THE COURIER.
V '
if there was to be any government at
all, and they went no further back in
their analysis than the states which
were the constituent members of the
federal Union."
Individuals, democrats and republi
cans, the country over, admit that
men are not born equal; and individ
uals, democrats and republicans, the
.country over, admit the limited appli
cation of self-government. But when
politicians and some editors express
themselves on these subjeets It is
charitable to believe that they hesi
tate to express their sentiments for
fear of being misunderstood by the
fetich worshippers. At any rate, Mr.
Bryan advocates what all men of af
fairs recognize as an impossible Amer-
lean policy in the Filiplnes. What
Mr..Bryan calls "an easy, honest, hon
orable solution of theFitipine ques
tion," is thus outlined: "First, to
establish a stable form of government
in the Filipine Islands. Second, to
give independence to the Filipinos.
Third, to protect Filipinos from out
side interference." Mr. Shaw points
out that the first proposition contra
dicts most of the oration which Mr.
Bryan chose to deliver at Indianapo
lis. "If, indeed, the Filipinos possess,
as be affirms, the absolute right to
govern themselves, theD we can have
no business to estabMsh a stable gov
ernment, or any other kind of a gov
ernment among them. Aguinaldo and
his supporters have asserted all along
that they are eminently capable of
-establishing their own government,
and that our business is simply to
clear out. The administration at
Washington and Judge Taft's commis
sion, now in the Filiplnes, made up of
'democrats and republicans alike, are
doing ail in their power to establish a
stable government in the archipelago.
JAr. Bryan's second proposition does
-oot mean anything, because it is
.sandwiched in between two other
propositions, which recommend radi
cal limitations upon independence."
Make-Believe-
, I know who the anti imperialists
are, but I do not know what they are.
It has been asserted that Europe and
.Asia have lost confidence in the integ
rity of this republic, that Europe and
Asia are now indubitably convinced
that Americans, as represented by
the administration, are piratical land
grabbers and tyrants. Bussia and
China are the largest and richest na
tions in Asia, and England is an over
balancing part of Europe. The Chi
nese, administration can not be accused
of credulousness. The system of
espionage employed in China and the
baffling, incomprehensible character
of Chinese diplomacy may be accepted
as a indication that they do not bestow
undeserved confidence upon either
theirfellow-citizens or foreigners. Tet
tbeChinese turn with instinct! re and
irrepressible confidence to represent
atives of the Halted States in this, the
greatest crisis of their history. And
Bussia exhibits the same confidence
in American integrity and loyalty to
democracy. England expressed the
mind of Europe when Admiral Dewey
first sailed into Asiatic waters, ft is
timely to remind some Americans of
.our Asiatic and European reputation,
for some Americans make believe that
the administration has broken with
.tradition and blackened American
fame with the nations of the world.
French Women and Gufcc
Mrs. May Wright Sewall reports a
most successful mission to France.
She says, in an interview taken from
The Sun and reprinted on another
-page of this paper, that the French
women, or rather the Paris women,
do not need clubs. They already take
an intelligent interest in national
affairs, and they talk about them
with aplomb, and a clever French wo
man's opinion on affairs is sought and
respected. The French woman has a
salon, wherein her guests entertain
her and each other by a flashing wit
and by keen observations The French
hostess never straits her powers of fn
vention to provide an amusing game
for her guests to play. Progressive
euchre parties are unknown and tid
dly winks and all other toys made lor
the amusement of a company with
crude ideas of the pleasures and pos
sibilities of conversation were made
for the American trade. Mrs". Sewall
is an enthusiastic club woman. She
is convinced that their .-successful
propagation will hasten the reforms
which will be apparent when woman
takes a hand and an interest in the
management of the world. And when
Mrs. Sewall says that the French wo
men do not need the social stimulus
of clubs, it is comparatively certain
that she is right.
Savagery.
"The thickest ice that ever froze
Can only o'er the river dote;
The living stream lies deep below
And flows, and can not cease to flow."
The philosophy expressed by the
foregoing stanza is exemplified in
some part of this country nearly every
day, by mobs, or white-caps, whose
desire to kill is not restrained by any
fear of a mayor or a governor whom
they have elected and who wish a
re-election.
Kipling and Henry Seton Thompson
testify that a pack of wolves chooses
a leader and he convokes the pack to
kill an offending, law-breaking wolf.
When the leader himself grows too
old and weak to lead the pack, it
kills him. But while he is leader, he
is obeyed. American mobs have not
the self control of a pack of wolves.
An American mob, composed of ruf
fians and loafers, is allowed, whenever
it gathers, to hang and burn and tor
ture the innocent if its victim has
been spirited out of town. The mem
bers of such a mob are not punished.
The anarchists at Chicago who fifed
upon and killed the policemen were
finally convicted and bung, to the
relief of all-America. It was a unique
retribution, the only instance I re
member wherein a mob gathered to
kill and, killing, was punished by the
execution of its ringleaders. The St.
Louis mob killed men and boys, and
tore the clothes from poor women,
some of whom were on an errand of
life and death. Yet the murders and
assaults are unpunished. The prop
erty the mobs destroyed will be paid
for by industrious men and women
who are mislead by socialist cant,
which is in the way of conferring
despotic power upon men who ought
to be walking with the lock step to
and from their meals, and of allowing
them to plunder other men whose in
dustry, energy and brilliant gifts for
attending to their own business have
made them capitalists. The indus
trious, the saving, the law-abiding get
ahead, in the long run, only to be de
rided by a mob whom the ser
vants of the people are afraid to re
stain. A recognition by officers and
officials that it is only necessary to
scratch the skin of the average man to
find the savage might prevent some
of the mob-murders and save millions
of dollars worth of property. If some
' body must be killed every time a mob
gathers to lynch a negro without a
trial, efficient officers could provide
the mob a victim from among the
rioters themselves. If the officers, en-
trenched behind stone walls, were in
the habit of killiog avengers, mobs
would be harder to raise and commu
nities might gradually be purged of
the loafers that compose the grown
up part of mob?.
jt J
Their Opinion.
The Czar of Bussia is a man of few
words, carefully selected, so that there
is little need of their revision and a
new edition. He notified our state de
partment that Bussian troops would
evacuate Pekin immediately. The
Bussian minister's communication
was not conditional upon the consent
of any other nation. There is no sug
gestion of trading or of conditions.
It is a communication to the state
department of the United States from
the Bussian minister through the
Bussian representative in this coun
try, stating that ''Russia has directed
the Bussian minister to retire with
bis official personnel from Pekin, that)
the Bussian troops will likewise be
withdrawn, and that when the gov
ernment of China shall regain the
reins of government and afford an
authority with which the other pow
ers can deal and shall express a desire
to enter into negotiations, the Bussian
government will also name a repre
sentative for that purpose." By
leaving the Chinese to regain their
own equilibrium, the czar has'shown
that the Peace Bescript was genuine.
By his instant and preferred avowal
to the United States of bis intentions
in regard to China, be has exhibited a
trust in this country and a sympathy
with and understanding of the admin
istration that all Americans might
emulate.
J
A Decent Respect.
The low standard of propriety held
by the average reporter vulgarizes
still more a life which is sordid and
vulgar enough anyway. Where a
family's, or church's, or individual's
right ends, is settled bytbe report
ers, and they are influenced only by
the amount of space they are expected
to fill in the paper. The Presbyterian
church of this city has been discuss
ing a change of pastors. The mem
bers of the church and the pastor ex
pressed the desire to settle the matter
themselves without newspaper noto
riety. Fifty years ago, or even thirty
years ago, publishers of newspapers
still had respect for the proprieties
of life. They left the president of the
United States some parts of the White
House, nor ventured to photograph
him without his consent. "A decent
respect for the opinions of mankind,"
is a phrase in a book to most report
ers. Their copy Is, of course, un
signed, and frequently has all the Im
pudence, cowardice and self-righteousness
of anonymous letters. A
family or a church in trouble, espec
ially if they show a disposition to
make it up by compromise and con
ference, have an ethical right to in
sist that a discussion of their affairs
be not published, at least until a set
tlement has been reached. The re
serve, self-control and resistence of
'the priests and bishops of the Catho
lic church in dealing with unscrupu
lous reporters are admirable. The
efforts of the pastor and members of
the Presbyterian church and elders of
this city to keep the speeches made in
a quiet little prayer-meeting to them
selves were unavailing. The matter
was written up in the cheaply ex
ultant style of a police reporter who
is quite sure he is right and willing
to go ahead.
Beporters not all reporters, an oc
casional gentle-man strays into the
business whose breeding resists the
associations, exigencies and tempta
tions of the job plume themselves in
print for the unworthy, unmanly
tricks that tear secrets from breasts
that would hide them.
Every other winter the Nebraska
legislature passes about'a hundred
bills they average about a hundred,
taking the last five sessions as exam
ples ol the capacity of the modern
Nebraska law-maker. It is curious
that with the addition of a hundred
bills every bieunium, applying to the
rules of some department of activity
or life, nobody knows any difference.
There would be no money in it, but
if the press could be restrained from
interfering with private affairs, with
out interfering with its liberties in
regard to public affairs, much mis
chief would be averted. After all, the
question is one of discrimination and
good taste, and no law can infuse that
quality into an individual or a news
paper. But it t odd that in the rapid
manufacture of laws not one is made
to enlarge the freedom of the individ
ual. Most of the laws that are passed
at such large expense, and with so
much noiee of argument, are re
strictive of individual liberty.
J jt
Not Demi-God Nor DeviL
In 1896, all that large part of the
nation out of work was willing to ac
cept any sort of a suggestion that
promised relief. A drowning man,
a starving manT a man desperate
from any cause whatever, does not
commonly exercise his best judgment.
Therefore, in 1896 Mr. Bryan acquired,
rather easily, the status of a prophet
and a Moses. This year he is obliged
to re-establish his reputation, in the
face of the failure of bis prophesies.
Moreover, he is now confronted with
a well-fed, busy people, who could,
were the opportunity afforded, give
concrete 'answers to his theories.
There is another reason why the sta
tions, at which Mr. Bryan's train
stops, are not crowded with people.
Americans are as curious as antelope,
and they have all seen Mr. Bryan.
Presumably those who do attend the
Bryan meetings, are those who were
in Europe four years ago this time,
or were sick-a-bed and did not get a
cbance to see him. There is little
doubt that the apathetic audiences
who respond to Mr. Bryan's invita
tion to listen to his diagnosis of
what ails them, are not convinced
that they need an? treatment -at all,
such is the influence of prosperity on
a full stomach. The apathy of a re
public on the brink of an empire is
incomprehensible to Mr. Bryan, and
he Is surprised by the absence of curi
osity and of interest in him all over
the country. As he is neither the pres
ident of the United States, nor demi
god, nor devil, it is only natural that
be should have become an old story.
Other and greater men hare suffered
the same shock after a period of dizzy
popularity. M. Bryan is a good citi
zen, an Impeccable family man, a good
"provider" and a kind neighbor. All
these he is, and he has, besides, extra
ordinary gifts, as an orator. He can
not only write a very creditable
"piece," as Mr. Dooley calls it, but he
can deliver it brilliantly and effect
ively, and his inspiration, in the act
of delivery, does not stale. His is not
cab-wit that occurs to him when he is
going home after the occasion for it is
past, but he replies without catching
his breath, to the questioning heretic
who intends to embarrass him. Never
theless, he is not the man for president
of this country. When be was a law
yer, he was not a case-winner and
even his friends and he had many
took their important law cases to
some other practitioner.' He general-
va
-
r
a
k
f
y