Sunday, April 1G. Mr. Davisson was
one of the many men who have been per
forming an immense service to the state
of Nebraska, and performing it without
any flourish of trumpets. His life work
was to mold young men into those strong
characters that make the best for tha
state and the nation. He had the happy
knack of interesting the young men in
agricultural pursuits, and lie led them to
a higher appreciation of their oppor
tunities as the producers of the nation.
Nebraska can ill-spare such men as Mr.
Davisson, but it may rejoice that he was
given years in which to 'devote his abil
ity and energy to those things that are
of real service.
Mrs. Roma Sehaffer of Chicago has
applied for a divorce on the ground that
her husband lied to her. What next?
The first thing we know we'll see divorces
granted because the hair of one of the
contracting parties turned gray, or some
thing similar and equally trivial. The
fact of the matter is, divorce that was
once looked upon as a release from un
bearable marital conditions, is rapidly
becoming the legalized method of prac
ticing progressive adultery.
Miss Cecilia Wilson of New York is
engaged to John White. John has a
pernicious habit of looking upon the
wine when it is red. Miss Cecilia has un
dertaken to fix that by incarcerating
John in durance vile while she takes a
prolonged trip to Bermuda. If when she
returns, she finds John so firmly seated
on the water wagon that there is no prob
ability of his falling off, she will marry
him. All of which means that Cecilia
is going to marry John just the same.
There is nothing that appeals to the av
erage woman like an opportunity to
marry and reform a man. That the ex
periment fails ninety-nine times out of a
hundred avails not a bit to deter the dear
women from undertaking the task. If
Cecilia really wants to reform her John
she will leave him in durance vile. If
she wants to be the wife of a sober man,
she should marry one who has not yet
formed the habit of tippling. That is the
only safe course. .-.
If the voters of Lincoln want to elect
a capable city official one who will give
the city faithful service they have an
opportunity offered them in the can
didacy of Henry Bingaman for city clerk.
Mr. Bingaman may be depended topon to
conduct the affairs of that important of
fice in a satisfactory manner, and Jie may
also be depended upon to be courteous
and fair, and not to play favorites be
cause of any personal opinions he may
hold on local questions.
i
Early in the legislative session Will
Maupin's Weekly referred to Senator
John Moorehead of Richardson af a like
ly candidate for the democratic guberna
torial nomination. After keepint; care
ful tab on the senator's record duyUig the
session we are again inclined to remark
that the democrat who gets the nomina
tion away from the senator from Rich
ardson will have to exceed the political
speed limit. The mention of Senator
Moorehead in connection with the gov
ernorship struck a responsive chord in
many parts of the state. The Falls City
News now conies out with what may be
accepted as a semi-authoritative an
nouncement that Senator Moorehead is
a candidate for the nomination. All of
which, if true, sounds good to this newspaper.
Will Bryan be the democratic candi
date for president in 1912? Bailey of
Texas says Bryan is playing for the nom
ination. Of course Bailey's word for it
is far from being conclusive evidence.
And those who know the Fairview states
man know that he never schemed for a
nomination. But whether Bryan is a
candidate or not, this much is true: It
will be a sheer waste of time for the dem
ocracy to nominate a man who is not in
accord with Bryan on fundamental
policies.
A year from now and Senator Norris
Brown will be experiencing his troubles.
If he does not know now that he lacks
a lot of having a cinch on the nomination
it is high time he was getting wise to the
fact. Last fall Congressman . Norris
wisely decided to stay out of the sena
torial race, knowing that his candidacy
would be handicapped by the fact that
Senator Brown was credited to western
Nebraska. Burkett's successor is an
eastern Nebraskan, and of course west
ern Nebraska will be given the right of
Avay next time. Will Maupin's Weekly
predicts that Norris will try for the sena
torial nomination. It further predicts
that there will be more than Norris and
Brown trying for it. A very astute poli
tician and a mighty popular gentleman
now occupying office and hailing from
Hall county is quite likely to get into
the race. As still another prediction
Will Maupin's Weekly venture to de
clare that the democratic nomination for
senator will go to Ashton C. Shallenber
ger of Alma with little or no contest.
We are not prepared to say whether or
not a telephone merger would be a good
thing. We do contend, however, that
Governor Aldrich was wise in vetoing it.
If a merger is a bad thing, it is well that
it was prevented; if it would be a good
thing there is no permanent harm likely
to be done by giving the public a couple
of years to study it and find out for them
selves. Of course two telephone systems
in a community are a nuisance and a bur
den, but wouldn't the trouble be obviated
to a large degree by enforcing physical
connection? Having survived a double
telephone system for eight or ten years
we are not likely to sink under the load
if we carry it a couple of years moie
while we are finding out all about it.
The editor of Will Maupin's Weekly
hereby announces his candidacy for the
legislature in 1912. His sole purpose is
to introduce a bill providing for the ex
amination of all who undertake to r n
automobiles, and prohibiting anyone un
der 18 years of age from running, oper
ating or handling such vehicles, and to
work diligently to have the bill enacted
into law. The man who runs a locomo
tive engine on a fixed track and at regu
larly scheduled hours is compelled to
serve long years of apprenticeship, but
nothing is thought of putting a green
horn in charge of a 60-horsepower auto
and turning him loose to run amuck on
a crowded highway. It is common to see
proud parents lolling in the back seats
while some precocious little son or little
daughter handles the steering wheel.
Without having any statistics at hand,
we are ready to venture the assertion that
during the last year as many people were
killed by automobiles as were killed by
locomotive engines. And while the list
of deaths due to locomotives is gradually
growing smaller, the automobile's death
list is growing larger. Every driver of
an automobile should be compelled to
stand a stiff examination and be the pos
sessor of a certificate showing that he
is qualified to handle one of the deadly
machines for such they are today.
Collier's calls attention to the fact that
fourteen directors in the United States
Steel Corporation are directors in one or
more railroads, and that the railroads
thus dominated constitute four-fifths of
the country's railroad mileage and pur
chase one-half of the steel corporation's
output. "This," remarks Collier's, "is ex
actly the situation which the word 'graft'
was invented to describe."
A GOOD IDEA
Warden Delahunty is quoted as pay
ing that he "favors more discipline and
less praying" in the Nebraska state
prison. Speaking with a bit of knowl
edge of conditions in the "big stir" Will
Maupin's Weekly opines that Warden
Delahunty's stand is well considered and
well taken. Far be it from us to deny
the efficacy of prayer, or to advocate its
abolition from the prison. But there is,
in the opinion of many good people,
altogether too much of what might
be termed "shoving the religious", at
the men and women who can not
helo themselves. If we had to sit
and listen every Sunday morning to some.
of tlm stuff we have heard labeled out to
the convicts under the label of "religious
instruction," we'd be pretty apt to be
come disgusted. A lot of misguided but
well meaning people deem it their Chris
tian duty to regularly visit the prison on
Sunday and talk "religion" to men who
want to hear something that will make
them forget for an hour the monotony
and the degradation of their existence.
Not for a minute would we advocate do
ing away with the chapel exercises at the
prison, but if we had the authority ?we
would make a few radical changes, and
would insist on a little less religious talk,
and a lot more religious works.