davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08
An Eye Opener.

The people of Chicago have had a
small bomb shell exploded under them
by the disclosure that one street rail
way company spent something like
$250,O00 to promote and procure the
adoption of the traction ordinances
submitted to vote of the people two
years age The presumption is that
the other street railway company,
equally interested, spent at least as
much. Ex-Mayor Dunno is quoted as
placing the figure at 5000, 900 and Mr..
Hearst's paper says that popular ru-
NOR puts 1t nearer $1,000, 900. The
letting of the cat out of the bag seems
to have come through an effort on the
part of the Chicago Railway company
to charge up $254,0OO against oper-
ating expenses in order to chisel the
city out of its SO per cent of that
amount under the profit-sharing agree
ment.
All this goes to show to what
lengths a big corporation will go to
carry its point in a contest with the
people. A campaign fund of upward
of $5O0,0 600 in an election in Chicago
to vote Yes" or mo" on a traction
ordinance must exert a powerful inhu-
ence. Here in Omaha the game must
be played on a smaller scale, but still
in the same way. It would be inter-
esting to know just how much money
our electric lighting company paid out
for the double purpose of beating the
bonds for a municipal lighting plant
and electing r. B, Howell to the Water
board. II would be interesting to
know how much of a campaign fund
was distributed by our two telephone
companies in their fight a year ago
In the impending vote on bonds to
buy the water works for s~6.263, 295.4s
the owners Of the water company, who
are the people directly interested and
at the same time in position TO open
up. could AFFORD to spend several hun
dred thousand dollars to consummate
such a profitable sale. while the tax
payers OF Omaha, who are the only
other parties interested, will hardly
put out a cent The water company
has, doubtless, already spent not less
than 100000 for lawyers. experts
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08
Another Coal Combine.

The so-called independent coal com
panies of Colorado are reported to
have formed a combination by the or
ganization of a company with a large
capitalization, with the avowed pur-
pose to increase the selling price at
the mines. AS Omaha and Nebraska
draw a considerable portion of their
coal supply from Colorado. a large
enough proportion at least to render
1t an equalizer on the market, such a
combination would be of more than
passing interest to the
These smaller companies, acting indie
p~endently, have a combined capacity
sufficient to be a material factor in
holding down the price. Combined,
they will doubtless act in harmony
with the other large producers.
If the statement of those back of
the proposed combine is true, that in
the past prices have not been remun-
e~rative to the producer, some one be-
tween the producer and consumer
must have been getting more than a
fair profit, and the equitable solution
of the problem does not lie in COM
binatlon to boost the price at the mine,
but in cutting out what has been in
tercepted between the producer and
the consumer.
The real truth probably lies be-
tween the two statements. The COM
bination is not formed because the
miner has not made money, but be-
cause the promoters think they see a
chance to make more by near of an
alliance with the big producers with
out disturbing the profits of the trans
p%ortation and selling companies. AS
usual in such cases, the consumer is
not consulted, and his only part In
the combination is to pay the freight.
The state of Colorado might step In
and prevent the contamination Of the
deal, but it has as yet manifested no
disposition to do so, and It's past rec
ord leaves no ground to hope that 1t
will.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08
Uniformity in Treasury Notes.

The Treasury department is about
to put into effect a plan to systemic
and simplify the designs on the va
rious issues of paper currency. While
the methods of acquiring the notes
will be just as difficult and COM
plicated as ever. under the old plan
there were nineteen different designs
and under the new there will be only
nine. The multiplicity of designs has
been confusing to those who handle
large sums of currency and are forced
to handle it rapidly and those who
handle less have had little opportun-
ity to gain a speaking acquaintance
with all of them. The thousand-dol-
lar bills have been particularly coy
and unsociable with the common peo-
pie.
The Treasury department will adj
here strictly to the old rule of putting
only the portraits of the dead on the
various bills, taking no chances on
fallen and broken idols. The one-dol-
lar silver certificate. will carry the por-
trait of Washington, the t~wo-dollar
silver certificate the portrait of JEFF
ferson. The f~ive-dollar note, whether
silver certificate or ~greenback, will
carry the portrait OF Lincoln; the $40
gold and silver certificates and United
States notes that of Cleveland; the
$40 that of Jackson; the $50 that of
Grant; the 800 that of Franklin; the
$500 that of Salmon P. Chase; the
$1,000 that of Alexander Hamilton.
The different varieties of notes of
the same denomination will be dis
tinguished by their colors rather than
by the portrait. as at present. George
Washington will always be worth a
dollar whether he call for payment
in silver, copper cents or postage
stamps, and the aristocratic Alexander
Hamilton will command $1,000
whether in gold. silver or small bills.
If you should happen not to have
any portraits of Hamilton handy you
can find one at any subtreasury, so
you can easily tell the genuine from a
counterfeit bill when you find one in
your pay envelope.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08
Industrial Conditions.

In the industrial world the first of
May is usually approached with more
or less apprehension. 1t practically
marks the new year in man indus
trial lines in which wage scales and
working agreements must be read
justed to changing conditions. For
this reason it is often prolific of strikes
involving in many instances great loss
to both employer and employee, and
not uncommonly violence and blood
shed.
One of the most encouraging signs
of the present is the absence of indica-
lions of serious disturbances or strikes
of an extended character. The anthra-
cite coal miners. it is true, have not
as yet come to agreement with the
employers on the scale which expired
April l, but the faith of both parties
that a common basis will be reached
is exempliied by the fact the men are
continuing to work under the old scale
pending a settlement. They would
scarcely do this and allow a surplus
of product to be piled up on the dumps
il they we're not confident tina a strike
would be unnecessary to reach an
agreement. The reductions in wages
in the big steel mills, due TO lower
prices for the product, have not
brought about any extensive strikes.
Next to the coal miners and steel
WnrEnro fhA hui1lsna troAo, go a.
storm centers, and it would be too
much to expect that conditions so di-
verse and interests sc varied could get
through the season without strikes
are some building trade troubles now
in progress of considerable magnitude,
compared with many previous years,
they are insignificant and present
prospects are they will be reduced to
the minimum. Building activities,
which are of large proportions partic-
ularly in western cities, may there
fore be expected to proceed without
serious interruption.
The railroad companies and their
employees without exception are on
amicable terms, and with steadily in
creasing traffic there is no longer the
fear the companies will disturb the
situation by wage reductions.
With the industrial world reason
ably peaceful, and no uncertain fac
tor except the new tariff bill, sure to
be enacted in the near future. there
is no apparent reason why the business
Of the country should not continue to
expand and finally pass the point
reached before the panic of 1907.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08
WOMEN AND THE NEW TARIFF.
Opposition that Was Elective Twenty
Years Ago.
Harper's Weekly


The women did it," That was Thomas
b. Reeds remark the day after the con-
gressional of 1890, when the country. MAX
ing response to the Mckinley bill. sent
more democrats to congress than have
oeen there at any other time since the
civil war. turning the republican ma ioritv
In the house into a minority so small that
one corner of the m was enough TO
accommodate 1t. The bill had gone into
operation in time for women's autumn
shopping to disclose its precise effects on
retail prices; and the ladies', as their wont
49, had spoken to the voters. And now the
Payne tariff bill is under fire, before its
passage, from the same quarter. The
closest of all scrutinizers of retail prices.
the women who have to make limited in
comes go as far as possible. have already
discovered that the bill, II left as it stands.
Is going to increase instead of lessen the
cost OF certain articles they buy in guam
titles, particularly gloves and hosiery. Not
only that; II is going to tax them more
heavily, in proportion to their incomes,
than 1t will tax women OF wealth. On
comparing the proposed rates on the
cheaper grades of these articles with those
on the higher. that is the way the new
schedules are found to work. The changes
will throw the heaviest burden upon the
class which every consideration should
prompt the lawmakers to protect-the
women wage-earners. We trust they will
protest, and go on protesting until the
votes are altered. To that sort OF partici-
patton in politics the bitterest opponents
OF the women'srights movement can hardly
object.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08
SPRING SONG.

w. u. Nesbit in Chicago Post.
There is a song s-singing-a vagrant, wan,
ton tune
That laughs across the silence of the mid
afternoon;
We do not fully hear IL. We only sense
it so,
And feel its subtle measures as echoes
come and go.
II dances in the sunshine where meadows
bare and brown
Are rousing from their slumber: from hill
sides sweeping down
1t leaps and laughs and fingers until the
grasses wake
And naked boughs OF willows begin to
sway and shake.
1t runs throughout the forest in murmurs
fair and fine
And calls its mystic summons in twis and
root and vine
And o.. the scent of springtime comes
drifting from the mould
As in the primal morning In Eden's grace
-. untold.
Elusive. evanescent: a song we may not
hear,
But only as a shadow of sound comes to
the ear
II mocks us from the hollows and il mockS
us from the hills
With all its lifting gladness blent OF a
thousand thrills.
There is a song a-s~inging-and all the world
is glad;
The newer life is stirring in places sere
and sad:
A poem and a prayer, a chanting and
Groom,
Sweep onward through the sunshine Of the
midafternoon.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08
PERSONAL NOTES.

Enormous hats are described as giving
unrest TO women. Merely a heightened
way of saying the hats make them tired.
That great image of the Angel Gabriel.
after being blown down by a storm. is re-
stored to its pinnacle on the new st. Johns
cathedral in New York. A new horn Is
provided, but New York Is still far from
ready to hear It.
Mrs. Kate Douglas wiggin has com
pleted a new story, which will be pub
lished next season. According TO her
usual custom she sails from New York at
the end Of the month to spend the spring
and early summer in Great Britain.
An Indiana man murdered four people
and was sent to prison for life. Now sur
viving citizens are circulating a petition
TO have linn pardoned because his health
is not good. Perhaps they supposed that
a man sentenced for life would go on living
forever.
Several years ago a young lady in Ohio
went TO q dance and noticing there an
elderly stranger, whom everybody was
neglecting, took pity on him and danced
with him a number OF times. The other
day she received a legacy of over 5000
from her former partner. Ohio social cir.
Giles Just now are wildly welcoming elderly
strangers.
Emperor William Of Germany is desir-
Gus that impecunious aristvcrats who can
not make a living I'm Germany should
emigrate to German Southwest Africa and
become useful members Of that German
colony. He has lent Baron de sehmid
s125c0 to enable him TO settle In German
Southwest Africa and begin life again
as a farmer,
Miss p. Stella Nicholson. a young attor-
ney-at-law OF Los Angeles. Cal. has de-
cided 10 undertake the work of assisting
William r. George in establishing George
Junior republics in every part OF this coun.
try. She is said to be independently
wealthy. She will first go to Freeville. N.
j., to study the work and will then travel
from state to state and assist in organ
iziug the republics.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08
COST OF
Capitalization = Matter Of Deep Pub
lie Concern.
New York World.

New York World.
H. ii. Rogers has built a railroad of as
miles, the ViTginian, at a stated cost of
n 10000 900. This is some 5000 a mile. or
Tar more than new American railroads
have generally cost. But its gradient Is
low its terminals and piers are costly and
efficient, and It is said to be possible ia
haul trainloads of 1000 tons Of coal over IL
to tidewater. II may be worth the money.
The 22,670 miles OF American railroads
are capitalized at a sum averaging about
$4,000 a mile. Probably they have not cost
so much, though that is disputed. as some
roads are capitalized at less than cost.
The present value OF the roads is at least
equal to their capital, owing to the en-
HANGED worth as real estate of terminal
and track property in cities.
Mr.. Hartman has just repeated the an
cient untruth that the capitalization OF a
road is not of public concern. The people
know better. Mr.. Hirs Great Northern
was we'll built for $4,000 a mile; Jaw
Gould's Erie has been handicapped with
$4,000 a mile of wateTed securities. Its
rival the UackaWanna. a much better
equipped road, capitalized at only 81. 300
a mile, can give better service and pay
large dividends.
The English railroads furnish an example
upon a larger scale. Their shares have
been held by investors who insisted upon
fat dividends when times were good. Re
equipment has been Improperly charged
TO capital until the average has orept past
s2Se.0OO a mile-more than ten times the
Lackawanna figures; It is increasingly diff
ficult to earn even the modest dividends
Of today, and the public is face to face
with railroad combinations 10 economic"
by curtalling service.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

into a true 'schwaImer' dance. as though
the music had been composed for It.
During the war of 1776," continued the
German, who many years ago lived five
years in his country, the chief re-
cruiting office for the enlistment OF the
Hessian hired soldiers was Ziegenhain. in
Kur-Hessen. 1t therefore seems probable
that the Hesslan recruits from the
'schwalm' who served in the pay OF
Great Britain during the Revolutionary
war, and whose military band Instruments
consisted of bugles, flies and drums only.
carried over with them the tune known
to them from childhood and played 1t as
a march"
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

and appraisers to force the city to buy
at the arbitrated figure. and It scarcely
stands to reaso that 1t would hesitate
to spend all the money thought neces-
sary to finish the job.
At any rate, IL the owners OF the
water company had deliberately set
out to frame things up to unload their
plant at top-notch figures they could
not have lone any better than has
been done for them from the time the
immediate compulsory" purchase law
was enacted six years ago up to the
very present.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08
Young and Cheerful in spirit.

NTNNNIWITU bVdUtT,
The man who left the White House a
month ago had two or three busy and
happy hours in Gibraltar. He was de
lighted On shipboard he found life
bully Thu Azores interested him keenly.
So it goes with a man Of fifty who ia
ever young in spirit, always alive to the
interests which surround him, catholic in
tastes, many-sided in his knowledge OF the
wcrld. He finds the vast human drama
intensely absorbing. It Is emphatically
worth while. There isn't a trace IN Theo-
dore Roosevelt of the bored and wearied
man of large opportunities and wide ex-
perience of life, who finds the world
stuffed with sawdust at last.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

One of the Chicago trunk lines is
boasting hat the fast train made the
time between Omaha and Chicago in
a few minutes more than twelve hours.
The distance is less than 500 miles and
there is 40 good reason whatever why
every through passenger train should
not make the run between Omaha and
Chicago in less than twelve hours. A
train that went as fast as the fast
trains in the east would easily make
II in ten hours.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08
SUNNY GEMS.

when YOU asked the telephone Elrl IA
break gently to Mrs. Binks that her hus-
band had hung himself. how did she do it,"
She called, Hello. Mrs. Binks! Your
husbands on the line. Baltimore Amer
lean. | Ls
why don't you write something that
will live ?" asked the critical friend.
Don't display. your ignorance replied
the self-satisfed author. Don't you know
that most of the works that lived were
originally accounted among the worst sell
lers?'-Washington Star.
you know, public men In England do
not run for office as our candidates do.
They stand for it.
Then l suppose that is why they get
what is coming to them."-ChiCago Tribune.
THE sentence of the court said the
Mexican judge lis that you be shot for
murder"
Mercy. your honor" exclaimed the pris.
And that you provide support for the
children Of your victim, the court went
on inexorably.
Bring on your firing SQUAD" muttered
the prisoner Observation-Disclosures Ledger.
A certain newly elected western congress
man met a society bud OF Washington at
his first reception.
do you like BaIzac?' she queried.
Wal | never PLAYED it," drawled the
westerner. but I'm viBin' to. take a hand"
-Lippincott's Magazine.
That man over yohder is a human para
dox.' r
How SOP"
Because, though so tall, he is always
short. "-Baltimo American.
(Which side is your member of congress
on in this attack on corporate wealth"
WELL answered Farmer Corntossel.
II haven't heard him say much one way or
another; but I reckon that as usual he's
on the inside. Washington star.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08
And Yet Prices Go IN,
New York Telegram.

NtW lUTk IeIegram.
with modern machinery a pair of shoes
can be made in four minutes at a cost of
30 cents for labor. With modern machin-
cry a live hog starts at one end of a pack
Ing house and comes out at the other hams.
shoulders, sausage, clothes brushes and
bone collar buttons-everything utilized but
the s~queal-and still, with all these i'm
provements, prices go UP and up.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

The headline in a newspaper Mis-
sionaries Furnish the Lunch" has no
reference to a cannibal feast. but is
simply an announcement of a proposed
entertainment to be rendered Mr..
Roosevelt when he reaches Africa.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

Those who pretended to believe that
Mr.. Taft was favorable to the trusts
will find little comfort in the fact
that the principal authority cited by
the government attorneys in the Stand
ard Oil case 10 a decision OF Judge Taft
while on the bench.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

A commercial paper that
the public is buying wheat at the
eleventh hour. 1t has kept the public
hustling the other ten hours to &C
cumulate the necessary money to buy
at present prices.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

For a man who was so certain he
could prove his innocence of the
charges against him Governor Haskell
is unusually active in urging tech
nicalities to prevent the trial of his
case on its merits.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

Yankee Doodle was originally a coun.
try dance Of a district Of the former pro
vince OF Kur-Hessen, called the 'Schwalm.
according to Herr Sebastian Fl. Kohler
a banker Of Frankfurt-on-the-Main, Ger,
many, who is visiting Washington. Mr..
Kohler is a close student of American
history, and said II vas well known that
the tune OF Yankee Doodle" was de
rived from the military march played by
the Hessian troops during the war OF
the Revolution in America.
Johann Lewalter was struck by the SINH
larity in form and rhythm OF Yankee
Doodle to the music OF these dances. Last
year. at the kirmsss OF the village OF
Wasenberg, when Yankee Doodle was
nlaved, the young men and girls swung
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08
Native Black Hand Methods.

The notice to a county prosecutor in
kentucky by night riders that he must
drop certain suits or pay for his refusal
with his life, has a strong flavor of
black hand methods. Perhaps we are too
nasty in blaming the stranger within our
gates for his methods when those of our
own natives 50 closely resemble them.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

One man has entered a denial that
he is a candidate for membership on
the fire and police commission. It is
refreshing to know there is at least
one man in Omaha who does not want
the Job.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08
Friendships Not Easily Broken.
Washington sta.

We regard it as a happy Circumstance
of this life that friendships such as that
existing between Mr.. Taft and Mr.. Roose-
welt are not likely to be seriously dis
turbed by touch-and-go newspaper CORES
pondents hard up for something readable
to write.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

Some envious person has suggested
one reason why ex-President Eliot of
Harvard may hesitate about going to
the court of st. James is the fear of
being compelled to wear knee breeches.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

Denver is planning for permanent
grand opera. II they could only con
solidate the political harmony of the
Colorado capital the Denverites might
also have a symphony orchestra.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

form pledges and then does not say
all II might. The trouble is that the
democrats have so little faith in their
ability to be elected they will promise
anything and when the unexpected
happens, they balk on delivering the
goods.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

II the governor can lawfully appoint
a state senator to a place on the Nor
NAL board he can appoint any member
OF the legislature to any Office within
his gift and the constitution may as
well go into the rag bag.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

What more natural than that a. dry
mayor should run a blind tiger. Being
dry himself a man can appreciate how
the other fellow feels.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

An ottumwa man set himself on
fire because he was pursued by two
wives. II two wives couldn't make it
hot enough for him he is deserving of
sympathy.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08
An Impressive Exchange
PHILADELPHIA Record.

AhiidueiIuld TeCOIu.
A search has been made of the house of
A Baltimore clerk under Indictment for
extensive populations. whose attorney says
he is a ~spendomaniac. The detectives
found forty suits Of clothes. ten over
coats. thirty pairs of shoes. eight hats and
no money. They found a full wardrobe
and an empty safe.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

Those who are in the habit of hold
ing up Canada as a model in which
no such thing as graft exists will have
a shock in the revelations of the in
v~estigations of the fisheries and ma
rine service. Human nature is much
the same wherever found. Given the
opportunity there will be grafters and
graft.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

A French astronomer has discovered
that the earth's crust is never at rest,
hut is constantly u~ndulating. If they
had s o'clock closing in Paris possibly
he would have discovered it.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

Misery loves company. That's why
the folks down at Lincoln. who have
had to quench their thirst before 7
o'clock, feel so happy that Omaha will
have only one hour the better of them.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

A prophet has given out the infor-
nation the world will come to an end
in 1914. He should put it off for one
year at least and allow us to finish the
Panama canal.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

The next great wet and dry issue
will come mex July n August. when
the crop yield Of the corr belt will be
the stake.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08
Washington Herald

Another one of my policies gone glim.
mering!! Mr.. Taft takes two Jumps of
sugar In his tea, whereas Mr.. Roosevelt
took only one. We are sure this fore
shadows something awful, but we nave no
idea what Il IT,.
Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-08

A New York theater censor has been
forced to adopt the use of smoked
glasses. Those metropolitan shows
must be da~zzlers.