THE COURIER
ENTERED AT TIIE LINCOLN POSTOFFICE A8 SECOND-CLASS MATTER.
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W. MORTON 8MITH, Editor.
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Lincoln, Nebraska, March 23, 1894.
Sack cloth and ashes are at a premium in this city,
never half so much of a success.
Lent was
-
The fag end of the winter seems to have been a favorite time fot
the birth of great men. Within a few days the birthdays of Jack
son, President Cleveland, Mr. Bryan and St. Patrick have been
celebrated.
.
The Crawford county system of placing men in nomination for
public office may not be perfect, but it could have a great many de
fects and yet be immeasurably suparior te the system that obtains
in this county, and, in fact, all'ovor Nebraska.
A San Franciscan has written a book about the "400" of the Pa
cific coast metropolis in which he says society people in that city
drink soup out of a soup plate, discarding ibe traditional spoon,
appear at noon in evening dress, till up on champagne and other
fancy drinks and smash things, and enn by becoming co-respondents
in divorce cases. And yet people can be found every day who think
Nebraska is not far enough west
There is a disposition in some quarters to measure a voter's devo
tion to his political faith not by his fealty to the principles of his
party, but by the extent of his subservience to the mandates of dis
reputable bosses who have a much greater regard for pimps than
for principles. In elections where national questions are involved
we believe, as a general rule, in "straight politics; but in a munici
pal contest where the tariff and the silver question are relegated to
the rear and their places taken by such questions as municipal con
tracts, better sidewalks and economy and honesty in the expenditure
of public money, eta, it is more than unreasonableit is absurd, to
say that a voter forfeits his place in the membership of his party by
a refusal to endorse every act of the more or less corrupt men who
"boss" the party, locally. The election to be held in this city next
month is important. The policy of the businef-s management of the
city is at stake. But there is no national issue involved any more
than there is in the election of a church warden or a director of the
Y. M. C. A , and every republican, democrat, populist or prohibi
tionist is, or should be, rationally, at liberty to vote for any candi
date, irrespective of the candidate's politics. It is gratifying to note
the growing spirit of independence fh municipal politics. The crack
of the party whip has lost some of its effectiveness, and desperate
attempts on the part of "workers" to coerce voteis "into line" cannot
crush the independent spirit. When it comes to electing an officer
of the municipal corporation it is a good deal better to be guide 1 by
one's own honest convictions than by the presumptuous command
of some characterless heeler.
Rev. T. Do Witt Talmags is a sensationalist, and thero was more
or Ices sensationalism in his sermon in the Academy of Music, New
York, on divorce delivered last Sunday, but there was also much
6olid truth. "Unhappily married,'' he said, "are two words descrip
tive of many a homestead. It needs no minister to impress on tho
badly mated pair that there is a hell. Thoy are thero now. Somo
times a grand, a gracious w onian will be incarcerated there, as was
the case with Mrs. Sigourney, tho great poetess and great soul.
Sometimes a consecrated man will be bound to a fury, as was John
Wesley, or united to a vixen, as was John Milton. Sometimes both
parties are to blame Thomas Carlyln was an absolute scold and his
wifo smoked and swore Some Bay easy divorco is a good prescrip
tion. God sometimes authorizes divorce as certainly as he author
izes marriage, and 1 believe as much in a lawful divorco as in a law
ful marrtage; but wholesale divorce is one of our national scourges.
What we want in this country and in all lands is that divorce
be made mnreand more difficult. What we want is that the congress
of the United States chango the national constitution so that a law
can bo passed which shall bo uniform all over the country, and what
shall Imj right in ono state shall be right in all states, and what is
wrong in one stato shall bo wrong in all states. Let congress
appoint a committee, not made up of single gentlemen, but men of
families and their families in Washington, who shall prepare a good,
honest, righteous, comprehensive, uniform law that will control
everything from Sandy Hook to the Golden Horn, that will be an
end to brokerage in marriage. Living in Lancaster county,
ebraska. where divorces, like clothes, can bo purchased ready
made, we most heartily agree with the views expressed by Dr. Tal
m age. Ready made or fifteen minute divorces knock the bottom
out of the sanctity of marriage, and that's the kind in vogue in this
county.
THING WE ARE TIRED OF:
Talk about the Davis trial.
Attempts (and success) on the part of the big corporations to
bribe jurors in this county.
The jury system. It might have been practicable at one time, but
it has outlived its usefulness. The way things are run in this
"advanced" age the "twelve honest men" are largely fiction.
The way candidates for office are selected. The bosses have too
much power. Something simpler like the Crawford county system
is wanted. This with the Australian ballot would give the honest
citizen some chance.
The legislature.
The March winds
The hard times.
Mayor Weir's self-praise.
The meanness and corruption and hypocrisy and villainy and
crime that go stalking about in the by-ways and high ways "hold
ing up" honest people.
MISS WILLARD AND HER WHEEb.
Written for The Courier.
For several weeks one page of the Chicago Tribune has been
devoted to Miss Frances Willard's article, "How I Learned to Ride
a Bicycle." Miss Willard is regarded with veneration by the mem
bers of the W. C. T. U all over the world. They will not criticise
the very bad taste of this article nor see in it anything but an un
selfish attempt by Mift Willbid to Lfip Ler voifhipeis interested
in her movements. The general public is nauseated and turnB over
that page quickly. It is questionable if Lady Henry Somerset and
Miss Willard have made more enemies or friends to temperance
and to suffrage. It takes a good sailor to hear them compliment
each other and relate what privations they have endured, what lux
uries given up for the sake of "the cause" to a crowd of good but
mistaken women; whose idols after. all are but clay. They might
have been useful vessels but adulation has spoiled them. J. a.
"What's in a name?'' Weil, that depends. For instance, the
name of "Aver" is sufficient guarantee that Ayer's Sarsaparilla is a
genuine, scientific b'ood-puritier, and not a sham, like so much that
goes by the name of "sarsaparilla." Ayer's Sarsaparilla is the standard.
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