davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02
SUCCESSFUL SANITATION.

1t appears that the work of sanitation
on the Isthmus of Panama has been so
successful that the yellow fever danger
has been practically removed and there
is now no fear of a return of the dread
disease. 1t is stated that when Governor
there were numerous cases of fever and
the number increased in the following
month. The governor Immediately pro-
ceeded to investigate the situation, with
the result that he found several cOndi-
tons which needed to be remedied and
issued the necessary orders for their cor
rection. The effect was salutary, the
number of cases Of fever steadily Sleclin-
ing, the last case reported being on Sep
TENDER %.
What has been done in Panama is not
less creditable TO the officials than the
sanitary work accomplished in Cuba and
it has taken less time. To put the 18TH
mus in a condition such as is stated to
exist seemed like formidable task, but
it was seen to be absolutely necessary
before the work Of canal construction
could be actively entered upon and ener-
getically prosecuted. 1t was difficult to
secure labor for region where diseases
constantly prevailed. Now that the con
ditions there have been so much i'm
proved there probably win be no serious
trouble in obtaining all the laBor that
will be required. II is stated that the
general health of Panama is excellent,
while the spirit of the American colony
has become as admirable as 1t was a
few months ago deplorable and demon
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02
WITH THE PRESIDENT

Mr.. Roosevelt is assured of the sup
port of one prominent southern demo
crat in his effort to obtain legislation
for the regulation of railroad rates.
This is Representative John Sharp Viii
liams Of Mississippi, who was leader of
his party in the last house and undoubt-
eddy will continue in that position in
the Fifty-ninth congress. Mr.. Williams
has announced that he, with other south
ern democrats, favors the program laid
out by the president and it is said that
the announcement has somewhat per-
turbed the republican opponents of Mr..
Roosevelt's rate regulation policy.
So far as the democrats of the house
are concerned. Mr.. Williams will un.
doubtedly be able to marshal them in
support of the president, but it is not so
certain that he will be able to influence
any of the democratic senators, or at
any rate such of them as are opposed
to the presidents position. 1t is not
known how the southern senators. with
the exception OF Morgan of Alabama
stand on this question, but it is quite
possible that a majority of them will be
found hostile to the president, mainly
for partisan reasons. The declaration
OF Mr.. Williams is, however, a gain fol-
the cause of railroad rate regulation
that will have good deal of influence
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02

100 per cent That is to say, for every 50
spent the city got only 81 worth, and the
dollar was steal
That is on what is past. What was to
come? THE estimated cost of completing
existing filtration contracts at contract
prices is 81 .6S5.OC0. a fair price, allowing
90 per cent. profit. would be I,2lS,o0O. IL
completed under these contracts the loss
to the city would be $4,000. Can the carp
ers understand now why the work was
stopped? The total cost of both the north
eastern and the southern boulevards as
planned at contract prices would be $7635,
600, and the dead loss to the city would be
S., 10000, including the loss already sus-
tanned. On filtration and the boulevards
the total prospective loss would be $2S4,655.
Added to the graft already shown it would
make an aggregate colossal steal of &c.,
1856 1856.
But even more appalling than the money
loss in this gigantic steal is the wanton loss
of lives. Graft, delay and death went hand
in land The report shows that with proper
management the filtration plant -hight have
been completed and in operation on January
1. 1904 1t makes plain by comparison that
this would have saved 1900 deaths by
typhoid These 1900 murders are directly
traceable and chargeable TO the fraudulent
mismanagement. Oh, the shame Of the un-
speakable crime!
The crushing report points straight to
the penitentiary.
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02
REASONABLE ADVICE.
S. w. GILLIAN in PUCK.


Don't mind a shivered fin, my lad, or frac-
tured collarbone:
If you were hurt with wrong intent the
harm is not your own.
Don't mind few unraveled ribs, disinte-
grated spine
If tother did it purposely the injury amt
thine.
Don't care a whoop IL both your hips are
yanked from out their sockets
The pay for damages like these comes out
of other pockets.
Don't notice shattered femurs, crumbled
hbae-Oh, no!
The man who meant TO smash you gets the
lions share OF woe.
Ignore that storm cloud-tinted eye that
cheek that's black and blue
In after years your smasher must feel
vastly worse than you.
Just giggle DER your fractured skull, paste
on your severed ear
The rascal meant to do 1t, so it's who
should have the fear.
And If with fell intention twenty buckos
mount your chest
And trample on 1t till your soul has sought
the land of rest,
Within your silver-handled home you'll lie
and gloat like fun
Ger what those chaps must undergo for all
the dirt they've done!
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02
PLATrTuDEs on EMBEzzLEMENrs
Conditions Which Cannot he Ex-
planned by SneerinE.
Chicago Record Herald.


When Charles G. Dawes denounced the
''platltudes" of the Nebraska bank presi-
dent, who made a speech at the bankers
convention at Lincoln, he showed that he
was laboring under serious delusion as to
the quality and quantity of western public
opinion. The Nebraska man had been
talking, perhaps, in a declamatory style,
about the various abuses in high finance
which recent Investigations have revealed.
He said he was tired of having to apologize
for them, and wanted genuine reforms to
begin at once. Thereupon Mr.. Dawes
started in to belabor the Nebraskan harder
than ever the latter had belabored the
abuses.
However familiar the truth about high
finance may have been to Mr.. Dawes, it is
certain that the great mass of the people
of this country were just ignorant enough
of what was going on in the neighborhood
of Wall street to be startled and alarmed
when the facts began to come to light.
And this is true Of the residents Of Chi
cago as well as of the residents of Ne
braska. The people had literally no con-
ception of the financial rottenness that
existed. The things that were common,
everyday business in New York were high
way robbery in Chicago. And happily so.
So it was no mounting of plattudes that
the Nebraskan INDUCED in. His theme was
of embezzlements. Embezzements are not
platitudes. Falsifed books are not plau-
tudes. Abuses of trusteeships are not plati-
tudes. To denounce these things loud and
long is not to dabble in platitudes.
The discussion cannot be silenced by
sneers. 1t can only be silenced by genuine
reforna
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02

The doctrine that republicans or dem
ocrats must vote for crooked men in
order TO elect the straight ticket is per.
nicious and demoralizing in the ex
IRENE 1t is the duty of every Amer.
lean citizen to cast his ballot according
to the dictates of his own conscience
1t would be his duty to himself, his
family and his fellow citizens to vote
against any candidate whom he knows
TO BE incompetent or dishonest, even If
he were unanimously nominated.
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02
the TlRTFF AND FoRrtgv rRApB.

TIE TARIFF AND FOREIGN TRADE.
In his speech at the Mckinley club
mass meeting Representative Lacey Of
Iowa said that the democratic party had
assailed the protective policy on the
ground that it would destroy our foreign
trade and close the markets of the world
against us. He cited the statistics Of
imports and exports for 1894 and under
the Dingley tariff for the last fiscal year,
which show a great increase in our for
eign commerce since the present tariff
went into effect. These facts are ia
miliar to every student Of our economic
history and they furnish complete and
conclusive vindication of the protection
policy.
There are later statistics than those
cited by Mr.. Lacey that show we are
still making progress in our foreign
trade. The Department of Commerce
and Labor has just given out its figures
of foreign commerce for the nine months
ended with September. These show that
the imports Of materials for use in man
ufacturing amounted in that period to
1922, 100000 and the exports Of manufac-
lures amounted to S424,OOO,OOO, a total
of SS46,OO0,0OO in nine months, which
assures more than a billion dollars
worth of foreign commerce in the year
1905, transacted only by the manufac-
ff1r Of hn MI 20 no
this it represents to some degree the ex-
tent to which the existing tariff encour-
ages domestic labor by keeping the mills
busy. 1t is pointed out that the ma
terials for manufactures now form prac-
tically one-half of the total imports sub
stantlal evidence of the great activity
and prosperity of our industries. At the
same time it is to be noted that the ex-
portation of manufactured articles has
grown much more rapidly than the inn
portation of materials for manufactures,
suggesting that the exporters of the
country are drawing, year by year, a
relatively larger proportion of their raw
materials from our own country.
When the Wilson tariff was enacted,
in 1894, it's supporters declared that 1t
would have the effect of largely increas-
ing exports Of manufactures. Its author,
on visiting England, told the British
manufacturers who banqueted and
lauded him, that they must be prepared
for an American competition that would
take from them no small part of their
trade in the worlds markets. The re-
suit was the opposite of this. British
manufacturers found that tariff to be
highly favorable to them and there was
a general revival of industrial activity
in England. In proportion as that took
place there our industries experienced
depression and American labor suffered
mo party can escape history" said
Mr.. Lacey, and the history of the tariff
is all against the democratic party
which still assails the policy of protec-
ton to American industries and labor
1t may be somewhat less aggressive in
this direction now than formerly, but
given the power it would not hesitate to
strike down protection and subject our
Industries to the competition Of the prod
ucts Of foreign cheap labor.
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02
RETURN TO ECONOMY.
Department Chief Reduces Drafts on
the National Treasury.

Nhe NHtlOhhA treasury.
New York Tribune.
Secretary Taft has set noticeable exam
pie of administrative economy in the esti-
mates he has just sent to the secretary Of
the treasury for transmission to congress-
These estimates cover the fiscal year 1906
I and the startling thing about them is
that the appropriation asked for Is nearly
S100O00O0 less than the amount granted
the War department by congress for 1866
cut is made of nearly 10 per cent. The
amount appropriated last winter for all
military purposes. including river and har-
Dor improvements and public works gem
orally charged to the War department
was nearly 100000. Next winter, If con-
gress follows the departments estimates
the net sum will fall to about $1O5, 0O0, 600.
If congress chooses to economic a little on
its own account the total may drop as low
as 800, 100000. A cut of this sort carried
through the regular appropriation bills
would net the government a saving of over
$6O,OOOOOO. 1t would also solve effectually
the problem of treasury deficits.
The Department of Commerce and Labor
has also submitted smaller estimates for
1867 than those it submitted for 1866. So
the policy of retrenchment initiated by
President Roosevelt is already beginning
to bear fruit. Hitherto It has been an al
most unexampled thing for the head of a
department to ask less money for any given
year than he had asked for the year pre-
ceding. On the contrary, the universal ten
dency was to enlarge expenditures and
create new fields of outlay. When congress
did not vote enough money to last through
twelve months many department and bu-
reau chiefs authorized contracts in eX-
cess of the appropriations and then sent
the bills in as deficiencies. In certain years
the deficiency account has run as high as
$50, 100000, and the power to spend the
money in the treasury as they saw fit was
virtually usurped by minor officials in the
departments, Congress last year outlawed
this dangerous practice and made it a mis-
demeanor for any department head to ere
ate anticipatory obligations Under that
provision of law the treasury will benefit
annually to the extent of $2O,OOOOOO or $685.
100000
But from having formerly imposed on the
good nature of congress by chronic over
drafts on the treasury the department
chiefs seem now to be converted into eX-
acting and scrupulous economists.
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02

allied. The redemption Of the isthmus,
says a correspondent, appears to be com
plete and there As every reason for con-
fldence that the good work Of the last
six months will never be undone. Mean
time sanitary vigilance remains unre-
l-<ed. Secretary Taft is on the way TO
Panama and it is expected that his visit,
the president will have the effect TO
stimulate greater activity in the matter
of construction. 1t is well known that
the president is anxious to have the
work pushed with all possible rapidity.
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02
ASTOUNDING CHAPTER ON GRAFT
One sample Public job Carried on in
Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Press.
The report of the investigating engineers,
Major Gillette and Mr.. Maclennan, on the
filtration job is the most amazing history
of municipal iniquity which has ever been
written. No single chapter even of the
stupendous Tweed knaveries approaches
this startling revelation. The simple recital
is appalling. No intensity of language can
add to the force of the astounding facts.
The broad, sweeping expose of the extent
of the fraud which comes to the very
beginning of the report takes the breath
away. For the filtration job, including the
minor items of the two boulevards, the city
has paid or pledged $1s.76l,54l2S. First-class
work under the specifications, including an
allowance of 20 per cent. for legitimate
profits, should not have cost over S12, 1901 600
The difference, $6,SS1,54l, is unmitigated
graft!
Is the full measure of this staggering
revelation realized? The sum of 1870 ,541
is paid for what cost the contractors, even
If 1t had been frst-class work, only slO,-
$4,000 In other words the profit was So
per cent, and this graft or steal, above
legitimate profit, was 50 per cent Of the job
This mind you, even il the work were
first-class work under the specifications
But it is not first-cass. Most of what can
be examined, the engineers say, is second
class; what is concealed nobody knows
about. The real graft is evidently about
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02
CAN LESLIE BE TRUSTED

When Charles Leslie presented him
self as a candidate for county judge his
mftness for the place was pointed out
by The Bee on two grounds: First,
that he lacked the essential legal quail
fcations, and, second, because his can
didacy was. simply continuation of
Judge Vinsonhaler's administration.
The first objection was grounded on the
fact that Mr.. Leslie had never practiced
law and at best had only training as a
court bailiff and chief clerk of the
county judge. The second objection was
grounded on the fact that Judge Vim
sonhaler had importuned the county
commissioners to allow him to resign in
favor of Mr.. Leslie, leaving the natural
inference that Leslie would help him to
cover up the things he wanted to keep
dark. The fact that Mr.. Leslie received
only 1000 out of the 1000 votes cast
for county judge at the primary would
Of the republican party shared the views
Of The Bee regarding Mr.. Leslie's un-
fitness.
Up to the time of Mr.. Leslie's NOM
inatiOn no suspicion was entertained
that Mr.. Leslie had Shared with Judge
Vinsonhaler any of the graft that had
made the county court malodorous, and
his friends claimed that whatever his
lackNof qualification might be, he was
absolutely trustworthy. The reveal
lions of systematic graft in the probate
branch of the court that have been made
within the past few days through the
inspection of the books and records
afford convincing proof that Mr.. Leslie
is not a fit person to become a super
visor of the estates of widows and or
phans and the custodian of trust funds.
It was shown beyond a reasonable doubt
that Mr.. Leslie was participating know
ingly and wilfully in the petty plumber
of the heirs of deceased citizens of
Douglas county.
In the published partial list of 75S
estates plundered by the county court
Mr.. Leslie touched ninety-six and peck
eted $132.S0 in fees, which should not
have been levied, or should have been
turned into the county treasury. The
law provides that the clerk of the county
court shall administer oaths as clerk of
the court and the fee charged therefor
shall baooD,a tba uronarfv of tho nOrntv
but Mr.. Leslie in many instances
charged SIZE and more as notary public
fees for administering oaths to his fel-
low clerks as appraisers and treated
these fees as perquisites of his own
AS clerk of the district court Mr.. Broad
well and his deputy administer oaths
quite frequently, and so do the county
clerk and his chief deputy, but the fees
collected are not retained by these Off
GERS, but are accounted for to the
county.
The most scandalous thing in connec
ton with this petty grating is the fact
that Mr.. Leslie despoiled even the mea
| ger estates of his unfortunate associates
and brother members or the bar, most
notably of Attorney Won Mansfelde, that
popular young lawyer who was drowned
while on his vacation last summer, and
of Attorney I. r. Andrews, who like
wise persisted by drowning in the Platte
river. The estates Of eX-Judge Herbert
]. Davis, w. G. Ives, Councilman Rob
ert w. Dyball and Public School Prin
cipal Ellen NJ. White were plundered il
| like manner.
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02

President SticISney Throws a Head
light ON Railroad Rebates.

light ON Railroad Rebates.
Detroit Free Press.
So long as Mr.. A. b. stlckney is the
president OF It, the Chicago Great Western
railway must be rated as one of the good
corporations. Mr.. Stickney is an admirer
of Mr.. Roosevelt and comedies with the
view that the rates of railroads should
be subject to federal supervision and regu-
lation. He is firm in his conclusion that
rebates are the product of competition,
and so long as there is competition there
will be rebates unless some appropriate
and effective remedy is adopted to prevent
them. But in the very speech in which
he explained that unreasonable rates are
practically impossible where there is COM
petition, but that It is important to es-
tablish the correct principle before COM
petition is eliminated, as it will be in ten
or twenty years, he explained also the
system in vogue by which the railroads
avoid the law which forbds rebates and
the means they employ to destroy all evil
dence of the lawbreaking. II is simple,
too. At regular intervals a young man
carrying packages Of currency leaves New
York and distributes the money among
the shippers. He speaks to no one, makes
no explanation OF what the money is, but
the amounts he leaves behind run, accord
ing to Mr.. Stickney into hundreds of thou
sands OF dollars a year. With such a sys-
TEN ii would make little difference what
the law was unless there was some change
in the views OF the parties 10 such con-
tracts. OF course the shippers will make
the best bargain they can with the rail-
roads. and the railroads will do what they
can to get business. In these circumstances
II would seem a pertinent reply to Mr..
Roosevelt 10 ask. What's the user" But
II would be as pertinent and logical TO
say that because it IL usually difficult and
often impossible to detect murderers and
punish their crimes, that We should have
no law making murder a felony or pre-
scribing punishment for the felons.
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02

If the surviving members of the pres
emf city council want to drive the last
nail in their own political collins, they
can do it most effectively by electing
to the vacancy caused by the sudden
death of Councilman Nicholson some
man VIGOROUSLY selected for them by
paving contractors and public service
COruOratiOus
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02

The Omaha Fakery mas addressed
epistles to the Germans and to the
Swedes in their own tongue to rouse
them against County Treasurer Fink
and it will be in order to follow up the
polyglot bOmbardment with epistles to
the Danes, Italians, Greeks, Hungarians,
Bulgarians, Polanders, BOhemians, Syr.
ians, Russians, Roumanians and Afro
Americans in their native tongues.
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02
In n Nutshell.
Kansas City Times.


The impregnabe position of the president
and the people respecting the demand for
railway rate regulation is based on the
evils which exist under the present sys-
tenn. And this altogether wrong condition
is admirably stated in the following sue
cinct sentence of Mr.. Ray Stannard Baker,
writing in McClure's: when a shipper or
a citizen who thinks he is wronged at
tempts to get relief he must submit his
case, not to an impartial tribunal. but to
his adversary in the case"
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02
Chancellor Andrews Qualifications
WASHINGTON Post

Chancellor e. Benjamin Andrews of the
Nebraska university is in favor of turning
over condemned murderers to the doctors
and surgeons for experiment, the subjects
to receive their liberty, IF they survive"
The qualifying clause relieves us of any
danger that might come from having a lot
of murderers turned loose
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02

No doubt the outcome of the election
lext Tuesday will have a bearing on the
municipal election next spring, but the
assertion that the defeat of any candi-
date this fall viii have a bearing upon
the next congressional election is the
Veriest nonsense.
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02

Residents of st. Petersburg though
better acquainted with the czar than
people of other communities, are still I'm.
willing to accept the manifesto granting
1 constitution; so it may be that celebra.
ions elsewhere are premature.
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02

Prince Louis of Battenberg will now
Se called upon to demonstrate his abil-
" to partake OF the peculiar hospitality
II America. Prince Henry OF Prussia
food the test, but since that time one
Japanese envoy went down and out.
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02

The Omaha Fink -O-fobiac has fired
three columns of bird shot in German
and three volleys of canister in Swedish.
The next thing we may expect is that
a broadside in pure Irish that will make
Tuesday and play the hornpipe for
Fleming
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02
ROOSEVELT AND RATE REGULATION
Statements of the Convention sup
porting the Presidents Policy.

Statements Of the Convention Sup
porting the Presidents Policy.
The executive committee OF the Chicago
convention which approved President
RoOsevelt's policy Of railroad rate Iegula-
ton has issued the following statement:
1T is doubtless due to the public that
some express statement be made of the
facts leading up to and which furnish the
occasion for the position taken by the
executive committee OF the interstate COM
merce law convention.
THE name was given to a convention
held at ST. Louis in 1900 the object OF
which was to bring closer in unison numer-
Gus shipping and commercial organizations
in their efforts to secure such amendments
to the interstate commerce law as would
result in giving to the commission enough
power at least to correct a rate which It
found upon investigation to be wrong
1T was thought that the expenses of the
effort would be much less If the several
organizations desiring this amendment to
the law would act together. That meeting
resulted in appointing a committee of the
organizations which met to carry on the
work. The committee selected +. p. Bacon
of Milwaukee as its chairman, and pro-
ceeded I'm as inexpensive a way as possible
to call to the public attention some of
the abuses of railway transportation which
needed correction.
Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-02

popocratic regents right this minute
Why don't they open them? And for
four years the popocrats had complete
control over the board Why didn't they
open the doors then? II looks as il what
is wanted is merely an open door for the
popocrats to enter