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OUR LINCOLN LETTER
Gossip from the State Capital Legislative and Otherwise
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The house has made the 2 cent rate
bill and the anti pass hill a special
3rdor for Tuesday afternoon and the
action of the republicans on this mea
sure -will bo fully determined by a rul
ing beforethe time That the repub
licans have got themselves into an
embarrassing position over this 2 cent
-rate bill no one denies Each member
of the joint committee which drafted
the bill agreed to support it and to
fight any and all amendments to it
When the amendment to permit the
railroads to go beforo the railroad
commission on the matter was offered
few of the majority knew it was com
ing and hence it was lost Now some
of the republicans believe to carry the
amendment wUl be to place in jeop
ardy all the other joint committee
bills for the reason if one committee
bill is amended opponents of the plat
form measures will have an excuse to
-attempt to amend the other committee
bills A big fight will be the result
-and it might terminate in the state
wide primary bill being seriously dam
aged and it might hurt the terminal
taxation bill
Professor Howard of the state uni
versity head of the department of in
stitutional history and sociology was
one of the speakers before the senate
committee on judiciary in favor of
the passage of H R No 9 or S F No
50 the child labor bills Senator King
of Polk presided as chairman of the
committee Many men and women
-Some of the latter club women of Lin
coln were present to favor the bill
A large number of members of the
senate and some of the house -listened
to the addresses The speech of Pro
fessor Howard made a profound im
pression He reviewed the history of
legislation in favor of children be
ginning in 1802 in England to the
last bill of the kind one that was
tpassed in 1903 He told of the condi
tions that once existed told
stories of abuse and torture and
narrated the changes that had been
brought about by public sentiment and
Jaws some of the latter having been in
force in Massachusetts New York and
Illinois for many years with marked
success
Governor Sheldons scheme for the
local taxation of mortgages either
or foreign scored a signal vic
tory In the house when it was re
ported by the- committee of the whole
for third reading by a decided major
ity The bill provides for the taxation
of all real estate mortgages in the
county where the land on which the
mortgage is held lies At the present
time mortgages are taxed as personal
property so long as they are recorded
in Nebraska and not assigned to some
one outside the state
Repairs on the capltol building and
grounds are to be the subject of in
quiry by the house committee on pub
lic lands and buildings A resolution
by Dodge of Douglas condemning the
way the building is being kept up was
passed and authority was given the
committee to ascertain the cost of
needed repairs Mr Dodge said the
capitol was a disgrace to the state in
its present condition He was not in
iavor of building anew until the struc
ture fell down but he said he was in
favor of doing some repairing
A movement to revive the county
option bill killed in the senate has
come to light and is being aided and
abetted by some senators who voted
against the measure The plan is to
have the house amend the measure
providing for election once every four
or five years instead of every two
years and providing that the county
election shall goyern the entire coun
ty until the next election As tlie bill
was drawn it allowed cities and vil
lages to vote no license even after the
county had gone wet
A bill of importance to the school
districts of that section of the state in
which the revenues do not permit of
a seven months school a year was in
troduced in the house by Doran
Henry Hill Metzger and Wilson The
bill provides that the state shall come
to the financial assistance of those
fechool districts which though levying
the maximum rate of taxes cannot
a seven months school so
Saintain
at every school district in the state
may have school each year for that
length of time
A measure important to all the peo
ple of the state was introduced in the
house by Wilson of Custer county
This bill provides the state board of
assessment shall use the unit system
in assesing railroad property and the
asessment hall be distributed accord
ing to mileage without regard to main
lines or branch lines Should the bill
be signed by the governor after the
terminal taxation bill is signed it is
thought by some the measure would
nullify that measure
The railroads had their innings be
fore the house committee on railroads
on the 12th on the prposed 2 cent pas
senger rate bill and of the four cor
porations represented each argued
that the rate would not be compensa
tory and each said not only would
such a ratebe detrimental tothe rev
enues of the roads but harmful to the
state in general while P S Eustis
passenger traffic manager of the Bur
lington told the committee the first
step his road would take should the
bill become a law would be a test in
the courts
The state wide primary law pledged
to the people by the republican demo
cratic and populist state conventions
will bo Introduced into the legislature
the first of this week The bill has
been blocked out by the subcommittee
and sent to the joint committee The
bill as prepared in the rough provides
that the general election officers shall
bo the officers of the primary the
same machinery being used at both
elections It has been decided that in
stead of electing the precinct and
county committees that task will fall
to the lot of the nominees it having
been agreed that under the latter plan
people will be selected for those im
portant places who will have some in
terest in the election and who will not
leave all of the work to the chairman
and secretary
iggagafesy
l
Senator Gibsons employers lia
bility bill and Senator Thomas bill al
lowing street railway companies to
own securities in and own operate and
lease Interurban companies and inter
urban lines passed the senate without
debate The Gibson bill did not re
ceive a negative vote It relates only
to the more hazardous occupations on
railroads and provides negligence by
a fellow servant shall not be a bar to
recovery by an Injured employe or by
relatives of an employe killed by ac
cident Contributory negligence on
the part of the injured is left to the
jury which is allowed to scale the
damages in the verdict according to
the proportion of negligence It also
provides the acceptance of insurance
money or relief department policy
hereafter taken out shall not be a bar
to recovery from the company
The child labor bill was reported
back favorably to the senate but a
fight is scheduled in favor of the farm-
ers The bill was amended in the com
mittee changing the hours during
which children will be permitted to
work from 7 oclock in the morning
until 7 at night to 6 oclock in the
morning until 8 at night This was
done to permit the milking of cows
and to do the chores on the farms
Mr Fries of Howard a member or
the minority party succeeded in get
ting recommended for passage his
bill providing a tax of 3 to be levied
against persons entitled to vote who
do not avail themselves of the oppor
tunity The bill was amended to ex
empt from the law those who are kept
away from the polls by unavoidable
circumstances though a statement to
this effect must be filed with the
county treasurer or the tax will be
levied
The senate on the 12th spent three
quarters of an hour listening to a spe
cial program in commemoration oS
Lincolns birthday and then adjourned
out of respect for the -day Rev I F
Roach of Lincoln delivered the ad
dress before the senate and eloquently
eulogized the life and influence of the
martyred president The Oberlin quar
tet sang the Battle Hymn of the Re
public and responded to an encore
with America The services were
impressive though brief
The joint committee appointed to
draft a statewide primary law has
concluded its work and the bill will be
introduced the first of the week Pat
rick the fusion member of the com
mittee objected to the filing fee and
may make a fight to have it stricken
out by the legislature The- committee
generally is pleased with the measure
It is a compilation of the
bills
Senator Kings free high school bill
was recommended for passage by the
senate It allows any child living in a
district which does not provide a full
high school course to take the missing
grades at some high school in the
state The tuition which is fixed at
75 cents a week is raised by taxation
in his district
The senate displayed a disposition
to push the railway commission bill
through as rapidly as possible when it
voted to take the bill -from the stand
ing committee on railroads to which
it had been referred and place it di
rectly on general file This will ad
vance it more rapidly than the regular
course
S F 227 by Goodrich of Fillmore
providing that persons convicted of
murder in the first degree shall be
placed in the penitentiary and not put
tojdeath except by order of the gov
ernor and in any event not less than
one year after date of conviction was
indefinitely postponed by the senate
The three uniform divorce bills rec
ommended last fall by a meeting of
divorce experts were introduced into
the senate The main bill changes the
general divorce law mailing it mora
stringent
Sentiment for the most stringent
anti pass law possible has developed
to such an extent in the house that
the exceedingly stringent bill drawn
by the joint committee is likely to
prove inadequate to meet present
ideas In its -place a substitute bill
will be offered that has been prepared
by Representatives McMullen Jennl
son Hamer Cone and Quackenbush
It cuts off everyone from the free list
save railroad employes caretakers of
live stock and railroad attorneys and
physicians who are on an annual sal
ary of at least 1000 each
N our near approach to the
anniversary of Washing
tons birthday it behooves
us all to be very grateful
to God and the revolution
ary fathers for the nation
which they gave to us
Away with the man who
does not love his country
It has its faults
It is no better than the
best man who lives in it
and the best man who
lives in it is separated by a long dis
tance from the angels of heaven The
writings and orations that would put
us beyond criticism explode against
some very hard facts and let out upon
the air a great deal of silliness Our
politics are not so absolutely pure that
a seraphs wing could graze them
without contamination Our ideals of
greatness and glory are closer to the
ground than they ought to be
Our reverence for the sacredness of
law that should be as firmly fixed in
our national conscience as Pikes Peak
Is firmly fixed in the soil of Colorado
Is not beyond the cavil and complaint
of those who study the foundations of
our institutions
But of one thing we are persuaded
and that is that the virtues of our
country over balance its faults
There are more angels than devils
among us
The devils are making the most
noise but the angels are doing the
most work The man who believes
that righteousness is losing its grip
upon this nation is a woefully mis
taken vman I heard a speaker the
other day who proclaimed that we are
falling from bad to worse and from
worse to worst
We do not believe him
We believe that we are rising from
good to better and from better to best
One of the chief roots of our patriot
Ism is gratitude the realization of an
immense debt to those who battled
about the cradle of our national ex
istence and won our freedom and in
dependence at the points of their
swords
Here we are because the men of 76
put us here
Here we stay because the spirit of
76 has kept us here
Stormy Atlantic mild Pacific sleep
ing lakes waving forests tree-crowded
mountains gold mine and silver
mine storms out of whose tempest
driven hearts have fluttered the white
feathered birds of peace fiery bap
tisms through whose flames have
crept forth the evangels gave ever
lasting covenant When we think of
these things when we stand upon the
mount of vision and the splendor of
our country breaks upon our eyes
when the song of the Teapers comes
up to us when we hear the hum
of industry thrilling along the ground
when we see the gleaming rivers
curving and winding like silver
threads through vast gardens what
account of ourselves shall we give to
ourselves if we take not the cup of
praise and thanksgiving in our hands
and pour it out to the heroes whose
patience faith and courage ushered
In the dawn of our splendid prosper
ity
They were fighting for the future
for the country that was coming So
are we fighting for the future for the
country that is coming As we look
into the faces of our little children we
cannot feel that for us the battle is
ended We have won a country for
ourselves But we must win a country
for them
And love of country and love of
children run together with the
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GEORGE WASHINGTON
First in War First in Peace and FJrst In the Hearts of His Countrymen
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THE SPBfl
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tion to win a better country for them
Home and patriotism are linked to
gether The children will help to
make the nation But the nation will
help to make those children
That little dimpled cheek will not
allow you to take off your uniform for
a single day
You must build his home You
must fight for his inheritance You
must put your life into the moving and
marching forces of righteousness that
are trying to win victories for him
The next generation will live in the
country which this generation is mak
ing for it And each one of us is help
ing to make it All of us are nation
builders Every time we cast a bal
lot for an unclean office seeker we aro
committing an outrage upon the fu
ture
Patriotism can never be selfish It
can never be bound up and roped
round in its own pleasures and com
forts
It can never stand still looking
backwards
It can never content itself with
making a noise
In Washingtons farewell address
we see the prayers of a great soul
embracing a nations posterity The
pen that wrote the emancipation
proclamation was tracing on the papei
a hearts desire for a long procession
of centuries
And out of this love of country and
this guardianship of our children will
come the patriotism of service
The Roman soldier cried out it Is
beautiful to die for ones country
Our country does not want anybody to
die for it now but it does want all the
multitudes of its people to live for It
to do their big best or their little best
to serve its highest and noblest in
tents and pass it along to the futuro
cleansed purified sweet to the heart
and sound to the core
WASHINGTON
Soldier and statesman rarest unison
High poised example of great duties
done
Simply as breathing a worlds honors
worn
As lifes indifferent gifts to all men
born
Dumb for himself unless it were tf
God
But for his barefoot soldiers eloquent
Tramping the snow to coral where
they trod
Held by his awe in hollow eyed con
tent
Modest yet firm as Natures self un
blamed
Save by the men his nobler temper
shamed
Not honored then or now because he
wooed
The popular voice but that he still
withstood
Broad minded higher sculed there is
but one
Who was all this and ours and all
mens Washington
James Russell Lowell
Washingtons Wealth
Whether Washington can be put
into the envied category of million
aires no one can assert positively
According to the late Paul Leicester
Ford whose work The True George
Washington has received tvfdA
recognition the father of his
try was worth 3530000 This fortune
did not include his vifes property but
nevertheless it made him one of the
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weciiimcai amciii uuo vj uia time
Her part of the Custis property
equaled 15500 acres of land a good
part of it adjoining the city of Wil
laimsburg
DONE BY SIGNALS
HOW RAILROAD SWITCHMEN
TALK TOGETHER
Language Consists of Motions of the
Hands and Arms Easily Under
stood and Mistakes Are of
Rare Occurrence
They speak a various language
these switchmen do And much of it
is spoken with the hands and arms
says the Kansas City Star Down in
the Union depot yards they have signs
which look odd yet which tell things
as plainly as words and more quickly
A Frisco transfer approached a sig
nal tower a few days ago from the
east The pilot riding tho front of the
engine held up two hands his fingers
spread apart then he stuck both
thumbs to his ears he gripped his left
thumb with his right hand and jerked
it away then pointed to the lower
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Talks to Towerman With His Hands
button of his vest The four motions
were these
This is what they meant r
1 I have a string of cars for the
Burlington yards
2 I want in on track 19
3 I want to cut off cars on 19
4 I hve also cars for 17
M A Sheeley the signal board op
erator went to the telephone called
up another tower jjot a favorable re
ply and swung the arm of a signel
The switch engine wheezed its way
forward
After the cars had been switched the
pilot again faced the signal operator
He crossed and recrossed his fore
arms
In a moment the semaphore swung
for him and his train backed out on a
main track His crossed arms meant
ne wanted to cross state line with cars
for the Union Pacific yards The
swinging semaphore gave him the
track When the string of cars stood
pafely in the Union Pacific yards the
pilot held up two thumbs to another
tower operator This signal meant
Im on the spot
A switch train stood on a siding in
the West bottoms freight yard for half
an hour a few days ago The con
ductor stepped from the caboose
glanced along the line of box cars to
where the brakeman stood sunning
himself He raised his left elbow and
struck it several times with his right
hand The brakeman nodded and the
two walked away
A sidetrack in one freight yard
leads to a brewery When a string of
cars is to be stored in on this track
the conductor extends his left elbow
and strikes it with his right hand
When these same train crews are
thirsty they dont ask Have a drink
They give the elbow signal which
means to the brewery -
A switchman made several futile at
tempts to couple a fiat car onto the
end of a freight train in the Santa Fe
yards last evening Time and again
the train rammed back against the
car but the couplers would not clasp
The switchman stepped out where the
MSI
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Tells the Brakeman Well Have a
Drink
engineer could see and slapped his
stomach with his hand The engineer
understood They left the car
The signal meant to the rip track
Rip track is the repair track
The signs in all yards are not the
ame Mr Sheeley said Necessity
caused them to be invented A pilot
may ride up to my tower and without
uttering a word tell how many cars
he has where he got them and what
he wants to do with them Perhaps
they go to two or three different lines
It would take some time in talking to
tell me what he wants to do The
signs may look odd but they do the
work
WILL BE RAILROAD WONDER
Air Line Planned to Run Underground
a Good Many Miles
Tho latest and biggest project ofj
David H Moffat tho Colorado railroad
man is an air lino from Denver to
Salt Lake City ovor tho continental
divide midway between tho Union
Pacific on the north and tho Rio
Grande on the south says the Rail
road Mans Magazine
David Moffat has dug down into his
own pocket and built several railroads
which nobody else had tho courage to
tackle He made money every time
But the present proposition Is tho
stiffest one ho has encouraged yet
As soon as tho scheme was broached
it met with opposition from the roads
that would be effected by It When
it was suggested that Moffat was at
last up against a job too big for hlm
and that he could not get a route one
who knew him well remarked con
fidently
A right of way block David Moffat
I guess not If theres no other chanco
hell cuss a right of way through
He didnt have to go to such an ex
treme but he did have to furnish tho
money for the building Now York
capitalists whom he visited refused to
advance any money for the building
so he said
Never mind Ill build It myself
We have a little money out In Col
orado I and my friends We can all
chip in and I guess among us we can
make up a fair sized pot Tho road Is
one of the plums of Colorado but Itll
take a little shaking to bring it down
It took more than a fair sized pot
as the preliminary work for the sur
veys cost a quarter of a million dol
lars The Burlington had tried to get
over the mountains and had become
frightened when a million dollars had
been put into the work and brought
no visible results and Moffat bought
the rights the Burlington had ac
quired
The first fifty miles of road out ot
Denver cost C0000 a mile and the 35
miles up the foothills to the Main
Range tunnel cost 100000 a mile all
this for grading before a single tie
was laid
In 11 miles there are 29 tunnels
through solid granite and the road
has every conceivable sort of curve
from a horseshoe to a tennis racket
Bridges and fills cost a million dollars
Steam Shovel cut through rock Is 2
200 feet long and averages 40 feet
deep
The Main Range tunnel nearly
three miles in length is under James
Peak at an elevation of 9600 feet
and cost three quarters of a million
dollars William Cook whose firm
had the contract for building one of
the worst sections of the road took
down 12000 cubic yards of granite
with one blast using 1000 kegs of
black powder and 15 boxes of dyna
mite to do it
The worst part of the road the
way through the mountains has been
conquered and what remains to be
done is comparatively easy Through
out the road is of standard gauge 3
600 heavy Texas pine ties to the mile
instead of the usual 2800 and 80
pound rails and all equipment fitted
for heavy through traffic It was a
magnificent conception in railroad
building and it took a magnificent
courage to risk millions of dollars in
a venture that had swallowed millions
and given no return
WENT AT PRETTY FAST CLIP
It Jarred Loose the Range in the Din
ing Car
Yes that was a pretty fast run we
made on the Hummer said Conductor
Cad Smith at the Union depot recent
ly but the run we made on the Cali
fornia special last Thursday night was
a winner We left Bloomington 40
minutes late and when I got to the
register book at LaSalle street we had
made it up and had three minutes to
our credit Thats going some As I
passed the diner on my way to the
head end the cook beckoned to me
and said
Look a heah boss This yeah
range is jahed bout eight inches outer
place count dat dah engineer man
goin round dem curves in too big a
rush
The range was out of place all
right continued Smith and when
I reached the engine I said to the
driver
The darkey back there is going to
hold an executive session with you
because you jarred his cook stove
loose
How much asked the engineer
He says you knocked it eight
inches out of place said I
You tell that African for me said
the engineer that if he will wait till
we go back to night Ill promise o
give him a ride that will put the stove
back in place and scramble his supply
of eggs in the bargain Kansas City
Star
Primitive English Railroad
In the lake district of England there
is a tiny railway which has only one
train run by two officials one of
whom is managing director ticket col
lector guard and porter and the other
chief engineer engine driver and
stoker The train stops anywhere It
frequently goes off the line but crow
bars are carried with which the train
is persuaded to return to its proper
position When a friend of either offi
cial is observed the train is brought
to a standstill At one time when the
managing director was courting the
daughter of a farmer through whose
lands the line ran the young lady
would take her stand at a certain gate
every evening the train would be
stopped and the young man would kiss
her good night
