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THE COURIER
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;a small community; but the superior
i culture of the young men who work
for their living compared with the
manners of the undergraduates is the
same ratio that obtains in larger towns
J which contain larger colleges. When
'the self-taught boys haVe grown to
men they have the humility of the life
'taught. They are less arrogant, and
'they take what recognition the world
. grants as good fortune rather than a
deserved tribute to greatness. - They
are not arrogant with the arrogance
of a scholar who has spent his life
merely In unproductive study of books.
"The savageries of boyhood" are pro
longed by a college course to the age
of twenty-four years or the average
S graduate's age. The youngster whose
! supply of bread and butter has de
pended upon the accuracy of his ex
periments in human nature and of the
consequent adjustment of his own con
duct, is far ahead of the graduate at
commencement day. The former "ap-
predates the value of sacrifice and the
wrong of selfishness; his eyes have
roamed beyond the circle of self and
have perceived the eddylngs of man
kind, he has conceived the need of the
weak for. the constant sympathy of the
strong." On the other hand the con
stant Indulgence of the community
towards the selfish assaults of the col
lege undergraduate has' weakened the
undergraduate's sense of what he owes
the community and increased his esti
mate of what the world owes him.
Such a state of mind. Inculcated and
developed by four years' self-indulgence
and piracy on the public, is a good
foundation for a futile career. The
wonder is, not that so few college grad
uates are useful, but that so many
finally triumph over the effect of four
years' dissipation of time and the
1 temple.
' The protest of the country against
the selection of the college graduate as
your only gentleman has been em
phatic and general. It Is apparent that
.the self-made man still has first place
J In the affections of the newspaper edi-
tors.
The Truth in the Matter
' The man or woman who has lived
t out half the days of the human span
must be either a true Christian of a
cynic Acquaintance in the way of
! business for a cycle of years with a
large number of human beings within
the narrow area of a prescribed terri
tory produces a contempt for average
' intelligence, average taste, average
disinterestedness and average good
ness. If government Is the product of
the average, we are still billions of
An author writing In "The Public?'
says he suggested to the editor of a
certain city paper that he might take
his occupation a little more seriously
and put In his paper more matter of a
literary character. The editor told
him that he knew nothing about the
exigencies of the trade and expatiated
about the morals and taste of the peo
ple who bought his paper as follows:
"An average newspaper Is edited for
average men. The average man is an
Idiot. Therefore, the paper must be
edited for idiots. Therefore, the paper
must be Idiotic. The people do not
know ps from qs In literature, or care
whether a t Is crossed or not. They
would reather read evil than virtue.
They would rather read the writings of
a fool than of a philosopher. They pre
fer sensation and depravity to the pas
sive epics of our casual and exemplary
experience. They prefer the unclean
to the clean. They, prefer the coarse
to the fine. They would rather their
editors used bad English than good.
They would resent serious discussion.
They would rather have you He than
tell the truth. They expect to
be flattered. They rejoice when their
confidence is abused. They would
rather be swindled than get what they
pay for. They are an ill-clothed and
rather Ill-grained lot and are not to
be encouraged by editorial diversions
Into areas of free and honest contro
versy. They are the eccentric and er
ratic fry for whom we edit papers.
If our papers are feeble and dishonest,
do not blame us. Blame the people.
We give the people the sort of paper
they wish. If you think our paper is
below the standard you would set for
us, refer it to the people. When the
people demand a better article we will
furnish it. We are not Inventors. We
are purveyors. We do not speculate.
We fill orders. We reflect the pleasure
of the people. We are up and down,
right and left with the people. Their
concern Is 6urs. You do not' suppose
we produce a paper for any abstract
"reason, or because we are' interested
In some unpopular cause? We are in
the business' for Its results. We pro
duce a newspaper for the same reason
that you make shoes and run a sa
loon. We have laid in a stock of
spirits, and we deck up our little lunch
counter, and we strive to make things
as pleasant as we can for the fellows
who happen In and loaf around our
bar. You do not mean to argue that
we should try on any of the fancy
and expensive virtues? There are fools
enough in the world for that service.
We do not presume or pretend to edu
cate the people. They do not go to
school to us. We keep up with their
humors, tfckle their passions, concede
any sort of favor to their palate, and
conform to their average habits. If
we did not produce for them the goods
they demand they would desert. Now,
as such are the conditions on both
sides, how can you seem surprised and
upon what ground can you complain?
The people are not to us the dear peo
ple. Nor are we to them anything sig
nificant or exalted. Our relations are
all on the ground, without any ad
mixture of mysteries, refinements or
sophistries. We are not doing the peo
ple up at so much per head. Nor are
they doing us up by getting from us
what they do not deserve. Their pen
nies in the lump make us solid with
the advertiser. The advertiser Is the
man we play for. For him we would
slave or die. For him we would go to
the stake. For him we would lie, steal,
or beg. For the advertiser is bur
water of life. But to get him we
must play fortunes to the pennies.
And to get the pennies we must keep
scrupulously free of all heterodoxy.
We must steer our craft along ffiat
rather delicate line which offends
neither- Sunday- school nor brother,
neither the high nor low, neither the
quick nor halt, of the social order.
Tact gives us the pennies. To be
penny wise here is to be pound solid.
The pennies give us the advertiser.
The advertiser brings bloom to our
desert."
-
Savafcry and Gvdizatioa
The republicans who truly love their
country will concur with the president
in his sincere purpose to punish the
brutality of the army officers in the
Philippines. It Is all very well to say
centuries from a millenium, unless
' some unlooked-for and absolutely
i unique revival of religious inspiration
' and intelligence occurs. The only sen
sitive temperament that can resist the
conviction that human beings are a
poor lot of brutes after forty years
experience with neighbors, fellow citi
zens and strangers, belongs to the
Christian. It is his religion to love his
neighbor better than himself and to
pray for him and desire his salvation.
The Christian religion Is the great
est blessing the world has ever re
ceived. If it were not for Christianity
and the Influence of the true believers
and practicers of the Word upon the
vain heathen who prate and rave of
notlilng, nausea of humanity would
make suicides or murderers of a very
larse proportion of those who are still
alive solely as a tribute to the miti
gating influence of Christianity and
Christians.
Christ thought humanity worth suf
fering the palnfulest and most Igno
minious death for. Therefore human
beings must, be better than the beasts
of the field, though the latter do not
torture for the sake of torturing and
have no vices. His supreme decision
contradicts the testimony of our eyes
and ears and nostrils and all the hu
man means we possess for detecting
fraud and diseased consciences. The
modest Christians are sure of the good
ness of their neighbors and although
we think they have poor judgment and
poor eyesight, without them we -would
walk in darkness all our days.
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A. D. BORGELT.
The county commissioners are to the people of the county what the
legislature is to the state, with the additional function of executive power.
The commissioners are next to the people. They build roads and bridges
for public purposes, fix rates of taxation and appropriate public monies.
That county which has the most upright, business-like officials on the
board is the one most prosper'ous. A. D. Borgelt, the most recent com
missioner for Lancaster county, was elected last fall. He was born De
cember 23, 185S, in St. Charles county. Mo. There he attended the public
schools and later studied in Wesleyan college at Warrenton in the same
state. Between seasons he helped his father on the farm and Is practi
cally an agricultural product. He located in St. Louis at the age of
nineteen and there learned a trade. In 1887 he came to Nebraska and
here in Lincoln attended the university law school under the tutelage
of H. H. Wilson and Charles A. Bobbins. After his graduation he was
admitted to the bar, was then elected to the office of justice of the
peace and later served as acting police judge. His election last fall
was a token of the high esteem In which he is held by the community,
for he has never been obtrusively In politics. He has a family consist
ing of his wife and two children. The lodges of which he Is a member
are the Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen, Royal Tribe of Joseph
and Redmen. He is also state deputy for the Loyal Mystic Legion of
America.
that we do not understand the condi
tions that surround the army in the
Philippines. We can be made to un
derstand them. The military depart
ment of this government Is subservient
at all times to the civil government.
And all explanations aside, the officers
In the field must be taught that they
can not under any circumstances adopt
the methods of retaliation practiced
by, savages.
This republic was founded by senti
ment and by sentiment It shall still
exist. There Is no question but that
the sensibilities of the men and women
of this country have been profoundly
shocked by the report of Major Gard
ener, the civil governor of Tayabas
province, In regard to the tortures In
flicted by American soldiers upon FIII-
plno prisoners.
The president Is a soldier, too. But
besides he Is a statesman and a poli
tician. As a statesman he realizes the
outrage we have committed against the
law of nations. As a politician he real
izes the universal shocked condemna
tion which the promulgation of General
Smith's instructions to Major Waller
to "kill and burn, make Samar a howl
ing, wilderness; and kill everybody cap
able of bearing arms," has created.
Unrestrained by the civil authority,
soldiers degenerate rapidly. "War Is
hell," and without the restraints of
the civil arm of the government, sol
diers and officers become devils. Gen
eral Sherman's famous characterization
of war has been urged over and over
again in excuse of General Smith's or
der to kill every Filipino boy over ten
years old. But the devil is not In com
mand of the army of the Philippines.
If it Is proven that a devilish officer Is
In command he will have to come back
to America. The American people will
demand that he be dismissed from tho
army without regard to his previous
military services. What treachery,
cruelty, savagery the Filipino Insurg
ents have practiced upon the American
soldiers is no excuse for the issuance
of such an order by a grizzled general
to one of his officers. This Is a civilized
country and America Is in the Philip
pines to benevolently assimilate them,
and unless the officers over there un
derstand the methods of modern Inter
national war they must be recalled
and substitutes put in command who
will be benevolent or die. The conduct
of the Filipinos towards American
prisoners is no excuse for retaliation
In kind. We are in the Philippines as
uniformed missionaries of civilization.
That Is our only excuse for being
there.
Excuses urged for General Smith's
Instructions by men who say we do not
know the conditions of barbaric war
fare are injurious to the party. If we
are no better than the Filipinos, if we
kill eleven-year-old boys for the
treachery of their fathers, we ought to
pack our soldiers out of the Orient as
fast as we can load them on the trans
ports. If we mean well by the Filipinos,
then punishment must be meted out
to General Smith who has confessed
that he ordered Major Waller to kill
and burn and make Samar a howling
wilderness and to kill every boy over
ten years of age.
All Americans understand by this
time that the subjugation of the Phil
ippines is not an easy matter of a
month or two. Americans have con
cluded that it takes time and a great
deal of money. But from the date of
Major Gardener's report to Secretary
Root, congress and the people must
be convinced of the civilized conduct
of the army In the Orient. The extir
pation process is old fashioned, so old
fashioned that the nations hoot at the
army officers who go back to the Mld
dle Ages for models. The true pa
triot hopes that the president's deter
mination to root out this particular
form'of savagery and deviltry from the
army will remain unaffected by pity
for a brave soldier's good name "and
his future fate.
A Chorea Creche
Ministers are conscientiously trying
to find out why the men of their con
gregations do not come to church more
