April 5, 1906
&e Nobrasko, Indopondont
PAGE 9
of William J. Bryan and William R.
- Hearst stand out conspicuous among
83,000,000 of people as foremost in
denying the right of corporation rule,
and in summoning the people to re
sistence and the overthrow of that
rule. Whenever privilege in either of
the many forms that It exists is at
tacked by the people all other forms
rush to the rescue of the one assailed.
With the enormous resources at their
command they control the press and
corrupt the politics of state and na
tion for private ends. The money they
use to secure control of the govern
ments of slate and -nation is taken
from the pockets of the people. Their
power and privilege to plunder rests
upon laws enacted by their agents in J
legislatures and congresses and up-j
held by judges who are their ;
creatures. . ..
The larceny of the funds of policy
holders of life insurance to swell the
coffers of a campaign committee "dif
fers! only in degree of criminality
from other cases of campaign contrib
utions by-corporations. In all cases
campaign funds from corporations
means larceny from the stockholders
of the corporation and from the peo
ple from whom such moneys were
extracted through extortionate charges
and the corporations so contributing
are guilty of treason against the com
mon people.
All explosion, no bullet Roosevelt
rate bill.
Republican rate regulation only a
noise. v '. .. v
Our premium sewing machine is all
right. : : : -
How many loafers are on the. gov
ernment pay roll at Panama anyway?
Ask your local paper if it has a
clubbing rate with The Independent.
The popularity that President Roose
velt has forfeited will now go to
swell the rising tide that is sweeping
Bryanward.
President Roosevelt can now fall
back on his Panama record and the
glorious achievements of his adminis
tration in the Philippines.
Watch the United States senate, the
dividing line between the railroad and
anti-railroad senators will be marked
by the vote on the Bailey amendments.
The sale of Mr. Berge's book, '"The
Free Pass Bribery System," is con
stantly increasing. Large numbers of
them are being sent ito every state
in the Union. '
Invite your neighbors and friends
to subscribe for The Independent. It
is fighting your battles and it is your
duty to aid in giving it the widest
possible circulation.
Our premium watch Is the best
cheap watch manufactured. The
paper and the watch is furnished for
less than the regular retail price of
the watch alone.
The White House amendments to
the rate bill confers upon the courts
specific jurisdiction to nullify the work
of the Interstate commerce commis
sion upon application. It is a rail
road amendment.
If the democratic politicians of the
state would drop into The Independ
ent office and read a thousand or more
letters that have been received dur
ing the past three weeks, they would
know who the people of the state
want for governor next year.
If the White House amendment to
the rate bill happens to need a few
votes to insure its adoption they can
be secured, by. calling upon . Aldrich,
Elkins, Spooner, Knox, Foraker &
Co. These gentlemen will see to it
that the amendment Is not lost.
Watch the votes in the United
States senate upon the amendments
to the rate bill. Senators who vote
for the Bailey amendments want rate'
regulation in the interest of the pub
lic. Those who vote for the White
House amendments are on the side of
the railroads.
The passage of the Hepburn-Dolli-,ver
rate bill with the amendments
proposed by Senator Bailey added,
would be a long step in the direction
of curbing the rapacity of the rail
roads. But if the bill is to be amend
ed as proposed by the White House
conference, Samson will be , shorn of
his locks.
Your neighbor, who is yet in dark
ness on the question of railroad and
trust politics, has no desire to remain
blind. But in case he shows symp
toms of . obstinacy, you may remind
him that it is no longer fashionable
to remain blind upon these questions.
This is the only argument that will
reach a certain class of persons.
If the democratic nomination for
governor of Nebraska this year could
be made by a primary election, after
the manner that nominations are made
in the south, George W. Berge would
Receive eight out of every ten votes
cast, if the writers of the hundreds of
letters, from all parts of the state that
are received at this office each week
correctly reported the situation.
The public is patiently waiting for
President Roosevelt to order his cam
paign committee to return to the life
insurance companies the money that
was stolen from them by their officers
and donated to his campaign commit
tee in 1904. It is time something was
done about this matter. So foul a
scandal cannot be overlooked or ig
nored.
The surrender of President Roose
velt to the railroad senators is the
result of one of three things, name
ly: He was either fooled Into it,
bullied into it, or is insincere in his
efforts to relieve the people from rail
road extortion. Unless he elect3 to
enlighten the public upon this mat
ter each individual will be left to his
own guess as to which it was.
The newspapers of the country are
teeming with praise of William J.
Bryan lately, and the surprising thing
about It all is that hundreds of papers
in the east that fought him bitterly in
1896 and 1900 are now shouting the
loudest and 'the longest in his praise.
Mr. Bryan knew he was right and
therefore" could afford to wait. Ills
countrymen have a hearty welcome
awaiting him upon his return home.
The keynote struck by George W.
Berge, against the free railroad pass
as a bribe, has met with a universal
response throughout the country. Anti
pass bills have recently been In try
duced in the legislatures of more .-than
a dozen states, and the state officials
of our, own state have .considered it
necessary to make a public ;wmounce
meni that" they have returned their
The attack' on the constitutionality
of the rate bill only fools those who are
willing , to be - fooled. The railroad
senators, in order to amend the bill
had to .decide1 upon a line of attack,
and then support the position taken
with all the ability at their command.
This they did and succeeded in win
ning over their side the half-hearted
supporters of the bill. The Bailey
amendment, however, pricks the con
stitutional bubble. "
The voters of Nebraska will scruti
nize the character and individual rec
ords of candidates for state offices
this year more critically than ever
before. A new allignment of voters
is in process of formation here as
elsewhere, and the voters are looking
for true men to lead them in the fight
against railroads and trusts domina
tions. This is one of the years when
the people cannot be frifled with or
fooled. They are wide awake and in
dead earnest, and the fettish of a
party name has lost, its power over
them. . -,
'. Roosevelt's surrender on the rate
bill Is a temporary victory for the
railroads, but they cannot stand many
triumphs of that kind. The seductive
argument they used upon the presi
dent was the necessity of keeping' the
republican party united. A glance at
the situation after the votes are
counted next fall will reveal the fact
that Roosevelt's surrender to the rail
roads was the hardest blow the re
publican party ever received, one from
which it will not soon recover.
Your neighbor whose vote is being
cast against every interest of the com
mon people, and to enthrone corpora
tions as the governing power, is as
honest and as patriotic as f ou are.
The trouble is not with his heart it
is with his head. He would not
knowingly vote himself and his chil
dren into slavery t monopolies any
sooner than you would. He is the
slave bf party prejudice and ignorance
that is all. His vote Is as important
to your welfare as is your own. You
must help to enlighten him as a means
of saving yourself. This is a bond
we are all under to our brothers in a
democracy.
If Hon. William E. Chandler was now
in the. United States senate he and
Tillman would be found working
heartily and loyally side by side for
the rate bill. These men represent
the extremes of parties as they have
existed in the past. But Mr. Chan
dler has been right upon the rail
road question for many years and
possessed the courage of his convic
tions. He was driven from the United
senate by the railroads. They alone
were able to compass his defeat, but
the plucky senator has neither sur
rendered to them nor asked for quar
ter. He is still to be found on tiie
firing line.
Andrew Hamilton, when addressing
the Insurance legislative committe at
Albany, referred to the "higher, law"
that great interests sometimes in
voke, and ordinary people who under
stand that Hamilton's occupation was
that of a legislative boodler inferred
that he meant the fixing of legisla
tures, etc. But since District Attor
ney Jerome of New York set up the
claim that life insurance officials
who had looted the treasuries of their
companies and paid the money over
to campaign committees were guilty
of no crime, we are forced to the con-,
elusion that he must have in his, mind
some peculiar notions regarding a
"higher" law," a law that is higher
than statutes, the common law, or the
ten commandments.
Civilization put forth a few fresh
buds and blossoms in New York last
week. The arrest of George W. Per
kins was surrounded with" a refine
ment, delicacy and courtesy unknown
and unheard of before when persons
charged :with crime are placed
under arrest. The consideration for.
the accused which characterized
the movements of the District At
torney and the subordinate court
officials .was truly affecting. This is
a new departure. Mr. Perkins is a
member of the firm of J. P. Morgan
& Co., and his crime consists in be
ing a party to looting the New York
Life Insurance company out of $48,
000 and donating the money to the
republican campaign committee ,In
1904. " '
With our present form of Australian
ballot the fate of candidates for minor
state offices, and in a large measure
of candidates for county offices, de
pends upon the popularity of the can
didates of the respective parties that
head the list. The fact that the whole
party ticket may be voted by putting
an X in the circle opposite the party
name at the head of the ticket causes
many timid voters to fear to mark
opposite names elsewhere on the ticket,
lest through a blunder they may loose
their vote. Hence, many in order to
make sure of not losing their vote for
the head of the ticket, put a cross in
the circle opposite the party name and
vote the ticket straight. Votes cast
this way for Roosevelt in 1904 , saved
Mickey and defeated Berge.
The publishers of The Independent
want agents everywhere to canvass
for subscriptions and sell Mr. Berge's
new book, "THE FREE PASS BRI
BERY SYSTEM." See advertisement ,
of book elsewhere in this paper. We
receive hundreds of orders through
the mails. It is the only book writ
ten upon a subject in which the peo
ple are just now vitally interested.
The people everywhere will want the
book. Ex-Governor Larabee of Iowa
ordered ten books before same were
off the press. We receive orders from
all parts of the country. This book
Is a seller. A11 you have to do is to
tell about it. You can make $100 per
month. Write at once for terms.
THE INDEPENDENT, Lincoln, Neb.