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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (May 25, 1895)
m m r r, . ' r- i VOfe. 10, No. 23. PRIGE FIVE CENTS ' It il 3 LINCOLN, NEB., SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1895. OBSERVATIONS. "" "vINCE that memorable election of C members of the board of educa te J tion, held a year ago. Superinten dent Strong's supporters on the board have been in the minority, and it has been freely talked that the superinten dent would hare to contend against strong opposition. Very recently, since the reduction of teachers' salaries, the movement against Strong has taken form, and it is currently reported that he has been asked to resign. The feel ing is generally entertained among members of the board that his salary of 43,000 is more than his services are worth and that it is entirely out of pro portion to the salaries paid to the prin cipals and teachers, and it is contended that the superintend, ent might, under the circumstances, sub mit to a reduction. But Mr. Strong has a three year contract in his pocket, which en titles him to another year at $3,000, and he is disposed to make the board live up to its contract. If ho should make any con cession it would be out of keeping with the disposition he has all along exhibited. When the contract was made, two years ago, the point was raised that entering into a binding agree ment for three years, was somewhat danger ous, inasmuch as there was no telling how the new superin tendent might suit, and now the fact that the contract was made is greatly regretted. The salary is pro bably excessive and it may be that there are valid objections to Mr. Strong's methods; but it would be unwise to oust the superintendent at this time. Let him serve out his term. The contract was duly made. Now live up to it. Next time be a little more careful. pleasanter occupations for the fallen Napoleon than shoveling coal; but it would take something a good deal worse than shoveling coal to drive all of the optimism out of his mental make-up. And that sentence of something over three years! Does anyone who knew tho political and financial Boss in the days when hiB power was panoplied by a pull that reached from a ward caucus to legislatures, state offices and courts, imagine that the spirit of this intrepid trader would or coh Id be broken by threat or four year's imprisonment? Mosher carefully estimated tho pun ishment that would follow his wrong doing, and when he gazed on the pile of his stolen ducats he was reconciled The crime committed by Mosher was so enormous, tho ill effects of his bank wrecking are so manifest, that attempts to work up sympathy for tho exiled fin ancier find no response in this city among thepeoplothathevictimized.lt will be many years before the people of this town can regard the operations of Mosher with anything but indignation. You can't chop a man's legs oft and then expect him to be sorry for you. Mosher's mil lion dollar steal took Lincoln oft its legs, and it is still crippled. Hav you ovor stopped to think what a fine condition Lim oln would be in if thero had been no Mosher among ub: no reckless adven turers like Croan and his ilk, who.havo had such a blasting effect on the credit of the city? m A BRIDGE ACROSS. vA ni "VliiA An officer who was recently at Sioux Falls brings back the intelligence that Mosher's lines have not fallen in pleas ant places inside the federal peniten tiary. He is still shoveling coal. One day, so the officer Bays, Mosher shoveled out a whole car of coal. Life, as Mosher finds it, is no longer set with the stars of joy and hope. His sentence seems a life time. Under its weight bis spirit is broken. Such is the impression pro duced on the officer. But I imagine the officer was fooled. There may be in advance to the slight cost of his big haul. And notwithstanding the stories that from time to time reach Lincoln from Sioux Falls it is doubtful if the bright man behind the bars, who, ac cording to one rumor, is writing an answer to "Coin's Financial School,' is overworked. That car of coal may have been only a wheelbarrow. And the sweat on his brow that has been pic tured by returning pilgrims may have been created out of the imagination of sympathetic friends. Mosher isn't the man to sweat. If the truth were known it would be found that Mosher is faring tolerably well in the Sioux Falls pen, that he is visited with a severity only equal to or less than that bestowed on other prisoners, and that his spirit is plumb full of hope. Louie Meyer is seldom thought of now. When he went down in the cur rent the eddies swirled over him and then the current moved on as before. He was an important personage before misfortunes overtook him. He was a man of affairs, and people used to think there was no such thing as failure in anything in which he was concerned. He began to lose his mind about the time of the Capital National bank failure, and not long after his own fail ure there was an almost total mental collapse, He is now an inmate of the hospital for the insane in this city. A friend who visited him the other day was shocked at the great change which has taken place in this once vigorous man. His health is broken, and his mind is a blank. He recognized his caller for an instant; then his mind wandered, and ho spoke of himself as president of all the railway companies whoso tracks can bo seen from the asylum. He also said ho was president of the United States Bcnate. Such is tho state of tho man who, up to a couplo of years ago, was one of the lead ing business men of Lincoln, and tho fate of Louie Meyer may bo laid at Mosher's door. Tho other evening, about 8 o'clock, I was accosted by a lady and gentleman coming up from the Burlington depot, and asked to direct them to some good restaurant where a lady could go with propriety. They didn't want a chop house, but a respectable restaurant where meals are ser ved at all hours. I told them there wasn't such a placo in town, and when finally the man was made to un derstand that the city of Lincoln contains no restaurant of this sort his remarks about the enterprise of tho town were not at all ele gant or complimentary. According to Audi, tor Moore's figures tho incidental expen ses of the last legis lature were $28,956,46. For salaries and ex penses of members and employes the sum of $105,456.95 was spent. The legislature costs a good deal more than it is worth. Can anybody recall any thing that it did, beyond making appro priations, that was worth to the state oven a fraction of $105456.95? The last legislature was a bad egg all through, and its doings do not reflect credit upon the republican party, which controlled it. The legislative system in Nebraska needs reforming. So Dr. Curtis, the pastor of the First Presbyterian church, is going to Chi cago. The doctor has been in Lincoln a pretty long time, and his departure means that a serious problem is soon to face the Presbyterian people. Choosing a pastor in these days is no easy task. It is almost as difficult a matter as sel ecting a chancellor. Before a selection can be made a long list of "supplies, the bane of most church goers, must be heard; and then comes the difficulty of arriving at a condition of unanimity in the final selection. The regents of the state university, by or the state. TSSET