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Article Title: Nebraska Newspaperman Will M Maupin

Full Citation: Patricia Gaster, “Nebraska Newspaperman Will M Maupin,” Nebraska History 69 (1988): 184-192.

URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1988Maupin.pdf Date: 7/7/2010

Article Summary: Will M Maupin (1863-1948) was one of the most remarkable Nebraska newspapermen, spending over 60 on at least twenty different newspapers around the state. He is probably best remembered as an untiring Nebraska booster; for his role in forming the Nebraska Federation of Labor in 1909; and for his association with on The Commoner from 1901 until 1913.

Cataloging Information:

Names: Will M Maupin, William Jennings Bryan, William Taylor Maupin, George Burkhalter, Jennie Hammond, Louis Maupin, Sarah Louise Maupin, Richard L Metcalfe, Robert B Peattie, John H “Jack” McColl, Edward Rosewater, Thomas J Majors, Silas Holcomb, L D Richards, Charlotte Armstead, Joshua Devries, Tom Dennison, A L Bixby, Gilbert M Hitchcock, , Lorena Maupin, Dorothy Maupin, Ashton C Shallenberger, Tom Hall, Champ Clark, , A R Humphrey, Richard M Maupin, J Hyde Sweet, , William Randolph Hearst, W W Maltman, George W Norris, Gerald P Nye, Robert Marsh, S A Swanson, Walter Hughes, John Knickrehm

Names of Publications: Falls City Journal, Omaha World-Herald, Omaha Bee, Bee-News, Hastings Democrat, Clay County Sun, Holt County Sentinel, Meteor, Falls City News, Rulo Weekly Bridgeman, Kearney County Gazette, Hastings Independent, Fairfield Herland, Fairfield Saturday Call, Kearney Enterprise, Daily Review, Minden Gazette, Chicago Inter-Ocean, Lincoln Evening News, North Bend Republican, North Bend Argus, , Fremont Daily Herald, Kearney County Gazette, Nebraska State Journal, Louisville Courier, The Commoner, The Wage Worker, Will Maupin’s Weekly, Kiddies Six, The Midwest, York Democrat, Gering Midwest, Nebraska Facts, Lyman Leader, Whether Common or Not, Limnings, Nebraska City News-Press, , Sunny Side Up, Short Shrift, Sunday World-Herald Magazine, The Unionist, York Republican, Scottsbluff Republican, Niobrara, Men Who Have Met Me

Photographs / Images: Nebraska Press Association band, June, 1914, Will M Maupin with other members; Line drawing from the cover of Limnings, Maupin’s 1898 book of poems from Omaha World-Herald column of the same name; William Jennings Bryan in front of The Commoner office; Will M Maupin ad for Railway commissioner, 1912; Inset of Maupin’s poem “My Preference” from the Omaha Bee-News, February 20, 1928; Ad for Will M Maupin’s run for State senator, 1946

Will M Maupin (seated second from right in front row) with other members ofthe Nebraska Press Association band at the association's June 1914 convention in Epworth Park, Lincoln. (NSHS-P935-17) NEBRASKA NEWSPAPERMAN WILL M. MAUPIN

By Patricia Gaster

Nebraska has produced many local politics. An ardent Democrat for the Hastings Democrat, and the Clay outstanding newspapermen who have most of his life, he worked under County Sun. labored on country weeklies and the William Jennings Bryan on The Com­ Maupin was born August 31, 1863, in metropolitan dailies of Lincoln and moner in Lincoln from 1901 to 1913. An Civil War-torn Callaway County, Mis­ Omaha. One of the most remarkable advocate of organized labor, he helped souri. Populated largely by southern was Will M. Maupin (1863-1948), whose form the Nebraska FederationofLabor sympathizers, the area was an uncom­ sixty years in Nebraska journalism in 1909 and served as its first fortable home for the family of the included stints on at least twenty dif­ president. Reverend William Taylor Maupin, a ferent newspapers around the state. From his earliest days on the Falls Disciples of Christ minister who During his long career as an observer of City Journal, Maupin was one of the publicly supported the northern cause men and events in Nebraska, he gained state's most enthusiastic boosters. His and fought in the Union Army. Shortly a firsthand knowledge of state and characteristic good humor and after Will M. was born, the elder optimism were a hallmark ofhis widely Maupin moved his wife, new son, and a read "Limnings" column in the Omaha daughter to safer territory in Macon County, Illinois, where he joined them Patricia Gaster is assistant editor of Ne­ World-Herald and later of"Sunny Side braska History at the Nebraska State His­ Up," which appeared successively in after service in the Union Army.! torical Society. the Omaha Bee (later the Bee-News), The Maupin family returned to Mis­ 182 Will M. Maupin

souri about 1880, where Will attended proved as short-lived as the Bridge­ cial correspondent for several out-of­ high school in Oregon and in Forest man. Fairfield had two other weekly town newspapers, including the City, Holt County, and then "quit newspapers and even Maupin's efforts Chicago Inter-Ocean. At some point school altogether and started in at the to support the Call by selling sorghum during the summer and early fall of printer's trade" onthe RepublicanHolt in surrounding towns proved inade­ 1893 he was also associated with the County Sentinel in May of1879.2 During quate to keep the newspaper afloat.1° Lincoln Evening News, a sizeable daily the early 1880s Maupin worked as a By December of 1889 Maupin was featuring local news from Lancaster tramp printer (he preferred the term working as "city editor, reporter, and County and southern Nebraska. Its "typographical tourist") on a number entire city staff' of the Kearney Enter­ notice of Jennie Maupin's death from of newspapers around the country, prise. 11 However, like so many other tuberculosis, which occurred October ranging as far north as Winnipeg, early Nebraska newspapers, the Enter­ 31 at the Minden home of her mother, Canada, and as far south as Caracas, prise did not long survive the collapse identified Maupin as the News city Venezuela.3 of a local economic boom. After a brief editorandreportedthata large party of Maupin first published his own stint during the summer and early fall his Lincoln friends would travel toMin­ newspaper, the Meteor, in Craig, of1890 on anotherKearney newspaper, den for the funeral. I6 northwestern Holt County, Missouri, the Daily Review, Maupin moved back Little more than a month after his just across the Missouri River from to Minden.12 wife's death, Maupin was in North Falls City, Nebraska. In the spring of Maupin, now with two children and a Bend, where he' edited the North Bend 1886 he moved into Falls City and wife suffering from tuberculosis, was at Republican and waded into local worked briefly on theFalls City Journal loose ends. In November of 1890 he Republican politics. He frequently and later the Falls City News.4 In Sep­ accepted a job as Lincoln correspond­ traveled by train to Omaha, where he tember of 1886 Maupin launched his ent for the Omaha World-Herald. IUs worked at various times for both the own newspaper in nearby Rulo. family remained in Minden, where J en­ Omaha Bee and the Omaha World­ Despite his best efforts, the Rulo nie probably depended upon her Herald. 17 In Augustof1894 he attended Weekly Bridgeman survived less than family's help to care for two-year-old the Republican state convention in six months. Even the efforts of Falls Louis and for Sarah Louise, born Omaha as a delegate pledged to sup­ City newspaperman George Burk­ October 16, 1890.13 port John H. "Jack" McColl of Dawson halter, husband of Maupin's sister, During the legislative session of1891 County as the party's nominee for could not save the newspaper.5 Maupin served as assistant to the governor. He also sought for himself By February of 1887 Maupin was in World-Herald's legislative reporter, the nomination for secretary of state. Minden working on the Kearney Richard Metcalfe, who was to become a However, the convention proved County Gazette. On November 13, 1887, life-long friend. After about a month on "one of the wildest and woollest [sic] he married Jennie Hammond, a Min­ thejob, World-Herald managing editor, affairs ever seen in Nebraska" when den post office employee.6Less than a Robert B. Peattie, instructed Maupin Omaha Bee editor Edward Rosewater year later Maupin left the Gazette and to "get a line" on the leading can­ resigned as national committeeman took a job with the Hastings didates for speaker of the lower house rather than support Thomas J. Majors Independent. 7 of the legislature. Maupin forty years of Nemaha County as the gubernatorial By November of 1888 Maupin and later confessed: nominee.I8 Majors was ultimately his wife were in Fairfield, Clay County, I didn'tknow a halfdozen politicians in the state. defeated by the Democratic-Populist ButIhadedited a little weekly newspaper in Fair­ where he was first associated with the field, Clay County, a couple of years before and nominee, Silas Holcomb, who further Fairfield Herald. The Herald publisher had heard [Samuel] Marsh[all] Elder make a benefitted from the support of speech ortwo ata Republican county convention. and editor, Maupin later recalled, "did He had turned 'pop' [populist] and been elected Rosewater and the Bee. not last long .... I recall that he made a to the legislature, and being the only one of the Maupin was severely disappointed newspaper attack on a Mr. Tweed, ... 100 members I had ever seen orheard of, I took a by the results of the Republican con­ chance and wrote the World-Herald that Elder [who] rubbed a handful of used wagon was the leading candidate .... I kept it up day vention. Conflict between McColl and grease in the editor's hair."8 after day . . . [and] . . . Elder was . . . later Majors supporters had been intense in When the Herald folded, Maupin elected.14 North Bend. No. 1894 copies of the again decided to strike out on his own. In May of 1893 the Minden Gazette North Bend Republican edited by By April 1889 he and George reported that Maupin would "take Maupin are known to have survived, Burkhalter, his brother-in-law and for­ charge of the Lincoln end of the but the rival North Bend Argus mer partner on the Rulo Weekly Bridge­ Herald, "and by July the family was liv­ noted gleefully that a local caucus to man, were publishing the four-column, ing in Lincoln.15 Besides his work for select delegates to the convention eight-page Fairfield Saturday Call.9 the World-Herald, Maupin supple­ resulted in "more votes in the hat than Despite their best efforts, the Call mented his income by serving as spe­ voters entitled to vote in the room."19 183 Nebraska History - Winter 1988

The Argus also noted that Maupin had married October 13, 1894, in a quiet Maupin's work on the Fremont been unsuccessful in his bid for ceremony in Fremont. Maupin later newspaper soon reflected his changing nomination as secretary of state. recalled: political opinions. As early as 1892 he More than a month later friction Whenwe were married circumstances over which had begun to question Republican we had no control prevented us from taking a policies opposed by fellow members of engendered by the convention was still bridal tour. In the first place, we eloped. In the intense among Dodge County Republi­ second place we kept our marriage secret more the International Typographical Union than three weeks, and before it leaked I had lost (lTU). His spirited coverage in the cans. The September 26 Argus report­ my job [as editor of the North Bend Republican] ... ed a "fracas" between Maupin and [There was] nothing between us and privation Herald of the 1895 Fremont municipal fellow Republican L. D. Richards, save my small ability as a newspaper man, and elections indicates that he was still almighty small demand for that little ability dur­ brooding over the McColl-Majors con­ editor of the Fremont Tribune, in which ing the strenuous times of '94 when business was "the Hon. Richards and CoL Maupin more a memory than a fact.21 test at the 1894 Republican state were for a shorttime tangled up in each convention.23 Maupin did manage to secure a job on Maupin's work on the Herald was to others legs, arms, teeth and feet on the an Omaha daily "that lasted but two . floor of the Tribune office."20 last less than a year. By October of months and failed to pay salaries for 1895, Herald publisher and editor, Dr. eight weeks of that time." Fortunately While in North Bend Maupin began Joshua Devries, had sold the courting Charlotte Armstead, daughter by late December he had landed a newspaper to a former proprietor, who of noted Civil War photographer steadier job with the Fremont Daily promptly fired Maupin. After "negotiat­ Herald. 22 George W. Armstead. They were ing with Omaha and Des Moines newspapers for a position,"24 he ac­ This line drawing graced the cover ofLimnings, Maupin's 1898 book ofpoems, short cepted an offer to act as advance agent stones, and essays drawn from his Omaha World-Herald ''Limnings'' column. and advertising manager for the Armstead Theatrical Company, based in his wife's home town of North Bend. The troupe had beenformed during the summer of 1895 and planned to "make the Iowa-Missouri circuit" the follow­ ing winter and spring.25 Maupin's family remained in Fremont until he leftthe troupe in November of 1895 and accepted a newspaper job at Perry, Iowa, where he was reported to be "proprietor of the Bulletin. ''26 Maupin worked in Iowa less than a year. The political climate in Perry, which he later described as a "hotbed of Republicanism," was uncongenial and the town was already supporting three other newspapers.27 By October of 1896 he was again on the staff of the World-Herald, providing what the North Bend Argus called the "brain power for the 'Limnings' column of the World-Herald. ''28 Maupin had used the word "lim­ nings," brief descriptions of persons or events, at least a decade earlier as a heading for local news items in the Kearney County Gazette of Minden. His World-Herald "Limnings" column and "Brain Leaks," a series of one-liners, became a vehicle for reminiscences, anecdotes, editorial comments, and .#••••• : .. doggerel verse (often in dialect) on •tv';~'i'iilm~. . . Will M. Maupin

topics as diverse as Omaha culture and nings" column a tribute from theLouis­ Bryan's defeat in 1900 did not politics; Nebraska agriculture, history, ville (Nebraska) Courier, which weaken Maupin's support for him. and folklore; and his own newspaper pronounced him "one of the best When the first issue of Bryan's new experiences in Holt County, Missouri, paragraph writers in the West."31 weekly journal, The Commoner, and in a succession of Kansas and Ne­ Active in the Nebraska Press Associa­ appeared on January 23, 1901, in Lin­ braska towns. Poetic jabs at Edward tion, he served as presidentin 1900 and coln, itincludedMaupin's contribution Rosewater, editor of the rival Omaha later held several other offices. He also in the "Whether Common Or Not" Bee, and Tom Dennison, Omaha gam­ found time during these years on the column, which was to become a regular bling and political figure, alternated World-Herald to travel widely in the feature. The column included the same with comic descriptions of miry city Midwest, providing "Limnings" type ofjokes, poems, brief essays, and streets in winter and other frustrations readers with descriptions ofNebraska, humorous fables which had made of everyday life in Omaha during the Iowa, Kansas, and his old haunts in "Limnings" so popular with World­ late 1890s. During the summer and fall northwest Missouri. Herald readers. The "Brain Leaks" of 1898, World-Herald readers were WilliamJennings Bryan's secondbid series of one-liners was carried over treated to his observations of the for the presidency in 1900 was from the World-Herald, and some Trans-Mississippi and International enthusiastically supported by Maupin. "Limnings" material was republished. Exposition in a column entitled "Snap He had closely observed Bryan's politi­ As the months passed, "Whether Shots at the Passing Throng," which cal career since the late 1880s during Common Or Not" included more briefly replaced "Limnings." His com­ his newspaper days in Fairfield. barbed political comment directed ments on state and national politics Maupin, although then a Republican, particularly against trusts {"legalized often provided a foil for A. L. Bixby's had helped to persuade the Demo­ grand larceny"} and tariffs {"licensed Republican-oriented "Daily Drift" cratic Bryan, a little known attorney stealing"}.36 Maupin also supported column in the Nebraska State Journal, from Lincoln, to speak at a Fairfield Bryan's stand on anti-imperialism and published in Lincoln.29 celebration and had introduced him to beganto boost organized labor. Buthis In 1898 Maupin published a number the Clay County crowds that attended. more popular writings still dealt with .of poems, short stories, and essays During the early summer of 1896, the what William Jennings Bryan qe­ under the title of the column from newly Democratic Maupin was in scribed as "the tender attachments of which most of them were drawn, Lim­ Perry, Iowa, andpredictedthat"erethe the family and the homely virtues of nings. He admitted in the,introduction campaignwas over Bryanwould setthe everyday life." Bryan wrote the that the book was published "with country afire with his eloquence and per­ foreword for a 1903 republication of financial intent": sonal magnetism."32 By October of Maupin's columns from The Commoner I claim no particular literary merit for the con­ 1896 Maupin was working for the and especially commended Whether tents. All herein has been published in the Omaha World-Herald, which publisher Common Or Not to those who enjoy Omaha World-Herald, and has served to keep the Gilbert M. Hitchcock made a vehicle "innocent fun, delicate humor, and wolf from the door for a couple of years. It is hoped that, in book form, these sketches and for Bryan's political views. Hitchcock philosophy seasoned with senti­ verses will kill the wolf and thus relieve the writer even listed Bryan as editor-in-chief for ment."37 of some disagreeable company.3D a time in the mid-1890s in return for The years Maupin spent with The Much of the material reprinted from Bryan's investment in the paper, Commoner were probably among his the "Limnings" column in the subse­ although much of the editorial burden happiest. He moved his growing family quentbook is sentimental verse fell upon the shoulders ofthe associate from Omaha to Lincoln and par­ reflecting Maupin's family life and his editor, Richard L. Metcalfe.33 ticipatedinthe social life ofthe Bryans. love for children. {He and his second In 1900 Maupin attended the His daughter, Lorena, recalled in 1961 wife eventually raised a family of eight Democratic national convention, held that she often carried Maupin's copy children. Two others died in infancy.} July 4-6 inKansas City, along with Met­ from their home to the offices of The They are the subjects ofa large number calfe, now World-Herald editor, who Commoner: of poems and short essays which served as Bryan's personalrepresenta­ Running in and out of the offices of W.J. and appeared not only in the "Limnings" tive and Nebraska's member of the Charlie Bryan was a daily occurrence .... W.J. 34 Bryan dubbed me "Gloomy Gus," because ofmy column ofthe World-Herald, butinsuc­ Committee on Resolutions. During serious and subdued nature; whereas my sister, cessive newspapers and magazines the following months Maupin used Dorothy, was "HappyHooligan." We were guests with which Maupin was associated. "Lirimings" to boost the Bryan presi­ many times in the Bryan home and played with the Bryan children in the carriage house.38 Despite the modest success enjoyed dential campaign. A favorite target by Limnings, Maupin regarded himself was Republican Theodore Roosevelt, Maupin's increasing commitment to as a newspaperman rather than an who exploited to good advantage his organized labor, as well as the need for author and proudly noted in his "Lim­ Spanish-American War popularity.35 money, promptedhis founding ofa Lin­ 185 Nebraska History - Winter 1988

vene a delegate convention in Lincoln on June 21-22 of that year to form an organization of the wage earners of the state. Representatives from Nebraska union locals drafted a platform calling for an eight-hour work day, enforce­ ment of child labor laws, and equal pay for equal work by men and women. Those attending elected Maupin to a one-year term as the first president of their new organization, which was to work toward improving the conditionof both organized and unorganized workers in Nebraska.40 Maupin's simultaneous work on The Commoner and The Wage Worker did notseemto conflict. The "innocentfun, delicate humor, and philosophy seasoned with sentiment," so com­ mended by Bryan in the foreword of Whether Common Or Not, continued to grace the pages of the nationally cir­ culated newspaper; more caustic attacks on trusts, imperialism, and plutocracy appearedin the local weekly of which Maupin was sole editor and publisher. As Bryan readied himself in 1908 for one last try for the presidency, Maupin threw his entire energies into the campaign. When Bryan was defeated for the third time, Maupin wrote sadly in the pages of The Com­ moner; "I thought we had 'em beaten/ T~ a, frazzle, so I didlBut I.found I was IDlsfaken/When the landslide slid."41 Maupin remained on the staff ofThe Commoner until 1913, although after William Jennings Bryan (above) employed Maupin on his weekly journal The Com­ Bryan's third defeatin 1908, he became moner,from 1901 until 1913. (NSHS-B915-64) , increasingly involved in his other ven­ tures - probably from a need to supple­ ment his income. He continued to edit coJn weekly, The Wage Worker, in April guaranteed to advertisers "over 1,000 and publish The Wage Worker until of 1903. Throughout most of his actual, bona fide, paid-in-advance sub­ early 1911, when he changed the newspaper career, he was an active scribers, nine-tenths of whom reside in paper's name and considerably member of the International Typo­ Lincoln, University Place, Havelock, broadened its focus. The January 27, graphical Union, then one of the College View, and Bethany."39 1911, issue announced that Will country's strongest; andhis association Perhaps Maupin's greatest contribu­ Maupin's Weekly would be a "live with Bryan and The Commoner had tion to the state's budding labor move­ snappy progressive weekly journal of sharpened a growing hatred for the ment was his role in the formation of news and comment." Its publisher "highwaymen of finance" who, Maupin the Nebraska Federation of Labor. frankly admitted believed, controlled the nation's Appointed by Governor Ashton C. two. motives in ~e. publication .... One is my economy. Advertised in its January 13, Shallenberger as deputy commissioner deSIre to make a livmg for myself and family. The . 1904, issue as a "newspaperwith a mis­ of the State Bureau of Labor and other is.my desire to contribute insome measure tothe upbuildingofNebraska. Desiring to be per­ sion and without a muzzle," The Wage Industrial Statistics in January of 1909, fectly honest about it I have put the chief Worker by October 21 of that year Maupin used his new prestige to con­ motive first.42 186 Will M. Maupin

Maupin found the new journal a use­ the "foremost private citizen of the ful vehicle for promoting his 1911 book, world."46 Kiddies Six, which consisted chiefly of Maupin did not stay long with the poems on children and family life. The York Democrat. By 1918 he had foreword was written by his fellow Ne­ established a weekly newspaper at braska newspaperman, Richard Met­ Gering, the Gering Midwest, which suc­ calfe, who had worked with Maupin on ceeded The Midwest magazine. Charac­ the Omaha World-Herald and The teristically he set out to boost his new Commoner and who shared his admira­ home town and the surrounding "Ger­ tion for Bryan. ing country" in Scotts Bluff County. As The motive for periodic republica­ director of the Bureau of Publicity tion of what Maupin considered his under the Nebraska Conservation and most popular poems and short essays Welfare Commission in 1918 and early must have been chiefly economic. He 1919, Maupin wrote Nebraska Facts, an wrote openly in The Weekly that his eighty-page "presentation of the 1912 bid for the Democratic nomina­ opportunities afforded by Nebraska to tion for state railway commissioner was ! . homeseekers and investors."47 In 1920 prompted by the need for more he suggested in the columns of his income: WILL M. MAUPIN· newspaper that Gering, at the east Of course I would appreciate the honor of the entrance ofMitchell Pass, was the logi­ office, butI would appreciate the $3,000 peryear . Candidate for more, for dollars buy more shoes for the Dem.ocratlc··Nomlnatlon cal place for an annual celebration to be children's feet and more food for the children's called "Oregon Trail Days."48 mouths than honors. Having in some measure Maupin was also keenly interestedin obeyed the biblical injunction to "multiply and Railway···Commissioner j another historical project, the creation replenish the earth," I find it necessary to acquire i something more than honors in order to meet i of Scotts Bluff National Monument in 43 ! expenses. ! l December of 1919. In the early days of ,. .1 A second try to secure the nomination the National Park Service, no funds Maupin tried unsuccessfully in 1912 as a "Democratic Populist" candidate to secure the Democratic nomination were available to hire regular in 1914 was successful,.butMaupin lost for state railway commissioner. employees, and a local citizen was to Republican Tom Hall in the (NSHS-MS2039-847) usually appointed to look after the general election. government's interest. Maupin In October of 1912 Will Maupin's Missouri Representative Champ Clark managed to secure an appointment as Weekly carried the announcement that for the nomination but later threw his the first such custodian of Scotts Bluff it would be succeeded by a monthly support to Wilson, because he felt National Monument at the nominal literary magazine, The Midwest, with a Clark was too closely tied to big busi­ salary of$12 yearly. He served with zest new format and publishing schedule. In ness interests.44 The growing rift be­ from April 10, 1920, to July 1, 1924. January of 1916 Maupin moved his tween Bryan and another prominent Although his correspondence with the family to York and began editing and Nebraska Democrat, World-Herald National Park Service reveals that he publishing the York Democrat while publisher Gilbert M. Hitchcock, also did not entirely understand adminis­ continuing to put out The Midwest turned many ofthe party's rank and file tration rules and regulations, he tried magazine. The Democrat gave exten­ against Bryan. Former supporters were to comply with official directives and sive coverage to state and national as further angered by Bryan's crusades on constantly worked to improve the mon­ well as local politics and reflected the prohibition and woman suffrage and ument area. He proposed thata private change which had occurred in the Ne­ his resignation as U.S. secretary of corporation be formed to construct a braska Democratic party since state after disagreements with Presi­ road from Mitchell Pass to the summit Maupin's days on The Wage Worker. dent Woodrow Wilson over American ofthe bluffand that a pavilion and cafe William Jennings Bryan had alienated policy toward World War 1.45 be erected there. He wanted to hire an important segment of his party at Maupin was angered by what he temporary employees to patrol the 1912 Democratic national conven­ viewed as Bryan's betrayal ofClarkand the monument grounds and stop the tion by his support of Woodrow Hitchcock and resented Bryan's illegal cutting of trees. He asked for Wilson's successful bid for the Demo­ attempt to make prohibition a Demo­ himself as custodian ofthe monumenta cratic presidential nomination. As a cratic party issue. However, he still regulation revolver and rifle, holster, convention delegate Bryan had prom­ considered Bryan a personal friend, "a belt, motorcycle, and typewriter. The ised Nebraska Democrats to support gentleman and a loyal democrat" and National Park Service repeatedly 187 Nebraska History - Winter 1988

denied his requests, pleading lack of employment to support his family in plans to publish another book consist­ funds, but did finally send him a badge Gering. Leaving his seventeen-year-old ing of "some of the least worst of the and pair of binoculars.49 son, Richard, to supervise the daily rhymes that have appeared in this During his years on the Gering Mid­ operations of the struggling Gering department."52 The slim volume of west, Maupin became less ardently Midwest, Maupin reluctantly left west­ verse, Sunny Side Up, was published Democratic. His break with William ern Nebraska to join the staff of the in 1926. Jennings Bryan, first discernible after Omaha Bee. The Bee of October 9, One of the high points of Maupin's Bryan's espousal of prohibition, 1923, carried on its front page his brief work on the Bee was his tour with the became almost complete. By 1920 he article entitled "Up, Down and Round Burlington"Purebred Dairy Sires Spe­ had publicly labeled Bryan a About - What an Old-Timer Sees on cial" in 1924. The twelve railroad cars "troublemaker" and remarked, "The Coming Back to Omaha." The daily carried dairy exhibits, a demonstration chief trouble with Mr. Bryan is that he feature conveyed to readers of the Bee car, and thirty-three purebred dairy is never wrong. And everybody else is the bemused impressions of a former sires to be exchanged for scrub bulls as wrong when they do not agree with Omahan who had not visited many of the train passed through Nebraska him."50 his former haunts for almost twenty­ towns along the Burlington route. In 1921 Maupin announced in the five years. The column underwent Maupin later represented the Omaha Gering Midwest his candidacy for the several subsequent name changes until Bee on "trade trips, potato specials, Democratic gubernatorial nomination. on October 31 it appeared as "Sunny bull trains, dairy trains, [and] chicken While he later stated that he had not Side Up," a name which was to become trains," and became recognized as one actually expected to secure the as familiar to Omahans as "Limnings" of the leading farm writers in nomination, he believed that his plat­ had been several decades earlier. Nebraska.53 form of stringent reduction of state serv­ "Sunny Side Up" consisted of the Maupin was deeply affected by an ices (and hence state taxes) had same melange of fractured rhyme, per­ event which occurred during the sum­ helped to publicize western Nebraska, sonal reminiscences, and anecdotes mer of 1925 - the death of his former especially the North Platte Valley. which Maupin had used so successfully political idol, William Jennings Bryan. Although Democrats selected Charles in "Limnings" and in "Whether Com­ Maupin had ardently supported Bryan as their gubernatorial nominee, mon Or Not." Italso offered a forum for Bryan's three bids for the presidency in they did offer Maupin the opportunity friendly editorial banter with news­ 1896, 1900, and 1908 and considered to run for the Sixth District con­ papermen around the state such as J. his years with The Commoner among gressional seat left vacant by the death Hyde Sweet of the Nebraska City the happiest of his life. Although he of Moses Kinkaid in July of 1922. He News-Press; Edgar Howard of the later broke politically with Bryan over accepted, promising to "make the best Columbus Telegram; and A. L. Bixby of prohibition and other issues, Maupin campaign I can under the circum­ the Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln). never completely lost his old respect stances" butcommented wryly thatthe Maupin's frequent complaints about and affection for Bryan, whose per­ unexpected honor "was more of a prices indicate that his salary from the sonal qualities, his "bubbling good recognition of the extreme western end Bee - "not large but perhaps more nature, . . . and his ready wit" were of the district than ... a recognition of than I earn" - was not enough to cover eulogized in "Sunny Side Up."54 my humble services to the party."51 both his living expenses and those of Overall Maupin enjoyed his years Maupin was (not unexpectedly) his family in Gering. By the spring of with the Omaha Bee (after 1927 the defeated in the 1922 general election by 1924 he had reluctantly pulled up Omaha Bee-News), which he cheerfully his Republican opponent, A. R. stakes in western Nebraska and had called his "bread and butter factory."55 Humphrey of Broken Bow. moved his family to Omaha. The Gering But when newspaper magnate William During 1922 Maupin suffered finan­ Midwest was sold, and its former pro­ Randolph Hearst bought the Bee-News cial setbacks as well as political disap­ prietor settled into the less demanding in 1928, Maupin lost much ofhis earlier pointments. Several years earlier he roles ofreporterand editorial writer for editorial freedom. His dismay at the had taken over publication of the the Omaha Bee. change in Bee-News ownership and Lyman Leader from the Lyman Com­ Although Maupin was undoubtedly management, as well as his preference munity Club and struggled to build it chagrined at leaving western Nebraska for country newspaper work, prompted into a profitable venture which could under such circumstances, he enjoyed him to once again seek work on a small be run from nearby Gering. However, the camaraderie of fellow workers on town weekly, the Hastings Democrat, the Leader proved a drain on Maupin's the Bee. He supplemented his income ovmed and managed by W. W. Malt­ . financial resources, and by late 1923 by lectures to Nebraska civic groups man. Maltman announced Maupin's the veteran newspaperman, now sixty and community clubs; and shared with appointment as Democrat editor in the years ofage, was forced to seek outside the readers of "Sunny Side Up" his October 4, 1928, issue ofhis newspaper 188 Will M. Maupin

and praised him as the "best known and most versatile writer ill MY PREFERENCE Nebraska."56 I would rather be a worker on the section in Nebraska The Hastings Democrat soon began Than a California loafer where the loafing's mighty good. to reflect Maupin's influence through And to roam Nebraska's prairie in a manner light and airy its regular features: "Sunny Side Up"; Is a darned sight greater pleasure than to live in Hollywood. "Willygrams" and "Maupinions," both I would rather be a sandbank on Nebraska's old Platte River composed of brief anecdotes and one­ Than the beach at old Redondo that Pacific wavelets flog, liners resembling his earlier "Brain And I'd rather be a thistle in Nebraska's winds a-whistle Leaks" column; "A Layman's Ser­ Than an arc light in old 'Frisco trying hard to pierce the fog. mon," similar to a regular Sunday fea­ ture earlier written for the Omaha Bee I would rather be a catfish in Nebraska's old Wood River andBee-News; and a new column, "The Than a swordfish swimming gaily near to Catalina isle. Gentle Knocker," subtitled "A Depart­ And to see Nebraska's beet fields with their hugely paying ment of Protest Against Things in sweet yields General and a Great Many Things in Is enough to make Nebraskans pause and show a happy General, and We Don't Mean Maybe." smile. Maupin promoted Hastings and I would rather be a cornstalk in a field in old Nebraska Adams County in the same enthusias­ Than an orange tree that's groping for some moisture in tic manner in which he had boosted the sand. Gering and the other Nebraska towns And I'd rather live and labor where each one I meet's a in which he had lived and worked. He neighbor continued his promotion of Nebraska Than to live in California where they brag to beat the band. agriculture, accompanying the Burling­ ton's "profitable pork special" in I would rather brave the snowstorms that we have in old Nebraska October of 1929 and suggesting during Than to fight the hungry sand fleas on the California coast. the early days of the Great Depression And I'd rather have a blizzard now and then to chill my gizzard thatfarmers try to raise low farm prices Than to suffer in El Centro, where they sizzle, fry and roast. by organizing along the lines of the I would rather be a "white wing" in some good Nebraska city rru.57 Than a California sucker that some boomers hooked for fair. Although Maupin claimed to have And I'd rather walk the highways of Nebraska, and her byways, lost intense interest in politics, he Than to loaf in California whose chief product is hot air. nevertheless followed closely the struggle of George W. Norris for a Dozens of readers sent Maupin's "My Preference" from the Omaha Bee-News, Feb­ fourth senatorial term in the fall of ruary 20, 1928, to former Nebraskans seeking a brighter future in California. Maupin 1930. He had long opposed Norris's in the February 27 Bee-News discouraged it: "Living in California is punishment program for the development ofpublic enough without adding thereto anyreminders about the glories ofthe good old state they power, believing that private enter­ left behind." prise could more cheaply and efficient­ investigated the attempted filing of pression. Characteristically upbeat, he ly fill local need for electricity, and George W. "Grocer" Norris of Broken professed to see improving business laughed at Norris's fears of a "power Bow in the Republican primary.59 conditions and a "new note of trust."58 When Norris defeated Hitchcock by a optimism" among Nebraska When his staunch friend and former comfortable margin of almost 75,000 residents.6o employer on the World-Herald, Gilbert votes, Maupin, although philosophical, In 1934 Maupin sought and won in M. Hitchcock, emerged from the 1930 did not forget what he felt were per­ the primary election Democratic primaries as the Democratic candidate sonal attacks upon him by Norris. nomination to the State Railway Com­ to oppose Norris, Maupin strongly sup­ In early 1931 Maupin resigned as mission. In the November general elec­ portedhis candidacy inthe pages ofthe editor of the Hastings Democrat to tion he defeated his Republican Hastings Democrat. Maupin was in turn accept a position as roving correspond­ opponent, Robert Marsh, as a Demo­ attacked by Norris and his supporters ent for the Omaha World-Herald. One cratic sweep reflected widespread dis­ and, to his amused surprise, "quizzed of his first assignments was to travel satisfaction within the state with at length by an investigator employed about the state, reporting first-hand Republican efforts to deal with the by [North Dakota] Senator [Gerald P.] the agricultural and business con­ Depression.61 Nye's snooping committee," which ditions then prevailing during the De- Despite the security provided by a 189 Nebraska History - Winter 1988

steady job and income, Maupin's six­ aired before the State Railway Com­ 1941 as his commission term expired, year term (1935-41) with the State mission. Following the expiration ofhis Maupin re-entered the newspaper Railway Commission gave him little term in 1941, Maupin wrote, "After six field. He and Walter Hughes of Omaha peace of mind. A survey of the annual years oflistening to the wrangling ... it boughtthe Clay County Sun, published commission reports for the late 1930s is a greatreliefto quit it all and retire to in Clay Center by radio station KMMJ. indicates that Nebraska railroads were private life."62 The January 16,1941, issue of the Sun, seeking to reduce or discontinue ser­ However, despite his professed which announced the change in vice to small communities as the "relief to quit it all," Maupin had not ownership, also carried editor increasing use of trucks and buses for done so voluntarily. His tryfor a second Maupin's observation that the weekly hauling passengers andfreightreduced Democratic nomination to the railway under its new management would be railroad profits. However, small towns commission in 1940 failed when he was "independent ... but will lack a lot of fought any reduction in their rail ser­ bested in the primary election by S. A. being non-partisan." vice, and the resulting disputes were Swanson of Hastings. In January of The Sun soon reflected the per­ sonality ofits new editor. "Sunday Ser­ In 1946 at the age of eighty-three Maupin was an unsuccessful candidate for state mon by a Layman," a weekly religious senator. From the Stromsburg Headlight, October 31,1946. column which Maupin called his "pseudo-pulpit," first appeared in the January 23, 1941, issue of the newspaper and was shortly followed by other regular Maupin features: "Brain AN OPPORTUNITY Leaks"; "About Nebraska and Nebras­ kans"; "Sunny Side Up"; and several new columns: "Merely on the Side," FOR TIlE PEOPLE OF which appeared at the left of the front page; and "The Good Old Days," con­ sisting of reminiscences from Maupin's HAMILTON, CLAY AND POLK long and colorful newspaper career. Although seventy-eight years of age COUNTIES in early 1941 and in declining health, Maupin threw all his energies into edit­ ing the Clay County Sun. He not only YOU CAN HAVE AN EXPERIENCED, covered local events but editorialized on state and national affairs, continu­ AGGRESSIVE AND LOYAL LEGISLATOR ing his attacks of the late 1920s and AND A FOE OF ALL TAX DODGERS 1930s upon Senator George W. Norris because ofNorris's push for hydroelec­ AND SPENDERS OF YOUR TAX MONEY tric development, which Maupin believed less important than water resource development primarily for irrigation. Norris was also criticized for VOTE FOR his role in the adoption of the Nebraska AND WORK FOR unicameral legislature, which Maupin contemptuously called the "one-hoss house."63 The columns ofthe Clay County Sun also reflected Maupin's renewed [8] Will M. Maupin interest in politics. He described him­ selfto Sun readers as "a democrat. Not a 'New Deal' democrat ... but a regular old-time states' rights, least govern­ CANDIDATE 25TII DISTRICT ment the better, democrat."64 In UNICAMEIlAL LEGISL,lTlJRE January of 1942 the partnership of MaupinandHughes was dissolved, and in April ofthatyearMaupin announced 190 Will M. Maupin

his intention to file for the Democratic "I defeatedmy Democratic opponentbetterthan entitled Men Who Have Met Me, which nomination for railway commissioner, 3 to 1. Am not worrying a bit about the [general) included "the low down on many ofthe election. Ifthe voters want me, all right. Ifnot I citing as qualifications his previous six still own a typewriter and my own home, and [political] higher-ups in Nebraska since years of experience, the last two years don'towe a dollar I can'tpayinside oftwenty-four 1886."72 There is no evidence that it spent as commission chairman. He won hours."69 was ever published. nomination in the primary but lost in However, he did not live to complete Much of his rhyme was consciously the general election to Republican his race for office. Maupin died at his modeled on the work of others, and John Knickrehm of Grand Island.65 home in Clay Center of a heart attack most was written in haste under the Maupin may have felt the sting of yet on June 12, 1948. pressure of newspaper deadlines. In a another political defeat tempered A large number of Nebraska 1907 poem candidly entitled "Filler," somewhat by the simultaneous defeat newspapers noted the passing of Will he confessed to readers of The Com­ ofhis old adversary, George W. Norris, Maupin, who was, according to the moner, "I vainly strive/With best of who was defeated for re-election to the York Republican, "a newspaper writer grace/To grind out live/Stuff for this U.S. Senate by Republican Kenneth of the old school, independent and space."73 Yet his poems on family life Wherry. uncompromising."70 He is probably were widely admired and reprinted. Maupin remained in Clay Center for best remembered today as an untiring Maupin disdained the title of jour­ the remaining six years ofhis life. Inhis Nebraska booster; for his role in form­ nalist as well as that of poet, claiming four-page Short Shrift, "an unpreten­ ing the Nebraska Federation of Labor that he was "just a plain, common, or tious sheet issued monthly and for no in 1909; and for his association with garden variety of newspaperman."74 particular reason," he announced him­ William Jennings Bryan on The Com­ When asked for advice on how to break self well content to "sit under my own moner from 1901 until 1913. His into newspaper writing, he replied: vine and fig tree ... and while watching newspaper career in Nebraska alone [I) don't know. You just break in, that's all ....If you have the urge strong enough, you'll break in the rest of the world go by jot down on spanned more than sixty years, begin­ somehow, sometime and once in you are done for. my faithful and battered old typewriter ning in 1886 in Falls City and ending in Itis a fatal disease. After you have beeninitfor30 just what I think of men and things."66 Clay Center in 1948. or40 years your greatestambitionwillbe to own a chicken farm on the edge of town. Meanwhile as He contributed to the Sunday World­ Financial difficulties plagued him you perform yourdaily task, you will be preparing Herald Magazine a weekly column throughout his life, buthis love oftravel to write the great American novel, the great entitled "Did You Know," consisting of - ofthe variety and change of scene it American drama or the great American poem, none of which you will succeed in creating.7S unusual facts about Nebraska gleaned offered - was probably as strong an both from contributors and from his inducement as the need for money in Though Maupin never succeeded in own lengthy newspaper career in the driving him from town to town. During creating"the greatAmerican novel, the state. From May 1945 until his death in his many years as an observer of men great American drama, or the great June 1948 his column, "On The and events in Nebraska, he gained an American poem," he was for sixty years Sidelines," appeared intermittently in unparalleled knowledge of state politics one of Nebraska's most talented The Unionist, an Omaha labor weekly but was never able to personally newspaper writers and one of the edited by his son, Richard M. Maupin. benefit from it. His importance to the state's greatest boosters. In 1947 the Nebraska Federation of Democratic party in Nebraska as a Labor, which he had helped found in "carrier ofwater and a hewer ofwood" NOTES 1909, awarded Will Maupin a gold was recognized by the Scottsbluff 'At least three of Maupin's obituaries state that he was born in Illinois (North Bend Eagle, lifetime membership card "in recogni­ Republican, which crossed party lines June 17, 1948, 1:2; The Unionist, June 18, 1948, tion and appreciation of his lifelong to support Maupin's unsuccessful bid 1:2; The Westerners Brand Book 5 [August 1948), 34). Maupin, in two ofhis earliest autobiographi­ work for labor."67 for the Democratic gubernatorial cal sketches, stated that his mother leftMissouri Maupin continued his interest in nomination in 1921.71 for Illinois shortly before his birth (Omaha politics as well as his zest for writing. Although he was an early member World-Herald [morning), September 16, 1898, 4:4; North Bend Eagle, June 17, 1894, 1:2). In 1946 he was an unsuccessful candi­ and president ofthe Nebraska Writers However, after 1900 he consistently listed his date for state senator from what was Guild, organized in 1925, Maupin never birthplace as Callaway County, Missouri, and in then the twenty-fifth senatorial district the Hastings Democrat (February 13, 1930, 4:3) considered himself a partofthe literary stated that his father "came home on furlough consisting of Clay, Hamilton, and world. He did write, besides his books shortly after I was born and moved mother, my Polk counties.68 In 1948 at the age of verse, at least one play, Niobrara, sister, and myself to Macon County [Illinois)." Most of his newspaper obituaries and the of eighty-five he again sought and which was "actually produced a nl!lln­ majority of pertinent primary and secondary won Democratic nomination to the ber of times ... [by] a repertory com­ sources list his birthplace as Callaway County, state railway commission. In one pany playing week stands along the Missouri. 2Will Maupin, "From the Old Home Paper," of his last letters he announced kerosene circuit." In 1941 he com­ . Muiwest 2 (September 1914), 80. Omaha Bee, breezily: pleted a book-length manuscript May 27,1924,4:6-7. 191 Nebraska History - Winter 1988

3Hastings Democrat, January 24, 1929, 8:2; montDailyHerald, October23, 1895,2:1.Fremont of Nebraska Press, 1969), 33. January 2,1930,4:5; June 12, 1930,4:2; August28, Daily Tribune, October 22, 1895, 4:4. 46York Democrat, June 21, 1916, 4:3. 1930, 4:2-3; December 25, 1930, 1:3~6. Omaha 2SFremontDailyTribune, October 29,1895,4:2; 47Will Maupin, "Oregon Trail Days," Ne­ Bee, November 8;1924, 6:3-4. Omaha Bee-News, September 18,1895,3:5; September27,1895,3:5. braska llzstory 14 (October-December, 1933):253. December 16,1927,12:6-7; April 16, 1928, 6:6-7. North BendArgus, September27, 1895, 5:3; April Gering Midwest, January 30, 1919, 1:5. Will Clay County Sun (Clay Center), May 15, 1941, 24, 1896, 5:3. Maupin,FactsAbout Gering and the Gering Coun­ 4:3. 26FremontDailyTribune, October 29, 1895,4:2; try ofNebraska, boundwithNebraska Facts (Lin­ 4NorthBendArgus, October 12,1894,5:5. Clay November 30,1895,4:4. Wahoo New Era, Decem­ coln: Bureau of Publicity, Nebraska Conserva­ County Sun, June 5, 1941, 4:1. Will Maupin, ber 19, 1895, 2:1. tion and Welfare Commission, n.d.), foreword. "Premiering Thru the Southeast," Mulwest 2 27Fremont Daily Herald, September 14, 1895, 48Maupin, "Oregon Trail," 253. (May-June 1914), 40. 3:3. Omaha World-Herald, July 23, 1890, 4:5. All 49Earl E. Harris, History ofScotts BluffMonu­ sRulo Weekly Bridgeman, September 24,1886, subsequent references to the Omaha World­ ment (Gering: Oregon TrailMuseumAssociation, 4:1. Omaha Bee-News, October 17, 1927,4:6-7. Herald pertain to the morning edition. 1962), 14-18. 6Kearney County Gazette (Minden), October 6, 28North Bend Argus, December 4, 1896, 5:1; sOGering Midwest, October 29, 1920, 4:2; July 1887,5:6. Omaha Bee, October 18,1924,12:6-7. January 29, 1897,5:1; January 29,1897,5:1. Sun­ 16, 1920, 3:3; March 19, 1920, 4:1. 7Kearney County Democrat (Minden), May 8, day World-Herald, October 25, 1896,3:4. slIbid., December 30, 1921, 1:2-5; August 18, 1888, 1:3; May 15, 1888, 1:2. Kearney Daily Hub, 29Columnist Ammi L. "Doc" Bixby (1856­ 1922,1:6. September 6, 1889, 4:2. Hastings Democrat, 1934), who once listed his occupation as poet­ S20maha Bee, April 27, 1924, 6-C:3-4. October4, 1928,6:3-4.Maupin's movements dur­ philosopher, shared Maupin's talent for s3Ibid., October 6, 1924, 10:6-7; May 12, 1927, ing the late 1880s are difficult to pinpoint. He expression in verse. Although on opposite sides 10:6-7; May 18, 1927, 8:6-7. C. Clyde Jones, recalledin 1929 thathe hadworked briefly during ofthe political fence, Maupin and Bixby were by "Purebred Dairy Sire Development in Ne­ this period not only on the Hastings Independent no means enemies and shared an interest in Ne­ braska," .Nebraska History 42 (September but on the Hastings Gazette-Journal (Hastings braska history. 1961):196. Democrat, October 4, 1928,6:3-4). At some point 30Will Maupin, Limnings (Omaha: Stone­ S40maha Bee, July 31, 1925, 6:3-4. during late 1886 or early 1887 he worked briefly cypher, 1898), preface. sSOmahaBee-News, October 1,1927,8:6-7.The for Griff Thomas's Harvard Courier (Omq.ha Bee, 31Louisville Courier, reprinted in Omaha Omaha Bee and the Omaha Daily News were November 6,1924,6:6-7) and may have worked World-Herald, October 25,1898,4:5. combined in 1927 to form the Omaha Bee-News. on a Doniphan newspaper. 320maha World-Herald, September 5, 1899, Newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst 8Will Maupin, "Swinging Around the Circle," 4:4. Hastings Democrat, May 2, 1929, 1:4-5. Clay boughttheBee-News in 1928 but sold itin 1937 to The Midwest 2 (July-August 1914), 42. Clay County Sun, January 23, 1941, 6:2. its rival Omaha daily, the World-Herald, which Cou,nty Sun, July 17,1941,9:1. 33Robert W. Cherny, A Righteous Cause, The promptly suspended publication of the Bee­ 9Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Life ofWilliam Jennings Bryan (Little, Brown and News. Adams, Clay, Hall and Hamilton Counties Ne­ Company: Boston, Toronto, 1985), 49. Hastings s6Hastings Democrat, October 4, 1928, 6:3-4. braska (Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Com­ Democrat, November 29, 1928, 8:1; October 13, s7Ibid., October 10,1929,1:6; October 17,1929, pany, 1890),366. Omaha Bee, August 24, 1925, 1931, 2:2. Clay County Sun, March 19, 1942, 1:4-5. 4:4-5, Clay County Sun, January 23, 1941, 6:2. &~ . s8Ibid., October 3, 1929, 1:4-5; January 2, 1930, l°Hastings Democrat, February 20, 1941, 9:1; 34Paolo E. Coletta, William Jennings Bryan, 1:4-5; February 28, 1929, 4:2. Clay County Sun, April 25, 1929, 4:2. Political Evangelist, 1860-1908 (Lincoln: Univer­ June 5, 1941,4:3-5; July 17, 1930,4:3. llKearney Daily Hub, December 10, 1889, 4:4; sity of Nebraska Press, 1964),257,259. s9Hastings Democrat, August 21, 1930, 4:4. December27, 1889, 4:4. Kearney New Era, March 3SOmaha World-Herald, October 8, 1900, 5:3­ Richard Lowitt, George W. Norris, The Persis­ 23,1889,5:2. Omaha Bee, March 18, 1925,6:6-7. 4. tence of a Progressive (Chicago: University of 12Kearney Daily Hub, October 17, 1890, 3:2. 36The Commoner, January 23, 1901, 7:1; illinois Press, 1971), 418. Maupinmay also have worked briefly for theHub, October 3, 1902, 10:1. 6°Hastings Democrat, March 26,1931,4:2; April run by Mentor Brown, identified by Maupin in 37Will Maupin, Whether Common Or Not (St. 16, 1931, 2:1. 1925 as "an old friend and former employer." Louis: Christian Publishing Company, 1903), 61Short Shrift (Clay Center), September 15, Omaha Bee, September 1, 1925, 6:4-5. Omaha foreword. 1945, 4:3. Evening State Journal (Lincoln), Bee-News, May 30, 1928, 6:6. Minden Register, 38The Nebraska Newspaper, A{lril1961, 29:1. August 15, 1934,2:2; November 7,1934,1:6-7. October 17,1890,5:1-2. 39The Wage Worker [Lincoln] December 8, 62Clay County Sun, July 31, 1941,3:1. 13Minden Register, November 28, 1890, 5:1. 1905,2:1-2; January 13, 1904, masthead; October 63Ibid., January 30, 1941,7:3; May 29, 1941, 1:5; Kearney County Democrat, December 2, 1890, 21, 1904, 1:3-4; November 13, 1905, 1:1-4. June 5, 1941, 4:3-4. 1:4. Hastings Democrat, October 31, 1929, 4:3-4. 4°Ibid., April 24, 1909, 1:3-4; June 26,1909,1:1­ 64Ibid., August 7, 1941,4:3. Short Shrift, April 14Hastings Democrat, October 31, 1929, 4:3-4. 6. Russell Lowell Beebe, "History of Labor 1946,2:1. lsMznden Gazette, May ll, 1893,8:4; July 27, Organization and Legislation in Nebraska to 6SCIay County Sun, April 9, 1942, 4:2. Evening 1893,8:3. 1918" (M.A. thesis, University of Nebraska, . State Journal, November 5, 1942, 2:4-5. 16LincoinEvening News, November 1, 1893, 5:3. 1938), 75, 77. The Unionist, January 25, 1946, 66Short Shrift, October 15, 1945, 3:4. Minden Gazette, November 2, 1893, 10:3. 6:2. 67The Unionist, June 18, 1948, 2:2-3. 17Gering Midwest, January 23, 1920, 3:3. Hast­ 41The Commoner, November 13, 1908, 13:3. 68Ibid., October 4, 1946, 6:3. Lincoln Star, ings Democrat, May 12, 1932, 7:3. Clay County 42Gering Midwest, August 19, 1921, 4:1. The November 7, 1946, 1:7. Sun, July 24, 1941, 2:1. Wage Worker, January 27, 1911. Will Maupin's 69The Westerners Brand Book, 5 (August 18North Bend Argus, August 24, 1894, 5:4. Weekly, February 3, 1911, 1:1. 1948),36. 19Ibid., 4:3. 43Will Maupin's Weekly, March 29, 1912, 1:2­ 7°York Republican, June 17, 1948, 1:4. 2°Ibid., September 26, 1894, 5:4. 4. 71Gering Mulwest, June 30, 1922, 1:2. 21Will Maupin, Whether Common Or Not (St. 44Cherny, Righteous Cause, 124-27. Boyce 720maha Bee-News, May 9, 1928,5:6-7. Clay Louis: Christian Publishing Company, 1903), House, "Bryan at Baltimore: The Democratic County Sun, October 16, 1941, 1-A:3-4; Novem­ 80. National Convention of 1912," Nebraska History ber 13, 1941, 6:1. 22Hastings Democrat, December 9, 1929, 1:4. 41 (March 1960), 29-51. Hastings Democrat, 73The Commoner, March 22,1907,13:11. Fremont Daily Herald, December 27, 1894,4:2. November 29, 1928, 8:1. 740maha Bee, February 24, 1925, 4:6-7. 23Fremont Daily Herald, March 22, 1895, 3:1. 4spaolo E. Coletta, William Jennings Bryan, 7SOmaha Bee-News, February 24, 1928, 12:6­ 24NorthBendArgus, October 25,1895, 5:2. Fre­ Political Puritan, 1915-1925 (Lincoln: University 7.

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