Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 9, 1901)
THE COURIER 1 of youth and the conditions of life here and now did not reach the standard es tablished by the university and it was never adopted- Meanwhile we continue to begin our building in the air and the foundation is shaky. - Trtst Publicity When President Roosevelt was gov ernor of New York his message to the Htate legislature of 1300 contained ob servations and advice in regard to the trusts, advice that is remembered now and used as a basts for speculations on his future treatment of a question which seems to be settling itself. At that time and in America last year belongs to antiquity Governor Roose velt recommended full publicity In re gard to the finances and business methods of the trusts: publicity of a kind required from insurance com panies and banks. The editor of the Review of Reviews says that "There Is good reason to think that President Roosevelt has not changed his views upon these questions, and that he be lieves it would be better for the cor porations themselves and for the coun try at large if the authority of the na tional government were so extended as to permit Congress to enact laws for the supervision or regulation of the great Industrial companies. Most of these business amalgamations have been carrying on their affairs under a veil of mystery that the small stock holder is powerless to penetrate. A highly significant innovation was made, however, by the directors of the United States Steel Corporation when on Oc tober J. It gave to its stockholders and to the general public a straightforward and Intelligent statement of Its gross earnings by months. Its expenditures, its profits, and its disposition of the net gains." "El Tu, Brute!" Of all tne Tuesday elections in the United States the New York munici pal election held the largest degree of Interest for the largest number of peo ple. Yer Mr. Bryan in last week's Commoner, said: Next Tuesday's elections in Iowa. Maryland, Massachusetts. Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania will be watched with Interest and vari ously interpreted." There is no mention here, or in any other part of the paper, so far as a somewhat cursory examination can discover, of the one election in which all decent people of this country are more interested than in any other. Mr. Shepard. willy-nilly the Tammany candidate, who was nominated by Tam many, which dictates the most dis reputable crime-fostering city gov ernment in the world, voted for Mr. Bryan In 1300, although he did not vote for him In 1S96. He explained his 1896 vote by saying that he considered the silver issue dead and imperialism the paramount issue. There is no doubt, however, that Mr. Bryan's reconciliation with Tammany ard his New York appearance under the auspices of the unspeakable Croker an action which, to do him Justice, was contrary to his best judg ment lost him votes in New York state and among the simple-minded folk who had idealized Mr. Bryan and credited him with an abstract, holy ab horrence of corruption and the corrupt which would forbid any alliance with the protector of the vice that stalks by night. This election In New York Is consequently a subject about which It Is much more comfortable for Mr. Bryan to keep silent. Considering that Mr. Shepard has borne a reputation above reproach and that his alliance with Tammany was the only way by which he could procure the mayoralty nomination, and considering also that Mr. Shepard was. If not an ardent sup porter of Mr. Bryan's In the last pres idential campaign, at least he was con stant and, compared with the attitude of other promlrfent New York demo crats, ardent, it seems to me that grat itude should have prompted Mr. Bryan to admit the Importance of the New York, election and the previous good character of Mr. Shepard. But as a matter of fact in the issue of The Com moner immediately preceding election. Mr. Bryan predicted that only the elections in Iowa. Maryland. Massa chusetts. Nebraska. New Jersey. Ohio, and Pennsylvania would "be watched with interest." - "Union" Among the sacred words In the land lying between the twenty-fifth and the forty-eighth parallels of latitude, bounded by the Atlantic ocean on the east and the Pacific ocean on the west, there is none more sacred than the word "Union." To Americans it means an invincible, eternal compatibility be tween and among all the states in the region of the new world indicated by the foregoing description. It is very certain that if the Southerners liad succeeded In proving that they had a right to secede, there would have been no contest now about this country's right to conquer and rule the con quered. Or if there had been such dis cussion it would be restricted to the purely speculative regions where col lege professors, socialists, an occas ional theologian, and the brainy but unadapted and unassimilated love to wander and disport themselves Irre sponsibly and without regard to things as they are. If the South had suc ceeded in establishing a separate re public, there is no way of determining how many republics the United States would be cut up into now. If the South had succeeded then. England. Germany and France would not now be Inclined to retaliatory tariff meas ures on account of the growth in terri tory and in exporting capacity of the United States of America. Germany, France and England do not regard Central America or the im mense territory and multitudinous states of South America as rivals. In the anxious consultations between European manufacturers Central and South America are not mentioned. The people of the regions referred to are not homogeneous, they are polyglot In language, religion, notions and tradi tions of government and unstable in all unless, it be language. They are easy to convert and still revert to schismatic beliefs whose virtue in South American eyes is that they are schismatic and a departure from the conventional. On the other hand the United States is homogeneous in lan guage, religion and political ideas, and hence a formidable rival. Every nation has specific and nation al sacred words. "Union" would not bring the flush of pride and determin ation to the cheek of a Turk or of a Bulgarian. "Union" means in the United States what It means In no other country. Thousands of men died willingly that "The Union might be maintained now and forever, one and Inseparable." What we fought and died for in li60. we fought and died to destroy in 1776. Ancestors of the men who died in 1S60 to preserve the "Union" were the rebels against the existing union with Eng land in 1776. If the Revolutionary Americans had been unsuccessful what an inconceivably great and powerful nation England would be today. The English of George the Third's day could not understand our plea that taxation without representation was tyranny. Crossing the ocean on the Mayflower, Englishmen suffered a sea change. After organizing the colonial government within the restrictions authorized by England, taxation meant to the American English representation In the taxing body by a resident of the region taxed. This is not what tax ation means to an Englishman even now. Politically ambitious Englishmen who wish to go to the House of Com mons can stand for election in any borough. Residence in the borough which sends a man to the House is not compulsory, though In practice, a can didate is surer of election In the dis trict where he is known and has Inter ests. When the discussion between the King of England and the American col onies began the English claimed that the Americans were represented In the English government by the elder Pitt. Fox and Barke. friends of representa tive government and partlzans of the olonies against the king in Parlia ment. The English and the colonists were talking about two kinds of repre sentation. They thought their Ideas Identical but -It. is.easily demonstrable now that the mother country and the Englishmen she sent here were un consciously considering two phases of one idea. The history of an idea trans muted into a national emotion Is con tained in the word "Union" as Ameri cans use It. Ji 4t J Light Opera Rest for the weary, music for the musically untrained. Innocent relaxa tion for strained nerves. Is provided by light opera. The crowds which left the Oliver on Monday night when Je rome Sykes played "Foxy Quiller" were laughing lightly and humming tunes from the opera. Light opera makes a woman wonder what she was nagging about a few hours before she heard it, and if the men have been planning unusually tricky maneuvers the melody of a musical frolic drives away the vapors and influences them to righteousness. One reason why chil dren are so much better than grown up people is that children are merrier and abandon themselves to pure fun till they are sleepy. In the large crowd that strolled away from the theater the other evening there was not a conspir ator or a thief or a murderer or an ene my to goodness. They might become criminals later, but for the moment laughter swept the cobwebs from their minds. They were as little children. The influence of this sort of entertain ment upon a community is wholesome. Mr. Jerome Sykes is a spontaneous comedian. His expression and move ments recall Francis Wilson and Hop per. He Is on good terms with himself and with his audience. He Is the type of man that In real life has every oth er man for his friend, the sort of man whose name other men, intending to give a dinner, write down first. He is a good fellow, without coarseness. His humor is of the honest, surface, mascu line sort, common as sunshine in Ne braska and aa beneficent. The little Adolph Zink, the shrimp of a man, has the humor of his sex, which Is nearly always so obvious that a runner at full speed can get an exhaustive view of it. He is comical, and his German brogue does not hamper his enuncia tion. He was the only one on the stage who enunciated distinctly. The sailor lover might have had his mouth, full jf marbles or he might have said his lines in Spanish. There was not a con scientious man or woman in the audi ence who would swear that he spoke English. Foxy Quiller is a burlesque upon the detectives who pose as intel lects and never catch a thief or dis cover his swag. Mr. Sykes easy as sumption of the detective's omniscience was funny and very like his model. The chorus was tuneful and well trained. a- "The Portion of Labor" Miss Mary E. Wllkins' story, "The Portion of Labor," which has just been concluded in Harper's Magazine is one of the notable novels of the year. Alas, It Is a problem novel, and problem novels and artistry do not work smoothly together. Where two ride the same horse, one must ride behind and in the problem novel the problem has the place of honor. But since there is no well-known author who does not occupy himself with some phase of the sociological question, it Is apparent that those who have a taste for ro mance, pure and undeflled. will have to get used to the mixture, which Is the only thing on the market. Historians like Prescott and MacCaulay, who pos sessed the literary sense and a roman tic style, were constantly subject to the temptation to be Interesting at the expense of history. The man who alms at two targets almost always misses both. A man who endeavors to Incul cate a sociological truth or a great moral lesson within the pages of a nov el occasionally accomplishes his real aim. which was to write a . the people would read and i-,-and talk about the sociologUa. suggested by it, rather than i. ,. imaginary hero and heroine i . vicissitudes which preceded thei ly happy marriage. The author , a book is satisfied though the , . has written Is not a novel nor t Ise on sociology or religion. - ,. pauses where the action halts ... ,,. old-time novelist used to sav , ,. smiled and looked out of the v where the distant mountain - . . bathed In a purple glow and .1 , cades hurrying to the plains look-i ... diamond pendants strung on .i neck," etc, the contemporar- inserts some of his burning idea;- i ,. reform and the novel reader them and begins to have ideas . . , own about reforming the world .,. time he has finished the book. But where an author, a real u- . . with the Instinct and training .t t 1 artist, desires to write a novel in t , cidentally to teach something ih . ,. t; leal or morally good for the system w keeps his whole mind on writing j. .. ,i story about real people and in ai.-. . deavor. If he have the technuui -a... and Inspiration he Is sure to su. i In the meantime and because it i singleness of his object he has a moral lesson unobtrusively -" i truth Is beauty and beauty truth i.. i the greatest and most lasting beaut of the spirit. Miss Wilkins has for the most . -subjugated the current almost mi .n querable Impulse to have one ,u about the problem of labor and Jf i tal. The representative of . apita. a "The Portion of Labor" is a young Tia.i in love with the representative if m. bor, a young woman. She is bnlha.i imaginative and a strong partisan labor. Her lover is manager of j. -.imc factory where she works. After .it death of his uncle, the owner ot ..e business and factory, the young -na.i inherits the business and almost m mediately lowers the wages of the -3i-ployes for the reason that during i. temporary depression of business .it factory has ceased to make mune This unsociable snub from capital 'j bor induces Ellen, the representatu - r labor, to refuse to talk with her .-iu.i; man on any subject except one ru. In which the employes of his faitm are equally Interested. He soon nstnr -s the scale and repeats his assuranies r affection and the last chapter present a view of their restoration to happi ness. At the end everyone of the na acters gets an author's slice of hap. ' ness and prosperity. I find myself not much interestei the heroine and the hero, although "i former is a very nice girl: Jeli i -high-minded, brave and conceited, -n--1s an only child and a constant oo: of adoration, ever since her birth. u' she takes herself too seriously. 'ik many women, and before the end oi ' story she Is somewhat of a bore. 'A father and her mother, and her griaa mother. Mrs. Zelotes, and Granville J." her hopeless lover, live, move ind breathe. Mrs. Zelotes. the severe , lady, believes in the sacredness of blood which she inherited from i" family and exalts the purity and -i. value of the blood which she transmi ted to her son. the father of Ellen. As a student of heredity. Miss W kins is always subtle and the resei blance of her grandchildren t grandparent is interesting. The -; ' erations and the spirit of the um which most people over fifty cease Inhale, work a change In descenda which grandmothers do not appr The latter ascribe the different ha'n to innate depravity or to Impr'P training rather than co the chanc" which time makes in the conduit all men and children. There are pi." in the story where Miss Wllkins i the inspiration of Shakspere. she is -human. Ellen Is a conventionali book character, at times. Just .is t!i are wallpaper and carpet figures, whi we would recognize if we saw th elsewhere than on a carpet or on
