NEBRASKA NEWS
RETIRED FARMER AT 8CRIBNER
KILLS HIMSELF.
SUFFERED FROM TOOTHACHE
Wife Discovers Lifeless Body In Wood,
shed On Her Return from Shop,
ping Other News of Interest
to the People of the State.
Carl Schroedcr, a. wealthy retired
farmer living in Scribner, Nebraska,
hanged himself in the woodshed at
his home. A bad toothache from
whlob. he had suffered nil day Is the
ot.ly reason advanced for his action.
His lifeless body was discovered by
his wife, who had been down town
during the afternoon, and who wont
to the woodshed on hor return for
fuel. The body was still warm 'when
discovered, but life was extinct. The
deceased was 70 years old and was
one of the best kuown citizens of
Scribner. lie left ten children, all
grown.
TRANSFER TRACK FOR YORK.
Application Made By Commercial Club
to Commission.
A. track for the transfer of car load
shipments between the Burlington and
Northwestern roads is the. desire of
the business men of York. They have
the two roads, but it is impossible to
take a car from one system to the
other, because the lines have never
seen the desirability of putting in the
connection on their own account. One
Hue is close to the business district
while the other is on the outskirts of
the city. Great convenience to the
shipper would result from the estab
lishment of the track, the Commercial
club declares. The railroad commis
sion's good ofllces will be sought to
compel Its construction.
Telephone Company Quits.
The charge of discrimination against
the Nebraska Telephone company
which the attorney general wan In
structed by the railway commission to
nle 1,1 court will probably be dropped
because the company has informed the
commission that its contract with the
. Hurlington road will be "abrogated"
December SI. It was charged that tho
telephone company discriminated be
tween its patrons by giving a 20 per
cent reduction to employes of the Bur
lington road. In return the telephone
company received a dozen or more
annual passes, the uso of the Platte
river bridge for wires and the Burling
ton was said to have saved the tele
phone managers the trouble of collect
ing rental charges from Burlington
employes. The railway commission
did not take steps to stop this discrim
ination until the year had nearly ex
pired and then only when Superintend
ent Mattison of the Independent tele
phone association filed a complaint.
Woman Shoots Her Husband.
Mrs. H. P. Barnhart shot and
wounded her husband, the attorney
who recently created a sensation by
demolishing furn.ituro in police court
while under arrest at Norfolk. The
wound Is in the calf of his leg and
is not dangerous. Mrs. Barnhart is in
Jail. Mr. Barnhart was formerly
couuty attorney In Pierce county and
prosecuted Gottlieb Nlegenfind, the
IMerce murderer, who was hanged.
Christmas Row Ends Fatally.
Lafe Allen on Christmas day shot
J. P. Morgan at. a ranch eighteen
miles from Halgler, Nob. Barrett was
die father-in-law of Allen's son and a
'family reunion was being held at the
home of the younger Allen. Consider
able liquor had been consumed and a
general row started, in which Allen
was so badly beaten that he may die.
He retaliated by shooting and killing
Barrett.
Fire in Crete Jail.
Fire in the Crete Jail permitted one
prisoner to escape and gave two
others the scare of their lives. Three
prisoners had been confined for
lirunkenness and one of them sot fire
to tho mattress on wfiich he slept.
Quite a fire was raging when tho
department responded. Tho prison
ers were not Injured, however, and
when the bars were swung back to
Ket them out, one of them, a man by
the name of Milford, escaped. He was
caught later. The Jail is a brick
Htructure. This is the third fire dur
ing tho yoar.
York College Has Good Session.
York college, York, Neb,, has just
closed tho best fall session In its his
tory. More students wore in atten
dunce than for any corresponding
period, and the work they accom
plished measured up to a very high
level, he Institution Is now In ita
eighteenth year of educational service.
i n Ki i i i n i m s n iv i 1 umw zrrno i i . ..M
State Organization Will Meet In Lin
coln January 13 and 14.
Tho dates Tor tnu annual meeting of
the Nebraska State Historical Society,
to be hold in the now Templo building
in Llncofn, have boon definitely fixed
for January IS and 14, 11)08. Tho meet
ing of the Nebraska Territorial Pio
neers' Association, which is an affilia
ted organization of the Historical so
ciety, will be held on the afternoon of
January II. This is according to tho
plan as announced by ('. S. Paine, sec
retary of both organizations. Pro nam.'
tlons for the meetings this year have
been more elaborate than ever before
and a treat Is promised thos who
attend.
The program is about ready for r.ls
tribution and will be mailed to mem
bers within a few days. Following are
some of the speakers who will appcir
during tho sosslonH: Dr. George L. Mil
ler of Omaha, Judge 11. E. Deemer of
the Iowa supreme court, State Super
intendent of Public Instruction J. L.
McBrien of Lincoln, R. L. Metcalfe of
Lincoln, R. B: Windham of Piatt
mouth and W. Z. Taylor of Culbertson.
WOMAN BURNED BY GASOLINE.
Mrs, Gus Kuno, of Nebraska City,
May Not Survive Injuries.
Km. Gus Kuno, Nebraska City, was
blacking a stove with a polish which
wus mixed with gasoline. There being
fire, in the stove, the fluid caught fire
and ignited the womans clothing. She
ran screaming into the yard where
neighbor, hearing her, came to the
rescue and after a hard fight extin
guished the- flames, but not before she
had been badly burned. The physi
cians have hopes of saving her llfo.
Ditch Construction Blocked.
The recent decision of the supreme
court in reversing the judgment of the
district court allowing the estab
lishment of a drainage ditch in the
north part of Kearney county has
been received by the Interested parties
with much disappointment. The pro
posed drainage district has boon suf
fering from overflows and sought re
lief under the old drainage act by
applying to the county board for the
privilege of constructing a ditch
carrying the surplus water more di
rectly to the river. This attempt was
enjoined by the owner of the land
through which the proposed ditch was
to be cut. 'Hie decision seems to
practically nullify all attempts to
drain land by short-cut ditches under
the old act passed in 1SS1 without the
consent of the owner of the land
through which the ditch must pass.
Niobrara as Game Preserve.
Chief Deputy Game Warden Carter
lias a plan whereby he expects to In
terest the national government In
creating a forest and game preserve
out of Fort Niobrara, In northeast
Nebraska, which has now been aban
doned. The tract comprises sixty
squure miles and is well timbered and
contains a. lake, that would with the
expenditure of $1,000 lie a natural
hatchery. Mr. Carter thinks if tho
government could turn the land over
to the state or go ahead on.. its own
volition It would be making the host
possible use of the tract.
Thieves Got Busy.
Christmas eve a sneak thief stole a
Christmas dinner from Thomson
Brothers. They had a number of
packages In a delivery wagon, ay-d
when the delivery clerk was not look
ing some one stole the contents of
the wagon. iSiesday nigh I thieves
broke open the cash box In the street
car for the purpose of robbery, and
then took the oil out of the lamps and
set fire to the car.
Kills Self, III Health Cause.
Mrs. Edith Mastln, wife 'of u livery
man at Reynolds, hanged herself from
a tree in the old family homesteads
two miles east of that town. Mrs
Ma a ten has been In 111 health fori
some months and was recently taken,
to a Lincoln hospital for treatment,
but received no relief and was brought
back.
Arrested for Assaulting Wife.
The village marshal of Papllllon ar-,
rested Harry Jones for attempting
to kill his wife. The marshal is the.
proprietor of a livery stable and had'
taken Jones out. to see his wife in
the country when Jones drew his
gun. Tho marshal arrested him
Back to Illinois.
Governor Sheldon has honored the
requisition of the governor of Illinois
for the return to that state of Bud
Brooks, who is wanted on a charge
of burglary. Hrooks was out on parole
and violated his parole. He Is under
arrest In Omaha.
Big Elevator Capacity.
The town of Fllley, in Gage county
has three elevators with a combined
capacity of 130,000 bushols of grain.
OLD METHODS PASS
SYSTEMS OF LONG AGO WILL
NOT WORK NOW.
CONDITIONS MUST BE MET
One Reason for Growth of Mall Order
System Is That the Average Busi
ness Map Has Not Been
Progressive.
Business methods are changing
week after week and year after year.
The systems that our forefathers
swore by, and which are often
preached to us as examples that
should be followed to-day, could nover
be made to work now any more than
the people would be satlslled with tho
old ox team and heavy cart as a means
of transportation.
Business methods are- different and
growing more dlfferont day by day,
and we must ndjiiHt ourselves to condi
tions ns they change. The spread of
the catalogue house system has been
tremendous, If that word can aptly
be used to express It. There are ele
ments In the system that are good,
and some elements that arc bad. it is
according to the way they arc ap
plied. There Is reason why the cata
logue house exists. They will keep In
evidence until there are better meth
ods and more equitable systems ar
ranged to supply the wants of the peo
ple, and until the people realize that
while the system as a distribution
agency may be all right, there Is much
more to the question that needs more
careful consideration.
The catalogue house system should
be looked upon ns an educational one.
Tho large catalogues that are sent
throughout the land are great books
from which lessons can be learned
and will bo learned. The masses havo,
not had knowledge of values placed
well in their hands. Their economic
education has been neglected. The
farmer knows a good cow, a good
horse, a good hog, and It is bard to
fool him. His education has been such
that ho is "up to snuff." lie is quite
willing to pay the owner of a horse just
what that horse Is worth, and willing
that tho seller should have the profit
in the transaction. Were he as well
posted In the values of the things
that he must buy for daily use he
would be the same with the local mer
chant as he is with tho man from
whom he may purchase a horse or a
blooded cow or other animal. The big
four-pound books are catechisms of
commercial values. The farmers and
the children of the family study them,
and learn more about things in the
commercial world. A few orders sent
to the far-off dealers, and a few disap
pointments, are sufficient to convince
the intelligent man that he can do
belter at home.
Communities that a few years ago
were the greatest buyers of goods by
mail are to-day the best home traders.
The people have become educated.
They soon discovered that goods of a
certain quality always had a certain
value, the same as a good horse or a
cow or somo farm animal. They also
realized that the policy of taking em
ployment away from the home people
was wrong. Perhaps the merchants
of tho place "brushed" up a little.
They, too, began to understand that
If they had all the stocks and kinds of
goods that the people wanted, and
made the prices right, and In addition
kept the people rightly informed of
these facts, that they could have tho
trade of the people of the community.
Both forces working together the
farmer that he was doing wrong in
sending away his money and that he
could get just as good goods at homo
and the merchant that he had to adopt
up-to-date methods did that which
was desirable: viz., kept in the town
tho business that should be kept thero,
solved the problem.
Cooperative Systems Weak.
Advocates of cooperative enter
prises point to the great success of a
few English societies. Glowing re
ports of how great are the savings to
the people uy these cooperative or
ganizations are given. Hut here the
law of compensation plays a part.
While the cooporatlvo methods are ox
tolled, fow who are active in coopera
tive work show the other side of the
question. If some cooperative enthusi
ast would dissect the report of the
London board of trade, recently made,
It would bo found that since these co
operative societies have gained such a
foothold more than half a million
workors in various lines have been af
fected adversely; that those thrown
out of employment by cooperative ef
forts ure objects of charity and nro a
burden to the different trade guilds.
Tho substitution of one store for a
hundred may mean economy, but when
thousands are thrown out of employ
ment by tho system what, other field
affords them a living?
Plenty of Material to Draw From.
England has a "Goose club" with
a membership ot 10,000.
CAN NOT BE ELIMINATED.
Position of the Middlemen Secure In
the World's Commerce.
Much Is printed in the trade papers
about the cutting out of the middle,
men, the jobbers and retailers. Busi
ness revolutionists have taken up the
theme, and have aired themselves.
Socialistic economists have advocated
tho annihilation of the middlemen as
a class of non-producers. The farm
ors of the country are trying to dovlso
means of doing away with "sharks
that produce nothing, and make a liv
ing off the labor of others." Hut tho
ones who are so desirous to see tho
middlemen done away with will have
to wait Tor a fow thousand years.
The jobber and the little storekeeper
are necessary In the distribution of
products. They are most Important
parts of the machinery of commerce.
To illustrate: A large manufacturing
company is located In an eastern city.
Its products are sold by more than
200,000 stores. These stores are lo
cated In all parts of the United States.
Porhnps It costs the concern ten per
cent, to have Its products distributed
by the jobbers. If tho concern at-,
tempted to soil Its products direct to;
the retailers It would be necessary to
carry 200,000 accounts.
Thero would be required a shipping
forco of several hundred men. The
freight on the small amounts of goods
that would be called for would bo enor
inous over the cost of shipping in
tralnload or carload lots. Tho delay
in the transportation of goods a long,
distance would be costly. Should tho
company not send goods direct from
the factory, distributing stations
would have to be established. These
would have to be maintained at a cost
greater than tho ton per cent, paid to
tho jobber for the warehouse charges
and the carrying of. the accounts, and
the employment of travelers. Be
sides, the manufacturer would bo com
pelled to employ an army of traveling
men, or Institute a system of trade-
getting that would bo more expensive.
The Jobber sends out a traveler and
he sells a few hundred kinds of goods,
tho makes of a few hundred dlfferont
factories. Here wo have cooperation
that is sane and profitable, and it Is
doubtful whether tho time will ever
come when the Jobber and the traveler
will be out of business. The present
system Is the development of eighteen
hundred years or more of experience.
It is doubtful whether the inventive
brain of man can devise any other
system of distribution that will be an
improvement. Don't worry about the
middleman being driven out o tho
Held just yet.
To Win in Business World.
Excuses can never bo made to win
in the business world. Apologies will
not le taken by creditors for ready
cash. Hetallers will find that people
who buy goods will seelc the places
where their wants can bo supplied.
There has been much talk as to Just
who is to blame for the growth of the
mail order system. There are dif
ferent causes for the growth and mag
nitude of the business, but It Is the,
poor business qualities of the averago
retailer that has been most instru
mental in allowing the inroads of tho
mall order system into the business
of the retailers in tho small cities and
towns. All the forces outside of the
retailers themselves can work to head
off progress of the mall order evil, but
It will be to no avail unless tho mer
chants themselves change their meth
ods and run their business in an up-to-date
way.
There Is little encouragement for
the editors of home papers to wrestle
with the problems that must be met
by the retailers, to study into all the
Intricacies of affairs, and dovlso meth
ods of bringing about reforms, and to
find the merchants Indifferent, in fact
a majority of them too lazy to readi
what Is prepured for their enlighten-'
ment and entertainment. The old
back numbers among the merchants
must make way for onos more pro
gressive. The rooting out process may
bo slow, but the laws of cause and
effect will do it eventually.
A Common Swindle.
One of the common potty swindles
is the cloth deal. Men travel through
out tho farming districts ropresonting
themselves as agents of some manu
facturing concern in a large city.
They have cloth to sell. It is generaly
ly cut up In "suitings," and agreement
Is made to make the cloth up into
suits for a few dollars. Perhaps the
agent succeeds In selling half a dozen
"suitings" In a family. The bill
amounts to $50 or $00. The result is
that the buyer has a lot of cheap cloth
for which he lias paid three times Its
value, and tho tailor to take tho meas
ure and do the making never appears.
The same game is varied, and cloths
for dresses carried, if tho patrons
of these fakirs would only call on the
home merchant and ask for cloths of
the kind they would find that they
could buy them for one-third to a half
the prices charged by tho agent.
Latest Methods.
Now that they are making engine
drivers by tho correspondence method
next move will be to teach the breth
ren how to attend the furnace by mall.
N. Y. Herald.
THE WORD
MADE FLESH
Sunday Schosl Lesson for Jaa. 5, 1918
Specially Arraneed for This Paper
LKSSON THXT.-.foIm 1;MS. Memory
Verse, X
CIOMJKN TRXT.-"Th Word wh
mndo uVhIi, nntl dwell luuonir um." John
1:14.
8CIUPTUIIAL lUOFKUKNCKB. The
Dlvlno ChrlBt.-Heb. 1:1-10: John 3:1fi, 1H;
Col. i:to, it: iHn. i:o; Phil, anvil: itcv. i:.
12-1(5. Tho Word Made Flcnh.-Htudy what
now UkIiI Is thrown upon this xtutcment
by the accounts of the virgin birth hi
Luku and In Mntthnw: by John IJ:i:
Hob. 1:1. 2: Horn. S:3; Phil. 2:7: Hob. 2:9: t
Joint 1:1, 2.
Comment and Suggestive Thought.
He Is the Word of God. And the
Word Was God. I. "In tho beginning,"
ns In Genesis 1. Back of all manifesta
tions of God was the word which pro
ceeded from him. "Tho Word" is "the
revealer of the Incomprehensible and
Invisible God." Exp. Greok Tost. Words
are tho expression of what is in the
soul reason, conscience, will, purpose.
"The word was with God." The Greek
preposition expresses not merely bo
lug beside, but a living union und
communion, implying the active no
tion of intercourse. "Tho dlvlno word
not only abode with the father from
all eternity, but was in the living, ac
tlvo relation of communion with him."
M. It. Vincent. "Tho word was God."
There 1b only one God, and this state
ment guards against tho error which
tho phrase "with God" might suggest,
that thero Is more than one. No one
can moro emphatically assert the abso
lute unity of God than both tho Old
and the New Testaments, and ' the
whole Christian church.
V. 3. "All things were made by Him."
Whatever God does, tho Word does.
In Col. 1:15, 10 wo aro told that
Jesus
"Is the Image or tho Invisible God,
tho first-born of every creature.
"For by him were nil things created
that, aro in Heaven, and that aro in
earth, visible and Invisible, whether
they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers; all things
were created by Him, and for Him."
And In Hob. 1:13:
"Who being tho brightness of Ills
glory, and the express Imago of Ills
person, and upholding all things by
the word of His power, when lie hail
by Himself purged our sins, nut down
on tho right hand of the Majostv on
high."
See John 8: 10-18; Phil. 2:5-11; ltcv.
1:8, 12-10; isa. 0:0.
He is tho source of llfo. V. I. "In
Him was lire." "That power which
creates life and maintains all else in
existence was in the Word." He was
tho fountain of existence to all things,
Including every form and degree and
kind or life, natural and spiritual. So ,
Exp. Greek Test. "For as tho Father '
ralsotii the dead, and qulckenoth them,
oven so tho Son qulckonoth whom Ho
will" (John 5:21-20; 0:17-58). In the
first chapters of Genesis tho word ere
ate (whoso meaning Is Interpreted by
v. : of this chapter, "to cause to come
Into being") Is used only three times,
(1) of matter, (2) of life, (It) or the
soul of man; and at each of these
points tho ol'forts of men to produce
either of these by tho forces of natiire
have proved a complete failure. Llfo
must come from lffe. It Includes In
tellectual life, bused on tho physical
life, and spiritual life bused on tho in
tellectual. Ho Is the source or light. V. I. "And
the life was the light of men." For
not only was the first effect of life on
matter to produce light, but the first
condition of seeing the light is life. All
tho light In tho universe cunnot make
dead things see. Dead minds cannot
know.
And mere life without light Is of
little avuil. It is difficult for us to
realize what a light does for us.
Jesus Christ is the revelation of tho
Father. V. 15-18. Tho wltnoss.
Tho testimony of experience. V. 10.
"Of His fulness," His Inexhaustible
store of grace and truth, which belong
to the Son of God; a fountain forover
flowing; a sun forever shining. "Have
all we received." We know what these
are by experience; wo havo felt His
love, Ills forgiving love; we have re
ceived His graco In our hearts; wo
havo seen His loving deeds; wo have
heard His gracious words; wo received
HIb gift of Pentecost; His graces have
begun to grow In our hearts; we havo
been transformed by Him.
Illustrations. Jesus is the inex
haustible source of gruco and truth.
In tho Norse legends, Thor wus
given a drinking-horn, which ho vainly
tried to drink dry. He afterward
learned that it was connected with tho
ocean, and he would have had to drink
all the water of tho world before ho
could have emptied tho cut).
An eastern king was showing his
treasure-chest to the ambassador of .
the king of Spain, aftor their dlscovory
of tho mines In America. The ambas
sador put his hand to the bottom of
the king's chest, and said, "I can
reach the bottom of your treasures;
but there is no bottom, no end, to tho
treasures of my Master."