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A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO
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Twentieth Year. LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, MABCH 14, 1907. Subscription $1.0(T
AN OMINOUS INCIDENT
The following extract from a report
of a union labor meeting in San Fran
cisco last Sunday afternoon is from the
Monday Chronicle. Ifis not pleasant
reodlrig, and yet every citizen ought
" to peruse it and then post himself on
I ho events that led up to the uproar:
The hissing of the flag of the United
States, and the lowering of the na
tional emblem in response to demand
of frenzied partisans, the singing of the
"Marsellaise" by a great crowd in .he
street outside the place of assembly
and the impassioned declarations of
Colors, that force should be re
ported to, if necessary, to free Charles
II. Mover, William D. Haywood And
George A. Pfetlirone, were incidents of
the first mass 'meeting of tho miners
A-fenae league, held at Walton's pa
vilion yenrrday afternoon, and at
tended by over 4,000 union labor men
Eighty-four labor ivdUm were offi
cially represented H appointed dele
gates, and many unions by their entire
membership. There is ntnao lndigna-
,-1. 1 rtver what
tion in union laour
is termed "the kldnapii.g of Moyer,
Haywood and Pettlbone by the Idaho
authorities with the connivance of the
governor of Colorado." and the fact
that the leader of the western federa-
. tlou of miner? have been held so long
without trial. The assembly; was in the
natifm of an indignation meeting.
The first sensation of the afternoon
came when the German socialist slng
i society entered the hall carrying, in
addition' to its organization banner an
American flag. The appearance of the
national flag in the hall was" greeted
with hoots and hisses from the union
men'The flags were carried to benches
'at the left of the platform, amid snouts
of:
"Take down that nag
Some of the men, angered because
the Gorman singers hesitated to com
ply with their demand, rose from their
sits and started for the flag. The
wCene wa- one of great confusion Hun
(,mls of fanatical men were shouting
jTak, down that flagl"
'nag out of here!" while a few of their
lender., who were able to realize
ti,vy Were about, pleaded with the fren-
zied mon to be silent.
-tiiis is our ilag. yet. boys-we are
,ivi under it and until it is changed
vou "have no right to hiss It." said one
determined man.
Another prominent labor leader
rushed down among the excited men
and shouted:
"Arc you losing your heads. bos.'
This is the flag of our country, yet."
Meantime. Old Olory had been low
ered, and furled, but , it was raised
again When the mob had boon quieted
i,v its leaders, the Oermun wingers
w,ro ordered to bulst ttfe Aug oi,ce
mv and it wns not molested again
during the meeting.
U will shock nmny a complaisant clt-
U..11 to know Unit the est urn.' enn
tll,ut prcVcd ut Ihl m-eilng are
.i.t. rtuln. d by many union labor men
oth.r ! th;in m FnmeNo.
Tlu y will be doubly hh... u.d when they
t know how m my union labor
un there .u who have jumped M tha
.0 that the.' "Ulcers of tho
," , ,, .11 ar- tho victim of a
.,.,, a1.; .t!.- . . -u '! " "", ',aie
t!. t. o !,.-' any eUdenee to that f
fl,.t h.cau- the btleve uch
b. twn i U and i-lxM in be
t ,t r if nt inevitable.
TW .iu.it ion U such ih.ii th people
POLITICS, AGRICULTURE AND HOME LIFE
T ' ' ' ' I . . a m m a V
who believe most firmly in the murder
ous guilt of the officers of the western
federation of miners , should be the
most strenuous in insisting upon a fair
trial and the fullest publicity in these
cases. The union men who assume that
Moyer, Haywood and Pettlbone are in
nocent merely because they are union
men, are doing the cause of Labor in
calculable harm. We must have fair
ness and sanity on both 'sides if this
Incident Is to be passed in safety.
OUR SIMPLK LIVES.
Sanitary engineering has made so
many advances of recent years that
larfre buildings in the cities are not
called "modern" unless they contain
many features that were not thought
of a; dozen years ago. For example,
nearly every large 'office building,
apartment and hotel that is planned
in an up-to-date manner now contains
a Vacuum sweeping plant. Instead of
sending for a portable plant to stand
in the street with snakelike hose ex
tending into the building, the practice
is now to have the machinery installed
permanently, in th basement and ready
for use whenever a room needs sweep
ing. More than that, a small suction
plant operated by an attachment to an
electric light wire has been perfected
for private houses and will in a few
years be added to the absolutely neces
sary equipment of an up-to-date resi
dence. Twenty-five years ago a com
fortable town residence could be built
for $2,500. Now a house of eorre
spending social grade will cost not
a cent less than $5,000. A part of this
increase is due to the added reward
of labor and the increased cost of
building materials, but the greater part
can be charged to the hardwood finish,
the mantels and grates, the lighting
effects, the heating plant, the laundry
and bath room appliances and other
luxuries of the old days that are now
stern necessities. In five or ten years
more the cost is likely to be increased
an additional 50 per cent by the
sweeping plants, an apparatus for keep
ing the house cool in the summer, and
other devices that the inventors are
continually producing for the undoing
of the man with a modest salary. The
people who hear the most talk about
the merits of the simple life seem to
be spending all of their spare ti mo and
energy in making existence expensive
and complex.
GREAT MEN'S MISTAKES.
"This primary bill proposes." ob
jects Mr. McMullen, "even to let a
few men who are candidates for state
offices and the legislature say what
the platform shall be. Would this
have been permitted in the early days?
Would not some Patrick Henry lmv
arisen to denounce it?"
Very likely. Patrick Henry de
nounced the constitution of the United
States and tried to prevent its ratifi
cation. -Some Patrick Henry" made.
mistakes In thow days also.
Consul If. U. Sp.ihr of nretduu re
port n nctlve movement In Germany
to rpnud Urn !" of KpTantu as a
unlvernul Unsusise "f bulns. There
ar r.t runto societies In twenty
four U-rmn cith" and others are bs
tntf fttrmf-d. In the wboU world ther
m nearly ftvt hundred F.psrntn so-
defies, nd then sro tvs fourton
per! idletl printed In Dr. 55ammhf
iiuxdet.-ordr Uneusfo, One of lh
t In Per,
11 i' 1 1 ni i' a 1
LAuuinu n lii ill
. One of the planks of the republican
platform about which there is still
some noticeable lagging is that which
has reference to compelling the rail
roads to pay their full share of muni
cipal taxation, generally discussed un
der the name of terminal taxation. In
truth, it is not strictly taxation of
terminals, but means only that for
municipal purposes the terminals of
tho railroads, wherever located, ought
to be taxed at their full value. Ought
not that to be done? Isn't it fair and
right that they should?
The railroads are fighting this, be
cause they do not want to pay what
they should in tho cities, towns and
villages. .of the state. If this bill
passes, tho railroads will have to pay
many thousands into treasuries where
their contributions have been small
Indeed. Wherever the pocket of a man
or a corporation is hard hit, he fights
to the last ditch, ",' '
One of the boasts . of the railroad
lobby, that does its principal work
now at the hotels, is that there are
enough members pledged to their side
of tho case. to defeat it, Particularly
do they claim a practically united fu
sion vote. We do not believe this to
be true. It will be conceded that in
the last campaign, Chairman Allen
lined up against term tnal taxation,
but in the campaign two years before
it was one of the issues which Mr.
Iierge, the fusion candidate for gov
ernor, ably urged as a Just and right
eous thing. Mr. Allen was not author
ized by nis party to pledge or promise
the support of the legislative members
to any such plan of action, since it is
nothing more nor less' than helping
thp railroads dodge their Just share of
taxes. . 1
No member of the legislature can
pleaI that he has been misled by the
claim that this plan aims to take
away from the counties and road and
school districts of the state a single
dollar of taxes. That fairy tale has
been so thoroughly exploded that no
intelligent man can longer cling to it
as truth.
Terminal taxation is neither a raid
on the county taxing districts nor on
the railroads. It is an effort to es
tablish equal and exact justice be
tween taxpayers. Who is against that
proposition?
CASTRO'S CHEEK.
Herbert W. Bo wen, who has had
some experience himself with the
president of Venezuela, pronounces
t'iprhmo Castro the most successful
diplomatist of his generation. CastrC
has so far recovered from what was
t.uppoed to be his last illness as to
aivo soma attention again to public af
fairs, and tho reappearance of so
mighty a man Is not a matter of light
concern. Mr. Bowen, who was at one
time United State minister to Verio
riela, ft mix his diplomatic greatness
expressed In his dealings with the for
eign nations, a majority of whom, at
the time of Castro'; necesnion to the
preside iiiy, wire ! rein? clilm of one
i.o-t or ai.idh r against Ven.-r.ueU for
wrongs ral or ittlef committed
anfiiflt " forehm iilc.i, and also In
tho Mit'tv.;! with .vlilvh ho la'k.-d
Prune and tho Putted KUte in the
Vrrnch ( ibh and the American
Alli!t controversy. "Tins world hs
nt.oi Hwuiy diplomat of Rreut ability,
nav Mr, Uoweti, ' hut would havr dlf
ficuliy In naming even one wh could
have been so uniformly successful as
Castro was in his conflicts, domestic
and foreign, with the odds always
greatly against him at, the start. Tns
main objection to his diplomacy Is that
it never uplifted either him or his peo
ple morally, and was never consciously
employed to promote the welfare of the
human race. Ills diplomacy, therefore,
while exceptionally able, was painfully
lacking in greatness and nobility,"
The question retrains after all this,
however, of whether Castro's success
as & - diplomat has not - nonalated an
tirely of displays of cheek so sublime
that the nations felt compelled to
pocket .their weapons in reverent ad
miration.
THE JTI5W DUMA.
It required the actual gathering of
the new Russian assembly to demon
strate the overwhelming victory of the
radical and revolutionary forces la
the late elections. Out of 422 votes
cast in the , election for president of
the lower houSe, the government
party mustered but ninety-one. What
the government will do in view of this
state of affairs is a question the an
swer' to which will have critical re
sults. The first duma, dismissed by
the czar for over assertiveness, was
as but a zephyr to the blast the second
duma promises to be. Will the gov
ernment preceive'the point to this?
If the dissolution of the first duma,
and the election of the second under
all the compulsion the government
could bring to bear, generated oppo
sition where the government hoped to
destroy It, what Is to be expected from
a third attempt of the kind? When the
first duma was dissolved tho czar
sowed the wind. He has now reaped
the whirlwind. Another such -seedtime
and harvest predicates a tornado.
In case the government realizes this
the life of the secontf duma will be
longer than the life of the first.
PLEASES THE IDEALISTS.
Wherever a political idealist Is found
there is joy that the Nebraska house
of representatives voted to open the
way for the participation In the direct
primaries of all citizens. Wherever In
dependence in voting is considered a
greater aid to good government than
party voting there will be pleasure at
tho dropping of all Inquisitorial fea
tures from the direct primary bill as
it passed through the house. In prac
tical effect there would not be enough
difference, at least at first, between
the open and the cloned primary to be
worth quarreling about. The oft ex
pressed fear that the open primary
will permit all the corrupt to unite In
nominating a corrupt candidate Is or
should bo more than offset by the fact
that It will bo Just as easy for all the
honest and Independent to get togeth
er on candidates of high character.
Some of the best and most Intel-'
Ugent citizens and none of the
bad and Ignorant would be barred
from the primaries by the test
oath '"of tho closed primary yet
this would not be general enough
to U a vcty great evil. The open pri
mary save the cHUen that Invasion
of lils (sacred tight lo secret ballot
w hii h I Involved In lh feature of the ,
t iwt primary requiring him to swear
na to how h intends to vote at the
elrctioii, It mut bo admitted that the
open primary tends to make partleti
toor pl.ittlc. I hit H is a question
whether for the good of the state, and
In ih lonir run of th parties too, the
more jdaMle parties are the better.