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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1899)
VOL. XIV. NO. II. KSTABLISHBD IN 1880 -v PRICE FIVK kceW m '41 i. LINCOLN. NBBR., SATURDAY. JANUARY 14,18011. kw s Entered in TnE postoffice at Lincoln as SECOND CLASS MATTER. PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY -n- THE COURIER PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO Office 1132 N etreet, Up StairB. Telephone 384. SARAH B. HARRIS, Editor Subscription listen In Advance. Per annum $100 Six months 75 Three raonthB 50 One month 20 Single copies 05 Tub Courier will not bo responsibln for vol untary communications unless accompaniod by roturn postuKO. Communications, to rocoivo nttontion, must bo signed by ttio full niimo of tho writer, not moroly as a jjuarantoo of Rood faith, but for publication if advisable, : 8 OBSERVATIONS. 1 The city attorney has not acted upon the suggestion made in these columns two weeks since that lie recommend to the city council the employment of some Industrious car penter who had a family dependent upon him for support to devote ten hours each day to inspecting and re pairing sidewalks or removing the same where repairs were not practica ble and that the city dispense with the presence in the city building of the person who is paid the compensa tion of a street commissioner but whose services are not worth to the city one dollar per year. The failure of the municipal lawyer to act upon this suggestion Is regretted because there are people who supported him for office in the belief that he would be prompt to act on behalf of the city In any matter pertaining to his de partment even If such action resulted in the removal of worthless and the employment of valuable public ser vants. It Is regretted because of the belief that such a recommendation from General Webster would not have been Ignored but would have been adopted by the council and thereby the public service would have been improved. Possibly the aid which "Bud" Lindsay can afford the mem bers of the legislature In tho election of a senator will be of such Inestima ble value to the state that the city can afford to dispense with his service un til a senator shall have been chosen, but assuming that to be true ho ought to be given a furlough without pay until he booms bis favorite senatorial candidate. The frequency with which tho city Is being held fr damages by reason of defective sidewalks Is a mat ter of public concern and the munici pality ought to adopt tome drastic measures which will result in remov ing the liability. This can be done by the employment of men who will perforin the duties for which they are paid even if they do not appear so prominent in hotel lobbies where the business of politics is transacted. Captain Ito'.lo O. Phillips died in San Francisco last Monday morning at !) of the clock. His body arrived in Lincoln this morning. The funeral services were held in Holy Trinity church, which he and Mrs Phillips have attended for almost thiity years. This community haB the same quality of respect and tenderness for Captain Phillip3 as for Thackeray's Colonel Neweorae His military experience gave him a soldierly bearing, but the boyish, tender heart, the inborn cour tesy and uprightness were never alfeet ed by any experience. He kept faith always. They say no man Is an Irre mediable loss to the world. It may be so to the world of business. Yet that sphere is not tiio larger part of life though it appear so. And Lincoln will never be the same to those who loved Captain Phillips In the early years of his life here Captain Phillips was interested in the politics and economics of his city and state but gradually, as he was made secretary and executive officer of two large land companies, after he had played his part, like the man he was, In public affairs, he devoted most of his time to tho company's business and the management of his own hon orably acquired fortune. His illnesH followed upon the failure of the Capi tal National bank, for which he was utterly blameless nd one of the chief loners. Captain Phillips was a studious man and more interested in the life, intellectual and spiritual, than his hearty enjoyment of living indicated. His life is indeed worth pondering. At a recent banquet in Cincinnati Colonel Bryan said, "We cannot afford to destroy the Declaration of Independence; we can not afford to eraso from our constitution, state and national, the Bill of Bights." Tho Colonel has a great nose for smoke hence he would keep the tire department constantly rushing about the country with a view tc putting something out. There is pending no proposition for the destruction of the Declaration of Independence or the erasure of the Bill of Rights. If there was can the Colonel inform us what mothods the would-be destroyers and erasers would pursue in the accom plishment of their purpose? The Declaration of Independence was something of an instrument in its day. It is now, on each recurring fourth of July. It embodies the language used by our forefathers when with a sturdy disregard for the truth they asserte i that all men are created cqua'; that they arc endowed with the inalienable right to life, liberty and tho pursuit of happiness; that governments derive their Just powers from the consent of the gov erned, and that the United Colonies wore free and independent States. It is simply a record of what the folks said about those things at that time. It was intended to and did awaken the effective patriotism of the men and women of that day.ncverthelesslt would have been valueless but for the success of the revolution which It heralded. It Is of no more practical value today than are the forms of sup plication for dr weather and rain which are to be found in church ritu als, useless but not uupleasing remin iscences of the past. Yet how is it to be destroyed? Who seeks or advocates its destruction? We became embroiled in a war with Spain, a nation which in Mexico and Peru exterminated more than liftcen million people and destroyed a higher and better civilization than itsolf had ever known. With unparalellcd bar barity it expelled from its borders Its only Industrial class, the Moors who hud been children of Spanish soil for more than live hundred yeirs, separa ting from their parents and retaining as prisoners all children under four years of age. Its king, for whom the Philippines were named, by one decree condemned to death all the people of the Netherlands. It established and maintained the inquisition that effective instrument for the coercion of the human mind; that terrible tribunal which met in secret, which admitted no witness, no advocate; vhielj condemned the works of Copernicus, imprisoned Gali eo and burned Bruno as a heretic; whose victims in three hundred and twenty seven years were more than three hundred and forty thousand human beings, thirty-two thousand of whom were burned alive. It is the destiny of this nation to wrest from Spain the last vestage of territory and powor that resulted to it from the discover ies of Columbus and Magellan. When that is accomplished we shall bestow upon the people liberated from Span ish and ecclesiastical tyranny, bigotry and brutality a stable form of govern ment which will secure to them all the rights enjoyed by a people whose ancestors not only promulgated a dec laration of independence but attained independence in fact. A better form of government than any Spanish sub ject evtr enjoyed and which will in every sense tend to the improvement of the peoplo who live under It. If to accomplish this object, annexation is necessary annexation will follow. Jf in the Judgment of those entrusted with the administration of national alfalfa a colonial policy is best adapted to secure the desired end that policy will be adopted. The people of tiiese islands, so recently the subjects of Spain, will not be abandoned to their own Incapacity for self government nor will they be permitted to become the prey of other nations. It will es tablish and enforce law and order with or without the consent of the govern cd who will eventually realize and ac cept the benefits which Mow from our system of laws. To enact and enforce laws for the protection of persons and property and to maintain society in these islands; to Improve .the condi tion of the people whom we have en dowed with civil and religious liberty; to maintain our position at the front in the rank of nations even at the ex perts of an increased military and naval establishment Is the destiny of this nation, and neither imperialistic spook, nor self sullloient Scotchmen, nor antiquated Senator from Mass achusetts Bay. nor Duck Hunter from Princeton, nor disappointed Boy Orator will prevail against It. Interest in a trans-Isthmian canal Is growing. Many millions of dollars have been spent on both the Punama and the Nicaragua routes. The for mer, although tho shorter and nearer completion, is opposed by the Nicara gua promoters on the ground that the Clavton-Bulwer treaty, gives the United States, and the United States only, equal control over the canal with the Nicaragua government. The Panama canal is controlled by a com pany called The New Panama Canal N Co Most of the directors are French, but none of them have any connection with the old company of which M. Ferdinand de Lesseps was president. According to an Illustrated pamphlet Issued in November bj the new com pany the work on the Panama canal is two-fifths completed and In ten years the work will be done The new company was organized in 1894 and the stock is owned by "a large num bcrof financial InstitutiotiBuf France." The capital stock is 313,000,000.. Tile stock was made non negotiable to prevent speculation. From thatyear to v tills a force of from 3,000 to 4,000 men " , have been at work on the canal. The terminal harbors, Colon on the Carib bean sea and Panama on the Pacific ocean are natural, not artificial har bors and easy of .access. Neither re quire protection or further oxcavation. Since the reorganized company lias been conducting the operations, the health of the canal employees lias been excellent. The white workmen, unused to hard labor under a tropical sun have been replaced witli negroes from the British Antilles and the mortality Is reduced to the normal rate. The length of the canal is forty-six miles of which nearly thirteen miles on the Atlantic side and nine and oue-half miles on the Pacific Is completed. Tho time of transit will be less than a day and merchant and war vessels of the largest size can be accommodated. There are no active volcanoes within 200 miles while the Nicaragua route N