THE COURIER.
read "Prom Victoria, R. I. His favor
ite fcower." "His." of course, alluded
to tbe late Prince Consort, who was
devoted to the primrose. Disraeli
himself had no favorite (lower, and
any way his taste was bizarre and a
.. cabbage rose or some other large and
brilliant blossom would have been his
choice if he had been consulted about
a "favorite flower." Nevertheless, at
the recurrence of the primrose anni
versary, Englishmen wear primroses
and place wreaths of the yellow field
ilower at tbe foot of Lord Beacons
iield's statue in Parliament Square.
The present King had no very great
love for the engaging charlatan, and
on Primrose Day sent no wreath to
decorate the statue. King Edward is
-a sincere man whose private and pub
lic acts are characterized by simplic
ity. Quisante, the hero of Anthony
Hope's last long story, is said to be a
study of Disraeli, Certainly the bril
4iancy, hypnotic oratory, shifting pol
itics and ambition of Quisante and of
Disraeli, as well as their careers, are
very much alike. In refusing to con
tribute a token to the memory of
Disraeli, King Edward has offered an
emphatic dissent to the popular opin
ion. His failure to send a wreath is a
reserved man's expression of disap
proval, and from King Edward, with
whom reserve and silence are habit
ual, it is conclusive.
J J
De-Americanized.
Americans emancipated from no
tions about loving their own country
best, and of being willing to die for it,
-seem to gravitate to Harvard college.
It is taught in Harvard that the world
is round, that tbe earth is pulverized
rock, that hills are but eroded plains,
that a lake is but a small body of fresh
-water surrounded by land and that
rivers are but parts of a continental
"drainage system. Therefore, Ameri
ca, the Green mountains, the Rockies,
Lake George, the Mississippi or the
lyric Wabash are only various forms
-of dirt and water and it is foolish to
set excited and be-ready to fight and
die, because the government of a cer
tain locality is threatened by invaders
or rebels. Harvard undergraduates
-fought in the Civil War with a crude,
eager, ungrudging patriotism that
must seem very bad form to the pres
ent faculty and upper classmen. Men
who have been in the school long
enough to acquire the peculiar aloof
ness from national prejudices, affec
tions and tastes exhibited byPresi
deBt Eliot disapprove of 'all manlfes--tatioos
of feeling. They can not un
derstand why a man should love the
sod his feet tret trod, or why a Har
vard maa soared in culture and di
vested of all loves and hates should be
willing to become a dirty soldier for
an antiquated patriotism. Tbe pecu
liar attitade of most Harvard men,
-there are exceptions) the supercilious
Buddhist calm they maintain when
other men graduated from Princeton,
Columbia, or from a state university
are excitedly discussing a national
crisis, indicates that Harvard has
reached the stage of stoic neutrality
-and aloofness achieved by only the
most advanced Buddhist. Nirvana is
-almost attained by Harvard.
As an examination of a man's knowl
edge and sense an administration of
American affairs for four years is most
-searching. The American people have
declared with overwhelming mighty
unction, that President McKinley
has passed the examination with
honor. In a prolonged period of war
and financial cataclysm, the President
has made few mistakes. But the fac
ulty of Harvard college object when
it is proposed to confer the degree of
LL.D.upon the President, that he
does not know enough, I do not
know whether President McKinley
cares for the bit of red-sealed sheep
skin that entitles him to write himself
Doctor of Laws, or not. But no college
faculty howeverlearned can confer any
additional honor upon President Mc
Kinley. He has applied his heart unto
wisdom and his diploma has been
signed, sealed and presented to him
by America.
J Jt
Callahan.
The acquittal of Callahan at Omaha,
after being identified by the abducted
boy and by the neighbors of the house
where young Gudahy was confined,
is a severe commentary on the jury
system and an example of class pre
judice. Callahan's lawyer of course
made use.of the opportunity to im
press upon the jury that the prisoner
was a poor man. And as juries are
so largely composed of loafers who
like a job of sitting on a chair and
watching other men work, the sym
pathies of this jury were quickly
aroused for one of their own kind but
with added energy enough to stimu
late him to steal a rich man's child.
The defendants lawyer also reminded
the jury that Mr. Cudahy the father
of the child was a rich man and there
fore a suspicious object, probably a
tyrant and oppressor of the poor.
If the children of this country are
to be the prey of abductors, if jurors
refuse to accept the identification of
the victim, it will be the death-blow
to the jury system. Every rich moth
er's heart has been constricted with
fear since the abduction of the Cud
ahy boy. The torture of a mother
and father whose child has been
stolen can not be estimated. Neither
can the dread which this crime and
the acquittal of the identified abduct
or, have caused to parents be estimated
The jury system which authorizes
questions, truthful answers to which
exclude all intelligent persons, is an
inadequate means of enforcing the
law. The increase of lynchings is
directly traceable to the silly pro
cedure of selecting a jury. Intelli
gent readers and thinkers, good busi
ness men, pillars of tbe community,
such men as we would all wish to be
tried by if our lives or fortunes were
in jeopardy, are not drawn on juries.
But the wretched hangers on at the
court, the loafers,the ne'er do wells
whose lives have been spent in talk
and looking for jury-jobs compose the
juries whose judgment sets free kid
napers, robbers, murderers and arouses
mobs in desperation and as a last re
sort. These strictures do not apply,
of course, to the occasional intelli
gent man who has something else to
do, who sometimes does bis jury
duty and does it in the fear of God.
"Revenge me on This Mine Enemy."
A difference of opinion between
members of the same party can not
be adjusted by federal revenge. The
republican party in Nebraska is deli
cately adjusted. Any violent removals
dictated by Mr. Thompson, the de
feated candidate for senator, in pun
ishment of the men who objected to
him as the senator from Nebraska is
very bad politics. Before taking
the oath of senator from Nebraska
Governor Dietrich filed charges
against Mr. J. W. Johnson's conduct
of the United States, land office at
Lincoln. It is not yet definitely
known what these charges are, but it
is not at all likely that thetrovern-
ment will take action thereon until
Mr. Johnson has been informed of
their nature and afforded an opportu
nity to be heard. Mr. Johnson was and
is a loyal republican and supporter of
President McKinley's administration.
Partly by his efforts Governor Diet
rich was elected to the senate. To
tbe federal government, and to the
person of the federal executive Mr.
Johnson has rendered a constant un
deviating loyalty. His removal on
account of a defeated candidate's
pique, and for the purpose of wreak
ing revenge upon an officer who
has been federally faithful, is bad
politics, undignified and childish.
Neither Mr. Thompson nor Governor
Dietrich has learned that greater
finesse must be practised in national
politics. Tbe Thompson method of
immediate. reward for services and
immediate.revenge for coldness is im
practicable and undignified in nation
al affairs. If Mr. Thompson can in
duce the President to reward bis
friends and punish his enemies tbe
latter may well tremble, but there
are experiences ahead of Tweedledum
and Tweedledee that their provincial
practice has not prepared them for.
One of Mr. Thompson's most earnest
adherents remarked during the re
cent senatorial campaign, "D.E. will
see that Joe Johnson walks out of
town on his uppers." There is no
doubt that by that remark he ex
pressed the settled purpose of Mr.
Thompson to punish a man who exer
cised the right of a citizen and op
posed his candidacy because be be
lieved him unworthy to represent tbe
people of Nebraska in tbe United
States senate. To what extent Sen
ator Dietrich can be used as an instru
ment for the gratification of this de
sire for revenge remains to be deter
.mined. It is well that this kind of a
campaign has opened early. It will
give the senator-elect plenty of time
for reflection and enable him at his
leisure to determine just how much of
vengeance he owes to men whose in
dependence of thought, action and ex
pression placed him in the United
States senate; just what part be can
afford .to take in Mr. Thompson's
scheme of revenge. It will awaken
the republicans of Nebraska, ninety
per cent of whom were opposed to the.
election of Mr. Thompson and who
rejoice in his defeat, to a realization
of what they owe to tbe men who re
fused to be influenced against the.
best interests of republicanism in tbe
state by the solicitation and clamor
of those employed to carry water to
the elephant in the vain hope that
they would be permitted to ride in
howdah later.
The Law.
A few months ago a state university
student was arrested for firing off a
pistol within the city limits of Lin
coln. He was brought before the
police judge and fined. He had brok
en the law and the arrest, trial and
sentence were strictly according to
law. Nevertheless since the first
nomination of Mr. Bryan in 1896 the
cannon on the capitol ground has
been fired whenever a populist or re
publican candidate has been nomi
nated. To the residents of tbe capi
tol district tbe booming of tbe can
non is more tban a nuisance: it is a
menace to the lives of the sick. It
decreases the value of real-estate
around the grounds. It is worse than
the high smoke-stack which deposits
a thick layer of greasy smoke over
the bouses surrounding the square.
Besides, the university students who
officiate on all occasions where only a
loud noise is desired, are unable to
discriminate between the lawfulness
of firing a cannon within the city
limits and the unlawfulness of firing a
tiny pistol within the same bounds.
The university students are studying
philosophy, psychology and other
profound subjects, but it is interest
ing to observe that these subjects
never really touch them. They emerge
from the university with their native,
innocent, savage love for commotion,
explosive piano playing, cat-calls,
and concussions, entirely unaffected
by the scientific or literary instruc
tion furnished by a credulous state.
To a student, a foot-ball victory is of
much more importance than the in
auguration into gubernatorial power
of a plain, middle-aged, slightly bald
citizen who is unaffectedly modest
and who would prefer to remain in
his rural home rather tban endure
the noise and ugliness of a great city
like Lincoln. Yet when this citizen
is inaugurated the university student
is sent for and requested to fire off a
worthless, rusty, old bore, when but
yesterday be was arrested for firing off
a toy pistol to celebrate the most glo
rious and worth victory within his
callow experience. Tbe firing of the
capitol cannon is fast becoming an
observance. Tbe populists began it,
but republicans are not beyond accept
ing a hint from their opponents, in
order to celebrate a victory. But the
next shrieking, lawless mob of stu:
dents which parades the streets, firing
guns and beating drums, should be
unmolested. Inconsistency and un
equal application of the law to man
and boy, dr to man and man creates a
contempt for the law and eventually
makes criminals.
Inspiration.
Great actresses, great musicians,
great artists and creative workers of
all kinds do their work steadily.
Eratic genius fancies that artistic
work can only be accomplished under
an inspiration unreliable and spas
modic. Old-fashioned writers inva
riably began by evoking the muses,
which is, in effect an appeal for tbe
afflatus which they considered indis
pensable to composition. Certain
great .compositions have been cre
ated in one impulse, but tbe thought
germinated and grew in unclassified,
untitled moments of meditation.
There are no necromantic, instantane
ously blossoming plants of literature.
The steady, daily grind, for daily
bread is the only unfailing inspira
tion. Schemes for tbe endowment of
talented young authors so that they
may work for glory, and for the per
fection of art and not be hurried or
flustered by the need for daily bread,
read well they have an indisput
ably reasonable aspect. But such
schemes will not work. The laws of
nature which regulate energy and its
human product are magnificent.
Men work because they are hungry,
shelterless and naked unless they
labor. A very few rich men who
worked for art's sake have produced
immortal works of art and literature.
But the number of rich men who
have thus labored for art is insignifi
cant when compared with those who
have labored because they needed the
wage of labor. The works of all the
rich men who ever lived might be de
stroyed and tbe world be not much
the poorer for the loss. The poor men:
Sbakspere, Chaucer, Homer, Dante,
Tasso, Keats, Shelley and thousands
of others, poets, painters, architects,
inventors, all, all, making poetry,
building, or painting for a living.
When Coquelin was in this country
a few years ago he wrote, at the re
quest of a magazine publisher, some
rules for and advice to actors. His
admirers were shocked to read ihat he
gave so large a place to daily work and
practice and so inconsiderable a place
to genius and talent. Now that he is
in this country again, M. Coquelin
replies to his critics by reasserting his
former advice against the futility of
waiting for inspiration and again ex
alts daily labor. Original talent for a
given profession there must be, but