22 Conservative ,
on In Otoo county
CULVERTS. and nil through
Nebraska , in fncfc , in nearly nil of the
Northwestern states the important sub
ject of roads and bridges is seldom in
vestigated or comprehended. Illustra-
tivc of this general and expensive ignor
ance Otoo county stands preeminent.
Otoe county is eighteen miles wide on
the Missouri river and has n depth of
from thirty-two to thirty-six miles. It
lias been organized forty-tlireo years.
In that time the sum of more than a
million dollars has been expended in
bridges that are now partially or entirely
worn out. There is n bridge to every
two miles of road in this county. Many
of these bridges ought never to have
been constructed. In their stead there
should have been good , strong masonry
culverts , with filling on either side.
With the splendid paving brick now
made at Nebraska City culverts ought
to be put in wherever it is practicable.
The county surveyor and county com
missioners ought to attend to tin's im
portant matter seriously , frugally and
in a businesslike way. These officials
cannot wake up to their duties in this
respect too speedily. And what is true
of this county npplies equally to Fre
mont county , Iowa , on our east ; to Atchison -
chison county , Missouri , on the south-
cast ; to Cass county on our north and to
Nemaha county on the south of us.
Thousands and tens of thousands of
dollars can be , and must be , saved to
the taxpayers by an intelligent adminis
tration of the road and bridge question.
iKi ) The cheap style
STOCK. of denouncing cor
porate capital is always resonantly ex
plosive when it discourses of "wa
tered stock. " The state may assess a
railroad , for revenue purposes , higher
and higher each year , because of en
hanced earning capacity. This enhanced
earning capacity is an evolution of the
denser settlement and better cultivation
of the lands tributary to the line of road.
These lands are constantly enhanced in
value because the railroads are con
stantly carrying their products to mar
ket at useable and reasonable rates.
There are lands all through Nebraska
which , prior to the advent of the rail
road , could have been purchased for one
dollar an acre , or taken as a gift by
homesteaders , that today readily sell for
$50 an acre. This advanced price in
lands finds no critics among the farmers
who own them , nor do politicians de
nounce the farmer for having watered
his stock by demanding $50 for an acre
of land which the government presented
to him in his homestead.
The states assesses this land as it does
the railroads at a steadily enhancing
value. If the state enacts laws forbid
ding the issuance of additional stock to
represent increasing value in lines of
railroad , should it not accompany that
legislation with statutes prohibiting the
raising of the value of the railroads foi
taxable purposes ? In other words , ii
the state may , for revenue purposes , pui
up the price of a mile of road , why may
not the owners of that mile also issue n
certificate of stock to represent tl'o same
enhancement ?
CURRENT COMMENT.
Dr. George Shrady , in an article in
the New York Sun , has called attention
to the danger of ptomaines in food. The
ptomaine , it is scarcely necessary to explain -
plain , is a poisonous product of decom
position , which may come in almost
any kind of nitrogenous food when it
has been kept too long. During the sum
mer season , among the poorer classes ,
who do not have a sufficiency of ice , the
danger is one to bo seriously cousidered.
It is not in every case that odor reveals
the mischievous agent. Strange to say ,
too , articles of food , like poultry and
game , which have been kept in cold
storage , are particularly prolific of the
poison. As these forms of food are rare
ly eviscerated before going into the re
frigerating room , the soft parts decay
quickly when they are thawed and the
ptomaines find their way into the hard
flesh. Oysters and shellfish in general ,
unless quite fresh and good , are very
apt to develop very poisonous elements ,
even more fatal than meat and ordinary
fish. While due care is exercised by the
proper officials in the larger cities to
inspect the markets and condemn sus
picious food , the peddlers and street
market men often evade scrutiny. As
this is the class which the poor are very
apt to patronize for the sake of economy ,
the threat becomes a dangerous one.
Physicians and health officials are dis
posed to think that many unnecessary
deaths are to bo traced to this cause. In
aot weather particularly great care
should bo exercised , for many tricky
dealers have a way of deodorizing meat ,
or even the more perishable fish , so as
to neutralize the smell of decay.
One of the most amusing features of
the present war has been the extreme
alarm of owners of summer villas along
the Atlantic scacoast and of persons or
dinarily bent on an outing by the "sad
sea waves. " Spain was a terrible giant
n few weeks ago , and her fleet big
enough to eat that of Great Britain in
spite of the statistics of the blue books.
Our English cousins have been so
eager to keep au couraut with war news
that a number of Sunday newspapers ,
some addenda of the dailies , some inde
pendent , have been started. Great wails
in consequence have arisen from the
nonconformist clergy at this imitation
of bad American ways.
Queen Christina.
The most pathetic figure in the Span
ish tragedy now playing before the
World is that of the queen regent. She
is rather the helpless victim than the
agent of the tremendous forces which
are rending her adopted country. She
became the consort of Alfonso XII
with some reluctance , but has filled the
role of royal wife and mother admira
bly. In every souse this Austrian lady
commanded the esteem of the world as
a high minded and noble woman. Since
necessity made her queen regent her po
litical tact in dealing with the difficul
ties of government , so far as they were
presented to her , in reconciling the al
most irreconcilable difficulties of fac
tions , has been no less notable. It i&
now well known that , so far as Queen
Christina dared at the opening of the
Spanish-American difficulty , she favor
ed peace oven at a sacrifice. Yet patriot
ism and prudence combined to make her
accord with the passionate pride of the
Spanish people. Again and again since
the situation assumed a more desperate
phase this royal lady has declared her
self willing to retire from the regency ,
to do anything short of sacrificing the
rights and interests of her sou , if there
by she could remove an obstacle which
would lead to peace. Hopeless of Span
ish success , all her predilections have
been for a prompt and prudent settle
ment before American arms should
make the ultimate price that fatal
"pound of flesh" cut from over the
heart. She is the puppet and plaything
of destiny , with but little if any control
over the factors of the situation. Yet
her position makes her the innocent
scapegoat of misfortune , though she has
had no hereditary responsibility for the
blunders and sins of centuries now cul
minating to their penalty.
The Austrian part in the ruling ac
tivities of other lands has been peculiar
ly unfortunate. Marie Antoinette per
ished on the scaffold under the knife of
Sausou. Maximilian expiated his rash
ambition before a firing squad at Quero-
taro. The last Hapsbnrg contribution
to international tragedy is not likely to
meet such a fate even at the worst to be
expected. But should she retain the
throne as trustee for l er son it will bo
over a humiliated nation , which will
have lost its most precious possessions ,
a decadent power reduced to the posi
tion of a Portugal or a Greece. However
innocent she may have been in her share
in these woos , she will suffer more in
heart and happiness than any one in
Spain. Jubilant over our victories pres
ent and to come , wo may well accord a
generous portion of commiseration for
Queen Maria Christina.
It is difficult to say whether the volunteers -
untoors or the regulars have carried off
the honors of the desperate fighting at
Santiago. They all fought like heroes
in the teeth of an intrenched and des-
