editorial duty to roast everything that
came along and failed to meet with our
approval. Did a man oppose our political
views? Immediately we proceeded to skin
him and pickle the hide. Did some nrni
differ from us on the matter of religion?
Forthwith we proceeded to grill him on
the spite of our disapproval, nor were we
choice in the matter of epithets. As we
look back from the vantage point oi the
now to the days of the then, we can see
that we were very much like the belliger,
ent Willian Goat that busies himself look
ing for something to butt.
It is different now. It may be thai
advancing age has not taught us wisdom.,
but it has at least rid us. of a lot of duni
foolishness. And this habit of roast in i;'
and toasting those who differ from us is
about the most foolish one a fellow can
engage in. Advancing years has shown
us wherein we were so often wrong, and
the fellows we roasted were so often
right, that we are now inclined to be very
cautions. Besides, the saying of pleasant
Besides, the saying of pleasant things
things leaves a much better flavor in the
mouth. A few years ago we could not ad
mit that a man could differ from us and
be honest. We know better now, be
cause nearly every day we discover that
we were mistaken after honestly holding
for years that we were right,
leaves a much better flavor in the mouth.
After all, good friends, it is not neces
sary to knock" and "roast'' and "toast"
time too valuable to waste in wasting
in order to show your disapproval. No one
people. There is too much satisfaction
in handing deserved bouquets around to
waste time in shoving thorns into the
time too valuable to waste in roasting
hands of our opponents. It is us for the
bouquet throwing from now on. We will
"in the future, as in the past, unhesitating
ly condemn the wrong and plead with the
wrongdoer, but never no more the "roast"
or the "gridiron." AVill Maupin's Weekly
is dedicated to good cheer; to boosting
for Nebraska and the men who are ac
complishing things; to the sunshine of
life ; to handing bouquets to the living in
stead of wasting flowers upon the dead.
HEBREW BAITING
The army colonel who, sought to pre
vent a private from taking an examina
tion with a view to promotion to a lieu
tenancy simply because that private is
a Jew, ought to be hissed out of . the army.
There is entirely too much of sjiobocracy
in the army, anyhow. Put a fellow
through West Point and then adorn his
shoulders with some dinky little official
straps, and immediately he becomes im
bued .with the idea that he is something
of a lord, or duke, or earl, or- something
like that. He seems possessed of the idea
that he is above the common herd, WhCtt
the fact of the matter is he is a charity
scholar, educated at the expense of that
same common herd and devoted to life
as a paid servant of the people. If that
Jewish private is mentally able to stand
the exaination he deserves his promo
tion more so, perhaps than a West Point
graduate. If we remember rightly the
Jewish race has produced some almighty
fine soldiers. We have never heard of a
West Point graduate who could give any
pointers to Gideon in the matter of
strategy and fighting. David was some
warrior himself; so was Joshua, and
Moses was no slouch. As a fighter on
the defensive Nehemiah made a record.
Begin with Moses' time and name a half
dozen leaders in any one of the world's
great activities war, peace painting,
music, sculpture, philanthropy, and
others and the chances are that you will
name one or more members of the Jewish
race in each group of six. In this con
nection we venture to repeat a quotation
from the lips of Rabbi Hirsch of New
York : "There never was but one perfect
Christian, and He was a Jew."
THE THRIFTY HALES
The Hale family of Maine seems to be
a very thrifty lot. Frederick, son of
former Senator Hale, received $50,000 for;
services on a boundary commission, the
money being paid on a simple voucher
"O. K'd" by Secretary Knox. At an
other time a $20,000 appropriation to
the geoditic survey was mysteriously
raised to $25,000, and the extra $5,000
paid to Hale. The house committee is on
track of other monies that found its way
into the hands of members of the Hale
family through divers and sundry chan
nels. The state department has some
queer ways of doing business, and the
house committee is bringing them to light.
As it proceeds it is revealed that our
senators, representatives and other high
officials have an amazing retinue of de
pendent relatives, all of whom have been
getting the crumbs regularly, some of the
crumbs looking suspiciously like whole
loaves.
A PLUGGED-UP RECORD
Postmaster General Hitchcock claims
that under his administration the post
office department shows a surplus for the
first time in its history. The claim, how
ever, is based upon the figures of a very
peculiar sjrstem of bookkeeping. By de
moralizing the service, reducing the pay
and increasing the time of already under
paid and overworked railway clerks, and
by various other devices, the postmaster
general is able to make a showing. The
fact of the matter is, the postoffice de
partment has never lost n??ttey. The an
nual deficit has never been as large as
the benefits the government has secured.
Be it remembered that the government
does not credit the department with the
hundreds of tons of government mail
handled each year, nor for the franking
privilege of thousands of officials. Nor
should the postoffice department be pro
fitable. It is owned by the public, and
the public is entitled to whatever advan
tages there may be in the way of postal
rates.
CHEER UP, BROTHER
The San Francisco Labor Clarion,
than which there is no cleaner, more
forceful or better edited representative
of organized labor in- the world, com
plains because an esteemed contem
porary uses Clarion editorials with
out due credit. What's the use? There
always will be editors who can scissor
better stuff than they can write, and pre
fer to do so. That is one reason why the
Clarion editorials are clipped. Time was
when we waxed wroth and grew super
heated under the neckwear when we saw
one of our brilliant mental effusions
clipped and printed without credit. But
we soon came to appreciate it as a com
pliment paid us an admission by the
clipper that he couldn't write it so well
and wanted to make a favorable impres
sion on his readers anyhow. The mission
of Will Maupin's Weekly is to spread
the gospel of good cheer, and while it
would like to have credit for all its ac
complishes in that direction, it is much
more interested in the spread than in the
credit. If the Clarion does not want its
editorials clipped and run without
credit, it has the remedy close to hand.
Let its editor quit writing stuff worth
cribbing.
t
GOOD ROADS IN NEBRASKA
Adoption of sounding resolutions and
delivering of eloquent speeches will not
suffice to improve the roads of Nebraska.
"Good roads meetings" will serve a good
purpose only as they succeed in inducing
men to get right down to the work of
making roads. And the means of mak
ing good country roads in Nebraska are
ready to hand. If every farmer will sini
ply drag the roads abutting on his prop:
erty, and drag them at the proper time
and in the proper way, the good roads
problem is practically solved in Nebras
ka. In the city every lot owner is com
pelled to lay a sidewalk of a certain kind
in front of his lot. Let a law be enacted
compelling farmers to drag the roads
abutting on their property a specified
number of times a year at the order of
a competent road supervisor. That is
simplest and best way of securing good
roads in Nebraska. It is time to stop
the criminal waste of money now caused
by our foolish, incompetent and antede
luvian methods oil "road building."