* Cbe Conservative.
faithfulness of execution. The notion
of holding subject colonies , is like the
fatal entrance of the camel's nose in the
fable little recognized in its serious
possibilities. Our city politics grow
more distressing and more disgraceful
with time and increase. The founda
tion principles of finance require to be
taught to the voter like any other branch
of necessary education to the pupil , lest
we be liable always to the phantoms and
alarms that have so haunted our dark
ness. The system of spoils in office
needs to be put where piracy or embez
zlement is now. Some of these ills are
diffused and general ; some are sharp
and immediate ; nil are serious ; all are
present ; all demand the care of every
true American. The way lies just
before.
We would be the true Americans of
our time ; we see the principles wo have
always held in honor .as Americans
imperiled , and we move to their rescue.
All the separate courts are incidental ,
members of a single body , to be brought
into use as occasion calls. There is no
want of unity in this clear conception.
If it seems beyond the compass of a
single aim , we might point to one coun
tryman of ours , already named , who
has embodied everyone of these high
motives in his own single person ; each
in its purest form and each upheld with
unswerving fidelity , all in utter defiance
of overbearing tumults , and who has
carried them once and again to national
victory. Here was no lack of concrete
shape and individuality ; yet it is the
country rather than the man that wo
honor in this mention. Such an exam
ple must be more prophetic even than
historic. The work of Cleveland is not
done , but in every respect barely now
begun. Shall we continue it , or let it
fall , for others to pursue hereafter to
our shtuno ?
Observations About the Candidate.
Cleveland still lives to guide and
inspire us , his name a synonym of rug
ged strength and moral fortitude ;
secure in the grateful esteem of his
thoughtful fellow-citizens , though too
many in the party ho served are too
ready to reward his adherence to his
convictions and those of Jefferson and
Beutou and Tilden with the slanderous
charge of "abandoning democratic prin
ciples" ; he who held steadily to his
course while other pilots were s teoriug
aimlessly or with shifting compass , who
was os the Pole Star while they were
jack o'lanterns , who was the only suc
cessful democratic candidate for presi
dent in nearly half a century ! With
such a standard bearer , how clear would
be our duty , how quick would be our
choice , with what joy and enthusiasm
would we cast our votes !
But there is another side. Would it
be proper treatment of Grover Cleveland
to nominate him t9day for president ?
The people of this country owe him too
much to display him thus to public gaze
and to direct upon him again the yelping
of Tray , Blanche and Sweetheart , and
the rest of that snarling pack. If our
candidate stood a reasonable chance of
election , these scruples should be
waived , but we have no right to require
such a sacrifice under existing circum
stances. He can give earnest and
efficient help to the cause without suf
fering the malicious criticism , or .being
subjected to the gross injustice that
would inevitably attend his accepting
the nomination.
But the country is by no means lack
ing in men who would do honor to our
choice. For example , there is Douelsou
Oaffery , the fearless and consistent ad
vocate of sound money and pure politics ,
with whom conscience has ever been
the guiding star ; there is J. Sterling Mor
ton , the tried and proved statesman , up
tioldor of the gold standard , of civil
service and tariff reform , and of arbi
tration ; there is Heed , the doughty
republican , who was driven from mer
ited prominence into private life because
he was not subservient to the scheme of
grab , nicknamed "Duty and Destiny" ;
Ex Senator Edmunds , the renowned
jurist ; Everett , the Massachusetts
scholar ; Hancock , the sterling patriot
of Pennsylvania , and a host of others.
Our eyes are turned to yon , gentlemen
of the convention. We , who know not
what to do because any decision is likely
to be wrong , now call upon you to give
us a chance to vote for a noble cause
with a worthy leader. In America
between the Scylla of McKinleyism and
the Oharybdis of Bryauism it is for you
to build a lighthouse and harbor of
refuge ; the keeper and pilot you are
now to name.
THE UNFKTTJEUKD OCTOPUS.
"There is not , " shivers the Ottawa
Times in a populistio horror , "a law in
Kansas to control railroads , " which
alas , alas is too true. The railroad
octopus in the state is unchained ; he is
roaming the hills and dales of this state
dragging his lariat. And the railroad
octopus is a bloodthirsty old bull octo
pus. In 1890 and in 1892 wo wore told
that unless ho was bound in chains and
thrown into a subterranean cave , unless
his teeth were pulled and his claws
pared , unless his eyes were put out with
hot irons and his mouth gagged with
stringent legislation , the old bull octopus
of railroad monopoly would break out
and chew up all the men , women and
children in the state blood raw without
salt or pepper.
Yet here he is nnhobbled.
Here he is frisking up the Neosho and
down the Cottonwood , avoiding to step
on as much as an humble tumble bug in
his pathway.
The sun still rises in the East.
Water goes down hill.
Men love their wives and sweethearts
Children play merrily out in the twi-
ight without fear ; and the old bull
octopus harms them not.
Can it bo that this folk lore of the ear
ly nineties was the figment of a dream ?
Can it be that the railroad octopus is no
octopus at all , but only the creation of
a demagogue's fancy ? Can it bo that a
railroad is operated as a newspaper or
dry goods store or farm or real estate
office , should be operated on business
lines and that talk of grinding cruelty
s all bosh ? Can it be that railroad laws
are fifth wheels to wagons and that
shippers and railroads got together as
the other people do merchants and
their customers , farmers and their
patrons ?
Is there really a natural law in the
business world that operates when
legislative enactment fails ?
Well , well , well !
Now what do you think of that ! Emporia -
poria Gazette.
CONSTITUTION AND KAILllOADS.
In an eloquent address before the
American Bar Association last week , on
"The March of the Constitution , " Mr.
George B. Peck referred to the four
teenth amendment as "the great anchor
age for the rights which essentially
belong to citizenship in a free govern
ment , " and continued :
The large scope of of the fourteenth
amendment maintained in the dissent
ing opinions of justices Field , Bradley
and Swayno , and concurred in by Chief
Justice Chase , in the slaughter house
cases , has since become the established
view of the court in numerous decisions.
In none of thorn , probably , has the
doctrine now accepted by the courts
been more convincingly expressed tt au I y
Mr. Justice Harlan in the great case of
Smythe vs. Ames , in which the court
held that a railroad corporation is a
person within the meaning of the four
teenth amendment , declaring that no
state shall deprive any person of property
without due process of law , nor deny to
any person within its jurisdiction the
equal protection of the laws ; that
statutes arbitrarily fixing railway rates
which will not admit of the carrier
earning just compensation are uncon
stitutional ; and that the validity of such
statutes is ultimately a matter for judi
cial inquiry.
State legislatures and railroad com
missions used , now and then , to bo
reminded that the fourteenth amend
ment , guaranteeing equal rights to rich
and poor alike , is still in the organic law
of the republic. Railway Age.
If all combina-
THE rABOR TKUST.
the labor union must bo a trust. Why
does not Attorney-general Smyth pros
ecute Mr. Sovereign , the head of a labor
trust , for his activity in politics as a
manager of one of the departments of
the populist national committee ?