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Cbe Conservative.
Perhaps after all Booker T. Wash
ington is not so black as he is painted.
At this distance , it seems that the
American jockeys were ruled off the
English turf , simply and solely be
cause they rode not wisely , but too
well. They claim that the Yankee
lads are good winners , but poor
losers , but after a careful perusal of
the turf returns from the other side ,
"we make bold to ask how in the world
they ever arrived at the latter con
clusion.
I long to see him , in the court on high ,
Read his dread sentence in Saint Peter's eye ,
And , as despairingly ho turns to go ,
I'll Bay , as ho now soys , "I told you so. "
With thumb and elbow his sore ribs I'll prod ,
I'll slau his back and wink and grin and nod ,
And comfort him by chanting sweet and low ,
His olfl-timo song , to-wit : "I told you so , "
As nearly as can bo gathered from
the testimony given in ( or drawn out
as the case may be ) the commodore was
busy sending signals , which no one will
admit ever having received ; the captain
was spending his time in drafting his re
port and writing up the log , which was
afterwards amended by sundry erasures
and interlineations which completely
changed the tenor of it ; the navigator
was as busy as a cranberry merchant
keeping his ship from caroming off the
others , in which he barely succeeded ;
the petty officers were making copious
notes from which to compile "state
ments" for the press , each and every
one of which were most shamefully dis
torted , and ascertaining and announcing
the range , which turned out to be woe
fully inaccurate ; but on the gun deck
and a'tween decks and a'low decks ,
from stem to stern , alow and aloft ,
dear , brave , skillful , kind-hearted , jolly ,
greasy , owearing , fighting Jaoky wa *
relieving Spain of her floating debt and
causing the mingled odors of garlic and
Spanish onions to float lazily upward
over fair Santiago bay on that sweet
and memorable July morning , when
the gallant Cervera came out to get his
whiskers trimmed. All of which causes
us to muse :
It was a gallant commodore ,
Who heard the Spanish guns out-pour ,
And saw the carnage dread.
No time had < he to join the fight ,
But all that day with main and might ,
Sent fiutt'ring signals left and right ,
Which no one ever read.
It was a captain brave and true ,
Who fought the awful action thro' ,
( For him it was but sport. )
As stalwart as the mountain pine ,
With instinct true and judgment fine ,
Twelve feet below the water line ,
He drafted his report.
/ , , It was a navigator , too ,
II Who steamed across the steaming blue ,
Amidst the billows' roar.
Precise , exact and circumspect ,
He kept his.ship from being wreck't ; '
Besides , as we now recollect ,
He measured all the coal.
t was a commandant so brave ,
Who armed himself , the day to save ,
With instruments galore.
Ho measured carefully the rUngc ,
And , noting down its every change ,
Called it aloud , tho1 'tis not strange
'Twas drowned in the uproar.
t was a thousand men or more ,
Who laughed and danced and shot and swore ,
And beat the foemen back.
With due respect then honor Schloy ;
Nor POPS the gallant Sampson by ,
But heroes ? Well , just rest your eye
On dear old greasy Jack.
FROM "THE GOD OF THE POOR. "
Good men he loved , and bated bad ;
Joyful days and sweet he had ;
Good deeds did ho plenteously ;
Beneath him folk lived frank and free.
Dens est Dcus pauporum.
He lived long , with merry days ;
None said aupht of him but praise.
God on him have full mercy ;
A good knight merciful was he.
Deus est Duus pauporum.
--William Morris.
APPEAL TO PUBLIC OPINION.
HY HENKV W. LAMH.
It now appears probable that the dis
cussion of questions relating to our
foreign commerce will be most prom
inent during the approaching session
of Congress , and will occupy public
attention as well. These are :
First. The treaties of commercial
reciprocity , for which the administra
tion has stood sponsor.
Second. The measure to remove pro
tection from some of our extortionate
"trusts , " proposed by Congressman
Babcock , of Wisconsin.
Third. A shipping bounty or sub
sidy bill of somewhat doubtful par
entage.
As in the last two years the Free
Trade League offers its services in
procuring articles for newspaper pub
lication from our eminent public men
best qualified to treat these subjects
from the standpoint of the general
welfare. There is no danger , there
never is , that the standpoint of indi
vidual interests will fail to bo pre
sented in either Congressional or
newspaper discussion. The real dan
gers are , unless the popular interest is
properly stimulated and directed , that
narrow views of these broad public
questions willl be too generally taken ,
that they will be regarded as involv
ing merely those branches of trade
which actively support or oppose
them , and that the bad measures will
therefore succeed.as they usually do
when conflicting business interests
a-e induced to compromise , while the
good ones will fail for lack of supper
from a public which does not clearly
understand how it is affected.
Public opinion in the United States
is still the most powerful influence in
controlling legislation ; and , if thor
oughly aroused and informed , it will
in the long run , prevail against the
elfish and reckless demands of
organized wealth. The news
papers of the country have it in their
jowor to awaken , to educate , to con-
cutrate public opinion until it be
comes overwhelming. It was concen-
rated effort in the papers which
made Congress refuse to enact the
hip subsidy scheme , in direct hostil-
ty to the great mass of public opin-
011. It was concentrated effort in the
papers which so held public atten-
iion to the evident tariff protection of
great "trusts" that H refused to bo
iurned aside even by the absorbing
ssues of a presidential election , but
grew and strengthened until Congress
man Babcock saw that Congress would
lave to give heed to it , and brought
'orward his bill as a remedy.
In the exposure of the evils in the
ship subsidy this League took some
fart , and perhaps rendered good
service. The other discussion , how
ever , it has made for two years its
particular province. The League may
fairly claim that the Babcock bill is
the result of its efforts to keep up , in
spite of the political pressure of other ' '
issues , a newspaper discussion which
insisted that , whatever the merits or
evils of trusts , one thing was plain
that the tariff protected many of them
in getting extortionate prices and one
remedy was not only plain , but just ,
to remove every duty which pro
tected ' ' ' '
a trust.
The League now proposes , while
continuing its discussion of the other
two issues , to pursue the same course
in treating of reciprocity. Some of
the writers will treat of specific lines ,
others of the principles involved ,
which are , it may bo said , not gener
ally comprehended as yet ; and
throughout the discussion every
effort will be made to show the con
nection of the subject with the public
welfare , the only interest which
the League wishes to promote.
The series of articles which the
League has edited during the past two
years may be accepted as a guarantee
of the tone and value of the discus
sion this year. Its articles have been
quoted with approval , not only in
parts of the country remote from New
England , but by eminent public men
in Europe , and even in far off Japan.
Its officers have felt that it would bo
some return for the respect which T
their papers have received , even from
opponents , if the limitation "New
England' ' should bo dropped from its
name , and it should be henceforth'
called the American Free Trade
League. And , by way of still further
return , it will try to continue to
merit the praise which its publications
have received for their breadth ,
moderation , accuracy and fairness. %