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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 1899)
J VOL. XIV. NO. Vlll. KSTABLISHBD IN 1880 PRICE F1VB CENTS LINCOLN, NBBR., SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1809. - im&mm- Entered in tiie postoffice at Lincoln as second class mattbb. PDBLI8HED EVERY SATURDAY bt S ME COURIER PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO Office 1132 N street, Up Stairs. Telephone 384. SARAH B. HARRIS, Editor Subscription Kates In Advance. Per annum 1 00 8ix months 75 Three monthB 50 One month 20 Single copies 05 Tna Coubier will not bo responsible) for vol untary communications unless accompaniod by return postage. . Communications, to rocolv attontlon, must bo slanod by tho full namo of tup wrltor, not moroly as a Ruarantoo of good faith, but for publication if advisable, g OBSERVATIONS. Mr. Thompson's delegation (it is a misnomer to call it the Lancaster delegation) oppose a caucus with an optional, secret or open ballot, for the reason that anybody who votes secretly will rest under the suspicion of hav ing voted for Mr. Thompson. This delegation, according to the dally papers, naively asks, "Why should a legislator desire to vote secretly if his vote is not for Mr. Thompson?" The inference is that Nebraska republi cans will have a grudge against any man who votes for Mr. Thompson and that, in self-protection, the blame must rest on the caucus rather than on the individuals composing it. But it is somewhat unusual, is it not, for a candidate's own supporters to be J quite so frank? Mr. Field's and Mr. " Hayward's support is a self-respecting open advocacy which fears neither detection nor future reproaches. Any man or woman with a sense of humour or of pathos can make an effective appeal to children. They will laugh or cry, Instigated thereto by tho most ordinary elocution and defective logic. Not because they are not bright but precisely because they aro. Their imagination is new and unjaded. They arc unacquainted with tho aspect of susplciousclrcumstances. When an orator, after awakening their interest or sympathy in a cause, asks them to give of their small store of pennies, unless restrained, they would empty their banks at his requests, fiinco tho fashion of savings banks Tcamo Into voguo the public school chlldron have been the constant object of schemers. Tins country is quite able to build battleships and take care of its soldiers. The rules which pro tect children and prohibit teachers from making appeals to the children should be strengthened. Because of their tender age, their quick sympa thies and lack of distrust the children should be protected from designing men and women who are willing to use the child's Ignorance and responsive ness to accomplish their own ends. The habit of saving nickels and pen nies is of questionable benefit. Where as spending them is to children an unalloyed delight. In later life when thrift has accumulated thousands there Is no especial joy in spending. If the grasshopper has not danced when the summer and (lowers made a warm ballroom of out doors he never will, because winter and dearth comes in the fall when all grasshoppers must die. Habits of economy and saving are all very well, but they will not avail against destiny, and it is a pity to spoil a grasshopper's short frolic by fables and exhortations. Those who have spent their income in making themselves and others happy and later have felt the need of their sav ings, to procure the necessities of life, are seldom heard from. It is only those who have toiled to reach an eminence of prosperity that strike an attitude when they reach the top, and tell the hungry people, below, how it was by denying appetite and youtli and desire that such an altitude was attained. The hungry below do not often answer back because it is a prominent citizen who speaks. If they did they might tell him of the morn ing, of the fragrance of unselfishness and of sympathy with their kind, and of their unwillingness to exchange his smug satisfaction for their experi ences. One of the suggestions concerning the statue of Lincoln which it has been proposed to erect in Lincoln is that the teachers in the public schools be asked to address to their pupils an eulogium on the life of Lincoln and their debt as small citizens of a united and powerful country to the man who was shot after having wiped out slav ery and effected what is just begin ning to be a reconciliation between the north and the south. Ic would be easy to work the children for such a theme, The pathos and the real greatness of Lincoln's life children will appreciate quickly and the Im pulse through which great singers re ceive gifts of Mowers and jewels will lead the children to empty their hoards at the feet of Lincoln. Nevertheless such an appeal to the children should not bo permitted. It is not quite clear what it is that the little Americans desire this coun try to do. In fact they are shrewd enough to give no advlco at all. It is surmised that they want the president and congress to accept the twenty million dollars that we agreed to pay to Spain and take our soldiers and sailors and go home, leaving the coun try for Agulnaldo and his fellow con spirators to establish whatever kind of absolute government they have power to. The Philippines have been left on our doorstep and we can not aban don them without receiving the just condemnation of the civilized world. It is neither the intention of congress nor of tho president to bring them up to wait on us in a tyranny worse than Spanish. Exactly how American free dom is to be transplanted and cul tivated in the Philippines, nobody knows. That it, will be transplanted and will eventually be tended by brown hands just as Jealously as in tills country, nobody really doubts, not counting the little Americans. We cannot establish an absolute gov ernment and ignore the natives. Just give us a chance and a little time and we will demonstrate that we wish only to trade with the Philippines and that we feel responsible for the maintenance of good order there. For the rest wo will not interfere with the law nor with the customs, nor with the religion of the people. Grover Cleveland, Senator Hoar and that set, profess to believe that there is an elaborate plot to destroy local self-government in the Philippines and to ignore the natives. In reality the ad ministration is seeking to harmonize and combine democracy with the na tive crudencss and savagery. It is a most difficult task and the president should be assisted by the theoretical believers in democracy and the sup porters of the foreign missionary sys tem instead of being denounced by them. The controversies between Admirals Sampson and Schley, between Gen erals Miles and Eagan, and between Secretary Alger and all of them, has made plain one thing, that the best man was across the sea in die harbor of Manila, neither jawing nor sulking, nor giving interviews to newspapers, but in control of the situation at all times. Admiral Dewey lias had a long training, which, added to his com mon sense and inclination to taci turnity, distinguishes him above all other soldiers who have fought and conquered in this war which has started discussions and investigations enough to last many years. The Miles court of inquiry seems to be going about its work with a definite intention of discovering something. The members are under no obligations to the president or secretary or to General Miles. There is a general impression that a thorough job Is go ing to be made of this attempt so that It will not need to be dono over again. Tho industries connected with beef, beginning with raising and ending with canning and exporting, have been injured byGeneral Miles' charges that the beef was embalmed or chem ically treated. Nevertheless if tho charges are truo the loss does not sig nify, if men are worth more than money. To be sure, wherever the two have been pitted against each other men have got tho worst of it, but hope will never die that an occasion will arrive where men shall be considered of more importance than commerce. If tho beef was not chomlcally treated General Miles was hasty in ascribing its repulsive appearance and smell to chemicals rather than to a tropical heat. If It were embalmed, It still took a brave man, even if that man commanded an army, to call the beef embalmed and arraign against him self an army as largo as his own, sup ported by ovor a hundred million dol lars. That army is composed of the ranchmen, transportation companies, packers, and exporters of cattle, and their wealth Is the sum of the profits made by them. The investigation has proceeded far enough to show that General Miles Is of a hasty temper and lacking in patience and tho JudU clal temperament. The commissary was an untrained and irresponsible body of men, who refused to assume responsibilities made necessary by the sudden enlistment of so large a body of men. Experienced train dispatch ers would have forwarded the supplies and not allowed them to accumulate in yards and on wharves while the army was clamoring for them. But these most important and high sal aried positions were bestowed upon favorite sons of politicians and tho re sult was just as predicted, when the appointments were made. General Miles, feeling that Secretary Alger was discriminating againsl him, may have made his charges on insufficient evidence. If he did the court of in quiry will gladly make such a finding, both on account of the large interests Involved and because the villainy of such conduct on the part of the pack ers is inconceivable. The amount of work done by a cir culating library book in a year depends upon its popularity, newness and upon the reputation of its author as well as upon the rules of the library which owns It. An average volume Is takon out to be read ten times a year. In an instructive and interesting article on libraries In Literature by Marrlon Wilcox, she says that a map has been prepared of one of the branch distrib uting public llhrarles showing how far people will go for a Look. On this map a dot Indicates approximately the place of residence of each person who draws books from that library. The shading made by these dots is heaviest just around tho spot which allows the location of the library, and becomes rapidly lighter as the dis tance from the library Increases in any direction. Practically all of the dots lie within the circumference of a circle drawn from tho library as a center, with a radius of three quarters of a mile. Tho conclusion Is, there fore, that peoplo will not go moro