THE COURIER
OBSERVATIONS
BY SARAH B. HARRIS
Use of Patronymics
Mrs. McKinley lias prevented the
naming of :i hotel in Canton after
President McKinley. It has been su
uested that we need a law In this
country to protect the names of cele
brated people from desecration. The
owner of the hotel doubtless had no
such thought. Unless a man Is con
ducting some business that he is
ashamed of. he considers it an honor
to the natron he names It for. The
saints were honored, or fathers
thought they were, when they called
their sons by saints names. The ci
gars, teas, towns and hotels were
named for presidents, not in despite,
but in honor of the men to whose pro
moters they were patron saints. And
after all the common uses of life are
not derogatory. The McKinley hotel
should be a comfortable hostelry. If
it were all that a hotel can be the
name would not be dishonored ornis
appropriatcd. In England there are
numerous Victoria inns and Shaks
peare play-houses. King Edward doe.s
not mind. As the hosts to the brother
of an emperor we are likely to have
our heads turned. They are none too
strong, and the favor of royalty has
made an aristocrat of every mayor
whose city Prince Henry will visit on
his short tour of this country.
Dignity is inherent In the man. The
labors and accomplishments, the char
acter of McKinley and the affection
of the people for him will suffer no
diminution because of hotel keepers
who christen the building in which
travelers are warmed, fed and lodged
the "McKinley." It would be painful
snould some cigar manufacturer at
tach McKinley's name to a cigar and
advertise It with his picture, but to
call the hotel in his native town by his
name is different. Many travelers
will go to Canton to see McKinley's
home and grave, and to talk with
neighbors and friends of the man who
has made Canton famous. To see the
name of the man for whose sake they
have made a pilgrimage on the hotel
which welcomes them would not be
painful. There is a very short step
between some Americans and snob
bery. A sudden access of dignity and
importance attained by people who
have made their fortunes by selling
calico, or wheat, or coal, or beer is un
becoming and induces their neighbors
to say spiteful things. "We are the
sons and daughters and grand-sons
and grand-daughters of men and wo
men who worked with their hands,
who robe before the sun, who labored
earnestly that their children might go
to school and enjoy larger opportuni
ties. It is just as well not to Ignore
the fact that we are made of dust and
to dust we shall return; just a little
handful that blows about the street
and that hotel-keepers and draymen
and all the toilers of the city step on,
brush from their clothes and regard
with disapproval. Selah.
-5i -"I 'A
Chinese Exclusion
Xew Yorkers are preparing to build
a trolley road in Shanghai, China.
This country Js laced with railroads
and the great railroad building epoch
is past. China Is almost virgin soil.
The Chinese are not educated" to trav
el. It has been cruel want that has
driven them to emigrate. It is almost
certain that congress will pass another
exclusion bill. But if the Chinese are
not allowed to come to America, Amer
ica will go to the Chinese. The coolies
will go to work laying ties in China
for an American company as they laid
ties in California for the trans-continental
companies. The new trolley
road will be twenty-three miles long.
The motormen and conductors will be
Chinamen and the workmen who build
the road will be natives. The Ameri
can Invasion will make more work, and
to Chinamen work is food and there
is not enough to go around. Hunger
drives them to the traditionally hos
pitable American coast and we drive
them back because they are so hungry
they will work for just enough food
to keep them from starvation and the
foreigners who have been here a year
or two longer have grown accustomed
to a higher standard of living and ob
ject to its being lowered to an oriental
standard which is Just one degree
above starvation. The workmen can
not be blamed for wanting to have the
Chinese kept out, but with the pro
gress of our own civilization, which is
nothing to boast of now and the rais
ing of the standard of living in China
consequent upon an era of intra-urban
and overland railroad building it is
likely that the Chinese, too, will con
sider pianos, kid gloves and dress suits
among the necessities. When this pe
riod arrives the American workman
just arrived from Ireland will consent
to let foreigners from China into the
country.
Self-interest
Iteform must accomplish its object
along the route of least resistence.
Legislation is the last resort rather
than the first. The farmers of Kansas
have kept in mind the truth that two
can play at the same game. If the
man that starts the game could retain
a monopoly of it for any length of
time his fortune would be made. The
first trust that was organized was
startling and after a dozen had been
organized there was something like a
panic, not financial but political. Men
were afraid their constitutional liber
ties and the pursuit of happiness were
about to be denied them. They quoted
the Declaration of Independence de
liriously and the stump speakers
threatened the downfall of the repub
lic The farmers living near the town of
Solomon, Kansas, organized the busi
ness of selling grain. One man on an
average is as smart as another, and if
grain men can combine and keep the
articles of agreement, so can farmers.
Mr. C. H. Matson in the Review of
Reviews tells how the farmers of this
wheat belt, beginning with Solomon
agriculturalists, organized a grain
sellers' trust to counteract or disarm
the grain-buyers' trust organized by
a syndicate which speculates in grain.
One-fourth of the area of Kansas is
devoted to wheat. The region especial
ly favorable to wheat culture is an
elliptical area in the center of the state
beginning about twenty miles south of
Nebraska and extending south into
Oklahoma. It includes twenty-seven
counties and produces about seventy
million bushels of wheat per annum.
The farmers possess this wheat first.
It is an enormous energy and they are
just beginning to realize their advan
tage over the middlemen who must
buy of them.
The wheat market at Solomon in 1900
was controlled by three syndicates
which paid fourteen cents less than
the Kansas City price. The normal
price was ten cents below. One of the
most successful wheat farmers of Kan
sas, in collusion with his neighbors, or
ganized a farmers' co-operative ship
ping association. The shares were $12.50
apiece. No member could hold more
than sixteen shares and the majority
of the stockholders held only one. A
member has only one vote no matter
how many shares of stock he holds.
According to the by-laws of the asso
ciation every member must sell his
wheat to the association, but a provis
ion is inserted allowing him to sell it
to an outside party providing he pays
Into the association a rebate of one
cent a bushel on each bushel disposed
of to the outside party. This postscript
is the saving clause of the by-laws and
of the association. The syndicate can
not undersell it or drive it out of busi
ness, because If the syndicate offers
higher prices the farmers sell to the
syndicate, but they go first to their
own elevator, have their wheat
weighed, and when they have received
the money from the syndicate they re
turn and pay Into their own elevator
company the rebate of one cent a
bushel.
It has been the policy of this Solomon
model to make friends of the railroads.
The managers of the farmers' elevators
do business according to the instruc
tion they have received from all cor
porations. When cars are denied on
one road, they shipped over another,
until there were plenty of cars offered
them by the agents of the first.
"With an investment of only $2,500,
Mr. Matson says, the farmers' asso
ciation at Solomon handled 132,000
bushels of wheat during the first ten
weeks it was in business, on which It
made a profit of from one to three
cents a bushel. An average profit of
one cent a bushel would give the as
sociation $1,320 profit, or over fifty per
cent of the investment in ten weeks.
If the state association of grain
growers proves successful the farmers
can meet the grain trust on equal
grounds and both associations, the
buying and the selling association, can
do business without prejudice or co
ercion. If the farmers can hang to
gether and perfect their organization
it is the most powerful trust yet ef
fected. Its units are men and they
raise their product. If it cohere, the
steel trust is an insignificant compari
son. The Kansas model will be copied
by the farmers in Nebraska, Iowa,
Missouri and all over the country.
Writing, Spelling, Arithmetic
The Courier has frequently asserted
that the public school system in this
country is deficient because although
It teaches the pupils a little chemis
try, a little botany, a little of all the
sciences and endeavors to give them a
taste of literature and history, high
school graduates finally emerge after
going to school for a matter of twelve
years without having acquired the
knowledge that is primarily necessary
to make them of use in business. The
graduates from the high schools of
the state are in the university, and an
examination of the papers composed
and written by them will convince the
most lenient and the most patriotic
that the grade school teaches many
things but It has not taught English
spelling, composition, a legibile hand
writing, and arithmetic.
Mr. David R. Forgan, president of
the First National bank of Chicago,
recently addressed the -graduating
class of Lake Forest university. He
asked them what were the educational
qualifications which they would find
most useful, and answered the ques
tion himself from the vantage point of
a successful and distinguished career.
(1) "To be able to write a good, legi
ble hand, to make good figures and to
place them correctly the units below
the units, the tens below the tens, and
so on. (2) To be able to add. sub
tract, and multiply rapidly and ac
curately. (3) To be able to express
yourself clearly, briefly and grammati
cally in a letter and to spell the words
correctly.
Very simple accomplishments, you
say! Yes, and very rare. I have taken
many young men into business in this
country and I can scarcely recall one
who had these accomplishments."
Twelve years' schooling and still un
able to spell the words of his native
tongue, or to write clearly and legi
bly, or to place a column of figures in
plumb, perpendicular lines and then to
add them rapidly and accurately! Yet
this Is the state of unpreparedness to
meet the demands of employers and
the necessities of business in which
the high school graduate leaves school.
The exceptions are so rare that it is
not worth while to mention them. It
is essential that the boy who must
earn his living should know these
Miss
2to5o'
Lippincott
( Studio, Room 6S i
f urowneu hiock
Drawing, Painting;
iphy. Wood carving, im
proved China Kiln, China deco-
Lessons In
Pyrography , Wood
rated or fired.
Studio oten Monday. Tuesdays
Thursday, and Friday afternoon i i
clock. Saturday mornings v 10 li.
DR. BENJ. F. BAILEY,
Residence, Sanatorium. Tel. 617.
At office, 2 to i, and Sundays, 12 to 1 p. m.
DR. MAY L. FLANAGAN;,
Residence, 621 So. 11th. Tel. 969.
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. TeLSltr
LOUIS N. WENTE, D. D. S.,
OFFICE, BOOMS 26, 27, 1, BROWNELE
BLOCK,
137 South Eleventh street,
Telephone, Office, 530.
J. R. HAGGARD, M. D.,
LINCOLN, NEB.
Office. 1100 O street Booms 212, 213, 214,
Bicbards Block; Telephone 535.
Residence. 1310 G street; Telephone K984
M. B. Ketchum, M.D., Phar.D.
Practice limited to EYE. EAR. NOSE.
THBOAT, CATARRH, AND FITTING
SPECTACLES. Phone 848.
Hours, 9 to 5; Sunday, 1 to 2:30.
Rooms 313-314 Third Floor Richards
Block, Lincoln, Neb.
. . THE
First National Bank
OF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
Capital, $200,000.00
Surplus and Profits, . 54,255.08
Deposits, 2,480,252.18
S. H. Bubnham, A. J. Sawyee,
President Vice-President
H. S. Fbeeman, Cashier.
H. B. Evans, Fbank Parks,
Ass't Cashier. Ass't Cashier.
United States Depository
Prince Henry
THE
Grau Opera Co.
AND THE
WEBER
V V PIANO
The Maurice Grau Opera Company
gave a special performance in honor
of Prince Henry at the Metropolitan
opera house in Xew York city on the
evening of February 25. In this pro
gram each of the prima donnas and
all the great tenors took part. The
schedule of prices charged was as
follows:
Orchestra chairs, $30.00; Dress
Circle, $15.00; First rows Balcony,
12.50; Bear rows Balcony, $10.00,
and standing1 room, $5.00.
As usual, the WEBER PIANO was
used. The General Western Agents
for this grand old Piano are the
Matthews
Piano Co.
Warcrooms J 120 O Street, Lincob