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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (March 16, 1901)
THE COURIER. thousand dollars on the effect of bis Bible candidates were nominated, but oratory is revolting to sinners. The for the last two Tears, Lincoln citizens 'holiness meetings" now being held have been served by men capable of in Chicago are addressed by this Duke filling the positions they were elected M. Farson. whom relicion has not re- to. Captain Billingsley, L. L Lind- fined and to whom it means, shouting, weeping, groans, unctious singing and laying bets on his hypnotic powers. 4 A Profitable Scheme. If Pat Crowe is not guilty he should make arrangements with one of his relatives to deliver himself up to the police and afterwards divide the reward for hisupprehension. The re ward is offered for the aprehension of Croweand Pat 'tias'showrr that he will not take chances on any uncer tain delivery of money agreed to. He has a fertile imagination and plans for the immediate exchange of the twenty-five thousand dollars for his corpus would be easy for him to formulate though it seems somewhat difficult to amateur kidnapers. j J Kingtinm. The German Kaiser understands the art of dress and the influence it has upon others. He gets himself up in the robes of royalty of tener' than the other kings. He rides out sur rounded by guards and fenced off from the public by a state which fairy lore has bred in us an appetite for. A man in a sack coat and a derby hat, -undecorated, inspires no particular awe, even when we know he was born a prince. Kings make a mistake, considering the twentieth century uncertainty in regard to the perma nency of their jobs, in not oftener dressing for the part. The people do not -get R) very much for their money and their royal employes-should be willing to occasionally wear a crown and an ermine-lined gown and assume an air of hauteur strong enough to satisfy the cockneys that they are looking at a real king. King Edward TIL rode to his first parliament in a regular Barnum coach, immense, and gilded with real gold-leaf where he sat folded in an ermine robe in a glittering solitude that nearly drove London wild witli delight. Among the billions of noses, mouths, eyes, and ears, that compose the faces of the monotonous multitudes we have seen ever since we were born, there is not enough difference to quench the longing for variety and romance that fills every wistful human breast. A new king, with a fabulous crown con taining jewels, for which the world lias nc match, should give his subjects, more than half seduced by the prom ises of democracy, a sight of a real say and men of their ilk formerly feared by the taxpayers and lovers of law and order have no longer an? power. In city government they have the power of their individual votes and that is all, which is not exactly true: They have a repulsive influence. It is doubtful if any other influence could have called out so many voters for Winnett as the advertisement that Captain Billingsley was for Mr. Woodward. Fear that the gang that controlled the city before the days of the operation of the Lincoln system, as well us a wholesome respect for the administration of Mayor Winnett, induced men who are not in the habit of voting, to vote at the recent pri maries. The overwhelming indorse ment of the candidates of law and order demonstrates the complete over throw of the old gang which baa ter rorized and tyrannized over Lincoln for years. In taking account of progress, it is gratifying to note the impotence of these ward bosses, whose interests are directly opposed to tax-payer's inter ests, who want a wide-open town, and a mayor they can reason with and convince. Little cities are micro cosms of big cities and Lincoln is, just at present as deservedly compla cent, for her size, as New York will be when sli2 finally defeats Tammany ball, installs, a decent, mayor, gets rid of Chief Devery and acquires an efficient and honest police force. In describing Bill? O'Brien of Chicago who is a candidate for alderman in the fourth ward of that city the editor of the Record says of him "The recrudescence of 'Billy O'Brien is a distinct misfortune for the resi dents of the new Fourth ward. If he shall be elected be need not be ex pected to serve his ward In any help ful manner. Its streets will remain neglected and its alleys unclean, and its complicated street and steam rail way lines will be used to the best ad vantage of the alderman. Instead of talking care of the interests of the ward O'Brien will make the interests of the ward take care of him. The evil of 'Billy O Brien in the council will not be borne solely by the Fourth ward. He is one of the 'gray wolves' described by the Municipal Voters' league. He belongs to the political carnivora of Chicago. His presence in the city council will be a menace to the entire city. The "gray wolves" of Lincoln have been beaten by determined hunters who have made up their minds that they shall no longer prey on this com munity. They are not wiped out of existence and they still have a certain influence in conventions where the kinf. in a priceless crown, ridinu in a gold coach drawn by horses caparison- packcan assemble and terrify those ed in cloth of gold, and decorated in gold-mounted harnesses. Gorgeousness .such as this is worth the price to the f populace and though the slmple- hearted,""unaffected King 'Edward the not acquainted with their real weak ness. They are waiting for a chance and while they are circling around Lincoln to find an unprotected spot, it is just as well that the voters know TIL may be averse to making a show that they are there and watching and of himself, an occasional exhibition of tbat when the common fate of man ana woives overtaxe inem, oilier "'gray wolves" will take their places. pageantry is essentially gratifying to all people. An Invoice. The city primaries just held by the "republican party has again demon strated the efficacy of the Lincoln system. In the Lincoln system no trading is feasible. One disreputable candidate can not make a bargain with a more reputable man to ex change delegations. It is impossible for employer or patron to hold any ' club over employes. Only a limited sum of money can be spent and very few men care to buy votes which they can not see delivered. When the Lin coln system was tirst tried improper nomination's and unworthy and Inell- The City Federation. When the federation of Lincoln wo mens' clubs ceased to meet, the organ ization was not discontinued. It was agreed upon by the committee of dele gates from the several clubs who met to discuss the propriety of discontinu ing the organization, that the presi dent of the woman's club of Lincoln should act as the president of presi dents of all the clubs of Lincoln, so that when there is a necessity for united action an officer for calling them together and dividing them into departmental agencies to accomplish a definite end may not be lacking. That this was a very wise plan was demonstrated last fall when the clubs of the state met in Lincoln in annual session and preparations for their entertainment, arrangement for an audience-room etc., were made by Lincoln club-women under the effic ient direction of Mrs. Bushnell, presi dent of the Lincoln woman's club. Where a city is, like Lincoln, divided up into a large number of small clubs, it is extremely convenient, on occa sions to have the machinery of organ ization into one large city club at band. In Omaha there is practically but one club, the active and very large woman's club. In any movement in which the club women of Omaha are united, the president of the woman's club is, tacitly, the executive. Polit ically (in club politics; the office of president of the woman's club requires more tact, quickness and parliamen tary knowledge than any other office in local clubdom. The title of the president of the woman club is presi dent of the woman's club and presi dent of the presidents of all Lincoln clubs. Neighborhood Centers. The Chicago city council has recom mended using school-bouses as they are or were used in rural districts, as meeting places for the neighbor hood. Heretofore these great plants into which communities have put their money have stood idle for three months of the year and are rarely used at night. Ihere is no reason why when not in use for school purposes the buildings should not be used as meeting-houses for debating clubs, women's clubs and all kinds and forms of association for cultivation of the higher social instincts forthedevel opementand encouragement of which, the latter part of the nineteenth cen tury was so remarkable. The Chicago plan contemplates making the schools public-library centers and centers of civic and social education in addition to theirjliter ary function. Postal Reform. Congressional indignation is aroused eery session because the costlof the postal service exceeds its income. The deficit is charged to the newspapers, in order to keep the public from dis covering that the abuse of the frank ing privilege is the most serious tax upon the service. Just now, when members of congress are going home, the Washington post-office is filled with their boxes. Each congressman is furnished with three boxes, free from the House carpenter shop. Two are of pine, strongly braced, and one is of cedar. Each box is three feet long, two feet wide, and a foot and a half deep. The congressman Is sup posed to pack them with documents, etc and frank them through the post office to his home. Investigation shows that they are frequently filled with clothing, bedding, type-writers, etc. For the outgoing congress over one thousand boxes have been shipped to different parts of the country, to gether with more than that number of bags of public documents, which will be distributed by the members and ex-members during the summer. Their total weight approximates, ac cording to a Sun correspondent, 400,000 pounds and the shipments average 20,000 pounds or ten tons a day. As it costs seven cents a pound to send and handle this "mail mat ter," the deficiency in the postal rev enue is accounted for when a year's free sending of public documents and reports is reckoned. Congressmen used to send their laundry home through the mails. Pianos, ranges, bedsteads, and all of the various arti cles which a congressman uses to dec orate his home or himself, have been sent through the mails, unboxed and with only the congressman's address pasted on them. This abuse has been corrected by newspaper ridicule. But the silly packages of seeds, and docu ments, transportation charges on which should be paid by the addressee are still franked through the mails, and the deficit in the post-office, curectiy the result of the absurd things franked through the mails, charged to newspapers. A Slim Cfiffi Mayor Carter Harrison has been l mentioned as a presidential democrat ic possibility. His administration in Chicago will probably prevent such an accident. Blaine never recovered the prestige destroyed by the publica- A. tion of the Mulligan letters. He was a great man, eloquent and able, but the suspicion of using a representa tive position for his own gain was sufficient to make him a "tatooed man." The presence in Chicago of hundreds of thugs and hold-up men suggests mayoral permission to those ' who know the habit of grafters. Sud position of complicity or collusion with thugs is sufficient to destroy his chances with a national convention, which would not be likely to nomi nate a man handicapped at the begin ning by an unfavorable record. J J A Summer School Superintendent Gordon of the city schools proposes to establish a sum mer school. The outlines of his plan are printed on another page. In Chi cago and New York such schools have been conducted by private subscrip tion. It is proposed here to charge a tuition of six dollars for the two months. A fund might be raised by i subscription to pay the tuition otm pupils whose parents are unable to pay it. Everyone should read what superintendent Gordon has to say about the summer school. Prolonged idleness, especially the idleness of a child, who has no richly stored mind to stimulate him. is demoralizing. Botanical excursions, manual-labor lessons, language lessons and a retreat into paths already trodden but not sufficiently explored, will solve the problem, of what to do with the boys and girls in the summer time. Society. Dr. Huntington, rector of Grace church New York, delivered an ad dress to the New England society of New York on the influence of women and the demoralizing effects of bridge whist which is plaved at private houses for stakes. Of women he said: "I draw my illustrations from the lives of women because they are the custodians of men's morals. Men are what the women make them. The more men desert the church for the clubs, the more woman as the arbiter of morals becomes accentuated. In the life of the Puritan, the matron and the maiden stood out spotless. The spirit of discipline made them what they were. We must have that back if we would have life." It is a strictly professional and min isterial pointof view that men are what women make them. Women respond quite as readily to the influence of men. But from time immemorial the pulpit, like Adam, has charged woman with beginning whatever wickedness was most objectionable in the hour when the sermon was written. There are only a few women preachers and only here and there a few newspaper women to refute the charges. So the accusation has become an indict- j-