.Oi ; ' " * /-1 ; ?
#
be 3
than that , nnd infrequently less. But
now rates are presumably reduced to
the lowest possible figure compatible
with the payment of small interest upon
the capital invested and the earning of
operating expenses. Nevertheless , there
are populist papers and orators every
where constantly lamenting the extor
tions of soulless corporations and dia
bolical monopolies. But a barrel of
flour is transported from Chicago to
New York at one-seventeenth of one
cent per mile. The reductions of rail
way charges have been more rapid than
the reductions in any other service ren
dered to the general public.
The railroads offer to the people the
transportation of passengers and freight.
This transporta-
A Composite .Service. . . .
tion service is a
composite or concrete service. In trans
porting people and commodities the rail
road combines nearly every intellectual
and physical effort of which mankind is
capable. The iron in its cars and engines
has been mined in the depths of the earth.
The coal which evolves the steam has
likewise been brought from darkness into
light. In getting out those two minerals
all the knowledge of mine engineers , all
the skill of trained miners and every
available mechanism for hoisting and
mining mineral products have been util
ized. The track over which the line ex
tends itself has been thrown up , a shov
elful at a time , by the hand of toil. The
ties upon which the rails are stretched
have been cut from the forest by the
woodman's axe. The alignment of the
road has been instituted by the best in
tellectual efforts of civil engineering.
Thus it is seen that the railroad service
is a composite of all the efforts which
humanity is capable of making.
In view of the foregoing , if the legis
lature may logically , justly and properly
fix the rates to bo
Lii'trlslativu Itiites. . , „ . . .
charged for this
composite service of transportation of
persons and property , then why should
it not also fix the rates of each compon
ent part of that service which the rail
road company has to purchase ? When
there is a , strike in the coal mines and
the iron mines , among the tie cutters
and among the graders , and their wages
are raised , why should not the railway
be likewise allowed to raise the price of
the composite service ? If government
may put a limit to the charges for trans
portation , why should not government
also , by legislation , put a limit to the
wages which must be paid by those who
furnish transportation to all of their
employees V Now can it be just to limit
the earnings of the composite when the
integrals who make up that composite
are unlimited as to the compensation
they may demand and secure ?
It is a fortunate thing for the govern
ment of the United States that other
governments were never seized with
paroxysmal sympathy for the negroes
and Indians under its control and super
vision. Had England and Germany , or
Russia and Franco , become delirious
with altruistic humanity and Christian
ity and interposed to ameliorate the
treatment and assuage the sufferings of
Indians and negroes in the American
Union , sometime ago , they could have
used the same arguments that the jin
goes used to bring on the Spanish war
and now also warm over to justify an
nexation , expansion and civilization by
subjugation.
NEW AIOIY T1IK1SE CAJCI ) 3IONTE.
Ill some regiments of the army of the
United States among the private soldiers
it is related that a new and peculiar
game of three card monte has been in
stituted and become exceedingly amus
ing and popular.
This new game is played with the
card photographs of Secretary Alger ,
General Miles and Commissary-General
Egan.
The cards are manipulated , shuttled
and thrown face downward with the
exclamations :
"Where now is embalmed beef V"
1 'Five dollars that no man can turn
the little joker where is , who is , em
balmed beef ? "
The better against the game turns
either Alger , Miles or Egan and hi
guess is registered , with amount wag
ered , to await the findings of a court-
martial.
This is said to be the most innocent ,
inexpensive , suggestive and instructive
gambling indulged in by the military
during the present century.
\j
THIS CONSENT OF T1IK GOVKKNED.
The declaration of independence de
clares : "We hold these truths to bo
self-evident , that all men are created
equal ; that they are endowed by their
creator with certain unalienable rights ;
that among these are life , liberty , and
the pursuit of happiness. That to se
cure these rights , governments are insti
tuted among men , deriviny their just
powers from the consent of the governed , "
This last clause can only be properly
and practically applied to an intelligent
and virtuous people. The consent to bo
governed , given by an ignorant and
vicious race makes a poor foundation for
efficient government. A government
for the penitentiary based upon the con
sent of the convicts would not afford
veiy stringent regulations for the main
tenance of order.
Does the United States now propose a
government for the Philippine Islands
without "deriving any just powers from
the consent of the governed ? " All the
advocates of expansion and annexation
declare against this particular phrase in
the second paragraph of the declaration
of independence or else they place the
islanders whose country they would ab
serb upon a level with convicts in the
penitentiary.
In any event a republican form of gov
ernment can only bo perpetuated by an
intelligent and honest people. Ignorance
and vice , barbarism , and savagery are
incompetent for self-government. The
welfare of this republic depends upon
the mental and moral development of
the American people. Every addition
to its population of mixed races of a
lower intellectual and ethical standard ,
makes a new menace to its solidity and
continuance. It is dangerous to under
take a government of force for one class
and a government of consent for an
other. The two things cannot mix any
more than fire and ice , oil and water.
This republic must be all self-governing
or all subject to the rule of force. Is it
incumbent on intelligent .and patriotic
citizens of the United States to jeopar
dize their own liberties in the endeavor
to hold unwilling subjects in the Pacific
archipelago ?
All inhabitant of
LANUbCAlMSS.
Nebraska City who
has occasion to visit the city of Lincoln ,
cannot fail to rejoice on returning home
that it has been given him to dwell in
the smaller town , instead of at the seat
of government. Lincoln is admirably
located for purposes of legislation , being
so set , like a wart , upon the open face
of Nebraska , that every wind that
blows has free access to all parts of it ,
and unobstructed egress as well. A pop
ulist watchman , moreover , if set upon
the highest pinnacle of the capital build
ing , could discern the approach of a
Money Power , or any other public en
emy , at a great distance , since there is
nothing in any direction to obstruct
the view. But one would think
that the citizens of the place , being
constantly aggravated by the sight
of passing trains , which were on the
pleasant plains of the Missouri river
a few hours before and will stand
at the foot of the Rocky mountains on
the following morning , would want to
pack up in a body and emigrate to some
place where there was something to see.
Lift up your eyes on any street in Lin
coln , and at the end of it you will see
the same bare , raw , utterly cheerless
and uusuggestive expanse of open coun
try ; summer and winter it is alike deso
late. Whereas one who has been init
iated into the beauties of our own loca
tion , is always gladder that it is his
home with each added return from ab
sence. In our wooded and cultivated
hills there is infinite variety , and in our
shaded and sloping streets many a wel
come change ; the possessor of tired eyes
can always rest them by turning them
upon some pleasant hillside without the
city , or some mighty oak-tree near at
hand ; or else he can catch a distant
glimpse of the river-valley , which in
very fair.