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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 1897)
VOL 12X0 ? v ESTABLISHED IN 13S0 PRICE FIVE CENTS h: LINCOLN. NEB., SATURDAY. AUGUST 2S. 1807. ElTEXEDIN" THE POSTOFFICE AT LINCOLN AS SECnXD CLASS MATTEK. PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY Bt THE COURIER PRINTING AND PUBLISHIK6 GO Office 1132 N street, Up Stairs Telephone 384. MRU! ' HARRIS. DORA BACHELLER Editor Business Manager Subscription Rates In Advance. Per annum 52 CO Si months 100 Ihreemonths 50 One month 20 Single copies Oii S OBSERVATIONS. S The ureal improvement in business i most apparent in t hose places where i Bwt business is done. The streets ' "id the stores of Omaha, for instance, 'refiill of jteople who are either buy 'nfror selling the products or the i ttld. A year ago the streets had a i deserted appearance. Today they are r full of men with the preoccupied ex- Ptesion of prosperous merchants and traders: so busy that they have no time to consider the national mone tary system, or jiolities in the ab stract. They "arc buying and selling '"F. wheat, corn, dry goods and hard re, and that occujKitioii of the idle ard discouraged; the creation of a ltnIiaii state where men deal justly and work righteousness no longer di verts them. South Omaha, which become rich enough and import -wt enough to resent the prefix, is the heart or -commercial Omaha. The vesad hogs which are killed and Packed there are wealth in its most rete imd convertible sliaie. The &'d in the Klondike is in a more al lur"g r rin than the wheat and irk "of' braska. but lietween it and e comfort which it will buy Hi tarvatli.ii and the freezing cold of arctlc Passes. The South Omaha Packinghouses and stock yards are giving and sending out again the "faith r.r Nebraska through so many "Wnnels u,at the plain cople are fte h'rst to receive the benefits trom it. The article in last week's C'orniKi: about the gambling games and the complaisance shown the proprietors by the city and county authorities, has aroused much favorable comment. Fortunately the editor of Tiik CoriMKi: has no political chances to le ruined so that the public can de (end ujkmi the reports of the progress, if any be made by the city officials in the direction of enforcing the laws re stricting gambling. The report that Lincoln is run with no restrictions against gambling, except a monthly assessment which is divided Ijetween the mayor and the chief or jMilice. is bringing gamblers here from all over the country. The confessions of .Sam Melick. the deposed chief of jtolice. reveal a collusion between the city government and the gamblers which has heretofore only leen hinted at. This town, which, on account of it- great universities, which attract hundreds of young men. should he as free from gamb ling as good laws and their rigid en forcement can make it. is tilled with gambling rooms which run all night. The indignation of the citizens is mounting, not against the gamblers, they are birds of prey following their vocation, but against the men elected by the people to administer and en force the laws. The otlice of mayor should Ik? tilled by a man capable of appreciating the dignity and honoi of representing fifty or sixty thousand people: a man who will not le mis led by his asswiates who control a large number of votes into thinking that the masses or the ieop!e are im moral or will uphold an immoral rej resentative. Party loyalty will cover a multitude orsinsror a little while, but only Tor a little while. Hi less gambling is stopped in Lincoln, it will increase and it will hapieii that among its victims will Ik-a young man or two of good family, then indignation which permits such temptations to be laid in the highways where the people go hi and down will get the better or partv prejudices and a mayor will be selected for his integrity, ability and general decency. This city is run wide open t he phrase is a vulgar one. the civic crime it stands for is a horrible one. No wandering and de praved tramp who throttles the life out or a frightened woman, is any greater criminal than those men who accept a public otlice to betray it into the hands of dicers. In the heart of the city there is a university, on the hills surrounding the citv are live more schools for voungmenand women. Aside from am moral consideration these schools ire of direct and indirect financial 'benefit totheph'-c .Inst as soon as the good iieopleof Nebraska find out that the advantages or sending their sons to Lincoln are overbalanced by the tempt at ions to which the city authorities expose them, one or the principal resources or revenue and fame will cease to contribute lo the citv's growth. Itefore this time ar rives the good iet pie ot Lincoln, not to Ih; round wanting by the people or the state, should insist that the laws be enforced. The lieggarly tribute that the gamblers pay to In? allowed to break the law will not reeoniene the city for a state reputation which isalready a tritle ditlicult to explain to strangers and to prospective and investigating settlers. J A few years ago the Lincoln city council visited the large cities of the immediate cis-Mississippi region to investigate something, paving I think. The newspapers of the places -they visited made much fun of the iersnii elleof the exjieditinii. the purjxise or it and the manner ot executing it. The visiting aldermen travelled in a private car furnished by a fatuous railroad coniiKiny. The car left a trail of corkless bottles on the prairie. Denver was one of the places visited and thev were entertained in various liquid ways by the common council of that mountain metroiolis. The bill was charged to the city and at last accounts had not yet been settled. In Kansas City it was the same way. Whether the pavement was inspected lietween drinks does not appear. That they did not make useful obser vations is certain because they came back and ordered cedar blocks. The present council is fixing to go on another tour of bisection and the city will pay the bill one way or the other. It would be cheajier to send an agent who had already acquired some knowledge of water or paving, but as these are only the ostensible objects of the trip, the council is going in a IhkIv. j One of the Iwst charities, if that can le called a charity which does not give money to the unfortunate and neglected but helps them to help themselves, is the Hoys' .Junior He public, established within reach of New York. Mr. George is the presi dent and organized the republic for the purpose of teaching boys and girls the meaning of citizenship. The members or the Hepublic live on a farm, they work and are paid for their lalor in the coin of the republic which, at the end of their residence, is exchangable for groceries, clothing, blankets, etc. It is a junior United States with all the principal institu tions reproduced in little. The lxys are judges, lawyers, policemen. They sell products of their labor in an open market. They pay for their board, lodging and everything they consume with their wages. If a member of fends against their laws he is tried and. if guilty, punished. The con sciousness of the state and their part in it is aroused. They see the need of production, or rarms: in many of them is created a love or agriculture which soon takes them out or the city. Hut the strongest and most imwrtant lesson that they learn i that ot their civic duty and resMnsihility. What is citizenship to a boy brought up in an alley or tenement, inhabited by Icople or all nationalities who get drunk, fight, murder and are lugged off to jail by still another alien dressed in blue and brandishing a club? It is the law a powerful something in which the loy has no part, a great Mwerful machine or no interest or -Iteucfit. to him. Hut the Junior He public make their own laws and ad minister them. The representative and resjHinsible advantages of a re public gradually dawns upon him and his reformation legins with bis dawn ing citizenship. He also sees crime as an olfense against the social Inidy which, until this time, observation had taught him was wrong and inex pedient only when detected and pun ished by the law. When a Ixiy who has leen a meuiler of the Hepuhlii retums to the city he is mi longer a gamin but an individual who realizes his iHjsition as one of the important parts of an autonomous whole. The social settlements are teaching the same lessons or citizenship ami in the fullness of time, bad citizens will find it verrdiniciilt to he elected to -any omc2.for the poorest will have learned their own rights well enough not- to confer official power on a man incap able of appreciating the honor done - him. Nothing is more impressive than the sight or hundreds or jieople listening to the same music or the same words. The must, arrogant aristocrat is humbled by the sight or the ieople in thousands assembled to worship Ood. or to listen to music or to an address. 1 n t he presence or a multitude many a man has Ieeii inspired, to speech which quickened hisowii moral nature tor all time. 'In ,tne presence ot a multitude that .sense or one in many which is the sentiment that created the country and holds it together, is strongest. An auditorium, where the mayor can look at a good many or the people who voted for him and who trust him. where once a year the leopIecan See the state university make its contribution to the wealth or the state, where delegates to state conventions can speak and vote in the