Conservative *
The acquisition
NOT AM KB. . _ . .
of Louisiana in
1808 , by the far-seeing Jefferson , was
peaceful and patriotic. The usefulness
of the lauds to the American people and
the right to constitutionally annex them
was agreed to after more than two years
of discussion in and out of Congress.
The greater part of the Louisiana pur
chase was made up of unsettled terri
tory. It was adjacent to the seventeen
states which then composed the repub
lic. It was bought for the use and bene
fit of Americans who wore to inhabit
and improve it. Not a drop of blood
was shed , not a gun fired to accomplish
this magnificent addition to the domain
of the United States.
The larger portion of the Louisiana
purchase was unpeopled. Majestic forests -
ests and far-
Unoccupled. . . . .
stretching prairies
invited the enterprise and industry of
our race to enter and found homes. The
Jefferson purchase was of lands for
Americans and their descendants un
occupied , fertile home-evolving lauds.
The purchase by McKiuley , at five
millions of dollars more than Jefferson
paid for Louisiana ,
Occupied. . . .
- i j .1.1
of islands in the
Pacific is not at all parallel. The Phil
ippine islands contain ten millions of in
habitants. They are occupied by a
brown race a race adapted to living
under a vertical sun. The Filipinos are
as alien to Americans as Americans are
to Turks. McKiuley bought peoples ,
not lauds. Jefferson purchased lands ,
not people.
The two transactions are as unlike as
freedom and slavery , as far apart as
liberty and bondage , as appalling in an
tithesis as the contrast between the
statesmanship of Jefferson and that of
McKinley. Not alike any more than
the Rocky Monutaius are like ant hills.
Congress appropriated
THE PARIS
EXPOSITION. priated over one
million dollars for
the Paris exposition. Will the people of
the United States realize benefits com
mensurate with the investment ? An ex-
member of the French cabinet , who has
been prominently identified with the ex
position , gave the following statement
to the representative of the Chicago
Tribune :
"If foreigners only consider the official
utterances they will believe that nothing
ever compared with our present fair.
President Loubet and Minister of Arts
Miller can't be expected to say other
wise. Yet the exposition undoubtedly
will fail to meet legitimate expectations.
"The results are now seen. We have
largo buildings , containing show-cases
wherein may be admired things to be
seen in almost any great city. We have
many specialties which only interest
specialists.
1 'Features devised specially for pleasure
seeking crosvds are contemptibly old and
more contemptibly stupid. Director-
General Picard , who is a utilitarian , 5s
absolutely devoid of imagination , and
failed here signally. Wo offer visitors a
poor imitation of the "Streets of Cairo , "
now familiar in every popular resort ; a
pasteboard Venice with three gondolas ,
a Dahomey village with ten natives ,
jealously fenced off in a corner , some
little theatres where you may sit for
twenty minutes and enjoy a variety
business which you could have at one-
third the price at any music hall on the
boulevards.
"The sad feature of this show is that
there is nothing new about it. "
The Tribune says that the above state
ment was shown to the representatives
of more than twenty nationalities , all of
whom endorsed it as substantially cor
rect.
If this report approaches truthfulness ,
the Paris exposition is not a success.
, , , , Every dollar ap-
Wrong hi Principle. . . , , . . .
propnated by this
government has been recklessly squan
dered. Not only has our appropriation
been unfortunate as an investment , but
it was made without moral or constitu
tional right. It was not in accord with
the legitimate use of public money.
Money raised by taxation should be used
for the benefit of all the people and not
for a few. How , then , can an appro
priation for an international show be
justified ? Of the total population of the
United States , only a small fraction will
be able to attend the Paris exposition.
What right has the government to take
money from all the people to provide
entertainment for the limited leisure
class ?
Appropriations of this character forci
bly illustrate the alarming extent to
which paternalism is being carried.
Originally it was confined to aiding
favored interests by a protective tariff.
It was later enlarged to assist private
enterprise direct from the public treas
ury by bounties and subsidies. Protec
tive tariffs , bounties and subsidies have
so corrupted the public conscience , have
so degraded public morals , that the con
stitutional use of public money has been
completely forgotten. In addition to
aiding private individuals to make
money , it has now become legitimate for
the government to provide people of
leisure with popular forms of amuse
ment and entertainment. There is no
limit to the demands of this character
that may be made upon the public treas
ury. Need we be surprised that taxa
tion is becoming burdensome and op
pressive ? Is it not time to check this
misuse of public money and confine ap
propriations to the purposes prescribed
by the constitution ?
THE RKPUBUOAN
PiiATFOKBI.state convention
met on the 2d of
May , elected Nebraska's melodramatic
statesman and poet , delegate to the
national convention and adopted a plat
form. The platform reads like the
sophomoric address of a contestant in a
high school talking tournament. It is
conspicuous for its many crude attempts
at rhetorical effect. There may have
been method in the literary style. Per
haps the author purposely designed to
conceal , by the charm of rhetoric , the
glaring inconsistency of the argument.
McKinley , the bold and daring ex
plorer , is grandiloquently extolled as "a
_ _ , _ . , . , president who has
McKlnloy , the : , . . . .
Explorer. dealt With UOW
and untried ques
tions , who has guided the ship of state
with ability and security through un
explored channels and the troubled
waters of agitated seas , in each hour of
threatened danger , given evidence of
such masterly statesmanship. " There
is more truth in this breezy outburst
than the convention possibly suspected.
The president has dealt "with new and
untried questions. " Imperial conquest
is altogether "new and untried. " He
has guided "the ship of state through
unexplored channels. " No navigator
before him had been bold enough to
undertake to guide "the ship" from the
safe and secure anchorage of the repub
lic to the domain of empire. It was
indeed a voyage 'through channels un
explored. " He did pass "through the
troubled weters of agitated seas. " The
peril of his adventure amid the "troubled
waters" of Porto Rico is not yet for
gotten.
The platform "points with pride to
the remodeling of our tariff laws which
, , . have increased our
Proud of the Turin.
revenues and not
impeded our trade , which has opened
the doors of mills and factories. " A
protective tariff law is framed purposely
and intentional to prevent free trade or
"to impede trade. " It can aid Ameri
can manufacture only by keeping out
foreign goods. If foreign products are
kept from American markets trade is
"impeded. " If they are permitted to
come in manufacture is not protected.
A protective tariff that would not im
pede trade is an incongruity. But
Nebraska republicans , with remarkable
facility , claim for their extraordinary
tariff the advantages of protection as
well as the benefits of free trade. Since
protection to American manufacture
means the exclusion of foreign goods ,
how could a protective tariff "increase
our revenues ? "
A prominent feature of the platform is
the declaration , expressing "unalterable
° PP ° ion to trusts
Tr , t Plank.
and combinations ,
having for their purpose the stifling of
competition and arbitrarily controlling
production and fixing prices. " It is a
most scathing arraignment of the logi
cal outcome of republican policy. Every
trust that "stifles "
now competition" is
the beneficiary of republican paternalism
and is the natural product of the pro
tective system. Why deplore the
"stifling of competition" when repub-
