6 The Conservative *
Wo hoar nnich
IIIGIIKH MOTIVES.
ft bo tit "higher
motives. " Wo nro told that "higher
motives consist in duty to others.1' In
a recent address to scholars iu a noted
educational institution the speaker said :
"God o > ks you to remember that all
wisdom is a trust for the sake of ignor
ance ; that all wealth is a trust for the
sake of poverty ; that all strength is a
trust for the sake of weakness ; that you
are to bear burden * of your fellows ,
because yon are scholars. " That being
so , then God is the greatest of all promoters
meters , and ignorance , poverty and
weakness the greatest of monopolies.
As survival of the fit is the invariable
standard of nature , the work of educa
tion should be to augment fitness to sur
vive.
The above quoted remarks are simple
emotional insanity. They are false and
misleading in every sense of the word.
Why do parents educate their children ?
Is it not to better fit thorn to survive in
the struggle for existence ? Why do
children desire education ? Is it not to
strengthen themselves for the struggle
of life ? Who is the wisest man , he
who squanders a patrimony following
an insane desire as a philanthropist or
he who wisely conducts himcelf for his
own benefit ? There is not an intelligent
student in the world who is not study
ing for self benefit. Let iis be honest to
ourselves. Honesty to self is honesty to
all. What hiuher motive can a man
have than to live according to inevitable
necessity of self-preservation without in
any way weakening or threatening his
abilities in that direction ? Anything
higher is impossible. '
MR. MORTON , COME INTO COURT.
*
We have noticed in THE COXSEUVA
Tivn , which , wo all know , is J. Sterling
Morton , repeated and reiterated inti
mations that Col William Jennings
Bryan at one time had written to a
correspondent whoso aid ho had soli
cited in procuring an office for Mr
Bryan , said to bn secretaryship of the
state board of transportation of Nebras
ka , that it was for the money that was
in it and not the honor which induced
him , Colonel Bryan , to seek office.
At last wo have what purports to be
an authoritative denial from Colonel
Bryan , although rho colonel did not
seek or wish to have it made public.
The Omaha Bee , the other day , in an
interview with the colonel , stated that
Colonel Bryan unequivocally denied
ever having made such a statement ;
and the denial was sweeping and abso
lute , both as to the letter and spirit of
the ohargo.
And we learn from reliable source
that F. A. Harrison , secretary of the
republican state committee , has written
or telegraphed to Mr. Morton as follows
"In an interview today W. J. Bryan
denied that ho had ever said or inti
mated in any way that ho desired office
for the money there was in it. Ho said
that anything J. Sterling Morton might
pay in that connection was false. "
In the slang of the day : "It is up to
Mr. Morton now. " Wo have read the
one or two issues of his paper published
since this denial by Colonel Bryan , and
the columns of THE CONSERVATIVE are
is silent as the grave. Who is in error
to put it mildly ? Who is the slan-
lerer ? Is Mr. Morton convicted of
bearing false witness against his neigh
bor ? In his zeal has he gone beyond
the confines of truth ?
Will The World-Herald , the apostle
of 1C to 1 and the disciple of Bryan , or
The Independent , controlled by the
pious Tibbies , enlighten us ? Will Mr.
Morton himself manfully retract his in
jurious allegations or insinuations ; will
: ie furnish proof of his assertions ?
We pause for a reply. Nebraska City
Daily Press.
SIDEWALK OF IRON RUST.
People passing the North End Park
iast week were no doubt surprised to see
a young woman on her hands and knees ,
in the midst of a gang of workmen , en
gaged in building a sidewalk.
Miss Winnie M. Robinson , hailing
from Oxford county , Me. , who was
doing the work , is a pioneer woman
contractor in this country. She is about
20 years of ago. She has invented a new
kind of sidewalk , but as she does not
wish anyone to take her word for it un
supported , she obtained a permit from
the city of Boston to build a section and
allow time and use to prove its worth.
The sidewalk presents much the same
appearance as does asphalt , as far as its
smoothness is concerned , but its color is
a reddish hue. Those who have seen it
pay it looks like iron rust , and such it
really is , for it is a sidew.allc made of
iron rust.
It remained for the inventive skill of
a woman to utilize peroxide of iron fil
ings , PO that when mix d with chemicals
and solutions a mixture is formed muc.h
the same as mortar , and when spread
out and allowed to harden , it forms a
solid mass.
Two or three years ago , while at work
in a mine operated by her father in
Nova Scotia her trained eye as an expert
mineralogist noticed that what was once
ore had formed itself into a mass with a
quantity of gravel. Miss Robinson im
mediately paw there were excellent pos
sibilities by combining the ore and
gravel. She accordingly made experi
ments to determine just how such a
firm substance was formed , and , as a re
sult , she formed the combination oi
materials which is to be seen at the
North End Park. Boston Herald.
Freedom is the intelligent use of one's
abilities for self without exciting re
straint from environment.
THE TAMMANY MACHINE.
[ J. N. Lnrnccl in the October Atlantic. ]
To the mastery and management of
ill controllable elements in the body
politic the professional politicians bring
training , experience , constant thought ,
ceaseless labor , systematic combination
and organisation among themselves ,
says J. N. Larned in the October
Atlantic. They can afford to give time ,
thought and energy without reserve to
the work ; it is their vocation ; it is what
they live for , commonly what they
ivo by ; and the vast tribute levied for
their "committee funds" puts every
possibility of action and influence into
their hands. The Tammany organiza
tion in New York maintains , as is well
known , a paid captain in each election
district , whose business is to know each
voter in the district ; to establish friend
ly relations with him ; to flatter him
with attentions ; to bring all appro
priate influences to bear on him ; to
enlist him , if possible. , as a recognized
Tammany man ; and to foster an effec
tive esprit dc corps among such support
ers by means of social clubs , balls iu
winter , excursions in summer , and the
like. For the fruit of his exertions ,
gathered in substantial votes , each cap
tain is responsible to a responsible committee -
mitteo in his assembly district. He is
liberally supplied with funds and with
bits of patty patronage , for use in em
ploying assistants and covering his ex
penditures. His position depends on
his success. He loses it if ho fails to
keep the Tammany vote of his district
up to an expected mark. His superiors
in the assembly district committee are
similarly accountable , in their turn , for
tha work of all their captains , to the
executive committee of Tammany Hall ,
which is made up of responsible district
leaders. It is a system of more pre
cision and more efficiency than that of
the city government. The discipline
maintained is stricter than in the mili
tary organization of the state. At every
moment the forces of Tammany ore
ready for call ; for every need they are
exactly known. This is the perfected
machine organization of the party in
American politics , the model to which
all of its kind , state or municipal , are
more or less closely conformed. It is a
costly piece of administrative mechan
ism. It involves the employment of an
army of paid agents , picked for clever
ness and energy , with a great staff of
able chiefs , whose services claim high
rewards. The maintenance of such a
system demands the revenues of a state
and the taxing power of a state ; and it
is because the "machine" and the
"boss" have acquired that ; power and
those revenues , under conditions lately
developed , that they have become what
they are.
