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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1898)
The Conservative. FORESTRY. The American 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 tin's meeting should be 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 are 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 Does 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. E. W. Furnas , E. F. Stephens , C. A. Keffer , C. L. Watrous , F.S. Phoenix , Henry Michelson , S. M. Emeiy , George Van Houten , C. S. Harrison. Prof. Charles E. Bessey , B. E. Fernow , Prof. Lawrence Bruner and George E. Kesser. The exact topic assigned to each speaker will be announced a little later but , in the meantime , it may be 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 tin's meeting who could , perhaps , not otherwise come. The exact place of meeting in Omaha will be announced in due 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. Appleton , president , Boston , and George P. Whittlesey , recording secretary and treasurer , Washington. Notwithstanding the declarations of the leading populists , THE CONSERVA TIVE would gladly welcome into Ne braska a couple of dozen healthy and enterprising millionaires who would develop an artesian well system for the whole state and thus remove all of its agriculture and horticulture from their dependence upon rainfall and from the danger of drouths. Millionaires men who have the power of capital , cash , money , dollars are needed in Nebraska and will be cordially received by intelli gent citizens everywhere. .1 . , 0 fZ ± ZZ ± < Z ? = ± < * Z CURRENT COMMENT. | GT y jSH j vS f V T f ? © The Literary Impulse. The desire to write is one of the mental diseases which numerous yonug men and women of good intelligence and education nre certain to : ss through in their ambition to attain an ideal a little higher than the immediate status. In spite of the experience of others , who have tried and failed , hope whispers to eaoh aspirant of an excep tional career. The multiplication of newspapers of course offers a seeming gateway whereby success is made easier. In a measure the promise is not falla cious. Journalism indeed gives oppor tunity to many for the beginning of a career which otherwise would be at tended with vastly more difficulty. For men and women of great talent and in dustry it has considerable rewards of money and reputation in store. But these , too , are only the exceptions , for journalism , like other intellectual pro fessions , is greatly overcrowded. Every large city has scores of able and ex perienced men whose pens find only scanty and casual employment. If this is the case in journalism , the conditions of which present the minor difficulty , the situation is still more in tractable in the higher walks of litera ture , where the outlet is far more re stricted , the tests of excellence in the exercise of the purely literary gift more rigid. It can be truthfully said that al most any other profession offers better ultimate hope of achievement and hap piness than does the medium of letters. Even those who meet with creditable Buocess are contented with returns which a relative rank in half a dozen other pursuits involving parallel abil ity and the same industry would great ly overstep. The most discouraging fact , too , in the writing profession is that even distinguished men are obliged to depend for the more certain substance of their income on the work for which they care least , but for which there is a larger market demand. In a recently published letter of Robert Southey , a writer of eminent talent and accom plishments if not of genius , there is a melancholy confession. In discussing the sources of his income he says , "Per haps the average may be fair at last , but it is injurious as well as ridiculous that I shall derive my main support from what other persons might do as well and what might never be done at all , while for works of permanent value and great labor , for which peculiar knowledge , peculiar talents and pecul iar industry are required , the profit I obtain would scarcely exceed and per haps not amount to the expenses of the documents. " The way of the writer who has no other resources than his pen is for the most part a "via dolorosa. " The wise advice is always , "Don't. " It is the inexorable law of nature that innumera ble experiments and struggles are neces sary for the emergence of the few. To be one of that ; few seems sufficient lure to risk remaining one of the unsuccess ful many. So it will probably be till the end of time. It in the thrift of des tiny The Mississippi Problem. For half a century the riverine naoa- tor which cleaves through the heart of our country has battled all attempt to permanently bridle its excesses. It made its great valley , and it will domi nate it , let human opposition be what it may. The actual cost which ita rav ages of flood have made has been estimated to be equivalent to not less than five times our present national debt. The Mississippi river commission , made up of our ablest engineers , both military and civil , have spent $20,000- 000 within the last twoacore years de vising moans to control the flood , but the problem stands very much the same , always threatening , always demanding its dues. Captain Eads , it is true , solved one phase of the question with partial success in opening an outlet to the sea by his system of jetties. This simple bat ingenious plan involves a self scouring channel , which BO far has worked admirably. But without an equally effective embankment system , by which the flood in its persistent efforts to encroach on its limits can bo restrained , the whole question remains a dreadful threat. It is nut merely at the times of its annual spring floods when the impris oned snow and ice of half a contintnt swell its volume that the mischief is portentout. The cities of the lower val ley are always in peril. Crawfish and various gnawing creatures of land and water , the swarming allies of the river monster , are perpetually undermining the strength of the levees. These often break with scarcely a moment's warn ing , and thousands of acres are sub merged. Incessant vigilance is the price of safety. New Orleans , the great com mercial emporium of the river , the creation of the river , the slave of the river , is today in a state of keen anx iety over the latest caprice of the flood which rolls by its wharves. The river is devouring the land at Carroll ton , at Algiers and the extreme southern part of the city , where the riparian property is of great value. There seems to be great division of opinion as to what can bo done to effectively meet the danger. The city and state engineers are at odds as to the proper division of their work. The money of the levee commission in said to be at its lowest ebb. The situa tion is an alarming one , and there Eeeins to be no outcome except a great devastation of valuable property. New Orleans , to be sure , has passed through uch crises before , but eaoh fresh one threatens to surpass its predecessors in