VOL 13 NO T
ESTABLISHED IN 188G
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PHICE FIVE CENTS.
LINCOLN. NEB.. SATURDAY. JANUARY 22. I81'S.
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T1Y.
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Sarah i Harris
ISbUA BACHELLtR
Editor
Business Manager
cirmtinn Kates In Advance.
uu..f ,. ..
'er annum 9i u
Six months ,J
bree months dU
on
One month -
ingle copies
QO'''
OBSERVATIONS. 8
4oo'
.Indue Scott's decision against tlie
Omaha lire and police commission is
i ....,.rfi with law and our demo
cratic tradition. There is an idea at
the bottom of gubernatorial interfer
ence with local self-government that
!,. ,w,,in urn not to oeinisuru iu
select their own hired men. Thestate
legislature of New York has passed
r ... :.,..t mil nnronstitu-
Some llliiicim't"" "
tional bills interfering wiin me mm..
self-government of New York city.
Reformers seem to think that justice,
puritv and discriminating ability to
select officials to run the people's bus
iness all reside in the country. To be
sure most of the great men in tins
country were born on a farm. But
K .i... .m. t ..t itnv there long, -inej
IUUJ UIU "" -"j
came to the city, where contact with
their kind broadened and freed them
from the characteristics that isolation
breeds. The farnTcr Isffctturally. no
better than all the rest of the sons of
g Eve who earn their bread uy uicse.it
X ...i.n:.l,n.w fin : lrroWSSUSPlClOUs 01
city people and resorts to tricks to
beat them which none but the lowest
in the city would stoop to. He comes
to town with a wagon load of wheat
or corn in which there are large rocks
concealed, and drives upon the eleva
tor scales with an untroubled con
science, sure that all men arc liars and
thieves and that he must tight them
:mi tiioir own weapons. Such con-
0r duct would be condemned by the ordi
jfi nnr mnrriliant on account of its com
mercial silliness, if for no other rea
son. He knows that his credit and his
patronage are immediately weakened
by dishonest practices and that do
tection is certain. A few days ago a
number of housekeepers in the south
east part of the city were victimized
by a farmer who otleied them addled
eggs at fifteen cents per dozen below
the current market prire, assuring
them that the eggs were freshly laid.
The farmer sold twenty-live dozen
without much trouble, and when
Spring comes he can easily sell the
same women bargain vegetables, for
they will have forgotten his ingenuous
features. A reiorter of the Call who
visited thestate ienitentiary last week
says that there is a greater proportion
of farmers there than of any other
business. (Incidentally, there are no
lawyers there.) This is to be expected
iu a population so overwhelmingly
agricultural as Nebraska. But if the
popular idea were correct the propor
tion of agriculturalists now engaged,
in the sedentary occupations of stitch
ing leather and broom corn at the
penitentiary would be much smaller.
The farmer is no better than other
men and he will not be any worse
when isolation shall have ceased to
make him suspicious and revengeful.
Even then he should not be allowed to
vote on qtiestionsof the adjacent city's
tire and police officers; first, because
he does not pay their salaries, and
secondly and inclusively, representa
tion is based on taxation.
Governor Holcomb's appointments
have not shown a largeY wisdom, a
purer motive than the ordinary
dweller in a brick row of city houses.
His appointments are of the earth,
carMiy. They do not show the en
lightened agricultural purity that he
is supposed to represent, and which
his admirers allege as an excuse for
the gaucheric and obscure construc
tion of his public utterances, lie has
not shown that he is better able to
run Omaha or Lincoln than the citi
zens themselves, and Judge Scott's
decision is concurred in by everybody
who believes that God made the city
as well as the country.
Mr. Austin of the Call, and others
equally earnest but less vociferous,
state objections to the selection of Mr.
Bushnell for postmaster which in any
party that maintained any discipline
would prove an insurmountable obsta
cle to his appointment. He is charged
with a lack of fealty to party men and
party measures, and there seems to be
no lack of proof to sustain the indict
ment; this, however, under the prac
tice that has heretofore obtained,
ought not to deprive him of the cov
eted position. The best federal ap
pointment in this state was at there
quest of a republican senator, Mr.
Thurston, given to Mr. Houtz, who, at
a time when Mr. Bushnell through the
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columns of his paper was expressing
his doubt as to the wisdom of the Mc
Kinley tariff act and in a hesitating
way advocating legislation iu favor of
free coinage of silver, was using his
best etTorts to secure the election tf
W. J. Bryan as the representative (f
this congressional district iu congress.
The policy of republican managers in
this state has been to reward treach
ery rather than fealty, to recompense
those who have broken the faith
rather than those who have kept it.
The sin that Bushnell sinned ought
not under well established and rejieat
edly recognized precedents Lar him
as an applicant for an appointive of
fice under a republican administra
tion. rL'ajty-Uclavo-UttJU-waalrtuirU mA
party
o
h
pbrt:ift
the
re
thiscoag
sent as a representative of tlie repub
lican party to the national convention
at St. Louis in lS'.x; a mulatto who,
within a period of about ninety days,
was seven times arrested on as many
different charges of having violated
criminal laws. The chairman of the
county convention which selected
delegates from this county to the dis
trict convention that selected Bud
Lindsey as the congressional delegate
was remembered by the party at the
last election for tlie part which lie took
in sending to a national convention as
a representative republican a person
bearing such a malodorous reputa
tion. It was recently stated in an evening
paper that if Mr. Bushnell is appoint
ed postmaster, Liudsey is to be given
the position in the office now held by
Mr. Worr.il. I predict that if such an
appointment is made not a member of
the next legislature from Lancaster
county wi'I be a republican. Repub
licans will not submit tosuch indigni
ties. If the republican party has not
within its ranks workers who are re
spectable men, who have made a Ii
ing in some occupation more honora
ble than that of a dive keeper, it
ought to retire from power and turn
over the administration of public
affairs to some party possessing more
decency, if less ability.
It is a surprise to a great many who
have had reason to suspect that the
water department is leaking that the
committee has been able to discover
so small a sum paid out improperly,
whether it eventually reached a real
laborer or not. When the public is
convinced that the department is not
run in the interests of the city and a
committee is induced by the force of
public opinion to investigate, the pub
lic exacts to be informed of the rea
son why the department has not paid.
A sum of sixty-live dollars or so mis
applied will not explain it, though it
does show the unfitness of the water
commissioner for his position. Mr.
Thompson's puinpiugscheme includes
the hire of only two men, where about
twentyare now employed. To serve
the purpose or enlarging the political
patronage of this department of the
city, just as many, instead of as few
men as possible, have been employed
at the four stations. This policy, to
gether with the number of stations
and the unfortunate coal font met, is
the cause of the empty treasury. Mr.
connected with the policcdcpartmenb
disgraceful conduct was charged to
him by another committee and Mr.
Byer resigned after an investigation
that made tlie daily newspapers unfit
for family use. Nevertheless, Mr.
Bycr's retirement from his present
position will not appreciably increase
the revenues of the waterdepartment.
We need a new system mora than a
new man, and until we adopt it the
yearly deficit will increase.
1 noted last week the alleged im
provement in the financial manage
ment of the penitentiary under the
present state administration as set
forth in the published report of the
legislative investigating committee,
from which it is made to appear that
the cast of maintaining convicts has
Ieen reduced to $3.38 per convict per
month. Upon a rental basis of 40
cents per convict per day (lam in
formed thestate receives 30 cents per
day for each convict whose labor is
leased), and estimating that 80 per
cent of the convicts can be employed
at remunerative labor, thestate would
receive $2.1)12 per month per convict
labor, while it would expend 91,183 per
month for the maintenauceof 3.Q con
victs: the excess of receipts over ex
penditures would be 81,72!per month.
In the nine and one-half months since
April 1, 1897, this excess would amount
to the sum of S10,42.'.r0, thus making
the penitentiary a source of revenue
instead of an expense. If it costs only
$3.38 per month to maintain each con
vict, during the last nincand one-half
months the state has expended in such
maintenance $I1,243.."0. The records
in the office of the auditor show that
Continued on Page 8.
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