Omaha daily bee., 1896-12-19

| climatic conditions by which they we're sur
rounded and to the fact that they must
work with those conditions in Wow. As
a result they had studied the art Of agrlcul-
! ture by artificial irrigation and this had
| made wonderful progress and converted
| thousands Of acres Of formerly arid lands
| into cultivated fields. For the future he had
| great confidence In the present legislature
! Of Nebraska, Il wished to do what was best
! for ths people, and nothing that would in
! jurlously AFFECT the interests Of any part of
! the commonwealth. We were as adyanta-
| geously situated as any state In the union
! and IL we all worked hard and worked to-
| gether there was no reason why Nebraska
! should not become one Of the weaithiest
! states in the uilcn. As one measure OF eX-
| pedting the governor declared in favor OF
| turning the public lands over to the state
| government to be developed by irrigation,
| 10 emphasized the necessity for hone n7:-
| rOnage and called attention to the fact that
Nebraska had the second biggest corn crop
| In the United states. In closing the speaker
again returned to the exposition and dwelt
earnestly on the important relation 1t bore
to the prosperity Of the state. 1t was
sentially Nebraska enterprise and every
enterprise and interest In the state should
hc represented,
Secretary of Sate-eleCt w L. Porter dis
cussel The Duties and Privileges Of an
American Citizen" BY way of preface Mr.
Porter said that he was a farmer There
had been too much talk in the past that
lue farmers III lNe country anu lHe puSl-
ness men in the cities had divergent in
terests He was glad to observe that this
was passing away. The two classes were
discovering that their interests were denti-
cal. a few more occasions like the present
and this prejudice would disappear like
mists before a morning sun. II was one
of the beauties of American citizenship that
no matter how men might differ no matter
how closely the lines of battle might be
drawn, when the fight was over they could
again unite for their common interests and
one of them was to give the state and
nation the very best government possible.
1t was the intention of every state officer
elect to give the state the best govern
ment in their power, and it became the
duty and privilege of every patriotic citi-
zen to assist them in this endeavor.
Constantine J. Smyth of this city answered
with an emphatic affirmative the question,
"Can the People Be Trusted?' If proof was
needed it was afforded by his own election.
OF course there were exceptions. Republi
cans could not be trusted with democratic
secrets and democrats could not be trusted
with republican campaign funds. But in
the serious and broader sense the people
could be trusted. Call them together in any
public place and ask them to take from a
man his just rights without adequate com
pensation and they would drive you from the
platform. Ask the average man to do a
mean and dtshonorable act and he would be
likely to knock you down for the insult.
Any man who should say that the present
legislature and state officers were elected
to saadbag capital or strike down private
rights, was slanderer either through ignor-
ance or malice. If ANYTHING was wanted 10
defeat such a SANDER it was found in the
person of the executive, who was now the
guest of Omaha. POpulism like every great
popular movement had its origin in radical |
ism. But as every movement progressed the
radical men either became moderate or
passed out of control. The control of the
populist party had now passed out Of the
hands of the radicals into those OF
the Holcombs and Aliens and no
one needed to fear for the result |
They knew that Nebraska could not subsst |
alone on strong hands and clear brains 1t |
must protect the interest that built her up |
and the people could be trusted to 90 that.
KEEP SOME THINGS QUIET.
G. NJ Hitchcock spoke on "The Unpub- |
lished Part" Mr.. Hitchcock stated that he
realized that some of his friends were |
awaiting his speech with good deal of |
anxiety, but he would assure them that the |
confidence they had given him in the past |
should not be violated on the present occa-
slon He said that no one who was out of |
the newspaper business imagined the pres
sure that was daily brought to bear on news
paper offices to keep things out of the paper
To decide what should go in and what
should be Kept out was a daily problem that
was frequently serious, and the decision
must often be made instantly. Many ed
itors were condemned for publishing obiec-
tlonable matter, but they were seldom COM
mended for the thousands of columns that
they had refused to publish, often at a finan-
cial sacrifice. 1t was true that a class of
newspapers had sprung up for the apparent
purpose OF eNuding as much sensational and
immoral matter as possible But he was
glad to say for American journalism that
the majority of editors were daily excluding
from their papers columns of scandalous
matter for which they received little credit
at any time
Chancellor George e. MacLean of the
University of Nebraska spoke on Omaha
Lincoln. The Paper Wedding" Mr.. MacLaan
said that on a similar occasion two years ago
1t had been his privilege to join the
two cities. 1t had been said that
they could not live happily together. but
on this second anniversary il was apparent !
that their relations were anything but
frigid The union had not been without
fruits during these two years There were
seven of the university boys in the present
legislature. Dave Mercer was another. and
his stay at Lincoln had helped to prepare
him to be the Father of the Exposition"
Educationally the state had prospered from
the farthest hamlet up to the university,
in spite OF the hard times, and there was
now an Omaha club Of sixty members in
that institution. This educational bond had
sealed and consummated the union between
Lincoln and Omaha.
Charles ii. MARBLE answered the nterro-
application at Thomas Watson of recent
political fame, and after telling a couple of
stories he applied the serious side of the
question to the present situation in Ne
braska. There had been a time of pros
perity when we had wasted our substance
in riOtOus living. But our msfortunes had
brought us closer together and taught us
that in union there was strength. Another
day of prosperity was dawning and the ex-
perience of the past few years would as
sst to prevent a repetition of its errors
FOUNDATION OF CIVILIZATION
Agriculture the Foundation of Civliza-
tion" was the text from which Commits
sioner Jacob V. Wolfe spoke briefly. He
that his task was easy since no
one questioned the truth of the proposition
1t had been the history of the world that {
wherever agriculture reaches its highest ! !
development was found the nobest type
Of civilization. Nebraska was purely an
agricultural state. From its rich soil was |
produced nearly everything that its people S
When the farmers were pros /
porous the whole people were prosperous S
and happy, s
General Charles f. Manderson discussed /