A Robbers' Roost

Much has been said and written of the frailties of the recent legislature, but it has remained for Colonel Walt Seeley, ex-private secretary of the late lieutenant governor, to give expression to the true character of the men who presumed to represent the people of the state of Nebraska. One afternoon shortly after the opening of the session Mr. Seeley happened to be in a peculiarly loquacious mood, and to a gentleman sitting near him he unbosomed himself in the following monologue:

"Yes, I am here again, and I am sure I don't know what would follow if I should not be here. None of them (with a deprecatory wave of his hand toward the body of the senate before him) know their business. Nearly all of them are green. Even if a man comes here for a second term he has generally forgotten the little he picked up in his first session. I am what you might call the master of ceremonies, for I direct the whole business as I have done for twenty-two years, and I have the whole matter in my little finger. There are many strings not seen, of course, and on every one of those strings is one of the boys. All these strings I hold in my hand and I make the boys go, stand up or sit down just as I see fit — well, just like the figures in a puppet show.

"All of them come to me for help and advice, because they have to, and I tell them what they have to do and what they have to say. In fact, as far as the republicans in the senate are concerned, little or nothing is done without my knowledge and approval, and they know it, too; and if there is one or another who does not like this state of things he has to be satisfied anyhow, and even if he does kick he has to help carry out the plans I make or the schemes I propose."

For once in his checkered career Mr. Seeley, unconsciously, perhaps, spoke the truth. The senate was a puppet show and he pulled the strings. Never in the history of Nebraska was the senate so completely under the sway of the corporations and political road agents.

A legislative session entirely dominated by corporation influence was the natural sequence of a political campaign in which the corporation influence predominated from the day of the state convention down to the very hour when the polls were closed on the 6th of November.

It was a railroad campaign pure and simple. When the campaign had closed and the result at the polls had been ascertained by a count of the ballots, the emissaries of the railroads, never relaxing their vigilance for a moment, began the work of organizing the legislature.

RAILROADS OPEN HEADQUARTERS.

The republican state central committee, or rather the few men like Majors, Morrill, Seeley, Ager and Johnson, who claimed to represent the committee and who really formed the kitchen cabinet of the railroad boss, opened up "headquarters" in the Lindell hotel for weeks before the time fixed for the legislature to assemble had arrived. The republican party was not responsible for these so-called headquarters. The rooms designated as "republican headquarters" were really the railroad headquarters and were filled with the railroad runners who had taken it upon themselves to organize the legislature in a manner that would ensure railroad supremacy in every standing committee.

It was at these headquarters that the speakership was decided upon before the legislature had assembled. It was at these headquarters that the standing committees of both houses were primarily agreed upon. Even the names of a majority of the elective and appointive officers and employes of the house and senate were decided upon by the members of the little coterie of railroad politicians who claimed to be acting for the republican state central committee.

Men like Tom Majors, R. D. Schneider, J. H. Ager, J. W. Johnson and C. H. Morrill worked assiduously to convince the stubborn members that it was the republican whip that was cracking over their heads instead of the corporation lash, and in time the men who were at first inclined to exercise their own judgment fell into line and submitted to the will of the railroad managers.

[...] On several occasions it is asserted on good authority that he personally changed the wording of the journal after it had been made up.

In Harrison of Hall county Speaker Richards had an able second. No man ever elected to the legislature was more thoroughly subservient to the railroads than Harrison, and he out-Richarded Richards himself in the brutality of his demeanor and the arbitrary character of his rulings.

But it was in the senate that the iron hand of the railroad dictatorship and the influence of boodle was plainest seen. In the senate there was, perhaps, nothing to criticise in the ruling of Lieutenant Governor Moore. He was as fair in his conduct of the chair as any could wish, but at the same time he was not obliged to resort to the tactics that brought Richards into contempt. In the senate everything was carefully primed long before it was brought up in open session. There was no necessity for arbitrary ruling.

ORGANIZED BY THE RING.

The railroads assumed control of the senate on the very day that the legislature convened. First, a committee was appointed, under the dictation of J. H. Ager, general pass distributor, for the purpose of arranging the standing committees of the senate. How thoroughly the railroads controlled this committee may be realized by a glance at the names of the men composing it. It consisted of Pope of Saline, McKesson of Lancaster, Hahn of Adams, Dressler of Wayne and Steufer of Cuming. The first three named will be readily recognized as the abject tools of the railroads. Their reputation has clung to them through several sessions, and they would no more think of refusing to do the bidding of George W. Holdrege than they would of emulating the example of the late John Sahler. This committee met in a room at the Capital hotel night after night in an effort to harmonize, not the claims of the several senators, but the demands of the several corporations.

The principal chairmanships were agreed upon by the railroad ring at the 'republican headquarters' long before the session commenced, and it was well known that Pope was to have the chairmanship of the judiciary committee, McKesson the railroads, and Hahn the miscellaneous corporations. But in selecting their own tools the railroads overlooked the claims of other corporations. The railroads had slated Hahn for the chairmanship of municipal corporations, while the express, telegraph, telephone and stock yards interests demanded the selection of Crane of Douglas county. A deadlock occurred which continued for nearly a week. It was during this deadlock that the so-called Crane combination was formed which threatened to overturn the work of the railroad managers. Then a compromise was effected. Crane was given the chairmanship of the committee on miscellaneous corporations and Hahn was switched over to the committee on municipal affairs. The railroads still held control of the principal senate committees and had only been disappointed in their selection of the chairman of the committee on miscellaneous corporations. The disappointment was only the result of a desire to control every corporation that might be affected by legislation during the session.

Having organized the senate to its own liking, the railroad clique left the general corporations of the state to their fate. Every senator on the floor who had a disposition to hold up a corporation was given to understand that if he left the railroads alone he might bleed the other corporations to his heart's content. The venally inclined members were not slow to take the hint, and thus it happened that while not a single bill was introduced by a republican senator that might affect a railroad corporation in any way, every other corporation in the state was the object of the most persistent attack.

HELD UP BY SENATORS.

Nearly forty 'hold up' bills were introduced by the senate combine. These bills attacked every interest in the state. The sleeping car companies were attacked in three or four bills. The stock yards companies were assaulted with several, while other bills were aimed at the express, telegraph, telephone and street railway companies. Other measures were introduced for the purpose of bleeding both the fire and life insurance companies, the guarantee bond companies, the grain commission firms, the Standard Oil company, and, in fact, every corporation doing business in Nebraska was made the object of an assault by the senatorial road agents who made the most of their opportunity while it lasted.

The senators who supported these bills will be readily recognized by their odor. In each and every case the bills were supported up to a certain point in their progress through the senate by a coterie of senators consisting of Pope, Hahn, Graham, Crane and McKesson.

A majority of the other republican senators followed these bell wethers without knowing exactly what they were doing, but it is fair to presume that most of them had their eye upon a 'record' with which to deceive their constituents upon their return home.

Nearly all the holdup bills were introduced and manipulated by this senatorial combination, assisted by a few outsiders, of whom T. N. Sudborough of Omaha was the leading spirit. Sudborough kept open house at the Lincoln hotel and also had a couple of rooms at the Capital, over which the notorious Walt Seeley presided. Sudborough represented a quartet of corporations, consisting of the express, telegraph, telephone and Pullman car companies, and he was assisted by Seeley, Ager, Tom Benton and F. W. Barber. Of Barber, who had been placed by the railroad ring in the senate as first assistant secretary, nothing has yet been said that does him an injustice. Even so radical a ring publication as the Lincoln Courier characterizes him as 'the most disgraceful feature of the session.' J. H. Ager, the confidential oil room agent of the Burlington czar, carried blank pass books and gave out free transportation right and left. During the entire session members of either house had but to hint of a desire to take a trip to Denver, to Chicago or to any other point, and Ager was always ready to furnish the transportation, while Tom Benton supplemented the free railroad passes with Pullman tickets.

MADE A SENATORIAL JACK POT.

It is believed that no less than $12,000 in cash was dumped into the pot held for the benefit of the boodle combine and its go-betweens. Sudborough was the quartermaster general for the boodle brigade and he discharged his duties with commendable zeal and faithfulness, as far as the interest of his employers was concerned. The failure of the numerous bills pretending to regulate the corporations to appear in the next volume of session laws will prove how thoroughly he did his work, for out of nearly forty bills introduced not a single one ever reached a third reading and the largest proportion of them never got back to the senate from the standing committees.

The incidents attending the enactment of a single bill will suffice to show the methods employed by the senate combination. Early in the session a bill had been introduced vitally affecting one of the leading corporations of the state. The bill was railroaded through to a third reading, but just before it was put on its final passage the representative of the corporation affected by the bill was approached by a man named Getter, who claimed to live at Ord. Getter remarked that if the company desired to kill the bill the representative of the company had better see Seeley. An appointment was arranged at Seeley's rooms, No. 30 and 31, at the Capital hotel. The representative went to the rooms and was received by Seeley. Plans for killing the bill were discussed and Seeley advanced several plans by which the measure could be killed. He said that it would take some money but how much he would not state at the time; but he introduced the representative to several senators, who, in so many words, agreed that they would stand by any terms that Seeley might make. The matter was dropped at the time, but several weeks later a proposition was made to the same representative to furnish the necessary votes to kill the measure if $5,000 in cash were planked down. The votes were to be furnished by Seeley and Barber. The negotiations fell through; but two very pertinent questions will naturally suggest themselves to the public mind: First, who were the senators who would vote for or against a bill at the dictation of such a man as Seeley, and second, how much of the $5,000 would have been divided among the senators who had the votes and how much was to have been retained by Seeley and Barber?

There were some good men on the republican side of the senate and a good many in the house. They stood out like statesmen against the schemes of the senatorial combine, and they are entitled to the thanks of the people of the state, even if they were not successful in thwarting the jobs and tricks put up by the republicans who dishonored their party. The creditable work performed by the honest senators is worthy of especial reference in a future letter.