The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903, 1895-12-21

Municipal pontics In Omana mas peeh
interfered with for a number OF years
by the feelings engendered by the So
ciety called the A. p. A. 1t has been a
cause for congratulation among the cit
liens OF Lincoln that they have been
influenced to a lesser degree by the pre-
JUDGES fostered by that society. For
much injustice has been done through
love of IL or hate OF IL. Many men have
come to this country because they love
liberty. hate oppression and wish to
bring up their families in the freest
country on the face of the earth. In
taking out their naturalization papers
they become American citizens of an
exalted fervor, and with all a new con-
vert's devotion to the truth which con,
verted him. Memories of their native
land, where the theory Of the divine
right OF kings is being worked out in
creases his devotion to a regime where
in every man Is his own king Is being
tried. A republic was set up in North
America by Englishmen fighting against
Englishmen. The Union was threat
ened because Americans whose ances-
tors were neighbors of Geo. Washing
ton, Andrew jackson and Henry Clay
the oldest American blood in the coun-
try-thought the new blood up nawth"
was too sure of the indissoluble nature
If the United States of America Pa
.riotism is not a question of where we
are born or Of ancestry. II il a Ques>
ton of sentiment and resultant ac>
tions. IL q man have lived among us
for twenty years IL is an easy thing
to pass his life in review and to decide
whether he be an upholder of Amer
lean institutions or hostile to them. 1t
Is frequently asserted that the founda-
ton of American freedom is the pub
lie school. IL the suspect be found
guilty Of wasting school money, of de-
f1ecting the stream. made very shallow
by three years of drought. to his own
fields or of doing anything which
might affect the continuance of the
public school. ca11 him a traitor and
chop of his political head. The belief
that the stranger is an enemy is sur
vival of tribal cohesiveness. To at
tack a man because he does not know
our religion or was not born on what
we call our soil is a Gothic, a Vandal
act Perhaps, after all. evolution does
not develop and we will remain bar
barrie to the end, hating without cause
and killing because the sight of blood
makes us wildly happy and satisfies the
instincts we inherit from Cain.
Professor Lawrence Fossler was ed
ucated in the public schools of this city
and at the State University. After
wards he spent a few years in Germany.
But the impressionable years of his life
have been spent here. Here he mar
ried. here his children were born. He
is all the truer American because this
country is his by choice. A mans son
leaves his playmates and runs to meet
and walk with his father. not because
he is his father but because his free
spirit makes fre-er choice of him as
his companion. At that moment faith
erhood means something more than
blood and bone. So when the adopted
sons of America choose her from the
nations of the earth as their country,
America will welcome and protect them
though some other of the children may
raise a mobish cry of partially.
In Mrs. Burnett's story Of Louisiana.
there is a character, the heroine's IA
Their. an ignorant backwoodsman, who
possesses a soul as large. as loving, as
free from malice as Abraham Lincoln's
His daughters lover appears to her to
dispise her father. In reality the lover
is great enough himself to appreciate
the noble old man. But the girls heart
is in danger of breaking for love of ia
ther and lover. The father dies and
his last words to his daughter are
these. Don't do no one an onjestice."
These words are what remains of the
story after many years. Don't do no
one an onjestice." They should be
burnt into the hearts and minds of ev-
erybody. especially of the people con-
nected with a newspaper. II is a diff
cult thing to refrain from printing
good story. even if the subject of il be
a victim and not a culprit.