THE COURIER.
X
Rlie be caught again she will be again
liberated, for is slie not subject to
emotional insanity? Murder is mur
der whether committed by a man or
a woman. Dinsmore's crime in in
tention was no more heinous than
Miss Ilorlocker's. At least he did not
try to kill a whole neighborhood. His
victims were uie iwo peopie u Tuesday evening said to a "World"
reporter: "I realize that the time
has arrived when I must definitely
define my position."
know to be worthless; but the fellow,
who knows tbe woman better than
we do, considers that he has thrown
himself away. We know the fellow,
but we de not know the woman."
A Naive Announcement.
Admiral Dewey at six o'clock on
tcrfered with what lie thought his
happiness. A great deal of horror
was expressed when the autopsy con
firmed the doctor's statements that
Guiteau, the murderer of Garfield, had
a diseased brain. His execution was
better than an acquittal. For the
latter course would have meant the
sure death of one or more healthy,
human beings with a better title to
life. A case of homicidal mania in
man or woman, when once discovered
Bhould be isolated. For against a
maniac society lias no protection un
less the patient is confined.
.Since studying this subject I am con
vinced that the office of president is
not such a very difficult one to fill, his
duties being mainly to execute the
laws of congress.
A Melancholy Man.
In "The Story of a Country Town,"
the author falls to express any of the
joy of lifo and there is joy as well as
misery in living. There is great
satisfaction in watching the develop
ment of life, even though it be our
own. It is like listening to an in
teresting story whose denoument is
always unexpected, whose finale can
never be determined in advance, a
story with a plot laid by villains and
thwarted by the good, a story set in
prairies or mountains or by the sea.
Rich or poor, ignorant or wise, black
or white none know what is going to
happen. The men and women ofMr.
Howe's story are not interested in
life. They have no curiosity. They
do not enjoy the prairies or the sky.
They betray no recognition of them
selves as a part of the drama. They
fall in love lifelessly. From youth to
the grave they are depressed. A good
business, and a good and pretty wife
does not cheer up the hero who is still
haunted by the accumulated griefs
that have afflicted him
birth. Life as Ed. Howe
certainly not worth while. In sum
ming up the jojs and sorrows of ex
istence almcst everyone forgets to
include tbe surprises and the new
ness of every day the absolute im
penetrability of the plot. The uncon
fessed, perhaps unrecognized interest
with which Mr. Howe observes men
and women, and affairs is what in
duced him to write a b'.ok in the first
place. The gloom of his tempera
ment is unrelieved. None of the
characters have to prove their guilt.
The hero's father is taciturn and the
hero never recovers from the childish
mood of believing him a criminal and
suspicion finally drives the father to
his foreordained crime. A sincere
I should execute the laws of congress
as faithfully as I have always execut
ed the orders of my superiors." When
the reporter asked him on what plat
form he stood, the Admiral replied
that he had already said too much.
'Admiral Dewey has not asked Pre
sident McKinley's opinion about the
r'ifflculties of the presidency. Mrs.
Dewey has apparently convinced the
confiding and unsophisticated Ad
miral that a president's duties and
difficulties are not complex but con
sist entirely in the execution of the
laws passed by congress. With the
directness and sincerity exhibited by
all great soldiers from Alexander the
Great to Ulysses Grant, Admiral
Dewey has accepted the hundreds of
letters which he has received from
friends asking him to become a can
didate for the nomination as a genu
ine and upartisan invitation from the
count-y, to accept tbe presidency of
the United States It'is ddubtful if
lie cares what party nominates him.
From his standpoint it does not mat
ter, because according to the Admiral
lie can do only what congress in
structs him. The almost unlimited
Po'.veF of .initiating legislation, the
negative power 01 Life veto, the ap-..
pointing power, and the absolutism of
the executive in war time were not
referred to by the Admiral. Politi-
since his cians. old stagers in society and every
see's it is one with enough experience of so
ciety and politics realizes that Mrs.
Dewey has been reflecting upon the
advantages that pertain to the only
royalty in America. Susp'cion of
such an influence and the Admiral's
refusal to announce any convictions
will make his nomination more dlli
cult than the hasty impression
gathered from the enthusiasm Dew
ey's name still produces, would in
dicate.
The Machine.
A good machine that can be de
pended upon, that works easily and
rapidly is as indispensable in politics
as it is in commerce. The political
machine is nothing but organization
cynic, Mr. Howe neither in his books in charge of a sleepless engineer. The
nor in his newspaper attempts to con- people are often restless when the
real his distrust and dislike of hu- machine is working the most easily
inanity. His recent announcsment and irresistibly.
of disbelief in the Christian religion
is somewhat superfluous. So cheerful
an hypothesis of life and death and
immortality is not calculated to at
tract a mind that loves darkness
rather than light, sees evil to the ex
clusion of good temperamentally and
crystalizes it in epigrams: "There is
only one grade of men; they are all
contemptible. The judge may seem
to be a superior creature so long as
he keeps at a distance, for I have
never known one who was not, con
stantly trying to look wise and grave,
but when you know him you find
there is nothing remarkable about
him except a plug hat, a respectable
coat, and a great deal of vanity; in
duced by the servility of those who
expect favors. "We are sometimes
unable to understand why a pretty,
little woman marries a fellow we
The political engine is now at work
to make a United Statts senator from
Nebraska, and the chances are that
it will again demonstrate the superi
ority of cog-wheels, rods and oil to
unorganized and diversely directed
man power.
There are old-fashioned believers
in the fiction that this is a government
of all the people, who distrust all
machines and disbelieve still in their
efficiency. But for large contracts
there is nothing so useful and relia
ble as a machine in perfect condition
and in charge of a competent operator
American bojs are taught by their
mothers and fathers and in juvenile
literature that the power of the bal
lot is absolute in this country and
that when they grow up they with
their schoolmates are to make and
unmake presidents, senators, and
other exalted officials. When the
boys begin to vote they are influenced
by these early teachings, they conpult
their consciences, and consequently
these first votes and the purity of the
men who deposit votes have come to
be a distinct element in nominations.
The youngsters find out by the time
they deposit their second presidential
vote that their vote is frequently only
a choice of evils, and that the voter
is to the machine as one man to a
corliss engine. The Chicago Record
endeavored to advise the citizens of
Chicago what councilmen to vote for
in the recent city election. After
many names was" printed "Don't
vote," and the editor explained that
the candidates were corrupt, but sup
ported by so powerful a machine that
was not worth while to vote. The
older, larger, richer cities, of course
possess the largest and most perfect
machines, but for a p'ace of , its size
Lincoln has a very creditable, hand
some, and most effective machine.
Puerto Rico.
There are very few papers In this
country whose editors are not de
nouncing the Puerto Ricantariff leg
islation. Puerto Rico either belongs
to the Unfted States or it does not.
The federal government might as
justly discriminate against Nebraska
as against Puerto Rico. It Is ditti
cult at any time to learn the wishes
of the people. Demagogues announce
that the people want this or that and
fail to prove it. But when the news
papers all over the country, republi
can and democratic denounce any ac
tion or lack of it, it is good politics
for the president and congress to lis
ten. For all the papers, not tnis one
or that one, but all the papers are the
great folk-meeting of the people.
When the north, south, east and west.
-shgut-deDUseiat4un in one vc-TJe so
that the words can be distinguished,
congress and the president must lis
ten on peril of immediate and over
whelming disfavor. The United
States made certain representations
and promises to the government of
Puerto Rico. If a republican presi
dent and congress break those prom
ises, for the sake of protected in
dustries in this country, no machin
ery and no men can put the president
back again wheu his time is up. The
tariff is unrighteous and the attempt
to impose it on helps Puerto Rico,
has profoundly shocked the moral
sense of the whole people. The re
publican cartoonists, leader writers
and political essayists are trying to
counteract the influence of the trusts
before it is too late. Most of them
believe that it is not the time for
apologies but for arguments and evi
dence that the country at large is
opposed to injustice and bad faith.
The tobacco and sugar dealers of this
country are alarmed for fear their
profits may be decreased. All the
rest of the people resent the assult
on the dignity of America.
Senator Cushman K. Davis of Min
nesota:, chairman of "the committee
on foreign relations is bravely and
consistently opposing the tariff. He
said that from the time the measure
was reported to the house unti' today
a tide of protest had risen against it
and that protest had culminated in
righteous indignation. It had come
from every part of the country and
from people in every walk of life and
it was based upon the principles that
Puerto Rico, in all the circumstances
should hava free trade with the Unit
ed States.
"I think," said Mr. Davis. "I would
be as firm as anybody under a sudden,
transitory, public manifestation of
feeling, but when that sentiment
speaks to us week after week in con
stantly swelling volume, we must
take heed of it. This question is well
understood by the people. Support
ers of this bill cannot lay the flatter
ing unction to their souls that the
editors of the great newspapers do
not understand it quite as well as we
do. The people understand it, too,
and understand it well."
The Queen's Overtures.
A very .ld lady and yet how serene
ly the Queen opposed the ministers
who objected to her trip to Ireland
and to the privilege of the shamrock.
She shou'd have gone years ago,
though she knew Irishmen did not
love he. it is human to avoid an un
f rfend'y atmosphere, but if the Queen
had gone to Ireland before and more
frequently the ra'sunderstanding be
tween England and Ireland might
not be so deep. The Irish troops with
their Irish otlicers fought for "the
widow" so well that the still impul
sive Queen wanted to do something to
express her gratitude. Irishmen ap
pear to love Ireland better than them
selves, so the Queen's womanly plan
of honoring that which they honor
and love mast is sound. Friends of
the English and Irish are hoping that
this visit may be the beginning of a
reconciliation between them whose
interests are so nearly identical. The
Irish-American hatred of England
has always seemed more rhetorical
than real. Iheir very iteration of
grievance suggests, that they fear
that they will forget it. In the suc
cessful occupation and direction of
another country, the Irish-American
has to blow on his disapproval of Eng
land all the time to keep it alive.
For old injustice loses strength and
the Irishman onjjlien.so.il instill an
Englishman.- """
. . .
Calvinism.
The letter of the Reverend Newell
Dwight Hillis of Plymouth church,
Brooklyn, resigning from the Chicago
presbytery and from the Presbyterian
church, on the ground that he cou'd
no longer subscribe to certain leading
Calvinistic doctrines, expresses his
belief that business men are drifting
away from the Presbyterian church.
Rather than give up the Westminster
confession the church is losing from
its ministry, absolutely honest men
like Doctor Hillis and from its lay
membership men and women who are
not creatively as distinguished as
Doctor Hillis and who have his char
acteristic of exigent honesty. To sub
scribe solemnly to a confession that
no one believes in, is revolting to the
lastidious conscience. Business men
in general know very little about the
higher criticism, but if tney aro suc
cessful it is because of their con
formity to the rules of common sense
and the higher criticism is only that
and science and history applied to
Bible uuderstanding. Business men
will not subscribe to what does not
seem reasonable and their withdraw
al, if the confession is insisted upon
will be felt more and more in the next
hundred years by a church which has
a most noble history.
SHE'D FIND IT.
"Doctor, my wife has lost her voice;
whit can I do about it ? '
"Go home late some night." The
Bazar.
PREPARATORY.
Bookkeeper Your wife ia at the door,
sir, and would like to speak to you a
moment.
Mr. Sellers Yes; just see what my
balance at the bank is, will you ? The
Bazar.
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