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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (March 6, 1897)
-OsV - -&k VOL 12 NO 11 ESTABLISHED IN 1KG PRICE FIVE CENTS JT lgidAK-fSr'-'i 2:" "v rM &, 'IK I ' "- ! - t mt - -!T Jt A A --.. e LINCOLN, NEB., SATURDAY. MARGH 6. 1897. minnn nrmiTi FUILIIHED CYX1Y SATDUUT cmiei mw w miiam t Office 1132 X street, Up Stairs. Telephone 384. BARAH if. HARRIS, Editor. Subscription Rates In Advance. Per annum $2 00 8ix monthB 1 00 Three months 50 One month 20 Single copies 05 : .OBSERVATIONS. : ' When Auditor Eugene Moore was 'nominated the people of the state felt that he was an honeef, conEervative man; that if e'ected he would perform his dut'es with absolute fidelity to hia trust. His deflection has made pessimists and infidels of men who have never ques tioned the infallibility of iepublican nominees. There were a few men whose devotion to the tarty was touching, insomuch ss the party had never done anythirg for them. But echo is locking for tbote men cow. Eugene Mcore has blighted a childlike and mediaeval faith. "Eetlerfor a milMcne'etc He ius injured the iepublican party in direct i roporlion to the coLfidence men had in him, more's the pity. The state of Mr. Eartlej's accouLts was more or It ss expected. The state tieatuier dur ing several terms bss lad eo much less of the people's money to tuin over to tie new treasurer thin he should have bud that the people have acquired a habit of bracirg themselves to here the treasur er's leport. The size of the present de fcitvas unexpected, although we wete prepared ror a facer. The tanks in the state have failed by dozens and no treas urer, under the si stem in use here, could have prevented all Iocs. In equity Mr. Baitley ihculd not be held responsi ble fcr the money which he placed in designated depositories which failed be cauie of falling prices and a gold stand aid impossible to maintain. Eut for these sums hich friendship or self interest induced him to place in umec ognized banks which lave failed during his teim of effice he is personally and in an especial eente responsible. Mr. Bait- ley never poged as a man of unimpeach able, supernatural integrity. The per quisites of the office, which were his by usage if cot by law, cverjbxly expected him to absorb. In this respect no one was disappointed. The tteaswer en joyed bis privileges and he may jet be able to s how that he did no more than usage authorized. If so it will not be difficult fcr him to get back to the level which he occupied before his tsim ex pired. As J said before, he never pie tended to an exalted place. The legal proceedings wh'ch involve the ane?t and perhaps the incarceration of the officials ato most painful and create a sympathy for them and their fnmilicB which tends to obscure jiutice. They seem to have betrayed the trust of a great pdity. They will have a trial which Bhould be impartial. Their acquittal depends on the intricacies of a law which the taxpajers do not pretend to undeis'and as well as upon the appli cation of exact justice. Yet if tbe evi dence shows that the men are victims of circumstances the people will compre hend that in epite of their lack of tech nical knowledge. Whatever the out come, the accused have no lorger any political influence, but experience teaches that if acquitted they can return to the environment ihcy left, to -assume public office and receive about the same consideration from their associates as before. Mr. Howellshasa new serial story in the current number of Scribner's. The Story of a Play" tells of a young author, or rather of a young newspaper man, who is a step (in the opinion of Richaid Harding Davis a flight) below "an author." Thejoungman is writing a play for an actor who is a few miles away in the series of watering places on the north Athntic ceast. The actor corns s over every day "n a bicj e'e suit, a golfing suit, aiidirg or a yatchingsuit (he never does any of these things, but he hke to kok as if he did) to see how the play is getting en and to urge the authcr to male the part of the hero as "fat" as pcesible. Well, the author has just msriied a wife and she is tie reason of these few remarks. She adores her husbtnd and 6he wants to al sorb him. He Las taltnt and is devoted to his work. She is a ccmmonplace, con scientious busybody, who thinks her place is to inspire tnd direct so Icng as she cannot create heiself. Thosctor has ideas too, and he doe s not worship her hueband, but argues with h:m about changes in the p'ay, etc. The wife resents this and tells her husband that Ehe does not propose to have his genius degraded by receivfng suggestions from the stage represented by the actor, who says he is goiDg to do for the play what Jefferson did for "Kip Van Wirkle." Her exclusion from the author's and actor's field of thought and discussion is absolute and deter med by her own lim itations, bnt like all all but a few of Howell's women, she is bossy and fretful and insists on putting in her oar every day. Her car is inconsequent, inadequate and irritat'n? and spo Is an otherwise interesting story. Mr. Howells should come west wheio only an occasional woman nags her friends and family to desperation. The woman who lives her own life and ib willing that masculine examples Bhould attend to their own business is not an exception in the west. They are attend irg to the theory and practice of raising children, keeping house, and vbile3 im proving their minds. They kcow what tby are about and they let their hus bands know that they know it. The huebanda have learned their pla:e and the result is a quiet lire and a clean hearth. Mr. Howells introspective, fus-y, exacting woman has ma:'e h's stories and p'ays vcxatious'reading for a long, time but this last individual of an already sufficiently, portrayed type calls for a protest His men are more whole some, though they too do not know exactly where to draw the line between their business and a no. her man's. The Lexow committee which has been investigating trusts has succeeded in ex tractor g a few facts from unwilling multi millionaire witnesses which confirm the suspicions of an oppressed peiple. After a ceitain point is passed cap'. til has no iufluence upon the representatives of a people. In i his case concession to the trusts means abandonment of their po'itical ab titioLS. Although he retui n to private life with a forture, a po itician loves place and power more than money and in the long run bis vote expresses the wishes of lhe laig. st number of his constituents rather than tbe coersive influence of the agents of concentrated capital by which he is surrounded. The poor have the vctes and in this fact lies all their tote of equal just'ee. M mey is tte obvious ralpatle influence at Washington, but place is the gift of the people, though members of the million aires club in Washington are apt to for get it because the people stand afar off. The New York Jourral has obtained some opinions fiom politicians of differ erent parties which are worth quoting from: Atchison, Kan., Feb. 26. Edi'or New York Journal: The exasperati n against trusts and monopolies doss not arise from hostility to capital, hatred of wealth or envy of successes, but from the belief that the inevitable effect of these combinations, whether intended or not, is to res' rain competition, impair the dignity of labor, destioy ihe independence and self respect of the laborer and make liberty the heritage of the few instead of the many, for liberty and pauperism are not compatible. TLe trusts must go. It is written. They wiil not depart voluntarily. They will protest at every step. They will stand upon the order of their going. They will denounce all inquiry as iniquitous, inquisitorial and inspired by partisan malignity. But this will not deceive the people. They want the truth. The object of Lexow commit te is to discto e the existence and tto methods of tho conspiracies to limit pro duction, control prices, depress wages and strangle competition. Public opin ion will do the rest. Tho problem is not 'nsolvabl; tin power ot the people to suppress injuiiotn trussand monopolies is ample already. The states can outlaw them as public enemies, and through the co'ir's. forfeit the r powers, annul their franchises and declare tfnm against public policy and vt-id, in accordance with the prccedeutj of many centuries. But the nut on can wield a mightier weapon s ill. When the supioaieciu t declared in the state bank cases that the power of congress to tat was the power to destroy, it delegdtoj a formi'able weapon to discontent, and plactd in every bondsman's hinds the means to cancel his captivity. John J. Ingalls, Ex-Unit d Stat s Senator from Kansas. Washington, Feb. 26. Editor New York Journal: I would make a non-partisan commis sion composed of one lawyer who his had lare dealings with corporations and whose integrity is unquea'ioned. one mercantile business man and one honest banker. There should be added one lepi lator of wide experience in state and national affairs. This commission should be tha creature o. statute, clothed with amnle powers to collect evidence and punish refusal to testifv, ont he lines of the statute giverning wit nesses before commit ees of the United States senate, which has bean upheld by tbe highest court in the land. b To start witb, a state commission is prc'eratle. and the first should be a New York commission, since that seems to I e the br.edtng place of all trusts. Such a commission should have ample tirre for investigation. lhe legislature coul I then, from the information so obtained, pass such laws as would forever kill tto evils shown. Such a commission in evry stVe would be in the interests of the people. The result would te that the people would see to it that such laws were passed as would rectify all tto wrongs. If congress should see fit to order an invest gation, I think tho presidmtof. the United States coul J be direct dt) select such men as I have described, and thus tbere c:uld be a non-partisan national commission, and the resu t would be beyond dispute. William V. A.llen, United Slates Senator from Nebraska. All men are not created free and equal. Because brains, money, character and position determine tte amount of f ee dom which each individual enjoys. But laws which increase natal disabil.ties instead ot moderating tnem are unjust and for that reason temporary. Con gress has been greatly surEjued to fin 1 that the discontent, which has been called "mere newspaper ta'k," is uni versal and that the reasons for it are economically sound. The change which combinations of capi'al have effected in the character and conditions ot trade has destroyed, or is in process of destroying, the sma 1 tradesman. In the days of feudalism the over lord owned all the land and there were no Email farmers. Only one