air fund" for the babies of that city.
Of course the fund is growing, but not so
fast that a contribution from 3011 would
come amiss. Omaha is so big that it
has shuns, and congested districts and
tenements wherein the babies die at a
frightful rate during the hot months. A
few dollars will save many of these little
ones to lives of usefulness. And, Mr .Man,
if it were your babj', a million dollars
would not be too much to expend in sav
ing it. Well, remember that if it isn't
your baby it is the baby of some other
man who thinks as much of it as you do
of vours. So send in vour contribution.
What shall it profit a man to gain a
couple or three million dollars and rear
up a son who degenerates into a drunk
en fool? Henry (May Pierce, the million
aire oil man is probably asking himself
that question every waking hour. Pierce
has devoted his life to amassing millions,
and while he was giving undivided atten
tion to that his son was giving equally as
siduous attention to highballs, cigarets
and blondined women. Now the junior
Pierce is mentally unbalanced and the
senior Pierce finds his millions unavail
ing to bring him comfort.
After all, what have the insurrectos of
Mexico accomplished that is really
worth while? True they have forced the
resignation of Diaz, secured governor
ships of a few states and cabinet posi
tions for several insurrecto leaders. Hut
where are the reforms in government?
Will Madero prove auy better than Diaz?
He owns five or six million acres of land,
and it is reliably reported that peonage
exists thereon in its worst form. A few
political leaders have secured power and
prestige, thousands of men have risked
their lives and hundreds have lost their
lives and for what? Can it be that all
that is gained is merely a new political
deal in which the breadwinners are still
to be mere pawns in the crooked game?
If the g. o. p. leaders are figuring on
Cummins as a vice presidential candi
date for the purpose of pulling "progres
sive" support to Taft, they are making a
mistake. Cummins read himself out of
the "progressive" class during his speech
in Lincoln a few months ago, wherein he
made the bald statement that he pre
ferred the worst kind of a republican to
the best kind of a democrat. Cummins
of Iowa lowered himself so far in the
estimation of intelligent westerners,
when he made that remark, that he would
be something of a joke as a vote getter
in the role of tail to Taft's kite.
LITTLE THINGS OF LIFE
It is so easy to make people happy, and
the dividends on the effort are so big, that
we often wonder why move people do not
try it once in a while. There happened
in Omaha recently one of those little
incidents that make us feel that this
isn't such a selfish old world, after all.
Every now and then, just when we are so
blue we'd make an indigo bag look pure
white in comparison, one of these inci
dents bobs up before our ken, and then
we chirk up and feel better. Douglas
county has a large number of inmates of
her poor farm, most of them being aged
and infirm people, and many of them
mentally unsound. Very little comes into
the lives of these unfortunates to bright
en them. But last week the union bar
bers of Omaha had a happy thought. A
big bunch of the big-hearted boys packed
up their tools and went out to the poor
farm and spent the whole day in shav
ing, trimming the hair and shampooing
all the inmates in need of that attention.
It was a voluntary work on the part of
the barbers, and they even paid their own
carfare. But Will Maupin's Weekly is
willing to wager that not one of those
barbers wouldn't take a day's wages for
the memory of the pleasure he gave to
the unfortunates at the Douglas county
poor farm.
GEORGE A. ADAMS
Elsewhere in this issue appears the
announcement of George A. Adams for
nomination for district judge, subject to
the decision of the republican primaries.
Horn in Indiana, Mr. Adams was raised
on a farm, and after attending the public
schools was graduated from the law
school of Indiana State University. He
has been engaged in the practice of law
in Lancaster county for more than twenty
years, aiid in that time has made a repu
tation for ability. Mr. Adams pledges
that in the event of his nomination and'
election he will give to the office the best
measure of his ability, and that he is
mentally equipped for the important of
fice no one acquainted with the legal his
tory of the district will for a moment dis
pute. AMERICA'S DRINK EITL
The Presbyterian general assembly at
Atlantic City is not so busy with heresy
trials that it is unable to devote some
time to the ever-present liquor problem.
The committee on temperance reports
that it is high time to put a stop to
garbled statements and deliberate false
hoods and recognize the sorrowful fact
that the use of alcoholic drink is on the
increase in the United States. The com
mittee says great harm is being done by
the use of charts which indicate a rapid
advance in temperance legislation and
boastful staetnients about "making the
map all white."
"We are doing nothing of the kind,"
says the committee. Then it proceeds to
show that the per capita drink bill in
1910 was 21.17. Multiplying this by
4 . 6, the size of the American family ac
cording to government statistics, it is
seen that the drink bill per family is
$111.18. If this is any appreciable re
duction in the use of alcoholic drink one
shudders to think what the total con
sumption must have been some years ago
before the temperance agitation really be
gan. Will Maupin's Weekly holds that en
tirely too much reliance has been placed
by temperance reformers in legislative en
actment. The theory that men may be
reformed by passing laws, or that an en
acting clause and a constable's club is of
mor force than education, is held by too
many. The trouble with prohibitory laws
is that after they are enacted nobody
pays any particular attention to their
enforcement. This is because public sen
timent is never strong enough, and this
lack of strength is due to lack of educa
tion. Mighty few men would make com
plaint if they saw somebody violating the
prohibitory law, yet practically every
man would give the alarm if they saw an
attempt being made to rob a bank or
burglarize a house.
There are parents who send their chil
dren to school, not to be educated, but to
be rid of them for a few hours a day.
There are parents who send their chil
dren to Sunday school for an hour a week
and then consider that they have done
their Christian duty in providing for the
the moral training of their children. And
there are hundreds of thousands of men
who are quite willing to have prohibition
laws enacted, hoping that they will thus
be relieved of all moral obligations to
help destroy an admitted evil.
The iniquity of the .liquor traffic is
rooted in the revenue idea. Will Maupin's
Weekly holds that the first step to take
in abolishing the evils of the drink traf
fic is to abolish the revenue feature. The
second is to abolish the,- profit feature.
And while these steps are being taken,
let the good work of education as to the
evil effects of alcohol upon the human
system go on. , , . ., i ( . .
We are having entirely too much of
hysteria and sentimentality in this war
against the drink traffic. AVhat we need
is more common sense and a recognition
of the fact that .until we begin dealing
with it as an economic question it has no
part in political affairs. It is high time
that some people recognize the great fact
that we do not enact laws for the pur-,
pose of making men moral, but for the
purpose of protecting society.
The Presbyterian general assembly
figured out that less than 10 per cent of
Presbyterian ministers received over
$1,000 a year, and more than 87 per cent
received less than $900 a year. Some of
them nothing at all. With' base ball
managers offering $7,000 a year for
pitchers and from $4,000 to $6,000 for
men who can hit better than .300, no
one need wonder why there are not
enough ministers to go around.
When Governor Wilson speaks in Lin
coln his remarks will be delivered exclu
sively to business and professional men.
If ever he is elected to the presidency he
will have to have the votes of a few men
engaged in other avocations.
