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VOL 11. NO 15
ESTABLISHED IN 18SG
PRICE FIVE CBNTS
v,
LINCOLN NEB., SATURDAY. APRIL 18 I89G
s
- - -"VESC V-
ENTERED IH THE POST OFFICE AT LINCOLN
AS SECOND-CLASS MATTES
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY
piled the Ossa of ignominy in the ac
companying glorification of the redolent
Lindsey. Tbe great and good Mr. Gere
trampled on while burly Bud Lindsey
was raised to the shoulders of delegates
and exploited in triumph! Was ever a
good and great man treated thus?
While we all feel for Mr. Gere the
feeling is not of unmixed sorrow. As
THE COURIER PRINTING AND PUBLISHING GO we read the Journal in these post-con-
Office 217 North Elerenth St. tion da8 and note the independent air
, now observable for the first timein its ed-
Jelephorxe J84 itorial columns we are pleased to admit
that at last good has come out of Naz-
W. MORTON SMITH Editor and Manager ., , , ., ... ... ..
SARAH B. HARRIS Associate Editor aretb; and our regret for the humiliation
of the editor emeritus is tempered by a
Subscription Rates In Advance. feeling of thankfulness that the Journal
Per annum .. 8200 has been aroused from its quarter cen-
Six months ..................... 1.00 tury nap. The morning newspaper.
Three months 50 since the impalement of Mr. Gere, has
One month 20 denounced modern political methods in
Singlecopies the rounde9t terniB. ha8 Bpoken out
nrYYYYYYYYYYVi'YYYYYYYYry'Yri against corruption, and threatened the
S'ws"j lawless; has criticised the city council
1) il R C F D AT I O IV Q and demanded charter revision ; has told
S UDbDKVAllUlNb pa5n truthB about politicians. In
' short, the very next day after the des-
55sS comtitureof Mr. Gere the Journal corn-
That great and good man, the editor menced to whoop it up for reform, and
emeritus of the State Jounal, continues it has continued to whoop. The Jour
to be an object of especial commisera- nal advocating purity in politics! This
tion and concern. Mr. Gere's beautiful sudden change of front on the part of
whiskers are drawn and gnarled and the morning paper is the greatest shock
twisted with wrath. His erstwhile jhe community has sustained in twenty
kindly eyes flush the fire of vengeance, five years. Had any one been told a
His countenance that, in the days of month ago that in a few weeks the Jour
peace and concord, beamed benignantly nal would be denouncing its long accu3
on all mankind, has now become a bea- tomed political bed fellows, and pleading
con of distress, a sign board of misery for better things.incredulity would have
The great and good man is changed, met the statement and amazement
wonderfully and fearfully changed, and laughed it to scorn. It is to be hoped
his friends are troubled. that the Journal's reform policy will
not be done for while we are still ex
Mr. Gere, in the mellow days of his paining what it was begun for.
life, when honor should be stacked in
wreaths on his lofty brow, when happi- What shall it profit a man if he shall
ness and content should come to him do for the vampires and cormorants of
in steady, mellifluous flow, when politics all his life, and at the end bo
dignity should encircle him with done by them? Mr. Gere in his present
-her flowing robes, and peace attend plight is a pitiable example of the
and caress him with her soothing futility of politics, a warning to those
palms, is suddenly and unexpectedly who assist in turning the wheels of the
ejected from his niche of comfort and machine in the hope that the machine
eminence to become the butt of brutal will in the end move for them,
men, the sport of prejudice and irrev-
erence, the victim of a cruel fate. The reason Mr. Gere was repudiated
is well known. The men who controlled
the convention were Manderson men.
and they had it in for every man who
was known as an "original McKinley
man." Mr. O W. Webster was the
choice of the rank and file of delegates
for chairman, but he was turned down
by the leaders because he had been an
out-spoken McKinley man from the
start. The Manderson men who are, it
is hardly necessary to state, the men
who constitute the Well Known Influ
ence in Nebraska politics, were in
censed at Mr. Gere because the paper of
which he was for so many years the edi
tor, refused to fall in line in
the Manderson procession which a
few people attempted to start
a couple of months ago. This news
paper bad always before answered
every demand of the Well Known In
fluence, but this time it refused to com
Mr. Gere entered the late republican
county convention stirred by a noble
ambition to go to St. Louis on a pass,
and add a stately impetus to the McKin
ley whoop. On the placid sea of bis
serenity there was not one fleck of
doubt. Conscious of his deserts he was
sure of his desideratutr . But the great
and good man was made to bite the dust.
Men jeered at his ambition, and cast
him out with scorn, cast him out that
they might heap honor on a venerable,
white-whiskered patriot who for years
was a conspicuous adversary of the good
and great man. There was cruelty in
the refusal to endorse Mr. Gere. The
acceptance of Mr. Kennard added the
bitterness of gall to the overrunning
chalice of despair. Humiliation, dire
and keen, enveloped him, and on the
Pelion of his chagrin at his repulse, was
mit itself to the policy of foolishness
demanded by theso men. While they
were shouting for Manderson the
Journal was daily helping to inflate the
McKinley boom. The insubordination
.vas not pleasing to the Well Known
Influence, and Mr. Gere was marked
for slaughter. The county convention
afforded the opportunity. The Influ
ence took up Tom Kennard and used
him to club Mr. Gere with.
Foryears.eversinceLincoIn was a town
Mr. Gere has been the votary of these
men, whoa couple of weeks ago spurned
him. The practical politicians con
cocted their schemes, and Mr. Gere
fostered them. The railroad compan
ies had their wants, and Mr. Gere help
ed them to get what they wanted.
The m ichine turned out its product
and Mr. Gere pushed it along. Mr.
Gere had an organ and he was willing
to lend its influence to any scheme of
politicians of his own party. He ren
dered faithful and able service. Asking
no questions he obejed commands.
With Lindsey and the rest whom he
now condemns, he for vears affiliated,
atd when they wanted editorial assis
tance from the Journal they got it.
And then, when this too accomodating
man, after a quarter century of subser
vience, ventured to voice his own sent
iment rather than the will of the ma
chine, his old associates turn on him,
and, regardless of past services, heap
humiliation upon him It is a sad
spectacle that of Mr. Gere betrayed by
his friends, a good and great man re
duced to ignominy by the men whose
fortunes he helped establish Mr.
Gere is too good and too great for the
work he has been doing all these years,
and now that he has got loose from tbe
entanglements it h to be hoped that
he will stay loose. Mr. Gere repudiated
and downtrodden is much more interes
ting than Mr. Gere hand-in-glove,
The Lincoln Courier says: "In all
probability Corbett will be renomina
ted." Is it so? Then it is because
women may cast no vote for such an
office as his, or no political party would
dare to put him up as a candidate. It
seems surprising, at worst, that the men
of the republican party would venture
to again put before the people of this
state, a man who, from first to last, has
been false to his promises; a man whose
deliberately broken word precipitated
one of tbe most fearful tragedies which
this state ever knew; a man who dele
gates the work he i3 supposed to do to
others, and one who suffers unpopularity
among those with whom he comes in
contact. But setting all of these mat
ters aside, there is one offense of his
women find hardest to condone. He
said gravely and deliberately that he
would 'be "compromised by being asso
ciated in tbe same office with a woman
assistant. He insinuated, though he
did not say so, that women could not
properly be employed in offices with
men. And notwithstanding that, he
may again be nominated for the highest
position in our co-educational school
system! Can it be that men, any more
than women, wish to place at the head
of that system a man who does not be
lieve in the free, honest and democratic
association of boys and girls, men and
women? Can they want there a man
whose mind entertains putrid and pruri
ent suspicions? The public schools, the
university of Nebraska, the offices and
business places of this state are a denial
of his contemptible insinuations. Elia
W. Peattie in the World-Herald.
Mrs. Peattie has been severe in her
denunciation of Mr. Corbett ever since
the suicide of Mrs. Notson. She is hon
estly annoyed at the idea that the man
whom she holds responsible for the
death of Mrs. Notson and her children
should be given further honor by the
republican party and the people of Ne
braska. If Mr. Corbett is chargeable
with the death of the unfortunate wo
man and her children ho is, or course,
unfit to hold the office of superintendent
of public instruction, and he should not
only not be renominated, but he should
be publicly branded and held in loath
ing by the people of this state.
But it is more than possible that Mrs.
Peattie, who is certainly sincere, is mis
taken in her understnndingof tho facts.
If she is then Mr. Corbatt is the victim
of a great injustice. The superinten
dent is in a very hard position. He
should not be judged off hand, without
investigation It is not my purpose to
go into the Notson tragedy in detail, but
in the interest of fairness I will state
that Mr. Corbett has repeatedly said he
had made no promise of an appointment
to Mrs. Notson, and there is no evidence,
save the reported declaration of tho
woman whs is now dead, that he ever
did make such a promise It is a mat
ter of record that Mr. Corbett refused
to appoint her his deputy, and this re
fusal, it is claimed, led to her suicide
These are the bareoutiines of facts which
should bo carefully weighed by the pub
lie before condemning Mr. Corbett. If
he is guilty Mrs. Peattie's condemna
tion is not one whit too severe. If he is
innocent he is being wronged by such
accusations. Has it been made clear
that he is guilty?
But in this article from the World-
Herald Mrs. Peattie confines herself
chiefly to a general statement which she
alleges Mr Corbett made. If Mr. Cor
bett said what Mrs. Peattie evidently
thinks he said, then he deserves to be
unceremoniously kicked out ofoffice.
The man who believes he would be com
promised by reason of the feet that he
has a woman as an office associate le
scrves to the last degree the opprobrium
Mrs. Peattie heaps upon the superinten
dent But did Mr. Corbett ever say that
he would be compromised by having a
woman in the office?
Mrs. Peattie evidently has in mind the
letter which Mr. Corbett wrote to Mre.
Notson in which he said there were rea
sons why it would be inadvisable for
him to give her a place in his office. He
did not say in this letter, and I cannot
find that he has anywhere said that he
would be compromised by being associa
ted in the same office with a woman as
sistant. If Mrs. Peattie can justify her
statements The Courier will promptly
join the World-Herald in demanding