The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1904-10-27

prove to the people not only the
lnaccuracy of the statement, but that
you must have known that it was in
| accurate at the time you published it.
| You arrive at these figures by a slight
of-hand performance that would do
credit to juggler. You charge the
fusion administration with alleged I'M
paid claims to the amount Of $lS2, 900
OF course some unpaid claims are al
ways lett over from one administration
tc another. In the transaction of the
states business it cannot be otherwise
But you conceal the ract that the flu
sion administration paid $50 AS of
claims left over by the former repub-
lican administration. You did not in
J clude these claims left over by the
republican administration in your
statement Of the debt of the state
when the fusionists went into power
You gave the warrant .ebtedness
only. But when you came to figure
the debt when the fusionists went out
OF power you added the total amount
OF the unpaid claims to the warrant
indebtedness. You must nave done
this deliberately, and with the inten-
ton to deceive. You surely knew what
you were doing; you knew that this
statement would be disprnved if you
dared meet Mr.. Berge in Joint debate.
knowing this you declined and instead
issued misleading statement hoping
thereby to deceive the voters. Not for
! ssa,,r benefit. governor but for the
benefit OF rthose--Mlio nlay -De aeoaivad
by your letter, we give the Information
That the appropriations made by the
fusion legislature to cover the claims
left unpaid by the republican admins
tration will be found in the session
laws OF 1897, just as we give them
here.
But, governo, these are not the only
misleading statements in your letter
you seek to make the people believe by
half truth and half falsehood that ex--
traordinary expenditures were made
I under your administration to the
amount OF $605,00O. Your article
adrottly leads the reader to believe
that this money has been expended
and that is one reason why the debt
has been increased. That statement
You likewise knew to be wrong when
you wrote it. You included in this
$6O5.OOO the sum Of $4,000 for the
normal school at Kearney. when YOU
knew or could have known that only
$780,. 81 of it had been spent. You
knew that the corner stone Of the
lbulidlng' was laird only Tuesday Of this
week and you knew that when that
building was completed he states
debt would be increased $49632.48
more. But in your usual deceptive
way and with a pretense Of fairness
and truth you wanted the people to
believe that the building of the Kear-
ney school helped to account for the
states enormously increased debt
You included in your statement 500.
coo for the insane asylum at Norfolk.
usnnn aue-Well@akneW that warrants
mad been drawn Tor only S scce sssa6 es of
that amount and that the remaining
S39, 464.65 is still to be paid and added
to the states debt. We mention these
larger matters and pass by the minor
statements of similar character. but
when the balance of the appropria-
tons are put into warrants the state
debt will be increased nearly $1S5 900
more
But, governor, while you did not say
it directly. the letter is plainly in
tended to make the people believe that
10 extraordinary expenditures occurred
during the fusion administration. Gov
ernor, the session laws of 1897 and the
session laws Of 1899 both show the
truth in regard to this matter We
need not state what these extraordin-
ary expenditures were for your en-
iightenment, because you knew all
about them when YOU issued your
misleading letter. But we do state it
tor the information of the people of
Nebraska.
Here are the extraordinary appro-
Driations made by the fusion legisla-
tire in 1897:
Wing for the Norfolk asvlum & 25 nOO
WING for HASTINGS ASYLUM. 90. onO
] and for Hastings ASYLUM. 5000
hnrmitory state normal school
| Wing for state university. 20 cnn
Trans-Mississippi Exposition. loo. 200
| -fN'"i 5/l NiIl
Here are the UNUSUAL appropriations
for 1900
At HASTINGS asvlum. 90 nn0
Fnoine house at same place. -. $1,000
|