12 T3be Conservative *
OTOE CITY
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. . . . .
houses stand that
mark the postofiico and shipping station
called Minersvillo , sonio six miles below
Nebraska City , there was nt one time a
town established , which might have been
the metropolis of the western hemi
sphere if things had turned out differ
ently. The town was laid out in the
early 50's by eastern capitalists , who
sold a great many desirable town-lots in
it to their speculative neighbors , after the
time-honored custom of people who lay
out towns in remote places ; but it seems
never to have been materially bigger than
it is at present. It was calledOtoe City ,
and it had a steam ferry-boat and a
brick store ; the store stands there yet , a
well-preserved structure in the architec
ture of that early day ; it and a couple
of dwellings are all that are in sight
from the railroad , standing on the high
bluff , whence they overlook a great
sweep of the river. There is also a
place where farmers can drive to the
edge of the bank and dump their corn
into cars standing beneath , but other
wise the early settlement has vanished ,
as its name has vanished.
The name and the steam ferry were
lxth coveted by those who established
Nebraska City. The ferry was for a
time a great advantage ; many a pioneer
went from this place to Otoe City for
lumber ( at $40 per thousand ) to build
his home and farm buildings , making
one round trip in a long clay ; but the
enterprise of our fathers was sufficient
eventually to gain that steam ferry for
their own town. The name , however ,
was not to be gotten away in that man
ner. After the establishment of New
Fort Kearney on the Platte river , 200
miles further west on the Oregon and
Salt Lake trail , our town of course lost
the name of Fort Kearney which it had
borne up to that time , though it was
still called Old Fort Kearney for a while.
The next best name available was Otoe
City , which was appropriate for the city
which was to spring up on the lands of
the Otoe Indians. The county was
called Otoe by common consent , but the
eastern capitalists were a little too
speedy , and were first in the field with the
name of Otoo City for their town. That
loft nothing for the dwellers on Table
Creek to do but to call their settlement
Nebraska City , which has this main dis
advantage , that from the nature of
things the "City" can never be dropped ,
any more than it can from Kansas City.
It was notoriously characteristic of the
American pioneers , from the time they
first crossed the Allegheuies , to call
every place where two or three of them
met together a city. Early English
travelers commented on this propensity ;
Bayard Taylor , writing from Denver
City in 18G7 , wondered why his country
men so persisted in that habit ; and as
the towns in question grew to respect
able size , their citizens themselves be
came ashamed of their tag , and Omaha
ttf
City , Council Bluff City and many
others shed their appendages , oven as
Kearney , Leaven worth , La amieBenton
and a host of such places dropped the
"Fort" which had adorned them , as
they passed the frontier stage. But Ne
braska City , thanks to the enterprise of
those eastern capitalists six miles down
the river , is destined to go down to
posterity in the same category with
Falls City and Pawnee City.
The Arkau s a s
1 * * VSTI It 11
° y UI aS Gln
COLORADO. Xa , ,
Colorado demon
strates the possibilities of converting
arid into fertile lands.
Nowhere east of the Rocky mountains
has irrigation been so successful and no
where in the west has immigration been
so quick to respond. It is claimed that
this valley has doubled in population in
the last three years. Last year there
were over 700 cars of melons shipped out
of the valley and they were of such a
fine flavor that they found a market in
all of our large cities as for east as Bos
ton and New York.
Alfalfa is one of the principal crops
and by experience the farmers in the
valley have learned that there is more
money in bringing cattle and sheep in to
feed than trying to ship their hay out.
Thirty years ago thousands of buffalo
could be seen along this valley feeding
on the native grasses and now the val
ley is dotted with thousands of well-
graded cattle feeding on alfalfa. To
parties wishing small farms for the cul
tivation of the higher grades of agricul
ture the Arkansas valley is very attrac
tive.
HIGH MORAL STANDARDS IN THE
UNITED STATES SENATE.
Senator John M. Thurstou , our noncombatant -
combatant progenitor of war , sole pro
prietor of the star-spangled flag of the
Union , and the original embodiment of
all the patriotism of his suffering coun
try , is said to bo giving some very re
markable exhibitions of high moral
standards in the personal and public
life of Washington. The well-authent
icated fact is reflected in the appoint
ments to federal office that he is dictat
ing to the president , which give some
republican newspapers pains , many
respectable republican citizens pain in
the stomach , and also something re
sembling nausea. The Omaha Bee is
giving proofs to its readers of the sena
tor's latest effort in selecting a man for
surveyor of customs at Omaha who , ac
cording to that newspaper , is full of
harmony with those great moral ideas
which are said to guide Mr. McKiuloy
in all his public acts. It is Senator
Thurston's second effort to demonstrate
the beauty and grade of the peculiar
standards of morality which continue to
obtain wherever Mr. Thurston's influ
ence asserts control.
WAR NOT NECESSARY TO THE EX
PANSION OF TRADE.
Without either the fact or fear of war
with any nation , and under the gentle
influences of peace , the commerce of the
United States with foreign countries has
been extended by the enlightened ener
gies of our people to the four quarters
of the globe , until , in the very hour that
the advocates of war as on instrument
of gain are noisiest , it has risen to pro
portions which astonish the world , and
110 part of it more than our own.
Armed conquests , diabolical in them
selves in being at wai with the principles
upon which self-government is founded ,
and abhorrent to the sober judgments of
all good men , could never add to our
gains as a trading nation when the con
quered countries consist of distant
islands of the sea , or the mainlands of
regions remote from our own coasts.
The simple reason why this is so is that ,
if gain , mere money-making , is the mis
sion of the nation , so great would bo the
cost in dollars and cents , saying not one
word about the perpetual liability to war ,
in providing vast naval and laud arma
ments for defense as well as conquest ,
it would not pay. Lord Charles Beres-
ford , who has just paid a notable visit to
our country , in public addresses and in
terviews on what is needed , to secure
our share of the future trade of China ,
has made an argument for expanding
commerce by preventing war which it
would be well for our country if it
would accept his principal contention
without further debate. The simple
plan is peace , on the principle which
Arthur Balfour defines in eight words
"an equal opportunity for traders of all
nations. "
Rear Admiral Beresford , "Fighting
Charlie" as the "jackies" of the British
navy call him , "the hero of the Condor , "
as all England expresses pride in him ,
himself a man of war of tried valor and
renown , pleads with invincible logic for
treaties of peace between four of the
dominant trading nations which he is
sure will avert the calamities of a colos
sal war , and , as he assures us , and as
most men who hear him agree , would
give to the United States all the expan
sion of trade which it can reasonably
desire. The vast volume of trade , Sir
Charles maintains , will bo forever lost
to us , if wo do not join Great Britain ,
Germany and Japan in preventing
the dismemberment of the oldest
nation and the gigantic wars which
this otherwise inevitable result would
entail. Not one word has Sir Charles
spoken about "holding the Philip
pines" as being either a commercial
necessity or advantage to our coun
try. This sort of stuff conies from less
thoughtful and less competent men , in
England and in the United States , to the
confusion of them all , bo it stated.
