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upon the federation. To me they -were
a goodly sight, those women from
Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylva
nia, Ohio and Illinois. They -were
whqjesome and handsome, open
handed and free-hearted. They -were
as earnest and anxious to please as
nny of our Nebraska women. They
were sincere and frank and cordial.
There were no signs of Philadelphia
or Boston or New York exclusheness
in their simple-hearted appreciation
of Colorado hospitality and of the
beauties and glories of the west. They
will be long remembered and Uie les
son of their long journey and hearty
assumption of any duties laid upon
them -will not soon be forgotten by
western women who may have had an
unconscious grudge against them be
cause they can hear the best music
and see Duse and pageantsand breathe
an atmosphere compound of art, mu
sic and literature that educates with
out effort. Hut we have forgiven them
all this for their sweet service and
for their happiness we shall ever pray.
The assinathm of Empress Ehzar
beth. of Austria by an Italian anarch
ist who is very complacent over tw
cowardly deed, has induced the gov
ernments of Europe to begin coneeMt
ed movements against anasrehasts. But
against an assassin with, a stKetoto up
hSs sleeve h is not easy to arm ohm
self. Among a crowd' there as notting
to distinguish him from the rest ex
cept unilesa it be a very dirty face arid
a super-conceited maimier as of one
who coukl Wave made a -better world.
The police must perceive more definOta
signs of suspicion than offensively
dirty face and hands and a supertfu.
ous mammer. They are not trained
psychologists who can pick out a man
carrySnp concealed weaponls and hav
ing designs upon the life of ne
hinnani being' who happen, to b of
royal blood, by his- expression- aindl ilie
faitafc eigrts- that unsrnisJtakably roark
a type, Pcjicemem must see the butit
of a pistol or the leasn of a dagger
before they make on arrest for carry
ing concealed weapons, and' the an
archists, like the crazy men and
women! they ore, conceal their deafly
Jy arms very cunningly. The long list
of assas5mated kings and queens and
presidents who have a body-guaid
more or less complete, at ail times,
shows that it is impossible to guard
against assassinattion. The pecufior
code accepted1 by anarchists makes li
noble to strike down, a defenseless
mam or woman, if he or she happen
to be of royal blood. Their honor is
dishonor and cowardice to the Test
of the wrid, who do not ctafim to be
able to reform it.
There as no adequate punishment
for a crime Eke LaochinS's. The death
penalty is ndt enforced In- SwitaerQand
and if it were the death, of am over
weening: wretch, like "tine murderer
would be of no particular sSgoGficance.
A life sentence will burden society
with his support but there seems to
be nothing else. The incident!, will
probably keep crowned heads out of
Switzerland for some years to come.
.Men like these make the name of re
puW5c a reproach, for they use toe
wider liberty to cloak anrawful deeds.
Against anarchists of the Chicago and
Geneva, type a combkiatioa of the goT
emsients of the earth' would be wel
comed by any people, however free,
but the difficulty of identtificationi be
fore the adt wouM make such a com-bknation-
ineffectual.
The investigation committee air
pointed by the president to inquire
fcrto the selection of camp sites and
the appointment of volunteer army
officers, to investigate the quarter
nasters, surgeon generals' and com
mieswy generals' branches of the war
department and to locate the blame for
the mismanagement of the war, will
need strong wills and a genius far
system to keep their heads above the
mass of documents and' the amount
of testimony, wiit'ing for a committee
to undertake it. So far as possible
the members of such a committee
should not be either special friends
or enemies of Secretary Alger or Gen
eral Miles. Upon the strictly neutral
and disinterested character of the
committee depends the amount of re
spect the puouic will 3jave for its final
decision. As General Schoneld has
been a rival of and' is known to dis
like General Miles it is desirable than
he -be not made the chairman of a
committee which will eventually, as
a result of investigation, be obliged
to criticise either the secretary of war
or the commander in cnief. Noting
the objections whichi General allies
makes to the selection of General
Schofield as chairman, the substitu
tion of some other man, een. though
he be less competent and no more
fairer minded than General Schofield,
will tend to increase confidence in the
committee of investigation-.
President McEinJey's loyalty to his
friends is one reasoui why hie has so
many. Unlike either President Har
rison or President Cleveland, Presi
dent McEicfley is a warm-blooded, so
ciable man who loves his friends with
a warm, human, unexalted friendli
ness whichi has election intensified
rather than froze. His democratic
predecessor was. as grateful to the
meta who had spent money and dam
aged their vocal chords past repair
to secure his election, as a cross
legged Chinese god is xo his worship
ers and about ts responsive. Mr.
Cleveland was never impressed wita
anything but his own infailibEity. He
considered his service sacred and its
own reward. Anj- favors from hhn
to "those upon whose shoulders he
mounted to the presidentkil chair
where uncalled for according to his
appreciation of his relation to other
men, which is somewhat like that of
Emperor William's conception of hSm
who is divinely appointed to rule and
receive the homage of an empire. Mr.
Harrison was not so aggressively and
fathomlessly conceited, but he was
cold. He made happy speeches and
was at his best in assemblies of men.
In an office, in hiis daily intercourse
with; hSs fellowmen when he did not
receive them in groups, the atmos
phere was arctic. The friendliness
and simplicity of President McKinley
is heightened b3 the hauteur and iso
lation of his two immediate predeces
sors, but absolutely and without com
parison he is a main whom other meat
like. His disposition to remember fa
vors and his uncritical acceptance of
men for what they seem to be, prot
ably led him to appoint General. Al
ger secretary of war. The appoint
ment was recognized at the time, by
those who knew General Alger, as
weak, but if war hud not occurred, the
secretary's incapacity for large affairs
would have been' safe from discovery.
President McKinley is of course anx
ious to have his judgment vindicated,
but in face of the selection of un
healthy camp and hospital sites and
the kick of preparations for the com
fort of the soldiers at 'Montnuk Point
when the department had more than
a fortnight to prepare for them, St
looks dark for the secretary of state.
Whatever the committee may d
cide the system f political appoint
ments in war time is the main cause
of the sickness and suffering. Igno
rant volunteer officers, men of subor
dinate positions in civil life, and of in
ferior ability were put In cnarge of a
company of men because an uncle or
a father had a pull. If one man is as
good as another, it is most un-American
to eaarifice o. whole company to
the ambition of a weakling whose pa
pa has used (his influence to make
him a captain. Competent officerts in
the regular army have been passed ov
er in order taat unpatriotic governors
and congressmen may exercise their
prerogatives of patronage. To their
appointees added to the helplessness
of the head of the department is the
cruel loss of life due.
The volunteer soldiery were picked
men, flawless according' to the doc
tor's certificate. All men. wit- latent
difficulties were rejected. It is there
fore unfair to compare the percentage
of deaths to that in a crowded city
community. Youth and youth, at its
strongest was slaughtered at Chlcka
manga and Montauk PcGnt by self
ishness, and the patronage system
made the murders possible. The re
public has broken faith with those
wlho were ready to die Tor its glory
and it is time to acknowledge it in or
der to make its recurrence impossible.
For how many years the deceased
wife's sister bill has sought repeal in
the English house of lords is not
known known to me, but probably
the interdiction has been the cause of
many a widower leaving his native
land to marry his sister-in-law in a
foreign country, who might, otherwise
have married out of the family. It is
said that the tendency of man to
break or evade a nonsensical, sump
tuary law is inducing widowers in
vast quantities to many deceased
wives' sisters. The law is accomplish
ing what it was designed to prevent,
except in the case of deceased wives'
husbands who lack the means of
escape to a foreign country for the
celebration of the nuptials. Such be
ing the facts of human .nature and
the history of the conduct of widow
ers in England, it behooves the bish
ops and other clergy, who are the
chief opponents to the annulling
clause, to reflect that their pious op
position is really creating an artificial
demand for the deceased wife's sisters
and tends to a monopoly of eligiole
men by one family. Class legislation
is deprecated by all students who re
flect upon the principles of free gov
ernment and deceased wives' sisters
have done nothing to desen e the snap
granted them, by this low, and our
free-born single English sisters have
opposed it for a century. It is said
they are marshalling their forces for
a combined attack on the British par
liament this fall.
The opponents of enforced vaccina
tion will succeed in their efforts to re
peal a bill which they accuse of being,
a serious invasion of their natural
rights. Compulsory vaccination has
preented all but a few sporadic cases
of smallpox and the number f these
is constantly decreasing. When so tri
fling an imposition as compulsory
termination of so loathsome and so
deadly a disease as smallpox, the few
rudimentary anarchists who are never
ready to sacrifice an opinion or on ab
stract and irrelevant principle for th
egeneral good, should be ignored and
the beneficent law upheld. If the
compulsory vaccination bill should be
repealed and the deceased wife's sis
ter's bill again repulse, the attacks
of the spinsters of .Britain, the coin
cidence will be anotner commentary
on the conservative tendencies of the
land'of mutton, ale and squires.
CAUL SMITH.
Mrs. Van Buren Don't you think
Mr. Wabash is just splendid? Such
nice company, you know.
(Mrs. lake Shore (coldly) I never
thought so. He was about the most
disagreeable husband I ever had.
For nearly three yeans the seventd
column of the Chicago Becord's edi
torial page has beejn filled every morning-
of the paper's publication with
the inimitable whimsicalities of Mr..
Carl Smith. Only a few hours (have
passed1 since the aargrj- rapids of tine
Saguenay beat the life out of his
strong yourag body, and has unfettered
laugh is not yet hushed In the ears of
those wire knew- Mm. His spirit seems
diffused1 about the walls of his home,
and one would not embarays hum with
words of .sentimentality nor riip Inxo
hackneyed expressicnt -of commisera
tion! that would arouse his ever ready
sense of .the ridiculous.
Carl Smith was a hard-headed, per
nnrfous lilttle boy, who realized" ait en
early age that he was at the bottom of
tilings. He determined to cEmb,
though he was handicapped' by having
ai number of persons to drag with
him. But he sacrificed his childhood
to -this determination, and was bear
inff a nxm's burden when other boys
are playing- ball. This was, perhaps,
the reason that after he reached man
hood1 he had1 a quality o. singular
chSldMinrss, as if he were trying- to
wrest from fate that which it had eh
deavoredi to withhold. He knew al
most nothing of schools, yet ab four
teen! he was a telegraph operator ana
at twenty-one a newspaper writer or
recognized ability, the possessor of
a strong and picturesque vocabulary
and the power; to read German,
French and Swedish. "The person vho
saw thim upon the street, with his ec
centric dress, his careless air and his
infantile blue eyes, might hae
thought h'im the most confirmed or
provincials. But he was in realaty a
natural cosmopolitan, and if his
duties had taken him among the
Zulus he would 'have managed' to got
at their point of view, and would pre
sently have been explaining them to
themselves.
Mr. Smith wns "set up" in the east,,
as his friends, the prirarers, would
my, but his matrix was oast in the
west, and he had a western man's way
of going at things. He entered jour
nalism by writing an -adiertisement
for the World-Herald of Omaha which
won Mm the prize a gold watoh
and made people wonder whalfc he
meaint. The people were not able to
make hSm out, even after his rhymed
baseball reports were the talk of the
country. Omaha was unable to decide
whether he was a fool or a genius,
nor did it gather much illumination
on itQilat) subject till certain well
known' eastern publications began to
priclt hus poems and his sketches. But
this disregard of his abilities did not
distress Mr. Smith. It probably amus
ed him almost everything did. If he
bad ant antagonist . he unseated him
with, a jest. If he had a friend he
lavished' his spontaneous witticisms
upont him. When -success came to him
he took it as a sort of joke. Mean
time, before success came, he made
h&nnself jack of all the newspaper
tades. He could set a stickful of type
to fill a vacancy i a column while
the stereotypes waited and the Typ
ographical union boys gaped. He could
sketch a recognizable portiroiit or
make a fancy sketch on a chalk plate
arid save'the credit of the "art depart
menit" when' the artist was ill; he
could manage a linotype, "make up"
a paper and meet any possible emer
gency of a newspaper office. His re
sources were onlj equalled by his bra
vado. On' one occasion Mr. PealtUe,
who wtis then managing editor of the
World-Herald, sernt him to Schuyler,
Nebr., where there had been a lynch
ing. Mr. Smith reached' the town- at
a quarter of midnight. The promi
nent citizens who had participated in
.. j.