v
rfie Wdmtim Semocrnt
ItOIJEIJT GOOD Editor and Prop
VALENTINE
NEBRASKA
Young Mr Tulliill of Ckoonpon L I
eloped the other day wli a charming
young woman and her mother Is this
a new form or rue joke
There is one region in which people
who dislike the bicycle habit can find
a refuge from it The Emperor of Mo
rocco has tabooed the bicycle in his
dominions
If rrincc Henri dOrleans expect to
command space on the first page top of
column he will pull off a few duels at
once as a guarantee of good faith It
will not be necessary for him to clean
up the entire docket a dozen will do
The Harrodsburg Ky Sayings re
marks Parties wishing to see theit
names in print will please give the
same to Mrs Sarah Cloyd or Miss Sallic
Burton If some eligible bachelor
gives his name to Miss Sallic she may
decide to keep it
Omaha Bee The price of live stock
has advanced of Ji cent a pound
within the last few months The re
tail price of beef has been raised from 2
to 6 cents a pound If anybody can
explain why this discrepancy in price
exists the people of Omaha would like
to hear from him
Alabama has passed a State law al
lowing women to practice law Preju
dice against women in the professions
Is fast giving way and it is but a ques
tion of time when the only barriers in
their way will be those of inherent un
fitness for success As long as neces
sity forces women to support them
selves they have the right to the best
and conservatism on this point is fast
giving way
Dallas News A New England paper
says that Texas negroes are happy only
in watermelon season New England
is superb in her ignorance Texas pos
sums are ripe in October and the crop
excels tat of all other States com-
bined With the streams full of cat
fish in springtime the summer filled
with watermelons the autumn and
winter with possums and all the sea
sons percolated with revivals and bap
tizins the Texas negroes are happy
all the time
News of the failure of the crop in a
farge part of the European wheat belt
and also in Argentina and other parts
of the South American wheat produc
ing section is the first piece of good for
tune the American farmer has had for
years His season has been all that
could be asked for and his yield is
bountiful One recognized European
authority estimated the shortage a
month ago at 144000000 bushels of
wheat Since then he has learned of
the failure of the crop in Russia India
and Argentina and has more than dou
bled his estimate
Washington Post When a bank is
wrecked hundreds of innocent persons
are affected many of them ruined
Suicides often follow the savings of
years are lost the inheritance of wid
ows and children is dissipated and the
villain who is responsible for these dis
asters gets a few years in the peniten
tiary and is then pardoned and put into
position to prey on the public again
The pleadings of influential citizens or
of a loving and persistent wife or
daughter will effect a pardon and the
criminal walks the streets a free man
Such men are far more dangerous to a
community than a known robber and
deserves less consideration
Nobody need be surprised at the
movement started to alter the French
Constitution so as to grant greater pow
er to the President than he has had
hitherto or at the report that this
movement is opposed by the Premier
and by a large element in the Chamber
of Deputies Sir Henry Maine said in
his Popular Government that there
is no living functionary who occupies
a more pitiable position than a French
President I he old kings of France
reigned and governed The constitu
tional king reigns but does
not govern The President of the Uni
ted States governs but he does not
reign It lias been reserved to the
President of the French republic neith
er to reign nor yot to govern One
reason of course why he is in this
pitiable position is because he has no
veto on legislation not even the the
oretical power of veto which a British
monarch holds but dare not exercise
He is permitted however to demand a
reconsideration of any measure but
according to our recollection this pre
rogative has never been employed An
other reason for his impotency lies
in the fact that the chambers can bring
a pressure upon him which will compel
hiin to resign as was done in the cases
of Presidents McMahon Grevy and
others The necessity for making the
French President something more than
a piece of political would
seem to be obvious enough to command
the favor of the people and their repre
sentatives yet many members of each
branch of the French Parliament par
ticularly of the Chamber of Deputies
oppose the granting of further power
to that official
Providence Journal There was a time
and those who are not yet aged and
infirm can remember it when the read
ing of novels was regarded simply as
a relaxation In some families it was
even forbidden as a relaxation open to
Kcrious objections But now those who
desire to be amused do not go to nov
els or if they do they choose for the
ii urn npn i iL ir
in the ceuttjry when novelists were
eouteut to be artists and did not aspire
to be preachers Still novels arc read
as never before and for the purposes
which would once have astonished
novel readers If there be amusement
it is merely incidental What effect
upon J lie mental and moral fibre of tin
race is this well nigh exclusive atten
tion to fiction having That is a ques
tion which is really a serious one The
call for novels at our public libraries
lo the exclusion of almost every other
kind of literature has long been rec
ognized as an evil And although part
of the cry against fiction has been
mere ignorance and prejudice every
note of protest is not to be met with
this assertion For no form of art
however good or noble in itself can win
a popularity excluding all other forms
without vital injury to public taste in
general The novel as has often been
shown is to our age what the drama
was to the age of Elizabeth It has
been a natural vehicle of expression foi
many of our greatest writers But that
is no reason why it should be regarded
as the only vehicle of expression or
why every person who has a theory
to exploit should feel called upon to
do so through the mouths of imaginary
characters Those who have the high
est conception of the dignity of the art
of fiction will grieve most at seeing it
perform an office so sordid and mean
Our greatest territory may be said
to have opened itself With its more
than half a million square miles it has
been treated for thirty years like an
outer wilderness too remote and diffi
cult to be systematically explored For
nearly twenty years after its purchase
Alaska was a military command with
just one civil officer the collector of the
port of Sitka In that time a few ex
ploring trips were made by the troops
at Sitka In 1SS4 Alaska attained the
dignity of a Governor appointed by the
President for four years with a salary
of 3000 The law speaks of Alaska as
a district and empowers the Gov
ernor to enforce the laws grant tem
porary reprieves to criminals and com
mand the militia There are eighteen
other civil officers half of them com
missioners in legal cases and about
the same number of deputies When
the Governor finds no law applicable
to a case in hand he is authorized to
refer to the laws of Oregon for guid
ance The rush to the territory has
given it a comparatively large popula
tion with the barest framework of gov
ernment ready for it There are now
considerable cities on the coast that
have sprung up almost in a night and
no law except such as is enforced by
common consent No roads exist and
no surveys for making them Mail
routes are unopened to the interior and
that vast region is unmapped and al
most unknown The maps that have
been issued are mere outlines During
the thirty years Alaska has belonged
to us government exploring and survey
ing parties should have been in the
field every year They would have cost
but little while their labors at this time
would be invaluable Alaska has sud
denly emerged from the waiting stage
Congress will now be compelled to act
and much thought should be devoted to
the future of the big territory The
opening of Alaska should be for the
benefit of the whole people with anipJo
safeguards against monopolists
South
OOW1 PAUL COACH
Lfrican President Putting oa
Frills in His Old Age
Oom Paul has at last set up a state
coach to the surprise and delight of
his subjects The faithful Boers have
fip yyfjjglgjfgj k
OOM PAULS STATE COACH
been trying for years to have him put
on more frills but the simple old
Dutchman has a horror of ostentation
and expense particularly expense
A few years ago he was almost wild
with the toothache His familv his1
councilors his friends besought him to
have the tooth out At last Oom Paul
decided to go to a dentist Arriving at
the man of tortures office the South
African President asked what it would
cost to have the offending member out
The sum demanded was equivalent to
125 Never said Oom Paul and
feeling in his capacious pockets for his
clasp knife he pried out the molar with
his own right hand
Mammoth Gun Casting
The largest gun casting ever made in
this country was cast at the ordnance
department of the Bethlehem Iron
Company Thursday morning The
casting is for the tube of a sixteen incli
gun for the United States Government
It is nineteen feet six inches long
octagonal in shape and seventy four
inches in diameter
More than 100 gross tons of metal
were used in its manufacture Three
furnaces two of forty tons capacity
each and one of twenty tons were
used to prepare the metal in The cast
ing which is the first and largest of its
kind ever made was a success in every
way The jackets for the big gun will
be cast later Washington Star
Russias New Purchase
Russia has bought the Sebastopol
ship building yard for 1900000 rubles
Last year the only four States that
produced asphaltum were California
Colorado Texas and Utah Indian
most part such as were written earlier j ritory also contributed some
WPT w
SILVER THE VITAL ISSUE
The Democracy of Ohio has roused
itself to meet the situation and taking
a look westward toward Iowa and Ne
braska has -begun a vigorous cam
paign on the currency question
The financial issue is not to be ig
nored and the Democratic candidate
for Governor Horace L Chapman has
ignored all minor issues and is urging
the importance of the unlimited coin
age of silver at a ratio of 10 to 1 The
purpose of the Republican party is not
only to destroy silver money but to
put in its place rag money issued by
the banks and secured by the assets of
those institutions
The Cincinnati Enquirer is outspoken
in its advocacy of the silver cause and
discloses the plots of the gold clique
as follows The purposes of the Re
publican leaders if they shall succeed
in all they hope to at the elections this
year and next are not set forth in their
platforms their newspapers or the
speeches of their campaigners All the
facts though point to the intention to
destroy the greenbacks The presi
dents message advising the creation
of a monetary commission had that
end in view and the present irrespon
sible monetary commission is organ
ized for the same purpose
It is not good politics for Democrats
to ignore these facts The Republicans
should be forced to place themselves
on record before the people in every
political contest They wish to evade
the question but when crowded into
a corner dare not deny the charge for
fear of offending the money power
whose tools they are Democratic
success in 1898 and in 1900 depends on
keeping national issues before the peo
ple and in compelling the advocates of
gold to fight in the open and to show
the full enormity of the crime against
the masses which they are plotting Bi
metallism is gaining ground every day
the success of Democracy is assured if
this vital Rsue is kept constantly in
view
Forty Cent Dollar
Special pleaders for the gold clique
continually harp on one string They
sing the song of a 40 cent dollar and
they can invent no variations on the
theme
The bullion value of silver which
gives the excuse for talking about 40
cent dollars is the result of special leg
islation against the metal just as dol
lar wheat is the result of special provi
dential conditions Give silver the pro
tection which it had under the law up
to 1S7J and the bullion value would rise
until it equaled the coinage value
History proves this contention if it
proves anything During all the years
when silver was given mint privileges
equal its gold its bullion value and
its coinage value were practically
equal Whenever the mints have been
closed to the coinage of silver the bull
ion has fallen in price Whenever any
thing has been done that looked toward
an enlarged use of silver as money thv
bullion price has risen Even the slight
concession granted recently by the
Bank of England in announcing that it
would hold one fifth of its reserves in
silver has resulted in a rise in the price
of bullion to the amount of seven cents
on the ounce
For eighty years up lo 1874 the bull
ion value of silver was equal to the
coinage value As soon as it became ap
parent that 1lie coinage of silver had
been restricted the bullion price began
to drop In 1S90 there was a movement
which promised a restoration of coin
age rights and silver bullion rose to
120 an ounce lacking only 9 cents of
a parity with gold at the ratio of 1G to
1 It is evident that unlimited coinage
of silver would result in a bullion price
of 129 -per ounce and the 40 cent dol
lar would cease to exist
What Hanna Is Fighting For
Mark Hanna is probably not fighting
for his political life in Ohio this year
but the result of the election there is of
the most serious importance not only
to himself but to all his chums who
are now exercising power and drawing
fat salaries from both the State and
the national treasuries To him defeat
means the vacation of the seat in the
United States Senate which he obtain
ed by playing on poor decrepit John
Shermans vanity To the others it
means loss of income and influence for
a long time to come and to the Repub
lican party of the country at will also
mean the certainty of a grand beating
In the Congressional struggle next year
and a worse one in that for the Presi
dency three years hence
Hannas experience in politics meas
ured by years is limited He is a man
ufacturer and a speculator in other
mens labor who has gotten very rich
by means of the help furnished Him by
the Government in the shape of favor
able tariff laws He has found it ex
ceedingly profitable to be hand and
glove with the legislators at Washing
ton who dispense fortunes under the
name of Protection and so long as
he felt that he had to maue a fight for
what favors he wanted he was content
to keep in the background His success
in the election of McKinley last year
his led him to suppose that he can now
take his ease and pose as a statesman
If the Democracy should carry Ohio
next November Hannas dreams of the
immediate future at least will be sadly
disturbed The Senatorial seat which
he obtained by means of what nobody
who knows the facts will hesitate to
cali a dirty trick will have to be giv
en up to another and defeat will be
written in large letters all over the Re
publican slate for a long time to come
New York News
Cheap Money
The gold organs says the Atlanta
Constitution are carefully avoiding a
discussion that relates to the cheap and
depreciated gold dollar which we now
have with u They admit that it is
bringing prosperity but they will not
discuss the facts behind it
Well we are happier over the pros
pects of prosperity than any of the gold
organs for they have declared that
higher prices that is to say depreciat
ed money would be hurtful to the in
terests of the workingman but we are
not too happy to reason about the facts
of the case Here are some of them
With respect to wheat we have what
may be termed a GO cent dollar that Is
to say while a farmer had to pay a
bushel and a half of wheat for a dollar
a few weeks ago he can now buy he
same dollar in New York City with one
bushel
With respect to wool we have a 50
cent dollar that is to say the farmer
who was compelled to give a certain
quantity of wool for a dollar can now
buy the same dollars in the open mar
ket for half the quantity necessary a
while ago
But this is not all We have a depre
ciated currency with respect to corn
oats and other farm products We nave
1
Encroachment of the Judiciary
Resist the beginnings Herein lies
the only safeguard against tyrannical
rule Especially is this true with re
gard to the usurpation of courts and in
point of danger the federal courts lead
all the rest Their judges hold office
for life or until they choose to retire
rMWEiXS
CWlV 1-
and are invulnerable to popular dis
pleasure however merited Only Con
gressional impeachment can drive them
from the bench and in such emergen
cy there would be no lack of zeal and
effort by plutocracy for the protection
of its servitors Grand Rapids Demo
crat
Dollars
Mark Hanna is hedging on the golt
question in his stump speaking tour of
Ohio He is after votes and he knows
that there are thousands of Republi
cans who believe in bimetallism and
therefore he is careful not to offend
these voters by a bold statement of his
views on the money question He satis
fies himself by saying that he wants
every dollar to be worth 100 cents here
and all over the world But Mark
Hanna and the members of the money
power do not believe that a silver dollar
is worth 100 cents here or anywhere
How then is he going to make these
silver dollars worth 100 cents all over
the world He has no idea of trying to
do anything of the kind He proposes
to destroy the silver dollars altogether
To wipe out over 500000000 of silver
money at one blow And what would
be put in its place Nothing He and
his fellow conspirators desire to con
tract the currency and thus continue to
force the value of gold still higher
But that is not all He would take
the greenbacks out of circulation and
in place of this money guaranteed by
the assets of the United States wishes
to substitute wild cat rag money guar
anteed by the assets of the banks Of
fice furniture is not good backing for a
national currency but the money pow
er wishes to usurp the power of the
Government and to issue bank notes at
its own sweet will If Mark Hanna real
ly wanted to make every dollar worth
100 cents here and all over the world
IT WILL NOT DOWN
The bete noir of the Republican pressChicago Dispatch
cheap and therefore unsound mon
ey with respect to stocks and other se
curities
And behold this depreciated money
instead of plunging the country in ruin
is actually bringing prosperity The
gold organs not only admit it but insist
on it And yet this is precisely what
the Democrats said would happen if
we could get higher prices which is
another name for cheaper money It is
an object lesson not likely to be lost on
the people
Mark Hannas War Record
When Mark Hanna entered the ban
quet hall at Buffalo where there was
feastiing the select coterie of G A R
members and at the head of the main
table was seated the President of the
United States some guests forgot their
good manners and respect for the pro
prieties and screamed a welcome to the
mighty political boss The President
infected by the prevailing entl isiasm
and losing his accustomed placidity
sprang from his seat rushed toward
the advancing hero and embraced the
puissant politician to the amazement
of the assembled war veterans and of
the country
The great political manipulators war
record is summed up in this brief auto
biography of that epoch No he eadd
to an eager newspaper interviewer I
did not serve in the army but I hired
two substitutes and sent them to the
front
What patriotism is here proclaimed
What sacrifice and danger are here
avowed for preserving this Union And
how Hanna esque The prevailing rate
of wages for substitutes in the war was
13 a month Some patriots hired only
one substitute but Mr Hanna hired
two He doesnt say how long he kept
them in the field but whatever the
length of their service might have been
we know that it cost him 26 a month
For this noble sacrifice Mr Hanna is
publicly embraced by the countrys
chief magistrate who went into the
war as a private supplied the fighting
soldiers at Antietam with hot coffee
and came out with the rank of major
Mr Hannas 26 a month is entitled to
recognition Had he not spent it for
substitutes the Union army would
have been short two soldiers Where
fore three cheers and a tiger for Han
na the unscarred veteran who poured
2b a month into the overstrained treas
ury at Washington to keep the furnaces
of war ablaze and roaring
he would favor the unlimited coinage
of silver for by that means the bullion
value would be raised to a par with
gold and that which he pretends to de
sire would become a beneficent fact
Chicago Dispatch
Tariff Barons Responsible
The big tariff pampered corporations
are responsible for the great bulk of
the grossly ignorant and semibarbar
ous immigration from Southern Eu
rope The coal mining districts of the
country are the nests of anarchism
the swarming centers of a population
which has no conception of free gov
ernment has no appreciation of free
institutions and are the riotous ene
mies of native labor Probably not one
in a hundred can read the language of
the country whose laws protect them
and whose privileges they enjoy Min
neapolis Times
Political Pointers
Whenever a Republican discovers
that his parly has abandoned all the
principles of Lincoln Greeley Sum
ner and Trumbull and is therefore com
pelled to leave it have you noticed
what an idiot and rascal he becomes in
the estimation of the newspapers be
longing to the Hanna bureau Colum
bus Ohio Press
The continued and growing deficien
cy in national revenue will furnish
something for Congress to do at the
coming regular session Some legisla
tion supplemental to the law
must be enacted in order to make the
governments income meet Its ex
penses As a raiser of taxes the Ding
ley tariff is a great success Nashville
American
As well look for oranges to grow in
Siberia or snowstorms to prevail at the
equator as to expect the Republican
administration to bring about general
prosperity Its daily business is the
systematic and legalized pillage of the
people Its regular occupation is rob
bing Peter the producer to pay Paul
the plutocrat Kansas City Times
Mr McKinley exhorts the Ohio Sun
day school boys to be virtuous ant
moral He does not explain to them
that it is virtuous and moral to appoint
a disreputable New Orleans negro dive
keeper to high office as payment for
that dissolute persons services In brib
ing delegates to support the candidacy
of an Ohio church member New York
World
At the conclusion of his speech at
the opening of a Galesburg gymna
sium Senator Mason asked if he might
speak for five minutes on Cuba He
then proceeded to free the tortured
pearl of the Antilles in the most fever
ish forensic form When curfew rang
the horizon was spattered with Span
ish blood as far as the eye could reach
Quincy 111 Herald
GOOD MONEY IN POLECATS
Tan Starts n Skunk Farm and Ex
pects Soon to Become Wealthy
Edgar Brown who lives all alone on
an island in the lake of the woods
about twelve miles from Rat Portage
Ont is the owner of what is probably
the most novel farm in existence He
calls It a skunk fnrm The entire isl
and is given up to the raising of pole
cats Brown came to Duluth from St
Louis Mo in boom days made a for
tune and lost it again like a great
many others Two years ago he got
the gold fever and went into the Cana
dian gold fields He had about 6000
when he left Duluth half of which he
invested in a gold mine which he had
been told was the greatest mine in ex
istence He found rich ore and plenty
of free gold on the surface but after
the purchase price was paid for it the
mine failed Brown saw that he had
been swindled and this disgusted him
with gold mining
He had determined to come back into
the United States and go into real es
tate again when one day he discovered
that there were other ways in which
he could make money While he was in
one of the stores of the Hudson Bay
Company an Indian came in and sold
a polecat skin He noticed that the fur
was very fine and that the company
paid 125 for it He made some in
quiries and found the company was
willing to buy all the fur it could of
that kind for the same price This sat
isfied him that there would be money
in raising the animals for their fur
He determined to start a skunk faain
With this end in view he leased anl
and in the Lake of the Woods about
twelve miles from Rat Portage with
an area of 160 acres He employed a
number of half breeds to catch some of
the little animals for him and they
soon had 200 or 300 in captivity He
stocked his farm with these He built
little houses for them to live in in win
ter and made everything as comfort-
able as possible for them He person
ally superintended their care feeding
them himself They are fed on fish en
tirely which is very plentiful there
When feeding time conies Brown takes
a little cart load of fish pushes it
around to different stations he has
marked out on the island and whistles
for his pets They always eat just at
dusk feeding only once each day At
the sound of the whistle the bushy-tailed
children of the devil as they are
sometimes called come scampering
from all directions
Last year Brown raised 400 of the lit
tle creatures and this year ISO mothers
have families of from two to six each
He has now about 1000 of the black
footed beauties and they multiply fast
The Hudson Bay Company has con
tracted to take all the furs and oil he
can furnish and Brown says his farm
will soon be worth from 10000 tc
15000 a year to him with no danger
of poor crops
Taking Its Own Portrait
It seems like something of an achieve
ment to make a wild deer take its own
portrait but such a feat was lately ac- y1
complished by Mr Charles Hughes Qlr4k
Red Bluff Cal
He conceived the idea of causing a
wild animal to take- a flashlight photo
graph as it passed along a trail in the
Coast Range of mountains secure un
der cover of night
To accomplish this purpose Mr
Hughes set up the camera a short dis
tance from a trail over which deer were
known to run and then connected the
shutter and the flashlight materials
with a trap When the deer stepped
upon the trap the camera was opened
and the flashlight set off at the same
instant Mr Hughes thus secured the
negative in the dead of night and when
there was not a soul within sight or
hearing of the animal
On developing the negative Mr
Hughes found the photograph of a deer
The frightened appearance of the ani
mal as he was startled by the sudden
flash of light is clearly shown in the
picture
Noosing a Sea Lion
A correspondent of Rams Horn nar
rates a pulling match between a sea
lion and a farmer
Near Tillamook Ore an old German
farmer chanced to be driving along the
beach Avhen his watchful gaze was
greeted by the sight of a large sea lion
some distance out on the sand fast
asleep
It Avas the work of a moment for Ja
cob to make a lasso of a stout rope he
had in his wagon fasten the end of it
to the hind axle and adjust the noose
over the sea lions head Then Jacob
jumped into the wagon and started
homeward with his prize
The sea lion did the same and as his
team was the stronger of the two Ja
cob started seaward at a good pace and
only saved himself and his outfit by
springing quickly to the ground grasp
ing his jack knife and cutting the rope
Yours Mine and Ours
A Western paper tells a story of a
mixed brood of children which reveals
the confusion liable to exist in certain
families
A widower and a widow each having
children married and children were
subsequently born to them The par
ents agreed much better than the chil
dren did One day a neighbor going
past their place heard a commotion
within out of which rose the voice of
the wife screaming to the husband
Jim Jim Hurry out in the yard
Your children and my children are beat
ing the lives out of our children
1
Condiments and Digestion
The introduction of mustard or pep
per into the stomach of a rabbit caused
the secretion of pancreatic juice to be
tripled and even quadrupled This ac
counts for the stimulating effects of
these condiments upon digestion J
Ill never ask anonv woman
marry me a long as I liy rr
again No accepted
r
Refusetfr f
W
