-V.
. i
, r
M'
K
"
r
9 A
J vc
.-aVm
NO. XXVIII
ESTABLISHED IN 1886
PRICB FIVE CENTS
LINCOLN. NEBR., SATURDAY. JULY U 1000.
THE COURIER,
Official Organ of the Nebraska State
Federation of Women's Gubs.
Emtkbesin the postoftice AT LINCOLN
SECOND CLASS MATTES.
PUBLISHED EVERY SATUBDAY
bi
IBE COURIER PRINTING AND PUBLISHING GO
Office 1132 N street, Up Stairs.
Telephone 384.
SARAH B. HARRIS.
Editor
Subscription Kates In Advance.
Per annum 1100
Six months 75
Three months 50
One month 20
Single copies 05
The Courier -will not be responsible for vol
nntary communications unless accompanied by
return postage.
Communications, to receive attention, must
be sienod by too full name of the writer, not
merely as a guarantee of good faith, but for
publication if advisable.
r
o
c
t
vfA&,
l
OBSERVATIONS. 8
00''
c
Platform English.
Most American citizens, disfran
chised or otherwise, conscientiously
read and endeavor to understand the
two platforms quadrennially issued by
the republican and democratic parties
in this country Some sections or
paragraphs in the democratic plat
form built in Lincoln, carried to
Kansas City and put together again
there, are unusually hard to translate.
For instance this one in regard to
monopolies.by wljich a large number of
prominent democrats make their liv
ing and are profoundly and touch
ingly shocked by, in public.
We pledge the Democratic party to
an unceasing warfare in nation, State
and city against private monopoly in
every form. Existing laws against
trusts must be enforced, and more
stringent ones must be enacted pro
viding for publicity as to the affairs
of corporations engaged in interstate
commerce and requiring all corpora
tions to show, before doing business
outside of the State of their origin,
that they have no water in their
stock, and that they have not at
tempted, and are not attempting, to
monopolize any branch of business or
the production of any articles of
merchandise, and the whole constitu
tional power of Congress over inter
state commerce, the mails and all
modes of interstate communication
shall be exercised by the enactment
it. "More stringent laws must be
enacted, providing for publicity" etc,
(mure stringent laws must be enacted)
requiring all corporations to show
before doing business outside of the
State of their origin, that they have
no water in their stock," (more string
ent laws must be enacted) "that they
have not attempted and are not at
tempting to monopolize any branch
of business or the production of any
articles of merchandise," Here the
sentence properly ends but soue one
who lfas a horror of periods and the
momentary pauses they indicate,
made this platform, for it goes on
after a comma in spite of the dislea
tion "and the who'e constitutional
power of Congress over interstate
commerce, the mails, and all modes of
interstate communication shall be
exercised oy the enactment of com
prehensive laws upon the subject of
trusts." The last sentence of the para
graph is happily intelligible. How
ever if all products handled by trusts
were put on the free list, such action
would notefTect the ice trust which is
causing more suffering to the people
of tha largest city in this country
than any other combination. Ice and
liquid ice, for which the platform ex
presses such a truly democratic re
pugnance, have always been on the
free list.
The meaning of part of the fore
going is that a corporation must be
suppressed when a board or commis
sion decides that it is "attempting'
to establish a monopoly or has at
tempted to establish one. Every
business man in Lincoln republican,
populist or democratic. Is
ing" to drive his competitors
business. The advertisers of
clothing, drygoods, drugs, furniture,
groceries and all other commodities
in the market are apparently right
eously confirmed in their intention
to monopolise a given market. And
it is such determined faith that wins,
that builds up a community and un
consciously disseminates the blessings
of prosperity.
troops from what was Spanish ter
ritory. Moreover it is the powder
belonging to the state that the popu
lists are using to express their joy.
J J
Lawlessness.
The Courier has no excuses to make
for a reckless mob of university stu
dents, but what denunciation and
arrests would follow their tiring of
the state house cannon fifteen times
at one o'clock A. M ? The enthusiasts
who secured the powder from the
state capitol poured in a pound to a
load. The fifteen detonations shook
the windows in the neighborhood of
the capitol. They wakened the s:ck
and made them fretful for the rest of
the night. Moreover it was a curious
J j
Webster Davis.
A traitor in the camp Is more dan
gerous than a thousand brave ene
mies, for the one Inside can show the
enemy how to pass the sentries, he
can divulge the plan of the campaign
and report the amount of ammuni
tion on hand. It is well for the re
publicans, therefore and a portentous
threat to the democratic cause that
Webster Davis lias left the former at
the opening of the second battle. So
far, bad faith has characterized Mr.
Davi' history. He Las a persuasive
tongue and an ingratiating manner.
He used both while he was a republi
can to secure various otlices for him
self. Ollice was to him a salary and
an opportunity, or a vantage point
from which to attack the administra
tion he was serving. By reason, per
haps of some visual defect Mr. Davis
has never been able to see near
objects distinctly and truthfully.
Everything at a distance he sees in a
rosy haze and can prove to himself,
every time that his friend, the ene
my, is all right, and that his friends,
who may be suppressing an insur
rection which if successful, means the
murder of Innocent non-combatants,
are all wrong. From now on he will
see the republican camp from the
democratic side and the democrats
may depend upon it that its republi
can proportions will be fairer and its
atteirini- causo more Just t0 Webster Davis
out of inaoiuaioiiiueaeiuucrduj wuu nvu
-welcomed-ulm and actually seem to
be trusting him. -
The Kansas City Star, in a recent
issue, contains a very plain statement
of Mr. Davis' life and letters. It re
publishes, a picture printed in 1896,
endeavoring to show how he might
have been shot through a hat on his
head and not shot through the head.
According to the picture, it might
have been done by a man twelve feet
high, by a man three feet high, by a
man up a lamp post or a pole, by a man
who leaned a ladder against Mr.
Davis' shoulders, climbed three feet
above him and was very careful how
he shot, by Mr. Davis himself while
holding the hat in his hand, or by a
man in collusion with him who shot
the hat while Mr. Davis held it high
on a cane. Au the time, Mr. Davis
came rushing out of a dark alley in
Kansas City claiming he had been
shot by an assassin, a short man.
The relative position of the two holes
in the hat and the absence of any
abrasion of the sca'p of his head in-
r.
mens
inaugural for a party whose head in
nf c-omnrehensive laws UDon the sub- sists that he represents wronired Deo- dlcate that the shot must have been
ject of trusts. Tariff laws should be pie and that his mission is to see to fired from within three feet of the
amended by putting the products of R h fc AgujnaIdo shall be no longer ground, from 12 feet above it. or
SSpSIJundffi pfca S chased by men with guns, that fhe by Mr. Davis himself. Dramatic 11
tion. Cubans, the Porto Ricans, and the cense, which Mr. Davis is so accustom
In the case of the second Teutonic Tagals shall be presented with a bill ed to take, may excuse a man of his
sentence a fondness for puzzles and of rights and surprised and delighted temperament for attempting to ex
conundrums has induced me to study by the withdrawal of all American cite public sympathy. At that time
he was in danger of being entirely
forgotten and all his oratorical and
dramatic nature rebelled against ob
livion. And In the end he was will
ing to shoot his own hat to escape
what he considered premature burial.
Mr. Davis' political history has been
a succession of desertions.
Major Warner the leader of the re
publican party in Missouri in 1892
discovered what he thought was
Davis and got him nominated for
congress. Warner stumped the state
with him. Davis was defeated but
he attained what he wanted, the cen
tre of the stage and advertisement.
In 1894 he was nominated for mayor
of Kansas City and elected, largely
through the experience, help and in
fluence of Major Warner. Davis said
of Warner at this time: "He will
forever be the brightest star in my
firmament, for he first recognized my
good qualities." Davis first act as
mayor was to insult Warner and to
inform him that all was over be
tween them. In 1896 Davis was u
candidate for the governorship of
Missouri. At a meeting in Kansas
City holding the printed declaration
of the principles of the A. P. A. in his
hand, he indorsed it paragraph by
paragraph. The third section opposes
the holding of office by any one be
longing to the Catholic church.
I maintain now as a young Ameri
can, caring not one bauble for office
in this nation, because God Almighty
has given me a clear head and a
strong arm, and I can make my living
anywhere. I say now, first, last and
all the time, 1 stand for America
against any country on earth and I
oppose any subjection, whether from
England, Germany France or Rome
itself. There is no poetry in that is
there? Then the third section is all
right. Walking across the stage to a
group of newspapermen he said, lean
ing over them: "I want to make the
statement now that the newspapers
are too cowardly to give American
citizens their due.
Then the hat episode. In the
spring of 1896, Davis declared that
the Journal of Kansas City, which
would no longer support him, of
fered him a bribe of $15,000 when he
was mayor, if he would oust the chief
of police. In a month he wrote an
open letter denying his statement.
In the autumn of 1:90 Davis was out
of a job and wanted to be governor.
The influence of Filley and the A. P.
A. was insufficient at the state con
vention and he was defeated. Then
he deserted Filley and the A. P. A.
and joined himself to Kerens who was
national committeeman. Kerens in
troduced the Hopper to members of the
republican national committee and
he went through Ohio spellbinding
for Mr. McKinley, whom he contin
ually spoke of as "God-like." Presi
dent McKinley made him assistant
secretary of the interior. He im
mediately began pulling wires to un
dermine his patron Kerens and get
bis place as national committeeman.
His attempts were proven by letters
written to, received and shown Mr.
Kerens by intluential country poli-
