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VOL 12 NO
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LINCOLN, NEB., SATURDAY. JULY 3. 1837
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SARAH M. HARRIS.
DORA BACHELLER
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t OBSERVATIONS. :
!..
In sentencing ex-Treasurer Bartley to
twenty years in the penitentiary there
is reason to suspect that Judge Baker
has made a grand stand play. The
-opprobium of his leniency to C. W.
"Mosher still rests upon him and election
time is fast approaching. The Courier
can apt be accused of any maudlin
sympathy for the convicted treasurer.
"W. Morton Smith, the former editor of
The Courier, was the first to announce,
several months before the state conven
tion, that the treasurer was short in bis
accounts and for that reason was mak
ing desperate efforts to secure the nomi
nation of McNish, who could be relied
upon to keep the discrepancy between
the actual cash on hand and that which
should be in evidence, a confidential
matter between the new and the old
tree "Hirer; a relationship and considera
tion by the old for the new, sanctioned
by the established custom of Nebraska
state treasurers. It wili be remembered
that n a series of editorials Mr. Smith,
whose republicanism was of the staunch -est
and most uncompromising quality,
made definite charges against the state
house ring and that in the state con
vention which assembled seon after, no
candidate to succeed him, who was
known to be favored by Bartley had
much chance of recognition. It will
also be remembered that the snow
storm which covered up McCall was
predicted by Mr. Smith. He said that
the self-respecting republicans of the
state would not vote for a man who is
known to the public principally by his
abbreviated first name or by his habit
of wearing a blue shirt. Events proved
that the "Toms" and "Joes" and "Jacks"
were ptrong enough in the convention
to nominate one of their number for
governor but powerless to get enough
votes to elect him. The disasters, which
one after another have befallen the re
publican party in this state, are due to
the character of the ring which has
managed conventions and superintend
ed state campaigns for the last twenty
years. When Mr. Bartley was still
treasurer and hail fellow-well-met wit h
the bankers Mr. Smith di d not hesitate,
when investigation had convinced him
that the funds of the state were being
improperly used, to present to the pub
lic the results of his investigation. In
view of this record The Courier is not
afraid to express the opinion that Judge
Baker in sentencing the defaulting state
treasurer to twenty years in the peni
tentiary and by the grandiloquent, out-raged-virtue
speeches by which he in.
terrupted the judicial proceedings of the
trial, disgraced the bench. The ex
treasurer was steadily decreasing the
debt he owed the state. There is con
siderable doubt of.a criminal intent,
though the evidence of juggling with
the funds is clear. In doing which he
did not offend against the traditions of
the state treasurer's office, which has
enabled treasurer after treasurer to en
rich himself in four years. The public
is justly exasperated at the system, and
Judge Baker has taken advantage of
the feeling to give Mr. Bartley a cumu
lative sentence for the sins of
his predecessors and for his
own (Judge Baker's) political behoof.
Does Mr. Bartley deserve fifteen jears
more than Mosher and twenty years
more than Outcalt because hn was suc
ceeded by the nominee of another
party? The capital bank conspiracy
was a deliberate plan to rob and to place
the swag where, after punishment, it
might be recovered and enjoyed. Mr.
Bartley's attempt to manipulate, with
profit to himEelf, the state funds, is
authorized by the practise of bis more
fortunate predecessors, who were able,
except in one. case, when the time ar
rived and the man with it, at which and
to whom the funds in the treasurer's
keeping must ba delivered, to present eo
far as the public is aware, a satisfactory
statement.
It is doubtful if the vicarious suffer
ings of Mr. Bartley will assist Judge
Baker to attain his object. The people
will remember Mosher. That man
reached immortal fame in Nebraska in a
very short time, and he carried others
with him into that bright light
that drives office seekers into
curious and ineffectual deeds
of expiation. Mr. Bartley should
be punished, but not in excess of much
greater criminals. And the unwisdom
of the law which makes such manipula
tions of Btate funds possible should
bear the results of its construction.
The condition of the A. S. Raymond
house which the Sigma Chi fraternity
has occupied for nine months is an ex
cuse for the statement that education
does not educate. Fraternity, mem
bers designate outsiders as barbarians.
Barbarians pillage and desecrate. They
know no law but that of force, no
motive but their own pleasure. The
property of others belongs to them if
they are strong enough and quick enough
to get it. Members of the Sigma Chi
fraternity have been known to orate
with horror on the losses to civilization
occasioned by the nothern hordes who
sacked Rome. They deplore, in pretty
periods, the destruction of priceless
manuscripts and of the sculpture of
an age never to be equ aled in artistic
production. Then they return to the
chapter house on R street, break into
rooms locked up by the owners and
stored with the private property of the
landlord and his wife. In trunks and
bureau drawers they find various arti
cle? more suited to their own glory and
adornment than to that of the absent
house cwner, who is any how not to be
considered, not being a fraternity man.
Without scruple the careful housewife's
folded treasure is appropriated. Un
considered trifles are thrown upon the
floor and left to be trampled upon and
kicked about by the successive intrud
ers who tramp in and out according to
their own caprice. The most curious
and unexplainable claims to gentle
blood and breeding are made by these
tenants. Perhaps that is the secret
which the fraternity so carefully guards,
namely, how a man can do the deeds of
a Bowery loafer and be at heart a
gentleman. Yet the fraternity sj stem is
firmly established at the university. It
plays an important part in the social life
of the school. Fraternity friendships
are. made, and generally kept for life.
Fraternity members have the advan
tage of introductions to college men the
world over. The system has much in it,
of both evil and good. It is especially
adapted to satisfy the gregarious in
stincts of the very young men who insist
upon its excellence in all respects. The
herding tendencies of the race are older
than the organization of the first tribe
and they will last as long as the race
does. 'But unlets the club life is infused
with and softened by a consciousness of
the ethical responsibilities of the
fraternity and the individuals of it to
the community, it becomes in spirit and
in conduct an outlaw. I have no doubt
that there are members of the Sigma
Chi society who deplore the sacking of
the Raymond house and who tried to
prevent it. Yet in the general con
demnation expressed by the community
and by other fraternities the Sigma Chis
bear the blame and the manly fellows
who are known to be members, suffer
unjusMy butinevetably in the general
condemnation. If the memberibip
wishes to restore to the local chapter
the good name which the fraternity has
elsewhere they will reimburse Mr. Ray
mond for the damage done his house
and furniture. Otherwise the fraternity
can have no hope of filling the annual
losses with good men.
Ths last number of The Woman's
Weekly contains an excellent editorial
on the subject of the expediency of the
housekeepers of the town where the
state federation is in session, being
obliged to entertain the delegates. Very
few mistresses of Nebraska houses keep
more than one maid of all work. - Many
of them do not koep any. The presence
of one or two strangers in the house
makes it impossible for the mistress to
leave it, so that she misses entirely the
inspiration of the addresses and business.
Miss Fairbrother suggests that each
club pay its delegate's expenses at the
hotel or that the delegate herself do so.
By doing this the session would reach
a commercial dignity that it lacks. The
city in which the session is held would
profit thiough the' landlords and
through them all the people who
supply them. There is no reason why
the delegates should not pay their board
except that of custom. And if the cus
tom is not founded on good principles
club women will be the first to see it
and give it up. The Courier invites
correspondence on both sides of this
subject. Miss Fairbrother said that:
When the state federation meets in a
city it should be a red letter year in the
club life of every member of that town
or city. The best speakers and brightest
women should be on the progiam. The
clubs should leave a great deal and take
away nothing except the inspiration of
a fine meeting and the energy which
comes from contact with each other.
Instead of that, the experience has been
that the women are taxed to the utmost
for time and can obtain but a very
slight portion of the good which should
be theirs alone.
If all were expected to go to a hotel,
pay their bills like self respecting citi
zens and give something to the meeting
in return for the something they receive,
it would place the meetings on a differ
ent plane, give all the women an equal
chance to enjoy and make the club self
respecting and respected. It the clubs
paid their way, too, it would be possible
for the state meeting to beheld in towns
of smaller size than could be possible
under the present foolish way of doing
things. The smaller cities need the in
spiration of the state federation more
than the other, really, and it would be
a benefit all around.
The testimony of C. W. Mosher ap
pears under big head lines in the daily
papers as though it were of any conse
quence what he said. Without cor
roberative evidence his statements have
no more relation to facts than the mar
velfous stories told by Baron 3Iun-chau3en.