"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.