THE COURIER.
tho Kansas City lire department in
Paris can perform for Kansas Oity in
caso of tiro in tho latter place the
papers which advocate sending the
department there neglect to say. Tho
taxpayers, the large proportion of
whom have never been out of the
state, are to pay the expenses of these
burly firemen, a million of whom could
not teach the Parisians how to handle
Are any better than they already do.
If firemen and councllmenwero not
in tho habit of junketing at the ex
pense of the taxpayers, this proposi
tion would bo received with the
amazement it deserves. As it is the
Kunsas City taxpayer sees no reason
why lie should not send u glittering
fireman to Paris there to ride about
on a lire engine und condole with the
firemen of Paris, whose city council or
correlative body, docs not believe in
sending men employed to put out tires
to a foreign nation. Certain countries
of the Orient have sacred animals. In
India it is a cow, or a monkey, or a
snake. In Persia it is an elephant.
In the woolly part of America it is a
fireman or a policeman, especially the
former, who is shielded from labor
and reserved for those occasions where,
in bluo cloth and brass buttons, he
can make civic occasions resplendent
by his presence. That large part pf
the community which neither holds
olllce nor dictates nominations but
Just pays taxes, has not realized how
irrelevant and impertinent the fire
man is. Somctimo it will learn that
tho diversion of the people's money to
pay for an European tour for firemen
is an absurdity that nothing but a
democracy would be guilty of. A
monarch would bo assassinated if he
proposed such a thing. The emperor
of Germany was scarcely allowed to go
to Turkey, though ho obtained im
portant concessions for the German
citizens of Turkey while he was there.
Kansas City cannot claim, however;
that the ignorant firemen can be of
any diplomatic service to France.
Around the senate of the United
States hover always the agents and
representatives of trusts who are se
lected for their knowledge of the
world and thoir good fellowship. It
.is their business to be on dining terms
with the senators and it is their busi
.ness to prevent legislation tending to
lessen the absolute power which a
well organized and ably administered
trust wields In many cases, perhaps
in most cases, the effect of the combi
nation of the producers or manufac
turers of any article has been to stop
the waste of competitive production
and to lessen the coat of the article to
the .consumer. It is only when tho
trust Is able to procure extraordinary
privileges that it becomes necessary
to keep agents at the national capital
to prevent the people from asserting
themselves through thoir representa
tives. An overweening respect for money
reduces the real usefulness of a
citizen, but "a business man" with
this characteristic becomes dangerous
to the ideals and the liberties of the
whole people, when lie gets into the
senate of the United States. That
legislative body is the terap'e of de
mocracy, and the stalls for the money
changers should be ripped down and
they themselves Bhould be driven out.
Thero is a great deal of talk about
the advantages of sending "a business
man" to the United States senate in
stead of a man who knows anything
and cares anything for tho history of
this government and the development
of constitutional liberty. It is the
"business man" who can appreciate
the money value of a vote or a con
cession. A good business man will
not take into consideration the inter
eats of a lot of plain people, whom he
has never seen and whose approval
will not mean a dollar more or less to
him. He cannot stop to consider un
born generations whoso inheritance
he may be asked to vote away. This
man is no dreamer, no orator, no
talker. He is concerned with dollars
and cents. To be sure George Wash
ington, Ulysses S. Grant and Abra
ham Lincoln were not good business
men. None of them, had he been
sent as senator to tho Unted States
senate from Nebraska, would have
devoted his whole time to getting a
government building for Lincoln or
to getting on the inside of the Nica
ragua canal schemes, or to manipu
lating appropriations primarily in
his own interest, and secondly in the
interest of the people who sent him
there. Thank the Lord, none of these
men were "business men." General
Grant was so bad a business man that
when the firm of Grant & Ward failed
he sold all his personal property; the
swords presented to him by a grateful
people; the jewels given him by the
kings and queens, all the voluntary
tribute his genius and patriotism had
levied from the world General Grant
sold at auction in order that he might
pay the debts his son had made. It
was most unbusinesslike and showed
that he was a man of ideals.
There is much depreciation of the
dreamer, the orator, the poet, and yet
this country is great because of their
dreams. Mr. Bryan has conquered in
spite of obscurity and poverty because
he is a dreamer. What "business
man" even in this commercial cen
tury has accomplished what Mr. Bryan
has? Men of the Nebraska state leg
islature: ideas rule the world: A
gifted orator, who is at once a good
man and an idealist, can compel an
homage that a "business man" can
advertise for forever and not secure.
Pulses respond nxt to appeals to the
pocket, thqugh votes do sometimes.
Personal loyalty, such as James G
Blaine inspired, is not a matter of
money. The obscure Bryan was at
tended by a genuinely devoted mob of
believers wherever he went, and ho
never bought a man. The newspapers
sneered at him and called him an
orator, forgetting that since the days
of Demosthenes oratory has fired the
hearts of a people whom cupidity has
failed to move. None of the men to
whom the nation has built monu
ments and the lesson of whose life we
are using to bring up our children
were simply business men. If they
were gifted with the commercial in
stinct tbey were far sighted enough to
appreciate the greater Importance of
purity, integrity, a good name, and
the love and gratitude of .their kind.
America is not the dry goods stores,
gas companies and all kinds of com
raercial organizations, so much as it i
the greatest democracy on the earth,
the creation of dreamers and of non
conformists, who left their business
interests in England that they might
freeze and starve and be free in
America.
The action of the directors of the
Northwestern railroad in dismissing
all female employes has been severely
criticised by women's clubs and asso
ciations of women. Even Mrs. Hen
rotln, who Ib a woman of large char
ity and accustomed to make deliber
ate judgments and to deny herself to
prejudice, condemned the action of
the directors of the road. But it seems
to mo that the directors in question
are entitled to the consideration paid
to those willing to sacrifice conveni
ence and habiu to consistency. The
reason for giving the conge to all
female employes is that the road has
adopted in its entirety, the rules of
the civil service. Promotions are only
to be made strictly according to length
of service, faithfulness and proved
ability. The management has an
nounced" that no exceptions to this
rule arc to be made. Therefore being
unable to accept the idea of a woman
division superintendent, general man
ager or president, they were obliged
to dismiss all the women theretofore
employed by the road. The only dif
ference betweon the directors of the
Northwestern and other corporations
employing women is that the former
had the courage to follow a false
premise to its legitimate and logical
conclusion. Other roads employ
women in subordinate positions and
make a practice of advancing men
whom the women rank, in length of
service, ability, and in all tests by
which promotions are made, over them.
If women are not capable of being di
vision superintendents, general man
agers and presidents, they ought to be
dismissed from the service in disgrace,
as they have been on the Northwest
ern. It is cowardly and Inconsistent
to employ them and apply civil service
rule to everybody but Woman. Tho
question of equal pay for the same
service would soon be settled if all
employers had the courage of the
Northwestern management. Women
are either fit for everything or for
nothing Tney should be employed as
individuals and the same rules ap
plied to them as to men or they should
not be employed at all. '1 he North
western is the first corporation to pub
licly accept and act upon the inevita
ble result of the premise that women
are incapable of holding positions of
responsibility. The road ought not
to be boycotted for a display of logic
and sincerity as rare 88 it is admirable.
If women are capable of the general
manager act such a policy as the
Northwestern hasadopted will shorten
her probation. If she is not the North
western is still right.
The Lincoln correspondent of the
World-Herald gets up some lurid stuff
for that paper. In last Sunday's edi
tion Mr Bradley said the ministers of
Lincoln had been asked by some of
the other senatorial candidates to
preach sermons aimed against Mr.
Thompson and the ministers were so
indignant that two of them announced
that they would preach sermons advo
cating for senator just the sort of man
Mr. Thompson wants it supposed ho
Is; for instance, a business man of
long distance vision. As a matter of
fact the Lincoln ministers have not
been approached by Thompson or
anti-Thompson. The yellowness of
this particular correspondent's letters
seems to be deepening with the sena
torial situation.
If the women of thiB community
could be united in an organization for
the sanitary and aesthetic improve,
ment of Lincoln and University Place
there would doubtless be much good
accomplished. The city federation
fell apart from its own weight and the
cohesiveness of a city union Including
all philanthropic, literary, religious
and economic societies is likely to
suffer the same fate. Much of the
good work which has been accom
plished Ib due to the inspiration of a
devoted minister or teacher, or leader.
Large and loose bodies composed of
smaller bodies are apt to lack in har
mony, grace and effectiveness. But
only large bodies include enough rep
resentatlves of the whole to accom
plish large results. "You in your
small corner, I in mine," may be do
ing our best, and when we come to
jndgment our' motives will be taken
into consideration, but so long as we
are isolated and unorganized we shall
live in a filthy city in which a pesti
lence does not break out for some rea
son unknown to a bacteriologist. An
effort to organize the women Into a
city union for the purpose of improv
ing the appearance and healthfulness
of the city is one in which every
woman ought to help. A meeting for
that purpose will be held at Mrs. A.
J. Sawyor's on Monday morning at
half past ten o'clock. All women are
invited to be present.
I have received from Mrs. Sawyer
some valuablesuggostlons in regard to
the need and possibilities of such a
union: To insure success it should
have the support and membership of
not less than thirty or forty organiza
tions and 700 to 1,000 persons
Some work cannot be done by indi
viduals. E.G., "control of the cigar
ette habit." But suppose 5.000 moth
ers and sisters were to unite in de
manding the enforcement of existing
laws? Apply the same" to charity
work, reform work, city improvement,
municipal affairs, city legislation,
public schools, divorce reform, educa
tion in citizenship, social purity, so
ciological questions affecting domestic
life, etc.
Some say "I cannot take up any
new work. I am interested in such a
line, if the council will do that work I
will join, otherwise not." One object
of a council is to emphasize the recip
rocal obligations between all lines of
moral and ethical work.
Those who come to the next meet
ing should be prepared to present a
definite plan for a definite object, one
on which all can unite.
Office of P. J. Kennedy.
Sb. Louis, Jam. 12, 1899.
To the Courier, .
i Lincoln; Neb.:
My Much Inspected Courier A dear
friend of mine mailed me copies of
your paper of December 3 and Decern,
'bor 10. Some of the literature it con
tained nerved my conquered spirits
and nature to a fig-lilting- heat, and the
iirJform goes once more to lay siege
to the b!4ter enidi against a class of
boodlers nnd destroyers of respectable
and illustrious citizens' homes and
their families.
Inclosed please find check for $1.10,
for one year to the Courier, the ten
ctrJts for collection. My paiper is yet
gilt edge, 100 cents on the dollar tihe
world over. No matter how much' the
Mealier gawg of sand-baggers and
bunk-wreckers dlR-flg-ured me finan
cially, my credit is A No. l.nnd my pa
per gilt edge no matter who holds
it. , ,
Every tax-payer ini the state of Ne
braska should be a reader of the Cour
ier. Why do I say this No one con
foigefc the vigorous, manly and hu
mane fight for the people's righits,
freedom and liberty made by tho
Ccmrier in Ornaha at the triall of the
indicted cashier of the Capital Nation
al bank. The steps the Courier took
incite the displeasure of Uncle Sam.
In this condition the people
found in the Courier a vigorous allly,
so able, so deliberate and1 so accurate
was the gunner's fire on the federal
arm of the strongest government in
existence the Courier wrns escorted by
the nation's marshal! to appear for
contempt, before tho federal tribunal.
Herod was on, the throne. The mnm
ly and' womanly fight made by Morton
Smith nnd Miss Sarah B. Harrils I aim
informed that Mir. Smith' 'has since lost
his life by accident, and1 if such is the
cnise I hope and trust that his spirit
Hhir.'ies on the bosom of it is heavenly
Creator as bright and as brilHnnt as
the planet Mars on a cloudless, starry
night in a Nebraska1 skyt was worthy
of their steel.
The weaponls displayed' by those two
noiwe people in behalf of their plun
dered clients was. far more stubborn
nnd persistent Milan! tho reslstentec
with whidh' Dewey had to contend at
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