8
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT
JANUARY 31, 1907
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT
ESTABLISHED 1889
Published Every Thursday
OOO P St.,
Lincoln, Nebraska
Entered at the postofflce at Lincoln,
Nebraska, as second-class mail matter,
under the act of congress of March 3, 1879.
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THE INDEPENDENT,
Llneoln, Neb.
Governor Swettenham and his prig
gtshness cannot be forgotten too soon.
Any boor can insult his neighbor and
the greater boor he is the more likely
he Is to do something of the kind.
Why should the world be all torn up
and people's feelings rasped by con
duct which could tome from nobody
worthy of our consideration? There is
no reason for It, and yet our reason
In such a case is one of the hardest
things in the world to live up to.
If the country expresses any disgust
whatever over the action of congress
In raising the salaries of members to
J7.D00 a year, it will be with the
ostrich-like behavior of the house in
passing the bill rather than because
of the raise itself. Such an exhibition
of pusillanimity as that of the house
In cramming the bill through without
a roll call In the evident hope of pre
venting the public from knowing what
particular congressmen were respon
sible for the measure, does not increase
public confidence in that body. The
president will doubtless sign the bill,
and public opinion will approve the act
as making for greater independence
In the less wealthy members.
As matters in the theatrical world
are now going the citizens of Beatrice
need not mourn excessively over the
prospective closing of the Paddock
opera house. The scarcity of good
companies "on the road" is becoming
a source of real concern to the patrons
of the theater in all of the smaller
western cities. The ability of the
large cities to keep the best actors
profitably employed without disagree
able railroad journeys is leaving the
communities of less f n 200,000 people
in a bad way for strong and artistic
theatrical performances. If it were
not for the trend toward vaudeville it
might be possible to fill the need by
the organization of local stock com
panies. As the case stand3 there
is nothing for the public to do but
await the next turn in the development
of their amusements. They have at
least the poor satisfaction of knowing
that any future change cannot be for
tho worse.
The action of the house In killing thj
unlicensed veterinarian bill is really In
harmony with the provlrlons of the
national liw which prohibits the mis
branding cf food products. The gov
ernment I s Inclined to nllow consider
able latitude In the preparation and
sale of various products, but it Is be
ginning to lnbt that the latwrl hall
declare exactly what each package
contain. Ha It U with the practice of
the various b rune he of medicine. The
public has arparf tly reached the con
clusion that It 1 only fair to allow the
practice of various kinds of healing,
but that no man shill put up a mis.
leading sign. If a mm ha no degree
or h.t pA''J no offtcta.1 fAtuninatlon
he may do his best to cure distempers
In horned and rows, but he Is not per
mitted to declare himself a veterinary
turgeoa. TLo action of the lio'ie l
sensible and eminently fair to all In
terests. If a practitioner In the course
of time becomes learned enough to de
serve the title he can get it by pass
ing an examination.
It is notorious in the business cir
cles of the west that the city of Den
ver is paying too high a rate on
nearly all classes of freight, and yet
the case made before the interstate
commerce commission has not been
entirely conclusive. Possibly this has
been due to a desire on the part of
Denver to hide the fact that certain
advantages have been secured in the
past. For fear of losing these special
rates the attorneys for the city have
evidently failed to go into the whole
question with the vigor that was
needed to bring about a clean read
justment. Virtually all commercial
cities have certain more or less unjust
advantages in freights, but these are
put in the background while a tre
mendous uproar is made over other
schedules that are less favorable.
New York reports the receipt of the
rlrst large consignments of denatured
alcohol. The product car-.e from the
distilleries at Peoria, and the whole
sale price reduced to a Peoria basis
and not counting the container is 29
cents a gallon. This was for an order
of 400,000 gallons. The fact that the
product sells so cheaply under present
conditions and so soon after the re
moval of the tax gives hope that Rep
resentative Marshall's bill amending
the free alcohol law would put alcohol
in position to compete largely with
gasoline and coal oil. Mr. Marshall's
bill provides that small distilleries
which make none but denaturized
alcohol may construct cisterns or
tanks into which all distilled spirit
must run, the container to be sealed
by the revenue officer so that there is
no opportunity to evade the law dur
ing his absence. This would permit
the use of. small distilleries which
would need to be visited only at con
siderable Intervals by a revenue officer,
meanwhile permitting waste farm pro
ducts to be made up into alcohol at
the convenience of the distiller.
a niG pork: barrel.
It was understood last year that a
river and harbor bill of gererous pro
portions had been promised in order to
Induce some members of congress to
support needed legislation. The bill
has made its appearance after election
as all such pie cutting bills must, and
it will be the most generous in our
history if it goes through according to
program. And there is no reason why
It should not go through. The pork is
cut in many pieces. The advocates of
the deep waterway from the great
lakes to the gulf are to scratch the
backs of the advocates of a dredged
Delaware in consideration of a return
favor, the Missouri will get a heaping
bite, so will the Chicago and the Cal
umet, the Illinois and the Ohio. No
doubt most of the public money thus
put In circulation in the districts of at
least a majority of the congressmen
and senators will be well spent, and
will help in the solution of the rail
road problem. If some watte creeps
In it Is our own fault. We Judge our
congressman very much according to
what he ran "get for his distrie.' in
the way of appropriations for pensions,
postofllees and such objects as the
river and harbor bill contemplate?.
run: lHti SCARCE.
A measure of the effective -m -ss of
one department of the pure food law
gained from the complaints of metro
politan druggist of inability to get
their orders for patent medicines filled
with any degree of promptness. On
New York druggUt recited his Ina
bility to get more than one-tifth of
the articles ordered. Th" reason l!c
In the eondltl'-ns attached to the or
der. Ib tall dealers, t protect thm
nelves, Mump their ordirs for drug
and proprietary preparation with
me such proviso as this: "All gnoj
on this order must comply with food
and drugs act, June 3, UW, and guar
antee printed on the package." The
wholesaler from whom he orders has
included a similar condition in his or
ders to manufacturers, with the result
that orders cannot be filled of goods
not yet made to comply with the law.
Some manufacturers held off in hope
of getting more favorable rulings from
the government on points in which
they were interested, but Dr. Kebler,
chief of the drug laboratory at Wash
ington, has announced that the law is
"hog tight," an indication that no
quarter can be expected there. The
patent medicine makers are neglecting
a golden opportunity in not ascribing
the" epidemics of various sorts now
prevailing throughout the country to
this sudden cutting off of the supply
of health preservers.
MEDICINE AND MORTAL ERROR.
Right is right, and it wrongs no one.
A man who isn't a veterinary surgeon
has no business to advertise himself
as such, even if he does know how
much aconite a sick horse can swal
low without killing it outright. If a
man passes for Just what he is and
no more, then the man who employs
him does so at his own risk. In the
matter of the Christian science healer
and the law which proposes to set
him aside, the situation is very differ
ent. This man doesn't pretend to be
a surgeon. He doesn't give medicine,
recommend this article of diet in pre
ference to the other. He recognizes
you as an immortal essence tempor
arily resident in a package of mortal
error. If you have a belief of suffer
ing, you are the victim of a mortal
miscalculation. You are wrestling with
or bother with sanitary conditions, or
with a knot tied in it. It is a mental
one of the many forms of unreality
deviation from the spiritual normality.
The remedy is to straighten you out;
to get you back in line with the eter
nal verities, and drugs won't do it;
neither will diet, nor Turkish bath3, nor
the laying on of hands, nor the prayers
of those who don't know how to pray
according to the formula of divine
science. There is the plan, and he who
accepts it does so at his own risk. If
he gets well, glory be; if he dies try
ing, who shall say it was the worst
thing that could have happened to
him?
ENDORSING LA FOLLETTE.
Reckless, idealistic, aspiring youth
can usually be found behind the man
who fights uphill for a principle. It
is the most natural of things that the
first formal movement to make Sen
ator La Follette a candidate for presi
dent in 1908 should be launched by
students of a state university. That
it should be the university of Mr. La
Toilette's own state is the more cred
itable to the man. "We heartily ap
prove of the actions of Senator La
Follette, both as governor and as sen
ator. As individuals and as an or
ganization we pledge ourselves to work
for the nomination of Senator La Fol
lette for president in 1908." This reso
lution is the text of the La Follette
presidential club Just formed at Madi
son. In eight years of ceaseless, bit
ter battle Governor La Follette made
his state the envy of patriotic people
of other states. Beginning with a state
governed largely by the railroads, he
secured Just taxation of corporations,
state supervision of railroad rates, the
right of the people to make nomina
tions to office, and left the state gov
ernment in tho hands of the voters.
In his flrst four months In the senate,
a period when new senators aro sup
posed to remain obscured by the man
tle of "senatorial courtesy," he blocked
a grab of coal and oil lands In In
dian nrritory, was In himself a host
In the battle for the rate bill, brought
about the grain elevator Investigation,
and forced through tho employer' li
ability bill. Since the present session
eonvenrd tho man who was marked I
for a boxing has been Instrumental in ;
securing the passage of the bill limit
Inir the hours of continuous labor on
the railways In the Interest of public
wuMy. Is It utrango that the MndNon
students "heartily approve of the ac
tions of Henator l.a Follette imth us
governor end t senator?"
Tin imi.r.r iMitiiit,
It Is ft pity the Investigation of sen
ator ltallry cannot be. made out In the
r.snllttht before. Homebody Kie ftMmr
public confidence, ns the current In
vetlgaton by the Interstate corn,
inerce commission are held. Tture Is
doubt in the minds of Judicial ob
servers as to the real facts in his case,
doubts that no star chamber investi
gation by partisan Texas legislators
can remove. Bailey says there is a
conspiracy on the part of the Standard
Oil company by ruining him to re
move their ablest enemy from the sen
ate. He charges Hearst with assist
ing in this effort in order that Hearst
may get control of the " democratic
party in Texas to the disadvantage of
Bryan. But there are damaging ap
pearances on the other side. His
ringing in the name of Bryan has a
demagogic air, for Bailey is not dis
tinguished as a friend of Bryan though
the people of Texas are. In lending
him money and employing him as at
torney the Standard Oil company and
the railroads may have been stealthily
laying a trap for him; and because of
his refusal to serve them in the senate
they may now be foreclosing a mort
gage which he unconsciously assumed.
But Bailey poses as a great man, and
gTeat men are not supposed to be so
simple as this view shows him to have
been. The newer charges assert va
rious acts by which he is alleged to
have turned his official position to his
own profit. A secret session of a leg
islative committee is a poor court for
the trial of such charges. It is painful
to think that a conspiracy might ef
face an innocent public man, or that
a man guilty of any or all the charges
against Bailey may be whitewashed in
secret. More light Is needed here than
we1 are likely to get
Rl'SSEL A. ALGER.
Senator Alger was not permitted to
serve out his last term. William Al
den Smith would have become entitled
to the seat occupied since September,
1902, by Mr. Alger, and he will now
doubtless be appointed to serve out
the fragment of a term left vacant by
death. It is too soon to make an esti
mate of Senator Alger's public serv
ices. He had a long career which did
not grow brighter toward the close, al
though he occupied high places. His
services in the civil war, which raised
him from the rank of captain to that
of major general entitled him to dis
tinguished consideration throughout
his life. He was governor of his state
more than twenty years ago. In 1888
he received a hundred votts or more
on all but one of the eight ballots of
the national convention which nom
inated General Harrison. He was
commander-in-chief at one time of the
Grand Army of the Republic. His ca
reer as secretary of war at the time
of the Spanish war was unfortunate.
He was charged with responsibility
for unsanitary camps, intolerable ra
tions, the overcrowding and unfitness
of transports, and the incompetence
of subordinate officials. An investi
gating committee exonerated him in
the main, but its report was not given
full credit. As United States senator
he has not occupied a prominent place.
He had amassed a large fortune in the
lumber business, and his views and
votes in the senate were commonly
regarded as representing in the main
the business interests with which he
was affiliated.
At the meeting of the lumbermen's
association in Lincoln during the past
week a letter was read from the Rocky
mountain coal men's association pro
posing a remedy for the shortage in
coal that has been a disturbing fea
ture of business everywhere during the
present season. The remedy is simple
and practical. If every well established
coal dealer in Kansas and Nebraska
will increase his storage one-third or
one-half and stock up during the sum
mer with the grades of coal that keep
without deterioration, keeping it until
the pinch comes in car service in the
dead of winter, coal famines will no
longer menace the people of these
stated. In order to encourage the deal
ers to adopt tills policy the coal min
ers have agreed to make a summer
price on storage coal that will cover
the cost of storage, the loss from waste
and interest on the capital that Is tied
up In the operation. The dealer will
need more capital, but In the end he
will profit handsomely because he will
be able to do busluess all through the
year, when his competitor who may be
working on the hand to mouth Imsls
Is periodically knocked over the rope.
The advice Is no round that it will no
doubt be accepted by a large number
of dealer In the plains region during
the cnmtng year.
Portuguese Fast Afrba Is now a real
paradise for nltnrod. Itrtibdi .Uiloa
Is fast bet-inning u vtu t continental
preserve, while the Portuguese tlU'iln-
lons are not only open, hut Inviting.
I.ion abound. It appears, lit the terri
tories of the Portuguese company of
th lioror r-gon, which cover a at
extuit of territory, to decree w Men
has l-corne quite Intolerable een for
easy Portuguese ways, A .h laioaMon
h.ii tu t ordlnirly been published, In tho
terms of which the company under
take to pay t:.' for every lion bead
brought in arul to leave the !-kli U th
slayer.