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About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (July 30, 1903)
JULY 30, 1903.- 5 A CURSE OR A BLESSING A Talc f haw Moaey Destroyed a Beauti ful Ham Mammon Ihawf Vn U;;. rr .1 ! i f ml. - t 5 J x V am iS8 cuuui ut x tic luucpcuucui uuo come into possession of some facts which serve to point the moral that he has been so constantly preaching con cerning the making of money t'.e pur suit in life to which all things else must be sacrificed. Some fifteen years ago a couple with whom the editor was acquainted married and went to Colorado. They were generous-hearted and bright young people, the wife de voted to her husband and the husband adoring his wife. He prospered fairly well and a happy home was built up. Now the wife writes the following let ter to a relative. "It may seem strange to you, but to me it seems that all the joy of life has been blotted out to never return. When we first came here we boarded and as soon as we were able to save a little money we bought some furniture and began to keep house in rented rooms. But we both wanted so much a home of our own and as M 's salary was increased we tried to save all we could to make a beginning. At last we bought a lot and built four rooms so that they could be added to when we were able. Before we built any more we bought three more lots, so we had a quarter cl a block. We were so happy. M and I would plan how we were to arrange the rooms to be added and how it should be large enough for us and the four children with a spare room for friends who should come to visit us. Then we built the rooms and planted out trees and flowers and shrubs. M and I would sit on the porch, partly covered with climbing roses, while the children Dlayed on the lawn. I often thought that I was too happy and that some thing would happen to destroy it all then I would think that nothing can happen, unless it be sickness and death, for M had a permanent place and was drawing a large salary and has a paid-up policy of life insurance for $20,000. But it has come in a way that I never could have imagined. "M had some spare money and he rrub-staked a prospector about year ago. This man has found a great mine of gold and M and he have teen offered $1,000,000 for it and re fused to sell. The very richest ore is being taken out of the mine and M has, I don't know how much money in the bank. I used to keep all accounts and knew every dollar that we had, but while M asked me to take charge of it as I used to do with his salary, it was so much that I was afraid. M wants to build a great big house in a more fashionable part of the city. Ev ery time I think of it, it seems that my heart will break. We built this house, one might say, with our own hands The sweetest memories cling to every brick and board and nails. I think al the time when M and I planted that climbing rose that now nearly covers the porch and how happy we were 1n contemplation of seeing it grow, So it is with everything on the lawn, I feel as if it would kill me to go and live in a great big house and have a lot of servants. "There is another thing that makes me very unhappy. I have had some very dear friends who were nice peo pie and in circumstances like our own Since they have begun to can m a millionaire they are shy and the bond of freedom and friendship that has bound us together seems broken. In the old times I could run over to any one of three or four houses in a nerfectly informal manner. Now they seem to want to pay some sort o deference to me look up to me as it were as though I belonged to a dif ferent erade of society. That is one of the very hardest things of all. "M is still kind to me. but it seems as if I were losing him. too. He bought me a diamond ring and a cost - lv brooch. I tried to feel like I used to when he brought me little inex rensive presents, and with which was always so delighted, but I could not I just went to my room and cried until I had a raging headache, "Still another thing is the children, Harry is twelve years old. He has heard that his father is a millionaire and he begins to be overbearing and lmnerious with the Children of the neighborhood with whom he has al ways been on the best of terms, and is no longer satisfied with the pleasures of our once plain little home. I am afraid that they will all be spoilt. "Do come and see me. I know that you will be the same to me that you always have been. You will help to 1-eep the house clear of agents who want to sell me everything from grand pianos to ponies and carriages for the children." Albert J. Anable, R. F. D. 1, Naples, N. Y.: Times are hard and the people cannot take any paper at all, or if they do, the plutocratic sheets are they get the wrong side of the Ijues tion. I am in sympathy with the doc trine taught by The Independent and will do all I can to help on the cause of the plain people. Patronize pur adyertisers.; Public Ownership Editor Independent: Just now is a good time for the farmers of the west to study the greatest economic pro blem of the age that of transportation. Very recently Railroad Commis sioner Anderson of Kansas has ut tered a howl which is deserving of at tention. He declares that when the farmers of Kansas are ready to move their wheat crop to market there will be no cars to carry it. He says the result will be that there will be no way for the producer to realize upon the present high price of wheat. That this statement is true there can be no doubt, but the car famine will not come from' the causes suggested by Mr. Anderson. The railway companies are abso utely masters of transportation. They own the grain elevators, their agents are the buyers of grain in every ship ping territory, they control terminals for foodstuffs; and, therefore, are in shape to blockade themselves in ten days' time, while no one can point to the exact part of the machine which fails to work properly. The remedy for this condition is not in the building of co-operative eleva tors, which will only benefit those who do not join in the movement, nor is it in a central commission with power to fix interstate rates. The proof of this statement would take too much space here, but it will sug gest itself to any man who has kept tab on matters relating to the mar keting and transportation of grain for the last twenty years. Absolute con trol of railways (government owner ship, if you please) is the only rem edy. It is no argument against such control that the cost of operation of government roads is greater than un der private corporations, because the profits, or losses, of government roads inure to the whole people and there is no class or individual robbery pos sible under such ownership or man agement. Transportations is a public utility and should, in all its ramifications, be under the absolute control of the gov ernment. Railway rate sheets should be abolished, replaced with as simple a tariff as that which prevails in the postoffice department. This matter is worthy of study, and there is now commencing an object lesson which will last until the sup plies of foodstuff is out of the hands of the producers. Put on your spectacles and tackle it G. E. HATHAWAY. Lincoln, Neb. their conventions, county, state and national, and endeavor to make the platform on a line with the Kansas City platform, with public ownership nf mrTmnrlips nrtrlpd. If WA fail in this, and the reorganizes get control of the party, then we could organize a reform democratic party alonj these lines. One thing is certain: it is folly for people working for the same candi dates to do so under different organ izations. It is a waste of time and energy, and if successful it never proves satisfactory all round. A. P. DURAN. Jackson, Neb. Weber & Farris offer some tempting bargains for investment in large tracts of land and ranch properties Paul Carpenter, Partridge, OMa.: I cannot afford to be without The In dependent, because it is the best ad- vocate of" populist demands and tne kind of principles leading up to and promoting all reform movements. Editor Column" lowing J. C. Vincent, Zion, Lane county, Ore., used up his quota of four edu cational cards and, . needing three more, made "them by hand," saying: "I thought it wouldn't make any dif ference to you, so you got the sub scribers." Of course it wouldn't Tbat is the kind of work which spreads populism. Rnran'e ViQwt HVi VJII V t IV IIV Editor Independent: Please find enclosed $1 on subscription. I was vey much interested in the Henry George Edition, as I am and have been a disciple of Henry George for twenty years. While I am not a member of the state or national committee of the people's party, I was one of its or ganizers and desire to express my views on its actions, past, present ard future. In the first place, I believe that ev ery populist who had the advance ment of our principles at heart is now convinced that fusion was a great mistake. Personally, I thought so at the time, although I voted and worked with the fusiomsts, since a majority of the party voted for fusion. How ever, I have no disposition to find fault or quarrel over the past. I am free to believe that most of those who favored fusion believed it was for the best. But that does not change the fact that the party is badly disor ganized, and I doubt the wisdom of ever trying to keep it up under the present name. Of course a name cuts no figure the principles and policies are the whole thing. Now that the reform whig of the democratic party has swaUowrv r,- up. and in doing so has badly O.'rvupled its own party, I believe that v.? should let the populist organization go and join in a body with the reform ele ment o! the democratic party, attend After Hardy Independent: In "Hardy's recently I note the fol "There are two men living whom the millionaire trusts will do their best to defeat in nominating con ventions next year. They are Bryan and Roosevelt." It occurs to me that very many of the readers of The Independent will fail to see the connection of such an anomaly. It leads one to inquire who H. W. Hardy is, what country does he live in, what does he stand for, and what does he know about either Mr. Bryan or Roosevelt, and finally, how such stuff as that can obtain possport to the columns of a paper like The Indepen dent? So far as Mr. Bryan is concerned, he has too good sense to permit his name to stand among candidates, not be cause of being less acceptable to gen uine democrats than he ever was, but because of the eternal fitness of things. To be sure, his name, be cause of the magnitude of the man, will be named in the 1904 democratic convention, but it will be an event born out of peculiar and unforeseen circumstances, if Mr. Bryan allows it to stand, even for a complimentary vote, as he needs no such compliment But it is a riddle for the Sphynx to those conversant with American poli tics and with the Roosevelt adminis tration, the coup of the Elkins bill, the "fences," and other evidences of fake strenuosity, what it is that the trust combines or money schemers are liable to want a "Mr. President" to stand "Mark Hanna" pat, on and upon which Mr. Roosevelt does not now stand, Mark Ilanna pat, with a big P. Of all the unkind, unwarrantable things that have ever found expres sion in the hostile press concerning Mr. Bryan, this naming of him in the same connection and to the same pur pose with Roosevelt takes the cake and gives ample justification to him who prayed God that he miwht be de livered from his friends. Except for the dignity it violates, this paradox might be humorous and a matter of oversight, excuse the blue pencil of The Independent, but where is there any hole for Hardy to crawl into? E. C. CLARK. Syracuse, Neb. (Mr. Clark, like many others, over looks the fact that signed articles ex press the opinion of those who sign them and not the editorial opinion of The Independent. For many years Mr. Hardy has conducted a "column" in The Independent. He writes his own opinions of things. Possibly he may be mistakcr at times doubtless is; but where is the infallible man? According all its contributors their undoubted right to think and speak and write for themselves; without im pugning their motives, The Indepen dent declines to be questioned as to why or "how such stuff . . . can ob tain passport to" lis columns. In pa?s Ing, it may be said that scarcely any issue of The Independent contains nothing objectionable to some of its readers. In fact, not a few of them seriously object' to the "stuff" that single taxers write. Associate Editor.) an honest populist to show to the voter, and thougn tired of the repub lican policy, he revolts at simply vurning over the pancake, knowing well taat it is only "tother" side up. Many who believe the populist party dead wili be pleased to ee it take Ou new life and are only waiting to see those in control breah. loose irom ev ery ism and raise the banner ot pop ulism. This cannot be done by al lowing the conclusion of the state committee which by its action has siniply indorsed the republican admin istration. Their calling the state con vention at the same time as tnat of the democrats, if carried out as they noped, namely, a fusion, will elect the republican ticket and leave the popul ists weaiver and with less chance to accomplish in 1904 the great desire of every true reformer. It is my opinion that the Denver conference cannot succeed, if fusion is carried out in this year's campaign; lor what can come of an effort to un ite, followed by the same course that was the cause of a conference? Sure ly the day has come when "a wayfar ing man, though a fool, need not err therein." Hope inspires; but one more fuse and the end is despair. You will not need to worry about those regents. The populist party will never be charge! with court opinions, such as reading the1 Bible in schools, the Mc Lucas easel and others that smack ttrongly of partisanism. Better clean he platter ( and dish up a clean bill. Those who favor fusion, say the pop3 can't elect without fusion. This may be true this, year, because the party is so badly shattered because of Its course sinc) 1896; but as sure as de feat has met it since fusion, just so sure it will meet that stunning re buke again. The populists have had enough; and until the republican party turns the thumb-screws and tightens down the prosperity mill-stone so as to grind a finer grist, 'it is a waste of time and money to join hands with crime in order to simply get omce. Let populists stand for government ownership of all public utilities and a straight ahead course, and we wili either force the old parties to take up our ideas and keep the wheel of prosperity running lightly, or give way to the true reform forces, not by electing a Cleveland democrat, but a populist. s Enclosed find $1 on subscription, which will carry me until after elec tion, and I sincerely hope you will l'ot have to accuse farmers of taking the cornfields as a preference to vot ing a fusion ticket - W. C. STARKEY. Violet, Neb. The Philippines The following quotations, made from a private letter to The Independent, written by a former Nebraskan now resident in Manila, will give our read- ers some idea of conditions in our "colonial possessions" in the orient: "Although I always voted the re publican ticket on national affairs, yet I should be delighted to see the demo crats win at this election, because I think a general overturning once in a while is a good thing; and as we must admit that there are some good demo crats in the country, and that the af fairs will go along just about the same, whichever party is in power, it seems to me that a clean sweep would be a good thing about .now, especially in this section. "Conditions continue to grow worse here and everything i3 almost at a standstill with no immediate prospect of improvement Expensive offices continue to be created, and money spent with a lavish hand in some di rections, and the country continues to grow poorer, taxes increase, rents go up, the cost of foodstuffs is exorbit ant, while the land lies idle, and busi ness grows worse. There must be an end sometime, of course, but while the end is coming, many must suffer heavy losses. "Bv the way, if you have not read Bellair's book "As It Is In the Philip pines", read it; thr" arc many whole pome truths tn it n.l I an glad to see things being mi-Jo public and 1 hop the people of the state? will wake up some day nnd get at the facts as 1hey exist out here." Siarkey's Opinion Editor Independent: . Each week I am anxious to get The Independent to rrd the letters concerning the peo- Any one i!irtni; to bty land may wive tnomolvoti considerable money l v carefnllv t-oicTintf th ' p"e r.i. of Vber & rnrrin elewere 11 this ls- ple's party, and I am beginning tojc;n?. You slor.ld act p.r.xMy if in think there is a possibility of a return ! terested. as tic be-t bargains are be- to principle and the casting away of that butterfly fusion. It is not because many populists are so prejudiced against voting with democrats, but the fact that the virtue has long ago gone out of that party. Its history. Is,, not: A lovely record for ing picked up mpHly. Our friend. Bishop T B. HtlHr, Bel mfr. N. J., renews for .mother year and encloses printed matter concern ing th world's enmp meeting he U conducting.