Vv/ |
, '
1 ?
10 Conservative *
THE AMERICAN MAN WITH THE HOE.
Buoyed up by every hope that animates
The human breast ho stands erect and firm ,
Amidst thu fertile empire of his fields ;
Upon his face the light of promise like
The burnished sun ; within his armored limbs
The pent-up earnest for all future time.
Who built so wide and high the shell of bone ,
Which holds his teeming brain ! who sot
his eyes
So wldo apart ? 'twas liberty , 'twas she
Who ran the wires of energy along
His sturdy legs and put the fires of hope
Like blazing torches in his lifted eyes.
Behold him as ho treads the loamy soil
With independence such as kings might crave ;
The dawn to sound his reveille ; the dusk
To bring him peaceful rest ; his only lords
The changing seasons as they come and go ;
The gentle spring ; the summer with her
warmth
To woo the harvest , and that russet time
The autumn with lmr rich rmvards , and last
Old winter with her snowy months of rest.
By every mark of toil within his hands ;
By every bead of sweat upon his brow
The world may know ho lias the right to eat
His honest bread and look to none for aid.
Ho holds the keys to all the riches packed
Beneath the generous sod , and wider still ,
He finds within the heart of nature hid
The secrets , ages long have sought , and deans
The heavens with knowing eye to read the
clouds
Like open pages of a printed book.
This man of brawn and brain with upward face
Bees visions in the stars and dreams his
dreams
That kiss the gates of God ; with eagle wings
His strong imaginings leap up the skies ,
And o'er the face of all the earth , and deep
Within her hidden mines , and yokes with toil
The cheering comfort of a poet's song.
Nay , but Markham , the sodden man you sing ,
Was never whelped beneath the floating folds
Of yonder flag , but bred in empires old ,
And crumbling to decay , whose walls were
built
Upon the craven necks of slaves ; but wo
Have reared a nation towering high upon
The willing shoulders of such men as these
As strong as rocks that rib this changless
earth ;
Nor all the blatant tongues of anarchy ,
Nor fostered discontent , nor serpent wiles
Of oily demagogues , can move the state
Deep founded on this mighty adamant.
WILLIAM REED DUNIIOY.
Hon. Peter Jensen
JENSEN JESTS.
sen , in an open
letter , replied to an editorial of THE
CONSERVATIVE , entitled "Decline of Me-
Kinleyism" . THE CONSERVATIVE re
spects Mr. Jensen but disputes the cor
rectness of his criticism.
Mr. Jensen asks whether we should
have left the Philippines in he hands of
Spain. The ratification of the treaty of
peace made that impossible. The ques
tiou is whether this extension of sovereignty
eignty shall be construed as in former
purchases of territory , whether the
constitution is to extend to the people
with its guarantees of civil liberty or
they be ruled by on inconstant and ir
responsible congress , unbridled by con
stitutional restraint ? The administra
tion , in the case of Puerto Eico , has tak
en the position that the islands are not
a part of the United States , and that
hey are subject dependencies. This is
imperialism. Mr. Jensen may call it
by a different name and find consolation
in so doing.
Speaking of THE CONSERVATIVE'S cri
ticism of the presideut.relative to Puerto
Rico , Mr. Jensen inquires : "does he not
know that the president from the begin
ning advocated free trade with and for
the island ? " The President did , in the
following message to congress , recom
mend free trade for Puerto Rico :
"Since the cession Puerto Rico has
been denied the principal markets she had
long enjoyed , and our tariffs have been
continued against her products as when
she was under Spanish sovereignty. The
markets of Spain are closed to her pro
ducts except upon terms to which the
commerce of all nations is subjected.
The island of Cuba , which used to buy
her cattle and tobacco without customs
duties , now imposes the same duties up
on these products as from any other
country entering her ports. She has
therefore , lost her free intercourse with
Spain and Cuba without any compen
sating benefits in this market. Her cof
fee was little known and not in use by
our people , and , therefore , there was no
demand here for this , one of her chief
products. The markets of the United
States should be opened up to her pro
ducts. Our plain duty is to abolish all
customs tariffs between the United
States and Puerto Rico , and give her
products free access to our markets. "
Mr. Jensen's isolation , upon his Jef
ferson County ranch has no doubt pre
vented his perusal of the daily bulletins
indicating the variable mental weather
in the executive brain basin. Only a few
days after the now famous presenta
tion of the "plain duty , " the president
was working most tactfully for the pas
sage of the tariff bill , or as Tom Reed
said , "to make Puerto Ricans 75 per
or % citizens. "
The Chicago Tribune says :
"At the last minute the influence of
the President was thrown into the scale
and it undoubtedly passed the bill. "
The Chicago Times-Herald , owned by
Mr. H. H. Kohlsaat , whose loyalty to
the president is well known , under the
caption , "The President's Momentous
Mistake , " says :
"Responsibility for the reversal of the
Republican policy towards Puerto Rico
is laid directly at the door of the Presi
dent. The press dispatches from Wash
ington all testify to the fact that one
word from the White House reaffirming
the President's declaration of last Dec
ember would have rallied Republican
Congressmen from every section of the
Union to the performance of 'our plain
duty' to Puerto Rico. The President
failed to utter that word , which , like a
blast from the horn of Roderick , would
have carried dismay and consternation
through the lobbies of sugar and tobac
co in Washington. Instead of preserv
ing what might have been pardoned as
"
a dignified silence , the President permit
ted it to be understood that he wished
to see free trade with the United States
denied to Puerto Rico. In this we
think President McKiuley committed
the first almost irreparable mistake of
his administration. "
Either the republican press of the
country or Mr. Jensen is in error. The
newspapers all know that the president
in the beginning advocated free trade.
Ho reversed himself at the command of
his directors , Hauna & Co.
Mr. Jensen further asks TiiE CONSER
VATIVE : "Why attack an administra
tion which will faithfully keep every
promise made in regard to the territor
ies just acquired ? " THE CONSERV
ATIVE attacks an administration which
kept no promise made at the outset of
the war with Spain. The presi
dent began insular government by
breaking promises.by trampling upon the
constitution , by failing to do what he
himself declared to be a "plain duty. "
Is it not reasonable to suppose that a
similar disregard of moral and constitu
tional obligations will continue and that
he will persist as a breaker of promises ?
Mr. Jeusan proclaims that in a choice
between McKiuleyism and Bryanarohy
he will take the former , "even if mixed
with a little expansion. " Thereby in
dicating that he would prefer his Mo
Kinleyism without the new brand of ex
pansion and fully corroborates all THE
CONSERVATIVE has said about the de
cline of McKinleyism. The forecast of
THE CONSERVATIVE was that the people
might possibly come to their senses and
that a man might he nominated repre
senting neither Bryanarchy nor McKin
leyism , a citizen who stood for Consti
tutional government.
Mr. Jensen's rniiid may be enlighten
ed as to the decliae of McKinleyism ,
by pensively perusing the opinions of
very prominent republicans and many
famous republican newspapers , which
THE CONSERVATIVE patriotically repro
duces from time to time. Mr. Jensen ,
while attending to his onerous duties as
a Commissioner to the Paris Exposition ,
next summer , will find great solace and
infinite consolation in such choice liter
ature.
Ex-Senator Edmunds : I believe that
the Puerto Rican tariff bill is clearly
unconstitutional and violates all our
agreements with and pledges to the
Puerto Ricans. If I were in the senate
I should certainly vote against it.
A. P. Kent , of Indiana , who declined
to permit the congressional convention
to elect him delegate to the National
Republican convention , says :
"I do not believe in the administra
tion's stand on the Puerto Rico affair ,
and I do not want to accept the respon
sibility of going to Philadelphia. "
The same congressional convention
declined to endorse the policy of the ad-
i
ft