'Cbc Conservative.
A KADIATING . . . Some _ time , since
POINT. T H E CONSERVA
TIVE published an
article showing the unfailing fertility of
southeastern Nebraska , southwestern
Iowa , northwestern Missouri and north
eastern Kansas. The article gave the
names of the counties constituting such
section of the above states.
If one makes Nebraska Oity the hub
of a geographical wheel , the spokes of
which shall bo each 150 miles in length ,
within the oircuinforonco of that wheel
there is a population of 2,251,000. With
in this circle are 77U,000 of the popula
tion of Nebraska ; it also contains
591,000 lowaus , 559,000 Missouriaus and
028,000 Kansans. This shows that IW
per cent of the Nebraska population , 27
per cent of. the Iowa , 25 per cent of the
Missouri , and 14 per cent of the Kansas
population are within the circumference
of the circle , of which Nebraska City is
the solid and prosperous center.
Nebraska City has never indulged in
a "boom. " Therefore its manufacturing
establishments are upon a substantial
basis. The value of their commodities
is created by the immense demand for
them. The demand is an outgrowth of
a desire for cereal goods , packing-house
products and starch , which are always
true to name , up to standard and never
adulterated.
Nebraska City is located in a section
of country of which Malte-Bruns in
1827 , in his Universal Geography , says :
"These deserts , though scarcely habit
able themselves , are not such formidable
barriers to commercial intercourse be
tween people situated upon their opposite
sides , as those of Africa and Asia.
After we pass the meridian of 96 degrees
vegetation becomes less abundant and
vigorous , and sterility increases. "
John James Ingalls , the famous Kan
sas statesman and literateur , well said
"The modern history of the Missouri
valley dawned in 1541 , when Vasques
de Coronado , a Spanish soldier , led a
small army from Mexico across the
plains northeastward till he entered the
Missouri and Mississippi valleys. He
got some hint of the fertility of these
regions , for on his return to Mexico he
reported : 'The earth is the best pos
sible for all kinds of productions of
Spain. I found prunes , some of which
wore black ; also excellent grapes and
mulberries. I crossed mighty plains
uud sandy heaths , smooth and wearisome
aud bare of woods , and as full of crooked
backed oxen as the mountain Serena in
Spain is of sheep. ' "
The prevalent belief that the Missouri
valley , and especially the west side
thereof , was unfit for the maintenance
of a dense population and absolutely
worthless for agriculture , was so strong
tv-en in 1854 , that few citizens of the
Eastern or Middle states could be in
duced to attempt honio-buildirig in
either Kansas or Nebraska. The story
of the sterility of these plains was so
generally believed by the American
people that no contradiction except the
corn crops grown upon them obtained
any credit. Up to 1860 , when the first
scorching drouths withered the crops of
Kansas , there had been only a few
settlements made along the eastern riin
of Nebraska. Its southern counties ,
especially Pawnee and Richardson , had
very short crops that year ; but in the
main , Nebraska , especially in Dakota
and Burt counties , was blest with super
ior yields of corn and potatoes , in so
much that even from. Nebraska Oity
contributions of subsistence were for
warded to the drouth-stricken sufferers
in Kansas. The drouth in that state re
sulted in James H. Lane and S. C.
Pomeroy visiting the various state legis
latures in the winter of 1860-61 and
begging seed wheat and other valuable
things for their siiffering fellow-Kan-
sans. The country responded to their
importunities with great generosity.
The consequence was , plenty of beans ,
seed oats , seed corn and seed wheat con
tributed to Kansas , together with large
sums of money and the planting of a
great many acres in 1861 , together with
the subsequent election of Lane and
Pomeroy to be the first United States
senators from Kansas.
Since this episode in plowing and
politics there has been no absolute failure
of crops anywhere
I'lowing and Politic * . . . . . , ,
Within the area
described in the beginning of this
article. In the counties of the four
states which make up this wonderfully
fertile and productive expanse of well-
farmed lands , of which Nebraska City is
the growing and flourishing manufactur
ing center , there has never been made a
record of a complete crop failure during
the century.
There is needed
> . , .
among the voters
of the state of Nebraska a revival of
self-instruction as to the duties of citi
zenship. Every ballot should represent
study , reflection and conclusion upon the
part of the man who deposits it.
No ballot should represent the im
portunity , the persuasiveness nor the
sophistry of any candidate whose name
it may contain.
Independent investigation of economic
and political questions , by each citizen
who casts a vote , can alone bring abou !
an intelligent and efficient administra
tion of government. Nothing else can
save the people from eventual despotism.
Intelligent citizens need and will tolerate
no "bosses , " either in Nebraska or New
York. The money question needs study.
The foreign policy needs study. Ex
pansion and annexation need study
During the quiet evenings of the coming
winter every citizen , by his tranquil
hearth , should study the United States
and its best interests.
While THE CONs -
USEFUT ,
s E u v A TI v E may
not endorse all of the views on health
and sanitation advanced by Doctor
LongshorePotts in her entertaining and
nstructivo lectures , recently delivered
at the Overland , in Nebraska Oity , to
large and gratified audiences , it cheer
fully admits their practical and useful
character.
POKT NAUSKATK.
NAUSKATK.where in the long
rows of heroes which adorn the avenues
of the centuries one who arose with
more meteoric splendor than the "Poet
Nauseate" of Nebraska , with a white
rose ; John Milton Thnrston , United
States senator from Nebraska , lachry
mose exhorter for war with Spain and
all-round spectacular statesman ?
AX OKATOH. J6
Henley , between
the years 1692 and 1756 , made political
speeches , theological discourses and
lectures upon literature all over England ,
drawing great crowds to hear him talk.
But of him the wicked and unregenerate
Hogarth said :
"How fluent nonsense trickles from his tongue 1
How sweet the periods neither salt ! nor sung !
Oh ! great restorer of the good old stage ,
Preacher at once and zany of thy age ,
Oh ! worthy then of Egypt's wise abodes ;
A decent priest , where monkeys were the
Gods ! "
But Hogarth by posterity is pretty
well known while Henley and his
orations are never mentioned. Hogarth
made pictures. They live. Henley made
platitudes. They die. "Puck" and
"Judge" will out-live all the orators
whom they satirize.
* *
TEMPKRAW01S. > Jf
,
1884 , the old-style ,
honest-money , gold standard democrats
of Nebraska affirmed in their platform
the following relative to the liquor
traffic :
"The state of Nebraska , in common
with other states of the Union , has , and
exercises , the right of regulating the
sale of intoxicating drinks , in the inter
ests of good order within the state ; but
the prohibition of the manufacture and
sale of such drinks within the state is
contrary to the fundamental principles
of social and moral conduct , and if
enacted will be neutralized by the con
stitution of the United States , which
permits the introduction to every state
of foreign liquors imported from abroad
and controls also every form of inter
state commerce. "
With this declaration the party went
to the polls and received , in 1884 , more
than twice as many votes as it had re
ceived in 1882.
Subsequent legislation , partly in ac
cordance with the proclaimed views of
the Nebraska democracy of that day ,
gave to this commonwealth the so-called
-Jr