Conservative. a
T h o tax-payers
SCHOOL LANDS. , , , . , n
of Nebraska would
bo pleased to know how many ncres of
school lands have been sold and how
much they brought an acre , the date of
each sale , whom the sale was to and
what officer made the same ?
Nebraska had an endless legacy in
school lauds bequeathed it by the federal
government in 18G7 when admitted into
the Union.
Who has taken care of that legacy 'i
What political party has acted as admin
istrator and disposed of that legacy , in
largo part , by deed ?
Who has the courage to hunt the land-
selling records of Nebraska and to bring
them into the clear light of day so that
all the people may see and know what
prices have been paid and who paid
them for the thousands of valuable acres
of school lands which have been wrested
from the commonwealth and vested in
politic 1 friends , retainers , and pirates ?
Give up the land lists. Publish all
sales by the state. Tell who bought of
these lands , when they bought and what
they paid ?
Then tell who got forty-eight thous
and acres of penitentiary lands and what
the price paid per acre may have been ?
Lot us have light ! Legislators who
wish reform should turn on the li ht.
Those who assume to advise the plain
people as to what is best in daily busi
ness or political life , should be able to
show that , at sometime , somewhere ,
they have demonstrated either in pro
fessional , commercial , industrial or poli
tical affairs the value of their opinions
and judgment. Of what value is the
advice of plowmen to the pilot of a great
ship ? Of what weight is the opinion of
a life-long paup'er and confirmed idler as
to the best methods of making an honest
livelihood or running the finances of a
republic ?
TlIK ( JONSKHVA-
IMiKSJSCUTION.
Tivis , because of
local interests and associations , prefers
the election of Honorable M. L. Hayward -
ward to the United States senate. There
are , of course , other republican citizens
of high intellectual attainments and su
perior character in social and business
life. But they reside at Omaha , Beat
rice , Lincoln and other towns outside of
Otoo county , and therefore are not so at
tractive to our citizens as Judge Hay-
ward.
There is danger of the opposition to
Mr. D. E. Thompson who seeks the
senatorship in a business-like way , just
as it was sought by Van Wyck , Sauu
dors and Paddock becoming so intense
and bitter that it will seem personal per
secution. Should such a state of affairs
be brought about by the enemies of Mr
Thompson the possibility of his electioi
} n. * might become a probability.
' The American people admire fairnes
in a fight. The fact that Thompson has
) cen a brakeman on a railroad , and that
jy well-directed effort ho has climbed
; ho golden stairs which lead from dili
gent industry up to competency , is a
redit to the ability of Mr. Thompson
vho , in this free country , has as much
ight to aspire to the senate or oven to
; ho presidency as the most gifted orator
or jurist in the republic. Do not perse
cute a man merely because ho appears
mexpectedly in a general scramble un-
oss you wish to make him friends.
An illflamed I'0 ! ' '
T . . . . ,
t n
nhstic editor of
Western Nebraska , dipping his pen in
vrath , writes pyrotechnicolly of the edi-
or of THE CONSERVATIVE :
"His selfish soul will roast in damned
loruioul just so sure as there is a hell to
eceive it. "
From such a source what could be
nore complimentary ?
From The Tampa Herald of December
29 , 1898 , by , T. D. Calhoun , formerly of
Lincoln , Nebraska : "Tho Herald has
icon enjoying of late the pleasure of
reading THE CONSERVATIVE , a weekly
Mipor published at his home in Ne
braska City , Nob. , by , T. Sterling Moron -
: on , lately secretary of agriculture in
Mr. Cleveland's cabinet. The paper is
what its name implies , with the addition
of Mr. Morton's strong personality.
There are few men whom it is so great a
pleasure to read after. He is right in
very few things , and wrong on nearly
all the general principles , but a most
charming writer. Clear , forcible , ele
gant in diction , no man has a more
complete command of the language. Mr.
Morton's ideas are always brilliant ,
often unique , and his way of putting
them is dashing and dogmatic. Because
of these qualities and the added charm
of old associations , The Herald is glad
of Mr. Morton's return to journalism ,
and it recommends his paper to those
who do believe or wish to believe in the
gold standard , free trade , land taxation
only , the superior rights of corporations
and a number of other things in that
line which are less easily defined with
out offense. "
Experimental blacksmith shops , car
penter shops , experimental electric
plants and telegraph lines and stations
may demand an appropriation from the
Nebraska legislature and get it too when
that experimental farming appropriation
has been secured.
Why not ? Why confine to agricul
tural experimentation alone the sub
sidies of the state ?
An interesting article recently ap
peared in the Washington Star relative
to putting up seed by a syndicate o
market gardeners for free distribution by
congressmen. The Star is indignant be
cause only twenty cents a thousand is to
be paid for packing the aforesaid and
one of its readers , whom it endorses ,
vents herself thus :
"Those are 'sweat-shop' wages. Think
of it , to work all day in the midst of
ced dust , mucilage , waste and the
nest tiring conditions , and got for it at
; he most but (50 ( cents. It's shameful !
' . applied for a place there because I
mist have work , but I cannot do it for
any such wages. The government has
10 business to permit such things ; it is
rich enough to pay to have the work
lone at decent wages. When the seed
listribution was made in the agricul-
; ural department there were as many as
, hundred women employed , and all
arned not less than a dollar a day. A
voinan can live respectably and keep
icr head above water on that , but on
ess well , God help us , that is all I can
say. "
The Star reporter called upon Assist
ant Secretary Brigham , in charge of the
seed distribution , who declared that he
md no control over the contractor ,
which doubtless is true. But Mr. Brig-
mm added :
"People don't have to work for him at
; hat figure unless they choose ! "
Mr. Brigham may be remembered as
; he grand master of the national grange
who , in the interests of the farmers of
; ho United States , has for years been
making gigantic sacrifices of his personal
fortune and time carrying his disinter
ested benevolence to the extent of al-
owing oven his own offspring to accept
salaries of the department of agricul
ture of less , in .some instances , than two
thousand dollars a year. Philanthropy
is beautiful.
More railroads are called for in Ne
braska. Especially up about Spaldiug ,
in Greeloy county , is the demand for a
railroad becoming imperative. Just so
soon as Nebraska by her legislature
gives promise of treating capital in cor
porate form with decency and justice ,
and it can also be shown that a railroad
into Greoloy county and up to Spalding -
ing would pay for the building thereof
with a fair return of interest on its ac
tual cost , it will bo built. Populists are
so denunciatory of capital , so desperate
in their legislative assaults upon corpor
ations , that money and men are driven
away from Nebraska which might other
wise come in and help build up the state.
The importance of keeping a written
record of sanitary conditions in each
household cannot be over-estimated. A
daily .iournal in every homo which care
fully states the health and illness of its
occupants is at the end of the year or at
the end of a term of years of inestim
able value. The study of sanitation
should be introduced also into the com
mon schools of the United States.
The public men elected to oflico by a
political party arc the incarnated con
science of that party. Their acts and
services are in harmony with its ideas of
right and wrong.
, i