Omaha daily bee., 1893-10-22
TwEsTr THOUSAND seRfs.

dlu tO-OHtIdNlOh. III ltdii1g1 NhO oS'O
aim of its promoters was political dom
inatioh. 1t Is the open boast of the rail-
road magnates that 90 900 votes are now
at their command in Nebraska to be
masscd for or against any candidate or
ticket. All that is needed is a mandate
from the railroad czar issued through
his political eunuchs, who hold COM
missions as organizers of the Order of
Rally Serfs.
Can this be true? Are there 10000
men in the state of Nebraska so abject
and fallen so low that they would play
tho part of political Pinkortons to shoot
down honest men with ballots and help
to rivet the chains of d%espotism upon
this commonwealth? Can ii be possible
that the men who hire their muscle and
brain to a great corporation must also
barter their souls away? Has bread be-
come so LEAF and human blood so cheap
hat men would sacrifice the right OF
self-government, for which millions
have laid down their lives in prison and
on the battlefield, for the sake of q bare
livelihood? And where is the recon-
pense for converting the most precious
boon of American citizenship, the cleo
tive franchise, into an engine of out
lawry and oppression? Surely, the men
who toll in the railroad workshop; the
men who fisk life and limb in the train
service; the men who for a mere pit
lance keep the roads in repair and the
men who subject themselves to the close
confinement of Office work, each and all
earn every penny they are credited with
on the company's pay roll.
Where are these men to be benefited
| by playing the despicable and criminal
| role of political Hessians? Are they SO
blind and stupid as not to know that
their wages are gagged by the laws Of
| supply and demand and not affected
either one way or another by the Incl
dent of politics? They have been told
by imposters that the reduction in the
operating force and in the amount Of
wages is due to unfavorable legislation.
when as a matter of fact the railroad
managers have never obeyed any law
that they have not been willing to obey.
They are perpetual outlaws and anar-
chists. The interstate m law
has been on the statute books of the
nation for more than six years and
it has never been enforced where the
railroads did not profit by putting it into
effect. The constitution of Nebraska
absolutely prohibits the pooling OF
parallel lines, but Car Holdrege found
no obstacle in consolidating the Burling.
ton with the Atchlson 81 Nebraska road.
Rebates and drawbacks are unlawful
and yet the managers are constantly
evading the law.
The maximum rate bugbear has beer
played tor all it is worth as an excuse
for reducing wages, but the law is still,
hung up in the courts and may remain 6
dead letter for years. But that fac
will not restore the old wages to the
serfs who are expected to vote by order
In Iowa the railroad serfs were masset
ia favor of Governor Boies twice b!
order, but We lave not heard yet that
single railroad employe has been bene
flied.
More than ten years ago Herber
Spencer, the most eminent Englisl
philosopher, made the following com
ment upon American free self-govern
ment:
You retain the forms of freedom but S
far as / can gather there has been a consiG
, cradle loss of the substance. 1t is true tina
those who rule you do not do it by means G
retainers armed with swords, but they do
through regiments Of men armed with votin
y papers who obey the word Of command a
l loyalty as did the dependents Of the oil
t feudal mobiles, and who thus enable the
: leaders to override the general will an
/: make the community submit TO their exa,
+ tion AS effectually as their prototypes of oil
q ManifestIy those who framed the consult
!. ton never dreamed that &c. 900 citizens woul
. go to the polls led by a boss.
= How s~trikingly applicable this i
Twenty thousand railway men led by
boss marching to the polls with fxe
. voting papers to override the gener,
. will as eifectually as did the regimen
of armed m%ercenaries under the cor
mand'Of the feudal robber knights wi
h from their castles pounced down upc
< the wayfaring merchant traveller ar
~ held him up by crying, "Your money
70 your life"
"a For our part we cannot and wi
not believe that the railway employees
ID u city and state have mortgagedk he
s souls and abjured their political fai
o for a mess OF railroad pot,age. 1t wou
80 almost be sacrilege to assume tn
American ~breadwinners would be driy,
to such terrible straits. We prefer
believe that the unholy compact, if a