VOL. XIV. NO. III.
BSTABLISHBD IN 1880
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LINCOLN. NBBH., SATURDAY. JANUARY 21, 18011.
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8ARAH B. HARRIS, .- Editor
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L OBSERVATIONS. 8
Tlie gas company, in reducing the
price of fuel gas to consumers, said
that the price was lowered on account
of the larger consumption. When the
price of illuminating gas is made
lower, consumption of the produce
will probably increase proportionately,
so that the receipts at the gas office
will not fall off. If the fuel gas were
of a cheaper and inferior quality to
the illuminating gas and it were con
ducted to the consumer through
different mains, the gas company
might claim that they could not afford
to sell illuminating gas as cheaply
as fuel gas. But the gas arrives on
the premises of the consumer in the
same main. That which is used for
fuel oscapes through a pipe attached
to a gas stove and the rest is drawn off
at need from the various faucets lo
cated in the house. The kitchen gas
and the parl'r gas are identical ex
cept in the gas company's bill, in
which the former is charged to the
consumer at $1.50 a thousand, with a
discount of 10 por cent if paid before
tlio sixth of the month, and the latter
is charged to the consumer at the rate
of 92.00 per thousand feet with a dis
count of 10 per cent if the bill is paid
before the sixth. Inasmuch as the
only difference consists in the use to
which the cousumor puts the gas after
it leaves tho company's mains and
does not inhoro in the gas Itself,
and it depends upon chance alone,
whether a bubble be used in the roast
ing of a turkey or the illumination of
a boudoir, Councilman Mockett's
conclusion is sound that a discrimina
tion in prico which is not based either
on quality, or the cost of production is
unwarrantable. When a merchant
sells an article to a customer, it is, or
should be, a matter of indifference to
the merchant to what use the buyer
puts the article he has bought. Tho
reduction in the price of fuel gas was
made necessary in order to compete
with the lower prices of coal. Unless
the cost of the two fuels were par
tially equalized it was, of course, im
possible for gas to compete with coal
as a fuel. On the other hand illumin
ating gas had no competitor, except
electricity, which is controlled by the
same company. Under these circum
stances It was determined to sell the
same commodity for two priees. If
the meter showed that the gas, after
it left the company's mains and passed
into the control of the consumer, was
used by him to cook with, he could
have it for a dollar and a half a thous
and feet, but if he used it to read
Shaksperc by, it sets the company
back two dollars a thousand feet and
the bill is made out accordingly. That
the company has been anxious to sell
all the gas possible at the cheaper
rate is shown by the extensive adver
tising of fuel gas which it has done in
the lust year or two. That the rate
for illuminating gas is too large is
shown by the large number of firms
which have put in plants of their own
and made money by it. Herpolsheimer
& Co. for instance put in their own
plant and the nightly illuminations,
which cost the firm 8300 a month, now
cost it less than 970. Frivate house
holders can not do this. From the
nature of the case they are without
protection unless the municipality
can protect them from extortion.
General Eagan's intemperate lan
guage before the commission of inves
tigation should receive a severe re
buke. The coarseness of his remarks
before a commission of the United
States government, appointed by the
president himself, has shocked the
country more than any accident of the
campaign in Cuba. The one was due
to the mobilization of an army and
tho appointment of untried officials.
The other was the deliberate, written
evidence of corruption of the military
beaureau in Washington. General
Miles' military career has been bril
liant and no accusation of dishonesty
has eve been made against him. Ho
won his honors in thecivil war and is
not a graduate of West Point. For
this reason his rapid rise in the army
has created an unusual amount of
jealousy. He himself is conceited
and perhaps a trifle overconfident, but
he is every inch a soldier and an hon
orable man. As the commander-in-chief
of the army of the United
States he is entitled to a considera
tion which he has not received from
Secretary Alger. In consenting to
listen to the abominable tirade which
General Eagan delivered, the com
mission discredited itself in the eyes
of the American people and revealed
evidences of a cabal against General
Miles. Considering Secretary Alger's
partiality for the Inefficient Shaftcr
and what we owe Genoral Miles for
turning Shaftcr's defeat into victory
the American people will not be in
different if General Eagan is allowed
to go unpunished. General Miles is a
soldier before he Is a politician. lie
has made charges against the beef
supplied which very likely he cannot
prove. There are some things which
are very difficult to prove and this
charge of embalmed beef is one. But
in the whole course of his life General
Miles has acquired a reputation for
truthfulness which cannot be over
overlooked in settling this matter.
There is evidence that sumc of the
meat was treated to a process which
dried the juices and made it most un
palatable. The term "embalmed" Is
unfortunate both from its connection
and because the meat appears to have
been soaked in a salty solution which
it was thought would keep it from
spoiling. But General Miles, exas
perated by the snubs which he him
self received from the department at
Washington and genuinely grieved
over what he considered the unneces
sary sufferings of the soldiers, called
the meat which they could not oat
embalmed." His selection of an ad
jective brought down upon his good
and gray, if withall somewhat self
willed and conceited head, the wrath
of the packers of pork and beef, Ar
mour and Cudahy and Morris and
Swift. The immense slaughter houses
these men operate employ thousands
of men and their products are shipped
all over the world. Other nations are
inclined to follow Germany in her
discrimination against American pork
and the testimony of so prominent an
American as Genoral Miles in the ease
of Europe and Asia against America,
materially, but unjustly, strengthens
the plaintiff's case. Therefore the
unanimous and indignant protest
of the packors. The immediate
effect of their righteous enough pro
test is apparent in the testimony of
General Eagan. His protest is all
right but his language is inexcusable
and has hurt the beaureaucracy of
which he is such a depraved repre
sentative more than any of the charges
brought against it.
It pleases Walt Mason of Beatrice to
be merry over the personal appearance
of tho Nebraska women who are hum
bly, and more or less successfully, try
ing to oarn their living by newspaper
work. The profeesion is one which
has been largely monopolized by men,
and men have established the style of
writing, and to a great degree the
style of dress for members of the pro
fession. The impartial critic must
confess that most any oce this side of
a tramp In appearance, ora university
journalist in ability, can pass the ex
amination in this state. The standard
is so low, in fact, that It is somewhat
inconsistent of so modest a contribu
tion to the auHthetic treasure of the
world as Walt Mason, to crltlclso the
few women whose earnings are not
sufficient to enable them to keep their
half of journalism, dressed in hand
some gowns. Of course criticism is
not dependant upon the possession of
those virtues or that absolute beauty
which most critics base their deroga
tions upon. Yet in the cose under
discission Mr. Mason is an important
element of the profession, the looks of
which ho says the newspaperwomen
of Nebraska are a disgrace to. In
common with many hundreds tlio
publisher of Tun Couiuku enjoys Mr.
Mason's Hot Tamales. They are a
relish to the evening's reading of no
small importance and this acknowl
edgement of their savor is one which
should have been made long ago. As
the spirit is more than matter it is of
little consequence that Mr. Mason's
personal appearance Is rather depress
ing. That blythe spirit which has
cheered thousands of gloomy men and
women and renewed their courage, in
habits an unworthy dwelling. Never
theless what is denied to six feet of
brawn, tills little man can do and not
half try, so the balance is struck and
everybody gets what pleases hi in most
after all. The life long sentences wo
homely people work out do not seem
to increase our sympathy for our fel
low convicts. We insist, whatever
the natal obstacles in the way, that
women shall be fair and men shall be
strong and tall. If tbey are not, we
grudge them that part of our horizon
tiiey occupy, and make sport of them
to get them out of tbc way of more
satisfactory scenery. And thus, the
world in thousands of years may get
better looking.
o
The early settlers of this country
thought that the functionaries of a
town or city were elected or designated
for the purpose of performing some
function or service to tho citizens
The mayor looked after the business
of the town and selected worthy men
as firemen or police or wardens of vari
ous kinds. Nowaday? one of tho most
important functions of policemen and
firemen is as ornaments in civic pa
rades. Policemen in particular are
selected on sccount of their size and
appearance. They may be brutal,
they may Le drunkards, they may
have vicious histories, but whatever
they are, they must be six feet tall
and an ornament to the boulevard or
avenue they are supposed to, protect.
In places where the Are service is of
any real protection the regime is that
of the civil service and promotions are
made strictly on merit. But In many
western cities the firemen are selected
because they are willing to present the
mayor with fifty dollars and they are
retained in the services for reasons
equally unconnected wjth their fitness
for the place. In Kansas' City it is
proposed to Bend the fire' 'chief and
twenty or thirty mon' to Paris when
the exposition opens. What service
