10 Conservative.
FOKKSTUY. The Aincricnu For
estry Association will hold an important
meeting in Omaha on Friday and Sat
urday , September 9 and 10. This meet
ing is held in accordance with a vote of
the association at its meeting held in
Nashville a year ago and it was contem
plated at that time that this meeting
should bo largely devoted to topics relat
ing to the "West ; it has , also , been ar
ranged that a number of Western men
of many years' experience in the West
shall be placed upon the program so that
the "Great Treeless District" may have
a thorough representation.
Some of the topics that will be treated
arc as follows :
Where Does Our Timber Come From ?
Wind Break Its Value and Form.
Conifers on the Plain.
The Catalpa in Plantations.
The Extension of Native Forest
Growth in the Plains.
How Docs Forest Growth Affect Cli
mate ?
The Forest Botany of Nebraska , Eco
nomically Considered.
Arbor Day and its Economic Signifi
cance.
Some of the well-known persons who
will take part in the meeting by present
ing papers are Dr. George L. Miller.
Hon. R. W. Furnas , E. F. Stephens , C.
A. Keffer , C. L. Watrous , F.S. Phoenix ,
Henry Michelson , S. M. Emery , George
Van Houteu , C. S. Harrison. Prof.
Charles E. Bessey , B. E. Fernow , Prof.
Lawrence Brunei- and George E. Kesser.
The exact topic assigned to each
speaker will be announced a little later
but , in the meantime , it may bo under
stood that it is proposed to have a thor
oughly profitable program , made up
from topics which will have the most
interest to those who are likely to be in
attendance. The low rates on the rail
roads at this time will make it possible
for many to attend tins meeting who
could , perhaps , not otherwise come.
The exact place of meeting in Omaha
will be announced in clue season.
Persons interested , or desirous of any
further information , are cordially in
vited to correspond with F. W. Taylor ,
Superintendent of Agriculture and Horticulture
ticulture , Trans-Mississippi Exposition ,
Omaha.
The officers of
the association are :
Hon. Francis H. Appletou , president ,
Boston , and George P. Wliittlesey ,
recording secretary and treasurer ,
Washington.
When any human being ceases to
learn it is time to die.
The present is undervalued and the
past and future overvalued by most
men and women.
The crops in Nebraska for 1898 are
estimated by The Daily Omaha Bee of
Tuesday , August 28.
The Bee shows the wheat yield of Ne
braska for 1898 to bo twenty-six millions ;
oats , fifty-three millions ; rye , between
two and three millions of bushels.
The Bee figures on the coming crop
of corn are discouraging. It will be
not more than three-quarters of the
usual yield per acre , and some say only
two-thirds and still others only half a
crop.
1 CURRENT COMMENT. \
v/ J ) !
Q > r T = r i Q
Conversation as u Fine Art.
A brilliant young Lochinvar in the
shape of a woman professor of the arfc
of conversation has come out of the
west ( in this instance she hails from
Denver ) to teach the young women of
Now York how to talk. She professes to
have studied her art in the most polish
ed European circles. With new world
energy and originality , combined with
old world culture , she has made a descent -
scent on the crude girls of Manhattan
to gild their intellects with the highest
of social accomplishments , while she
gilds her own pocket withal in the
operation. Her pluck is admirable , and
it is to be hoped that she will make a
financial success in her novel business ,
for there would seem to bo ample field
for its use. But we fear she proceeds on
an unsound promise. The art of charm
ing conversation is born in the individ
ual and cannot bo taught. It is a matter
of tact and temperament and sympathy
even more than of intellectual culture
and vivacity. The most brilliant talk
ers are not always adopts in the art of
agreeable conversation. To evoke from
others their best , to put them at their
ease and smooth away all sense of fric
tion , to mingle with the stream of talk
unobtrusively , as oil does with the
dressing of a salad , blending and per
fecting diverse elements this it is to
know conversation as a fine art. All the
teaching in the world will not bestow
it. A simple country girl may possess
it. The most brilliant woman of socie
ty may lack its suave delightsomeue&s.
If the equipment exists by nature , the
higher the culture and intellect the
more charming the art. Without the
other essential gifts mere culture , wit
and knowledge amount only to the beat
ing of tomtoms , a pyrotechnic display
of vanity. To converse delightfully is
to be intent on making others talk
well , no less than the personal achieve
ment of display.
The Royal Geographical society has
for a long time refused the persistent
attempt made to have it father new
schemes of antarctic exploration. But
Sir George Nowuos , founder of a num
ber of successful periodicals , has taken
up the rejected burden and given 50 , -
000 to capitalize an expedition. It is
proposed to exercise the tactics of Nan-
sen in taking advantage of the drift of
the polar current. And a boat the exact
model of the Fram will be used for the
purpose. The head of the expedition
will bo a Norwegian naturalized in
England , Carsten Egeburg Borchgro-
viuk , who is a member of the Geographical
graphical society , an intimate friend of
Nansen and an enthusiast in polar ex
ploration , in which he has hud some
experience. The party , it is believed ,
will bo gone at least two years. What
end of science not already scoured by
north polar adventure can bo achieved
except the advancement of purely geographical
graphical knowledge it is difficult to
eeo.
The latest decision of the naval board
as to what should be recommended to
congress at the forthcoming session is
in line with the lessons of the war. The
conviction is not that we should have
the biggest navy in the world , but the
very best warships which can be built.
The factor of speed has impressed itself
on experts as a superlative need in the
most effective work. The new pro
gramme proposes three battleships of
between 18,000 and 14,000 tons dis
placement and nut less than 19 knots of
speed. These would greatly surpass any
battleships now afloat. For armored
cruisers three are to be recommended of
about 12,000 tons and of 24 knots speed ,
if possible , but not loss than 22. Be
sides these a number of protected cruis
ers superior in class to Admiral Dew-
ey's Olympia and several 2,500 ton
cruisers are deemed important. It is in
the line of increased speed that naval
improvement now recognizes the most
need.
"
"
A Misapprehension.
Many and grateful are the tributes
paid to this country for the heroic stuff
which enters into the composition of
her volunteers. Among others is a glow
ing compliment from the London Daily
Chronicle , involving , however , a slight
misconception , which may be corrected.
Quoth The Chronicle after enumerating
the results of the war and specially em
phasizing the results of the Santiago
victory :
"Above all , they have improvised the
army with which they did this part of
the work. Not bad for the interval be
tween rent day and rent day ! The man
ner of this improvisation is a striking
vindication in some ways of the Ameri
can system. Most of the troops who
swarmed up the slopes at Santiago and
captured intrenched positions hold by
seasoned troops and swept by artillery
were mere untrained butchers , bakers
and candlestick makers at the begin
ning of the war. "
All this is very nice and warms the
cockles of the American heart. But it
is based on a misconception. The excel
lence of our militia and volunteer sys
tem is that it draws into its service all
classes , not merely that of the "butcher
and baker and candlestick maker" al-
