8
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT
APRIL 23, J'.'OT.
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT
ESTADMSIIBD 1889
I'nblUhed Kvery Thursday
" '' '. iWO I St., ' .
Lincoln, Kebrak
Entered at the postoffice at Lincoln.
Nebraska, as second-class mall matter,
under the act of congress of March 3, 1879.
ONK DOLLAR A VISAR
Sabnrrlptlon All remittances should
be sent by postoffice money order, ex
press order, or by bank draft on New
York or Chicago.
Change of Address Subscribers re
questing a change of address must give
the OLD as well as the N'BW address.
A! vt'i-ilxinK Hates furnished upon ap
plication, ; ' . ' ' ,
Sniiiplc topic sent free to any ad-d-crs
upon ' nrfpiicatlon. Rend for sampt'
cves and I ub rates, '
AddrruM all communications, and make
all drafts, niorny orders, etc., payable to
Lincoln, !Veb.
Minnesota has this advantage nvr
Nebraska: Fruit buds bold back un
til about the middle of May and only
the ilu'msr that arc late in getting upe
suffer from the frost. , - , ,
A drowning man is hardly in a po
sition to dictate a iIan of rescue. Mr.
Thaw might have fared better bad he
relied on the judgment of his attor
neys instead of bossing the Job him
self. The Illinois bouse believes in rais
ing tb?. pay of the members of the leg
islature from $1,000 to $2,000 a year.
The state is rich and prosperous, but
will not stand this particular form or
extravagance. A legislator of the Illi
nois variety isn't worth it.
At the age of seventy-four an Okla
homa criminal has started to serve
a sentence, o.f; ; nlnty-nine; years'.". He
hopes .to.. receive- the irsual 'timeoff' for
good behavior, in which event ha will
be libera"te4in time to celebrate his
157th birthday anniversary outside
the prison walls.
According to a Kansas City news
paper business property there has been
"ridiculously low" for many years, bnt
Is now "approaching something near a
permanent bapis of investment." This
is a delicate intimation that further
advances in prices cannot be made
with safety. In other words, beware
of a boom.
One Nebraska man claims to have
lost $10,000 on his peach crop by rea
son of the late freezing weather. It is
rather difficult to figure how one can
lose a thing before he gets it. The
peach crop is peculiarly subject to cli
matic conditions. If these conditions
are not provided you have lost noth
ing, for there was nothing to lose.
All sorts of errors are made In con
jecturing the sums received by attor
neys in Important cases. It was said
IVlmas was to receive $100,000 for de
fending ITnrry Thaw. A revised esti
mate places th probable sum total at
about $23,000, which Is nt the rate of
$200.62 per day for four months. Al
most any lawyer would call that good
wages.
Without going into the details of
the case of ex-Senator Patterson, the
supremo court of the United States
undoubtedly did rlrrht in deciding that
ho should pay bis fine for speaking
handily of the Colorado supreme trib
unal. One might go farther, In fact,
and d.Mlire that any lino Imposed upi-n
any Unwr editor will be fount to
be tibiiiidintly Justified.
Tin ivpoit of the traffic manager of
tha !.lw H d municipnl railways shown
thai durliur th. lnt yr the system
mad. a profit of $4nA after faying
lnterrt, a lln-rnl sum for repairs, and
putting $l37,4)o into the municipal
twasury as tax.. Thl was aceennp-
lished with a rate of fare averaging a
little more than two cents. This report
will be excellent material for the anti
municipal ownership propagandists in
New York to gnaw on for a time. They
may be able to make holes in the
profits, but on its face the report makes
a strong showing in favor of the pub
lic system.
One of the new laws passed by the
Wisconsin legislature provides that the
wife who has wealth in her own right
shall be responsible for the board and
keep of her unhappy husband who is
not so blessed. She shall also be re
sponsible for any , reasonable debts
contracted by him subsequent to the
tying of the nuptial knot. Thus rs man
slowly obtaining the rights for which
he has long contended in vain.
Inasmuch as the guilty' railroad Is
liable to the same fines as the Stand
ard Oil company in the rebate cases,
the unfortunate Alton stockholders arc
due for another chill. The minimum
fine In these cases amounts to $1,463,
000 and the maximum to $29,260,000. To
bo mulcted to the latter amount would
be almost as disastrous to the prop
erty as another period of Harriman
ownership.
Reports from Ohio assert that the
ruling of Attorney General Bonaparte
requiring the labeling of whisky so as
to indicate what kind of whisky it Is
has greatly aroused the Ohio distilling
interests. They are preparing,, it is
said, to show their resentment by help
ing Foraker to carry Ohio against Taft.
It Is also reported that the anti-saloon
league is ,for Foraktr, the league being
under the Jmpressi m that Foraker. iiai
been an enemy of the saloons. Theie
is evidently a mistake somewhere.
Uuless this flood of raw labor can be
directed to the south, where it is
needed to an unlimited extent, it would
be well to warn would-be immigrants
that Jhey are likely to have a hard time
in. the United. States for several years.
The employment agencies of the large
cities make report that the supply of
common labor has now far outrun
the demand, and that the railroads are
offering only' a dollar and a half
for rough labor instead of the two dol
lars or more that was gladly paid a
year ago. If the Milwaukee and other
roads suspend their ; Pacific coast ex
tensions as a lesson to the president,
and to the legislatures, as they threat
en to do, the glut in the labor market
will be a serious matter in the next
few months.
It is to be feared that Colonel Van
Horn of the Canadian Pacific is not en
tirely frank when he tells the public
that he is "operating in countries
where there is no such thing as rail
road legislation, for which I am indeed
thankful." The Canadian law matching
the interstate commerce a'ct passed by
our own congress last June has been In
force for a couple of years at least.
In some respects it is more far-reaching
than tho American statute. It is pos
sibly true that In Cuba, where the colo
nel has railroad Interests, the republic
Is willing to offer large concessions to
secure new roads, but In time regula
tion will come there as elsewhere. Thu
public must regulate the roads or bo
regulated by them, and a free people
will not hesitate long between these
alternatives.
At a recent mating of the Swiss
club at Kerne Dr. Schnyder made a
j j t on the value of alcohol to mou.v
tain t limbers, lie found that a ma
jority af mountain climbers carry nomo
form of alcoholic liquor w 1th them, but
they agrco upon tho unwisdom of
drinking It while tlttre u ork yet u
be done. A Dutch ntk-nUt ha taken a
i KMfittle of bral t workers and find
n nibhtantl.il agrej.nent that fttcoUol
H not a help to lnt (ration: KJornst
Jruo Ujornson report that he ha al
ways dbcard'i I literary aketrr-.es
written urnVr th stimulus of wine,
having found them always morbid or
unnalural. Atifiiate Itodln trrotr
"Alcohol is not for artists. Those w o
seek their inspiration in it are, ike
their work, doomed to early oblivion."
All of which helps to reassure us that
Lincoln can if necessary go through an
entire month of sobriety without irre
parable injury.
The governor of Florida seems de
termined to have the state embark r
the life insurance business. In a mes
sage to the legislature he shows that
the state could conduct such a business
at a small cost. By operating through"
one of the state officers and selling
"over the counter" insurance, which
'ould naturally be attractive to the
people on account of its reliability and
economy, he believes a large amount
of money could be kept In the state
instead of going to swell the disturb
ing surplus in New York. One branch
of the Florida legislature has en
dorsed the-plan by the passage of an
act creating the department. One of
these days some state will embark in
public insurance. When it comes it
will be a stale like Florida where home
companies have not .become firmly
enough established to successfully op
pose this "step into socialism."
The Latter Day Saints of Utah have
taken a commendable action in pass
ing resolutions disapproving of the pro
motion of mining enterprises by min
isters of their church. It is an unpleas
ant fact that a large amount of doubt
ful mining stock has been "placed"
in this country by ministers and by
means of advertisements in religious
newspapers. The condition of t"-e min
ing industry is now such that no man
vvitri regard for his reputation wiii
have anything to do with the saleof
stock in enterprises that he does not
know to be sound In every respect.
And even then the business is not to
be entered upon lightly on account of
its uncertain character. The most
promising mine will sometimes fail be
cause the capital needed to develop
it cannot be secured.
Fat people everywhere will be inter
ested in the success of Secretary Taft
in reducing his weight by 100 pounds
in a year or so. The secretary accom
plished this feat by following a sim
ple diet prescribed by an English phy
sician of note. The chief feature of
this regimen is a gluten bread and the
avoidance of sweets and malt liquors.
The secretary exercises night and
morning, sleeps riot over eight hours
and drinks sparingly of water. Beef
steak, the white meat of fowls and the
bread which he calls "dog biscuits"
make up a rather comforting dietary.
The secretary will always be carica
tured ' as fhe man who "gave up his
seat to three ladies," when as mat
ter of fact he is now down to normal
size and in splendid trim to run for
the presidency.
Colorado has been greatly injured by
mining sharks. The Denver News ad
mits it. An honest promoter is so sel
dom seen as to be recognizable when
located. . The most of them are out
after suckers and they gather them in
as the farmer gathers his corn. The
money invested in mines in that state,
or in holes IrMhe ground called mines
for the mere convenience of it, is many
times greater than the aggregate of
wealth taken from them. All this has
helped to build such cities s Denver,
Pueblo and Colorado Springs, but it
has also left the Impression from one
end of the land to tho other that the
state is infested with fakirs and con
fidence men. This with Denver's yel
low journalism conslstutcs a burden
which entitles our beautiful Centennial
sister to sincere commiseration.
The national publicity law organi
sation now In session In New Tork
aims to secure the passage of acts
requiring the publication of all contri
butions to national and congressional
ccrwnllteett, together with tho expen
ditures of the committees. The agi
tation will result In effective legislation
sooner or later, becaux It Is necessary
to the continuation of our government
in pure republican form. The Roose-velt-Harriman
controversy has had
the effect of forestalling any debate
that might have been possible on this
question'. When men become so much
interested in the outcome of an elec
tion that five men are willing to con
tribute a quarter of a million dollars
to that end, the public has a right to
know that they arc spending the
money and why they are showing so
keen a concern in politics.
When E. F. Stephens, the Crete
nurseryman, rings the bell on any of
the fruit buds the public will know
that they are dead.. In response to
numerous questions as to present con
ditions in Nebraska he writes:
"Prlnr fn VriAav tnnrning lust. VA
regarded the outlook as very favorable
indeed, especially for peaches, plums
and all small fruits. The very severe
freeze of last Friday morning, followed
by other nights below freezing points,
have seriously damaged the prospect
of a fruit crop, especially peaches. Our
people estimate the peach crop at
about 20 per, cent; cherry crop at 30
per cent; the vineyard at 85 per cent;
all other small fruits as a fair crop.
The apple orchards of the country
overbore last year and could not have
been expected to bear a full crop thta
season. We estimate our own apple
crop at about 50 per cent of last sea
son, which was a normal crop."
It is easy to find the worm in the
heart of the happiness of the men en
trusted with the operation of the fail
roads. The increase in the cost "of
operation is inevitable and impossible
to ! prevent, and under ordinary cir
cumstances wotild be' taken' ph Jlosqph- i
ically'as one of the fortunes of bus
iness. But men who have been pay
ing up to 200 cents on- the dollar for
railroad stocks will be satisfied with
no explanation to take the place of
expected dividends. The men In
charge of the roads must make them
pay or give way to other men wno
can do it. It is the pressure "of this
call for big dividends that makes rail
road managers relentless in paring
down the pay of their men, and in cut
ting them off the payroll whenever
they can be spared even for short
periods. v The great business blunder
of the day is thus revealed to be the
over-capitalization ."of" the railroads
and the over booming of these water
logged securities. While ; the public
has cause for complaint, the first and
keenest sufferers are the officers who
are called upon to retrench and the
men who feel the weight of the de
scending axe.
Thomas C. Petterson of the Denver
News is a very wealthy man. ir his
entire estate were converted into cash
a gunny sack wouldn't hold it. What
to him is a fine of $1,000 for contempt
of court? It is nothing at all. The
principle at stake is the only - thing
for which he thinks it worth while to
contend Freedom of speech and of
the press shall not, be abridged, says
the constitution. 1 Mr. Patterson's
newspaper told the supreme court of
Colorado what was what. It outlined
for this high tribunal what its deci
sion should be in a matter pending
in said court of last appeal. The court
construed these remarks as contempt
and fined the presumptuous senator a
thousand dollars. He appealed frcm
this decision to the supreme court of
the United States where the judg
ment of tho lower court was confirmed.
Mr. Patterson will pay the fine, be
cause he must, but In discussing the
matter in his valuable) paper ho re-lter-ib's
th.t Justice- of his' offensive re
marks and rubs It In. He cites the
constitutional guarantees and tplts
through his teeth. Whllo he is tmf
fired to draw the breath of life na
proposes to stand for his rights. Head
ing between tho lines one can nee that
the thing that hurts worst is that the
doclxlon of tho hig'uet of the highest
tribunals gives the Evening Post
license to use an extra daub of red In
In nuking It unpleasant for the owner
of the News. To finally and effectually
