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About Will Maupin's weekly. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1911-1912 | View Entire Issue (June 16, 1911)
Mr. Randall advises, by inference, of course, that we make all the noise Ave gol-blained please on that day, but sug gests that Dad attend to the touching off of the crackers and other fireworks, thus lessening the danger of property destruc tion by fire and the sudden amputation of digits and -whole hands by premature ex plosions. Being quite as much interested in noise making on the Glorious Fourth as any boy in the country, we doff our hat to Fire Commissioner Ilandall and hail him as a wisehead deserving of the commendation of every American boy in whose veins runs red blood. Orahame White, the aviator, is going to the coronation ball in his aeroplane. -That is just where Grahame differs from us in methods of conveyance. lie goes in his aeroplane we go in a horn. A farm hand in Pawnee county, being refused the hand of the daughter of the man for whom he worked, delberately killed the whole family, save the girl, following this up by killing the sheriff who tried to. arrest him and then som mitting suicide. It was a horrible affair. But Ave are not prepared to throw all the blame on the murderer. It seems that for a year or more he had paid court to the daughter without opposition from the parents until he asked for her hand in marriage. This was refused, where upon followed the tragedy. Not having any daughters of courtship age we can not say exactty what we would do under similar circumstances, but we rather opine that any man unworthy of our daughter's hand in marriage would not be allowed to come a-courting for a year or more. A whole lot of misery is being caused by the damphoolishness of the fathers and mothers of daughters bud ding into womanhood. After mature delileration we have come to the con clusion that one of the imperative needs of this country is a school for the educa tion of parents, with a law compelling attendance. They make good everywhere Nebras ka Ih3s, we mean. Now comes William F. Wilbur, born and reared in Omaha, who graduates from the Ames, la., State College at the head of a class )f 229 in the engineering course. Not only that, but he has the. highest averages aniong the leaders of graduates in the nine other departments of the school. You simply can not head them off, those Nebraska born boys. They get the impulse with the first breath of Nebraska air they breathe, and it is developed with the sustenance they draw from the breasts of their splen did Nebraska mothers, Time was when "westward the Star of Empire took its way." No more. The Star of Empire is fixed insofar as this republic is concern ed. Every Nebraska-born boy can, by looking up, see it. immediately overhead. Carrier Nation is dead peace to her ashes! We are proud of the fact that never in all our multiplied, writings have Ave written one word is disparagement of this motherly old woman, misguided though she may have been; nor have we ever referred to her in jest. While w never had any patience with her methods, we had the utmost contempt for the al leged newspaper Avits Avho saw in the actions of this motherly old woman sub jects for ribald jests. She should have been restrained by her . relatives and friends instead of being allowed to roam at large. But she was not, therefore she should have been treated with the respect and consideration due to. womanhood and age, instead of being cartooned and lam pooned by scribblers who found it easiei to earn their miserable stipends by. using her as a subject than to earn it by chas ing down real news or -writing' about topics worth while. Once more have we turned our back upon an opportunity to acquire sordid wealth. Again have we refrained from jumping at the chance to add largely to our rather slim bank account. Nor Avere Ave coppelled to exert ourselves to the ut most to successfully refrain from suc cumbing to the tempter. An advertising agency in Kansas, City that of W. L. Witmer- made us a gorgeous offer, but strangling our impulse to acquire sudden wealth Ave bid Satan get behind us, and he got. With a . generosity un usual in this day and age of the world the aforesaid Witmer offered us a medi cal advertisement, three inches', double column, expressing a willingness to pay us the munificent sum of .$18 if we ran it eighteen months, the aforesaid $18 to be taken out in rarious kinds of junk, mostly out-of-date type faces. We could have taken the advertisement, run it eigh teen months without change, and then, if Ave got the junk at all, might have traded it off for a dog and then shot the dog. But Ave refrained. We call the Witmer offer "generous," but Ave mean it sarcastic. An ad of that size run in "Will Maupin's Weekly for eighteen months would haTe to bring into our coffers five times the amount offered by Witmer and in cash payable every month. And the advertise ment offered by the aforesaid Witmer couldn't get into the columns of Will Maupin's Weekly at any price. We merely quoted a price to the AVitmer person foi the purpose of discouraging future offers from that source. AATe have been watching the Omaha papers carefully for the past ten or tvelve days, hoping to see some editorial ex pression concerning Judge Estelle's de cision in the case of tlie Omaha parties charged with violating the female em ployment law. To date Ave have seen nothing. Nor were we able to discover even a news' item in a couple of the Oma ha dailies informing the world what Judge Estelle's decision Avas. Of course the mere matter of upholding a statute designed to protect the womanhood o the state is of little consequence beside such gigantic .matters as the revolution in Mexico, the coronation of King George, the latest flying machines and other grave matters that have received editorial attention, but Ave insist that it is of some concern quite enough to entitle it to a small measure of publicity. Judge Estelle's opinion is to the effect that it is better to protect the future mothers of the race than it is to cater to "big business" interests. It may be that this is an ex planation of Avhy the decision received such scant attention at the hand of the metropolitan press. The death of George AV. E. Dorsey at Salt Lake removes another Nebraska pioneer, and one of the now almost for gotten school of politicians. Personally Mr. Dorsey was one of the most lov able of men, and in his prime performed great service in the development of Ne braska. As a politician he belonged to that school Avhich deemed anything to Avin perfectly justifiable. His "have manufacturers quote lower prices" tele gram in the congressional campaign of 1890 Avas one of the greatest political jokes ever uncovered.' After being de feated for congress in that year Mr. Dor sey retired to private life and spent his time in loking after his large mining interests. For several. years he has been a resident of Salt Lake. If the Omaha school board declines to make Miss Kate McIIugh principal of the Omaha high school simply because she is a woman, then the Omaha board of education ought to be submit their col lectiAre heads to a specialist to see if an augur AA'ould bring up anything but bone shavings. Miss McIIugh has the experi ence, the education and the tact to fill the place acceptably. To deny the de " served promotion because she is a woman is unthinkable. Ella Flagg Young's work as superintendent of schools in Chicago has put a quietus on the talk that women are not competent because of their sex, to superintend the schools of a great city. As long as speed maniacs kill only themselves Ave are , not going to waste any time in sympathizing Avith thejn. The quicker the speed maniac is killed the safer the public will be. It is the speed maniac Avho kills the innocent pedestrain that ought to be haled into court and cinched a plenty. AVe 'have Avaited a long time, and our patience has been rewarded. The cry of the "widows and the orphans" is now heard above the turmoil of trust prosecu tions. It does beat all how many widows" and orphans manage to get hold of stock in concerns that defy the law." The Nebraska railway commission should have tied a string to its permission o the Missouri Pacific to issue $ 20,000, 003 worth "of notes for improvements. Not less than $15,000,000 of that amount should have been ordered expended in Nebraska,