CCfo Nebraska. Independent
PAGE 2
MARCH 23, 1905
In a Etafo or congressional officer is
voted for, or wherein any question may
be voted on, by the electors of me en
tire state.
"Sec. 2. When a majority of the elec
tors voting at a stale election shall by
their votes signify approval of a law
or resolution such law or reso
lution shall stand as the law of
the state and shall not be overruled,
annulled or set aside and suspended,
or in any way made inoperative except
by a direct vote of the people. When
such majority shall signify disapprov
al, the law or resolution so disap
proved shall be void or of no effect."
On March 19, 1901, this amendment
passed the Nevada legislature and on
March 6, 1903, it passed a second legislature.-
In Nevada every constitu
tional amendment must pass two leg
islatures before it is submitted to the
people. It was submitted on Novem
ber 8 last and carried by a vote of
4,404 In favor to 794 against, save
that in Eureka county, the two sec
tions were voted separately and the
second section received 23 less votes
. in favor and 5 less against. . These are
the official' figures and it is a fact
that Nevada is the fourth, state in the
Union to embed the referendum in its
constitution.
I am president of the National Di
rect Legislation league and editor of
its organ, and hence in touch with the
movement all over the Union. In 1902,
searching through the laws passed the
year, before, I found out about the first
passage of this amendment and print
ed it in the June, 1902, Direct Legis
lation Record. I .wrote last spring to
the secretary of state and he sent me
an entirely different amendment mod
eled closely on the Oregon amendment
and said it was passed March 12, 1903,
or six days after the second passage
of the amendment recently voted on.
Further inquiry of the secretary of
state and of the mover and seconder
of these amendments brought no re
ply; so I supposed the earlier amend
ment had been allowed to lapse so
'that the better one might pass.
But a month after the election after
much searching on another matter,: I
find Nevada has actually enacted a ref
erendum amendment. I .wrbte Mr.
Shibley . at Washington and he inter-
vIpwpH tha KlevaAa. mnnGTPHsman and
neither of them ' knew this : fact 1 r I
suppose that I was the first one out
1 side of the state to know this import
ant piece of real news, and I only got
It incidentally about a month after
the election.. ; I do not know and seem
to be unable to find out who worked
inis procedure is cna.racieri5uua.uy
democratic. A man sees the need ol
the ' referendum, he. has heard about
it from some of the literature floating
around and he goes ahead and does it.
That's all. A need is felt, and ' it is
met by the initiative of some unknown
man. There is no blare of trumpets,
no bragging about it, no oratory. Be
side this unheralded and almost un
heard of change in their fundamental
. law, the choice of a president between
Beveral men is relatively unimportant.
And probably the readers of this ar--
tide, hear of it for the first: time.
At times when I" look at the rapid
concentration of wealth, at the manner
In which the president and congress
and the central legislative bodies are
often unconsciously drawing towards
themselves power and crushing out the
opportunities for development of indi
vidual initiative, I feel that this coun
try is going the way all other coun
tries and civilizations have gone when
they have become wealthy and when
concentrated, creative ability been
shackled and corruption and autoc
racy been fostered. But every now
and then, if I watch closely the cur
rents of life, some such incident - as
this passage of the Nevada amend
ment, I will see, some iquiet, untalked
of incident where some unknown man
A Tired Stomach
Docs not get mad. good
for yea out. of what you
est, for it does not digest
muchit is wasteful. It
feels sore and lame and is
easily distressed and often
upset by food The best
treatment is a course of
E-IoodsSarsaparilla
which is positively une
qualled for all stomach
troubles.
' testimonials of remarkable cures
"N Book on Dyspepsia, No. 5.
VC 1. Hood Co., Lowell, Mass.
has seen an opportunity to help man
kind in the mass without perhaps bene
fitting himself at all, has seized that
opportunity and carried it , to comple
tion and then sunk back into the ranks,
not expecting or receiving any public
praise or reward. As long as such
things can be done, America will make
progress and the kings, czars and dip
lomats of the old world will not under
stand the reason why. They will think
as Chamberlain said of England's co
lonial policy that it was only a series
of happy blunders.
ELTWEED POMEROY.
REASONABLE RATES
A Brief Sketch of the Character of
Railway Traffic Managers
In former letters we have quoted a
few of the rates on carload shipments.
Let us leave that subject a moment
to study the character of the men who
are responsible for our rates and who
are now so loudly demanding that rate
making be left In their hands.
"Mr. "James J.'Hiil of the Northern
Securities company is afraid rate-making
by national authority will result
in lowering the wages of railway em
ployes. To ' calm his fears In that
matter, we can assure him there is no
cutting of wages amojig postal em
ployes, because of the two-cent uni
form rate on letters; which .rate ap
plies to all men and all localities and
which Is always uniform. Mr. Hill
where best known, if current report
be true, is classed among the philan
thropists . who donate an egg while
stealing a hen. Mr. Hill is an up-to-date
example of the man Easop pho
tographed in the fable of the wolf
who stood up stream in the creek and
accused the lamb who stood lower
down pf riling his drinking" water.
Mr. Marvin Hughitt, president of the
Chicago & Northwestern railway, ad
mits there can be no competition un
der uniformity of rates, but protests
at any extension of the commission's
powers to make uniform rates on a
reasonable basis.
An editorial in the Chicago Record
Herald, February 9, says: "If it is
possible and practicable for one set
of railroad men in New York to make
all the rates, it is equally possIDle
and practicable for one set of govern
ment officials in Washington to mane
the rates." ' -V ;' : ,
. In the Kansas City Journal of Feb
ruary 7; President Underwood of the
Erie road, is reported as favoring laws
that will prevent rebats, but he is
alarmed at possibility of other than
railroad magnates making rates. The
same authority quotes Milton H.
Smith, president - of the Louisville &
Nashville road, as contradicting Speak
er Cannon's reported statement that
it was originally supposed the inter
state commerce law conferred power
upon the commission to make rates.
President Ripley of the Santa Fe is
a shining example of one exercising
autocratic power over quasi-public tax
ing and who utterly fails to grasp the
fact that the power of eminent do
main places the road under obliga
tions to do business with the public
on a one-rate-basis. He is as brutally
ignorant of the obligations to the pub
lic under which the roads can be justly
operated, as would be a Comanche In
dian. In the Record-Herald of Dec. 31,
1904, he is " quoted as saying: The
law is violated largely because of utter
unbelief in its equity." He overlooks
the fact that such excuse for law
breaking would liberate all less law
breakers than himself, who are now in
confinement, for no convict believes
the law a just one that convicts him. It
isevident Mr. Ripley thinks the law
commanding that one shipper be treat
ed as Is every other, Is void of equity.
Perhaps because of that reason, his
road gave rebates to the Colorado Fuel
& Iron Co. and destroyed the rights,
business and property of the Cale
donia Coal Co. Any thief or public
law-breaker has the same ground of
defense. He is further quoted as say
ing: "The rebate system was a means
for the railway to exercise judgment,
not discrimination." By the same tok
en, if your clerk steals from you, he
semply exercises his judgment it be
comes poor 'judgment only when it Is
found out. We are to suppose that he
and Mr. Paul Morton simply exercised
judgment when they issued the coal
tariffs which were false in every par
ticular; and it is possible, Mr. Mor
ton now thinks it was poor judgment.
His road and all others issue class
rates ' and to particular cities on par
ticular goods, issue "commodity" rates
which he believes to be ' exercise of
judgment" but which are in every case,
discriminations. If he owns , stock in a
corporation that is competing with
another company his "exercise of judg
ment" makes a secret rate, which
when discovered, he excuses by say
ing: "The railways do not want to
break the law, but some must do It or
go to the wall." Any school boy knows
that the theory of our government is
that all citizens are to be treated In
all public functions, as equal before
the law. That Mr. Ripley believes that
railroading is wholly a private busi
ness in which the public has no inter
est, Is shown by his remark, "there
is no good reason why big institutions
should pay the same shipping price
that a retail concern does.' If he were
an importer he would, from the same
line of reasoning, smuggle part of a
big importation on the theory that he
was entitled to a lower rate of duty
than a smaller importer. Mr. Ripley
and his ilk among railroad men are not
alone in that mistaken theory. The
average wholesale dealer and manu
facturer does not grasp the idea that
an open field, wide as the nation for
him on which to graze, is better than
the restricted and fenced in corrall on
the ton per mile basis to which he is
now confined. He is willing some
lordly merchant from "way down east'
may come out on "through'' rates and
graze off the fruit and cream of his
trade, provided the hated John Smith
company, who is in the next pen is
hobbled like himself.
President George B. Harris of the
Burlington assumes the uncouth tac
tics of the rustic from Arkansas and
in the Chicago Tribune of January 15
is" reported as saying: "Railway rates
are not made by college professors and
can not be measured off with a rule.'
If he means anything by his slur at
college professors and system, it is
that no rule, no theory, no plan nor
system is used in rate-making and by
Inference, no fixed system should be.
There is a saying that the child and
fool adult will tell the . truth. The
statement Mr. Harris makes contains
much truth. Mr. Harris is an adult,
though not a 'fool by any means, and
for that reason, the writer believes
him a child in rate-making. True to
the pose of the ignorance he assumes,
he Is reported as saying: "I do not
believe in pooling." He must have
been playing to a gallery of grangers
who are supposed to shy at "pools."
The Independent readers may be most
ly "grangers" but the . writer gives
them credit for common sense. The
writer believes the road should pool
and do it in conformity to the law,
instead of doing it as they, now do,
against the law . Mr. Harris is further
reported as saying: "The people will
not stand for it (pooling), and as a
railroad man I do not like the scheme."
Mark Twain in his happiest vein of
humor, was never more funny than is
Mr. Harris in that remark. No road
in the United States is more tied up
in pools, divisions of territory, combi
nation rate sheets than is the Burling
ton. Among other bright points in
his management of the Burlington is
his combination deal, wnich makes his
line, desirable for the great common
herd to ship over. He says: "There
is no extortion in freight - charges."
"Competition settles everything." He
evidently takes a long breath after
saying there is competition, for in
the next sentence he qualifies by "If
it is not competition between rail
roads, it is competition between local
ities which settles what is charged.
He overlooks the fact that if Omaha is
charged $1 on a rate that on ton per
mile basis should be 50 cents, that
every Missouri river gateway would be
satisfied with the same rate and Lin
coin would be satisfied if charged
$1.03. The consumer pays the freight
and so-called competition between lo
calities as now recognized by railways,
is simply "extortion" made uniform
Mr. Harris gets down to brass tacks
and every word he, utters has point
and shines like newly minted . coin
when he says: "What each shipper
wants is to get a low rate himself,
while the roads charge competitors
the full price." That statement is as
a rule, absolutely true and leads us to
repeat, as was noted in a former let
ter: "He who would get equity must do
equity."
Railway managers are men of great
executive ability, and should be, but
rate-making should not be a part of
their work on the great engine of dis
tribution. Their ability to judge of
equity Is well illustrated by one of
their number, Mr. A. B. Stickney of
the Chicago, Great Western, who is
reported as saying: "Do unto others
what you know they will do unto you,
but do it first" "I have stood by that
motto for the last twenty years in
dealing with competing railroads, and
HEADACHE
At nil tfrug atotta 25 BmcsJ
Worry Coes
To The Stomach
Tears Down the Little Telegraph Lines
That Operate and Control the
Digestive Processes.
HOW TO REPAIR THESE TELE
GRAPH LINES
I Will Gladly Give Any Stomach Suf
ferer a Full Dolfar's Worth of
My Remedy Free to Try.
I ask no deposit no reference up security.
There is nothing to risk nothing to pay, either
now or later. Any stomach sufferer who dees
not know my remedy may haven full dollar's
worth free if he merely writes and asks.
I w illingly make this liberal offer because Dr.
Shoop's Restorative is not an ordinary stomach
remedy. It docs not indeed treat the stomach
itself. It goes beyond it treats the nerves that
control and operate the stomach. The nerves
that wear out and breftk down and cause stom
ach trouble. For stomach trouble is really
only a symptom that there is serious nerve
trouble inside. That is why ordinary remedies
fail. That is why my remedy succeeds. That
is why I can afford to make this ofler.
Yet do not misunderstand me when I say
"nerves." I do not mean the, nerves you or.ii
narlly think about. I mean the automatic stom
ach nerves over which your mind lias no con
trol. I have not the space here to explain to
you how the nerves control the stomach, or
bow they may be vitalized and restored. When
you write I will send you a book which will
make these points - clear. But this much is
certain ailing nervescause all forms of stomach
trouble indigestion, belching, heartburn, in
somnia, nervousness, dyspepsia. No Stomach
medicine will cure these ailments. Only nerve
treatment will do that. No other remedy than
Dr, Whoop's Restorative even claims to reach
these nerves.
What ails the Stomach nerves? Worry, pro
bably. Mental anguish destroys their tiny
fibers and tears down the telegraph lines with
out which the stomach JQas no more 'self con
trol than a "sponge". Overwork will do it,
Irregularhabits will do it. Overeating will do
it.. Dissipation will do it But the effect is the
same, stomach failure, v
No matter how these nerves became impair
edI now a way to rebuild their strength to
restore their vigor. It is a remedy which took
thtrty.years ot my life to perfect a remedy
which is now known in more than fifty thou
sand communities in mover than a million
homes as Dr. r'hopp's Restorative.
it you have stomach trouble and have never
tried my remedy, merely write and ask. I will
send you an order on your druggist which he will
accept as gladly as he would accept a dollar.
ue wm nana you trom nis shelves a standard
sized bottle of my perscription and he will send
the bill to me. This ofler is made only to
strangers to my remedy. Those who have once
usea the Kestoratlve do not need this evidence.
There are no conditions no requirements. It
is open and frank and lair. It Is the supreme
test of my limitless belief. All that I ask you
to do is to write write today."""
For a free order for Book 1 on Dyspepsia
a full dollar bottle you Book 2 on the Heart
must address .Dr. Book a on. the Kidneys
Snoop, Box 2940, Ra- BOok 4for Women
ciue, nis. omie wuicn cook aior nea :
book you want Book 6 on Rheumatism
Mild cases are often cured by a single bottle.
For sale at forty thousand drug stores.
it has pulled me out of many a nasty
trap they had laid for men." 1
Speaking of rate regulation, a Mr.
W. .Norton Grinnell, "who is of ; the
Illinois Central directorate, ends a la
bored article In the North American
Review with a tale of woe calculated
to move us to tears. He says: "What
a long distance we have traveled from
the day when the state of New Jersey
gave the Camden & Amboy railroad
the exclusive franchise of roads
throughout the state forever, or from
the days of huge land grants and mil
lions of subsidies. ' Thousands of mil
lions of capital having been lured into
investments in railroads by the atti
tude of the states and the public, the
owners are now told that they are en
titled to earn something on their capi
tal. The time has been and is liable
to 1 come again, when ' railroads had
much better take up their tracks.
abandon their franchises and realize
on their assets what they can, instead
of carrying on a ceaseless fight for
existence, and for an adequate return
for the capital and labor employed."
If any of The Independent readers
should see a man with the Illinois
Central or other railroads under his
arm and offering to sell it for old iron,
it's a ten to one shot that ; it's Mr.
W. Morton Grinnell and you should
have him arrested at once. Mr.; Ham
ilton Fish is president of the Illinois
Central and he and his wife are said
to -lead the "codfish aristocracy" of
New York out of the meagre earnings
of a few surplus millions they get
rom Mr. Grinnell s board of directors.
Noting the . reference to the Camden
& Amboy railroad grant, it will prove
nteresting. and Instructive to read In
this connection Mr. Lincoln Steffen's
article on New Jersey in McCIure's
Magazine. You have heard of klepto-