Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, October 28, 1900, Page 27

HA DA ILY B SUNDAY, OC 28 TOBER Edward Rosewater’s Record and Views on Public Issues R e T . To the Voters of Nebraska: For more than a quarter of a century 1 have advocated the election of United States senators by diree United § pre this sta tes, Bowever, have failed . where the people hive tion to instruct their slon of preference at t llot box In proof of my singerity as o of senators I have appealed for an under the constitutional provision 1 official ballot at the coming election tions of the vepublican party in its also to certain re representative terest of the Americun people I am in favor of the establishm and depression postal facilities to 1 believe that ¢ regulated and tl T controlled by people. ations are other words, 1 favor extortionl and discrimination by co time am opposed to any legislation Ing falr luterest on honest investme My career in Nebragka, which o s a sufficlent guaranty that if elect shall labor with all my ability and self accessibl services or time, | | : Sesrresssissstssossosserroce The candidacy of Edward Rosewater for the position of United States senator| brings him promineutly before the people, of Nebraska; hence his- career, and es-| peclally bis views relative to the great fssues upon which the American people are divided, become matters of Interest to lhe‘ public. Mr. Rosewater's career, briefly told, be- gan thirty years ago, when he became a member of the legislature of 1871, in which he took a promiuent part. Although one | of the youngest members, he became a| great factor in the deliberations of that body. Elected as a republican, he re- garded it as his duty to purify the party and break up corrupt rings that had formed At the state capitol. Recognized at that time as one of the Grant stalwarts, he was & warm and active advocate of the re- election of John M. Thayer for the United' States senate. After that contest had been ended he took the initiative in the investi-| gation which resulted in the impeachment | and removal from office of Governor David Butler. The legislature of 1871—which was the “Nebraska Long Parliament'—held a sion extending over almost six| months, . Out of the protracted strug- o between the rings and reform| ement in the party came the establishment of The Omaba Bee in June, 1871, Since that date the history of The, Bee practically covers the history of Ne-| braska as a state and it Is acknowledged that as its editor Edward Rosewater has | been a powerful factor in all that has 11 these years his views on vital o undergone very slight change, a5 18 shown by extracts from The Bee, here produced for the benefit of those not per- sonally familiar with the policies supported and the positions taken by its editor. The Bee has been during all these years an unceasing opponent of monopolies and in that respoct has exercised a greater influ- ence in this state than all other agencies combined; in fact, it has been a party monitor. Attention is fnvited to the fol- lowing expression of views by Mr. Rose- water on great questions which have claimed public attention during almost a i Election of Senators by the People @ecscssssessesocces At this time the democrats are endeavor- 1ng to make party capital out of an advocacy of & direct vote by the people In the selec- tion of United States senators. Early fn its history The Bee became a champlon of this proposal. On April 9, 1872, commenting upon the introduction of a bill by Mr. Hawley in congress providing for electing senators by direct vote, the following editorial was printed “It is now & well established fact that with few exceptions the most distinguished body of legislators in this country have managed to obtain their lofty positions through bribery and corruption and in- direct opposition to the will of the people wtom they pretend to represent. Taking Senator Tipton's own admission at Simpson's hall a few days ago, Nebraska scnatorships were not 8o much the evidence of merit or popularity as of low cunning and numerous pledges of public plunder. Right here is the princiapl cause of corruption in the civil service. Men are appointed to office by the executive on the recommendation of & senator for no other reason than that they voted for him in the legislature or assisted him In carrylng out his corrupt scheme. The moment a United States senator fs elected he considers himself beyond the reach of his constituency. Iuetead of look- 10g to the people he'looks to the few inside of the ring that elevated him to his posi- tlon. The people have no remedy. Their wishes are thwarted and their interests dls- regarded because they are virtually without @ volce in electing their representatives in the United States senate. We are in favor of leaving to the people the election, not only of thelr governors, judges and legl: lators, but also of their United States sonators.” At various times since the above date the same sentiments ‘have been given editorial expression in The Be seeeesccssccccscsccsocns . ¢ Telephone Royalty @resccsssescssessessscece Omaba Bee, December 15, 1883: “Omaha pays about $80,000 telephone rental, exclu- sive of cha for long distance transmis- sion. One-half of this sum, about $40,000, 15 pald as a royalty to the telephone mo- nopoly for patent rights that should have expired last spring. On a fair estimate the towns outside of Omaha in this state must pay fully $i0,000 more for one-half of the rental on the Bell instrument. One hundred thousand dollars s taken out of Nebraska every year and dropped into the slot of telephone stock jobbers who for more than fourteen years have extorted millions upon millions from the people of this country for an invention that should have been bought by the government at a fair price for the use of the people. But by the collusion of patent office oficia and pliant judges this tribute is still levied beyond the expiration of the patent and will probably continue to ke evied for ten or twelve years longer. Meanwhile the helpless patrons of the telephone must submit to being fleeced and thousands of keenre this right for the people by am; 1ch to poplar selection of 1nite orms which In my judgment are demanded in the in- which the earnings of the people will be safely guarded through panic I am In favor of the postal telegraph and the widest extension of the state. slon of corporations, I am by no means in favor of ce property, either by prescribing rulnous rates or excessi By t vote of the people All efforts (o ndment of the constitution of the 1 up to this time. The nearest ap- Ktates senators has been made in right under the state constitu- s In the legislature by an expres- Ivocate of the direct popular election expression of public sentiment baving my name placed on the 1. While standing upon the declara- national platform, 1 am committed Y nent of postal savings banks In | | | reatures of the state and should be While I favor public supervi- nfiscating their ¢ taxation. In such legislation as will protect the people against rporate monopolies, but at the same that would prevent them from earn- Pnt. overs a period of thirty-seven years, ed to the United States senate [ energy to promote the welfare and material prosperity of the state and nation aud shall always hold my- to every citizen of Nebraska who has a claim upon my no matter how humble or poor. E. ROSEWATER, +eecsecccccccsrcccsces able price are deprived of the benefits of the invention. The telephone royalty Is very suggestive of forced contributions which were exacted by monarchs of old from thelr subjects and vassals as a tribute to royalty. There is just this difference, however: The royal robbers gave in return for their tribute protection to their sub- Jects as agaiust ordinary robbers and ra pacious neighbors. The telephone freeboot- ers do not pretend to make any return for the royalty they exact from local compa- nies, and through them their patrons, ex- cept the use of instruments that could be duplicated for ninety days' rental. By rights and by Jaw honestly interpreted the use of the telephone should now be as free to all the people as the use of the steel pen, the coal oll lamp, the rubber wringer or the sewing machine. If the efforts made by ex-Attorney General Miller were fol- lowed by his successor the outrageous im- position of royalties on an expired patent Sought to be perpetuated by the Bell Tele- phone company would be chortlived and the rate now imposed could be reduced 50 per cent.” @ececcccccccsccccccrscocee® i Postal Telegraph [ R R R R S Y The establishment of a postal telegraph system by the government has always been strongly advocated by Mr. Rosewater. In 1871 he said that the civil war could have been shortened by from one to two years | had the telegraph been under the coutrol of the federal government, and that within the last ten years the government paid more for its telegraphic service than would have been required to bulld every line in the United States. As a member of the legis- lature of 1871 he introduced a memorial to congress praying for the adoption of any measures tending to place the telegraph un- der the control of the government. Editor- lally be satd *'As long as 5,000 governors, generals, con- gressmen, senators, mayors, lobbyists and other influential deadheads provided with Ppasses can clog the wires without paying a cent, while other people not so fortunately situated are compelled in paying for their dispatches to also pay for these official deadheads; s lovg us one company may with impunity delay the telegrams offered them for transmission by a competing company, whose lines happen to be out of ord even worse, refuse to transmit them alto- gether, wo shall continue our opposition to the present corrupt aud dangerous system with its {)l-regulated tariffs, press monopo- lles and bribery in the shape of pas It the present administration can successtully inaugurate the postal telegraph reform, which in Great Britain has met with such #ignal success, we shall have some faith in the honesty and sincerity of the advocates of civil service reform.” An editorlal in The Bee, January 14, 1881, sald “Few realize the advantage which would Accrue to our country from a cheap and universally extended telegraph sprvice owned and operated by the goverament. Today the companies maintain offices only In the larger cities and towns along the lines of railroads, in such places as will turn & profit to the management. People living in the country must mow drive fif- teen, twenty or thirty miles to a telegraph office to transact their urgent busines In England, under a postal telegraph sery- lce, every village and hamlet has at least one office and the telegraph {s within the reach of every resident of the country, no matter how distant from the great towus and citle ‘“The assumption of the telegraph by the Postal department is demanded not less by the necessities of the government than for the convenience of the people. In time of war the control of the internal avenues of communication by power outside the gov- ernment has always been found to be highly dangerous and enormously expen- sive. * * ¢ We assert without fear of contradiction, $1,000,000,000 would have been saved and the war brought to a close pearly & year earlier if the complete con- trol ot the telegraphic system of the coun- try had been vested solely in the govern- ment of the United States. On the ground of economy to the people and profit to the nation the case In favor of & pational postal telegraph can hardly be overestimated.” @escccecccccccccccccccccec@ i Railroad Pooling i @oceee For many years the railroads leading trom Council Bluffs to Chicago maintained an agreement by which all of their business was conducted on a pooling basis, which arrange- ment proved to be very oppressive to the citizens of Omaha and Nebraska. In an edi- | torial on this subject published February 21, | 1874, Mr. Rosewater sald: ““Why do the citizens of Omaha and Ne- braska tamely submit to the oppressive ex- tortion of that triple-headed monstrosity knows as the ‘lowg pool?” Why allow them to cripple and destroy our commercial and tndustr al prosperity without making at least some effort at resistance? On the maps we have three independent rallway outlets to Chicago which are supposed to offer ample facilities for competition. In reality we hould be m@b better off if two of those oads were entirely wiped out or had never been bullt. For years these spurious com- petitors have practiced their infamous ex- o who could afford to pay a reason- tortiods upon us by pooliug their earnings, | restricted by the pool contract. | nuences houses, packers and manufacturers are com- and today the greatest drawback to our progress as a city is this lowa raliroad pool Meanwhile the B. & M. and Chicago & Northwestern are constantly shipping mer- chandise and passengers around Omaha un- The conse- are obvious. Omaha jobbing pelled to compete with St. Joseph, Kansas City, Chicago and 8t. Louis at a very serious disadvantage. They must either forego le- gltimate profits or vacate the fleld. What cripples Omaha cripples other portions of Nebraska to a great extent. ‘reate a commercial metropolis on the Missouri river and you create a permanent home demand for the productions ot Ne- braska farmers, Instead of paying for the transportation of these products to eastern or wouthern markets they could dispose of them here and pocket the difference. Now, why cannot Omaha take the proper steps to break up this pool? It can be accomplished providing our merchants and manufacturers can agres upen concerted action. While some have advocated the transfer of our trade and trafilc from Chicago to St we consider such a scheme impracticable. A much teiter and more feasible plan would be the concentration of all travel and trafc upon one of the three roads in the pool. Let this continue for thirty days and the other | two roads will find it necessary to secede from the confederation. The arrangement of the pool is to allow each road 50 per cent of its gross receipts for running expenses and divide the other per cent equally among the three. Whenever the two roads find that they have to foot their own run- ning expenses they will prefer to break up the pool and take their chances in fair com- petition.” In an editorial published June 30, 1881, The Peo called attention (o the fact that rallroad rates In Iowa, for passengers, were 3 cents a mile und that a road running from Council Bluffs to Kansas City carried pas- sengers at that rate, while a parallel road on the west side of the river in Nebraska is asked as to why this glaring discrimination which question The Bee itself charged 4 cents a mile. The question was made, answered with the statement that lowa had fixed that rate as the highest allowed Ne- | braska the roads were permitted to charge on rallroads In that state, while in 4 cents. The article closed as follows: “It strikes us that the time has come for Ne- braska to 3 cents per mile to and from any miles or the reduction of passenger tolls in station, let the distance be ten 400." @eccccsccccccccsccscccccce $ Too Many Money Lenders H L e S S Y Scme efforts were made in 1872 to seaure a repeal of the law fixing the rate of in terest on money in this state, which efforts did not meet with the approval of Mr. Rosewater. The argument was made by those advocating a repeal of the law that meney s a commodity, like corn, wheat or coal, fluctuating in value in accordance with the supply or demand. ineisted that usury laws were necessary for the protection of the peopie and sald that seven or elght years previously, when the legal rate of interest fn Nebraska wa: 15 per cent, money-lenders never dreamed of exacting less than that amount. A re- peal of the law would produce a fluctua- tion in the interest rate to such a degree that many a merchant with moderate means, many a laborer or farmer seeking | to establish a home here, would be driven | into bankruptcy and inevitable ruin. He said that Nebraska is & young state and that a proposed change in the collection law would also inflict seriows injury upo a class of sturdy farmers, mechanics and laborers toiling under disudvanta to establish homes for themselves, The Bee, January 19, 1892, sald: “Omaha cannot hope to make any ma- teria]l progress within the next few years unless our men of wealth come to the front and invest their surplus in factories, mills, elevators, wholesale enterprises that will glve steady employ- ment to wageworkers and put money in circulation among our retail merchants. The trouble with Omaha is that the men who have grown rich out of Omaha real| estate and franchises granted for supply- | ing the city with gas and water and op- erating street rallways have become money- lenders Instead of producers of wealth. Our home capitalists prefer to loan out money at § and 19 per cent with compound Interest to investing in industrial and mercantile concerns, There are a dozen men in Omaha who could build a rallroad | into South Dakota without borrowing a dollar, but they will not embark in build- ing this much-needed artery of commerce unles: bonus enough to pay for the whole road Most of these men have mado all bhave In Omaha, but forelgn capltalists to improve our rail- road connections and bulld our mills, fac- torles, elevators and warehouses.” Postal Savings Banks eesessee® In connection with the introduction of the bill in congress providing for the establish- ment of United States postal savings bavks The Bee said, December 1 “In view of the dly the savings institutions in this country this proposition becomes & subject of par mount interest. There 1{s apparently necesslty, more especially in the large where the industrial classes lave suffered so much from savings banks fafi- ures, that the genmeral government devise means to protect workingmen and working- women agalost such disasters without de- tracting in any measure from the :ubstan- tial institutions already establishud country. The depositor will place the largest return. The government will ofter 4 per cent and undoubted security Every state institution that offers equal percentage will stand an equal chance for business, while & higher offered rate of in- terest will not fall to secure the lion's share of depositors. But the greatest nd- vautages would result im towns where no savings banks now exist or where the se- curity offered by such institutions is of a questionable character. The opportunity for investment of savings would be brought | within the immediate reach of thuusands now {n a measure deprived of easy facility of 50 doing. It I8 to be hoped that congres will enact this law during the present ses sion." oo mo“o-m“? Equitable Taxation H @essecceces December 13, 1872, Mr. Rosewater pub- lished an editorial on this subject and sald | that in order to eftect a radical and perma- nent cure of the evils wlich affect our mu- nleipalities, counties and the whole state we must probe the wound and apply our reme- dles accordingly: that if this were done it would be discovered that unequal taxation and discrimination in favor of monopolies are at the root of all of our complaints. “Place the millions of property owned by railroad companies and other rich corpora tlons now located in the state upon an equal footing with the lands and teuements of | Louts | Mr, Rosewater | Jobbing houses and | they have assurance that the people on the line of the road will vote them they hey are walting for ters that have witbin the last five years overtaken so many of The proposed plan would in no way conflict with | solid banks now established throughout the his momey whera be believes it will earn him farmers and mechanics and taxes would be reduced low enough to euable nearly every property owner 1o pay bis pro rata promptly Had the railroad companics been made to pay their pro rata of taxes in the past two| years a burden equal to at least $100,000 annually could have been lifted off the shoulders of our overtaxed industrial classe: He suggested tho abolishment of the present State Board of Equalization and the substitution therefore of the senlor commissioners of all the countles in the state, with one responsible city assessor, appointed or elected, for the cittes. In 1873 the Union Pacific and the B, & M rallway companies refused to pay taxes on lands included In the lands comprising the | grants made them by the government, on the ground that the patents therefor had not been fssued. This proves to be a| great burden to the various counties in which these lands wefe situated. Com- menting on this state of affairs, August 2, 1573, The Bee declared that tho exemp- tion of these lands from local taxation would necessarily throw the entire burden of existing public indebtedness, which had | been Incurred upon the basis of the as-| sessed valuation of all property; upon the already overtaxed farmers; that the wel- fare aud prosperity of each railway de- | pends largely upon the prosperity of the | people that patronize it and that to de- | preciate the credit and increase the rate of taxation in any county would conse- quently reduce the salable value of the | rallway 1ands within that county, and that | there was, therefore, every incentive to | | Induce the managers of the roads to pursue | & moderate and conctliatory course. March 21, 1874, The Bee sald the practice | ot exempting the property of individuals | and corporations owning vast tracts of real estate, because thelr taxes, In the ag gregate, appear burdensome, is a flagrant violation of the first principles of equity. | Why shall the speculator who owns hun- dreds of lots be permitted to evade his taxes while the poor mechanic who owns | but half & lot is compelled to pay his full | proportion? Why shall corporations that | have secured a large portion of their | property by gifts be exempted, while their poorest employes are belng crushed by the unequal burden? Why should the capital- ist who draws a princely income from | bonds, stocks and mortgage notes escaps taxation, while the luckless wight, trades- | man or manufacturer that happens to own | a few hundred dollars’ worth of goods or machinery, is forced to pny personal taxes | on his chattols? The Injustice of such un- equal taxation is transparent, and vet ha been the ruloe rather than the exception with our county commissioners and city council.” “For weeks the county have been besleged by large property own ers and representatives orporations, commissioners who have pressed their claims for reduc tions and exemptions with a pertinacity worthy of a better cause. If a poor man or a middleman. as tho Grangers would designate our retall merchants, should pre- sent himself before this august body, his reception, we apprehend, would be very trigid and his plea would meet with an unceremonious repulse. But let some at- torney for & raflroad, a bauker or brewer, present himse!’ on a simflar errand and the tune Is changed at once. Now this is all wrong and we do not hesitate to declare! that it must be stopped. Let us have equitable taxation and the burden will be materlally lightened on all classes.” One of the reasons why the proposed constitution of 1871 was rejected was a provision for taxing churches and ceme- tertes, which provision aroused the antag- onism of cortain classes, who made strenu- ous efforts to secure the defeat of the con- titution, Referring to this The Bee said | April 28, 1874: “Why prate ahout the fn- justice of taxing cemeteries when we can point to one cemetery near this city which ylelds a greater income to its owner than any property ot similar valuation withio the city limits? Why shanld wealthy men who seek to glorify tnemselves by building costly churches be exempted while the cot- | tage of the poorest workingmun is taxed?" | | Bee Editorial, February 8, 1875: “In trying | to evade her proportlon of the state taxes | Omaha has in the past three years been perpetrating a profitless fraud in assessing her property below its true valuation and by so doing has crippled ber city govern- | ment and brought about what to some | poople would naturally seem municipal | bankruptey. 1in assessing our eity prop-| erty several million dollars below its real | value we have raised the percentage of | taxation 1h the past three years without | actually collecting as much as we did in| 1870. Who is benefited by these frauds?| Burely not the poor man nor the man of| moderate means, nor even the merchant| or manufacturer. The only parties bene-‘ fited by extremely low assessment are bankers, land speculators and railway cor- porations. Even they suffer indirectly, | since these assessments react and retard | the growth of the clty. It under an| equitable and honest assessment the val- | uation of our taxable property would be | ralsed five or six milllons the rate of tax- ation would decrease correspondingly. In- stead of two or three per cent our city tazes would be one to two per cent. In:| stead of heing discouraged or frightencd | by the tax rates, outsiders would be con- vinced that Omaha is the most econom- tcally governed city in the Missourl valley as compared with points of equal popula- tlon and equal metropolitan pretensions. I other clties and countles In Nebraska are attempting to evade taxation by low as- sessments let them also be forced to ralse their list." Bee Editorial, Feb. 18, 1875: “Some of our naticnal banks are making particular efforts to escape their just proportion of taxes through special legislative enast ment, They claim that under the present laws all private banks and large mouey loaners escape their portion of the payment of taxes by gonverting their funds tempor- | arily |nto government bonds, which are| subject to taxation. Because oue evil exlsts | 18 no reason why another should be created. ! Instead of making efforts to place the other banking justitutions on par with those who have heretofore avoided taxation leglslature should make efforts tows devising meaus whereby all may be made to pay in proportion to thelr capital the same as other mercantile institutions. 1f any of the legal lights in the legislature should, after giving this subject mature thought, succeed in devising means of overcoming the technical dodges now re- sorted to, he will accomplish more for the state than can be dong by a half-dozen spread-eagle speeches before that body." | @eesrecseccccsssscscsssese® i The State School Fund ¢ @eceececseccccccccccccoccas In December, 1§72, the state treasurer proposed investing state school funds jn | state warrants to the extent of $125,000. | In reference to this Mr. Rosewater said | that the treasurer should sell United States bonds and Union Pacific bonds then tn his hands to the highest bidder; that he | should then advertise for proposals for | state warrants, just as the secretary of tho | United States 4id for government bouds | purchasing those offered by the lowest bid ders, thus placing all warrant holders on & level and giving the state the benefit of the discount. Later on it was proposed to divide the school fund on hand among the | countles of the state in proportion to thelr | school population, to be loaned out by the | county officials to school districts. and that ' the money thereafter realized from the sale | [ of school land be retained in each county and invested in the same line. This proposition was opposed by The Dee as be- ing inadvisable, tf not impracticable. An editorial in The Bee, October 24, 1874 1 “The most sacred trust in the hands of our state government is the school fund Unfortunately the lawmakers who were in duty bound to frame laws in conformity with the provisions of the constitution have enacted laws that removed every obstacle In the way of public thieves and specula- tors. Today the school fund in Nebraska 1s in & most deplorable condition. Not only has the principal been very materi- ally diminished by theft, otherwise known as loans, but even the interest on a large portion of this fund will mever be col- lected, ¢ ¢ ¢ “The first act of the legislature should be an unconditional repeal of the law author- izing the state treasurer to lnvest the school fund In irredeemable warrants; their next should be to devise some means for the ultimate redemption of the dishonored paper in which our school fund is now invested. They will also have to pass a stringent law for the reinvestment of the school fund in securities that are reliable and beyond all reasonable probability of depreciation. The school fund is the patrimony of a generous and beneficent government for the education of the pres ent generation and the millions that are to be born and reared in this great common- wealth by future generations. We believe the time has come when further misman- agement of this patrimony has become a crime against soclety.” | secscccsccssscccsccsoocen Spanish Rule in Cuba seccccscoccccse In 1871 Spanish misrule in Cuba was ex- | citing public interest to almost ¢.s great a degree as in 1897. To quote ‘rom The Bee editorial of November § “The ferocious brutality of the Spanish soldiery, who, under orders of the \Val-| mezada, are torturing and butchering hun- | dreds of native patriots regardiess of age | or sex, has fanned the slumbering embers | of the revolutionary fire into a flame which | threatens to consume allke (he conquercr and the rebel. The fashionable mods of ex- | ecuting Cubans captured in arms seems to | be garroting and the most triling favor | shown to native prisoners by elthor man or woman is punished by inhuman torture, in- | earceration in poison-breeding dungeons, or frequently by public executions.’ | Commenting upon this condjion things The Bee said December 20, 187 “Unless the Spanish government is pre- pared to recognize the rights of a people to melt-government, at Mast so far as would glve Its Cuban subjects as liberal a govern- ment as Is now enjoyed by the British- American provinces, the recognition of Cuba as an Independent republic, or its annexa- tion to the United States, is inevitable. Al though the annexation of Cuba has for man years been the favored theme of spr engle American orators we should prefer to see the territory now occupied by the United States settled by a dense population before advocating a further expansion of territory. It s, therefore, to be hoped that | the Spanish government will see fit to adopt a policy which will insure the continuance of | the friendly relations between the two countries.” of R S S ; Against Trusts § 6“000004“““““'0“»0. During its entire career The Bee has been an anti-monopoly and anti-trust champion, as the files of the puper will show. In adopting this course the paper aroused bit- ter antagonisms from powerful combina- tions. Its manner of treatment of unjust organizations of capital is fllustrated in the tollowing editorial printed May 5, 1880: ““The latest exhibition they have given of thelr value to the public has been the sum- ' mary discharge of some 60,000 workmen in order to keep up the price of coal. This| means that half a mlillion people are to be deprived of the means of living In order that twenty times as many people may be coerced Into paying an exorbitant price for the coal they use. We do not hesitate to say that there is nothing in the history of Irish landlordism so cruel and brutal as this and there is no civilized country on the face of the earth where the rights and Interests of millions would be made the sport of cor- porations in this way. * * * Yet these insolent coal barons, by stroke of the pen, have passed sentence of starvation on thousands of poor workmen and whose edict extorts a forced levy from millions of con- sumers.' @ecseccccsccccoccccoces A Tilt with Jeff Davis eecccsccccsccccccccccecd Early in 1875 Jefferson Davis, ex-president of the southern confederacy, wroté a letter | to a citizen of Maryland denying a state- ment which ex-Postmaster General Creswell made in a eulogy of Henry Winter Davis to the effect that Mr. Davis sald in a speech made at Stevenson, Ala., in 1861 | “We will carry the war where it is easy to advance; where food for the sword and torch awaits our armies in the densely popu- lated cities." In the letter referred to Mr, Davie, writing under date of February 5, 1875, sald that he had_no recollection of ever having made & speéch at Stevenson and that he was positive he had neither there nor elsewhere used the language above quoted or any languago that could be fairly construed to have such & meaning; that though he did not claim to remember what he sald at those times he Qid know what his thoughts and wishes were and was positive as to not having sald what | he never thought or contemplated. Replying to this denial of Mr. Davis Mr, Rosewater sald in an editorial published March 16, 1876, that he was prepared to sub- stantiate General Creswell's charge by docu~ mentary evidence; that at the date men- tioned he was manager of the Southwestern Telegraph company's office. at Stevenson, Ala.; that he was present when the speech, which was about thirty minutes in length, was made by Mr. Davis; that he reported the speech, furnished a copy of it to the Bellefonte Era, the county paper, and tele- graphed a synopsis to Nashville newspaper that he had a distinet recollection of the de- termination axpressed by Mr. Davis to draw the northern soldlers into the sparsely set- tled cotton etates while he would march his armlies into the densely populated northern states where the large cities would offer fcod for the sword and toreh, October 4, 1875, this matter 8 again re- ferred to in The Bee. An article of a col- umn and a quarter in length was reprinted trom the Huntsville (Ala.) Independent of September 9, consisting of a letter to the | editor of that paper from Jefferson Davis in | which be asked that gentleman to aid him in learning, through citizens of Stevenson, something concerning “the editor of The Omaha Bee, who testifies that he reported my speech and telegraphed it to Nashville, etc. His present location suggests his for- mer sympathies and his assoclations in Maryland show his political creed.” The editor of the Huntsville paper then details his efforts to secure from the best citizens of Stevenson “information as to the char- acter and antecedents of the said Rose- water, former telegraph operator at Stev- enson and present editor of a radical paper in Omaha styled The Omaha Bee. The summary of statements made by | | Pacific | ot the workingman, or lighten his toll, is these cltizens was to the effect that Mr. Rosewater was then, in 1861, at the date of the speech by Mr. Davis, about 21 years old; that he was quite a negative char- acter: that he had but few acquaintances; that he had established for himselt but little character except Inefficiency in duties As an operator and his constant abuse of the south and its institutions; that he was, perhaps, present when Mr. Davis passed through the town on his way to assume the dutles of president of the confederacy; that Mr, Davis, when the train arrived, merely responding to loud calls, came upon th platform at the depot, thanked the people for the honors shown him and sald that should a general war result the south would be no greater loser than the north, ag the latter could not live and prosper | without the former, and that before its termination in subduing the south grass’ would grow in the northern cittes. They denied as wholly untrue the charge made against Mr. Davis and said that Mr. Rose- water was at that time looked upon us a 8Dy, Commenting upon this article from the Huntsville Independent, Mr. Rosewater eald, editorially, that the charge of his being a spy was absurd in view of the fact that he was a resident of Alabama almost a year prior to the John Brown raid, when nobody anticipated a war between the north and south, and hence thers was no demand for spies. As to his being of negative character and inefiicient as an operator, he cited the fact that within twelve months after he left Stevenson he was employed fn President Lincoln's telegraph ofice at the War department and during a period of seven years had been manager of the Pa-| cific Telegraph and Western Union at| Omaha. His statement as to Mr. Davis' | speecch was based upon entries made at| the time in a diary, while the statements | made by the Huntsville paper were based upen recollection of the events which had occurred fourteen years previously. He cited Davis to the fact that his speech at Stevenson, Ala., was published in the Nash- | ville Unfog and American, February 16, 1861, and was quoted in Losing’s “Rebellion Record” and Greeley's “Histors of the Clvil War." Thereupon Jeft Davis sub sided. e et ] ! ¢ H Pensions $ $bs srsssrsisibeimminonerort Bee Editorial, August 5, 1882 “The announcement that for the mnext six weeks the work of the pension office will be chiefly devoted to the settle- ment of the pension claims of sol- diers' widows will be gratitying intelll gence to thousands of women whose hopes for future means of subsistence rests largely upon securing a pension from the government. It ought to be the rule of the pension office, it it 18 not, that theso claims shouid receive the first attention, 50 that there would be the least delay pos- sible In passing upon them. They make the strongest of appeals to the beneficence of the government and every consideration urges that they should be pushed to set-| tlement as rapidly as is compatible with proper investigation. Commissioner Raum is heartily to be commended for the Inter-, est he is manifesting in this cluss of claims | and none will ko warmly appreclate his| action In behalf of the soldiers' widows as the .veterans themselves, even though it| should somewhat delay the settlement of | their claims. The number of widows' claims | awaiting settloment is not etated, but it| is probably large and when one reflects on the great store of comfort and happi- ness which the allowance of these cjaims ' will carry to thousands of worthy women it s impossibie to not feel a stronger devo- tion to the guvernment and to reject the tdea that l1s wide reaching and generous beneficence imposes any real burden upon the people. The annual pemsion charge is large, but cvery dollar of it goes to an | honored and meritorious class of our citl- | zens to be distributed again through the channels of business and It Is what the nation justly owes to the men who pre served It and to thelr widows and or- | phans.” @ecccscsccssccesscssccscnes i No Repudiation i @eccssccccccccccccccccccce® In 1877 there was some question as to the | legality of the bonds which were voted by | Douglas county in ald of the Union Pa-| cific. In this connection The Bee said,| August 16, 1877: “The Bee {s not an ad-| vocate of repudiation. We do mot favor the repudiation of any debt legally in- curred by this city or county. If the bonds | issued by Douglas county to the Union | Rallroad company in ald of con- structing the Missouri river bridge were issued without the authority of law, but purchased in good faith by innocent parties, we shall favor their redemption by another bond issue in accordance with law." @eoosecsccscsscccccccsce Civil Service Reform D e = The Bee, under Mr. Rosewater's control, has always been an earnest advocate of reform of civil service. August 3, 1872, he published an editorial, in which he said ““As long as presidents, senators and fed- | eral officers are not elected by the people there can, in our gpinfon, be no genuine | civil service.yeform. Abolish the electoral | callege. provile for the election of United | States senators by the people of each state, | and wake postmasters and other federal officers residing in the states dependent ' upon the will of the people, subject also?’ to competitive examination, and you will reach the foundation of a lasting and sat- | isfactory reform. We expect to see genu- | ine reform when the people in their primary capacity introduce it by constitu- tional amendments. Politiclans on both sides will naturally lay obstacles in the | way of such sweeplng changes, but we are confident that the time is near at hand when they will mot dare resist the popular WL ! [ R In Regard to Labor cosse®| o Mr. Rosewater has always been & con- sistent friend of the laboring man. Since The Bee was cstablished, In 1871 more than $3,000,000 has been pald to labor by The Bee and by Mr. Rosewater personally. Ro- terring, April 20, 1872, to an address by Wendell Phillips, he said that Mr. Phillips and his fellows forgot or ignored the eternal fact that labor, and not e 18 the law of existence and the glory of life. Growth and strength, either physical, moral or physical, comes and can only come from struggle and conflict, and the first thing which can at all ameliorate the condition for him to understand that the labor which he is to do is not a mere drudgery, but something, when rightly viewed, full of ipstruction and inspiration. The founda- tion of all amelioration of the working- man's condition must be education, and to control legislation farther than will secure this—since by so doing he becomes for the time being the instrument to some extent of deslgning men—is only foolishue: 1 men must labor in one way or another, and an Intelligent tiller of the soil s, ‘on eral principl M } | K lawyer whose mind is hardly ever relaxed, the editor whose brain can never the doctor who s the servaut body. rest, of of every. @cscecssssccsscsccsscsce Rights of Colored People Weessessssssssscsnnsncns Tn 1872 Complaint was made of discrimi- nation agalust children of African descent in the public schools of Omaha. Previously a separate school had been malutained in the Third ward for their education, to which colored school children from all parts of the city were required to go. This dis- crimination Mr. Rosewater, in an editorial published September 13, 1572, severely de- nounced, and sald that ho distinctly re- membered the popular excitement when the first thirty colored voters in Omaba at tempted to exercise the election franchise under our present constitution, when they were confronted with men armed with clubs and brickbats, and staunch republicans who knew they had a legal right to vote had not the courage to protect them. Omaha was then entering upon a new public s¢hool system, and Mr. Rosewater insisted that children of African descent should be re- celved on the same terms in all of the schools, fncluding the High school, children of white parents May 18, 1872, The Beo safd: “There is no single class in the community in whose wel- fare we feel 80 profound an interest s the workingman, and there Is no class whose public and combined actions we watch with greater solicitude. Labor is the founda- ton of the natlon's prosperity. Without it capital, even with the aid of the vast and wonderful appliances of scieace, is helpless, and when its stalwart band is still the busi- ness of the world languishes at once. The laboring classes compose a large majority of the race and as such are entitled to the rights and immunities that by every rule of equity belongs to that majority. The work- Ingmen may Justly claim that the wrongs which oppress them, or the disadvantages which attach to thefr condition, shall be re- dressed a8 far as circumstances will permit They have a right to mako every effort for their own elevation and amelioration. Our favorite remedy for all existing evils, for all iInjustice, is co-operation, which &t once annihilates that bitter antagonism between capltal and labor, out of which all the trouble springs." Referring July 12, 1873, to the prevalence of dull times, Mr. Rosewater sald that there is altogether too much scheming among American people to get a living without an equivalent in honest toil; that our bays are not learning useful trades; that farmers' sons crowd the towns and cities seeking em- ployment as clerks; that girls consider housework and culinary employment beneath thelr dignity; that our young men and women are acquiring the habit of living be- yond their means and that as long as thesa conditions continue we cannot expect rellef from hard times; that as long as we con- tinue to raise large crops of rascals and small crops of hemp; as long as our farm- ers have to hire forelgn help to cut their wood and feed their stock while their son are loafing around saloons, spending their time with billlards and gambling, we shall, in spite of the best effofts of the grangers and political nostrums, continue to be cramped in our finances. He said that our youth must learn to love and respect labor and qualify themselves for it; we must turn out fewer preachers, doctors, lawyers, politiclans and epeculators and more practical farmers and mechanics, We must encourage the manufacture and consump- tion of American products instead of {m- porting them. We must qualify our boys to eret factories, machine shops, tanneries and sawmills, and let our girls be qualificd to do the sewing, knitting, cooking and manual labor {ncident to housekeeping. @cccecotccccessscccscaccee® i The Eight-Hour Law . @ecccccesesccsesccscccccscce ‘ * “The eight-hour proposition bas been widely discussed and we are aware that it 15 & question open which the oplulons of cur legal men are at variance,” sald The Bee, March & 1878, “but we caunot, after looking over the rensons offered, pro and con, accept the view that either the em- ployer or the employe fs bettered by re- quiring ten hours of steady work from the latter. The class it would benefit s the laboring meu—the men who have families to support and children to educate, and who are faithful to the great trust. This class constitutes nine-tenths of what is called the laboring class as distinct from tramps and bummers. Year in and year cut they go to their work in the morning and return to their families in the even- ing, and their means are devoted to the cauge of home and education. Extra time at home I8 spent in the summer in the cultivation of vegatables for their own con- sumption and in studying the politics, th ology and social questions of the day. The peace and quiet of the country depend | largely upon the loyalty of these men, and | & little extra time id which to make more of home and get better acquainted with their children would not work to the detri- ment of any class." D R R Contract Lahor @resesscccscssccsscscccsss Bee Editorial, August 28, 1800: ‘A Judiciously framed law that will protect Anerican workingmen against the Importa- ticn of foreign laborers under contract is desirable. The system that prevailed bo- fore the present law went into effect of bringing large bodles of foreign laborers Into the country to take the places of laberers already here at lower wages could not have been continued without the most disastrous consequences. DBut there is wanted a law that will work no injustice or hardship and the administration of which will be attended by no such difi- culties as have been experienced in putting into effect the present ill-constructed and in some respects ridiculous law.” B [ e S PN + H Legal Rights of Women wo.ootWQ‘ooooao.“oool Married women in Nebraska enjoy rights 88 to the ownership of property as a result of legal enuctment which received Mr. Rose- water's hearty support as a member of the legislature of 1871. This law provides that the property, real aud personal, which any weman in Nebraske may own at the time of her marriage and the rents, issues, profits or proceeds thereof, and any real, personal or mixed property which shali come to ber by descent, devise or bequest, or the gift of any person, except ber husband, shall re- main ber sole and separate property and mot be subject to the disposal of her husband. or llable for his debts; that a married woman may bargaln, eell and con- vey her real and personal property and enter into any contract with reference to the same; that she way sue and be sued; that she may carry ou a trade or business and perform any labor or service on her separate account and that ber earniugs shall be her separate property; that any woman married out of this state shall, if her busband after- wards becomes a resident of Nebraska, enjoy all the rights as to property which she may have acquired by the laws of any other state, territory or country.