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Che Goriservatiw.
J VOL. III. NEBRASKA CITY , NEB. , THURSDAY , JAN. 17 , 1901. NO 28.
r PUBLISHED WEEKLY.
OFFICES : OVBBLAND THEATRE BLOCK.
J. STERLING MORTON , EDITOU.
A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE DISCUSSION
Or POLITICAL , EOONOMIO AND SOCIOLOGICAL
QUESTIONS.
CIRCULATION THIS WEEK 9,700 COPIES.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
One dollar and a half per year , In advance ,
postpaid , to any part of the United States or
Canada. Remittances made payable to The
Morton Printing Company.
Address , THE CONSERVATIVE , Nebraska
City , Neb.
Advertising Rates made known upon appli
cation.
Entered at the postofflce at Nebraska City
Neb. , as Second Class matter , July 29th , 1808.
THE GROUT BILL. , , . . .
and most pointed
argument yet advanced against the
Grout bill , which places a tax of ten
cents per pound upon oleomargarine ,
was made a few days ago by the dairy
commissioner of Ohio. In his testimony
before the senate committee he declared
that it was almost impossible to convict
violators of the present law , "owing to
the partiality of some people for that
product. " This is the most honest ad
mission THE CONSERVATIVE has heard
from any butter maker in this effort to
suppress a commercial rival. The Ohio
dairyman has let the cat out of the bag
and shows that the purpose of those who
are so industriously backing the Grout
bill is to prevent the people from get
ting , at a reasonable price , a good whole
some product , for which they have
shown a "partiality , " and to compel
them to buy at a greatly increased price
a product in which these same lobbyists
are financially interested. The testi
mony of the Ohio commissioner indi
cates quite clearly that there are a great
many people who like oleomargarine
stamped and sold as such. It ought not
to require much evidence of this char
acter to convince senators of the real
animus of the Grout bill and cause them
to realize that it is not a function of- the
legislative branch of the government to
keep people from buying one product
and forcing them to purchase another
in order to build up one industry by
destroying the other.
Secretary Gage , in his testimony before
the committee , very effectively pointed
out the absurdity
Revenue. . . , , , .
of the contention
that the Grout bill was a revenue meas-
ure. In the first place he said that the
contention was untrue for the reason
that the revenue would be less than
under the present law , the tax being
prohibitive , as oleomargarine could not
be profitably manufactured and pay a
tax of ten cents per pound. And in the
second place if the contention were true
he declared the tax was unnecessary as
the revenues of the government are
already ample.
BOARD OF
StltUtlOn OI tniS
CONTROL
state will not per
mit the legislature to establish a board
of control for all state institutions it
does enable the enactment of a law to
include a part of them. Educational
institutions are exempted from the con
trol of the board of public lands and
buildings and their government is
entirely in the hands of the legislature.
The institute for the blind at Nebraska
City and the school for the deaf at
Omaha are , according to the meaning of
the constitution , educational institutions
and may be governed as the legislature
may direct.
The legislature should make use of its
power and enact a law for the control of
these institutions by a non-partisan
board , appointed after the manner of the
method in vogue in Iowa and with
powers and duties similar to the board
of control of that state. This would
enable the accomplishment of immediate
reforms in these institutions which , it is
necessary to remark , are very much
needed. It would remove them from
politics and , if competent superinten
dents are appointed by Governor
Dietrich , their retention would be secure.
The state would thus be assured of
honest and intelligent administration ,
alike profitable to taxpayers and ad
vantageous to the inmates. Then , too ,
this would afford an opportunity to
experiment with the Iowa plan and , if it
should result satisfactorily , would
materially aid the adoption of a consti
tutional amendment , making possible
the application of a similar statute to
all state institutions.
The Populist
. , ,
nominee for the
presidency , at a banquet in Omaha a
few days ago , said : "We must later
determine whether we have a supply of
gold large enough to make silver coin
age unnecessary. " In 1896 the same
authority declared that the "gold
standard had slain its tens of thousands"
and if it were continued would "destroy
our homes and firesides. " It will no
doubt be a source of great relief to many
people to be assured , by the peerless
prophet , that the threatened calamities
are no longer imminent and that it is
now simply a question of the amount of
gold in the country and that we must
wait and see if the volume of it is suffi
cient for monetary purposes.
Evidently the matchless leader is re
canting. But if he is honest in his
_ , . . financial views
Why Recant. _ , , _
-
i i-
why should he
now desist in his advocacy of bimetal
lism ? When he insisted upon a reaffirmation -
affirmation of the 16 to 1 plank in the
Kansas Oity platform , the available sup
ply of gold was approximately the same
as it is now. But while there is
no economic , there has been a political
change and perhaps the 'latter has in
fluenced the recent apostasy by the
champion of the plain people.
The annual report of the director of
the mint shows pretty conclusively that
the supply of gold is ample. This report
places the money of the world at
$11,600,000,000 in 1900 to $4,600,000,000
in 1873. Of this increase $3,600,000,000
has been in gold , while there has been a
decrease in paper not redeemable in
gold. More than half of the increase
in the world's money has been in gold
and the rate of increase has greatly ex
ceeded the growth of population.
_ . _ , _ . The telegrams in
RAILROAD
COMBINATIONS.fche dally neWS'
papers and the
stock market tell us that there is some
foundation for the rumors that gigantic
combinations in transportation lines are
imminent.
They are the natural and logical result
of unrestricted competition. Railroad
companies should be permitted by law
to divide their earnings and the only
compensation that the public is entitled
to is reasonable rates.
The absence of legalized pooling
will continue to force unification of
ownership ; this in time , not withstand
ing its many advantages , may result in
government ownership , and in Germany
where the government owns all the
railroads it has been found necessary to
establish pools in order to bring about
satisfactory conditions.
s
