12 'Cbe Conservative *
HAISING 11AIL.UOAI ) TIES.
John I' , Ilrowii , of Indiana , TallcH of Ills
Contract With thn 1l\K \ Four.
John P. Brown , president of the
Indiana Forestry Association , has been
in Cincinnati. Mr. Brown is the origi
nator in this section of a unique idea to
relieve the present strained conditions
of the railroad tie market , and he has a
contract with the O. , O. , O. & St. L. to
plant one of that company's big farms
in Marion county , Ind. , entirely with
timber in other words , to grow the
trees from which ties are to be nindo.
Fifty thousand trees have already been
planted.
Speaking of his project Mr. Brown
yesterday said to a Commercial Tribune
reporter :
"All the main-line railways in the
northern states are experiencing diffi
culty in obtaining enough crossties to
supply their necessities. The oak is
well nigh exhausted in the principal
timbered btates , the South now furnish
ing the great majority of ties , both of
oak and also of yellow pine. Much of
the latter is substituted for the more
durable white oak. A limited quantity
of tamarack still remains in the vicinity
of the Great Lakes , while redwood is
largely used on the Pacific coast.
"But the nupply is rapidly diminish
ing , " continued Mr. Brown. "The
wasteful method of lumbering practised
throughout America effectually prevents
any material increase from young
growths. It is morally certain that
within a few years even within the
life of the middle-aged man of today
the end of our timber supply will have
been reached. Some of the railways ,
knowing that this will become scarcer
each year , have begun the planting of
rapid growing timber trees on their
vacant lauds , with a view to their use
for ties. It was with this object in
view that the C. , O. , 0. & St. L. people
contracted with me to plant their Marion
county farm. The catalpa species has
been selected aa the tree best suited for
this purpose. The catalpa is a native of
the Lower Wabash Valley. It formerly
flourished about Vinceunes , and was
ff i used by General Harrison in building
the stockades in defense against the
Indians , and the great length of time
they were preserved proves the extreme
durability of the wood. Numerous
instances are recorded of posts and
other timbers resisting decoy for seventy-
five to a hundred years. Singularly
enough , this remarkably durable timber
is of very rapid growth , trees having
attained a girth of forty-eight inches in
sixteen to twenty years from seed. On
the prairie states , where tree-planting
has been made a study and practice for
half a century , the catalpa is well
known , several forests covering a square
mile each having been planted by rail
way companies and others. Experience
* r
has shown this to bo a profitable invest
ment , trees largo enough for telegraph
poles and crossties having grown in
twenty years. It is to be hoped that
the Big Four catalpa forest in Indiana
will prove a complete success , and that
others will bo planted , and in large
quantities. "
In his famous
- , , ,
cross-of-gold-and-
crowu-of-thorns speech before the Chicago
cage convention of 1896 , Col. William
Jennings Bryan laid down the pernicious
gospel of the money fallacies as follows :
"And now , my friends , let us come to
the paramount issue. If they ask us
why it is that we say more on the monej7
question than we say upon the tariff
question , I reply that , if protection has
slain its thousands , the gold standard
has slain its tens of thousands. If they
abk why we do not embody in our
platform all the things we believe in ,
wo reply that when we have restored
the money of the constitution all other
necessary reforms will be possible ; but
that until this is done there is no other re
form that can be accomplished ! "
The foregoing taste of canned states
manship may now be taken as a lunch
before entering upon the campaign of
1900. If the quotation means anything ,
it means that no other question should
be , or could be , taken up as to any
governmental reform whatever , until
after the gold standard had been
abolished.
Trusts and imperialism and extrava
gant use of the public funds are , accord
ing to this dogmatic declaration of
Colonel Bryan , to be untouched , ignored
and forgotten until after the free and
unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio
of sixteen-to-one has been established in
the United States. Silver only , is the
issue !
POLITICAL
, .
Lamenting the death of General Lawton -
ton , the Philadelphia Ledger ( rep. ) says :
"The entire Philippines are not worth
the life of one such a bravo patriot , and
yet the administration has caused the
country to pay for them thousands of
lives and at least a hundred of millions
of treasure. Blood and money have
been poured out like water to perpetuate
a political blunder. "
The vote of Representative Glyun
( dem. ) of Albany against the gold-
standard bill is said by gold democrats
in Albany to be a violation of an ante-
election pledge. Judge Francis J.
Woods relates that when Glyuu sought
his aid in obtaining the nomination , ho
asked Glynu : "Can I pledge you to
vote and act in accordance with the true
democratic sentiment of this district
and against all Bryauism as to financial
legislation ? " Glynu made an unequivo
cal answer that Woods could pledge and
trust him in all respects.
WHVTIIK TAHIFF 11KFOKM COMMIT
TEE OPPOSES THE SHIPPING
SUDSIDYISILIi.
1. Ocean freights are regulated large
ly by the charges made by soiling vessels
and by tramp steamers , to which are due
the present low rates on grain and other
nou perishable products.
2. The proposed shipping-subsidy bill
will drive sailing craft and tramp steam
ers off the high sea , because it pays
subsidies primarily by mileage and speed
instead of tons , and by capacity , rather
than by actual freight carried. The
great bulk of the subsidy will go to the
large and swift steamships , and this
whether they carry big or little loads or
run empty.
3. With sailing vessels and tramp
steamers out of the way , and also with
such lines of steamers as could not ob
tain bounty either reduced in number
and size of ships or entirely removed to
foreign waters , the conditions for the
formation of a gigantic ocean steam
ship trust would be ideal. The fact
that our ocean wharfs and docks are
largely owned by railroads which are
also interested in various lines of steam
ships , would pave the way for such a
trust.
4. Such conditions are not favorable
for lower freight rates on exported farm
products. A possible slight reduction
during the first year or two while the
government's favorites were getting rid
of competition , would bo more than
counterbalanced by the artificially high
rates , once the trust was in full control.
5. It is certain that such a bill would
take hundreds of millions of dollars
from the people and distribute them
amongst certain shipowners. It is not
certain that any considerable portion of
these millions would , through lower
freight rates , higher wages to seamen
or to shipbuilders , get back to the
farmers and others who contributed to
the subsidy fund.
G. Is it of consequence to farmers
whether their products are exported
under American or under foreign flags ?
7. Will any of the subsidy ever get
past the shipowners and into the hands
of wage earners ?
8. Do our ship-builders need a stimu
lus when they are already over-crowded
with work ?
9. Is it not generally conceded that
we can now build ships as cheap as any
other nation ?
10. Are we not destined , with or
without bounties , to become the great
maritime nation of the future , and this
even in spite of our absurd and antiquat
ed navigation laws ?
11. Similar subsidies have for years
been paid by France and Italy , and
have not resulted either in giving them
a mercantile marine or lower freight
rates , though the subsidies have enabled
the ship builders to get high prices for
their ships.
12. .English ships carry the freights
