* - Ty"'Vj'u&tos \ : , ± JLL. . L ± L-L ?
Conservative *
his evident intention to apply those re
marks to a time when a dollar will bay
at the same time more of most products
of labor and less of most kinds of labor ,
tempt us to linger. It appears to Mr.
Phelps a necessary truth that if goods
fall in price the compensation of labor
must fall with them ; but that is because
Mr. Phelps has not thought the matter
out. With recent industrial progress
the returns of labor have been relatively
increasing and those of capital relatively
decreasing ; also the application of the
same labor has resulted in a larger and
larger quantity of product ; for both of
which reasons an increased command of
money over product does not necessarily
moan any increased command over
labor.
We have no objection to urge against
a point on which Mr. Phelps lays con
siderable stress , that non-producers of
wheat ( or anything else ) have an inter
est in reducing its price ; that if this is
done it tends to "raise the condition of
the consumer and depress the condition
of the producer , " and that it is no proper
function of government "to widen social
differences. " THE CONSERVATIVE and
its readers are a unit on that
point. But when our friend from Joliet
intimates that the wheat-grower in the
United States has actually suffered in
any such way , it becomes necessary to
remind him that even if we granted ( as
we do not ) that no more wheat was to
be produced , at the same sacrifice of toil
and capital , now than in 1878 , and that
if we further granted ( as we do not )
that the lower gold price now to be
had for a bushel of wheat is a result of
legislation in any way whatever , yet
the "social condition" of the wheat-
grower does not depend upon what his
wheat brings him in gold , but in all the
items that go to make up his material
well-being. Does his bushel of wheat
command more or less sugar than then ?
More or less kerosene ? More or less
calico , prints , hosiery and shoes ? More
or less ironware and farm implements ?
If more , the tears of Mr. Phelps are
wasted , for the condition of the farmer
has not deteriorated , whatever may have
happened to gold prices.
It would give us pleasure to discuss
with Mr. Phelps that profound problem
in wheat , silver and gold , and their rel
ative prices in this country , India , Rus
sia , Egypt and London , which he is good
enough to lay before us ; but our read
ers will not stand much recondite arith
metic in hot weather. Nor is it in the
least necessary to induce them to stand
it , for no figures based on the assump
tion that the same quantity of gold will
freely buy different quantities of silver
in different countries can really interest
them. In fact , Mr. Phelps is here
floundering in a helpless mix-up of the
rate at which wheat producers and
other private citizens can buy silver and
the rate at which governments issue it
as coin , He is trying to show ' 'that the
nation that is able to furnish a fair pro
portion of the requirements for com
modities , and to use the silver or gold in
its domestic affairs to the greatest ad
vantage will make the price for com
modities which all other nations must
sell by. " If this is to be taken as only
a clumsy way of saying that the country
which produces a commodity at the best
economic advantage fixes its price , wo
admit it ; but that country , in the case
of wheat , is not Russia , or India , or any
other than our own. The proof of that
is in the actual records of sales ; in all
the years when rival countries have
been said to be encroaching on our
wheat markets , our possession of those
markets has been strengthening rela
tively as well as absolutely. The price
has been fixed by the United States , and
silver advocates are advised not to for
got it.
We close , not because we have ex
hausted Mr. Phelps , or believe this
enough to convince him. We expect ,
through any "wreck of matter and
crush of worlds , " to hear that that gen
tleman is still faithful to 16 to 1 still
calls the silver standard "double , " and
bewails the farmer's losses from perfidi
ous gold.
M'KINJLKYISM.
"McKiuley" is platform enough for
the republican party in 1900. The party
need pledge to the laboring man nothing
else. The record of the administration
to date is sufficient argument. When
the campaign finally opens and the sta
tistics gathered by the commercial
agencies are laid before the people , the
story of the result of the campaign will
have been told and the only thing to bo
waited for will be to learii the size of
President McKiuley's majority.
Thus speaks one of the most hide
bound of the republican organs.
The question is , what does McKiuley
stand for ?
Does he not stand for the highest pos
sible protective tariff , which is taxation
of the mass of the people for the benefit
of a class taxation of the consumer for
the benefit of certain manufacturing
producers ?
Does he not stand for the taxation of
Americans for purely aggressive war ?
Does he not stand for the sacrifice of
American lives when in no sense of the
word is the integrity or welfare of the
country threatened ?
Does he not stand for slavery ; for pur
chasing the right to control the lives and
property of a people from the govern
ment of another nation ?
Does not McKinleyism stand for de
fiance of the declaration of indepen
dence , usurpation of the constitutional
rights of the people , and treason to the
fundamental principles of the govern
ment of the United States ?
What have we to put against it ?
Nothing but anarchy and heterogeneous
demoralization ! The American people ,
buiug dead to their welfare ; dead to the
spirit of freedom ; dead to constitution
alism ; powerless to organize themselves
into any self-protective body ; dead to
patriotism in any intelligent sense ; dead
to honor ; dead to justice , is it not evi
dent that it is impossible for them to
find representation ? Democracy is
dead in the United States. The time
has come for an awakening of the pee
ple. A political John the Baptist is
needed , crying in this wilderness of cor
ruption "make straight the path" lead
ing to constitutionalism. The only
work before THE CONSERVATIVE is patri
otic constitutionalism. Conservatism
and constitutionalism are one. The people
ple must rise and
"Strike for their altars niul their flres ,
Strike for th glory of their sires ,
Freedom , and their native land. "
FRANK S. BILLINGS.
Graf ton , Mass.
GKNUINK
If Nebraska City has always been a
liberal patron of outside poets , it has
not been because she had none of her
own ; she has always been able to supply
the local demand for poetry with home
product. The following lines , published
in The News of August 2 , 1802 , are wo
think equal to anything over offered in
any market. The occasion was the
death of the child of one Tompkins :
ON THE DEATH OF A BURNT CHILD.
Conio all , my friends , Loth old and young ,
O , hark , and you shall hoar ,
How death did quickly snatch the child
The parents loved most dear.
The last and least of their little flock
"Was caught by a stove , by its little frock
In falling o'er one Sabbath day
While the parents dear were not away.
And to see and hear , but not to save
Their little boy from an early grave
Which puts them in mind , of one of yore
Who died by a scald , while creeping on the
[ floor.
Strange I they both wore burned on a Sabbath -
[ bath day.
And placed In the ground on Tuesday eve ,
A family living in an adjoining room
Hastened to the spot of grief and gloom.
Eighteen months Lucius spent with them
And cheered them with his smile.
But soon they mourned in weeds of woe
For their dear scalded child.
But OI What sorrows fill their heart
'Tis more than tongue can tell
To think how soon the time did como
To take their last farewell.
And now the little boy has gone
To that bright world above ,
The other four please como this way
And sing redeeming love.
Then Tompkins now a warning take
Prepare to meet your God ,
That you may meet your happy flock
In yonder blest abode.
There you may meet around the throne
Parents and children on that shore
Whore farewell tears are never shed
And Bcaldings are no more.
No man loves aught for itself , but
invariably for himself , /