The Conservative *
to the markets of this republic duty
free. But if certain interests here op
pose such in-coming , because it will
lessen their the old-fash
profits , good , -
ioned statesmen , who have so long ar
gued iu favor of making artificial prices
by statutes , must domesticate the tariff ,
the constitution to the contrary notwith
standing. But when they remember
that their Napoleonic leader , of the
massive brain , solemnly declared years
ago , with great gravity of utterance ,
that "tho foreigner pays the tax , " why
should they worry about Porto Rico ?
"Why not let the bewildered shippers of
products thence into the United States ,
continue "to pay the tax" ? Why not let
the Filipinos and the Sandwich island
ers also continue to pay the tax ?
. The blood-hound
SCENT. . , , .
is remarkable for
the acuteness of his sense of smell and
the facility with which he finds and fol
lows the tracks of the hunted animal ,
brute or human. But in politics the blood
hound has his parallel in the populist
candidate. In the campaign of 1896
that party nominated a candidate for
the presidency and also one named Tom
Watson for the vice-presidency. The
first was a thoroughbred , and notwith
standing he lost the track which led up
to the White'House ' and was beaten in
the race , ho soon took it up again and
with singular sagacity and lung power
has been baying with continuous pro
fundity , hot on the trail , for nearly four
years. But the second , poor Tom Wat-
sou , has not the populist nose for office ,
and his good-natured bark along the
trail is never heard. Ho may have
more sense but less scent than the thor
oughbred.
"The economic
COMPETITION. . . . . ,
conditions of mod
ern life , though more complex , are in
many ways more definite than those of
earlier timos. Business is more clearly
marked off from other concerns ; the
rights of individuals as ngaiust others
and as against the community are more
sharply defined ; and above all the
emancipation from custom , and the
growth of free activity , of constant
forethought and restless enterprise have
given a new precision and a new promi
nence to the causes that govern the
relative values of different things and
different kinds of labor. The starting
point of our science therefore cannot be
made clear without a brief account of
the growth of modern forms of indus
trial life ; and to that we proceed next.
We are however in difficulty for want
of a word to express peoperly the special
character of these modern forms.
"It is of ton said that the modern forms
of industrial life are distinguished from
the earlier by being more competitive.
But this account is not quite satisfac
tory. The strict meaning of competition
* pgst.
seems to bo the racing of one person
against another , with special reference
; o bidding for the sale or purchase of
anything. This kind of racing is no
doubt both intense and more widely ex
tended than it used to bo ; but it is only
secondary , and one might almost say , an
accidental consequence from the funda
mental characteristics of modern indus
trial life.
"There is no term that will express
these characterics adequately. They
are , as wo shall presently see , a certain
independence and habit of choosing
one's own course for oneself , a self-
reliance ; a deliberation and yet a
promptness of choice and judgment , and
a habit of forecasting the future and of
shaping one's course with reference to
distant aims. They may and often do
cause people to compete with one
another ; but on the other hand they
may tend , and just now indeed they are
tending , in the direction of cooperation
and combination of all kinds good and
evil. But these tendencies towards col
lective ownership and collective action
are quite different from those of earlier
times , because they are the result not of
custom , not of any passing drifting into
association with one's neighbors , but of
free choice by each individual of that
line of conduct which after careful
deliberation seems to him the best suited
for attaining his ends , whether they are
selfish or unselfish.
"The term 'competition' has gathered
about it evil savour , and has become to
imply a certain selfishness and indiffer
ence to the well-being of others. Now
it is true that there is less deliberate
selfishness in early than in modern forms
of industry ; but there is also less deliber
ate unselfishness. It is deliberatencss ,
and not selfishness , that is the character
istic of the modern age.1'
A. PROPHECY FULFII/LEO.
[ From the Nebraska City News , Nov. 0,1858. ]
In looking over the minutes of the
second legislative assembly , on file in
the secretary's office , a few days since ,
we came across the following minority
report made by J. Sterling Morton ,
to the house of representatives of
which he was a member January 22 ,
1856. This report was , by the house , re
fused a place in the journal of its pro
ceedings ; it was , however , preserved
among the minutes kept by the chief
clerk , and filed in the secretary's office ,
where it was found as mentioned. As a
bank charter is now pending in the leg
islature , we deem this a fit opportunity
to publish this report , premising that
the prophecies therein contained have
proven but too true. We commend it
to the attention of the members of the
present legislative assembly , and ask
them to pause ere they inflict such a
ourso upon the territory as the charter
now under consideration.
Minority llcport.
The select committee to whom was
referred an act to incorporate the South
ern Bank of Nebraska , have had the
same under consideration , and a major
ity have reported it back without amend
ment and recommend its passage. But
in duty to myself and the democratic
party , of which I am a representative , I
bog leave to submit the following mi
nority report :
Thus far I have opposed and voted
against every bill granting banking
privileges which has come before the
house , and I have done so because I
have been able to see neither the neces
sity nor the propriety of establishing
and legalizing swindling powers in this
young and flourishing territory. I re
gard the forty days just passing away as
the advent-time of wild-cats into Ne
braska , and I believe they will bo re
membered hereafter by the people of
this territory as the forty days in which
Nebraska committed financial suicide.
We have legislated into existence five
banks , with power to issue six millions
of rag money , and no one can prove
either the necessity or the utility of such
nionied monstrosities iu any country.
On the other hand , they are dangerous
to the prosperity of the commonwealth
at home , and ruinous to our credit and
prosperity abroad.
I had hoped that our democratic ex
ecutive ( Izard ) would , like Andrew
Jackson , say , "No more banks ! " .take
the responsibility upon himself and
strangle every new-born wild-cat with a
veto gag. But in this , I , with many
other democrats , have been sadly disap
pointed. I have , therefore , only one
trifle of satisfaction left me , and that is
to report back the bill providing for the
incorporation of the Southern Bank of
Nebraska , and recommend its rejection ,
its destruction , and its final consign
ment to that oblivion where all the rest
ought to have been.
Hoping for the best , but hoping
against probabilities , I respectfully sub
mit the above for your consideration.
( Signed ) J. STERLING MOUTON.
The Boston Record ( Rep. ) "has al
ways held that , as a matter of practice ,
it is preposterous to take the Philippine
Islands , inhabited by Malays and yellow
men iu general , into this country ; yet
to hold them by conquest and not take
them in is , of course , an anomaly , " it
says. "It smacks thoroughly of the old
Roman theory of holding the world in
subjection and levying on it to support
the luxuries of the Romans. Finally
the Supreme Court will have to decide
this question , and it is of far more im
portance than all the decisions laid
down by John Marshall , for it will de
termine the whole future of the nation , "
