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About Will Maupin's weekly. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1911-1912 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 1911)
fort to break down organized labor. And we frankly confess that if we wan till to make a fight against recognition of a union we'd choose the beginning of win ter and the midst of a business depres sion as the proper time to make it. There was a little mass meeting the other day, called to protest against talk of a war with France. More than a hun dred thousand men attended this meet ing. Thev were workingnien the men who have to do the fighting in case of war. The men who bring on wars never do the fighting. If wars had to be fought by the men who bring them on, there would be little use for a Hague' tribunal or arbitration treaties. A false patriot ism has led millions of men to fly at each other's throats. "My country, may she ever Ik right, but right or wrong, my country," sounds pretty, but it is a rot ten sentiment when analyzed. "My coun try, may she ever be right ; if wrong, 'I'll help set- her right." That's a whole lot better. If the producers- of all nations refuse to fight the battles brought on bv warring interests, there'll be almighty few wars for future historians to chronicle. "The davs are growing shorter," sage ly observes an esteemed local contempor ary. In which respect the days remind us of some people we could touch, at least one of them without taking our hands out of our pockets. Whether the decision of Judge Pettit of Chicago, refusing to recognize a di vorce decree obtained in Reno, will stand the test of a higher court is problemati cal. IJut that it is based on justice and eommonsense, if not on law, can hardly Ik denied. Whatever the outcome of the case, it is certain that Judge Pettit's de cision will give added impetus to the de mand for uniform divorce legislation. The divorce evil is growing at a terrify ing rate, and a remedy is imperative. In stead of being a remedy for marital ills, the divorce has lecome merely a form of legalized progressive adultery. Is any one shocked by the revelations of police connivance at gambling in Chi cago? And is any one surprised to see positive proof that the Chicago police have been taking a rake-off for protecting gambling houses? If so, those who are surprised ought to have their heads bored for the simples. WE WOXDER WHY. The other day the representative of one of Lincoln's biggest institutions one handling hundreds of thousands of dollars every year called up the print ery connected with Will Maupin's Weekly and asked for a man to estimate on some job printing. The man who at tends to that part of the work seized his price list and started, thiuking that a big job was in sight. The job turned out to be one involving less than ten dollars, and a half-dozen printers were asked to figure on it. Vet the manager of that big institution wouldn't think of calling upon a dozen groceries and asking them for competi tive bids on a few dollar's worth of gro ceries. When he wants a half-dozen pair of socks he does not ask for bids, nor does he ask for bids when he buys a hat. IJut when he wants a handful of print ing, involving perhaps ten or twelve dol lars, he must ask for bids, and spend enough time fooling around for the bot tom price to pay for it. Of course we wouldn't think it out of the ordinary if this big institution's manager asked for bids in case his job amounted to a sum worth while. IJut the spectacle of a high salaried manager of a big institution asking a dozen printeries to bid on a piece of work that amounts to less than ten dollars well, it is calculated to make us feel a bit contemptuous of the busi ness management of the institution. The printery connected with Will Maupin's Weeklv is striving to make a record for first-class work, an honest count and a fair price that affords a reasonable pro fit to the printery. It is not doing work "just to keep the presses going"; neither is it looking for the patronage of those who are out after "cheap printing." It does not do that kind of printing. Peo ple who want first-class printing at a fair price will find it at the printery connected with this paper. They can get it at just what it costs to produce, plus 20 jer cent profit to the shop and every item will be itemized to the purchaser if required. TIIE WATER SUPPLY. We are neither an hydraulic engineer nor an expert in bacteriology. What we know alnut the colon bacilli wouldn't make much of a lnok, and our knowledge of civil engineering is not such as to rec ommend us to any railway corporations thinking of entering new territorv. IJut when we are gravel v informed that the germs of typhoid can get into the water mains from the oxitside, overcoming the pressure of from twenty to forty pounds when a bacteriologist tells us that, we may be pardoned if we hold our hand before our face and smile. If there are any germs of typhoid in the city water they did not get into the mains at any other place than the initial point of sup ply. We are quite well aware from dread experience that the colon bacilli is a pesky cuss and much given to determina tion. IJut that it can go against a water pressure of twenty or forty pounds, and through a cast iron pipe, is a bit more than we can believe. It is our candid opinion that most of the typhoid germs come from the Rice well, and that they got into the well from surface water. Other typhoid germs were carried by the houseflies. It will be re called that we had an unusual visitation of flies this season, and the fly can and does carry a lot of disease germs. In fact, that is the fly's chief occupation. IJut the Ilice well ought to lie abandoned, even if it is in no wise restousihle for the typhoid epidemic. It is a bricked-up well alongside a foul, dirtv uffal-Iicariiig creek that is subject to overflow. DECORATE. For goodness sake, Mr. Merchant, dec orate a bit for the coming of the presi dent! IJut if your idea of decoration is to string a lot of three-cent -a -yard bunt ing along your store front, don't ! Strict regard for the truth impels ns to say that when it comes to decorating for ala occasions Lincoln is seemingly aliont as enterprising as a wart hog and altont as artistic as a hipjopotamus. As a gen eral proposition our decorations are cal culated to remind one of the effects of a cyclone turned loose. Can we not reform? Is it not time that we hid away the rain-stained and wind tattered bunting and put up some decor ations that evidence at least embryotic ideas of the artisic? A couple of flags draped with some taste is much lietter than a lot of stringy bunting that looks like it had been blown up against the front of the building. Let's brace tip and give an imitation of a city that is at least trying to break away from the fron tier idea of decoration for festive occa sions. TELL NOW. MR. PREtilDEXT. "Make your judges responsible. Im peach them. Inicachment of a judge would be a healthy thing in these times, I agree." President Taft at St. Louis. All very easy to say, Mr. President, but will you take the time to tell lis how to go about imieaehing a jndge who has letrayed the. people? If yon can point out an instance wherein a federal judge was impeached, and the impeachment made to stick, we will lie grateful in deed. We will undertake to ioint out some judicial actions that merit inieach ment if you will agree to show us how to make impeachment proceedings stick. As a matter of fact, Mr. President, yonr remarks are intended to mislead, to draw an anise bag across the trail. IJut the people are going to insist upon the recall for recalcitrant judges, and while yon may delay the reform for a few years, it will come in good time. "An impeachment of a judge won hi le a healthy thing in these times I" Rot! For president in 1012: Champ Clark of Missouri or Iloliert La Follette of Wis consin and we don't care much which. It must lie admitted without argument that Col. Juhn Ma her makes an awfully gMHl Nebraska clearing house for the Ohio Harmon propagandist.