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Cbe Conservative.
The supreme
J'OL'ULIST
OENSOKS1IIP. court of Nebraska
is probably receiv
ing more attention throughout the coun
try by reason of its contempt proceedings
than it ever did because of its legal
opinions. The New York Tribune thus
refers to the court :
"If we remember rightly , Mr. William
J. Bryau of Nebraska is a great stickler
for democratic principles , including the
freedom of the press. He ought to turn
his attention to affairs at home and see
that his populistic supporters , in their
anxiety to control the election machinery
next fall and give him the state's elec
toral vote , do not invoke to muzzle the
press those tyrannical court processes
which he BO vigorously denounces when
exercised to keep striking railroad men
from wrecking trains. If there is any
thing worse than a mandamus or in
junction in the eyes of a good populist
like Mr. Bryau it is a process for con
tempt of court issued when the alleged
contempt is not committed in the pres
ence of the court. When Debs was
summoned for contempt because of
action among the strikers of Chicago it
was a high-handed outrage , but when a
Nebraska editor , far away from the
court room , sees fit in a moderate fashion
to discuss a public question involving
the rights of the citizens of Nebraska ,
the populist judges summon him for
contempt of court.
"The city government of Omaha is
republican and the populists want to get
possession of the
An Impartial
Tvidgo. police and election
machinery. Ac
cordingly they have trumped up a suit
attacking the law under which the local
authorities control these functions and
seeking to restore to the populist gover
nor the appointment of city commis
sioners. When Governor Holcoinb , the
former populist governor was in office
the same question came up and , it is
alleged , he was thoroughly committed
as a politician to the position which his
populist friends now take. Holcomb is
now on the supreme bench and one of
the judges on this question in which he
himself has taken so strong an interest.
A republican newspaper when the suit
was brought in temperate language ex
pressed the objections of the republicans
to having the case tried in the supreme
court , and urged that Judge Holcomb
ought not to sit in judgment on it.
This would seem to be a fair exercise of
the right to comment on public affairs ,
and it might even seem to have been a
duty to the court to warn it of a wide
spread popular feeling of this kind. But
Judge Holcomb and his populist col
leagues , who form a majority of the
court , were angered and have ordered
the editor to show cause why he should
not bo punished for contempt.
"This action is regarded by many
people in Nebraska as a high-handed
attempt to silence the press and smooth
the populist path to the seizure of such
powers as the party does not already
possess in the state. Mr. Bryan ought
to consider it. It will be difficult to
distinguish populist despotism and cen
sorship from the other brands of those
articles which ho and his party are so
fond of denouncing if he does not take
prompt stops to moderate the zeal of his
followers. "
SUPPM AND
DEMAND.Richmond , Vir
ginia , September
19 , 1890 , found in Volume I of the
Prophecies of Bryan , ( "First Battle" ) ,
the 16 to 1 candidate thus interpreted
economic law :
"We apply the law of supply and
demand to money. Wo say that the
value of a dollar depends upon the num
ber of dollars and that you can raise the
value of dollars by making the dollars
scarce. And we charge that our oppon
ents are in favor of making money
scarce because they are controlled by
those who want money dear. "
He warns the people of a conspiracy
to corner all the gold in the world and
make it dear. He charges his opponents
with the diabolical intent of making
money scarce. Four years have elapsed
since Prophet Bryan made this startling
discovery and courageously proclaimed
it to the world. How have these four
years borne out the prediction of the
exponent of calamity ? When he charged
his opponents of plotting to make money
scarce the per capita circulation was
$22.96. Today it is $26. Further com
ment is useless.
THE
TARIFF REFORM
IN NEBRASKA.TIVE publishes elSO-
where a letter
from Mr. Albert Watkins , of Lincoln ,
one of the most scholarly men in the
west , and for many years connected
with democratic journalism. In view
of the prominence of Nebraska in
national politics , Mr. Watkins' reference
to political history in this state is of
peculiar interest :
"Coming west I advocated free trade
for some twenty years. This doctrine
was unpopular it seems to me because
it was so simple and plain. An exclu
sively agricultural country , like these
western plains , palpably has everything
to gain and nothing to lose by unlimited
and unrestricted markets for its vast
surplus of food staples. By the time a
resolute band of doctrinaires , as they
were contemptuously called , had changed
a small minority of tariff reformes into
a large majority , but who in the mean
time had barred themselves out of con
gress and all other elective offices , the
money question came along. Of course
those of us who impaled ourselves on the
principle of free trade repeated the self-
immolation , with the gold standard as a
weapon and here we are. A gold
democrat has just as much chance of
being elected to anything in Nebraska
just now as a tariff reformer had thirty
years ago. "
As Mr. Watkius says , the gold demo
crats have already seen their views upon
, , , , , , „ , . the tariff accepted .
Theories Verified. . . .
by a majority of
the people of Nebraska. The trust ,
the child of protection , verifies demo
cratic prophecy of twenty years ago.
Then , too , the growing demand for
foreign markets has been potent in
educating the people into accepting
democratic economic theories. They
now realize that exclusion at homo means
restriction abroad. Retaliation is the
great principle of trade. The American
producer of meat is painfully aware of
this because of the recent action of
Germany in excluding his porker from
German markets. He now accepts in
lolo the gospel of tariff reform. He sees
that it is destructive of his interests to
close foreign markets to his products in
order to keep foreign manufactured
goods from American markets and
thereby enable American manufacturers
to combine and control the price of their
products. The farmer is thus doubly in
jured. He is deprived of an enlarged
market for his products and he must sell
at a lower price and at the same time , be -
cause of the tariff trust , he must buy at
a higher price.
As the word of these "doctrinaires"
upon the tariff has been given the stamp
of approval , so their opinions upon the
money question will be accepted and
completely verified. The gold demo
crats have been the pioneers in seeking
economic truth. As is frequently the
case with pioneers , the rewards for their
self-sacrifice and patriotic devotion to
principle have gone to others.
THE OUUOM BII * . .
ten years , accord
ing to the Burlington Hawkeye , only 180
complaints , of sufficient importance to
justify a hearing , were filed with the
interstate commerce commission. When
we consider the large volume of business
handled each year by the railroads it is
indeed a favorable showing for the com
panies. THE CONSERVATIVE can see
nothing in this record to justify taking
from the railroads and entrusting to five
men , who constitute the interstate com
merce commission , the power of deter
mining freight rates. The railroads are
capable of attending to this important
part of their business and in a manner ,
too , that meets with the general ap
proval of their patrons. Where there is
cause for complaint the law already
provides a remedy , viz. , by regular legal
process through the established courts
of the republic.
The suggestion of the Hawkeye to do
away with the commission is not a bad
° ne
, . >
Power Unlimited.
$250,000 a year tea
a commission to hear less than eighteen