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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 1900)
'Che Conservative * "COIN" OIIMGA- TIONS < money have tried to jus tify their sapporb of Bryau on the grouud that ho would not resort to any trick or sharp practice to throw the country upon a silver basis ; that ho would not redeem bonds in silver or use silver in payment of the national debt. This opinion is unwarranted. During the last session of the fifty-third con gress , in 1895 , Mr. Bryan introduced the following amendment to the gold bond bill : "Provided , That nothing herein shall be construed as surrendering the right of the government of the United States to pay all coin bonds outstanding in gold or silver coin , at the option of the government , as declared by the follow ing joint ( should bo "concurrent" ) reso lution , adopted in 1878 by the senate and house of representatives of Amer ica , to wit : 'That all bonds of the Uni ted States issued or authorized to be . issued under said act of congress herein before recited are payable , principal and interest , at the option of the govern ment of the United States in silver dollars lars of the coinage of the United States , containing 412 } grains each of stand ard silver , and that to restore to its coinage such silver coins as a legal tender in payment of said bonds , prin cipal and interest , is not in violation of the public faith iior in derogation of the rights of the public creditor. ' " In speaking of this amendment Mr. Bryan said : "I offered an amendment which re affirmed the Matthews resolution de elating all coin bonds payable in gold or silver , and yet less than twenty ( I think only thirteen ) republicans voted for my amendment. The great majority of the republicans thus declared that coin bonds are gold bonds in fact. If coin bonds are really gold bonds there is less reason for agitation about the use of the word gold in the bond. We who believe that greenbacks and treasury notes are redeemable either iu gold or silver , at the option of the government we who believe in the right of the government to redeem its coin bonds in either gold or silver we , I say , can object to gold bonds as a violent change in our mone tary policy , but those who insist that greenbacks , treasury notes or coin bonds are all payable iu gold on demand have far less reason to criticise the president. " This is found in the Congressional Record , page 287 , appendix , 4D , fifty- third congress. Mr. Bryan has been frequently asked , during the campaign , if he would con strue coin obligations to mean either gold or silver , but he has maintained a sphinx-like silence. His record , however - over , answers the question and makes his position clear. Several months TONTINE SWINDLERS. ago THE CONSER VATIVE called at tention to the questionable methods of the tontine diamond companies and used a Nebraska company as an illustration. These companies have been rapidly multiplying and have invaded nearly every state in the union. The insurance department of the state of California has just completed an investigation of the tontine system and , in the following communication , referred the matter to the attorney general with a request to prosecute : "To this claim we have given the most careful consideration , and as a result are firmly of the opinion that its claim of being a dealer in diamonds is a mere pretense assumed by it for the purpose of hindering and defeating the laws of the state and an attempt on its part to defeat the enforcement of the laws of this and other states and to attempt to evade the laws of the United States prohibiting the use of the mails for any purpose connected with the operation of a lottery or scheme in the nature of a lottery. "From our examination of its affairs , we pronounce it to be a gambling device of the most vicious nature , holding out to the speculating public visionary promises impossible of performance. The principles upon which it claims to operate are wholly fallacious. ' 'The continuance of companies such as this in operation constitutes a menace to the prosperity and welfare of the state. The operation of such companies is mainly had among the poorer classes and those least able to sustain the loss which must surely result from dealing with them. We believe it to be our solemn duty as officers of the state to enact to the fullest extent all powers which we possess to effectually stamp out these nefarious institutions. Ac cordingly we report these facts to you and request that you either permit us to use the name of the state in a summary action to enjoin the further transaction of business by this institution or that you commence such action yourself as attorney general of the state. " The insurance department of our own state has been so busily employed hold ing up sound and The Terror to Trusts. , , . , . . solvent old line insurance companies that it has had neither time nor inclination to examine into the questionable practices of the tontine swindlers. Trust smasher Smythe is kept too busy trying to drive the Standard Oil company and other legitimate business enterprises out of the state , to prosecute real violators of the law even if his attention were directed to them. Mr. Talbot , the pres ident of the Lincoln Tontine company , and former law partner of Mr. Bryan , recently announced his intention of supporting the peerless one. This will , no doubt , establish the immunity of his company. LITERARY NOTES. Messrs. Houghton , Mifflin & Co. will shortly group in what will be known as the Notable Series , eight popular books Dr. John Brown's "Bab and His Friends , " Burroughs's "Indoor Stud ies , " Harte's "Story of a Mine , " Haw thorne's "Marble Faun , " Miss Howard's "One Summer , " Howell's "Their Wed ding Journey , " Miss Jewett's "Deep- haven " and ' " " , Warner's "Sauuterings. The volumes are well printed and tastefully as well as substantially bound. The publication at this time of the United States government's history of the Civil War in 128 volumes of narra tive , and 35 volumes of maps makes very timely the publication of Colonel Thomas L. Liverinore's "Numbers and Losses in the Civil War. " The work is based upon official information con tained in permanent department records of both sides in the struggle , and gives the numbers engaged and the losses sustained in the long contest between the North and the South. Messrs. Houghton , Miffliu & Co. will publish " \ the work September 15. Messrs. Houghton , Mifflin & Co. an nounce Saturday , September 15 , as the beginning of their publishing season for 1900-1901. The Fall season has always been the most important publishing period among American publishers , and this house , like many publishing houses , has in prospect this autumn the publi cation of a long list of titles embracing essays , works in fiction , science , religion , history , nature-lore , and economics. On September 15 will be published : "In the Hands of the Bed Coats , " by Dr. Everett T. Tomlinson , a story of the Be volution , for boys ; the Aldine Classics , five volumes of the most popu lar works of Longfellow , Whittier , Hawthorne , Lowell , etc. , in hand some little "Pickering books ; " "A Mountain Maid and Other Poems of New Hampshire , " by Edna Dean Proctor , in a well illustrated edition ; "The Life and Letters of Bobert Browning , " by Mrs Sutherland Orr , a reprint in single-volume form of her valuable two-volume work ; the "Marble Faun , " in a popular illustrated edition ; and eight volumes in the "Notable Series , " embracing represen tative work of popular authors. A woent number GREAT WORK. of the Omaha World-Herald devotes much vocabulary to the praJse of O'Blarney Sm-y-the , attorney-general , and his valorous assaults upon the Standard Oil Company and other capitalistic combines doing business in Nebraska. The World-Herald gives no results. It tells not a word of the expenses and defeats of Sm-y-the in his volunteer raids upon corporations. The truth is that Sm-y-the has been a sickening and expensive failure. He is sixteen parts bombast and brag to one of discretion. He has instituted suits and incurred costs for the people of Ne braska to pay. But he has never saved them one cent.