FEBRUARY 15, 1906
PAGE 8
&& Hobraolia Independent
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT
ESTABLISHED 1889
J. M. DEVINE, Editor
FREDERIC O. BERGE, Business Mgr.
Published Every Thursday
1328 O Street
Lincoln, Nebraska
Entered at the postofflco a Lincoln,
Nebraska, as second-class mall matter,
under the act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
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THE INDEPENDENT,
.Lincoln, Neb.
TO THE READERS OF THE INDE
PENDENT As you will observe the make-up of
The Independent has been changed
so as to embrace a number of addi
tional features which will greatly add
to Its value. Also with this issue I
step aside as editor. In the future
Hon. J. M. Devine will be its editor
and have general charge of the paper.
Mr. Devine for years edited the Na
tional Watchman at Washington, D.
C. I congratulate the readers of The
Independent as well as myself for be
ing able' to secure the services of such
an eminent journalist. ' No abler or
sturdier defender of the rights of the
people against invasion by corporate
or other interests, has been found in
recent years. The encouragement, un
measured commendation and cordial
and generous support bestowed upon
The Independent during my brief ad
ministration have been to me both
gratifying and reassuring and I be
speak for Mr. Devine this same cordial
support. I relinquish this work at this
time for several reasons.
In the first place I am connected
with a" law firm and the work there
demands my entire time. The work
I have done here has been just that
much extra and was done mostly
evenings when I could be relieved
from other work. It is too much and
I find that I must either relinquish
this work or abandon my law prac
tice entirely. After due 'consideration
I have concluded that it is best to
remain with my chosen profession
rather than permantly enter a new
field.
Then there is another reason why
I turn this work over to others at this
time. The response by the voters of
Nebraska, to the issues that I thrust
into the campaign in 1904, wherein 1
received 30,000 more votes for the
governorship than the combined vote
cast for Parker and Watson, the presi
dential candidates running on the same
tickets, removed the last vestige of
doubt from the' minds of both friends
and enemies of the cause I cham
pioned, that I had struck at the vul
nerable point in the armor of railroad
government in our state. And lest
the issue thus forced into the arena
of Nebraska politics In 1904, which it
is universally conceded would have
swept the railroad party from power
had It not been for the Roosevelt
"Tidal Wave," be neglected after the
election, I purchased The Independent
and dedicated it to the redemption of
Nebraska from railroad control. : Af
terwards I published a book exposing
that most insidious and successful in
strumentality of political debauchery
and wholesale bribery, used by rail
way corporations to secure, control
over the government of our cities,
states and nation, "The Free Pass Bri
bery System.",,
My efforts have met with signal
success. The Independent found a
welcome in thousands of homes in
Nebraska and other states and its cir
culation has been constantly growing.
My book : : The Free Pass, Bribery Sys
tem" now has readers in every section
of the country and the demand for it
is daily increasing. , During the 1904-05
legislative session I also had intro
duced an anti-pass bill and I appeared
before the legislative committee on
railroads and argued for its passage.
Of course, the bill with others of its
kind was defeated. It never found
its way out of the committee-room.
The platform upon which I made my
race for governor less than two years
ago, has been making tremendous
headway. Ever since that election the
tidal wave has been rising and the
people today see more clearly than
ever before how the free pass bribery
system, the corrupt lobby, the politi
cal bosses which these instruments of
corruption beget, must all be first
driven from the field of politics be
fore we can get wholesome legislation
and incorruptible officials.
In Nebraska the forces are already
forming for battle. It will be a mem
orable struggle. The people want
the free pass bribery system de
stroyed, root and branch;' they want
corrupt lobbying driven from our state
capitol; they want the railroad tax
question settled Yight; they want ex
tortion and discrimination in freight
rates stopped; they want above every
thing else honest ana true men who
can be trusted to do this work, i Ar-1
rayed against the people is the power
ful influence of the railroads, an army
of free pass holders and a corrupt
lobby. Oh, if the people could only
stand together in sucn a struggle,
what a victory they could achieve!
But attempt is already being made
to confuse the issue. Already rail
road tools who for twenty-five years
have been passholders and agents of
the railroads are posing as reformers
and professing sympathy with the
righteous cause of the people. An
appeal will be made to partisanship
in the hope of lining up in that way
honest anti-railroad voters for rail
road candidates. The game of poli
tics was never played with more
consummate skill than it will be
played in the coming campaign. The
real issue confronting Nebraska peo
ple Is whether we shall have a real
or sham battle. I want to be free so
I can devote at least some of my time
to help win a real victory for the peo
ple. ; GEORGE W. BERGE.
PARTY SLAVERY
Evidence that party lines set more
lightly upon the votere of the country
than ever before is abundant upon
every hand. This Is in a great meas
ure due to the strain they have been
subjected to in recent years.
The quality , in human nature that
makes men partisan remains, but the
tension put upon it by the party
leaders has been more than it could
bear. Party leaders of the present
day do not represent great ideas and
policies for . the betterment of the
country and the people, regarding
which natural differences of opinion
may exist. But, on the contrary, they
represent in the main the ambition
of rival rings and cliques, engaged in
exploiting the people for private gam.
As an illustration, take United States
Senator Aldrich of Rhode Island,
whose leadership of his party in the
United States senate stands unques
tioned. ' Who does Mr. Aldrich repre
sent in the senate of the United
States? The people of Rhode Island?
Not at all. To assert that Mr. Aldrich
represents the people of Rhode Island
in the presence of any of his col
leagues of the senate, or within the
hearing of newspaper correspondents
at the. national capitol would evoke
from them a smile of pity, a sort of
contemptuous pity for the innocent
who knew no better than to make
such a remark. Senator Aldrich is
regarded at the national capitol as
the chief bugler of the numerous
Standard Oil statesmen (?) occupy
ing seats in the two houses of con
gress. Standard Oil is a term not sufficient
ly comprehended by people generally.
It has a much broader meaning now
than it had before the oil monopolists
captured the. sugar trust, the copper
trust, the steel trust, the leather trust,
the gas and electric lighting combina
tions of our great cities, the street
car systems of our great cities, and
later to find investment for their
fabulous incomes have seized control
of a number of our great railway sys
tems. The people generally do not
know that Standard Oil is the dom:
inant power in what is known as the
Gould system of railroads. The wealth
of George Gould together with that
of the Gould family is much less than
the wealth of any one of the dozen
men known as the Standard Oil crowd.
Neither is it generally known that
George Gould only holds his position
as the head of a number of railway
systems by the grace or the Standard
Oil crowd, who regard him as a good
railroad man, the same as they regard
Havermeyer as a good man to look
after the sugar refining business, or
Corey to direct the steel trust. Of
course, these men hold large invest
ments in the various enterprises they
are at the head of. If they did not,
they could not retain their positions.
Standard Oil is master, and it acts
upon the principle that governed ship
owners for centuries, that of requir
ing a would-be captain to invest his
own money in the ship as the condi
tion of being placed in command. Not
many years since the Vanderbilt fam
ily controlled many systems of rail
ways. The New York Central was
the pride of the Vancerbilts. But that
system is now, dominated by Standard
Oil. , ;,, '. -.
Standard Oil, the Morgan, Hill, Har
riman combine and, the Pennsylvania
railroad clique, constitute the back
bone of the republican party. These
great Orbs each control a vast num
ber of Satellites, which together with
their principles constitute all there i3
of the republican party, with the sin
gle exception of Theodore Roosevelt.
The party Is very sick just now. Its
ailment is known as Rooseveltism.
Some say the party will soon recover;
that the disease, although exhibiting
many spectacular symptoms, is in no
wise dangerous; that only mmor mem
bers of the party have the disease, any
way, and that it Is a fake disease
at best. Others, however, are positive
that the disease will kill the party
ttuu mane joryan presiueui.
For our own part, while we do not
take Roosevelt very seriously, we re
gard Rooseveltism as a symptom of
national health. The minor members
of the party who have "fallen vic
tims of this so-called disease are so
numerous that Rooseveltism has so
far proven itself to De stronger than
the party. If Roosevelt is actually sin
cere, in dead earnest, and will use
the power and resources at his com
mand, it is within his power to deal
Standard Oil and its cohorts a solar
plexus blow from which they will ,
never recover. He can have no ex-
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DAILY PAPERS
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WEEKLY PAPERS
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Farmer 1.00 1.10
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Atlanta Constitution,
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American Granger Bulle-
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lowa state Register
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MONTHLY MAGAZINES
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Referendum News.. ... ., 50 1 m
Ohio Liberty Bell. ;50
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Mr. Berge's new book on "The Free
Pass Bribery System" which sells rea
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of the above combinations, postpaid
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THE INDEPENDENT,'
Lincoln, Neb.