Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-06-18

largely anti-allance. forced il to do So Every
farmer in the legislature was fully aware of the
destitution that prevailed in the west. Every
one of them had cried aloud for months de-
handing action which would relieve the awful
condition OF affairs and vet they were in session
three months before a thing was DONE and in
the meantime starvation would have removed
thousands had not the business men Of Omaha
assumed and carried the burden until the be-
lated appropriation reimbursed them.
That was greatlegisature and as a museum
OF amateur political freaks has never been
equaled. The vast majority of legislative ideas
were fooiishiy impracticable and yet this ma
jority was so determined TO force things in its
own way that nothing but the alliance OF the
republicans and democrats prevented action
that could not have been far short Of disas-
trous. The scenes in the legislature will never
be forgotten by those who witnessed them.
For twenty hours Speaker Elder and ex-I.ieut.
Gov. Meiklejohn sat side by side. each putting
motions and each announcing his own decl-
sion. which was invariably the reverse of what
the other man said IL was.
THEY ROBBED THE cAPIroL-
No man is more envious of the privileges
which belong TO official life than the average
farmer. No man more readily formulates eco-
nomic plans and no one insists more pertina-
ciously upon the rigid enforcement of every
niggardly rule And yet when the last Nebraska
legislature came to a too-long- delayed end it
was the farmers who robbed the state capitol
of all movable furniture and decorative bric-a-
brac. They carried away more stationery than
they could use In five years. Door mats pur-
chased by the state adorn the entrances to
many log huts; waste baskets are scattered
from the Kansas line to the Wyoming and
South Dakota boundaries; paper weights are
in the unwashed hands of scores of little ones
who would never have known what paper
weight was had not their paternal progenitor
been member of the alliance and portion of
the legislature; farmers who for years had
been accustomed TO eject tobacco juice on hot
stoves and muddy floors now put deep seal
brown hnts on porcelain juice boxes for which
the people of Nebraska we're taxed. Even
few bro0ms that the unwary janitor had left
lying around were hauled away by the unscru-
pulous, who had all through the session been
yelling economy. Washington and its feather
buster legislature, by comparison, were not in
it.
SENATORIAL PROBABILITIES.
About the only man in Nebraska who saw
this alliance wave coming was Senator Paddock,
and he has labored nightly to float with the
current. His pure food bill was directly in
line with agricultural ideas, and his vote against
the Mckinley bill did not lose him any friends
among those who cultivate the soil. Yet the
probabilities are that Senator Paddock will not
be reelected. His friends are hoping against
hope. 1t will be most unfortunate thing for
Nebraska should one of these alliance men sue
coed Mr. Paddock, and yet that seems to be the
only thing in sight just now. With this posi-
bility plainly visible il must be evident even to
the low-grade political prophet that Senator
Henderson cannot be persuaded 10 accept the
War department portfolio, which will III No
vember next be resigned by Secretary Proctor.
Should Senator Henderson accept any federal
Office just now it would simply mean the cleo
tion OF an alliance Senator in his place, and
when in little while Senator PaddOck's term
expired there would be two alliance Senators
from Nebraska. Would it no. be refreshingly
strange if Mr.. Paddock's successor turns out to
be the well-known Van Wyck. And yet such
Van Wyck is the farmers idol,
and unless some iconoclast comes along soon
and smashes him he will so back to the Senate
the same breezy, pugnacious, old Crazy
Horse" To such an extent has Mr.. Van Wyck
engaged in the pursuit of life tin the Senate)
and liberty Ito indulge in endless oratory) that
he Is advocating any alliance measures. He
fayors the Hennepin canal now, and in a speech
at Des MONIES farmers convention
last March said he was anxious to see this
canal in operation, not only from the Illinois
river to the Mississippi, but from the Missis-
slppi to the Missouri and through to the Rocky
Any man who can engineer the
Heuuepin canal to the Rockies, even paper.
ought to be in the Senate or in some other place
where the public can keep its eye on him and
see that he does not harm himself or injure any
OF his relatives.
The one thing that might upset the opposi-
ton to Senator Paddock reelection is the in
dubitable fact that the alliance will this fall
secure possession of all the county offices. If
there is anything the Nebraska alliance cannot
stand IL is success, and the distribution of these
county offices will give birth to SO many fac
tons that Paddock may yet be on top for an
other six years.
LABOR ORGANIZATIONS DON'T AFFILIATE.
Conversation with few of the leading work
ingmen here disclosed what was to me a rather
astonishing fact The labor organizations of
Omaha will not affiliate with the alliance.
Numerous and persistent efforts have been and
are being made TO bring the mechanics into
the Farmers Alliance, but the mechanics will
not have it. They say they will not be mixed up
with any body of men that behaves as foolishly
as the alliance did in the legislature. The fact
that the laborers here have no great grievances
has probably great deal to do with the indie
pendent spirit, but some credit must be given
TO the religious influences which keep the
away from the agriculturists.
Most OF the toilcrs in Omaha are democrats, and
1t 10 common everyday gossip that the church
which has In its membership the democratic
of the country is opposed to any third
party uioyement ,,ro "A H.pptrs