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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 1897)
rL ?- 4, ' k M' I?. t .lr H i. i i-' S.- . v ,. .VOL 12 NO 37 ft' , V ESTABLISHED IN 1866 ' - - TL ' ' t PRICE FIVE CENTS : ,t LINCOLN. NEB., SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER 11, I8J7. .ESTKUDIN THK POSTOFFICK AT MKCOIX A8 SECOND CLASS MATTER. PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY 1IE COURIER Wkm IND PBBLISH1IIG GO Office 1132 N Btreet, Up Stairs. Telephone 384. SARAH H. HARRIS. DORA BACHELLER Editor Business Mansger Subscription Rates In Advance. Ter annum 2 00 Six months 1 Three monthB 50 One month 2J) -Single copies 5 v t OBSERVATIONS. One of the most interesting features of the great exhibit will certainly be the decoration of its buildings, within and without. It is always effective to have the "trimmings' of an edifice suited to, or symbolic of, whatever it is meant to contain. For example, on the Agricultural Building will be employed the colors of nature; they will run through the scale of yellows, from the palest to deep orange, but with corn color pre dominating. Also the whole range of .greens will appear, and sometimes the rich reds of fruit. The ornamental details of this building will be drawn . from agricultural products. Corn? " melons, pumpkins, etc., will be repro duced in friezes, cornucopias,festoons. the capitals of columns and various other forms. The pavillion is to he be surrounded by a f riee of turkey cocks with their tails spread, a highly decorative and rather oriental effect. Above the whole will be seen a figure of Ceres, goddess of the fields, with herattendant nymphs, as well as the seksons and the months. Balls bear ing'the signs of the Zodiac will also rest on the central pavillion. The Mines Building will have a most beau tiful color scheme involving the use of gold, silver, and the salts of copper, which last furnishes the peculiar, and charming blues and greens that we are familiar with in various metals and minerals. An opportunity that the decorative artist must delight in. Throughout Machinery Building all the elements of decoration are from mechanical or electrical sources. A great many flat spaces have been left purposely to be filled in with raised conventionalized motives taken from machinery cogs, chains, bolts, pins and the like. The under colors of all this will be very warm in tone quite flame-like giving at a distance some what the rich effect of an Eastern rug. At the main entrance, the space above the door is filled by a great cog-wheel, against the center of which rests a delicate moth-like figure with outspread wings, the Spirit of Electricity. The cornice of the colonnade in front ig edged by a line of crucibles, such as are used by founders. Over the end pavillion will be statuary groups sym bolizing the struggle of Mind with matter. The whole building is crowned by a group of lions, harnessed and driven by conquering man the victory of intelligence over brute force. The central point among these structures will be the Administration Arch, its color decoration being dark blue and gold, in moderate quantity: and these are the buildings that will directly face tne visitor on his en trance to the grounds. Later we may give additional notes descriptive of other buildings on the south side of the lagoon. jc The street sign ordinance grants a monopoly for fifteen years for prac tically nothing. While theatrical posters occupy only dead walls and vacant lots on back or side streets, the contemplated signs will, of course? be largest and most glaring on the most crowded corners. For instance at the four corners of Eleventh and O streets where the crowd is often of .sufficient size to make rapid locomo tion impossible, much of the present space would be occupied by the signs leased by a company from the city for fifteen years. 'J he effect of these signs iipoiitheapearanceof a city which has four corners every block will be to transform our already sufficiently ugly streets into something resemb ling a dime musee or the gaudy alleys of the side show approach to a circus. lhe City Improvement association has worked with an energy which has caused the weeds to be cut down, and most of the signs on the telephone and streetcar poles to be removed, but all such attempts will be dis couraged if the council grants to a company the right for fifteen years to put up immense signs on the corners. It takes a little effort of the imagina tion to see the city transformed by these signs and even then its actual ugliness and cheapness will exceed imagination. If it is a good plan and does not affect tlie good looks and good name of a city, why has not Chicago or Omaha or any of the larger cities tried it? The Chicago council, if it were to grant such an ordinance, would be buried by the reproaches of taxpayers and citizens. It would be accused of brile-taking, of dividing the spoils, and the next election would bury the members of that coun cil out of sight forever. The City Im provement association whom one of the company addressed, was almost convinced by him that the appearance of the city would be improved by the company's signs. Be not. deceived, the plans which these men propose to carry into effect contemplate the dis tricting of the city into so many sign areas. The signs will be put up and used for the purpose of making money and the aspect of the city will be ruthlessly sacrificed. The occasional theatrical posters on the dead walls and vacant lots of the city are of in terest to the passer-by, they are fre quently changed and they are only oc casionally of an objectionable char acter. When they are, the City Im provement association should note and protest. (In passing, the triangu lar corner bill boards are now occu pied by a cigar sign which is indecent and injurious to public morals I presume there is nothing to prevent any company from putting up bill boards on all the vacant lots within the city limits, provided the owner's consent is secured. But in this case a small rent would probably be charged and this is just what the corner sign company is seeking to elude. Put ting up the names of the streets on the corners is a function of the city and will probably be discharged with in a few years. Of course it will only be necessary to put up one sign at the corner where are the angles of four blocks. For irstancc, the company proposes to pay the city for the use of the four corners f Eleventh and O streets for sign purjxises for fifteen 1 ears by putting up one small sign on one of the four corners. The council men grant a franchise which, when operated, will make the city look like the front of a clothing store in the convulsions of a fire-sale, these eastern visitors, to attract whom is the creed of the Commercial club, and the expressed motive for much ex penditure on the part of the council, will be moved by the sight of so much ugliness to go back where they came from as quickly as possible, and the square miles of waving corn, the cubic miles of cribbed corn, the square miles of blue sky and the cubic miles of sun shine between and over all, will have spread their glory in vain. The so phisticated eastern traveller knows that a people who will give their city to ugliness for nothing would make poor neighbors, poor customers, poor depositors, untrustworthy agents, and he will not cast in his lot with them. An officer should be appointed in every city whose duty it is to inspect posters as they are put up and with power to order the suggestive ones down. Last winter the paper of four or five travelling companies was unsuit able for display and should have been destroyed as soon as exposed. The posters of "Cissy Fitzgerald were especially offensive, and something about the cigar girl, who is nosing on the streets now, is shocking. It seems to be no one's business to protest against improper signs, and an officer appointed with out pay, but with power to prohibit the display of certain signs, would need be an exceptional character. "So Anthony Comstock need apply. The pictures of processional and rythmical ballet girls are inocuous as well as those of the lightly poised premiere danteuse. It is difficult to describe the kind of posters which the munici pality should not allow on the streets, but in general, the subject is feminine, the expression hypocritical and the pose and intention bad. Some member of the City Improvement association of liberal education, of non-prudish habit, a not exacting or impossible theoristor moralist might be made inspector of signs with much benefit to the city. It would be her duty 'to see that old and defaced postersshould be taken down and the paper not thrown into the streets as is frequent ly done now. It was the committee of women of Scvr York city who, when they were appointed to inspect the street cleaning, found out and made public the fact that the tenure of office of thestreet-sweeperSjdrivers, sorters and dumpers depended on pol itics noton the qualityand qantityof work done. They reported the state of affairs to Mayor Strong and he ap pointed Geo. E. Waring and gave him authority to hire and discharge the three thousand men in the street cleaning department without refer ence to party, or, what is more inclu sive, to politics. Mr. Waring has cleaned New York city and in doing so has reduced the death rate over ten percent. The citizens owe the im provement to Mayor Strong who made it possible for Mr. Waring to work without reference to anything except cleaning the cit3 at the smallest outlay possible to secure good service. But indirectly the citi zens owe the improvement to the women who made a searching ! 4 J .!