The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1903-10-08

against the trusts and the railroads.
There may be side issues, but they all
finally verge in this one. Take the new
revenue law which is producing SO
much discussion throughout the state.
That Is question of whether farmers
shall pay all tie. increased taxation
necessary to pay off the state debt,
which has increased so fast since the
republicans got back into power, or
the railroads shall pay their just pro-
portion of 1t. The effect Of that law
will not be felt until next year, but
the farmers, after they begin to pay
their taxes, will see what it means.
Under the new law, no one has word
to say about what the railroads shall
pay except a few state officers whom
the railroads hope to select in ad-
v, nee of conventions and then elect
them.
The thing that presses now is the
exactions Of the meat trust. Cattle
men stand on the verge of bankruptcy
today. The price of cattle is suci
that it means loss to the producer.
she men who generally feed cattle are
at sea. They don't know what tc offer
feeders. They say that feeding cat
tie now is as uncertain as gambling
IN stocks. The meat trust buyers meet
every night and fix the price of cat
tie for the next day. If they fix at a
losing rate for the cattle man he ships
tc another place. thu buyers there are
Informed in advance, and he is offered
still lower price. The feeder, there
fore, If he does not want to risk
Bankruptcy, must buy his feeders on
very wide margin The loss falls on
the cattle raiser.
been largely incr eased during the last
three or four years. What is paid the
railroads in extra freight charges
comes out Of the men who raise cattle.
The city dweller is about equally in
terested in this usiness for notwith-
standing the fell in the price of cattle
shere has been no reduction in the
retail price of meat. We are paying
now as much or more for meat than
We did when cattle were at the highest
notch.
From this condition there arises two
opposing interests On the one side is
or the other side are the railroads and
the trusts. The railroads have just
as good a right to go into this cam
paign and elect their man if they can,
as the farmer and city consumer have
to elect their man. The railroads are
il. politics and have right to be there
They will fight fer their own interests
and have a right to fight for them.
There is no sense in denying it. The
farmers and city consumers should
also go into polit cs and fight for their
interests. That is what The Indepen-
dent advises them to do. Vote for
their own interests.
Not only are the cattle men inter
ested In this fight, but the grain rais-
ers as we'll The railroads and !hc
elevators are in combination to fleece
the farmers on the price OF Their
grain. There is a desperate e@crt be-
ing made by the farmers to get ele-
vators of their own. In few places
they have succeeded. but after they
get their elevate they have no means
of finding out how much rebates the
trust elevators get. Out at one town
the farmers bought an old mill site to
which a side track ran, built an ele-
yator and filled II with grain. When
tLev wanted to ship 1t, the railroad
refused to put the cars on that side
track and the farmers had to run the
wheat into wagons, haul it over to the
other track and shovel it into the
cars ! aw suits concerning such mat
ters will come up to the supreme court
for adjudication, and the roads have
selected man. who for fifteen years
served them faithfully as an attor-
nev, to decide such cases for them
when thew reach that court. AS they
paw their ATTORNEYS by the year and it
costs them but little, thew tale most
of the cases that go to the supreme
court. If thew have that court, they
have the whole thing.
There is nothing in this camDaien
but this contest between the interests
OF the aericultnrists and the interests
OF the railroads and elevator trust.
That is all there is to it. The man
who has not sense enough to vote and
work for his own interest instead OF
f'f7 - t4f.f : " y