THE COURIER
3
i
r
inal character painting, the "Rudder
'Grange" series Is Immeasurably su
perior to "The Lady or the Tiger,"
which owes its popularity to the fact
that it is a puzzle. "Pigs In Clover"
or the fourteen puzzle were not invent
ed by a genius, but more than half of
the seventy-five million tried to work
them. Pomona In the Rudder Grange
series Is a servant girl, capable, honest,
faithful, but given to reading romances
and making queer mistakes. When we
finish the books of her life we feel that
we have attached to ourselves a faith
ful family servant. Moreover the
humor that accompanies the exposition
of her annals is human and Illumin
ating; it has a flavor of its own and
to one who has grown accustomed to
It nothing else can take its place. It is
said that the Rudder Grange series was
offered to more than one publisher be
fore it was accepted. It is a likely story
Frank Stockton had to make his own
public; he had to create a taste for the
kind of writing he alone could do. A
few years ago, shoppers "were asking
what were the peculiar things that look
like osage oranges. Now a great many
people take grape fruit as a matter of
. course with their oatmeal. The flavor
of Mr. Stockton's humor is as tart and
refreshing as when it first appeared.
It is a hybrid and it does not lose with
age the hybrid flavor. His stories,
written In the beginning of old age,
are as vigorous as those of his youth.
Simple, naif, shrewd, a typical Ameri
can, Frank Stockton deserves to go
down to posterity with unfaded laurels,
and I hope posterity will look at this
matter reasonably and grant him the
laurel for which his petitioners do
humbly pray.
Boer and Briton
In spite of the efforts of judges and
the conscience of jurors, it is probable
that many innocent men accused of
crimes have been punished. There are
certain universal human instincts by
the operation of which truth is ob
scured. "For instance, when some one
, is killed, the public clamors for the ex
ecution of the murderer. A man is ar
rested on suspicion, and occasionally
before he has had the human right of
trial, he is taken away from the sheriff
by the mob and hanged or burned.
Afterward each man who assisted in
killing the prisoner excuses himself by
reflecting on the barbarity of the mur
der which exasperated the community.
This insistence upon a scape-goat L
seen in the child who falls down and
either strikes the obstacle against
which his feet tripped or blames his
nurse. The Hebrews sacrificed a lamb.
Modern travelers abuse the conductor
when anything- happens to delay the
car. It is rarely the motor-man or the
conductor who is responsible for the
delay of an Inter-urban car, but no
matter, there must be a scape-goat and
the president of the company is spend
ing his time In sybaritic ease far, far
away from the reach of an exasperated
car-full of pioneers. The other day In
this city the power gave out and the
car stood still. Theconductor was a
little man, patient and good-natured.
He wore a G. A. R. button. He had
fought for his country and many or
the passengers he considered lus
friends. But neither gratitude nor
friendship stood the strain when the
power gave out. All the men on the
car glared at the little man for being
conductor of a car that was propelled
by a power that had dropped off into
the earth somewhere blocks away.
Some of the women made spiteful re
marks Into the air after the manner of
women. The little conductor went out
Into the street with his eyes full of
tears at the illogical victimizing of an
innocent man. This Boer talk Is In
spired by the search of a scape-goat. A
number of soldiers, Boer and Briton,
have been killed In the Trans
vaal. England is a rich and
.great country with a wonderful
history of achievement and victory.
The Transvaal Is a small republic.
Therefore the - war Is- o England's
picking. At least two persons out of
three agree that the English govern
ment desired to go to war with ttie
Transvaal because England wanted to
extend her South African territory.
The opinion Is contrary to the ac
knowledged history of the negotiations.
Nine-tenths of the taxes were paid by
the uitlanders who constantly com
plained of their powerlessness to cor
rect abuses and of unjust exactions
from which they suffered. Negotia
tions for the relief of the uitlanders
were pending when Kruger declared
the conference at an end and the Boers
fired upon the English soldiers. That
England was utterly unprepared Is
admitted by the Boers themselves who
-congratulate themselves for taking the
British unawares. Oom Paul thought
on account of the current popularity
of republics and the prejudice in favor
of the smaller combatant that he
would have foreign aid. But notwith
standing the difference in size, the
smaller of the powers that are now
about to conclude peace in South Afri
ca is, and has been from the first, in the
wrong. The Transvaal has drawn only
unintelligent sympathy and no mate
rial aid from the other powers In this
struggle. There are plenty of Americans
who are willing to vote for a resolu
tion of sympathy for the Boers and of
disapproval of the English. But these
people have not Investigated the
trouble. Its origin, England's attempts
at pacific compromise before the war,
or the fatuous statesmanship and cu
pidity of Oom Paul Kruger.
Rev. Dr. Joseph Hertz, who was a
member of the Lord Milner high or
advisory committee in South Africa
and chaplain of the Rand rifles, has
just arrived In this country. When the
war broke out Mr. Hertz was expelled
from Johannesburg by Mr. Kruger for
being a uitlander. He has since visit
ed many of the British concentration
camps in South Africa.
He says: "The stories of the British
cruelty toward the wives and families
of the Boers in the camps are absurd.
It Is not the fighting Boer who makes
these charges, but the stay-at-homes.
The Boers In the field send their fam
ilies to the British to be taken care of
so thnt the fighting men will not be
hampered by the care of them. While
there were but 9,000 children attending
school In the Orange Free State before
the war started, there are 14,000 at
school now under the British govern
mental rule.
It Is repeatedly charged that the
British have driven the Boer In South
Africa three times from one position to
another till Anally he took refuge
across the Vaal river where he Is now.
In 1881, after the affair at Majuba
Hill, Sir Evelyn Wood recovered lost
ground and wired his government that
ha held the Transvaal' and the Boer
army In the hollow of his hand. The
queen sent word to Sir Evelyn Wood
to spare the Boers and granted them
the Independence of the Transvaal un
der certain conditions, among which
were equality to foreigners who should
come to the country to make It their
home. The Boers failed to keep the
conditions. They made constant raids
upon the territory across their border,
and the treatment of the uitlanders
who were making the land of the Boers
ten times as valuable and who paid
nine-tenths of the taxes, who educated
their children and developed their
mines, was far from magnanimous, It
was Intolerable. No emigrants, civi
lized, and of nine-tenths more economic
Importance than the natives, would
long endure It. And It is not to be ex
pected of Englishmen who belong to a
froward and a stiff-necked race.
The bigger animal is not always the
aggressor. An elephant puts his foot
upon the adder who has stung him.
But the adder is such a little, such a
quiet reptile, good to her family and
ignorant of how her Btlng hurts and
kills. surely the elephant Is a great
big bully for killing such a little
thing!
GEORGE W. WELTON.
George W. Welton, county commissioner, is another man who testi
fies to the enriching qualities of Nebraska soli. He came to this state with
less than $3 and not a sign of property. This was in 1875. Now he
owns over 500 acres of land and no little personal property, all his hold
ings, having been drilled by hard labor from the soil. He was born In
Henry county, 111., in 1854, and did time on his father's farm until he
was fifteen years of age. He attended only common school and this for
but thirty-four months. In 1S69 he made Nebraska the first visit, re
maining all the summer. He then returned to Illinois where he taught
school a year, entered a machine shop and learned the trade of a me
chanic, railroaded some and then came to Nebraska again in the spring
of 1875. Settling on a claim In Merrick county he farmed and raised
stock until 1885, when he removed to Lancaster county. In 1876 he was
married to Lizzie Fauquier. Since coming to this county he has lived on
his farm in Mill precinct. He has been a republican all his life and be
came interested In politics in 187C, though he never sought office until
1897, when he was elected county commissioner in this county. He was
re-elected In 1900 and his tenure expires in 1904. The institution of
steam road grading in the county was at his prompting and since his
election about 300 miles of road have been thus graded. By this inno
vation the cost has been reduced form about 1200 a mile to less than $50.
County debt to the amount of $160,000 has been paid off during his
tenure, not by increase In taxation, but by the persistent collection of
back taxes and by economy. Mr. Welton Is father of eight children, two
daughters and six sons, the youngest being a daughter five years old.
He has no political ambitions, but says when his term expires he will
return to his farm and prove that Nebraska land is still golden -If tilled
rightly.
ARukJudfc
Judge Moses Hallett of Denver has
been making statements in Washington
about the woman vote of Colorado
that the facts and figures In the case
do not warrant. Judge Hallett said
that the women of Denver had Incurred
the enmity of a large class of politi
cians. True; but if patriots were ever
loved for the enemies they have made,
then the women of Denver deserve our
affection. The Denver correlevant of
Bath-house John who, with his assist
ants has made the municipal corrup
tion of Denver notorious, says that
woman suffrage Is n failure In Colo
rado. He says It should be abolished,
that women are only loosely attached
to party nnd temperamentally opposed
to a boss and that they scratch tickets
Inexcusably. Scratching Ih the worst
form of heresy In a boss's eyes. Per
sisted in It ruins discipline and party
organization. The testimony of the
men who make their living by electing
someone else to office Is not good evi
dence, therefore, of the benefits or evils
of woman suffrage In Colorado.
Judge Hallett announced that the ed
ucated "women of Denver have ceased
to take nny interest in municipal ques
tions and no longer go to the polls. The
records show that the woman's vote In
the better portions of the city Is much
larger than In the poorer districts. In
the last city election 23,000 women and
41,000 men voted. There can not be
23,000 low-class and Illiterate women In
Denver. Yet there must be. if Judge
Hallett's reputation for veracity comes
out of this encounter alive.
Mrs. Sarah Platt Decker is of the
opinion, when consulted by a reporter
concerning what Judge Hallett had
said, "that women did not want suf
frage for what they were going to do
with it, but simply as a matter of jus
tice. As to his contention that suffrage
has not accomplished anything In Col
orado, we could do enough If there
were no men voters In Colorado. Give
us woman suffrage (exclusively) and
we would show him and all otherskeu
tlcs what we could do."
All the prominent women whom the
reporter consulted Intimated that
Judge Hallett's statement that the best
women of Denver did not vote was un
qualifiedly false.
Judge Hallett's remarks resemble the
statement made at a recent meeting of
the Round Table club of this city by a
clergyman. Clergymen are In the habit
of occupying the whole pulpit and all
the attention of several hundred peo
ple at once. They can say what they
like and no one dares to call them
down. They make statements with
out fear of interruption that take your
breath away and that you know abso
lutely can not be proven. On the
Round Table occasion the clergyman
said: "There are a thousand statutes
that are a dead letter on the statute
books." One of the members who has
no reverence for any human Institu
tion said: "Let nine hundred and
ninety-nine dead-letter laws go. Can
you name one that is a dead letter?"
Of course the clergyman, not being
used to impertinent interruptions, and
never having, been called upon before
In the presence of twelve unconvinced
men to prove a statement, was rattled,
and could not remember one out of a
thousand statutes which was not en
forced. He said there were a thousand
but he could not remember one. Every
young clergyman ought to have a sea
son in the Round Table as part of his
theological course. The treatment to
which he Is subjected will have a
tendency to make him see that there
are two sides to nearly every question
and that whether he speaks to a silent
audience or to one with the privilege of
asking questions and for proofs, there
is in every Intelligent listener's mind a
denial of all foolish statements. He
may learn to appreciate that the con
gregation Is a tribunal, and that If he
says things that do not appear sound
to the candid mind he Is Impeaching
his own reliability as a witness of
things which he perhaps does know
more about than his audience.
Also when Judge Hallett testifies In
Washington about woman suffrage In