"Che Conservative *
The proposed sub-
SUBSIDIES. sidy of ten millions
of dollars a year to
the men who will establish and own a
line of American steamships which
shall carry commodities and passen
gers across the Atlantic ocean suggests
several questions.
Do not the navigation laws of the
United States prevent the sailing of a
foreign-built ship under the Stars and
Stripes ?
Does not the existing Dingley tariff
put a duty of from forty per cent , to
one hundred and twenty per cent , upon
many or all of the woods , iron , steel ,
cordage , etc. , which enter into the con
struction of a ship ?
Do not the diabolism of the exclusive
navigation law and the protective tariff
make it impossible to have by purchase ,
or to construct , for competition on the
high seas , an American Merchant
Marine ; and if both those restrictive
laws were mitigated by amendment or
entirely repealed would there be any
need for or pretense even for the need
of a ship subsidy ?
At an early day here in Nebraska , in
1855 , the first crop of corn was planted
in the newly broken
Crows. prairie. It came
up beautifully un
der the forcing of sunshine , rain and
this rnarvelously fertile soil. It was
the first tune in their black and glossy
lives that the trans-Missouri crows had
ever had civilized man set a table for
them to eat from. The caw ! caw ! caw !
of ravenous rejoicing resounded all over
the few acres of corn as it came , dark ,
green , and lusciously attractive.to the
crow palate , from this new and untried
land. The black gourmands began de
vouring the young plants with an ap
petite for sprouting corn only equaled
by the Kentucky taste for the
juice of old corn. The few
planters in the county of Otoe ,
Nebraska agreed that the only way to
get rid of the crows aforesaid and save
the corn'crop was to "subsidize" all the
boys in the settlement to shoot crows.
Thus a bounty of five cents was offered
in the vicinity of Nebraska City for
each scalp of a crow delivered at the
log court house on or before November
1 , 1855. By that date the shooting
youth of this frontier settlement had
deposited one hundred and ninety-three
scalps as aforesaid provided and been
paid therefor five cents apiece. The
corn crop was saved. The people re
joiced , for each man who paid had pos
session of the corn protected. The next
summer the same boys proposed a re
newal of the "subsidy" on the same
terms. Their proposition was gladly
accepted. But by September 25th the
crow scalps wore piling up so high that
it seemed the whole circulation of the
settlement would be absorbed in paying
five cents'a head for them. An investi-
gatiug committee was appointed and it
made solemn inquest as to how or why
the crow family had increased so rap
idly and matured so early in the season.
And the committee found and reported
that the aforesaid boys had robbed the
nds'ts of the aforesaid crows and hatdhed
out the eggs under the domestic hen.
Thus that subsidy made little rascals ,
like some promoters , out of guileless
youth , wasted the hens' time , and
swindled the general public. Ever
since that time The Conservative has
suspected subsidies in general , whether
concealed under the euphemistic phrase
of "a tariff for protection , " "a tax on
oleomargarine , " or "a subsidy to es
tablish an American Merchant Marine. "
Most subsidies make rascals of some
body , deceive everybody and really
benefit nobody.
The butter niak-
THE POWER ers , butter renovat-
TO TAX. ors and butter spec-
ill at or s found
wholesome , edible oleomargarine a
vigorous competitor in the markets of
the United States. They scratched
their scalps for a way to down compe
tition in the smearing-of-bread business.
They invented legislation under false
pretenses. At a time in Grover Cleve
land's first administration when the
national treasury contained a surplus of
more than two hundred millions of
dollars , and when the inflow of revenue
was like a torrent , the butter patriots
secured the first anti-oleomargarine
legislation upon the pretext of getting
revenue and so put the first tax upon
the only butter substitute in the market.
It was obtaining enactment under a
false pretence and as much a crime
morally as getting goods or money in
that way. The precedent pleaded was the
ten per cent tax on the issue of bills to
circulate as currency by State Banks.
That burden on state banks of issue
destroyed all of them and left the cur
rency field a perfect monopoly as to
paper currency other than that issued
by the general government in the
hands of the National Banks. Thus
the statement of Chief Justice John
Marshall that "the power to tax is the
power to destroy" was demonstrated.
The national bankers having annihil
ated their adversaries and competitors
by legislation , the
Butterers. philanthropic but-
terers seek similar
salvation , in the destruction of their
rivals , also ; by congressional enactment.
The precedent in the bank case was bad
and the butter case worse.
Where shall this misuse , this wicked
abuse of the power to tax , end ? Who
is safe in his busi-
Where ? ness ? When shall
rivals secure tax-
imposing legislation with which to
crush and ruin him ?
How long before wool-growers shall
seek enactments to cripple by taxation ,
cotton growers ?
How long before Congress is to be
called upon to tax all cotton fabrics
passing for and as substitutes for
woolen goods ?
How long before the castor beau and
plive oil industries shall secure a tax on
cotton seed oil ? The power to' tax can
be used legitimately only for a public
purpose !
Jouathard R.
SIMILAR. Bryan , aged 54 , a
banker of Dixon ,
Teuu. , and a cousin of William Jennings - - '
nings Bryan , was married a lew days
ago to the widow of his son , Mrs. Eva
C. Bryan , good looking and aged 28.
The wedding took place at Cairo , this
state. Chicago Chronicle , Oct. 19th ,
1901.
1901.Racial
Racial tendencies are very marked.
Mr. Bryan of Nebraska is married to
"Free-Silver-at-lG-to-l" the widow of
his presidential boom.
Kentu o k y has
HENRY tried the scrub
WATTERSON. stock from the
mountain ranges of
that commonwealth long enough.
Therefore there is anxiety that a thor
oughbred be entered for the guberna
torial races in that , state. Thus far
Henry Watterson is the favorite. The
Conservative knew both sire and dam
of this charger and is therefore confi
dent that as "a standard bred" he will
honor his father and mother , when he is
governor , as he does now by his great
abilitycouragefortitude and the steadi
ness of a strong stepat a lightning pace ,
in the direction of the right goal every
day of his editorial life.
The common-
BLATTERS AND wealth contains
BUILDERS. two distinct va
rieties of public
men. They are builders and blatters.
The former found farms and factories ,
establish industries and help to man
age the material and mental develop
ment of their respective localities.
The latter , the blatters , find fault
with the methods and labors of those
who construct things , and advocate the
general tearing down of whatever
exists , socially or politically , without
providing anything good in ils stead.
The discpnteuted those who from
inisfortuneor from their own indolence ,
improvidence or incapacity have failed
in life are always the disciples of the
gospel of blat and the apostles of blat
ters. In Nebraska the days of the
builders are brightening and those of
the blatters are clouding. People are
getting tired of listening to incandes
cent denunciations of capital and cap
italists in buildings , or in the shadow of
buildings , which would never have
been built except by the kind of citizens
whom the blatters reprobate. Builders ,
not blatters , are public benefactors.