iLl
V ,
TTbe Conservative.
workers , arc the "money power" in the
true sense of the term. Remember that
these men are not peculiar , they are only
fair samples of the business men of our
country. A brief reference to one of
them will indicate how they succeed ;
forty-one years ago this man started in
the business ho has pursued ever since ;
he had little cash , but his sterling merit
gave him credit , and his business has
grown until he is now rated as having
$500,000 capital in the business. He
owes an average of about $100,000 on
merchandise , and $150,000 on mortgage
on real estate. Ho bought the real
estate because it would pay him more
than the cost of carrying it. Ho told mo
last week that he bought a very large
stock of his line of goods during the late
period of low prices , and that since
prices had been going up , ho had made a
handsome profit , which was increasing
daily on the stock not yet sold. There
is no better citizen.
Our members were also requested testate
state whether they owned , or rented
their homes , and
OWNEUSAND fche m r ( > d.
ENTERS ,
ents say that 189
own and 184 rent their homes , the excess
over 144 being due to firms reporting for
all of their members. I hope those who
mourn about Now Yorkers being unable
to own homes , and being forced to
crowd into tenements , will note the fol
lowing , who are only fair samples of a
largo class of renters : One firm report !
an indebtedness of $84(5,8(55.02 ( ( , and that
all the partners rent their homes. One
firm of four reports an indebtedness of
$1,270,000 , and that three of the part'
ners rent their homes , and one owns hi. '
home. A very strong firm of five part
ners reports an indebtedness of $14,465 ,
485.75 , of which $8,858,000 is on real
estate mortgage , and that two partner
own and three rent their homes. Many
such men live in houses containing from
40 to 200 or more persons , and pay from
$1,000 to $7,000 a year rent for the apart
ments they occupy. Men having such
resources could surely own homes if
they desired to do so.
There are very few of those belonging
to the New York Board of Trade anc
Transportation who could not pay all oi
their indebtedness within a reasonable
time ; indeed , they are constantly paying
it , much of their commercial indebted
ness being paid as often as once in GO
days ; while but little of their mortgage
indebtedness runs more than two years
This large amount of constantly matur
ing debt is paid promptly without in an >
way disturbing the money market.
Now what opinion do they hold re
garding the standard of value ? I never
heard of but one
WHAT STANDAUD member who a(1
DO THEY WANT , vocated the fl'60
and unlimited coinage of silver , anc
FO far as I know , they are almos
without exception firm believers in tin
gold standard , Experience has taugh
hem the value of a stable and honest
lollar. They want to get such dollars ,
and they want to pay such dollars.
They know what is good for them , and
.ho . extent and variety of their business
) rove that what is good for them is
good for the country.
From the presidents of over 8,000
banks and trust companies , outside of
Now York City ,
SILVER SAINTS AND fc ( ) whom j hftvo
GOLD FIENDS.
written , shlCO
1895,1 have received answers showing
that but 28 per cent were distinctly in
favor of a single gold standard , while I
had to class 15 per cent as silver men.
Some of these bankers were candid
enough to say , that they did not desire a
stable standard of value ; that their con
tracts wore short , and they could pro
tect themselves ; while the more money
fluctuated in value , the more they
could make , as they dealt in money ; and
from the presidents of 408 colleges to
whom I have written during that time ,
and from many professors of economics
throughout the Union , I have received
answers indicating that but 58 per cent
of these men are definitely in favor of a
single gold standard , while I had to class
14 per cent of them as silver men. Con
trast these facts with the fact that the
large and varied experience of the busi
ness men , to whom I have referred , had
made almost every one of them a firm
and intelligent friend of the single gold
'
standard , and it is difficult to escape the
conclusion that the gold standard must
be the best.
Nebraska ought
Al.r , TAXKS I'AIl ) . , , , °
to have a law reg
ulating the recording of titles to real
estate by which transfers of lands upon
which taxes are delinquent shall bo for
bidden. When any lands or lots have
long been delinquent as to taxes undei
the present system they are qnil
claimed and the deed admitted to record
in the office of the county register. But
if no transfer of delinquent hurls comY
be recorded all taxes would be paid \i\
with more promptness.
A law which would render unex
changeable , because unrecordablo , al
real estate upon which any taxes arc
due , or over due , would much improve
promptness of tax paying in Nebraska
Such a statute is said to be in vigor
and very-satisfactorily giving good re
suits in Minnesota.
The St. Joseph Daily News is a vain
able servant to the general public o
Buchanan county and the Missouri rivoi
valley , who read it with satisfaction. I
is generally a painstaking gatherer o
facts and truths for dissemination. Bu
a paragraph in its issue of December 14
1898 , needs correction. THE CONSEHVA
TIVE is not a democratic -journal , it i.
governed by no political orgauixatioi
and owes nothing to any party either ii
Nebraska or elsewhere. THE CONSEU
VATIVE thinks what it says , and say
vhat it thinks , without regard to poli-
ics , politicians or parties.
It is a gold standard advocate. Its
editor was avowedly and openly for the
single gold standard when President
McKinley , by voting to pass the Bland-
tVllison act over the veto of President
layes , was laying the foundations of
iho freo-coinage-of-silver-at-sixteen-to-
one party , which would have defeated
lim for the presidency except for the
patriotism of gold democrats.
An auction , or an insular bargain
lounter , at which , after proper advcr-
ising , the United States shall sell to
; ho highest and best bidder all the real
and personal estate which was taken
from Spain during the late terrific as
sault by this government in "the inter
ests of civilization and humanity"
would be a patriotic and practical way
out of trouble. Savages with wilder
nesses attached , for sale ; whole islands
at a bargain , with barbaric inhabitants
thrown in , all to go , either in bulk or in
job lots , the proceeds to be piously given
to missionaries who teach "peace on
earth and good will to man" a war
for Christianity must yield a crop of
goodness.
"Reckless and indefensible as wo re
gard the expansion policy of this admin
istration , we must say that we believe
it will do a good thing if it thereby fur
nishes to the radical politicians and
foolish philanthropists of the North new
fields of enterprise , " The Richmond
Dispatch ( dem. ) says. "We look for
ward with satisfaction to a time when
the superabundant energies of Northern
philanthropists ( so-called ) will have
many other fields besides the South for
their experiments. Then , when the
Southern negro is almost forgotten in
the North , he will draw closer to the
whites of the South , and fully adapt
himself to conditions that must exist ,
whether ho will or no. "
Ship-building is having a world-wide
boom. The tonnage of merchant ves
sels iinder construction in September of
this year , in all countries , was 55 per
cent greater than in the same month of
1897. The United States comes second
in the list as to the number of now ships ,
having 50 to Great Britain's 54 ; but the
British craft average three times the
si'/.e of ours. Whereas , however , the
tonnage of Great Britain's now boats
was 21 per cent more than a year ago ,
ours had increased six-fold.
Missourians have been worked to a
finish by a patent right scheme to make
a pound of butter out of a pint of milk.
There is nothing strange about that. A
job lot of farmers who would vote to
make a dollar in money out of forty
cents worth of silver , can bo worked on
any old kind of scheme to make some
thing out of nothing. Lawrence ( Mass. )
Journal.