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About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 1907)
1G JANUARY .21, K)07 THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT BID WILL STAND LOXTHACTOIl OLIVER HAS CHANCE TO ni'II.D CAXAL. FAVORED BY THE PRESIDENT ti:i:ssi:i: man has mkt all the ii ecu .'i moments. MUST GET NECESSARY HELP IIESI'OVSIHLE ASSOCIATES AUK I ET TO IIE SECURED. Ten laM Given In Which to Join llnnds Willi Two Independent. Contructorit Farther llldn Not Denlred. WASHINGTON, Jan. ,27. Following a conference at the white house to night it was officially announced that the contract for building the Panama canal would b0 awarded to William D. Oliver, who, with Anson M. Bangs, was the lowest bidder In, the recent competition, provided , that. 'within,'. the next ten days he associates himself with at least two independent con tractors whoso' skill and experience, combine 1 with his own, shall cover the entire field of the work' to be per formed under contract. ' , " ' ' . The official announcenicnt tonight con firms the Associated i press j-t&te-ment pf, last Frhyr, night: President Roost volt then took thpt4 position, that since Air. ' Oliver had ' met ail the re quirements of the government, it would be unjust to reject his bid of 6.75 per cent for the construction of the canal, or even to require him to submit a new bid for the contract. Mr. Oliver had informed the presi dent that it was his desire to submit an Independent bid for the work, and that when the canal commission offi cials informed him that it would be necessary to form a partnership with some other financially responsible contractor they even went so far as to suggest that he enter into an agree ment with Anson M. Bangs of New York city. Thought Huns; SntlHf actory. Mr. Oliver said that, after receiving this suggestion from Chairman Shonts he visited the war department and was informed that Mr. Bangs would be entirely satisfactory to the govern ment, Mr. Oliver told the -president that with this assurance as to the re liability of Mr. Bangs he immediately entered into an agreement with the New York contractor. Powerful influences were brought to bear on the president and SeefJV.ry Taft to reject all bids and advertise tor new proposals, but the president insisted that Mr. Oliver should be given ii reasonable time in which to make a satisfactory arrangement to substitute some other contractor or group of contractors to take the place of Mr. Bangs. At the white house con ference on Saturday night the frlend3 of the MacArthur-Glllesple syndicato argued that the contract figure should be increased to 9 per cent of the total cost of construction and the contract bo awarded to Oliver, MacArthur & Gillespie. This suggestion, however, did not meet with the approval of the New York firm, who Insisted that they could not undertake- the work for less than 12.50 per cent of the total cost, tho figure mentioned In their original bid. The president, Secretary Taft and the canal commission officials then de elded to award the contract to Mr. Oliver, provided ho could make satis factory arrangements with at least two other financially responsible contrac tors. Whole Matter tione Over, Seer try Tnit and R H. Uogers, g n r.il eounael to the canal eonunls ion. were In conference with the president for two hours tonight, und the whole matter wa again gone ove r. At the direction of the president, Mr. U K i s pit pured the official xtateineht fur the preSH. Wlu n informed of the statement Im Hied by dlreeM-Mi of the president, Mr, Other' rt pieeiiUttveH tonight nald: Titers U absolutely no doubt of Mr. OHvtr 'lhK able to fulfill the require menu of the canal eoinmlHhlon, There are now at leat twenty of the most re?p'iHdo contractor In the Putted Ftat',i who have expressed a willing hess" to join Mr. Oliver in the work of constructing the canal at the figure mentioned In his original bids. These names will be submitted to President Roosevelt tomorrow with proof of their financial ability. Before entering Into another arrangement, Mr. Oliver wants to know positively that the contractor he chooses will be acceptable to the government" The official statement given out to night follows: 1 "As a result of conferences at the white house it was today announced by the isthmian canal commission that, in view of assurances that had been received from Oliver and capitalists associated with him that Mr. Oliver was prepared to make good his bid to complete the construction of th3 isth mian canal at a percentage of 6.75, with an organization of contractors and with financial resources in full compliance with the requirements In the invitation for the bid, he will be given permission to do so. Mr. Oliver has been notified that within ten days he will be required to associate with himself two Independent contractors whose skill and experience, combined with his own, shall cover the entire field of work to be performed under the contract and to organize a corpo ration for the express purpose of car rying out the proposed contract with a caj.ital of five million dollars, of which not I'-'ss than one million five hundred thousand dollars in the form of solvent subscriptions, shall be available for the purpose of carrying out the con tract and of which the remaining two million dollars may be devoted to the purpose of procuring a bond, as re quired by the contract, or after substi tuting, in i lieu thereof, in whole or in part and subject to the conditions, of the bond, cash or current securities satisfactory to the commission. Hun k Cannot Participate.. ! "Satisfactory assurances not having been received that , the. financial stand ing of Mr. Anson M. Bangs met the re quirements of the invitation, by direc tion of the president he has. been re jected as' a participant in the bid filed by' Messrs;. 1 O'JVeCand, Bangs., ., , 5 '.' "The privilege has been extended to Messrs. MacArthur & Gillespie, the only remaining bidders whose bid has been deemed worthy of consideration, to either withdraw their pending bid, or to allow it to abide .by the result, of Mr. Oliver's efforts to make good his bond as herein outlined, then to be considered upon its merits. The other bids have been rejected because infor mal and in the case of the highest ex cessive as well. "The foregoing action Is taken In conformity with the expressed wish of both Mr. Oliver and the MacArthur Glllesple syndicate, that the contract should be let without a rebiddlng, and In view of the further statements of the spokesmen of the MacArthur-Gil- lespie company to the president that if the commission could close the con tract with a satisfactory and responsi ble association of coni actors at a rate ns low as that proposed by Mr. Oliver, it should feel at liberty, so far as they Were concerned, to do so." Mr. Oliver ' resides at Knoxvllle, Tenn. POLITICAL Oklahoma will have little use for a legislature, but' great need for courts if the constitution now under construc tion is finally adopted with all the de tail proposed by the convention. This Is In harmony with the action of most of our newer states, the constitution makers in most cases having shown an unwillingness to trust to the wisdom of future lawmakers by cramming masses of details into the constitution. The Oklahoma delegates are consider ing going the length of adopting a (lower emblem by constitutional pro vision, an act of legislation that has been left to the school children of most states. This tendency prevails despite the fact that the evils against which states and the country struggle in vain are usually intrenched behind almost immovable constitutional provisions. President Roosevelt has begged con gress to provide for a more- central ized authority and responsibility In constructing the canal by cutting down the canal commission to three members. In the hope that this might be done several vacancies have been l"ft on the present commission, but congress ban not tip proved the change The president jalns one point, not withstanding, by combining tlin of flees of chief engineer and chairman of the commission In Chief llngineer Stevens. This may explain his read! ness to dispense with Mr, Hltonts. Sec retary Tuft makes a furthei an rtouncetnent indicating other ways to Kill a cut. The four vacancies on th commission are to bo filled by head of buif. un already employed on. the canal, a device that praetb-ally re duee the ctuiiliilstflon to three a the president desired while nomluitly b-av llttf It "veit in Hccordiihce With the Twenty dollar for every man, wo man and child, approximately a hun dred dollar u family, about one-ith the Income of the average family, goes out in tax.es, according to figures made public by the census bureau. The fig ures are for the year 1902. In that year the nation, the states, counties, cities and other political divisions spent the enormous sum of $1,773,059,269 and col lected in revenue $1,778,352,930. This is about twice the money either our oil king or our lumber king Is reputed to be worth. The relations of the amounts spent by the different political divis ions are instructive. The nation spent $617,530,137, a little more than a third of the total. All of the states together collected and spent less than one-third as much as the national government, their total, Including territories being $185,764,202. The expenditures by all the county governments was a few thousand dollars more than by the state governments. Municipal expenses were the Item next to the national ex pense in volume, cities of over 8.000 people having expended over half a billion dollars, more than all the states and counties together. About two- thirds of the revenues of the states counties and cities were derived from a general property tax. These figures are commended espe cially to the average person who takes no interest In public affairs. He may not be aware that In his lack of In terest he is permitting sixteen per cent of his income on the average to be spent for him without his consent or advice. Of course he pays no such amount for his tax receipt, for about two-thirds of his tax is paid Indirectly. Two states have witnessed this win ter the vitility and efficacy of the pass. The Montana senate threw an anti-pass bill out without ceremony. Montana is a big state and walking Is bad there. Better, that the railroads uhould participate, with the copper ba rons in , running the state than that any. legislator should pay; to ride those stony, distances. In New Hampshire where the republican platform ' prom ised an anti-pass law, thanks to the work of Winston Churchill, 127 repub lican members voted against the pass a ud .103 voted for, It : Only ( thirty-seven democrats ..voted against the pass, while seventy-two voted for it; a dif ference great enough to defeat the bill. Although this was to be the year of the passing of the pass no state legis lature has yet had strength enough to detach itself from that ancient se ducer. A few. more giant explosions of public opinion on this question will yet be needed. Under present postal regulations the lowest rate of postage on any class of mail, excepting the free carrying of weekly newspapers to subscribers within the county of publication, is one cent a pound. This rate Is charged for the distribution of all perodlcal publi cations coming under the head of sec ond class mall, which is defined by the law of 1879 as follows: "Mailable mat ter of the second class shall embrace all newspapers and other periodical publications which are issued at stated Intervals, and as . frequently as four times a year." . . The next lowest rate. Is that on 'the! same matter mailed by others than the publisher, of one cent for each four ounces. Miscellaneous printed matter is charged twice as much, while all other matter, including merchandise, pays a cent an ounce. It was to ascer tain what part the low rate to news papers played in the annual postal de ficit that a joint committee of congress was provided last year. This committee was made up of Senators Penrose, Clay and Carter, and of Representa tives Overstreet, Gardner and Moon. A hearing was held at which a great range of opinion was expressed, from that of Mr. Madden, fourth assistant postmaster general, who wanted to quadruple the rate paid by ait news papers, to the numerous persons and organizations that recommended a par cels post and reasonable pay to the railroads for carrying mall as a means of making the poctoillce self sustain ing. In its report the commltteo steers a middle course. It recommends measures aimed to deprive of the second class rates periodical.') run primarily as ad vcrtisdng mediums, or as mediums for the dissemination of fiction publlhed periodically to escape the expense in cident to printing and disseminating books. In other words, It alius to re strict the privilege of the cent a pound rate to periodicals engaged mainly In disseminating hews and dlscushlii of cut rent matters. This was the original Intention of the lawmakers, u in thought that such rent rlel Ion will put second class mall on a paying basis, since the vast majority of real news papers r'tuii'o lo b ran led but n hort distance, Th other source of deficit, free rural delivery, may bo made self sustaining by a general paieels post or by the xtrUtly locnlued parrel pot now under consideration In rongrens. If the rale charged by the railroad are then i. -lined in abiiitt the ainv level ait the rule the)' ehmge Ihe xpn-HH companies, the poNtolllct) depart ineni would, It w-cim, be able hi run at a profit, not only without luereatdng it rate, but after actually dM reusing them In the case of local merchandise rates. No president the United States' Is? likely ever to have would be seriously suspected or Jugglery In dealing cut so important a contract as that for the building of the Panama canal. Presi dents that the country has had and may have again might, - however, bo incapable of coping successfully with the powerful influences that work be neath the surface in such matters. The Oliver-Pangs bid proposed to do the work for a profit of six and three fourths per cent of the cost of the work. The next best responsible bid was that of the MacArthur-Oillepie syndicate which proposed a profit of twelve and half per cent practically twice that -of the other bidders. The discovery that Pangs was behind with government contracts , already let to him, with the additional consideration that bis name Is connected with hla brother-in-law, tiaynor, .of' the famous Green-? and TGaynor conspiracy case. made it inadvisable to admit hlrn to so heavy a contract, This necessitated rearrangements, and led to the "power ful influences" which the dispatches say were brought to bear on the presi dent and Secretary Taft to get tliern to reject all bids and advertise for new ones. We note among other, things that Senator I'enrose called at the whllo house in company with one of the de feated bidders. "Powerful Influences' were unavailing to prevent giving Oliver a chance to take In another partner in place of Pang and unless powerful influences" queer him in hU efforts In this direction the canal will bo built on , a six per cent margin. President Itoosevelt s power of resist ance to pressure Is fortunately com mensurate with his honesty of Inten tion. ' - . ' Children In the nubile Hchool tnr1.iv will without much doubt live fo tell tricredulous firrandchlldren of a ffm before they were born when legisla tures met anu plotted and fought and trafficked for weeks over the; eleefW.n ttf a United States senator. The two contests now under way In New Jer sey ana nnoae jsiana may not be the last of their kind, but as belne t.rob- ably among the very last instances of a aymg disgrace iney deserve particu lar attention. In New Jersey.-where the contest is not purely a commeroJaPom?, ine suuaiion is typical,- senator. iry den, tracked by all the special interests Of the State, his own betnc thf rrertl.if of these, finds eight legislators of his own, me dominant party, refusing to vote for him. This leaves him without a majority. There are enough and more or tne minority party under control of inc uryaen interests to make his elec tion sure, but It would tc. mor firm. gerous to the Interests involved to make this open display of bl-party con trol than it would be to havf Trvlen defeated. They must at all hazards Keep me voung public thinking that the battle of the two parties In that state is not a sham battle; otherwise they could not keep the voters pigeon holed. The. Dryden hopes then lay In winning five of the eight Insurgents of his own party. Put these eight men seem not to have revolted for sinister purposes, and no Inducements have thus far availed to turn them. Perhaps the fact that their constituents are taking a deep Interest in their course has some effect. As common In such cases, the outcome is likely to be the defeat of Dryden and the election of some one of his choosing. Dii:n ritoti XATt r. 1 cai i:. ST. LOUIS. Jan. 29. The coroner' Inquest today over the body of W. P. Fife, the Denver mining broker, who dropped dead at the St James hotel Sunday, developed that death wax caused by fatty degeneration of the heart. The remains are held at an undertaker's establishment p-ndiio? word from relatives concerning final disposition. -3 Columbia national Bank 2 OF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA. CAPITAL, $ 100,OOO.ua to SURPLUS, 11.C00.00.tb ,350,000.00!! 'i? DEPOSITS 1 ss oi Tin; in V9 Jjohn H. WrlK'it, l'i'vMHitSi II. Wcntcott, Jut Vice Vtfi-JPa V.I00. Bamuelu 2d Vlen rrf.r P. L. Hall, rnnhlfrG CW, II. Hynn, AHt, VmMtrJfo