The Nebraska Independent
MAY 31, 1906
! '
MA
4. . . .
Bergc Announces
In an Open Letter to the Voters of the State George
W. Berge Announces Candidacy and Out
lines the Issues of Campaign.
To the voters of the State of
braska: j I am constrained to comply
with the urgent demands made upon
me by friends throughout the state
to at once make public announcement
of my; candidacy for the governorship
of the state at the hands of the dem
ocratic and people's , independent
meet at Lincoln in
meet tt Wuwiu
conventions to
August. And, in so doing, i ;ue" fiioaal lobbyists out of business at the
express my deep sense of obligation state capitol. Corporations have the
to the hundreds of my feliow citizens right to be heard on all measures af
who, since the election of two years fecting " their interests, but the pro
ago,' and - particularly within the last; ftySional lobbyist outside of that has
three months, have communicated to no more right to tamper with the
me either by letter or in person their j legislature than a litigant has to tam
apprpval of the -stand I took in the per with a jury which is considering
last campaign against the forces and ftis case ;
; instrumentalities that have debaunch-j 3..A direct primary law. " .
ed. the politics , of our state and con- 4 law reducing passenger rates to
trolled its government in -the Interest
of the railroads, .
, The many expressions of approval
of the fight I waged two years ago,
and the determination on the part of
the people to press the fight along
vaaa. Unoo until , vintorv i complete
and final, have added stimulus to my
purpose not Wrest until our state
Bhall be redeemed from railroad con
trol. Under the circumstances, know
ing that I have the confidence of the
people of the state in the work I
have at heart, and believing it to be
; their desire that I continue the fight
begun two years ago, and further in-,
spired with confidence that I can lead
the forces opposed to railroad domin
ation in the state to victory at the
polls, I here make the announcement
that under no circumstances will, I
accept a nomination for any other
'place "on the ticket.
' I vield to 'no man in either the
Liicurr 1111 - 1
state or nation in my loyalty and de
votion to democratic principles, and
I cherish with confidence the hope of
seeing the greatest democrat or mod
ern times elected to the presidency in
1908. But before that time we have
a srreat work to perform in Nebraska
For years the people of this state
have battled to throw off the yoke
of railroad domination, but today the
" railroads are still as firmly entrench
ed as ever. They control our politics;
they dodge the payment of their just
snare 01 laxes wmic "f0
taxes are outrageously high; they fur
nish only such facilities to the people
as will best serve their own eads,
regardless of the, public good. They
have been able to exert this powerful i
influence because the officeholders and
politicians have been untrue zothe
people. For the consideration of free
passes and other favors they have
been willing to" conspire with the rail
roads and against the people when
ever railroad interests were involved.
Railroad influence in government is
possible only through the ofiieehold
ers and . politicians. As a conse-
' quence the , people have been given
sugar-coated and decoy candidates
over whom the eclipse of railroad in
fluence constantly cast its shadows.
" The result has been that, our legisla
tors and those charged with the, en
forcement of; law, have spent their
time trying to chloroform the people
with burlesque legislation and, sham
enforcement so that the pain of the
people would not seem so great while
the railroad surgeons were extracting
from them, all kinds of plunder. ; ,
If the people of this state will elect
me their governor and give me a
friendly legislature, we will break up
this unholy alliance between the peo
ple's trusted servants and railroads
and make the government of Nebraska
in fact as well as in name a govern
men representative of the people. I
will use every influence at my com-
His Candidacy
Ne-jmand to bring about the passage and
enforcement of the following laws:
1. A Jaw that will destroy the free
bass bribery system, root ana aranch.
This system unjustly discriminates, is
a collossal bribe, is an intolerable and
unmitigated evil and musi De. pre
scribed by law before we can get rid
of it and before we can restore the
government back to the people.
. , .v..t ...ill J.l,r V.a nnfaa.
A. la. wiual win uinc luo f '
)tw0 cents per mile.
- 5. A' law reducing freight rates and
1 generally to control the railroads, with
respect . to transportation facilities,
charges and discriminations,
-Tn this connection let - me call
. the . attention of the people to
a bill passed by the last legislature
providing for an elective railroad com
mission by amending the constitution.
This' fall the people will be enhed
upon to vote upon this amendment.
Also, no doubt, three commissioners
will be elected who will serve m that
capacity, ' if the . amendment " carries.
The following is the only language
in the amendment touching the pow
ers of this board:
. "The powers and duties of uch
commission shall include the regula
tion of rates, service and general con
trol of common carriers as the legis
lature Shall provide by law. Birc in
the absence of specific legislation tne
commission shall exercise the rowers
and perform the duties enumerated
in this provision."
But what duties are enumerated la
that provision? Absolutely none.
When that; commission : is elected it
will be without power until the legis
lature confers it. If the railroa Is con
trol the legislature they will see to
it that the legislature does not do
this. J If the commission undertakes
to do anything without waiting on
the legislature, the railroads will en
join the commission on the ground
that the commission has' no power
except as the legislature may give it.
This bill like all .legislation given
the people by the railroads is intended
as a sham and a fraud. It Is intend
ed to make the people believe tney
are getting something, when as a mat
ter of fact, they are not. Compare
this with the provision in the Dodgw
bill passed in; the house, but killed
in the senate, which is as follows:
"The railroad commissioners shall
have power to establish, modify and
enforce reasonable rates of charges
for the transportation of persons and
freights on the different railroads
within the state, and prevent discrim
inations and abuses and adjust and
determine controversies in respect to
transportation facilities, charges and
discriminations. The liability of rail
road corporations as common carriers
shall never be limited."
The powers conferred in this bill
mean something and therefore the bill
was killed. There are no powers con
ferred in the Cady bill, the one that
was passed, and therefore it was per
mitted . to become a law. The plan
now is to control the legislature so
that the board can accomplish noth
ing. The hope of the railroads Is lhat
by litigation and lobbying in the legis
lature it will be years before the peo
ple will find out that the bill doesn't
mean anything.
I propose this:. Let us adopt this
amendment this fall and then at least
the people can elect their own com
missioners. But we must not stop
there. If we do, absolutely nothing
will be accomplished. Give me a
friendly legislature and we will give
this board such ample and complete
powers which will be so plain and
just that no future legislature dare
repeal the law. That we may make
sure of thiy let the people see to it
that no man is nominated this fall
for the legislative office unless he will
pledge himself to vote to confer such
powers upon this commission. If any
refuse to make such a pledge, or If
their records are such that a pledge
would be worthless, they should ot
be nominated. This is the only way
we can make a reality out of this con
stitutional amendment.
Then the revenue law needs amend
ment. That law was saddled upon the
people of the state by the railroads.
The purpose of the law was to take
from the people their own assessors
and then double, up on their taxes.
That revenue law has robbed the peo
ple of the right to tax their own prop
erty and has given this power to the
state board of equalization and assess
ment which is usually , under the con
trol of the railroads. I am in favor
of giving back to the people their own
assessors and making the railroads
as well as the people pay their own
share of taxes.. There are many other
laws that should be passed but, these
are of pressing importance. When
we shall have passed these and en
forced them we will have gone a long
way towards putting the railroads out
of politics in this state and cutting
the government back to the people.
The people of this state are demand
ing these measures. Two years ago
I waged a vigorous fight along these
lines and the people from all parties
gave me loyal support. Had it not
been presidential year I should have
won easily. I now want to finish
the work I then began. Since the
campaign of 1904, I have been in al
most constant receipt of letters from
men of the highest intelligence and
character in all parts of the state,
and members of all political parties
urging upon me tne duty of again
leading the fight against railroad dom
mation in this state, and assuring
me that my position was so wa'l un
derstood by the voters generally that
my candidacy again would mean
call to arms of the men of all parties
who are opposed to railroad " dornina
tion and result in a signal victory for
tne ticket.
I would be less than human were
unmoved by such appeal or insensi
ble to the duty it imposes, and I cer
tainly would forfeit my own self re
spect and be unworthy of the conft
dence of my fellows, if, under the cir
cumstances, I hesitated to respond to
accomplish the end in view. -'(
GEORGE W. BEIIGE.
REVIEWING THE SENATE DEBATE
(Washington Letter to Philadelphia
Public Ledger.)
In focusing the eyes of the country
on the intellectual greatness of. the
senate and putting an end, at leas
for the time, to the senile talk about
that body's "decay" since the days o
Sumner, the rate bill, in the opinion
of observers here, has accomplished
something not set down on the cards
something possibly of "permanent value
to the country. Yet now that the
smoke is gone the general verdict is
that nearly everybody in the front o
the fight has paid a heavy price for
it in the decrease of his own repu
tation; that only two men have come
out of it with increased reputation
Bailey and Tillman.
The debate, it is generally agreed
has revealed the real personalities o
some men who have not hitherto been
correctly understood. Before the rate
bill came up Tillman, to the country,
was a swash-buckling demagogue. He
was not that to Washington; here his
great ability, his courage, manliness
and -honesty, were as well known as
his definite purpose to serve his coun
try well. The old Tillman, the imag
inary , Tillman, is gone forever, and
the real Tillman has taken his place.
For years the newspaper correspond
ents had been vainly trying to ham
mer home the real Bailey, Bailey the
statesman, and had found it next to
mpossible to overcome the popular
preconception of the freak Bailey who
wouldn't wear a swallow-tail coat. An
other minconception is gone forever.
So tremendously has the personality
of Aldrich loomed up in this contro
versy that it is difficult now to realize
that a short time ago he was only a
name to the average newspaper read
er. Six months ago it is safe to say
that his face, now so well known
through portraits and cartoons was
hardly known to such readers. A year
ago, in steering visitors through the
senate galleries Washingtonians were
exasperated to have their explanations
met with, "What is his name, did you
say? Aldrich? Where is he from?
Oh, is Senator Depew here?"..
Aldrich may be regarded as an ex
ception to the statement that only
Bailey and Tillman have come
through the ordeal with increased
reputation, but the kind of reputation
Aldrich won is a wind that a man
pays dearly for. Whether it is just
or unjust, Aldrich is now fixed in
delibly in the minds of a majority of
his countrymen as the representative
of certain interests that that majority
would like to see curbed. That is
one picture which this debate has ad
ded to the portrait gallery of the na
tion, and it Is questionable whether
Aldrich regards the universal admira
tion for his genius as a politician, a
snatches of victory out of defeat, as
balancing the account.
REVIEW FEATURE RUIN OF BILL
Washington. Representative Jen
kins, of Wisconsin, .chairman of the
house judiciary committee, in discus
sing the rate bill in the house, de
clared - that instead of making the
measure constitutional by making pro
vision for the courts to pass upon the
reasonableness, of a rate the amend
ment would make the measure prac
tically valueless. "The people are not
going to be quieted or abate their in
terest in this matter," he said. "They
are thoroughly aroused and in earn
est. The servant of. the people1 who
falls to do his duty and come to their
relief will be lost in the current of
disapproval and will never be found
again. . !
"Instead of meeting with opposi
tion this bill should have not only the
approval of the carrier, but it should
have been warmly welcomed. No pro
vision should have been made for
reasonable and remunerative l'ates,
but it should have simply provided
,-l 4-Vk A r - sv 4- V -- visits fs-ik. rvrAiMc
is under no obligation to fix a reason
able or remunerative rate." V
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tinction of being the great
est curative and preventive
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known. It is an all-round
medicine, producing its un
equalled effects by purify
ing, vitalizing and enriching
the blood on which tho
health and strength of every
organ, bone and tissue de
pend Accept no substi
tute for Hood's, but in
sist on having Hood's
AND ONLY HOOD'S.