'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.
