JL '
Che Conservative.
VOL.111. N0.4G. NEBRASKA CITY , NEBRASKA , MAY 23 , 1901. SINGLE COPIES , 5 CENTS.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY.
OFFICES : OVERLAND THEATRE BLOCK.
J. STERLING MORTON , EDITOR.
A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE DISCUSSION
OF POLITICAL , ECONOMIC AND SOCIOLOGICAL
QUESTIONS.
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Address , THE CONSERVATIVE , Nebraska
City , Nebraska.
Advertising rates made known upon appli
cation.
Entered at the postofflce at Nebraska City ,
Neb. , as Second Class matter , July 29 , 1898.
The republicans
NOMINATE YOUR in the United
OPPONENT. States have always
shown great saga
city and fine strategic skill in their
endeavors to nominate democrats for
the presidency , to run against the
nominees of the "grand old party. "
Seldom , since 1868 have national
democratic conventions been en
tirely free from republican influences.
But the republicans did not wish Cleve
land nominated in 1892 , therefore he was
nominated against republican antagon
isms and protests , which materialized in
Chicago , through the Tammany dele
gates , headed by Bourke Oockran , who
led a full fighting majority of the dele
gation from New York. Mr. Cleveland
was nominated and elected , notwith
standing the bitter , well-commanded
and unscrupulous opposition of the
Platt-Oroker-Cookran combination. Mr.
Cleveland was not selected by repub
licans for republicans to defeat. He was
chosen by the older , more sagacious and
conservative elements of his own party.
The affiliated
Continued the bosses in both the
Fight. old parties never
intermitted their
warfare upon Grover Cleveland. It
continued from the day of his second
inauguration , March 4,1897 , all through
his administration. It materialized in
the Gorman-Smith-Sherman combine
against the Wilson bill , when tariff re
form was attempted. It showed the
force of fusion between alleged free
traders and out-and-out protectionists ,
when five United States senators , who
had been elected as democrats , fused
with all the republican senators and
amended and revised the Wilson bill ,
until it came into vigor as a protection
measure. It was so objectionably and
pronouncedly a protective measure in
many of its sections , that President
Cleveland refused to sign it and per
mitted it to become a law , when , as it
seemed then a.nd seems now to THE
CONSERVATIVE , he ought to have vetoed
it. But the republicans were far-sighted
and adroit. They were craftily plan
ning to disrupt the democracy , and to
name for its next presidential candidate
an "easy mark" some man known to
incarnate all the -vagaries , radicalisms
and fallacies which animate the discon
tented citizenship of the country. Un
less the republican leaders could ac
complish that , they felt themselves
forced to declare for free silver , as
against the gold standard , which had
ever been , from Jackson and Benton , a
watch-word and inspiration to the
democrats. The republicans , however ,
succeeded in the skilled culture'n -
( '
teution among the democratic benators
and representatives. They aided the
latter in their senseless crusade for free
silver , in their denunciations of Cleve
land , in their hue and cry against
government by injunction , and in their
condemnation of the use of United States
troops at Chicago to put down riots and
to uphold law and order.
In July , 1896 , the results of republican
strategy and planning became visible in
the Chicago plat-
Result , form of an alleged
democracy , upon
which was nominated the populist
candidate for the presidency. In Ken
tucky phrase , the alleged democracy
entered for the presidential race , that
year"a likely , head-up , showy colt , out
of Fusion , by Populism dam bred at
Platt-Croker stables , and sire by Tom
Watson , of Georgia ! "
The contest was exciting. The colt
pawed the air , snorted and pranced with
all the symptoms
The Race. of capacity for suc
cess. But the
strategists of the republican party had
handioappedjhim with sixteen-to-oueism ,
denunciation-of-the-United - States -su
preme-court and other weights , and
then bet against him 1
They matched McKinley against him
who also had been neighing for free
silver since 1878 , when he voted to carry
the Bland-Allison silver-abominatiou-act
over the veto of President Hayes. But
McKinley lightened himself for the race
by "going" with one ounce of gold , in
stead of sixteen ounces of silver.
MoKinley was ready to accept any sort
of financial faith that his party platform
might prescribe. He would have been
for periwinkle currency , wampumcoon-
skin , or any other that his party might
have chosen to christen as its principles
or as essential to its success. McKinley
was colorless as to any fixed views in
economics , politics or religion. But he
was backed by all the force and energy
of every element of American society
which believed the triumph of his op
ponent would ruin the country. Against
a record of patriotism and practical
statesmanship a record of deeds bene
ficial to the republic , instead of a record
of repeated platitudes McKinley could
not have won. The choice was between
two mistakes , and the lesser was chosen.
THE CONSERVATIVE , three years ago ,
began the agitation in behalf of a new
political party forTe
To Come. this republic. Such
a party is needed.
The patriotic citizenship of the United
States ought to call now , soon , a national
convention. It ought to declare itself
for honest administration ; for taxation
for public purposes only , and against intermeddling
ter-meddling with the affairs of other
nations. It ought , of course , to declare
for the gold standard. In short , it should
proclaim a government for the sole pur
pose of protecting the life , liberty and
property of the citizen , and not for any
other business. It should , therefore , de
clare against the government ownership
of railroads , canals and steamship lines ,
and also against subsidies of whatsoever
sort.
Unless a new national political party
nominates a presidential ticket for 1904 ,
the republican
Unless. party will nomi
nate both candi
dates , as it did in 1896 and in 1900 , and ,
as in those years it selected an opponent
to be beaten , so will it select in the next
canvass for the presidency , an antagon
ist for the same purpose.
Marcus A. Hauna is a very probable
and formidable candidate , and his fol
lowers are doing all they can to nomi
nate an experienced and disciplined loser
to make the race again and against
Hanna , whose election would be thus
made a certainty. : n'j *
