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VOL. II. NEBRASKA CITY , NEB. , THURSDAY , JULY 20 , 1899. NO. 2.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY.
OFFICES : OVERLAND THEATRE BLOCK.
J. STERLING MORTON , EDITOR.
A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE DISCUSSION
OF POLITICAL , ECONOMIC AND SOCIOLOGICAL
QUESTIONS.
CIRCULATION THIS WEEK 6,029 COPIES.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
One dollar and a half per year , in advance ,
postpaid , to any part of the United States or
Canada. Remittances made payable to The
Morton Printing Company.
Address , THE CONSERVATIVE , Nebraska
City , Neb.
Advertising Rates made known upon appli
cation.
Entered at the postofflce at Nebraska City
Neb. , as Second Class matter , July 29th , 1808.
PENSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES.
"Why , THE CONSERVATIVE would like
to know , should the decade from 1880 to
1890 show more than seven hundred
millions paid for pensions , when that
from 1870 to 1880 shows less than four
hundred millions ? Have pension laws
sometimes been made the means of con
verting rolls of honor into lists of mere
beneficiaries , regardless of services or
disabilities , merely to gain or perpetu
ate party power ? How shall revenues
be devised that can automatically ad
just themselves to the ever-expanding
extravagance of pension laws which add
annually to the rolls more than time
and death remove ? No good citizen ob
jects to pensions for those real soldiers
who incurred genuine disabilities in the
service or consequent upon the service.
But the thousands of men who draw
pensions from the government of the
United States , because by sworn testi
mony they proved themselves victims
of chronic diseases , and at the same
time have policies in life insurance com
panies to which they have solemnly de
clared themselves free from all chronic
maladies , aggregate a stupendous swin
dle upon citizens who pay taxes or upon
those who carry life insurance. Why
should not investigation be made and
such cases eliminated from the pension
rolls ? How can any man , without per
juring himself , have a pension because
ho has a chronic disorder and a life-
insurance policy because he 7ms not such
an affliction ? And how many thous
ands of such cases now stain the pen
sion rolls can only be ascertained by an
investigation which can be carried on
easily and inexpensively in which the
government and the life-insurance com
panies shall cooperate. Why not peti
tion congress to order such an inquiry ?
Who can be injured by it ? Can honor
able , truthful , and meritorious veterans
suffer from such a cleansing of the pen
sion rolls ?
The recent cahimnies heaped upon
Commissioner of Pensions Evans by
those who deem it the duty of govern
ment to be still more liberal in granting
pensions should align every fair-minded
citizen who wishes only just pensions
for meritorious and deserving soldiers
among the friends and defenders of
Evans.
The special acts for pensions should
be fewer and the aggregate appropria
tions for pensions less from year to year.
The fact that there are now on the pen
sion rolls more names than there ever
were on the rosters of the Union army
should cause thoughtful legislators to
pause and investigate. The fact that
the number now drawing pensions from
the government of the United States if
added to the number applying for pen
sions would aggregate more than the
number of all the men who belonged to
the Union army during the entire civil
war should cause deliberation and in
quiry. Some time a limit as to the cap
ability and willingness to pay pension
must be reached by the American tax
payers.
CONTRIBUTIONS.
aid of July 18 ,
1899 , publishes the National Campaign
Fund for tihe free coinage of silver at
16 to 1 so far contributed in Nebraska.
Most of the subscriptions develop in
towns where Coin Harvey has lectured.
Up to the 18th there l\ad been paid in
cash , for the purpose of'educating voters
to believe that the enacted legal ratio
between the corns of gold and silver
fixes the value in the markets of those
two metals nix hundred and fifty-four
dollars ( $654) ) I And subscriptions to be
paid hereafter up to that date amount
to three thousand nine hundred and five
dollars and twenty-five cents ( $8,905.25. )
Tecumseh is a liberal giver , and Aurora
era , Falls City , Fairbury , Kearney and
Auburn exhibit generous zeal in their
donations to bring about the debase
ment of the national standard of value.
THE CONSERVATIVE awaits the show
ing from Nebraska City and Otoe
7 * < i/KE .
county with curiosity and will be
pleased to publish the names of contri
butors in those localities. Everybody
realizes the power of the advocates of sil
ver hereabouts in erecting the industrial
plants of Nebraska City and will there
fore expect large subscriptions from the
sixteen-to-oue owners thereof.
Sometime since
ASTONISHING THE CONSERVATIVE
ANTAGONISMS.
TIVE declared itself
willing to pay a round sum for the proof
that any of the noted populist leaders in
Nebraska had ever in commercial , pro
fessional , manufacturing or agricultural
pursuits made twenty-five hundred dollars
lars a year.
The offer has elicited several assertions
and the names of several populists have
been handed in as belonging to lawyers
who were making an income of three
thousand or more.
THE CONSERVATIVE in astonished for
these same gentlemen declared all over
Nebraska , that under "the gold stand
ard" even in 1892 nobody could make } 4'
enough income to decently live thereon.
How can these patriots reconcile their
previous statements as to the universal
poverty of all callings in Nebraska ,
under the gold standard , with their pres
ent declaration that for years and
years they had received incomes of more
than twenty-five hundred dollars a year ?
Did they tell lies to their audiences
when speaking in political campaigns or
are they telling lies now ? Who shall THE
CONSERVATIVE believe , the mnn who
paraded his poverty , everybody else's
poverty and wallowed in calamity before
the election ; or the same man , and his
friends , when after election it is asserted
that he always for years made every
twelve months more than $2,500.00 ?
"Cabinet officers have been dismissed
by presidents within recent times , for
far less offences than Alger has com
mitted , " says The Pittsburg Dispatch
( rep. ) "But Alger does not appear to
regard dismissal as a possibility any
more than he regards resignation as
proper , and the observant public will be
disposed to take the Algerine view of
the possibility just as it does not accept
that view of the propriety. His whole
attitude is equivalent to the inquiry :
'What is this administration here for ,
if not to suffer any embarrassment my
conduct may create ? Am I not chief
custodian of contracts and franchises ? ' "
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