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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (April 20, 1895)
THE COUKJER CHARACTER SKETCHES. THE SOCIALISTS. second series. NO. 4. Last week we had a politician of a certain type an uncommon typo. This week wo are concerned with another politician, a man known of nearly all men in Lincoln, a man, of individuality and prominence. Wo will give his description first. He is neither very tall nor very .short. He is not a fat man like Tom Cooke; nor a lean man like R. E. Ignore. So far as shape is concerned he is an aver age man. He is probably out in tho sun a good deal, for there is a ruddy glow to his complexion. Some people would call his com plexion sandy. He wears a moustache, and there is a tuft on either side of his face. In conversation ho has a way of screwing up bis face that is peculiarly his own, and there is generally a cigar between his teeth. He has a running mate who is generally by his side. In tho days of his youth something must have happened to take the sweetness out of his disposition. Some untoward circumstance must havo caused him to lose faith in mankind. There is nothing soothing about him. Even among congenial spirits ho is irritable. Ho is full of combativeness and talk, and his talk is full of ginger, as they say of a base ball player. Sometimes bis language is so strong that weak men, hearing it, shudder. He believes, apparently, that every man is engaged in the business of living for just what he can get out of it in dollars and cents. Every man has his price. Some men hold themselves dear and others cheap. H9 i9 willing to trade with the dear ones. The cheap men he counts on being able to manage without a trade. He makes little or no allowance for considerations of honor or integrity in his estimate of men and in his dealings with them. He does not see any more harm in buying a lot of men than in buying a load of corn cobs. This man is a politician; one of the kind who do not believe in wasting time discussing or considering principles when they can bo out manipulating men. What has he to do with the tariff? Of what concern is it to him whether the financiers and statesmen give us free silver or adhere to monometalism? These things are as high above him as tho clouds, and he is only an earth worm crawl ing in the dust. He knows all about a pull, but very little about principle. Tho former he estimates at its highest value. He has his allies and his influence, or rather power, may be said to be con siderable. At a caucus or a primary or a convention he is in his element. He knows all the combinations, and he sets up and knocks down men with ease. He has a profession, but his business and his politics aroso closely associated one with the other that they are practically the same thing. This man is one of tho obstacles in tho way of genuine municipal reform. THE METROPOLITAN JOURNAL. It is a pleasure to read the Journal now that it is conducted on metropolitan principles. It is a pleasure to know that the eagle ' eyes of the Journal reporters never allow happenings liko the fol lowing to escape. Postmaster J. H. Harley acted the humanitarian yesterday. He saw a dilapidated umbrella blowing around the street. He picked it up, closed it and placed it on the sidewalk so that horses might not be scared thereat. The importance of this item may not be apparent at first glance, but it read several times slowly and carefully tho reader will bo sure to comprehend its portentious signiflance. The people of .Lincoln have reason to be glad that the Journal is conducted on metropoli tan lines. There used to be a Nationalist club in this city. Thero is yet, only the ultra socialists, liko Lafevre, havo persisted in putting socialism first and nationalism second, with so much effect that tho organization is now known as 'The Socialists. Meetings are hold every Sunday afternoon in tho Grand Army hall, Twelfth and N streets. Every member is allowed tho utmost freedom in tho expression of his views, and tho members generally take full advantage of this freedom. Tho result is that radicalism sports itself, and iconoclasm is a favorite plaything. One peculiar and interesting thing about theso meetings of the socialists is that no two men oors agreo exactly on any one point. And usually nearly every man present insists on being heard. Last Sunday afternoon tho club discussed tho recent city olection, a subject calculated to bring out the diverse views of tho members. Tho president, a be-whiskercd patriarch, opened the discussion, assuming a somewhat conservative tone manifestly displeasing to tho majority of thoso present. C. M. Clark addressed tho meeting. Ho thought no community that licensed crime could be prosperous. He spoke of tho social evil and condemned alike the policy of Weir and his predecessors in dealing with tho question. R. AWIawloy, a serious mannered man who has been a candidate for office on a losing tickot almost as many times as John II. Ames, was asked if lie had anything to say. Ho had. He said ho had nothing in common with tho republican party or the democratic party or the populist party. Thero was only one party founded no principle and God, and that was tho prohibition party. All the evils in politics could be traced to the saloon, and the only party that was consistently fighting tho saloon was tho pro hibition party. Ho said the issue in the late city campaign was whether we should have Graham saloons or Broady saloons. For his part he couldn't see any difference between them. Mr. Uawley abused the church members for voting for these saloon tickets. Ho said ho would liko to see a saloon next door to the First Congrega tional church, between the church and Mr. Gregory's house. Ho would also like to see one in the yard in front of the Christian church. Church members had voted for saloons and they ought to have them. Dr. Aley, one of the conspicuous labor agitators of the city, a rotund man with a black goatee, rose and camo forward. He voted for Graham, he said, and was proud of it. He was one of thoso who refused to be led by the men who sold out the populist party. Then he went for Hawley. "A saloon keeper," he said, "might be just as good a citizen as a prohibition minister." In fact ho thought ho might be better. He gave a definition of a good citizen. "A good citizen' ho said, "is one who is truly generous." For his part he couldn't see any harm in drinking a glass of beer. had ever been destroyed by its vices. He said no nation In the discussion over the adoption of a subject for next Sunday's meeting Mr. Lafevre got an opportunity to put forth some of his wild eyed ideas. The meeting tomorrow afternoon will give the iconoclasts a wide field, as the subject will be Resolved that we as socialists view with gratification the rapid accumulation of wealth and business into the hands of the few. It was the idea of tho introducer of tho resolution that this rapid accumulation would speedily bring about socialism. IMPUNITY. Tho burglar turned with a sneer of malignant triumph. "If you shoot me,'' he hissed, "you'll wake the baby." There was nothing to do but to permit him to load all the silver into a sack and carry it away, leaving the front door open behind him.
