CONCERNING MEN AND MATTERS
Every lover of the national game in
Lincoln will regret to hear even a rumor
that Donald Despain contemplates the
sale of the Antelopes. That the season
has proved unprofitable has in no wise
Ihhmi his fault. That Mr. Despain has
managed to pull through without a heavy
loss is a tribute to his good business
judgment, for not since the history of
the game locally has a team been so per
sistently pursued by the- hoodoo of bad
luck. In a season noted for its dryness
the Antelopes have lost more than twen
ty games on account of rain, several of
them Sunday dates that would have
meant big money, and one of them the
Denver gala day date meaning more
than 2,000. During all this run of ill
luck Mr. Despain has kept smiling and
has done his utmost to give Lincoln a
winning team.
Xow that the season is alnmt to close,
with the Lincoln team far in the ruck,
despite its former winning stride, it may
not be out of place to -'talk turkey." Thex
whole trouble with the Lincoln team is
internal dissensions. Forgetful of what
they owe to a manager who has treated
them liberally and been on the level all
the time, the players have quarreled
among themselves; jealousies have
cropped out; there has been backcapping
without limit with the usual result. Wet
have played a little ball in our time, but
never professionally. lint from a some
what extended acquaintance among pro
fessional ball players we have arrived at
the conclusion that the average ball play
ers possesses alnmt the average amount
of human nature. And we kjiow that it
is not human nature for a man to give
his best efforts when the foreman is a
insulting and abusive, and given to
"roasting" for fancied mistakes and nev
er according a good word for tasks well
performed.
So deeply ingrained in human nature
is this feeling that a foreman can easily
offset the virtues of a really good em
ployer. The fact that the Lincoln team
has struck a losing streak is not the rea
son for the dwindling attendance upon
the games. This is due entirely to the
fact that the baseball loving public is
pretty wise to the fact that there are men
on the team who are ''sloughing,' who
are trying to play even with certain
team mates, forgetful of the fact that in
so doing they are throwing the harpoon
into the club owner who, above all other
club owners in the league, has treated
them like gentlemen.. If the players were
doing their best under evil circumstances
the "fans'' of Lincoln would be just as
loyal today as they were in former sea
sons when the home team struck a losing
streak.
As a lover of the game, as one who ap
preciated what he has dime for the game
in Lincoln and throughout the western
circuit, Will Maupin's Weekly earnest ly
hopes that Mr. Despain will retain the
ownership of the Antelopes. So far as
his management could bring it about he
has made the game under his manage
ment synonymous with squareness and
gKd lehavior. He has spent money free
ly for good material, and has pocketed
losses brought alnmt by bad weather with
the smile that letokens the "good sports
man..' He has given to the game the best
efforts of a man desirous of making good
with the public. He has performed his
part to the entire satisfaction of all who
love the game.
There remain but a few more games
ere the season ends. The baseball en
thusiasts of Lincoln, owe Mr. Despain the
patronage that will recoup him in some
small measure for the losses sustained
by reason of unfilled dates. What if the
team is disorganized by accident and by
internal dissensions? AVhat if some mem
bers thereof are guiltv of laving down on
a management that has treated them
square? Let's get together at the wind
up and give a live, boosting, enterpris
ing and gentlemanly manager a closing
series that will convince him that his
efforts have been appreciated.
If the shopmen on the Harriman sys
tem strike now they will merely be play
ing into the hands of the railroad's man
agers, and into the hands of the politi
cians. We lay claim to some little
knowledge of the "labor game,' and we
unhesitatingly declare that in our opin
ion the Harriman management would
welcome a strike at this time. AVhy? De
cause business is dull, because there are
thousands of men out of employment,
thus making it easy to recruit strike
breakers; because business conditions are
such that any party that wittingly or un
wittingly adds to the depression will for
feit public sympathy, without which no
cause can win in the end. We believe
that wages average too low on all rail
roads, but a public suffering business de
pression is not going to give much of a
hearing to men who quit 3 a day jobs
in order to enforce recognition of a new
union or a wage increase of 10 or 15 per
cent.
We wouldn't give a continental for a
labor union that had no strike clause in
its constitution. We believe that there
are times when the strike is justifiable
yea, that there are times when not t
strike is a crime. lint it should alwavs
be as a last resort, and it should le so
engineered as to Im called when there is
at least some chance of winning. To
strike in the face of certain defeat may
be heroic, but it is damned foolishuess
just the same. And we frankly assert our
belief that for the shopmen of the Harri
man system, or any other system, to
strike now, at the very leginiiiiig of win
ter and in the face of what seems to Tie
a growing and general business depres
sion, is criminally foolish. We are not
considering the interests of the railroads
for a minute. They are pretty well able
to take care of themselves. IJegardless
of whether the shops are operated, or the
trains run, the managers will eat. I.ut
what about the wives and children of the
strikers? What about the men and wom
en and children in other lines of indus
try who will suffer the minute a rail
road strike is called? AVhat chance is
there of winning a long-drawn out strike,
with business depressed, winter at hand
and more than a million idle men clam
oring for work?
AVe believe the employes are justified
in their demands. Thev are working too
hard for too little money. Jheir condi
tions of employment are not what they
should be. But is this the right time to
try conclusions with the employers? Ae
believe not. And so believing we plead
with the railroad employes to go slow.
Better bear with conditions as they exist,
bad as they are, for a time, and while
thus bearing with them prepare to take
advantage of the psychological moment
when it arrives.
AVe've been through this strike game.
There isn't a railroad man in America
who can tell the writer anything ahont
its sufferings and its trials. AVe've seen
too many wan-faced women and too many
children shivering in the cold, while hus
band and father were out on strike, to
stand up and advocate a walk-out under
anything short of conditions positively
hellish. It's all right for the yonng men
who have given no hostages to fortnne,
and w ho can pack theirgrips and hike out
to places new, but what alnuit the men
who have given hostage to fortnne in the
shape of wives and children who have no
other' support than the daily wage of'
husband and father? Don't imagine for
a minute that the railway managers are
not wise to conditions among the wage
earners. Nor do not imagine for a min
ute that the railroad managers are the
only ones the strikers would have to
fight. A powerful combination will stand
behind the railroad managers in an ef-
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