8 'Che Conservative.
A .M KKI CAN K A I l.AVA VS.
There is so much abuse of the mil-
ways of America by politicians in this
country that it is well to know what
foreigners say of them.
Li Hung Chang , the great Viceroy of
Chinu , said : "Nowhere else in the
world are there such fast and luxurious
trains" as in America.
Marquis Yamagata , Held marshal of
i he Japanese empire , said : ' 'The speed ,
the comfort , the luxury of your rail
roads , is a marvel to me. "
Prince Hilkoff , imperial minister of
railroads of Russia , said : "There is
nothing in Europe to compare with your
railroads. "
Sir Henry Truman Wood , special
representative of the British govern
ment to the World's Fair of 1803 , said
flint nowhere in Europe could there bo
found such luxury in travel and such
excellent service as are given on the
railways of the United States.
The latest reliable comparison of aver
age rates in the United States with
countries shows as follows :
For passenger , For freight.
mile. per ton per mile.
United States 1 M 0.07
Prussia 2. Oil I.IH
Austria H 05 1 5(5 (
Franco U Hfi 1 50
Belgium 2 25 1 39
England 2 20 1 05
If the average of American freight rate
was as high as it is in Belgium , the people
ple of this country would have paid the
railways last year about § 286,000,000
more than they did. If the rates had
been as high as they are in England , the
people of this country would have paid
the railways about § 953,283,002 more
than they did.
If the average passenger rate in this
country had been one cent a mile more
than it was last year ( which would be
less than the average rate in France ) ,
the extra cost to the people and profit to
the railways of the United States would
have been § 130,490,072.
If American railway rates , therefore ,
both passenger and freight , were about
the average of European rates , the earn
ings of the railways of the country ( and
the payments of the people ) would have
been more than one billion dollars
( § 1,000,000,000) ) greater than they were
in last year alone.
# # *
At American rates , European railways
could not live , but American ingenuity
has learned how to operate railways
much more cheaply than they can do it
anywhere else in the world , in spite of
the fact that the price of labor and of
nearly all materials is much higher in
this country.
# *
Last year , however , 70.17 per cent of
all railway stock in this country earned
no dividend at all ; that is to say , that
the holders of over three thousand mil
lion dollars of the stock of American
railways got no money from their in
vestment last j'car whatever. In addi
tion , § 800,559,442 of American railway
jonds received no interest.
# *
The number of miles of line in the
United States last year was 182,770. The
total of all Europe ( including Great
Britain and Ireland ) was only ] { 55,284
miles. The total of all South America ,
Africa , Asia and Australia combined
was only 72,973.
* # x
Showing how good American railway
machinery is , American locomotive
builders last year sold over three mil
lion dollars' worth of engines for use on
the railways of China , Japan , Cuba ,
Mexico , South America , Africa , etc.
The American
HOL.1DAV . . , ,
ELOCUTION. llc ° Ple are better
listeners than
renders. That is to say n greater num
ber of the citizens of the United States
would prefer to hear a speech for it is
easier and requires less intellectual
effort rather than to read one. Talk ,
elocution , eloquence , loquacity , even
mere verbosity is attractive to the multi
tude , while real oratory , which , with
emotion and inflective management of
voice , sets afloat great and original
thoughts upon large questions , is always
immensely popular.
But after all the thought of the Poet
Prior thrusts itself forward :
"And 'tis remarkable , that they
Talk most who have the least to say.
Your dainty speakers have the cur.se ,
To plead their causes down to worse ;
As dames , who native beauty want ,
Still uglier look the moro they paint. "
And many holiday declaimers of the
post-prandial and platform breed of orators
tors in the United States are of the
character described by Spencer :
"Therefore the vulgar did about him flocko ,
And cluster thick unto his leasings vaine ,
Like foolish Hies about an honey crocke ,
In hope by him great beneflto to gaine ,
And uncontrolled Freedom to obtaine. "
AMERICAN AVIIKAT AND IJKITISH
JJOAU1) OK TltADK.
Several months ago I heard , says U.
S. Consul Halstend of Birmingham , n
wheat story which , while not now , has
an importance in American and British
trade relations. The speaker , an Amer
ican , says :
' 'I visited the city mills of a certain
town in England about two and a half
years ago and the manager showed mo
three samples of wheat. The first , from
India , was of a fair quality , though
somewhat hard or flinty ; the second ,
from the Argentine Republic , was of a
very inferior grade and was trashy and
dirty ; the third was from the United
States , and was of an unquestionably
superior quality. Ho stated that , landed
at his docks , the wheat cost him about
the same per bushel , and I naturally
asked him why he did not use the wheal
from the United States exclusively. Ho
said : 'We are compelled to use. the
wheat from India and the Argentine
because our ships carry our merchan
dise to these ports and must come bock
.oaded with wheat and other produc-
rions. Our board of trade passes rules
and enforces regulations which require ,
in effect , that the offerings must bo car
ried hero in British bottoms , for other
wise the price of good American
wheat would soon go skyward. ' His
idea was that the natural laws of trade
and commerce practically compelled
them iu England to use an inferior
wheat , and that he was bound morally ,
if not technically , to take the product of
Ciidia and Argentina in exchange for the
merchandise sent to those countries in
British bottoms , since , if they were
compelled to take out cargo and could
not bring back cargo , the price of out
ward-bound goods would bo greatly in
creased in price. " The Roller Mill.
The Roller Mill evidently almost real
izes the fact that free trade between
England and the United States might
raise the price of American wheat in
the markets of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain. The Roller Mill may
also begin to suspect that with our navi
gation laws which prohibit flying the
American flag over keels laid in foreign
countries , and our protective tariff ,
which enhances the price of all ship
building materials moro than forty per
cent , it is very difficult to explain how
and when we shall export wheat in
American bottoms.
The civil day is
, . . , , . . .
divided into twen
ty-four hours. Each hour is separated
into sixty minutes. Each minute con
sists of sixty seconds.
The twenty-four hours of the civil
day are generally divided into two portions
tions of twelve hours each twelve
o'clock midnight to twelve o'clock noon
and twelve o'clock noon to twelve
o'clock midnight.
The hours from twelve at noon to
midnight are post meridiem ( after mid
day ) and the hours from midnight to
noon are ante meridiem ( before mid
day. )
But legislators and clerks and secre
taries of the legislature and even county
commissioners in the state of Nebraska
have been frequently able to get two
days , and pay for two days , out of
twenty-four hours. Whether because
of a pure atmosphere and a fertile soil
hours grow longer in Nebraslca than
elsewhere is not explained. Possibly
the minutes which grow into hours and
the seconds which grow into minutes hi
Nebraska are bigger and moro vigorous
than elsewhere. It is said thnt humidity
in the air accelerates growth in peas.
And it is possible that cupidity in the
air about a state capital or a county
courthouse hastens the fruition of fees.
Watch Lincoln 1 gislators and see.