Plattsmouth herald. (Plattsmouth, Nebraska) 1892-1894, December 29, 1892, Page 4, Image 4

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    THE WEEKLY HERALD: WATTSMOUTH. NEBRASKA, DECEMBER 29, 1892.
THE HEIJLID.
PfHUSHEO I1AILV KXCE1T SUNDAY
xtroTT xxoa.
RATES OF SUBSCRIPTION.
DAILY EDITION.
One Yrnr (iii advance) - Woo
Six months 3 00
By Carrier, per week 15
WEEKLY EDITION.
ne Year-ln udvnnce, . $1 50
If not puiil In advance, fi 00
81s munthH, 73
Three mouths, 40
Telephone NumlK-r 38.
The Plattsmouth merchants en
joyed a large Christmas trade.
THE grand jury returned thirty
nine indictments Saturday after
noon. Nineteen were against J. Dan
La tier.
TllB police pension fund of New
York city has been enriched by a
ChriHtmas gift from CorneliuH
Vanderhilt. The gift in. a check for
$5,000.
TllBcoiiticil last night liyn vote
of Bix to two decided to carry the
injunction case to the supreme
eourt.
Tub Nebraska legislature will
convene one week from next Tues
day. And in the mean time the
light f jr the speakership goes mer
rily on.
Any democratic congressman
has the right to introduce a bill to
repeal the McKinley bill; but no
democratic congressman has the
tqmnk to do ho.
Speaker Crisp is eoing to have
another chance for a square meal
and decent treatment. The ban
quet will be at Philadelphia where
mugwumps sing low.
TliosKjwho hung up their stock
ing Saturday night, and especially
those at Lincoln were presented
with several presents by the grand
jury that were not very acceptable.
Mk, BLAND favors ou income tax.
So do two out of every three demo
crats in congress. Apparently the
next congress will send an income
tax bill to President Cleveland to
either sign or vote.
If the B. A M. depot had caught
fire Sunday (iiight instead of Mon
day night the firemen would have
been powerless to save it. The H.
A M. should now build a decent
deput at this place.
HlLL will not resign when Cleve
land nominates meujfor the federal
offices in New York who are dis
tasteful to him. Hejhas a different
view of the course to be pursued in
order to make things unpleasant
for men whom he does not like.
The large number now under
eeuteuce of death, as well as the
number indicted for murder, in
New ..York has alarmed empire
statesmen, and they propose to re
peal the law of death by electrocu
tion and substitute imprisonment
for life.
Two classes, the silver mine own
ers and the speculators, .would
profit by the reduction of the mon
etary system to a silver basis. The
rest of the people, however, would
be harmed by the change, and they
are numerous enough to prevent
the change.
The democratic party is in great
luck at present.. It has just got a
lease of four years on all the offices
here below, and its comfort in the
next world is assured by an ortho
dox writer of emmenceiwho has
just declared thatthere is happi
ness in hell.
TllE democratic steering commit
tee of congress will not steer up
against the rock of the McKinley
law until they feel that they are
compelled to. They are a good
deal more skittish than they were
on the stump two or three months
ago. They begin to see what a
genuinenstatesuian-like act the
Jaw is.
The scheme toelect a successor
to M. B. Murphy last night was cut
and dried; the newly elected mem
bers knew just how to vote. While
Mt. Graves may be well qualified
for the position, there, were older
members of the council who were
entitled to the honor, a good deal
more so than is Mr. Graves. Mr.
Graves should have withdrawn in
favor of J. C. Petersen.
Senator Mcpherson has intro-
duced a joint resolution" directing
tuc secretary or the treasury to
Kuspcua all silver bullion ptirch
ases until otherwise ordered by
congress. Aa such representative
democrats as McPherson and such
representative republicans as Slier-
man ore against the silver law of
1890, congress ought to be able to
either repeal it or render it harm
Jess.
CHOLERA AND IMMIGRATION.
The announcement that cholera
is on the Increase in Hamburg will
strongly impress the United States
with the necessity of promptly
adopting all practicable measures
to bar out this malady. At no
time since the pestilence first se
cured a foothold in that city five or
six months ago has it been absent
from the place says the Globe-Democrat.
With the advent of cold
weather, of course, the number of
cases declined, but it is understood
that there have been some cases all
along. In Russia, too, the malady
has been present from the time that
it has passed into that country
from its breeding grounds in Asia.
Kven now, when the pest-stricken
region of Kussia is having severer
weather than this country as far
north as the latitude of New York
has felt, uccounts are frequently
published of deaths from this dis
ease. It will remain there through
out the cold months, undoubtedly,
and will break out with greater
violence in the spring than it re
vealed last summer. This is the
usual course f procedure in all
countries where cholera secures a
chance to develop itself. In one or
two points in Italy and France
seven or eight years ago this hap
pened, and the utmost vigilance and
skill of the authorities failed to
root it completely out until after it
had manifested itself for two or
three consecutive years.
The duty of congress, therefore, is
so plain and so imperative that it
cannot be ignored or dodged with
out leaving that body open to the
charge of criminal stupidity or
incapacity. The Chandler immi
gration bill, or some measure as
drastic and effective, must be
passed at the earliest practicable
moment. We know that the cholera
has been present in Hamburg and
at several points in Russia all
through the cold season thus far.
Our diplomatic agents in those lo
calities have reported this to the
state department at Washington,
and as these officials were late in
reporting on its original appear
ance, its presence must be manifest
enough to be seen by everybody on
the ground, or else they would
hardly note it. Immigration from
Kurope must be entirely suspended
for a year, or until the malady dis
appears altogether. It is reason
ably certain that Hamburg will
have a worse Biege from cholera
next spring and summer than was
known last summer. It will un
doubtedly pass to other places on
the continent, and perhaps to the
British Islands, and all these
points will be distribution centers
to menace the rest of Kurope as
well as the United States. Under
the present conditions of unre
stricted immigration it would be
absolutely impossible to keep chol
era out of this country, even by the
exercise of the greatest vigilance
and intelligence at our seaports.
The wise course for us in this cri
sis, and the only course that prom
ises any satisfactory results what
ever, is to cut off all immigration
from Europe to this country for the
time being. This measure of de
fense agaitist the pestilence the
public safety demands should be
adopted by congress promptly after
the clone of the holiday recess.
BLAINE ON GARFIELD.
New York Press: Maine's tender
ealogy of Garfield just ten years
ago is recalled with pathetic inter
est now. It was delivered in the
house of representatives before
both houses of congress, and it
closed with this eloquent perora
tion, Garfield's last day: "As the
end drew near his craving for the
sea returned. The stately mansion
of power had been to him the weari
some hospitial of pain, and he
begged to be taken from its prison
walls, from its oppressive, stiflling
air, from its homeless and its hope
lessness. Gently, silently the love
of a great people bore the pale suf
erer to the longedfor healing of the
sea, to live or die as God should will
within sight of its having billows,
with sound of its manifold voices.
With wan, fevered face tenderly
lifted to the . cooling breeze he
looked out wistfully upon the sea's
changing wonders; on its far sails
whitening in the morning light; ou
its restlesa waves rolling shore
ward, to break and die beneath the
noonday sun; on the. red clouds ol
eveningarchiug low to the horizon
on the serene and shining pathway
of the stars.- Lot us think that his
dying eyes read a mystic meaning
which only the rapt and parting
soul may know. Let us believe
that in the silence of the receding
world he heard the great waves
breaking on the further shore, and
felt already upon his brow the
breath of the eternal morning."
It may be taken for granted that
Cleveland has practically Detected
all the members of his cabinet, and
there is no reason to believe that
hi mind can be changed by visit
ing delegations of men whose
names are not on the list.
It is not surprising that the mis
sionary societies which exercise eo
powerful an influence in English
politics should have strained every
nerve to prevent the British govern
ment from abandoning Uganda.
Since 1870, says the New York Tri
bune when mission stations were
first established in the Nyanza dis
trict, no less than eighteen mis
sionaries, including two bishops,
have lost their lives in carrying out
their work of propagating Chris
tainty and civilization. The native
Christians in Uganda, where sever
al millions of dollar have been
spent by the missionary societies,
number many thousands, and for
the English to evacuate the country
would be to abandon them to perse
cution and annihilation. Under
the circumstances the annouce
ment that the British government
has consented to reconsider its de
termination and to retain, at any
rate for some time to come, posses
sion of the country, will lie received
with satisfaction by all people in
terested in the spread of civiliza
tion. KALlsi'EL, the city of Northern
Montana, on the Great Northern
railroad, is not two years old, but
its growth is marvelous. It is
lighted by electricity, is just com
pleting water work which will fur
nish an unlimited supply of pure
mountain water, and has a well or
ganized city council and board of
trade, and public buildings and res
idences that would be a credit to
cities fifty years old. It has in Flat
head Valley Reservation the finest
body of farming land in the state,
while the mountains and hills are
rich in mineral wealth. A great im
migration is expected along this
new line of the great northern in
the early spring, when the road will
be completed to the Pacific coast.
The Herald takes pleasure in
presenting the name of Prof. Geo.
R. Chatburu of Wymore as the
proper pei son for principal of the
institute for the blind at Nebraska
City. Mr. Chatburn is now super-
intendent of the public schools at
Wymore and was for a number of
years superintedent of the public
schools of Plattsmouth city. Mr.
Chatburn is eminently qualified for
the position and if he should se
cure the appointment would dis
charge hia duties in an able and
satisfactory manner. The Herald,
therefore, submits the name of Mr.
Chatburn to Governor Crounse for
his consideration.
Russian authorities acknowledge
that the cholera the past year took
off 270,000 persons. The probabil
ities are that it was fully one-third
larger than this. The cold weather
has checked its ravages, but the
disease still shows itself alive in
every infected district. If the
United States congress refuse to
take warning, and prevent its en
trance into the country, they will be
false to the best interest of the
couutry.
Senator Palmer says that he op-
posed the anti-option bill when he
made his campaign for office two
years ago. The senator remembers
a good many things now that were
not heard of before. He will after a
while remember that he has always
been the warm personal friend and
admirer of Horizontal Bill Morri
son, if that gentleman gets into
Cleveland's cabinet.
The next administration must be
conducted from the white house,
and not from Tammany hall, says
the New York Herald. That is just
what the republicans said during
the campaign, but the Herald was
then very quiet about Mr. Cleve
land's pledges to Tammany leaders.
The Herald should have made its
protests about four months ago.
The late Senator Gibson, of Loui
siana, was one of those, exception
ally competent men whom the
South occasionally sends to Wash
ington, and it is to be hoped that
his successor will be of the same
class, though the chances are all
against such a selection.
Probably the democratic bosses
in the western states which have
senatorial contests on hand are
equal to the rascality which the ex-
egencies of their party demand, yet
the national bossess officiously in
terfere in these lights.
The popular sentiment in favor
of a national quarantine is practic
ally unanimous, and congress has
no excuse for delay in the matter of
providing such a safeguard against
a possible visitation of cholera.
It is strange about Cleveland. Be
fore the election he answered every
letter by return mail. Today a let
signed with an A. M., LL. M., M. D
gets no response.
it ine popunsis can eieect a sen
ator in Kansas, Mrs. Lease is uu
doubtcdly the strongest man,
THE SWEATER SYSTEM.
It may be recalled that a sub
committee of the committee on
manufactures of the house of re
presentatives visited this city some
months ago to investigate the
sweater system as it exists in Chi
cago. The same committee visited
other cities for the same purpose.
Testimony has been taken in Wash
ington also, and a statement was
made public yesterday which
ought to stimulate reform. It shows
a bicitening condititlon of affair.
There is just one bright side to
the picture, and that is the n'usence
of evidence of immorality. "I have
the greatest respect," says Chair
man Warner, "for the manliness
and the womanliness of the persons
employed." Well he maj, for it
appears thai they work from 5 or 6
o'clock in the morning until 9 or 10
at night. The temptation for such
people to abandon industry for vice
or crime as a nource of livelihood
must be very strong. Drudge from
early morning far into the night
for the meerest kind of a living
won't make a life of leisure and
plenty peculiary attractive. But
there is a dark side to this feature
of the system. Mr. Wagner and
his committee did not meet the
men who had turned habitutal
criminals and the abandonded
the effort to make a respec
table living. If the statistices of the
slums could be taken it would be
found, no doubt, that overwork and
underpay, going hand in hand, were
the great recruiting officers for the
predatory ranks of society. Thomas
Hood sang with tenderest pathos
the song of the shirt and the re
quiem of the "One More Unfortu
nate" in the same breath. The
sweater system, in its essential
character, is found wherever labor
is excessive and wages inadequate
to frugal comfort, and is the whip
with which vice drives its vicitims
into its pens.
Chicago is not quite as bad as
New York and Philadelphia. This
difference is probably due to the
fact that this city has not the same
residence district in the old part of
the city. In those other great
cities the down town districts are
congested by large tenement
houses, occupied by the poorest
class, but in Chicago the cheapest
rents are to be found remote from
the center, and as a consequence
darkest Chicago is streaked with
light as compared with New York
or Philadelphia. But here it is bad
enough to be revolting. Dingy
rooms, reeking with a stench more
intolerable than the filthiest sta
les, are crowded with men, women
and children, taking in poison at
every pore and sowing the seeds of
disease aud death. Says Chairman
Warner:
Children in every condition of
filth and health swarmed in most of
the shops. In the last one we
visited every one had gone except
two wornout fellows, who had made
a pile of the bundles of goods ready
to be made up, upon which, with
out bed-clothes they proposed to
sleep, without change of the filthy
condition of their persons or their
clothes. The "sweater" and the
"sweated" peifectly agreed as to the
miserably low wages paid.
The problem is to find a remedy.
There are a great many employers
who care only to get their work
done at the cheapest possible rate,
but even if all were sincerely anxi
ous to secure reform it would stilt
be very difficult to bring about a
change. For one concern or all
concerns in that line in one city or
a few cities to turn a new leaf with
the New Year, while others in the
business kept on the old way,
would defeat its own end. The
margin of profits is narrow; at least
it is not wide enough to admit of
any very great change in the wage
scale, except through some concert
of action. The people would be
willing to pay a little more for their
ready made clothing if that would
help matters, but some way must
be devised for concerted action.
Perhaps congress can pass some
law having in it practical relief.
The practical end of the report of
this sub-committee will be awaited
with interest. A mere diagnosis is
not a cure. It simply shows what
there is to be cured.
SIX YEARS FOR PRESIDENTS,
The proposition before congress
for an nmemjnient to the Constitu
tion lengtluuiing the terms of pres
idents to sij years has often been
brought forward, says the Globe
Democrat, yet it does not seem to
gain much in the popular favor.
The scheme has its champions, as
it has had for many years past, but
it has not p nough of them to give it
the faintest chance of adoption.
Perhaps the men nt the head of it
think this is a favorable opportu
nity to place congress on record ou
the question and to test public sen
timent. Such a view, it must be
conceded, has some reason for be
ing. There is more loose thinking
on grave political questions going
on than has been known since the
early greenback party days. The
people's party, which is a lineal de
scendant of the old greenback par
ty, is as ardent and outspoken in
the cause of "reform" as its pred
ecessor ever was, and is as reckless
regarding means and results. It
boldly challenges established judg
ments and vigorously and persist
ently assaults established usages
and institutions. If that party were
powerful enough to accomplish its
purposes much of the social and
most of the political fabric would
be overturned and refashioned out
of the new. Therefore, this is as fa
vorable a time as the cranks and
impracticables are ever likely to
have to gain consideration for their
hobbies.
Many of the members of the con
vention which framed the constitu
tion were in favor of a six-year term
for presidents, and a few of the ar
guments urged in advocacy of the
project than are available now. On
the whole, however, the plan which
was adopted has served its purpose
well. After a century's experience
with the four-year the country is
not at all anxious to change it. Al
though thinking people are natur
ally averse to altering the constitu
tion, they would not hesitate to do
so where the necessity was obvious
and when the alteration would be a
manifest and important improve
ment. But the case here referred
to it is not a case of this kind. The
plea that quadrennial elections
seriously disturb trade and arrest
the development of the country is
not very impressive. Trade was
not disturbed in any harmful de
gree by the canvass which recently
ended, and the work of opening up
new industries and extending old
ones was not materially retarded.
At all events, the political educa
tion which these four year cam
paigns confer ou the people is
worth far more than it costs. Such
a schooling voters and to think
of drilling them in the duties
of citizenship. It does not come
too often. Four years, with or with
out the privilege of re-election, may
or may not be too short for a good
president, but a six-vear term, or
even a one-year term, would be too
long for a bad president.
THE INTERSTATE COMMISSION'
the annual report of the Inter
state commerce commission was
submitted to congress Monday. It
deserves says the Inter Ocean, more
than usual attention on account of
the proposed changes in the law.
lhe act as it now stands is a mere
shred of its original self. The
courts have torn and rent it until
there is hardly enough left for a
sample of the cloth.
This report savors somewhat of
Mark Tapley, for it is brierht and
cheerful in the face of all discoura
gement. Salaries go on all the same
The commission is gratified at be
ing able to report that many rail
road managers of. the highest
standing now concede the neces
sity of government regulation and
avow themselves in favor of further
enactments that will make the regu
lation effective. This is a clear case
of small favors thankfully received.
The great railroads back from cut
ting rates, but when it tomes to
giving rebates to big shippers they
snap their fingers at the law. The
rate-cutting lines "pirates," but the
rebate form of robbery is doing
business on business principles,
The grievance of the public is not
so much extortion as unjust dis
crimination, and the relief deman
ded is protection from favoritism.
The report is entirely right in one
important respect. It insists that
the recent decisions agaitist the in
terstate commerce act do not inval
idate the principle on which the
law stands. That is the one encour
aging feature of the case. The
Brewer, Riner and Greshani de
cisions have very nearly destroyed
the state as a power in its present
form, but the foundation stands se
cure, and congress can build upon
it a statute effective in character.
The appliances for carrying out the
taw have been almost destroyed.
Such destruction is a very different
thing, however, from undermining
the basis of operation. The Gresh
ani decision camethe nearestof any
of the three to being hostile to the
fundamental idea of the law, but it
fell just a little short of that. While
that decision denies the power of
congress to require the federal
courts to use the process to compel
the production of testimony h ere
fore a non judicial tribunal, it does
not question the right of such a re
quirement before a judicial body,
and the statute cau be adjusted to
meet the variations in detail.
The shortness of the session
ought not to prevent the passage of
a new bill. Every committee has
its day in congress, and an amend
ed bill should be agreed upon and
pressed Vigorously. There is ur
gent need of such legislation as the
decisions of the court and the ex
perience of nearly six years unite
in indicating and recommending.
C. W. Sherman is still in the lead
for the Plattsmouth postoflice.
THE CRISIS IN FRAMCE.
If France, without recourse to
revolution, can extiicate herse
from her present disgraceful mud
cue in winch are involved legisl
tors, ministers, journalists, socie
itself, it will be because Paris is n
as iriflamtunhlo aa t. ,t
----". in me uaBoi r
The outrages of Louis did not ex
ays of
not e
ople the
cpositloft
French
, . i
ceed in wrong to the peool
: . - -
j uare-:acea swinaies the expos
i ot which has incensed the
people to such a decree that thev
already coufound the mal-adminis-tration
of the government with the
character of the government itself,
says the Inter-Ocean. The excite
ment of having a minister, four ex
ministers ami Rva ,1. .,,:,..,
..v . . v, uifULlca 1UI 111 (1
ly charged with the worst noasiM,
jui in oi political corruption might
oe oi nseit enough to foment evil
passions in the hearts of the dis
turbance loving Parisians; but
when to this is added the popular
outcry against the universal gov
ernment, the cry that-, ."all are
guilty," it is easy to understand
that there is a crisis impending if
r-reneh affairs.
ic question is, can it be averted
peacefully? That result ' might be
Tl. .
attained by a proceeding to deter
mine who are guilty and by prompt
action to the fitting punishment of
those convicted but for the fact
that there are so many interests
hostile to the existing form of gov
ernment operating in every way
possible to reactionary 'frenzy.
At this time public -v sen
timent is so strong against the re
resentatives of the government it
self is practically under trial. , The
wholesale plundering has involved
so many men of eminence .that the
public seems to be unwillinc- to
discriminate in favor of any. and
imperialists, royalists, Boulanc-ists
and radicals alike see in the .airing
oi tne scandal the opportunity for
a coup d'etat that may give One of
mese over-hopeful fadtions the
supremacy.
The wife of one of the Panama "
directors in unrr...wl.,-:., i,..tr .. I
-"- UM.IVUUilU lllOCll U
prisoner is quoted as saying:
"Should the trial take place M. Car
not will not be president lonirer
than two months." The trial i
ordered to take place, and this pre
diction may be construed into the
assurances of revelations that will
overwhelm the government. Fortu
nately Curnot is a man of excellent
judgement and sound courage. It
is believed, too, that he is a man of
integrity. He will meet the issue
fearlessly, we doubt not'calmly. He
will be a tower of strength to the
happily if he prove sufficient. But
at best the world can but regard
the rrench situation as one of
grave international consequence..
The dogs of revolutional war may
not be shipped.it is true; but the
possibility of their breaking loose
is great and not to be lightly, con-'
sidered.
The French populace, urban aud
rual, is not given to being swindled
with impunity to the swindlers. To.
be robbed heartlessly, shamefully,.
and to iuceredible extent is mad
dening to the French, who are
easily worked up to a frenzy. While
it is hoped the public will leave Ui?
investigation and the punishment
to the law, it is feared the constan
tly enlarging revelations may pre
cipitate an insurrection with a cry
ot A bas! to everything existent in
the form of republican eovernment
The greatest assurance of a quiet
settlement by legal procedure is, -
the danger that threatens France
from without. A France revolution
would be the signal for foreign in-
vasion, very likely. The peace of
Europe is concerned in the proeress
of the Panama Canal scandal. From
present signs there is no forecast
ing with certainty the outcome of
tue disgraceful affair.
WALL street's recent irold flnrrv
n - J
s not expected to reappear this-
winter. The January' settlements
abroad took out from this country
all the gold which will be sought
for here at the present time, and
heavy exports of the metal are not
looked for again until the spring
or summer months. Still it must
be remembered that the balance of
trade in our favor in our dealings-
with Europe is smaller than usual
for this time of the year. Therefore,
the stock of gold in the treasury
and the banks is not likely to in
crease largely in the near future.
The treatment of Chili by. the
present administration a ytar ago
calUd out sharp criticism and a
multitude of sneers from political
opponents. But the critics are all
modestly quiet now. Chili has paid
her bill in solid cash, and her re
lations to the government are pleas
ant and friendly. Uncle Sam not
only demanded justice, but he got
it, and made a friend of Chili in the .
bargain. Chili will lose nothing
by her promptness and courtesy.
It is only a very few days until
people will begin to make new reso
lutions only to be broken in a few
days at the least.