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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1899)
'Che Conservative * Inter must have universal acceptance and application. But , before I sit down , you may ex pect mo to say a few words about the state law and the constitution amend ment that the people of New York adopted by a majority of more than 80,000 , and which sets the competitive system in our organic law , we hope , forever. There wo have the true safeguard of civil service reform , For years its friends in New York btate were timor ous , afraid to take such aggressive ac tion as was necessary to compel our public officials to give the law a fair chance afraid of Governor Hill , afraid of Governor Flower , afraid of the legis lature , afraid of the common councils. They found in the executive chamber at Albany only a grudging obedience to the law , and a settled disposition not merely to prevent its extension , but to cut down and limit its operation. The manifes tation of this temper in the executive finally became a public scandal. Besides this , and because of some constitutional provisions that stood in the way , the civil service statute could not be applied to the great departments of the canals and state prisons ; and , therefore , they remained the strongholds of patronage. But now wo feel the solid groxind of the constitution under our feet , and sooner or later its mandate must bo obeyed. The courts , to their high honor be it said , have always been with us. It' exe cutive officers will not be faithful , if legislatures will sometimes ignore both dignity and duty and trail after a false or a foolish executive leader with ser vile obedience , wo still have the consti tution , and back of the constitution the people. Gentlemen , how often have the friends of civil service reform had to assure themselves that the cause to which they were devoted would succeed because it was founded in truth , and , therefore could not fail ? Every day it becomes more and more plain that it lies at the bottom of every effort to give the country a purer suffrage , better official service , higher regard for law , a more conscientious observance of the duties of citizenship , parties divided upon principle , not plunder ; leaders , not "bosses. " FOKTV YKARS AGO. pleasure of meet ing in this city yesterday , Secretary Morton of Nebraska , late acting gover nor of Nebraska Territory. Mr. Morton is on his way east and leaves by the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad this morning. Ho proved himself a faithful , fearless and incorruptible officer and possesses in a high degree the confidence of the people of Nebraska Territory. Secretary Morton is a very young man and his acknowledged abilities and past successes entitle him to look forward tea a life of distinction. St. Joseph Gazette , May 21 , 1859. Nebraska City . HACK AGAIN. history is taught in the Nebraska City public schools. At least there is considerable activity at present among certain bright-eyed young persons , of ton years old and up wards , to learn what their older friends can tell them on this subject , for the fulfilment of some task set them by their teachers ; whoso course in this regard THE CONSERVATIVE most heartily ap plauds. In how many towns in the United States has this idea occurred to the school-teachers ? It would be inter esting to know. These young people are curious con cerning old buildings , to loam where they stood and why they were built in such peculiar ways ; and learning that the first white men who came here and built cabins among the Indians , are still walking the streets daily , they become desirous of knowing where all the others came from , why they left their former places and what they came here to do. This train of thought leads them back to the consideration that they themselves had grandfathers , and the doings of those venerable gentlemen are apt to ac quire a sudden interest in their eyes. And it is held by some that it is the study of grandfathers , and not the cata log of wars made by one monarch on another , that is the true province of his tory. The last generation were not educated in this doctrine. They began history at the other end ; the beginnings of the Greeks , Jews and Romans wore laid before - fore them , and the doings of those in teresting , but hopelessly foreign , races were taught them in considerable detail. As to their own stock , little was said ; even in United States history , much more was told concerning a certain Ital ian who sailed about Central American waters in the 15th century , than con cerning the English men and women who came to United States territory in the 17th. In fact , the first introduction of the school-children of twenty years ago to the Germanic race to which they belonged , was when they were shown two branches of it , one which had halted in its endless migration on an island northwest from Europe , and another which had pushed on to the Atlantic seaboard of America , engaged in war fare with each other. The natural re sult of this system was to give young Americans the idea that it was the Span ish and Italians who were the kind , wise and desirable people , whereas the "Brid- dish" wore onljT to bo licked. And the dissemination of this idea did its best to retard the development of mankind in its natural channel for upwards of a century. The question is asked with always in creasing frequency , why it is that wo take our ideas on one class of subjects from the Greeks and Romans , and on another from the Hebrews , and continue teaching our children so , to the entire exclusion of the ideas our own forefath ers entertained on those subjects. And the more this question is asked , the greater becomes the probability that there will some day bo an overturning in that regard. The origin of the sys tem is easily discovered : learning was brought into Britain by the monks , and they , firm in their traditional beliefs , taught our rude fathers , greedy for knowledge for the sake of its power , and superstitiously docile to the possessor of it , that they were extremely unfortun ate , if not blame-worthy in being Ger mans instead of belonging to some of these thrice-blessed peoples inhabiting the shores of the Mediterranean ; and the children of those poor barbarians have been industrioiTsly striving to change their spots , or take a cubit off their stat ure , over since. Its further continuance at this day is , however , less easy to ex plain. Wo do not at present discover any inclination on the part of Americans to secure adoption into the ranks of the Greeks , Italians or Israelites , all of whom are amply represented among us ; nor do we even seek the leadership of any of those peoples in our public or private affairs. Why , then , should wo take such pains to have our children well-informed in their chronicles , while we leave them so sadly in the dark as to the personalities of the men , Roundhead , Cavalier , Saxon , Dane and Celt , whose blood runs in their own veins and whoso venturesome deeds tingle , unexplained , in their own finger-tips ? The Express-Ga- v , , , _ . . . . . . STATISTICS. ssetle ( Cincinnati ) has collected data concerning the operations of train-rob bers during the last year. The effect of federal jurisdiction upon train-robberies is evidenced in Mexico. During the past year there was not oven an attempt at train-robbery in that republic. The crime is punishable there with instant death. Following is the record of train- robberies in the United States : 1890 12 18111 II ! 1892 Ill 181'8 ' 83 1894. . 84 1895 49 1890 28 1897 30 1898 28 Totnl number of trains "hold-up" in nine voars . . 240 Total number of people killed 88 Total number of people injured ( Hhot ) 77 THE KKCOHl ) KOU 1898. Number of train hold-ups 28 Number of stage robberies 7 Number of passengers and trainmen killed 5 Number of passengers and trainmen shot . 4 Number of robbers killed 5 Number of robbers shot 0 Old-Line Democrat. "I want to see the party succeed and all that , but I can't swallow the 16-to-l platform. " The Tempter "Good Heavens , man ! I don't ask you to swallow it. All I want you to do is to stand on it. "Chi cage Tribune.
