Conservative
Arc the people
OFFICIAL BONDS , capable of self-
government ? If
they are , then after selecting n county
treasurer or state treasurer , or any other
officer to whom are entrusted the money
and business of the public , they ought
not to ask a few citizens to go upon an
official bond of that officer , to protect
all the citizens against loss by his official
acts.
acts.Do
Do the majority , when they demand
indemnity from a small number of citi
zens , against wrong-doing by an official
selected by a majority of all the citizens ,
endorse and aver faith in the popular
power to pick out a proper officer , or
evince their mistrust of the capability
of selection by the multitude ?
When A. B. and 0. are asked to do ,
what no man of family has a moral
right to do , that is , to jeopardize , by
signing an official bond , the substance
which belongs to their own families , is
it not a confession that the majority are
incapable of electing perfectly and cer
tainly competent and honest men ? Is it
not pleading the "baby act , " to ask a
few men to guarantee the community
against the losses which may accrue from
agents whom all men have been given a
right to vote for ?
Every law in Nebraska providing for
bonds of indemnity to bo given by
county treasurers
Character. and other fiduciary
officers , ought to
be repealed. Then , after that repeal ,
when it is perfectly known that no
treasurer or other officer can default
without having the loss visited prc-rata
upon every property holder or tax payer
in the county , there will be a premium
on character for honesty and ability , in
all nominating conventions. Then no
political organization will name for snob
offices , men who have not business and
moral qualifications to efficiently and
satisfactorily discharge the duties and
conserve the trusts which they carry.
If a majority are capable of self-gov
ernment , capable of selecting by their
votes , the proper persons to do the pub
lic work , a minority ought not to be
asked to indemnify them against pecu
lations , or malfeasance , by the men of
their own choice.
, TiiE CONSERVATIVE will continue this
discussion from time to time.
It is credibly re-
WEEPING. ported that when
the denunciations
of the judges of the Supreme Court and
the ridicule of their decisions in the
insular cases by the peerless commoner ,
of Lincoln , reached that august body of
venerable men , they broke with lachry
mose unanimity into a torrential tear-
shedding downpour. It is said that
Chief Justice Fuller called a special
bession of the Supreme Court in Cham-
bora , and read to the aghast members
' V K * TT <
lioreof , the tremendous scolding which
'the peerless ono" had administered.
The modest , but majestic criticism , con-
lomnation. and annihilation of the
opinions of the several judges coming
as it did from a "matchless" expounder
of the constitution burned into their
very souls , and the dome of the capitol
resounded with the wails of their in
finite anguish. It is time that the Su
preme Court of the United States
should know that the master of the law
ives at Lincoln , that ho , now and then ,
runs for the presidency , and that in the
lollow of his intellect he holds judges ,
is the sea holds little snail shells in its
mighty depths.
After the sowing
BETTER broad-cast by the
RESIGN. associated press dispatches -
patches , of the
timothy of truth and the clover of
.agio , gleaned from the measureless
thought-fields of "the peerless" citizen
of Lincoln , how con the Judges of the
Supreme Court fail to resign immedi
ately ? How dare they cumber the seats
of the mighty any longer ? Has not the
unfailing prophet spoken ? Has he not
with a single cyclone from his vast
knowledge of the needs , possibilities ,
conomics , subjugations , and crowii-
threatenings , which encompass round
about the "plain people , " erased , oblit
erated , pulverized and blown away the
mental microbes of that judicial an
tiquity ? What do they signify now of
laws or of the constitution since their
master has spoken ?
The first rudiment
SELF RELIANCE , of a successful
career , is self reli
ance. The individual who believes he
can honestly earn a living for himself
by his own manual and mental labors ,
has the only faith , out of which pros
perity and happiness can be evolved.
No human being can sincerely respect
his own personality , if it is incapable
of efforts , out of which self-support is
certain to come. , The grandest and
subliniest condition of humanity is that
of useful work. By work , and by work
only , can solid character be achieved.
Mere reputation may bubble up , foam
over and evaporate like a soft summer
drink. But character abidoth forever ,
and iufluenceth generation after genera
tion of our race for either good or evil.
The ablest , best
PACIFIC DAILY , edited , most news-
bringing journal on
the Pacific coast , is the San Francisco
Daily Call. It is full of enterprise , and
its leading editorials are distinguished
for virility , forcefulness and lucidity.
.71 v- " '
The partisan press
THAT NEW PO- generally condemns
LITICAL PARTY , the suggestion of a
new political organi
zation for the United States. The real ,
zealous , strait-waisted organs of the al-
eged republican party are unanimous
n ridicule , denunciation and protesta-
ion. And the journals of the agglom
erated elements of discontent , com-
nunism , populism and anonymous as
pirations which have been fused into an
alleged democratic party , are equally
one-minded and fervid in their condem-
mtion of the proposed conservative
party. Both sets of political exhorters
aver that there is no room for another
mrty , and that the two old ones must
ight out the salvation of the American
people. Some republican editors have
proclaimed the proposed political or-
auization of the best citizenship for
purely political purposes , "a mere fig
ment of the imagination. "
These sensitive partisans are sightless.
They fail to see that the best citizen
ship was organized
Neither Won. and did gallant
service in the elec
tions of 1890 and 1900. They are inca
pable of tmderstanding that neither of
; he old political parties was powerful
enough to elect a president in either of
the years named. Each named a can
didate for the presidency in those years.
Neither could , within its own organiza
tion furnish votes to elect its nominee
in either year. Both have confessed
that fact. McKinley and Bryan have
each said or admitted that the so-called
gold democrats determined the presi
dency of these United States. Every
body knows , however , that they chose
between what they considered two
dangers , and selected that which they
thought to be least menacing to the
country and to the best interests of its
inhabitants.
There is and has been ever since 1884 a
very well organized balance of power
party in America.
The Balance of It elected Cleve-
Power. land twice and
Harrison once and
McKinley twice. It prevented the elec
tion of sixteen-to-one-ism and
- - - squelched
the vagaries and fallacies of populism
in 1900. The independent , unchained ,
un-bossed and unpurchasablo vote of
the United States gets bigger and big
ger every year. It may not nominate
presidents. But it can and does elect
them.
The small-soulcd , little-eyed merce
naries who edit the
narrow-gauge parti
san papers of the country seem incapa
ble of comprehending an American
citizenship too sturdy and strenuous to
be bound and bossed by mere partyism.
And yet that sort of men have deter
mined each national election since 1884.
Why not have an independent voters'
organization ? What harm can a bal-
ance-of-power party bring about ?
