Omaha daily bee., 1899-10-14

WILLIAM NEVILLE SELF -CONVIC TED.
william Neville, the popullst candi-
date for congress in the Sixth congress
sonal district. has come out publicly
denying the authorship of the letter
quoted in The Bee, in which he placed
himself squarely on record against Civ
ing back the Philippines either 10 Spain
or TO the Filipinos In his denial Judge
Neville says:
| see by the papers that the statement
that Judge Neville wrote an article favor
ing expansion is still going the rounds
The article referred to was written by
Judge James Neville Of Omaha, which fact
was at all times we'll known by the editor
Of The Omaha Bee. No such letter was ever
written by me, and never entertained any
different views with reference to our duty
In the Philippine islands than those now
have.
This attempt Of William Neville to put
off upon his brother letter which he
had written and published over his own
name is significant Of the ease with
which he changes his convictions to suit
the exigencies OF his political ambitions
The letter quoted in The Bee as giving
the position of Judge Neville on the
question of Philippine annexation was
printed originally In the Lincoln Inde
pendent, the official populist organ, the
second week in December. $685. 1t was
reprinted and commented on edtorially
by The Omaha Bee December 10. 1898.
1t was written by Judge William
Neville in response to a request by the
editor of the Independent for his opinion
of the causes that had led to the partial
defeat of the fusion ticket by the loss
of the legislature in the preceding elec-
ton. In this letter, over his own sigma
ture, William Neville says:
The war was declared and justified upon
the demand OF suffering humanity. TO DE-
LIVER THE PHILIPPINES BACK TO
SPAIN OR EVEN ABANDON THEM TO
THEIR OWN FATE WOULD BELLE THE
DECLARATION OF WAR When the proper
time comes for an issue upon the independ.
ence Of the Philippines the popullsts will
probably divide upon the question, just In
proportion as they believe annexation will
concentrate or distribute wealth. The war
was conducted to glorious victory for Ameri
can valor and everyone knows that a vast
army cannot be equipped in hurry without
some unworthy and incompetent subordinatsS
being selected. and the people were not
willing to mar a great national victory by
denounciug the administration for the be-
trayal Of trust by such subordinates.
That these We're the sentiments Of
Judge William Neville at the time they
yr-rit c r1n n In 1n-fi
The judge is known to have expressed
himself along the same lines 10 other
people and TO have been vehement in
denouncing popocratic opposition to the
war. If this letter was written by his
brother and printed over the name of
William Neville by mistake, why is it
that he has waited nearly year to deny
its authorship and to denounce it rs
tending TO mislead the public as to his
views? How would the editor Of the
Independent have come to request Of
Brother James Neville his opinion of the
causes of popocratic downfall when the
latter is not recognized among the lead
ers Of the populist party?
IDtlOAS ihNO Pl'hI WIN uh
equivocal denial the acrobatic judge
might have refreshed his memory by eX-
amining his letter again. Such an ex-
aminat ton wonld have shown unmis-
taxable evidences that it emanated from
his pen, because the greater part of it is
devoted TO an outcry against the injus-
tice perpetrated upon the people of the
Sixth district by the unequal apportion-
ment of legislative representatives and
demand for it's correction. Brother
James Neville lives in the Second con-
gressional district and is not at all con-
cerned with the legislative apportion-
ment allotted TO the Sixth district
Instead of helping his cause by deny
ing that he ever expressed himself
against giving up the Philippines, VIII
liam Neville has proclaimed himself to
be nothing more than the ordinary po
litical mountebank, whose presence in
congress would be n disgrace to the
state. Do the people of the Sixth CON
gressional district want to be rep
resented at Washington by such a man?
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FIN ATJ1T. SJTIA ATIIS