U
"V
JS3B
VOL 12 NO 2
ESTABLISHED IN 1886
PRICE FIVE CENTS
LINCOLN, NEB., SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 1897
iwtxb ron omciiiK
AM UCOXD-CItiaS MATTBB
PUBLISHED XVZKY BATUBDAY
i eM8iR printing' ui muuiM
Office 1132 N street, Up Stairs
Telephone 384.
SAKAII l. HARRIS,
Editor.
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OBSERVATIONS. I
vrm
B. Pay Mills who conducted a revival
in Lincoln a year or two ago is stirring
up the people of Des Moines. The
church people prepared the way for him
by prayer, and praise of Mr. Mills and
when he came, fur awhile, they still up
held him. But his firework b did not
ignite sinners to repentance and he
turned upon the churches. He said
they were behind the times, out of
touch with the people, and of no real
use in spreading the gospel of Christ.
The churches retorted, that however
imperfect the service they were perform
ing for religion, he showed vary poor
judgment and 6ome malice in attacking
them before unbelievers and non church
members whom he was trying to con
vert by a daily exhibition of hysterics
Tery painful to a civilized audience but
which they had not criticised for fear of
taming Eome one away whose heart he
may have reached. Then B. Fay Mills
called them hypocrite and pharisees
which relapse into bad temper closed
his effort to convict the Des Moines
folks of sin and to induce them to re
pentance. Mr. Mill's methods are those
of the negro preacher: exaggerated
tremolo, and tears, heart breaking ap
peals and reproaches, with no address .to
the intelligence or reason of the audience
which has assembled for no other pur
pose than to be, and to see others,
tortured. Mr. Mills has a certain
amount of magnetic influence and for
years he has been in the habit of seeing
audiences respond by writhing and
groaning whenever he turned on the
current. The people in Des Moines
went to hear him as they would go to
any show of which they did not consider
themselves a part. The great soul
winner's reputation was at stake and he
began to call names and to lay his de
feat at the door of tho church. Let ub
hope that the incident will end the
career of B. Fay Mills.
Jn the discission which his charge
that the church did not answer the
needs of the people.arouscd, a lawyer or
Des Moines was a:-ked if he thought the
gospel of Christ a success, "Gentlemen,"
he replied, "I am not in a position to in
telligently reply to that question. It
has never been tried." Individuals like
Count Leo Tolstoi, and a few of the
settlement humanists in New York and
Chicago, are trying to love their neigh
bor as themselves, to judge not, to envy
not and to be compassionate. The
social 'and religious meetings, which
occur every night in tho rooms of the
settlement house are filled with people
whose preachers have come to them,
thus f ullrilling the command:"Go ye into
all the world" etc. But it is true that
churches as corporations do not literally
obey the law of Christ. Preachers say
that the exact application of the golden
rule is impracticable and that Christ
never intended it for a working rule for
others and so on. Although there is
more tenderness, charity and good
works in the church than any other
corporation, there is still not enough to
season the world.
The Iowa legislature is considering
the case of the department storo. The
question is, is oie large store worth all
the Lutcher shops, grocery stores, china,
shoe, jewelry, leather and furniture
stores that supply the citizens with com
modities. The proprietors of which in
turn deal with each otber in endless
interchange.
The department store has the advan
tage of the individual dealer because it
can make a prize offer out of any one of
many commodities without affecting
the original stock. When a Lincoln
department store offers soap at less than
manufacturers price, it (fleets every
grocer here. Because he sells groceries
and only groceries. If he makes his
soap lower than he can buy it again, he
has no drygoods to sell at an exaggerat
ed margin and get back his soap money.
Public sentiment is a weak factor and
not to be counted upon most of the
time, but occasionally it is aroused
enough to ignore an immediate bargain
for the sake of self preservation.
The Iowa legislature is considering a
bill which defines the stock of a retail
merchant and .taxes everything which
can not logically be classed under that
stock. For instance, it draws the line
between drygoods and china-ware
between clothing and furniture. And
if a drygoods man wants to sell china
ware, clothing and furniture he will
have to pay a tax not imposed on the
separate dealers in those articles. Such
a bill would be extremely difficult of
application. . The line between many
lines of goods is so indistinct. Who
can say when a shawl becomes a drape
or a rug, or an embroidered frame
should go to tho picture dealers?
Nevortheles the American people when
exasperated and outraged havo decided
more complex questions than this with
success.
The present legislature is composed
of men who hold their situations
on account of their advocacy of the
under dog. They are opposed to trusts
and to everything elso which imposes
on the many to fatten one. If aroused
to a sense of injustice they are lil'ely to
do what they can to make it inconven
ient for the oppressor in all branches of
the oppress businees.
Mr. Freling C. Foster a member of the
printing firm of Foster it Co. is a can
didate for the position of public printer.
Mr. Foster was born in Brewster,
Mass., 40 years ago. He began wotk on
the Register of that city while a boy.and
has been a printer since. At the age of
20 he came to Chicago, where his repu
tation as an inventor and a wideawake
student of all improvements in his line
is well known. His long years of
thorough business training, and his
reputation as a printer should leave no
doubt in the minds of tho public as to
his ability to till the position he seeks.
From recent Washington dispatches
it appears that Senator Thurston has
united with Senator Alien to defeat the
confirmation of Judge McIIugh in the
Senate. Senator Thurston has made a
number of mistakes since he assumed
his role of director to the Republican
party of Nebraska and hiB action in this
matter is not the least of them. Judge
McBugh has incurred the bitter enmity
of Allen and the other PopulistB because
he came out openly in support of Mc
Kinley and the Republican platform.
He is well qualified in every way to fill
the position to which President
Cleveland appointed him. He has tho
almost unanimous support of the bar in
his district. Since acting as Judge he
has made a most favorable impression
both here and in Omaha. HiB confirma
tion would be a graceful acknowledge
ment of the assistance rendered the
Republican party by the sound money
Democrats. Yet all this has no weight
with Senator Thurston. Not satisfied
with what he has already received him
self and with being sole dispenser of
the political pie in Nebraska, he wants
this office for his law partner, and there
fore all questions of the best interests of
the party or the wishes of the bar or of
the majority of the Republican party
whom Senator Thurston is supposed to
represent must be set aside, and the con
firmation defeated in order that Dick
Hall may be made Judge. It is a mis
take which Senator Thurston will have
cause to regret in the future. Mr. Ed.
Sizer sent to Senator Thurston the
strongest set of endorsements ever pre
pared by a candidate for office in this
district. There is no question but that
the appointment of Ed. Sizer U. S.
Marshall of this district would greatly
strengthen tho party. Ab an organizer and
fighter E.I. Sizer is without an equal in
the state and in this position ho would
be able to give considerable attention to
reorganizing and building up tho party.
But Senator Thurston wants to givo
another position to a Lincoln man a
personal friend who, so far from
strengthening tho party would bo a
source of weakness in this district.
Those in a position to know claim that
this friend will receive hiB appointment,
thus making the apiointmeiit of Mr.
Sizer out of tho question, and Senator
Thurston will have driven one more
nail into his political coffin.
City politics are very quiet
just now. Local politicians aro
waiting to see what tho legislature
will do with the new charter bill
Thero seems to be a strong feeling
against a police and tiro commission
appointed by the Governor, There is a
fear that Tommie Allen or Tommia
Warrell might be appointed and tho
citizens of Lincoln are not yet ready to
turn over their municipal affairs to the
'post-office Tommies" or men of their
ilk. A great many business men
republicans and democrats aliko are in
favor of reducing the number of coun
cilmen and above all in reducing tho
expenses of the city in so mo way. but
while there are some good points in tho
new charter as proposed, still its adop
tion as a whole would be far from satis
factory to a majority of tax payers.
However it will probably be thoroughly
discussed and amended before its pass
age even if it is allowed to pass at all.
The New York Journal of January 17
contains a picture of Nebraska's Devil
Corkscrews that grew or were made in
the Bad-Lands before the song of tho
morning stars grew inaudible.
"What are they? As to this there aro
several theories. Some think they ara
fossil gopher holes the underground
homes of rodents related to modern
gophers, which lived peihaps a couple
of million years ago. Another theory is
that geysers made them, another that
lightning caused them, but Professor
Barbour is certain that they are fossil
plants, and that they grew, great forests
of them, in water ages and ages ago.
"The Substance of his House," poem
by Prosser Hall Frye. Mr. Frye is a
new comer in the English department in
the State University. The poems aro
full of melody and mystery. Same aro
puzzles which I can not read, or readiug:
a line or a stanza, fail to comprehend
the meaning of the whole. -Tbe
Subs'ancoof his House" was not written
for a literal mind, but for one which
knows how emotion and experiecce 21 a
transmuted into color, music. TerEe.
Still tho phrases recur a
the parts of a rebus which
I can almost make prose of: "If this
means this, then, the line will para
phrase 60."' Mr. Frye is a symbolist, an
impressionist, a painter of wet weather
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