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LINCOLN. NBB., SATURDAY. OCTOBER 10. 1807.
'Entered in the posTorncK at lincolx as
SECOND CLASS MATTES.
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY
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THE COURIER PRINTIRG AID PUBLISHING GO
Office 1132 N Btreet, Up Stairs.
Telephone. 384.
SARAH H. HARRIS.
DORA BACHELLER
EdUor
Business Manager
Subscription Rates In Advance.
Per annum 92 00
Six months 1 00
Three months 50
One month 20
Single copies 05
OBSERVATIONS. Z
u:
- The membership of the Union
Commercial club now comprises most
of the men of the city who have made
enough of a success of existence to lc
employers rather than employed. All
the professions except, perhaps, the
ministerial, and most of the branches
"of commerce located here are repre
sented. The basisof theirassociation
is purely social. The rooms are the
meeting place of friends, who separate
into groups and play games, gossip or
talk politics or business as they please.
They come and go as they please. There
are no rules. Mutual improvement,
city improvement, child study or
economics are scarcely ever men--tioned.
Now this is just as it should
be. The club was organized to minis
ter to the gregarious instincts of the
men of Lincoln and it is fulfilling that
purpose with greater or less satis
faction according to the more or less
exacting requirements of the indi
vidual member. But the members of
such an organization might take an
interest in decent and economical
city government. They might devote
an occasional hour to an examination
of the-progress the city has made in
the direction towards which all cities,
even the worst, are striving. The
science of city government would re
pay a little study by these men who
"represent the best in the city. An
hour or two once a fortnight spent in
brotherly discussion of the conditions
which make residence in Lincoln un
healthy and at the same time expen
sive, would undoubtedly result in
changing those conditions for the
better. A little of the keen compre
hension of difficulties and the best
way to surmount them, by which the
membership of the club has lieen
successful in individual management,
if applied to city affairs, without re
gard to politics, would imri'Cdiately
be felt in the ring whioh now con
trols the city. Essayists and students
of economics say that it is only when
the city or state is in extremis that
her citizens are apt to exhibit patri
otic attachment. The cumulation of
selfish conspiracies in regard to the
city water and in regard to the city
lighting, has exasperated the citizens
to such an extent as to illuminate
their patriotism and loosen the hold
wnich party has on them. The
granting of another important fran
chise to Mr. Thompson may be enough
to turn democratic uncertainty into
victory. It is a small spark to set so
big a tire, but the heap has been in
creasing in size and inflammability un
til only a small spark is necessary.
Last winter when a German officer
ran a peasant through with his sword
for having accidentally fallen against
him, the paiers of the United States
were severe in condemning a military
system which allowed such a crime to
go practically unpunished. The out
rage at Fort Sheridan, where a pri
vate soldier was bound and dragged by
the heels to the place where the
military court was in session is worse
than the German incident by so much
more as this is a free country and
Germany a monarchy at the mercy of
a brutal and half-mad soldier. Then
the officer who stabbed the peasant
was drunk. lie had been carousing,
he was boasting of his greatness as an
officer when the peasant lurched
against him. Flushed by wine and
by his conception of his position, in
the presence of his companions it was
incumbent unm him to destroy a
churl who knew no more than to
shove an officer. litit the case at Sheri
dan was different The private had
committed no personal offense against
the officer who was ent to bring the
prisoner to court. The officer had
not been drinking. He was in the
act of performing a customary duty
and there were no companions to ap
plaud his severity. The officer capable
of such an offense should at least
lose his rank in the army. Such men
as he keep respectable men from en
listing. It is the frequent complaint
of recruiting officers that only men
who have failed to make a living,
who arc incompetents in every way,
apply for admittance to the army.
Such an incident as this will not tend
to increase the popularity of the army
either with those who are already
privates or witli those who thought of
joining it.
The report of the special com
mittee, appointed six mouths ago for
the purpose of investigating the
water deartment of the city was
read to the council on Monday night.
Messrs Comstock. Woodward. Spears,
Fin lay and Lawlor constituted the
committee and the report was sign
ed by all the members except Mr.
Lawlor. The last mentioned explain
ed his refusal to sign the report by the
statement that he was opposed to the
recommendation of the apiMiintiucnt
of a water inspector and examiner
and to the purchase by the deirt
ment of two pair of scales to lie locat
ed at the Rice well and at any other
place where the council may decide
to locate a new station.
The report of the committee is a
business like, frank statement of
the cost of the three stations for a
year and their conclusions after a
relative comparison of the cost and
quality of water furnished by the
three wells. For instance: "It is the
judgement of this committee that the
F and South street pumping stations
should be abandoned as soon as a suf
ficient supply of gof.d and wholesome
water can be obtained in some other
locality and that by the consolidation
of the South and F street stations
the cost of operating expenses can be
greatly lessened. For instance dur
ing the year from July 1, 18W, to Julv
1, 18!7, it cost $tf,321.3t to operate the
F street station, from which station
very little water was pumped, it be
ingsimply held in reserve for fire
purposes.
The committee is of the opinion
that the A street test wells should Ihj
immediately connected with the
mains and the citizens given the bene
fit of the good water derived there-
from while an exhaustive test of said
wells is proceeding."'
If I understand the report, which
is a little difficult in the passage
where it recommends the abandon
ment of the South street and F street
stations and in the same paragraph
their consolidate u, the committee
advise the abandonment of the F and
South street stations if a sufficient
flow of pure water be found elsewhere,
if not the consolidation of the two
stations: if the A street pumping test
proves that there is water there in
abundance, the location of a perman
ent station there; the purchase by the
department of a jiair of scalesforeach
permanent pumping station; the plac
ing of a meter at every point where
the water mains are tapped, begin
ning in the placing thereof with those
taps where most water is consumed;
and the appointment of a water inspec.
tor who will collect reliable data for
the re-rating of water assessments.
The committee believes that if
these suggestions are acted upon the
water deiKirtment will he self support
ing. There is a little doubt that, con
sidering the experience of the state
with coal dealers at various state iu
stitutionssituated in different parts of
the state that the recommendation as
to the location of a jKiir of scales at
each pumping station is a wise one
and that the adoption of this par
ticular advice by the council on Mon
day night will save the city thousands
of dollars. The city scales may be all
right but pumping station scales aie
inclined to be more acurate, for cer
tain reasons which inhere in human
nature rather than in scales. The re
fusal of Mr. Lawlor to sign the rejiort
because it recommended scales is per
fectly consistent with his previous
championship of the South street
station which consumed more coal
than any other station considering
the amount of water pumped.
Take it altogether, this report of
the water committee is the first en
couraging sign that the people have
had that the water question is
Hearing a satisfactory solution. All
the recommendations are b.ised on the
trial and failure of other methods.
The council recognized the soundness
of the advice and adopted it. "With
all the city wells located in a fresh
water basin, by the use of electricity
which will locate the pumpingstatiou
at one place, preferably the Rice sta
tion, by the adoption of the meter
system to stop waste, the department,
will le self supporting without the
aid or consent of any private iudivu
dual.
j
It is of course difficult for a coun
cil to resist the more or less direct in
fluence of the holders of Gas company
stock, who are naturally in favor of
increasing tne earning capacity of the
plant by alnnit three hundred per
cent of the cost of the extra labor and
coal required to do the pumping.
Stockholders in the Gas company are
canny citizens. By years of Ialior and
saving tht'y have accumulated money
enough to get into the "prominent
citizen" category, and influence en
ough to carry through whatever pro.
ject seems profitable. If the council
and citizens resist their insidious ad
vances it will be unexpected but none
the less satisfactory to the body of
taxpayers who groan without relief
under the burden of an increasing
tax levy. Letting the pumping con
tract to the water company at $20,000
a year is $3,000 more than the maj-or
himself admitted that the city can
do it for. It is to the interest of the.,
whole community that the city con
tinue to perform" the remainder of tho