J
VOL. XIV. NO. Vlll.
KSTABLISHBD IN 1880
PRICE F1VB CENTS
LINCOLN, NBBR., SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1809.
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SARAH B. HARRIS,
Editor
Subscription Kates In Advance.
Per annum 1 00
8ix months 75
Three monthB 50
One month 20
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Communications, to rocolv attontlon, must
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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