.ll. J..J
. . . . . .
2' 'Che Conservative.
The last government
COIIX.
ment report rein-
tivo to the nmouut of corn in the hands
of farmers hns excited a good deal of
criticism. The official figures indicate
that ' 1G3 million bushels less of corn have
heen consumed during the past twelve
months than were consumed during the
previous twelve months.
One must be impressed after rending
the report of Air. John Hyde , statistician
of the department of agricultiire , with
the fact that the government estimate
of'the farm reserve on March 1 , 1898 ,
wns altogether too low , or that the pres
ent reported reserve is altogether too
high.
The corn crop of 1898 , in the opinion
of Tim CONSERVATIVE , was much smal
ler than the amount estimated by the
government. There never will be any
satisfaction in the agricultural statistics
of the United States until they are
based upon an annual farm census. In
England the agricultural data are se
cured by officers of the government
from landlords and tenants who , under
oath , declare the acreage of each crop
and also after maturity the number of
tons or bushels grown.
Our present system of gathering sta
tistics is entirely wasteful and inutile.
The agricultural department receives its
reports from two agents in each county
of each state and territory of the
United States , who receive no compen
sation for making up their statements.
All of the detailed data is gathered by
unpaid agents who receive as compen
sation nothing except a few seeds and
the printed documents of the depart
ment of agriculture. THE CONSERVA
TIVE has found nothing of value in this
world which can bo secured -without
consideration pay either in kind or in
cash.
The division of statistics , of which
Mr. John Hyde , a most competent and
estimable man , is the head , carries a
clerical force at "Washington at a cost of
about $100,000 per annum. All thesr
clerks are paid for formulating and
tabulating figures and data which have
been gathered in an eleemosynary way
for the government , and the result of
the dissemination of this misinforma
tion has in the last twenty-five years
cost the farmers of the United States
many millions of dollars. The present
system of gathering , publishing and dis
tributing information relative to the
condition of crops , the amount of grain
in farmers' hands , on the markets and
in transit , is of advantage only to the
European buyers , who of course seek as
consumers to compel the lowest possible
prices on all of our cereals and other
farm products. It would bo far better
for the producers , the farmers of the
United States , that no agricultural sta
tistics bo published at all than to have
those inaccurate ones published which
ere gathered up after an alms-asking
fashion and are -finally , disseminated at
great cost in clerical , printing and other
expenses , and also frequently at great
loss to those who have farm products
to sell.
It is time that the farmers took this
matter into consideration and debated it
at their institutes. In some future is
sue of THE CONSERVATIVE wo may have
occasion to say more about the fallacy
of the present system of collecting farm
facts and distributing them throughout
the country.
SKNATOH M. L. IIAYAVAKIJ.
While differing upon many questions
from Senator Hayward , THE CONSERVA
TIVE rejoices in his election because he
stands squarely for the gold standard
and is always in favor of a sound cur
rency. As the candidate for governor
nominated by the regular convention of
the republican party he received the
support of all the gold democrats of this
commonwealth and the first editorials
advocating his selection as senator were
penned by democrats who sink partyism
and rise to the plane of patriotism whenever -
over the honor and integrity of contracts ,
personal or national , are in jeopardy.
But the safe time for congratulating
Senator Hayward or any other man
called to responsible public position is at
the close rather than at the beginning
of his official duties. THE CONSERVA
TIVE , therefore , with sincere wi&hes for
the usefulness and honorable fame
which may develop for the now senator ,
awaits with perfect faith in his ability
an opportunity to felicitate him upon
good works accomplished.
If all the growlers and fault-finders in
Nebraska could bo compelled to travel
throughout the United States and
Europe and forced to compare the cli
mate of Nebraska and the fertility of
Nebraska soil with the climate and fer
tility of other countries , they would re
turn contented with their present homes.
By comparison with either the lands of
the Pacific or the Atlantic coast the
mid-continental agricultural area is ex
alted , and advanced in value , to the
mind of every thoughtful and practical
observer. Lands in Nebraska are a
splendid heritage. Fifty years from to
day those born landless are destined , as
a rule , to live and die landless. Get
laud for your descendants !
" * hard to see
.
how young Mr.
Rostand's play of "Cyrano , " which
aroused so much enthusiasm in the year
just passed , can appeal any more
strongly to a Frenchman than the play
called "Shore Acres , " to an American ,
especially to one of New England do-
scent. Each is sufficiently actuated by
the broadest motives of humanity to
have made it an interesting story , in
whatsoever dress presented ; but each
goes directly to the heart , , of ita.owu
special audience , by means not only of
its overt incidents , but perhaps to a still
larger degree by means of a limit Undo
of fine allusions , half-hinted references
to matters which the wise playwright
leaves with confidence to the instinctive
feeling of his hearers , and which put
them immediately in sympathy with
him as nothing else could do. While
there is thus a certain similarity in
method between the two , it is the appli
cation of this method which makes the
one distinctively a French and the other
an American play. It is possible for an
\mcrican to see what it is that the
other so warmly admires in''Cyrano , "
but it is his head and not his heart that
understands it. The swordsman who
overcomes a hundred enemies with his
single hand lies outside our credulity ;
wo know him to be utterly uuhistoric ,
for oven the half-deified d'Artagnan has
left on record a saying that "a man who
has two enemies on his hauds has always
one too many. " The French , however ,
seem to swallow him and relish him ;
wo take Uncle Nat's self-renunciation
and courage in another's defense , be
cause wo are perfectly aware that the
breed of which he is a type is perfectly
capable of those qualities ; whereas
Cyrano's brilliancy in his various lines
fringes the marvelous. He is well on
the way already toward Rinaldo , who
"gave inoro deaths than blows" in
battle , and to the numerous heroes
whose bodies were invulnerable to
weapons ; none of whom nor of their
descendants would bo fitting occupants
of the American stage , any more than
the inherent French smut as in the
inn-keeper's jest to his wife about the
paper bags of "Cyrano" would accord
with the clean seriousness of "Shore
Acres. "
There is such a thing as race , and it
is an obstinate thing. The American of
today is not wholly the same as the con
temporaneous Englishman , and ho dif
fers widely from tho" move remotely re
lated peoples. Neither have wo any
reason to think the American stock so
inferior in quality that it need borrow
very largely from the others. It will be
a good time , if it ever comes , when the
American stage can bo kept filled all
the year round with such plays as
"Shore Acres. "
Any man of good judgment who can
command and bring into Nebraska a
million of dollars for investment in 1899
will have two millions of dollars in 1909 ,
if he buys only raw prairie , at present
prices.
A "conscientious objection" to vacci
nation recently rendered in a London
police court : "If God Almighty
thought that vaccination was necessary
or even desirable , Ho would perform
the operation on every child before it
was bprn. " . . . . * <
