'Cbc Conservative *
it was determined in his favor and the
legislature recognized him as governor.
The legislature of 1891 was , without
exception , the wildest , wooliest and full-
. , , , of fanatics ,
Wild and Woolly. . , . . . .
vagarists and idi
ots of any assemblage ever gathered
together for the purpose of making laws
for a decent commonwealth. All sorts
of bills inimical to incorporated capital ,
especially those devised to bedevil
railroads and lessen their profits ,
were introduced every morning as soon
as roll-call was over. Among them the
most distinguishedly vicious and mean
was the Newberry Maximum Rate bill.
It fixed the charges for passenger and
freight carrying by the railroads at
about one-half the price then in vogue.
This bill contained a lot of other matter.
It compelled railroads where two or
more entered the same city1 , to build
connecting tracks. It compelled them
to transfer freight from one track to
another track without charge. Gov
ernor Boyd conferred with leading
members of both houses and informed
them that the bill was unreasonable and
unconstitutional. He asked them to
enact a law reducing the rate say 10 or
20 per cent on livestock , grain , lumber ,
and other commodities in car lots. This
they refused to do , although they ad
mitted the governor was right. They
declared their constituents demanded
the Newberry bill. Senator Switzler
introduced a moderate bill , a reasonable
one , but it could not be passed. Two
years subsequently a bill was evolved and
approved by Governor Orounse , which
reduced the rates about 80 per cent.
But the United States Supreme Court
decided it unconstitutional , and thus
fully sustained the views advanced by
Governor Boyd two years before.
As a consequence of this populistic
blatherskitism in 1800 and the dema-
gogism of the sup-
The Consequence. , . . .
XT
porters of the New-
berry Maximum law , the people of Ne
braska have never had up to this day any
effective or beneficent railway legislation.
The legislature adjourned on May 5,1891.
Just after that adjournment , Judges
Cobb and Norvall , dispensers of justice
and members of the supreme court of the
state , decided that James E. Boyd was
not a citizen of the United States. From
that decision Judge Maxwell dissented
Case was taken to U.S. Supreme Court
fjn February , 1892 , that tribunal determ
ined that Boyd was a citizen of the
United States. The decision was that
he acquired citizenship , first , by the
naturalization of his father while he
James E. Boyd , was still a minor. Sec
ondly , that he was a citizen because he
had become a citizen of the territory o
Nebraska before it was admitted into
the Union , and remained a citizen when
it came in. This latter determination
was under a clause in the treaty o
France made in 1808 , when Jefferson
purchased the Louisiana territory
That provision declared that the inhab-
tants of that territory should have the
ame privileges and rights of citizenship
as the inhabitants of the thirteen orig-
nal states.
As soon as the decision came from
Washington Governor Boyd took pos
session of the of-
After the Supreme fice oufc of whijh
Court. . . , , ,
he had been kept
en months by the combination of re
publicanism and populism.
Then real reform in the management
of the state of Nebraska began , for the
first and last time
Reform. , , _ .
up to date. Gov
ernor Boyd began with the insane asy-
nm and soon discovered and demonstra-
ed that every sack of fifty pounds of
flour was charged to the state as 100
tonnds ; that every beef purchased by
he state for that institution was sold at
double weight and double price ; that
car loads of coal were placed on the
ide-track of the institution , paid for ,
and hauled away after the state tax
payers had been charged with them. In
'act ' , Governor Boyd found that the
state of Nebraska paid double for nearly
everything that came into that or any
other institution under its charge. Dur
ing the last ten mouths of his adminis
tration he saved more than $50,000 to
the tax-payers of the commonwealth.
The legislature of 1892 delayed can
vassing the vote for state officers beyond
the usual time.
Approving of Bonds. . _ , , ,
About 8 o'clock
one evening , the elected officers went to
the rooms of Governor Boyd at the Lin
coln Hotel in a body and called his at
tention to the constitutional provision
requiring that they qualify within t
certain number of days after the meet
ing of the legislature. He deemed it
his duty to examine the bonds and if he
found them good and sufficient , to ap
prove them ; but he demurred distinctly
and strongly to many of the sureties on
the bond of the state treasurer. The
attorney general , Hastings , declared
that the bond was for nearly double the
amount required , and that if Boyd ob
jected to any of the sureties , he would
find upon examination that there were
enough other names to make the bond
perfectly good. After examination and
upon Hastings' statement Boyd approved
the bond.
Attorney General Hastings then presented
sented the bond of the Capital National
Bank of Lincoln
Capital National M the depository
Bnnk
* for the state funds.
Governor Boyd discovered that the bond
had already been approved by the attor
ney general and the secretary of state
without consulting him , and as the law
makes the governor chairman of the
board , Boyd regarded their action as a
discourtesy and refused to approve it.
The sureties on that bond were the dis
tinguished Mr. Moshor and Mr. Ontcult ,
whom Governor Boyd then declared
utterly without credit. The next day ,
however , Governor Crounso qualified as
governor and approved this same bond.
If he had not done so , would not the
outgoing treasurer's bondsmen , who
were perfectly good financially , have
eon held responsible by the courts and
he state thus saved $280,000 ?
These little matters of history had
otter be kept on draught and the appo-
ites of our populistic friends occasion
ally quenched with them. All the losses
and the rottenness in Nebraska public
affairs are not chargeable to the demo-
rats , now called gold-bugs , nor wholly
o the dyed-in-the-wool republicans.
WKIISTER. .
have departed to
another world have any knowledge of
affairs in this it is quite certain that
Daniel "Webster must experience par
oxysmal beatitudes whenever ho con-
emplates his successors in the senate of
the United States and views their in-
; erpretatious of the constitution. How
very insignificant is the following from
Webster when compared to remarks
upon fundamental law by statesmen
ike Quay or Clark :
"The constitution is extended over the
United States and over nothing else. It
cannot be extended over any thing except
over the old states and the new states
that shall come hereafter , when they do
come in. There is a want of accuracy
of ideas in this respect that is quite re
markable among eminent gentlemen and
especially professional and judicial
gentlemen. It seems to be taken for
granted that the right of trial by jury ,
the habeas corpus , and every principle
designed to protect personal liberty are
extended by force of the constitution
itself over every now territory. That
proposition cannot bo maintained at all.
How do you arrive at it by any reason
ing or deduction ? It can only be arrived
at by the loosest of all possible construc
tion. It is said that this must bo so , else
the right of habeas corpus would bo lost.
Undoubtedly these rights must bo con
ferred by law before they can be enjoyed
in a territory. "
And that former senator from Massa
chusetts not dreaming of the danger
of being overshadowed by the Massa
chusetts statesman of this day and
generation not conceiving the possi
bility of Lodge , Geo. Fred "Williams and
the other phenomenals remarked later
on in his public career :
"As to the power of congress , I have
nothing to add to what I said the other
day. Congress has full power over the
subject. It may establish any such
government and any such laws in the
territories as , in its discretion , it may
see fit. It is subject , of course , to the
rules of justice and propriety , but it is
under no constitutional restraints. "
Daniel Webster is followed by senators
whose towering intelligence and wonder
ful reasoning powers illuminate his
mental inferiority very glaringly.