The Conservative. 3 The roPUDlicnns TIIF . . rot Ti - . _ . . . . . * . > STANDARD.lf thov establish the gold standard for the United States and uiako it por- mauoiit and enduring as the everlasting mountains , will bo entitled to the grati tude of agriculture , commerce and manufacture , they will have made per manent and sure the just reward of labor. They will have earned some mitigation for oven their needless waste of blood and treasure and will have , at last , redeemed the one promise which more than any other elected McKiuloy president. The old American virtue of economy in public expenditures no longer wins from our rulers oven the tribute of a hypocritical admiration. For the second time the president has sent in an annual message without one word of warning against extravagance. He is , in fact , the chief advocate and abettor of extravagance. And all the depart ments ore pushing up their estimates. The attoruoy-gouoral urges that the salaries of federal judges bo raised , and Secretary Hay wants United States ministers and consuls better paid. We calmly talk now of a national expendi ture of $000,000,000 , although $800,000- 000 was thought a frightful sum twenty years ago. Prudence , frugality , have become contemptible virtues ; and the thrifty ant is jeered at by every happy grasshopper getting his "piece" of Me- Kiuley prosperity. The death of Senator-elect Hayward of Nebraska before he could take his seat reduces by two the republican ma jority in the upper branch of Congress , as the populist governor will appoint a member of that party , who will hold the seat until the legislature shall have a chance to elect , a year from next Ja nuary. Four seats in the senate were vacant before Mr. Hayward's death , through the failure last winter of legis latures to elect in Pennsylvania and Delaware inthe _ east , and in Utah and California in the west. Governor Stone is the only one of the four governors in these states who has yet made an ap pointment , but , of course , if the senate shall admit Quay , the other executives will promptly follow this example. Executive appointments in Utah and California would make no difference in the representation of those states as compared with election by the legisla tures , since the governor and majority of the law-makers in Utah are demo crats , while in California they are re publicans. But the democrats will gain a seat if the senate shall admit Quay from Pennsylvania on the credentials which he presents , and then later re ceive a man from Delaware on similar papers , as the governor of the latter state , chosen in 1800 , is a democrat , while the republicans carried the legisla- buro in 1808 , and might have had a senator sworn in on Monday if they could have agreed among themselves as to who ho should be last winter. New York Evening Post. or NIGGEHS. ! h * Pfresident put into the fore front of his message some statistics left over from his western stumping tour , designed to show how fast we are getting rich and , therefore , virtuous. But ho missed , it seems to us , his best chance to show what a Midas-touch resides in "McKinloy prosperity. " Ho referred casually , one might almost say , furtive ly to the "usual market value" of slaves in our new gems and glories of the tropic seas. Those are our slaves now , of course , and it seems to us that a reasonable cash estimate of what they are worth should bo reckoned in when figuring up the value of our Philippine booty. But how easy it would have beau for the president to point to the ruling price of slaves in the Sulus $18 to $20 , we believe , for likely niggers and then show what a marked advance this indicated in the money value of flesh and blood since he bought the whole population at a regular bargain- counter price of $2 a head. Here is a clear gain of 000 per cent , and it is safe to say that if Bryan had been elected president we should never have seen such an astonishing evidence of pros perity. Mr. MoKinley explains that each slave is now happy in the knowledge that he can buy his free- Happy Sorfn. , . " . dom it he can only find the money. Some carpers may say that the United States ought to advance it to him. But the president shows that all our spare cash is paid to the sultan , who now draws $700 a month from our treasury. With a score or two of wives to support , the wonder is how the poor sultan can get on with so small a sum. The foregoing from the New York Evening Post of December Cth suggests a job for Bngham Roberts , rejected member of congress , from Utah. Why not appoint him assistant sultan o : Sulu ? His experience as a polygamist if the place is put in the classified civi service and an examination required would no doubt qualify him for the task. It goes without saying that the United States government is the best on earth but that does not mean that it is perfect All of the different department report at Washington suggest reforms whio ] merit the careful attention of congress For a nation that is only a little more than one hundred years old the Unitec States has done surprisingly well , bu there is still room for improvement. Kansas City Star. AVAX8K PKOPIIET.Sfu ( * r > Towne , in . beginning his ad- ress , "that the present so-called pros- jerity is fictitious. It will collapse with- n the next few months and the results vill bo terrific to contemplate. Our inanoial system has no sound basis. It s like a house of playing cards and will certainly collapse. " These words we quote from that im partial journal , the Chicago Daily News. Fhe statement is quite in accord with ihe sentiments of the free silver leaders. They profited in 180(5 ( and preceding years by public distress , and they look ; o it as their best nlly in the warfare they are waging against the gold stand ard and sound finance in general. But it will not come to their aid. The present prosperity is not fictitious. Pros perity implies good wages and brisk de mand for labor. It implies abundant crops and fair prices for them. It im plies likewise largo railroad earnings , increased bank clearings , productive mines , industrial enterprise and mercan tile solvency. Mr. Towne must know from observa tion that the country possesses just now these elements of prosperity and many others. Such things are not fictitious. They will not disappear in the next "few months , " and there will bo no re sult that "will be terrific to contem plate. " When this Minnesota 'prophet looks down from the Dnlnth hills two or three months hence he will see eleva tors full of wheat , factories employing many hands and paying high wages. He will observe Superior street crowd ed with thrifty people and he will see around him happy homes , the reward of enterprise and industry. Mr. Towne says that "our financial system has no sound basis. " We admit that it needs reform. If the basis is at all unsound it is because of the silver agita tion which passed the Bland bill in 1878 and continued to plunge the country in to debt for the purchase of silver until the partial repeal of the so-called Sher man act in 1803. That movement culmi nated in the free silver campaign of 1800 , which retarded financial reform and threatened to debase the currency as well as to destroy public credit. Despite its defects "our financial sys tem" will not "collapse. " We do not believe that the mantle of Elias has fallen upon Mr. Towne , who in congress and elsewhere has made predictions that would entitle him to take the place of the "False Prophet. " Our country will continue to grow in prosperity and our financial system will before long bo secure from the assaults of Mr. Towue and his free silver associates. Sound Money. A realist is a person who sees things as they are and endeavors to see the direction in which they point.