Omaha daily bee., 1917-04-01
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TN HIS TALK to the Rotary club Ex-Governor
l. Carey of Wyoming gave vivid description
| contrasting his first glimpse OF Omaha, nearly
| 6fty wears ago. with the Omaha OF today. He
| said he came west the first time about 1908, II
| recall the date correctly, riding by rail as TAR
as Council Bluffs and crossing the river on the
ferry Having no familiarity with the town and
knowing no one here, he listened to the swarming
mob of hotel runners who were shouting out the
virtues and attractions of their respective hostel
ries and he followed the one who yelled the loud
est and drew the most beautiful word-picture OF
the haven of refuge awaiting the weary traveller
When he subsequently took his bearings, Mr..
Carey found himself in dingy back room over
a noisy barroom in a wooden shack, so-caled
hotel, located somewhere on Farnam below Ninth,
where sleep and quiet were impossible, and the
next day he moved to more inviting place. Inc
point is the change in the methods and character
of the receptions which we accord strangers VINO
come to town. / remember the old passenger
station down on Tenth street, with a wooden
platform in front OF it, or behind it, according to
the point of view, against which the hacks and
hotel buses were parked" and a chalk line down
the middle which was supposed to hold back from
the defenseless traveller the attacking army OF
drivers, Cables and hotel cappers modified into
action every time train arrived. Our passenger
depots, Busy as they are now, by comparison are
as tame as Quaker meeting beside the bolster
Gus hustle and hustle with which they were once
beset.
The news OF the death in Rome of the famous
American sculptor, Sir Moses Ezekiel serves to
call attention to the fact that we have here in
Omaha fine example Of this great artists work
and also makes OF more interest his fascinating
life story. He was born in Richmond Va. and as
a boy served in the cadet corps Of the confederate
army, afterwards going to Europe to study scup-
ture, where he soon won high honors. For more
than forty years he lived in Rome and was long
looked up to as the dean Of the art colony there,
his studio being constantly a rendezvous for
noted visitors from America as well as center
of the best music in Rome. The eastern papers
give lists OF the important examples of his work
owned in this country, the last one being statue
of Poe, completed only few weeks before his
final illness, to be erected in Baltimore The
piece by Ezekiel here is bust Of the late Aaron
Wise, founder of the Jewish reform movement in
this country, after whom our Wise Memorial hos
pital is named The bust stands in the entrance
hall to the hospital and is carved life sized in
beautiful Italian marble. 1t bears the inscrp-
ton, I'M. Ezekiel, 1906 chiseled by his own
hand" There is little story back of the pre-
sentation of this bust to. the Wise Memorial hos
pital which few people know. The daughter of the
late Rabbi Wise is, the wife of Adoph S. Ochs,
well known publisher of the New York Times.
With her husband she was touring in Italy at the
time my father was there as delegate for the
United States to the Worlds Postal congress, all
OF them meeting in Rome. Renewing their acquain-
lance, they came together socially and reference
was made to the hospital in Omaha and the fact
that in its name it is memorial to Mrs. Ochs'
father, whereupon the desire expressed to show
some appreciation of the compliment and right
then and there commission was given to Sir
Moses Ezekiel to execute the bust, which in due
time was completed and forwarded to its distant
destination on this side of the ocean, | do not
believe, however, that our art lovers yet fully
realize what possession of this fine example OF
work by one Of the worlds master portrait sculp-
tors means for Omaha.
Newspaper men are not supposed to say much
about libel suits, especially about libel suits
against themselves for fear Of encouraging them.
put in several days this last week in attendance
upon court for the hearing of $4,000 libel suit
against The Bee, in which promptly returned
verdict of the jury decided absolutely in favor,
or, in other words that the plaintiff had no just
claims to any damages whatever / am not going
to discuss this case except to remark that there
are libel suits and libel suits, but that mighty few
of them ever have any merit. When newspaper
is embroled in political fight, or starts out to
attack public evils official corruption, the per-
son exposed as fraud or crook often rushes to
court with libel suit as the only means of de-
Tense or vindication. These cases are ncidentals
of the battle Of the fearless newspaper for the
public veal. But where any one feels that he
or she has suffered an injustice from an article
printed without animus in the ordinary course of
news gathering, the first and natural and honest
thing to do is to come to the newspaper at once
with request for correction or the publication
of the other side of the story, which offers the
only way to repair the damage. When the party
who makes out that he is injured flies to court for
money balm, rather than for exculpation, it is
ten-to-one shot that the grievance has been
worked up by lawyer with contingent fee in
teres in the possible profits and it is also better
than an even break the case will not stand up in
daily before the readers of the average newspaper
considering the time pressure and the obstacles in
the way of reporters and the disposition of many
people from whom information must be sought
to exaggerate and dstort their stories, is really
marvel of accuracy and the serious mistakes
remarkably rare as compared with the indictments
| to error.