Conservative
lunatics , cranks and crooks , from Oroker
down , who follow Bryan , complains of
or criticises his being an advocate and
attorney for the all grasping , all-cor
rupting combine of the silver mine and
bullion owners. Not even do they de
nounce the one hundred thousand dollars
lars retainer fee handed over by the
immaculate , silver-plated statesman from
Montana to Mr. Bryan's committee.
That is all right from their point of
view. And the short-termed and kicked-
out statesman Olark of Montana , is a
real , genuine , patriotic reformer , but
when the other prodigy , who writes
sweet verses about white roses and sings
them under the windows of beautiful
women , who makes orations in the
senate EO mellifluent , HO pathetically
melodious that they move Thurston
himself to tears and transport him into
delicious swoons , so that he is carried
by his admiring senatorial chums into
the cloak room for resuscitation , becomes
attorney for the Standard Oil Company ,
all populism screams , howls and yells
about the impropriety of a statesman
acting as an attorney.
It was all right in the other twin. Bat
it is all wrong in Thurston to act
for a corporation as its advocate and
counsel.
When will Smyth begin an action
against the silver smelter trust at
Omaha ? How long shall these discrim
inations between silver and oil continue
in the attorney-general's office of Ne
braska ? '
The Springfield
DON'T KNOW. . . . . * , . .
Republican , which
has been a long time the especial organ
of the extra-Bostonesque style of states
manship , declares in an editorial on
August 28bh :
"We are not in the secrets of the
Bryan councils. "Wo do not know what
his purposes are or his acts would be ,
if elected , in respect to gold and silver. "
The editor of the Springfield Repub
lican ought to begin the careful study of
that interesting and modest volume of
Bryaubiography called "The First
Battle" at once. In that the editor may
get "secrets" of "the Bryan councils"
and the purposes "of Bryan in regard to
gold and silver. " In that volume of
dogmatic utterances may be found :
"The money power and its allies
throughout tb' < vorld have entered into
this conspiracy to perpetrate the greatest
crime of this or any other age i. e. to
establish and perpetuate the gold stand
ard. "
Referring to Secretary Carlisle on
pnge451 of "The First Battle , " Bryan
says :
"The Secretary of the Treasury whom
I will appoint if I am elected , will be as
different from him as possible. "
That is , the Bryan Secretary of the
Treasury will pay off government dues ,
bonds and all , in silver dollars.
And again the Springfield Republican
will find , on the same page , this allusion
to the Cleveland democracy which sus
tained the honor and the credit of the
government and adhered faithfully to
the single gold standard :
"The democratic party has been
rescued from the people's despoilers. "
Of this class the Springfield Republi
can was a vigorous defender.
And on page 462 may be found in his
speech at Raleigh :
"The man who leaves the democratic
party to-day * * * if he cpmes back
he must come back in sackcloth and
ashes. "
*
Up to this moment THE CONSERVATIVE
notices no abnormal demand for the
sackcloth-aud-ashes style of dress goods
either in Nebraska or elsewhere.
The eloquence of Mr. Bryan at the
Chicago convention in 1896 which gave
him leadership in that collection of
paroxysmal patriots , contained this
which the Springfield Republican "in
sackcloth and ashes" may now rumin
ate :
"And now , my friends , let me come to
"the paramount issue. " If they ask us
why it is we say more on the money
question than we say upon the tariff
question , I reply that if protection has
slain its thousands the gold standard has
slain its tens of thousands * * *
When we have restored the money of
the constitution ( meaning silver free , in
412) grain dollars ) all other necessary
reforms will bo possible ; but until that
is done , there is no other reform that
can be accomplished. "
Now , does the Springfield Republican
know the purposes of Bryan as to gold
and silver ?
Prominent , re-
KEFUSES TO . . . , . . . ,
ANSWER. putable and highly
responsible citizens
of New York ore said to have asked
Bryan whether , in the event of his elec
tion to the presidency , he would instruct
the secretary of the treasury to pay off
the accruing interest on government
bonds and the bonds themselves at
maturity in silver dollars or not ?
And Mr. Bryan , it is said , declines to
be interviewed thereupon and refuses to
answer. Is this the same stump-speaker
who in 1890 , when promenading in
majestic defiance upon the Chicago
platform , proclaimed :
"The democratic party has begun a
war of extermination against the gold
standard. We ask no quarter , we give
no quarter. We shall prosecute our
warfare until there is not an American
citizen that dares to advocate a gold
standard policy. "
' I believe we shall win now. But
whether we win now or not , we have
begun a warfare against the gold stand
ard , which shall continue until the gold
standard is driven from our shores back
to England. "
And now is it possible that this in
flammable and incandescent statesman
will not so let his light shine as to illum
inate his position upon the use of silver
as the money of redemption ?
How can he refuse to answer ? Has
ho not pledged himself to overthrow
and forever destroy the gold standard ?
MESSED WEALTH.
.
tributed to the
cause of an honest currency in the Uni
ted States is denounced by the pop-
fusion orators and organs as wicked ,
corrupting and malignant money. But
the $100,000 contributed by U. S. senate-
seat-buying Olark of Montana to the
vote-getting power of Bryanarohy is
blessed wealth , properly applied. And
his gifts and those of silverites are for a
righteous cause , the cause of the free
coinage of silver at 16 to 1 in unlimited
quantities.
Without a reaffirrnation of that cause
in the Kansas City platform Bryan de
clined to run. He know where the
money for his campaign in 1896 came
from. He knew that the silver bullion
and mine owners had "paramount" in
terests in his election. Bryan compre
hended that silver , doubled in price by
legislative and executive action , would
enrich the plutocratic owners of silver
property everywhere. Unless silver had
been put in at Kansas City , no money
could have been secured for 1000 by
Bryan. Is the silver cause tantamount
or paramount ?
On SePfcember
SKTTLKB. 8rd' 1900 , "the Old
settlors" of Otoe
county convened at Morton Park in
Nebraska City in goodly numbers. The
day was full of sunshine , tranquillity
and contentment. The ranks of the
pioneers had been somewhat thinned out
since the last annual meeting of the
association. As the storms and the
strong currents of the swift winds had
stricken here and there the strongest
trees in the park and hurled them to
destruction , so the never-ceasing tides
of time had taken , in their resistless
course , many of the prominent pioneers
from life to death.
THE CONSERVATIVE , however , enter
tained that day Wm. Low , the oldest
settler of Otoo
At Arbor Lodge. _ _
county. He , as a
youth , drove team and hauled lumber to
build the block house , in the year 1846 , of
old Fort Kearney , which occupied the
site of Nebraska City. Mr. Low is now
seventy-two years of age , has few grey
hairs , never drinks , uses no tobacco ,
always tells the truth , and is an exem
plary and honest citizen. He enjoys , as
he deserves , the respect of all who know
him and his patient goodheartedness
and splendid sincerity.
j
