6 TTbe Conservative.
In the clays of
'
" *
territorial govern
ment Nebraska was distinguished for the
directness and terseness of its executive
documents. Contrast the following with
the diffusiveness of Poyuter. "Now"
has a style not equal to "Then. "
PROCLAMATION.
EXECUTIVE OFFICE , ?
Omaha , N. T. , Nov. 10 , 1858. )
I , William A. Richardson , Governor
of the Territory of Nebraska , issue this
my Proclamation , setting apart Satur
day , the fourth day of December , Anne
Domini one thousand eight hundred and
fifty-eight , as a day of Prayer and
Thanksgiving to Almighty God , for the
manifold blessings which , in his great
goodness and mercy , he has bestowed
upon this people.
In witness whereof , I have here
unto set my band and caused to be
affixed the great seal of the Ter-
[ L. s. ] ritory.
WM. A. RICHARDSON.
Governor.
J. STERLING MORTON ,
Secretary of Nebraska.
WAR TAXES.
nue act , passed to
meet the exigencies of the war with
Spain , is still in force although the war
ended over two years ago. As a consequence
quence the receipts of the government
materially exceed its expenditures and a
large surplus is being accumulated.
The government should take from the
people only so much money as is re
quired to meet the legitimate expenses
of the government , honestly and eco
nomically administered. A surplus is a
constant menace to a country. It en
courages a false idea of economy. Con
gressmen are apt to construe the accu
mulation of a surplus to mean that they
have been phenomenally economical in
the administration of the government
and then to use their assumed economy
as a pretext for many unwise and extra
vagant appropriations.
At the next session congress should
repeal the war revenue act. If after
the repeal of this
Repeal. . . . , ,
act , the revenue of
the government should be insufficient , a
new law could be passed to meet the de
ficit. Congressman Boutell , of Illinois ,
one of the republican leaders , is in favor
of the repeal of all war taxes and in a
recent interview said :
"With the increasing income from
the sources which the government has
long had for securing its revenue , I see
no reason why the war revenue taxes
should not go. If it is necessary after
ward to provide more money congress
could tax interests that have not been
affected by this revenue act. Taxation
should be distributed. "
"TRUSTS" AND COLLKOK MEN.
Chas. R. Flint , who originated the
idea of modern industrial combinations ,
addreEsed the Outlook Club of Mont
Clair , Now Jersey , last week upon the
subject , "Is a College Education Advis
able as a Preparation for a Business
Career ? " Speaking of the possibilities
for college men under present industrial
organization , he said in part :
" In considering the advisability of a
college education for a business career
we must keep in mind the industrial
evolution which is going on in the world
at large , and particularly in our own
land , requiring a high order of intelli
gence to deal with the new conditions.
There has been a complete revolution.
In a few years we shall wonder that we
continued in our own time the crude
business system of our forefathers.
" The new method is the scientific , the
civilized one. It is built on the knowl
edge of the interdependence of men. It
explodes the fallacy of 'independence. '
The next business idea , call it the 'trust *
if you will , recognizes this principle and
develops it to its highest form. As con
stitutional scientific government has
come to supplant the feudal system , so
the 'consolidation era' in business has
come to supplant the old system.
'Consolidation Era' to Stay.
"And this new 'consolidation era * has
come to stay. Let no young man think
otherwise. That fact was settled in our
recent presidential election. The justice
and wisdom of combination in business ,
the'trust'was as distinct an issue as
the single standard , and it was as em
phatically ratified by the people. They
refused to be misled on this question as
clearly as they refused to be misled on
free silver. The ' trust' is here for good
and under the new system that it brings
in business , increased intelligence and
mental acumen are demanded of the
business man. It may therefore be that
a college education with the mental
training it involves will in the future beef
of greater importance than it was in the
past to the business man.
" I think it is fair to say that the per
centage of college-bred men who are
directing our great enterprises at the
present time is greater than it was ten
years ago , and is constantly increasing.
I have ascertained that of the presidents
of each of the thirty leading railroads ,
industrial organizations , mining enter
prises and mercantile concerns in the
United States , forty per cent , are college
graduates.while the percentage of college
graduates among the successful men re
corded in Apple ton's cyclopedia amount
ed to only seventeen per cent. There is
a still larger percentage of college-bred
men among the younger men directing
great enterprises at this time , and I have
come to the conclusion that to fit men
to conduct these large and complex in
terests and they must be men of ex
ceptional ability it is undoubtedly de
sirable that they should have the advan
tage of a college education.
"But the number of men who can
be thus occupied is comparatively small ,
and in concluding I repeat as my opinion
that most young men of moderate ability
whose families are in moderate circum
stances , should content themselves with
a high'school education , and they will
have the satisfaction that while they
may be at some disadvantage , they are
not debarred from reaching the first
places in the conduct of affairs ; that the
struggle itself is a school for the devel
opment of energy and character. It is
true , now as ever-that opportunity does
not make the man , the man makes the
opportunity. "
MOUNTAIN JIM.
The devotees of that most satisfactory
spot in northern Colorado known as
Estes Park those , that is , who go there
year after year , and think no other rest
ing place so well worth while have a
text book , which is to their cult what
"Science and Health" is to the Chris
tian Scientists. This is the account of
that region published by Miss Isabella
Bird in 1878. They read it at their
meetings and think the last word has
been said. Indeed if there are any
terms of rapturous appreciation in the
language which do not appear in Miss
Bird's Book , they must be words intro
duced since 1878. She was the first of
the writing tourists to penetrate to that
"blue hollow at the foot of Long's
Peak , " and the charms of it smote upon
her soul and caused her to resound like
a bass drum. The charms are all there ,
and the impression they made upon
this Englishwoman was genuine and
that is why her book still sells.
No one who ever read it can have for
gotten Mountain Jim , the melodramatic
desperado who stalks through its pages ,
now with sixteen golden curls hanging
over his shoulders , now waving the
murderous six-shooter ; now reciting
poetry of his own brewing , now dam
ning and swearing most dreadfully ;
now worshiping at sunrise from a
mountain top , and now telling his sym
pathizing companion horrid tales from
his own mysterious past , and ending
darkly in a foot-note "in a dishonored
grave , with a rifle bullet in his brain. "
The writer , who is a sincere admirer of
Estes Park and of Miss Bird as well , and
who endorses every one of her adject
ives , has long been an interested specta
tor of Jim's pyrotechnics , as displayed
in her pages ; and took some pains , in
the course ot a recent visit to the park ,
to learn what was remembered of him
there ; with a result that is in the nature
of a disillusion.
They know him still as Mountain Jim ,
and there is no doubt that ho existed ;
but the old-timers call him merely "Old
Jim" by preference. They remember
him very well ; he died in the fall of