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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 1899)
t - - * # " 4 "Che Conservative The republic is H huge laboratory of civics , a laboratory in which strange experiments are performed , but by which , as in other laboratories , wisdom may arise from experience , and once arisen may work itself out into virtue. It is not true that the government "which is best administered is best. " That is the maxim of tyranny. That government is best which makes the best men. In the training for manhood lies the certain pledge of better govern ment in the future. The civic prob lems of the future will be greater than those of the past. They will concern not the relation of nation to nation , but of man to man. The policing of far-off islands , the maintenance of the ma chinery of imperialism are petty things beside the duties which the higher free dom demands. To turn to these empty and showy affairs , is to neglect our own business for the gossip of our neighbors. Such work may be a matter of necessity ; it should not be a source of pride. The political greatness of England has never lain in her navies nor the force of her arms. It has lain in her struggles for individual freedom. Not Marlborough nor Nelson nor Wellington is its expon ent. Let us say rather Pym and Hainp- den , and Gladstone and Bright. The real problems of England have always been at home. The pomp of imperial ism , the display of naval power , the commercial control of India and China all these are as the "bread and cir cuses" by which the Roman emperors held the mobs from their thrones. They keep the people busy and put off the day of final reckoning. "Gild the dome of the Invalides , " was Napoleon's cyn ical command , when he learned that the people of Paris were becoming des perate. The people of England seek blindly for a higher justice , a loftier freedom , and so the ruling ministry crowns the " of India. " good queen as "Empress Meanwhile , the real problems of civiliz ation develop and ripen. They care nothing for the greatness of empire nor the glitter of imperialism. They must bo solved by men , and each man must help solve his own problems. The de velopment of republican manhood is just now the most important matter that any nation in the world has on hand. We have been fairly successful thus far , but perhaps only fairly. Our government is careless , wasteful , and unjust , but our men are growing self- contained and wise. Despite the annual invasion of foreign illiteracy , the indi vidual intelligence of men stands higher in America than in any other part of the world. The bearing of the people at large in these days is a lesson in it self. I watched the crowds around the bulletin boards the other night in San Francisco. These men were laborers for the most part , loafers , some of them , not as a whole belonging to the favored classes. But they did not form a mob. They were there as so many individ uals. They did not lose their heads. They kept the bearing and the reserve of gentlemen. I saw no rowdyism , no disorder , no raw enthus iasm. The war news , false or true , pla carded on the walls , was exciting in its nature , but the men were not excited ; they were ready to act when the time came for action. They gave no vulgar display of sentiment when action was impossible. Compare the behavior of the American people , in this and other trying times , with that of the masses of any other nation , and we see what de mocracy has done. And we shall see more of this as our history goes on. Free schools , free ballot , free thought , free religion all tend to enforce self-re liance , self-respect , and the sense of duty which are the surest foundation of national greatness. An active foreign policy would slowly change much of this. The nation which deals with war and diplomacy must be quick to act and quick to change. It must , like the Oregon , be able to reverse itself within its own length. To this end , good government is a necessity , whether it be self-govern ment or not. Democracy yields before diplomacy. Republicanism steps aside when war is declared. "An army , " said Wellington , "can get along under a poor general. It can do nothing un der a debating society. " In war the strongest man must lead , and military discipline is the only training for an army. In a militant nation the same rules hold in peace as in war. We can not try civic experiments with a foe at our gates. A foe is always at the gates of a nation with a vigorous foreign pol icy. The British nation is hated and feared of all nations except our own. Only her eternal vigilance keeps the vultures from her coasts. Eternal vigil ance of this sort will strengthen govern ments , will build up nations ; it will not in like degree make men. The day of the nations as nations is passing. Na tional ambitions , national hopes , na tional aggrandizement all these may become public nuisances. Imperialism like feudalism belongs to the past. The men of the world as men , not as nations , are drawing closer and closer together. The needs of commerce are stronger than the will of nations , and the final guarantee of peace and good will among men will bo not "the parliament of na tions , " but the self-control of men. But whatever the outcome of the present war , whatever the fateful twentieth century may bring , the primal duty of Americans is never to forget that men are more than nations ; that wisdom is more than glory , and virtue more than dominion of the sea. The kingdom of God is within us. The na tion exists for its men , never the men for the nation. "The only government that I recognize , " said Thoreau , "and it matters not how few are at the head of it or how small its army , is the power that established justice in the land , never that which establishes injustice. " And the will of free men to bo just one toward another , is our best guarantee that "government of the people , for the people , and by the people , shall not per ish from the earth. " God of our fathers , known of old- Lord of our far-flung Imttlu lint- Bununth whoso awful Hand we hold Dominion ovur palm and pine Lord God of Hosts , bu with us yut , Lust wo forget lust wu forgut 1 The tumult and thu shouting dius Thu captains and the kings dupart Still stands Thinu ancient Sacrifice , An humble and a contrite heart. Lord God of Hosts , bu with us yet , Lest wo forgut lust wu forgot ! Far-called our navies mult away On dunu and headland sinks thu fire Lo , all our pomp of yusturday Is one with Ninevah and Tyro ! Judge of the Nations , sparu us yut , Lest we forget lust we forget ! Kipling. When the sudden strain came on our navy last spring , a good many laud- machinists were hired on the engineer force , because men with experience on shipboard could not be gotten together fast enough. Contrary to what was expected , machine-shop hands from country towns proved to be more valua ble men for the work than trained ex perts from city shops. Their experience in makeshifts and improvised methods with inadequate tools , gave them re sources in emergencies , such as arise at sea , where men who were used to hav ing everything just right were compara tively helpless. The I-am-holier-than-thou style of many of the frayed-out fanatics and unfrocked priests who are teaching six- teen-to-oneness in currency and advocat ing special legislation for "the poor man" in the state of Nebraska is becom ing more and more dogmatic , presump tive and assumptive. Their wings are cut ting through their shoulders and soon they will become full-flying angels. Populists declare that having a mil lion of dollars destroys a man's heart , shrivels up his sensibilities and sours all the milk of human kindness in his nature. But the populists ore mistaken ; when the man has the money his heart may be all right ; it is when the money has the man that his heart hardens and contracts. Colonel Bryan says that free coinage of silver is not dead. Neither is Mr. Jim Corbett dead. The question of who struck Billy Patterson is also still open for discussion by those who have a taste for it. W. Atlee Bui-pee & Co. , whose adver tisement appears on another page of this issue , are seedsmen of world-wide repu tation for integrity and fair dealing.