Conservative * 11
CHANGING WKSTKKN PUBLIC
OriNION
The Now York Evening Post calls at
tention to two important facts. One of
of them is that "for the first time since
the financial issue arose in its modern
form , a few years after the close of the
civil war , the republicans in either
branch of congress have been united in
favor of action on the right side. " The
other fact is that the section of the
country tributary to the Mississippi
river , which "in the past has been the
seat of free coinage delusions , soft money
crazes , and reckless financial theories
generally , " has now assumed the leader
ship in the movement for sound finan
cial legislation.
The hard times which followed the
panic of 1873 created an immediate de
mand for an inflation of the currency
to "relieve the distress. " The hard
times were felt the most in the west and
the cry for inflation was the loudest
there. Indiana and Iowa wore preemi
nent among the states which clamored
for more greenbacks. When General
Grant vetoed the inflation bill in 1874
twenty-five republican senators voted to
pass it over his veto and only twenty
voted to sustain the veto. In the house
102 republicans voted for the bill and
only 64 against it. The Iowa and
Indiana senators all republicans were
for the inflation bill. So were all the
Indiana representatives and all those
from Iowa with one exception.
The republican party , as a whole , has
been for sound money since 1874 , but
there have always been republican con
gressmen in larger or smaller numbers
who refuse to stand by sound money
principles. That was due mainly to the
fact that their constituents , generally
in the west , had not been converted to
such principles. But the constituencies
have been converted. The Evening
Post .rejoices in the fact that "now not
only do the republican representatives
from Indiana and Iowa vote for currency
reform , but they have been the most
prominent agents in committing their
party to this policy. " Mr. Overstreet ,
of the Indianapolis district , introduced
the bill the house will pass next week ,
and in Indianapolis , "onco the head
quarters of financial folly" when
Morton was senator the movement
started which has culminated in the
house bill.
The new speaker of the house , the
first one elected from a state west of the
Mississippi , was a leading member of
the caucus committee selected last year
to draft a currency reform measure ,
while "the republican governor of Iowa ,
reflected last month by an overwhelm
ing majority , has been the strongest ad
vocate of the gold standard known in
all that country ever since Leslie M.
Shaw came into national prominence by
his bold championship of that cause two
years ago. "
The Evening Post says that such a
showing is as encouraging as it is
significant , and that it encourages the
nation to believe that a safe currency
'is as safe now that the Mississippi
valley is coming into control of the
nation as when the guardianship of our
finance rested with the Atlantic sea
board. "
The west has made the great progress
described by the Evening Post. No
doubt within a few years there will bo-
jiu to be another advance toward the rec
ognition of the right of invested capital
io the same measure of protection that
is given to labor that they should bo
on an equal footing in the administra
tion of the laws. The day will come
when people will look back with
amazement at the time when mayors ,
governors and other administrators of
public affairs truckled in a spiritless ,
cowardly fashion to the outrageous de
mand of "business agents" and labor
agitators. Ohicago had its lesson when
both governor and mayor hesitated to
enforce the law against Debsisin , and it
became necessary to appeal to the
national government to secure protec
tion which it was the duty of the city
: md state to give. The day when city
and state officials cowered before
Debaisiu will always be the dark day in
the history of Chicago. Kansas has had
its lesson as well as Chicago. That
state has learned that the rights of in
vested capital cannot safely be violated.
Chicago cannot have too many new
industries. If Mr. Frick builds a steel
plant hero he should be welcome and he
should be assured of the prompt and
impartial administration of the laws.
The city , which has been made great by
the constant inflow of now capital and
energetic managers of it , will cease to
grow if that inflow is checked.
But new industries will not come here
unless there is a reasonable assurance
that the rights of capital and employers
shall be recognized to the same degree
at least as are those of labor and of
the walking delegates and "business
agents. "
The mischievous consequences of
yielding to the unjust demands of labor
demagogues are so fully understood
now that there will be little patience
with the insane demand that work on
the government building in Chicago
shall be stopped unless tiio granite to be
used in it is cut here. The implication
is that Chicago is an independent city
and has a right to prohibit the importa
tion of material not manufactured here.
The mere statement of such a proposition
demolishes it. The people of this city
and state will not submit to the blind
despotism which asks that a Chinese
wall be built around the city of Chicago
and that it shall bo forbidden to ex
change all commodities freely with
other parts of the country.
The " " "busi
"walking delegates" or
ness agents" who have tyrannized ovei
contractors and mayors make a mistake
a
when they attempt to coerce the
national government. The United
States will erect its buildings where it
pleases and as it pleases. It will buy its
materials and have them shaped in any
part of the United States it chooses.
Any walking delegate or band of con
spirators that may attempt to put a veto
on its actions is bound to be crushed.
This is a government of equal rights
and no discrimination can be tolerated
within the limits of the country in
favor of ono part of it or against
another. Ohicago Tribune , December
lath , 189 ! ) .
HEARD ON T1IE OAKLAND FJSKltY.
"Nebraska farm lands are good
property those days , " remarked D. W.
Hitchcock , ticket agent of the Union
Pacific. "I have just refused an offer
of $10,000 for a farm in Burt county ,
which cost mo $ G,000 a few years ago.
My selling price is $15,000. And talk
ing of Nebraska , I knew W. W. Foote
when he was driving an express wagon
in Omaha. Afterwards he was a re
porter on the Omaha Herald. "
* * *
"And speaking of Omaha , " said the
man at the end of the seat , "I see that
Senator John M. Thurstou was married
at Washington last week. The news
papers said that immediately after the
ceremony he started on a Southern tour
in a private car belonging to the Union
Pacific company. I knew Thurston and
his first wife when they were doing
their courting belonged to the same
Good Templars' lodge with them. When
they got married there was no private
railroad car waiting in the back yard
for them. Thurston may have had
money enough then to make a wedding
journey across the Missouri to Council
Bluffs and back to Omaha if he should
return in a couple of days or so. That
was in 1871. His first wife was a small
woman with dark hair , dark eyes and
dark complexion. Her father was a
brother of Senator Poland of Vermont.
In these days ho is frequently referred
to as 'Judge' Thurstou , but the highest
judicial position he over reached was
that of justice of the peace. Ho at
tracted the attention , in the 70's , of
A. J. Poppletou , the chief attorney for
the Union Pacific , who gave him a
position as assistant attorney for that
company at a salary of $8,000 as a
starter , and when Mr. Poppleton retired
in 1890 Thurston succeeded him as lead
ing counsel for the company with a
salary of $15,000. Mr. Popploton was
one of the brainiest lawyers in the state.
He located in Omaha , a newly fledged
attorney , in 1854 , and there died a few
years ago , totally blind , though he con
tinued in the practice of his profession
for several years after being suddenly
stricken with blindness. " Oakland En
quirer , Nov. 21,1899.