PAGE C
AUGUST 10t 1905
&e Nebraska. Independent
ed in the Philippine islands.- The British
government during the Boer war was forced
by public indignation to issue a monthly state
ment giving the location of each reconcentra
tion camp, the number of men, women and
children in each, and the mortality in each
class during the previous month. The gov
ernment of the United States has never given
any information of this sort, and on the con
trary, it hag sedulously concealed the truth.
If the facts will bear the light, let us have
them. If they cannot be furnished, either the
administration has not taken interest enough
in the subject to have them collected, or it
does not dare to publish them. If the people
of the United States have consciences if
they care what crimes are committed in their
names if they are unwilling to do them
selves what they considered barbarous when
done by Spain, they should insist on know
ing all the facts and should see that these
barbarous practices are stopped. If they are
so indifferent to the beam in their own eye
that they do not care what is done in these
distant islands to the unhappy people whose
liberty they have destroyed, they should con
fess that they are incapable or unwilling to
do their duty by their subjects and should let
them go. Letter in Boston Herald.
PASS HAS FEW DEFENDERS
The Nebraska State Journal criticises those
dissenters who still doggedly contend that the
pass system is a beneficient institution:
It might have been supposed that the
people of Nebraska had seen and heard all
that could be done or said of the railroad
pass, but recent events seem to indicate that
of the power of the pass the half has not been
told. There yet remain four or five editors
and a few score pass holders in the state
who still refuse to admit that the pass is
either a club or a bribe, but recent events in
Wisconsin have come happily to pass in a
way that ought to force open the eyes of even
those who have refused to see. Two dis
patches in yesterday's papers make the case.
At Janesville several city officials have re
signed their offices because the new Wiscon
sin law forbidding public officials to use rail
road passes is being enforced. News of a
similar tenor comes from Kaukaua. Only
two probable explanations for such actions
are to be found. Either the resigned officials
are able to get passes . without being office
holders, and prefer the pass to the office; or
they cared for the office only because it gave
them a claim for the pass, and so resigned
as soon as this emolument was denied. On
unimpeachable authority iCmay be asserted
that no man can serve two masters. A reason
able knowledge of human nature is sufficient
to teach that when an appearance of serv- -ing
two masters is being kept up, it is always
the one who pays the most who gets the ser
vice. The Wisconsin officials considered the
railroad 'pay, their passes, more desirable
than the salary or the honor of the public.
It does no violence to assume that in the cir
cumstances their towns will not suffer from
the loss of their services.
FAVORS GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP
The Independent, of O'Neil, Neb., holds that
the administration is not sincere in its advocacy
of government regulation and adds
The only remedy for the railroads is pub
' lie ownership and operation of them. The
republican organization, backed up by pluto
cracy is against the government ownership
of railroads. The railroads furnish free
passes and special trains to republican politi
cians and their families. By these means and
by furnishing big boodles for the republican
fund, the railroads absolutely dominate and
own the republican party in every state. If
we had government ownership of railroads
freight rates would not be much more than
one-half what they are today, and there
would be no rebates or discriminations. Take
the case of Holt county. The south half of
the county will not raise very much except
hay this year. The rates of hay are higher
by thirty per cent than they were twenty
years ago, but the republican party is utterly
opposed to any reduction of them. .The south
half of the county ought to have reasonable
railroad facilities but it hasn't got them and
it won't get them. The Burlington and the
Northwestern have divided territory and the
people of the south half of the county are
suffering on account of it. They ought to have
a railroad to take their nay" to market; but
their only hope of getting any railroad for
years to come is by government ownership
of the railroads. They can never hope to
make any progress through the republican
party. Every republican leader in Holt coun
ty rides on a railroad pass. Every one of
them is owned by the Northwestern rail
road. Everything they can do will be done
to keep the government from owning the rail
roads. If the government owned the rail
roads these deadhead politicians would have
to pay their railroad fare the same as the
farmers and merchants pay, but under the
present condition these men and their fami
lies ride all over the country without ever
paying a cent. Now is a good time, to orga
nize government ownership clubs. There
must' be thorough organization before the
people can win. . The sentiment is right all
over the west for government ownership, but
we can't do anything until the people are
thoroughly organized. After that something
can be done. , .
WORK OF RECLAMATION SERVICE
The completion by the United States reclam
ation service of the first irrigation project unaer
ta ken suggests these thought to the El Paso
Herald:
It is men with hearts who have done it;
men with imagination, illumination, prophecy, '
conscience. The fact that it pays is impor
tant, but it is secondary. If the business arg
ument could not have been sustained, the
movement would have died, but without the
moral force the business argument would
have shriveled like a" leaf in the sand. The
architects and builders of this great plan of
redemption are and have been men of heart
as well as brain, men of tact and of love for
humanity, as well as men of firm convictions
and shrewd business sense, men who look
on an acre of land or a gold coin merely as
a token to be used for the betterment of hu
manity. There is another phase of the na
tional reclamation movement that merits spe
cial attention at this time. It is the stainless
record of the United States reclamation ser
vice under conditions presenting opportuni
ties for irregularities. Coupled with this neg
ative quality is the positive quality of effi
ciency. The work of the service has been
carried on with a degree of expedition and
economy that presents a shining example to
every other department of government. To
the reclamation service of the United States
The Herald presents the hearty congratula
tions of the people of the great southwest
upon the successful opening of its first com
pleted project.
NOT A LITERARY MASTERPIECE
The Columbus Press-Post thus satirizes the
biographical sketch of John D. Rockefeller, which
appeared among a series of sketches entitled "Ed
ucational Benefactors," issued by the United
States commissioner of education:
There is a question whether the govern
ment hasn't gone too far in its sketch of the
oil king? It looks a little as if it had slopped
over in its desire to say "thank you" for the
big donations to education which it recently
accepted from Mr. Rockefeller. It tells us
that he was a model boy, honest, courageous,
tender and thoroughly religious and says
that the "unfolding of his youthful character
became indicative of his future career.
Again, "his qualities were early manifested;
he discriminated between the real and the
. false." This might be construed to mean
that he early learned to discriminate between
the ring of the counterfeit dollar and the
genuine. But still you can't tell just what it
- all means. When a man sets out to write an
other man a. "character" in return for finan
cial obligation, he is apt to say all sorts of
things. In view of this it may be just as well
to make a conservative estimate of the sub
ject of the sketch even though it bear the
government trade mark.
EDUCATIONAL ARISTOCRACY
In the Arena for August Eltweed Pomeroy
gives what he considers to be the correct explan
ation of the oft-noticed estrangement between
educators and the masses:
The reason for this, I" think, lies largely
in their training which tends to destroy active
sympathy with the common people and to
carry them out of touch with the thoughts,
ideals and aspirations of the average man.
They live and develop in another atmosphere.
It is a subtile differentiation but a very im
portant one. They learn from books, which
is life at second hand, and are therefore not
in actual, direct and positive touch with life
as lived by the masses. They are teachers;
they are accustomed to speak authoritatively;
they come, often unconsciously, to feel that
they are above the mass of the people; and
so when they see men who are their inferiors
in education and training swaying the people
in a manner impossible for them, they think
of the people as something apart from and
below them as "the great unwashed." This
of course tends to separate them still more
from the throbbing heart of popular life and
makes them more aristocratic in sentiment,
suspicious of democracy and out cf touch with
the great vitalizing currents of our life and
thought.
REPUBLICAN PARTY WARNED
Speaking of the deficit, Leslie's Weekly give
the republican party solemn warning that it it
making smooth the way for a democratic victory.
A crisis confronts the republicans. Let
the republican leaders in congress understand
that the country is not eternally and inev
itably wedded to the republican party. .The
republican party was placed in power because
the American people thought it would give
better government than Its opponent would
or could furnish. For a time it justified this
confidence. But in the management, of the
government's finances recently it has been
lax. This laxity, if continued, will be criminal,
and will deserve and receive the popular con
demnation. Unless the republican party
acts promptly, intelligently, and decisively
just as soon as congress meets, and ends this
deficit, the democracy will elect a congress in
1906 and a president and congress in 1908.
A FUNDAMENTAL REFORM
The Columbus Press-Post, commenting on
the prohibitionist platform in Ohio, praltfetf iha
planks on women's suffrage, election of senators
by direct vote, a better system of inspection fcr
state banks, and adds:
But all those questions pale Into insignifi
cance beside that one great enabling device
of democratic government, the initiative and
referendum. On this subject the prohibition
platform says: "The people should always
have the best and simplest methods of initiat
ing legislation and ratifying their own laws.
Therefore we favor the initiative and referen
dum." This is a plank on which all men
can agree simply because they are men. 'In
fact, there is proof at hand that nearly all
men desire that great degree of self-government
which this simple device will give us.
The democratic party has 'declared for the
initiative and referendum ; so ha3 the socialist
party; so has the populist party. The con
stitution of the American Federation of La
bor, the single taxers, the women's suffragists,
and every thoughtful organization in the field
of political economy has declared for the in
itiative and referendum. Under the popular
rule made possible by the initiative and ref
erendum, the bosses must go. The republi
can party alone has failed to espouse this
. reform. It Is well established, in Ohio at
least, that the republican party is boss-ridden.
Therefore, while the rank and file of
the voters may be in favor of any reform, it
cannot be secured so long as the bosses ob
ject. Any party or organization that is willing
to abide by the will of the majority is en
titled to respect and consideration. The para
mount issue is popular rule. Popular rule
can only be obtained through the Initiative
referendum.
PORTO RICO'S PROTEST
Porto Rico's protest against a carpet-bas
government is attracting considerable attention:
It is highly desirable that there should
be an infusion of American ideas of the
right sort into Porto Rican society, and it -is
safe to assume that government appoint
ments would rarely if ever go to non-residents
if the suggestion had to come entirely from
the Porto Ricans themselves. They are like
other people in that respect The governor's
power of appointment, subject to confirma
tion by a local senate, might, however, be
sufficient to Insure enough "foreigners" in
important public positions. England, the
most successful of modern colonizing coun
tries, has attained success largely through
a liberal policy toward the development of
local autonomy In matters of local concern,
and It is only by such a policy that the peo
ple of a dependency can be stimulated to
their best national life. Porto Rico's memo
rial is clearly a sign of health, and deserves
candid consideration from congress. Chicago
Tribune. -