Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1900-1930, October 13, 1904, Image 8
THE DAY "Letting Well Enough Alone , " It Ii.'is become a political axiom that partj'-changing is up-hill work during years of plenty. Hard times are good for the "outs ; " good times for the "ins. " Jordan is a mighty difficult stream to navigate against the winds and tides of prosperity , Jericho is a safe fortress when the gates of adver sity are at rest and hushed the clamor of the mob. Yet the line separating the two conditions is often no wider than a man's hand and sometimes in visible. Hence is it that the aphorism "to let well enough alone" the ultra- conservative doctrine of the well-to-do much in vogue with the rich lias about it an air of wisdom when it may be in point of fact most fallacious and misleading. "Intime of peace prepare for war , " is a saying which might be translated to read "in time of prosperity , prepare for adversity. " Eternal vigilance is equally the pice of Good Government and Liberty. It is not teven a safe rule of business to leave things to take their course be cause they seem to be going smoothly and to make no provision for "the evil day tliat surely cometh. " The saga cious man of business looks ahead , he puts this and that together and consid ers what m'ay betide , to the end that. I the perils which .have hitherto beset them , including a war of sections ; but there stands before us , and right across the national highway , a public question as far-reaching , as deep and sinister , as that of African slavery itself , the.ii > repressible conflict of the present and the future , the issue between capital and labor. Let no man dismiss this lightly. Let no man fancy that it will adjust itself. No more than the slavery question will it down , or be settled until it is settled right ; that is , until there is such uniformity of law such equal opportunities under the law such enforced submission aud obedi ence to the law as will disarm both capital aud labor of their deadlier weapons. As a party force , indeed , it is but just arriving on the scene. The Republican party can no more deal with it adequately than the Dem ocratic party , under the old slave regime , could deal adequately with the slavery question. The Republican party represents the patrickrnism and wealth of the North precisely as the Democratic party of other days repre sented the wealth and patriciauism of the South. In those old days the South ruled the country. Slavery was the keynote. In these days the North rules it. The protective S3"stem is the key note. If the early emancipationists , "YOU'RE NEXT ! " " so 0t A I "By direction of the President , officials will neither discuss nor give p out any information regarding the annual estimates until further orders. " 4 New Yon. Telegram. A- when the storm breaks , ho shall be ready for it ; so the mariner ; so the statesman. The brains of America , the genius of America , are not now in what is called public life. They are engaged in for- * une-building. They devote themselves to works of construction. They are money-makers. Few men of energy and ambition , with the opportunities of the time before them , are willing to surrender freedom and affluence at home to take poverty and slavery at Washington. To men of the second , or third class therefore is committed the government of the country. Inevitably , some of them are cor rupt , whilst most of them ore the merest hangers-on of fortune ; here to day and gone to-morrow ; adri'ft from one election to another ; ready to seize and cling to whatever plank sems like ly to carry them ; and , no matter whether they call themselves Republi cans , or Democrats , equally time-serv ers and tide-waiters. The circumstance gives a great though temporary advantage to those persons of brains and wealfh who have an interest in taking , or who , for the love of exploitation and power , put themselves to the trouble of taking an interest in political affairs. The tariff lobby is an old and familiar figure in the national capital , . So is the railway lobby. Hence the power and at the same time the unpopularity of the trust. ' Thus far on our journey from the cradle of political infancy to whatever goal may lie before us , we have weath ered the historic dangers common to all ( nations ; the struggle for existence : the router assault ; the domestic broil ; the Disputed succession. We are no longer in baby in arms. We are at length a world power. The story of mankind teaches , if nothing else , that nations , ; iike individuals , rise to their fullest ( stature through privation and against .obstacles , that they fall through lux- lury and wealth , i The United States have urvived all with Clay at their head , had been lis tened to , there would have been no war of sections , slavery would have been put in the way of gradual extinc Pia Pib tion , another labor system would have b been built up in the South , even the negro might have been got rid of , cer mR R tainly got rid of as a disturbing fqrce. But the slaveholders of the cotton States , clinging to what had become an ar it oligarchism , would not have it. That itw which was a moral question , and w should have been settled on moral prin * * ciples , got into politics. Extremism South bred extremism North. Even as the slave-owner claimed his rights in the Constitution of the United States does the tariff-lord claim his fr rights in the protective polity of the Republican party. Originally slavery was regarded at the South as an evil. It became a "divine institution. " In pa Vfl like manner , protection was a provis ional affair meant to aid our "infant ru industries. ' It has befcome an article us of faith , a fundamental doctrine , a m C part of the creed , o.l Republicanism. Under each instance lay the same pri mal cause excessive wealth , patri- cianism , i and the arrogance of patri- ; cianism and wealth the corner stones th of the party in power. Is it "letting well enough 'alone" to relegate this ' ° question to the mob-spirit and the lead fu ers of the mob the first time the winds of adversity blow , or to put it In the course of gradual adjustment at the hands of statesmen , whilst we may ? bomi This is the question to which the mi business men of the country so much in ; preoivupied with tlieir own concerns should seriously address themselves. ch [ Woe to the land when all conserva tive opposition is laid low , the adminis ch tration of its affairs given over to a single political dynasty , the govern ph ment a one-party affair , because that is Pr a condition precedent to convulsions ] waiting only the day of wrath to du spring. COl Even now the evil day may be near go < er thau any man divines. Tiiirty dayg gn before the fall of Snmtcr statesmen were deluding themselves with the be- lieC that there would be no war. We may not be on the verge of any imme diate danger ; but no country , no peo ple , can bo safe who have given them selves over to an organized body of ex pert , self-confident , and more or less corrupt , public men , destroying all healthful opposition and opening the way for the agitator and the mob. No , gentlemen , men of business , you cannot afford "to let well enough alone , " with such things hanging in the womb of time ! Louisville Courier- Journal. What the Maine Result Does Not Show. Ill the exuberance of his joy at the Republicans having carried Maine as they have done year after year with monotonous regularity and as every one knew they would do this year as usual Congressman Burleigh tele graphed President Roosevelt congratu lations upon the "complete and sweep ing" victory which , he told the Presi dent , is a "splendid omen of victory in November. " The particulars given the President in the same dispatch indicate that the victory was not quite so "com plete and sweeping" as the Congress man would have the President under stand it to be. He says the "returns indicate a Re publican plurality of 30,000. " Assum ing Congressman Burleigh's claim to be about the correct figure there has been a falling off from the plurality in the September election four years ago ' of about 4,000. The Republican plu-1 rality on the vote for Governor in that ' year was 34,132. Maine this year has been thoroughly stirred up for the pur pose of getting out every Republican vote possible. The effort was so far successful that large gains have been made upon the vote of four years ago , but the Democratic gains were still larger , and if it were at all likely that the respective gains would be in the same proportion in other States it would be anything but a "splendid omen" for a Roosevelt victory in No vember. Mr. Burleigh says : "We have car ried fourteen and possibly fifteen of the sixteen counties. " There is no "complete and sweeping" victory in that. At the best it is a mere holding what had been their own right along , while the dispatch indicates a loss. The Republicans carried fifteen out of the sixteen counties in 1902 and 1900 , and the whole sixteen in 1898 and 1896. The county carried by the Democrats in 1900 was by so small a margin that it hardly counted. If the Republicans have now carried only fourteen coun ties , which is all Mr. Burleigh makes positive claiiii to , there is a Republican loss. j The Republicans , Mr. Burleigh told ' the President , "have elected an overk whelming majority of the Legislature. " No one doubts that , but Mr. Burleigh unfortunately neglected to furnish par- ticulars. The Republican majority in the Maine Legislature has been "over- whelming" for many a year. In the election of 1896 it was 170 , there being but six Democrats in the Legislature then elected. In' 1S9S it was 132 ; in 1900 it was 142 ; in 1902 it was 139. So 6 far as returns have been received they indicate a gain for the Democrats in a both branches. There will still be an E "overwhelming" Republican majority , j but an "ominous" diminution of its size. The Maine election cannot be re garded as a safe indication of the drift of the popular current on the presiden tial question. Neither that nor the Vermont election was ominous of the November result. Cleveland Plain Dealer. - fl ' Sculptor's Roosevelt Joke. e There came into the rooms of the Retl publican State Committee at the Fifth c Avenue Hotel , says the New York Dimes , a man who carried under his irm a plaster bust of President Roose- relt. relt."I "I think , " he said , "that if the Re- mblican State Committee would order few thousand copies of this bust , to e ( placed on exhibition , it would be nost helpful to the candidacy of Mr. loosevelt. " He placed the bust on the mantel , ind Secretary Little walked up to look over at close range. At the base ras this inscription in large letters : * * * * * * * * * "The Apostle of Pence , * t Arbitration Is Better Than * c Bayonets. " * t * * * * When Secretary Little recovered , rom his swoon the sculptor had gone. Squeezing : the Rural Mail Carriers. If the plans of the Republican Cam- aign Committee do not miscarry , a ast sum will be collected from the ural mail carriers of the State to be sed in the campaign. To every rural lail carrier in the State the Finance lommittee has addressed a letter re- uesting $30 to be used by the Republi- an campaign managers. There are 50 rural mail routes in the State , and ; only requires a little figuring to show ; lie < amount of boodle the G. O. P. man ; gers are going to squeeze out of the arriers to pile up their corruption iind. Maysville ( Ky. ) Bulletin. The Ultimate Result. Subbubs I suppose that new neigh- t1 or of yours was running his lawn t1t : lower when you saw him this morn- t " . Backlotz No , ho was feeding the lickens. Subbubs Why , he doesn't keep i : liickens. Backlotz No , but I do. He was p > lanting some seeds. Philadelphia ) * > ress. n It is said that a brick house is more o arable than one of stone. A well- nstructed brick house , made with aod mortar , will outlast one built of > t tj * & * * T * . .x * * r &jyifcE * i iviY * \ 'Tn-nrwrBW/fK-w aBT ' 4 ? * r * - > Opinions of Great Papers on important Subjects. 4 > 4'4 4'49 4 4'404 4 44'4 4' The Married and HE census reports note a considerable decrease in the number of births among the native pop ulation of the United States. American ia n and tyomen are not so much given to marrying as formerly. Many who do marry , postpone the event until youth has passed , and for this and other reasons they rarely have large fami lies , and very frequently no children at all. Wihether this decrease in 'the number of fruitful mar riages among the American-born population is the fault of the men or the women has not yet been determined , but very probably it is the fault of .both . if fault it be. The bachelor maid is becoming as prominent a feature in our social life as the bachelor man , and she has many apolo gists. But those arguments which are advanced in defense of her position are founded upon nothing noble. They are taken from an epicurean philosophy o f pure selfishness , which , if widely adopted , would put an end to the nation. The condition , however , is not so bad yet as to cause alarm. There are more men than women in the United States , so that if all were paired off a great many men would have re mained unmarried. The 76,303,387 people within the area of enumeration of the last census are divided into 39,059- 242 males and 37,244,145 females , giving an excess of males of 1,815,097. Of the moles , 23,600,836 are single , 14,033,789 married , 1,182,293 widowers , 84,904 divorced , and 121,412 whose marital condition is unknown. Of the females , 20,520,319 are single , 13,845,903 married , 2,721,564 widowed , 114,965 divorced , and 41,334 whose marital condition is un known. But the number of those classed as single includes children and all persons under the marriageable age , so it will be seen that marriage among adults is such a pre vailing practice as still to be almost universal. The reason for the decrease in the number of marriages and the birth rate among native women might be found in the statistics regarding the working classes. There are 6,319,912 | females engaged in gainful occupations other than agriculture. These millions are made up in large part of the girls and women in factories , stores and offices , and the bachelor maid usually graduates from among them. Kan sas City Journal. The Maneuvers at Manassas. OTHING is so soothing to the wounds produced by the civil war as oblivion , ami nothing makes them bleed afresh so quickly as the sight of a battlefield on which the visitor or his relatives once passed through the horrors of fratricidal bloodshed. When an old soldier stands on the heights of Gettysburg a profound melancholy seizes him , and , compared with the scene before him , a graveyard is a pleasure garden or a banqueting hall. It takes weeks to shake off the depression. How anybody could project a reunion of Northern and Southern soldiers on a Southern battlefield , and , not con tent with that , bring them together as hostile armies and arrange for them to "fight over again in mimicry the bloody encounter that took place on that spot forty years ago , is Incomprehensible. It was asking entirely too much of hu man nature , and it was in striking contrast with the wis dom of Charles Sumner , who , pleading heartless Rome even as an example , succeeded in excluding from the Capi tol so much as a picture that would recall the civil war. The location of the maneuvers should have bean in some beautiful spot , 1,000 miles , if possible , from nny battle field , and the pitting of a Northern army and a Southern army against each other should have been avoided like a pestilence. Chicago Chronicle. Are Business Men Cowards ? | RESIDENT ELIOT , addressing the St. Louis alumni of Harvard , recently , called Americans jcowards in that so few of them dared to stand jagainst the crowd. . He spoke with special ref- to business men in facing conditions l that exist among the labor unions. It is easier , floubtless , for a college president to stand aloof and say what ought or ought not to be done than to know bhe entire situation of affairs and then to act with dis cretion as well as bravery. The theoriesthat work ad- : . It is probable that one never fully credits the interdependence of wild creatures , and their cognizance of the affairs of their own kind and other Idnds. Mrs. Mary Austin , in "Tha Land of Little Rain , " says that the scavengers of the desert all keep an ye on one another. Never a coyote comes out of his lair to hunt , in the country of the carrion : rows , but looks up first to see where the crows are gathering. It is a suf ficient occupation for a windy morn- Ing , on the listless , level mesa , to svatch the pair of them eying each other furtively , with a tolerable as sumption of unconcern , but no doubt tvith a certain amount of good under standing. When the five coyotes that range the Fyon from Pasteria to Tunawai planned a relay race to .bring down an mtelope strayed from the band. * an > agle swung down from Mount Pinos , juzzards materialized out of invisible ther , and hawks canie trooping like mall boys to a street fight. Rabbits at up in the chapparal and cooked heir ears , feeling themselves quite iafe for once as the hunt swung near hem. Nothing happens in the deep wood tat the blue jays are not all agog o toll. The hawk follows the badger , he coyote the carrion crow , and from teir aerial stations the buzzards vatch each other. Very clean and handsome , quite be- ying .his relationship in appearance , 3 Clark's crow , that scavenger and lunderer of mountain camps. It is ermissible to call him by his common lame , "Camp Robber ; " he has earned t. Not content with refuse , he picks pen meal-sacks , filches whole pcta- oes , is a gormand for bacon , drills lotes In packing-cases , and Is daunted y nothing short of tin. All the while h * does not neglect to mirablyrithin 'the confines of university walls often h.av little application In the outer world , and especially in the " business"world , for which constant training and alert watch ing are absolutely necessary to success. It is certain that .ao insn ever gained a high position in the commercial world i without courage to face innumerable obstacles , enormous risks and perils of which the scholastics never dreamed. The successful business man carries a weight of re sponsibility for himself and others which is comparable to that of an able commander of a large army. He may pause- in the face of the enemy , he may right about face , he may. retreat , or even come to a truce , without being guilty of. cowardice. The business man need not fly into the face ; of labor unions in order to prove his courage to sit all over them in order to prove his power. The object of the business man Is not to displayhis - valor or prove himself a hero. He wishes to make the best' possible out of existing conditions , and many a strike has been averted and many a problem solved by the cool cal culations of the keen-sighted business man. To the mere looker-on this may seem like cowardice and the wish to avoid a fight To the practical man of af- " fairs it is good business sense , and ought to be commended as such.Chicago Chronicle. The Cost and folly of War. l HE war in the Far , East , according to the com putation of a well-informed newspaper of Paris , is costing the Russian government at least $1,000,000 a day , and the expense is increjtsing- daily. If the war continues for years , as the ? experts say it Is pretty sure to do , Russia will , accumulate a burden of debt that will rest' heavily upon many future generations. Of course , $1,000,000 a day Is not a surprisingly great sum for a first-class power to pay for the conduct of a | war. Russia has been throwing millions after millions' ' since the new policy with regard to the Asiatic portion of the empire was put into operation. Nobody knows how much the Trans-Siberlin railway has cost , but it is an enor- ' mous amount ; and the expenditures on Port Arthur , Dalny , Harbin , Vladivostok andthe other outposts have run into the hundreds of millions. Indeed , it was pretty "well known to the Japanese as well as to the rest of the world that Russia's treasury was in an extremely bad way at the time war was declared. ] But the $1,000,000 a day is , after all , only a small part of the bills Russia has to face. Her losses of battleships have meant the destruction of hundreds of millions of dol- ' lars' worth of property that must be replaced , and the' prospective capture of her great towns with their arma ments must make the Czar's heart sick. Considered as a plain business proposition , the war with Japan does not seem to be a very good investment. Even ( though Russia should win at last , she willhave to defend : her possessions more expensively than ever , and how many years of ownership of Manchuria will be required to make up her losses ? Chicago JoumaL Seiecting and Managing Men. ANY men mistakenly think that because they work hard and try hard they must eventually succeed to some extent. This does not follow. Some men carry on great enterprises with little apparent effort. Their success is due to skill in selecting efficient executive heads. Many a business man breaks down trying to supple ment the work of incompetent heads of departments simply because he does not know how to choose the right men. A man of commanding ability does not worry himself over de tails. He makes out his program and then selects men who can carry it out 'to the letter. Indeed , is Is a sign of weakness for the head of a concern to bother about little details. It shows that he lacks the insight , the business sagacity , the ability to select and to manage men who can do things efficiently. It is a great art to duplicate one's self in another and multiply one's self many times by selecting those who are vastly superior to ourselves , but who did not happen to have had our opportunity todo the thing themselves. Success. AN INTERESTING SCENE IN HOLLAND. I The picturesque attire worn by the Dutch peasantry has a great attrac tion for artists , and the American artist shown in the illustration is evident- ly no exception to the ruie , for he is bargaining with a determined lookin * peasant as to the value of the nether garment which he holds in his hands. The more patches there are the greater becomes the value from an artistic standpoint. vituperate the chipmunks and spar rows that whisk off crumbs of comfort from under the camper's feet. The Camp Robber's gray coat , black and white barred wings and slender bill , with certain tricks of perching , accuse him of attempts to pass him self off as a woodpecker ; but his be havior is all crow. He frequents the higher pine belts , and has a noisy , strident call like a jay's ; and how clean he and the frisk-tailed chip munks keep the camp ! No crumb or paring or bit of egg-shell goes amisg. The cunningest hunter is hunted in turn , and what he leaves of his kill fa meat for some other. A man has no right to give his wife away when she boasts before company considering that she never gives him , ' away by looking surprised when he offers her the rocking chair when pany ! present