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Che Coneervative.
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VOL. i. NEBRASKA CITY NEB. THURSDAY JULY 21 1898. NO. 2
Emotional pat-
NEW PATHS. . . . . . , .
riotism is blazing
now paths for the American people. But
practical patriotism deliberates. It
is claimed by the former that the
United States is just beginning to be
known and respected by the nations of
the earth , and it attempts to make the
achievements of Washington , Franklin ,
Jefferson , Hamilton and Madison , in
civil life and in military prowess , micro
scopic and hardly discernible down , the
avouuo of a century and a quarter. The
methods , policies , teachings and admonitions
itions of the 'fathers of the American
Republic are declared to have been ap
propriate only for an infant government
but entirely obsolete and unadaptable to
its posterity.
The sensational press and the inflam
matory oratory of the United States are
now daily employed in belittling the
past of the government and the country.
The war of the revolution for the inde
pendence of the Colonies is depicted by
them as a most insignificant affair ,
while the war of 1812 is still more in
tensely minimized , and the war with
Mexico made utterly invisible. The
Civil War. however , which closed only
in April , 1865 , is admitted to have been
something of an array of physical force
and militant ability , though nothing
compared to the war machinery
and fighting equipment which , have
been recently developed by the
conflict between Spain and the
United States. The war between that
antiquated , debilitated and deteriorated
people , on the one hand , and the young ,
vigorous and strenuous Republic of the
United States , on the other , does not
demand the highest ability and prowess
of tin's country. Whether this Spanish
war could have been aver ted by congress ,
had an endeavor been made for peace
equal to that which has been put forth
to find pretexts for battles is a question
not now to be discussed. It enough
to recall the fact that this war was en
tered into upon the ground of humanity.
The American government interposed
to prevent the starvation of men , wo
men and children who wore in rebellion
against the government of Spain. Con
gress by deliberate declaration informed
the world that this Republic sought no
new territory , that it desired no acquis
ition of domains by war or otherwise.
The. conflict , therefore , was instituted
solely for the purpose of acting as a Good
Samaritan among the nations of the
globe. Nothing but benevolence and a
desire to compel liberty for the Cubans
actuated the McKiuley administration.
And yet there is a paroxysmal patriot
ism already abroad in the land which
wildly shrieks for the holding of all
islands and other territory over which
the flag of the Republic has been once
floated. These hysterical aunexationists
tliink that there are no other glories for
a government than those which are to
be obtained by militarism. They forget
that the United States for more than a
hundred years has been respected by all
the nations of the earth because of its
adherence to justice and right and be
cause of its great intellectual and moral
development. ' In all the great seaports
and in all the great trade centers of the
globe the United States has been achiev
ing the beneficent victories of civiliza
tion and commerce. In that one cen
tury it has accomplished more for the
advancement and exaltation of the hu
man race than any and all other gov
ernments put together.
The new paths pointed out are not
safe to enter upon. But the victories of
peace are peculiarly adapted to this
form of government. "Peace and good
will to man" is the acme , the crowning
glory and consummate perfection of civil
ization. And while the United States ,
physically , with its men and material ,
can equal on the battlefield and on the
seas any of the nations of the earth ,
its great strength and usefulness are in
its mental and moral forces. Its agri
culture , its manufacture and commerce
explore all the habitable globe , and the
influence of its thought and its religion
permeates the remotest sections of the
earth.
Practical patriotism is not in favor of
permanent militarism. Practical pat
riotism differs with emotional patriotism
because the latter is inspired by impulse
and the former by reason. The bar
baric glory of war and the savagery of
triumphs by arms are not alluring to
the best minds and characters of
modern times. Those great internat
ional expositions for corpsemaking , for
wounding , for mutilating , called battle
fields are not the result of Christianity
and civilization , but are the sporadic
indications of the fact that the original
savage and the prehistoric barbarian are
not entirely bred out of the modern man.
It is a sad fact that during the last half
of the last decade of the Nineteenth
Century humanity should anywhere be
settling its difficulties by brute force.
The spectacle is a satire upon the
vaunted improvement of our race dur
ing the last eighteen hundred years.
OIIATOIIS.
OUATOKY IN Somewhere about
NiiiniASKA. the year 1850 , just
after the accession of Logan Fontanello
; o the cliiefship of the Omaha Ind
ians , there was a great council of that
; ribo convoked , and while the newly se
lected leader was making a speech ho
was interrupted by the constant at
tempts of White Cow , one of the head
men , to interpose some remarks of his
own. Enduring these seemingly irre
pressible eruptions of the talkative Mr.
White Cow for some time , Foutauelle
at last become enraged and in a moment
of anger drew his scalping knife and
slashed the cheek of Mr. Wliite Cow
wide open. Tin's savage surgical opera
tion for the time being allayed the ver
bosity of the interlocutor and the coun
cil proceeded to its adjournment with
out further interruption from him. But ,
Mr. White Cow was one of those abor
iginal orators who never saw a crowd' '
gathered together that ho did not feel1
like making a speech. This peculiarity
of his seems to have distinguished many
citizens who now inhabit the land that ;
Mr. White Cow and his ancestors origiu-
allv possessed. He , however , never af
terwards in the presence of Logan.
Fontanelle attempted any great amount
of oratory or eloquence. But , as a con
stant reminder of the mortification
which the blow from his chief had in
flicted upon him , he wore as long as ho
lived a large , black , old-fashioned , silk
handkerchief tied over his head and
down under his chin so as to conceal the
gash with which the knife of his su
perior had indelibly scarred one side of
his strong face. During the years 1854 ,
1855 and 1850 , and even down to his
death , no white man or Indian , outside
of his own family , ever had an oppor
tunity to see the scar inflicted by Fonta
nello. It was invariably concealed by
the silk kerchief. Nevertheless White
Cow remained eminent and justly dis
tinguished among both Indians and
whites as one of the most logical , per
suasive and eloquent men of the entire
Omaha tribe.
During November , 1854 , the govern
ment having failed to pay the autumn
part of the annuity .which the Omahas
claimed due them from the sale of their-
land east of the Elkhorn and north of'
the Platte river in the Territory of Ne
braska , the squatters and settlers in ,
then : cabins all along the banks of thej
Missouri river and on the prairies bacfr
JfjC * "K
