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GEORGE W. BERGE; EDITOR AND PUBLISHER
Volume 18
Lincoln, Nebraska,' August 31, 1905
Number 15
Of
President
Se e ure Be.de e fo r World
' When the Portsmouth conference was about to convene The
Independent pointed out why it was necessary for Kussia to have
peace, It was shown that because of Russia's desperate plight there
was good reason to hope that a treaty of peace would be signed. The
outcome has justified The Independent's view.
But the mere fact that Russia, bereft of a navy and torn by
internal dissensions, could not hope to achieve anything substantial
if the war continued, was not of itself sufficient to make peace certain.
If J apan could have gained more by keeping up the fight there would
have been no peace. Undoubtsdly the Mikado and his counselors
saw that there were many selfish reasons why Japan, as well as
Russia, should have peace. And because they did see this they did
not insist on terms which Russia could not accept
neither could Japan. On the other hand, both would merely pile
up debts and imperil their financial integrity. To this the financiers
were unalterably opposed, and who can tell how large a share the
financiers had in bringing about peace ? Perhaps the president
could, if he would. At all events, the president avUI receive, and
should receive, credit for the restoration of peace. ' To him the
world owps a trreat debt of .oratitude and we shall hear his cood work
proclaimed in all the land.s.
Two facts stand out prominently as a resulLof the conference
the magnanimity of Japan and the triumph of JVf. Witte. It must
not be forgotten that while peeej'esdesirable to Japan, and al
though a continuationjof--lhe war could have brought little gain,
Japan was inarr'txcellent position to maintain hostilities if the
It is true that Russia's finances were seriously impaired by tTiVikiulo-hairwished to insist on the 'payment of an indemnity.
war,Jbut it is also true that Japan had piled up a tremendous debt
at which the financiers of the world were beginning to murmur. A
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indemnity. ; Japan had pushed the war to almost its ultimate limits.
About the only thing that could have been achieved that had not
already been achieved was the capture of Vladivostok, and Japan
did not forget the lesson of Port Arthur. Vladivostok might have
held out for years, and a relieving army of half a million men would'
have been pounding constantly at the backs of the assailing Japanese.
Russia could obtain nothing worth while by such a war, but
Undoubtedly M. Witte will be the great statesman of the chang
ing order in Russia. His achievements at the peace conference,
even though due as much to the generosity of Japan as to his own
force of will and, diplomatic adroitness, will make him the idol of
the Russian people. His adaptability, as shown by his skill in
making himself and his people well liked in a nation where senti
ment has been overwhelmingly favorable to Japan; . his kindliness,
courtesy and largeness of view, as illustrated by his admirable
speech to the newspaper correspondents, have obtained for him a
secure place in the esteem of Americans and will win for him the
affection of the Russian masses now engaged in the final struggle
for freedom.
Railway Bureaucrats Change Front With Reference
to Government Ownership
Those adaptable literary gentlemen who lend their lustrous
thoughts to the railway argument bureaus are beginning to view
with alarm the trend toward government ownership, , It is not so
many months ago that these same gentlemen asserted with great
economic perspicacity that government ownership was much to be
preferred to government regulation. At that -time government',
ownership of railways seemed so remote that they considered it safe
and" sane to propound an argument for government ownership in
order to discredit government control.
But events are moving swiftly. The arguments -that sufficed
a few months ago are already outworn and must be discarded. Glib
arguments in favor of government ownership were permissible when
it had only a far-off significance. Rut "in less. time than it takes'
to ripen a strawberry" government ownership has become a night
mare to the financiers of the railway world. Consequently the liter
ary gentlemen have been instructed to trim their sails for a beat to
windward. ' They are now expected to oppose not only government
control, but government ownership as well. Witness the following
lucubration:
It would not be at all like havin the government attempt to operate
a railroad through Nebraska. . Here there are political bosses in every
voting precinct, and every such boss would insist on having something to
say in the management of the local end of the railroad. He would also
have, just as he calculates on having now, the votes of the railroad men
behind him. Of course under the civil service such a condition would not
bo contemplated, but they would exist just the same. Under the civil
service the postal service is not presumed to be a political machine, but
it is just the same,-and the, most powerful and unyielding, in the country,
Postal employes make no bones of it. They band themselves into ostensible
service improvement organizations, if not for political purposes, at least
with manifest political results. Their meetings are nothing more nor less
than political rallies, and always laudatory of and in fidelity to the pre
vailing national administration. Wherever you find a postal employe now
voting anything other than the straight republican ticket, you can bet he is
doing it on the sly and is in mortal terror lest some superior in rank may
find it out. Go out among your acquaintances in the postal service and
find, if you can, a single one who, though he may be a democrat in principle;'
dare let it be known. Then go out and find, if you can, a single republi
can attache of the service who does not make the fact known upon every
appropriate occasion, and on some that are not appropriate. Here is
the greatest menace of government ownership. This is the condition that
the Panama experiment does not have to meet. If the railways of the
country were owned by the government and manned by men of its selection,
as foreshadowed by Expert Dalrymple, it would be the biggest and most
powerful nd most daagerous political machine in the history of the world,
and the president, who controlled.it could give Czar Nicholas and Kaiser
Wilhelm cards and spades in a game of despotism and beat them out.
Can anyone contemplate the patriotic pleadings of these gentle
men without being moved to tears? They forsee. that the railways
will become the Octopus of politics and they wish to warn the people
against a terrible catastrophe. It matters little to these devotees
of the inconsistent that the railways are now, and have been for many
years, a gigantic force for evil in national and state politics. They
insist on being patriotic even at the cost of being called hypocritical.
If they can save the nation from ruin, these friends of the peoplo
will endure with much peace of soul and mental serenity the harsh
epithets applied to them by agitators and demagogue.
Rut what of their argument? Is it true that under govern-
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