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VOL. II. NEBRASKA CITY , NEB. , THURSDAY , MARCH 22 , igoo. NO. 37.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY.
OFFICES : OVERLAND THEATRE BLOCK.
.T. STERLING MORTON , EDITOR.
A JOUHNAL DEVOTED TO THE DISCUSSION
Of POLITICAL , ECONOMIC AND SOCIOLOGICAL
QUESTIONS.
CIRCULATION THIS WEEK 7,200 COPIES.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
One dollar and a half per year , in advance ,
postpaid , to any part of the United States or
Canada. Remittances made payable to The
Morton Printing Company.
Address , THE CONSERVATIVE , Nebraska
City , Neb.
Advertising Rates made known upon appli
cation.
Entered at the postofflce at Nebraska City ,
Neb. , as Second Class matter , July 29th , 1898.
ARCHISOLD IN DEFENCE OF THE
TRUSTS.
John D. Archbold , a director of the
Standard Oil company , has an article in
this month's Independent on "Effect of
Trusts on Labor. " Mr. Archbold be
gins : ' 'I am requested to express my
views relative to the charges so often
made agaiust trusts that they decrease
the number of workiugmen employed
and oppress their employees by lowering
their wages and depriving them of inde
pendence. I confidently assert that the
reverse of ill these charges is true. "
The Standard Oil magnate thus Sums
up his arguments :
"I claim that aggregations of capital
for industry by means of corporations ,
on a scale large enough to insure success
through the use of the perfect means ,
are decidedly for the advancement of
the laborer , as they increase the number
employed , increase the rate and certain
ty of wages , reduce the price of mater
ials which the laborer consumes , and ,
to a greater extent than any other form
of industry , distribute their profits
among employees and other small in
vestors.
"Although much that I have said may
seem to be mere theory , I know that it
is all true of the business with which I
am connected. It has reduced the price
of its products , it has paid the best
wages to its employees , and payment has
been constant and certain. It has in
creased the number of employed , and a
more faithful and better contented army
of employees never existed.
"A great number of small concerns
could never have created the costly ma
chinery and plants , constructed the pipe
lines , built the tanks , tank cars and
tank vessels , opened the markets of the
world , and built up the present oil busi
ness. That required combination and
capital , without which there would not
be today 35,000 workmen drawing $100 ,
000 per day in wages , thousands of per
sons of moderate means interested in
the business , and cheaper light in the
palaces and huts of every continent. "
. On the two-hun-
CANT. , . . , .
dred and eleventh
page of Webster'sUnabridged Dictionary
published in 1896 THE CONSERVATIVE
finds "cant" defined aa : empty , solemn
speech , implying what is not felt , hypo
crisy.
That estimable and staunch republican
organ , the Indianapolis Journal , in a re
cent issue makes the pertinent inquiry :
Was it "cant" or "falsehood" when Pres
ident McKinley , in his last message , de
clared that "our plain duty is to abolish
all customs tariffs between the United
States and Puerto Rico and give her pro
ducts access to our markets" and recom
mended prompt legislation to that effect ?
How can it bo anything else than
"cant" ? Has McKinley on the tariff-
on peace , on war , on insular policy or
anything else given out anything beside
' 'cant' ' ? He began once to resist Hanna
Quay , Platt and Elkins when they first
took charge of him , but finally said : "I
can't. "
He is from Cant-on and will go on
with "cant" to the end.
The State of
A PATRIOTIC Nebraska in gen-
PHItANTHROPIST.
eral and Grand
Island in particular , should be tumultuously -
uously and proudly grateful to the St.
Joseph News of the 14th for thus men
tioning the personality and the mental
machinery which runs it , of a patriotic
philanthropist :
"Mr. Henry T. Oxnard of Grand Is
land , Neb. , represents the Sugar trust
in Washington. Mr. Oxnard is small in
stature , but mighty in purpose , and one
of the smoothest lobbyists ever known
at the National Capital. He owns a
beet sugar factory at Grand Island ,
which he built with money contributed
by the farmers of that place , in order
that they might have a market for their
beets , and they have been fighting him
ever since for reasonable prices. Whenever -
over Congress is in session Mr. Oxnard
remains in Washington watching the
interests of the Sugar trust. "
An engine without an engineer and
Congress without Oxnard , are wrecked
machines. The benefactions of Oxnard
came down upon Nebraska years ago ,
like an avalanche of prosperity and lux
ury. For the slightest subsidies ,
amounting to not more than twice their
cost , Mr. Oxnard constructed two beet
sugar factories in Nebraska. Whether
they have ever profitably made any
sugar , even with a state bounty of one
to two cents a hundred pounds , nobody
knows. But they have made votes for
the Sugar trust. The beets have been
used to beat , in Congress , all reduction
of tariff duties on sugar. The Senators
and Representatives from Nebraska
have been oftener governed by Oxnard
than by their constituents.
STARRED THE
METHODISTS.a well-known
Francisco business
man , created something of a sensation
when he read a paper before the Metho
dist Ministers' Union by saying that
Methodism in San Francisco is on the
down grade. He stated that after forty
years of Methodism in San Francisco
and out of a population of over 800,000
there are less than 8000 in the church.
He charged that in the Methodist
Church there is an aristocracy official
ism ; that revival methods are stereo
typed and the laity is careless of its ob
ligations. Oakland Enquirer.
IN IT FOR
THE MONEY. ,
and I will tell you
what we shall tell the people of this
country : we are going to make all the
money out of the transaction we can by
enlarging our trade with Oriental coun
tries. And we are going to embalm the
doctrines of the Declaration of Indepen
dence upon the statute-books of the Phil
ippines j nst as quickly as we think the
time has come to do it , and we are not
going to do it one minute before. [ Con
gressman Grosvenor of Ohio ( Imperial
ist Rep. ) in the House of Represen
tatives.
Our flag does not
WHAT THE
FLAG MEANS. mean ° n ° thin&
here and another
thing in Cuba or Puerto Rico. [ Presi
dent McKinley to 20,000 Methodists at
Ocean Grove on August 25 , 1$99. ]
