THE COURIER
OBSERVATIONS
BY SARAH B. HARRIS
"The Second in Command"
Dramatists are confined to compara
tively few situations, and to the illus
tration of a few primary and essen
tially human characteristics. A play
Ib not a novel that this man and that
one can pick up from the shelves of
the book store and take home with
him. A play is something which a
thousand or more people must agree
on a certain date to Bee. Unless a
thousand people consent to simulta
neously spend sums ranging from fifty
cents to two dollars, the purchaser of
the play will lose perhaps twenty,
perhaps fifty thousand dollars.
A few people are Interested in dress
reform, a few are interested in woman
suffrage, many more are kept awake
by the fluctuations of the markets, but
it Is doubtful If a thousand people in
Lincoln are a dollar's worth interested
In any one of these subjects.
Love, war and religion are the
themes to which the drama is re
stricted. Even comedy parodies love or
war. In the case of a book a customer
can buy it when he likes and read it
when time and opportunity suit. But
In one-night stands a thousand people
out of thirty thousand must see the
play on a given date. It Is therefore
incumbent on the manager who ac
cepts the play to be sure that it ap
peals to an emotion common to all
patrons of the theatre. Otherwise it
does not matter how well the play is
written or how intensely interesting it
may be to a few; the only object to at
tain which all plays except amateur
performances by undergraduates are
produced, is defeated. The butcher,
the baker end the ..undertaker are in
business to make a living. The actor
and manager are in business to make
a living. The public believes, appar
ently, that editors and managers con
duct papers and theatres to do good
and for art's sake.
But bread with butter on it and
Rocky Ford melons taste just as good
to editors and managers as to other
people and cost them the same price.
Art for art's sake is enough for a few
wild-eyed devotees of anarchy or
transcendental paintii g, but most peo
ple desire to make a living, and after
wards. Incidentally, as Carnegie builds
libraries, benefit humanity, or work for
art entirely.
Moreover great fortunes are not
made by selling splendid monuments to
a purblind people, but great fortunes
are made by selling them steel rails,
wheat or corn. Pre-eminence is be
stowed upon the man who satisfies the
simple desires of a million people. This
Is why such a play as "The Second in
Command" is a success. The hero of
this play is a failure. He is a very
fine fellow. Most men are failures,
however brilliant their success may ap
pear to the public and even to the
man's intimates. Most men regard
themselves, in the privacy of their own
moments of reckoning, as very fine fel
lows but failures. If It were otherwis?
there would be more suicides. It is a
desperate moment when we realize
that we have fallen below the average
In character and attainment; and the
desperado at bay kills himself. But in
those moments when we confess to
ourselves what we are and what we
planned to be with all the impetus of
youth to accomplish its ideal, we ad
mit that we are failures. The finest
artist, the most devoted and acute
statesman, the most honored and the
most accomplished and honest of the
sons of men admits to himself that his
own life has been a disappointment and
a partial failure. Major Christopher
Bingham is a fine fellow, a noble,
brave, modest, unmelodramatic hero.
Yet he was baffled and buffeted by
fate. Just as three-fifths of the men
r.nd women who listened to him are.
He was a lover, loyal, unselfish, per
sistent; he was a soldier by profession,
predilection and talent, yet the war
office persistently Ignored his services
and passed him over for more fortu
nate men. Unlucky In love and In his
profession, he yet shut his teeth and
did his best just as so many heroic men
off the stage do. Nevertheless It Is a
comfort to see our lives, our pallid, out
stripped, beaten efforts made into on
epic or put on the stage as the deeds
of a modern knight where all can see
that our deeds are worthy the Iron
cross.
The author of Xhe Second In Com
mand" realized that it is the martyr
dom of everyday life that men endure
with a smile on their stoic lips that is
worthy dramatic celebration and will
surely be rewarded with a sympathetic
appreciation. Mr. Robert Marshall, the
author, knew that his play would be
seen and listened to by an audience
composed of failures. And he subtly
made the failure a hero and the sole
recipient of the full measure of our
sympathy. It is better than the old
way where the hero got everything:
the queen of the tournament, decora
tions for gallantry on the field of bat
tle, wealth beyond the dreams of ava
rice and election to a post of honor
among his fellows. After such a play
the audience went home questioning
the hero's deserts, and every man sub
consciously contrasted the stage hero's
luck with his own winnings or losses
from time and life. Our sympathy is
with the baffled and the buffeted, es
pecially when the object deserves suc
cess as well as we do but is baffled
by an ungrateful, undiscernlng world,'
just as we are.
H-
Sidewalk Space
The rights of the citizens to an un
obstructed clean passage through the
streets of Lincoln Is the right oftenest
overlooked and withdrawn. Some of
the merchants in the wholesale dis
trict have requested the city council
to extend their sidewalk privileges,
which means to take them away en
tirely from the pedestrians in that
quarter. It Is questionable if the coun
cil have the right to give away what
belongs so inalienably to the whole
people as the streets and the side
walks. Whether, the council has the
right or no. If the request made by
the wholesale merchants Is granted
they will monopolize the space just
the same as though it had been grant
ed them by the owners.
The tendency of modern councils Is
to scrutinize such petitions carefully
before granting them, and to resist the
attempts of the few to encroach upon
the plain and constitutionally guaran
teed rights of the many. By the post
ponement of the decision in regard to
the request for sidewalk space it is
evident that the council is taking time
to consider the matter. If the mem
bers of the council decide to give the
wholesalers space that they have not
bought and which belongs to the city
or to thirty-five or forty thousand
people, they can not urge that it was
for want of consideration or medita
tion upon the subject. If the mer
chants In question need more room to
handle their goods, there Is doubtless
adjacent real estate that may be
bought for the purpose. There is no
need of taking up a subscription for
them. They are not objects of char
ity and they would be the first to re
sent the suggestion. They have suffi
cient capital to extend their business
in whatever direction the trade de
mands; If it is more room for unload
ing, there is always the next lot or the
expedient of an archway under the
building. The citizens of Lincoln are
gratified to know of the growing needs
of the wholesalers and regret to know
that they who do not receive dividends
on their business are requested to
furnish the room for its accommoda
tion. The wholesale merchants are not the
only ones who have designs upon the
people's highway. The sidewalks are
piled high first with this merchant's
goods and then with his neighbor's.
Small boys, in the universal way of a
boy at work, slowly nail on covers and
drag the boxes out of the way, In the
meantime taking pleasure in making
the barricade impassible. Women
pedestrians are forced out into the
street. If they elect to stay on the
walk they are forced to edge their way
between boxes with nails projecting in
all directions. Many skirts are torn,
but the good-natured victims know no
relief and accidents of the sort are
the only Incidents that relieve the
monotony for the small boys at their
unwelcome tasks.
In refusing the privilege of the side
walks to the wholesalers, the citizens
would appreciate It if the council could
see some way to protect the pedes
trians from the insidious dry-goods
box operated by the small boy plague.
Cost of the Boer War
The" war department of the English
people is better, more highly organized,
than ours. An English peer or member
of the house can And out at any time
how much money the department is
spending and where and how. When
a member of our congress asks the sec
retary of war how much the war has
cost, the secretary replies that we do
not keep our books that way. If the
member will limit his desire for statis
tics to the more modest ambition to
know what the department has spent
in a year for the army of the United
States and of the Philippines, it is pos
sible to furnish him with such informa
tion. According to the English govern
ment budget for 1902 and 1903, which
was presented to the house of com
mons last month, there is a deficit in
the war department of more than $225,
000,000. To pay It, the chancellor of the
exchequer recommends an import tax
on grain and flour. Not since 1869,
when the famous corn laws were re
pealed, has a tax been laid upon bread.
This budget proposes a tax of six
cents per hundred-weight on all Im
ported grain, ten cents per hundred
weight on imported flour and meal,
two cents on dividend warrants, four
cent stamps on letters Instead of two
cents, as at present, two cents on the
pound sterling Increase in the Income
tax.
In addition Sir Michael Hicks
Beach proposes to suspend the sinking
fund and to issue a new loan of 5160,
000,000. The duty on sugar is not in
creased and no increase of tax is pro
posed on wine, beer, tobacco and tea.
The English national debt is now Z,
739,000,000 nearly four times as large
as the national debt of the United
States, less cash in the treasury. The
cost of the war in Africa and In China
for the three years so far has been
JS25.170.000.
Of course all the Irish members will
be opposed to the imposition of a tax
on anything for the purpose of defray
ing the expenses of the war. They are
opposed to the war and will be of no
assistance in any measure proposed for
the purpose of paying war bills. John
Redmond said, after the budget was
read, that his constituency was opposed
to the war and that the Irish members
gave notice that they would oppose all
taxes imposed for the payment of war
bills.
It has been frequently observed that
the English parliament has troubles
of Its own, and that the party In
power, whether liberal or conserva
tive, has to do the work and take the
blame for inevitable and unavoidable
action just as the administration
labors In the face of opposition and
criticism in this country. It is Indeed
fortunate for King Edward that he
belongs to no party and that both lib
eral and conservative claim him as
LOUIS N. WENTE, D.D.S.,
OFFICE, BOOMS 26, 27, 1, BBOWNELL
BLOCK,
187 South Eleventh street,
Telephone, Office, 630.
DR. BENJ. P. BAILEY,
Residence, Sanatorium. Tel. 17.
At office, 1 to 4, and Sundays, 12 to 1 p. m.
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Residence, Ml So. Uth. Tel 869.
At office, 10 to 12 a. m.; 4 to 8 p. m
Sundays, 4 to 4:30 p. m.
Office, Zehrung Block, 141 So. 12th. TeL 618.
J. R. HAGGARD, M. D.,
LINCOLN, NEB.
Office, 1100 O street Rooms 212, 213, 214,
Richards Block; Telephone 536.
Residence, 1310 O street; Telephone K984
M. B. Ketchum, M.D., Phar.D.
Practice limited to EYE, EAR, NOSE.
THROAT, CATARRH, AND FITTING
SPECTACLES. Phone 848.
Hours, 0 to 5; Sunday, 1 to 2:30.
Rooms 313-314 Third Floor Richards
Block, Lincoln, Neb.
liss Lippincott
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urowneu hiock
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Studio open Mondsy, 2 to 5 p. m.
Tuesday. Thursday. Friday and
Saturday, 8 to 12 a. m
THE
First National Bank
OF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
Capital, $200,000.00
Surplus and Profits, . 71.304.00
Deposits, 2,024,328.00
8. H. BUKItHAM, A. J. flirm.
President Vice-President.
H. S. Fxkkman, Cashier.
H. B. Evans, Frank Paikb,
Asa't Cashier. Ass't Cashier.
United States Depository
cW-
tH Ulls -Bl
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