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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 1899)
* x The Conservative * In a spasm of he- FORMULATED hysterics au alleged MKNDACITY. leged national democratic convention at Chicago , in July iSflG , formulated mendacity into a party platform. That effort at false hood would win the belt in a tourna ment with Ananias , Saphira , Gulliver , Baron Mnnchausen , Eli Perkins and all the expert liars in the Dreyfus trial. Read this consummate specimen : "We declare that the act of 1873 , de monetizing silver without the knowledge or approval of the American people. " ( But this lie is exposed by the Con gressional Record which shows that the bill was debated in the house and in the senate and the archives of the govern ment demonstrate that the act of 1873 was pending and discussed more than two years after its first submission to congress ) . Mendacity now proceeds : 1 'has resulted in the appreciation of gold and a corresponding fall in the prices of commodities produced by the people ; a heavy increase in the burden of taxa tion and of all debts , public and private ; the enrichment of the money-lending class at home and abroad ; the prostra tion of industry and impoverishment of the people. " What about "the prostration of in dustry and impoverishment of the people" during the year 1899 when all business is in larger volume and the in flux of foreign gold greater than in any previous year of the existence of this republic ? What have the supporters of the foregoing absolutely false and malicious avowals to say now in extenu ation of that crime against the content ment and prosperity of their fellow citizens ? How can the same men reiterate the same untruths in 1800 and ask credence from the people to whom they lied in 1896 ? When forecasts , predictions and prophecies of the vintage of ninety-six all sour and spoil how can the same sooth sayers ask to be believed in 1809 ? Do the American people have no powers of memory ? Can they recall a single prophecy of Bryauarchy made in ninety-six which has been verified between that year and this ? What brazen effrontery for the bank rupted prophets of three years ago to again enter upon the prediction business and ask , in the light of the proven falsity of their former forecasts , decent , thoughtful citizens to credit them ! How puerile , insignificant and ridicu lous are the prophecies made by Bryan during the last presidential campaign. Each and every one of them relative to the gold standard and its maintenance has been demonstrated false in its entirety. Not one forecast remains un- demolished by events. Every pre diction as to the pecuniary trials and Bufferings which would afflict the citi- tA , V zens of the United States has been proved a falsehood. The sixteen-to-ono financiers know perfectly well now and knew perfectly well then that Olio Standard. , , , , , . their theories put into practice would make the United States a monometallic country. They know then and know now that the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1 would institute and maintain silver monometallism. But read their incon sistent platform , of 1896. Look about for "the paralysis of hard times" and for "prosperity locked fast" and read again this putrescent platform : "We are unalterably opposed to mono metallism , which has locked fast the prosperity of an industrial people in the paralysis of hard times. Gold mono metallism is a British policy , and its adoption has brought other nations into financial servitude to London. It is not only un-American , but anti-American , and it can be fastened on the United States only by the stifling of that in domitable spirit and love of liberty which proclaimed our political indepen dence in 1776 and won it in the war of the revolution. We demand the free and unlimited coinage of both gold and silver at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1 , without waiting for the aid or con sent of any other nation. We demand that the standard silver dollar shall be a full legal tender , equally with gold , for all debts , public and private , and we favor such legislation as will prevent for the future the demonetization of any kind of legal tender by private contract. " The great national - . , . al strng g 1 e for votes will be renewed next year with the control of the national government as the prize for that party which gets the majority. Therefore in 1900 the old and threadbare twaddle that a "majority is always right" and the Latin embalmed blasphemy "vox populi vex dei" will be roared from thousands of throats. The efficacy of ballots in correcting wrongs and reforming bad methods , however , must depend upon the intelligence and patriotism of those who cast them. The vote of ignorance and vice is not a good medicine to remedy the ills of a government. Mr. Carlyle once said : ' 'Practically men have come to imagine that the laws of this universe , like the laws of constitutional countries , are de cided by voting ; that it is all a study of division-lists , and for the universe too depends a little on the activity of the whipperfl-in. " This is the fusion and confusion view of ballots. House Rent Holcomb looks to "the whippers-iu" for an endorse ment of the populist conspiracy to count in an amendment to the constitution and two judges and also for an approval of his house-rent vouchers. . , Statesman ship TALKING. . , . . , . consisting wholly and exclusively of talking is not wise nor safe. Good acts are better than fine words. The men who can show prairies plowed , farms fenced , homes built , trees planted and patches of wilderness turned into patches of paradise by their inspir ations and labors are better men for the commonwealth than professional de- olaimers and emotional orators. Carlyle pays : "Talk , except as a preparation for work , is worth almost nothing ; sometimes it is worth in finitely less than nothing ; and becomes little conscious of play ing such a part , the general sum mary of pretentious nothingnesses , and the chief of all the curses the posterity of Adam are liable to in this sublunary world. " The beginninglessness of deeds and the endlessness of words are the chief characteristics of Bryanarchy. Talk without thought is like food without nutrients and those fed upon it grow thin now and promise to be intensely thinner in 1900. On AugUBt Slat , WHAT PARTY ? . in Lincoln , Colonel Bryan submitted to an interview in which he remarked with silver-toned sincerity : "As a member of the party I have said and still say that an abandonment of the ratio of sixteen to one would be equivalent to an abandonment of the money question , because no free coin age law can be adopted until a ratio is agreed upon , and , since the sixteen to one ratio has been agreed upon , an abandonment of it would mean either that the ratio is wrong or that , although it is right , we are afraid to advocate it. " Whether as a member of the populist party or a member of the Chicago plat form party or a member of the silver republican party or a representative and candidate of all these parties Colonel Bryan does not tell. But , of course , one who began seeking office in Nebras ka with the avowal that he wanted money in it , rather than honor , is ex cusable for being less explicit under present circumstances. "To the extent that the president can accomplish it , he has made permanent and forcible annexation of the Philip pines the policy of his party , " comments the Philadelphia North American ( rep. ) . ' 'It remains for congress and the next national republican convention to endorse or reject or modify that policy , so boldly and nakedly proclaimed by Mr. McKinley. The great majority of the American people at this stage are obviously in favor of prosecuting the war to victory , but it is not so sure that they favor the imposition of our rule upon the inhabitants of the Philippines in perpetuity. "