The Morning Bee MORNING—EVENING—SUNDAY THE BEE PUBLISHING COMPANY NELSON B. UPDIKE. Publithrr. B. BHtWEI!, Gen. M«n«£«r. MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Associated Tree*, of which Tbe Bee to a member, is exr-lasltelf entitled to tbe uee for republican.*! of all sews dispatches credited to It or t ot otherwise credited In this paper, and air tha local news Published hereia. AH righto of republicaiioos of our special diapatcbaa art also referred. BEE TELEPHONES Private Branch Exchange. Ask for the Department XT (antic or Person Wanted. For Night Calls After 10 P. M.; • nnn Editorial Department. AT lantic 1021 or 1042. 1UUU , OFFICES Main Office—17th and Farnam Co. Bluffa • • - - 15 Scott St. So. Side. N W. Cor. 24th and N New York—£85 Fifth Avenue Washington - - 422 Star Bldg. Chicago - 1720 Steger Bldg. Paris, France—420 Rue St. tlonore “ — —---- — ■ -— -=rr^r-= BRYAN PRESENTS HIS BILL. Governor Bryan's budget measure is a confes sion of failure. Looking back over his campaign speeches we find that Governor Morehead ran the state of Nebraska for two years at a total cost of $8,000,000, and that Governor Neville, also a demo crat, spent only $9,000,000 during his biennium. The voters of Nebraska were led to believe that r»y a return to democratic simplicity Charles W. Bryan could approach those figures. Instead, he now comes out with a request for $21,992,554 to run the state government for the next two years. An apologetic tone runs throughout Governor Bryan’s message. It is interlarded with regrets that he was not allowed time enough to “make a ' thorough investigation,” references to “hurried ex- j amination” and confessions thai he had not found opportunity to go fully into the state’s activities. On the stump last fall he was confident enough to lead many into the belief that he had his plans for economy all ready, and he has had more than two months since his election to familiarize himself with his duties. Right here and now let it be pointed out that his estimate represents a reduction of $3,799,702 from the appropriation made under McKelvie for the last two years, which amounted to $25,792,256. Any reduction in the tax burden is to be apprecia ted, provided only it does not hamper or destroy the useful services which citizens have come to ex pect of their state government. This drawback , Julies to most of the economies outlined by Gov- I Cmor Bryan. With the decline in the general cost level, a reduction of state expenses was due, and it is to be regretted that the governor did not seek in this direction for his savings, rather than by at tempting to sacrifice the business organizatidn of the state. | Several hundred thousands of dollars is to be gained by abolishing the department of agriculture. Abolition of the public welfare department is urged as a way of saving $200,000. Some of the func tions of these offices are .o be dropped completely. Others are to be transferred to the state agricul tural college and its extension service, which is not to receive any additional appropriations, however, for discharging these new duties. It appears that a good many of these services are simply to be starved to death. The confusion of mind which Governor Bryan indicates makes it difficult to determine just how the state government is to be run under his pro posed changes. The “executive council,” which would consist of himself and four other state of ficers, would direct the road building policy and supervisa banks and insurance companies. The governor would increase his number of personal appointments and add greatly to his powers, and the code system would disappear. The good roads program he recommends be re duced. His pledge to cut automobile license fees in half would be fulfilled by abandoning the prac tice of spending $1,500,000 on bladcr grading. The department of labor is to be abolished, with only a deputy remaining under the personal supervision of the governor. The work of preparing the budget is to be transferred to the state tax commissioner, and the duty of keeping all the accounts on which these estimates are based is to be turned over to the state auditor. The department of finance, which exercised business management and installed a uni-* form system of bookkeeping throughout the state offices, is to go. and no mention is made whether a return is to be made to the old system under which each separate office kept its own books is contem plated. The blue sky bureau is to be destroyed and re liance placed on laws which will punish fraudulent promoters more severely after they have committed their crimes. Instead of the department of public works is to be appointed a state engineer, without power to act except under orders from the governor and the council. Appropriations for the state university and the normal schools are trimmed, but the state penal and charitable institutions are to receive a needed increase of $313,000. The system of animal tuber culosis eradication, by which farmers whose stock is condemned and are partly indemnified, is to be dropped and the state agricultural college is expected to carry on this work, which cost $235,000, with out any added means. Such is the program of economy outlined by Governor Bryan. Manv constructive features of the state government are to be abandoned, but ap parently little saving is to be made in the salary list. This is noticeable in the governor's private office, which Neville ran for $72,000, but for which Bryan asks an appropriation of $104,000. Although he emphasized the fact in his campaign that the attorney general's expense used to be $61,000, he sets the figure now at a rlrnnd $100,000. Governor Bryan has been put to the test, and measured by his promises, he has failed. It was not possible for any man to bring about the savings that he so easily promised the people of Nebraska. His plan calls for the complete overthrow of the code system, and yet when this is done, and all his other ideas carried out, taxes will be only slightly lowered and every citizen will be poorer in the protection and service afforded him by the state. Governor Bryan need not apologize for the haste in which he prepared his budget proposals. If he had taken more time he might have done even worse. No sound amplifiers will be installed in the house, members feeling that their voices carry far enough as it is. Mr. Bryan is finding that it is one thing to talk on the stump and quite another to speak from the governor’s office. Three men dropped dead after ft drink in a New Jersey speakeasy, a sign that Jersey lightning is still potent. The dispute at Washington is not that the farmer needs help, but who is going to help him and how, WEST INDIES AND UNITED STATES. Some interest will be revived in the study of geography by the tentative discussion of a plan to transfer the British and French ^'est Indies to the Uhited States in settlement of war debts. Posses sion of these islands would ensure control by the United States of entrance to the Caribbean sea and the Gulf of Mexico, a fact that would justify Great Britain in declining to make such a trade. Other factors enter the problem, which deserve to be carefully analyzed before deciding on the issue. Support is given the proposal by certain espe cially interested persons, who see in possession of , the Bahamas an opportunity to end illicit traffic in I liquor, at least to the extent of cutting off a source of much irritation to the enforcing officers. Cuba would be left, friendly but independent, and Can ada, and Mexico. Purchase of the Bahamas is not the solution sought by the prohibitionists. When the purchase of the Virgin islands from Denmark was concluded, a considerable group of population was compelled to change flags without being consulted. Similar consequences will follow if the Bahamas, the rest of the Leeward and the Windward groups and Jamaica are transferred to the United States. Out experience with Porto Rico has hardly been so happy as to warrant the con clusion that all these people will relish the ex change of government. That the population is over whelmingly negro does not necessarily mean they will shift from flag to flag without protest. Canada has some concern in this matter, po litical and commercial interests holding our north ern neighbors close to the islands. In 1913 a Cana dian-West Indian conference at Ottawa discussed plans for getting closer together, and the thought of a strong Caribbean confederation under the Union Jack was brought forward. Extremely pa triotic West Indians express much apprehension over the spectacle of annexation to the United States, and turn for safety to a “confederation of the British West Indian colonies, with responsible government, as the only means of checking ultimate annexation to the United States of America.’’ These are some of the points to be taken into consideration in connection with the problem. If the freedom of the seas, for which we have so long contended, is to be maintained, rum-runners will continue to vex and harass the prohibition agents; if self-determination is not to be denied, the op position party in the islands will be heard to ob ject most vehemently. Finally, Great Britain has governed its colonies in the islands too long to lightly consider parting with them now, even at a bargain price. So, too, the French may be averse to the "trade. It is a pleasing subject for debate, however, and does not appear much more fantastic than did the deal with Denmark when first broached. * WHEN THE TEACHERS COME. Once again Omaha is hostess to the teachers of Nebraska, assembled in annual convention. To reiterate the welcome, so many times extended, is a pleasure, for the teachers always are welcome here. Omaha recognizes the importance of the schoolma’am, as well as the schoolmaster; in her own housekeeping Omaha has put the public school ahead of all other requirements. The most beauti ful and costly building in the state of Nebraska is the Central High school of Omaha, and it will only be surpassed by the new Technical High school and the capitol building at Lincoln. This is referred to only to show the devotion of the people of Omaha to the cause of education. Mag nificent buildings, perfectly appointed and equipped, are of litte sendee without the competent corps of instructors to carry on the great work for which the pubic schools are established. Consequently Omaha not only presents the great buildings in which the schools are housed, but also .1 corps of 1,200 teach ers, organized and efficient, a mighty army to dispel the darkness of ignorance and drive back the forces of evil by the light of intelligence. Other elements of civilization are present in Omaha to give greeting to the *chool teachers. Theiy come on business bent, with a program of deep in terest to all, yet some of their time will be spent outside the lecture room fir the conference chamber. In such time they will find the people of Omaha pressing them with a hospitality that will not be stinted in any way. Theaters, business houses, homes and hotels, all will unite in providing pleas ure as well as service to these visitors, whose work for Nebraska means so much to the permanence of the state. Another of the Shipping Board’s cargo carriers is piled up on the beach at Manila. Surely the ques tion of what to do with the fleet is being answered. No need to go to Paris for the style of wearing a knotted handkerchief around the throat; the Ne braska cowboys originated this years ago. Old King Ak is starting early this season, but the early bird is he who comes home with the bacon, or the worm, or whatever the prize may be. While the Berlinese are singing “Die Wacht am Rhine,” the Yanks at Coblenz are warbling, “How can I bear to leave thee?” We know a man who dictates to his wife; but she is learning to be a shorthand writer, and it is done for practice. One of the troubles connected with taxing intan gibles is that anything that is intangible is also elu sive. The Dog in the Canyon » 1 ■ "-From the New York World. Forbidden to meddle with world peace, reparations or the French march into the Kuhr. the cabinet at Washington is not without a living issue. That over looking Providence which shapes the ends of many a loiterer has set up for the employment of the best minds the problem of a dog in the Grand Canyon Na tional park. The law and the Interior department say the dog can not bo there. The Postoffice department, bidding the law' betake itself to the dead letters, insists that the animal shall remain within the sacred limits. The White House, having once pronounced itself for the Postufflce, has reversed its decision—perhaps with a thought back to the hither-thither policies of the old front-porch days—and the canine in the canyon becomes a continuing subject of dispute. The dog is first aid and comforter to a lonely post master. Without quadruped companionship the mind of the solitary official might wander even as a piece of misdirected mail. Hence the solidity of the depart ment behind the postmaster; hence the first and sym pathetic impulse of the president. But what to the head of the Interior department is human feeling to the literalness of a law made and provided. We could almost w'ish that this issue of the dog were before congress. It would divert so many lead ing statesmen from butting into affairs of state. But it is by no means a Waste of contention where it is. Scandals would quite certainly arise if the secretaries of this and that were driven to stud poker or to the rolling of dice pending the efforts of the world to re volve itself back to party normalcy “From State and Nation” —Editorials from Other Newspapers— Mr. Brian's Suggestion. From the Nebraska City Tress. Instead of the civil administrative code, which has been the infant prodigy of Governor McKelvie. Gov ernor Charles \V. Bryan would abol ish that terrible bit of administrative iniquity and substitute therefor a "cabinet" of advisers, consisting of all elective officials except the attorney general, who would be required to confer with the governor on matters of state, leaving to the chief execu tive the right to appoint men to of fice pr fire them if their services were not satisfactory. Mr. Bryan's suggestion, as contained in his message to the legislature makes us laugh. It shows, for one thing, that campaign promises are of no valuf whatever except as the means of getting votes from the un i «,'>histicated and unthinking. It proves, too, that the new governor is just as inconsistent as it was in sisted he was during the campaign and that instead of utterly destroy ing the code he would repeal the pres ent workable, competent laws and substitute therefor ulinost an exact imitation, to function am She code has functioned but to bear the Bryan stamp of manufacture instead of the trade mark of his predecessor. It has been demonstrated, we think, that Mr. Bryan thinks more of the code system than he has admitted; that he realizes Nebraska needs a businesslike method of tending to business, but he is too much of a par lisan to ever admit that in spite of the rank abuse to which it has been subjected the MoKblvie plan of gov ernmental administration has been s success. Mr. Bryan knows, too, now that he has stepped into office that the code was not responsible for high taxes, a direct sequelae of war condi tions; that high taxes will continue in Nebraska as long as the public de mands and insists upon having those things which require an appropria tion to make good. There are no indications in Mr. Bryan’s message that he expects the legislature to adopt any revolution ary, reactionary or red-eyed program of lawmaking. He has shown, in ad dition, to the satisfaction of those who read his message, that he wants Nebraska to be well governed and that campaign promises and stump speeching fulmlnations are made, not to lie fulfilled, but to stampede the voters in one's direction if one has a desire for office. The people elected Mr. Bryan to be their governor and they will support hint manfully if he will hut continue to give Nebraska a square deal. They only regret, that he is a partisan first, last and all the time. Learning and Intelligence. From the San Francisco Bulletin. I'rof. Lewis M. Tuerman of Stan ford is a specialist in tl?e measure ment of mentality. He tabulates the results of examinations of masses of people and on them bases the start ling announcement, that the average Intelligence of the population is de creasing. Prof. Tuerman is not alone in this opinion. Other scientific ob servers have declared that the great est illusion of all times is the illusion that the, spread of knowledge among the people has been accompanied by an improvement in the average in telligence. One expert goes as far as to say that we are now in the Dark Ages and that they began with the French revolution. He believes that we confuse mere literacy with intelli gence and assume that because peo ple in general could not read In for mer times they did not think. The trouble with all such theories is that there are no trustworthy standards by which the intelligence of one pe riod can be eompitred with the intelli gence of another. All measurements of mass mentality are more or less guesswork, and certainly It would not be fair to judge of periods by the politicians they elect to office. Cir cumstances may have conspired to give us a poorer offering in the way of candfdates. Making Free With -Millions. From the Cincinnati Knquirer. This country has responded to every appeal made by the suffering peoples of the world since the tragedy of the great wap. Millions upon millions freely have been given to succor and care for the victims of intolerable con ditions existing in Europe and Asia. But there must he a limit to our na tional philanthropy. We must stop, somewhere, no matter how urgent the appeals even of those who otherwise must perish. .This is not indiffer ence or hardness of heart. Even this mighty nation cannot become the al moner of all the desperate peoples in the world. Our charity and beneficence should be guided by prudent and careful dis criminations. This people willingly will go the limit to relieve distress, sorrow anti suffering; hut such relief should go. in every instance, to those who may not hope for help from their own governments. Just now a new campaign Is being started to influence congress to ap propriate $100,000,000 for the pur chase of agricultural implements and seed for the Russian people. It is true that the Russian people Daily Prayer And which of you with taking thought can add to His stature, one cuhit? If ye then be not able to do ihat thing which ie least, why take ye thought for the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow; they lott* not, they spin not; and yet 1 say unto you, that Solomon In all • hts glory was not arrayed' like one df ilieae If then God ho clothe the gi-HHc, which le today on the field, and tomorrow ie cast into the oven; how much more will He clothe you, O ye 6f little faith?-*-t,uke 12:26*28. O God, Who Knowest our neces sities before we ask, and the manifold temptations we meet with day hy day, help us to put our whole trust in Thee when despair and misgiving as sail us. Suffer us not, we beseech Thee, to become the prey of useless forebodings, nor to lose the things which belong to our peace, through the habit of morbid and sinful worry. So guide us, in all our way, that we may keep our faces always toward the light, that our shadows may lie behind us. Of Thy great mercy en able us to perceive our blessings, that we may always serve Thee with a glad heart and a quiet mind, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. BISHOP CHARLES E WOODCOCK, D. D„ LL. D., Louisville, Ky. NET AVERAGE CIRCULATION for DECEMBER, 1922, of THE OMAHA BEE Daily.71,494 Sunday.78,496 B. BREWER. Gen. Mgr. ELMER S. ROOD, Cir. Mgr. Sworn to and subscribed before me I this 4th day of January, 1923. W. H. QUIVEY. (Seal) Notary Public need these tilings, that they, are In hard ease: hut it is equally true that the Russian alleged government is maintaining one of the greatest armies in the world, an army equipped and manned to the limit of effective ef ficiency. The money required to main tain this great military machine would j buy agricultural machinery and seed ! for the Russian people for the next ■ 50 years. There are peoples worse off than the Russians, In some respects, people who could, and should, be helped to I the limit of our resources, and such i help would not operate to tlie benefit of the enemies of the present forms | of civilization; *is help for Russia j would do. ! file plan proposed would advance this money In the form of a loan to | the soviet government, eventually to la- paid hack through some arrange I merit as yet quite nebulous to the ! common understanding. Such an indirect recognition of the j soviet government is offensive to American sentiment and policy. We should dump no more millions into Russia. "The Friendly Arctic.” Fiom-the Philadelphia. Public Ledger. "God gives all men all earth to love," but naturally each man holds a brief for the region he,knows the best and has found his most congenial place of habitation. Tlie late Dr. Gor gas was convinced that the tropics would increasingly be considered the fittest abiding place for mankind; this theory he derived from his crowning life work In the sanitation of Panama. Stefansson, on the other hand, ex pounds and persuasively extols the far north, and the pen pictures he of fers are not those of fantastic ro mance but of sober verity. He does not pretend that cold and ice are ah- i sent, but he shows how mankind may circumvent the adverse natural con ditions and live comfortably, and he emphasizes the northern coast of our continental mainland, and the ap proaches thereto, conditions of slim mer temperature and climate that make agriculture feasible and trans portation practicable. “Fear alone stands in the way of developing a land area twice the size of the United States,” he asserts. Stefansson. like others who have given attention to the problem of de veloping the north, is a firm believer in tlie development of commercial air routes which will break down the last barriers of isolation and shorten present steamship routes by flights across the circumpolar regions. Nat ural resource* of coal and oil await development. The spirit is not want ing on the part of the pioneers, but they are too few in number. The tiogey of low temperatures has had a formidable effect which the records do nut justify. As the population in creases in the more temperate areas, mankind will discover the habitabil ity of many regions now thought to be Inhospitable, just as among the ancients the abomination of desola tion was supposed to enrlng the nar how areas that Strabo and Pliny knew. Spoiled Children. From E. W. Howe’s Monthly. The most noteworthy event of my life tills month was meeting a mother able to control a 9-year oId daughter. I complimented her, and she said; "Bad children are a reflection on the J mother.” That is the truth simply stated. In one of the Important magazines a man tells of an experience with his sons. He was ambitious to be gftod to them. His father had been a hard taskmaster, and he determined to be more reasonable with his own chil dren. But the man soon discovered that he was spoiling them. They be came impudent and mean, and he thereupon changed his policy, with excellent results. Nearly every successful, useful man in America has been compelled to work and "mind” as a boy; either by poverty, or by a. stern father. Spoilt children are nearly always a curse to their parents and to the eommuni- ' tics in which they live. Thousands of apparently sweet young girls are terrific tyrants at home; and the num ber of boys going to the devil un necessarily is astounding. All over the country bandits are operating. When one is caught, it nearly always turns ou that lie is a bad bay who was not properly controlled at’home. Common Sense Making Husband a Society Man. Too many wives try to make society men out of their husbands, when they do not enjoy anything of this sort. The task of making a living, laying aside enough for a rainy day or old age is a big problem to most men. They cannot afford the cloudy, tired brain, and worn nerves, which late nights would cause them to take to the office or shop next day. The man who is in earnest in en deavoring to make good, needs plenty of sleep, and recreation that is rostfui, making him happy and contented. The right sort of man—husband or father—has his biggest aim to pro vide for his family in the present and the future. In planning for the future ho thinks no so much for himself as he does for bis wife and children if there Is one or many. In this effort he should have his wife's help and sympathy. Instead of making the struggle harder, the‘good wife will try to avoid tb'ngs which lesson prospects of suc cess. As a wife, do you make it hard or easy for your life partner to do his best along the line he believes right. . (Copyright, 1923.) Benj. Franklin Said “The Way to Wealth it a* plain a* the way to market. It depends chiefly oji INDUSTRY and FRUGALITY —that is: waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both.” This Is Thrift Week Make It Your Opportunity INTEREST ON SAVINGS State Savings ft Loan Association 315 S. 171b Si. Keslins Bld«. C. C. WELLS, Secy. J .. !!!»-■ , ■ I ■ “The People’s• Voice” Editorial! from reader* of Tha Mornlnt 8m. Roodara of Tha Mornlap Bm art lavltad to um thla column frarty for «*pr«^aloa on matter* of oubl'c Interact. Tlw? Burns Anniversary. Omaha.—To th* Editor of The Omaha Bee: Asram draws near th«' anniversary of th*birth* of one of whom the port Wordsworth said: ”1 mounted with thousands, hut as on# More deeply grieved, for he nan gone Whore light I halted u hen first it rhone And showed nty youth Ilow verse may build a princely throu# On humble truth.” Thinking of this tine personality also brings to mind a part of Long fellow's poem, entitled "The Day Is Done:” "Whose songs gushed from his heart As showers front elouds of summer, Or tears from the eyelids start. AA'ho through long days of labor And nights devoid of ease. Still heard in Ills soul the music Of wonderful melodies.” If I were to undertake to point out tlie most exquisite passage in all the lyric poetry of the English language, I might quote from the poem, "Aftou Water,” theRe two lines: "My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream. Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.” 1 know of no finer specimen of what some one has called artless art. In what school, from whit professor of literature, from what instructor in prosody did Burns learnthow to make such an exquisite adaptation of words to the finest sentiments of the human soul? I sometimes have been inclined to think that an attempt to analyze a thing of supreme beauty is a vain and injurious thing, for the reason that wo cannot get at the essence of it by any means whatever, and such an effort seems to vitiate the instinctive appreciation: but it seems not irn proper to point out some matters of form that show beautiful and- won derful adaptation of language to the communication of noble -sentiment. I doubt whether Burns himself con sciously recognized the means chosen by his ardent feeling in the composi tion of this beautKul expression. No tice the apt alliteration, and the ap propriate distribution of the conson ants—ui, s, I, f, d and w—and the pleasant and appropriate rhythm. Of all artists the Tinman heart is the su preme one. To Avhat school or teacher does it owe Its power? “O, Nature's child, by shamff unspoiled, Though by some evils greatly troubled. Yet from your great heart, as you tolled, A sweet and sparkling fountain bub bled." BERIAH F. COCHRAN. Hailing Crime. Weeping Water, Neb.—To the Edi tor of The Omaha Bee: I will give you my plan to reduce crime, not only in Omaha, hut the whole United States. Make it a penitentiary of fense for a man to carry a gun and do not allow any to be sold. Allow any man or woman not less than J10 for informing on anyone that is "toting" a gun. Allow anyone to be searched for firearms. Call the hounds off from trailing down parties The Fellow Who Objects to Straphanging_| that are making a little'beer for their own use ami let them look a little closer for some of these holdups. Stop all traffic from going faster through town than 10 miles an hour, and if a man or woman is caught the second time, revoke his licensp. If they are caught running without a license, give them not less than one year in the penitentiary. J Try my plan once and see how soon there will be less accidents and less j crime. J. W. HOBSON. The Old-Fashioned Hired Girl. Waterloo, N^ph.—To the Editor of The Omaha Bee: While looking over the comic section this eve, I chanced upon the pantomime, "Cook Wanted —White.” Being caught in a most helpless condition just recently it set me to thinking, what has become of the good old-fashioned hired girl. I have been married for over 25 years now, and during that time it has been our fortune or misfortune, as you like it, to have to employ dur ing that period of time more than 25 girls. We used to tie able to get one on a day's notice most anytime. But now—it’s different. Five weeks ago our baby, age 3, fell seriously ill— tried to get house help, nothing doing. A week ago we were obliged to take him to the hospital in your city. Our little girl, age 11, went to bed the day before he was taken away. Mother had to go with babe. I had to stay at home with the other on. and had to close my place of business l begged, coaxed, pleaded with Kir! to help nte out—"nothing doing." To- ~ day I found a cook. "Ain't it a