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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (June 24, 1899)
T VOL. XIV., NO. XXV. BSTABLISHBD IN 1880 PRICE FIVE CENTS LINCOLN, NBBR., SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 1809. "roo The nut Entered in the postoffice at Lincoln as second cla8b matter. PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY DT THE COURIER PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO Office 1132 N street, Up Stairs Telephone 384. SARAH B. HARRIS, Editor Subscription Katep In Advance. Per annum....' $1 00 Six months 75 Three months 50 One month 20 Single copioB 05 The Courier will not bo responsible for vol untary communications unless nccompauiod by roturn postage. Communications, to rocoivo attontion, must bo stoned by tlio full nnmo of tlin writer, not moroly nB a Rtiarantoo of good faith, but for publication if advisable O o : 8 OBSERVATIONS. 5-wv The County Convention. Although u number of good nion were nominated in last week's re publican county convention, none of the nominees lias any reason for attributing his nomination to his own fitness and Integrety. On the contrary, the nominations were the result of trading. That the large part of the republican ticket consists of men, with irreproachable reputa tions, and possessing the good will of their fellows, is due to luck rather than to the exercise of any deliberate, discriminating judgement by the convention. The candidates who came before the convention, had arranged with the chairmen and other candidates a number of com - bines. Jn these combines men who have not the entire respect of. their fellows who have been guilty of accepting money from gamblers and of transferring part of it to a former mayor, or who were under serious suspicions of dishonesty, were coupled witli better men as a pill is imbedded in Jelly to make it moro palatable to the patient. By this curious but only nominal concession to the squeutn ishness of a part of the convention every combine contained a pill moro or less nauseous, and in order to elect the really eligible men it was thus necessary to vote for a man or men who had no quulllleutions and many (Usabilities for the ollice for which they asked the nomination from the convention. No convention could better lllus- trato the superior qualities of tho Lincoln system of nomination, county system now in use is representative. It gives the chair man of each delegation an oppor tunity to control more votes than he is entitled to as an individual. To be sure, any member of a delegation can demand a poll of the delegates from his ward and secure It, but to this action there is attached a certain stigma (it is the same disability which is connected with the name of kicker) and most men are too con stitutionally timid, too experienced in the good results of cowardice to attempt it Consequently the .ward or precinct is voted as a unit by the chairman, where if its humble con stituents had an opportunity to vote their sentiments in a booth separated by an inch and a quarter plank from the autocratic and threatening eye of the ward boss, who is chairman of the delegation, the tender germs of con science, good judgement and the duty they owe the neighborhood might spout into secret defiance of the boss. The unpopularity uf calling for a poll of the delegation after the chair man has announced its unanimity might have been observed when the republican rulers of Lincoln and the current republican candidates were talking over the composition of the convention, the ironical proceedings of which is now under discussion. At these conferences many prominent republicans honest and influential, were rejected us impossible and in expedient because it was suspected they had formed a habit of inde pendent thinkingaud would be likely to ask for a poll of the delegation. Which teaches that to be a man and not a sheep or a mouse shuts the door to political preferment. Inasmuch as men admit and ratify by their conduct that in politics they are cither sheep or mice and as easily led Into a trap or vanquished, the Lincoln system should be extended to county nominations. The Lincoln system reassures the timidest and most frightened delegates. It dis sipates the fear of the reproaches and reprisals of the boss or of injury to that hopeful political pasture which most sheep look forward to, having found out that their own efforts ) leld a scanty living There is a recurring rumour every year that the central committee in tends to abolish the Lincoln system In city politics. Such an event would destroy the reforms really accom plished by the Lincoln system since it has been in force here and would betray the citizens again into the hands of the ward wolves who bat tened on the primary system up to tho adoption of the Lincoln system, the real basis of which is man's timidity coupled with his predis position to righteousness when it can bo safely practised. The principle being in accordance with human nature, the system is Justifying Itself every spring and fall to tho increas ing satiety of tile saloon politician. And if there is one effect of the saloon worse than another, it is the saloon keeper In politics He has no ideals of liberty only purposes to serve. One member of the city central committee, is a saloon keeper whose impatience with the Lincoln system lias been expressed. French Justice. The reductions that have been made upon French hysteria since tho Drey fus affair got into the cable would make a city library. Hut the deci sion of the court of cassation to revise the matter in spite of the threatened revolution shows tiat the French people are not afraid to do justice, nor to revise a verdict though the army and the majority of the bureau cracy may oppose it. The most radi cal republicans over there believe that the republic will be strength ened by a fair trial of Dreyfus. A republic which can be Jostled by Jury trials or any of the various methods of awarding justice to all is not worth saving and the brave French souls who insist upon giving Dreyfus a trial believe that the quality of their free dom is not rickety enough to go to pieces if justice is done a long suirer ing.lew,even if it involve administer ing a rebuke to the heads of the army bureau. Any way the French have shown they dercrvc freedom, by in sisting upon its extension to all. As to Street Names. The proposed change in the names of the streets in Lincoln has the advantage, as a system, of infinite expansion. If the most hopeful mem bers of the city council have good reason for the belief that this city needs to prepare itself for two hun dred and twenty-second street, the catalog system reeommendci by Professor Fling Is perhaps expedient. The objection to the present system is that it is too monotonous, that flic alphabet and the numerical system in combination deprive our other wise pleasant streets shaded by Soft maple, cottonwood, catalpa and rare elms of character. The new system is no better and is even a little worse. Convicts in the penitentary are designated by a number, their cells by a letter, and the row by another number. As a basis of classification it is perfect. The gaoler or one of the guards can conduct a lurking attorney, or a broken hearted old woman to the exact convict and cell desired instantly. But we arc neither convicts nor books in a library and most of us do not wish to be easily discovered by a number and letter. Neither Is it desirable to adopt a system of classification constructed solely for the henellt of strangers. It Is well enough to erect a sufficient number of guide postu to convince strangers who venture out by them selves, with no map and no compass that they have lost their way, but the streets should be named according to the convenience of the free holders who live on them, wtioso homes make the district beautiful or ugly as tho case may be. The unbeautlfiil system we have, was adopted solely for tho convenience of strangers with cata loging instincts who thought it would be to tho advantage of science to checker board the homes of this city by letters and numbers at right angles. The revised system is more hope lessly undiverslfled than the present one, because the new system proposes to number away from O street north and south counting O street as one. Then the only difference between J street and N street would !ie In the points of tho compass The former will be known as Second avenue north and flic latter as second avenue south. If strangers are as helplessly imbecile as these plans for their geographical eilightenment indicate, every guide post shou.ld be fitted with Instruc tions as to the best way or distin guishing the left from the right hand and the north from the south ct cetera. Then the new system means the addition of a word to every address. Tills means an increase of a third in the expense of lettering the guide posts. It increases the cost of printing. It consumes time in writ ing. In newspaper offices it means the printing of a new list and among the postmen who do not get recon ciled and accustomed to a new ad dress in much less than a year, tho con fusion in delivering mull matter would cause immeasurable trouble. The othor reform proposed, namely the acceptance of the present system, only adding tq the lettered streets a name beginning with the letter they are at present known by, would have the Index advantages urged by Pro fessor Fling without the disudvunt age of having the streets north and south of O street Identical except for the affixed words north or south. Be sides, the streets could then have a real name. Frank Thompson. When a man succeeds in America and success means making money or a name or both, usually If lie makes money, fame is conferred upon him too, in America it is customary for the newspaper puragrajjhers t0 0()k for a humble origin and to polnb with pride to the opportunities which free country and new enough not to be entirely rid of its aborigines, of fers to Industrious talent. When Frank Thompson, president of tho Pennsylvania railroad, died on the fifth of this month, it was expected that the newspapers would announce that "he began life, a humble me fslinnlc in the company's shops at Altoona'' and they did. Ilarpci's Weekly says: "That he was ever a humble mcchaplc is highly Im probable. A merlin, jnechanlcs are rarely humblq uqtjpr, 'iny 'clrcum stances and fherq.wu? ('ittid to make ' in ,' I, .