The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902, August 10, 1899, Page 11, Image 11
Conservative. 11 Former United ALLKN ON , States senator and . , FIN A KG ic. present district judge , Honorable William V. Allen , has quite recently , with a blunt brevity of less than seven columns , pronmlgatod his present political faith and personal prejudices. This statesman boasts of a largo li brary and diligent study. And ivpon the question of metallic money ho holds that : "It is the fixed legal ratio enacted be tween the coins which governs the rela tive value of the metals in bullion ! " But loss industrious and , no doubt , more superficial investigators declare that : "It is the relative value of the metals in bullion which governs the relative value of the coins. " In other words , Allen , Bryan , and all other advocates of the free coinage of silver in unlimited quantities at the ratio of sixteen to one claim that open ing the mints of the United States to such coinage would raise the bullion value of silver all over the globe to a dollar and twenty-nine cents an ounce while it now languishes at about sixty cents. In case of disastrous drouth the same statesmanship will favor legislation making two peeks a bushel and thus advance and exalt the corn crop of the Northwest. It will also fix a legal ratio between shoulders and hams regardless of the kind of porkers out of which they are manufactured. FOKESTKY IN CALIFORNIA. Addressing the American Forestry Convention in Los Angeles , last night , Gifford Pinchot remarked that Cali fornia takes more interest in its forests than any other state in the Union ex cept New York , and ho added that Cali fornia can and should formulate a forestry policy. Very true. There are reasons why California should bo more interested in forestry than is even New York , because our forests are more ex tensive and bear a more direct relation to the general welfare , inasmuch as the preservation of the summer flow of our streams is requisite to the prosperity of the agricultural interests and is depend ent upon the mountain forests. It is estimated that the United States , exclusive of Alaska , contains 500,000,000 acres of forest , of which seven-tenths lie on the Atlantic slope , one-tenth on the Pacific slope , one-tenth on the Rocky Mountains , and one-tenth in the Mississ ippi valley. This is the estimate of the Department of Agriculture. But it is deceptive , since the forestry area on the Atlantic coast , though very large , con tains only a limited amount of good timber. The Pacific Coast , which is credited with only one-tenth of the total forest area of the country , has perhaps one-third or even one-half of all" the , iA i.j first-class timber still remaining in the United States. A splendid start has boon made to ward preserving the forests of the West by the establishment of the forestry reservations , a work which lias all been done since the memorable act of 1891 was passed. Of the 551 forest reserva tions , 8 are in California , 51 in Oregon , $ in Washington , 1 in Alaska , 2 in Ari zona , 5 in Colorado , one divided between [ daho and Montana , one between Idaho and Washington , 2 in Montana , one in Now Mexico , one in South Dakota , one in Utah and ! J in Wyoming. These forestry reservations combined contain an area of more than 40,000,000 acres , of which about 9,000,000 acres are in Cali fornia. So it may be seen that Cali fornia is easily first among the states in forest interests. The great Sierra forest reservation contains over four million acres , while the Pine Mountain and Zaca Lake reservation contains over a million and a half acres. But in setting aside this vast forest territory , thereby saving it from de struction by the lumberman , merely a beginning has been made in developing a forestry policy. It depends upon the work of educated specialists to carry the policy forward , but in it they need to be supported by an intelligent public senti ment , such as is fast being awakened in California. Oakland Enquirer. EASTHAMPTON , MASSACHUSETTS. Three ravenous needed."A after the postoffice in Easthamptou , Massachusetts , which is an educational and commercial center of one of the western counties and noted for large republican majorities. The strife was warm , exciting , exasperating and strictly within the McKiuley party. But The Now York Post says : "A democrat appointed by Mr. Clove- laud had served so satisfactorily that his reappointmeut for another term was asked for in a very strong petition , rep resenting a large majority of the voters , and nearly all the business interests , in cluding all of the manufactories , Willis- ton Seminary , the banks , and almost all of the merchants. But after the bars wore taken down in the classified ser vice by the president's order , the profes sional' politicians in the republican party insisted that no democrat should stay in any place from which he could be ousted. Mr. Gillet , the republican con gressman from the district proposed that the question should bo submitted to a vote of the republicans of the town , the democrats not being recognized as having any rights in the matter. Such a vote was taken last week. There were three republican candidates , but the strongest of them fell far short of the democratic incumbent , who came near having a majority over all of his opponents , and his reappoiutment is now assured. " Comment is not needed. "A Southern journal , quoting The World's statement that 'Spain could not convoy to us any rights in the Philip pines which she did not possess , ' asks : "Will the esteemed World toll the American people who did possess the rights' it speaks of if Spain did not possess them ? "The answer is very easy : The native inhabitants possessed the right to govern themselves , or to give their consent to being governed , which is included in ; he natural and inalienable right of all men to life , liberty and pursuit of happi ness. "Our authority for this opinion will bo found in the Declaration of Indepen dence of the United Colonies of North America , proclaimed on July 4 , 177G. It is sustained and clinched in the joint resolutions of congress , adopted on April 18 , 1898 , declaring war against Spain. The very first of those resolutions pro claimed that " 'The people of the island of Cuba are , and of right ought to be , free and independent. ' "Did the 'rights' of Spain in the Philippines rest on any different basis than her 'rights' in Cuba ? Had she oppressed and robbed the Cubans ? She had done the same to the Filipinos. Was her 'possession' of Cuba limited to the coast cities and to a few fortified and garrisoned towns ? Her occupation of the Philippines was oven more lim ited and precarious. "The cases are exactly parallel , on the basic question of rights. Beyond this it is undeniably true that the Filipino army rendered our forces more service in the capture of Manila than the Cubans did in the capture of Santiago , and that the Filipinos are , in the opinion of Admiral Dewey and other capable judges , better fitted for self-government than are the natives of Cuba. "Whatever rights Spain had forfeited in Cuba she had lost likewise in the Philippines. Whatever rights the people ple of Cuba had were possessed also by the inhabitants of the remoter islands. " The above is unmitigated ro t. Neither the Cubans nor Filipinos have any rights whatsoever unless mighty enough to af firm and maintain them. The Declara tion of Independence would not have had an iota of value and would have been historically forgotten had not the fathers had the might to make their declaration good in independence. The degenera tion of their sons is of far more interest than the question of rights in other pee ple. The Americans who have forfeited their rights to machine politics. F. S. BILLINGS. While the weak may be pitied all weakness is to be condemned. Intelligent self-love is conservative ; unintelligent is. destructive.