miA- . . _ . * &
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Ox Conservative.
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VOL. i. NEBRASKA CITY , NEB. , THURSDAY , JUNE i , 1899. NO. 47-
WEKKT/V.
OFFICES : OVERLAND THEATRE BLOCKX
.T. STERLING MORTON , EmTOH.
A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE DISCUSSION
OF rOI.lTICAI. , , ECONOMIC AND SOUIOLOdlOAT *
QUESTIONS.
CIRCULATION THIS WEEK 5,780 COPIES.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
One dollar and a half per year , in advance ,
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Canada. Remittances made payable.to The
Morton Printing Company.
Address , THE CONBEKVATIVE , Nebraska
City , Neb.
Advertising Rates made known upon appli'
cation.
Entered at the postofflce at Nebraska City ,
Neb. , as Second Class matter , July 29th , 1898.
Whether there
MOKKGOW.
will b e encmgh
gold in the United States out of
which to make a cruel cross upon
which to crucify plain poor people ,
by order of the Pontius Pilates of plu
tocracy , is an exasperating question now
gnawing the intellectual sinews of popu
lism. A recent disheartening declara
tion from a distinguished ex-member of
the chin-whiskered party to the effect
that "the money question has settled it
self" threw a good many of the criniger-
ous brotherhood into fits.
And now ex-United States Senator
Peffer's statement that the mines are
prolific , there is an abundance of gold ,
is confirmed by Director of the Mini
Roberts , whose advices indicate that the
production , of gold for 1899 will reach
$840,000,000. Official figures for 1898
show an increase of $50,000,000 over the
1897 total which was $287,504,800.
Predictions are made that the year
1900 will see the gold production reach
the stupendous figure of $400,000,000.
Of this about $65,000,000 will be required
for the arts , leaving $885,000,000 avail
able for use as money.
The gold production of 1890 was $202-
582,800 , of which about $188,000,000 was
available for monetary uses , and the sil
ver production was $217,412,900 at the
coinage value , of which about $175,000-
000 was available for monetary uses. The
amount of both metals available at thai
time , therefore , if the mints of the
world generally had been opened to free
coinage of silver , was about $818,000,000
With such calamitous environments
liow can Bryanarchy flourish ? How
can sixYeen-to-oneness acquire strength ?
: Iow can oven the feeble-minded bo
made to think that "the money trust is
the biggest of all trusts , " and that the
real rich and real wicked delight in piles
of unused money , uncirculating cur
rency ?
TRUSTS. , .
V > fervid war now
made upon trusts proceeds with una
bated vigor under the fearless leader
ship of Col. William Jennings Bryan ,
whoso large military experience in.
Cuba , Florida , Lincoln and Omaha
peculiarly qualifies him. for this eminent
and imminent post of peril.
In 1896 Col. William Jennings Bryan ,
who two years before had declaimed for
cheaper prices , was exhorting with great
power and startling effect in behalf of
higher prices.
In 1894 the colonel desired a low tar
iff , absolute commercial freedom , to letdown
down prices and make certain commod
ities cheaper. That was the logical ob
ject of free trade.
Protection makes things higher by
shutting out competition and allowing
artificial prices upon things we buy.
The colonel and THE CONSERVATIVE
denounced a tariff for protection be
cause , by law , it put an artificial price
upon the things we had to buy. And
THE CONSERVATIVE , being logical , also
denounced the proposition to freely coin
silver in unlimited quantities , at the
ratio of sixteen-to-ouo because it by law
would put an artificial price upon silver.
It would make silver , Colonel Bryan de
clared , sell atone dollar and twenty-nine
cents an ounce all over the globe , when
it was worth only sixty-five cents an
ounce.
Colonel Bryan proclaimed a restora
tion of silver to a higher price the only
cure for commer-
lliglter Sll- .
-IT j Ai.
. cial disorders. At
ver Needed.
the Pame time he
denounced all trusts becauseho saidthoy
would make things higher , and also de
clared until things were higher every
thing and everybody would be in immi
nent peril of extinction. And while
Colonel Bryan thus eloquently anc
logically orated , in 1896 , he represented
the Silver Trust which was then putting
up lots of money for his candidature anc
election , and which , through Senatoi
Teller , had declared itself for the pro
tection of the silver mines and producers
by means of the free coinage of silver a
sixteen-to-one. Senator Teller from his
) lnco in the United States senate had
solemnly declared that ho as a Wes
tern man representing a silver-produc-
ng state could not longer aid Eastern
manufacturers in monopolizing the mar-
cets of this republic by means of a pro-
it'otive tariff unless Colorado got some
of the same sort of pie or pork by an
ict of free coinage at sixteen-to-oue ,
which would be' only the domestication
of the protective-tariff principle and its
application to internal instead of exter
nal trade. And Bryan and Teller
igreed.
And now , all the silver smelters , all
bhe great establishments in the United
. , , States which pro-
c . _
Tlio Silver Trust. , . ,
duce fine silver ,
are consolidated , syndicated in one gi
gantic trust. It has been in operation
since March , 1899. In that time it has
put up the price of silver more than
four cents an ounce.
That is just what Colonel Bryan
preached and prayed for. That is pre
cisely what he declared the poor plain
people needed. The Silver Trust is now
solidly organized. It is a regular army
of the manufacturers of higher prices
for silver. The old trust which so
kindly and generously put up cash for
Colonel Bryan in 1896 was only a volun
teer force. The present one is of dis
ciplined veterans.
In view of these large facts with what
propriety can Colonel Bryan become an
anti-trust advocate and candidate ? He
cannot consistently oppose higher prices
for silver. He always stood for such
prices. The Silver Trust is making
such prices. It agrees with Bryan.
How can Chang fight Eng when they
are indissolubly connected and the
death of one means funerals for two ?
We must carry into peace the mil
itant ideal. It is not enough to say war
costs. Men have always been willing
to sacrifice in behalf of what is great.
What is wanted is a vision of real great
ness. We must stand by our guns in
the war of opinion going on and
not lot any blatant patriot cow us. We
must inaugurate campaigns of popular
justice. The heart and imagination can
bo touched by daring dreams of recti
tude as well as by great deeds of war.
The daily life of men might be patriot
ism. Wm. M. Salter.
i
There is nothing more entertaining < "
than to watch "Life" teasing Secretary
Alger once a week to resign.