Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, November 03, 1906, EDITORIAL SECTION, Page 12, Image 12
71.11' OMAHA DAIT.V . UEF,: SvATT'IIDAY. SOVKMBKT. X 1W. w Voters! to arming ( RAILROAD LAND SCANDALS Cieiatiostl Report Exptcted on the Union , Paoifio Iealt. REORGANIZATION OF LAND LAWS POSSIBLE Bis; Companies Involved In Looting Valuable Parts of Public Domain Advantage of Owning Alter nate Section. The Washington correspondent of the Boston Transcript has this to say coneein lrur the Investigation into Union raclflo land deals and what the report of the in vestigator will show: Bomothlng dlatlnctVy out of the ordinary la expected when Interstate Commerce Commlbiloner Prouty produces his report on the great land frauds along- the Union Pacific road, which he has recently investi gated. It la strongly Intimated that he will prepare a report which will have to be written on asbestos, and that he will give complete outline of the whole scheme of land frauds inextricably tangled with the processes of mining and transporting ccal In Wyoming. Colorado and Utah. Sensational as they have been, the reve lations about affairs In Union Pac fie ter ritory are said to have only scratched the surface. Other big railroad and industlat companies are said to present opportunities The Reliable fir ST 'A ... . :V j . i - , 1 ....... ; , -, t t ' : SYMPTOMS OF DISEASES if we could see end treat all men when the first symptoms show them selves there would o.n bfl llitle need of so-called specialists In chronic dis eases, and there would be fuw mn seeking a rejuvenation of their physical and mental powers, and there would al be tew sufferers from Nervous Lability, Rectal and Kidney Liisrases and their complication. But as loug as mi ll con tinue to disregard tho golden auae. "A stitch tu time saves nine.' aiid contniue to neglect themselves, or exercls indifference or poor judgment in securing Ihj right treatment at the cutset. Just bo lung will there be multitudes of curonic Sufferers. We cure safely and thoroughly, Nervous Debility. Kectal and Kidney di seases and all diseases aud euknesjes of men due to neglect, iguorance or in heritance or the result of eptoiiic or private diseases. We make no jiikdt-ading statement, no Utptlve or uubm.iuesi.liao propositions to the alflu ted, tteltber do we promise to tur them In a few days, nor offer cheap, worthies treatment in order to secure their patronage. Honest doctor of recoKiiized ability do. not resort to such methods. AVe guarantee a safe aud lasting? t'ure In the briefest tliue, and at the lowest coat possible) for Ikonest, skillful aud successful treatment. fret Consultatloa tn Eumlaatloa S- ?u. JZ,rt STATE MEDICAL INSTITUTE IZZ3 Fairi irn St., Between 13th and 14th tt ., Omaha, Keb. I tor Just as remarkable developments. In volving the looting of . the most valuable parts of the public domain. The rtiver and Rio Grande, in particular, according to report, is likely to come i.n for some search ing' inquiry that will prove disappointing if It falls to uncover a situation aa bad or worse than that lit the Union Pacific's sphere of Influence. The Santa- Fe and the Colo rado Fuel and Iron company are . uls named as concerns whose relations to gov ernment lands will not bear thorough In vestigation. All these, it is said, are about as deep In the muck as Union Pacific Is In the mire. Coal Lands Withdrawn. These phases of the situation are under stood to be slated for attention later, in connection with the interstate commissions series of investigations under the Tlllm in Gillcsple resolution. largely as a result of these revelations, the president has issued an order withdrawing coal lands of the public domain from entry. But it Is-pointed out that 'much more drastic' measures than this are necesaary. To set aside the pat ent, fraudulently 'obtained, for millions and millions 'of acres of mineral lands is one of the duties requiring ntientlrn. To make some fundamental reorganisations of the land Iuws, so that the land-grant rail roads may have their grip on the whole public land situation broken. Is another. Those who have looked Into . conditions along the Union Pacific say that until this Is dona .thee will, be small chance of really bettering . the.. Bltuatlon as k involves the west's fuel supply. Some lllu'trnt'o'-s of the things which are- done under present TRS FOR RflEKI ;' ' ' "" , . , I -i s- i Specialists The Heim-Huht-Parmeie-Hitchcock promotion outfit say "WE do not fear to compete with the trust." Who constitutes WE? Under the present franchise the promoters are com pelled to turn over their franchise to a corporation not yet formed and hence promises made by "WE" are not binding on any one. There is no "Independent Telephone Company of Omaha' Read the franchise and see for yourself how dishonest they are. They are spending thousands of dollars to secure votes for their franchise, and to cover their tracks are accusing the Nebraska Company of spending money. It is the old cry of ''Stop Thief;" when they have the goods in their own possession. v 'Dual telephone systems mean a divided service and increased expense. Do Heim of Kansas City and Parmele of Plattsmouth ask the Omaha people to vote them a franchise because they expect to help Omaha? No! They want the franchise in order to sell out; and a vote for their franchise is a vote to put money in their pockets. They are spending money by the thousands of dollars to carry a franchise which will enable them to rob the people of ' Omaha. They are not honest or they would not sign their advertisement "Independent Telephone Company of Omaha" when there is no such company. Their promises are of no value as they are made for a company not in existence. Their franchise says they MAY charge $1.00 for Business telephones and 50 cenfs for Residence service but does not say they SHALL. That is another of THEIR DISHONEST TRICKS. Ask any business man in auy city where there are two telephone companies, and if he is not a stockholder in a telephone company he will; toll you that two companies are a" positive nuisance and an increased expense. . ' ... The proposed franchise was conceived in Plattsmouth, born in St. Louis, aud, if adopted, will be damned by every-, body except the promoters. Send Heim and Parmele back to their homes by voting "NO". The letters which the World-Herald has been publishing are in nearly every instance written by stockholders in tele phone companies, cr in the Herald ' They promise to spend $2,000,000 in Omaha for labor and material, when they know their completed plant will not cost , nearly half, of that amount and none of the material will bo purchased in Omaha. ' They have signed an agreement to increase the wages of employes and then laughed to think how they were fooling I lie labor vote knowing that their promises are of no value and cannot be enforced. laws will show the need of changing the statutes. Kvery alternate section fr twenty miles on either side of the Union Paciltc belonKS to that system's' land grant. This Is as if- the Mack square on a checkerboard belonged to the road and the red to the government, subject to entry. There are almost no country roads throurh this region, and the railroad company, being ex tremely unfriendly to private development of mineral resources, easily finds ways to prevent anybody else getting access to the lands It does not own. To get to them it i Is necessary to trespass on the . railroad I land: and that sort of thing Is promptly visited with the heavy displeasure of the corporation. In one case, a private owner came into possession, of two quarter sec tions which "cornered" on each other. The two other section which met at this cor ner belonged to the railroad compnny. The private pwner tried to run a tunnel across the corner to connect his two tracts, and he waa promptly warned of his trespass of a few feet upon the railroad lands and compelled to desist. He could secure no concession, and had to give up the effort So far as concerned establishing any com munication between them, his two tracts, although they touched, ntight aa well have been lot) miles apart. That sort of Inter ference with development of private hold ings Is experienced everywhere. It crops out in the making of rates also. Manipulation of Kates. Of this manipulation of rates an illus tration Is afforded by the case of the mines at Rock Springs and Hanna, W'y. For a long time the Rock Springs were inde pendently owned and operated. The Union Pacific owned the mines at Hanna, a Bhort distance east. Hack In it was . de veloped, a group of officers of the Union Pacific conceited the idea of going into the coal mining business on their own ac count. Among them were General Man ager Dickinson, J. E. Markell of Omaha (more recently known to fame for his con tract to feed canal xone employes, which Chief Knglneer Stevens denounced and which had to be cancelled), aud Mr. Me geath, then in charge of the coal traffic of the Union Pacific. Megeath, haying con trol of the coal rates, raised that from Rock Springs to the Missouri river, get ting it by various manipulations o high there waa no profit in operating the Rock Spring mines. The owners were forced to Bell out, and the group of Union Pa- I cine people got what they wanted posses sion, ot the property after which the rates were restored to suoh a basis that they could do business at a profit. Megenth was put on the stand during the recent in vestigation to explain this operation, and told a curious story to the effect that ha did this to keep the Colorado Fuel and Iron out of the district; that It was the Intention to fyive the Union Pacific road take over the Ruck Springs mine, but the road went Into a recuier's hands, and this became Impobsible, eo he and the other officials concerned did It The explanation did not at all satisfy the conductors of th investigation. It it was accurate, then it merely shifted the blame for the con- , sptraoy from the ofhViulrt of. ihe road in their private capacity to the road iudf. A rase lu I tab. Out in Utah anolh'-T (use of the luiliuud Uslnii Its ownership of alternate section to control the other also developed. The road leaned its lands to a big cuttle com- I pany for grating. The lease covered only alternate cectlous, it is true; and other people were at liberty to Uase the govern ment's . sections If they liked. But they couldn't ..fence the government lands, and In any case a single svctii n by Itself was of no value. TU' y didn't trespass on the railroad .lands. The result ai that (he lewtors of, the railroad land fc.il the benefit of the grazing on the. go e. iimcnt l.mi us well, because nibody else ould u.e ihrm. Thea uje only itainple cases, Many others have been d'.-covered. The ra M ti."nul!y has been dwtuUd tu the d,i:p- ment of devices for monopolizing the bene fits of the public domain, for the railroad and Its subsidiary companies. " The Union Pacific owns the $5,000,000 capital of the Union Pacific Coal company, to which in recent years the coal business of the road has been largely turned over. A director of the Union Pacific holds the stock of the Superior Coal company, which also has big holdings. The' railroad and the two coal companies, it Is charged, work together in a most complete system for getting and holding the coal lands, and con trolling their development. , Nobody is will ing to estimate the ' millions o( acres of which the government has been defrauded by various methods. Iand Aarents Criticised. y A deal of criticism has been aimed, in this conection, against the Department of the Interior for 1U failure to protect the public domain. The department has various agents throughout the publlo land country, but they accomplish little, and the success of Commissioner Prouty on his recent In vestigation was a revelation to some of them. They are largely amenable to local political influences for their appointments; and these local political Influences are de clared to trace fairly up to the -.jiagemcnt of the railroad. D. O. Clark, president .of the Union Paclfio Coal company, la a brother of Senator C. D. Clark, senator from Wyoming since 1895 and elected to serve till 1911. Commissioner Richards of the general land office Is a former gov ernor of Wyoming. Cyrus Beard, a judge of the supreme court of Wyoming, on the stand testified to using $3,000 of money provided for him by the tallroad company, In entering lands which he afterwards re linquished to the railroad Interests, getting $.W for hla trouble. Others didn't get so much; bartenders and gamblers got aa low aa $3 and $5 for the use of their names in entering property which they afterward turned over to these coal companies. By these methods the law's provision that a company or association may not secure more than four quarter-sections lias bom nullified. A widely-known magasclne writer who at tended some of the sessions during this in vestigation says it has uncovered the most startling - and extensive series of syste matic frauds against the public lands that he had ever known. This system of loot ing la not new; it has been going on for many years, dating back to the Oould con trol of the system. PRESIDENTS IN -RETIREMENT Ten liar Lived Longer Than Mr. Cleveland After Leaving Office. Only ten men who have held the office of president reached or surpassed Mr. Cleveland's present age of 68; only six ex ceeded it by so much as ten years, and none exceeded It by quite twenty years. Only ten presidents have suivlved their retirement from ofhee longer than Mr. Cleveland, end four of these lived to a great age. Washington who survived his retirement lesi than three years, thougnt himself an old man when he was first made president, st th age of 67. Joh'n Adams survival his retirement a quarter of a cenmry, and hts son. John Qulncy, who outlived hi retirement nearly twenty years, was the only president who had nMirly as con spicuous a public career, after occupying the presidency, as be tors. Monroe's six years after hie retirement from oftice were passed in comparative ob scurity as a resident ot this city, and hla dying hours were embittered by scandalous accusations In connection with Jackson's selsure of Spanish furts in Florida during the tirtft Seminole War. polk Outlivd hi le'.iretmnf W than a year, and there Is vry reason to sup pose that l ad Arthur eo pj-,- J his ambi tion of an eleeton to ilie p; d. d- in' i.v Mould I." it UKii e.nlj in us mm, ( for he outlived his retirement less than two years. . f ...... Tyler, who outlived his retirement twenty years, emerged from obscurity near the end of his life to preside over the vain peace convention on the eve of tho civil war. He afterward served in the congress of the confederate states. Buchanan lived more than seven years after his retirement, and took the opportu nity to write what was In effcci a defense of his administration. JefTerson and Jackson were the only presidents who exercised a really powerful Influence over party councils after their permanent retirement from public office, though Van Buren was an active politician as long as he had hopo of renominatlon at the hands of any party. Johnson was the only retired president to enter the United States senate, and the younger Adams waa the only one to serve In the house of representatives, Cleveland and Harrison have been the only -retired presidents to be conspicuously auccessful in private business. It is not generally known that Mr. Cleveland still serves as consulting' counsel in law cases. In which hla experience in the office of president may be supposed to have given him special- qualifications, as an adviser. His fees in such cases are large, aa were those of 'Mr. Harrison as a legal adviser and a lecturer on constitutional law. New York Sun. ODDITIES IN RAILROAD LAWS Soma Requirements Which Are Pe culiar to Certain States Court Ratings. Montana requires its railroads to main tain a station at plotted town sites of 100 Inhabitants or more. Thirty states hav state railroad eom missiouH twenty of which have power to fix rates on purely atate traffic. Intoxication while on duty is a misde meanor for a railroad employe in Califor nia, and If death results, a felony. California makes the wrecking of a train or an engine a felony punishable by death or life Imprisonment, at the optlonof the jury. Railroads running within three miles of I a county seat in Oklahoma must build a j line through the county seat and estab lish a station. In South Carolina It It a misdemeanor to transport cattle, sheep or swine In car load lots for more than thirty-six hours without stopping for ten hours' rest. I Virginia has found It necessary to pass j a law declaring that for all legal purposes the words "railroad" and "railway" are to be considered synonymous. In Massachusetts the Illegal sale of street railway transfers is made punish able by a fine not exceeding tV or Impris onment for not more than thirty days. The legislature of Washington at Its latest session passed a law making the maximum railroad fare for adults S cents a mile and for children 1H cents ' A trolley company in Vermont whose ( car fail to come to a full ston and dm- ; play a signal at a grade railroad crossing j la subject to a fine of IJS for each onils- j sion. ! My the .terms of a uew statute In Michi gan iu a suit by or against a rall.oad company the books of the company are subject to the inspection of ' the attorney general of the iitate. Th state of Mississippi has effected an Increase of about $-?.0bu,CrO in the amount of taxable property in the state by a re cent readjustment In the assessment of railroads. In Minnesota railway, telegraph and express stations i.mK bear the loeu! name of the community, unless It Is likely to lie Confused wi'h 'n pomes .-f oilier t'.itlons en the fin, line. Cilifi.ri.li iii law mr'i.i'g 'l, tthcula.lv! ul ii uil uei t t poH lu. iink the value of the stock of a corporation formed In- the state a felony punishable by two years' Imprisonment or $5,000 fin or both. Down in Georgia the supreme court has concluded that an engineer is not Just I lied in acting on the presumption that a child of tender years on a railroad track will ap preciate Its danger and use the discretion of an approaching train. According to a recent act of the legis lature of that state, Florida railroads fail ing to pay a claim for loea or damages within ninety days must pay 15 per cent on the judgment obtained by the claimant in excess .of the amount offered by tho rail road in settlement of the claim. The mere fact that a great many people have been in the habit of using a railroad trestle as a footbridge and that the rail road company had made no complaint, says the court of appeals of Kentucy, does not glv the people any special rights on the bridge or compel the railroad company to exercise a special degree ot care for their safety, New York Bun. Counsel's Keenest Honored. Governor Fblk once told of a lawyer In Arkansas who' was defending a young man of malodorous record. Ignoring the rec ord, however, the counsel', proceeded to draw a harrowing picture of the white haired, aged father in 8t. louts, awaiting anxiously the return of the prodigal son to spend the Christmas holidays with him. "Have you the hearts," declaimed the law yer to the Jury, "td deprive the poor old man of this happiness?" Tho Jury, however, found the prisoner While we have the utmost confidence ia the curative powers of S. S. S. in all blood troubles, yet we realize that in some cases causes unknown t the patient often hinder the best effects of the medicine. For this reason we have maintained for many years a branch to our business known as "Our Consultation Department.' This department is composed of regularly graduated and. licensed physicians who hav made blood and skin diseases their special study, and who are employed solely to advise and help, without charge, those who use S. S. S. Thousands of people have been cured of i blood and skin diseases of every kind by the use of S. S. S., and many, of those who, perhaps, at first did not find the results entirely satisfactory, wrote our physicians a full statement of their case, and a little advice ha tened the cure. We have nothing to sell you, and the only reason for want ing you to write to us is that we may use every effort to see that you get the best result from the medicine. You can then help us by advising your friends to use S. S. S., which you will know from experience is all we claim for it. You can write with the assurance that all correspondence is held in strictest confidence, and that onr physicians will give you helpful advice without charge. TJf 8 W3FT SPECIFIC CO., A TIANTA CAU WE CURE .EN - FOR ALL DISEASES AND AILMENTS OF MEN Write I s and We WW Explain Everything About Your Condition. By the Established In sands of cases perlenced Specialists In the ailments of men. We know ture quickly. J -A Jr Y ,'4, ?zil We Cure We make no misleading or you cheap, worthiest, treit name are too favorably kno our reputation Is at stake, rtess is too serious a matter .HAIM,lt,Mi- IJOCTOtt. use lhir OWN NAME IN can erreci CrBa examination and ro w iiymptoiu I'lsnK f Ci. Seaiics & Searles. 118 S. 1 4th. 1 ' " guilty. Before passing sentence the Judne called for the' rgsmier'a jail record; ' and after a careful examination of the same he blandly observed: ' . . "I find that this prisoner has some five previous convictions against him. Never theless, I am happy to . Btate that the learned counsel's eloquent appeal will not remain unanswered, for I shall commit tho prisoner to the Little Rock Jail, where, at the present moment, his aged parent is serving a term of ten years, ao that father and son will be enabled to pass the ensuing Chrlsmastldo under one roof." New York Times. ... The Gentle Cralo. Many a vaunted family tree la merely un der brush. A drop In the bucket Is worth two in the bucket shop. Idle curiosity is one of the busiest things In the world. ' Moat brides promise to obey ratber "than make a scene. ' The greatest Illusion ot all Js to think you haven't any. . . . , , , , r An entertainment for charity covers a multitude of sins. -., - Many an elopement is really planned by the girl' parents. " " Lots of people who are eure they are right don't go ahead. You might as well give the devil his due, for he'll get it anyway. The horses we bet on always cost us mote than those we buy. There is a ray of hope for the boy who wears curia if he hates them. New 'York Times. o oun physicims C!J Reliable Dr. Searlcs & Searles Omaha for t cured hv in t years. The ' many li.'"'U- niakeo us the most ex West, in all disease an I Just what will euro you unit I Yen. Then You Pay Us Our Fee falsa statements, or u! fi t ment.. Our reputation and n, every cunw wo trWi, Your health, life and haitoi-' to place In tht Hand' of it Honest doctor of aoU'lv TIIIJIR Hr!NKSP. ' ror everyone life-long CtHK f nsitlfst ion. tVn . iir Lou,- le.:lit," Cor. 1 4th i Diuj. Sts., Oiiiaiu. neb