The Conservative *
A
viiKAT.
from Iowa to our
state discussed our successes in produc
ing winter whent by the light of alleged
fniluro in his own. He seamed desirous
of ascertaining something about what
causes success with this grain in Ne
braska and failure with it in Iowa. If
the fact is what the gentleman from
Iowa stated it to bo the question is of
interest to the people of both states , es
pecially to those of our great sister state
on the other side of the river which
flows between and marks the boundaries
which separate them. The two states
are practically in the same latitude.
They are blessed with the same climate.
Rainfall is certainly no less , and it is
believed to bo more in a given season in
Iowa than it is in Nebraska. The winds
and snows and changes in temperature
are virtually the same in one as in
the other. There can bo no great dif
ference in their respective fertility of
soils. "Why , then , should not winter
wheat prosper in Iowa as it does in Ne
braska ? Assuming that the method of
sowing and choice of seed are the same
in each , what answer can be given to
this question ? Refusing to give any
positive answer to it perhaps a sugges
tion may lead to further inquiry , and tea
a satisfactory solution of an important
problem.
Not many weeks ago THE CONSERVA
TIVE , in an article on winter wheat cul
ture iu this state , made passing men
tion of the fact that , with the advent of
irrigation in Colorado many years ago ,
a high grade of flour made from its
wheat grain found its way for a time
into our local markets. It was held to be
superior iu color and quality to the arti
cle of that day which came to us from the
eastward. The view was intimated
that the superiority may have depended
upon the fact that the granite wash
from the Rocky mountains furnished a
better pabulum for the grain than can
bo found in other soils. This granite
wash , it was hinted , permeates all the
soils of the state from the foothills of
the mountains to the Missouri river ,
which offers a perfect barrier to its de
posits in the states east of it. Perhaps
some of the students of the science of
geology and agriculture may be able to
tell us the truth about this theory of a
possible answer to the question which
- ' this article puts in a speculative form.
Corn and wheat
, . . . _
are two very dif
ferent things in the American farmer's
vocabulary , but at an earlier day , and
in England down to the present time ,
the two words have been used almost
interchangeably. Wheat always meant
wheat , and corn meant any kind of
grain used for food ; but as wheat was
the grain chiefly used for that purpose ,
when the English and the first Amer
ican settlers said corn , they usually
meant wheat. This is why the legisla
tion concerning the food supply of
Great Britain , which caused much dis
turbance a hundred years ago , was
called the Corn Laws ; a thing that used
greatly to puzzle young students of
English history.
The American pioneers found the na
tives raising maize exclusively ; they
had cultivated it for a great length ol
time , as appears from ears found in pre
historic graves , put there for the con
sumption of departed red men , who
probably found it , however , too hard
for their spiritual teeth ; little runty
nubbins with half a dozen rows of round
bluish kernels to a cob. This being the
food cereal of the aborigines was called
by the settlers the Indians' corn , and as
it soon assumed first-rate importance .as
a crop , it was presently called corn pure
and simple , the name that now prevails
universally on this side of the water.
Writers and travelers of two hundred
years ago , however , sometimes speak of
"maize , or Indian corn" on one page
and "maize , or Indian wheat" on the
next.
Acarelessswiug.
STUMP WISDOM.
er of the axe cut
down a splendid tree so that he might
rob a squirrel's nest of its young when
the monarch of the forests fell. And
the next day ho found written upon the
stump these lines :
"What nature reared by centuries of toil ,
A scalawag in half a day can spoil ;
An equal fate for him may Heaven provide
Damned in the moment of his tallest pride. "
On Monday inorn-
ingFebruary27,1899 ,
in the city of San Francisco , California ,
the editor of THE CONSERVATIVE re
ceived the following letter and the two
coins therein referred to , from his faith
ful friend , of many years , John P. Irish ,
than whom there is no more logical
writer and eloquent speaker , iu behalf
of sane money , and sound economics in
general , anywhere in the United States.
This short but comprehensive epistle
is commended to the consideration
of those citizens who have contended
that the fiat of government is the sole
factor of value in metallic and other cur
rency.
If the deadlock in the senatorial
struggle of California could be released
by the election of John P. Irish the
country at largo would bo benefitted ,
the Pacific slope highly honored and a
better and broader character of states
manship would enlighten the United
States senate.
SAN FRANCISCO , Feby. 27 , 1899.
MY DRAU MORTON :
Here is a Japanese yen and a Mexican
dollar (8 ( real ) . Each has in it more sil
ver than an American silver dollar , but
I bought them both at a broker's shop
here for an American dollar and got 5
cents change. If the gold dollar is taken
from behind the silver dollar , with or
without the consent of other nations ,
ouo of these coins will ask for the
change in the exchange. Truly ,
JOHN P. IRISH.
NOIITH AND SOUT1I HAILltOAD 1INES.
For many years the movement of
freight in this country has been East
and West and a careful examination
will recall the fact that the great east
and west trunk lines have spent mil
lions of dollars in putting their lines in
shape so that traffic might bo moved
with the greatest economy. Traffic can
undoubtedly bo handled cheaper in these
directions because of these great expen
ditures and because the movement of
merchandise is from the East to the
West thereby furnishing return loads to
the carriers , but the dny is not far dis
tant when the movement of the produce
of this section of the country will be
southward. The distance from Central
Kansas to the Gulf port of Galveston is
the same as to Chicago and the latter
market is 1,000 miles from tidewater.
If we had free trade with alS the na
tions of the earth Galveston and New
Orleans would soon become great dis
tributing centers and could then supply
return loads to the railroads leading
South. Until then the rates will ap
proximate some higher North and South
than they do East and West , but it is
only a question of time before all ex
ports from , west of and on the Missouri
river will move southward instead of
eastward. Coming events cast their
shadows before them and already the
rates to the East have been materially
reduced as against the inroads of the
roads to the South and still a largo pro
portion of the export grain movement
continues gulfwards.
An annihilation of one thousand miles
of inland space in reaching Europe with
the products of Nebraska and Kansas
ought to be beneficial to either the
Western farmer or the European con
sumer. Possibly the benefits are di
vided.
The breed to
whif > h the name of
,
A i ci
Anglo-Saxon is , by
an odd freak of language , now almost
universally applied , was thus described
by an English writer in the year 1701 :
"These are the heroes that despise the Dutch ,
And rail at new-come foreigners so much ;
Forgetting that themselves are all derived
From the most scoundrel race that ever lived ;
A horrid crowd of rambling thieves and dronca
Who ransacked kingdoms and dispeopled
towns ;
The Pict and painted Briton , troach'rous Scot ,
By hunger , theft and rapine , hither brought ;
Norwegian pirates , buccaneering Danes ,
Whoso red-hair'd offspring everywhere re
mains ;
Who , join'd with Norman French , compound
the breed
From whence your true-born Englishmen pro
ceed.
From this amphibious , ill-born mob began ,
That-vain ill-nuturod tiling , an Englishman. "