' , ' ? rg
1
Mfi '
The Conservative. 11
form. The Jews were equally coiisicl-
orate of their deity , and put bells on the
skirts of the robe that the high priest
wore when he entered the holy of
holies ; this , it is explained , was to avoid
surprises. When they came in captiv
ity to Babylon , they found the inhabi
tants of that city adoring with a whole
band ; the orchestration has oven come
down to us ; the Babylonians , in wor
shiping a certain golden imago , per
formed upon the cornet , flute , harp ,
sackbut , psaltery and dulcimer , and the
result must have boon very gratifying
to the indwelling spirit. In the Roman
Catholic church today a boll is sounded
when the officiating priest holds up the
host , or consecrated wafer , in view of
the congregation.
The rattling and bumping that pro
ceed from the sacred inolosuro of the
Indian medicine tent , and the discords
that the Chinese laundryman plucks
from his long-tailed banjo before the
gaudy god who is never missing from
his wall , arc similar manifestations with
which most of us are familiar.
The explanation of so wide-spread a
custom must manifestly be purely a
matter of theory. To account for these
phenomena is the pro.vince of students
of primitive man. Many of them have
sot their hand to it , but nobody knows
much the more. Ono view of the mat
ter is , that bells are rung to frighten
away harmful spirits at critical times :
it has been found to help in cases of
eclipse of the sun ; and the church-bell
is still tolled in eastern towns immedi
ately after a death , and also during an
interment. Another is that bells are
purely instruments of worship ; atten
tion is called to the form of a boll , which
resembles the pyramids of Egypt , and
also the flame of fire , the purifying and
life-giving element , which must have
received man's grateful adoration while
ho was yet a very humble biped ( or
quadruman ) indeed.
It is a matter that has many ramifica
tions , and altogether it is a very deep
subject.
Nothing is more
BIG MAJOKITIES. - . . . ,
demoralizing to a
political organization , county or state
than the established fact that a nomina
tion at its hands is equivalent to an elec
tion. And nothing is more disastrous
to a county or to a state than to hav
such an overwhelming majority obtaii
in any political organization within it
borders. Whenever such a eonditioi
exists and the dominating party bragf
that it can "elect a yellow dog" to offic
over the best typo of citizenslrp that iti
adversaries can nominate the people ar
in danger of a canine administration o
affairs.
This has been proved by democrats in
Douglas county arid by republicans in
the state at large. The yellow dog can
didate has frequently succeeded in each
and not a small sum has been lost in
:
each because of such success which was
only possible by a party ascendancy that
made a nomination equivalent to an
election.
Branding a citizen democrat , republi
can or populist does not impair personal
character for ability and honesty , nor
does it improve it , nor change it in the
slightest degree. But the suspected
character , the citizen without much in
tegrity and with the least real regard
for the public weal , generally , if ho
seeks office , joins with great enthusiasm ,
and much expression of fervid zeal and
ardent devotion , the party which has an
issured majority. ! In such an organ-
zation ho is more likely to get a job of
Holding office. This has been proved in
he political and public life of Douglas
sounty , Lancaster county and the state
of Nebraska very clearly a great many
lines. '
Any political party with a big ma jor-
ty no matter what the best men of the
party think , advise or propose is liable
: o give its nominations to mere machine
office seekers and to thus foist upon the
state men who are intellectually and
norally incapable of appreciating and
properly performing the duties of pub
ic sei'vants.
The message of
THE 1'IIKSI- . , , .
- - -
.rrr
President McKm-
HUNT'S MESSAGE.President
loy to the fifty-
sixth congress of the United States was
delivered Monday , December 5 , 1898.
The document is not marked by any
fixed views on the reform of the cur
rency. Upon this vital matter it is lum
inously inane and unsatisfactory. Every
gold standard advocate , from the Atlantic
to the Pacific will revel in the force and
vigor of President McKinloy's statement
"that our domestic paper currency shall be
kept safe and yet be so related to the needs
of our industries and international com
merce as to be. adequate and responsive to
such needs is a proposition scarce// ? / less
important. The subject , in all its parts
is commended to the wise consideration oj
congress. "
And the courage with which "in al
its parts" this question without any
dictatorial suggestion is tranquill :
submitted "to the wise consideration o
congress" makes Dewey , Sampson anc
Shafter lacking in bravery.
The Scientific American says "th <
drinking cups of schoolhouses have fo
a long time been recognized as a mean
of spreading diphtheria and other con
tagious diseases. Out of 4188 childrei
excluded from the New York schools
265 were for ailments liable to bo com
municatcd by the use of a common
drinking cup , such as diphtheria , scarlet -
lot fever , whooping cough and mumps.
Of other diseases more or less liable to
be spread by the same means were
measles , chicken pox and 702 contagious
diseases of the eyes.
Property owners
A KEVENUE LAW , * .
FOK NEBRASKA , taxpayers in every
preciucttowncity
and county of Nebraska should think.aud
formulate thought in straight American
language , upon the vital importance of
a more perfect revenue system for this
state.
Bankers , merchants , manufacturers ,
farmers , lawyers and other laborers ,
, hould have theories of taxation and ad
vocate thorn with earnestness , whether
good or indifferent , until the present mis-
rable , unjust , incomplete and inefficient
aws for levying and collecting taxes
ihall have been repealed , and a truthful ,
equitable and efficient revenue system
nstitutcd in their stead.
Public meetings for the reform of the
revenue laws of Nebraska might pos-
ibly result in judicious and intelligent
egislation upon this very vital subject ,
f held soon in Omaha , Lincoln , Beat
rice , Fremont , Hastings , Nebraska City
and other populatioiial and industrial
enters.
From reading
OVEItFJLOAVING expansion , island-
CIIHISTIAN
CIVILIZATION. absorbing and con-
tinent-a n n o x i n g
organs of McKinleyism , one must con-
sludo that , notwithstanding negro
slaughtering in the Carolinas and negro
banishment from Illinois , that the
United States is so chock full of Chris
tian civilization and piety that it slops
over.
over.Wo
Wo have too much goodness for "the
homo market. " Wo are too civilized for
our own health. Wo are too Christian
ized to live in isolation. Per capita
piety is too high.
We must have islands and islands , in
both the.Pacific and the Atlantic , over
which our Christian civilization , with its
senators like Quay of Pennsylvania , its
governors like Tanner of Illinois , and a
few state treasurers like Bartley of Ne
braska may pour an inundation of po
litical and social beatitudes until those
bestial savages of the Philippines are up
to their chins in civilization and Chris
tianity.
There will shortly
NEW TEXTILE
SUBSTANCE. ly arrive in Eng
land from Assam
a trial shipment of a new fibre for tex
tile purposes. The rough outer cover
ing of the pineapple is the raw material
from which the new fibre is made. A
sample of it was recently submitted to
the Imperial Institute authorities , who
advised an Assam planter to make a
trial shipment of several tons. The new
material will have important commer
cial uses. It is very like flax , and may
supplant other materials in the manu
facture of twine , while it can bo soft
ened so as to be available for fabrics.
Its estimated value is from 20 to 25 a
ton , so that a paying industry will prob
ably bo developed in connection with it.
Westminster Gazette , November 10.
