Omaha daily bee., 1920-01-25

SN"S SIfSS~
Governor Lowden Makes HIS
Political Bo,U TO Omaha
1t seems that Omaha is to be on the beaten
track of the procession Of presidential possibili-
ties. We. had Senator Johnson and Senator
Borah here last fall trailing the presidents
Leage-of- Nations tour and Gen. Leonard Wood
has been in and out a number of times.
General Pershipg did us the honor of stopping
| off twice on his recent trip of inspection and
| this last week brought the opportunity to take
/ a look at Governor Crank O. Lowden. Those
I who came in contact with him discovered a
| man of most pleasing personality, and his short
| talk at the University club luncheon outlining
| the business problems confronting the govern
| ment and emphasizing the Importance of the
business OF government evoked a very hearty
response. Governor Lowden is plainly a man
who makes friends and holds them, He has
several staunch admirers here who 60 back to
cellege-day association at the University of
| IuWa in Iowa City Then again. it must be re
membered that. when the late Henry D.. Esta-
brook and Judge, Herbert J. Davis removed
they set up as law partners Of Governor Low
| den under the firm name of "Lowden Estabrook
& Davis. whose Office became the drop-in place
OF friends OF the two popular Omaha attorneys,
where they naturally met the senior member and
recognized his likable qualities.
! My own acquaintance with Governor Low
| den rests on our membership at the same time
| in the republican national committee in which
he represented the. state of Illinois for two
terms. In the successful 1908 campaign we
| were both on the executive committee and held
forth in adjoining offices at national head
quarters, frequently consulting on matters that
came up ~ our respective departments, This
much can say. that if Governor Lowden goes
into the White House the country will have an
| executive of sane and balanced Judgment. al
ways approachable 10 those who have helpful
| suggestions, but firm and set when decision is
| riade, man who goes through, who stays on
the job who lives up to the square deal
| In times gone by nearly every pretentious
| newspaper used to get out almanac
| statistical digest with each recurring year but
most of them have fallen by the wayside, with
! two notable exceptions that have been
perpetuated and standardized, the New York
World Almanac and the Chicago Daily News
| Year Book. These two volumes are our almost
| indispensable epitomes OF information on all
sorts of subjects relating to the political indus
trial, legislative, judicial, and civic structure of
| the country and events of the preceding twelve
| months. They are the handy reference books in
constant use in every real neWpaper Office be-
cause they make accessible facts and figures
which otherwise would have to be dug out OF
| scores OF government reports and dozens OF
| reference works. l do not suppose they are
counted among the six best sellers but for the
I spread Of general intelligence, they ought to be-
| have an advanced copy OF revised up-to-
date edition Of Sheldon's History and Stories
trench the use OF this captivating little book
in supplement to the school work in Nebraska
| At the time il originally published asked
| and secured permission to reprint parts of it in
| The Bee as a feature of Children's page
| because it made the history of our state so
| readable in he
volume, however, are curious TO observe, as for
example the presentation of Mr.. Bryan as Ne
hraska's contribution TO national politics with
an account Of his being named for president
carrying his own state, but omitting all intima-
tion that he also ran two more times for the
| same ottlce, losing his own state in the second
race. On another page the author speaks of
the progress made in methods of travel and
transportation from the days OF "the Indian
squaw leading pony over dim trail across
the sun baked plains with the poles of her
teppee dragging at the pony's side, or the later
slowly crawling freight wagon with its II
yoke Of oxen" till now when we travel daily
| trains, $4,000 automobiles, and still unsatisfed
| are Just learning to spread our wings and fly
through the air" There is clearly slip here
on the number Of automobiles in the state,
| which passed the $4,000 mark probably almost
10 years ago. Another iraccuracy that l notice
is with reference to the abolition of slavery by
enactment Of the Nebraska legislature in 1861
| and the proclamation OF President Lincoln
January !, 1868, shat all slaves in the United
States were tree" This assertion emanates
from a popular misconception that the famous
emancipation proclamation set free all the
blacks held in slavery when, as matter of fact
it merely proclaimed that all persons held as
slaves within the states and parts Of states at
! that time in rebellion are and henceforWard
shall be free" which meant freedom only in the
! secsdng slave states and there only to the ex-
tent that they were occupied by American mill
tary forces. As my father was one of the War
! department telegraph operators, who transmit
ted this emancipation proc camation over the
| wires to the commanding officers in the field |
! have often heard the point raised and discussed,
and my statement may be easily verified by
| reference to the original document. These
criticisms, however, must not be taken in the
nature Of fault finding, for the little book is
| marvel OF compilation and exposition
| Not many people realize the necessity of
| having an accurate census. II folks would
think moment they would understand that the
| census enumeration furnishes the basis OF all
our comparisons and per capita computations
II the starting figure is wrong it throws out Of
| plumb all our estimates of birth rates. health
| rates, marriage rates, percentage of literacy,
home owning, school attendance, and so on all
along the line. In fact il is in these practically
constant columns that an exceptional variation
signals at once that something is amiss. The
census directly controls our representation in
congress. in the legislature and in many other
places. What Omaha lost by padding the CEN
sus of 1890 to twice what it actually should have
been and then dropping back ten years later is
inealcuable. This fool performance probably
cost The Bee $50000 in increased Associated
Press tolls, population Of the territory being
| nf tta :.,l Al