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uVOb.JO, No.25.
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- PRIGE FIVE CENTS
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OBSERVATIONS.
IT ia reported that Superintendent
Strong took bis contract with the
board of education, drawn by him
self, to a prominent lawyer for an opinion
as to its binding quality. The lawyer
looked the document over carefully and
handing it back to Mr. Strong, said:
"Inasmuch as the board is opposed to
you I would advise that you tender
your resignation." Mr. Strong promptly
acted on the advice.
As 1 said a couple of weeks ago Mr.
Strong is not of the submissive or giving
up kind, and the fact that he resigned
when his contract period is only two
thirds expired is pretty good evidence
that he was convinced he could not hold
hi& position. The retiring superinten
dent has an abnormal capacity for
making himself objectionable, and par
ticularly in the last year, this capacity
was bound by no limitations of wisdom
or propriety. He was apparently actu
ated by a desire to arouse the board and
every member of it to a course of earnest
opposition, and he succeeded. At the
meeting Monday night it is doubtful if
Mr. Strong could have induced one
member to support him.
LINCOLN, NEB., SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 1895.
.
I asked one of the members if it was
not a fact that, admitting ail that had
been said about the manner in which
Mr. Strong bad conducted himself, he
had made a fairly good superintendent
if his methods were not practical and
effective. "That's just it,' he replied.
'Mr. Strong hasn't any methods. He
didn't do anything at all. He did not
visit the schools, and made no attempt
to acquaint himself with the efficiency
or inefficiency of the teachers. He just
let things take care of themselves. All
day long he sat in his office with his feet
on the table, reading some magazine or
newspaper. We thought that $3,000 a
year was a pretty big salary for this
skind of work. If Mr. Strong had made
i anything like a reasonable effort, had
4 shown any disposition to take hold and
manage the affairs of the school district,
the board would have been perfectly
willing to allow him to stay the three
years out. But he did nothing at all
and it's a jjood thing he resigned."
Asked if a change in superintendents
would not cause much inconvenience to
the teachers he said he thought not.
The board will make au effort to tind
some energetic, able man, who will dis
charge adequately the duties of superintendent-
for a smaller salary than
83,000.
The teaching equipment of the district
will be cut from 111 to 100 or less. The
board has, by rearranging teachers and
rooms, made a saving of approximately
25 per cent This reduction of tie
teaching force will make a still further
reduction in the expenses.
The old lady with the motherly face
who rides up and down on the Four
teenth street car line, looking for souls
to save, had an experience the other day
that furnished some amusement to a
number of people who happened to be
in a position to observe it. Tlie car was
about leaving O street when the old
lady, Bible in hand, accosted a big,
burly young fellow with the query
"Young man, are you a Christian?."
The young man turned his rather
heavy German face toward his interro
gator, and witn a look of sublime inno
cence, replied, "No mom, I am a guard
at the penitentiary.' Bill Dorgan, who
sat near by, was so overcome that he
had to be carrieu into Harley's drug
store and treated. This experience of
the Lincoln Salvationist was something
like that of another co laborer who
stopped a man on the street with
"Are jou working for the Lord, young
man?," and received as a reply. "No. I
am working for Dick Jones just now."
The people of Lincoln have probably
heard all they want to about Croan by
this time, and Ihe Cockier doesn't pro
pose to waste much more space discuss
ing this man. I cannot refrain, however,
from some expression of amusement at
the Journal's peculiar and ridiculous
attempt to give the departing "prof eesor"
a character. Self-interest oftentimes
draws the Journal into a position of
such unalloyed absurdity that the peo
ple who conduct the great morning
newspaper, must be themselves amused
at the funny capers they cut. But it is
doubtful if it was worth the Journal's
while to whitewash Croan, especially at
the expense of reputable Lincoln citi
zens. Nobody believed what it said.
The Journal so often acts as apologist
for men of the Croin type, from
various motives of self-interest, that it
ought to be able to make a far better
job of it than it usually does. It is true
Croan is not an easy subject. But if it
could not have made a reasonable vindi
cation it miht better have kept its
peace. There is no u.e courting ridi
cule. When the members of the executive
committee of the state republican
league, sitting in this city, refused
to send E. Rosewater to the Cleveland
convention as a delegate from Nebraska,
they did not realize that the pudgy
little man would suffer so extensively.
Mr. Rosewater must have desired this
recognition very much, for seldom has
he been in a more excited frame of mind
than since the meeting of the committee.
He has broken out several times, once
in a signed editorial, one of his special
ties, and the members of the committee
are classed with the howling dervishes,
and called a number of names. Mr.
Rosewater courted the humiliation put
upon him. and his ravings will not help
the matter any. His present state may
be in part accounted for by the business
depression which has settled permanently
in the Bee building, that much adver
tised "pride of two continents.' Driven
out of Iowa by the Chicago dailies, and
by Mr. Rose waters own admission, ex
cluded from Nebraska towns by the
State Journal, the Bee has lost, possibly
one-half of its former circulation; and
the revenues from all sources have been
very materially reduced. The best men
on the Bee are being discharged to meet
the demands of the counting room, and
those who remain are compelled to do
double duty. So that Rosewater is not
in a sweet frame of mind. Things
annoy him.
The News which has always been
strongly tinctured with Rosewaterism,
ambiguously says: 'It is an axio
matic fact that the man who assumes
to criticise politics and politicians, who
wages battle against them or defeats
their schemes for personal advantage at
the expense of the public, has no busi
ness seeking favors or honors at their
hands. The politician is essentially
selfish.. and the man who Joins with him
in anything must make concessions to
him. No man can therefore assume to
be fighting for the general good when
he is always scheming to get some
honor or emolument from the politi
cians. It is an anomaly that cannot
exist."
T. J. Pickett, a leading republican of
Ashland, was in the city Monday. He
has purchased a controlling interest in
the Wahoo Wasp, and will take charge
of that paper July 1.
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