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About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (June 18, 1903)
2 THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT JUNE 18, -1903. w. for advertising purposes;' this upon the ground that it advertises your views and ideas. If this is the posi tion of the department, I do not see how it can possibly sustain the same. There are many publications which arc established and designed to pro mulgate the views of the owners; in cieed the editorial columns of every newspaper set forth the views of its editor. The term in the law 'prin.ariljr designed for advertising purposes' cer tainly will not bear any such con-traction as you indicate is placed th -reon by the third assistant postmaster gen eral. I have examined the two topW of the publication, and I do not see. if you comply with the usual reo lire ments , for admission as second- ;lass matter, why the publication sioulc1 not be admitted. ... I feel that on the facts as presented by you, you a e in the right under the law. ""If you wish me to act as your ( oun Fel in this matter, I. will do so ipon the payment of a retainer of $5,500, and an agreement for an additional contingent fee of $2,500, provided the publication is admitted as second class matter." On this letter I commented: "With the publicity of the rumor of a dii graceful blackmailing intriguing game that Is supposed to be going on in the postofflce has gained, it is evident that whatever lawyer took up my case would take it at the peril of his refu tation if he won, and this would be doubly the t case if Mr. Barrett were the successful man, both on account of hisbeing a nephew to Mr. Tyner, the attorney general to the postofficc, rnd his previous connection with the postofflce. Having this in mind I de cided as a matter of duty and honor that, much as I weuld have liked to have won my case, I simply could not ask Mr. Barrett to make such a sacri fice for me for a meie $5,000!" In the daily papers of April 22 we read: "James N. Tyner, attorney" general for the postofflce department, wa? summarily removed by Postmaster General Payne on April 23. Mr. Ty ner had been asked to resign early in March, but upon the .pleas of himse'f and wife the time was extended til' May 1 to save him disgrace. On April 21 his wife and her sister, Mrs. Bar rettthe mother of Harrison J. Bar rett; went to his office with" a safe ex pert after hours and rifled the safe of all it contained. Inspectors went to the Tyner house and were refused the papers. Tyner was dismissed, and it is said all concerned may be prose cuted." The New York Sun dispatch on the matter includes thi-i statement: "It is generally known that a Wash ington firm, operating through a stool-pigeon, has been in the habit of sending blackmailing letters to mail concerns throughout the country whose methods were considered ques tionable, and charge3 have been mad that Mr. Barrett was interested in this transaction, and that it was ha whose influence was used to secure the approval of the assistant attorney general's office for mail schemes of a doubtful nature." In November, 1901, I wrote to the postmaster general, complaining of the injustice of Madden's decision and asking for an investigation. But h leferrei me back to Madden, the xecy man against whom I complained. I then wrote to the president asking for an interview, feeling confident that iv five minutes conversation I could con vince him that his subordinates had done me a great injustice; but he re f erred me back 'to the postmaster gen eral who had referred me back to Madden. Even when Hon. F. O. Mac Cartney, of the Massachusetts legisla tare wrote him, appealing for a pei -sonal interview c i the subject he, too, was referred in the same way to tho same official of whom the complaint was made. In an open letter to Pres ident Roosevelt at the time, I said: "Why endanger your political future by tying your fortunes to such a man (as Madden)? What greater blunder HEADACHE ! At aH drug store. 2$ Doees 25c. . In n i i A could Mr Madden Lave committed cur administration to, than that of suppressing the freedom of the press?" " ,5- Again I am substantiated. In the New York World of May 4, eighteen nonths afterwards, I find the follow ing: FEAR EFFECT OF SCANDALS ON 1904. President's Friends Are Greatly Wor ried, by Revelations in Postofflce De partment Baltimore Inquiry Stopped by Officials. Serious Irregularities Believed to Ex ist There Now Likely That Mar.hen Will Be Removed. Special to The World. Washington, May 3. Many of Pres ident Roosevelt's close friends in the senate and house are woried about the postofflce ; scandals. They fear theytwill be a serious handicap to Mr. Roosevelt in 1904 unless they are rig orously and quickly dealt with. Sena tor Lodge, who is here now, is one of these. When Senators Aldrich, Spoon er, Allison and Piatt, of Connecticut, get together at Virginia Hot Springs pext- .i - esday.: ostensibly to di'rass :i new financial measure, they will also talk over the-postofflce scandals, ani benator Lodge is going down there to tell them what he knows. Meanwhile Postmaster General Payne is waiting to hear from Charles Emory Smith and the others to whom he wrote on Friday for an explana tion of Tulloch's charges, and Tulloch sits serenely at his home in Forest Glen and insists he can prove every thing he says, and more, too. Postmaster General Payne has been trying to keep the public knowledge of the scandals within bounds. His attempts resemble those of a man fighting a prairie fire. As soon as h-3 gets one spot " smothered the fir 3 breaks out somewhere else. From the moment that Perry Heath became first assistant 'postmaster general in 1897, to the present time every investigation of any note that has been started anywhere in the postofflce department has been piomptly stopped by orders from offi cials "higher up." There is reason to suppose that the Baltimore postofflce ccnceals scandals similar to those i;i the Washington postofflce, but when an investigation was started there it was promptly stopped by orders from Washington. From time to time in vestigations have been , held behind closed doors, but the results have al ways been whitewashed. The men who do the actual investi gation, the experts, are skilled, con scientious men. They are all in the civil service and they have nothing to fear. However, when they begin to find out things they are promptly called oft and they can do nothing but obey. Although no findings have been an nounced, thee is not the slightest doubt that the great machinery of the postofflce department has been used unscrupulously to repay political obli gations and to favor needy, politicians. It has been a grab-bag with plums for all who had the proper standing, end the men who have held the bag have seen to it that they secured some ot the choicest plums for themselves. The present indications are that A. W. Machen, the superintendent of the division of free deliveries, will be re moved or allowed to resign. Now that Tulloch - has made his charges public, the affairs of John T. Merritt, postmaster for Washington, wIP also b? investigated. The postmastership at Washington is a bit of political pa tronage that does not go to the Dis trict of Columbia. Merritt is from Lockport, N. Y. He is a supporter of Representative James W. Wedsworth of Geneseo. I have frequently intimated that very possibly the politics of my paper had something to do with its exclu sion from the mails, but this was de nied by the postofflce officials. Today we read the following confirmation in the New York Mail and Express, a re publican paper, presumably speaking on behalf of the administration: "It is to be hoped that the report which comes from Washington that a campaign is to be begun against so cialism is correct, and that it will be conducted with intelligence and vigor. As outlined, the campaign is to be gin at once, it is to be educational in its character, and it is to be prose cuted steadily through this and next year. The plan is the result of many c( nsultations among leading republi cans, including such men as Senator Hanna, Secretary of the Navy Moody, Postmaster General Payne, and Sena tor Spooner, of Wisconsin. They pro pose to make an earnest and compre 'Jhetii"e' en-ort. to "check the snred of socialistic Ideas and to supplant5 them with sound, conservative opinions on industrial questions, - governmental policies and all subjects affecting so ciety and the individual. The scheme is a thoroughly commendable one, an'l 1. should receive the support not only of republicans, but of all intelligent and disinterested citizens as well." Naturally the best way to check the spread of socialistic Ideas would be to suppress successful socialist papers, by refusing to give them publishers' ,rttc5, to which they are' entitled. : Over a year ago,' when ' this maga zine was about to be! forced lo remove its printing office from New York to Canada, owing ; to the 1 unjust ruling above ; referred to, I called at Mr.1 Hearst's-office; in-New York city, and give full particulars of the effort that was being inade. to ; blackmail me. Hearst offered no consolation or help whatsoever. .' ' ' ' 7 ' " Today Mr,- Hearst is posing as the champion of a free press and the ex poser of blackmailers. Why djdn't he show his mettle by taking up thr". matter then," Instead of waiting until now when the whole country is con versant with the corruption? I gave the whole story not only to Mr. Hearst, but to several other New York daily papers, and not one of them would have anything to do with i t. They frank ly said they were not interested ; in the postofflce blackmail ing of the weekly and monthly press, as long as the dily press was left un molested. Now that it has become popular, however, they all join in the general hue and cry. Meanwhile, from my Canadian van tage ground I look on at the daily disclosures of the fraud, corruption and intrigue which I well knew, from my own experience, to exist, hoping that when, the air clears once more I shall be able to exercise 'my undeni able right to publish my magazine in my own country, even though it have for IU motto: "Let the Nation Own the Trusts." II. GAYLORD WILSHIRE. " H0RTH,.c7p0LINA;0PULISTS ... National Committeeman Lawrence Tells of the Political Situation in His State No Loss of Populist. Editor Independent: Yours re ceived some time since. We had no ticket in the field at last election, but would say there has been no loss, if circumstances were such that we could draw a division cf the voters. Owing to the fact that it was an off-year; that we had no can didates in the field; that the circulat ing medium had been expanded and the silver question was not a neces sity, there was an apparent loss of populist strength. The populist vot ers were, I suppose, about equally di vided between the two old parties, al though most of them had been drawn from the democratic party. I fear we have no people's party or ganization in this state. Hon. Mar ion Butler was the last state chair man. The state executive committee was as follows: H. W. Ayer. vie chairman, Raleigh; J. F. Mitchell, Franklinton; J. F. Click, Hickory; A. S. Pease, Oxford; J. B. Lloyd, Ta'r boro; Z. T. Garrett, Henderson. I am unable to answer your other questions. Ridicule has been one of the great est means used to put our people back to the democratic party. As for my self I can never go back to it, espe cially in this state. The democrats here are rotten to the core, with no hope of reform that I can see, and not much hope in the near future to get a fair election nothing but a revolu tion can do that. I should have said also that another great cause of dis ruption in our party was the division of the leaders between leading issues and the national tickets. S. A. LOWRANCE. Mooresville, N. C. ' UTAH POPULISTS National Committeeman Smith Corrobor ates the Statements of National Committeeman Lawrence. Editor Independent: Your letter of inquiry of the 16th inst. received, bat press of business has prevented me from answering until now. . . ; . ; Question ; (a) "What has been ; the loss of populist voting strength in your state since 1892?"" Answer: It has been complete. (b) "WTiat caused this loss?" An swer: The democrats stole our thun der and the most of our sounding boards (orators and newspaper men). (c) "With what party or parties do the ex-populists now affiliate?" An swer: It is pretty hard to propeny place the ex-populists. The socialists polled about the same vote last ye ir that the populists polled when their organization was In working order, (1896). However, I am satisfied th:tt not to exceed 40 per cent of the pop ulists are now in the socialist party;' possibly 40 per cent in the democratic party, 10 per cent " in the . republican party and 10 per cent have taken to the woods. (d) "Have you any populist organ- izalion in your stater' No, our chair man has "jined" the socialists. (e) Answered above. . - (f) and (g) We hardly know what to do but wait. There are just as many populists as ever, in fact about four times as many as there were prior to the education we gave th-i democrats during the campaigns of 1892 and 1896. Should the democrats declare for the initiative and refer endum and for the government own ership of railroads, you could not or ganize the populists In an independent party in Utah, unless the democrats were to nominate his royal highness, Cleveland, to carry out their demands. (h) "Favor or oppose broadening the land plank so r.s to be acceptable to the single taxers?" Answer: By, all means broaden it . : s. s. smith; National Committeeman for Utah. Ogden, Utah. $15,000,000 WASHED AWAY CONSERVATIVE ESTIMATE Oil THE DIRECT LOSS TO KAN SAS CITY PLACE IT AT ABOVE FIGURES. KANSAS CITY AND SUBURBS Were the Victims of the Overflow of Both the Kaw and Missouri Rivers. The loss of life by floods in Kansas has fortunately not. reached the pro portions feared, but the destruction of property has; been rather underesti mated. Each day reveals a new phase of this branch of the disaster. Build ings; sink, walls give way, roofs col lapse and in one way and another the extent-of the catastrophe grows. Re lief has poured in from the more fav ored localities and generous contri butions are going to the stricken dis tricts. Hope has sprung up anew and the enterprising cities are taking up the work of restoration with the en ergy and pluck for which Kansas City is noted. $15,000,000 IS A VAST SUM. It exceeds the banking capital of all the national banks of Nebraska. It is equal to the tax receipts of the state treasurer of Nebraska for gen eral taxes for nearly ten years. Yet during the last ten years the peopl- of Nebraska have sent away from tne state to eastern life insurance compa nies a sum exceeding $15,000,000. There is no business excuse for con tinuing this peculiarly exhausting style of commercial extravagance now that THE BANKERS RESERVE LIFE and other Nebraska companies are making insurance on equal terms wii'i alien companies. Six millions of bus iness attests the loyalty of the peo ple to home institutions and assets equivalent to $2 for every $1 of liabil ity should satisfy all doubters as to the efficiency of the management. The BANKERS RESERVE LIFE COM PANY shows the lowest death race among American life companies and the smallest percentage of lapses. It is a legal life company founded upon the established principles" of safe life insurance with investment as an inci dent B. H. ROBISON, PRESIDENT, is recognized as one of the best In formed life insurance experts in Ne braska and the west He has guided this company from the beginning of its existence, avoiding the shoal3 which confront and friiten or de stroy young life companies with in experienced managers. Honesty, ex perience, tact, knowledge and enter prise united will build a life insur ance institution anywhere. The daily receipts from the field demonstrate the fact that the people believe in THE BANKERS RESERVE LIFE. Do you need groceries? Write 'for one of Branch & Miller Co.'s com bination orders advertised in this is sue. It's a money saver. The Inde pendent guarantees satisfaction. Hun-, dreds of our readers have found them so.