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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 1899)
THE COURIER. and logic. President. Kllot litis as lit tle real Interest in tlio American peo ple us In the inhabitants or Mars lie thinks the American volunteer a rather low sort and suspects I hat most of him is western. Professor Von Hoist lias a reputation an a historian and philosopher which will hardly survive tills century in English. The (icrman people are patient and life goes slower in their country. They are willing to wade through page after page of turbid, turgid, mongrel English in hope of finding the ideas uiion which the author's reputation is based. Hut Americans have had his tory made easy by Professor Fiskcand men of ills school and cannot afford to waste much more time on Ym Hoist. The other signers are alike impracti cal and apt to be out of sympathy with tiie people. President McKinley has never slg nilled liis intention of governing the Philippines without the consent of the governed. The inevitable progress of events will declare the way to president who only lives a day at a time and does not attempt to discount the weeks and months and years that are mill in the future. So far he lias done nothing rash and nothing in haste. He did not declare war until it was inevitable The clauses of tho treaty are in accordance with the laws of nations. Spain was conquered at tho cost of hundreds of lives and miliums of dollars. There are in evitable consequences of defeat atid the United States has not been un generous. Tiie agitators and super cilious college profesfors who are sign ing protests to a line of action which has not yet been proposed, at least by the president, ignore tic inevitableness of the situntion. The Philippines cannot be turned over to native rule until tiie natives have shown some evidence of capacity for self govern ment, ir tliis country should turn the islands over to Aguinaldo and the factious opposed to him should revolt, then revolutions and counter revolu tions would follow, and the grannies who are looking about for proofs that we are not an enlightened people and the exhorters who are without a creed would have a cause of complaint against the president and congress far more likely to get audience witli the people than their premature protests. Centralizing the power and responsi bility of the public school administra tive pystem in one man, and that man the superintendent, is an idea which has struck Chicago and Lincoln simul taneously. The present system is a cumbrous engine ill adapted to the function it is supposed and was created to perform The squabbles of the school board begun witli the tlrstone that assembled and will continue till the last one lias been prorouged. Each member lias been implored by more or less powerful constituents and by the pretty school teachers themselves for positions. For these reasons and others the questions of adequate preparation, natural endowment and a personality necessary for a teacher of the young, are not sufficiently con sidered by a school board. A superin tendent whoac success or failure ulti mately depends upon the teachers, has motive enough and experience to se lect the best material Irrespective of feminine beguilements and masculine ward influence. Not that the latter will ever be destroyed entirely, but a man like Superintendent Andrews of Chicago is.le.Bs.likely to beJnHuoiujed by ward personages than members of hccchool board who are unavoidably and often unwillingly persuaded to vote for a teacher who is not qualified for the position, or to ignore one with out a pull who is eminently fitted to arouse and evolve the best there Is In children. SupcrintcndantHlikc Presi dent And re svs are of rare occurrence in our present regime because the system in use dwarfs individual initia tive and discourages inspiration in a superintendent. If the proposed cen tralization is accomplished the man lit to be tmstod witli such power will doubtless be revealed. Principal Wu terhouse, of the High school, lias brought order out of cliaos.. He has lifted the standard of the school ap preciably, he lias a quick and intui tive knowledge of people and he grasps a complicated situation with a mas terly comprehension that reduces it to its simplest points witli a readiness illustrated by the present condition of the Higli school and its turbulent state when he began to study it. Such a man in control of the schools of any city will secure good results and can be trusted with a large liberty. Lincoln. Ncbr., Feb. J, MM. To the Membem of the Nebraska State Leginlatvre : We, the undersigned citizens and voters of Middle Creek precinct, Lan caster county, do hereby express our preference for United States senator, to be elected by the honorable body of which you are a member, and hereby attach our signatures under the can didates' name whom we believo to be tiie best qualified for the high posi tion to which they aspire and hereby request you to cast your votes for the candidate who may receive the major ity or the highest number of signa tures to tills petition. We have full confidence that the senators and representatives of this county are ready and willing to voice the sentiment of the majority of their constituents. Here follow the names of Messrs. Field, Lamhertson, Hay ward, Thompson and Reese. The paper was circulated among the citizens aud no eirort was made in the favor of or against any one of the candidates. The result should be startling to the Lancaster delegation. Their candidate received very few votes. Tiie sentiment of the rank and file, the unpurchasabie, sturdy, farmers and business men of Middle Creek, Lancaster county, is solidly op posed to Mr. Thompson. The midwinter exhibit of the Hay don Art olnb now in progress at the university is of great interest. Firstly and primarily because it is the sixth annual exhibit of a society which Iihs fostered the love and the vision of the beautiful in the face of discouragement and a lack of appre ciation so deadening that were it not for the conviction that students who pursue their work and make hon orable places for themselves, without help, deserve recognition from the few at least, it would doubtless have disbanded. The Haydon Art cluh has maintained the art-department since all support of it was withdrawn by the regents two years ago. By means of exhibitions- and the annual dues ,be club has been able to retain the ser vices of Miss Parker, the able and brilliant artist, many of whose pupils are now at work as illustrators on paper and magazines of the east. Considering thesiiiKiilar withdrawal of all financial support from this de partment by the university the results accomplished by the studentscrouched in a hallway among the easels, casts skeleton, lay llguro and still life prop ertles are astounding and indicate an artistiasuueeptth'Hity of the Nebraska born and grown product, which should make us prouder than ovr at mr stimulating, windswept state of toe boundless horizons. These students are not pursuing the study of art as dilletantl. The anatomical and mus cular studies and the sketches by members of the life class bear no signs of frivolous technique or a wav ering purpose. Earnestness is stamped on all of them and real artistic inspi ration is apparent in many of them. Secondly the pictures in the gallery are worthy of examination by those who love color and atmosphere and by those who do not. The latter have eyes and see not and the joy of seeing can best be appreciated by those, who were blind. The beautiful picture by Mucnier which occupies the place of honor is a translation of youth, strengtli and the quietness of nature. The meltingatniosphere has destroyed harsh outline and the tender repose of the pastorale tunes me to its own ke. It is well that the exhibit contains a few pictures which wo know are not chromes because they could not get by the able and indefatigable corre sponding secretary, Mrs.F. M. Hall. For they prove to the unlearned that pictures are much prettier winch con tain atmosphere, color and feeling in stead of rigid outline, anecdote and a conventional something else which took the place of plein air painting whose ugly name I do not know. Thirdly, and this is connected with firstly, the exhibit is visited daily by the children of the public schools. They run about from picture to pic ture with shining eyes and innumer able questions directed at the nearest adult. The lesson o f light and color are received by these with unquestion ing faith and become a part, of their education. That most of the children prefer the hard, out of date, chromes to the poetic expressions of sunlight aud shadow emphasizes the need of such an exhibition. The new word tor undertaker is mor. tician. Occasionally when undertak ers meet in national assembly they compile a new vocabulary built to dis arm prejudice and allay the shudder ings suggested by the old one. Morti cian, with its suggestion of Latin and electricity and the imperceptible welding of the two, can not be found in the encyclopedia. The fruitless search still further increases my ad mirailon for the ingenuity and patient attempts to elude the prejudice which the normal individual feels for all signs of the undertaker's trade. The undertakers themselves are frequently jovial men who have not allowed the constant and visible pretence of death to affect their disposition and their patience in seeking a vocabulary which will not be too suggestive of that fate from which all of us shrink, is com mendable. Undertaker is a mysteri ous combination of two common words which are quite harmless and common place until compounded, and until we need him. Analysis does not reveal any reason for thecomninution. The sudden appearance of mortician, however, suggests that the general assembly of undertakers, hundreds of years ago, finding that the name must be changed, chose under and taker precisely beciusc togetner they meant nothing at all and separately they arc words of everj day, homely use. But the association which doomed the old name has overtaken undertaking, hence, "mortician." A BILL TO ESTABLISH A STATE LIBRARY COMMISSION AND A SYSTEM OF TRAVELLING LI BRARIES. A bill containing, the above provisions will be introduced in the State Legisla ture. This bill proposes a way by which every small town, village or community, in Nebraska may be supplied with a cir culating library. TJIK NEED. It is not possible to estimate even ap proximately the influence which a col lection of well chosen books has in any community. The smaller the .com munity, the more it is cut off from the UBUal avenues of improvement, which are offered in a city through lectures, etc.; and the more it stands in need of a well selected library. It is only the well read, well informed man who makes tho reliable citizen. As an educative influence the Public Library is second only to tho Public School; but while the -children of the village or tho farm have tho benefit of free schools, tho adult member of tho family cannot, on ac couna of the expense, keep himself in formed of current affairs. In NebrPBka there aro only 14 free public libraries, and not more than 5 per cent of our population has access to free reading matter. But the question iB, "How can a small town afford to equip and maintain a library?" The question of expense is bo great that it cannot be done without outBido help. Tho need, however, is so great, that out side help must somehow be given. THK PLAN. The proposed bill provides for the for mation of a State Circulating Library, from which any town in Nebraska can borrow 25, 50 and 100 volumes at a time, to be kept a certain lencth of time. This State Library would bear tho same relation to a town, that the Town Public Library does to its individual patron, except that the State Library would loan by the fifties and loan to communities. When one lot of bookB is returned the town can receive another on the same tonne; e.g. if these Traveling Libraries contained 2,000 bookB, then twenty towns might be using 100 books apiece at the same time. At the end of a cer tain period these would be exchanged, and so on, uutil the 2,000 books had been read in turn by each town. ADVANTAGES. The advantages are very apparent: 1. Any village or community, not able to fcrm its own library, can have from those traveling libraries a small collec tion of books constantly on hand. 2. The books, when read through by one town, will do just as good service n other towns. 3 Small libraries already existing, but too poor to keep up a supply, can in crease their usefulness by borrowing from the State Traveling Libraries. 4. The impetus given to reading habits will tend toward tho formation of per manent town libraries. A LIIIRARY COMMISSION. This bill also provides foi a State Li. brary Commission, whose duties will be the administration of tho system of traveling libraries, and the encourage ment of town libraries by counsel and advice, or any other feasible way. PRECEDENTS. In passing such a law Nebraska would not be entering untried ground. New York appropriates a large sum yearly for a system of Traveling Libraries. Michigan, Iowa and Montana have also passed similar laws, while Massachus ettP, New Hampshire and other eastern states give through their library com mission a certain sum to any town estab lishing a free library. Nebraska stands quite as mucn in need of timely aid from the State toward building up the cause of free libraries, as did these other states, and should puss a helpful library toV U8 W beH0Ve th PreBent OD TtiB o1!1 4haBhe approval nd support of the State Library Association, the Nebraska Federation of Vv omen's Clubs the University Extension Committee! Bnd m ny individuals who are interested ly Ik educatloDHl advancement of ? 1,,.$,air?nt Wate with them to make this bill a law? T o A TYM ' J".L80M, Pres. State Library Association. D. A. Camphell, State Librarian. Edith Toditt, Omaha Public Library. J. I. Wym, v State University Library. v V V