Omaha daily bee., 1896-06-19
YEARS.

and proud that II has successfully over.
come almost i~nsurmountable obstacles,
1t has fought n continuous battle royal
almost from the day Of its inception
and never wavcred i'm the course that
had been marked out for it. Never
shrinking from what it has conceived
to be it's duty. The Bee has been forg-
ing forward from year to year on the
straight and narrow path without
ainchiur, looking neither to the right
nor to the left,
With the courage of its convictions,
rhc Bee has never counted The cost
in any contest which involved n cardi-
nal principle or vital issue, but has
/ manfully combatted what it believed
TO be wrong at ever sacrifice. Constant
in its devotion to the public Interest
and unComprcmiSiug in its hdeltty to
the public welfare. it has kept the
scarchlight of publicity upon every
measure and every action in which the
people have been concerned. Its loyalty
to city, state and nation during Il quar-
ter of a century cannot be called in
question, nor its integrity be success
fully impugned. Neither the blandish-
mCntS of power nor the temptations of
money have bcen able to swerve it from
its policy and purpose.
Imbued with the conviction that the
highest mission of an honest and rtputa-
Bile newspaper is to uphold integrity
and dcnounce corruption. The Bee has
never hesitated to place the stigma of
disgrace upon betrayers of trusts, high
or low. friend or foe. nor TO commend the
honest performance of duty by public
officers irrespective of party or personal
enmity. Above all things it has been
a constant and true exponent of the
real interests and rights of the toiling
masses. 1t has steadily opposed the
enroachments of monopoly, the political
tyranny of corporate despots who seek
to coerce employees by threats or brides.
Ii has been the constant champion of
the free public schools and the enemy
Of all bigotry and fanaticism.
Its first lance was broken for the
establishment of the free chool VS.
ten administered for all the people
by an elective Board of Education and
the overthrow of an aristocratic junta
that had seized control of our High
school. Its second political battle was
for the adoption of Il new constitution
divorcing church and state, placing all
property on an equal footing for taxa
ton without respect to ownership, and
subjecting all corporations created by
the state to state regulation and supervi-
sion. While this constitution failed of
adoption by fraudulent count, its prin-
ciples We're right and have always had
the support of this paper. The third
battle was against the abuse of federal
patronage in corrupt combination with
railroad cohorts, "A platform upon which
The Bee has always stood and upon
which it fought and won its last state
campaign.
And yet The Bee is republican to the
core. 1t believes in republican doctrine
aud hny nlNrnr. n1unn.tnl trtrn ,.n,,,,I
licanism. 1t has supported every repub-
lican presidential ticket from 1872 to
republican candidates for state
Office in twenty-five years. Its
opposition to particular republican
candidates has never been die
tated by personal motives, but from
conviction that their election would be
detrimental to the party as well as
dangerous to the public. 1t is also Il
matter of record that the greatest tri-
umphs ther republican party has achieved
in Nebraska have been those won
through the inStrumentality of The Bee.
While infallibility cannot be claimed
rs an attribute of any mar or news
paper, the mistakes that have been
made by The Bee are to be ascribed to
accident or ignorance of facts later
M not to perverse intention.
Its aim has always been, and will al
ways be, to treat all men and meas
ures strictly on their merits, commend
ing what it believes to be right, con
demning what it believes to be wrong.
Il quarter of Il century this has been
its policy, and it will continue to be its
policy.
Grateful for the appreciation of its
course and the liberal patronage ac-
it by the public, The Bee trusts
it will merit the uninterrupted conf
dence of its patrons and the respect
and support of the general public
which is the true measur of success
ful in~prnn1iSm