Conservative *
The evening of
AN EFFECTIVE September 26,1900 ,
SPEECH. will never bo for
gotten bj those
citizens who welcomed to Nebraska City
that night the peerless Colonel Bryan ,
J. Hamilton Lewis , andConstautiuo Blar
ney Smy the ( nee Smith ) , for the patriotic
purpose of hearing how to "bust" the
National Starch Trust , and how to pro
tect Nebraska City against designing
men in general , and certain Mortons in
particular. All the eloquent expounders
did remarkably well in their endeavors
to explain how this people and town
would suffer , and finally commercially
perish , if the Argo Starch manufactory
was permitted to continue domg busi
ness in its own way , instead of in their
way. But as mere lightning bugs iire-
flies in a Juno night beside the efful
gent glow of the sun at midday , were
all the other speeches compared to that
of Colonel Bryan. That heroic crusader
against the power of incorporated money
was more than usually brilliant and
reckless in his assaults upon incorpora
tions generally , and particularly so upon
all those which were employing men in
and building up the prosperity of Neb
raska City. Without fear , the great
peerless colonel declared that ho would
proceed to orate "in the shadow of the
Starch Works. "
He quoted frequently , at length and
with evident relish from THE CONSERVA
TIVE and its editor. Ho defied and de
nounced anybody and everybody who
favored incorporations like the National
Starch Company , doing business at Neb
raska City. He flayed with keen-edged
sarcasm and razor-bladed irony , the poor ,
insignificant , small-fry originators of our
Argo Factory , and told with prophetic
tongue , just precisely how the Mortons
and other Nebraska City holders of the
stock therein would be soon relegated to
the rear , and the factory in Nebraska
City shut'down , forever , unless he and
his coadjutor forecasters and their ad
monitions were believed and heeded.
It was a resonant speech , and the tele
graphing of it into every large commer
cial centre Boston , New York , Phila
delphia , Chicago and St. Louis by the
especial efforts of Gold Standard demo
crats , demonstrated to all those cities
the utter , shameless and desperate dema
gogy of Bryan , in his assaults upon all
forms of incorporated capital. It was
efficient in arousing the conservative
citizenship of the republic to a sense of
danger. It made more contributions to
the campaign funds of Mark Hanna in
the four following days than all the
McKinleyites in the United States had
been able to raise in the four preceding
weeks. It produced vastly more and
better effects than any other Bryan
speech , and proved beneficial to the
country. It did more to ensure his de
feat in the country at large , and a thou
sand times more to temporarily guaran-
tee his political erasure in Nebraska ,
than all other speeches during the whole
campaign.
That speech was against a very im
portant home industry. It was a raid
upon the Starch
Antagonized Home Factory and its
Labor. two-hundred and
odd well-paid and
well-contented operatives. It was made
in malice. It was heralded by Oldham ,
in Syracuse , Nebraska , as an attack upon
the Mortons , by which ten-thousand
votes would be lost if the proposed on
slaught was abandoned. Oldham's ut
terance , made in 'the presence of his
peerless leader , was stenographed by a
CONSERVATIVE employee.
How liave the forecasts of that speech
been verified ? Have the Starch Works
ceased ? Are they
Results. not now being ex
panded , enlarged ,
and fifty thousand dollars expended in
their betterment ? And is this industry
and is the Cold Storage Plant and is the
Morton-Gregson Packing House the re
sult of the efforts of Populism , Bryan-
archy , and its expounders ?
Recall all the prophecies of that re
markable , rampant oratory at Nebraska
City , September
Remember. 26 , 1900 , and find ,
if you can , a single
statement , which has been proved true
by subsequent events ! Find one econo
mic utterance that has not been demon
strated a lie ! !
THE PRECINCTS OF THE BRITISH
CAPITOL.
BY LAWRENCE IRWELL.
The precincts of the British House of
Commons differ so materially from
those of the national capitol at Wash
ington that a brief account of the gen
eral condition of affaire at the former
may be of some interest to the readers ,
of THE CONSERVATIVE.
The lobby of the British House of
Commons has changed considerably
during the past twenty years. At the
present time the inner lobby or mem
bers' lobby , as it is sometimes called , in
order to distinguish it from the central
hall is reserved for members of the
two houses of parliament and ex-mem
bers of the house of commonsand in ad
dition , for a certain number of persons
who must be called "professional poli
ticians. " These latter include the
chief organizers and the "wire-pullers"
of the political parties ; newspaper men ,
representing the chief London and
provincial papers and the press agen
cies ; parliamentary agents ( not many
of them ) , who are interested , in the
promotion of railroad and similar
"private" bills ; and the secretaries of
ministers and ex-ministers , though not
those of ordinary members of parlia
ment. The names of these selected few
are placed upon the lobby list , which
the sergeaut-at-arms controls , and which
he can , and does revise from time to
time as ho may see fit.
Privilege of Sergeant-at-Arms.
But before the scare , or , as some people
ple prefer to call it , the alleged scare ,
followed the dynamite outrages at West
minister and elsewhere prior to 1800the
entree to the members lobby was by no
means a special or exceptional privi
lege. Even to to this day , indeed , when *
the excliTsion of all "strangers" and
persons having "no right there" is very <
strictly enforced by the officials , who
certainly do not shrink from their duty
in this matter. There are individuals who ,
try to insist that they are at liberty to
enter the lobby because they were in the
habit of doing so a few years since
without any special order from Mr.
Speaker or the sergeaut-at-arms. Not '
long ago the ex-editor of a daily newspaper - \ \
paper expressed his intention of visit
ing the house to see some of his old
friends. He was assured that to carry
out his project satisfactorily he would
have to procure an order from a mem
ber to see the precincts of the house.
A ticket for the speaker's gallery , or for
one of the much coveted seats "under , V
the gallery , " would carry him through '
the lobby ; but he would not be al /
lowed to stand or walk about there for
many minutes. The newspaper man - * V
scoffed at the idea of going to all this . - \
trouble , and said that a few years before - V
fore , he was accustomed to come and go
as he chose while the house was in ses
sion. He refused to believe hi lobby
lists and lobby privileges. Nobody
used to stop him ; nobody would be at
all likely to stop him now. Neverthe
less , this gentleman afterwards ad
mitted that , incredulous as he was , ex
perience had proved to him that he had
under the present conditions , no more
opportunity of getting into the lobby
than in the old days , he had of walking
into the house itself , post every watch
ful official , and taking the speaker's
chair prior to a great debate. Anybody
who tried to pass by force-along the nar
row way leading from the central hall
to the members' lobby , would find his
path barred by at least half a dozen po
licemen constables , they are called in
England , and ho would be seized and
eventually taken before a magistrate.
Even were he , by much guile and by
deep laid plots , to succeed in reaching
the lobby , his presence would be quickly
noticed and his expulsion would follow
in a trice.
Reasons for Care in Exclusion.
The exact reason for this rigid ex-
elusion of strangers from the members
lobby may not at first sight seem clear or
reasonable , for people are , it may be
argued , admitted to the central hall and
elsewhere within the precincts of the
house. After answering a few questions ,
