The Conservative. 1 1 * * J expended on schools , 48 per cent have money in savings banks , each congress man represents 4.5,829 voters and Bryan received 82 per cent where Tilden and Hendricks received 51 per cent. 75 per cent of the citizens of Now Jersey voted in ' 96 ; 6 per cent are illiterate , $2.95 is used for schools , 9 per cent have inter ests in savings institutions , each con gressman represents 46,184 voters or almost as many constituents as the entire delegation of 7 from Mississippi ; Bryan received 86 and Tilden and Hen dricks 52 per cent of the vote cast. In Pennsylvania 74 per cent vote , 7 per cent are illiterate , $8.23 is used for education , 5 per cent have money on deposit , each congressman represents 40,878 voters and while Bryan received but 86 per cent of the vote Tilden and Heudricks received 48 per cent. 81 per cent voted in Wisconsin , 7 per cent are illiterate , $2.45 is devoted to schools , each congressman represents 48,766 voters and Bryan received 87 per cent of the vote to 49 per cent given to Tilden and Hendrioks. In New York , where 71 per cent voted in ' 96 , 6 per cent are illiterate , $8.90 is used in the schools , 25 per cent have money saved and on deposit and each congressman represents 40,121 voters ; Bryau received 89 per cent of the vote and Tilden and Hen dricks 52 per cent. In giving the records of the states which gave Mr. Bryan his highest and lowest per capita strength , and the com ments thereon , we do not hold him personally responsible for the deplorable condition as revealed by a compilation of the facts , but as the leader , the commander in-chief of the democracy of ' 96 we do hold him responsible for the present condition of democracy which is far worse than at any time in its history. Space alone forbids an analysis of the remaining 88 states , but having the data at hand we may at a later date give it to the public. The people the common people the true democracy have apparently been lulled to sleep by flimflamming leaders and an unscrupulous press , who have been sow ing tares among the democratic wheat and when the harvest of 1900 is ripe , it is hoped the tares , together with the flimflamming leaders and unscrupulous press , will be gathered together by the people , the common laborers , the true democracy and cast into political oblivion. F. H. CLIFFORD. Oheraw , S. C. , Nov. 27 , 1899. UNITY "Unity , " pub lished at Chicago , and full of the practical and pure thoughts of Rev. Jenkins Lloyd Jones , is one of the most useful and attractive periodicals that come to THE CONSERVA TIVE. Try "Unity. " Address Unity Publishing Co. , 8989 Langley Avenue , Chicago , 111. Ifc te THIS VACANT . SENATORSiiir.nonnced that ex- Senator Allen has consented to allow his name to be used as willing to accept the appointment from Governor Poynter to the vacant senatorial seat , if the lattter should see fit to appoint him. We cannot believe this is authentic , and hope Judge Allen will not be called upon to make the sacrifice unless he is willing. He an nounced before the late democratic state convention that his financial affairs had suffered so during his previous six years incumbency of this same office that he could not afford to take a position away from home that the district judgeship was just what he wanted , as he could thereby be much at home to look after his farm and financial interests and could in time be able to get on his feet again. The convention took Judge Allen at his word and did not press upon him the more distinguished honor of a nom ination ( and election ) to the supreme bench , as this would take him much of the time from home. We hope his friends will not CGBB this position upon Judge Allen , which he might not deem it patriotic to decline and thus be put on the downward road again financially. Besides , wo think a democrat should be named occasionally for some prefer ment here in Nebraska. Fremont Herald. A "VAMPIKK" OF T1IK IMAGINATION. When a man feels it to be his duty or to his interest to stir up sentiment against the railway ho is impelled to use very extravagant language ; otherwise , his hearers will not realize their suffer ings. So the Fecretary of the Chicago Board of Trade recently gave a con gressional committee some new and startling information about the danger of railway combinations , and turned the page of history back "in order to de nounce the defunct Southwestern Traffic Association as a "vampire which for a decade sucked the life blood of the com merce of the Missouri Valley. " Presi dent Ripley of the Santa Fe Company has quietly punctured these sophistries with a few sharp facts. The vampire story is met with the fact that during the decade in which the pooling principle was tested by the Southwestern Traffic Association , the Missouri Valley and the adjoining country prospered amaz ingly. It was when the pool was inter rupted at intervals by quarrels between the roads and "natural competition" had full sway that rates were disturbed , values were unsettled and merchants and shippers suffered. The whole trouble was that the pools were not legalized and made binding on the members. This is a point which fair-minded men ought to consider. Mr. Ripley also denies the stock as sertion that rates were advanced under ; his pool , Any advances on a few com modities were far more than offset by reductions on others , and there was a steady decrease of average rates during ; he ton years in question. This is another lard fact against a weak theory. The cherished delusion that pooling would be followed by great increase in rates is met by the emphatic denial that railway rates in this country ever have been or ever can be too high. As for the past , Mr. Riploy might well have cited the tremoudous losses of capital invested in our railways , involving the bankruptcy of a very large proportion of the mileage and of companies , as evidence that transportation rates have been too low , rather than too high far lower in this new land than in the thickly settled countries of the old world. Discrimination in favor of largo ship pers is charged against the railways by those who cry for unrestricted competi tion ; but free competition , Mr. Ripley declares and the facts support him "tends to the aggrandizement of the few and the submerging of the many. " The railways want a law requiring equal rates to all , but many of the large ship pers do not want it. Hence they oppose pooling. Yet the interstate commerce law pre vents the railways from stopping dis criminations. As one of the commis sioners says : "the law prescribes uni form rates and forbids the only known plan by which rates can be kept uni form. " While pooling would benefit the public by ensuring stability and equal ity of rates , it would protect the rail ways , and Mr. Riploy thinks that the railways , which are taxed more heavily than any other interest , have a right to ask fair and honest treatment , which they are not receiving. The govern ment , he urges , should do ouo of three things : (1) ( ) Remove all restrictions on the railways ; (2) ( ) protect them , or (8) ( ) buy them. "The present mixture of all the objectionable features of the three is unjust to the last degree. " The login and facts of the article pub lished in this issue are unanswerable. They constitute an appeal for justice to the railways and also to those whom the railways serve , which ought to re ceive the assent of all fair-minded law makers. The Railway Age. Payne's proposed basis of representa tion in republican national conventions "would bo a good thing for the south , " the Savannah News ( dem. ) says. "It would result , in all probability , in keep ing negroes out of federal offices in those sections of the southern states where public sontimout is against negro office holders. At present the southern states have so many delegates in the national convention that candidates have to make pledges to them in order to stand any chance of getting the presidential nomination , "