Independent
FEBRUARY 2, 1I03.
PA.O'iS 3
E6e Nebraska.
litical expenses cut off, rates could be
materially reduced and dividends in
creased. When ever the thjeving of
these muti-millionaires is attacked, the
poor widow and orphan stockholder is
placed on the platform for inspection.
4 "Reasonable Rates"
Freight rates all" over the country
are made, not on any reasonable plan,
hut just as the traffic managers say.
Coal can he shipped from the south
east to Lincoln and back half way,
cheaper than if it is putotf at the stop
ping point, and the sameJs true of the
coal coming from the west. Sugar
made in Colorado can ne bought for
20 cents a hundred less in Kansas City
than it can a mile from the factory
where it is made. " Apples can be
shipped from New York to the Dakotas
and Wyoming cheaper than from south
western Iowa. -Freight rates from New
York and Chicago toKnoxville, Tenn
essee, - and Atlanta, Georgia, are as
follows: . . '
To Knoxville, Tenn., from Chicago,
distance, 560 milefc, rate, '$1.16; from
$1.00.
To Atlanta, Ga., from Chicago, dis
tance 733 miles rate $1.47; from New
York, distance, 876 miles, rate $1.26.
V. .. ,J .1 i 1 ..
mac u uuuuieus ui umer cases
just as bad or worse all over the coun
try. "Reasonable rates" are never
taken into consideratiou by traffic
managers. It is simply a question of
what the traffic will hear, or which
section they shall build up and which
they shall tear down
The New Senators '
The United States senators' that have
been elected during the last few weeks,
with exception of one, tend to put that
body more" completely in the control
of corporations than it ever was be
fore. Senator Burkeley of Connect!
cut has been known for years as a po
litical manipulator and ro:lroad lobby
ist. He .has under oath before a com
"mittee publicly defended the, buying Of
Votes
Senator Southerland of Utah is un
known" to fame." His election is re
garded as a backing up of the forces
that sent Smoot . to." the senate.
. Senator Frank P. Flint of California
jwas sent to the senate by. the South
ern Pacific railroad. He will be a
member of the inner circle of railroad
senators of which Steve Elkins is the
head. " '.-.
Senator Carter of Montana is well
isnown nere in weDrasiia wnere, as a
slick and oily tbngued book agent, he
swindled many men out of their farins
UD in Burt COUntv. TTa is a nnlitiman
of the very lowest order and although
he has served one term in the United
States senate, has never shown the
slightest indications of statesmanship
jo au xxxxiaiu.iiia.LCLi i jin inert riiH ri
" Senator 'Burkett of Nebraska was
sent to the senate by Harriman and his
assistants Burkett will aiso immedi
ately be admitted to Steve Elkins' inner
circle of corporation senators.
Senator LaFollette of Wisconsin will
add luster to the body to which he has
been elected. He is a fine orator and a
1 A ..
morougniy practical and earnest
statesman whose vote will not he
thrown for the interests of the corporations.
A Crime Against Mankind
The exclusion of economic and socio
logical questions from the columns of
the daily-press for the last ten or
twelve years has been a crime against
marikind. A generation ha3 nearly
grown up and will soon be the govern
ing force in this nation which is en
tirely ignorant of all the great princi
ples of human asociation and govern
ment, and utterly unfit to take charge
of this great naticn. All the avenues
of information to the public have been
locked and sealed to everything but
the promotion of greed and the accum
ulation of the whole wealth of. the
country in the hands of a few. Earn
est, able and scholarly men sought op
portunity everywhere for an avenue to
reach,, the people and their articles
were rejected with scorn or held up, to
ridicule. The consequence is that when
in the evolution of human affairs,
great economic changes are Immanent,
the whole population is profoundly ig
norant of all the great principles un
derlying government. Instead of being
prepared to take charge of, and direct
the new economic forces, that have re
sulted in making the whole business
world subject to railroad managers,
that have made the American citizen
pay twice as much for his goods that
his foreign rivals had to pay, that ha3
concentrated the control of credit and
money in a few Wall street banks, the
mass of the people are totally ignorant
of those subjects.
. That f ignorance is most-. profound
among what are called "business men."
They do not even understand the ordi
nary terms everywhere used in the
discussion of political economy and
sociology. Three men have come into
The Independent office during the week
to inquire what the editor meant by
the word "proletariate" and a letter
was received from another (he said he
was not a populist or subscriber to" the
paper, but some one had handed him a
copy) asking for an explanation. Now
that word has been use! in political
economy from the beginning to desig
nate the propertyless class, yet these
men who have large political influence
and must soon cast their ballots in
answering the question, what shall be
done for the tens of thousands of starv
ing propertyless people in the groat
cities and elsewhere, did not know
even the meaning of the word.
If when distress shall come, and the
proletariate is increased 10 millions in
numbers, as. surely. will De the case, if
bank inflation,' rebates and tariffs , go
Ori "unchanged, the people rush to so
cialism and disorder from lack of cor
rect information, these scoundrels who
have supressed f r& speech in the peri
odical literature pi thetiioes may wish
that they' had never been born.; There
is no safety for a nation in modern
times except in the, fullest discussion of
everyf economic fact, and tendency. If
there had been a free prase,-the things
that Lawson - and Russeil have been
Writing about never could have trans
pired.- , , ; , ' , ' :
There is not a great newspaper today
that will send a man to Washington
with instructions to write up the facts
as they exist. Two or three monthly
magazines hae lately entered that
field and they had to defy the threats
or suppression and libel persecution
As the traveler in Arkansas said: "The
ground is hot and hell is not a mile
away." They had all better watch out.
San. Domingo has a new dictator. His
name is Col. Teddy. The new 'dictator
promises to pay off a foreign and do
mestic debt of $20,276,750, nearly all
bearing four per cent interest and sup
port the government on an income of
about a million a year collected by
means of a tariff. Col. Teddy has al
ready sent a lot of warships and mar
ines dowrn there. Meantime some of
the .United States senators are growl
ing because Col. Teddy made a treaty
and ratified it himself without referring
il to the senate. Teddy claims he
had a right to do that because he called
the contract a "protocol" instead of a
tieaty. There was a rumor of an up
rising in San Domingo, but the new
dictator has put a close censorship over
the press and no one knows what is
going on down on the little island.
-
A New Plutocra.Ho Theory
The plutocratic pirates always have a
theory ready to fit every occasion when
any discontent appears. A few years
ago when the farmers were complain
ing because tney did not get enough
for thir wheat to pay the expenses of
producing it, th plutocrat had a reason
for the low price that every mullet
head accepted as gospel truth, he im-
The Greatest Western Supply House.
Everything
at Lowest
Prices.
THE RELIABLE 8TOKE.
Ewfthtog
at Lcust
Prices
THE SPRING AND SUMMER SEASON
of the year 1905 bids fair to be one of the greatest seasons ever known in
Women's Ready-to-wear garments. ;
SILKS WILL 4E MOST POPULAR
during this season and forseeing this state of affairs our buyer while in
New York purchased an immense line nfndsome
SILK SHIRT WAIST SUITS
which are unsurpassed for quality and styles in any store in the Jand.
And our prices are money savers in every instance. '
The Very Best Goods I The Very Lowest Prices
. Two little things that mean much to the purchaser.
They mean SATISFACTION and a satisfied customer.
That's why we guarantee it.
Write for Samples Writs for Catalogue.
16th and
Dodge
Address Dept. A
IIAYDEtl BROS. 0raofcfv
J'
mediately came to the conclusion that
there was no use in kicking. The pluto
crats declared at that time that the
cause df the low price of v;heat was the
opening up of so much new wheat land
in ( the Dakotas and other western
states, and the-farmers must content
themselves with- the fact that wheat
was bound to always be low, on ac
count of the great extension of the
wheat lands. Now when there are
tens Of thousands in all the great cit
ies suffering for bread, thty have an
other theory to fit the occasion. They
now say: "We pointed cut last sum
mer that we" are gradually, but surely
approaching the time wiien we will
have ho wheat to speak cf for export.
Only in years of bumper crops will we
have any wheat for export."
What is the object of l his new the
ory? The tariff js threatened and the
desire is to get the farmery on the side
of protection. One of the 3 3 chaps says:
"The tariff heretofore may have done
the farmers no good, but now it puts
from 15' to 20 cent, a bushel' on the
price of wheat. The farmer should be
an active worker for protection." The
mullet head will take all that as gospel
truth also. He will never know that
the tariff niake3 him pay twice as much
for American goods as the. foreigner
pays for them because he will never
see that fact stated in his party paper,
and he would as soon think of taking
poison as to read any other paper.
Governments Coming Down -
There is a genera! attack on the gov
ernments in existence all over the
world. Aside 'from the disturbances
in Russia, within the la.rt few weeks
the governments of Hungary, Spain
and France have- been overthrown and
new cabinets formed. In England ev
ery one is looking for a speedy dissolu
tion of parliament and change of min
isters. In the Province of Ontario,
Canada, the government has been re
tired V overwhelming majorities, al
though the party ousted has been In
power for over thirty years. All this
discontent comes from the distress and
suffering among the common people.
There are forces at work that are ef
fecting the whole world. First comes
the cry from all continental Europe
for more perfect freedom, a demand
that the natural rights of man shall be
respected. This demand is individual
istic and not socialistic. Men want in-:
dividual freedom of action, and the de
mand puts stress on a free press, a lull
representative government. which'
means that individuals shall have a
part in the government as individuals
and not as a class. . ,
The strange thing. aboi; this move
ment is that it is called socialism, Just
as populism is called socialism in the
United States. Socialism means the
destruction of competition, and .what
this ; movement ;n Europe means is a
right to compete. They want the mon
opolies and special privileges abolished.'
It is the old plutocratic plan. When
the republicans in this country started
put to get legislation that would make
several kinds of money, they demanded
that "every 'dollar should be as good as
every other dollar" and then went to
work and made nine kinds of money
only one of which was "good."
Senator Aldrich
. Steffens has been investigating
Rhode Island, than which a no more
corrupt spot never blackened the face
of mother earth. Furthermore, no man
more deeply soaked in corrupt prac
tices can be found tnan Senator Aid
rich, the boss cn all tariff questions in
the United States Senate.' He is so
foul that the earth on which he steps
but once sends up a mephitlc vaptor a
year afterwards. Steffens' summing up
of the condition In that little state of
hypocricy and tariff is this: "Aldrich,
having worked to the top" of a corrupt
political hierarchy in his own state, and
having made himself the paladin of the
sugar interests, took advantage of the
venality of his fellow citizens to secure
from them extensive public utility
fianchises which he, in part, trans
ferred to the aforesaid sugar interests
at an enormous profit.
Aldrich is as much worse and more
despical than the common thief as he
is the more Intelligent. He began his
career in political crime, and he ha3
become more , expert at It every year
since. He is one of the heartless, cold
hearted sort of pirates. He cuts a
throat without the least excitement
There Is never a fla3h In his steel-like
eyes, wails of distress have no more
effect upon him than a breeze upon the
face of a granite cliff. Aldrich is not