prestige might be increased , our burdens
would bo multiplied many fold. Great
Britain , by reason of her conspicuous
position in Europe , her important colon
ial possessions in every quarter of the
globe , and her aggressive commercial
policy , is far more exposed to the danger
of frequent wars than the United States ,
or at least far more than the United
States have heretofore been under the
wise counsels of our early statesmen. An
alliance with Great Britain or any other
power would necessarily impose upon us
reciprocal obligations and duties , which ,
when once assumed , could not be disre
garded without a breach of good faith ,
no matter what loss or damage a com
pliance with them might entail upon us.
* * * * *
It is best to keep our domestic affairs
and the conduct of our foreign relations
in our own hands
IKXUE RULE.
stances ; and if we distrust the power of
our own government successfully to
prosecute the policy of conquest and ag
grandisement , that is a sufficient reason ,
if there were no other , for condemning
the policy itself , but not by any incurs a
sufficient reason for the formation of an
alliance which would require us to assist
another nation in extending or preserv
ing its colonial possessions.
During the century
T1IK TURNING
. tury which is now
OF TIIK TIIK.
ueariug its close
four hundred thousand square miles of
heavily timbered forest area have been
converted into cultivated farm land.
Very much of this timber have been
destroyed in order to provide homes
quickly for a rapidly growing population.
So great has been the demand for
cleared farm land , that in many of our
states there has been practically no
woodland left.
That serious results have already
become apparent is known by all think
ing Americans.
The great railway corporations , which
are so great consumers of wood products ,
find their supplies more difficult to ob
tain. Prices of the finer sorts of lum
ber have steadily advanced , although
some of the inferior woods still remain
near their former values.
Railway cross ties , of good hard tim
ber , have become very scarce , and
many roads are using the soft and far
less durable timber , and are taxing the
ingenuity of their engineers to prolong
their existence.
Not a few railways now haul their
ties , fence posts , car materials , and
other lumber several hundred miles.
Several of these corporations are now
seriously considering the advisability of
planting forests on their unused real
estate.
Some years ago the Pennsylvania
Railway company planted a largo num
ber of catalpa trees along their right of
way. Many of these trees are now oi
sufficient size to make two cross ties ,
besides affording several fence posts , yet
they have not received the care required
for best results.
The Fort Scott & Memphis road
slanted a largo tract in Kansas which
las been a good investment.
The Burlington planted a largo num
ber , and in variety , at points along the
western portion , but they received no
further attention.
They have proven the adaptability of
"he plains for timber growth.
Recently the officials of the Big Four ,
or Cleveland , Cincinnati , Chicago &
St. Louis railway , have gone so far as to
employ an expert forester to examine
all the lands on their system , with a
view to planting hard wood trees for
: ies and other uses.
It is not yet determined how exten
sively they will go into foresting their
amis , but so much is assured that when
corporations make such a beginning ,
and see the absolute necessity of plant
ing for future supply , it may bo consid
ered a favorable omen that the tide of
: imber destruction is giving way to the
return flow of reafforesting much of the
now unprofitable lauds.
If it is considered necessary and profit
able for railways , is it not also desirable
that every individual landowner shall do
Ins share and receive his profits as well ?
JOHN P. BROWN.
"Uuforseen Tendencies of Democ
racy , " by E. L. Godkin , is a book that
should be read by every political stu
dent. While Mr. Godlcin furnishes no
remedy for the decadent tendencies of
democracy he shows that by some un
dercurrent ( over which we have no con
trol ) democracy has drifted from the
course intended and is now approaching
unknown , and possibly dangerous seas.
The book is divided into seven chapters ,
the titles to which partly indicate their
contents , viz : "Former Democracies , "
"Equality , " "The Nominating System , "
"The Decline of Legislatures , " "Pecul
iarities of American Municipal Govern
ment , " "The Growth and Expression of
Public Opinion , " "The Australian
Democracy. " One cannot help being
impressed with the candor and research
of the author after reading it , and be
startled with the facts presented. But
after all what is it but another illustra
tion that the best laid schemes of mice
and men have always unforseen tenden
cies and results. Differences incident to
environment must be expected in gov
ernment as in everything else. It is to
bo regretted that Mr. Godkin does not
offer a remedy for the supposed ills
towards which democracy is drifting.
Ho , however , may bo impressed with
the possibility that the remedy might
strike that unknown current that de
flected the course of the democratic ship
and be confronted by the unforsoon ten
dencies of the remedy. There is a con
solation left us that so long as we have
writers like Mr. Godlcin to caution us
against those tendencies of democracy
which we cannot sec wo shall not por-
sh from the earth.
1 > ISGUISKI > AS A 1 > AHT OF THE CON
GRESSIONAL RKCORD.
There is no publication on earth which
so graphically portrays the calibre and
character of its editorial writers and
unuagers as The Congressional Record.
There is certainly no other great daily
chronicler which allows intellectual and
social tramps so many columns in which
; o exploit their hobbies and vagaries.
And in recent years senators and repre
sentatives have injected entire volumes ,
ike Henry George's first book , into
their skeletons of speeches , and thus
taxed the public purse for reprinting
and circulating the same through the
mails under official "franks. " This
fraudulent method of publishing and
distributing pernicious and mendacious
jarty literature is illustrated by a recent
gratuitously carried envelope received at
THE CONSERVATIVE office.
This interesting bit of patriotic pre-
: ense is stamped on the upper left hand
corner :
"SENATE UNITED STATES.
PART OF CONG. RECORD.
FREE. "
And in the right hand corner is the
artistic and unselfish autograph of
that great and good friend of only the
plain common people Win. V. Allen ,
U. S. S. !
THE CONSERVATIVE was delighted by
the considerate condescension which
had thus sent to it oven a small portion
of the erudition and philosophy evolved
in a single day by Messrs Quay , Chand
ler , Pettigrew , Vest , Allen and other
profound students of economics and
government.
But when the delusive envelope was
opened it contained only a political tract
written by a learned Frenchman of Paris ,
a Monsieur Charles Q. do Franco , in
which that learned uiu-ant attempts to
show the speedy progress of pop
ulist policies in Nebraska and their
effect upon early potatoes , and spring
plowing. The Congressional Record
as the organ of M. do Franco of
Paris is a singularly vapid and useless
periodical for which the people must
with patriotic pride foot the bill. Sen
ator Allen calls this subterfuge and
swindle legitimate ; in any event ho is
its axithor and conservator.
Swift said "Vanity is the food of
' " this leads THE
fools' and CONSERVATIVE
to remark that there is a very largo
amount of fool-fodder stowed away
among the legislative lofts of the United
States.