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The Nebraska Independent
JANUARY -2 4, 1907
THE NEBRASKA 1NDEPENDEN1
ESTABLISHED 1S89
Published Every Thursday
Lincoln, Neorwtka ,
Entered at the postoffice at Lincoln,
Nebraska, as second-class mall matter.
Wider the act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
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THE INDEPENDENT,
Lincoln, Neb.
. Secretary Hitchcock and the senat
tuniii Jiiivu on iiiujciii ciiLuno ui.iiifci re a,o
to his right to tum certain Indian ter
ritory land into a forest reserve. The
senators call it executive usurpation,
the secretary calls it legal. Since the
action of the hero of a thousand bat
tles of land grafters seems to have
caved a large tract of land from the
crabbers the -public is inclined Lo call
it honest common sense.
...w, 14. T, ..)!.. .-. I ,1t,.,, ..,, r. -
" By degrees It is becoming known who
Henry A. Richadson is. He is the head
of the largest canning establishment in
the country, the nearest approach -we
have to a canning trust. He is also
president of a gas company, of a tele
phono company, and of an insurance
company. He should feel very much at
home as;a. pelawarerepresentative in
the national millionaire's club.
J. Ogden Armour, It is announced,
will build a "model city" in connection
with his new packing plants near Min
neapolis. Model stables for horses and
model dciiries for cows have .succeeded
admirably, but model cities for human
beings so far as attempted in, such
.cases asPulinfan,,,, Whiting, Garyy-orl
even Zion City, have not done so well.
The difference is based, no doubt, upon
that perhaps unreasonable quality in
men that makes them insist to some
extent on thinking with their own
brains, even if they do not think as
well as somebody else like Mr. Armour
might think for them.
, .Three;, members of the lower house of
congress ascend to the senate by vir
tue of this month's elections. These are
Charles Curtis of Kansas, William
Alden Smith of Michigan, and Joseph
Dixon of Montana. Senators Brandegee
of Connecticut, Burkett of Nebraska,
and Hemenway of Indiana are com
paratively recent promotions from the
house, so that the new senate is to
contain mor than the usual number
of men who have served in the lower
branch. In late y?nrs governors aud
men In private life with large commer-cial-polltleal
Interests have been fa
vored in the making of sentitOYB and
fewer men have geno frvui (he house
to the fonate than was the case in an
earlier day. K reduction of friction be
tween the two house should result
from th change. Whether this Is for
tht good of the country 'r nt U a
tntter of opinion.
In New York the publicity bureau of
the rilisens' union wax called Into
Islng by the refusal of the legislature
lo print dally report of lis proeeed
Inf. Two rrojwm are given why otll.
flat nt&tt-menU of the proceeding are
suppressed, 'Flrt, It enabled certain
postal publicity buifiM ie.tnt.tnd
by politician, who ilrilvw btir profit
therefrom, to Publish Weekly report
pS the rotrte i( legislation, .which
they sell to law firms and interested
persons at a high price. Secondly, by
the suppression of the record until
after election the public Is deprived of
any official record of the votes of its
legislators which might be used as
campaign documents. to defeat authors
of bad legislation." . Doubtless neither
of these reasons figures with any num
ber of members in the question of a
daily legislative record, modeled some
what after the congressional record,
for the Nebraska legislature. It is a
question of relation between value and
cost.
The theory of wholesale rates as ap
plied to freight shipments on the rail
roads having long ago been exploded, a
disposition has arisen to carry the war
into the question of passenger rates
In the hearings on the two cent passen
ger fare bill in Washington the other
day a representative of the Pennsyl
vania road in answer to a quastlon as
to why his road was not willing to
make the same low rate to occasional
travellers as to those who traveled
more, said: "I contend that a man who
travels only once a year is not entitled
to as low a rate as one who travels
once a week or oflener." "Why?"
asked Chairman Hepburn, of the conl
mittee. "Because of the principle rec
ognized in wholsesale and retail trade."
"Would you apply the same principle
to freight traffic?" asked Congressman
Richardson of Alabama. The reply was
a dense silence. There have been some
recent disagreeable court experiences
for railroads that apply their wholesale
notions to freight charges.
Another Panama canal canard has
been .disposed , of. by. the,, report of .the
canal commission on' the borings' at the
Gatun dam site, showing that a firm
and suitable soft rock bottom has been
disclosed. For several weeks the advo
cates of the sea leyel canal have been
whispering around Washington some
immensely important confidential in
formation to the effect that the Gatun
4am must be abandoned because of an
insufficient foundation. . The informa-
t'ifori "was " extremefy important if true.
but fortunately it turns out to be base
less. Engineer Stevens disposes of a
number of stories .-when he says "The
investigations which the committees
caused have thus far led to no disclo
sure of extraordinary difficulties re
quiring changes of previous plans. The
continuation1 of-'surveys has for 1 its ob
ject the complete adaptability of the
design of locks and other features of
the plan to. the existing surface and
sub-surface conditions. There is noth
ing in the examinations affecting the
practicability - or permanency of the
Gatun dam."
Instead of halting, the-government is
now proceeding with' its plans for let
ting: contracts and going on with con
struction. The last hurdle seems to have
been passed when the report of the
borings was received from the Gatun
dam site, and contractors offered to do
the work on terms that seem satisfac
tory to the commissioners.
Oklahoma proposes to follow South
Dakota, Utah and Oregon in bestow
ing tho power of direct legislation up
on the voters. At leant this is the pros
pect from the action taken by the con
stitutional convention, now In session.
This will Involve both the Initiative
ur.d tho referendum, in Oregon no law
pasted by tho legislature goes Into ef
fect within ninety days of Its passage.
If w Ithin this ninety days five per cent
of the citizen of the state by petition
ask for a popular vote on any of theso
laws this action nupnda the operation
of the law until ufter the next general
election, at which the voter pass judg
ment on the measure. So much for the
referendum. On the other hand the vot
er may cause the submission of an
original act by xeeurlng the It Ions
of a given percentage of the total of
voters. ThU Initiative wu taken In the
cane of the direct primary Un, which
wus approved and the woman Mitfruite
HnoMobnerit which Was defeated, while
neveral acts of the legislature have
tteen referred to public tent pllieo the
new Kyleit cuine Into use, Kouth Da
kota and Utah voters have made little
use of their . privilege. The Oklahoma
people may have concluded that such a
power 13 a good thing to have in re
serve even though they may not be
called upon often to exercise it. ; -
THE POOR AND THE SALOON.
Chancellor Day in the role of re
former involves a change of cast such
as lo demand our attention. His pub
lic utterances have of late been almost
exclusively a denunciation of such re
formers, like "the president of the
United States, as cross the path, of
Standard Oil, the crib of Syracuse uni
versity. A muddle headed millionaire
at a New York meeting mentions the
need of philanthropic work among the
poor. - Dr. Day sees ruin in thi3
course. "What is all this cry that is
being made' about the poor wage earn
er?'' he asks. "The wage earners get
enough for what they do, and a great
many of them get more. I know the
poor. I know they are the chief sup
port of upwards of 10,000 saloons in
this city."
Few have not felt obliged at times
to resist the impulse to give a beggar
a quarter because of the conviction
that be would spend , it for drink in
stead of for the food he says he needs.
It remains for Chancellor Day to apply
the theory to wages. The saloon is an
MAKING OF GOOD GOVERNMENT
All Citizens Should Cast an Intelligent Vote.
In our- effort to get the best possi
ble government we frequently over
look the most vital elements that have
to do with the making of good govern
ment. This government rests upon the
honest intelligent vote of its citizens.
Therefore if the citizens do not all
vole the government suffers. The way
it is now a very small per cent of our
people have anything to do with the
nominations. Jqr office, .Thisjs gener
ally attendcd.,.ta.,by, a very Jew of - the
politicians. After the nominations of
course the people all have a right to
vote but for some unaccountable rea
son they do not all vote. Sometimes
not more than half of the electorate
go to the polls. Because this is so
corporations and other selfish interests
are able to control elections very
easily. ' " . " ! " ' -: -.", . - - ' ': "
Then again why should a candidate
for office be called upon to set in mo
tion the machinery which will bring
people to the polls? Think of the ex
pense candidates are put to in coaxing
people to the polls. One would get
the impression that the whole thing
is done for the candidates. All this
is wrong. People should go to the
polls and vote without any interfer
ence from any candidate, but they
should all go to the polls, and if they
do not in my judgment some method
should be adopted to compel them to
go. I do not believe that the govern
ment can be permanently run as a
republic if the people will not vote.
Two years ago I drew a bill which
provides in substance as follows:
Section one provides that every male
inhabitant over tho age of twenty-ono
years and under the are of fifty years,
except paupers, idiots, lunatics and
others specially exempted by law.
should be assessed by the assessors to
pay a labor tax of eluht dollars.
Section two provides that three dol
lars of the eight dollar may be com
muted In labor the same as labor tax
Is now commuted. This same section
provide that five dollar of the eight !
dollars may tie commuted If It hall
appear that the voter has voted tit nil
primarily ami elections for the preeed
lug year. This tuune xeetlon also pro
vide! that If any are unavoidably out
of the county on any day when pri
maries or elections hal be held, or
If on account of ate or ntcknexN tiny
cannot go to the Ms and vote, then
If they will ilt a proper affidavit with
the county clerk, or with the city tieik
where isixtn nre paid to the cltv
treasurer, welting up tin fad why they
eooM not vop, then such person
evil. It is supported chiefly by the
poor. By cutting down wages there
fore we starve the saloon. .Perchance
he 'wheat may be pulled up with tho
teres.'; No; matter, 'wheat of thai ' kind
is cheap'; 'we -getVa -lVllioV' uni'is a
year from Europe for nothing.
Of course this wfll not appeal to
everybody. There are those who say
the poor drink because they are miser
able, not because they are-mean. The
opinion of Dr. Robert Bird, the Eng
lish authority on the subject, is that
bad air, underfeeding and exhaustion
tend to create , a craving for alcohol
by weakening the system and making
a stimulant welcome. He would favor
abolishing the saloon by abolishing the
poverty that swelters in sweatshops
and tenements, rather than take up
Dr. Day's plan of abolishing the saloon
by making the poor too poor to sup
port it. Others think that the chance
given the poor to waste their substance
in strong drink is not so much given
at the demand of the poor as at the
instance of people not poor who make
large profits by developing the demand.
But Chancellor Day knows better.
Moreover, if the poor, had more money
than they could spend even in saloons,
and used it largely in the promotion
of. intelligence and independence, there
might be no Standard Oil. Then what
would become of Chancellor Day?
shall have their labor tax commuted
the same as though they had voted.
, Section, three provides that any per
son who shall make a false afflidavit
as the reason for his failure to vote
at any primary or election shall , be
deemed guilty of perjury and on con
viction thereof shall be punished the
same as in other cases of perjury.
Section four provides that the coun
ty cjerk and municipal clerk in each
. municipality, between 'the firsts day1 of
January and the first day of March of
each year, shall certify to the county
treasurer the names of all persons who
have voted at all the primaries and
elections held in the county or muni
cipality for the previous year, or who
have filed the affidavit above referred
to. This section also provides .in cases
where the labor tax" is" payable to the
city treasurer that the county clerk and
city clerk each respectively shall cer
tify this information to the city
treasurer.
Section five of the bill provides that
it shall be the duty of each county
treasurer, and of each city treasurer
where the labor tax is payable to the
city treasurer, to commute upon the
books of his office five dollars of the
eight dollars labor tax of all persons
who have voted at all the primaries
and elections for the previous year as
shown by tno certificates of the county
clerk, or city clerk where said labor
tax is paid to the city treasurer.
Wouldn't a law of this kind bring
most people to the polls? Wouldn't it
be proper to bring them in this way?
I have thought about it a great deal
during the last two years and the more
I think about it the more I am con
vinced that a law of this kind should'
be passed.
George w. nr.um:.
Colfax county's poor farm seems to
be a paying philanthropy. According
to the Schuyler Quill the report of
Superintendent Trulllnger for the three
month ending December SI showed
that the farm had made a neat profit
fur the county. The receipts for the
three months were $745. tt, and the ex
penses I3PJ.11 The expense ueemiut
dv s not jdinw the $Cfl per joouth for
superintendent salary and telephone.
The anie account Include a number of
Items that are of a srmanent nature,
uch as two hard coal stoves, furniture,
brick for a foundation, lumber and
eighty rods of bog fencing, Since the
report was made Trulliter uu ."old
twrntytwo heiul of hogs that t.etteU
unl which will be reported at the
i nd of the irecni ipnuu-r. The f.rm
Mill has twenty-one brood ows an. I
fifty-four feel hog.
What has become of tho old f oh
luoed man who ailed it "totn oalV