6 Conservative.
If the steamship
subsidy appropria
tion had been made an issue and favorably -
ably discussed by Mr. Bnfkett , would
he have been elected over Berge who
would have argued against it ?
If Mark Hanna , in his western
speeches had assured the people that he
would immediately , upon the reassemb
ling of congress , press a gift from all
the people to a few shipbuilding folks of
millions upon millions of dollars , would
he have gained votes or lost votes for
McKinley V
A well known
NOT A JOKE.
Topeka lawyer referring -
ferring to the poly-partied statesman of
the Platte , says : "When I think of Mr.
Bryan I think of an Indian chief that I
met up in "Western Nebraska a great
many years ago. His name was Ta-ta-
mo-no , and it was translated to me as
Walking Wind , ' or 'The Wind That
Walks. ' It was indeed a very poetic
name and quite applicable to a level
country. The chief was a very quiet
Indian and did not talk much. He wag
not probably in politics. He was not a
joke. He probably never asked for a
nomination. "
The Omaha
MAKES A BREAK.
World-Herald of
the 6th inst. has a scare head line ;
"Grosvenor Makes a Break. " Then that
remarkable journal explains that the
"break" was an endorsement of Presi
dent Cleveland for putting down a riot
in Chicago with federal soldiers.
The W-H. evidently never heard that
the house and the senate made the same
"break" years ago , with unanimity.
The W-H. is also luminously ignorant
of the fact that the supreme court of the
United States likewise made the same
"break" and without dissent , declared
that Grover Cleveland , in crushing out
anarchy and Altgeldism in Chicago ,
as president of the United States , acted
wisely , lawfully and efficiently. He
discharged his duty as under his oath ,
he knew and appreciated his constitu
tional authority.
In the introduc
POLITICAL tion to his most
PARTIES.
entertaining an d
instructive book ' 'The American Com
monwealth" James Bryce remarks :
"The whole machinery , of the nation
al and state governments , is worked by
the political parties. Parties have been
organized far more elaborately in the
United States than anywhere else in the
world , and have passed more completely
under the control of a professional class.
The party organizers , in fact , form a
second body of political machinery ex
isting side by side with that of the
legally constituted government , and are
scarcely less complicated. Politics , con
sidered not as the science of government ,
but as the art of winning elections and
securing office , has reached in the United
States a development , surpassing in
elaborateness that of England or Franco
as much as the methods of those coun
tries surpass the methods of Servia and
Roumania. "
Mr. Bryce wrote this before "the art"
had achieved the election of Clark in
Montana and Quay in Pennsylvania. His
book is good as a thought suggester.
Every patriotic citizen ought to read
Bryce and do some thinking in behalf
of honest , just and efficient government
for Americans.
" was a bright
.
HIS ORCHARD.
balmy morning in
April , more than a quarter of a century
ago. The sun was nursing the young
grass into verdure and the prairie was
just beginning to put off its winter coat
of sombre colorings , Tranquil skies
and morning mists were redolent at
Arbor Lodge of the coming resurrection
of the foliage and flowers that died the
autumn before. All about the cottage
home there was hope and peace ; and
everywhere the signs of woman's watch
ful love and tidy care , when suddenly ,
toned with affectionate solicitude , rang
out :
"CarlI Carl ! " but no answer came.
Down stairs , up stairs , at the barn , even
in the well , everywhere , the mother's
voice called anxiously again and again.
But the silence , menacing and fright
ening was unbroken by an answer Irom
the lost boy. At last , however , he was
found behind a smoke-house busily dig
ging in the ground with a small spade ,
though only five years of age , and he
said : "I'm too busy to talk. I'm
planting an orchard ; " and sure enough
he had set out a tiny seedling apple tree ,
a small cottonwood and a little elm.
The delighted mother clasped him in
her arms , kissed him and said : "This
orchard must not be destroyed. "
And so now
"I hear the muflled tramp of years
Come stealing up the slopes of Time ;
They bear a train of smiles and tears ,
Of burning hopes and dreams sublime. "
The child's orchard is more than thirty
years of age. The cottonwood is a giant
now and its vibrant foliage talks , sum
mer after summer , in the evening breeze
with human like voice , and tells its life-
story to the graceful , swaying elm near
by , while the gnarled and scrubby little
apple tree shaped , as to its head , like a
despondent toadstool , stands in dual
shade and bears small sweet apples , year
after year , in all humility. But that
orchard must not be destroyed. It was
established by the youngest tree planter
who ever planted in this tree planters
state and for his sake and the memory
of the sweet soul who nursed and
loved him , it lives and grows , one cot
tonwood , one apple tree , one elm.
"But O , for the touch of a vanished hand ,
And the sound of a voice that ia still. "
The memories that live and bloom in
trees , that whisper of the loved and lost
in summer leaves are as imperishable as
the seasons of the year immortal as the
love of a mother.
The Mmual re-
POSTAL
REVENUES. P ° rfc of Postmaster
General Smith'
shows a deficit of $5,385,688 for the year.
While it is gratifying that the deficit is
less than preceding years it is dis
appointing that the department cannot
be brought to a paying basis. The
postal service should be self-supporting.
Our postal laws should be amended to
prevent abuses now so flagrant in the
transportation of second-class matter.
The laws are so lax that tons of bulky
advertising literature , gotten out in
magazine form , are registered as second-
class and passed through the mails at
great loss to the government. If the
law was amended and these abuses
abolished the Postmaster General esti
mates that the saving would be between
$12,000,000 and $20,000,000 annually.
This would enable the revenues of the
department to meet all expenditures and
at the same time afford the means of
making many legitimate and needed
improvements.
Speaking of the proposed change in
the postal laws , Postmaster General
. . . _ Smith makes this
Amend the Laiv. . . .
timely comment :
"The measure of reform naturally en
counters the strenuous hostility of the
limited special interests , the expense of
whose private business is now largely
paid by the government instead of by
themselves. But this antagonism alone
is not enough to defeat it. There ia
opposition of a different character which
rests on a misconception and which
ought to be removed. It is founded on
a fear that the proposed act is aimed in
part at some legitimate publications of
the second class , and that its enactment
would deprive them of the privileges
which the existing law intends they
should possess. This is a complete mis
apprehension. It is not sought to change
the policy of the present law or to
abridge the privileges it confers upon
regular and legitimate publications for
the dissemination of public intelligence.
"It is only sought to cut off the abuses
which the law never contemplated and
which have crept in through the am
biguity of its provisions or through
doubtful interpretations that have
opened a wide door for wrongful en
tries. It is aimed at the serial paper-
covered books , at the private "house
organs , " at the spurious trade jour
nals , and sheets of an exclusive adver
tising character , at bulk distribution
which is falsely called subscriptions ,
and at the repeated turn and overturn
by news agents of unsold periodicals.
There is no objection to serving these
purely private enterprises through the
mails , but there is no reason why the
government should carry them at the
second-class rate of a cent a pound , in
volving a dead loss to it of millions of
dollars a year , when other articles of
the same kind rightfully pay the third-
class rate of 8 cents a pound. "