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VOL. XIV. NO. VI.
KSTABLISHBD IN 1886
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OBSERVATIONS. 8
4-WKsV
Robin Hood had a better reputation
than lie deserved because lie occasion
ally gave a part of the booty lie had
taken from rich nobles, to the poor.
To pay your debts before you allow
yourself to be dramatically generous,
to take care of your own children be
fore you give to other little ones, to
let charity begin at home, in short,
are rules which will not secure a man
any startling reputation, but when a
man is tried by them and fails to pass
he is neither just nor generous, but
only fond of posing for the virtues
which he has discovered other people
admire. Even though such a man
gave all his goods to feed the poor he
could hbt enter that kingdom reserved
in the hearts of a community for the
j man who is Just, gentle and sincere.
Robin Hood's alms wore a swagger
virtue assumed because he loved ad
miration and to feed ills own vanity.
Tho man who does not hesitate to
drive a too-sharp bargain and to be
tray the trust plaqed in him by two
thousand depositors can not reasona
bly hope to redeem his reputation by
a trumpery gift of a barrel of Hour
and, a ton of coal t tin hungry and
cold.
The action of Street Commissioner
Llhdsey in condemning tho wdlk in
front of tho building in which The
Courier is. printed is up example of
tlie.streot commissioner's knowledge
of his business. Leaving Ice slides
and sidewalks made up of looso boards
which fly up and hit the pedestrian
t who is not careful to stejj,ln the mid-
die of each board, allowing the alleys
to be piled with all sorts of swill and
refuse, Mr. Llndsey, because The
Coukikk has eallec' his attention to
those things he has left undone which
he draws a salary for doing, con
demned the walk in front of The
Courier building. The walk is made
of broad slabs of stone and Is in good
condition. The condemnation shows
that the street commissioner never
Inspected the walk he condemned and
is Ignorant of the condition of the
walks in the heart of the downtown
district. All that The Coukikr has
said about Mr. Llndscy's ignorance
and neglect of his duties, and about
the necessity of employing an honest
and efficient carpenter is emphasized
by this sidewulk notice served on the
owner of The Courier building bo
cause the publisher of this paper has
repeatedly called the attention of the
council and the public to the street
commissioner's entire .neglect of the
duties of ills office. Thousands of dol
lars annually secured by claimants
who-have sued the city for damages
accruing from defective walks could
be saved the city by the employment
of an efficient man who is capable of
rendering an equivalent to the city
for his salary, instead of this pen
sioner who only displays activity when
the publisher of this paper calls the
public's attention to the most flagrant
and Inexcusable instances of neglect.
The city council in permitting this
officer to retain his place, does so at
the obvious expense of the taxpayers
who must pay the damages awarded
for broken bones and sprained backp.
For the salary paid the present politi
cian the council can secure the ser
vices of a carpenter who can inspect
and repair the walks dangerous to
pedestrians. By refusing to adopt so
simple and safe an expedient the coun
cil runs the risk of incurring a sus
picion that their plans and speeches
for economy are for effect and the
spring elections ani not baeed on a
realizing sense of the city's povotty
and need of economy.
The letter which drew the prize
offered by the Burlington railroad for
the best letter on Nebraska Is printed
on another page. It Is remarkable fo
Its plain and veracious statements.
The cheerful mind of the writer, J.
Gustavo Kluck. and his inclusion of
his wife in all his victories, not ora
torically and consciously as though
paying her a magnanimous compli
ment, but as a historical verity. He
says: "My wife and I made money
and loaned some money to my neigh
bors on interest." 4,God blessed every
thing that hiy wife and I put our
hands to." 'Wo have now 080 acres of
land paid for, which, at a low estimate
of $30 per acre, Is. $29,400." "I often
talk with my wife whore we could
have gone afrd done better. She says
'Nowhere but in Nebraska."' Kluck
was a Gentian boy who fanded In New
York in 1804 with $04 Inlilh pocket. He
worked as a farm hand In Wisconsin
for ten years and saved $1,150. Then
Mr. Kluck (which must have been
originally Gluck) had two Inspira
tions, to marry and to emigrate
to Nebraska. He was obedient to
both and he now lias'080 acres of land,
horses, hogs, cattle, poultry, a big
house, money at interest and eight
children. Such emigrants as he make
a country rich and great. They set
tle on the land, cultivate it, and Im
prove their holdings, leave healthy,
Industrious descendants and go to
their tinal rest with half a century's
harvests to their credit. Ry thelrtoll,
bread is made cheaper to the mechanic
and the whole laboring world. They
do not live by exploiting the work of
other men's labor or brains but the
time card they turn In to the Al
mighty Ib filled with day's works and
the most genuine service to humanity.
Mr. Kluck's letter is an interesting
story of a life of humble toll and self
denial and should be read by every
body who wants to know why he
should stand up for Nebraska. The
committee which awarded the prize
to this homely record of labor and its
rewards took little account of rhetoric
or phrasing. Tho points were evi
dently voracity and the evidences of
experiments with Nebraska soil, cli
mate and institutions. Mr. Kluck
consulted his diary in which he has
written down the principle events of
his life, such as his coming to this
country, his marriage and his Journey
to Nebraska, the purchaso of landi
the building of a small house, the size
of the crops from year to year, and
the building of a big house and the
constant purchase of more land, Items
not rhetorically suggestive, but Just
what any man who contemplates
moving to Nebraska wants to know.
Tho Indignation created by Bishop
Potter's remark that something an
swering to the saloon, I. e., a place of
inexpensive recreation and refresh
ment, would always be a necessity,
seems unreasonable. In addition, the
bishop added "that until coffee houses
or tho like were as plentiful as saloons,
the mischiefs of the saloon, which no
body recognizes more clearly than I,
will continue. The saloon will be
driven to cover, but it cannot be abol
ished. Something better, something
wholesome, harmless, undcfilcd and
undcflliug, must take its place and so
expel by substitution." Of course a
prohibitionist can not understand
win the saloon, as an institution, can
not be abolished and ho has no pa
tience with anyone who recognizes
some good in them. I am told a re
spectable saloon is clean, no (jrunken
men are allowed and no man who is in
the habit of being made boisterous or
quarrelsome by llquorJs encouraged to
become a habitue of tlie place. Surely
a place which teaches self restraint
and is clean is not lis horrible as the
saloon appears to most good women
who can not quite sympathiz'with
the lohglngW the eompanTorislifp'of
his own sex, and tho desire for a
stimulant to euro that bored feeling
which many respectable and temper
ate men feel after a days monotonous
or harassing work. Surely regulation
of the saloon is better than the dives
which exist where prohibition If the
law and coffee houses, with tho same
comradery and freedom, would bo bet
ter still. Hlshnp Potter has lived
among the poor of New York and he
knows what ho Is talking about, viz.;
that a decent saloon Is better than a
groggory and that in many localities
the saloon is the debating club of tho
poor man. 'Numbers frequent them
who never become drunkards and aro
not bad men, strictly speaking. Nev
ertheless much of tho wickedness and
vice Is hatched in the saloons. Rut
they have lasted so long that It Is only
by a process of gradual substitution
that their number can be lessened.
If the fanatics would hear reason and
decrease the tax on liquors and pasB
stringent laws in regard to adultera
tion fewer men would be maddened
and tho lecturers would be able to
trace fewer murders and lunacies to
liquor. Rut the reformers hate whis
key so, they cannot think temperately
or experiment philosophically.
It Is Just America's good luck that
the late war should have occurred In
the administration of President Mc
Kinley rather than when Grover
Cleveland's colossal conceit weighted
this country down. President Mc
Kinley has no elaborate theories to
which he conforms his own conduct
and endeavors to force the country to
agree to. Like Abraham Lincoln,
President McKlnley does tho next
thing. He does not live but a day at
a time and he does not try to fool the
country Into believing that he does.
Since the war began ho lias done his
best and that best is well. Ho has
kept his country with him, which
was more than Grover Cleveland ever
did,. He has shown an enlightened
love for his country and good sense,
he has not gone fishing when his pres
ence was Imperative, but he has faith
fully remembered that he is the repre
sentative of nearly 70,000,000 million
people and that Infallibility is not a
human characteristic. He Is accessi
ble to the leaders of his party and he
is not stubborn. For all these quali
ties that our president has, let us be
thankful.
The long-winded protest to the sen
ate of the United States against the
ratification of the treaty was signed
by Grover Cleveland, Charles Francis
Adams, Andrew Carnegie, Charles 'H.
Eliot, CarlSchurz, Herman Von Hoist,
Samuel Gompcrs, Edwin Burritt
Smith, William G. Sumner and'tifteeh
other men accustomed as are these,
neVer to agree with the people, Carl
Schurz, sinco his first deplorable ap
pearance in this country, has been
endeavoring Id sentences a paragraph
long.to convince tho American pcoplo
that 'tliey need teutonic' Instruction
