tHE COURIER
Ity theBoer farmers and the English
would bave sustained a- prolonged
diplomatic discussion with the Boers
in the place of vantage. As it is, the
discussion will continue with the
English in the place of vantage.
Kruger's selfishness has simply ousted
the Boers from a commanding posi
tion and European statesmen are
discussing bis strategic mistakes.
Even his Teutonic cousins, the Ger
"mans, are unwilling to receive him as
a guest. The responsible members of
the governments of continental Eu
rope are not hospitable to this par
ticular kind of a refugee.
Krugeria to the Transvaal what
the Empress Dowager is to China and
his administration has cost the Trans
vaal a bloody war and a large bill of
indemnities. In the early seventies,
after promising his support to Presi
dent Burgers, an educated, liberal
minded man. whom the Transvaal
voters had brought from Cape Colony
to reorganize the corrupt and ineffic
ient Boer government, Kruger preach
ed, a crusade against modern inno
vations in Burger's absence. He suc
ceeded in ousting from office ''Slim
Piet" Joubert, who was temporarily
acting as the head ofltie 6tate. "By
1877 be had so alienated the Boers
from Burger's administration that
British annexation was welcomed as
political salvation. Kruger imme
diately accepted office under the Brit
ish, but was discharged in disgrace
when it was discovered that he was
secretly fomenting insurrection. Af
ter Gladstone conferred independence
on the Transvaal, Kruger got the
presidency by craft, to the disappoint
ment of Joubert, who had done the
fighting." Since his administration
began Kruger and all his relatives
have grown enormously rich, by ex
actly the same means which makes
the name of Croker bated and con
temned by democrat and republican
alike.
The crocodile tears, Kruger shed
when Emperor William sent him
word that he was not at home are
said to have deceived some of the
members of the Reichstag who tb i n k
the Emperor should bave welcomed
the old man whose tears and sobs
while he carefully sorted out the
largest sized jobs for his sons touched
the Boers. The Reichstag has a
working majority of men who.are not
easily overcome by appeals and i Is
pretty certain that Emperor William
will not be reprimanded by his Reich
stag. Comparative Lincoln.
An act of Congress in 1898 directed
the labor commissioner to investigate
and report upon all cities in the Unit
ed States containing more than 30,000
population. The current number of
the Bulletin of the Department of
Labor contains the result of the in
quiry into the 129 cities large enough
to be investigated. A consultation of
this report discovers that New York
Cfty is the largest in population, and
area, the richest and the earliest in
corporated. Falls River, Massachu
setts, has the highest birthrate, 38.75
tcfevery 1,000 inhabitants. St. Joseph
Ho., has the lowest birthrate 9.37 to
everyone thousand. Mobile, Alaba
ma, has the highest marriage rate
20.6 per one thousand. Scranton, Pa.,
has the lowest 5. per one thousand,
Lincoln, Nebraska, Is the fifth health
iest place in this country. The four
cities in which the death rate Is lower
are, Tacoma, Washington, 8.64, Rock
ford, Illinois, 8.47, St. Joseph, Mo.,
8.02, Seattle, Washington. 7.43. Lin
coln is among the five poorest of the
129 cities, considering the assessed
valuation as a basis. Lincoln's assess
ment is $4,777,835. Joliet, Ills., is
assessed at 13,120,500. Qulncy, Ills.,
$4,620,353. Sioux City 15,823,248.
Kansas City, 16,138,804. Lincoln is
also among the five highest taxed
cities. Per 1,000 population, the rate
is 177.15. Joliet, Ills., $91.00. Peoria,
Ills., $84 50. Quincy, Ills., $77.20.
Sioux City, Iowa, $70.00. In the as
sessed valuation per capita of real and
personal property- the average Lin
coln citizen belongs in the list of the
poorest five cities. In consideration
of which poverty the citizen of Lin
coln is listed with the citizens of four
other cities who pay least of the 129
for maintaining police courts, etc.
The Allentown. Pa., citizen pays 30
cents, the Lincoln citizen 48 cents,
Johnstown, Pa., 49 cents, Altoona,
Pa., 52 cents, and South Bend. Ind.,
52 cents.
In order to obtain the.foremost and
hindmost city in the Uaited States,
according to this table, "The Indepen
dent has credited the five cities men
tioned first as 5 plus 4 plus 3plus2and
plus l.The five cities mentioned last
are credited as 5 minus 4 minus 3
minus 2 minus l.Every time a city oc
curs in either the first or last five its e
quivalent numeral is set down, and the
sum total of all the numerals equals
its final rank as a -cjty,. The follow
ing table shows the five' highest cities
and the five lowest by the foregoing
method. Five first American cities:
New York, plus 25; Boston, plus 18;
Philadelphia, plus 12; Maiden, Mass.,
plus 8; Chicago, plus 7. Five last A
merican cities: Joliet. Ills., minus 17;
Lincoln, minus 13; Atlanta, minus 9;
Quincy, minus 9; Johnstown, Pa.,
minus 7.
Although it is discouraging, that
according to this original system of
computation Lincoln is among the
five worst of the one hundred and
twenty-nine largest cities in the
United States it is stimulating to re
flect that Lincoln, thirty years ago,
was smaller than an Iowa whistling
station. In thirty years Lincoln has
become the one hundred and twenty
sixth best city, everything considered
in the country. It is flattering to be
ahead of Atlanta, Quincy and Johns
town, and undesignated thousands,
especially considering the start they
had in wickedness, wealth and mu
nicipal sophistication. Omaha is
neither auong the five best nor among
the five worst and thereby misses ad
vertising. There is also a certain
satisfaction in being the worst there
is, If we cannot attain the best.
Criminals occasionally are unable to
repress their satisfaction in the
Judge's words that tell the world of
their extreme "'wickedness. It is
therefore not witpduta sense of dis
tinction that Lincoln takes her place
among the five- worst cities in this
list of one hundred and twenty nine.
Shoppers.
It is a favorite amusement of west
ern editorial writers to expatiate on
the pleasure women take in doing
tbeirsbopping in the afternoon so
that they can catch the six o'clock
cars home which are carrying tired
men who have worked all day to pro
vide these extravagant, silly shoppers
with the means to shop. These shop
pers are not the women of leisure
who ride home in carriages, but
mothers of five or six children and
housekeepers, who before they enter
the shopping regions must plan the
days luncheon and dinner and the
next morning's breakfast. They
must dust, make beds, wash dirty,
but fascinating little faces, comb out
yards of '"yellow tangle on restless
heads and get their owners off to
school. These mothers must hurry,
if they mean to shop in the afternoon,
so that when the children come home
from luncheon there, may not be
much time lost. Hurrying down
town in the short, winter, pre-Christ-mas
days, the shoppers fipd the coun
ters thronged. Behind the barricade
are the tired, nervous shop-girls whose
services are perfunctory tkecause they
are exhausted and the air is made up
of second-band breaths. The shop
pers wait a long time for change and
the thousands of articles offered for
sale, the cris-crcssing desires, ans
wers, demands, outstretched hands
and interfering feet and elbows would
irritate and puzzle a good-natured
giant, let alone the mother of five
small children. Men leave most of
the shopping, Christmas and other
wise to their wives. One venture in
to the horrors of a crowded shopping
district lasts a man a long time and
the men who criticise women for
shopping afternoons, invariably leave
the marketing and household buying
to their wives. The woman who
must stand for five or six miles after
a half day's shopping Is regarded with
neither sympathy nor good nature by
the men who have spent the day in
quiet offices. They consider that she
has wilfully intruded upon bis trac
tion service at the very time of
the day when the needs it - to
read his paper in. Shopping is not
the diversion and recreation that
men's newspapers consider it. Shop
ping is an exceedingly trying and dif
ficult expedition, which must be plan
ned for and mapped out and self-denied
for, beforehand. Editors who
write about shopping are mostly men
who got their fixed ideas regarding it
from Godey's Lady's book or from
some other ancient authority. The
man In Tuesday's World-Herald who
wrote about the selfish women who
shop afternoons when they have all
the mornings and selfishly occupy
space in the six o'clock cars that be
long to men, has not observed the
modern woman, her accomplishments!
her mastery of detail, and the careful
economical apportionment of her
time, which is not hers to apportion
till after luncheon tinis. One day at
home in the morning with the house
and meals to administer and the chil
dren to clean, dispatch to school and
welcome home again with an after
noon of shopping would convince an
ordinary man that shoppers were not
dilletantes looking about for amusement.
Corn Tassels.
The third edition of Mr. William
Reed Dunroy's "Corn Tassels, a col
lection of Nebraska 'poems has just
been issued. Many of the favorites
which have been quoted and quoted
again are reprlnter..though among
the number I miss the familiar stan
zas about Nebraska, where each one
ends "In Nebraska." The book is
bound in white and lettered in gold
and is a very welcome reminder of
the corn, the skies, the sun and the
prairies of Nebraska.
Comrn'MMonc r of Internal Revenue.
The Death of Hon. George W. Wil
son, United States Commissioner of
Internal Revenue has excited Interest
In his successor. Friends of Mr.
Houtz, collector for this state are urg
ing his appointment as commissioner.
Mr. Houtz has administered the af
fairs of his district which includes
Nebraska and the two Dakotas
with ability and integrity. He se
lected his assistants with the same
discrimination and regard for effici
ency that a private employer uses
when selecting his employes. The
private employer knows that stupid,
uninspired hired men mean a daily
loss of business. Mr. Houtz's fine ad
ministration is largely due to bis con
scientious adherence to the rules of
business selection he adopted when a
successful merchant. There are no
political pets or favorites in his office
and the employes are inspired by the
character and principles of the bead.
Out of nine examinations conducted
by a federal agent seven have been
marked number one.
Mr. Houtz himself is not a candi
date for the office. His appointment
however, would be considered a trib
ute to the record Nebraska has but
just made.
jt jt
Grand Opera.
Melba in Lucia, sung with full
chorus was a great treat to Nebraska
people. It was not a paying venture.
Grand opera is a serious undertaking,
even for a large city and the financial
result in a city the size of Lincoln
was a foregone conclusion. The af
ternoon performance of Faust was
played to a small audience very much
to the disappointment of the local
management, which seems to rise
cheerfully above the inevitable, with
large plans for the next time.
DRINK DEEP OR TASTE NOT.
According to the Bazar, one of the
brighteet women of New York literary
circles moans aloud to her friends be
cause her husband, who never was any
thing but un-literary, has at last gone
mad over a little novel reading, thus
proving the latter to be, like learning, a
dangerous thing. It seems that it has
for yean been the boast of this man
that be had never read a novel in his
life. His literary wife made sensible
little excuses for him, as well she might,
for his financial successes made her own
social position possible. He never talked
books, but, no more did she talk stocks.
She had respect for hie world of stocks,
and the knowledge that he had none for
her world of books she overlooked with
rare feminine good-will, tolerance and
diplomacy.
She was very ill not long ago, and
during one of his nightly vigils, after he
had exhausted the newspaper, while he
was watching the clock to carry out the
physician's orders, he inadvertantly
picked up a book, and opening it, began
to read. He eat up all night reading.
The book contained one of those simple
little romances which delight the heart
of 'sweet sixteen, and was called "Dark
ness and Daylight," written by Mary J.
Holmes, but it opened up a new world
to the ptock-bound metal organism of
that man, So now whenever his wife
is entertaining the literary lights or
lions of the hour, he waits for the mo
ment when some one mentions a book,
and then he at once demands with the
assurance of a litterateur, "But did you
ever 'Dearknees and Daylight,' by Mary
J. Holmes?" adding in tones louder and
more convincing, "Now, I tell you there's
a book worth reading. 1 tell you it's
great. Greatest book ever written!"
It's no use for her to argue the case
with him. Certainly no use to decry
the book. Hasn't he read the book him
self. Therefore he knows. It's no use
for he tor try to hush him up, or to pre
tend she doesn't hear. Everybody hears.
She has tact, and she knows better than
to contradict a practical, successful
business man. But she gets a nervous
chills, and thinks longingly of that dear
past before he ever read a book.
Angelica Why do you Bay Maud is
in love with Jack?
Patricia She is flirting bo dreadfully
with his brother.
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