'Che Conservative ,
" 'J.
ing the people accepted American sovereignty
eignty , not only without opposition , but
with joyful trust and confidence. The
present issue is simply this. Shall we
repudiate , or shall wo fulfill , the nation
al engagements ? Shall this great repub
lic break faith with the little island of
Porto Rico ? Having secured the fruit
of General Miles' promise , shall wo now
renounce the promise ?
The American people will not toler
ate any paltering with solemn obliga-
, , , tions. Recoguiz-
Should he 110 . . , , . i
iircnchorFnitii.in& the national
good faith as the
nation's chiofest good , they will con
demn any violation of it as the blackest
crime. All over the country this Porto
Rican question has stirred to the deeps
the national heart and conscience ; leg
islation inspired by a breach of good
faith will bring a terrible Nemesis.
It is said that a tariff is needed be
tween Porto Rico and the United States
to provide a case for the courts , to deter
mine the extent of our jurisdiction over
the new dependencies , especially the
Philippines. I answer that no conveni
ence , no expediency , no other obligation
ever justifies a breach of the national
good faith.
Let me add , toothat this Porto Rican
legislation is testing us before the eyes
, , of the Filipinos ,
. .
Filipinos , .
1
wiitcuiiiff u . who keep well in
formed of our do
ings. They will judge by this legisla
tion of the value of American promises.
When the ablest and most statesmanlike
of Aguiualdo's emissaries to the Philip
pine Commission once expressed the fear
that the American government might
not keep the promises it was making
for Spain ( said he ) made promises and
broke thorn I silenced him with the re
ply : ' -Senor , the United States is
not Spain. " Is he now to learn , are all
the Filipinos now to learn , that in the
first legislation for our new dependencies
we prove faithless to our pledges and re
creant to our obligations ? Such an ex
hibition of ourselves will strengthen the
hands of Aguiualdo and the insurgents ,
because unhappily it can be used to sup
port their persistent statement that the
Americans are no more trustworthy
than the Spaniards.
At the very moment when we need to
inspire confidence in the minds of the
conquered Filipinosshall we commit an
act which will confirm their distrust of
us , quicken their suspicious , and breed
new and , perhaps , ineradicable anti
pathies ? God forbid !
Very sincerely yours ,
J. G. SCHUUMAN.
In the "Arena" for the current
mouth , Albert Watkius institutes a
comparison between New York , Illinois
and Kansas , for the purpose of showing
that in New York and Illinois "far
more radical , socialistic and paternalis.
tic legislation has been enacted than in
Kansas , where the legislatures were
controlled by the Populists during the
greater part of the past ton years. "
Mr. Watkius makes his statement espec
ially emphatic in regard to what is called
auti-corporation and anti-capitalistic
legislation. All of which is true , and for
this reason. The legislation in the
eastern states above mentioned is effec
tive. It was not framed by ignorant
men maddened by an emotional hyp
nosis. In Kansas the laws wore passed
by populists in a spirit of epi
leptic rnge. In the other states the
laws were passed as a result of a sane
demand among business men for a reg
ulation of capital. No one questions
the fact that laws controlling the ac
tions of men operating capital are need
ed ; just as laws controlling the actions
of men operating their hands are need
ed. But to go at corporation laws in
wild wrath , is folly and the result is
folly , as the Kansas statute books will
prove on the populist pages. To go af
ter corporation laws as other laws should
be approached , sanely and in good faith ,
is a duty that faces every American.
Emporia Gazette.
The Oakland En-
BRYAN AS A
TRAVELER. quirer , speaking of
the roving charac
teristics of Mr. Bryan and the house-to-
house canvas he has been making for
the presidency , says :
"William J. Bryan has supplanted
Daniel Pratt as the great American
traveler. He traveled 88,000 miles lost
year and he expects to travel much
further this year , because he will have
the excuse of being a presidential nom
inee for making stumping tours. Last
year Mr. Bryan was compelled to in
vent ostensible reasons for his speak
ing tours a visit to Yosemite , a hunt
in Texas , etc. but he always got in
his speeches , even when they had to
be wedged between the heats of horse
races , as at Sacramento. This year
no apologies will be needed , and Mr.
Bryan will fire speeches from the ends
of railroad trains at such a rate that
no one will question his preeminence
as the rapid-fire orator of Columbia
the Maxim-Viokers gun of sentimental
politics.
"But , really , can the country expect
wisdom from a man who is always on
, _ . , . . , , the go ? Is not wis-
Wlsuom HIIU Wheels. , . , . , ,
dom the [ product
of reflection , and is not reflection the
laughter of solitude ? Does it promote
solidity of statesmanship to be forever
tearing about the country at limited-
express speed ? Is there not some con
nection between a fixed dwelling place
and sound conclusions ? Is not travel
for observation while quietude is for
thought ? Of old wisdom dwelt in a
grove or some other quiet place ; the
sage or the philosopher or the oracle had
a fixed place of residence , and students
traveled from afar to secure the advan
tages of instruction ; but Mr. Bryan is so
afraid the people will not come to his
school of wisdom that he determines to
push his political philosophy on the
Market by something like a house-to-
louse canvas. He will not allow his
wisdom to gather dust on the shelves
10 will peddle it out and see to it per
sonally that it is introduced into every
lousehold. He is the oracle on wheels ,
the seer turned commercial traveler , the
sage who has become a tramp.
"Mr. Bryan differs as much from Jef
ferson and Jackson , the earlier leaders
. . , . , , , , of his party , who
A .T " nr . .
"Rustling" Alosns. , , , .
bided quietly in
Mouticello or the Hermitage till the
voice of the country called them forth ,
as he differs from the grove-inhabiting
wise men of old. He has no notion of
waiting to be called on ; he is altogether
and not unjustifiably skeptical concern
ing the chances of getting a call if he
waitt for it. Ho proposes to go out and
rustle up' a summons from the Ameri
can people to be their Moses. Ho stands
ready to quote cut-rate prices on poli
tical philosophy , and next November he
will have a grand sacrifice sale which
will be the culmination of his grand bar
gain offerings. "
The
POSTAL ABUSES. . _
vice of the United
States has since its establishment been
operated at a loss and the deficiency has
been met out of the general revenues of
the government. In most countries the
postal system is operated on business
principles and made to pay for itself.
The chief item of expense is the distri
bution of second-class matter. It costs
for transportation alone $24,000,000 and
probably $10,000,000 more annually for
handling , while the government receives
but $3,500,000. Pamphlets and the
cheapest kind of literature are distribut
ed by the government at but a fraction
of the actual cost. Congressman Loud
introduced a bill to correct a few of
these abuses and make the department
approach a paying basis but it was over
whelmingly defeated. Our experience
in the postal business should deter us
from taking hold of other business en
terprises , now carried on by private in
dividuals , until state officials have a
higher conception of public duties and a
wider knowledge of business methods.
TAINTED , "WARTS AND ALL. "
When Oliver Cromwell had his portrait
painted he said to Lely , the artist : "Paint
my face as it is , warts and all. " Every
public man in time gets painted as he is.
The people come to know him. His char
acter is illuminated , his mind is explored
and charted , every vertebra of his spine is
tested. There ho is , finally , "warts and
all. " President MoKinley is being
painted these days just as ho is. The
"warts" are beginning to show on the
canvas. More people have been disillu
sioned concerning important phases of
his character during the past few weeks
than ever before. Springfield ( Mass. )
Republican ( ind. ) .
