Conservative.
arc framed. In them are gathered up
Iho principles which have boon forged
out by my rinds of centuries of evolution
and which at tbo snmo time become
guides to and limitations of government.
They are essential to republics , where
government is in the hands of the mul
titude who would otherwise bo ignorant
of the principles upon which good government -
ornmont must rest , and who , forgetful
of human limitations , woe Id be liable to
adopt measures which would destroy all
government. In this rospoot the maxim
that the voice oC the poDpla H the voice
of God , is a dangerous fallacy. That
voice never can relieve us from the
higher laws upon which the order and
progress of society depend ; and when ,
therefore , these standards fail , wo may
justly look with apprehension upon the
future of any society which has sub
mitted to their control.
Our standard has boon in existence 117
years , during which many wars and
other events of vabt importance have
transpired , and the geography , both of
the world and nation , has been changed.
The only wonder is that our standard
has endured so well , and that under it
our people have made btrides in progress
which have never been equaled in his
tory. Yet to mo it seems that wo have
either outgrown or drifted away from
our standards of the constitution. "What
student of American history -will assert
that the power to issue demand notes as
lawful money ; to create national banks ;
to maintain colonies and hold conquered
territories in which the people should
not bo citizens of the country ; to sup
press the circulation of state banks duly
issued in accordance with the laws of
the states under which the banks were
organized ; to create corporations for
any and every purpose relating to com
merce ; to maintain a corrupt and ineffi
cient civil service based only on partisan
fealty ; and finally to enact laws exclu
sively to protect and aggrandize special
lines of business , we're ever contem
plated by the framers of the constitu
tion or by the people who rutiQod it , as
parts of the permanent policy of the
country ? Yet today all these stretches
of authority exist , not merely as a
means to exercise some power expressly
granted , but as independent and permanent -
nont institutions.
Ell'ect of Encroiichmonts on the Consti
tution.
The effect of these insidious en
croachments upon the constitution , is
shown by the present state of the two
political parties. The republican party
has aways held to a construction of that
instrument which permitted it to ac
complish whatever it deemed expedient ,
but has limited its transgressions to such
as the people would accept without no
tice of their effect upon their political
standard. A strict adherence to the
constitution was the basic principle of
the democratic party. Where does that
party stand today ? It has adopted the
"green-back" idea , has attacked the
sanctity of the supreme court upon con
stitutional questions , advocates the tak
ing possession by the government of all
railroad and telegraph lines and other so-
called public utilities , is in favor of
repealing the laws which protect person
and property against the violence of
labor combinations , and finally lias
abandoned its righteous protests against
discriminating protective duties and
bounties. With both parties , therefore ,
the constitution has lost its position us a
sacred standard.
Perhaps it would not bo correct to say
that all these encroachments are wrong.
It is to bo presumed that some of thorn
are the outgrowth of a natural develop
ment , and may bo necessary to the con
tinued happiness and progress of the
people ; but in so far as they exist with
out the sanction of the constitution ,
they are outlaws , and if meritorious
should bo brought within its terms , if
injurious should bo placed tinder its
ban.
Time to Itoviso the Constitution.
Iii my judgment , therefore , the time
has como when the people through their
loftiest and most cultured minds , should
revise and restore this great instrument ,
by placing it in full harmony with the
changed conditions of the now century.
A study of the history of the last cen
tury , however , must prove to a practical
mind that no real revision can take
place under existing methods , which
appear to have boon framed to prevent
amendments except after a revolution
like the civil war. As preliminary ,
therefore , to a revision of the body of
the instrument , there should be a
revision of the methods by which
amendments can bo made , and such
methods made to harmonize with the
cautious exercise of the right of a ma
jority to govern , oven in the recognition
of fundamental law.
During the last three years wo have
heard a great deal about imperialism.
To mo it seems that every traveled road
leads for the present to the goal. The
republican party openly advocates au
thority by conquest alone , and coloniza
tion without citizenship , which is im
perialism in one form. The democratic
party has boon swallowed by the pop
ulist tiger , and now rests safely in its
stomach. Populism , with its proposed
supreme control of finance , and its
threatened absorption of the great
industrial enterprises of the country ,
means socialism , and socialism always
ends in imperial government. Therefore
our only hope lies in the restoration of
the constitution.
JAMES DENTON HANCOCK ,
Franklin , Pa. , August llth , 1900.
GEUONIBtO.
People who , at the Omaha exposition
of 1898 , made the acquaintance of this
venerable murderer , and perhaps paid
him twenty five cents for his autograph ,
were pained to learn a short time ago
through the newspapers that his mind
and health were giving way , owing to
the hardships of his prisox house. And
no doubt all such have rejoiced proportionately
tionately siuco at learning that it was a
mistaken report , and that Gorouimo and
his excellent wife and all the other
condemned Apaches are still doing busi
ness in the customary way at Fort Sill.
Goronimo's confinement need not
necessarily break him down in a thous
and years , if it is no stricter than that to
which ho was subjected at Omaha. The
writer was entering that wonderful en
closure one afternoon and mot the old
man and a friend of his at the gate :
wrapped in their thoughts and their
gorgeous blankets , both alike sacred and
impenetrable. Reaching the gate , they
halted and looked about for the guard
whose business it was to see that no redman
man came out without proper creden
tials ; but that functionary was not in
sight. They were evidently used to
making allowances for the United
States government , however ; they stood
and waited a reasonable time for it to do
its duty , muttering to themselves the
while ; then a flash of impatience lighted
Gorouimo's wrinkled features " "
up , "ugh"
he said , and "ugh" said his companion ,
like engines on a double-header freight
train signaling each other , and forth
they waddled down the Midway. COM.
THE CONSERVATIVE for the next three
months , or until the close of the cam
paign , for 150 cents. Address , Morton
Printing Company , Nebraska City , Nob.
The modern office
SAVIOlt.
fice hunter , who
generally begins his career by saying
that "it is the money and not the honor"
of the office which ho seeks , always
poses as a protector of the poor and a
savior of "tho plain peoplo" .
In one campaign he may lecture on
money , the danger of world-current
money , and the diabolism of the gold
standard. And four years thereafter ,
when every one of his financial fore
casts have boon proven absolutely false
in gouoral and in detail , the same pa
triot , with affectionate solicitude , poses
as the only preventive of "Im
perialism" .
Ho is the proclaimed protector of the
poor and the plain. He everywhere in
forms voters that
Protector.
unless anti-imper
ialism , be exalted the republic will be
demolished and the empire uplifted in
its stead. Such protectors and saviors
should be employed as nurses for child
ren. Ghost , fairy and bogy stories may
frighten urohiuhood , but manhood is not
disturbed by them , even when told by a
peerless prophet with a silver tongue
that rolls out sixteen platitudes to one
original thought.
