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LINCOLN, NEB., SATURDAY, JUNE 5. 181)7.
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AS UOOI CLAM MX'
VUBLMHXD KTXST 8ATUBSAT
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Office 1132 N etreet, Up Stairs.
Telephone 384.
8ARAH i'. HARRIS.
DORA BACHELLER
Editorr
Business Manager
Subscription Rates In Advance.
Per annum $2 00
Six months 1 00
Three months 50
One month 20
Single copies 05
S OBSERVATIONS. I
Unless a war occurs in this
country soon the West Point output of
army officers will exceed, in fact it al
ready exceeds, the demand. The life ot
an army officer is attractive to j ouths
of all countries. In America the mili
tary and naval schools bestow upon ac
cepted applicints four years of training,
board, lodging and clothes and gradu
ate them with a second lieutenant's
comtniesioa. The parents of eligible bocs
are eager to give them over to the
charge and responsibility of the federal
government during that most obuoxiou3
period of a youth's life, when Carlyle
said he Ehould be barreled up and only
allowed to communicate his opinions
through a hole in tli9 barrel which
should be kept in a cool and secluded
place. West Point is better for the toy
than a barrel, it trains him while at the
same time it feeds, clothe?, and secludes
him. In the last four years the pressure
on the dcors of the military school has
been greater than ever, notwithstanding
tho fact that ther are eleven cadets of
last year's class still waiting commissions
as regular lieutenant3. This year's
senior class at West Point numbers
sixty two. Under tho existing Lv they
must all be appointed to the army as
lieutenants in the various branches to
which their merits entitle tLcni. For
tho first time, the report sajs, in the
history of th9. acaJemy, there will not
be a vacancy awaiting them. Besides
the eleven cadets of Ia6t year who are
entitled to a place before any of this
year's class, thero are only three places in
prospect between now and June 11. It is
the superannuated captains of infantry
in the service, of whom 108 are over
fifty years of age, who are thus blocking
the line. Of course tho average man
over fifty is not capable of performing
the duties ot foot officers in the field.
Congress will have to retire the old men,
or accept the alternative and discharge
this year's graduates with a year's pay
and a diploma, as they did at the Naval
academy a year or two ago. Such a
course as the latter would remove the
incentive for 6tudy and- soldierly con
duct that has kept endeavor strong at
West Point. The over supply of
graduates also stops tho promotion of
non-commissioned officers, of whom
there are now 15 who have passed their
examinations and are waiting a comis
sion. This possibility of promotion
among enlisted men has done much to
improve the service. Under the present
conditions it will cease to exeit an
influence. Tnus in the army and at
the academy and among the young
officers the conditions are discouraging.
They can not be improved by increasicg
the number of officers because; under
the present system, there are three
commissioned officers to every sixty
five men. In the service of every other
great power that number is able to
handle four times as many men. A war
would of course increase the demand
for recruits and make a place for all the
officers, young or old, who were ab!e and
willing to serve. Meanwhile tho delights
of a captain's life remain undisturbed,
among which an assured income, in
good times or bad, is not the least.
The recent unveiling of two monu
ments of great beauty and interest his
taught that monument associations ac
complish the object of their appoint
ment even if it be twenty jears after. In
the case of the Washington monument
the unveiling ceremonies were, marly
one hundred jears after, the original
committee was dust. But a monument
which will last perhaps a thousand years
had best not bo constructed too rapidly.
The Washington monument, unveiled
in Philadelphia, is an equesriian statue
of conventional and classic model. Hotse
champing tho bit, right fore foot raised,
tail and mane blown by wicd. Washing
ton with continental cape and cocted
hat, etc, etc, thero are drzens in the
country li'ic it in rainy particulars.
In the fall of 1EG3 a meeting was hl I
in Boutin on the call of Governor Howe,
Senator Sumner, Henry L;e and others,
at wlrch a committee of twenty-one
was appointed to procure an equestrian
statue of Rob-it G. Shaw, the comman
der ot tho Fifty fourth Massachusetts
regiment, who fell at Fort Wagner. A
year after that ?3,16T was placed in the
treasurer's hands, fie invested it and
in 1883 tho fund had increased by in
vestment and reinvestment to S1G.G."G.
This sum the committee deemed large
enough to begin making plans for the
monument. It was decided that it
should be an equestrian statue of Colo
nel Shaw in alto relievo upon a large
bronze tablet. St. Gaudcns was se
lected as the sculptor and ho spent
twelve years in thinking over the sub
ject, making many models and finally
finishing a splendid work. Colonel
Shaw appear riding at the head and
side ot his colored troops. Tho pictures
of the tablet have appeared in all tho
illustrated papers, but the most satis,
factory ones appear in the June Cen
turij. The letter press is by Edward At
kinson. As treasurer of the association,
and as an ab!e writer, be is able t) give
the impoitant facts connected with tho
memorial. These facts should be cf es
pecial significance to Lincoln just
now when the monument associ
ation is considering ways and means
of erecting a statue to Lin
coln For the sake of all posterity
let them not hurry. However small the
fund Le at first it will grow, and when
it is large enough some sculptor as great
as St. Gaudens can be paid to erect a
monument to Abraham Lincoln that
wili be worth making a pilgrimage to see.
Before which old men will take of their
hats, and children will revere without
knosvirg why. Boston's original con
tribution ot $3,000, in eighteen jears
grew by accretion to SIC.000. In tho
year of tho completion of tho statue the
Massachusetts legislature appropriated
20,000 for a sui'able terrace and ap
pioach and last month the monument
was unveiled in Borton common, thirty
two jears after t.he governor of Massa
chusafs had called a committee to de
visa the means to erect a "monument in
tended not only to mark the public
gratitude to the fallen hero who, at a
critical moment, assumed a perilous re
sponsibility, but also to commemorate
that great event, wherein he was a
leader, by which the title of colored
men as citizen soldiers WdS fixed bjjond
recall." If the committee of our town
rightly apprecia'e tho importance of
their position and the true relation ot
tl eir f unction to t me they will give the
s.'hool children ot several generations a
chance to contribute to and to work for
the Lincoln mor.ume t Th? very Lest
sculptor in the country is not too great
or too bigh-priceJ for us. Just give us
linn to i ut by the money for something
tha the hungry generations will revere
and not revile. St. G.iudet.s is the fore
mest sculptor in Americi. luseti'pture,
he has done the bctand tho most. His
p'riod of productivity shows no s"gn3 of
evlnus.ion. It may bj that tho
love of art which Las r ached a sturdy
prowth in Lincoln will- stimulate the
pe pis to make sacrifices so that after a
few- j ears of saving and contributing
St. Gaudcns can te given an order for' a
statuo of Abraham Lincoln for the city
of Lincoln.
In taking the management of tho
Home for tho Friendless away from tho
board of women who have been in
charge since they incorporatad tho in
stitution, and in displacing the board ot
the Milford home which was clso and
most properly composed ot women, the
administration has snubbed women in
genoral. Neither of these two institu
tions were in politics. Both boards serv
ed without compensation and both
homes were managed economically and
efficiently. No scandal has ever been
circulated concerning the superintend
ents at either home. Though it will
follow hard upon the near administra
tion if the various asylum troubles are
any indication of the lack o
ability and fitness of Governor
Holcomb's appointce3. The populist
party's warmest supporters are
among the women. During the cam
paign they were urged to rally, to make
speeches, to walk in processions, to wear
very ugly silver capos and helmets, to
carry brooms and to make more speeches.
Many women did all these and more.
The party managers accepted their work
with thanks and urged them to press
forward. Sinca the election, Governor
Holcomb has snubbed them whenever
he could. And in the case ot the boards
of the Milford home and the Home for
the Friendless he has insisted that the
boards ehould be composed ot men.
The interests of little children who are
the wards at the Homo of the Friendless
and the unfortunate women who have
tied to the Milford Home have not been
considered. As soon as all the legiti
mate changes had been made the homes
came within the range of the vision of
the dispenser ot patronage. True, the
boards draw no pay; but it is an otlice and
there are a few perquisities and a little
power. Therefore the women who be
long to no particular party, and who
can't vot were dispossessed for men
who can, aid neither the interests of the
inmates attho Milford norattheLmcoln
home were consulted. No complaint
would be made if Republican or Demo
cratic women had been ousted for Popu
lism women, but irrespective ot politics
the natural guardians of little children,
and of the weaker ones of her own sex
the wjmen a3 women were deprived of
their positions.
In leaving the baseball field Mr. Sun
dav brought with him tho language of
th field. Tho profanity which, in tho
field was used as objurgation, in the
pulpit is an objurgation still in spirit.
The only difference is in the form of the
sentence, Which is hortatory. Like the
converted white" washer who soon altr
got a drop of whiteiva?h in hisejeacd,
after his ancient habit, sxoro bard, only
ending the frenz" with -Thus saif h tha