Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About Plattsmouth herald. (Plattsmouth, Nebraska) 1892-1894 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 22, 1892)
THE WEKKLY HKKALD: PEATTSMOUTH.XKUUASKA, DECEMBER 22, 1892. THE DAILY HERALD. PITHUSHKU UAII.Y KXl KIT sl'NIAY 38 TT JCTOTT allot. RATES OF SUBSCRIPTION. DAILY K1UTION. One Year (In Hilvuiiiol - . . $B oo Bis month 3 00 By Carrier, er week, ... - 15 WKKKI.Y KIMTIoN. One Venr In advance, S If not pulil in mlvuiice, . . $2 00 8ix lllOlltllH, . . Three month Teleiilioue Number X Evaxuklihts iii Omaha and Lin coln are making it very warm at those two cities fur the ungodly. O.NK wceK from Sunday will be Christmas, and one week from Christmas will he the beginning of 1893. mm Sl'KAKKR Crisp diagnoses the New York banquet as a cane where mugwump tail wags the democrat ic dog. WHEN a democrat HayH anything about those alleged iniquities of the tariff nowdayH he in considered eccentric. Mexico is to have a navy. Our sister republic is an apt pupil under the teaching and example of the United Stiles. Governor Hoiks has subsided to such an extent that one can no longer be certain of spelling bin .HiMue correct I'. H THE republicans in clone states tdioiild keep the fctvf. before them it is better to get the Ktmkn;ship by a scratch than to let Ihe other fel Jows get it, At A recent election in Atlanta, Georgia, but one colored man at templed to vote. Can any man tell the reason why? Georgia in right in the "Cradle of Civil Liberty." Gov'.'FLOWER has appointed Su nan It. Anthony us one of the man ager? of the State Industrial school of New York. It is hardly ' nccV fary to say that SiiHan.iia'eiCipper. KoOEK Wltlrt declares that he jiad notflimg to do with thatsiiub biqg'of Speaker Crisp, but there (ire good reasons to believe that it greatly tickled him, just the same TllKNE is a profitable lesson for political) in the fact that Speaker Crisp's unspoken speech has done more for him than any of his spoken ones. HlLL is not saying much lately, but he is doing a good deal of quiet chuckling over the fact that ho if going to have two votes instead of one in the senate. Tub monetary conference was evidently organized to impress upon Cleveland the provoking fact that the silver qucsiion is a con dition and not a theory. IT PAYS to be a democrat in Ver mont in days of democrats power in Washington. There are 000 fed eral ollices in that state and not a very great many more democrats. Down east the democrats are generally agreeing that the most important office that Cleveland has to fill by appointment, is that of "General Democratic Fool Killer." TUB Sherman law will probable not be repealed by the present con gress, as it its one of the things which republicans are quite willing to postpone beyond the fourth of next March. IT is apparent that the democrats do not propose to tackle the tariff issue during the present congress, but they will have to face the music at the next congress and then the fun will begin. IT is reported that either Texas or Virginia will get the attorney gen eralship. The pan-electric tele phone company had it under the last democratic administration, the country must remember. THE senate, receives a petition or two every week in favor of the pas eage of the anti-opinion bill. The bill, however, is undoubtly losing its popularity among the planters and farmers, the classes with whom it was strongest, and whom it was Uesigued to protect. It is entirely safe to predict that if it reaches the president it will be vetoed. ALL France, and especially Paris, is torn up because the I'anama canal company spent $4,000,000 iu a bonus to advertise the scheme. If Paris now was used to Tammany methods of such things, ehe would not say a word about, or would re mark: "It is lucky to get off so cheap." THE popular vote plan of electing presidents commends itself to the democracy because of the immense preponderance of that party in the southern states. This preponder ance is unfairly obtained, for the1 other side is to a great degree pre vented, either by intimidation or by false counting, from revealing its full weight in the scale. In the northern states, where the vote is large and tree, and where it is fair ly registered and counted, the re publicans usually lead by several hundred thousand, but this excess is easily overcome by the more or less fraudulent vote of the south. If the conditions below Mason and Dixon's line were as fair to the re publican part' as they are to dem ocracy above the line the popular vote plan of electing presidents would find very little favor among democrats. Recent curious observations in dicate that our appreciation of food depends largely if not chiefly on the sense of smell, A student twenty-one years old bad inherited from his mother the defect ac quired by her in childhood of com plete absence of smell, taste and other senses being unaffected. lie could detect no difference between tea, colTee and water. In three out of live trials he confused bitter al mond wjter and water, but distin guished between ether and water and ether and ammonia. Fruit syr ups were simply sweet, with no dif ference in flavor. Cloves and cin namon were recognised, but pepper and mustard gave only a sharp sen sation on the tongue. NAVAL construction is proceed ing vigorously, as shown by Secre tary Tracj 'a report. The work of creating the new navy was started in the Arthur administration, was pushed under Cleveland and is be ing prosecuted at a still more lively rate under Harrison. Nineteen modern vessels have been put in commission tucc this administra tion began, or will be commissioned by March 4 next. The country b fdrging well toward the front in naval strength. Two years hence, when all the vessels under con struction are finished, Knglatid. France, Germany ami Russia will be the only nations that will lead us in naval power. COURTS AND GERRYMANDERS. The decision of the Indiana Su preme Court, democratic with the exception of one judge in its com position, against the democratic gerrymander of the state is another cheering sign of the times. It has become the custom of late to make test of the legality of supposed it ti constitutional apportionments be fore the courts, and not before the legislatures, which almost unavoid ably are apt to .decide such ques tions according to the dictates of party rather than of la w. It is en couraging to observe that the judges almost universally have de cided according to law, and not ac cording to so-callcikpolitics. Really good law is good politks, for no greater evil tan befall a state or a nation than to have its electoral system prostituted to the service ol party. A full free, fair election is a condition p ecedent of a truly dem ocratic or republican form of gov ernment. Thus the newly acquired habit of appealing to the courts ami the newly discerned impartial ity of judges in dealing with legal issues of political origin are mat ters for rejoicing. It would be foolish to speak of the vice of g'i rymaudering as con fined to the democratic party. Iu Indiana the gerrymander has been the rule of both parties, though the democratic parly has been by far the most flagrant in defiance of the semblance of proprietry. In many other states the gerrymander has been a not infrequent tool of both parties. President Harrison has called attention to the frequt ncy of this political scandal in a passage of patriotic indignation. It now seems as though the evil were iu a fair way of extinction, for what will it profit a legislature to pass a dishonest apportionment act if honest judges of like political complexion to the majority by which it is passed are certain to set it aside". The Indiana decision was ren dered in the lull of political excite ment succeeding a presidential "campaign, u is nearu the more clearly in the absence of partisan snouis. ii may oe wen it all un righteous apportionments made by legislatures that are about to con vene are brought to the notice of courts instantaneously, or at any rate long before the excitement of the outbreak of the next election. The mass of the people is honset, whether it be called democratic or republican, and in the absence of excitement will be found to favor an equitable apportionment and to ap prove the judicial action that en forces it. Over liOO stars are now known to vary in brightness. Differences in the phenomena observed have led to the following classification, pro posed by I'rofessor dickering, of the Harvard College Observatory: 1. Temporary or new starts, of which only very few have been re corded. They blaze out suddenly remain visible for a short time, then disappear, never to return. A small temporary star discovered in ISIS in OphinchiiH is still percetible but has faded from the fourth mag nitude to the thirteenth. 2. Vari able stars, with regular periods of considerable length. The periods range from about 100 to 700 days, and the fluctuations in brightness from about one to more than eight magnitudes. 3. Irregular variables having no definite period, and usu ally only slight variation. 4. Vari ables of short period, most of them tinder eight days, 5. Variables of the type of Algol, of which only ten have been discovere I. At regular intervals the light suddenly fades, and continues diminished for only a small portion a few hours of the star's period. DEMOCRATS are talking loud about "the war being over twenty seven years ago," and yet the people are "paying pauper pension ers." Well the revolution was over longer ago than that, and yet I'ncle Sam pays twenty-two widows and daughters of revolutionary soldiers pensions. It pay pensions to 105 survivors of the war of 1812. It pays pensions to (5,05 1 widows of the war of 1S12. It pays pensions to 15,215 survivors of the Mexican war, and to 7,282 widows of soldiers of the Mexican wai. It is estimated that nine-tenths of these pensioners re side in the south. Does domocracy propose to cut them off iu its cheese purine? Win the Mexican war or the war of 1S12 more honor able than that of the rebellion? Let democrats answer. TltK Philadelphia Record, which is ever loyal to Cleveland and pre tends to be one of the president elect's personal organs, has pre pared "a solid basis of a tt riff for revenue," and intimates that this will be the reform followed by the democrats. In this "solid basis" the Record proposes a duty of D-j cents per pound on sugar, 2 cents on coffee, 5 cents on tea. This would tax the American breakfast table about ifSO.om.OOO a year, and the poor mechanic or farmer with a family of six children would con tribute more of this tax than would the millionaire editor of the Phila delphia Record and his family. It would be a poor man's tariff, in deed, and it would bcsiinply a copy of the Ilritish free trade tariff. A (.'KIMINAL court iu New Jersey has set a good example worthy of imitation throughout the whole laud. On Tuesday a gang of des peradoas on the Dalton plan robbed the Allenton bank of $2,000. The outlaws were captured while trying lo get away with their booty. They were immediately tried and on rimrsday, two days after connnit ing the crime, they were sentenced to a term of tenye-irs iu prison and on Friday were lauded in the peni tentiary. This is the kind of justice that is needed. The tax methods that serve to encourage smart law yers, long trials and continual postponements are largely of a na ture lo encourage bad men in the commission of a crime. Tilts New York Par Association has tiled a lother protest against Justice Maynard of the court of ap peals. Governor Flower paid no at tention to the protests of the Har Association a year ago, when he appointed Maynard to the bench to reward him for stealing a seat in ilie legislature, and it is not prob aole that he will be advised by this association regarding his reap pointment. The democrats did not dare nominate Maynard for judge, but Tammany has a better way. It was the chief executive, a-ul he can reappoint Maynard without allow ing the people to have a voice in the selection. monetary MISTERS plea tor a heavier gold reserve is commended by nil reasonable men, The silver element of the currency is growing dangerously large, and more trold should be laid up in the treasury so as to preserve the parity between the metals. The southern appeal for a state baik currency will not be heeded at any time within the next four years.. Cleveland is as much op posed to that policy us is Harrison, and the republicans will back him "P- Cleveland would freely give a cabinet office to prevent the elec tion of Murphy to the senate, but that is one of the foregone conclu sions, and he may as well make up his mind to accept it gracefully. STILL AT PANAMA. I The French chambers are still in . the troubled waters of the Panama scandal. The gravity of the situa tion can not be understood without remembering that the government morally gave its support to the Panama canal measure by author izing lottery aid in its behalf. This moral obligation of the government towards those who have suffered by the collapse of the gigantic en terprise and the revelation of the colossal plundering of the French people must be kept iu view in all kaleidoseopiee cabinet changes and phases which the Panama scandal is producing iu the chambers. Just before the collapse of the canal scheme in 1HS0, General Houlaiiger in receiving a deputation of Pana ma canal bondholders January 0, 1NHD, gave pointed expression to this moral obligation of the govern ment toward the scheme iu these words: "I have no desire to go into Hourse questions, but I know that as regards the Panama canal com pany the government and the chambers morally entered into en gagements which have not been fulilled. You ask me for my sup port, but it is not merely a moral support which I intend giving you. I shall immediately subscribe to some of the bonds." General Houlaiiger subsequently subscribed for twenty-live shares and a shorttime after at a dinner given to him by M. de Lesseps still further manifested his interest in the scheme. Of course it may be said, and doubtless truly, that Gen eral Houlaiiger in thin as in other matters was bidding for popular fa vor, but that the good or ill will of the thousands of French investors in Panama Canal stock is worth something even at this late date the protracted crisis iu the French chambers fullv attests. Scarcely has the Kibot ministry organized for work before M. Rauvier, minis ter of finance, fees compelled to re sign his portfolio rather than face attacks and slurs of those iu the Chamber, who are curious to know the signficance of that night visit of M. Rauvier to Haron de Reinacb and M. Clemenceau on the night of Haron de Reinach's death. Possibly there may be some truth in M. Rauvier's statement that the press is attempting to slur all re publicans in power, but must be remembered that although M. Rou vier is perhaps the ablest liiincier iu France his reputation rests un der some suspicous of previous scandals, and his : 'fusal to re sign would probable nave caused the fall of the ministry. It is but justice to M. Rouvier, however, to add that his services in establish ing the republic were great; that he has frequently been assailed by the reactionary and monarchical press, and that whenever brought face to face with his accusers he has been acquitted. In view of these facts it seems highly pobable that the new ministry and President Carnot in accepting the resignation of M. Rouvier have thrown a stop to the Panama Cerberus. Whether the sacrifice of M. Rouvier even will en able the government to tide over the crisis without further lighten ing the ship of its heavy load of scandal remains to be seen. A SILLY CABINET RUMQR. Perhaps the most absurd story vet told since the election was the story that Mr. Cleveland had per sonally offered to Senator Dill the secretaryship of state. We might as well expect President Harrison to close his career at the White I louse with some signal honor to Judge Greshani. It is true that Mr. Lincoln bestowed that portfolio up on his chief rival for the presiden tial nomination, and similar in stances could be named in our po litical history, but there was no el elment of personal bitterness in the rivalry between Lincoln and Sew ard, Pierce and Marcy, John (Juincy Adams and Henry Clay. Whoever else may be tendered that position, it is absolutely certain that David Hennett Hill will not be, says the Inter-Ocean. The selection of a cabinet, like a wife, is largely a matter of taste. If Mr. Cleveland should put W. C. Whitney at the head of the list the public would recognize it as a very appropriate recognition of the ser vices of a friend as competent to fill the place as anybody in the demo cratic party. Originally Whitney was simply the representative of the Standard Oil Company, es pecially his multi-millionaire brother in law, Oliver II. Paine, but he has come to have a rating of his own, and a high one, too. Success crowned his efforts, and that is quitee sufficient. The pop ular verdict on a man's ability is based on results. Circumstances make and unmake reputations. There is one thing certain. What ever may be the personnel of the cabinet it will be thorughly Eastern dominated by the auti-silver senti ment of the Atlantic seaboard states, and that, rather than the tariff, is the secret of the Crisp epi sode. The Cleveland influence will be thrown for some speaker who will be in sympathy with the cabi net in this regard. Whether the president-elect and his friends will be able to control the speakership and the consequence committees of the house is another matter. No doubt the cabinet will try to use the patronage of the government in a way to promote that end. The republican party has only to stand steadfast and true to its prin ciples. It can hardly be long be fore the American people will want those principles to be put in opera tion once more. Hut be the time long or short, there is only one thing to do. Any attempt to win popular favor by infidelity to prin ciple would be fatal, no less than disgraceful. The democrats will find that they can not afford as a party to advocate one thing during the campaign and another after the election. A great deal will depend upon the men that Mr. Cleveland brings about him as advisers and chief assistants. SUSPENSION OF IMMIGRATION. There is no necessity for any alarm over the threat of the Atlan tic steamship company to boycott the couutry if the Chandler immigration bill should be enacted, says the Glolie-Democrat. No rea sonable person, indeed, really be lieves that these corporations would adopt any such course. It is proposed to suspend immigration for one year only for the purpose of warding off all danger of the en-J trance of cholera into the country. No one wants the interdict to be kept up any longer. The barriers thus erected would, of course, de prive the companies of consider able revenue for the time being, but the time would not be long, and there is no reason to believe that they would be put up again unless another pestilence from ICurope should threaten. Moreover, the loss to the companies from this policy would not be so great as is ordinar ily supposed. It is in the steerage almost entirely that maladies like the cholera are carried iu ocean voyages, and the absence of steer age passengtrs would largely in crease the number of cabin passen gers coining to this country on ac count of the World's Fair, and would add to the number of Amer icans who would make the Euro pean tour. The boats would be safer to travel in, and they would be better patronized in both diree tione by the class of of passengers which bring most profit per head to the companies. If congress deems it wise, there fore, to shut off all. immigration for a year it will not be deterred from this course by any menaces which the steamship men may make. The re is no doubt that this course finds much favor throughout the country. Our great duty is lobar out the cholera, and in this purpose we should employ the readiest and most effective means at our dis posal. It is known that in almost if not quite, every case where chol era appears this year on any of the vessels coining to this country it appears in the steerage, and iu the great majority of cases it did not extend beyond that quarter. The greater cleanliness of the cabin passengers, and their better know ledge and observance of general hygienic conditions, enabled thvm to keep the scourge at bay through out the passag, although neces sarily exposed continually to its presence and influence. In ninety nine cases out of a hundred immi grants come in the steerage. Thus, in taking the required precautions to keep cholera out of the country we are compelled to suspend iinmi gration for the time being. It is freely conceded that many immi grants are desireable persons, whom the country could profitable welcome, and whom it has sought and welcomed all along; but the supreme duty of the country iu this crisis is to to protect itself and if, in carrying out this pro gramme, we inflict hardship on the worthy as well as on the unwor thy, we find our justification in the gravity of the situation. The warming of conservatories by electricity, the idea of two Swiss electricians, gives promise of good results wherever, as in Switzerland, cheap motive power may be had. A dynamo sends the current into re ceivers of special metallic compo sition, which becomerapidly heated to a moderate temperature only and give forth the heat like steam radiators. The advantages are con siderable. The apparatus is very simple and cleanly, injurious gases are avoided and the temperature can be readily controlled without risk of fire. The steamship companies con tend that a law suspending immi gration could not be enforced, but the people have a different view of the power of the government, and would like to see tried. the experiment CONGRESS ACAIN. I lie machinery by which a grea nation governs itself ought nevej to deserve the name of "the annur' nuisance." Hut the began its second session a fewdayf ago one of the sort which the pub lic has reason to dread says the New York Tribune. Its house is democratic. The majority in that body is the largest ever known, and its members were elected in, the crazy campaign of 1S00, when stupid ignorance and shameless lying kissed each other. The product of that remarkable union is a housr which nas proveu toolish, lncompc l tent and linscruniiloiia nlmos: ' beyond comparison, and yet there can be no legislation this winter without that body. How much mis chief it may make it necessary for the senate to stop, even at the risk of serious embarrassment, no man can tell. The country stands in need of some legislation without delay, b' expect any usetul action trom the present house. There ought to be speedy action on the silver ques tion, so that lvuropean powers may be compelled to realize that the United States is not going to ruin itself and degrade its currency for their benefit. On this one subject, although nobody expects sensible action, there is a bare possibility that the influence of Mr. Cleveland and his advisers, who are anxious to get n most troublesome question out of the way, may bring about some surprising results. Hut no body can tell whether the freakish and fatuous democratic maioritv will go to one extreme or the other on the silver uuestion. Its nast record would justify the belief that the house would pass a free coinage bill in baste, and perhaps the most substantial reason for thinking that it may not is that in a body of such a character the un expected always happens At the very threshold will come up the anti-option bill, a measure which carried in itself the peril of business revulsion as it passed the house, and has not been greatly im proved since senators began to work at it. At the last session it was supposed that this measure would pass the senate, more or less modified, if it could be brought to a vote at all, but it was deferred with the understaudidg that it should come up at the opening of this ses es-. usi lityA ivill sion. If it goes back to the hous in any form there is a probabili that the fanatics in that body will insist upon conditions at least as i dangerous as those of the bill tlurV passed the house la t spring. What inconvenience or disturbance to business interests may result while such a measure is pending all can imagine. Next the couutry is to have more of Mr. Springer's interesting antics as the only' original hole-puncher. He it is who makes the otherwise unlikely statement that the present house will be asked by the commit tee of ways and means, of which he is chairman, to put through sundry other fragmentary tarilf bills, each cutting off or reducing the duty on something, not with the idea that any of them will pass the senate, but in the sublime faith that hie various bills will serve to define the policy of the democratic party, ami pledge its members in advance 10 i ue revision which 11 suan maite at the next session. There is one man in America, then, who im agines that a democratic bouse can somehow be fastened by the action of another democratic house, though not in the least by the pledges of a democratic national platform. These are all diversions, to most democratic statesmen. Their prin cipal business will be the passing of appropriation bills. In that line the session just begun is likely to eclipse any th.it have preceded, for it is even more true now than ever before that the democracy is a very hungry and a very thirsty I'frty. A MINORIY PRESIDENT. Many estimates are furnished of the Doimlar vote for flie v.irinna nresidenti.il r.mcliil;itis in Dim l-.ul election. It seems to be well estab lished from these estimates that Cleveland will be a minority presi dent. The following figures are furnished by the editor of the Grand Rapid (Mich,) Herald. t'lovelaml ,7jO,000 Hurritmti 6,5(111,000 Weaver .(GO.OOO Hitlwell 230,000 This estimate places Cleveland in a minority of N50,000 as against all the candidates. The majority of the people did not vote..for, and do not want free trade. HEALTH authorities in Germany finding that the refuse left after ex tracting the oil from peanuts con tains four times the nutritive mat ter of wheat and rye flours, have used mixtures of peanuts and of j peanut refuse with rye flour for luanmj; a vcijf UUUlllOUS OrCUU. 4