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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 9, 1902)
M J.-- , . , KffpijWfr'iWff' ' Conservative. s folly of those who destroyed the great forests in order to be able to plow the ground. Wo see that the great crop of trees was of more value than the puny crops which man now grows with much labor and weariness. But while we see the folly of the forest destroyers , we are scarcely able to see that we , our selves , have been guilty of similar short sightedness in destroying our natural pastures and meadows. We have per haps hopelessly destroyed nearly all the rich grazing ground of eastern Nebras ka. Wo have worn out wild pastures , and where succulent grasses grew there are now only bitter weeds. As of old , because of our folly , the ground is cursed for our sake , and it brings forth thorns and thistles. " "I may close this paper with refer ence to Alfalfa and the part it should play in supplying forage to the stock upon the high plains. It seems to me that eventually these higher lands will be devoted to grazing , and that general agriculture will have to give way to the more profitable industry of stock grow ing , and the growth under irregation of such crops and vegetables as are de manded by the stock growers and their animals. These great stretches of coun try can support millions of cattle and sheep during the summer , and the rich irrigable valleys seem destined to be used very largely for the supply of such additional forage as may be necessary to carry them through the winter. Here is where that admirable forage plant , , Alfalfa , with its ready adapt ability to the conditions of irrigation , becomes of so much importance. With a good area of Alfalfa under irrigation in the western region , the amount of stock may be very greatly increased. I look to see the great valley of the North Platte bear fhe same relation to the surrounding drier country that the fertile Nile valley does to Egypt. Here will be grown Alfalfa , Timothy , Clover and the wild hay grasses , upon which the herds of cattle will be fed and fat tened in the winter. Here , too , will be grown those crops for the supply of food for men and their families who live here to care for their stock. Such development of the industries of the high plains will , in my opinion , event ually make this one of the richest and most prosperous portions of the state o : Nebraska. " The Guarante GUARANTEE Hog Cholera Our CHOLERA CURE. Company , of 502 Broadway , Counci Bluffs , is doing a thriving business , and the remedy they sell as a preventive and cure of hog cholera is achieving a splendid reputation for efficacy. It ho been successfully used for more than three years at Arbor Lodge , whore th swine herd numbers from one hundrec to two hundred head. wffi/1 A WORN-OUT SUPERSTITION. The total failure of the praying campaign organized for the expected ecovery of President McKinley ought o dispel forever the long prevalent llusion respecting the efficacy of prayer , and also open people's eyes to he lack of reason and of logic in their attitude towards this' much-debated subject. Besides the appointed ser- ices in American churches , and the [ liligeiit use of the family altar and the oloset sanctuary among the suffer er's compatriots , devout worshipers in all the Christian nations under icavon besieged the "Throne of Grace' ' ' with the same petition , while the minority who did not pray felt a sincere desire for the escape of a good man from a peril which lie had not deserved. Together with the almost universal sympathy for the victim as a man , there was reason for desiring his continuance as a ruler , for oven the most decided opponents of his policy dreaded still greater mischief in the administration of his successor. It seemed , to use a homely phrase , it seemed a case of "out of the frying pan into the fire ; " or , expressed in more classical form , a position "be tween the devil and the deep sea ; ' ' or , more properly still , under the cir cumstances , to quote from' ' Holy Writ a choice between chastisement "with whips" or "with scorpions. " ( Thus far , such apprehensions promise to be groundless. President Roosevelt does not copy the ' ' wobbling' ' course of his predecessor ; lie shows sense and independence , and if he will only dis play the same justice towards the Filipinos that he has recently dis played towards a negro , our "colon ial policy' ' may be abolished and the republic may bo saved. ) However , neither prayers nor fears were of the least avail in changing the natural progress of a deadly wound. The president died , and now the discom fited petitioners say : "It was God's will. " But so striking an instance cannot bo dismissed with such maun derings. The question demands investiga tiou. Christians claim that the Deity they worship is a "prayer-hearing and a prayer-answering God. " They be lieve also that He is omniscient , know ing all things past , present and to come ; and omnipotent , booing able to change the course of events according to His will and pleasure. The ab surdity of the e contradictory ascrip lions is obvious. If He know tha the assassin's shot would prove fatal of what use was it to ask Him t < avert the catastrophe ? Again , if al things happen by His order , how can the murderer bo blamed and punished for fulfilling the Divine purpose ? And if "His way is always the right way , ' ' why should any one pray at all ? No sane and sincere mind can exam ine this subject without recognizing the foolishness of the Christian the ory. It is the same with regard to prayers for rainand for the action or suspen- ion of other natural phenomena. Rain does sometimes follow shortly fh'r prayer ; but there is no connec- ion between the two processes. For ; hat matter prayers are generally de- aycd until the drought has continued so long that rain must come soon. In the present state of scientific knowl edge people ought to bo ashamed to pray for rain. Let them rather plant trees or remove their habitations to a egion where mountains and lakes and forests ensure the accumulation and bestowal of sufficient moisture. The best way to prevent the attacks of perverse "cranks" is to study the laws of nature so as to produce and rear sound minds in sound bodies , and the only way to prevent ti false anarchism is to so amend the social state as to develop the true anarch ism , that is , a condition wherein very man may safely be a law unto himself , because desiring only what is just and right for himself and for his fellow men. ELIZABETH E. EVANS. RELIGIOUS OPINION. "Wherever there is a decline in church going , " says the New York churchman ( P. E. ) , " so far as it is affected by preaching at all , it is due , wo are convinced , to the fact that clerical education has lost touch with modern life. Look back through hist ory and you will find that whenever and wherever the preacher lias spoken as man to man , as one who know not only the spiritual verity that lie would proclaim , but the hearts and minds of those to whom ho would proclaim it , no statesman , no orator lias over claimed so eager an audience. Men are as eager to be told of these things today as they ever were , but they cannot be reached by the sort of teaching that was right for the preach ers of yesterday. The gospel is eter nal , biat the human heart responds to it now in one key , now in another , and it will not respond to it at all when it is mumbled or when it is ut tered as a perfunctory service. There has probably never been a generation so keenly sensitive to cant , or so re pelled by it as our own , or a gener ation so little disposed to respect the preacher because of his office rather than because of the way ho fills it. There may have been days when the hungry sheep would look as if they had not been fed , but those days are past. Hearers today are apt to assume that those who do not know the men they are talking to , do not know what they are talking about , either. But the priest that shows he has a grasp on spiritual realities never has lacked hearers , and never will. " , . y