Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1756-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities external link and the Library of Congress. Learn more
Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
Newspaper Page Text
MAKCII 9, 1905 PAG1S Nobraoka Indopcndont country up into five different "spheres of influence' and have planned to take all that the people produce aside from m what is necessary to support them selves and perpetuate their kind. These gentlemen "control" 160,000 miles of railroad upon which the lives and busi ness of the people depend. These "spheres of influence," as 'the diplomats say when they are talking about China, are known as the Morgan-Hill system, the Pennsylvania system, the Gould system, the Rock Island system, and the Rockefeller-Harriman system. The Rockefeller-Harriman system covers lines running from Boston to San Fran cisco, Portland, Ore., down to Los An geles and back east through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Louisiana to New Orleans. It has also a heavy mass of roads lying west of. lake Michigan, running to St. Paul, Milwaukee and out into the Dakotas. The Hill-Morgan system ; includes lines running from Boston, along the southern shore of the lakes to Chi-. cago, then out through Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas, with lines along the north ern border of the United States to se-1 attle, 'together, with a group of. roads lying in the Carolinas,' Georgia and other southern states. The Pennsylvania, Gould and Rook Island systems cover the whole neart of the country, the lines being thick from New York west to Chicago and in the states of the Mississippi 'valley. That is the way this vast empire of-SO,-000,000 of people is divided up between the ten men of Wall street. All its mines,' its fields and its factories are dependent upon the orders of these ten men. ' As to how they got this power: Thc-y do not "own" this 160,000 miles of railroad, but they "control," them, they have the "absolute management 'of them. Rates go up or down, taxes are paid or not paid; men are sent to con gress or the United States senate, or kept by the orders of these ten men. - They got "control''' - through tne banks and. the money power ofwhich they themselves are the principle part. It was by manipulating tne money or the people, deposited in savings and other banksand insurance companies that they were able to "finance" these properties said to be worth three bil lions of dollars. These men got hold of. a road and then put a first mortgage on all the real property to its full value. That mortgage they handed over to some trust company to hold as security for bonds issued to the full value of the road. Then stock was is sued, preferred and common. Of course this stock being nothing but water cap italized, the roads being mortgaged for all they jsvere worth before it was Is sued usually sold a long, ways below par. All that was necessary to get "control" of the roads wa3 to get a ma jority of the stock. That is what these ten men of Wall street did. They got a majority of the stock of this 160,000 miles of railroad. They didn't even get a majority, for there are hundreds of worshippers of these '"'captains of in dustry" owning -stock in these roads who always send their proxies to be voted as these ten men wish. It is probable that not ten millions of mon ey was put up by these ten men to get the 'control" of property valued at three billions. And these ten men are much more powerful despots than is the czar of Russia. They could at any time starve any city into submission to their "will by raising rates. They can transfer the business of handling e:iport grain from Chicago and New York to New Orleans and Galveston. They can take the value out of land by a stroke or two of the pen, by ordering high rates on the products of that land. They can put value into land by giving a certain part of the coutnry favorable ."rates on its products. They can in fact do al most .anything they wish. Upon , the whims, likes and dislikes of these ten men the fate of the country depends more than any country ever did upon the whims of a king. Highest Wa.gs on Record - The bricklayers of New York have made a contract with the contractors for the coming year. The bricklayers are to receive $5.60 a day, for a day of eight hours. This is the highest wages ever paid to that craft, but it in no wise settles the industrial problems of New York, If the bricklayers and contrac tors have gone into a trust, and agreed to divide between them all that can be :4ueezed out of the syndicates that are bunding the big hotels and apartment houses of greater New YoYrk, that will r,tt give , employment to the - unem ployed, or in the least relieve the hard lot of those who' live !n the apart menthouses. If the cost of building goes up, rent will rise- also. The only patties that will benefit will be the steel liust that furnishes the struc tural steel, and the bank3 that furnish the money to contractors at hlgn inter est. Two sets of men, each enjoying a special privilege, will be benefitted and that is all, namely, 'the money power and the tariff grafting steel trust.- Organized; labor must get a wider view of things than simply rais ing the. wages of the members of the unions, before it is entitled to be called "patriotic." - Fighting for Work A good many people nave looked upon the pictures of suffering in the eastern states as drawn in The Inde pendent as too highly colored. A good many- workers in charity in the west have so intimated to the editor, but the editor was in New York last win ter and again last summer and knew whereof he wrote. Even here in Lin coln there have been more applicants for: help than there ever has been be fore since the charity society was or ganized. The Independent invites those who thought its pictures of suffering, down where the millionaires flourish by the aid of a' paternal government, were overdrawn, to read the following Associated Press telegram: New York, Mar. 2. A newspaper ad vertisement offering a day's work' to fifty snow-shovelers brought such a crowd of applicants to a point in Fifth stnet today, that' the police reserves Meie called out to . check a scramble for work checks. More than 300 men w5j6 came in answer to the advertise ment were in waiting before daylight, when the man with fifty checks, each of which would entitle the holder to a oay's work,, appeared on the scene. The sight of the cheeks was the signal for a rush, in which every one of the 300 joined. Men were tossed right and left in the scramble to reach the holder of the checks, and within a minute every one of the bits of pasteboard had been given out. This did not stop the trouble, however, and when the police reserves, who had been summoned at the first rush, appeared more than a score of individual couples were fight ing hand to hand for the right to shov ei all day for $2. . Did men now past middle life ever dream jthat the time would come in this country when men w?uM fight like famishing wolves for the "chance" of a day's work? European conditions are sweeping as a tidal wave over this country. "Corporations are being en throned in power and all liberty lost." Think of it! Starving men by the hun dreds fighting for the "privilege" or a day's work! Has the time indeed come when the right to work has become a "privilege" to be dispensed by the few? Slavery was better than that. It should be apparent to wage-earners that whatever advantage they have se cured through organization, that alone will not stop the onward drive of these conditions. Ten per cent of the wage earners, they say, are organized. What is to become of the millions of unorganized-laborers? One writer calls atten tion to the fact that while trades union ism can keep up the standard of wages; it can not guarantee employment. A member of the strongest union may be "out of a job," while the unskilled la borer and unorganized labor of all Greatest Western General Supply Douse. Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Refunded THE RELIABLE STORE. Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Refunded Handsome Shirt Waist or Tailor Suit at Our buyer on his recant trip to N. Y. was fortunate in securing an entire.maijufac" turer's stock of Ladies' Suits at a price which enables us to offer them at prices far below, their real worth. , Fascinating Spring Designs in Silk. Shirt Waist or Tailor Suits in great variety of color, style and weave of fabric. These garments were manufactured to sell at from $12.50 to $15 Dut by taking the whole stock we se cured them at a price which enables us to offer them to you while they last at.... . $9.$a $9.90 Remember We Guarantee Satisfac tion or Your Honey Back. Send Your Order at Once. Spring Dress Goods 5amp!e5 and Special Catalogues Free. " If Q ' ' IN WRITING PLUASE ADDRESS DEPARTMENT A. 16th and Dodge HAYDEN BR08.OmaNctr. forms is even more liable to that deso late fate. The better the class of work which a man is capable of doing the more difficult is it in many cases to find the right opening, or any opening. If, the wage-earners are to be saved from a fate like the dispatch above quoted describes, there will certainly have to be other measures taken than labor organization to get better wages. Unless there can be found some way in this land, that could support'in com fort the population of th? whole world, to give every man an ."opportunity" to work, the curse of God will rest down upon it and it will go the way of Baby Ion, Egypt and Rome. . Cle&.r Cut Reform The people's party has a distinct line of reform, clean cut and differing from every other party in existence. It does not agree with any of the other parties. It is neither democratic, republican nor socialist, yet some of the things that it advocates are advocated by these oth er parties. Taken as a scheme of gov ernment, or as a plant to overthrow trusts and destroy special privileges, it stands out well defined from all oth er political organizations. In the first place it believes In just one kind of money, for rich and poor and all who use money. , It declares that every dollar should be as good a every other dollar, that it should be is sued by the general government and not by the banks, and should always be as far as the power of government can make it go, of the same value year in and year out. It believe? that every dollar of money put in circulation should be a legal tender. It can see no sense in the government creating a situation in which men will be con stantly seeking to swap one kind of dollars for another . kind. "Whenever that occurs there are two kinds of dollars for another kind. Whenever that occurs there are two kinds of money, one of them deemed better than the other kind. Tel the second place the people's party stands for the government ownership of every sort of natural or artificial monopoly. Where competition leaves off, government ownership should stop. On this point it stands In sharp antag onism against republicans, democrats and socialists. It can't "affiliate" with any of them. The people's party demands a parcels I COLUMBIA NATIONAL BANK CF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA. MBMMM ; Capital, $100,000.00 Mirplus, 14,000.00 Deposits, 1,350,000.00 $ , OFFICERS t Jcbh B. Wright, rafdeat. I 9 w. d. wkbicutt, jsi vice rrea. P. L. Hall, . -, Caahiar W. B.Ryons, - Aast Caahiar J HORSE COLLARS ill ASKYOUftpEALERTOSHOVT BEFORE. YOU BUY. , MANUFACTURED BY HARPHAM BR0S.C& Lincoln.Neb. Stock Merchandise For Land Large general stock of merchandise now running in a . good Minnesota town and doing good business which I will exchange for good improved land and some cash. FR.ED F. CLARK. 426 Boston Blk., Minneapolis. - Minnesota. $"17.00 U Dally Av. selling IDEAL PUMP EQUALIZERS. Mtk all pomps work EASY. Windmilli run in lightest wia4. riT ILL PUMPS. Merit Milt thra. rULLT WARRANTED. Exclusive territory. Writ Pump Equaliur C., 40 a Dearborn St., Chicago, m,