tbe ! Conservative * s
COMMONER. "farmer" of Lin
coln , opened the initial number of his
bucolic paper with some very gratifying
information concerning the Greeks and
Romans ; a fact which is interesting , in
that it shows that he has found time ,
since temporarily renouncing candida
ture , to apply himself to other branches
of erudition than those which Mr. Wil
liam Allen White observed last summer
to be represented in Farmer Bryan's
library. But THE CONSERVATIVE must
gently remonstrate with Farmer Bryan ,
at the risk of seeming to ride a hobby ,
on his choice of foreign tongues ; why
does he tell us what the Greeks and
Romans called people , and overlook the
Germans , the Scandinavians , the Goths ,
the Irish , or the Pawnees , for example ;
peoples who , as THE CONSERVATIVE has
often maintained , come much nearer
home to Americans than do the nations
of antiquity ? Farmer Bryan could have
found much philological information in
this direction in the Dictionary of Mr.
Noah Webster ; a work to which he un
doubtedly can obtain access , if he has it
not upon his own shelves.
We learn further that Farmer Bryan ,
in selecting the title of "Commoner"
for his periodical ,
No Less Common. ,
did not mean to
refer to the degree of its seleotness ; as
that it was to be a little less choice than
if he had called it "The Common , " but
a little more so than if he had called it
"The Commonest ; " he means rather to
convey the impression that he belongs to
what the late A. Lincoln called "the
plain people ; " that he is what the poet
of the balmy isles of the Pacific calls
"just a common low G d d d white
man. " Farmer Bryan's allusion is
evidently to one William Gladstone of
England , who , it is said , was called the
Great Commoner , because he insisted on
remaining a member of that branch of
the British government known as the
House of Commons , and refused abso
lutely to become a lord. Farmer Bryan's
title would appear therefore to be taken
rather from the English than from the
American language ; or perhaps it is
more French than either , for the word
communard seems to have a better stand
ing in French than has "commoner" in
English. It will no doubt be made clear
in time , as Farmer Bryan has leisure to
cover the fields of history and etymology
more thoroughly , whether his allusion
is after all to the French communard.
Another use of the word "common , *
which also is wholly English , is its nom
inative use , in
Boston Common. , , . . .
which it signifies a
verdant expanse attached to an English
village or other town site , whereon the
communal bull is wont to romp and
roar and the village youth to play upset
the-sugar-bowl and other rude games
But there appears to be no connection
between this matter and Farmer Bry-
an's oratory served frappe. Neither ,
t would seem , can he have in mind the
earlier English use of the adjective
'common , " which in the Bible and
Shakespeare , for example , is used in
decidedly unsavory connections.
A curious instance occurs in the book
of the New Testament called Acts , where
_ . , , , , _ the following in-
Biblical Common. , , . . " ? ,
junction is found
'What God hath cleansedthat _ call not
; hou common. " This , Farmer Bryan
has apparently overlooked in his scrip
tural researches , or perhaps he had not
gotten so far over ; otherwise he is
> laced in the somewhat difficult posi-
ion of either rejecting this divine pre
cept , or giving countenance to an
ancient taunt by denying his constitu
ency to be effectually cleansed.
It is certainly to be hoped that the
English flavor of the title which Farmer -
, „ , . , . mer Bryan has
Quito English.
selected may not
give offense to any great part of the
millions who have voted for him and
who are expected to patronize his type
balks. But if that should happen , he
could still find names which would ex
press his idea , as we understand , and
at the same time avoid a complimentary
attitude toward the court of St. James.
He might use Mr. Lincoln's word and
style himself "The Plainer , " which
would also have a pleasantly industrial
sound ; or he could go back to the usage
of Chaucer and Wyoliffe , and call it
"The Leweder. "
'Toolewed to work , and ready for any kind of
mischief.1 ' Chaucer.
Lewd meaning laical , belonging to
the laity.
COMING CAPITAL. .
ing westward for
investment. It is leaving New York ,
Chicago , and other populational centers
for the purpose of establishing manu
facturing plants in the valleys of the
Mississippi and the Missouri. Along
the western banks of the latter stream
in Nebraska , are most inviting locations
for straw-board-paper manufacturing
wheat flouring mills , cereal mills , pack
ing houses , starch factories , paving brick
manufactories , and for the making o :
all sorts of valuable tiles and pottery
from a great variety of most valuable
commercial clays.
THE CONSERVATIVE invites cash
capital , men with money , men with
energetic enterprise , to locate within the
state of Nebraska. THE CONSERVATIVE
is not afraid of millionaires or multi
millionaires. On the contrary , it ask
and earnestly solicits all those types o
the "common people" who have carved
success and fortunes for themselves ou
of the most humble and apparently
insurmountable environments and ob
staoles , to make permanent homes in
Nebraska. Notwithstanding the fao
that Nebraska did for a few months , in
K
a paroxysm of populistio madness , em- ff
brace and maintain the vagaries and
fallacies of Bryanarchy , it ought now
to be forgiven ; audits cordial and hearty
solicitation for the incoming of new men
and new capital for the development of , , . ,
its untried resources ought to meet quite |
general and very prompt acceptance.
The repeal of all the laws which dema
gogy and vote-Booking have placed upon
the statute books of Nebraska is de
manded by sound common-sense. When
this legislature adjourns , if it shall have
repealed the bad laws of the state , the
laws inimical to its development and
advancement in manufacture and com
merce , without having enacted a single
new statute , it will have proved itself
the best law-making body of this com
monwealth since the state was admitted
to the American Union in 1807.
If good citizens wish reform , they can
get it by plenty of repeal. Laws extend
ing a welcome to up-builders of the
commonwealth instead of statutes to
conciliate the crank voters , the fault
finding workless , the tearing-down
vagarists are demanded by the men
and women who earn honestly , and now
honestly own the homes , farms , factories
and work shops of Nebraska. Down
with carping critics who decry all things
now existing and advocate things which
never can exist , except by subsidizing
indolence and words , out of money
unjustly taken away from industry and
work.
THE CONSERVATIVE
GROWING.
TIVE is growing in
public favor and now has a circulation
three times as large as it had at the _ close
of the first year of its existence. Three
years from this time THE CONSERVATIVE
ought to have more than thirty thous
and subscribers. Meantime its patron
age as to advertisements comes from
among the best establishments and most
reputable firms of the United States.
THE CONSERVATIVE desires the patron
age of every banker and other gold-
standard citizen within the American
Union who desires to preserve the credit
and the commercial honor and integrity
of the government.
THE CONSERVATIVE
FLASH-LIGHT
EDITORIALS. TIVE notes with
infinite satisfac
tion the Thespian element transferred
from the rostrum to the press and the
facility and felicity with which the
posing orator , whose photographs are
numerous as the pictures of Lydia
Pinkham , becomes the posing pressman
for a flash-light photograph. If the
camera could catch a snap-shot of a
logical thought among the innumerable
fallacies of the new organ of populism ,
nothing would be commoner than the
astonishment which its readers would
experience ,