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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 1899)
Conservative * and greed. I take it that as intelligent and well-versed man as the editor of TIIK CONSERVATIVE is has not failed to note the fact that 95 out of every 100 American citizens , bo they day laborers , farmers , lawyers , doctors or preachers , will , on the slightest pretext , plunder and rob their municipal , state or national governments. This being true , who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean t And in this respect I am not certain we are any worse than our ancestors. I know distance lends enchantment , but if Thomas Jefferson's patriotism was no more sturdy than Grover Clove-laud's and wo know Andrew Jackson proud ly proclaimed that to the victors belonged - longed the spoils then you have as clear an exhibition of the children in heriting their fathers' traits of character as is possible to have. That which seems to you a lack of dignity and decency on the part of American citizens is simply an increase of enterprising zeal and spirit resulting from the incentive of increased spoils to bo secured. No one should be surprised to find \V. J. Bryan putting forth greater effort to secure a $50,000 pull on the public treasury than Thomas Jefferson or Andrew Jackson put forth for one-half that amount ; yet they fought duels for the spoils in their day. Much less should they bo surprised to see Bryauarchy , Allen and Kem practic ing demagogy when the spoils are 100 per cent inoro ; and the spoils of one of our municipal , county or state offices offer greater inducements to the pot house politician than a Kansas or Ne braska farm that would yield 500 bushels of corn to the acre without plowing , planting or reaping offers to the farmer. It is a clear case of the lack of intelli gence and integrity essential to self- government and you cannot get wool out of a goat's house. J. B. COUEY. BALLOONING STATESMANSHIP. Balloons expanded too much burst and kill their passengers by a long , hard fall , and governments also do the same explosive act sometimes under expan sion and give cheap statesmen a hard , kil ling tumble. An intelligent independent metropoli tan journal remarks : "The disposition to stand by the 'com rade' in the white house is , of course , far stronger among his fellow-veterans of the civil war than among the people at large. The recent cauvass of 20,000 farmers by Farm and Home showed that a large majority of the agricultural population , in both the East and the West , opposes the war of conquest. That this canvass correctly represented popular sentiment in the West is shown by the similar reports which are made by the business men from , that section. The Providence Journal , which has strongly supported expansion , is in formed by its New York correspondent . rhat the city is full of Western men who are hero to buy their season's stock , and that 'the one thing they are talking about is the deep and general disgust in their sections with the course of things in the Philippines. ' The Washington correspondent of The Portland Oregonian - ian , another expansion journal , quotes 'a very observing man , ' who has made a tour through Ohio and Illinois , as say ing that 'there can bo no mistaking the auti-McKiuloy sentiment that exists among the people , ' and that 'it is not democrats , but republicans , who are complaining that the situation in the Philippines is not what it ought to be. ' It is the opinion of this observer that a severe reaction against the administra tion has now sot in , and that the presi dent personally is coming to bear more and more of the responsibility for the ugly situation. " IK. JOHNSON'S GREAT REPUTATION. Now , wo do believe that Johnson stands on so high a pedestal because he is so representative an Englishman , but we doubt if he ought to bo called repre sentative of the eighteenth century. Johnson was a typical Englishman in his sturdy individualism , in his suspic ion of "foreigners , " in his hearty hat red of all humbug , all pretence , all glit ter and show of rhetoric ( witness his famous advice as to the ' 'purple patches" in Robertson's ideal works ) , in his utter incapacity for speculative thinking along with his deep capacity for moral izing , in his strange blend of conserva tism in thought with radicalism inaction ( "Here's to the next revolution in the West Indies ! " ) . He stood firmly on his feet foursquare to all the winds that blew , resolved to admit no sovereignty over his life that was not a moral power , looking the world boldy in the face , an insular , choleric , but merciful free-born Englishman. As such ho is typical of the nation for all time , perhaps as typi cal a figure as could be found ; but was he specially , typical of the eighteenth century ? The eighteenth century , like many other generalizations , is a mislead ing term. There are two eighteenth cen turies , that of arid logic and prosaic common sense , and that of romantic sensibility" and enthusiasm for the simplicity of nature. The first we trace in Pope , Locke , and ( spite of his bril liant persiflage ) in Voltaire. The second is mirrored in Richardson , Rous seau , Sterne and Oowper. London Spec tator. A CONSERVATIVE. No great teacher more magnified the infallibility of individual reason than Buddha , or the self-poise of independent thought , when he said , as recorded in the Kalama Sutta : "Do not believe in what ye have heard ; do not believe in traditions be cause they have been handed down for .V many generations ; do not believe in anything because it has been handed down by many ; do not believe merely uecauso the written statement of some old sago is produced ; do not believe conjectures ; do not believe in that as truth to which you have become at tached by habit ; do not believe merely on the authority of your teachers and elders ; after observation and analysis when it agrees with reason , then accept it and live up to it. " F. S. B. COTTON-TAIL TRUST. Rabbits commence breeding at six months and average eight young every three months. It is proposed that wo commence with twenty pairs , ten males and ten females , which exclusive of laud will call for au investment of four dollars , resulting in the following pro duct : 8 months 80 0 months 160 9 months 880 1 year 4,160 1 year , 3 months. 17,280 1 year , 0 months. 69,760 1 year , 0 months. 279,080 2 years 1,118,720 2 years , 8 months 4,475,520 2 years , 6 months 17,902,720 2 years , 9 months 71.011,520 years 806,446,720 This product can be sold in the mar ket certainly at 5 cents each , giving a gross income in 8 yearsjof § 15,822,866.00 , to be deducted from which are the fol lowing expenses : Rent of land , per annum , $4,000 $12,000.00 Superintendence , per annum , $2,000. . 6,000.00 Feed ( estimated ) per annum , $2,000. . . 0,000.00 $24,000.00 To bo deducted from , gross income , leaving a net profit on a four dollar in vestment of over fifteen million , two hundred and ninety-eight thousand , three hundred and thirty-six ( $15,298- 886.00) ) in three years. . The capital stock of four dollars will be divided into 400 shares , par value one cent- . You are invited to subscribe. Senator Hayward - SENATOR HAYWAKD. ward has been ill. But he was not stricken with paralysis nor smitten with apoplexy. Senator Hayward , with whom THE CONSERVATIVE recently held a conversa tion , is swiftly regaining health and vigor. His robust constitution is unim paired. And there is good reason for conclud ing that Hayward will be fully restored to the performance of all legal and of ficial duties within the next ten days. Officeseekers might make him sick again , but it is hoped that oven those rapacious citizens seeking political place will permit a rest and time for recuper ation.