"
V
I
VOL. XV., NO. LII
ESTABLISHED IN 1SSG
PRICE FIVE CENTS
LINCOLN. NEBR., SATURDAY, DEGr-MBcR 29 1900.
THE COURIER,
BXTSUDIN THE FOSTOfTICB AT LISCOLN
SBCOND CLASS MARKS.
AS
rices and conscience of a mayor who
performs his public duties as scrupu
lously as though he were prosecuting
his own affairs. In Omaha the orna-
dren are stolen without recourse, are and grains from the temperate zone;
feeling the effects of the spoils sjs- some enthusiastic hero-worsHiper has
tern. If a man be made chief of police modeled a portrait bust and sent it to
because he stands in with the saloon him as a votive offering, while thous-
POBLI8HED EVEBY SATURDAY
BT .
the police is more than usually obvi
ous in contrast with the cleverness of
IK COIRIER rllNllie AND POBLISHIK CO "! of young Cudahy,
wherein tlie criminals lead and Hie
mental and perfunctory character of keepers of the city, it is silly to repine andsuf young husbands have named
when an emergency discovers him to their oldest sons for him. All this is
have no acumen and no talent for a differeut matter, Mr. Bryan will dis-
Office 1132 N street, Up Stairs.
Telephone 384.
BARAH B.HARRIS. Editor
Subscription Kate? In Advance.
Per annum tl 00
8iz months 75
Three months 50
One month 20
Single copies 05
Thb Cockikx will not be responsible for vol
tintary communications unless accompanied by
return postage.
Communications, to receive attention, must
be. sirfned by tuefull name of the writer, not
merely as a guarantee of good, faith, bnt for
publication if advisable.
r
o
OBSERVATIONS.
S
1
kOO''
Phrenology.
A Websterian skull is not an infal
lible indication of intellect. There
are bends in the penitentiary that in
size and shapeliness would admit
them to the faculty of the university,
if occipital size and shapeliness were
absolutely trustworthy signs of intel
lect. Nevertheless types may be clas
sified by the scientist with confidence
that the results will be correct, with
only a few exceptions where a line
quality brain has been packed into a
small or mis shapen case or where a
very coarse-grained and inflexible ma
terial has been dumped into a noble
brain pan. The phrenologist is ac
corded none too much credence, yet
when a cartoonist draws a type of a
pugilisc, a man of muscle and of small
police followed, a very long way be
bind It has seemed to the public
which sit? on the bleachers and can
always play better ball than either of
the two competing nines, that the
police might have caught the kidnap
ers after the boy was safe in his own
home. I here are only a few people in
so small a city as Omaha driving
around in a hack after one o clock at
night ant if the house had been sur
rounded within a radius of two miles
by men they might have captured the
fugitives. It is easy to criticise
after the fact But a general is
known by the battles he wins, not by
those he loses. The chief of police
should be a man of finesse, initiative,
and unusual intuition and logl", in
stead of the formalist he usually is.
Acumen and a knowledge of fiuman
nature are the qualities essential to a
chief of police. But chiefs are nut
selected. In this country because they
have demonstrated these qualities
findingcrimjnalsandpunishingcrimc.
Stock breeders might as well devote
nl! their energies and studies to de
veloping speedy stock and be disap
pointed because the long-legged,
sle der results of their biological ex
periments are not graded A by the
cover, when it. comes to the matter of
a subscription at a dollar a year for
"The Commoner Extravagant pro
testation and even christening the
oldest son William is easy enough,
compared with the serious and genu
ine test of faith and affection a dol-
cattle assayer who is only looking for lar a year. Ahead of the trustful and
meat, that is for the proportion of ingenuous Mr. Bryan there is a trial
tender meat furnis-ed by each ani- hard .to pass. 'The Commoner'' will
nial. which determines its percentage
mark. The American people select
t eir chiefs of police for qualities
which a enief ot police does not nt?d
in the performance of his duties and
it. is dle to repine when our children
are stolen at six o clock P. M. and
hidden within three or four miles of
their homes, quite unsuspected by
the wax figures in blue aiid brass who
unduubt'dly achieve a hundred thous
and circulation in a short time, and
it has. The Courier's very best wishes,
butamum; the number who do not
take it will be a number whom. Mr.
Bryan has supposed, thought more
than dollar's a year's worthrof.hitn.
M Bryan's'confidence in the vote
getting potency of free silver show
that he has a confiding disposition.
He has faith in himself and in creeds
are good at the polls, but of no use in
catching thieves, thugs and kidnap- and protestations Disillusionment
ers. If the kidnaping of brave, is always a painful process, when ap
voung fudany. and the otl-er kidnap- plied to a young, zealous believer in
ings which will result from the pay- the truth of what folks say, and this
me t of the 925,000 ransom, teaches us. experience is.about to be endured by
that we need a specialist and a genius Mr Bryan, who believes, or professe
The order of progression in the police at the head of the police departments to, in the sincerity of his followers,
department is based upon the amoU'it of the large citio, it will be worth the There ape thousands who will prove
of political influence which police
men can demonstrate at the polls.
The various stages of police hierarchy
are determined by practical demon
strations before ward bosses, who
know nothing and care less about the
qualities and temperament of an
efficient policeman or chief of police.
The public knows nothing at all about
the modus operandi of catching
thieves, but it pays a chief thief
catcher and in most cases he is ab"Ut
as efficient as a picture of a chief of
police suspended in the chief's office.
expensive tuition.
A Dollar a Year.
No weekly was ever started with
better prospects than "lhe Com
ni(.ner.'' Mr. Bryan has thousands
and perhaps millions of disciples in
the United States, and perhaps half
of these thousands or millions think
enough of him, to take his paper.
But as sure as the sun shines and the
moon wanes, men who have madly
and with all of Peter's passionate
protestation sworn their devotion to
him. will fail to pass tne test of the
It is essential that there be a chief of
A' 7 1 . . . . .
intellect, he draws almost a straight Pnce, out ne is oiicn a voiuoie, boast- dollar. A dollar a year is a large
line from the forehead to the base of ruI luacK'i wuo pretends to a knowl- Sjed sieve. A man, the least popular,
the neck. See the Davenport cartoons ede tuat lias not been revealed to reckons that he lus, at least, five hun
of the Trust. There are executions to bIm- Cnief Donahue of Omaha has dred friends who like him at the com-
everything excepting mathematical sPenfc Ms time since the kidnaping, mercial rate of a dollar a year. But stand on end. for once in a way.
their sincerity by sending him a dol
lar for'Tiic Commoner. and there
are several other thousands who will
show him that the doll he loves is
stutfed with sawdust; that as a pus
sible president of the United States
an attitude like that of Buddha,
erosslegged, and an expression of un
broken peace and faith is entirely a
propriate. but that as an editor of
paper at a dollar a year h is expression
should be humble, deprecatory, and
grateful etcetera. Mr. Bryan's dis
illusion will not be so complete as
that which makes cynics oL-ra st edi
tors, but it will be complete enough
to chill his young blood and make
every individual hair on his much
photographed and cartooned head
Twice two is four and wh,m nas infuriated every houest let him start a paper and he will dis
computations.
it is never five.
When you observe a skull with the
criminal drawing, trust your observa
tion and experience until the owner
of the skull has proved by his life and
deeds that be is a man among men. A
man and woman in the country, in
explaining to the newspapers that he
knows who did it and that when the
opportune moment arrives he will
arrest Pat Crowe or somebody else.
Notwithstanding that the police
cover that those friends who pro
fessed to hang upen his words, to be
stimulated to juster and sounder
tbinKing by his exiiortations and ex
ample, were stimulated to the degree
of something less than a dollar a year.
skull that places its owner among are in a position of vantage in regard It-is a small-rate,-buHt is conclusive
the class criminal can belie its shape
by showing a life of good deeds, of
love to man, of conjugal fidelity, of in
tegrity, of a record of benevolence
etcetera. Otherwise men are safe in
accepting the silhouette of the skull
as an infallible sign.
J J
For What We Have.
In reckoning up our mercies for
the year municipal, there are many
officials whose services have been of
great value to the city. Lincoln will
pot forget to be grateful fortheser-
to criminals and criminal news, the
newspaper reporters are invarrabiy
ahead of them in the solution of mys
teries. The difference is that the re
porter's job and promotion depend
upon his exertion and upon his cor
rect reading of the signs and clues of
a crime wnicn aosoros public interest, nature. Perhaps
and the chief's place depends not tury, black or
upon ins understanding of criminol
ogy and upon his ability to locate
criminals and restore swag but upon
his political activity and the result
of it to the party in power.
The American people whose cbil-
Ifa friend does not care a dollar a
year's worth for his friend, taking
everything into consideration, a bow
ing acquaintance is sufficient to ex
press the value of the association to
each one.
Mr Bryan is an ardent, ingenuous
no man of the cen
white. American,
Dutch, Englishman, Frenchman. Nor
wegian, Dane, Austrian, Russian or
Swede, has received the personal
tributes offered, unsolicted to Mr.
Bryan. He has been sent birds from
Mexico, furs from the north, fruits
The Commoner will be a very inter
esting periodical. Mr. and Mrs. Bryan
will make it readable. It will have a.
large circulation and will add to tbe
fame of Lincoln. The Courier wishes
it the best of fortune, and is sure of
its cordial receptiun.
When Love a King.
A narrative poem or lyric is tie
most difficult form of poetic composi
tion. Homer, Goethe, Milton, Keats,
Shelley, Tennyson, Longfellow, and
many others have written narrative
poems, and everone who reads more
than newspapers knows The I'iad,
Faust, Paradise Lost, The Eve of St
Agnes, The Idyls of the King, Prome
theus Unbound, and Evangeline. Of
all these the Iliad: is the only really
successful- long poem. In order to
(Continued on Third Page.)