Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-12-03
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A RATHER peculiar question was put up to me
n by well known business man who called this
last week His mission was to ask an opinion as to
how a letter should be properly addressed, whether
the "Mr" or Hon" should be placed in front
OF the name when followed on the same line by
some other title or designation. Ofhand | ex,
pressed preference for keeping the prefix Hon,
or "Mr" or "Dr" or Judge" as the case might
be, and putting the title or designation, such as
Member of Congress-" Attorney -at-Law' or
Secretary of the Board" in a second and separate
line But to learn what other people do in this
respect | ran hastily over the accumulation OF
letters on my desk and examined the addresses.
1t was not surprising to find variety OF Gus
tom, but most them conformed to the suggestion
had already made. One or two used the sutlx
Esq" instead OF the prefix "Mr." but the notable
dissent appeared in letter coming from the ONCE
OF the simplhed spelling board in New York,
which carried the "Mr" in front of my name and
the word Editor" after it, all on the same line
The friend who was making the inquiry had
nothing to do but accept the situation and seek
further light The inquiry only showed that in
addressing our letters we have no generally
accepted rule
Another not unsimar point came up the other
day when my little boy asked me how | would
abbreviate the word Nebraska" And when |
countered by propounding the same question to-
him, he said he had written it at school "Neb.
but the teacher had marked it wrong" and had
told him he must write it s'Nebr" Now, in the
interest Of economy of letters and simplihed
spelling, most of us, believe, omit the r., yet
our schools teaching the children that such
abbreviation is wrong, explaining that the r IS
necessary to distinguish Nebraska from Nevada,
especially in the event of poor handwriting. Il
sought to verify that, too, by examining the
postmarks on my letters and find that the "Nebr.'
conforms to postofice regulations. l venture the
guess, just the same, that neither the schools nor
the postofice successfully retain the r. in
our date lines and addresses
Yesterday, December 2, was again the ami
versary of the breaking OF ground here in Omaha
for the building of the first transcontnenta rail-
way to be known as the Union Pacific. That was
in the year 1868 and it was gala occasion tor all
the inhabitants of the then struggling town.
Omaha went wild again in celebrating the COM
pletion of the road by the driving of the golden
spike at Promontory Point in May, 1869, and,
though we neglected to commemorate the htteth
anniversary of the COMMUNICATING we ought
to get in on the semi-centennial celebration OF
the completion. have adverted to this before in
this column and mention it again because Utah
expects congressional recognition for celebra-
ton at Salt Lake and we we ought to insist on
making it dual or triple event with simultaneous
exercises at Omaha and perhaps at San Fran
CISCO as we'll at Salt Lake City, just as originally
occurred. If that purpose is to be pursued, how
ever no great amount Of time is to be lost in
making it known. }:
From Herbert S. Houston who is chairman
on the Committee of Information of the League
to Enforce Peace" of which am also mem
Der, has written me a suggestive letter, evoked
by my recent article captioned is Universal
Peace Dream" In this letter, from which /
feel at liberty to quote, he says: 5.sri
mo, indeed, universal peace is not a dream.
That is an interesting question you raised. in Z
the admirable editorial you had in The Bee
which / have read with much interest But
most assuredy when responsible statesmen
such as Viscount Grey, speaking for England,
Won Bethmann Hollweg, speaking for Ger
many, and BRAND, speaking for France, send
messages endorsing the principles on which
the League to Enforce Peace rests then what
at first appears to be dream looks like a real
ity You saw, of course, that at our great
League to Enforce Peace dinner, presided over
by ex-Presdent Taft, last Friday night in New
York. we had messages from these three
countries And the whole dinner was most
cheering and hopeful in indicating broad support
both at home and abroad for the policy of the
league Mr. Jacob Schiff struck rather doubt
full note in suggesting that something be done
to end the present war. OF course that is
not within the province of the league.
1t is seeking to develop a program to
be adopted after this war is over and it has
always taken the stand that it is in no sense
a stop-the-war movement.
Mr.. Houston was here in Omaha about year
ago as president of the National Association of
Ad Clubs and was entertained by our local Ad
club and he is now enlisted for the whole peace