3
MARCH 28, 1907.
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT
upon their operations the sporting men
have probably caused their business to
be destroyed. ,
Knoxville, Tennessee, has just gone
prohibition by an emphatic majority.
The people of Knoxville disclaim any
particular , desire to legislate , against
people's appetites. The main reason for
throwing out the saloons was not
directly related to hatred of the drink
habit. They had allowed the saloons to
remain under certain restrictions. Not
content with confining themselves to
the saloon business the liquor men be
came ambitious to run the politics of
the city, so as to make their" Own re
strictions and enforce them or not as
they pleased. This made the people mad
and swallowing their appetites they
voted that political interest out of ex
istence. The Charleston, South Caro
lina, News and Courier says the, same
thing is being done in many parts of
the south. The same reasoning is be
ginning to affect the liquor situation in
the north also.
- In a majority of cases when cities
vote for municipal ownership of a pub
lic utility their desire to put corpora
tions out of politics exceeds the hope of
cheaper service; The conviction that
private owners of public utilities are
incapable of refraining from meddling
with city politics is responsible for the
sweeping spread of municipal owner
ship sentiment throughout the cities of
the country. In general as in the cases
mentioned here, the men with special
interests show the same stupid oblivi
ousness to the true situation as did the
feudal barons of the middle ages or
the Russian barons of today.
GOOD SEWS AND BAB. -
Newspapers are commonly criticised
because a considerable " part of ths
news they print is a report of evil
doing. "Why don't the papers print
the good that is being done, and keep
our minds and the minds of our child
ren on good things instead of on bad V
Is a frequent query.
Very well; let us begin with a meet
ing held in Camden. New Jersey jn
Thursday evening. For a head line the
reporter writes: "No graft there." The
story is: "Many of the most promi
nent citizens of Camden were partici
pants at a testimonial dinner at the
Bellevue-Rtratford last evening, given
to Irving Bucklee, George W. Whyte
and Wm. J. Thompson, the building
commissioners who constructed the new
court house of Camden county. Most of
the speakers alluded felicitously to the,
absence of graft in that" enterprise,
and Judge of Common Pleas Chas. V.
D. Joline, in a complimentary speech.
presented to the commissioners a set of
engrossed resolutions of appreciation."
Here is good news indeed: A court
house built in New Jersey without
graft, news of so sensational a nature?
as to cause public thanksiging and win
headlines in the newspapers. But we
are not satisfied. We would rather tho
news had told that there was graft in
building the Camden court house. We
see that when good deeds grow so rare
as to be worth a place in the news
columns it is a time to mourn. The
news that Brnks whipped his wife yes
terday is after all not so distressing as
the news that Binks did not whip nig
wife yesterday. One of the definitions
of news which the newspapers are
compelled to follow is "something
strange or newly happened."
COSKRYATISM.
Thp annual tribute to toryism, the
deceased wife's sister bill, has agam
passed the house of commons, only 34
V'ttos opposing. This measure goes
through the house of commons as
regularly as the bill for the direct
election of senators our own house of
representatives; and is as regularly
sat upon by the upper house in Eng
land as is the direct election bill by
our own house of lords. The reasons
given why a man should not be per
mitted io marry his deceased wife's
sister W" lesm from the debates that
have followed the passage of the bill
HARNESS OR E0RSE COLLARS
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LINCOLN, NED.
this last time by the house. Some
rKrnwrs of the church of England
believe such marriages are prohibited
by the scriptures, and are desirous of
enforcing their scruples upon the rest
of the people who think differently.
Lord Robert Cecil opposes it on ac
count of "the threatened wave of ma
terialism which is threatening , to
swamp all good principles." Sir F. S.
Powell opposes it in the interests of
the workingman's wife's sister, Who
could not possibly, he thinks, find a
happy home with her married sister
in case her some time marriage with
her sister's husband were a possibil
ity. The arguments make one sus
pect that the real reason why the
change is not, favored by the lords is
the fact that it is a change.
Bill BUS AND BRIBERS.
The time once was when we clung
to the idea that the most despicable
man cavorting around on the hemis
phere was the man who took a bribe.
We have changed our mind. He is a
poor creature, but the worst is the
man who offered the bribe. Our- for
mer opinion was based on the idea,
advanced so often on behalf of the
corporations and others, that In order
to get one's rights at the hands of a
city council or board of control or
supervisors it was necessary to buy
the good wfiT and the votes of the
men empowered by law to- grant those
rights. ,- - ' 7-
Investigation and the stern logic of
fact has disproven this claim entirely.
The cold truth is that it has not been
rights but special privileges that these
corporations and "big business" have
been paying money for. They have
been anxious to get things through
that they have no right in equity or
fairness to ask, and they have , been
willing to pay because they have be
lieved that they could purchase them
cheaper through .the people's represen
tatives than they could from the peo
ple themselves. For a few thousands
they have, in this way, bought fran
chises that were worth many times
their cost, and which they could have
well afforded to pay the people in "open
-day for. "
The man who bribes is the worst
sort of a citizen. He is meaner than
the meanest criminal, and he cannot
be excused on any ground that It is
a conventional crime, one made so by
reason of "its very numerous char
acter. It is a poisoning of the very
founts, of justice, and marks the man
who perpetrates it as a vicious citizen,
an enemy to patriotism and worse
than any anarchist, a class much des
pised by big business.
The latest outburst of this kind has
come from San Francisco,- where an
intrepid special district attorney has
uncovered some big business men who
were willing and anxious to debauch
public officials in order that they
might get franchises, of great value
for a song, and this at a time when
the' city lay stricken from the horrors
of earthquake and ;. fire. Here's hop
ing the penitentiary will catch them
soon. "
- TEACHERS' PESIOA.
Perhaps the life insurance troubles
had something to do with it; at any
rate, an unusual impetus seems to aave
been given the movement for school
teachers' pensions in the larger cities
this year. New York city already has
a pension system, and Chicago is soon
to have one. Connecticut proposes a
state-wide pension system, and the bill
introduced for that purpose is interest
ing by giving an idea of what such a
system looks like. The system is to be
compulsory. Every teacher Is to pay
to the state treasurer 1 per cent of her
salary at the beginning, and more each
year as the frutition time approaches.
This sliding scale Is evidently provided
for the benefit of those teachers who
do not continue in the work long
enough to receive any benefit from the
pension fund. The annuity, like the
deferred premium of life Insurance, Is
to be indefinite, depending upon the
condition of the fund. This suggests
at once delightful possibilities in case
Connecticut continues her present pre
dilections for shady politics. Most of
the money in the pension fund being
the money of school teachers, will be
long to members of the per whose in
fluence in elections is at mojt Indirect
FRKMH UNIVERSITIES.
Professor llarrett Wendell of Har
vard call the attention of this year's
crop of Phi Beta Kappas to the ad
vantage of French. unlverKltie over
German as place to round out an en
ueatlon with a foreign tlirree. After
u year of loeturinsr at Franc h unt
v.ndtiea during which tiro he had
very facility fur observing their
workings, he pronounces tho French
teacher to bo marvel of digeated
learning. "They may tifvtr re rax
their effort," he nay "to extend and
Holidify thrlr learning. My previous
xiH'riciur hud ii?vr r'vea!ei co '
tnythin like smith n spect.irle of
luiuvntrsitcl and unceasing Intellec
tual activity aa remtl a matter of
iitrw among my contemporary col
leagued tit Pari." N hi rally h funl
a corresponding earnestness in the
students. There was in evidence
neither the pedantic professor who
gains a reputation for profundity, but
loses " students, by moiling away at
fact gathering without taking time
or having the capacity for mobilizing
and assimilating them; nor "the di
lettante who gains large classes and
a reputation for brilliancy by pyro
technical display of a few half facts.
The Germans are a trifle inclined to
make a student into a professor of
the first sort; American training
tends to make one of the latter sort;
French training better than the
others tends to develop the good
elements of both and discard the bad
of both. So we are to infer from
Professor Wendell's article in .the
March Scribnefs. But for the French
reputation for frivolity, tin unearned
reputation, as we are frequently as
sured nowadays, this might have been
taken for granted years ago.
DESTROYING WEAI.TII.
Quite appropriately to the. season,
Mrs. Belle Armstrong Whitney of New
York appeared before the Chicago
dressmakers' convention lately to
prove the blessedness of woman's ex
travagance in dress. This thing of
buying an expensive dress, wearing Tt
once and burning it to keep the cook
from appearing in it next week is one
of the bulwarks of prosperity, accord
ing to Mrs. Whitney, and she proves
it. We are prosperous when labor is
employed. The buying of many dresses
gives employment to many dress
makers, many weavers of cloth and
many producers of cotton, wool and
silk. Not to give the discarded dress
to , the cook causes the cook to buy
other dresses, which gives extra em
ployment to other dressmakers, weav
ers and agriculturists. Let all women
suddenly st6p buying Easter bonnets,
spring gowns and such like, and fac
tories would shut down, prices would
fall,, merchants go bankrupt and panic
would bo upon us. This reasoning
will please nearly everybody, for does
not nearly everybody believe it is cor
rect? " The burning of San Francisco,
was it not a splendid boon to busi
ness? More lumber, more labor, more
iron, more graft? James Hazen Hyde's
$10,000 dinner, did it not give employ
ment to many servants and make a
market for much merchandise, snails'
tongues, champagne, lobsters, and so
on? It is no time" since ' the southern
cotton planters were enriching them
selves by burning a part of . their cot
ton crop. Every railroad wreck makes
a market for more cars and that means
more labor. May not hard times be
permanently averted by burning a
city or two at each sign of depression,
and inducing the women to double
their orders at the milliners' and the
dressmakers'?
STATE APPROPRIATIONS.
The important question of appropri
ations for the biennium is now oc
cupying the attention of the legisla ture.
The amounts asked exceed the appro
priation of two years ago. While re
quests for larger expenditures should
be. scrutinized closely, it does not fol
low that the allowance of larger sums
is " extravagance in every case.
Nebraska has grown rapidly in the past
five years and the demands of state in
stitutions have legitimately increased.
The state owes a duty to properly care
for its institutions, and it Is financially
able to discharge that duty. It Is true
that there is an exMIng statute that
limits the levy for the state general
tuna, and the argument is used that
the appropriations must not exceed this
limit Tho legislature erected -.his bar
rier and the legislators can remove it.
If the limtt imposed by statute is in
adequate to meet existing demands, the
statute can be aiwHded. Tho esti
mate of expfnditisres of a formr leg
islature is not necessarily a tree guide.
It may be too high; it may be too low.
Appropriations should be considered on
the merits. Whatever Is needed for
adequate surpcrt should be given no
more and no lens. Bcau!e, the state
has prospered anil is fln&nelaHy able to
discharge Us obligations is not a rea
son for expending monty uselessly. It
is , reason for supplying legitimate de
mands. Politics In the American Balkans
are not so different from our own.
Aside from the question of who stolo
that mule, there Is a strip of ter
ritory in dispute between Nicaragua
and Honduras, a franchise to a tract
of land, to put It another way. The
prewidnt of Nicaragua finding Pres
ident Bonilla intractable In settling
the boundary dispute proposed to de
pose him and set a man In the presi
dent's vh&lr who will be generoua with
Nicaragua and her claim. The pro
logou nituatlon in this country, ex
cept that armk take the place there
of political machine here. The sur
prise of the campaign hs been the
f mlnir fact that rnonw real fight
ing ha taken plucr. Tim way ven
tral American noldlera are commonly
recruited lui te!H t.implfd In the
dlapatch of a on tint recruit
In ( officer to his communUer: "I ana
Verdict for. Dr. Pierce
AGAINST THE
-Ladies' Home Journal.
Sending truth after a He. It Is an Id
maxim that "a lie will travel seven
leagues while truth Is getting its boots
on," and no doubt hundreds of thousand
of good, people read the unwarranted and
malicitwrs attack upon Dr. R. V. Pierce
and his "Favorite Prescription " published
in the May (190-1) number of the Ladies'
Home Journal, with Its great black dis
play headings, who never saw the hum
ble, groveling retraction, with its incon
spicuous heading, published two months
later. It was boldly charged in the sland
erous and libelous article that Dr. Pierce's
favorite Prescription, for the cure of
woman's weaknesses -and ailments, con
tained alcohol and other harmful Ingredi
ents, Dr. Pierce promptly brought suit
against tha publit-hfrs of the Ladies'
Home Journal, for 1200,000,00 damages. .
: Dr. Pierce alleged that Mr. Bok, the
editor, maliciously published tho article
containing such false and defamatory
matter wit the intent of Injuring his
businesxfurthermore, that no alcohol, or
other fujnriou?, or habit-forraing, drugs
erivcre, contained in his "la
ptton"; that said medicine
native medicinal routs and "
'no harmful Ingredient what-
lid that Mr.-JJok's malicious state-
were wholly and absolutely false.
lyrcHi in a c k now u
"These facts weia also piorun in the tfiai of
the action In the Supreme Court But tho
business of Dr. Pierce was greatly Injured by
tho publication of the libelous article with
its Croat disjjlay hemlfcntrs. while hundreds of
thousands who read the wickedly defamatory
article never saw the bumble groveling re
traction, set In small type and made as Incon
spicuous as possible. The matter was, bow
erer brought before a jury in the. Supreme
Court'of New York State which promrtly
rendered a verdict in the Doctor's faor,
Thus his traducers came to grief and their
base slanders were refuted. - ...
sending you one hundred men. vieaae
send back the ropes , with which they
are tied, as I will need " them for
the next lot of volunteers." It must
have taken heavy expenditures of
"white eye," as the native brandy Is
called, to ' sustain the courage and
patriotism of an army so recruited
to the point of penetrating an eight
day wilderness in a conquering march
upon the Honduras capital.
TOO GENTI-B.
, They were talking about fads.
"Suppose I should bring you a Roose
velt bear?" ventured the young man.
"Oh, I wouldn't care for a Roosevelt
bear," replied the pretty girl.
"And why not, my dear?"
"Because Roosevelt bears can't hug."
And then the young man took the
hint. .
.Did Not Even Hear It.
Edith (the heroine) And can you
forgive me?
George (the hero) Can you ask, my
darling?
Edith George! !
George Edith ! ! ! - "
(Note This dialogue is printed for
the benfit of the man who really wants
to hear the last line of a play.) 4uck.
BRAVE CIIU
The ship was sinking.
"A rocket!" bellowed the captain.
"My kingdom for a rocket!"
But the wild waves answered not.
Suddenly Nettle, the candy mill girl,
rushed forward.
"Here, captain," she said, dramat
ically, "take my hairpin."
"Tour hairpin, little girl? What use
could I make of your hairpin?"
-."It is celluloid. Light It and it wift
prove, to be a beacon."
And the brave captain lit the hair
pin and caved the sbip.
No matter how much a man ad
mires his wife ho never gives her
credit for enough mechanical ingen
uity to acompllsh anything more dif
ficult than fitting a cork In a Ju.
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