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Newspaper Page Text
9 NOVEMBER 29, 1906 The Nebraska Independent 1896 are found today reiterating the senseless twaddle that served the place of argument in the heat of that campaign. And what is most pitiable about it is that the men who slurring ly belittle the arguments of the bimet allists are unconscious of the humil iation they bring upon themselves by an exhibition of ignorance from which they would hide their heads in shame if they possessed the least enlighten ment whatever upon the subject. During the past nine years gold has undergone a continuous and rapid de preciation, which has added a corres ponding stimulus to production - and consumption through constantly ad vancing prices. Debts have been made easy to pay through the partial re pudiation of them resulting' from the depreciation of gold. And the rise in prices has in a measure counterbal anced errors in business judgment and rendered solvent many business enter prises which otherwise must have re sulted disastrously to those engaging in them. One thing, however, which must be borne in mind is that the increase in money supply must become greater and still greater each succeeding year in order to even sustain the present price levels because of the already greatly reduced purchasing power of gold and the rapid rate at which pop ulation and wealth' are expanding. The promise, however, of an adequate money supply appears to be good for some time to come But it is not tod soon for our people to recognize that the end cannot be many years " off, when we will be again confronted with the necessity of intelligent political action on the money question if we are to avert' a crisis in the business affairs of the country that may prove as disastrous as it is unnecessary. When that day arrives, the silver ques tion may again reappear with more vitality than ever before and silver may then become the means of saving from utter ruin many of those who, in the past, have so ignorantly decried it. In the meantime the thing to be avoided in order to postpone the com ing of the evil day is to prevent a re: turn to a panic breeding wild-cat cur rency which the bankers of the east are now ' clamoring for the privilege of issuing. GOVERNMENT BY NEWSPAPERS It is a, well recognized fact that public opinion is the governing power in a republic. And as the newspaper is the organ of public intelligence it necessarily follows that its power as a factor 'in the molding of our laws is very great through giving direction to thought and influencing opinion among its millions of readers. En dowed with power for good or evil beyond that possessed by any other agency in social life the character of the newspapers to which our support shall be given becomes a question of the first magnitude from the stand point of morals, patriotism, our high est ideals and most deep seated as pirations as individuals and citizens. This calls for the exercise of the high est intelligence and most critical dis crimination in the individual making the selection of an influence to which he submits himself and his family. Newspapers are not cheap because, perchance the subscription price may be small. The value of a good news paper can be computed in dollars or cents. Its influence may reach so deep into the lives of its readers as to outreach any such paltry consider ation. While on the other hand a bad newspaper is to be avoided as we would avoid a pestilence. From a moral standpoint the con duct of a newspaper is the highest calling to which any man may aspire. And as an honest man is said to be the , noblest work of God, an honest newspaper is . most certainly the noblest work of man. The making of a newspaper involves a responsibility not to be lightly as sumed by the conscientious, but which we regret the necessity of ad mitting is altogether too freely under taken by the reckless. " Thus, while there are many newspapers that rep resent only good and enobling influ ences, there are unfortunately too many that cater to popular error, in different to every consideration of morality and decency, regarding dol largs and cents as the sole standard and measure of success. Then again many of the newspapers are either owned outright or controlled through patronage of their advertising columns by special interests which prosper through control of the government of our cities, states and of the nation. So that, influences of every sort be ing represented in the public press,' the individual is compelled to exercise discrimination of a high order in the selection of the newspapers that are made daily or weekly visitors in his home and give direction to thought and influence opinion in his house hold. : I Newspapers are increasing in num bers and influence with the advance of time. The number of newspapers that find their way into a given num ber of homes have shown a constant increase during a number of years, and the number is being greatly aug mented from year to year. The in fluence exerted by the newspaper over the thoughts and actions of our peo ple, and over the institutions and laws under which we live cannot easily be overestimated. As the constant dripping of water wears away the stone upon which it falls, so does the constant repetition of suggestions and arguments modify if not actually mold the opinions of the readers of news papers. It is said that the most positive and universal characteristic of man is in tellectual indolence. If this be true, and there is much evidence to prove that it is, then there is ground for the charge that is brought against man in these latter days that he buys his ideas ready made after the manner that he buys his hats and shoes. At any rate there is abundant evidence that the men who are most success ful in" manipulating the public both in the matter of business and politics invest heavily in newspapers, and re gard their aid as indespensable to the success of their undertakings. The point that we are seeking to impress upon our readers is that the public is responsible for the charac ter of the newspapers that wield so mighty an influence over the affairs of stateand nation. When this fact becomes duly appreciated individuals will so discriminate in their patron age of the press that only cuch papers as honestly seek the public good will receive the support of intelligent men who have no axes to grind at the expense of the public weal. There are many things that sub ject the public to imposition through the press that are of a nature that readily escape suspicion. For in stance, ' the agricultural paper that is found so helpful to the farmer and his wife is generally non-partisan in politics, as is also the religious paper that contains so much of elevating spiritual food that it finds a secure place in the affections of the family. It is just such papers a3 these that are not infrequently employed to mold opinion favorable to the ends of greed by crafty and designing men. When such agencies arc employed the mat ter is prepared by press agents in the employ of the' railroads or of the banks or whatever Influence is seek ing to manipulate opinion' favorable to their particular scheme of plunder, and the articles,' from which every tinge of partisanship is carefully ex cluded, are ingeniously prepared by high salaried writers who make their arguments appear so plausible that the impressions they are seeking to make seem to the unwary reader as the only reasonable view to take of the matter. These articles are sent to the press with a request for their publication. They appear so innocent and harmless that many publishers " of agricultural and religious papers fall into the trap and insert them in their columns free of charge, while others detecting their sinister purpose, consign them to the waste "basket without comment as such is not in their line. There are other publishers, however, who are less innocent and less scrupulous who publish the articles thus furnished as their own views and charge and col lect for the same many times the price charged for the same amount of space when used for legitimate adver tisements. Thus non-political papers often prove to be the most insidious means employed by trusts and monop olies to create opinion favorable to their interests. With the growth of the rural free delivery system the newspaper as a factor in public affairs assumes addi tional importance and warns the pub lic of a growing power that deserves attention. Remembering that univer sal suffrage puts us all under bonds to each other to see to it that cor rect ideas prevail touching public questions, it becomes our duty to use our influence to the utmost to secure readers for such papers as fight our battles in' the arena of public debate. Bearing in mind always that our neighbors will certainly read some papers, it should be the constant en deavor of each to induce their neigh bors and friends to subscribe for pa pers that are intelligent, honest and fearless in fighting the battles of the masses of the people. The net profits of the railroads of the United States for the past year shows an; increase of '$97,000,000 over the preceding"' year''' The net profits' per mile for every mile of railroad in the entire country was $3,500. Is it not time for the people to demand re lief from railroad extortion? Annuitants and bondholders the world over are now bemoaning their sad fate because of the decline in the purchasing power of gold, The ghost of a fifty cent gold dollar now haunts their vision. The railroads don't refuse to pay their taxes because of considering their assessment too high, but because they think they can evade , the pay ment of them and retain the money themselves. They still believe ia the efficacy of the free pass to purchase, for them immunity from paying their just proportion of taxes for f the. sup port of the government. , ; , ' The Omaha delegation to the demo cratic state convention were1 prolific in promises of the great vote that city would roll uni to: the democratic ticket. But their ' promises turned out mere fustian; . Yet, : it would 1 not be surprising' to witness a, delegation from that city svaggering through the convention hall two years hence with an air of being the 'whole thing. The totai wealth of . the, ' United . States, according to the. United States census bureau now amounts to $106, 881,415,000, an increase of oyer, eigh teen billions t in five years. : But it must be borne in mind that these figures do not imply that the actual wealth has increased in the ratio in-' dicated by the above figures which are money .values! The depreciation in the value, or purchasing power of : money accounts for a considerable por tion of. the Increase in the figures. The independent voter was in evi dence in a marked degree in the late election. Candidates , generally re ceived gratifying testimonials to theirx personal worth in the vote of their home counties. The failure of Hall county to send members to the legis lature favorable to the candidacy ol W. H. Thompson for the United tSates senate .was a great surprise to the democrats of the state who regarded it as a certainty that Thompson would receive the vote, of his home county for the high office he aspired to. Comptroller of the Currency Ridgely in his report to be submitted to the incoming congress says that the sav ings of the people during the past voar njdro cimnlv mnrvpllnna , filinwtne an increase over the preceding year of $900,000,000. This is another vin dication of the claims of the bimetal lists of ten years ago. They wer bimetallists because the money sup ply was insufficient to sustain prices. They were not bimetallists because of any affection ' for silver as a metal, or because they liked white money better than yellow money. The de mand was for more money so that the money supply would be adequate to sustain prices and enable men to prosecute legitimate enterprises with safety, which could not be done under a diminishing money supply and its concomitant' falling' ptU:'v u-''' i h j.::. r. tiuyM-:;t .j it., jn?t' '.;c::