THE COURIER
it!
OBSERVATIONS
BY SARAH B. HARRIS
The Gty Council
WIIIIjK considering tlic diameter
and motives of the Rovernor.
whii it is only common practice,
considering Ills Iiiameiess life and liik'h
reputation, to consider innocent of
anything but bad judgment, it is much
more worth our while to turn public
attention to the men who are attempt
ing to administer the affairs of the
city of Lincoln. Not within contem
porary memory has Lincoln been bur
dened with such unblushing council
men. Hut spring is coming and the
newspapers of the city are accumulat
ing material which can be used
effectively when the sap begins to stir.
There is Councilman Ha con of the
Fourth ward. His son served for ten
lays as deputy to the city clerk. For
this ten days' work as clerk the son put
in a claim to the council for $75.00.
his father, who was chairman of the
claims committee, allowed it. and :i
majority of the council voted for it.
"Get all you can and keep all you
get," "A public otilce is a privatesnap."
Miould be hung in the council room in
stead of "God bless our city.' If it
were not for the mayor, who is mak
ing a record for vetoes, the city would
be at the mercy of rapacity. In the
spring seven councilmen will be elect
ed, and if the citizens do not investi
gate the personnel and records of the
candidates, the subsequent spoliation
of the city is their own fault. The
councilmen are organizing for re-election.
"With eight in the council opposed
to the leadership of the mayor he will
be powerless to prevent the formation
of schemes to sink the city still fur
ther into debt. It is the season of tax
paying and every citizen who pays
his taxes with a groan and a growl
should remember that there are only
a few councilmen at present in the
council who pay any tax to speak of.
They have no personal interest in how
the money is sjient, economically or
extravagantly. If the chairman of the
claims committee votes to pay his son
$75.00 for ten days' clerical work and
the council allow it, it is an example
of the standard of conduct and the kind
of auditing the council is perpetrating.
The turning over in New York City is
an example of what an aroused public
sentiment can accomplish in the way
of putting able and honest men in con
trol of city affairs. Lincoln has nearly
a homogeneous population whose con
sciences and Americanism can be much
more easily aroused into concentrated
and decisive action than in a city like
New York. The Courier has in the
past tried to keep the mayor and
council within range of the vision of the
voters. It is not altogether a pleasant
function but the occasion requires that
the council be brought within the field
of the people's microscope. The things
will wriggle when the light reveals
them and their anatomy is nauseating,
but in the interests of the tax-payers
they must be brought under the glass.
O-
Mr. "w H. B. Stout
An early Xebraskan, of an activity
and strenuousness that when he was
in his prime made him a man to be
consulted and relied upon, Mr. Stout's
death in "Washington is an event to
the state in the building up of which
he took such an active part. The pres
ent state house was built by ilr. Stout.
The ground gave way under one of
the windows of the library on the south
side and the masonry of the foundation
sagged. The sinking was due to a well,
unknown to Mr. Stout, which years
before the erection of the second capl
tol building had been filled up and
forgotten. When the library corner be
gan to sink, Mr. Stout's enemies, and
he was successful enough to have ac
quired a large number, accused him of
Jobbery. He actually spent on the
building fifteen thousand dollars more
than the appropriation, trusting that
the legislature would reimburse him.
Hut legislatures are more tickle than
princes, and the bill for restitution
which recurred in many terms of the
legislature was always defeated. Sus
picion of jobbery defrauded this man
of money which lie had expended for
the state. Finally Mr. Stout removed
to Washington. He was given the con
tract to build a government building
there. Hut the congressmen changed
their minds after Mr. Stout had spent
large preliminary sums, which he had
borrowed as a contractor. He was not
reimbursed and he died a disappointed
man with his faith in man destroyed.
It was his abounding faith in man.
his belief in his own powers, and the
unstinted use of hi? strength anil en
ergy that gave him influence and ele
vated him to be councillor to the
powers that are elected to administer
the state's business; but jealousy, like
a creeping tiger, brought about his
downfall.
Politics in the early years of Ne
braska were no more a primer of purity
than they are now. Observation of Mr.
Stout's conduct indicates that he was
much above the average. He was an
unselfish, untiring, a strenuous man.
Ited blood tlowed through his veins into
a large heart. He was always human,
and until suspicion made him a poor
man he was extraordinarily childlike.
No one ever appealed to him in vain,
until lie had nothing but sympathy to
give. Lincoln owes him an unacknowl
edged debt. He was the sort of man
who does not count sleepless nights
and spending energy that would move
a mountain, if it benefited the town he
lived in. Many of the flourishing in
stitutions here owe their location in
this place to Mr. Stout. He died in
Washington at twelve o'clock, just as
the bells were ringing for 1902, of heart
disease, at the age of sixty-five years.
He was poor and old and very much
discouraged. The successes of his life
he won In his early manhood. When
his enemies conquered he had lost the
impetus and elasticity of youth. He
was surp-ised, because used to getting
his own way, and he never recovered
his grip on success. He had great
qualities and the people who knew him
well sincerely mourn his death.
a-
The Barlley Pardon
It is unfortunate that Governor Sav
age in his message gave no more defi
nite reason for the pardon of Hartley,
the defaulting state treasurer, than that
he thought he should be pardoned. The
governor was constantly importuned.
To say that he should have paid no at
tention to the friends and attorneys of
Hartley is easy, but we do not know
the inner history.
The republican state press appears to
lie nearly unanimously opposed to the
governor's action. Hut if the citizens
could be shown that Hartley has re
tained no portion of the money he em
bezzled, and that the people for whom
he has "kept a stiff upper lip" are not
relieved of a great fear by his escape
from the ienitentiary, Nebraska news
paier.s would not so bitterly and per
sistently denounce the governor's ac
tion. It is a suspicion that pity for a pris
oner and his family and a conviction
of an excessive sentence, and the dis
jointedness of the times in which the
defalcations occurred are not the
strongest reasons for the pardon, that
has caused the uproar. It is the sus
picion that the former treasurer still
has a large portion of state money
that irritates the people. Doubtless the
governor can show th state that these
suspicions are unfounded. When he
does the criticism will disappear and
the governor will regain the universal
confidence of the republican party that
lie possessed hen lie was nominated
and elected lieutenant governor of Ne
braska. There is no unpartisan patriotic cit
izen who will not frankly support the
governor's argument that no man
should be kept in the penitentiary when
lie should be pardoned because ills re
lease would injure the party of which
he was a member when he was con
victed. If the man has served a period
in the penitentiary equal in length to
tli.it which other criminals who have
committed the same sort and degree of
crime receive, in the interest of impar
tial iijstic? In should be pardoned, ir
respective of any party arguments, cs
p"cially if he is not contumacious, and
has made what restitution of the stolen
property is in his possession.
Party expediency does not belong in
the class with the eternal veri
ties. Governor Savage is right when
he disavows its- influence in the pardon
of a convict who was suffering an ex
cessive sentence. Men are gentler than
they write and more merciful than they
talk. If the state can be convinced
that there are no state funds remain
ing in Hartley's hands or that he has
not expended them to obtain his par
don since his sentence began, tiiis
storm of protest will subside and there
will be joy all over the state over the
return of the father to the family and
the husband to the wife.
It is true Hartley was sentenced to
an excessive term in the penitentiary.
A year in the penitentiary is as a life
time in the open. His sentence was
made twenty years because the people
were exasperated over the conduct of
Nebraska state treasurers. Their con
duct of tlie office was corrupt. They took
money to which they had no other
claim than the custom of their prede
cessors. Hartley never pretended to be
anything more than an ordinary man
and he inherited without scruple and
carried on the traditions of the office.
His sentence was cumulative in that it
represented the exasperation of the cit
izens of the state of Nebraska over the
conduct of himself and his predecess
ors. Governor Savage is convinced
that Hartley had served his own time
and was then serving the vicarious
sentence of his predecessors, who weie
settled in comfortable homes in various
parts of the state. Mainly for this
reason, there is little doubt that the
governor pardoned Hartley after he
had served one-fourth of his time which
observed from the outside passes like
a dream, but which counted inside the
intolerable walls of the penitentiary is
much longer than the span of life. The
convict measures his time by moments;
the free man who more by good luck
than anything else has escaped five
years of incarceration measures the
time by years that fly ever faster and
faster when maturity is attained.
Eujbt Hnnual Bjbibit
Hcbrasfea Hrt association
By Sarah B. Harris.
The progressing excellence of the
exhibits prepared by the officers of the
Nebraska Art Association indicates a
development in the knowledge and
taste of the officers of the association
as well as in the taste of the public
whom the pictures are brought here to
please. This year's pictures now on
exhibition in the art gallery of the
unive. jity library are on the whole bet
ter, of a higher grade of workmanship
and inspiration than ever shown here
before. The tone of the pictures is
low; a quietness and repose disting
uishes them. The qualities which
Whistler regards as essential are pres
ent in a large number of the pictures
in the gallery. Even in the brightest
picture, a nude gilded by the direct
rays from a glowing lamp, the effect is
quiet and steady as a beam of light.
We do not appreciate the beauty of
light and atmosphere, unless we are
artists born, until we see them in a
picture. Then the mystery of light and
its comprehensive phenomena is re
vealed by the illumination of another's
genius. Thereafter when a beam of
sunlight falls upon the commonest ob
ject and makes of the high-light a gem
we realize and see beauty. But that
DR. BENJ. F. BAILEY,
Residence, Sanatorium. Tel. CI".
At office, 2 to 4, and Sundays, 12 to 1 p. m.
DR. MAY L. FLANAGAN,
Residence, 621 So. 11th. Tel. 959.
At office, 10 to 12 a. m.; 4 to 6 p. m.
Sundays, 4 to 4:30 p. m.
Office, Zehrung Block, 111 So. 12th. Tel. 618.
LOUIS X. WENTE, D. D. S.,
OFFICE, ROOMS 20, 27, 1, BROWNELL
15 LOCK,
137 South Eleventh street,
Telephone, Office, 530.
M. B. Ketchum, M.D., Phar.D.
Practice limited to EYE. EAR. NOSE.
THROAT, CATARRH, AND FITTING
SPECTACLES. Phone SIS.
Hon re, !) to S; Sunday. 1 to 2:30.
Rooms 313-31 Third Floor Richards
Block, Lincoln, Neb.
J. It. HAGGARD, M. D.,
LINCOLN, NEB.
Office. 1100 O street Rooms 212, 213, 214,
Richards Block; Telephone 535.
Residence. 1310 G street; Telephone K984
, Miss
Lippincott
t Studio, Room 63
Brownell Block
2 too
Lessons In Drawing, Painting,
PjTOgrajphy , Wood Carving, Im
proved China Kiln, China deco
rated or fired.
Studio open Monday. Tuesday. .
Thursday, and Fridav afternoons (
o'clock Saturda mornings 9 to 12.
Prof. E. L. Richeson, . ntrr
. , ; Kes. T-l.
FW5
Academy, Instructor of Dancing
1132 N l Itcstdence, 904 K SL
Member Normal School Assoc'n of Masters
of Dancing, Supervisor of Nebraska. Orders
taken for Music. Beginners' class opens
Wednesday, December 4.
A Wise
Landlord
Gets the best talent that can be secured
in placing his order for inside decora
tions for his houM-s. He desires the
liest material used, and something that
will stand the wear and tear of the
tenant. My cxericnce of twenty
eight years lias taught me how, when,
and where to use economy. My prices
are reasonable. Estimates cheerfully
furnished.
Carl Myrer,
2612 Q Street. Phone 5252.
THE
First National Bank
OF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
Capital, $200,000.00
Surplus and Profits, . 54.255.08
Deposits, 2,480,252.18
S. H. Burnham, A. J. Sawyer,
President. Vice-President.
II. S. Frkeman, Cashier.
II. B. Evans, Frank Parks,
Ass't Cashier. Ass't Cashier.
United States Depository
IVE CLAIM
For our work that it is
honest work
It might cost you a trifle
more, but results are greater.
All the supplies that go
into the different processes
are the best that money and
good judgment can procure.
HAVE
THE
EVANS "?,
OUR
. WASHING