THE HESPERIAN
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The deepest plot they laid was that of the forged letters.
How signally this failed has been shown by the victory over
the "-7y mef Parucll thus stands forth without a stain upon
his character. The defects of the plots of his political cue
micshavc shown him that he is fighting for a just and true
cause, that in the end justice and right will prevail, and Ire
land will stand free from landlordism, and free from England.
"For more than three weeks now the Iowa house of repre
sentatives been unable to effect o permanent organization,
jiccausc of a "deadlock" existing there they were unable to
elect temporary officers until after two weeks of useless labor.
The two parties compromised and temporarily organized, but
the "deadlock" is now as strong as ever and there is no tell
ing how long this farce will be kept up before the house ofrc
prescntatives permanently organizes. There has been no
business transacted as yet but every day the representatives
have met they have drawn their salary. There must bo some
thing radically wrong with a legislation that compels the tax
payers to pay out such n sum of money, and get nothing in re
turn for it.
Russia has projected a plan which, if carried out will gain
great credit for her, and besides, be of the utmost value to
her. This is the building of a line of railroad through the
wilds of Siberia. The road will connect with the mines of
Siberia, and thus aid materially, in transfering their products.
To all who have read the articles of George Kcrnnan on Si
beria this project will seem to be a very humane one. With
this railroad in operation the exiles, that arc every year sent
into the very heart of Siberia to serve their sentence as con
victs, would be allowed transportation instead of being forced
to make the long toilsome journey on foot. Such a scheme on
the part of Russia, is to be commended as it will alleviate un
told hardships and suffering on the part of the Russian
prisoners which as the main thought in minds of those who
conceive the project.
If the combinations of capital known as "trusts" are to be
held in check it is high time for something to be done in
that direction. "Trusst" are coming into existence one after
another, and bid fair to control a large share of out politics in
the near future. The latest is a cigarette trust, the articles
of incorporation, of which were filed, not long since, at Tren
ton N. J. It is '.bought that cigarettes will now become
cheaper so that the habit of smoking them may be universal.
Until recently the fight for the world's fair has been an
even one but the action New York has lately taken is such as
would justify her being thrown out of the race cntirclj'.
Thinking she would be more likely to win, she introduced a
bill into the legislature appropriating $10,000,000 to pay the
expenses of the fair. This was allright as far as it went, and
there probably would have been no opposition had the peo
ple entered into the plan as a whole, but nothing would do
but they must make a patty measure of it. The republicans,
afraid that if such a sum of money was allowed the democrats
would gain control of it and influence the elections instead of
using it for the purpose for w Inch it was ap propriatcd, wished
to gain control of it themselves so tried to shut out the demo
crats altogether. 'VliL of course created a disturbance and
the probabilities arc that the amount will not be allowed at
all. If it is allowed, and they win the fair, instead af harmony
there will be .party strife, and the result will most likely be a
republican celebration.
This quettion is one that should interest democrat and re
publican alike. They should all join hands and, after the fair
has been given to one of cities, take hold and make the best
showing possible. If we wish to convey an opinion of our
country to the world, it cannot be done by a divided people.
Each one must do. his share. When a city has gone so far as
to make this question a party issue we certainly think she
should be thrown out and the world lair awarded to a city
that is united on the question and will do the best she can re
gardless of any political party.
That so many strikes occur between employer and em
ployed, is a thing to be deplored. A strike cannot
take place without throwing many men out of employ
ment. These men have sworn not to go back to work again
until their demands are granted. A great many of the
strikers have not saved up anything for an emergency like
this, and consequently have to be supported largely by the
brotherhood. Sometimes their demands are not settled for
months, but during all this time the strikers must live, and are .
constantly drawing from the wages of their more successful
brothers. Thus an immence amount of money is spent
which rightfully belongs to others. Of course many of the
strikes are settled in a short time, but even then a large sum
of money must be spent to bring about this result. As it is
always better to prevent an evil than to cure one, it would
certainly be better if these strikes could be prevented by
arbitration.
Other great questions have been settled by arbitration and"
why not this one?
In England a movement has originated which has this pur
pose in view. A committee is appionted to confer with both
parties and offer advice or assist in selecting arbitrators.
This plan has been successful in part of England where it has
been tried, and it is to be hoped that in the future strikes will
be prevented.
There is a great deal of suffering in South Dakota on ac
count of failures of crops for the last three or four years. We
cannot help contrasting the state of affairs there with that of
Nebraska. There the people have cultivated the soil for the
last few years, but have derived no benefit from it, and, as a
consequence, they have nothing to live on and have asked
aid from other states. Here in Nebraska everything is
changed. The farmers have never bten in a more prosper
ous condition as far as raising crops is concerned, but there is
one drawback; the farmers cannot dispose of their corn at a
reasonable price. They have to sell their corn lor less than
the cost of production or not at all. The railroads charge an
enormous price for transportation, hence the only thing a
farmer can do with his corn is to use it for fuel, while hun
dreds are starving because they are not able to obtain the
corn he burns in his stove.
Thus a farmer, instead of gaining a good share of this
world's goods to which he is entitled if anyone is, is steadily
growing poorer and may, if things remain thus, soon have to
ask aid from others as his South Dakota neighbors arc doing
now. The tailroads have lowered the rates ten per cent
which is a concession in favor of the farmer, but this is not
sufficient. Freight rates should be so low that a farmer
might sell his corn in a foreign market and realize a profit, at
least, as great as that of the railroad company. Heretofore,
he railroads have acted in a very arbitrary manner and it is
time this should cease. Give the farmer the same rights that
the railroads enjoy and this problem which is assuming such
large proportions will be solved.
