criminately and ignorantly, then society
wonders why the home is becoming less
sacred every day and the marriage tie rapid
ly developing into a disguise for progressive
adultery.
Tae mother who allows her daughter to
grow to womanhood in ignorance of her sex
duties and responsibilities is a traitor to her
sex and to her country. The father who al
lows his boy to grow to manhood without
teaching him something of his responsibilities
and sex duties is lacking in knowledge, and
responsibilities of citizenship. What this
country needs right now is to quit this
nonsense and begin teaching something
about the breeding up of the human
animal. It is high time that the prudes
and the present minded be relegated to the
rear, and there forced to listen to some plain
truths. For the sake of the race and of the
state, let's have at least as much effort at
breeding up humans as we have of breeding
up hogs.
All this business about Memphis seeking
to secure Mr. Bryan for a citizen and the
Commoner office as a business institution, is
merely another Memphis play for publicity.
Memphis has been doing some big advertis
ing of late, and this Bryan story was so good
that the big newspapers fell for it in good
shape. It didn't cost Memphis much, but it
did get the name of Memphis very promin
ently before the people. It is amusing to
Nebraskans, and especially to Lincolnites, to
hear Memphis talking about Mr. Bryan's
printing plant. All the printing plant that
Mr. Bryan owns wouldn't fill a cigar box.
Doubtless there are those in Nebraska
woidd be mightily pleased to see Mr. Bryan
accept the Memphis offer and removes his
lares and penates from Nebraska. But we
venture the prediction that Mr. Bryan will
not cease being a Nebraskan until he ceases
being a live one. And he will be a live one,
politically and socially, until he goes to that
far country from whence none ever return.
The daily papers inform us that the
manufacturers association of Cincinnati is
going to begin a camjaign having for its pur
pose making Cincinnati an "open shop"
town on the Los Angeles plan. This means
that Cincinnati is going to open for herself
a Pandora's box of trouble. Boss Cox's town
town hasn't any General Otis with unlimited
money to run a union hating daily paper.
Nor is Cincinnati situated like Los Angeles.
Perhaps the Cincinnati unionists have been a
little too zealois and lacking a bit in diplo
ma ay. We say perhaps. The chances are,
however, that the proposed campaign for
the so-called open shop is merely the same
old effort on the part of conscienceless em
ployers to force labor into the position of
being compelled to accept any old wage and
work under any old conditions.
A little more than five years ago the In
ternational Typographical union enforced a
demand for the eight hour day. Among the
big printing and publishing concerns that
refused to deal with the printers on the
eight hour and closed shop basis was the
Butterick Co. The fight has been going on
right merrily ever since, but no one outside
of the interested parties has heard about it.
There has been no assaults, no picketing, no
rioting just a battle of brains. Last week
the Butterick Co. capitulated and signed up
with the International Typographical union.
Henceforth the "Designer" and all But
terick patterns will be the product of organ
ied labor so far as the printing end of the
work is concerned. Will Maupin's Weekly
congratulates the printers and the Butterick
Co., upon the outcome of the prolonged fight.
Both have lost by the trouble, and both will
profit by the settlement.
Of course the legislature now in the throes
of dissolution, has made divers and sundry
amendments to our revenue laws. The leg
islature that failed to do so would be a mar
vel. And yet every change and amendment,
so long as we remain under the present in
iquitous and unjust system, will serve merely
to shift the burden. As soon as one class
heavily taxed can become sufficiently well
organized it proceeds to have the revenue
laws amended, thereby shifting the bur
den. Then the new burden bearers carry
the load until they are able to shift it.
Thus it goes, the result being that those least
able to bear the burden are the ones com
pelled to bear them. This will continue until
the arrival of the time when commonsense
and not selfish interest is the controlling fac
tor. When that time comes the tax burden
will be borne by the one thing that should
bear all the burden because it is the one
thing upon which all men are dependent
the land. And those who are interested in
the single tax propaganda should see to it
that those whom they seek to teach get
started right. It is not proposed to tax
land according to area. The tax is to be
upon the value of the land for use and oc
cupancy. Keep that point in mind, and then
reason it out for yourself if possible. But
better still, get some good literature and
post yourself. It may take many years to
achieve it, but like every other good thing,
the single tax will arrive ultimately.
The publicity bill failed in the legislature,
and for . a number of reasons. One reason
was that those most interested in the bill
had nothing to trade off in order to advance
it. Legislation is a matter of bargain and
compromise these degenerate days. Because
of this the most important bill of the lot
was sidetracked. Perhaps, after Nebraska
has dropped back into the ruck, and other
and less favored states have passed her in
the race for development, her lawmakers
will awaken to the necessity of some such
measure as the now late lamented' publicity
bill.
New York, aroused by the cremation of
150 girls in a factory fire, is demanding re
form. That is about all there will be to it
a demand. There will be no reform along
that line until it is made cheaper to protect
human life than it is to put it in danger.
Today it is far cheaper to kill women and
men in the industrial world than it is to pro
vide safeguards for human life. Somebody
is guilty of the murder of these 150 unfortu
nate girls, caught like rats in a trap and
slowly burned to death. One of the guilty
parties is the man, or men, who compelled
them to work in a fire trap. The other is
the chief of the bureau whose duty it was to
enforce the law against that sort of a fire
trap. No one will be punished. There will
be a big hue and cry for a time and then
the public will forget.
LearningThen Doing
The criticism has been made against the
church that one may secure the passage of
social resolutions by the score at any church
convention, that these resolutions are the
work of some man who dared to challenge
the church, and the church not caring to
oppose, simply swallowed them at one gulp,
but with no thought that anything would
ever be done with them. And it has been
asserted that the church will never bring
about the great social reforms which are
pressing, until a few strong, fearless men are
willling to sacrifice everything, if need be,
to accomplish the objects which are very
clearly set forth in our convention-passed
resolutions; and to these the church itself
will bring the most bitter suffering.
But this is not altogether true. With all
the failings of the church and there are
many it has, on the whole, desired to ful
fill its functions. The changed conditions,
especially in our great cities, have perplexed
not only the churches but other social re
formers. They have broken the hearts of
men both inside and outside the church.
Even when one puts forth his best endeavors
the people are so unresponsive. This is true
in the labor world as well as in the church.
There's many an honest-minded labor lead
er who has suffered untold agony because of
the ingratitude and bitterness of the rank
and file. Often have they resolved to quit
the whole business, on this account.
The church is honestly trying to readjust
its methods, adapting them to modern con
ditions which conditions, by the way, have
had comparatively recent development. The
institutional church, wrhile it by no means
solves the social problem, is an honest at
tempt on the part of the church to meet the
social needs of the people of the community.
The plan of the exchange of fraternal dele
gates between central labor unions and
ministerial associations, now in operation
in nearly two hundred cities, was inaugu
rated so that the ministers in particular
might become more familiar with the social
and economic needs of the workingman. The
sociological surveys engaged in by the var
ious denominations in both the city and the
country are further indications of the
church's desire to know the real conditions
of the people. And to know these conditions
is the first step. Labor can help the church
in this respect by cheerfully co-operating
with it when the church wants accurate in
formation. Rev. Charles Stelzle.
Sunday baseball was declared legal in a
decision handed down by the supreme court
of Indiana. . .
