10 Conservative.
for England now comes from that
conntry. The whole world are building
railroads but the United States is still
ahead. We had on the first day of
January , 18G8 , 9,214 miles in opera
tion.
Railroads civilize and educate the
people , unite and strengthen the govern
ment. Wo are indebted to our railway
system for the preservation of the Union
and suppression of the great rebellion.
Without our railways wo never could
have filled up our depleted armies , and
forwarded supplies sufficient to have
kept them from starvation. No person
during the four years of the war could
travel by rail one hundred miles , in any
part of the United States , without pass
ing long trains loaded with soldiers
going to the front or returning from a
long campaign. It was by means of
our railroads that we were able to col
lect such vast armies , and send them
forward with such rapidity to the front ,
and that in four ytiars we finally over
came the foe. With ten years more of
railroad building in the United States ,
which will complete three main lines to
the Pacific Ocean , the government of
the Stars and Stripes can dictate terms
to the world. She would not brook an
insult from the combined powers , knowing -
ing she had millions of soldiers and
railroad transportation to every country
and city in the United States , by which
she could garrison the two oceans , the
lakes on the north and the Gulf of
Mexico on the south in less than thirty
days.
days.Will
Will the people of Nebraska have the
railroads ? Will they allow themselves
to be isolated from the steam whistle ,
when by a little expense and exertion
they can bring tins welcome sound to
their doors ? By individual and county
subscriptions , and a judicious disposition
of the state lauds they can have these
great improvements , that bring capital
and all the comforts and luxuries of life.
We have no hesitation in predicting that
the people of this young state of Nebras
ka will follow the precedents of the
older states , and thereby make Nebraska
the garden of the Missouri Valley. The
great conservative oracles sitting in the
back ground , with contracted brows ,
trying to imitate wisdom with an
ominous shake of the head , snuffing
afar off unpopularity to railroads , will
never live to see their darling dema
gogical theories adopted , but will soon
go to their political graves in utter con
tempt. The railroads of Nebraska must
be built no matter who builds them
who makes money or who loses it by
building them. They will be built , not
withstanding the puling jealousy of
some men at the sight of a great enter-
orise , not initiated and earned forward
by themselves , and which prompts them
in public and private , to continually
snap and gnaw at the heels of the great
railroad improvement.
R. M. ROLFE , F. A. WHITE ,
Secretary. President.
TO TUB PUMPKIN.
Hero's to the Pumpkin I The jolly old follow
Who glows in the Hold with his coating of
yellow I
Who stays on the vine when the meadows are
browning
And cheerfully shines when the Heavens are
frowning I
The sensible fellow
Goes on getting mellow
Till sunlight of summer , stored in and re
flected ,
Shines out of his face at a time unexpected.
Minds that nro gifted with keenest acumen
Must clearly perceive that to all who are
human
The Pumpkin presents a most notable sample
Of what may bo done by a steady example ,
He sticks to his duty I
When all the fair beauty
Of woodland and prairie is slowly declining ,
Midst gloomy surroundings , ho keeps up a
shining.
Like one who so kind that he's no'er apathetic
Brings cheer to his friends with a love sympa
thetic ,
When troubles are mingled 'till joys seem
departed ,
By showing a face that is all sunny-hearted.
So quirtly wiling
He's over beguiling
The sorrowful mourner to think of the lining
That brightens the clouds where the sunlight
is shining.
O Pumpkin , so plump and so sensible looking !
Staid Puritans dried theo on rafters for
cooking ;
Our forefathers prized thee for festal-day
dining
And laughed when thy lantern-lit faces were
shining.
The charm of old stories ,
Of fairyland glories
When tlion wert a coach , lends iti gleam to thy
yellow
May coming years bring thee , still golden and
mellow !
MANY FRENCH MORTON.
YA.TES DEPENDS GAGK.
In a recent issue of the Omaha World-
Herald , Henry W. Yates , Esq. , the well-
known and much respected president of
the Nebraska National Bank , makes a
cogent and righteous defence of the
official integrity and personal rectitude
of Secretary of the United States Treas
ury Department Lymau J. Gage. From
the able and unanswerable argument of
Mr. Yutes THE CONSERVATIVE quotes :
The Custom House Affair.
All the charges brought against Mr.
Gage in this transaction are covered in
an editorial which appeared in the
World-Herald's last Sunday's edition
( January 28. )
Under the headlines of "Mr. Gage's
Favoritism , " you say :
"The bank paid in a certified check all
but $50,000 of the purchase price. The
law says that the price should have been
paid in cash.
"Gage violated the law by accepting
the check and depositing it with the
bank that drew it.
' 'The government holds the deed to
the property for the unpaid $50,000 , and
the bank thus escapes city , state and
national taxes.
"It secures rent at the rate of 4 per
cent of the purchase price. It is a great
thing to have a pull with Lymau J.
Gage. "
It is not surprising that the World-
Herald should take this view of the mat
ter when papers which are supposed to
be supporters of the administration are
making the same assertions. In fact ,
some periodicals which are not political
express themselves in a like manner.
In the current number of a bankers'
magazine , published in Mr. Gage's own
city of Chicago , the case is stated in a
manner not very different from that of
the World-Herald , and it closes with
the statement that "the facts being as
they are * * * Secretary Gage will
probably immediately take steps to cor
rect his position , "
There are so many different charges
under this heading that each will require
separate consideration.
First , as to the violation of law. The
act under which the sale of the New
York custom house was authorized re
quires the proceeds of the sale to be
deposited into the United States treas
ury , and it is assorted that the deposit
into a national bank was not a deposit
into the treasury.
In support of this assertion the dis
coverers of this violation of law , pub
lished garbled extracts from United
States supreme court decisions , which
seem to sustain the charge.
These decisions are to the effect that
a national bank depository is not a
branch of the United States treasury.
They were rendered in cases where
money had been deposited under orders
of court and where , the bank having
subsequently become insolvent , the par
ties interested sought to make the
government responsible for the lost
money. The depotits were not in any
manner subject to the supervision and
control of the treasury department and
of course were not secured by a deposit
of bonds. The decisions were properly
to the effect that these deposits were not
made into the treasury and therefore
the government was not responsible.
These decisions instead of being ad
verse to Mr. Gage's action , were posi
tively in his favor if full quotations had
been given.
In one it is stated :
"The intended
designated depositories are
tended as places for the deposit of public
moneys of the United States that is
to say , money belonging to the United
States. "
And in the other cases cited it is
stated : "It is obvious from these pro
visions that it was only public money of
the United States of which national
banks could be made depositories. "
The whole contention is a play upon
the words "United States treasury. "
But it is the money belonging to the
United States and subject to the order
or control of its treasurer which con
stitutes the "treasury , " and a deposit
therefore into a properly designated and
authorized depository to the credit of
