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, .