Conservative *
TIIK FUNCTIONS Buckle , ill tllO
OK GOYKUNMKNT. "History of Ch'il-
ization in England , " declares :
"In the year 177(5 ( Adam Smith pub
lished , his 'Wealth of Nations' which ,
looking to its ultimate results , is pro
bably the most important book that has
ever been written. Well may it bo
said of Adam Smith , and said , too ,
without fear of contradiction , that this
solitary Scotchman has , by the publica
tion of one single work , contributed
more towards the happiness of man
than has been effected by the united
abilities of all the statesmen and legisla
tors of whom history has presented an
authentic account. "
And Doctor Channing in treating of
governmental functions remarks :
"We mean not to deny , wo steadily
affirm , that government is a great good
and essential to human happiness ; but
it does its good chiefly by a negative
influence , by repressing injustice and
crime , by securing property from in
vasion , and thus removing obstructions
to the free exercise of human powers
It confers little positive benefit. Its
ollico is , not to confer happiness , but to
give men opportunity to work out hap
piness for themselves. Government re
sembles the wall which surrounds our
land a needful protection , but reaping
no harvests , ripening 110 fruits. It is
the individual who must choose whether
the inclosuro shall be a paradise or a
waste. How little positive good can
government confer ! It does not till our
fields , build our houses , weave the ties
which bind us to our families , give dis
interestedness to the heart or energy to
the intellect and will. All our great
interests are loft to ourselves , and gov
ernments , when they have interfered
with them , have obstructed , much more
than advanced , them. For example , they
have taken religion into their keeping ,
only to disfigure it. In like manner ,
they have paralyzed trade by their
nursing care , and multiplied poverty by
expedients for its relief. Government
has almost always been a barrier against
which intellect has had to struggle , and
society has made its chief progress by
the minds of private individuals , who
have outstripped their rulers and grad
ually shamed them into true wisdom.
The crying sin of all governments it
that they intermeddle injuriously witl
human affairs , and obstruct the proces
scs of nature by excessive regulation
Society is such a complicated concern
its interests are affected by so many
unsettled causes , there are so many so
crct springs at work in its bosom , aw
such uncertainty hangs over the distant
issues of human arrangements , that wo
are astonished and shocked at the temerity
ity of legislators in interposing thoii
contrivances and control , except whore
events and experience shod a clear light
It is the business of government t
give each citizen , an equal chance , with
in the limits of the public good , for life
liberty , the accumulation of property
and the pursuit of happiness. Afto :
that it depends upon the individual am
hi.5 intelligent efforts as to how nmcl
enjoyment ho shall secure in life , libortj
and property.
Enlightened selfishness prompt
every man to do the very best ho can
for himself and his family. Every cit
izen who determines , and properly en
deavors , to do the best ho can for him
self is , therefore , doing the best ho can
for the Government and the country.
If there bo a republic of fertile lands
and genial climes anywhere upon this
globe where each citizen is doing the best
ho can for himself , that republic typifies
Paradise regained , and to it I would
emigrate myself , and take with me all
my kindred , friends and acquaintances.
In that perfect abode there can bo no
extortionate taxation , no prisons , no
anarchists , no fiat money , and no pov
erty. As an entity , -the Government of
the United States is simply'all ofiis. '
And when each is doing , within the
limits of the public good , strenuously
and intelligently to the best of his abil
ity , the best ho can for himself , the gov
ernment and the people are at the high
est tide of flush prosperity. The
farmers of America need individualization -
tion and development by personal study
and investigation. They do not need to
pool their thinking faculties and their
energies in vast associations , which arc
too often turned to political rather than
to agricultural and domestic purposes.
No man should give a power of attorney
to any society , organization , or person
to think for him. All the drouths ,
all the locusts , all the chinch-bugs , all
the diseases of domestic animals which
have afflicted agriculture are not half
such dangerous foes to the farmer as an
inconvertible or irredeemable currency ;
not half so impoverishing as cheap
money of violently fluctuating purchas
ing power ; not half so dangerous to his
interests as a system of laws which com
pels him to sell his products in compe
tition with all the world and to buy his
manufactured articles in a market
whence all competition is excluded ; not
half so threatening as a blind adher-
ouco to the teachings of ignorant leaden
and vicious demagogues.
A -WKSTKKN Mr. , T. Sterling
KNTKKPJU.SK. Morton , Prcsidon
Cleveland's late secretary of agriculture
in his cabinet , is to enter into journal
ism in something like a missionary
spirit. Ho has issued a prospectus for a
weekly journal , to bo published at Ne
braska City , Nob. , to bo called THIS
CONSERVATIVE , and to treat of questions
in social , industrial and political life in
the spirit of its title. Of course , it is
for the continuance of the single gold
standard in the monetary system of the
country , and is to combat free silver
coinage. Mr. Morton is a vigorous
writer , as well as an aggressive man in
his independence. Ho invites subscrip
tions to his paper from all sections of
the country in aid of the work on which
ho has entered , and starts out with an
assured list of patrons numbering be
tween 5,000 and (5,000. ( Boston Herald.
Persons desiring to advertise among
the best households of the northwestern
country are informed that THE CONSER
VATIVE has such a circulation of nearly
5,000.
KDUCATIONAL , IK- xllu m i <
VHMU'MKNT IN school of Otoo
NKHUASKA CITY county was es-
ANI ) OT015 ,
COUNTY
tftblisliod at Nebraska -
braska City by Miss Martin , in 1855.
Subsequently she married Andrew Jes-
son , a most worthy and successful , citi
zen. Paul Jessen , our county attorney
[ now absent as a soldier , at Chicka-
nauga ) ifa result of that union.
The second school in the county was
istablished by Miss Lucy N. Bowen , an
iccomplished teacher , who was educated
in Vermont. She was the sister of Dr.
tVurolius Bo wen.
On January 2 , 18(50 ( , the public schools
of Nebraska City were first opened for
pupils. Then male teachers were paid
$75 pei month and females $50 per
month. But in 1801 compensation for
the teachers was established at 50 cents
per month for each pupil.
During the year 18(513 ( the legislative
assembly of the territory of Nebraska
authorized Nebraska City to issue $15,000
of 10 per cent bonds , out of the proceeds
of which a high school building should
bo erected. The indebtedness was in
curred and the old school building on
Sixth street was completed in 18G5 at a
cost of $ :31,000. : This was the first high
school building in Nebraska City. The
piiblic funds wore exhausted , however ,
before the completion of the edifice , and
$1,500 was required to finish it. How
to raise that sum of money was a very
serious , financial problem. But the
good pioneer mothers of Nebraska City
and suburbs very soon devised a sort of
exposition , and art loan association , a
fair and festival combined. The public
were invited to this entertainment at 25
cents for admission. Once admitted ,
the inducements for the purchase of
edibles , curios and embroideries made by
def t needle women were irresistible. In a
single week the $1,500 had been raised
and paid over to the school board ,
among the energetic frontier women of
that day who took leading parts in this
educational enterprise , was the mother
of Joy , Paul , Mark and Carl Morton and
also the mother of Paul Jessen , and like
wise the mother of Mrs. Ed Woolsoy
and many others of courage and energy.
The Fourteenth street schoolhouse was
completed in 1809. It cost $10,000. It
was totally destroyed by fire in 1874 , and
rebuilt at a costof $4,250.25.
The Ninth street high school building
was erected in 1874. It cost $5,000.
iiioiiT iiisVKUKNi ) The provisional
TAMIOT. bishop of the Epis
copal church for the territory of Ne
braska , was a man of wonderful execu
tive ability , beside being a most eloquent
and convincing pulpit orator. No ono
of the pioneer clergymen of Nebraska
excelled Bishop Talbot in farsightedness
and correct business judgment. Ho ac
quired for his church largo real estate
holdings along the Missouri river at
Omaha and all principal towns which ,
