Cfoc Conservative.
support from three to five million head
of cattle. All kinds of tropical fruits ,
especially the pineapple , orange , lemon ,
lime , banana , mango and alligator pear
can bo grown anywhere in abundance
and of excellent quality. Fibre plants
can ba cultivated with profit in many
sections. Iron and copper ore and valu
able woods are found in the eastern
provinces. Indeedthe island is a natural
garden , every part of which , under fa-
'vorable conditions , can be made to
support a much larger population than
it now has and to contribute profitably
from its superfluities to the comfort and
happiness of people living in moro
northern countries , where the horticul
tural and agricultural products are
different and less varied.
Porto Rico is hilly and mountainous ,
with but little level land adapted to
sugar growing. Its maximum output is
about 180,000 tons , but nearly every
part of it produces excellent coffee , al
most as rich as the best Java and Mocha
in caffeine , and of delicious flavor. The
cattle ranges are excellent , and all the
tropical fruits can be produced in per
fection , but the population is dense and
the laud almost entirely occupied.
There is but little room for immigrants ,
and any great improvement in the well-
being of the people must come from a
free interchange of products with the
State,1 ? . Fortunately , the Porto Ricaus
now enjoy this privilege as citizens of
the great republic and may therefore
confidently expect a gradual increase of
prosperity and happiness.
How shall wo get the most good out
of these tropical regions without violat
ing our fundamental national policy ?
What shall be our trade relations with
tnemr Homing as i ao tuat unless we
can make them prosperous and content
ed , we cannot make them valuable to user
or to the world at large , the answer to
these important questions must evident
ly turn on the development of theii
natural resources. If this cannot be
done so as to make them a source of
profit to the people of those regions
Porto Ricans , Cubans , Hawaiians , aiic
Filipinos alike , it is impossible that
those people , whether white or colored ,
can become profitable or valuable to us
iu any sense whatever. Civilization can
grow only upon the superfluities of life.
If wages are not good or do not rise
and the products of labor cannot be sold
at a profit , there can be no superfluities
nor any increase of wealth. Poverty is
the prolific mother of ignorance , unhappiness -
happiness and vice , and whore they
prevail , all forms of government are
bad. I am not trying to speak to you
in the language of the political econ
omist , but in that of elementary com
mon sense , which you all perfectly
understand. As I have shown , equality
| w
of trade privileges is the constitutiona
right of every American citizen ( thank
God as yet the Great Republic has
nowhere under the sun any subjects , )
t lies at the basis of our prosperity
which is the wonder and the envy of
; he world. It has as a matter of plain
duty been extended to Hawaiians and
Porto Ricans , and must ex necessitate
rei , bo sooner or later extended to the
Filipinos.
What shall bo done in this direction
for the Cubans ? They cannot hope to
survive and prosper as an independent
nation , unless they are permitted to
share iu the prosperity of the surround
ing countries. Under the solemn assur
ance of the joint resolution they cannot
be annexed to the United States. That
door is shut for the present at least. If
we cannot find another , we should have
done well to leave them under the op
pressive dominion of Spain.
After all I have said you will not be
surprised to learn that I have from my
first official report to the present day
urged it , as the highest and most intel
lectual duty of statesmanship to give
absolute and unrestricted free trade iu
natural and manufactured products to
the Cubans also , in exchange for the
same privilege to bo granted by them to
us , under the protection of a common
tariff , as against all other countries.
This is a novel as well .as a radical
measure. It was first proposed by me
in my official reports to the War De
partment ; but so far it has received no
public consideration. I contend , how
ever , that if adopted it cannot fail to
develop the resources of Cuba rapidly
and completely. Under its stimulating
influence wages would rise , profits
would increase , wealth would accumu
late , and prosperity and progress woulc ]
be apparent on every hand. The coun
try would fill up with Americans , the
Spanish peasantry would pour in as
laborers , and such a boom as the worlc
has rarely seen would prevail through
out the island for the next quarter of a
century. As my friend , Juan Pedro
Bare , who owns the beautiful sugar
estate of La Conchita , iu the province
of Matauzus , perhaps the very best one
in the world , said to mo two years
ago , with free trade in sugar and to
bacco , "Cuba would be a dream. She
would indeed bo a cup of gold. "
CORNSTALK DISEASES.
Lincoln , Neb. , Nov 80. TothoEdi
tor of the State Journal : From al
directions in the state como reports of
cattle dying on cornstalks. The inor
tality from this source seems terrific
and if wo can judge from these reports
already hundreds of cattle are \\Q\\
dead from feeding in stalk fields.
It would seem as if stockmen would
all have learned the lesson from the
great master of experience , but iu
stead they lot. history repeat itself
each year.
Wo naturally have to take our stock
from green fields and pastures in fal
; o winter on dry forago. A change
from ouo food to another should al
ways bo made gradually and the dry
food should bo of the best possible
quality if wo obtain best results.
There is no hotter forage produced
in the state than corn fodder when
.t is harvested and cared for properly.
There is no forage that cattle and
iqrses enjoy more or that they eat
with greater avidity but what excuse
have wo for turning our animals into
stalk fields at this time ? For weeks
since the corn ripened the stalks have
stood iu the fields , they havo'been wet
and dried , frozen and thawed , indurat
ed and blackened in the sun and wind
until the nutritive materials in them
are oxhausfed and there is little left
but a mass of poor woody fiber valu
able only for stuffing gum boots or for
manufacturing paper , and when these
markets arc supplied some Yankee
should invent a machine to press them
into faggots for fuel and the balance
t)0 ) used as a fertilizer
There is no other forage that cattle
or horses would eat or that ouo would
expect them to oat if treated to the
same exposure as the corn stalks
It is the corn stalks in this condition
that is causing all the trouble. Indi-
gestioii , gastric vertigo , delirium and
death.
The animals die so suddenly we find
little or no lesions in making post
mortem. The so called impaction of
the manifold or third stomach is noth
ing moro than what might be found
in other disorder. The indigestion
and fever would produce the con
dition.
It seems to be very hard to make
people understand that it is the corn
stalks in their present condition that
is causing all the trouble.
I have seen serious losses of cattle
on pastures late in summer or early
fall when the grass was very dry and
short , which stimulated very much
the corn stalk trouble. The animal
would stand alone , cease eating and
ruminating , strike the abdomen with
the hind foot , showing a colicky pain ;
the faecal discharge small and heavily
coated with mucus. The second day
the animals would become delirious ,
running , hollowing , hooking , very
thirsty , and ultimately dying in great
distress. This trouble was stopped by
liberal feeding of green corn and
fodder , also avoided in other herds on
similar pasture by feeding something
at hand outside of the pasture.
Wo lose sonic horses from feeding
in stalk fields. In horses it produces
vertigo or stomach staggers. The loss
in horses is not great as compared
with cattle , for the reason that the
horse eats differently , chewing to a
finish what ho eats before swallow
ing , while cattle eat to fill a fifty gal
lon stomach , all of which must be
regurgitated and rechewed.
The remedy for all this trouble is
easy. Harvest the fodder at a proper
time and take care of it. No one ever
know of an animal dying on good
corn fodder. We waste the most val
uable forage crop produced in Ne
braska by not harvesting the corn
fodder.
Our best stockmen lose no animals ,
or very few , for the reason that they
feed liberally with good forage and
grain , allowing the animals to run in
the stalk fields for recreation , instead
of compelling them to obtain a haz
ardous existence therein.
W. A. THOMAS.