh and P Sts. Lincoln, Neb. 5 What we Advertise we Do, ' ss illlllllllllllllllllllllll!!ll!lllll!lllllllllllllll!llllllllllilllll?llllllllllllllllllllliIllllirS Do vou want to understand the aims and objects of the single tax? If you do, you can obtain literature on the subject free of cost by writing to the Brooklyn Single Tax League, 1467 Bedford ave., Brooklyn, N. Y. Effective Ballot TCditnr Tndenendent: Permit me to consratulate you upon the excellence of your Henry George Edition. It is good from "A" to "lzzard," not even excepting some of my own humble contributions. Am glad to know you are to continue the good work. Having spent thirty-eight years in a printing office, and twenty-five of them in an editor's chair, I am something of a judge of a good special edition and of newspapers generally, and I think The Independent is all right. . It may interest you to know that I estab lished and for fifteen years edited and owned the first newspaper in the world devoted to advocating the sin gle tax The Antimonopolist, of To peka, Kas. In your list of single tax papers you omit the best of them all The Star of San Francisco, Cal., James II. Bar ry, editor. The Star is an old, widely circulated paper, edited with excep tional ability and rigidly honest sec ond only, if at all, to Post's, Public. Send it a copy of your special edition. I think you would be delighted with it as an exchange. It is right on all questions. The Star is an advocate of what I think is the most important of all re forms the one that renders all other reforms easy of attainment, the one that takes political power away from bosses and machines and gives it to the voters, viz: "The Effective Ballot," or Have-Cridge system of voting. Tf vnii are not familiar with this method of voting and wish to under stand it, I will be pleased to send you articles explaining it. Had the pop ulists enacted it when in power in Kansas they would still have been m control of the state, for no minority plurality can win against the major ity of the voters. Enclosed find 25 cents for trial sub scription. I now take twoVlailfes, nine weeklies, seven montnues, anu one more won't hurt. ' W. H. T. WAKEFIELD. Mound City, Kas. (Gfad to have the articles, Mr. Wakefield. Associate Editor.) 320 Acr$ in Adams County No. 704. Three and a half mlle3 from' Hastings, 240 acres under plow, all in one-body, is nearly all smooth, level land, best black loam; the re maining 80 acres excellent blue stem and buffalo grass pasture and" hay land. Fine ash and walnut timber along the creek; 6-room house, barn, cribs, granary, well; ICO acres in fina wheat and balance will be in other crop. Rent is one-third and goes to the purchaser. Price $tf,300; $5,000 cash and balance in five years at 5 per cent. Farm owned by an estate and to settle the same must be sold. Land will raise in value from $5 to $10 per acre this fall. Weber & Far ris, Lincoln, Neb. Five months trial trip, 23c, Plumbing and Heating Estimates Furnished J.C.COX 33 North i4th Street. Linco!n,Neb. Dr. Mitchell's Lumpy Jaw Cure Dr. Mitchell's Lumpy Jaw Cure 1 guaranteed to cure or money refunded. One application Is enough. One bottle is suflicient for 4" head or more. You can buy It at your druggists or he can get it from his jobber. If he won't, write us direct and we will send you a bottle for $1.25 delivered. Marshall Oil Company, sole sale agents for the United States, Marshalltown, la. Buy Paint at Wholesale Prices mlZT - Black Roof Paint ..40c, per gal Red Barn Paint . ....... .58c. per gal Slate Color Barn Paint. .78c. per gal Shingle Stain.. 3oc to...6oc. per gal Sheep Dip 65c. per gal Excelsior Disinfectant... 60c. per gal Superior Disinfectant. . .75c. per ga EXCEL510R DISFECTANT will kill lice on, bogt and cattle; urevent and cure hog cholera, bam plea, circulars and color cards free. Wo guarantee everything yre sell. Terms cash on receipt of goods. As to our responsibility, we refer you to any commercial report or any bank in Findlay, Ohio. THE OHIO PAINT & VARNISH COMPANY FINDLAY. OHIO, U. S. A. ' TWENTY DOLLARS PER WEEK Representatives wanted in every county, no experience necessary, no canvassing. JJustness conducted at home evenings. Address North western Specialty Co., Flndlar, Ohio. Cheap Excursions Via. FROM OMAHA Indiananolis. Ind. $19.40: on salo June 7, 8 and 9th. Detroit, Mich., $'1.50; on sale July 11 and 15. Uellefontaine, O., izu.iu; on saie May zo-;une i. Haltimore, Md.,$325, on sale July 17-18. Bon ton, Mass., $KU5;on sale June 30-July4. St. Paul, Minn., $12.35. Minneapolis, Minn., $12.35. Duluth, Minn., $16.35. Waterville, Minu., $10.35; on sale daily daring June, July, August and September. Above Btes are For Bound Trip Ticket One wy Settlers' and Homeseekers' rounl trip tickets on sale to points in the north, north east northwest, south and southeastern state, on first and third Tuesdays of each month. Summer tours via. Duluth or Chicago and steamer via the Great Lakes. Kates to many other points. Write me about your trip and let me give yon an itinerary, showing time, connections, eost, ete. Blasping ear and steamer reservations made in advance. Correspondence solicited and lnformatioa cheerfully given. W. H. BRILL, Dist. Pass. Agt., 111. Cent R. B., Omaha No. 1402 Farnam 8.