Conservative *
PAKIS CORRESPONDENCE.
EDITOH GONSEKVATIVE :
THE CONSERVATIVE for July 5th ar
rived , and I have read your views on
the Chinese question as detailed on pages
2 and 8. You express iny views exactly.
I wish our administration had not sent
so large a contingent to cooperate with
the allies. I do not believe in the
forcible partitioning of China , in the
name of civilization or trade , or , more
than all , in the name of religion. I fear
much that there will be a religious war.
Russia , representing the Greek church ;
Germany , France , Austria and Italy
representing Catholic interests ; Great
Britain and the United States represent
ing Protestantism ; and the Chinese and
Japanese upholding their style of faith ,
Buddhism , etc. These conflicting re
ligious ideas will be the fuel to make
the fervor of the conflict glow tremen
dously.
Opening of the Paris metropolitan Under
ground Railway.
I gladly took advantage of the open
ing of the new Metropolitan Under
ground railroad of Paris to investigate
its workings , etc. It is about six miles
long , and goes from La Porte Mailliot to
Viucennes. It is operated by a sub-
trolley , and does the distance in 12 min
utes , not counting the brief stops. The
train consists of three cars , one first
class , and two second-class. Fare from
any point to any other station , 8 cents
and 5 cents respectively. The walls of
the tunnel are lined with a light colored ,
glazed brick , and the whole road and
the cars are brilliantly lighted by elec
trio lamps , so that one can easily read
fine print in the cars. I was sorry to
observe that the noise of the rolling
train was very great ; so that it would
be almost impossible to have any pleas
ant conversation while in the train. The
ventilation was excellent ; and there was
a most agreeable coolness in leaving the
heated street , with the thermometer in
the nineties , and having a temperature
of about 65 degrees in the tunnel and
cars. This first day the line was well
patronized by crowds of gentlemen and
ladies , all in an ecstatic state of admira
tion of this new system , which , indeed ,
would have been inaugurated fully 80
years ago , had it not been for French
conservatism , and general slowness in
keeping up with the rapid march of im
provement in this closing period of the
century. This line is only the begin
ning of an elaborate work of under
ground tramways which will be entirely
i uuning in about two years ; and will
greatly relieve the congestion of travel
throughout the city , and make a notable
economy of time and money in so doing.
The days of the two-horse lumber
ing omnibus are nearly over. Both
horseflesh and men and women may be
sincerely thankful.
E. EMEUSON , SB.
3 me Oossini , Paris , France , July 19,1900.
THE PARAMOUNT ISSUE.
The San Francisco Call , in comment
ing on the shrewd attempt of the Bryan-
archists to secure the support of honest
money democrats by declaring imperial
ism to be the paramount issue , says :
"By way of a concession to the conservatism
vatism of the country the democratic
sonvention in renominating Bryan en
deavored to make his candidacy more
acceptable by subordinating the silver
plank to a secondary place in the plat-
'orin , and declaring with an array of
iouorous words that the paramount
.ssue is that of imperialism. It was a
bold bluff , but up to this time it has had
ittle or no effect. In fact , the candi
dacy of Bryan is itself the paramount
ssue put forth at Kansas City , and no
effort on the part of the Bryanite orators
or organs can delude the people into be-
ieving otherwise.
Bryaiiism Dishonest.
"Bryanism means many things , but to
the country at large its worst portent is
to be found in his dishonest attitude
toward all questions of capital and
property and money. His scheme for
the free coinage of silver if carried out
along the lines he has persistently advo
cated would entail disasters unparalleled
in our history. That menace of a fifty-
cent dollar is the thing that looms up
before the mind of every man who gives
the subject consideration. The sound
money democrats perceive clearly thai
this issue of financial honesty and
soundness is still before the country
and they refuse to give consent to any
thing like an approval this year of a
man whose nomination they rejected
four years ago.
A Menace to "Wage Earners.
"Matthaw Marshall , one of the fore
most financial writers of the country
after reviewing the monetary conditions
of the republic and the relations of the
Bryanite movement to finance and the
free coinage of silver , says :
"Heroin consists the peril with which
the country is threatened by the demo
oratic party. They propose to reduce
as in the twinkling of an eye , by more
than one half , the value of all contract
for the payment of money not speoi
fioally payable in gold. The wages o
labor , and the thousands and millions o
savings of the industrious and thrifty
poor would suffer the same fate as the
accumulations of the rich. The rich
indeed , would not submit to be despoilec
without 'resistance. As soon as it be
came known that on March 4 , 1901 , Mr
Bryan would be president and a Bryan
ite congress could be called together in
extra session to pass an unlimited silve
coinage act , every holder of seouritie
liable to be paid in silver would hasten
to turn them into gold at the best pric
obtainable , and a monetary panic would
ensue , more violent than any which th
country has ever experienced. "
Honest Money Paramount.
"So long as a candidate for the presi
: ency , supported by a powerful party ,
hreatens the country with a debased
oinago that will be the paramount issue
> efore every man who earns wages or
las savings in the banks. A deprooia-
loa of the value of money , besides
being utterly dishonest , has the further
evil in its nature that it will be more
blighting upon labor than upon
any other interest. The intelligent
) eople perceive that fact , and accord-
ngly in this campaign the one issue
which the voters will recognize will be
; hat of determining whether we shall
maintain the existing prosperity or try
chaos.
* h
WHY BRYAN
RESIGNED , letter , dated Sept.
24th , 1899 , was
written by Colonel Victor Vifquain ,
lieutenant colonel of the third Nebraska ,
of which W. J. Bryan was colonel , and
was in reply to criticism of Bryan's
resignation when the regiment was or
dered to Cuba :
"Colonel Bryan resigned after the
peace protocol was signed in Paris , and
I am in position to know why he re
signed then. We all knew at the time
that there would be no more fighting in
Cuba. If there had been the slightest
chance for a fight , he would never have
resigned.
"Colonel Bryan resigned because he
wanted the treaty of peace ratified.
That treaty was in danger. He saved
it ; and this has been acknowledged by
all the leading papers of the country. "
Colonel Yifqnaiu is a prominent Ne
braska politician in Bryan's party. He
has been inti-
Savcd the Treaty. - , , . , ,
mately associated
with the gunless soldier in both polit
ical and military affairs and , as he
states in his letter , is "in a position to
know why he resigned. " As Bryan has
never challenged the accuracy of Colonel
nel Yifquain's statements it is fair to
presume that the letter was written au
thoritatively and meets with his approba
tion. This explanation of Yifquain's
brings out Bryan's solicitude for the
treaty and establishes the fact that when
it was in danger , if he did not do all Yif-
quoin said he did , he , at least , did what
he could to save it. Bryan's original
motive in favoring ratification could not
have been to avoid further trouble with
Spain because Yifquain says , "we all
knew there would be no more fighting
in Cuba , " and if there had been the
slightest possibility of a mix-up with the
Spaniards Bryan could not have been
driven from the army.
A writer in the
FANATICISM.
Lincoln Indepen
dent piously declares "Bryan , Lincoln ,
Jefferson and Jesus failed to get rich. ' !
In the populist mind Bryan and Jesus
are at a parity no 1C to 1 in that com :
parison.
