8
The Nebraska Independent
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT
ESTABLISHED 18S9
J. M. DEVINE, Editor
FREDERIC O. BERGE,
Business Mgr.
Publlmhed Eery Thursday
1328 0 Street
Lincoln, Nebraska
Entered at the postofflce t Lincoln.
Nebraska, aj second-class mail matter,
under the ct of Congress of March J. 1879.
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1 rUb.
IT WOULD BE COWARDLY
Two years ago when the Roosevelt
tidal wave swept over the land level
ing everything before it, when not a
piping sound was audible from a
single democratic politician in the
Btate, the ambitious party leaders hav
ing silently slunk into their tents and
caverns, it seems that the fates held
in reserve for the occasion a gifted
leader, filled with the fire of truth, to
send forth to battle for the rights of
the producers and tax payers of Nebraska.
It is well known that had the dem
ocrats believed that there was any
prospect for one of their number to
Bucceed in reaching the governorship
in 1904, George W. Berge would not
have been the nominee of the party
for that office. But, lacking a leader
possessed of the necessary convic
tions and courage to enter the cam
paign against the adverse political
tide that had set in, they consented to
the nomination of Mr. Berge, and then
left him to fight his battle unaided
and alone. During the campaign the
men who were conspicuous as lead
ers of the fusion forces of the state
for years remained silent as the
grave waitng until the storm would
blow over when they might emerge
from their seclusion and again assert
their divine right of leadership.
The only assistance that was vouch
safed to Mr. Berge by any of the for
mer leaders was to caution him
against being radical in his demands
for reform in the government of the
state. The admonition was wasted on
a nature foreign to such baseness and
treason to the people. Berge is not
made of the material of which trim
mers or time servers are made. He
was not cast in such a mold. The
suggestion of such a course aroused
Indignation In his breast. As well
might Garrison have been asked to
compromise with slavery as to expect
Berge to smother the fires of resent
ment against railroad government
that burned in every fiber of his be
ing. His nature forbid compromise
and his voice rung out over the state
and quickened into life the giant of
the prairies that lie sleeping beneath
the heels of Harriman and Hill, while
beneath all political banners and
all sorts of uniforms, pass bribed poli
ticians were holding to his nose chlor
oform sponges of many political
brands.
Berge's campaign in 1904 was a sur
prise to the politicians of both parties.
He aroused the people from their
lethargy and filled them with enthu
siasm, and so far as he wa3 person
ally able to reach the voters of the
state, he created a following unsur
passed in numbers and enthusiasm by
any political leader of modern times,
even under more favorable condi
tions. Berge struck a key note that
stirred the public conscience to the
center in his scathing arraignment of
the free railroad pass as a bribe.
Those who are old enough to re
member the dark days of 1861-2, when
the union armies were returning run
away slaves to their southern owners,
who came into the union lines under
flag of truce and claimed the
negroes as tneir property, win re
member the terrific force of the sen
sation created by the use of a single
word, when General Benjamin F. But
ler declared slaves to be contraband
of war, and refused to give up the
negroes within his line to southern
claimants. The effect of that declara
tion was most startling. The nation
seemed to hold its breath for a second
in surprise, followed by a sigh of re
lief and then a loud acclaim of joy.
The most vexing question of the day
had been solved, and the back of the
confederacy was broken by a single
stroke of genius from a master mind.
Even as Butler broke the back of
the confederacy with the word con
traband, so has Berge undone the
railroads by stamping the word bribe
upon the free railroad pass. His cam
paign was followed by the publication
of his book exposing the free pass
bribery system which soon found its
way.ltno practically every village of
the "land. Mr. Berge's indictment
against the free pass penetrated the
conscience of the nation and the free
pass stands condemned as a criminal
device before the bar of public opin
ion. Since then the free pass has
been outlawed by the legislatures of
Ohio, Iowa and other states. Thus,
the insiduous bribe, the most fruitful
source of political corruption em
ployed by the railroads, is stigmatized.
branded and doomed. Revolutions
never go backwards. The milestones
on the pathway of human progress
are as permanent aa the everlasting
hills. The decree against the free
pass has gone rortn. its days are
numbered.
The collective mind cannot be de
ceived by the wiles of small men, nor
the will of the people defeated by the
blundering of the incompetent. There
fore, If perchance cowardly souls
should dominate the democratic state!
convention and deny to the people of
the state the privilege of electing the
man of their choice to the governor
ship by refusing to renominate Mr.
Berge, such action cannot fail to in
cite the people to resentment against
the treatment of their favorite and
result in his being elevated to pre
miership of the party in the state and
made the preferred candidate for the
United States senate,
Politicians are prone to deceive
themselves through, their inability to
correctly estimate the demands of the
public. The smart little fellow of pol
itics sometimes scores when the peo
ple are not looking. But when the
people are aroused and taking an act
ive part in public affairs, the coward
is soon detected and men are meas
ured not by the elastic tape line of
their own inflamed imaginations but
by the unbending steel of public intel
ligence. - The deep seated demand of
the people of the state for relief from
railroad rule and extortion has burst
assunder party lines. George . W.
Berge is regarded by the people as
the personification of this demand.
The people are knocking at the door
of the democratic party of the state,
Will the door be opened unto them?
meaningless
ca"Uun it had
posite effect of i,.,r..? nwm
the importance of waging a r of e.
termination aj-a riM ,,, :...
wu.cn me railroad, were usin,
effectively to subordinate l0 their
the office holders an, politicians of
the state.
hat f is known
politicians that
"f t he sute .
f Mr. Bera.
for the governorship, and in vie. of
the further fart that she raiw,, j
' 'uiO Ul
the state are leaving no stone un
turned to defeat his ivnomination it
becomes a matter of no merit to un
dertake to diseririhruiie rceanlin
motives that actuate different inH-
viduals in opposing his nomination
One thing is certain, which is that
the reason assigned for opposing the
renomination of Mr, Berge is insult
cient to constitute a motive for any
important act by a man of average
patriotism and intelligence.
Mr. Berge is known by the people
THE PRICE OF LIBERTY.
Eternal vigilance Is the price
liberty." The Savior of mankind was
betrayed into the hands of His ene
mies for an amount much less in value
than that of an annual pass over the
railroads of Nebraska." The free rail
road pass, the most insiduous of all
bribes, is doing its deadly work In
the politics of our state at this time,
It is being used with telling force up
on the politicians of both political
parties. The people who pay the
frieght must arise in their might and
deal a rath blow to the Iniquitous
free pass bribery system.
In the campaign of two years ago
George W. Berge, with rare power
and eloquence, pointed out to the vot
ers of. Nebraska that this Insiduous
bribe stood between the people of the
state and the control of its govern
ment Those who listened to his in
dictment of the free pass as the most
prolific source of political corruption,
and heard" his appeal to the people to
arise in their might and reclaim the
government of the state, destroy the
free pass bribery system and drive
the professional loby from the state
house, recognized the voice of a true
leader who struck at the well-spring
of political corruption, and they gave
him their confidence and their votes,
When Mr. Berge opened his cam
paign and leveled his guns upon the
pillars of the temple of railroad gov
ernment, the free pass bribery sys
tem, he was warned by a number of
democratic leaders that it was unwise
to pursue a course sufficiently radical
to provoke the active hostility of the
enemy and advised to pursue a more
conservative and conciliatory course,
To Mr. Berge's mind the suggestion
meant treason to the people, end in-
V for 1
ft'LY 19,
In view of the fac
generally anions the
the democrat ie von
vor the renoiuiiiaiinn
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THE INDEPENDENT,
vr . Lincoln, Nek
fys v
3
V
