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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (July 12, 1900)
"Che Conservative. Bryan has certainly travelled enough to know this. So much for the redaction in freight rates. Mr. Bryan states that the redaction "has not been commensurate with the fall in price in tnm1' ' property. " THE CONSERVATIVE asks Nebraska farmers to compare the value of Nebraska land in 1870 with its value in 1900. A quar ter section of land in Otoe county sold in 1875 for $7.00 per acre. The same piece of land sold but a short time ago for $60.00 an acre. There has been a pro portionate change in land values through- V out the state. Daring the period from 1875 to 1898 there was a decline in freight rates of fifty per cent , instead of raise , as asserted by Mr. Bryan. In stead of a depreciation in the value of O land during this period , as proclaimed by the prophet of evil , it increased by C 750 per cent. The value of laud is dependent upon its productiveness. By "productive- to. _ ness" is meant not Values. , , . , , , . , only that the soil must be fertile but there must be the means of putting the thing produced where it may be used. The placing of ) A the products of the farm where they are wanted is just as much a factor in their production as the labor of the farmer in tilling the soil and sowing and harvest- f J ing the grain. Railroads , therefore , in transporting the prodacts of the soil , put them where they may be used , thereby giving them value and , by so doing , enhance the value of the land. Just stop and think what Nebraska land would be worth , not withstanding its won derful fertility , were it not for the rail roads connecting us with the markets of the world. Without these means of plac ing our surplus prodacts where they may be ased these products would be with out value and the land which produces them would likewise be without value. Is it not fair to state that the remarkable increase in the value of land in our state is due to the improved methods of trans portation ? Since railroads have done so much to create wealth for all the people , why endorse , then , this demagogic denunciation of them ? A glance at the following figures will show the almost unprecedented increase since 1895 , in the Products. , . . . . . . value of the things the farmer produces : In the years between 1895 and 1899 the annual value of the farmer's prin cipal crops increased as follows : Corn from $544,985,584 to $629,210,110 or 16 per cent ; wheat from $287,988,988 to $819,545,269 or 84 per cent ; oats from $168,655,068 to $198,167,975 or 16 percent U. . cent ; cotton from $260,888,096 to $882- 000,009 or 27 percent ; tobacco from$85- 574,2 0 to $45,000,000 or 80 per cent ; flax from $12,000,000 to $24,000,000 or 10o per cent. The total value of the crops of 1899 measured by a gold standard were $822- 000,000 moro than the value of those of 1895. Daring this period the live stock of the farmer increased in value by $088,000,000. In so far as his products are concerned , the farmer is today nearly one billion dollars better off than he was in 1895 , not to mention the can cellation of farm mortgages , the bnild- ng of new and better homes , and the buying of better implements. We are not surprised , in the face of this show- ng , that the convention at Kansas City should BO reluctantly fall in line for Mr. Bryan's demand for cheap money. Senator Hill says TERRITORIES . . , , . . , - that a majority of the committee on resolutions were op- pose'd to 16 to 1 , until the order came from the Lincoln boss , demanding that it be incorporated in the platform. Even then , according to the senator , the states of Ohio , Illinois and New York , where there are a few electoral votes that will be counted in the next presi dential election , remained firm and 16 to 1 plank would nofc have been recommended had it not been that the territories of Oklahoma and Alaska yielded to the dictation of Oz'ar Bryan. Thus insignificant territories that do not even vote in the electoral college virtu ally determined the policy of the demo cratic party and yielded an influence greater than states like New York and Ohio. The latter are pivotal states in this campaign. It was political suicide for the democrats to decline to respect their wishes in regard to the financial plank. RUSSIA AND HER TRADE BALANCE. The effort to restore the trade balance is responsible for much of the recent legislation and colonial efforts of several foreign governments. The - legislative effort to restore the balance of trade by giving commerce artificial growth and by forcing things into or through artificial channels is at best an unsatisfactory experiment. Such parliamentary efforts are like walls built on settling sands through which the thing that it is sought to retain escapes by force of natural pressure. Russia has shown a remarkable de crease in her trade balance. After an extraordinary increase of $88,000,000 in exports over imports in 1897 over 1896 , and a further increase of this sum to $48,000,000 in 1898 under the artificial edicts of the government , all of this was finally lost when the commerce of the world adjusted itself to the new condi tion of things. As a consequence , Rus sia's surplus of exports over imports vanished until the balance of trade for 1899 showed her to have exported $19 , 518,000 less "than she imported , a net trade loss of $67,000,000 for last year over 1898. The edicts alone remained. Facing such a deficiency in the trade balance Russia had to prepare more artificial remedies. When these props of statecraft are nullified by the in exorable laws of supply and demand other and more barriers and devices must be forced upon the scene. It would seem that statecraft needs a better knowledge of domestic economy to enable lawmakers to fully deal with trade conditions. If statesmen will study commercial ionditions and internal needs more healthful progress can be made than by looking blankly at deficiencies and then trying to overcome them by mere mathematics and ukases. A nation must remember that a muzzling - zling of imports means a hampering of exports. The law of retaliation seems to be inherent in the human mind. When , therefore , measure meets meas ure a rearrangement of customs receipts takes place. The year's trade shows how the final balance of trade is af fected. Of Russia's total export list of $184- 000,000 for eight months of 1899 , more than $98,000,000 , or 58 per cent , was derived from food and animal products. Olive seeds and wool enter largely into the remainder. A nation which expects to send out so large a per cent of her exports in food prodacts cannot well afford to antagonize the custom houses of foreign countries. The Muscovite might , by improving the domestic condition of the peasants of his country , create a stronger internal position which would create a better state of things. He can hardly expect by harsh trade restrictions except to develop his own interior or exterior trade by force. The drastic measures recently promulgated only show Russia's dannaratinn which the sudden reversal of her trade balance explains. There is a big hint in all this for other Continen tal powers. National Provisioner. ASBESTOS COVERING. H. W. Johns Manufacturing Com pany's New Navy Brand Asbestos Fire Felt Covering has been adopted for the pipe work in the Capitol Building at Albany , New York. The covering first put on by another company is to be re moved and replaced by this new style material. The contract amounts to over $4,000. This company is making great head way in the way of improvements in the manufacture of their materials and are constantly alive to up-to-date conditions. They were also successful in securing the pipe and boiler covering work for the new addition of the Manhattan ho tel , 42nd street and Broadway , New York City.
