si .
Conservative.
In the year nine-
THE PARIS tcon hundred tliere
EXPOSITION. . . . , . „ .
will open the Pans
exposition. To aid this foreign enter
prise the congress of the United States
has given directly , nud indirectly , with
out any constitutional right , more than
a million of dollars. The show-business
earned on by the United States is alto
gether an extra-constitutional and non
governmental business. The following
tabulation of THE CONSERVATIVE may
be of interest to citizens who still cling
to the idea that the sole business of gov
ernment is to protect life , liberty and
property and that for the rendition of that
service the citizen must pay a compensa
tion and that therefore he must be taxed.
Appropriations by Congress in Connection with tin ; Principal Expositions in the
United States , lioginniiiK with the Centennial , 1870.
< * * * ;
x. .
The above table does not include the sum of $250,000 appropriated by congress for the Paris
Exposition of 1889 , nor various small amounts expended in connection with other expositions
at homo and abroad.
The educational argument , and the as
rk sumption that such governmental ex
penditures inspire patriotism , and the
assertion that they exalt , refine , and
sublimate humanity in general , by tax
ing everybody to enable relatively no
body to have salaries and profits , see
pleasant things and enjoy life intensely
if , at the expense of the great majority who
are not in attendance , are constantly re
iterated by those voluble promoters of
personal enterprises that are always
masked as the "general welfare. "
But it is unnecessary to elaborate or
enumerate the evils of the government
show-business. It is only one of many
modern methods of buncoing our com
mon Uncle Sam out of the taxes which
he has harvested from his full and ap
plauding field of nephews. The govern
ment waxwork business , menagerie and
general show-business can only be de
stroyed by sending men to the national
legislature for the purpose of doing
something for the people , instead of try
ing to get everything possible out of and
away from the people.
The last congress very unwisely and
Congress loaned the Centennial Exposition
$1,500,000 , which was repaid.
ill,000,000 of this amount was a loan ; it was
not repaid ; and congress had to appropriate a
further sum of $350,000 to extricate the exposi
tion from its embarrassments.
JActual disbursements by treasury depart
ment.
extravagantly appropriated directly , and
, , . , indirectly , the
Possible Paris Panic. , ,
sum of nearly
two millions of dollars to stimulate the
Paris exposition and encourage paternal
ism and dependence in the United
States.
It is estimated that five hundred
thousand Americans may visit Paris
next summer. It is reasonable to place
the average expenditure of each at one
thousand dollars in goldwhich means five
hundred millions of gold may be tnkon
out of this country by tourists and sight
seers in 1900 ! Reduce the number of
people going abroad one half and the
gold export , by Paris exposition patrons ,
amounts to two hundred and fifty mil
lions of dollars next year 1 Reduce the
expenditure of each one half and allow
the number going to stand at five hun
dred thousand and the output of Ameri
can gold remains the same for 1900 !
Will this create a financial cyclone ?
Under our present imperfect and in
congruous monetary system with an
Panics. enormous . . . . per , . cap- , ,
ita circulation , all
of which is convertible on demand
with gold , the Paris exposition seems
quite capable of precipitating a panic in
the United States during the year 1900 !
Panics are often born of looting legisla
tion. The looting of the public treasury
by piratical politicians in behalf of ex
positions ought to bo stopped and stopped
permanently and forever.
The continued raid for pensions which
is commanded by representatives and
senators who seek support from old sol
diers is enough to prevent congestion of
the treasury. After paying any and all
pensions demanded and improving rivers
and harbors and liquidating the costs ol
benevolent assimilation in the Philippine
islands the United States need not sent
its people to Paris to precipitate the
panic in 1900 !
FIGURES AGAINST COIN HARVEY.
The very day that Coin Harvey said
in Nebraska Oity that there were no
signs of real prosperity anywhere among
the people of Nebraska or any other
state , records of Otoe county were pub
ished showing that during the last
iwelvo mouths the mortgage indebted
ness of its citizens had been reduced
more than one hundred and twenty-five
liousaud dollars.
And upon the same date money , in
abundance , was offered on long time ,
upon personal security , to THE CONSER
VATIVE at five per cent per annum !
This offer was made by the Mutual Life
.nsuranco Company upon its own poli
cies to the amount of their cash value.
Before "the crime of 1873" the Union
Mutual Life of Maine was getting
iwelvo per cent interest from the same
party in Otoe county who is now offered
money on New York Mutual Life poli-
ies at five per cent !
Figures and facts stand up before the
mendacity of the Bryauarchists and il-
ustrate the strength and glory of truth !
Out of four hundred thousand acres in
Otoo county fifty thousand acres , except
for purchase money , have never at one
and the same time been under mortgage.
"ACADEMIC FREEDOM. "
The action of Professor Laughlin of
Chicago university in taking part in a
iopperhead political meeting not long
ago has caused the authorities of the
university a good deal of embarrass
ment. The institution has been blamed
for the views of one professor , and not
a few of its friends have been led to be
lieve that Professor Laughlin really
spoke for the university on that uufor- *
tunate occasion. At a meeting of the
university congregation held on Friday
it was felt advisable to pass the follow
ing resolution :
"Resolved , 1. That the principle of
complete freedom of speech on all sub
jects has from the beginning been re
garded as fundamental in the university
of Chicago , as has been shown both by
the attitude of the president and the
board of trustees and by the actual prac
tice of the president and the professors.
2. "That this principle can neither
now nor at any future time be called
in question.
8. "That it is desirable to have it
clearly understood that the university ,
as such , does not appear as a disputant ,
on either side , upon any public question ;
and that the utterances which any pro
fessor may make in public are to be re
garded as representing his own opinions
only. "
This is of course sound doctrine. It
will be accepted generally by college
people as a safe and desirable rule to fol
low everywhere. It is a guarantee that
the professor shall have the right uni
versally granted to scientists to tell
what he considers the truth without let
or hindrance. The principle of aca
demic freedom must be accepted every
where , but with it must go the under
standing that it does not give a col
lege man the privilege of making a feeler
or a nuisance of himself and being ex
empt from discipline at the hands of the
president or the trustees. A man with
enough dignity and balance to deserve a
university chair will rarely bring him
self into unpleasant notoriety , no matter
how radical or unusual his personal
views may be. Academic freedom does
not and cannot secure immunity and