PAGE 6
JUNE 15, 1905
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U U J U U U La UU V U U l!aC U U U UV U U Ls
X3ho Nebraska Independent
The railroad and trust magnates appear to
have enough influence to prevent an extraordinary
session of; he 59th congress. The Star published
at the national capital, usually well informed on
the purposes of the administration announces that
no extra session will1 be called'; that Speaker
Cannon and oiher republican leaders in congress
have persuaded President Roosevelt that a special
session would result hi tariff discussion and Injure
the republican t party , in the congressional cam
psigu next. year. This procrastinating policy may
indicate that the legislation' hat will be enacted
by the next congress against the railroads or
trusts will be so devised as to help the people as
little as possible and do the corporations no ser
ious damage. 1
thij is an advisory council consisting of Edwin
D. Mead, Robert Treat Paine, William Lloyd Gar
s j ir.on, Henry Winn, Raymond L. Bridgman, Haz
ard Stevens, and several others.
A remarkable example of the- economic im
portance of a wild animal is afforded by ' a' close
study of the habits of the coyote of the western
prairies, the results of which have just been pub
lished by the department of agriculture. The
activities of the coyote, whowill eat anything,
really regulate the price of mutton in the cities
of the eastern seaboard. Kansas alone paid
bounties last year on 19,514 coyotes, and yet the
coyote continues to enjoy life on the outer edge
of civilization. To the credit of the coyote must
be placed his war on rabbits, prairie dogs, rats,
squirrels, woodchucks, moles, gophers and mice.
On the other hand, coyotes sometimes capture
wild animals that assist "man in his warfare
against insects and rodent pests. Birds that
roost and nest on the ground frequently fall vic
tims to the coyote, which also attacks, in packs
of two or more, deer and antelope. The coyote
is a great destroyer, too, of domestic animals.
The destruction of the larger game by man may
partly account for this change to farm animals
as a diet. The usual method pursued by the
coyote in capturing hens, ducks, geese and tur
keys is to lurk behind weeds or bushes, until the
fowls come in sight. The coyotes are especially
notorious as enemies of the sheep, and that in
dustry has greatly languished as a result of their
depredations. The number of sheep in the United
States is now decreasing. Montana, with an area
of 146,000 square miles, leads the states in the
number of sheep kept, which is 5,638,957, while
England has about five times as many as Mon
tana. The reason generally given for the failure
of the sheep industry is the abundance of coyotes
In the east and south.
The Massachusetts Referendum league is the
name of an organization just formed at Boston
for the purpose of tempering representative gov
ernment with a little of the corrective power
of pure democracy or the admission of the whole
electorate to a final voice on legislative meas
ures, as occasion may give rise to such a demand.
The objects of the league are stated to be: To
organize and make effective the popular senti
ment in favor of referendum measures; that is,
of majority rule. To pledge legislative candidates
for referendum measures. To give publicity to
pledges of candidates and acts of representatives.
To support pledged candidates and to defeat un
pledged candidates and unfaithful representatives.
It is the intention to carry on an active pro
paganda to the end of securing from the next
legislature enactments looking toward the appli
cation in this state of the referendum principle.
Many rersons of professional, business and labor
prominence in Boston and vicinity have enlisted
in the work, as will be seen from the composi
tion of the executive committee: Robert Treat
aine, Jr., chairman; Prof. Frank Parsons, treas
urer; Charles A. Dean, secretary; George Fred
Williams, Charles M. Cox, Henry Sterling, Har
vey N. Shepard, Rabbi Charles Fleischer, Henry
B. Elackwell, Meyer Bloomfield, Frank K. Foster,
Mrs. Marthr. P. Hadley, Miss . Anna Withington,
John Tobin, Erving Winslow, B. 0. Flower, George
E. McNeill, Prof. Amas R. Wells, Prof. Lewis J.
Johnson and William N. Osgood. Additional to
All : Iowa is interested in the plan of turning
the waste products of the cornfields of the west
ern corn-producing states into paper, and paper of
such quality that it will compare favorable with
the famous Japanase vellum. W. R. Patterson,
Professor of Economics and Statistics of the State
University of Iowa, investigated the process of
the National Fiber and Cellulose company while
in Chicago, in the interests of the commercial
museum of the university. , Just common, ordi
nary cornstalks, 50,000,000 tons of which are al
lowed to rot yearly in the seven western states
producing the greatest amount of corn, Is the
material from which experimentally, the company
has already produced excellent paper at a cost
ranging from $24 to $25 per ton. The cost of
manufacturing paper from wood pulp or rags is
estimated at from $60 to $75 per ton. Over $100,
000 has been spent in the perfections of ma
chinery for the handling of this material. An
improved thrashing machine, which separates the
stalk from the leaves, husks the ears, delivers
the stalks bound in bundles ready for shipment
and the parts of the plant valuable for stock food
into the barn, has only recently been patented.
These bundles of cornstalks are then shipped to
a depithing plant, where, after passing through
several operations, the pith is separated from
the hard fiber surrounding the stalk and rolled,
making an excellent quality of paper. The hard
outside fiber is used in the manufacture of box
board. The company has an option on a paper
mill at Kankakee, UL, where the machines have
been operating successfully. Every vestige of
the. stalk is utilized in some manner. In prepar
ing cellulose, gun cotton, smokeless powder, var
nish, artificial leather, rubber substitutes, insulat
ing materials, electrical apparatus, linoleum and
floor coverings, papier mache and interior deco
rations, picture frames and signs, paper cover
ings, lubricants, golf balls and sundry other pro
ducts, different parts of the stalk are said to be
available. The development of this industry will
mean much to the corn producer of the middle
west. Its progress will be .watched with intense
interest. -
Canada's increasing consumption of products
of . the United States continues to be a notable
feature of American commerce. Figures just
compiled by the department of commerce and
labor, through its bureau of statistics, show that
exports from the United States to the Dominion
of Canada grew from.. $51,903,579 in the ten
months ending with April, 1897, to $104,155,893
i,i the ten months ending with April, 1904, and
to $114,943,079 in the corresponding period of
1905. The increase here noted 13 but a contin
uation of the growth which, with trifling excep-
' tions, has , characterized our trade with Canada
since 1870. During the period from 1855 to 1866 a
recropocity treaty was in operation between the
United States and Canada; from 1867 to 1897
commerce between the two countries was unaf-
- fected by special trade arangements; from April,
1897, to August, 1898, the .United States was
placed at a slight disadvantage as compared with
the United Kingdom, products from that country
entering the Dominion of Canada being admitted
at a reduction of 12 per cent as compared with
the duties charged on importations from the
United States. On August 1, 1898, this reduction
in favor of the United Kingdom was increased to
25 per cent, and on July 1, 1900, was still further
increased to 33 1-3 per cent and cheapness of
American good, however, has served to maintain
and even increase the volume of exports from the
United States to Canada, despite the varying con
ditions to which our trade with that country has
been subjected. In the fiscal year 1855, the first
year of reciprocity with Canada, our exports to
that country were $27,741,808 in value; in 1866,
the closing year of the reciprocity period, $24,
828,880. In 1897, the year which inaugurated the
policy by which ;Great Britain and certain of her
colonies were given the benefit of a special re
duction of het colonies were; given the benefit of
a special reduction in duties charged upon im
portations into Canada, our exports to ,that coun
try were $64,928,821, and each' succeeding year has
shown an increase, the total in 1904 having been
$131,274,346, while for the present fiscal year,
should May and June equal the record made by
April last, the total will be in excess of $140,00,000.
The past winter has been a notable one in
England as far. as labor conditions are concerned.
The returns issued each month by the London
local government board show, that the number
of persons in receipt of relief from the state is
higher than in any preceding year since 1874. So
acute has the situation become that the govern
ment has introduced in parliament a measure
designed to afford relief known as the "unem
ployed workmen" bill. Somer labor leaders have
been urging needy workingmen from all parts of
England to march on London in a body and sev
eral deputations have acted on the suggestion.
One deputation which arrived in London wn?
refused admission to the visitors' gallery of the
house of commons and none of them have been
received,' yet the government fathers this work
ingmen's bill, recognizing the importance of the
problem. "The unempolyed workmen bill pro
vides for public relief by employment, compul
sorily in London, optionally in the rest of the
country," according to the New York World. "It
is based on the principle that an applicant 'hon
estly desirous of obtaining work, but temporarily
unable to do so from exceptional causes over
which he has no control,' should have a right to
receive employment relief. The expenses are to
be met by a special tax, supplemented by contri
butions. The 'unemployed' taxes cannot be used
to provide temporary work except on farm colo
nies, thus drawing surplus labor away from con
gested cities and back to the land. This ne"v
authority will also keep labor registries, assist
applicants by emigration and removal and share
the cost of employment by other bodies. On the
other hand, as safeguards, wages are to be less
than the normal earnings of the unskilled laborer,
and no one shall be assisted more than two years
in succession." '
A railroad collision for the benefit of the dele
gates to the International Railway Congress, who
visited Pittsburg, was given by George Westing
house. The collision took place on the Intar
works Railroad, which is owned by the Westing
house interests. In addition to the 300 delegates
there were present 500 invited guests present. A
train composed of fifty steel cars which had just
been received from the works, was divided into
three parts. Two of these parts were left stand
ing on the track, a space of about fifty yards
dividing them. The third section, to which the
engine was attached, was then drawn down
the track a distance of two miles. The
engineer pulled the throttle wide open and
jumped off and the section of the train crashed
into the stationary cars while running at a speed
of forty miles an hour. There was a quiver, the
three sections united automatically and then set
tied down on the tracks without any damage hav
ing been done. The cars and the engine were
equipped with friction draft gears, which absorbed
the strain. The same experiment was repeated
the second time, a single phase electric locomotive
being use. It was equally successful.
THE EDITOR WISHES TO DOUBLE THE
CIRCULATION OF THE INDEPENDENT BY
ANGUST 1. IF EVERY OLD SUBSCRIBER
WILL GET ONE NEW SUBSCRIBER THE
WORK WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED. WILL YOU
DO YOUR PART?