Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1900-1930, 1905-03-02

cents less for his oats and nine
F'entsdesss forshis rye than did the
armers of Kansas. These figures
are fron:the government report,
and The explanation lies in the fact
that there is just that difference in
the railroad tariffs of the two states.
Why is it that you and every
other individual taxpayer in this
state must list with his local asses
sor at it's full cash value every dol
lar of property you own while the
railway property in the entire state
is valued by board of state Of
ficers who owe their nomination
almost as a rule to the favor of
state conventions controlled by
railroad politicians holding and dis
tributing railroad free passes!
What was it, do you think, that
only last Friday, impelled the
lower house of the state legislature
to vote down overwhelmingly a
proposition that it be made man
datory for this state board to value
railroad property at the market
value of it's stocks and bonds. a
method pronounced by the supreme
court as just and fair on the theory
that property is worth for pur-
poses of taxation whatever it is
worth as means of producing in
come?
What dry rot has seized upon
the morals of our executive and
judicial officers, of our legislators,
that permits them complacently to
violate the constitution and dec
ency by accepting free passes from
the railroads! Section Is of the
state constitution requires and ev-
cry executive and judicial officer
and member of the legislature
does take this oath: II have not
accepted nor will | accept or re.
ceive, directly or Indirectly, any
money or other valuable thing
from any corporation, company or
person. etc., the latter covering
his official acts. They evade the
effect of this by insisting that the
taking of a valuable thing in the
shape of a pass from a railroad
company does not influence them,
but l feel sure that if you had a
case in court against a railroad
company you would be very much
disclined to submit it to a jury,
every member of which has a pass
worth several hundred dollars a
year to him. There is a very
prominent gentleman down at Lin
coin who has been frequently
heard to say that the fact that a
member of a jury which tried his
damage suit against a railroad had
round trip ticket to Washington
cost him, the plaintiff in the case,
ten thousand dollars. He found
out about the ticket after the case
was tried. v II
As result of the use of the free
pass in the creation of an over
lordShip, we have this condition of
affairs: No man can be nominated
and elected to any high Office in the
state over the active opposition of
the railroads; we cannot get
through the legislature of the state
measures that provide for a square
deal; we are impotent to compel
the railroads to serve the public so
as to promote industry by insuring
to all shippers equality of service
and like rates, to grant all cities
the same facilities they do to one,
to treat Nebraska farmers as we'll
they do Iowa and Kansas farmers;
they dictate what taxes they shall
pay and what rates shippers shall
pay; they permit political manipu-
lators to ride free and charge the
business man and the farmer, with
out whose patronage they could not
exist, a rate high enough to cover
the cost of transporting all three.
Al ,x,lok -s L. j.