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VOL. XIV. NO. XII
ESTABLISH KD IN 1886
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LINCOLN, NBBR., SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1801).
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I OBSERVATIONS. g
Dr. Winnett can do little when
elected mayor of Lincoln in enforcing
tho laws regulating saloons without
the concurrence of the excise board.
Nobody who knows the element which
nominated Mr. Bartlett and Mr. Barth
on Monday can have the slightest hope
that there will be any change in sa
loon rule in this town if these two
men are elected. Mr. Harpham and
Mr. Brown had the controlling votes
while- the excise board was in session,
but when the session was over Mayor
Graham was the executive and issued
hlsjown orders to the chief of police.
For this reason the Lindell hotel
saloon has been suffered to run at for
bidden hours and in prejudice to the
rights of other men in the same busi
ness who conformed to the law. Dr.
Winnett Is a man of law and order
and it is questionable if he will take
advantage of his executive position to
circumvent the wishes of the excise
board when he is outvoted. The
Courier has believed that tho next
administration would bo a strong one
In enforcing tho laws wo have, but If
either tho fuslonlst or republican ex
cise nominees are elected, It is not
easy to see how this is to be accom
plished. The members of tho excise
board presldo over tho destinccs of tho
saloons. Both Mr. Brown and Mr.
Harpham have done what they could
for decency and In enforcing the wise
provisions of tho saloon law. On
Monday carriages brought load after
load of BohemianB and negroes and
ignorant, only partially Americanized
foreigners from tho bottoms to the
polling places anri it is their vote that
is going to run the police and allow
the saloons to go as they plcaso the
next two years unless the citizens for
get politics and select two men who
have no affiliations with the saloon
element and no obligations towards it,
nominate them and elect them. There
are enough independent, untram
melcd, intelligent men to do it, if
they will only make the resolve and
take the time. The meeting in 1311
lingsley and Greene's olllce, which
made the plans to get out the vote
from the lirst ward, succeeded as I
have related or as any observer might
have seen.
There is every reason to believe that
excisamen elected Jn this way will
occasionally be reminded of the assist
ance which nominated them at the
primaries and the influence will not
be exerted towards a more stringent
regulation of the saloons which sell
liquor to minors and keep open on
Sundays and after hours at night. Dr
Winnett, Mr. Brown and Mr. Harp
ham could have been appealed to by
the bctterclemcnt which might have
nominated them had it not remained
away from the polls on Monday, when
Mr. Billingsley's plans were so success
fully carried out. Such an occasion
emphasizes what has been said about
the. prohibitionists. If they would
help in attaining a practical reform
by means accepted by tho majority as
expedient, if not ideal, the most fla
grant of the abuses due to the pres
ence of the saloon in the city and in
politics might be corrected. But
they Hock by themselves and are of no
particular significance except to those
who are trying to do the best they can
with the means at hand.
Mr. H. W. Brown has lived in this
city for many years and is from a
human standpoint an incorruptible
and.impeccable man. He sent no car
riages out to gather up votes for him
because of a fine feeling which Messrs.
Billingsley and Green might misun
derstand, that it was a form of brib
ery. I know, from personal experi
ence, that it was not parsimony, for as
I said before, Mr. Brown lias lived in
this city for twenty years and more
and his charity to the poor and contri
butions to everything for the good of
tho public arc known to many, though
this is the first time his benevolence
has been mentioned in a newspaper.
As an exciseman with adequate sup
port from the executive Mr. Brown
would have made an ideal member of
the excise board upon which, more
than upon any part of the city govern
ment, depends the treatment of the
mortal disease which allllcts the body
politic. In spite of the exertions
made by Messrs. Bartlett and Barth
they received the nomination by only
fifteen more votes than Messrs. Brown
and Harpham.
An Audubon society organized for
the preservation of birds is being
formed hero. Tho intention of tho
.founders is not only to prevent the
wholesale slaughter of insectivorous
and singing birds for decorative pur
poscc, but to encourage bird study and
acquaintance. The most welcome of
all tho characteristics of spring is the
return of the birds from the southern
resorts. That morning when tho lirst
robin of the season pipes his clear note
in at your window will soon be here.
Of the whole miracle Ills part is the
most wonderful and heaven-directed.
What if ho selected to stay in the
south among the sweet scents and
warm air and easy foraging? He
never docs but takes his sure flight to
Nebraska long before ho can be sure of
anything like a climatic welcome. He
does not come because he cannot en
dure the heat, because we can for a
shorter time make him ub hot as Ala
bama or Mississippi could, but he
comes because lie is part of a plan to
defeat the attacks of insects and to
cheer and entertain the ingrates who
do not appreciate his attempt to culti
vate our musical tastes nor his useful
ness in preserving the crops and trees.
As a spectacle Nebraska lacks va
riety. The streams are muddy, the
trees are scanty and the pralrio rolls
away in unbroken billows on all sides.
Lincoln Is bounded on the north,
south, east and west by prairie. Drive
in what direction you may, there is
nothing to distinguish the landscape
from that which lies on the opposito
sido of the city except the several uni
versity buildings. Yet tho prospect is
not unpleasing because of tho brilliant
air and tho pure reds and yellows and
purples of the profuse scentless flowers
and the quantities of meadow larks,
thrushes, quail, robins, blue birds and
swallows. Tho country is thus re
deemed by color and pulsing songs
from a monotony which has sent many
a Nebraska farmer's wife in the tree,
less period into the insane asylum.
Yet notwithstanding their benefi
cent mission the slaughter of the birds
for the milliners have diminished the
flocks perceptibly, and there are many
formerly common species, cursed wluh
stylish tails and wings, that have be
come very rare.
The pledges which the Audubon so
ciety issues prohibit the wearing of
any feathers, wings or tails which are
not from domestic or game birds, or
from the ostrich. Reports of the
work accomplished by these societies
arc very gratifying and indicato that
we are not altogether unconscious of
our mercies.
Dr. Wharton's sermon on the greed
of money and the insatiable appetite
of many who have heaped together a
larger pile than the average man is
able seems to have penetrated the sub
consciousness of his congregation.
Tho man with money controls the
living of so many others that his
aggressions upon human rights aro
not often successfully resisted. The
investigation into the beef furnished
the army shows that some of the
packers deliberately sold meat that
they know was innutricious to tho
nation in time of war, when thous
ands of oung men had offered their
lives to their country. Tho over
reaching spirit of sharp bargaining
which tempts a millionaire to make
money by such means when lie has
more already than ho can use Is an
American charactcristlc.known abroad
as "Yankee Smartness." And there
is nothing which is such an over
whelming disgrace to us. But the
fear of the rich restrains reprisals and
hesitation to injure a great American
industry keeps many an essentially
honest man eilcnt. But when minis
ters reprove their congregations for
over-timldlty It Is a good sign for a
new century.
The charge that the Lindell hotel
saloon does not close at the hour when
other saloons are closed seems to be
truo. Mayor Graham's orders to
Chief Hoagland to allow this saloon to
sell liquor after other saloons had
closed up for tho night, in opposition
to the wishes of the excise board, has
incensed other liquor dealers who
claim that they arc ready to obey tho
law but object to such discrimination
against them in favor of a hotel whose
saloon Is no better or any more re
spectable than theirs. Under such a
system it is not surprising that the
saloon men laugh at the law and
watch with some bitterness the stream
of silver pouring into tho hotel keep
er's till, after the elosing of their own
places, in conformity to tho law, has
made tho Lindell hotel saloon, which
remains open lato at night in direct
violation of the law, a monopoly.
Mr. Brown and Mr. Harpham aro
said to have rofuscd to allow an ex
clusive privilege to this saloon during
tho session of the legislature, yot tho
mayor, who is the third member of the
excise board, has not interfered when
the saloon was found to be open after
hours.
Tho W. C.T, U. has done a noble
work and so have the prohibitionists.
Without them tho balance might be
disturbed and tho moderate drinkers,
tho steady drinkers, and tho confirmed
drunkards, all abetted by the saloon
keepers, would lower the Increasing
average of temperance and sobriety.
But tho prohibitionists form a minor
ity of the population and so long as
this is supposed to be a democracy the
majority will have to be consulted.
E. S. Martin in Harper's Weekly sug
gests that "tho W. C. T. U. should not
look upon its critics as enemies who
want to see it fall. Many of its critics
aro friends whose bark is largely duo
to an interest in its welfare. What
would really use the W. C.T. U. up
quickest, would be to havo things en
tirely its own way. If it could como
into power like a political party, pass
all tho laws it wanted, enforce all tho
laws it passed, and regulato every
body's habits according to tho views
of its members, wo should seo what wo