VOL-. 10, NO 32.
ESTABLISHED IN I8S6,
PRICE FIVE CENTS
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LINCOLN, NEB., SATURDAY, JULY 27 1S95.
OBSERVATIONS.
IF all politicians were patriots what a
patriotic place Lincoln would bo!
The town couldn t holil all the
patriotism. As it is, it can hardly hold
all the politicians. Lincoln is one of
the most intensely political cities of its
size to be found anywhere in the coun
try. A large portion of our people eat
and drink and sleep and dream in poli
tics, and measure their existence, not by
days and weeks and years, but by cam
paigns. Something of an attempt to
cover the local political field has been
made in this week's Courier, and tho
extent of the field can bo judged some
what by the showing made.
In Lincoln, and in fact all over Ne
braska, the crop of politicians is fertil
ized by the frequency of campaigns.
- There are so many offices and the terms
are 60 short and tho elections are so
numerous that men are drawn into poli
tics with the idea that everybody will
have his turn that there are enough
places to go around, and that waiting is
sure to bring its reward. But if there
are many offices there are a hundred
fold more politicians, and experience
has shown that the chances of success
in politics are not any more alluring
than they are in business. It is exciting
however, and men sometimes keep on
trying until they have worn tho hair oir
their heads and the shoes otl theit feet,
and then rotiro unsatisfied a high
private in the rear ranks.
The usual talk of an extra session of
the legislature is now heard. About
this time after every session of the Ne
braska legislature in tho last ten years,
it has been shown conclusively that the
business of the state could not bo con
ducted without an extra session to rec
tify the blunders and make good the
omissions of tho regular session just
ended. Those persons interested in
these projected special sessions always
make a startling showing of figures, and
the credulous are convinced that an
emergency really exists. But somehow
or other the emergency is safely pass
ed and tho state manages to get along
tolerably well without an extra session.
It is a fact that an extra session is now
being seriously considered and it is
made to appear that unless the governor
makes a call, tho state's business will bo
severely crippled. It is being figured
out that a session at this time would
save the state a great deal of money.
Of course no one will deny that the leg
islature did many things it ought not to
have done and left undone many things
it ought to have done; and it is doubt
less true that some embarassment will
result from tho carelessness and ineffi
ciency of members of tho last session;
but the state will somehow manage to
surmount the difficulty. Governor Hol
comb, has, too much sense to call an
extra session.
An extra session would be expensive;
it would not bo alle to afford much
relief in the directions sought, and it
would bring Hocking back to Lincoln all
that herd of nondescript ragamuffins
and disgusting scamps that trooped
upon the heels of legislators, and fed
on the putrid morsels of blac'f mail and
general political corruption. It would
bring about another visitation of that
festering parasite Walt Seeley, a profes
sional lobbyist, and of that other abhor
rent specimen of Nebraska manhood by
the name of Barber.assistant secretary of
tho senate; and with Seeley and Barber
would come all the other vultures and
night fowls that subsisted on the carrion
of dishonor and corruption. There
were good men and true in tho last No
braska legislature, and there is no in
tention to defame them; but the body
as a whole was not a source of pride,
and the people of Nebraska will bo con
teut to worry along without another
session at this time. Special sessions
are always humbugs. One called now
would be several degrees worse than a
humbug.
It would better'to submit to a great
deal of inconvenience than to convene
the legislature again. It would bo
better to do almost anything than have
another session of that body that passed
away last April unhonored and unsung.
The republicans controlled it, aud it is
to the discredit of the republican party,
that they did. The legislature was
wholly ineffectual as a proper law-making
bodj ; it was extravagant and shift
less and indifferent to the welfare of tho
people of the state; and there is no
reason to suppose that an extra session
of the same body would be any improve
ment on the one lately ended.
It is cheering to note that now, in the
dullest month in the dullest year in a
decade, Lincoln shows signs of unmis
takable activity. Numerous building
enterprises are under way, the various
improvements of this sort easily aggre
gate SoOO.OOO. And one of the most im
portant building enterprises is that of
theNebraska Telephone company. This
company is not only erecting a large
building on Thirteenth street, south of
O.but it is voluntarily placing all wires
in the business part of tho city under
ground, at a total cost of 100,000. Mr.
Eiuhe tells me that his company is plac
ing itself in a condition to meet the
needs of a city of 200,000 inhabitants.
May the company speedily be called
upon to meet this demand.
The Couriek has not hesitated to
profess its allegiance to Rev. Irl Hicks,
and that allegiance will not falter so
long as events vindicate his prophecy.
Of course when tho weather shall go
back on tho venturesome St. Louis fore
caster The Courier will follow the
weather and go back on Hicks too. But
thus far the weather conditions have
amply sustained Hicks, and I observe
that people are beginning to regard him
in a serious light. I am told that a
well known speculator in grain in this
city visited Hicks in St. Louis several
weeks ago and gave him a liberal fee
for a definito forecast of July and Aug
ust weather; and it is said tho weather
prophet makes a handsome pecuniary
profit by services of this sort for market
traders. Speculating iu grain is com
monly belioved to bo a devilish form of
gambling, and I suppose Hicks with his
clerical title can justly bo accused of
being accessory before tho fact. But
have you noticed that his statements
concerning tho weather published in his
almanac, have made remarkably closo
connection with succeeding facts? Since
attention was first called to Hicks' pro
phesies in these columns, several months
ago, ho has not mado a singlo slip so far
as this section is concerned. It will be
remembered that ho said tho rainy
weather in Juno would continue into
July, and Nebraska as a whole, and tho
west as a whole, have had an abundant
rainfall in that period. To be sure thero
iB a part of Lancaster county, contig
uous to Lincoln that has not been par
ticularly wet; but Mr. Hicks did not
make his prophesies with special refer
ence to Lancaster county
This summer if you have been looking
for land so wef that the water just oozes
out of it, you have found it in tho so
called arid and semi-arid regions of Ne
braska. Down here in Lancaster cou nty
and the south eastern part of the state,
where wo usually have more water than
we can drink or make use of in other
ways it has all but disappeared until
the water in the arid west is in tho pro
portion of about IG to 1 as compared to
tho supply in this erstwhile soggy
section.
Various reasons have been assigned
for the unusual, not to say phenomenal
drouth in Lancaster county, especially
that pa.'t of it c imprised within the pre
cincts of tho city of Lincoln. But those
people who are regular attendants upon
Sunday school and who are on speaking
terms with their Bibles, have little diffi
culty in arriving at a satisfactory expla
nation of the phenomenon. They forget
not Sodom and Gomorrah and all tho
wickedness that 6talked and rioted in
these ancient cities, and they remember
the wrath that was visited upon them in
punishment thereof. Neither are they
unmindful of the vice that existed aiong
with the hanging gardens, in the fair
Babylon of old, and they know that
Babylon was wicked and wag destroyed.
And they know of many cities that were
wicked in their generation and that
were made to suffer. They know the
fate that overtook Borne; and knowing
these things and firm in tho belief that
history repeats itself, they readily ac-.
count for the local plague. Is not Lin
coln a wicked city?. Has it not grown
steadily worse in the face of divers
warnings? Have not theBealls and the
Chapins and the Shepherds and the
rest raised their voices in solemn protest
and spoken in thundering'tones of con
demnation? And have not the people
mocked? Do we not know that we are
bad and impenitent, and is it not appar
ent that punishment ia being visited
upon us? This is so plain that every
body can see it.
Havo you over, gentle reader, ventured
down town of a pleasant Saturday night
in summer? If you havo not you havo
never seen ono of the most interesting
phases of Lincoln life. If you havo you
havo seen that which has tnadojou
think of the scenes in boiiio smaller
eastern or southern city, or suggested
tho incidents of old country fete-days.
You havo seen, ero tho glimmer of tho
sun has given way to tho shades of
night, young men sally forth with tho
Saturday night look on their faces,
carrying in their pockets a residuu of
their week's wage and on their backt
Sunday raiment donned aforotime. You
have seen tho white muslin dress and
the yellow hat with pink flowers, tho
white shoes and what-not of tho uncon
ventional Saturday night maiden. You
have seen tho whito dresses with en
closed femininity issuo one by one, or
rather, two by two, and increaso and
multiply until thoy havo overwhelmed
tho main thoroughfare, and forced tho
tide of humanity to overflow Into the
sido streets. You havo seen thoholiday
young man and tho holiday young
woman appear and gather in force, aid
ed by a smattering of plainor elder-folk
until as thoy march up and down O
street, they sweep everything before
them. You have seen early in tho
evening the young man and the young,
woman sauntering along hand in hand;
later as the crowd loses in number and
restraining intluence and the closing of
the shops makes a more uncertain light,
you havo seen or may have seen arms
and waists become intermingled, and
conventionality ushered out with tho
dying week. If you are observant you
have noticed a transitory care-free ex
pression on faces marked by the lines of
trouble aud age, an expression of tem
porary relief and gayety; you have ob
served the pleasure of the people in
spending money. It is a general holi
day, and you note the good nature and
liveliness of the people who are enjoying
"it. As you thread your way along
through tho crowd in light summer
clothes you are attracted now by some
dazzling show window, now by the
music and exhortations of a Salvation
army band or group of plain evangelists.
At the street corners you hear the pip
ing voice of the fruit vendor or are ac
costed by the man with the lung tester
or some other similar device. As the
evening wanes the man with tho
little hand cart makes his appearance,
and you may stop and exchange a nickel
for a Wienerwurst or hot tamales. It is
a democratic, cosmopolitan, free and
easy, supremely interesting gathering of
humanity this Saturday night re
union like a market day in old Ireland,
or bourgeoiso fete in France and if you
have never observed it, you will enjoy the
sight.
One wonders where the people who
crowd the thoroughfares Saturday
night keep themselves the rest of the
week.
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