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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (June 7, 1907)
raf"i f T TV If JfK -Wjgf W,' -iwrW5RP'W T7Tftyptp$MW "'- jO vvnflS Ki'ifW!'!...fP7; f JUNE 7, 1907 The Commoner; 15 HATS OFF TO THE JAPS However much the Japanese may' be accused of taking themselves as a people a little too seriously, there's no denying that they maintain the highest national ideals, and in New York Thursday it was shown that the, rank and file of their army and navy have been taught to hold their service as one of dignity rather than frivolity. Press reports tell of the gracious compliment they paid to American traditions when on their sight-seeing tour of New York City. The shore leave given the party of seven hun dred sailors was limited, and it was impossible to make the pilgrimage planned to the tomb of General Grant and to visit the Bowery with in the alloted time. The little brown patriots deliberately passed up the gay Mecca of Gotham's guests, and chose to pay reverence to the dead warrior and statesman, who in the days of Japan's dawning conscious ness was revealed to her people as typical of America and American in stitutions. According to all traditions of Jack "Tar ashore, it was an amazing choice, but it was consistent with the spirit of awakened Japan. For centuries the people of the sunny little islands lrvted content in their isolation, cheerfully epicurean and perennially amused. Then an Amer ican ship broke over the horizon line of this comic opera existence, and marked the beginning of a new era. The half century that has passed since then has made the transforma tion of the nation the evolution of the individual, and triumphant for eign war has effected the absolute climax -of patriotism. To the Japa--nese sailor imbued with this spiritf a dead hero is of far mote interest than live buffoons. ' But in the incident there is .food., for some serious thinking. Out-"of-seven hundred American visitors who -were offered a similar choice, it is a question whether one would be more swayed by reverence than curiosity; certainly the seven hundred would not have voted without dissent for Riverside. In times of war excitement the loyalty of America rises to the emer gency, but the country has a right to call for devotion in times of peace as well. The jingo spirit may be overdone, but when it is replaced by a non chalant heedlessness of civic 'de mands and public interests, we are letting, the Japanese pupil far . out run his first teacher.-- Butte Miner. TWO PINTS OF WHISKY It's a pretty good temperance ser mon that is preached by. the farm hand who murdered William . Copple and his wife on their farm near Emerson, Neb. Loris Higgins, the murderer, says "Mr: and Mrs. Copple were both good to me and I liked 'em fine." But he killed them. "I went out doors to vomit," he gays. "I met Copple and then I reached Inside and got the gun, took careful aim and shot him in the belly. He hollered and I shot a"gain. Then Mrs. Copple came running put, and t shot her twice." ' Then he went into the house, where the children were. They asked, "Where is papa and mam ma?" . In a little while lie fled, and in a day or two was captured. In a little while longer, most probablyr he will be hanged. Why did he do it? "I never had any motive," he says. "I was crazy drunk; that's all. I went to bed in the fpre part of the night, after drinking a part of a pint of whisky that Copple brought home from town with him the night before. He brought two pints and I drank most of it." The, man and woman were friends to Higgins; they were good to him, and he "liked 'em fine." He drank the most of two pints of whisky and, "taking careful aim," became de liberately their murderer. Their lives, taken in the insanity of drunkenness; his own life, paying the penalty in shame and horror on the gallows; three lives are a pretty stiff price to pay for two pints of whisky. And three lives aren't the whole price. The murderer says ho "wants to live long enough to see his poor mother" before ho dies. Then cheap bravado he As "ready to take his medicine." But the poor mother, too, will "have to take her medicine." Who will measure the price she will pay in the awful immediate future, and in the dreary years that follow, for those two pints of whisky? Are two pints of whisky worth that much? The Omaha World-Herald. HIS EXCUSE Dr. Edward Everett Hale at the divorce reform congress in Washing ton said of certain divorce laws: "The apologies put forward for these laws remind me of the apology that a gourmet bishop once made during Lent. "The bishop happened to sit at dinner beside an irreverent young woman. He ate his oysters and then, with flashing eyes, a heightened color and every indication of enjoyment, he fell to upon a plate of rich turtle soup. "The young woman, watching the bishop swallow this costly food, could not restrain a sneer. " 'I thought,' she said, 'that you fasted during Lent, bishop?' "The bishop put down his spoon and allowed his face to become pen sive. ".'Ah, I do fast in X.ent he said. 1 subsist-chiefly on fish.'. He swal lowed a lump of meat worth about half a dollar. 'Turtle he added, 'is a kind of . fish.' " New York Tribune. HAD THE PROOF When Farragut ran the gauntlet of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, be low New Orleans, the little gunboat Cayuga went in the lead, and was everywhere in the thick of the fight ing. A colored boy of the crew was passing powder when a spent grape shot struck a casting near him, shat tered and flew in many directions. One piece hit him on the thickest part of the forehead, says the author of 'A Sailor of Fortune," and dropped to the deck.' He picked it up "nonchalantly, put it in his pocket and kept at work. When the fight was over and the members of the crew were bragging, this boy, who was , not over 14, stepped up to some of them and pulled the grapeshot from his pocket. "You hush!" he said to the boast ers. "Dat shot done hit me on de haid an' broke in two! Dere's de shot and dere's de -place it hit me. You can see foh youse'f," Ex. THE OKLAHOMA HOLD-UP The constitution drawn by the new state of Oklahoma is the admir ation of all people who are wishing to see hobbles put on those large law breaking trusts and corporations that are riding the people. Oklahoma hasnot received the president's final endorsement and there are some noted newspaper men who are saying that the much prated; "square deal" does not extend to the new state. Oklahoma is almost' solidly demo cratic. There is no state In the union that is as strongly republican as Oklahoma will be democratic. And therein hangs a tale. Oklahoma will have seven votes in the next electoral college. There seems to be no dispute about what candidate those Votes will be for and it is rumored in Washington that there is a plan on foot which has tho president's square deal endorsement to hold this state up till after tho next presidential election. At present the state Is over run with a lot of carpet-bagging federal politicians who have a soft berth. Oklahoma was one of the first states to adopt the two cent faro, but as long as tho federal govern ment can keep those peoples hands tied tho railroads can charge as they like. Oklahoma is democratic and strango ns it may seem will bo pro hibition. A good reason for this fact arises from tho population, many of whom are Indians. Statehood withhold and tho whisky bootleggor still plyo his trade. If tho reports aro true that thoro Is a well developed movement on hand to hold up this state tben a roar will go up from the southwest ern states that will not bodo any good for tho perpetrators of this out rago. Nebraska Liberal. BmflUip Jl 9 mi f IMJm 4 BwW rrnmWT an b r hv ja. n.'rrmv .nrrr ?E. iHrvTWTVpnTTvr or rreeeut one aa a ultt ta noma lared nnn. HmnA tnr nnr iiuiiur iii (tMLprtntiv uuinv wi.-.-V.. TlTrr: !2rf!ftom w w m ad oa fcPPrOT&l. ! jr one-flf fch oa OeUrtty, bUnc9 la 8 equal moatbly pAymcatA Your ' ';" wr pnew wo lowwv. ApareiBTeiBintfi0tBjatr'i"uwi8aLHAjRaa. it inert I OFTIS OJM RELIABLE OHIOINJLL fIAM0N AND I value 1 to K anHUallr. WrJttt - - - - w n A a ja iiHr.iiii- m w& . a - -vt...k . "- -. t . . 4e V.,,gm 1'wwy gf B8 B-I : Inert) ,.. Fl3kaeoi qaalHjraadTala. Otto .Tll I Ear txu. Wrlk. tafar. fi, Uyfij The Public Ownership of Railways Beginning with tho Jlrst Ihsuo of July THE PUBLIC will publish A ScrlcM of ArtlclcM oh tho Piabltc Ownership of KitllvrayH In Iduropc, by Erik Obcrjp. In vlow of tho Importanco of th is subject as an Issue in the ap proaching Presidential campaign, tho value of these carefully prepared articles can hardly bo over-estimated. They furnish in readable form just tho facts which aro absolutely needed for tho Intelligent discus sion of this question including tho soundness- tho systems by which tho publicly owned railroads aro financed; their profitableness In divi dends to their States; the comfort and safety thoy afford, and tho rates charged, compared with thoso charged by privately owned roads. Tho series deals with tho public ownership of Germany, Belgium, Switzer land, Italy, France, Austria-Hungary, Sweden, Spain, Russia and Den mark. This is only one of many valuable features of THE PUBLIC, which Is A National JotirnnI of Fundamental Democracy, Ktllteil by Ioui If. Pout, and published weekly Irv Chicago. With its force of contributing editors from all sections of tho country, it is tho bent review of the progrcHH of democratic thought. -Subscriptions $1.00 yearly; 50c half yearly; 25c quarterly. THE PUBLIC, FIRST NATIONAL BANK BUILDING, CHICAGO ' THE NEW YORK WORLD THRICE-A-WEEK EDITION This is a Time of Great Events Changes of a stirring kind aro occuring both at homo aud abroad. Tho Thrice-a-weok World cornea to you very other day, except Sunday, with all tho news, full and promptly told. The Thrice-a-weok World always has a serial story running. Special attention is also given to markets, and there are many other valuable features. Tho Thrice-a-weok World's regular subscrip tion price is only $1.00 per year, and this pays for 153 papers. We oiler this unequalled news paper and The Commoner together one year for $1.35. Th regular subscription price of tho two papers is $2.00. Address all Orders to THE COMMONER LINCOLN, NEBRASKA THE PRIMARY PLED6E I promise t o attend all the primaries of my party to be held, between, now and the next Democratic National Convention, unless unavoidably prevented, and to ue my influence to secure a clear, honest and straight forward declaration of ..the party's portion en every question upon which the voters of the parly desiic to speak. , .. r" ? Signed , Street. . . 1 Posto ffice ; v- County. r. .., Slate . .Voting Precinct or Ward. Fill eut Blank and'mall to Comminir Office, lined, Nek. us-, in,',tfefcA j .. jS Vi, - n-"111 A2