I
X5he Nebraska Independent
PAGE 8
DECEMBER 1, 1901
Ce Uebraska Independent
Lincoln, Rtbrasks.
LIBERTY BUILDING. . 1325 0 STREET
Entered accordina to Act of Cooeresscf March
V ,87 atthe Toftofece at Lincoln, Nebraska, aa
eccond-clasa mail natter.
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY.
SIXTEENTH YKAR
$1.00 PER YEAR
When making retnittancea do not leart
Money with newt agendas, postmaatera, etc,
to be forwarded by them. They frequently
forget or remit different amount than waa
left with them, and the aubacriber faiU to get
proper credit. ... .y.:
Addreaa ftJl 9UJmniiicstions, and make all
drafts, tnofci oi-dera, ett., payable to
tbt Tltbrask Jndtptndtnt,
Lincoln, Neb.
Anonymous comm Jicationi will not b
ajoticed. Rejected manuacripta will nut U
returned. -
" T. H. TIBBLETirorr ""
C. Q. DE FRANCE, Associate Editor.
P. D. EAGER, Business luaiiager
The vote in Holt county, Nebraska,
for president, was: Roosevelt, 1,740;
Parker, 634; Watson. 706.
At the close of the St. Louis conven
tion the situation .was: "Either fish
or cut bait." Well, he cut bait.
Dr. Ross says the, south is hyster
ical and the north graft-rotted, all of
vhich comes from the slaying of our
best men during the civil war.
The Illinois building at the St. Louis
fair that cost $80,000 has been sold for
$4,250. Still that has been a much bet
ter investment than steel common.
, Tom Taggart says he don't want any
reorganizing done. Perhaps he thinks
if that thing once got started it might
reach his French Lick gambling house.
Silver has . been ... going up lately.
That is a good thing for the mine
owners,- but as it is ; no longer being
coined in . the United States, no one
else is benefited. ,
Even Tillman has. surrendered. He
says that he will no longer oppose a
vote on the appointment of the negro,
Crum. Does Tillman fear that Tom
Watson may come over and capture
South Carolina?
There is.; a very good reason why
B'jrii3 of the railroads do not join with
the Burlington in resisting the pay
ment of their taxes. They pay less
taxes under the new, than they did
under the old law."
1 Mr. Alfred Griffin of Topeka, Kan ,
writing to The Independent says: "The
-most of the"" populists voted for Roose
velt and many thousands voted the
republican ticket straight to emphasize
their dislike for the democratic party
and the idea of fusion." .
"The labor question is not one that
concerns employers and employes
alpne, it concerns the entire commun
ity." After you have taken out the
employers and employed, who are left
aside from the little children, the sick
the apupers and the criminals?,
Socialism bases itself or. "the econ
omic interpretation of history." Ac
cording to this interpretation, the so
cial, political, mora and religious facts
of any age, come trailing along as a
result of economic conditions. That
necessitates, and all the socialist lead
ers and writers do it, the necessity of
explaining everything in terms, of ma
terialism and the allowance of nothing
to the moral sense. In facttJn social
ism there can be no such thing as the
"ought" and "ought not''
Free Ptvsse
The Bee wants private individuate
to begin prosecutions against the rail
road managers for giving free passes
under the following Nebraska statute:
, If any person shall directly or
indirectly give any sum, or sums of
money, or any tnuer unue, turacui, -or
reward, or any promise, con
tract, obligation or security for the
payment of any money, present, or
reward, or anv other thing to any,
judge, justice of the peace, sheriff,
coroner, clerk, constable, jailer,
prosecuting attorney, member of
the legislative assembly, or other
officer, ministerial or judicial, but
such fees as are allowed by law,
with intent to induce or influence
such officers to appoint or vote for
any person for office, or to execute
any of the powers in him vested, or
. perform any duty of him required -with
partiality or favor, or other
wise than Is required by law. or
in consideration that such officer
hath appointed or voted for any
person for any office, or exercised
any power in him vested, or per
formed any duty of him required
with partiality or favor, or other
wise contrary to law, the person
' so" giving and the officer so receiv
' ing any money, bribe, present, re
ward, promise; contract, obligation
or security, with intent, or for the- .
purpose or consideration aforesaid,
shall be deemed guilty of bribery,
etc.
- That is the kind of a : aw that the
railroads have been loading down the
state books of the various states with
for the last forty years. It is hard to
reply to such a proposition as the Bee
makes without using langvage that the
postoffice authorities would not- allow
to pass through the mails. To prose
cute successfully a railroad manager
under that statute one ,wou!u' have to
prove that the pass was given "with
intent to Influence such ' officer" and
several -other things which the Bee
knows are not susceptible of proof.
How is' one to prove at "intent?"
That statute was enacted, to protect the
railroads ; in pass giving. The man
who jdrew it did so for the express pur
pose of preventing conviction for that
offense. - ,
Passed Over
While walking along the B. & O.
tracks, Sampson H. Piersol," for ten
years state chairman of the people's
party of Pennsylvania, and in his ear
lier days identified prominently with
other political movements, was, last
week, struck down and almost in
stantly killed by a yardx engine at
Parkcrsburg, W. Va. Mr. Piersol was
a faithful worker and a man always
true to the fundamental principles of
the people's party. He leaves a record
of which his family and friends may
well be proud. ; -
Massachusetts Rottenness
Thomas W. Lawson remarks:
The Massachusetts legislature
is bought and sold as are sausages
and fish at the markets and whar
ves. That the largest, wealthiest
and most prominent corporations
in New England, whose affairs are
conducted by our most representa
tive citizens, habitually corrupt the
Massachusetts legislature, and the
man of wealth among them who
would enter protest against the
iniquity would be looked on as a -"class
anarchist." I will go fur
ther and say that if in New Eng- -land
a man of the type of Folk
of Missouri can be found who will
give over six months to turning
up the legislative and Boston mu
nicipal sod of the past ten years,
.. who does not expose to the world
a condition of rottenness more rot
ten than was ever before exhibited
in any community in the civilized
world, it will be because he has
, been suffocated by the stench of
what he exhumes. .. :.
In reply to that the Springfield "Re
publican says: "Massachusetts is by
no means spotless," though not the ex
treme sinner which Lawson would have
her." . . . . ;
Murdering Civilization
Three or four years ago when The
Independent began to point to the
degeneracy that was sure to follow the
condoning of crimes in high circles of
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OH AH A, NEBRASKA
society, where men who robbed and
stole millions were not called thieves,
but "Captains v of industry," it was
mocked at! by the "cultured" and even
the use of such terms as "degenerate"
and "degeneracy" denounced. It jgives
no satisfaction to now see acknowl
edged that everything that was then
said has come true. To stand alone,
four ; or five years in advance of , the
multitude,' to be as ' the voice of one
crying in the wilderness, where there
are none to hear, is not a thing to be
desired. It separates one from every
body so . that ; he has little .companion
ship, and it produces no joy.- Such ,a
position is very lonely. After these
years however , there are others ;who
begin to see the evils so long ago
pointed out by the editor of The In
dependent. Of misrule in city and
state, which is held largely .responsible
for the increase of crime, McClure's
Magazine says: ' -
Can a body of policemen engaged
in blackmail, persecution and in
shielding lawbreakers make a com
munity law-abiding? Can a body
of policemen engaged in criminal
practices prevent others from com
mitting crimes? Can a board of
aldermen who for private gain
combine to loot a city govern a
city well? . ; . ' : .
The criminal oligarchy consists
of these three classes: x
1. Saloon-keepers, gamblers and
others who engage in business that
degrade. . ' ' :r
2. Contractors, capitalists, bank
ers and others who can make mon
ey by getting franchises and other ,
property of the community cheaper
by bribery than by paying the com
munity. 3. Politicians who are willing to
seek and accept office with-the aid
and indorsement of the classes al
ready mentioned. .
These three classes combine and
get control of the party machine.
They nominate and elect men who"
will agree to help them rob the city '
or state for the benefit of them
selves and who will agree also not
to enforce the laws in regard to the
various businesses that, degrade a
community. - .
We find under various modifica
tions this criminal oligarchy in
control of many communities Jn
the Uhited States. We find reDre-
? sentatives of this combination in
the United States senate, among
governors of states,, state legisla
tors, mayors, aldermen,' police of
ficials. We find them among men
in business life captains of In-
. dustry, -bankers, street railway
magnates.- In short, wherever
franchises or contracts' of any kind
are to be secured from a commun
ity we find leading citizens in the
ring, to rob their own neighbors,
managers of corporations bribing
lawmakers, lawyers for pay help
ing their client to bribe safely,
jurors refusing to render just ver
dicts. ..,
! : These men bribers of voters,
' -voters Who are -. bribed, ; bribers of
aldermen and legislators-: ' and &
s- dermen and legislators who are
bribed, men who secure control of
: law-making bodies and have laws
passed which enable them to steal
from their- neighbors, men who
have laws non-enforced and break'
laws reguatling saloons, gambling
houses, and, in .short, all men who
pervert an J befoul the sources1 of
Jaw these men are the enemies of
the republic, , - - ,
They are worse they are ene
mies of the huma- race. They are
destroyers of a people." They are
murderers of a . civilization.
Distinguished jurists and educators
are quoted as saying that the increase
in lawlessness .endangers the future of
the nation.
Learning Self Government
Russia has been a "christian" gov
ernment for over a thousand years
and after all that time it is solemnly
declared at St. Petersburg that "neith
er the statesmen nof the people- are
prepared for self-government.'-'' The
question naturally arises: "When will
they be prepared under an absolute
autocracy?" It has been seven hundred"
ears since the English people wrested
the Magna Charta from their king and
declared, without waiting for the opin
ion of the ruling class, that they were
ready - for self-government and pro
ceeded to establish it. That cry from
St Petersburg is a very familiar one
in these United States. " Whenever a
governing race wants to ride the back3
of another the excuse is that the in
ferior race is not prepared for self
government and the rulers are only
acting as philanthropists in establish
ing a government by, force. It is the
logic of the mother who' told her boy
thct he might learn to swim, but that
he must not go near the water as ha
might be drowned. - - -
One of the distinguished Russia-
statesmen says: "We have not had
the opportunity to learn the art of
government." He never will have the
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