Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (May 5, 1894)
?X-V X "?J"T, " " -V W " THE COURIER some degree of certainty, an election, and Field should bo the nominee. - " 7 10 vi --'-. . 1 I irk - : TWVEEKO AT TnE LINCOLN rOSTOFTICE AS KECOND-CLASS MATTEE. . "" PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY BY THE COURIER PUBLISHING COMPANY. OFFICE 142 N. IITH 8TREET. TELEPHONE 350- W. MORTON SMITH, Editor. .Subscription Ilateti In Advance. Per annum $200 1 Three months .50c. Six months 1UI J" Ono month 20c. Single copies..... Fire cents. For salo at nil nows stands in this city and Omaha and on all trains. A limited number of advertisements will bo inserted. Rates mado known on application. Lincolk, Neb., Saturday, May 5, 1891. That the gaine was not worth tho candlols probably the conclu sion reached by Coxey ere this. The democratic campaign of education that commenced March 4, steadily smaller. There is certainly nothing in the personnel of the men who are responsible for the Coxey movement in this city, as a persual of comments that appear elsewhere in this issue of The Courier will show, to prejudice public sentiment in its favor. That particularly wide-awake councilman, George Woods, caught the other fellows napping Tuesday night and succeeded in having passed an ordinance making a rate of H for telephones in business places and 93 for residences. Under this ordinance the telephone company is not to have the exclusive use of this business. The passage of this measure is the best thing the city council has done in a long time. The rates named are materially less than now charged, but they are high enough to leave a very comfortable mar gin of profit for the company. The formal announcement by Judge Allen W. Field that he is a candidate for re-nomination for congress in this district will, we 'believe, be followed by a general expression of sentiment all over the district favorable to his candidacy. J udge Field made a particularly aggressive campaign against Mr. Bryan two years ago. He con ducted an abler canvass than perhaps any other republican in the district could have conducted, and he emerged from the campaign with the respect and good will of republicans generally. Judge Field is an able man and he is just the kind of a republican to send to Washington at the present time, when there is a demand for patriotism and intelligence in the halls of congress. He has every qualification for the proper discharge of the dutiesof a congressman, and he is fortified' by a record as a public man and a citizen that reflects the greatest possible credit upon his integrity and ability. A careful consideration of the conditions that prevail in the First district will, we believe, result in an overwhelming sentiment in favor of Judge Field, as the one man, above all others, specially qualified to meet Mr. Bryan there is scarcely any doubt that Congressman Bryan will run for congress again. It is not Judge Field's purpose to scheme and plot m order to secure,the nomination, and, with him, such a course will not be necessary. Lancaster county can be harmonious if the occasion demands it, and Ve'are certain that in the coming campaign all elements will unito on one candidate, and Judge Field is pretty sure to be the choice of a very large majority of republican voters. This time a nomination will mean, with Tho Netca tho other day had a timely article on jury fixing, one of tho greatest curses of this county. The expressions of our con temporary were strong, but there was no over statement of fact, and the public generally will endorse the stand taken by tho ATctc. That paper says: It is a matter of common notoriety not only among laywere and others whoso business brings them into contact with tho courts, but among tho people generally, that the greatest hinderance to the ad ministration of justice, the proper punishment of criminals and the awarding of damages in cases where certain corporations and even individuals are interested, is tho prevalence of jury fixing. It was not so many years ago that this was a comparativly infrequent in cident to the trials of such causes, but of late years it has grown to such proportions that it is one of the most grievous scandals at taching to tho courtB. There are half a dozen men in tho county who make a business of "plugging,7 juries, aided, abetted and paid by some members of the bar. These men are generally .known: in fact they have become so bold that not only do they make no secrecy of their visits to men drawn upon the panel, before the sessions of court are held, but they have bfcn seen hanging around the court house while important trials arc in progress, and even tackle members of the panel in the corridors and on the streets adjacent to the court house. The practice of fixing juries in this county has grown to an alarming extent. A prominent attorney assures us that it is his belief that in forty per cent of the jury trials tho jury is tampered with. Probably the only way to stop this disgraceful and criminal practice is to make an example of somebody. But there does not seem to be any effort to discover and punish the offenders. The extent of the influence which may bo exerted by the news papers of the country is forcibly illustrated by the unprecedented growth of the mob epidemic which followed the departure of Coxey and his men from a small town in Ohio. The newspapers seized upon this comparatively insignificant episode and magnified it and dilated upon it until the whole country was aroused, and what would have been, if left alone, an inconsequential freak on the part of a handful of foolish men, became a considerable movement of threat ening import. An immense power for good or evil is in the press. The trouble is that the great majority of newspaper proprietors or editors have no adequate sense of their responsibility, of the duty they owe to the public, holding as they do, public positions. They are guided solely by a desire to reap profit, and they are willing to imperil the interests of the people, or prejudice some deserving cause in order to add to their gain. The newspapers have come to regard a sensation of any kind as legitimate material from which to manufacture profit, and of late years some of the nest newspapers, those that have been noted for their conservatism, have displayed a tendency toward sensationalism that is highly discreditable to the dignity and integrity that should distinguish a great newspaper. Apparently there is nothing too sacred for these great scavengers to drag into the public mart. They assail the privacy of the home and revel in details in a manner decidedly nauseating. An incident like the Coxey mania is grasped with avidity, and in their desire to cater to certain demands they take no thought of the effect of theircourse. It may truthfully be said that the newspaper is no better or no worse than the people, that it is just what tho people expect and want. But who created this demand, if not the newspapers? To a very large extent they made tho demand, and now they point to this demand as their excuse. There are a few conspicuously honest newspapers, journals that pander to no element or appetite, and they are successful. They Want Xame. The Russell Art Publishing CoT, of 928 Arch street, Philadelphia, desire the names and address of a few people in ever)- town who aro interested in works of art, and to secure them they offer te send free, "Cupid Guides the Boat," a superbly executed water color picture, size 10x13 inches, suitable for framing, and sixteen other pictures same size, in colors, to any one sending them at once tho names and address of ten persons (admirers of fine pictures) together with six 2-cent stamps to cover expense of mailing, etc The regu lar price of these pictures is 81, but they can all be secured free by any person forwarding the names and stamps promptly. Note The editor of this paper has already received copies of above pictures and considers them really "Gems of Art'' A i jx A A.
