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THI COURIER.
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FIRST OF AERONAUTS.
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HIE II BY TRKIN6 THE
UNCLE RICHARD
Maacharti halleri In Air Hefore Hull
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MY DEAR TOM: Your determina
tion to postpone your trip abroad
pleases me. I agree with you that the
times are critical and that It is the
duty of good citizens to remain at their
posts until the crisis Is past. Europe
can wait. What you say con
cerning the political situation surprises
me. Your father was one of the most
devout Christians I ever knew, and I
am sure a more earnest republican
never lived. He was essentially a poli
tician of the highest type. As you
know, I was expressly prohibited In
the terms of trusteeship and guardian
ship which I accepted, from seeking to
influence you in any way in matters
religious and political. It was your
father's wish that you should do as he
did, from your own opinions. You
know how I have lived up to the con
ditions imposed upon me. I have never
said one word to you on the subject of
politics or religion. You selected your
own college and followed your own In
clinations In everything, so far as I
can remember; and Tom, I was always
willing to trust you to do the right
thing. It is three years now, since you
came of age and my trusteeship came
to an end. I am no longer bound to
keep silent, and as you ask me to
speak freely. I gladly comply with
your request.
Your statement that though you are.
through your father's thrift, finan
cially Independent, you are none the
less deeply Interested In the serious
problems of life, does you credit. I
know you are sincere. I quote your
letter:
"In my last two years at Harvard
I gave much attention to sociology,
and so far as possible kept up with
contemporary discussions of the var
ious problems relating to the condi
tion of society. I have acquired Ideas
on this subject, but, strange as it may
seem, I have as yet formulated no
theories. I am still investigating. But
I am continually reminded that we
are In an age of oppression; that a few
people are being enriched at the ex
pense of the many; that the mass of
the people Is held In commercial or
Industrial bindage. I am forced to re
gard Mr. Carnegie, who makes his
millions, while his employes get poorer
every year, s. to a certain extent; an
enemy of society. I find In the much
abused platform adopted In Chicago
many things that I approve. Free sil
ver seems to .me to promise some
benefit for a tremendously large num
ber of people who. unfortunately, are
badly in need of aid. You will believe
me when I say that I am not an an
archist. I have only disgust and con
tempt fcr such men as Altgeld and
Tillman, but I must say I am Inclined
to agree with much of the socialism
that is ingrafted in the Chicago plat
form." You are right In saying that there
is oppression in the world. Some peo
ple appear to be having an easy time
of it. while a great many more are
laboring, and laboring hard, for small
wages. It would be trite for me to
say that you have Tun directly against
lhe problem of human life, the ques
tion of all ages. A great many people
are nilxed In their Ideas of proportion.
Tiev have Incorrect Ideas of perspec
ti They make the mistake of re
garding the rresent as markedly worse
than all the ages that have preceded.
"When Adam and Eve were pushed
out of Eden the gate was locked. They
never got back. Eden has always been
In sight, but It has never been re-entered.
Do you not think that In the
days of the Pharoahs the people were
oppressed? The children of Israel
were held In bondage that was quite
as hard to bear as any industrial or
commercial bondage that any succeed
ing people has endured. Solomon was.
I believe, more of a monopolist and
certainly a harder taskmaster than
Mr. Carnegie. A small part of Solo
mon's force of employes was "three
score and ten thousand that bore bur
dens, and fourscore thousand hewers
in the mountains." And since then,
there never has been a time when the
elementary conditions of human society
as they obtained In the earliest time,
have materially differed. I believe
the wise men generally agree that the
tendency has been upward.
There is, as a philosopher has said,
no today for mankind. With youth
all thought Is of tomorrow, with age,
all thought is of yesterday. The pres
ent, when It shall have become part
of the yesterday the past will show
generally the same signs and features
that have marked all other periods.
Your father, when he was twenty
five years of age, just one year older
than you are now, was held In "In
dustrial bondage." He worked with
two other men on a rather large farm
in Vermont for $15 per month. I doubt
if any $4 a day employe of Mr. Car
negie works anything like so hard as
your father did for 50 cents a day.
Fifteen years later your father was,
as you would say. taking it easy. He
was employing two hundred men who
worked hard every day and lived in
small houses. He had a splendid house
and had $100,000 in the bank. One year
later there came hard times. Your
father struggled manfully. He tried
to keep every man employed at th
usual wages. But he failed. He lost
his $100,000 In cash and all his other
property. For eight years he had paid
out to employes an average of $120,000,
furnished from one hundred to two
hundred families with a good living.
Was your father an enemy of society?
At the end he had nothing. He went
back Into bondage, and he succeeded
again. He was able In five years to
resume his old business. Prosperity
returned. It Is possible under certain
conditions that Mr. Carnegie might
lose every dollar he possesses. When
you balanced the millions that he has
paid out to labor against his own
peverty would you regard him as an
enemy to society? "Wealthy manu
facturers" often become financial
wrecks.
Another thing: The lowest priced
employe of Mr. Carnegie has pleasures
and comforts of life such as your fath
er when he was working at $15 per
month never dreamed of. I think if
you will study the wage question, to
gether with the cost of the necessaries
of life, you will find that never, in the
history of the world, has labor received
so large a compensation as now.
I am speaking of conditions as they
obtained in this country three years
ago. Your philosophy must have
taught you that it will never be pos
sible for the human race to exist ex
cept with the condition that some lead
and some follow. I think It Is not nec
essary for me to say that every man
cannot be his own Carnegie. If every
man were left to make his own Iron
bridge or construct his own gold watch
or raise his own grain there would be
no Iron bridges, no gold watches and
very little grain. What would labor
do If It were not fcr the Carnegie, the
Armours, the Wanamakers and the
like? History shows that great en
terprises, construction, and develop
ment have only been possible when
some one 3an or set of men took
the initial and directed the move
ment. Tell me, honestly, what you
think would become of labor and
wages It all these men whom you call
the "enemies of society" were shut up
in prison. It is, perhaps, natural for
the man who Is above to oppress those
who are below, though there are many
exceptions, and I do not deny that
there is a great deal of Injustice and
suffering In the world. But it seems
to me the thing to do Is to seek to
Improve existing conditions, strive to
teach the Inter-dependence of man
kind, appeal to the highest and best
in man. rather than attempt to change
the order of things that has existed
since the time when the morning stars
first sang together. Do you not think
so? Look into the question of the
condition of the worklngman, the raise
in wages, the treatment of employes,
etc., and see If you do not find that
nine-tenths of the benefit that has
come in a generation has come through
the political party to which your fath
er belonged. There is another thing;
the men of present wealth have, with
scarcely an exception, risen from the
"bondage" you speak of. Your father
rose from the lot of a common laborer.
The way is open. There is always the
possibility of attainment. Men will go
on rising and falling.
I have written at such length that
I will have to defer the consideration
of your other proposition. But, let me
ask you, can you take the Chicago
platform or the party that adopted It
and leave the Altgelds and Tillmans?
Is not the free coinage of silver at
the false ratio of 16 to 1 fraudulent?
Have you ever known a nation or a
people to prosper permanently by dis
honor and dishonesty? Excuse me If
I seem blunt, but tltat you know is a
characteristic.
YOUR UNCLE RICHARD.
Lincoln, Neb., Aug. 5.
Lincoln and "Oar American C'nnnln.
Gen. I. N. Walker, commander-in-chief
of the Grand Army of the Repub
lic, while at the Tacoma hotel on April
29, related the following rather strik
ing coincidence. He was In Chicago at
the time Mr. Lincoln received his first
nomination. On the evening of May
18, 1860, the day the nomination was
made, Gen. Walker was at the o!d Mc
Vicker's theater and witnessed a per
formance of "Our American Cousin,"
with Laura keene as the leading lady
In the cast. During the performance
the rugged, kindly face of Mr. Lincoln
was flashed by limelight upon the cur
tain, with the announcement of the
nomination of "Honest Abe Lincoln"
as the republican 'nominee for presi
dent. The alidlence went wild with
enthusiasm for several minutes before
the play could be resumed. Within a
few days of five years afterward the
same play was being given at Ford's
theater In Washington, with Laura
Keene as leading lady. On the even
ing of April 14, 1865, President Lincoln
went to the theater, where he was
killed by the assassin Booth. Tacoma
fairer.
Were Nl.
Elghty-flve years ago there died In
Paris, Blanchard. the first man to gain
celebrity as a balloonist, says the New
York Mall and Express. He was born
In 1738 and before the balloon was In
vented he had navigated the air in an
atmospheric machine of his own Inven
tion, which was propelled with oars
and which attained a height above
ground of about eighty feet. Blanch
ard made his first ascent In a balloon
at Paris. March 2, 1784. On January 7,
1785, he crossed the English channel
in a balloon, accompanied by Dr. Jef
fries. Under the circumstances it was
a feat of great daring. The aeronauts
the trip ended cast away everything
but the basket under the balloon, and
were about to cut It away when they
were carried over the town of Calais
and finally dropped in a forest The
officials of Calais gave Blanchard a
dinner, presented to him papers of citi
zenship in a gold box, gave htm 91,200
for his balloon and a pension of $125
yearly. The king of France also pen
sioned him. Blanchard boasted that
he had risen 13,000 feet higher than
any 'aeronaut of his time. He made
sixty ascensions, the last one causing
his death. His wife continued the
business after him and was killed by a
fall from a balloon In 1819. Albert of
Saxony, a Idominlcan monk. Is credited
with having formed the first correct
idea of building balloons early In the
fourteenth century, but his ideas never
took practical shape. While the scien
tists were working on the question In
1783 the brothers Montgolfier, paper
makers, near Lyons, made and sent up
the first balloon on June 5. This bal
loon was made of linen, was 315 feet In
circumference and rose 1,600 feet. It
was filled with heated air. About three
months later Prof. Charles sent up his
balloon, called a "Charliere." It trav
eled some miles from the starting and
fell In a village. The peasants re
garded it as a living monster, and fell
upon it with pitchforks and flails and
tore it to pieces, to the loss and disgust
of Its owner.
The first living things to leave the
earth in a balloon were a sheep, a hen
and a duck. They landed safely and
the sheep was found grazing. The first
ascent in a hydrogen balloon was made
by Prof. Charles in Paris, Dec. 1, 1783.
The Karaim Jem.
The Karaim Jewb number 3,000 or
4,000 and live principally in the Crimea.
They speak a Tartar dialect among
themselves, and ethnological Iy are
much more like Tartars than Semites.
Their own legends, in fact, permit the
assumption that they were Khazars
and were converted to Judaism in the
eighth century. Their form of Judaism
differs from that of the 5,000,000 or
more orthodox Russian Jews in reject
ing the talmud and traditional theol
ogy altogether and confining itself
strictly to the Mosaic revelation. It
has been a favorite amusement with
the Russians for generations to pretend
the greatest admiration and affection
for this obscure little tribe. Mme.
NovikofF had her joke on the subject
here in London when she gravely as
sured an interviewer some years ago
that there never had been a law of any
kind Issued in Russia against the Jews.
When this amazing assertion was ques
tioned she coolly explained that she
referred to the Karaim Jews, as in Rus
sia they did not consider the disciples
of the talmud were Jews at all. Inas
much as the Karaites constitute only
a two-thousandth part of the Jewish
race if, indeed, it be conceded that
they belong to It at all the insolence
of the Russian attitude toward them
is peculiarly exasperating to Hebrews
in general and the spectacle of theii
being brought forward at Moscow as
the sole representatives of Israel will
smart anil rankle just as the genial
Slavonic character deires It should.
Saturday Review.
H !5 JvsTetl Bv49rE P
m m m w m si
CTO
Actual time traveling. '
37 hours to Salt Lake. '
07 hours to Sun Francisco.
G3J hours to Portland.
81) hours to Lob Angeles.
-FROM-
LINCOLN, NEB
CHEAP RATES TO ST PAUL AND
RETURN.
The North-Western is now selling at
reduced round trip rates, tickets to St.
Paul. Minneapolis and numerous re
sorts in Minnesota. This is the Short
Line. City office, 117 South Tenth St.,
ON TO CHICAGO.
Half Rates, Special Train and a Day
light Run.
Sunday a. m July 5, 8 o'clock, via
the Elkhorn-Northwestern line, a sil
ver train, gaily and appropriately dec
orated, will leave Lincoln carrying the
Hon. W. J. Bryan, the Bryan club, the
free silver delegates, their wives and
their friends to Chicago. This train
will be first class In every particular;
will make fast time, and the daylight
run will enable people to see the finest
portions of Iowa and Illinois while
traveling over the greatest railroad in
the west. One fare for the round trip
will be charged. For further Informa
tion call on or address as below:
A. S. Feldlng, C. T. A.. S. A. Moaner.
Gen'l Agt., 117 So. 10th St., Lincoln,
Neb.
Remember the Union Pacific will run
a special train for the Beatrice Chau
tauqua, Sunday, June 28. Rev. Robert
Mclntyre, of Denver will preach In the
morning. Train leaves Lincoln 8:30 a.
m.. returning leave Beatrice 7 p. m.
Fare only 90 cents for the round trip.
CLAKKS0N
LAUDRY
iji
390432-334-336-338
South Eleventh Strut.
The Filer will make better time by
several hours to St. Louis. Clnclnnattl.
Washington, New York and to all east
ern points, than any other line out of
Lincoln. It Is a screamer.
For Information about rates, connec
tions, ets, or for sleeping car berths,
call at city ticket office, 1201 O street.
F. D. CORNELL. C. P. & T. A.
See the new Photochromes at Cran
cer & Curtice Co.'s. 207 South 11th
street, the newest thing In pictures.
Mrs. Sldell Is the favorite modiste,
1232 O street.
Under new management
MERCHANTS' HOTEL
OMAHA, NEBR.
PAXTOIf, HTJLKTT DAYKXPOatT,
Proprietors.
Special attention to tate trade, gm anst
sees issmlsl traTelers. Farnam street eleafcrsa
aara pas the door to and from all parte e ska
.BENKE. thr popular tailor has
moved to 121 N 12th; for first class work
and low rates give him a call.
Trilby's "Truthful pills" is a specific
in all (4tses of kidney and liver toubles
Just one pellet at night does the work
At Riggs pharmacy cor 12 and O.
