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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1900)
'Cbc Conservative * The companies that moved out continue , however , to sell goods in this state , as they are protected in inter-state com merce by the constitution of the United States. The Diamond Match company of this city , affiliated with the Diamond Match company , limited , of Liverpool , is now making ar rangements to move its head quarters to New York city , where it will be safe from legal assaults. The Associated Press , an organization which controls the news gathering for all American newspapers , has been forced to move headquarters from Chicago to New York as , according to the statutes of Illinois , it is an illegal trust. The result is that Chicago is no longer the news centre of the United States. " A STKIKK TO LOWER WAGES. The consequences of Bryan's election and of the change he threatens to make in the standard of values may be con jectured by our past experience. Want of confidence followed the passage of the Legal Tender act , and caused wide spread stagnation in enterprises which depended on our home market. As happened then , many establishments would close now , others would curtail their production and a large number of men would be thrown out of employ ment. That congress would , if it could , pass before March a law by which the gold standard might become more firmly es tablished is , on account of the moral in fluence which Bryan's election would have , impossible. He is committed to payment in silver of the government obligations which he is allowed to re deem in coin. Their value would de preciate and gold relatively appreciate , but it would be used more generally as a medium of exchange than it was at the time of our civil war. On June 17 , 1864 , congress passed an act by which sales of gold were prohib ited. The gold exchange was temporar ily closed , but the premium on gold rose steadily and public opinion forced a repeal of that law on the 2nd of July following. Apostles of silver are not powerful enough to attempt the repetition of such a folly ; nor , if they were inclined , to suppress the free use of gold as currency. It would form a basis of all transac tions which bankers , merchants and manufacturers have with foreign conn- tries , and would be used by everybody else who has anything to lose and who wants to know the exact value of what he has got. As the banks would be ob liged to keep accounts payable in gold for all these persons , who comprise the wealthy and those of moderate means they might suffer inconvenience anc some losses. But their injuries would be trivial when compared with the hard ship of all mtn who toil for wages and who would be compelled to accept de- > reoiated silver currency for their com- > ensation. Mr. Bryan tries to make ihem believe that this money would be come abundant , and they -would get more of it , but he fails to tell them that it would buy considerably less of every thing they need. Flour , which brings 4.50 in England , would cost $9 in silver when used for home-made bread. For eigners could buy for $9 a ton iron which cost $18 when turned into Amer ican plow-shares. After we suspended specie payments , prices of commodities rose in proportion to the premium on gold. But men found it difficult to ob tain employment , so that even the nom inal wages , consisting of greenbacks , instead of increasing , at first declined. The remuneration of hired persons never rose in proportion to the deprecia tion of the irredeemable paper currency they were paid in , certainly not until confidence was fully re-established. When , in 1864 , gold rose to a premium of 275 and legal tenders were barely worth 87 cents , the laborer who receiv ed $4.00 a day could not indulge in the luxuries which' $2.50 in gold procured for him before the war. Workmen would experience the same hardships now which they had to suL.v then. Values have never been created by the dictation of any human force. Bryan is too intelligent not to know that the laws of trade are unchangeable. The efforts he makes to pursuade his followers that he could increase the prosperity if they were to clothe him with authority looks like the strike of a designing demagogue who burns with a desire to assume the reins of power without regarding the results which would inevitably follow. LOUIS WlNDMULLER. WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH CROKER ? One of the most amazing features of the present campaign is the failure of the democratic managers , including Mr. Bryan himself and Chairman Jones , to realize the deadly and deadening effect of Richard Oroker's prominence upon their candidate's prospects. They do not seem to understand that in the minds of honest citizens in every section of the republic the name of Oroker suggests everything that is vicious , seamy and shameless in politics. Pitch is not blacker or more defiling in its character and effect than is the name of Croker and everything connected with it. In any gathering of citizens of differ ent shades of political faith let some enthusiastic republican ask , "What's the matter with MoKinley ? " Immedi ately comes the response , "He's all right ! " In the same gathering lot an equally enthusiastic democrat ask , "What's the matter with Bryan ? " and just as promptly comes the reply , "He's ol right ! " But let some satirical citizen demand 'What's the matter with Oroker ? " and ; he hisses that greet the name are drowned in the shout , "He's a thief , " as was the case under the window from which Oroker himself was watching a parade in New York City. This universal detestation of Croker throughout the Union accounts for the amazement that has followed Bryan's declaration , "Great is Tammany , and Richard Oroker is its prophet 1" No man who worships at Tammany's shrine and bows in submission to its prophet can ever be president of the United States. Chicago Times-Herald. The peerless exponent THE "SACRED" CONDITION. ponent of calamity notified the con vention of kindred spirits which met at Kansas City on July 4 , that he would accept their nomination for the presi dency only upon the condition that the following resolution be adopted : "We reaffirm and endorse the prin ciples of the national democratic plat form adopted at Chicago in 1896 , and we reiterate the demand of that plat form for an American financial system , made by the American people for them selves , which shall restore and maintain a bimetallic level , and as part of such system the immediate restoration of the free and unlimited coinage-of silver and gold at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1 , without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation. " He did not say that he would decline to be the nominee if the convention failed to declare against imperialism. He did not affirm that he would refuse to go through the formality of running for the presidency if the platform was silent upon the subject of "militarism. " He did not insist upon a declaration against "government by injunction. " But he did declare and affirm that he would not accept a nomination if the convention failed to adopt the plank in favor of the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. Bryan stands con victed therefore of placing the question of "human rights , " the "declaration of independence , " and the "constitution of the United States" subordinate to "money , " and confesses to "placing the dollar above the man. " A fusion orator AMERICAN MANHOOD. says the voter should ask himself this question : "Which do I value the more highly , the gold standard in money or the American standard in manhood ? " The conscientious citizen will not hesitate to choose the gold standard in money in preference to the brand of "American manhood" put up and ex clusively handled by William J. Oroker and Richard Bryan. A majority of the voters of this country favor the world's best standard in both manhood and money and will therefore oppose adopt ing the Oroker standard of manhood and the Bryan standard of money as the ideal for the American people.
