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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 1901)
7 * E H A A "I The Conservative * BAKER AND BECKWOURTH. Editor The Conservative : In the Conservative of October 10th , 1001,1 read H. P. Bonuot's interesting letter from Denver , Colorado , relating to some of the old mountaineers Kit Carson , Jim Baker a"nd Jim Beck- wonrth. In the fall of 1850,1 was in the em ploy of the Eureka Quart/ Mining Com pany in Plumas county , California. I very well romcmher Jim Beck- wourth's visiting the Eureka Mills at that time. He was the guest of Hon. John Coulter , the president of the Eu reka Quartz Mining Company. Beck- wourth , at this time , was about 40 years of age. He was quite a noted character in northern California ; and there was a the thrilling story of his escape from the Blackfeet Indians ; and he , at that time , showed us the varicose veins on his limbs below the knees. He was known as a famous scout and frontiersman , and when ho visited Sacramento he would be invited to dine with the Gov ernor of the state. Nearly every young man in northern California at that time know the inter esting history of old Jim Beck wourth. M. B. CHENEY. Lincoln , Neb. , Oct. 11) ) , 1901. THE DUTY .ON HIDES. If the sentiment of business inter ests in Now England lias much influ ence upon congress , the movement to put hides back on the free list should PLATE V. valley near the eastern line of Plumas county , California , called Beckwourth's Valley ; also a pass through the moun tains called Beokwourth's Pass. The immigrant crossing the plains , in place of going by way of Nevada City and Auburn to Sacramento , would leave the old overland trail at a point near where the town of Eeno , Nevada , now stands they would go northwest and enter the state of California through Beckwourth's Valley , striking the head waters of the middle fork of the Feath er river near the Sulphur Springs ranch ; and reach the Sacramento Val ley by passing down through Gibson- ville , Rabbit Creek and Marysville. This route , in 1856 , was known as Beokwourth's Cut-off. I very well remember of his relating be something more than mere talk next year. Ever since the tariff of 1897 was adopted , New England men have asked to have this matter considered. They have been put off with one ex cuse after another. They have grown tired of such treatment , and seem to be in earnest this year. With the right sort of men at Washington , they can do a great deal. It takes push and insistence to get anything out of con gress , especially a change in tariff rates. The trouble in the past few years has been that the New England men have been too easily rebuffed. They were told that it was impossible to grant their request , and they ac cepted the statement in good faith. Nothing is " impossible" in congress to the man of inflexible determina tion. The man who will not take "No" for an answer generally suc ceeds in getting what he wants in the long run. Boston Advertiser. THE FORM OF STATE GOVERNMENTS. UY EDWIN A. MUNGEll. Itjis one of the extraordinary "an omalies of American politics that our federal constitution and form of gov ernment , the result of the united wis dom from all of the then states of the Union , should have been followed so little in the constitutions and forms of government of the several states themselves. The very features which wore sought to be * incorporated into the national form of government , and which were after a most exhaustive and particular examination rejected or largely modified , have in the main found ready lodgement in the basic law of the various states. It is doubtful if any constitutional convention has ever been so dis tinguished for its zeal , earnestness and the high intellectual and political ability of its members as the consti tutional convention which finally fixed the form of government for the United States. In that convention were found the ablest men of the day representing both sides of the scheme of government. There was found the group of men who , from their fear of tyrants , believed it to be safe to trust only the people , and that other group of men who , from their distrust of the ability of the masses of the people to settle all the petty details of govern ment , were inclined toward a system very nearly akin to a limited mon archy. As a resiilt of the combined labors of this convention our federal constitu tion was brought into existence , hav ing all the checks and balances' , ' all of the many guaranties of liberty and the restraint of license that have made it the wonder and admiration of the world. State Constitution Incomplete. In the various constitutional con ventions which are responsible for the fundamental law of the several states , the same questions have been met , but have not been examined with the thoroughness that characterized the deliberations of that great convention. Perhaps it is too much to ask that wo should ever again see gathered to gether a body of men capable of pro ducing that which has been so fitting ly described as the greatest document ever evolved from the mind of man. But it ought not to bo too much to expect that other conventions would be in some measure inclined to adopt those features of the federal constitu tion which seem to have contributed most to the success. As a matter of fact , the constitutional conventions of almost every state in the Union were dominated by that Jeffersonian policy which feared to trust a leader and thus make a weak government by de-