The Red Cloud chief., 1909-03-25
20 LINCOLN LETTER c.

nation bill introduced by Taylor, Of
Hitchcock. and the provisions OF that
measure Is nov the law. This bill
strikes at one Of the worst evils that
has been in vogue in the state. IL has
been the practice of old line elevator
companies aud the big creamery con
Germs to drive TO the wall small indie
pendent.companies Ivy paying a higher
price at the places in which these local
concerns were located than was being
paid at other places and thus compel
them TO do business at II loss. For in
stance. where farmers have organized
elevator. companies the old line con-
Germs have. attempted to cripple them
by paying higher prices for grain than
the market would stand, and they
madc.up this loss by paying a lower
price ut points where there was no
competition of this kind. The same
system was worked 10y big creamery
companies, but under the law which
has just gone into effect by virtue of
emergency clause the smaller indcpend-
ent companies will be able TO obtain
a free field without being harrasscd
and then Threatened with financial
disaster by the organized big COM
panies.
The house has passed a law making
more stringent the penalties for selling
| ltnnnrN 10 ,pinnrg Mo Ii11 nVnVi,lag
that minors can not obtain intoXicants
upon any preteNt, and viii prevent
children from going into saloons and
obtaining beer to be carried home un
der an order. from their parents, and
also provides for punishment Of the
bartender or other person who aids
them in receiving it.
A measure of a good deal of import
ance passed both branches of the
legislature .his week. 1t has been
the custom of state officials in the past
to use the stamps paid for by the state
for any and all kinds OF business
whether official or not. Especially has
this been true in campaign times, when
campaign thunder was sent out to the
voters under postage paid for by the
state. The new law provides that
hereafter all stamps purchased for
Official 5 ate business shall have printed
across them the words IN. f.. r. and
n severe penalty will attach to any
person using them for other than pure
ly state business. The bill is in har-
mony with the postal laws of the
federal government.
The fight put up in the senate last
week when the bank guarantee bill
was up for final disposition will go
down as one of the most memorable
IN the states history. Every method
known TO n shrewd and ingenious mind
was used by the republican members
TO defeat the measure, or to delay its
passage. Amendments were proposed
by them To every section, and roll calls
or divisions were continuously demend-
ed, evidently with the hope, if the bill
could not be defeated, of SO ~entangling
the record that the law might be de-
feated in the courts on some tcchnic-
atty. The democratic majority stood
like Il stone wall during the entire on
slaught, and under the able leadership
of Senators Donohue of O'Neill and
Ransom of Omaha met every attack.
1t has been openly reported around
Lincoln that Il sun said to be about
$4,000 could have beendivided among
enough democratic members of the
senate to have defeated the bill, but
be it said to the everlasting credit
and fame Of the members not one de-
serted, but instead the twenty major.
ity members resisted unitedly the at
tacks of the republican opposition and
on every roll call or division lined up
together. But in the end, when they
saw that their efforts had been fulfil,
II number of the republicans voted for
the bill.
Another of the promises made to the
people last fall vas fulfilled when the
senate passed the Fullen bill which
provides that the state board of equali-
cation cannot tamper with the total
assessments made by the counties.
This was one of the most glaring a
buses against which the people had to
complain, because of the arbitrary man
ner in which the state board had talk
en- advantage of the law. The new
law provides that thee board may have
the power to equalize assessments
made by each county but takes away
from this body the right to raise the
amounts levied by the county board
The proposed amendment to the con-
stition providing for the initiationan d
referendum passed the house by a large
majority, and will come up in the sem
ate in a short time. The former bill
failed Of passage in the senate, every
republican In that BODY except two