ni.iia.iihii.frn
Conservative *
The secretary of
PATEUXAIISM. . , . ,
agriculture , Mr.
Wilson , has been advising the people of
the Pacific coast that ho is going to do
everything ho can to help build up their
interests. "Congress , " ho has said to
them , "will give me all the money that
is needed to do it , and the president
wants you to feel that everything his
administration can do to help you will
bo done. " This is paternalism with a
vengeance. Mr. Wilson would proba
bly resent being called a socialist. Yet
he is a socialist without the socialist's
sense or justice in distribution. Social
ism proposes to make government pater
nal. It proposes to have the govern
ment promote business operations. But
the socialist would sec to it that the
profits of these operations were enjoyed
by all the people ; whereas Mr. Wilson's
socialism stops with production , leaving
the strong , the rich and the privileged
to grab the profits away from their
brethren. Mr. Wilson appears to bo a
socialist or paternalist for the benefit of
the few.
When one inquires into the manner
in which Mr. Wilson proposes to help
Pacific const interests one is as much
surprised as at the one-legged species of
socialism he affects. For his object is
to promote the export of Pacific coast
products. No thought does Mr. Wilson
give to importations with which to pay
for the exportations. If he can help the
Pacific coasters to get rid of their pro
ducts , ho will bo satisfied. Whether
they got any returns or not is a matter
of indifference to him , and , as ho sup
poses , to them. For is it not the thorough
ly grounded belief of protectionists that
people are enriched not by getting goods ,
but by getting rid of them ? Of course ,
protectionists explain that they expect
exported goods to bo paid for in gold.
But then the gold never comes. For in
stance , the gold brought into this coun
try in excess of what went out , during
the fiscal year that ended with June ,
1899 , was $58,552,766 less than in
the year ending June , 1898 ; and it was
only about 10 per cent of the excess of
merchandise exports. Since merchan
dise is not wanted by protectionists in
payment for exports , and gold comes
only in small quantities relatively to the
excess of merchandise exports , we are
left to infer that protectionists rather
enjoy the kind of trade that consists in
giving without getting. If their mo
tives wore unselfish they would be per
fect types of the altruist. The Public.
9 * * ° * * " *
KX-GOVEKKOK
HOLCOMH. rejoiced and was
exceedingly glad
in the presence of many plain people
because he "was proud of the humble
part" ho took in the election of Governor
Holcomb. And this is a part of the proud
record of Holcomb which seems to show
that cooperation in rent-paying and in
voucher-making is a profitable style of
petit larceny. The State Journal of the
18th says :
"The warrants drawn by Governor
Holcomb for house rent during this
period show that ho received on an
average more than $50 a month. The
money was drawn quarterly in advance
and as the statements of the witness
show , was not then paid out and when
paid was only to the extent of about
half the amount drawn.
"Records in the auditor's office show
that in the forty-five months of Gov
ernor Holcomb's incumbency during
which an appropriation for house rent
was available ho had drawn for that
purpose $2y03 , or more than $50 a
month rent. During nine months ho
occupied the Crandall house on the
northeast corner of Seventeenth and A
streets , for which the owner drew $60
a month rent. The remainder of the
term he occupied the Gould house on
the southeast corner of Eighteenth and
A streets , to pay rent of which ho seems
to have drawn $49.75 a month. Three
of these warrants the governor refused
to swear to the correctness of but after
a conference with Auditor Moore the
latter ordered a warrant drawn any
way. "
Coinu Into Court.
The same issue of The Journal con
tains an invitation to ex-Governor Hol
comb , of the proud record , which Bryan
boasts he was humbly instrumental in
bringing about , to appear before the in
vestigating committee of Prout , Van
Duseu , and Rocke and show how he , Hol
comb , is absolved from participation in
the attempt to fraudulently count in
two populists as members of the supreme
court of Nebraska ? To prove that he ,
Holcomb , was in no wise connected
with a conspiracy to debauch the ballot
box is the pleasant task which the
ex-governor is invited to outer upon :
The Invitation.
"Honorable Silas A.HolcombLincoln ,
Nebraska. Dear Sir : We have the
honor to acknowledge receipt of your
communication of the 14th , which has
just been received. In reply wo beg to
say that on the 10th inst. the committee
notified you through the sergeant at
arms of the taking of testimony , and in
vited you to bo present , to which noti
fication you replied , in substance , [ that
you had no interest in the subject mat
ter of the investigation. On the 12th
iust. , a subpoena was issued by the com
mittee directed to you and commanding
you to appear before them to testify
relative to the recount of the ballots.
The sergeant at arms failed to serve the
subpoena for the reason that you were
reported out of the city.
"In view of the fact that you have
been courteously invited to bo present
at the sittings of the committee it would
seem to us that your request to bo pres-
nt , and to bo given an opportunity to
refute the evidence already offered is
somewhat gratuitous.
"The meetings of this committee are
all hold with open doors , and they cor
dially invite all persons to come before
them and give any evidence they may
have , touching any irregularities rela
tive to the conduct of the executive or
other officers of the state. And we
would further suggest that when the
committee is seeking to discharge a duty
imposed upon it by the senate of this
state , it would seem that in such pro
ceedings it should not meet with the
opposition of or the questioning of its
power by one who has held the office of
governor of this state. If there was an
attempt to change the fundamental
law of this state by fraud through re
marking the ballots , and filling out
blank ballots , none ought to bo more
interested than yourself in discovering
that crime , and in punishing the guilty
parties. You should be interested since
you were governor at the time when it
is claimed that this crime was attempted
to be committed.
"The committee shall be glad to have
you appear , but you must come as a wit
ness , prepared to demand and receive
all rights due to a witness , as well as to
submit to such examination as the com
mittee may on its own behalf or by di
rection make.
"The committee will bo in session at
the Lincoln hotel at 2 p. m. today and
will bo glad to have you present to an
swer such questions as may be put to
you touching the conduct of the execu
tive office during your incumbency , and
any evidence yon may have touching
the recount of the ballots cast for the
constitutional amendment at the elec
tion of 1896.
"Wo have the honor to be , respect
fully ,
"F. N. PKOUT ,
"J. H. VAN DUSEN ,
"JACOB ROCKE. "
lilxby Umvls.
But the most touching and pathetic
part of this incident , which has rent the
populistic ex-governor's reputation , is
the gloom and sadness which have en
veloped the poet Bixby in a halo of woe
and caused him in tearful verso to thus
break out :
Silas Holcomb , I'm nfraid
It wore bettor you hail stayed
In the pleasant homo you purchased long ago ;
Where , deep-buried , is the wreck
Of the spotted cow called Speck ,
And the boar black pig still squeals , at Broken
Bow.
You might never have been known
Far beyond the mortgage loan
While the fleeting moments hurried on their
way ,
Nor have known this now disgrace ,
That you are now forced to face ,
"Holding up" the stnto for rent you didn't pay.
And yet Colonel Bryan is proud of
Holcornb's record !
