y$he Nobrasktx Indepondont
SEPTEMBER 28, 1905
rAGE I
has been greatest. Again, the commodities j.
chosen are generally staple and least subject
of all to manipulation or the arbitrary price
control of combinations. Accordingly the
.whole inquiry of the bureau regarding wages
and prices has been turned into directions
calculated to present prosperity" on its best
. side in relation to th masses of the people.
Suppose the inquiry were to extend into the
employments where combinations to force up
wages have little place or power; and into
commodities which have been most subject
to the control of trust combinations? It
would there be found, without much of any
, question, that real wages, or wages in rela
tion to purchasing power, have suffered a
material decline. . 1
LIGHT ON INSURANCE GRAFT
The New York World, which has been ,unv
remitting in its attacks on life insurance graft,
affords much light on the recent disclosures in
its running comment from day to day. Extracts
from the World follow:
These facts have been proved by the con
fessions of the officials themselves: 1. The
money of the policyholders has been given
to political committees. 2. Assets which
should have gone on the ledger to the policy
holders' credit have been diverted to secret
funds and payments have been made of which
no record appears in the public statements.
3. The custom was general for officers and
directors to speculate with the trust funds
in their keeping. 4. It was also the custom
for the officers and directors to manufacture
securities and sell them to their own com
panies. 5. It is admitted that the official
annual reports are false and that the state
superintendent's certificate of their accuracy
Is a lie. These shameful conclusions are sub
stantiated by the testimony.
Thirty-eight years ago Mr. Hyde secured
an amendment to the insurance law striking
out the requirement that dividends must be
declared at least every five years. He in
vented the whipsaw endowment policy by
which a man pays for both life insurance and
an endowment, and by no posibility can get"
both. . It is this device which provides an
annual fund for the enrichment of the in
siders. Last year $47,600,000 was expended
by these three companies in other ways than
in payments to their policyholders. What
those ways are it is now the duty of the
committee to make, public. The checks to
the Republican National committee and to
Andrew Hamilton account for only a -small
fraction. After full publicity the remedy
will appear:- First, the facts. Second, punish
ment and restitution. Third, the destruction
of the system which bred life insurance and
political corruption. -New York World.
As vice-president of the New York Life
Mr. Perkins sold $800,000 of the securities
to Mr. Perkins of the firm of J. P. Morgan
& Co. This was on December 31, 1903. Then
on January 2, 1904, Mr. Perkins of J. P.
Morgan & Co. resold the securities to Mr.
Perkins of the New York Life, and the in
surance examiner was none the wiser. As
for being faithful, Mr. Perkins eventually
developed more faithfulness than ever the
New York Life could make use of, so the in
surance company retained $25,000 worth of
it a year and the rest went to J. P. Morgan
& Co. Mr. Morgan at first questioned Mr.
Perkins ability to fill this "dual position."
He wanted to monopolize all the Perkins
faithfulness himself.
The evidence also multiplies of the
fraternity between the insiders in all the
big companies. Mr. E. H. Harriman con
descended to borrow from the New York
Life as well as from the Equitable. Presi
dent John R. Hegeman of the Metropolitan
was also not above borrowing the New York
Life money for his personal use at 1 per
cent interest. The hundreds of millions of
dollars of assests were accessible to every
body with the right kiiid of pull, and the
only people connected with the matter who
did not get their share were the policy
holders. And all this time Francis Hendricks
was superintendent of insurance and Fred
erick D. Kilburn was superintendent of banks.
Year after year Francis Hendricks has
attached the seal of the state of New York
to a certificate falsely certifying to the state
ments Of the Equitable, Mutual and New
York Life. Year after year Frederick D.
Kilburn was allowed the yellow-dog loans
and accounts to be carried in state banks and
trust companies even after, the national bank
- examiners had forced them out of national
banks the Western National for one. The
United States officers kept themselves free
from these tainted transactions, while even
after their branding officials of the state of
New York accepted and permitted them.
What was John A McCall's testimony yester
day but a confession that the policyholders
had been robbed and that part of the pro
ceeds went to Albany? President McCall
admits that he paid Andrew Hamilton
$100,000 of the policyholders money for which
no. accounting was made and no vouchers
had. These checks were , deposited in an
Albany bank and their proceeds cashed.
Where did the money, go? It is admitted by
President McCall that Hamilton represented
the New York Life in reference to "taxa
tion and legislation." , When he wanted money
he went to McCall and got it. What did he
do with it? These and like payments were
made under the supervision of Francis Hen
dricks. The yellow-dog accounts were un
der the supervision of F. D. Kilburn. Both
are in office today. Both should be private
citizens tomorrow.
PROTESTING AGAINST HIGH TARIFF
. The evils of our -present tariff system con
tinue to arouse the indignation of men in all
parties and the demand for revision is steadily
increasing:
The anti-reciprocity people will have to
muzzle the United States consuls with the
" rest if they expect to conceal the facts, of
the tariff situation from the people at large.
Here is Peter Lieber, now for sixteen years
consul at Dusseldorf, reporting to the state
department: German manufacturing inter
ests have stood the unjust competition as
long as they will, and as the only means of
retaliation lies in the same method of high
tariff schedules, the next Reichstag that
meets at Berlin will place a high tariff wall
about Germany so high that American pro
ducts will be almost wholly excluded from the
kingdom. At the present time German man
ufacturers, though as good as any in the
United States, cannot sell their wares in
this country at a profit on account of the
high tariff system maintained by the present
administration. The stand Germany Is tak
ing is simply the beginning of what will later
spread across the continent. They are will
ing to stand on an even level with competi
tors in the United States, but if this country
persists in shutting out foreign goods, why it
is only natural for Germany to do the same
i thing. How much better to look the mat
ter square in the face, rather than attempt
ing to pretend, as the Home Market club is
still doing, we believe, to make it appear that
a retaliatory tariff is a myth or invention, im
probable if not impossible. -Boston Record.
In national taxation alone the common
people have been overcharged billions of dol
lars in the last few years, while the rich
have been undercharged a like amount. The
proposed duty on coffee will get as much tax
from the poor man as from the millionaire
and is an example of how the wealthy evade
paying their share of the expenses of the
government. Missouri World.
The Hon. Champ Clark, who has been giving
the tariff question close study of late, declares
that the tariff on , lumber is responsible for the
destruction of American forests:
When that tariff was placed on lumber
It practically shut out the supply of Cana
dian lumber, and it will never begin to come
in in quantity until the home supply is so
nearly exhausted that the imported article
can pay the tariff rate and still compete with
the highly enhanced domestic product In
fact it will not come in until ours is so scarce
as to be extremely high priced, so high that
home builders can pay the high tariff on
Canadian lumber and still buy it cheaper
than the domestic article. When will that
be? When the domestic supply is practically
exhausted. All authorities agree that the re
moval of the forests mean that the rains will
be greatly diminished. Working on the
theory that the denudation of our forest
lands means the decline of agriculture and
consequently the decline of our civilization
the republican administration is booming the
work of the bureau of forestry of the agri
cultural department. Congress is doubling
and quadrupling the appropriation for this
bureau, whose business it is to devise ways
and means to make the domestic forests go
as far as posslblo and renew them as much
as may be done. This is good work, but I
have a bill pending in congress to place lum
ber on the free list. No republican congress
will pass it, for it would prove an entering
wedge, which, In the beneficence of Its re
sults, would split the high tariff system from
root to branch. What would free logs and
lumber do for us? Make it cheaper to build
a home, or a henhouse, a fence, or a barn,
even a buggy or a feed trough, while it
would at once check the destruction of our
own forests. Good timber in the United
States Is becoming scarce. In Canada it is
plentiful. How much better it would be to
clear some of the surplus timber from the
lands of our northern neighbor, much of it too
cold for ordinary agriculture than to strip
our own lands while paying the high prices
for the finished product which are forced
upon us under the high tariff. It would not
be necessary to make appropriations to take
care' of the bureau of forestry, which is
guarding the spigot if we could force this
republican congress to stop the loss as the
bunghole by admitting Canadian lumber free
of duty.
NEBRASKA POLITICS
The political situation in Nebraska is dis
cussed very interestingly and instructively by
the reform newspapers:
If Mr. Letton is elected It will not be a
victory of the people as against the corpora
tions, but rather, as in the convention, a point
gained by the Northwestern road in Its fight
for a place among the other roads in ruling
the political destinies of our state. As to
the people, it can matter little whether the
state is ruled by one road or by half a dozen;
and of late state conventions as also state
legislatures have been principally contests
between representatives of different roads for
supremacy. All the roads are now declaring
the granting of passes to be an evil, so the
anti-pass plank in the platform was adopted-
ed without a contest. As to Mr. Letton, the
candidate for judge, he has acted in that
capacity for some time as supreme court
commissioner, and he it was who wrote the
opinion in the Farmers' Canal case which
reinstated the forfeited rights of that cor
poration and left the district to the mercy
of the speculators. Mitchell Index.
' The democrats and populists joined in the
nomination of a state ticket Wednesday. The
democrats named the candidate for supreme
judge and one regent and the populists the
other. The candidates are: For judge, W.
G. Hastings, of Wilber, formerly supreme
court commissioner, and at present a member
of the faculty at the state university. Ho
may be said to be one of the leading at
torneys in the state and in point of probity
and legal knowledge his court opinions have
always carried great weight in the courts
of the state. As a democrat he stands for
every reform, demanded by the party and
stands squarely and unqualified in favor of
abolishing corporate evils of every nature.
For regents the democrats named Louis
LIghtner, of Columbus, a graduate of the
state university and one of the best debaters
in the state. He is now in business. D. C.
Cole, the populist choice, is superintendent
of schools in Polk county and a man of emi
nent standing and practical experience in
school affairs. The ticket as a whole is de
serving of the unreserved support of all
democrats in the state. Wahoo Democrat.
Nebraska has been aflame for almost a
year now with anti-pass indignation and yet
men in high official station have been going
right on, not only riding on their passes,
but working the railroads for free trips to
distant parts of the coantry. Are men of
this kind to be entrusted with the construc
tion and enforcement of an anti-pass
law. York Democrat.
The total assessment of property in the
state is increased this year $9,681,720 over
last year. Of this ;7,500,000 falls on land and
live stock and $1,000,000 on railroads. Lands
and lots are increased $4,500,000, cattle $2,
000,000 and horses $1,000,000. The assess
ment on cash is less by $4,000,000, which
seems strange in view of the unusual pros
perity and large shipments out of the state.
There are two ways of doing some things.
The state board did not have the courage
to lower the railroad assessment, in answer
to the demands of the railroad politicians,
so It increased the assessment of other prop
erty, thus lightening the taxes of the rail-'
roads. Kearney New Era Standard.