THE COURIEB
sx
IN THE REALM OF
POLITICS
"Willis G. Sears, speaker of the Ne
braska house, is being brought forward
prominently as a candidate for the
gubernatorial nomination. No definite
announcement of his candidacy has yet
come from the lips of Mr. Sears, but
there are those who say that he will
be very shortly found an active and
energetic candidate for the honor.
Mr. Sears is a lawyer of ability. In
appearance he is not very impressive,
but even a brief acquaintance with
him is sufficient to impress one with
nomination. If Roscwater makes good
his bluff, he will run Independent him
self. If he backs down he will be
laughed at so heartily that it will In
jure his hold on things political. On
the other hand he must choose which
one of his enemies he loves least. It
seems to be conceded that the demo
cratic nominee will be either Frank
Ransom or Gilbert M. Hitchcock, both
of whom are on Mr. Rosewater's little
black book, but whether ahead of Dave
Mercer yet remains to be discovered.
W. G. S EARS.
Ex-Speaker of .the Nebraska House.
the man's strength of character and
ability. He came to Lincoln a few
weeks before the legislative session of
1901 a comparatively unknown man,
and yet before the house caucus met
he was the practically unanimous
choice of the members for speaker.
At home he is equally popular. If he
wants any office up that way all he
has to do is to say so. Sometimes
when he doesn't want It particularly
his fellow-citizens go around and toss
it In his lap. When he came down to
Lincoln as a member of the house he
was occupying the office of county at
torney of Burt and mayor of Tekamah.
Mr. Sears is a man of middle age.
He is a good-humored, good-natured
man, slow to anger, but when once
aroused a lion In his wrath. He be
lieved that the state treasurer, for In
stance, was not toting fair In the mat
ter of purchasing county bonds and
he at once started an investigation
that led to an expose of rather start
ling proportions.
Burt county is in the same judicial
district with Douglas county, and Mr.
Sears thus has an opportunity for a
political alliance of unusual strength.
If Mr. Sears does come out as a can
didate for the nomination it vill mean
that he has strong hopes of knocking
the persimmons. He is a man thor
oughly conversant with politics In Ne
braska, and he makes no useless fights
for mere vainglory.
A tremendous crop of congressional
aspirants is being harvested just now.
Almost every county in the Third and
Sixth districts is represented in the list
of candidates, while In the Fifth new
ones are being sprung each day. In
the Fourth the situation is little bet
ter, although Charlie Sloan of Geneva
had such a good start on the other
fellows that they have some difficulty
In catching up with him. In the Sec
ond district Mr. Rosewater has not yet
found anyone to buck Mercer, and the
chances very largely pr Dave's re
in the First district Congressman
Burkett can now almost read his title
clear. Judge Holmes seems disinclined
to rush into a scrap in which victory
here at home might be turned Into de
feat in the convention. The situation
seems to be like this: If Mr. Burkett
has no opposition at home and gets
Lancaster county he will be renomi
nated without any trouble. If h
should lose here at home or have a
very warm fight on his hands it would
invite candidates from each of the
other six counties in the district to
enter the fray. Almost every other
county now has a tentative candidate,
whose running depends upon Mr.
Burkett's immediate future at home.
The result of all this would
be a disturbance of the beau
tiful harmony now existing in
the First, and might result in Lincoln
losing the congressman. Therefore it
is that some very strong considerations
impel local politicians to make every
thing harmonious. This means Mr.
Burkett's renomination and naturally
his re-election will follow. Mr. Burkett
has done some very good work for his
constitutents. He has not figured very
much in debate as yet, but each year
has been growing stronger with his
fellow members. He has been ad
vanced rapidly in committee work and
It Is quite probable that with another
term he would be in a position to cop
out some very good things for his dis
trict, just as Congressman Mercer has
been able to do for his home town,
The result In Lincoln was a decided
surprise to nearly every one. including
most of those who voted for prohibi
tion. Few thought it would be any
where near as close as It was. A num
ber of people voted for prohibition be
cause they believe it a good thing for
a university town; others because it
was a matter of right or wrong and
their consciences would not permit
them to vote to continue so evil an
institution as the saloon; others voted
for it because they would like to sec
the experiment tried and figured that
one year would neither make nor break
the town; still others because they de
sired to take a slap at the saloon men.
who have been altogether too gay In
the matter of politics. They formed a
league that picked out certain candi
dates irrespective of politics and sup
ported them, they talked- too, about
banding together and getting an excise
board next year to their liking. Many
people thought a lesson was due them,
and these hope that the narrow escape
the saloon men had will teach them
humbleness of spirit.
The republican city ticket was vic
torious, as it should have been. Only
two republican candidates for council
were defeated. In the First ward the
fellows who had been damning Bob
Malone because he ran in a railroad
through the property district at mid
night cooled off perceptibly by election
day, and instead of taking vengeance
on him supported him. It Is strongly
suspected that Illegal voting was done
In this ward, but the morale of politics
there has not that high standard of
other precincts, say In the Sixth, and
probably these little things won't mat
ter. "Sandhill" Moore's defeat In the
Third was rather unexpected. Moore
had very decided opposition among the
republicans, but it was thought that
Bishop's lack of acquaintance would
prevent him winning. But it didn't. If
Moore hadn't been an employe of the
Burlington he might have gone through
easily. This was one case where Bur
lington support hurt a candidate, even
In a ward where dozens of Burlington
men are employed. Moore is a big,
bluff, good-natured fellow, but the
fastidious republicans over, that way
didn't think he measured up to the
standard of councilman.
Triad of Tut
on Lincoln's Streets
Promptly at fifteen minutes of 5
o'clock each morning pedestrians begin
to creep like hurried shadows through
the darkness. They ure a sort of ad
vance guard to the business hum of
the day and consist of passengers to
various points anxious to catch the
early trains and people with peculiar
tusks requiring nn hour of toll before
the dawn of day.
Exactly one hour later there Is an
other flurry. Unfortunates who have
to unlock stores and offices, early riser
of all sort, are numbered In this
rush.- A few old timers are always on
hand for a breakfast at some favorite
restaurant before the larks ever think
of stirring.
Just before 7 o'clock there Is a trillc
more noise and bustle. There seems to
be more energy on hand than at thu
previous hours. But the true rush
comes shortly before 8 o'clock. This Is
a favorite office hour and the business
men are starting out in small regi
ments. Then, too. over a thousand uni
versity students begin wending their
way toward the campus. Five minutes
after the hour and everything is quiet.
The streets are devoid of life.
Whether shoppers bestir themselves
depends entirely upon the weather and
the attractiveness of the advertising
pages of the papers. There may bo
crowded streets or simply erratic
groups here and there during the fore
noon. At noon there is a grand free for all
after luncheon, of course. All the busi
ness men and clerks are on the go.
to say nothing of a young army of
students advancing upon restaurants
and boarding clubs.
It all depends upon the shoppers
again until the hour between five and
six In the evening. Then trains from
the city bring In pilgrims. Others arc
hiking for the depots Intent on leaving.
Of course there Is always a steady
stream supperwards.
Pleasure seekers are out at 8 o'clock
again. Theatre goers and society folks
are to be seen. In fair weather there
are any number of people ambling
leisurely up and down O street.
Last of all come the sleepy Individu
als alighting tired and weary from thw
late trains at 11 o'clock. This Is tho
fag end of the day's business. Then
comes the period of almost absolute
quiet until the fretful stir of the first
rush of the following morning.
HmF k
IRVING L. LYMAN.
Irving L. Lyman, serving his second term as president of the Lincoln
city council, comes from good New England stock, having been born In
Hadley, Mass., fifty-six years ago. After picking up a knowledge of the
newspaper business by working about the office of the New England
Homesteader, at Springfield, Mass., he went to western New York for a
couple of years.-where he continued the work. At the end of that time
he came to Nebraska, where he has resided ever since. He was manag
ing editor of the Dally Globe one year, city editor of the Leader and city
editor of the Daily Democrat. In 1879 he began to pay attention to city
politics and was elected marshal, holding the position from 1879 to 1881.
In 1883 he was chief of the fire department. From 1S83 to 1S91 he was
water commissioner and from 1893 to 1899 an employe in the mailing
room of the State Journal, since which time he lias devoted his energies
to his private affairs. In 1900 he was elected to the city council, where he
was elected president on the resignation of John Mockett, enjoying the
distinction of being the only councilman serving his first term to be
elected to the presidency. On the reorganization of that body last spring
he was chosen to the position again.
At the recent election, he received a gratifying majority and was returned
by his constituents In the Seventh ward. Mr. Lyman lives at Eleventh
and Fairfield, streets. He has been a Mason for twenty-two years and a
republican ever since he cast his first vote for General Grant.
