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VOL. XL V. NO. V.
BSTABLISHBD IN 1880
PRICE FIVB CENTS
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LINCOLN. NEBR., SATURDAY, FEBRUARY -J. 1801).
ENTERED IN THE rOSTOFFIOB AT LINCOLN AH
SECOND CLASS MATTER.
PUBL18HED EVERY SATURDAY
Dt
Tttf COURIER PRINTING AND PUBLISHING GO
Office 1132 N street, Up Stairs .
Telephone 384.
6ARAH B. HARRIS,
Editor
Subscription Kates In Advance.
Per annum - 1 00
Six raontbB 75
Three months 50
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untiiry communications unless accompanied by
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Communications, to rocoive attontion, must
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publication it advisablo,
a
OBSERVATIONS.
1
Loo'3
Through the editorial columns of
the Journal of the first of tho present
month there was emitted a distinct
groan because of tho recovery of judg
ments against the city on account of
personal injuries resulting from do
fectlve sidewalks, while bv means of
the "Mere Mention" columns the pub
lic was informed that "Street Com
missioner Llndsey says the recent spell
of warm weather was well Improved
by the street department in fixing up
bad sidewalks and building new ones."
There was "quite a spell of warm
weather" last year extending from the
first of May to the first of October, but
during that period it was never re
ported that the street department had
fixed any bad sidewalks. Tho reason
for the report of recent activity on the
part of the person who, In the form
of u monthly salary, Is supported at
the public expemo and who Is sup
posed to return an equivalent In pub
lic service but who never did return
such equivalent, Is apparent. Weeks
ago It was urged through these col
umns that tho city attorney recom
mend tho discharge of tho person who
now draws the salary of street com
missioner without any corresponding
compensation to the city, and the em
ployment of an honest and faithful
carpenter who would devote his time
to tho public service and removo tho
cause of injuries. Tho city attorney
did not Bee fit to make the recommen
dation but tho person whoso removal
was suggested felt the prod and re
ported to the Journal office great ac
tivity in the street department. The
legal department of the city does not
appear to have much better success in
defending actions for damages against
the city than the street department
does in keeping the sidewalks in re
pair. Perhaps tho city attorney does
not feel like recommending the dis
charge of the present incumbent of
the street commissioner's office be
cause of incompetency. As a remedy
for the evils resulting from defective
walks the Journal recommends an
amendment to the chapter whereby
the owner of tho adjacent property
shall bo liable for injuries resulting
from defective walks. Recently It was
published in one of the daily papers
that the city attorney had "discov
ered" that such a law was in force in
Wisconsin. The records of the court
are not entirely silent as to the "dis
coveries ' alleged to have been made
by the lawyer now occupying the posi
tion of city attorney nor the threat
ened expense to the public on account
of such alleged "discoveries." The
Journal company, which owns the
Journal, is a taxpayer tnd it does well
to protest through the columns of Its
paper against increased taxation, but
it ought to at the same time advocate
measures the tendency of which will
be to reduce public burdens. It is
not an amendment to the law which is
required but a faithful performance
of public duty by public servants. If
the Journal had advocated the re
moval of the present incumbent of
the 6treet commissioner's office because
of ills inefficiency and general wortb
lessnes." as a public officer and the em
ployment of an honest man who had a
family dependent on him for support
and who wanted to work, the removal
of the one and the employment of the
other might have followed, and there
would have been no report of special
activity in the street department
during the "recent spell of warm
weather." Porformanco of public
duty by a public employee would not
then be so rare an occurrence as to call
for special notice and defective side
walks which result in judgments for
damages and increased taxation would
not exist.
Mr. Bryan says that the government
derives-its power from the consent of
the governed, not part of the governed
or any special class of the governed,
but "tho governed." Like many of the
phrases of the Declaration of Inde
pendence, chls one will not bear In
vestigatlon. The sonators composing
tiie senate of the United States are
elected by the legislatures of the
states With tho spectacle of our own
Lancaster delegation refusing to vote
for a man whoin the governed" ap
prove and continually voting for a
man unfit in every way to represent
tho people, the suspicion that other
legislators in other states have been
indueed to ignore the wishes and the
interests of the people is not without
foundation.. If enough of the gov
erned combine they can, by reason of
recurrent elections, induce a represen
tative to use his Influence for this or
that measure or man as the case may
be. Hut in tho majority of cases leg
lslators,both state and national, arc un
happily influenced first and strongest
by personal considerations. If they
chance to be figuring on attracting
votes in the future and thus become
advocates for a public and beneficent
measure, so much the better luck for
tbe people. Hut when taxes are voted
the consent of the governed is not
necessary. The body which nominally
derives power from the governed votes
taxes on their property and collects it
without regard to protests, well
grounded or otherwise. Parexamp'c,
a hundred thousand dollars was voted
two years ago by the legislature to the
trans-Mississippi exposition in re
sponse to tiie efforts of an able and in
defatigable lobby. The governed
would never have voted it, because the
exposition, like all other expositions,
hurts the local business of every town
within a certain large radius. It is
questionable if the women who pay
taxes in this commonwealth, and who
arc more or less unjustly discrimin
ated against, have delegated any power
to tho government, whether local or
national. Tho officials elected by tiie
men folks in accordance with a con
stitution written and ratified a long
time ago use their power entirely
without the consent of the people who
are most concerned by it. The mayor
of Chicago, in a recent address, de
claimed against the employment of
women as teachers, out of deference to
foreigners who could vote and wanted
their jobs. He advised the school
board to employ only voters in the
schools. Should the Bchool board act
upon his suggestions, it will' be by no
power delegated by that part of the
governed whom the edict most affects.
Should congress conclude to annex
the Philippines thegovernment of the
islands will be constituted territori
ally, i. e. the local officials will be
elected by residents of the locality and
the higher officials will be appointed
by the president of the United States.
Under such conditions just as much
freedom will be distributed to the in
habitants as citizens of the territories
enjoy. This is confined to the settle
ment of purely local questions but It
Is not, recorded that the territories
are less well governed on that account.
If the United States assumes the
government of the Philippines, the
nos will have their road
of many obstructions which
leretofore interfered with the
lilt of liberty and happiness. They
enter upon a period wnicn win
eventually bring them, as It will
eventually bring us, into an intelli
gent appreciation of the functions of
government. It is neither Washing
tonlan nor Jeffersonlan if we must be
influenced by men long since dead and
turned Into dustto give up the fruits
of a hardly won campaign. The ideas
held by the liberals of one generation
are the rallying cry of the eonserva-
tiaW 1
m
win
tives of the next generation. But a
radical of one generation Is a radical
in the next because his instincts keep
him at tho head of tho procession
without regard to the positions he has
to desert In order to keep the lead.
So if Washington were allvo today, bo
sure, he would not spend Ills time and
exhaust his popularity and he had
more to burn than any contemporary
American trying to convince the
people that they siiould quixotically
and magnanimously and foolishly de
liver an Island people to Spanish rule
or deliver tliom over to each other
with the privilege of extermination,
or to a continental power like Ger
many, which would give the savages
first lessons In civilization by Jmprls
onlng them forlesc majeste. Wash
ington 'was ever a believer In tho
strong arm. When ho accepted tho
leadership of tho American forces
against King George he shook off the
traditions of all his English ancestry.
All the wiseacres and patriots of Eng
lish history in which George Wash
ington had been instructed, meant
nothing to him when confronted with
circumstances over which only verile
and timely action could conquer.
Therefore what he himself said about
entangling alliances and foreign ac
quisitions is of no especial conse
quence to us, as ho could not fore
see the peculiar results to America in
tho Pacific of tho Cuban insurrection,
nor .the scljemes for the partition of
China, nor tiie constantly strengthen
ing reasons for an alliance of all tho
branches of the Anglo-Saxon race.
There is nothing in Washington's llfo
to indicate that his Americanism
would have been any weaker today
than it was before the articles of con
federation were of much more import
ance than the paper on which they
were written.
Tiie revelations of the Keeley motor
investigation have one cheerful and
encouraging feature, viz., the sterling
honesty of the directors and attorneys
who undertook it. Finding that the
motor, which the triune polar current
was supposed to work, was really run
by a water motor connected with the
Keeley motor by shafts and pulleys
concealed under the flooring and in
the walls, tho directors stopped the
sale of stock iramediatoly and gave,
the results of their investigation to
tho public. There was no attempt to
work off the worthless stock and to
cover up the fraud. The stockholders
whom Keeley had bamboozled for
twenty-five years took their medicine
like men. If they had been better
business men they would have made
some endeavor to sell the stock, in-,
stead of which they acknowledged its
worthlessness and Mrs. Keeley herself
gave her attorney carte blanche in
structions to reveal whatever-fraud be
found to the stockholders. There
might not have been the same oppor
tunity for maintaining a fraudulent
value for some years as in the case of,
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