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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 29, 1901)
* I Conservative * A RIDE IN THE OLD STREET CAR. NEBRASKA CITY. Away from scenes of traffic's whirl , Where the road goes sloping down To meet the flowing river's blue That lies below the town , The old street car goes jogging on Like a rambler on his way , Who pauses here and loiters there , And yet seems loth to stay. From out its eastern door wo see The bluffe that melt away In distant haze to softly gleam With jeweled tints of day ; And toward the wide , out-spreading west The peaceful country lies , With glints of gold , the meadows green Curve under azure skies. Drawn on by mules whose tinkling bells Sing out a plaintive air , Unmindful that the old brown car Showa marks of grim Time's wear , We sit content and dream out dreams That come with summer hours , And wonder if a heavenly bind Could be more fair than ours. Perchance , in thought , we see again The long , white-canvassed trains Of pioneers who passed this way To cross far-reaching plains. Like phantoms from the by-gone years They come and pass from view , O brave hearts journeyed to the west When this old town was new ! Beyond the wheat-fields , toward the south , God's Acre crowns the hill- There sleep our dearest , left alone Where all is hushed and still. But from the old car's windows We see the sunbeams lie Where shining stones point upward , With promise , to the sky. So back and forth it goes each day , From flowing river's brim To haunts of birds in shadowed grove Whose quiet paths are dim , Through traffic's stir , by hillside still , The old car jogs along And one who sits within may hear Life's varied strains of song. MAHY FRENCH MORTON. "J. Sterling Mor- RESPONSIBILITY. ton finds fault with present methods of nominating candidates for supreme judge and calls upon the lawyers to make a choice to be presented to the people for their support. As if the lawyers were the only ones interested in having able judges on the bench. But , then , it is notorious that Mr. Morton does not be lieve in letting the people have anything to say about who shall wear the judicial ermine. If he had his way all the judges would have life tenures by appointment. Happily the people of Nebraska still in sist upon an elective judiciary that can be held responsible , periodically. " Omaha Bee , August 27 , 1901. The lawyers know better than the majority of the people who among their profession are by ability , by learning and character , best Pt qualified for judges. Under the elective I j1 l&l. system , nobody can fix the responsibility for having a bad judge upon anybody. A bad judge , a drinking judge , a dis honest judge , is denounced generally , and under the elective system , you can hold no man nor identify any set of men ' ' ' 'L'i " as responsible for his oflloial existence. But a judge who is nominated to the federal Senate by a President of the United States , and by that body approv ed and confirmed , makes that President and that Senate answerable for his con duct and character. Had the United States district circuit and supreme courts been composed of elected judges , the liberties of the people and the Re public itself could have been jeopard ized. The fathers who framed the con stitution provided for an appointive fed eral judiciary , and with all due regard for the Bee and its very able editor , THE CONSERVATIVE prefers the fathers as guides and instructors as to the best methods of getting the best judges. Therefore , THE CONSERVATIVE advo cates an appointive judiciary for this State , instead of an elective one based upon partyism. But as under the present constitution for this commonwealth we must have elected judges , THE CONSER VATIVE favors the selection of candidates by non-partisan organizations of the members of the legal profession , as the next best way of securing the best men for judgeships , to having them nominat ed by the Governor to the State Senate to be by that body either rejected or con firmed. Judges named to the State Senate by the Executive and confirmed by that body are responsible to those two pow ers. Those two powers are held respon sible to the community for the learning , dignity , and character for honesty and love of justice which such an appointed judiciary develops. THE CONSERVATIVE is against an elective judiciary and op posed to all partisan candidates for the Supreme Bench. THE BISMARCK CELEBRATION. The sixteenth of June of the present year was the day appointed for the Bis marck celebration in Berlin ; the occasion being the unveiling of the completed monument , in close vicinity to the Par liament House. The date had been postponed on account of the death of Count Wilhelm Bismarck , and the only representative of the family present was Prince Herbert ; as his sister , Countess Bautzau , was ill and unable to attend. Notwithstanding these saddening cir cumstances , the event was expected to be a joyous one ; the enthusiasm of the citizens of Berlin and the numerous deputations and sympathizing visitors from far and near was great ; and yet the result was disappointment , more keenly felt because what was lacking was recognized as consciously and in tentionally witheld by the highest authority in the realm. A condensed account of the proceed ings will explain the dissatisfaction , and the reasons for its existence and con tinuance. The public buildings were not flagged , the troops ordered out for the ceremony were not dressed in parade- uniform ; the Emperor and Empress ar rived very late in an open carriage , the Emperor carrying in his hand the in terims marshal staff , instead of the pa rade marshal staff , which is prescribed for such occasions , and which the pres ent Emperor has heretofore carried at the uncovering of a monument. The ceremony was opened by a Beethoven sacred chorus , sung by over a thousand school children. There was a Bismarck hymn , composed and set to music for the children to sing ; but it was stricken from the program by an order from which there could be no appeal. The first speech was made by the president of the Imperial Parliament ; then fol lowed the oration by the chancellor , Count von Bttlow , a warm and just eulogy , which was several times inter rupted by applause , though listened to with stolid countenance by the Em peror , who acknowledged the speaker at the close merely by a military salute. After cheers for the Emperor , led by Count von Bttlow , and the singing of the national hymn , the Emperor gave the signal for the uncovering of the monument , which took place to the music of a military march. Then , amid expectant silence , the Emperor left the royal tent and slowly mounted the steps , carrying a laurel wreath which he laid at the base of the pedestal and , after standing a moment upon the upper step , returned to the tent. The Emperor and Empress with the court party then made the tour of the monument ment , and an informal reception was held in the tent , after which the royal pair drove away , and the crowd grad ually separated , the various delegations leaving wreaths at the foot of the monument. Naturally , there was much comment upon the unsatisfactory course of pro ceedings , and much speculation concern ing the cause of the failure. All over the country the people asked : Why was the Bismark hymn prohibited ? Why was the military part of the pro gram so carelessly performed , when in these days and in this kingdom military precision is exacted with almost un heard-of rigor ? Above all , why did the Emperor stand mute before the crowd , he whose fond ness for speaking in season and out of season has become proverbial ? Was he dissatisfied with von Billow's eulogy , ( which had not been previously offered to his inspection ) , or was that silence a theatrical stroke , intended to imply magnanimous witholdiug of blame on the principle of : "De mortuis nil nisi lene. " There is sometimes a silence which is "golden ; " but this one was brazen. It was a great mistake. It must have been a t rial to the Emperor to preside over such an occasion , to wit ness the enthusiasm of the crowd , to listen to the praises which could not in
