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LINCOLN, NEB., SATURDAY. APRIL, 23, 1898..
Ehtzkediy the posTorncB at ltncolx as
SECOND CLASS MATTES.
PUBLISHED EVEBY SATDBDAY
IHE GNUER NHffliG AftlSHM
Office 1132 N street, Up Stairs.
Telephone 384.
SARAH B.HABBI3, Editor.
1
Subscription Kates In Advance.
Per annum 29
8ix months ; 75
Three months 50
One month 20
Single copies 05
The Courier will not be responsi
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Communications, to receive atten
tion, must be signed by the-full name
of the writer, not merely as a guaran
tee of good faith, but-for publication
if advisable.
r
8 OBSERVATIONS.
U
The observation of the twenty-second
day of April has been recom
mended by many state superintend
ants of schools as Bird day. Superin
tendant Jackson of our own state con
curs in and emphasizes the need of
such a day. The mental stimulation
resulting from all intelligent con
templation of nature is well under
stood by the new teacher of children.
Things that fly and crawl or that
merely stand and grow are being
watched by the sympathetic little
scientists that the schools are now
turning out. The Courier has re
ceived from a source not clearly
stated, a book whose covers are orna
mented with carefully colored plates
of a pigeon and a quail. The exquis
itely delicate penciling of the wing
feathers of the quail and the prismatic
purples of the neck and head feathers
of the pigeon are reproduced with an
exactness exceeding the art of the
painter. From a preface I gather
that the covers are those of a Chicago
monthly publication called "Birds"
It is a. magazine calculated to direct
the attention of readers, young and
old; to theljeauty and utility of birds.
' The copyat hand contains suggestions
mainly in verse for recitations.- A
general observation and celebration of
Bird day and the lessons on birds,
which comebetweenwill do as much
to enthrone the summer visitors from
the south in the hearts of children,
who are always faithful vassals of
something or other, as the George
"Washington day exercises have done
for the father of our country.
Jt
The withdrawal of the cadet bat
talion froiathe-university to garrison
the Indian outposts will be most de
pressing. The soldierly young felloAS
in blue-have been a characteristic of
Lincoln streets for so many seasons
that their disappearance-before the
time of- the 'summer vacation will
cause an aching void to many besides
mothers,sistersand sweethearts but the
actual experience of garrison disci
pline and the expeditions connected
with an outpost of the army is what
most of the young fellows have been
longing for and they would welcome
even the hardships of such a life
eagerly. A summer at Fort Robin
son, Assinaboine, Crook or Riley with
the pay of a privateer commissioned
officer, as the case might be, would
answer the question of summer occu
pation which torments the boys and
their parents every vacation. Al
though service at a fort is very seldom
dangerous, the discipline is rigid and
there is nothing to remind the recruit
of the play-soldier experiences of the
military school or university where he
learned how to stand up straight. The
university battalion, as a whole, is
looking forward to assignment to duty
in nearby forts with pleasure.
The establishment of a chair of do
mestic science by the regents at their
late niieting is in the direction of the
utilitarian and immediate application
of university lectures, which is an
especial characteristic of the western
university. Miss Bouton, who has
consented to undertake the duties of
a lecturer on domestic science, in ad
dition to her laboratory work, is well
qualified to make the experiment a
success. She has been lecturing for
some years on the chemistry of foods, so
that so far as she is concerned, it is
not an experiment. The growth of
the .agricultural college whose curric
ulum bears the same relation ' to
chemistry as domestic economics is aa
indication of the 'popularity that
awaits a properly developed depart
ment of the kind jU3t established.
The appointment of Mrs. H. II. Wil
son as dean of the women of the uni
versity is one which has met with
much approval. Among "the alumna
of the state university Mrs. Wilson
holds almost an unique position. She
has a wide acquaintance 'among the
club women of the city and state, and
she has kept in touch with the con
temporary life and learning by taking
a course of lectures at the university
on two separate occasions since her
graduation She has also assisted the
faculty in entertaing the students and
possesses their acquaintance and con
fidence. The confluent experiences
gained in clubs, in under graduate
and post graduate work, in church
and charity work, in university and
in general society, as well as from the
training of children and in the direc
tion of an orderly household eminent
ly qualify Mrs Wilson for the position
which she has undertaken to fill. Be
sides bringing the clubs of the state,
through books and lectures, into more
direct relation with the university,
Mrs. Wilson will deliver a course of
lectures on the English novels for
which her post graduate studies have
especially prepared her. To the un
dergraduate young women in the uni
versity she will be a friend who will
present their needs to the governing
body. It is hoped that from this be
ginning the disposition to recognize
the coeducational character of the
school may expand until the univer
sity is at least equal in this respect to
other western institutions.
Jt
The movement in the new council
to reduce expenses to correspond with
the income of the city is watched with
interest. Of course salaries can be
reduced to a point where self-respecting
and efficient men cannot accept
them without reducing the standard
of living below the rate which custom
and habit has made respectable and
necessary. When this point is passed
only incompetent men will accept
city positions and the service suffers
in consequence. Though the desire of
really able men to hold an office which
pays only a small fraction of the
amount which they are competent to
earn by unofficial indusry, is what
past masters in human nature have
never been able to understand. The
salaries therefore, can be very much
reduced without decreasing to a per
ceptible degree the crowd of honest
and clever men who hunger and thirst
after office. Compared with the
amount of loafing that firemen and
policemen do the salary seems large.
The duties of the policemen in a place"
the size of Lincoln require very little
exertion. A murder does not occur
once a yea'r, a robbery of any conse
quence is infrequent and the only oc
casion for an exhibition of courage and
presence of mind is when a plain or
decorated and unarmed drunk has to
be clubbed into a willingness to ride in
the patrol wagon.At other times the po
liceman walks up the principal streets,"
swings his club and walks back again.
The firemen have a little more to do,
systematically they must groom and
exercise the horses, shine the engines
and form tho most impressive part of
a country street procession. Several
times a year they must exert them
selves strenuously, but their custo
mary attitude is one of waiting and
complete repose. Under these condi
tions the police and fire employes re
ceive higher wages than their em
ployers, the citizens. As to the cleri
cal and executive officers of the city
their compensation does not seem to
be unreasonable, though it has always
been apparent that the number of city
employes was greater than the amount
of work to be performed. If each offi
cer and employe was required to per
form 3G5 days work in a year, barring
legal holidays, the number of jobs
would be much fewer and the amount
of faithful service increased. The
council has evidently taken this view
of the matter very much to the satis
faction of the taxpayers whose turn
seems to have come if it is last.
Of course if the fire department
made any pretensions to the discipline
and effectiveness of a city fire depart
ment in good standing their present
salaries are not two large. But the
lack of discipline and concerted action
in case of fire is onlj- too apparent to
a casual looker on. The salary of the
chief should be enlarged rather tlran
curtailed and an educated and ex
perienced chief secured from a metro
politan fire department. Only by such
means can the property of the citizens
be protected. As to the present de
partment the price is certainly too
high considering its inefficiency.
j
The senate of the United States has
been called the millionaires club. It
has been frequently accused of too
great a tenderness for bonds and
bankers. Many have supposed that
the senate had inurmountable objec
tions to measures or bills having a ten
dency to depreciate stocks, whatever
the sentimental or patriotic reason for
their enactment. The senate is a body
of much older men than those in the
house of representatives. To many
of the senators their salary is pin
money, which they spend on the ele
,gant superfluities of Washington ex
istence. The fluctuations of stocks
have a direct bearing upon their own
income by which what they eat and
wear, and smoke, and where they
lounge, read and sleep Is regulated.
Yet the rich comfort-loving old men
Of the senate have been making fiery,
impassioned speeches trying to per
suade hef young., men of the house,
whos income will be just the same
whether stocks rise or fall, that true
Americanism consists, at this junc-
