Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 1904)
PAGE 4. THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT AUGUST 25. 1904. they can destroy any citizen any business, any, city, any state. . Their corrupting influence is felt and seen all the way upward from the town council to the judge on the bench; from the bench to the senate of the United States, and from the senate to the railroad commissions, whether state or national. Almost without exception, the rail- juaua ui una jci-iuuuu weie ytxiu iaji by the public, and not by the co;pbra tions which own them. , In donations of land, of bonds, and of : actual cash, the American people have paid for practically every rail road on this continent. And we have nothing to show for it. We ure pay ing dividends every year on at least five bil'ion dollars of watered stock. 'The figures show that in every ten IrmrQ n: a nav in f rol crVi t anrl iQCftn. j vet. a lib I J A. .yji5v . ix . uuiui. ger charges an amount equal to the sum total of the actual cost of the roads. Talk about the trusts. The greatest support which the trust sys tem of America has this day is in the railroads. It is only by discrimina tionssecret rebates, special help and favors that Rockefeller or any oilier great organizer of the trusts could make his way to the gigantic power which he has established. By no other methods than by gov ernment ownership of the railways can you equalize. all shippers, al! per sons, establish a fair system of ex change, reatore public franchises to public uses; take out of politics one-of its most corrupting influences; take out of commerce one of its most tyrannical-masters, and thus put trans portation where the postoflice system -is making it a servant and agent of all the people, doing good where it extends. Is public ownership of railroads and telegraphs and other public utilities the cry of a mere demagogue? Is it a step toward anarchy and chaos? Is it a subject which can find no room in the domain of legitimate, respect ful debate? Gladstone of - England was.ln favor of government ownership of railways, and when he was a mem ber of Sir Robert Peel's cabinet car riedJthrough parliament a law which empowered the British government to purchase the railways, a law which the corporations managed to render a nullity. v Bismarck, the iron chancellor of res urrected Germany, was in favor of government ownership; , and it was through his leadership that Prussia acquired her railways. - Nearly every kingdom in Europe, many of the countries of Asia and Africa have adopted the system and work it with perfect success. -And as an American citizen, seeing that "Australia and Can ada successfully deal with this great problem and operate railroads in the interest of all the people. I feel ashamed of the backwardness of our own statesmanship which fears to grapple with that issue. 1 We are in favor of an income tax. Planting ourselves squarely upou the ground occupied by Thomas Jefferson, 'we say that the larger the income the larger should be the rate of taxation on that income, to the end that vast accumulations, should, be discouraged and that the wealth of the country should always be in a process of dis tribution. No fairer tax than this can be Im posed. It would put the burden of government upon the shoulders of those who are most able to bear it. It would draw the support of the ad ministration from those who derive from it the greatest benefits. It would throw our pension debt upon that class of men who during the civil war speculated upon the ne cessities of the country and grew rich while the soldier was in the field. . Declaring itself in favor of a grad uated income tax, the people's party supplements that by saying that there should be no tariff tax upon the ne cessaries of life which the poor must have in order to live. Establish an Income tax, and you would give the government a source of revenue inde pendent of the tariff and thereby pave the way for the reduction of the tre mendous burden of taxation which now rests mainly upon the shoulders of the middle and lower classes At this time, .when governmental extra vagance squanders every dollar of the national income, it is idle to prate of tariff revision until thry first tell us how they will get I fie money to run tho government when tariff revenues have L'en lowered. The farmer must y&y his tax whether hist farm te run at a profit or not. Tho merrhant must pay hi tax rrjtardloMH of whether the net bal ance of tradp bo for him or attains! him. The Incomo tax la levied upon profits tmly; and thrre Is not an ar gument to be urKcd aufllnat !t that 1m not n ek with the rankest f.clfish n'sa. Ppoti the motipy question have alwayn stood for the qu.nntltativf the ory, have always opposed national banks, and have said that the creation of money was a governmental func tion which should never be smren dered; should never be delegated to any class of citizens, but' should al ways be held by the government as one of the great attributes of sov ereignty. We , were for free ," silver upbn the ground that to the extent it was coined it would increase the vol ume of the currency. But any other equal amount of currency created by the government out of any material whatsoever would have suited us quite as well. We stand precisely where Jef ferson and Jackson stood. We are for the money of the constitution and for the, old democratic doctrine that it is as easy for the government to issue its own treasury notes to pass current as money, as it is to issue a bond upon which the banker shall base his note, and use it . as money. . If Thomas Jefferson' and Andrew Jackson considered that one national bank with its comparatively insignif icant circulation was of deadly dan ger to " republican -institutions, why should it be heresy for us to contend that 5,000 national banks with a cir culation of more than $400,000,000 are likewise dangerous to the spirit of re publican institutions? No class of citizens should be al lowed to use a governmental function for private profit and reap the enor mous gains which the bankers now derive from that source. But this view of the subject is almost trivial compared to the tremendous . power which the national banks have in ex panding and contracting the currency, thus holding the markets of the re public" at' their mercy and having the power at any" time to unsettle values from sea to sea. This country today is in the ut most peril from the money question. In vain do the democrats waive it; It can not be waived.- The Cleveland ruling, by which coin was held to mean gold, and by which paper notes were used to get bonds from the gov ernment, is still in force, and the end less chain only needs another Cleve land at the windlass. And when we see standing around 'Judge Parker the same old - Cleveland crowd--Olney, Gorman,' Belmont, Carlisle, Lamont the gravity of the situation deepens as we study the' faces of that notable collection of patriots. Tho discoveries of hew methods in treating gold ores, the opening of vast deposits of . the precious- metal In so many ' different parts of the world illustrated and vin dicated the people's party's contention on the subject of the currency rather than discredited it. r But I. beg to cali your attention to the fact that , no man can tell when these veins will .. be ., exhausted, and when this , vast increase In our cur rency will be discontinued. And I warn you now that when that day ar rives, contraction, and the frightful results which have always flowed from contraction, will be. upon you. The moment the volume of currency ceases to increase, as population and com merce increase, then relative contrac tion is at once in action; and the in creased need for money not being fol lowed by a greater .supply of money, there will be a crash which will make this republic shake from one end of it to the other. , And in the storm that sweeps ever the land, as it surely will do, there will again be heard the cry of the suffering man, the . suffering woman and the suffering child. Why Is Judge Parker so assured that the gold stand ard is irrevocable? Nothing in human law and custom is irrevocable espe cially if it is wrong. Neither the sanctions of the constitution of the United States, the statute law of the land, nor the unbroken national prac tice of a century were sufficient to make the double standard of gold and silver irrevocable. Why, then, should the single gold standard, which, vio lates the constitution, mocks the stat ute law and rebels against the preced ents of a hundred years bo considered irrevocable? It seems to me that a financial sys tem which is based upon a violation of fundamental law which all officials are sworn to obey rests upon a foundation which lacks a good deal of being as stable as tho rocks. If I know myself, I am a Jefferson Ian, heart and soul. If I know my party, It Is Jefforsonlan, through and through. We have the eame faith that he bad In tho principles of hu man brotherhood nnd the same hor ror of any system which robs labor of Its Just reward, whleh builds tip nrls tie racy by means of special privilege and which' by claw legislation brings bark with new facta the oM fos tif tho human rnr To t (store tho Myrtle of the peo- 41 th rulo of th poopl. th equality of all men beforw the law h our pur w.. We be!lvp that manhood shnuM count for innr than money; that character should outweigh the dollar. Whether he work with brawn or brain, it is the worker who should be monarch of the world. Not wealth, not birth, not office, but the worker he who' has noble bieals; he who wants to achieve; he who has a message and a mission, and looks upon the earth as a room to work in and the blessed sun the light to work by he who, clinging to those con victions' which become a part of his life, would rather die than make cow ardly submission to what he felt to be wrong. ' ' For myself, I do not believe that the present tyranny of the corporation, the monopoly and the autocracy of wealth can endure forever. Some day, gome day the American peop.c will rise in their resistless majesty and drive the usurpers from the places they have seized. Some day popular sovereignty will come again ana ' put its foes to rout as it did in the lime of Jefferson, as it did in the time of Jackson. ' It may be that this effort of mine to rally and arouse' the real democrats; the real believers in popular ' govern ment, may come to naught but no matter what befalls-, I will accept this call, which seems to ' me to be the call to duty. As fearless John Adams said in the brave days of old, "Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this cause." ' . ' ' " At the conclusion of Mr. Watson's speech, Mr. Jay W. Forrest of the Albany county democracy, made the speech notifying the 'Hon.. Thomas H. Tibbies of Nebraska of his nomination for , the vice-presidency on the same ticket with Mr. Watson. He won the audience at the start with a reference to William J. Bryan, and declared that the man who followed the leadership Of Bryan and fought xwith him in his two campaigns, could never support a tickef begot by "August Belmont; the subway crook, and crooked Dave Hill, of Albany." " Mr, Tibbies made a short . speech of acceptance., He said that the last time he was in Cooper Union he was there in the interest of an oppressed people, and that he was glad to ap pear again in the same cause. "The wealth , of the country belongs to and should remain .with the ... producers rather than go into the already too well-filled pockets . of ' the predatory pirates of Wall street," said Mr.- Tib bies., - -.. V Attention, At the meeting of the state central committee' held at the : close of the state convention a motion was carried unanimously that each delegate be as sessed $1. The committee urges that where the delegate has not , the' money that he proceed at once to collect it and send it to the treasurer, F. D. Eager. 1328 O street, and due credit L will be given .his county. State Headquarters. . At the meeting of ; the executive committee at the Lincoln hotel August 19 B. B. Weber was re-elected chair man; J. H. Edmisten, vice chairman; F. D.. Eager, treasurer, and the se lection of secretary was left with these officers, with the understanding that J. R. Farris would be the man if his services can be secured. Lincolnvwas chosen for state headquarters, the lo cation to be fixed as soon as proposi tions are all in. At this time it looks like "The Royal," formerly the Walton, which has been made new from top to bottom, will be the place. Work has been begun and there is a deter mined feeling that the fusion cause can and must win. ., Populism Hot Socialism. Every plank In the. socialist plat form that's good and practical, is pop ulism, and they took it from the greenback, union labor, populist plat forms. Ono of " the most Important planks in the populist platform, so cialists Ignore, the financial plank. Socialists propose to Issue a certifi cate each evening to all persons who have labored that day, representing the wealth each has created. Those who have fooled away everything they earned, when old. will Yo put on the pension list. What we would like to know Is how will wc know the amount of wealth thewe that are pensioned create!. Then we would like to know how we can compel for eign countries to accept iociallti la bor certificates when our obligations were made payable In tho currency of tho country at that time, not in labor certificates now. Socialism is not prac tical, It's a forelKn plan of Severn went and If put In practlen would bring on a civil war In this country,-. Southern (Iowa) Educator. l'atronixe Itidpendut ftdvrttm-ra. MEN OF PROMINENCE . Use Pe-ru-na for Catarrh. Pe-ru-na Cures Catarrh Wher ever Located. i F. Y. FITZPATRICK, M. C. Hon. F. Y. Fitzpatrick, Congressman from Ketuckywrites from the National Hotel, Washington, D. C, as follows : . ; "At the solicitation of a friend I used your Peruna and can cheerfully recom mend your remedy to anyone suffering2 with catarah or who heeds a good tonic." F. Y. Fitzpatrick. Peruna is the remedy for catarrh. Al most everybody knows that by heresay and thousands know it by experience. What can bo cured in the beginning in a . week or two by using Peruna, if allowed . to become chronic, may require months of faithful treatment. You had better take Peruna now forty and by you may be obliged to take it tor some time in order to get well. Now the warm, dry weather will assist in your cure. You are not liable to catch fresh cold and delay your cure.- . Hundreds of men of dignity and promi nenco from all over the. United States endorse Peruna. ' No other remedy receives such con vincing testimonials. Send for free book of testimonials. ' . If you do hot receive prompt and satis factory results from the use of Peruna, .' Write at once to Dr. Ilartman, giving fullstatement of yur case and ho will ' be pleased to give you his valuable ad-, ice gratis. ,,-:,. . Address Dr. Hartman, president of. Oha.Hrtrrmn. Rtiitn.rfum. f!nlnmbur O. COLUMBIA NATIONAL I BANK LINCOLN, NEBRASKA. I Capital. $100,000.00 Surplus, 14,000.00 I Deposits, 1,350,000.00 I OFFICERS John B. Weight President J. II. Westcott, 1st Vice Pres. 2 Joe. Samuels, 2d Vice Pres. t P. L. Halt.. - . naBhip & I W. B. RyoNs, - Asst. Cashier CATTLE Live fffiG& Coin Stock mission. SHEEP Nye & Buchanan Co,, fOVTH CMA1U, KErtHAPKA. Best - possible sertica In all de partment. Write or wire us for markets or othtr Information. Long distance telephone 2305. Write Us For bargains In Watches, Diaftiocdi, Jewelry, Silverware, Cut f'.la-s etc. Many goods at cot to make room for fall goJ. . M. G. WOLFF. IJ9 9tti ijtb 5lrtt, l.lncola, Neb. Xett-yr W..I9 It rl!Man-t rnU.I )).)rr. '.Vi'Ir o1 jetir tmftl tn hint will i't tart rul attention ani t r!urn4