4 "Che Conservative.
KINSHIP WITH THE TREES.
Beneath the far-outrcaching arch of boughs
That swoop with majesty on high
Some potent charm the human heart endowH
With joy that shares the grandeur nigh.
A joy that feels the strong and subtle bond
That draws it with a kinship's tie
To wait and list while all the trees respond
With sweet companionship's reply.
Within the trees there springs the eager life
That works , unseen , with wondrous care ,
That fills their cells with strength and vigor
rife
From roots to highest twigs in air ;
That brings the yearly store for solid grain ,
Built over upward , ring by ring ,
While outward , for the gifts from sun and air ,
The boughs their open leaflets lling.
They stand like stalwart men whose cradled
days
Were blessed with fair environment ,
Whose minds unfolded in the happy ways
Where all the best of life was blent.
Till added grace and force and wisdom's gain
Built characters that rose sublime
To meet unmoved the storms that sweep in
vain
To check the growth that comes with time.
With rugjjed , broken bark or scars' deep trace
The trees wear marks of force within ,
Like lines that mirror on the human face
The hearts' pure thoughts , or stain of sin.
In shaded roads or in the woodland way ,
When on the trees shines morning's beam
Or glows the mellow light of golden day
Or when the moon lends silver gleam ,
Alluring witchery pervades the air ,
A friendly spirit lurks in each soft breeze
And calls the heart to feel the tie that's there ,
The bond of kinship with the trees.
MAUY FRENCH MOUTON.
The Nebraska
A CONSOLING
DISCOVERY. State Journal pub
lished THE CON
SERVATIVE'S analysis of the Porto Rican
bill and found much kind , consoling
comfort in the clause , giving the Porto
Rican legislature authority to establish
a system of local taxation to replace the
tariff exactions of our government. The
Journal hails this discovery with delight
and regards it as "an answer to so much
of the misrepresentation and abuse that
has been showered upon the heads of the
republican majority. "
It is surprising that a circumstance so
extenuating , a defence so complete ,
should have been overlooked by the
Journal and the republican majority ,
which has been driven almost to despera
tion to find a justification for its
abandonment of a "plain duty. " Even
our "Boy Congressman , the II , " a most
worthy successor of the I , failed to point
out the saving grace of this beneficent
feature of the bill , when he returned to
the state and asked for a reuomination.
The republican press and other cham
pions of the bill , appreciating the evil
tendency and effect of the measure , have
wisely refrained from attempting any
TFTH i
defence of it , as a whole , or of this
clause in particular. To do so , would
but emphasize the hollow pretense of
this , which is the only one , of its many
provisions , the Journal refers to with
pride.
It is true the local legislature of Porto
Rico may enact a system of local taxation -
, tion to meet the
. . .
Council Controls . - ,
Franchise. necessities of the
government of the
island and the president , after being so
informed , shall proclaim free trade
between the islands and other portions
of the territory of the United States.
This does seem honest and equitable ,
until we consider how the legislature is
constituted. Then it becomes quite
clear why the influence , which stifled
the voice of "plain duty" and dictated
the imposition of the tariff , had no
objection to the insertion of the clause
in question , as a means of easing the
minds of those congressmen , who were ,
not entirely conscienceless.
The legislature of Porto Rico is com
posed of two houses , an executive council
and a house of delegates. The council
consists of eleven members , all of whom
shall be appointed by the president , with
the approval of the senate , for a term of
four years. Only five need be native
Porto Ricans. There will be thirty-five
delegates , elected every two years by
the qualified voters of the island. A
delegate must have reached the age of
twenty-five years , able to read and
write Spanish or English , and possessed
in his own right of taxable real or per
sonal property situated in Porto Rico.
A qualified voter is one "who has been a
boua fide resident of Porto Rico for one
year and possesses the other qualifi
cations of a voter under the laws and
military orders in force March 1 , 1900 ,
subject to such modifications and addi
tional qualifications and such regulations
and restrictions as to registration as may
be prescribed by the executive council. "
The franchise is not a right of the citi
zens of Porto Rico , but a privilege the
council may give or withhold as it
pleases.
The measure of self-government the
people of Porto Rico are to enjoy will be
. , , . only so much as
J
.
Ruled by Trusts. , ,
the executive coun
cil chooses to grant and no more. The
president appoints the members of the
council. A majority may ( will ) be , not
natives of the island but , citizens of the
United States. This council will be the
government of Porto Rico and will
prescribe who shall vote for delegates.
The governor and council are creatures
of the president. The president is the
instrument of the tariff barons. Hence
the local government and fiscal system
of Porto Rico will be not what the
people of Pcrto Rico would desire but
what the protected monopolies of this
country see fit to give them.
Since this clause , then , does not pro
vide an effective remedy for the evil ,
which all acknowledge , the Journal
must agree that it does not answer the
criticism that has been hurled at the
republican majority and must admit
such criticism to be just and eminently
proper. Those laws of taxation are best
which the people make for themselves
and not those which somebody else
makes for them. It is immaterial to the
people of Porto Rico whether their fiscal
system is prescribed by congress or by a
clique of political favorites appointed by
the president. In either case they are
not consulted. If there is any choice ,
the preference would probably be given
to congress , a representative body , re
sponsible to the people , rather than to
an appointive council , beyond the re
straining influence of public opinion.
Under the miserable government pre
scribed for Porto Rico , an equitable
system of taxation is a possibility so
remote as to be removed from the realm
of probability.
Elsewhere in this
ANTI-POOLING
AGREEMENTS. paper is published
the statement of
F. B. Thurber , before the Millers' Asso
ciation , relative to pooling agreements
among railroad companies. Mr. Thur-
ber's opinion is entitled to especial con
sideration both Oti" account of his broad
knowledge of railway matters and the
fact that he was one of the first men to
propose the anti-pooling resolution in
corporated as a part of the inter-state
commerce act , believing that pooling
agreements would result in exorbitant
freight rates. Competition among trans
portation companies has reduced rates
in the United States to about one-half
what they are in other countries. The
rate in the United States per ton for
1897 , and it has been slightly reduced
since that time , was 90 cents per 100
miles. The like rate in Great Britain
and Switzerland was $2.60 , a marked
difference in favor of the United States.
The real cause of complaint against
the railroads at the present time is not
high rates but
Unjust Discrimination. . . ,
unjust and un
reasonable discrimination which the
pooling prohibitions only make more
intolerable. The experience of Massa
chusetts , as Mr. Thurber shows , is proof
of this fact. There , the railway com
mission is not given the power to
determine to what extent a rate is un
reasonable but confines itself to investi
gating and publishing important facts
relative to the condition of the roads.
Fewer complaints of unjust discrimina
tion are made in that state than in any
other. In the case of competing lines
between two places , where there is only
so much freight to be moved , a better
rate could be secured for the shipper if
the companies were permitted to pool on
the rate , agreeing upon a certain price ,
each line to share equally or in what
ever proportion would be equitable ,
