Omaha daily bee., 1889-05-26
The PEOPLE WHO THINK.

ouat III prVate, not IL puOilC enterprises are
found the greater amount and degree OF
waste, 'ineniciency and corruption; and Of
this truth insurance furnishes signal proof.
The frauds and failures of private business
must be considered as we'll as the corruption
and iobbery Of governments. There were a,
the close Of 1887, in the hands OF receivers,
16s insurance companies in the United Statesi
and CSC companies failed or retired in about
fifty years. or the $50 life insurance COM
panies organized In the United States only
torty-seven are yet alive. About four thous-
and abortive or insolvent insurance concerns
can be counted since the beginning of tho
business In this country. Eight hundred
assessment organizations have collected dues
from their members and left them in
the lurch. This Is tho record OF
'private enterprises" In insurance
In the United States. Who, he
asks, cansestimate the frauds and losses be-
hind ita And he adds, ''Our government
history will be searched in vain to find in
the management of public schools, water
works, II re apparatus, postal service, or any
other branch Of government work similar to
insurance In quantity and conditions, an
amount Of failure and fraud equal to that
disclosed by the history of insurance alone"
The fact that such basoless speculation
as "Christian science' can find believers
shows that what is referred to as the fancy
of the multitude for theories which save
them trouble and minister to their love OF
the marvellous has not yet disappeared from
the world, says writer In the Popular
Science Monthly for June. The fascination
for holding odd notions seems to be weak
ness Of the human mind that Is hard
to eradicate. Such beliefs have been
pretty well driven out OF chem
istry, physics, zoology, and other
fields of science which can be thoroughly
investigated, and they remain only
in psychology and medicine deal.
ing with the living human or.
ganisrn, which cannot be freely expert
mented upon. Human credulity has been
greatly lessened by the march of scientific
enlightenment, and what remains has taken
on a new form. In earlier times it delighted
in the supernatural, now it revels In its own
false ideas of the natural. Then 1t trusted
the revelations of self-appointed prophets,
now it pins its faith to the slip-shod reason.
ing of sham investigators. Science has done
such wonderful things of late that certain
class Of people, including many Of excellent
Judgment in other fields, has come TO believe
any marvels put forth under its name. Hence
we have modern class Of mystery -mongers
which will flourish until the spread of scien-
tific culture has diffused the power of dis.
eliminating against science and base imita-
tions of science.
There is nothing in history more touching
says the New York Herald than the martyr
dom Of the Rev. J. Damien de Veuster,
whose death has been announced by tele-
graph. Sixteen years ago this heroic young
Belgian prest landed on the rocky island Of
Molokai, in the Hawaiian group. His heart
was filled with a profound pity for the
abandoned lepers. Stories of the horrible
immoralities practiced IN a pestilential com.
munity, where there was no law and no
religion, had reached his ears. He yearned
to raise the cross there and preach the ten
der message Of christianity to the ransomless
captives of leprosy. Father Damien knew
that certain death awaited him. He knew
that his comely body would be polluted by
the most dreadful disease known to man.
But he went to his post with smile on his
face and sweet words on his lips. He found
a damned company .waillng in the utter
most depths of physical and moral
degradation. Distinctions of age and
sex were oblitcrated. Gaunt misery
stalked among th1 dying wretches. There
homes were fit only for wild beasts. With
the advent of the priest order was brought
out of chaos. Soon the hush Of piety sue
ceeded the savage revels of the hopeless and
friendly lepers. Little whitewashed cottages
arose. Pretty gardens began to bloom.
Christian hymns trembled up from the lost
men and women. The peace of consolation
brooded over the island. Who shall say
what the kind ministrations Of Damien were
to the hundreds Of ostracized human beings
IN far away Molokai or with what holy devo-
tion he soothed the dying hours Of
strangersa At last the good man was
marked by the inevitable brand of
nature. He was q leper too-.to be
Stunned by all on earth save those around
him. Slowly he pc erished, doing what hd
could to ease and comfort his flock while yet
he was yet alive. Su ch an example ought to
silence the man who cries out against ths
nineteenth century. No age and no race has
produced more supreme type of unselfish
heroism. Canonization can add nothing to
the glory of Father Damien.
The agitation for O shorter workday has
greater proportions during the past
six months than ever before, says T. v.
Powderly's paper, the Journal of United
Labor, and the question Is being daily dis
cussed from pulpit and rostrum by profess.
ors, students, and the workers themselves.
The newspapers are devoting columns to its
and a knowledge of matters
is being thus diffused among the
people much more rapidly than at any pre-.
ylous period in the history Of the labor
in America. One result Of this
agitation is seen in the recent passage Of an
eght-hour law by the legislature of Indiana.
But statute laws will never bring about q
shorter workday. The courts Of nearly all
States have repeatedly declared any law un-
which interfered with the
right of individual contract, and Indiana's
enactment eau only be made applicable to
employees of the commonwealth. Labor will
never secure shorter hours until she has her.
SELF devised practical plan for putting tho
scheme into operation without injury to
The employer or the vast multitudes
,f workers. How this is to
be accomplished with the least amount of
friction is the problem Of the hour. Public
sentiment Is to-day with the workers In their
demand for more time to rest, recreation, and