"tf . * . A : < .k
Conservative.
The feeling of
SA
CANDIDATE. the anti-imperial-
ists toward Bryan
is faithfully portrayed by the following
editorial which appeared in that reliable
and ably edited newspaper , the New
York Evening Post. Ho is held equally
responsible with the President for the
treaty of peace with Spain and the
blunders which are a logical sequence of
it. As a 10 to 1 star Bryan was not a
paying attraction. The only hope of
the democratic party is to profit by the
wide-spread feeling of dissatisfaction to
the imperial policy of the adniinistra-
f tiou. Since Bryan is no more acceptable -
* ' ble than McKinley to this element of
voters it would mean a repetition of the
defeat of 1890 to nominate him. The
Post says :
1' The demerits of William J. Bryan as
a candidate for the Presidency were con
sidered at a nieet-
1' on nil AVuiitinir. . . _ .
ing of Democrats
in Brooklyn last evening. He was
weighed in the balance by the party lead
ers of influence and renown , and was
found wanting. It was made very clear
that he would not get the votes of these
ineii in the nominating convention , if
they should happen to be members of it.
It is not so clear that they will have any
votes to give in that body. Of course ,
ex-President Cleveland will not be a
delegate. It is doubtful if ex-Governor
Campbell of Ohio will be , and it is al
most certain that Judge Willett of Ala
bama will not be. Nevertheless , these
men represent a considerable number of
votes that will count in the election , if
not in the nomination.
"While the chances are ten to one that
Mr. Bryan will again be the nominee of
. his party , there is
{ Flighty of Purpose. . . . , / J ,
1 little reason to suppose -
| pose that he will make a better run than
j he did before. While the public have
learned a good deal about Mr. MoKinley
since the last campaign that will detract
from his support , they have also formed
some opinions about Mr. Bryan that will
tell against him heavily. They have
discovered that he is not a man of con
victions , but is flighty of purpose and
not to be depended on in a crisis. He
has lost rather than gained ground by
his incessant speech-making during the
I past four years. He has had his finger
in every pie , quite unnecessarily and
often to his own hurt. Ho volunteered
in the Spanish war , and as soon as he
resigned his commission , became an ad
vocate of the treaty with Spain by which
wo bought the Philippines. It was his
influence that put that fatal possession
into our hands. There were votes
enough to reject the treaty until he put
his shoulder to the wheel.
"Mr. Bryan's apology is that he de
sired to stop the war , and to reject the
. . . treaty would have
, ,
*
Peanut Politics. , . , ,
been to start up
the war afresh. This is hardly a plaus
ible excuse. The country will not be-
Hove that Senator Hoar was wrong and
Mr1 Bryan right in their estimates of the
consequences of rejecting the treaty.
Spain was in no condition to renew the
war if the treaty had been rejected. Wo
alone had the decision of that matter in
our hands. If the treaty had failed by
the action of the Senate , it would have
been necessary either to amend it , or to
renew the protocol , and make a new
treaty. The causes of war having ceas
ed , and Cuba being in our hands , there
was nothing left to fight over. Evi
dently Mr. Bryan thought that the Re
publicans would gain a political ad
vantage if the Democrats should defeat
a treaty which carried with it an exten
sion of our territory , and therefore gave
his influence for ratification. Whatever
consequences have flown from ratifica
tion , he is , therefore , in part responsible
for.
for."It
"It will be said that this is past and
gone. True ; but it is an index of Mr.
Bryan's character
Irresponsible. , . . . . . , .
and political meth
ods. It stamps him as a man without
firm convictions , and as liable to take
any unexpected course in dealing with
the great question of our new posses
sions. Certainly Mr. McKiuloy has no
advantage over him in this particular.
He cannot be relied upon to follow his
"own plain duty" two weeks after ho
has formulated and proclaimed it to the
world. But a candidate is needed of
whom it can be said beforehand that he
has convictions and will follow them
when the pinch comes. Does anybody
claim so much for Mr. Bryan ? Can
any Democrat affirm with confidence
that William J. Bryan , if elected , would
say , "The Philippines , so far as the
President of the United States can make
them so , shall be free and independent ? "
There is nothing in his career that leads
us to think so. "
Napoleon doAN -
AN AGKE15D IIE. , -1 . . „ . ,
clared : "History
is a lie agreed upon" or , briefly , his
tory is an agreed Ho. In Nebraska
the valuations placed upon personal and
real property , by sworn assessors , are lies
agreed upon by these precinct officials.
Solemnly , under oath , they gather at
the court house and agree to report cows
and other bovine animals at from three
to five dollars each for taxable purposes.
The law says all property shall bo listed
at its cash or selling value. But the
doctrine of "protection for infant in
dustries" has so long dominated in
Nebraska that encouragement for liars
and rewards for lies came , very logically ,
into the revenue system of the state.
The biggest liar is blessed with the least
taxation upon his property. That stimu
lates the prevarication industry among
individuals to a glowing heat. But the
contest for the liar's belt among indi
vidual tax-payers is not more exciting
than the match , to determine the prowess
of composite liars , between counties.
The prize lied for by the several counties
of the commonwealth is the evasion of
taxes for the maintenance of the state
government , with its oil inspectors ,
railroad commissioners and labor bureau
parasites. This contest for the blue
ribbon , by concrete mendacity , is a
marvelous exhibition of legalized and
protected perjury.
The whole system of revenue in
Nebraska is merely an encouragement
to the infant industry of manufacturing
ies , making false oaths and fostering a
general disrespect for truth and honesty.
A total repeal of present revenue laws
f
uid the institution of those which will
separate the valuation of real estate , for
the purposes of revenue to the state ,
from the valuation made for county
purposes is demanded.
OOKSBRVA.
TIVK has lost some
friends , to whoso memory a few words
must be said before they pass into
oblivion.
On the south side of the railroad track ,
a short distance across the river , there
has stood for many years an avenue of
trees that had not its equal anywhere
hereabout. It was something like an
eighth of a rnilo in length and consisted
of sixty or eighty trees , some of which
could not have been less than four foot
in diameter. To pass through it was
like going down the gigantic colonnade
of the Peristyle at the World's Fair of
1898. The trees were only cottonwoods ,
but this did not detract from their
ninjesty to a discerning eye , for while
trees of that family are liable to be some
what untidy about their bases , they
have a way of holding the sunlight
among the light colored foliage of their
lofty crowns , quite beyond any of our
other trees. Their great trunks are dark
and dingy , but far overhead one can see
a light that takes 0110 on into the hope
of coming springs. To walk or drive
among these trees has always been a
pleasant and solemn thing.
Now the passer sees , if ho chooses to
look , a very thrifty row of cordwood
running far across the next field , but no
trees ; and the enterprising April sun ,
with its fierce coadjutor , the spring
windare rummaging with delight in the
vegetable rubbish about an aisle of bare
stumps , which has been forbidden to
them for half a century.
Near the ISth-street bridge over South
Table Creek there stood another great
tree , growing by the side of the stream
below , and holding its crown up past
the bridge , so that the passer found
himself in the upper world of birds. It
too was only a cottonwood , but it was a
stately tree , thirty-eight inches through
its trunk and sound as a granite rock.
But the county commissioners , building
a new bridge at that point , saw a chance
to put themselves on record in the mat
ter of trees ; and now TUB CONSEHVA-
TIVE , in crossing the now bridge , loolcs
the other way.