"
10 'Cbe Conservative ,
Not long since
COAT , IN
NKIJKASKA. THE CONSERVA
TIVE gave a state
ment as to the investigations which
have been made in Nebraska as to coal
deposits during the last forty years.
It is , perhaps , well to state that iii
1808 , Prof. Frederick V. Hayden , under
the auspices of the general government
made a surface geological survey of a
part of southeastern Nebraska. Ho and
his party cauie from the coal mines near
Dos Moincs in a southwesterly direction
to Nebraska City. Their observation
showed that bituminous shale made
its appearance on the east side of Wau-
bansee Lake in Fremont County ,
Iowa. This was under a very mas
sive layer of limestone. Crossing
the Missouri river into Nebraska
they found some limestone and a sim
ilar deposit at the Weeping Water ,
on a farm then owned by Mr. J. W.
Walsmith.
Professor Hayden and party wore the
guests of Arbor Lodge for more than a
week. Ho was accompanied by Pro
fessors White of Iowa ; Meek of Illi
nois ; St. John , the assistant of Professor
ser Agassiz at Yale college ; Doctor
Cones , the eminent ornithologist and
author of "Birds of the Northwest ; "
James Stevenson , the ethnologist , and
one other whose name has escaped us.
After a careful survey of the immediate
neighborhood of Nebraska City , a de
tailed examination of the different
strata through which the shaft at Arbor
Lodge had been sunk to the depth of
100 feet below the bed of Table Creek ,
each of these gentlemen put down his
opinion as to the depth at which a work
able bed of coal would probably bo
found. Then an average was made and
it was determined that within 1,200 feet
of the surface there would bo found a
good paying vein of coal , or its geologi
cal equivalent , hero at Nebraska City.
But times were hard , money oven then ,
before the "crime of 1878 , " very diffi
cult to obtain at less than 2 per cent a
month , and for that and other good
reasons the further prospecting for coal
in and about Nebraska City at that
time was abandoned.
The Saline County Democrat of Aug
ust 1 , copies the recent article of THE
CONSERVATIVE as to the importance and
possibility of getting workable beds of
cool within the limits of this common
wealth. It gives a very concise state
ment of work going on at the Karpisek
farm within a few miles of Wilbor.
This prospecting for coal has developed
there , in Saline county on the farm
named , at a depth of 180 feet , a vein of
good coal 21 inches in thickness.
Iron ore of superior quality is reported
likewise to have been found in the same
shaft. The Democrat shows that the
work is being carried on by drilling and
that at present a depth of 800 feet has
boon reached and that the drill is now in
very hard rook. Gentlemen who have
the enterprise in clmrgo iutoud to go
clown several hundred foot more in their
search for black diamonds. It is their
intention , if a vein of greater thickness
than 21 inches is not found , to sink a
shaft and work the vein already dis
covered. It is very gratifying to ob
serve that the enterprising people who
have engaged in this project fully con
cur with THE CONSERVATIVE as to the
necessity for a persistent , intelligent and
exhaustive search for coal in the state
of Nebraska at the present timo. Every
county paper in the state , every village
of any enterprise and pluck should in
tensify public sentiment as to the great
benefits which can bo derived from coal
mining in this state , and in each local
ity thorough search should be made.
TIIK PRESIDENT'S WAK.
The war in the Philippines is in one
sense the president's war. It is not one
which the Congress has definitely de
clared. We speak of it as an insurrec
tion , sometimes as a rebellion. We do
not regard it as a war with another
nation ; but as a revolt of a people owing
allegiance to our government as their
sovereign. That allegiance began when
the treaty of Paris was formally ratified
by the final action of the governments
which were parties to it. Then , not
before , we acquired the full right to
govern the people of those islands as
actual subjects , and to command their
obedience. It is true that , as an inci
dent of the war with Spain , we had
sooner obtained a military foothold
about Manila , and were responsible for
the maintenance of order within the dis
trict of our military occupation ; but we
could not bo expected or required to do
more.
Whatever authority was exorcised
during that period was purely martial
and had reference to our own interests
as a power at war with Spain. The
question of the ultimate disposition of
the islands , whether they were to be
come our own , or bo loft in the sovereignty
eignty of Span , or established in inde
pendence , did not affect the nature of
the authority to be exercised then. It
was a martial government for military
purposes. The president , as command
er-in-chief of the army , was the ar
bitrary ruler of the people living within
the lines of our military occupation or
within the sphere of its influence. This
condition operated to effect a suspension
or interruption of their allegiance to
Spain , but did not finally sever it in the
contemplation of international law.
Their ultimate status depended on the
disposition of the islands at the con
clusion of the war by the terms of the
treaty of peace. By this treaty , the
sovereignty of the islands was relin
quished by Spain and expressly trans
ferred to the United States. When the
people inhabiting the islands , whom all
the nations of the world had recognized
as subjects of Spain , refused to recog
nize this transfer and insisted upon in
dependence , they became , by their first
overt acts of hostile violence , defiant
enemies of the government which had
obtained , as a result of war , the title of
sovereignty , the right to claim obedience ,
and the obligation to preserve order.
It will not bo seriously maintained
that this acquisition of sovereignty was
contrary to the laws , customs and con
ventions by which the relations of na
tions and the destinies of peoples are
determined. Wo are not now discussing
the wisdom of requiring of Spain the
cession of the Philippines , or the policy
of expansion , as a matter of domestic
advantage. These are questions of an
other kind , which may be answered
without affecting the validity of the
proposition we have asserted. The is
lands are now ours by a good and suf
ficient title , which wo have a right to
maintain and defend against all op-
posers. In all the world , so far as wo
know , there is no official questioning of
this right. No nation , no recognized
authority in international law and state
craft , protests , or even suggests , that it
lacks an essential condition of validity.
This being the state of things , there can
be no impropriety in regarding the war
now waged by the Filipinos upon our
sovereignty as an insurrection.
This brings us back to the proposition
with which we began , that the war is
the president's war. Boston Herald.
Lodges of sorrow will be instituted by
the county committees of populism and
fusion all over Nebraska. The regalia
of mourners will bo made of matured
ears of corn , grown in 1899 and finished
up by the late rains. The assured corn
crop is an assurance of the early de
cline and decease of the hopes of office
by populists.
Weeping and wailing in the tents effusion
fusion are the lachrymose results of the
tears from the clouds which have bap
tized Nebraska with a bumper crop.
Good crops kill calamity , dry up the
oratory of discontent and make sixteen
satisfied citizens to one growler.
A SIMPLE PLAN FOK HOOTING
PLANTS.
Cuttings taken in August for winter
house-plants should be rooted in the
usual manner in a propagating-bed ar
ranged for the purpose. This is practi
cable in the conservatory , but for those
who have not such a good place for this
work the "saucer system of rooting" is
recommended , which consists of flat
pans or saucers , in which is placed a
couple of inches of sand. The cuttings
are placed in this sand , which is kept
constantly wet and in the sun. It is
highly important that the sand bo kept
wet during the entire time of rooting.
August Woman's Home Companion.
