llbe Conservative *
One of the great-
BREAKERS
AHEAD. e8fc dangers now
threatening onr republic -
? < public appears to be nnperceived by the
majority of our citizens and ignored by
the few who are able to road the signs
t of the times in the light of past history.
It is the danger of a change in the
form of our government ; a substitution
of imperial , autocratic power for the
repression of the will of the people
through their chosen official representa
tives. The present administration is
the first that has attempted continuously
and systematically to stretch its dele
gated authority so far in this direction ,
and it is strange that onr citizens do
not take alarm at such bold robbery of
their dearly-bought liberties. Probably
their blindness or their apathy is due to
the manner in which the theft is accom
plished , the paternal tone in which the
people are assured that they shall be
governed for their good and that it is
for their own interest to sit still and keep
hands off and let their "revered" presi
dent manage public affairs for them.
Not only do they silently acquiesce in
this self-assumed dictatorship ; they
even encourage the usurper by loud
acclaim. "We are in trouble , " they
admit ; "but let McKinley alone ; he will
bring us through ; he knows what he is
about. " And the opposite party , while
contending over the issues which are to
shape the coming campaign , do not lay
stress upon this chief crime of their
political enemies ; but prepare to place
equal confidence in and grant equal
power to their own candidate , who
would probably abuse the one and use
the other with as little scruple and as
much self-sufficiency as astonishes the
world in the present incumbent of the
office.
It is indeed already a startling record ;
war declared against the protests of the
best citizens ; pledges broken in the
carrying out of national purposes ; a
system of unequalled corruption , en
couraged and shielded and rewarded by
and through the highest officials ; procla
mation made without the knowledge or
consent of congress ; orders given to the
army upon individual responsibility ; the
public mails officially controlled ; the
telegraph tampered with ; information
withheld from the public in a word , the
people treated like children , and with a
mixture of tyranny and deceit which no
European monarch would venture to
display towards his subjects this is
what we are come to , after our early
training by Washington , Franklin ,
Jefferson and other honest patriots
after our later severe experience under
the guidance of the martyr president ,
who never forgot that he was the ser
vant of the people here we are ; we ,
who not many years ago poured out
blood and treasure to banish slavery
from our borders , now depriving blacks
at home of liberty and life and waving
our flag over acknowledged slavery
abroad we , who a few years ago
abolished polygamy by law , now recog
nizing that institution in payment of
"value received" from a "heathen" ally
wo , who whine and pray and snivel
over our religious superiority , and then
turn and rend our peaceful neighbors
and our trumped-up enemies for our
own selfish gain here we are , the
laughing stock of the nations for onr
hypocrisy , their detestation for our dis
honesty and cruelty.
And we , a free people , do and suffer
all this at the bidding of one man , whom
our laws enable us to control and , if
need be , to set aside.
Verily , if we are utterly ruined before
this game is played out , we shall
deserve our fate !
ELIZABETH E. EVANS.
A * * * * r ° four
BARBED WIRE.
our popuhstic and
fusion "contemporaries" are wildly talk
ing about the increased prices of wire
fences to the farmers. Their attention
is called to the evidence given before
the Industrial Commission on Tuesday ,
November 14 , in the city of Washing
ton , by J. W. Gates , president of the
American Steel & Wire Co.
Under oath that gentleman stated :
"When the manufacture of barb wire
fence developed in this country about
1874 , I was in the retail hardware busi
ness. I paid Mr. Ellwood of DeKalb ,
who is now my colleague , twenty cents
a pound for a carload of barb fence
wire that we have since sold at two
cents a pound when we were in absolute
control of prices as he was at that time.
During the time that barb fence wire
has dropped from twenty cents per
pound in 1874 to two cents per pound in
1899 (25 ( years ) , the wages of the labor
ing man have continually advanced on
account of the improved methods of
manufacture , the increase of the out
put , and the fact that most of our men
were on a tonnage basis and what we
thought was a fair rate of wages per
100 pounds a few years ago has turned
out now to be a very high price on account
of the enormous tonnage turned out. "
The foregoing shows a difference in
favor of the farmers who use wire
fences , of 18 cents on the pound in the
25 years between 1874 and 1899. Every
body knows that in this quarter of a
century the wages of employees in all
iron manufacturing establishments have
been permanently and largely advanced.
Improved machinery and improved
methods of wire drawing have increas
ed the output of wire fence so that it
has been sufficient to almost keep up
with the constantly growing demand.
Demand for wire fence has more to do
the price of wire fence than trusts or
anything else. It in demand that gives
value to any saleable thing in the
markets of the world. Aa demand de
clines value declines ; when demand
ceases there is ne value at all.
DEAD. Just as THE CON-
SEUVATIVE goes to
press comes the notice that onr esteemed
friend and co-worker , E. V. Smalley ,
general secretary of the National Sound
Money League , is dead. He was a writer
of great force , because he was a clear
thinker and zealous in advocating all
economics which he thought right. In
a future number THE CONSERVATIVE
will endeavor to give a biographical
sketch of Mr. Smalley and to tell some
thing of his efficient labors for honest
money.
The editor of
A
FORESTRY
EXPERIENCE. THE CONSERVA
TIVE has lived upon
the same quarter section of land adjacent
to Nebraska City , Otoo county , Nebras
ka , since 1855. He lived thereon for
about two years prior to its survey by
the government. When occupancy
began thereupon there was a small patch
not exceeding forty acres of indigen
ous forest trees.
During forty-five years all the fuel for
a large family , in a large house ( and
much post timber ) has been taken from
that tract. And in December , 1899 , it
contains more sound and thrifty trees
than it did in December , 1855. This is
because it has been handled intelligently
and carefully as a real dividend de
clarer.
The timber taken from it for fuel and
other purposes has been of a value of
two hundred dollars each year. In forty-
five years it has paid in fuel and post
dividends nine thousand dollars. That
beats any plutocratic investment in
stocks and bonds of fifty dollars cost
of the forty acres made in 1855 , of
which THE CONSERVATIVE has any
knowledge.
"It is an open question what effect
the passage of the financial bill by both
the house and the senate will have upon
the financial question as a political
issue , " says the Denver Republican
( silv. rep. ) . "It will be recalled that
advocates of silver coinage believed that.
to open the mints to the unrestricted
coinage of silver at the old ratio would
so far settle the financial question that
it would be removed from active politics.
It would seem that a settlement of it in
the opposite way would have the same
effect. "
The William. Lloyd Garrison and
Wendell Phillips clubs of Charleston ,
South Carolina , composed entirely of ex-
slave owners and unreconstructed rebels ,
send their greetings to the various
Jacksouian clubs in the North which
are made up of the disciples of the
money fallacies and also believe in an
irredeemable paper currency.
