THE COURIER.
X
I
attend tbe official social functions,
and have had no places assigned to
them on special committees
On the other hand American wo
men painters bare been awarded gold
and silver medals (or pictures ex
hibited at the Exposition. These
medals were awarded in competition
with the painters of tbe world and
for work. Tbe distinction is higher
and more worth having. It has al
ways seemed to me that a woman's
building at an exposition for tbe ex
hibit of woman's work, set aside from
that of men and not considered on its
merits, but deserving credit, as the
performance of woman, is degrading
and unworthy the epoch. "A board
of lady managers," tbat is, a board of
managers selected from among tbe
most intelligent of tbe sex to show
tbe progress of women, as we make
a sbow of Indian work or Indian
school children's progress! And the
public thinks the display remarkable
"considering.' All the advocates of
honors for women as women make a
mistake. Such assignments are an
indication of inferiority. The French
are right in ridiculing woman's claims
to. place on account of sex, and giving
medals irrespective of sex for work'
doneln open and unrestricted com
petition. The list of American art
ists distinguished for paintings and
drawings exhibited at the Exposition
includes tbe names of Cecelia Dean,
gold medal; Elizabeth Nourse, silver
medal; Catherine G. Abott, Maude A.
Cowles, Louise Cox, Lucia F. Fuller,
Laura C. Hills, Mary F. Macmonoies,
bronze medals; Martha W. Baxter.
Kate Carl, Sarah C. Sears, and Sadie
Waters, honorable mention.
J
The Declaration of Independence.
Regarding au editorial in Tbe Cour
ier in the issue the 4th of Aug., a cor
respondent says tbat tbe editor has
read something into the Declaration
that is not there and further "that
it nowhere declares that man is born
free and equal, tbat at tbe time it
was written, the Declaration was
literally and accurately the truth and
that a citizen of this country has no
more right to declare the Declaration
of Independence a lie than a Chris
tian has to declare tbe Sermon on
the Mount a lie."
From the Declaration of Indepen
dence I quote this, "We, therefore
solemnly publish and de
clare, that these United Colonies are,
and of right ought to be, Free and
Independent States; that they are
absolved from all allegiance to the
British crown." Here are two dec
larations, tirst tbat the United Col
onies then were free and independent
states, and second, that they ought to
be such. My correspondent says that
the declaration that the colonies then
were free and independent states was
literally and accurately true. It at
that time the colonies were "free
and independent states" why issue a
Declaration of Independence? Free
and independent states owe no such
allegiance to other states as the col
onies then declared they were ab
solved from. If at tbe time the Dec
laration was written the colonies
were what tbey were declared to be
why declare tbat tbey were or "are
absolved from all allegiance to tbe
British crown ?" If the colonies then
were "free and independent states"
why maintain a war for several years
for the purpose of securing and es
tablishing their independence and
becoming what they then were not,
"free and independent states?'' If
the result of that war bad been the
suppression of the rebellion and tbe
coercion of tbe colonies into obedience
to the British crown, would the col
onies notwithstanding such defeat
and coercion still have remained what
the Declaration at the beginning or
tbe war declared them to be, "free
and independent states?" At the
time this Declaration was written
tbe therein denominated "free and
independent states'' were colonies and
dependencies of the British crown to
which they bad theretofore rendered
allegiance. To absolve themselves
from that allegiance, and "to assume,
among tbe powers of tbe earth, tbe
separate and equal station to which
the laws of nature and of nature.s
God entitled them," they rebelled
and entered upon the struggle for in
dependence. They issued this im
mortal Declaration of Independence,
tbe grandest, tbe greatest declaration
of war that ever came from tongue or
pen; nevertheless the statement
therein contained that "these United
Colonies are free and Independent
States," instead of being literally
true at the same time it was written,
was at tbat time literally false.
To the unalienable rights of men,
my correspondent says that the Dec
laration is today literally and ac
curately true. The unalienable rights
specified are life, liberty and the pur
suit of happiness. I understand tbe
meaning of the word "unalienable,"
to be, "incapable of alienation."
Doubtless all men and some women
are created with the inherent right
to life and liberty and the pursuit of
happiness, but are these rights in
capable of alienation?
If the Declaration of Independence
as to tbe unalienable rights of men
is "today literally and accurately the
truth," how can we reconcile the law
which condemns to death the mur
derer, and his subsequent- execution,
with the "self evident truth," that
tbe same murderer is created with
tbe right to life which is incapable of
alienation? My correspondent is a
lawyer; bas be ever in his practice
known a tbief or a robber to escape
punishment simply and soiely because
he was endowed by his Creator with
the unalienable right to liberty? So
ciety says, speaking through the laws
enacted for its protection, that men
alienate their right to life, to liberty
and to tbe pursuit of happiness, by
their misdeeds and by tbe perform
ance of probioited acts. The laws for
the protection of society against the
evil doers are based upon tbe prin
ciple tbat men may by their acts
alienate their right to life as well as
to liberty; either this must be true
or government or society, whichever
we term it, in the enforcement of
law, Is wrong. The Creator, who in
the language of tbe instrument under
consideration, endowed all men with
the unalienable right of life, com
manded Moses that tbe man who was
found gathering sticks on the Sab
bath day should surely be put to
death, and put to death he was; was
tbat man endowed by his Creator
with an unalienable right to life?
To my mind the statement tbat as
to the unalienable rights of men the
Declaration is today literally and ac
curately true cannot be sustained.
As to the statement that a citizen
has no more right to declare tbe Dec
laration of Independence a lie than a
Christain has to declare the Sermon
on the Mount a lie: The Sermon on
tbe Mount was intended to be and is
a rule for tbe government of human
action. Not so with the Declaration
of Independence. Tbat instrument is
just what its preamble declares it to
be, an expression of the causes which
a decent respect for the opinions of
mankind required the colonists
to declare when they separated from
their sovereign whose authority they
had theretofore recognized and ac
knowledged. When the signers of
the Declaration of Independence and
their contemporaries came to frame
a constitution for the government
tbey established, they were careful
not to insert therein a declaration
tbat all men were created equal; tbat
they were endowed, by their Creator,
with certain unalienable rights and
that among'these were life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness. Such
an expression might pass in a dec
laration of war but its authors de
clined to incorporate it in the consti
tution. All of which is most respect
fully submitted.
Jt
Education by Suggestion.
A clubwoman and a student of chil
dren, Mrs. Kerr of Chicago, is teach
ing by suggestion, ber little girl
who sucked her thumb and turned in
her toes when she walked. She says
she has cured both these habits by
after sleep treatment. Every nigbt
when the little girl was sound asleep
tbe mother went to her bedside and
told ber that she must not suck ber
thumb, sbe turned the little feet
outward and told ber that she must
not turn them in again. In this way,
Mrs. Kerr says, sbe bas cured two of
tbe habits most difficult to cure in
children. Sbe did it not in a week or
a month but by several month's unin
terrupted suggestion to the sleeping
child, if the mind is never really
asleep and if the doors of bearing are
as open while some part of the child
is asleep, this method of instruction
is certainly worth trying. It is pain
less and involves only fidelity on tbe
mother's part.
J Jt
An Apostate.
Mrs. Mary Ellen Lease, who has
made more speeches advocating popu
list doctrines and candidates tban
any other woman and only fewer than
Mr. Bryan, bas renounced populism.
She says "the party has lost what fire
and enthusiasm it once had, and is
now a boodle refuge, tbat is destined
to become a mass of parasites on the
democratic growth."
Mrs. Annie L. Diggs has succeeded
to Mrs. Lease's place. Mrs. Diggs has
widened the breach between populists
and democrats by deflecting some of
tbe offices promised to democrats
back to straight populists. It is not
a question of principle in Kansas, and
tbe f usionlsts tbat are left do not
pretend tbat it is. Taking into ac
count the population of Kansas, the
democratic fusionists maintain that
there are few enough offices to go
around without awarding any to wo
men. Tbey were, tberefere, displeas
ed when Chairman Bidgely of the
populist state committee issued a
circular inviting tbe women to help
elect the state officers and the nation
al electors. The democrats hold
rigidly to the idea tbat woman shall
be governed witbout her consent. and
without giving ber any public oppor
tunity for the expression of dissent
or approval. They therefore demand
ed of Chairman Bidgely the with
drawal of his circular, holding tbat
tbe Germans who beat their
wives in America as in Germany,
would be alienated from populism.
But Mrs. Diggs convinced the Chair
man that there were more women
tban Germans in tbe state and tbat
tbe feminine influence and voice was
more potential than the vote of the
German who beats his wife into
agreement with tbe conviction tbat
he has divine authority for it. Mrs.
Diggs wbo weighs less tban a hundred
pounds, who has a magnetic voice
that carries a quarter of a mile, can
outspeak and outlast most of the Kan
sas orators. She starts on her tour
today. She will be assisted by Mrs.
Hoffman of Enterprise, and Miss Hart
of Topeka. Mrs. Hoffman is the wife
of a member of the state central com
mittee, who is a candidate for a state
senatorship and a receptive candidate
for a national senatorship. She has
for years been prominent as an organ
izer of women's clubs and is a woman
of culture. Sbe is well acquainted
with politics and the political situa
tion, and is a power among women,
having close friends tbrougbout tbe
state. She will devote herself to or
ganizing women's political clubs
throughout the state during the cam
paign. Through training with the
populists, Mrs. Hoffman is an avowed
socialist. Miss Hart is a newspaper
woman and a practical politician, and
will not only furnish campaign ora
tory but will provide campaign litera
ture for distribution. Sbe bas a knack s
of making "anti-trust" speeches -which
the farmers endorse and applaud
and with the miners of the southeast
ern part of the state, she is an au
thority. Ji J
102,000.
Omaha's census returns are a cause
of chagrin to her ambitious citizens
only because the last report was in
flated. The metropolis of Nebraska
has made a steady and rapid growth.
In a very few years the city has grown
from a town into a city. Omaha bas
nearly every reason In the world to be
proud, and very little, except her city
government and school board, to be
asbamed of. In Omaha, not to speak
of imposing business blocks and band
some residences, is tbe only architect
ural monument in the west, the Bur
lington railway station. Tbe men of
Omaha are keen-witted, they exhibit,
at times, an intense activity, tbey
have made money, some of them have
lost it, but mauy sbow remarkable re
cuperative ability. Although it is a
western town, the society in Omaha A
has a metropolitan go, confidence and
tavoirfaire not at all discreditable to
a city that fifty years ago was nothing
but a frontier settlement. Poten
tially Omaha is everything. The power
concentrated there in the dynamic
breasts of westerners is illimitable.
A trifling matter of a loss of 38,000
people according to the untrustworthy
figures of the last census, should not
dismay the men of Omaha, who have
good reasons for self-confidence and
hope.
J j
Nebraska Trees.
The recent severe wind storm which
broke off tbe trunks of hundreds of
trees in this vicinity bas laid bare
tbe evidence of the work of the bor
ers. Few of tbe trees are broken off
nearer the ground than eight feet and
in most cases the bole snaps where
the weight of a large lateral branch
was taken advantage of by tbe wind,
about twelve or fifteen feet up
The cross-ways section of each tree,
thus destroyed shows a broad, black
streek, where decay has followed the
neat round holes made by the worms
that bore with so accurate an aim for
the heart of the tree. There is prob
ably not a souod,soft maple or box-elder
tree in Nebraska. The trees plant
ed ten years ago give a grateful shade,
tbey are beautiful and they have re
paid tbe care and expense of tree
culture in Nebraska. But the life of
the softwood trees is short and every
season it is necessary to replant trees
to take the places of those which
tbe wind bas broken off at tbe point
where insects have already made deep
incisions. Tree-lovers whitewash the
boles, dig out' tbe insects and fill up
the holes with putty, but trees thus
treated are still broken off. Tbe
faithfulest friends the trees have,
f