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LINCOLN NBB., SATURDAY. APRIL
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EXTEBED IN THE POST OFFICE AT LINCOLN
AS SECOND-CLASS MATTEE
POBLISHEO EVERY SATURDAY
BY
Office 217 North Elerentk St.
Telephone 384
W. MORTON SMITH Editor and Manager
SARAH B. HARRIS AwocUta Editor
Subscription Rates In Advance.
Per annum 12.00
Six months 1.00
Three months 50
One month 20
Single copies 5
fS
OBSERVATIONS I
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And what would you do with a mess
of stuff like the Walton case, esteemed
reader, if you were running a newspaper?
Would vou print it in full?
Or would you
Say as little about it as possible?
Does wide publicity in a case of this
kind discourage the tiling of divorce pa
pers, or does it tend to lessen the sound
ness of the marriage tie?
Answers are solicited.
There is a chance for the numerous
and able critics of the newspapers to
tell what ought to be done in a concrete
and present day case. No decently
written and properly signed articles will
be ignored. PeoDle who want to edit
the editor will find this a golden oppor
tunity to do so: State Journal.
This is a serious problem. It is one
that vexes every conscientious editor.
On one side is the prurient curiosity
of brutish people waiting to buy copies
of the paper that teems with salacious
details. On the other is the honest
desire of the editor to keep his paper as
clean and wholesome as possible. The
proper point at which to draw the line
is not always clear. The Journal does
not often conspicuously offend by dip
ping into the smear of tilth, and in
the Walton case it adhered with more
or less success to its conservative
policy. But even the Journal's reports
of this disagreeable mess were not par.
ticularly pleasant reading for persons
with healthy minds.
In the first place the lawyers, from
the point of view of th;s layman, were
a little too eager in bringing out dis
gusting details, and the judge was en.
tirely too lax in permitting the sewer to
empty itself in the court room. Trials
at law Bhould be pr.blic, but when it is
necessary to encumber them with filth
it would be an act of propriety for the
judge to drive off the crowd of idle audi
tors who gather at these foul proceed
ings like crows at carrion. And the
newspapers might form a moral syndi
cate and bind themselves to exclude
from their columns all objectionable
testimony. The. syndicate idea might
be profitably used for purposes other
than pecuniary gain.
It is a question whether the daily
newspapers are moulded by the mattes
or the masses by the newspapers.
Editors have a habit of saying that the
people demand so-and-so, and the pa
pers must meet the demand; that if the
papers are bad thny pre what the people
make them. But the daily newspapers
for a hundred j ears have, on the whole,
rather kept in advance of a certain sort
of demand. If today the public is
eager for the disgusting realism of im
morality and indecency it must le re
membered that the appetite has been
fed by the daily press with competitive
seal for more than a century. No news
paper can be much better morally than
the people who support it and live.
But it can be a little better. It can lead
if it does not get too far ahead. The
trouble is, most newspapers instead of
getting ahead of the people morally, are
inclined to set the pace for immorality.
Each paper is afraid that its competitor
will be a little bit more scandalous and
indecent than itself, and thereby 6ell a
few more copies in the street, and so
they are all scandalous and indecent.
The most repulsive feature of the
Walton trial was the avidity with which
the crowd gathered around the witness
stand and drank in the nastiness. The
people in their eagerness fairly envel.
oped the lawyers and witnesses, and
formed a semi-circular mass of palpitat
ing, prurient humanity. The crowd was
like a vast sponge. It drank or absorbed
the out-pourings from the witness stand
and, expanding, waited for more. Hu
man nature is but a little space re
moved from brute nature. It has a fine
and delicate covering with the bestial
instincts underneath; and it doesn't take
a great deal of rubbing to penetrate the
veneer and get down to the bestial.
Sometimes human nature stirred by
some spiritual force sustains a flitting
apotheosis. At otter times it drops to
earth and grovels in the dirt with the
beasts of the field. Civilization is the
mask of barbarism.
The Walton case was perhaps the
most notable divorce case that has been
tried in this state. It was warmly and
ably contested, and it attracted wide at
tention. That the judge would -give
Mrs. Walton a divorce was a foregone
conclusion, but the granting of $5,000 to
the plaintiff was a surprise to many.
Nobody had any particular sympathy
for Walton, but awarding 95,000 to Mrs
Walton looks like putting a heavy pre
mium on a species of matrimonial in
trigue that should be discouraged. It
would have been a good thing if both
parties could have been fined $5,000, the
money to go into the public fund. If
the decision stands the suit will cost
Walton in all close to $10,000. There
are several obvious morals to this no
torious story.
Politicians who are looking ahead to
the republican Btate convention say that
the party should take some decisive ac
tion on the money question. There may
be some trouble on this point. And
this suggests the idea that times have
changed in the republican party of this
state. "Why."saij a Prominent Poli
tician, who belongs in the same family
with the Well Known Politician,"the re
publican party never used to have any
trouble about platforms or resolutions.
We had a system then that worked like
a charm, and I don't know but it
would be a good idea to go back to it.
We would get together in state conven
tion every two years, and there were two
clasaeB of us. One class was made up
of the fellows who put up the ticket,
and the other was made upofC.H.
Gere. He made the platform. At the
proper time Mr. Gere would produce
his little platform, and it would be
adopted unanimously, and we would go
home happy. The platform never got
us into any trouble, for it never said
-anything. Jt was so nearly like one of
the Journal's editorials that nobody
ever thought of reading it. Nowadays
we have got in the habit of saying things
in our platforms, and there is often
trouble. For one I would rather see
Mr. Gere disentombed and put at his
olujob."
All this week Lincoln has been under
the stress of political excitement. The
politicians who, according to Mr. Gere,
are the salt of earth, have scattered
their savor far and wide. Patriots have
waxed purple in their enthusiasm.
Statesmen are swollen with swagger
The ward boss has luxuriated in the
pomp and panoply of power, as the
voters have marched in serried and ser
vile ranks to do his bidding. It has
been a great time.
m
If the capital of the country is ever
moved it should be to Lincoln. This
town is not only the geographical and
railroad center of the nation, but it is
the political hub of the universe. At
least it has that appearance.
This town is strewn with political
wrecks. Every year the tide of adver
sity throws up a new lot of weather
beaten hulks, and the strand glistens
with the debris. Lincoln seems to be
the last port and final resting place for
all the political barks of the state. They
drift here, and for a time they rest easily
on the placid sea. Then the sea gets
choppy and then come the breakers,
and the bark is hurried along to disin
tegration. The people of Lincoln have
about them many object lessons of the
curse of politics. A philosopher who
occasionally visits The Courier office
said the other day that politics wrecked
more lives in Lincoln in one year than
drunkeness does in three. He is not
far wrong. Politics may be profitable
and pleasant as a pastinre. As a voca
tion it is to be abhorred.
Mr, Metcalfe, the gifted writer on the
World-Herald, had an interesting article
in his paper last Sunday on the four
Johns, Thurston, Webster, Cowin and
Wharton. Of these four great men
three will undoubtedly assist in the
illumination at St. Louis. John M.
Thurston and John C. Cowin have been
selected as district delegates, and John
L. Webster has been endorsed for dele
gate at large. The four Johns of
Omaha are even more celebrated than
the Two Toms of Lincoln.
Mr. Raker, the editor of the Gretna
Reporter, the man sentenced by Judge
Cunningham R. Scott to a year's im
prisonment in the penitentiary for libel
or contempt, has been trying for months
to get a bill of exceptions from Judge
Scott's court S3 that a hearing could
be had in the supreme court, and up
to the present time he has been unsuc
cessful. Mr. Raker, referring to Judge
Scott's treatment, says: "A man in the
wilds of half-civilized Russia would ex
pect better treatment at the hands of a
despotic cztr than he can here, when
once he incurs the displeasure of this
king of rascals." A little thing like a
year's sentence doesn't cowe this editor.
If anything he has been more ram
bunctious since the sentence than be
fore. It is surprising that a man of Scott's
picturesque incapacity should be toler
ated on the district bench of this state.
If there is one place from which passion
and prejudice should be excluded it is
the judicial bench. In Judge Scott's
court they are exalted, forming with
tyranny, a triangular despotism dis
graceful to the state.
The republican mass meeting at the
Funke opera house Monday night was
addressed by Dr. Ricketts and John M.
Thurston, of Omaba. and E P. Brown,
of this city. Dr. Kicketts is a colored
man. He is somewhat well known in
this city through his service in the leg
islature. He is in all respects a reput
able, worthy citizen. Moreover he is
able. His address was entertaining
and reflected the highest possible credit
on his race. Mr. Thurston has made
numerous appearances in Lincoln lately,
but the warmth of his reception made it
evident that he has not lost any of his
popularity. His personal explanation
was listened to attentively, and with
frequent manifestations of hearty ap
proval. - Mr. Thurston's speech was, on
the whole, a very creditable effort, and
one of the best he has made in this city.
The claims of the citv candidates were
presented by Mr. E. P. Brown, who but
a day or two previous had won much
distinction by his argument in the Wal
ton case. Mr. Brown spoke clearly and
forcibly and eloquently. Inasmuch as
The Courier ventured to mildly criti
cise Mr. Brown for his action as a mem
ber of the republican city central com
mittee in the recent unpleasantness it
may bepermissahle for meat the present
time to give some expression to the in
terest in and admiration for this young
man felt by the people of the city who
sre acquainted with his worth. It is
customary to refer to young men as ris
ing. Mr. Brown has risen. He is made
of the right sort of stuff, and undoubt
edly he will establish himself in public
regard as his father did before him.
There is a progressive minister down
1
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