lg
2 Conservative *
Few men thiuk
JtKV. JKNKIX . . .
M.OYD JOSKS. with more force
and fewer still ex
press their thoughts with more lucidity
and terseness than Rev. Mr. Jones of
All Souls church , Chicago. The follow
ing is one of his recent , utterances and is
commended by THE CONSERVATIVE to
all of its thoughtful and patriotic
renders :
"Many are asking ever'dny'What
is militarism , anyhow ? ' It is the incor
poration into modern statecraft of the
primitive dictum that 'might makes
right. ' It is the trusting of national
power and prosperity to the keeping of
standing armies. It is the assumption
that the physical arm of the state is its
measurement in the councils of the
world. It is a new exaltation of the
soldier.a fresh apotheosis of the warrior.
It is subordination of the arts of peace
to the triumphs of battle , the application
of modern enginery and scientific phys
ics to the art of destruction. It is re
ducing killing to an exact science and
hiding the atrocities of legal and na
tional murder behind the high-sounding
words and highly polished instruments
of precision that represent the activities
of the arsenal , the fortress and the bat
tleship of today. More than this , it is a
revival of the cheapest heroism , the
heroism represented by physical bravery ,
the love of parade , the glitter of gold
lace and the inspiration of martial
music. "
The Grand Army
PENSIONS
AND J5VANS. of the Republic
has now developed
such an inordinate voracity for pensions
and jobs in offices that the present com
missioner of pensions , Hon. Henry Clay
Evans , of Tennessee , finds himself in
capable of giving it satiety.
"A dozen years ago The Evening
Post said of the Grand Army of the
Republic that 'it is no longer a benev
olent institution working for unselfish
ends ; it has become a machine for the
procuring of pensions and offices. ' The
truth of this characterization has be
come more clear during the interval ,
and is now put beyond the possibility of
dispute by the raid which this machine
has organized upon a thoroughly effi
cient commissioner of pensions , simply
because he has enforced the laws. The
New York department of the organiza
tion has been holding its annual encamp
ment at Syracuse this week , and it
adopted a resolution yesterday declar
ing that 'it is the sense of this depart
ment that the administration of the
pension department by H. Clay Evans
meets the emphatic disapprobation of
this department and of every veteran
who is entitled to a pension under the
law , and we ask that he be removed
and the office filled by a man who will
administer the pension law according to
the intent of the framers of the law ,
the congress that passed it , and the
president who signed it. ' This action
by the largest department of the Grand
Army in the notion is not a hasty or ill-
considered performance. It is plainly
only part of a carefully planned scheme
by the malingers of the organization , as
similar resolutions have recently lieou
adopted by other bodies of the order.
The Grand Army evidently means to
drive Commissioner Evans out of ollico.
"There is absolutely no excuse for
this assault. Commissioner Evans is
warmly in sympathy with all just
claims of the old soldiers , and he has
administered the pension law with fair
ness alike to the deserving applicant
and to the government. But such fair
ness has of course compelled him often
to reject claims which were neither
meritorious nor justified by the law.
The consequence is that ho has incurred
the enmity of the pension attorneys ,
who have grown rich upon the laxity of
administration which has prevailed in
the pension bureau in the past. These
attorneys have organized a 'combine'
to secure the removal of Mr. Evans , and
they are going to 'work the Grand
Army for all it is worth. ' They hope to
play upon the dread of offending 'the
Grand Army vote' which most politi
cians feel , and there is real danger that
their raid may succeed. All citizens
who believe in an honest administra
tion of the pension laws should come to
the support of an excellent official in
this emergency. "
An observer and
IT KAINSt . . . , . _ . . ,
friend of the Third
Nebraska regiment was along with that
collection of game and patriotic volun
teers before they sailed for Cuba and at
their camp either in Georgia or Florida
when an order came from the command
ing general to break camp and move.
Immediately Lieutenant-Colonel Vif-
quain , a tried and trained soldier , be
gan the work which obedience to the
order required. But after some time
Vifquain noticed that there was no stir
about the tent of Col. William Jennings
Bryan. Therefore the lieutenant-colo
nel courteously , and with due regard to
his superior experience and rank in the
world of war , called upon Colonel
Bryan and with some fear and much de
sire for more military science and dis
cipline inquired :
"Colonel Bryan , why are you not
carry in gout the order to break camp ? "
Whereupon with soldierly sagacity
and with most patriotic sincerity Colonel
nel Bryan replied :
"It is raining ! "
And now while orders are out by that
potent commander , General Opinion ,
that the nonsense of another battle for
sixteon-to-ono must not be indulged and
that the fusion forces must break camp ,
"It is raining ! " It rains facts and fig
ures which drown out all the fancies in
finance which appeared so gaily in ' 'The
First Battle. "
TllKK
BROWNVILLE , Neb. , May 25 , 1899.
MY DEAR MR. MORTON :
I herewith hand you a copy of a letter
received from Professor Swezey , our
state meteorologist. You will observe
his theory is in harmony with mine ,
given you -heu last we met , viz : That
the February (18S ( ! ) ) ) freeze did the dam-
ago.
ago.Possibly
Possibly it may bo of interest to your
readers to publish the letter in TIIE CON
SERVATIVE.
My theory if any bo possible of the
vagary in injury adjoining plants ,
with seeming same conditions , one
killed and the other not injured , I find
only consolation by reference to Bibli
cal record. See Matthew , chapter 24 ,
verses -10 and 41.
Yours sincerely ,
ROH'T W. FURNAS.
HON. ROIJ'T. W. FURNAS ,
Brownville , Nebraska.
Dear Sir : Your favor of the IGth is
at hand and I am sorry to learn that the
loss in your vineyard and orchard is so
serious , although as you say , you are
not a solitary sufferer.
I do not know , however , that the win
ter killing is very surprising. It seems
to me that there has been a combina
tion of conditions that does not often
repeat itself.
In the first place the period of two
cold weeks in February was one of ex
cessive cold. It was the coldest Febru
ary on record , and the coldest mouth
with four exceptions , viz :
Mean toinp.
January , 1880 11.9
January , 1S8S 10 ti
January , 1881 10.8
January , 18S3 11.2
i'Wuary , 1809 12.1
The minimum temperatures ran below -
low zero nearly every night for two
weeks , falling as low as from 25 to J5
below zero in the southeastern part of
the state and 47 below in the western.
In the second place the low tempera
ture was not , as sometimes happens , of
brief duration , but continued almost
without intermission for nearly two
weeks.
Again it occurred while the ground
was generally barren of snow so that 110
protection was iurnished the soil from
the accumulating ell'ect of the low tem
perature.
Finally I presume that the rather dry
condition with which the spring opened
has tended to aggravate the evil.
I do not know how to account for the
different effect upon plants growing near
each other. I realize , however , that the
sum total of climatic conditions which
determine the life or death of a plant is
a complicated matter and that we ordin
arily grasp only the more prominent fac
tor of the problem.
Very truly yours ,
G. D. SWEZEY.
