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.
