Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, December 19, 1916, Page 4

- S~ . 3 # Remit by dratt, express or postal order. PO e B SR THE OMAHA DAILY BEE | "7 FOUNDED BY EDWARD ROSEWATER. “VICTOR ROSEWATER, EDITOR. “THE BEE PUBLISHING COMPANY, PROPKI vitered at Omaha postoffice as second- mi TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. By Carrier By Mall per month. per year. Daily and Sunday R TV .li o Daily_without Sunday. 00 Evenlig and Sunday 6. Evenihg without Sunday ;:g Sunday Beo only....... 3 5 o XL Dally and Sunday Bee, e years in advance, $10.00. Send notlce of change of nddress or irregularity in de- livary to Omaha Bee, Circulation Department. " REMITTANCE. Only 2-cent w|umklvl taken In payment of small aecounts. Personal checks, oxcept on Omaha and eastern exchange, not mccepted. ~ OFFICES. Omaha—The Bee Buflding. South Omaha—2118 N strect Counefl Bluffs—14 North Main street Tincoln—526 Little Building Chicago—$18 People’s Gas Bullding New York—Room 803, 286 Fifth avenue. ew Bank of Commerce. Fourteenth street, N. W CORRESPONDENCE. Address communications relating to news and editorial matter to Omaha Bee, Editorial Department. T NOVEMBER CIRCULATION. 55,483 Daily—Sunday 50,037. Dwight Willlams, circulation manager of The Hee Publishing company. being duly sworn, says that the average circulation for the month of November, 1916, was 55,483 dally, and 50,037 Sunday. DWIGHT WILLIAMS, Cireulation Manager Subscribed In my presence and sworn to before me this 2nd day of December, 1916. FitEY C. ARLSON, Notary Public. W, C Subscribers l;niu the city temporarily should have The Bee mailed to them. Ad- dress will be changed as often as required. Ne St. Louts—503 Washington Not much left of the old year. most of it Make the | Incidentally peace still rages on the other side of the Mexican border. | Push Omaha further forward! That's a plat- form all of us can stand on, & The strain on the mapmaking world pleads for the service of fatigue experts. | No 1917 program for Omaha will answer the demand that does not include a concerted effort for a new Union depot. —— That “Hight-Cost-of-Living” coon doesn’t seem to want to come down any faster just be- cause congress is in session. — By nailing some new timber to his cabinet King Charles crowds the political speed limit of cnemy nations.. Which is going some. Christianity no doubt would prove mighty helpful in composing life in Mexico, but who will provide safe conduct beyond the Rio Grande. —— Of course, it is out of thoughtful considera- tion for the losers that Secretary of State Pool selected a blue cover f3r his election returns pamphlet. Having discovered how- it feels to sit in the “House of Governors,” Governor-Elect Neville should e fully prepared to try out a sefl in the executive mansion. S——— Whil: speeding tp the shippers to abate the needless detention of cars, the railroads could also do something themselves in the same direc- tion by speeding up the movement of the cars over their tracks. Food and fuel in Europe grow scarcer as the days pass. Conditions are slightly different in this country. The problem here i4 to stretch the money to the goods. Over there the trouble is to comngct the goods with the money. e Congressman Adamson talks to the railroad L.osses and brotherhoods like an irritated dad and threatens to apply the swatter. The gentle- man from Georgia doesn’t look the part. He is at his best only when the White House presses the button, Now that the British government is officially in possession of the German peace note, it will have to reach a decision as to what it is going to do abaut it. The only sure thing is that Uncle Sam will be permitted again to serve as the mes- senger boy for the answer. — The late Emperor Francis Joseph is reported to have bequeathed out of his private fortune 60,000,000 crowns, or $12,000,000, as a fund for the 1clief of wounded soldiers, invalids and relatives of men killed in the war. The bequest has the nerit of making partial recompense for injuries to the victims of imperial folly. Speculation in War Losses Brooklyn ‘Eagle. Berlin recently sent out by wireless a state- ment by the Overseas News Agency, saying that the Association for Research into the Social Con- sequences of the War, of Copenhagen, has given lSfiOO,M men as the total losses of the entente ns in the war to date. The statement is in- teresting and would be more so if we knew posi- tively |:u this association is identical with the War Study Society of L'urelnl\agen. which has given out figures of losses from time to time, The first product of the War Study society was a bulletin issued on, August 1, 1916, comput- ing the human losses in each belligerent country during the first two years of the war. The total for llf countries for the first two years was given as 15,876,800, with 3,373,700 invalids. Of this grand total 7,371,800 were credited to Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, and 11,876,800 to the entente nations. Since August 1, appalling losses have been sustained by both sides. On the Somme, where the Anglo-{"rench offensive started in July, and in Galicia, Buko- wina, Translyvania, Roumania, Macedonia and on the Italian-Austrian front, the losses have been accumuhfin, at a fearful rate. Judging from the nature of the fighting, the total losses of the entente since August may casily reach the figure given above. On Novem- ber 15, it was estimated, on the basis of prev- jous figures compiled by the same source, that the total losses were approximately 5,600,000 killed and 13,000,000 wounded. That was a month ago. Since then most of the fighting has been in d{: Balkans, and the Roumanians and Russians have been the heaviest losers. But the Rouman- ians are credited by the recent statement with having lost 200,000 men, which seemed a bit ex- cessive t!’len, although the total cost of the in- vasion will not be less. There is no conclusion to be drawn from such sgecuhfiog:. except that in the man-killing game the question of available numbers, counts for The railroads and the brotherhoods alike are coming to realize the two-edged character of the Adamson law. Crude and unworkable as it is, it yet contains the germ of a law that will put the big transportation companies and the labor unions under the closer control of the federal govern- ment. This is one of the unconsidered possibili- ties of the measure so hastily driven through con- gress, the early effect of which was to produce the political influence for which it was primarily designed. Only one phase of the real situation was then taken into account, but some of its other aspects are now gaining attention. This is a natural outcome of the prolonged and sense- less agitation that has disturbed the country for months. The public deserves protection from conditions that have prevailed for almost two years in the railroad world. Continual bickerings and threats of strike have menaced business un- til the situation is unbearable, and even though the companies and the men do agree on some set- tiement of their present difficalty there is strong likelihood of either the Newlands or the Adam- son law being'so amended as to obviate the dan- ger of a general strike on the railroads. The remedy is drastic, perhaps, but the disease has been acute. Each side to the dispute has blamed the other, but that hoth are at fault is clear to any who has followed the controversy Both Sides Waking Up. ; | Good Roads and Farm Hauling. The Bee relies upon statements made by State Engineer Johnson to support its contention that good roads are to the benefit of the farmer more than any other citizen of Nebraska. Here is what the state engineer says on the matter of hauling: A team that can haul 3,000 pounds over an ordinary road could haul 3,500 pounds over a well-graded road, 4,000 pounds over a clay and gravel road and 7,000 pounds over a brick road. On long hauls freighting is usually done at 1 cent per mile per hundred, but for short haals, such as the farmer makes to and from towns, it usually costs 25 cents per ton mile over ordinary roads. By hauling the amounts | have heretofore stated, on different classes of roads, this would make a cost of haul- ling on well-graded roads 21.4 cents per ton mile; over clay and gravel roads, 18 cents per ton mile, and over brick surface roads, 10.7 cents per ton mile. This would make the cost of hauling over brick surfaced roads 57 per cent less than hauling over ordinary roads. If Mr. Johnson’s figures are dependable and applying them to the wheat crop of the current year, we find some inkling of what poor roads cost the farmers of the state. The wheat crop of the state for 1916 is returned at 68,773,681 bush- els, or, in round numbers, 2,031,603 tons, to move which one mile at the rate of 25 cents per ton would cost $507,851. If one-half of this could be saved by good roads, it would be $253925 into the farmers' pockets. Capitalize this at 5 per cent and we have $5,078,510; if the average haul for a ton of wheat on its way from the farm to the shipping point is seyen miles, the saving thus effected would pay 5 per cent on $35,500,000, which would under Mr. Johnson’s estimate construct 250 miles of brick-surfaced.roads. And this is on the wheat crop of the state alone and takes no ac- count of the millions of tons of other materials hauled by the farmers. Have \5& Learned Our Lesson? General Hugh Scott is again before the sen- ate committee on military affairs, presenting the cause of the army of the United States as a fac- tor in the problem of national defense. He ar- gues that events have shown the futility of de- pendence on volunteers. On one point all agree: If we are to have a defense, it must be adequate, and to be adequate the soldiers must be trained. On the main point, however, opinions differ. Many earnest people sincerely believe that we can avoid war through the simple expedient of doing away with army and navy. To propitiate these, the perpetuation of the National Guard is held out as an alternative to universal military train- ing. No criticism of the National Guard contains any reflection on the splendid young men who make up that organization. They have shown their quality by their actions and have proven their high devotion to their country by sacri- fices ‘as sincere as men may be called upon to make short of death, But their patriotic devo- tion does not compensate for their lack of train- ing. They are not to blame for this, but the mis- erable system that broke down last June when the Guard was called into action is responsible. Not only did the world get an impressive illus- tration of how unready is the United States to make proper defense of its territory, but our own people had impressed upon them how feeble the arm upon which they relied. The great question now is, Have we learned the lesson? Are we ready to squarely face our situation and determine if we are to be ready to meet any emergency, or will we proceed as we have with no preparation, and trust to luck to save us from our own folly? Law That Needs Overhauling. Strict application of any law may become in- humane at times. Our immigration law and the rules made under it afford many illustrations of the suffering that may be caused by too rigid observance of the letter and indifference to the spirit. The latest incident reported is that of a Spanish merchant, carried ashore from a steamer at New York in a dying condition, while his son was sent to the Ellis Island detention station be- cause he was under 16 and “unaccompanied by parent or guardian,” The inspector who ordered the removal said he had no discretion, but surely the safety of a nation like the United States does not require the separation of a child from its parent under such circumstances. Men of wealth and influence undertook to secure the boy's re- lease, but without avail, and the inhuman applica- tion of the regulation in its strict letter went on. This is not notable solely because of the promi- nence of the persons involved. Many poor people bave suffered similarly, and with no more of jus- tice. Omaha residents frequently have been called to exert themselves in behalf of some deserving person held up at Ellis Island because the govern- ment's machinery moves so inexorably. This law should be readjusted, to the end that the nation may protect itself against the visitation of the unworthy without causing needless hardships and sorrow to the innocent. General Joffre pnss-es from the front to the rear of the Anglo-French army to the post of commander-in-chief of all allied armies and mili- most. If the entente has lost 15,100,000 men, the central empires must have lost only some million or so less. In all computations France and Ger- many are shown to have losses that are about equal. This leaves the rest of the entente losses t: be balanced against those of Austria-Hungary, ulgaria and Turkex fary adviser to the French ministry. Title and honors are unchanged, but active duties are re- duced. His retirement indicates ‘a reversal of the military policy of wearing down the enemy in the west and more determined drives than o 7 T A s THE BEE: OMAHA, TUESDAY, DECE History's Method Minneapolis Journal The ascendancy of Mr. Lloyd George in Eng- land marks the dawn of the new democracy in the British Isles. Nor is this change confined to one country. It is manifest in Russia even, where the new prime minister, Trepoff, told the Duma that for the first time the will of the Russian parliament had forced the resignation of a premier and the appointment of a successor of ‘another politics. War is an awful price to pay for fundamental changes in the order of things. But the history of the human race proves that an awful price is always exacted of humanity for each progress. We of America realize the price paid for frecing the slave. And what France paid a century ago to be rid of monarchy and feudalism scarcely can be exaggerated. It might even be argued, as indeed it often has been, that the overthrow of the whole ancient Mediterranean civilization and the thousand years of night that followed were required in order to produce modern Europe. All the blood and suf- fering of the Crusades was necessary to rouse western Europe from the pit of ignorance, stag- nation, superstition and cruefty. The long religious wars of the sixtecen and seventeenth centuries were required to establish tolerance. The his- tory of mankind is very wonderful and glorious, but it is also very bitter and terribly tragic. Rationalists and pacifists are always asking, usually after the event, why the difficulties could not have been arranged by right, reason and justice. They think it madness that the union did not buy out of slavery the negroes in the south, since, however large the cost, it would have been small compared to the prodigious ex- penditure of blood and treasure that the civil war entailed. If reason ruled the affairs of men, if it were easy to define and to declare justice, the complaint of the philosophers and humanitarians - — MBER 19, 1916. Thought Nugget for the Day. All who joy would win must share it—happiness was born a twin. —Byron. One Year Ago Today in the War. Bulgar army came to halt on border of Greece. British withlrew Anzac army, esti- mated at 100,000 men, from the Gal- lipoli. Washington sent another note to Austria-Hungary, based on admissions made in regard to Ancona case. Greek government, in reply to Ger- man note, declared it could not stop allies’ fortification of Salonica. In Omaha Thirty Years Ago. The women of the German-Ameri- can association in charge of the Ge man-American school, 1818 Harney, have resolved to reduce the tuition to $1 per month commencing January 1, 1887. The committee consists of Mes- dames G. Pomy, C. C. Schaefer, Tibke, G. Heimrod and F. Lange. Mr. Mahoney, superintendent of the poor farm, says he is preparing a Christmas dinner of turkey and oys- ters for the inmates, which will bring Joy to them. For the last two Sundays all sa- loons have had their front doors closed in respect to the wishes of the mayor. The Pees D | LeHer Blessing on Peace. Council Bluffs, la., Dec. 16.—To the Editor of The Bee: 1 do not agree with your expression in your editorial on “Our Right to Mediate,” but I do| agree with Senator Stone, also with| you in another editorial, ‘‘Hopeful Signs of Peace.” 1 believe that the| president has not only the right, but’ is virtually requested (by Germany's suggestion of peace) to state the po-| sition of the United States, for in acting for the people of the United| States he knows an overwhelming| majority of our citizens want peace. | So, as our representative, Mr. Wilson has a perfect right to accompany his transmission with an armistice rec-| ommendation to all belligerent nations| for cool and sane deliberation on how to stop this terrible war, and then through their commissions deyise some ways and means by which war in the future may be entirely done away with and all nations settle their disputes by arbitration, international as well as external, for every sane person knows to fight is a poor way to settle any dispute. I hope that 1| may live to see th> United States, the | greatest country country on earth, Iui lead in this, as it has in other re- forms, and make war in the future| impossible. J. G. BLESSING. ficient for all terminal markets.) | sufficient to move our crops. | not conceal from ourselves the whole market. (Terminal markets have a number of lines that compete and railroads furnish cars generally suf- We are not demanding a reduction of rates, but we will demand service JOHN MURTEY. Education for Russia. Lincoln, Neb., Dec. 10.—To the Edi- The Russky Vyedo- October 25 tho. S., ¢ 246, which is equivalent to our November 7, just received from Moscow, prints the following: “The minister of national education, mos Count P. N. Ignatyev, has proposed in the imperial duma a bill for intro- ducing into the empire a general and later a compulsory education. Ac- cording to the bill, all children with- out distinction of sex, from the age of 8 to 11 are guaranteed the possibility of a training in the elementary schools of the department of education. The bill relates to general compulsory edu- cation and is framed on the principle of contributing from the treasury at places of establishment. Independ- ently of contributing from the treas- ury of the localities, through co-opera- tion of the minister of education and other departments it is planned to lay down a high and heavy obligation to secure for each child living in Russia, of school age, a real possibility of get- ting an eclementary education. We, the explanatory memorandum says, do difficulty of that question. Believing in the clear mind and resolute will of the Russian nation the ministry Solving the Car Shortage. | hopes to join in this common and dif- Alva, Neb., Dec. 16.—To the Editor | ficult task all classes and denomina- would be well grounded. Now in Europe, after two years of havoc, reasonable persons are ask- ing why prevention was not secured by means of conferences, concessions, compromises, arbitra- tions. In the first place, human nature prefers to fight. In the second, were settlements to be sub- stituted for decisions by force, the greatest progresses would be impossible. There was no price that the south would have accepted for the emancipation of her slaves. The south had not only property to save, but also a social sys- tem to which her belief was committed. Eman- cipation spelled anarchy to her mind. She meant to defend it with her blood as an article of faith as well as a matter of wealth. Apply the same principle to the situation in Europe before the war, and the inevitability of the war demonstrates itself. But let us go farther. Civilization would not be what it is without its great conflicts. Without them we should today be feudalistic still. Establish society on any basis, and every force of bigotry, prudence and inertia is enlisted to support that society as it is. The practical men, so-called, the managers, the able men, the ones trusted for ability and shrewdness, are those particularly who resent radical change. They once defended the feudalisms, the monarchies, the oligarchies. It is true that social systems have their gradual evolutions. But the fundamental changes have been brought about only by force. England has been no exception; she merely dates her last great settlement back to 1688, a century earlier than the 1789 of France. Had Parliament settled with King Charles I; had Parliament settled with King James 1I; had the colonies of Virginia and fected a compromise between King Louis XVI and the Assembly; had Napoleon and Pitt ad- hered to the Peace of Amiens; had Bismarck and Louis Napoleon healed their differgnces—perpetu- ation would have been secured in every case of the status quo, of what was. But the purpose of human development is not to perpetuate any certain ‘mold, but to run civilization through a succession of molds, to what finality we know not. A mold is to be broken only by the hammer of war, a new mold is to be fashioned only on the anvil of war. Humanity suffers, but the world is advanced. Considering the price we pay, must not our destiny be sublime? A Drift of Our Times St. Louis Globe-Democrat.: In earlier years when a youth was sent to college it was thought to be settled in advance that he was on the way to entering upon one of the three learned professions, law, medicine, theology, or an educational career. There were predictions of success or failure, according to the mood and disposition. But such as opined that there might be danger of spoiling a good business man in making a poor lawyer, doctor or preacher, never dreamed it among the -possibilities that a college training could make a better business man out of a boy with a talent for business than he would be without such a training, or that the boy who could not or would not memorize and deliver a thunderous declamation on Friday afternoons, but had a penchant for calculating things in the mass, or running straight and oblique lines, had any need of callege training. And during generations there was much to justify such strange opinions. Every matricula- tion showed serried ranks of youths anxious to crowd into professions which began to be over- crowded quite a number of years ago. As late as 1904 there were, at Yale, 6,937 young men pre- paring themselves for the law, medicine, the min- istry and educational work, and but 4,095 am- bitious to make careers in manufacturing, finance, mercantile lines and engineering. During the Krc_scnt year the young men getting a training for ctive business life have been crowding the pro- fessionals much more closely. During 1916 the number of Yale students equipping themselves for the learned professions has been 8,574 and the number getting ready for business pursuits 8,163, Putting it in another way, the boys who are now in training for manufacturing, mercantile, finan- cial and engineering work are only 311 less in number than those in the other group, while a dozen years ago they were 2,800 less. The most_striking growth in the number of matriculants in the business course has been in the engineering department. In 1904 only 849 young men went to Yale for that sort of techni- cal training. This year 2218 are there for that urpose. The number taking courses in manu- acturing has more than doubled in the period, in financial training it has nearly doubled, and mercantile lines of study show about the same increase. In all probability other great educa- tional institutions show the same drift, which is, in fact, a drift of our times. People and Events The duke of Manchester, who married Miss Helena Zimmerman of Cincinnati, was commit- ted for trial by a London magistrate recently on a charge of obtaining credit without disclosing that he was an undischarged bankrupt. Lieutenant Pollner, a young and well-known Danish military aviator, is planning to make a rec- ord by crossing the Atlantic. He figures that the distance from the Faroe islands to Newfound- Jland can be covered in about thirty hours and the whole trip to New York in forty-eight hours, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis of the fed- eral court of Chicago continues dispedsing justice with the bark on. In a bankruptcy case now under way five witnesses who tried to deceive the court as to the whereabouts of missing assets were bound over to the grand jury for perjury under . thur. Massachusetts come to an agreement with Lord lllssl—Cardinal Gibbons ordained North and King George III; had Mirabeau ef- | the first colored Roman Catholic To the uninitiated most of the saloons had the appearance of being closed, but those who “had the tip" knew ex- actly how to find their way in Mr. Costers, special agent for the Edison electric light, is conferring with Messrs. J. J. Dickey and L. H. Korty in regard to the introduction of a system of incandescent lighting in Omabha. L. R. Bolles, city passenger agent of the Chicago & Northwestern road, has left for Chicago, where he will be married to a young woman of that city. After a short bridal tour Mr. and Mrs. Bolles will return to this city and take up their residence on west Farnam. This Day in History. 1807—England declared war against Russia. 1813—TFort Niagara was surprised and captured by the British. 1814—Macready, the famous actor, made his first appearance as ‘“Ro- meo. 1820—Mary A. Livermore, noted author and advocate of woman's rights, born in Boston. Died at Mel- rose, Mass., May 23, 1905. 1839—Baron Ferdinand de Roth- schild, one of the most prominent members of the great family of finan- clers, born in Paris. Died at his home in England December 17, 1898. 1862—Many buildings in Guate- mala destroyed by an earthquake. 1881—Benjamin H. Brewster of Pennsylvania appointed attorney gen- eral in the cabinet of President Ar- priest in America in the cathedral at Baltimore. 1900—Memorial services for the British soldiers who fell in South Af- rica held in St. Paul's cathedral. 1903—Emperor William congratu- lated the German legion ‘“on having saved the British army from destruc- tion at Waterloo.” The Day We Celebrate. Dr. Ernest Kelly is 33 years old to- day. He is one of Omaha's practic- ing physicians, George M. Tunison of the law firm of Jefferis & Tunison was born Decem- ber 20, 1882, at Parkersburg, la. He graduated in law from the University of Nebraska. Erhardt C. Hoeg, manager Inter- state Lumber company, is just 43 years old. He was born in Denmark, coming to this country in 1899. He was employed first with the National Lumber and Shingle company, going to his present firm in 1907. Dr. Solon R. Towne, practicing phy- sician, is 70 years old today. He was born in Stowe, Vt., and is a graduate of Portmouth college. He practiced first in New England and located in Omaha in 1888, Maria L. Sanford, for nearly thirty years a member of the faculty of the University of Minnesota, born at Old Saybrook, Conn., eighty years ago to- day. Henry C. Frick, one of the noted leaders of American industries, born at Overton, Pa., sixty-seven years ago today. Albert A. Michelson, Chicago univer- sity professor, Nobel prize winner and member of the National Reseagch council, born. in ' Germany sixty-four years ago today. Eleanor H. Porter, author of “Pol- lyana” and other well-known stories, born at Littleton, N. H., forty-eight years ago today. Mrs. Minnie Maddern Fiske, cele- brated actress, born in New Orleans fifty-one years ago today. Colonel William C. Brown, who commanded the Tenth cavalry in the | fight with the Mexicans at Aguas Cal- ientes last April, born in Minnesota | sixty-two years ago today. Timely Jottings and Reminders. | The president and Mrs. Wilson are to give a dinner at the White House tonight in honor of the supreme court justices. A special convocation of alumni is to be held at the University of Minne- sota today in honor of Maria Sanford, professor emeritus of the institution, on the occasion of her eightieth birth- day. The Chinese minister to the United States, Dr. V. K. Wellington Koo, is to be the convocation orator at the University of Chicago today. His ad- dress will be on the subject of “China and the United States.” Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt is to give a hearing today to committees representing the vari- ous classes of labor employed at the naval proving grounds at Indian Head, Md., in reference to the schedule of wages for the calendar year 1917 rec- ommended by the regular navy wage board and now awaiting final action by the Navy department. Storyette of the Day. An Italian organ grinder possessed a monkey which he “worked” through the summer months. When the cool days came his business fell off, and he discontinued his walks and melo- dies. An Irishman of his acquaintance offered him half a crown for the priv- ilege of keeping and feeding the littie beast. The bargain was made for a month. Great curiosity filled the mind of the Ttalian, and last he went osten- sibly to see his pet, but really to find | out what possibie use Pat could make of the monkey. The Irishman was frank. “It's like this," he said, “Oi put up a pole in me back yard, with the monkey on top Tin or twilve trains of cars loaded with coal go by every evenin' There’s men on every car. Every man tak bonds of $10,000 each. As a rule frame-up testi- mony doesn’t go very far in that court without any hitherto undertaken. | getting the framer into trouble. ! a heave at the monk. Divil a wan has hit him, but Oi have sivin tons ot ! coal."—Chicago News. of The Bee: The annual grain-car|tions, all departments and institutions shortage is upon us. We have good | for achieving that question, which in times and more freight for our rail-|its turn ought to serve as a basis for roads. Wy want good times to con-|further culture and growth of strength tinue. It'is possible to have good|and prosperity for the empire.” times and plenty of cars to haul our| grain. It is the duty of our people| to examine the causes and apply a remedy. Some years ago our railroads were | composed of trunk lines, the Burling-| ton, Rock Island, Union Pacific and | others owned their trunk lines only, | and they ran almost in direct lines We had numerous short lines, and small railroad companies did the freight and passenger business in| their small territory. The long trunk lines soon found that they could buy up the smaller corporations, add them to the trunk lines as branches, and make the trunk lines pay larger dividends. The net results now are that our trunk lines each have thou- | sands of miles of branch lines extend- ing like the Rock Island line, from | St. Paul, Chicago, Oklahoma, Colo- rado to the gulf and some to the Pa- | cific coast. This was the fulfillment | of a great railroad man’s dreams. But| where is the man or set of men who can handle such a colossal combina- | tion successfully? We now find no boxcars for grain worth mentioning in Nebraska or Kansas. They tell us they are at tho‘ gulf ports, at the terminals in the east, loaded. When we ask a rail- road man if they will be returned to Nebraska or Kansas when emptied we are told: No; it would be too ex- | pensive to haul empty cars from the | gulf ports to Nebraska to haul back a car of grain. They must wait until they are loaded back this way. To haul a train of empty cars from New York or the gulf to Nebraska or the | far west would be an unheard of proposition. But must the great| states of the west be laid prostrate | when we have good times, on account of a scarcity of cars? Is there no| remedy? We know there is. Why| is it we are seldom short of stock cars, and yet we ship about half as many cars of stock in Nebraska as we do grain? Tt is because stock cars | are unloaded at Omaha and are sent, back for reloading. If we had a very moderate number of boxcars for grain in Nebraska, to load for Omaha our| present terminal market, and sent| back to be loaded again, we would| never know what car shortage was. | A large number of cars come into the state from' the east loaded with merchandise, that perhaps would take care of one-half of the grain in the way of loading them back, and if we| had one-half the number of boxcars| kept in this state that we have of/| stock cars, they would take care of | the shipment of all the grain we| raise. { Can our railroads be compelled to| keep a sufficient number of cars in| the state to do the business we offer: them and are willing to pay for? No-| body will say they cannot be com- pelled to do so. The freight on a car of wheat at present from central Nebraska to Omaha is three times as much as the freight on a car of stock. If it pays the railroads to keep cars for stock why won't it pay them to keep cars in the state for grain? 1 bought grain and stock on the St. Joseph & Grand Island railroad. Their line runs from St. Joseph to Grand Island and from Stromsburg to Alma, Neb. During the ten years 1 was there, including the enormous crop of 1896, we never lacked for cars, | because they kept a sufficient number | of cars on their lines to carry the grain to St. Joseph, their terminal | Where they are faring at the close of day. FELIX NEWTON. TRIFLES LIGHT AS AIR. Kid Brother—How soon are you and sis goin’ to be married? Accepted Sultor—She hasn't named the day yet, Willle. I hope she doegn't belleve in_long engagements. Kid Brother—She doesn't, T know, all her engagements have been short.—Bos- ton Transcript Mecker—Didn't I always give you my sal- ary check the first of every month? Mrs. Meeker—Yes, but you never told me that you got paid on the first and fifteenth, you embezzler.—New York Globe. DEAR MR. KABIGBLE, 1 SEE WHERE A CLEVELAD PROFESSOR SAYS PEOPLE SHOWD NOY MARRY FOR LOVE — 18 WE RIGHY2 — ANYIous C Al HE'S LATE—MARRIAGE BROKERS HAVE BEEN SANING THAY R NEARS! Teacher—Now, children, what was the cause of the decline of the Roman empire? Bright Boy—I know. It was due to too much militarism on the part of outsiders.— Puck “It no longer takes three gemerations to make a gentleman.” “Think s0?" “Yes. We are moving so much faster. And it takes one generation to produce a parasite.”"—Life. Bacon—You know our preacher says that the Bible is man's best friend. Egbert—Well, why does he pound his best friend so?-—Yonkers Statesman. “It isn't the gift that counts, It's the spirit.” “I hope my gift will count.” “That's the wrong spirit.” “Not at all. I am going to give my brother an adding machine."—Louisville Courier-Journal. ' “If 1 stand on my head, the blood all rushes to my head, doesn’t it?* No one ventured to contradict him. “Now,” he continued triumphantly, “whe § I stand on my feet, why doesn't the blood all rush into my feet?" ‘“Because,” replied Fostetter McGinnis, ‘“your feet are not empty.”—Ram's Horn. OLD FRIENDS ARE BEST. Memphis Commercial-Appeal. 01d friends are best! Ol forms, old hearts, old faces That haunt the mémory of the passing years, And seem to dwell among deserted places, Reproving us for all our nameless fears. Old friends are best! The roses softly blowing Close by the door, they always seem to say “Old friends are best,” although we're never knowing Old friends are best! Somehow, the memory clinging, Brings back the faces that we used to know, And in the winter of the heart is ringing The songs we loved, 80 many years ago. Old friends are best! ‘When autumn twilight falling Brings respite from the duaily toil and care, I seem to hear their vibrant volces cali- ing, Although I know—I know they are not there. Monday and Every Day Until Xmas We Place Our Card Stock on Sale 2 AT ‘A. HOSPE CO., PRICE—ONE-HALF OFF 1513-1515 DOUCLAS ST, Open Evenings The Christmas and New Year’s Greeting that is most expressive of yourself, most characteristic of the holiday spirit, most quickly deliv- ered and most joy- fully received is a WESTERN Special holiday forms are provided to add to the appreciation of your good wishes. THE WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH CO. UNION Telegram