I
tbe ; Conservative. 9
FROM A CONSKRVATIVE FRIEND.
Dcinolln's Hook Criticized.
CHICAGO , April 7 , 1899.
MY DEAR MK. MORTON :
lu a recent number of THE CONSERVA
TIVE yon promised a review of Edmoud
Demolin's recent work. While the clenr
and attractive style of Domoliu is sure to
win many admirers for him and to bo of
much interest to the minority of man
kind who think for themselves ; never
theless I am not convinced that ho has
done anything more than to prove that
the people of Great Britain and of the
United States have shown themselves to
be the greatest traders in the world and
have evolved the best and most enduring
forms of government known to history.
This is something which all of us know
before and it is something quite differ
ent from the statement that the Anglo-
Saxon is a superior being to the Celt.
By what right does Demolin conclude
that the superiority of the people of
Great Britain and of the United States
is due solely to the fact that there is
much German blood in the English-
speaking race ? If the German strain bo
the predominant one , and contains all
the excellencies , why have not they of
the pure blood made themselves the first
people in the world ? It seems to me
that Demolin has either lost sight or en
tirely ignored the great question , / . e. of
what blood the so-called
are - Anglo-
Saxons ? They are a people composed
not of Angles and Saxons and their de
scendants alone ; but on the contrary they
are a mixture of Germanic and Celtic
people , of which no one can say what
the proportions are. If I assert water is
a more wholesome drink than wine I do
not prove my assertion by saying that
brandy and water is a better drink than
wine. What I do prove is that the
mixed drink is the better of the two
What Doinolin really attempts to prove
is that the Celtic people are now inferior
to Anglo-Saxons. That they were once
the superior race hardly any person will
deny. He convinces you that the purely
Celtic peoples of the world are probably
retrograding and are now inferior ( in
matter of trade and conquest ) to a mixed
race made up of Germans and Celts.
But that does not prove that the Celt is
the inferior race of the two1. It is time
to correct the prevailing notion that
most English-speaking people are de
scended from a purely Anglo-Saxon an
cestry. How little glory would remain to
the "Anglo-Saxons" if they could claim
among the great men of history none
that were not in part Norniau , Scotch ,
Welsh or Irish I It would not be a grand
history nor one to boast of. As well
might you omit from our own history
all those in whose veins ran Celtic blood.
Three men , Alexander Hamilton , John
Jay and Gouverneur Morris , were as
much Celts as they were Anglo-Saxons ,
yet the history of New York would lose
its brightest pages if the names of these
men and their work should bo erased.
I think the English-speaking people the
greatest race in history , and their destiny -
tiny but begun , but such is the fact not
because they descended solely from the
savage races of Germans who overran
England but because such people inherit
the vigorous and uncorrupted blood of
all the European races.
Demolin attempts to prove no more
than that the "Anglo-Saxons" are sup
erior to other people in the accumulation
of wealth and the conquest and reten
tion of territory ; but that is merely su
periority in materialistic matters. Is
there no higher work on this earth than
trade or conqiiest ? I am prepared to
believe that the most prosperous people
in the world may bo the most moral and
therefore the happiest , but a philosophy
that contents itself with the treatment
of materialistic matters only has not en
during qualities. Yours very truly ,
D. E. ANNEK.
Arbor Day pre-
J l
ARHORKAL. , .
parations are very
visible in every portion of Nebraska.
The proclamation of Governor Poynter
naming April 22 which comes one
week from next Saturday as the legal
holiday for tree planting was issued on
March 22. It is of a character to chal
lenge attention and promote thought as
to the vital importance of arboriculture
and forestry.
When Arbor Day was born and christ
ened at a meeting of the State Board of
Agriculture in Lincoln , on January 4 ,
1872 , a motion was made to amend the
name by striking out "Arbor" and in
serting "Sylvan. " But the originator
of the idea , the day , and the name , for it
objected and argued that "Sylvan" could
be technically applied only to "forest"
trees while "Arbor" covered all trees
and so the phrase and the anniversary
came into universal favor. Before that
the phrase "Arbor Day" had never , so
far as THE CONSEUVATIVE can ascertain ,
been uttered or printed. For any auth
entic or irrefutable evidence of its prior
existencj and use THE CONSERVATIVE
will bo truly grateful.
De-pulpiti/ed preachers who write for
populist newspapers in Nebraska seem
particularly bitter as to the editor of
THE CONSERVATIVE and never skip an
opportunity for assaulting him. And
for this one should be exceedingly re
joiced and truly grateful. Nothing can
better speak for one's fidelity and courage
than the denunciations of apostates and
cowards.
In hybridizations curious and peculiar
results are frequently obtained. But
the cross of a pulpit-pounding , bigoted
preacher upon a populist politician has
given Nebraska a mental and moral
mule of unsurpassable stupidity and vice
TIIK LOGIC OF TRUSTS.
Will They Give ail Imputiu to SocinlUm
In Thlt Country ?
The object of a trust , whether itu ad
vocates admit it or not , is to eliminate
competition. The whole theory of mod
ern business is based upon competition
as a benefit to the community. Once
renounce the theory of competition and
where does the logic of the situation
land us ?
The direction of that logic is very evi
dent if wo accept the theory on which
trusts are practically founded , that com
petition is a bad thing for the commun
ity. The basis of such a theory is socinl-
ism , although the advocates of trusts
may not recognize this. Socialism , as it
is practically understood , means the do
ing by the community of something
which is usually left to private perform
ance. The reason that people argue
that thing's should be loft to private per
formance wherever it was possible , is
that , on the whole , the public will bo
better served because of competition , as
rivalry will lower costs and prices.
Strike out the idea that such competi
tion is to be encouraged , substitute the
idea that a little group of individual
should be allowed to get together and
control a particular business , and you
have as the ba is of such a theory the
basis of socialism ; only in the case of
socialism it is the community as a whole
which reaps the advantage and not n
group of individuals.
The thing which has prevented the
growth of socialism in America has been
individual freedom , or in other words ,
the principle of competition. It is not
difficult of discernment , should the ten
dency toward trusts keep its present
pace , and should the trust method prove
on sufficient trial successful business
wise , that individual freedom which is
involved in competition would bo , to a
large extent , lost. The result would be ,
of course , that people would say to
themselves : Why , if competition is elim
inated , should the benefit go to a group
of individuals as a whole ? In other
words , the logic of trusts , once popularly
appreciated , will give a great impntus to
the tendency toward socialism , which
has hitherto taken but little hold
here in America.
We do not suppose that the men who
are so active in forming trusts are think
ing at all of the ultimate results or of
the logic of what they are doing. They
are after present profits. Very likely
they will overreach themselves , in which
case the trusts , falling to pieces of their
own weight , would restore the system
of competition naturally and without
government or other intervention. But
should the trusts prove , on the whole ,
successful , should the new theories of
business supersede the old , it takes no
gift of prophecy to foresee that a reflex
result will be a great impetus to- social
ism. Waterbury American.
