" V Ski
Conservative *
absolute civil and religious liberty ;
* .
i every resource for a great destiny , and
the highest education and civilization ;
and still men like Peter the Hermit ,
with glib tongues and single imprac
ticable ideas.aroso among us and com
menced to preach a crusade. They
succeeded in persuading the people
that they could tax themselves into
riches by destroying free trade , and
establishing a tariff wall against the
; productions of other nations. They
te' only succeeded in building up classes
and castes , and put wealth and power
in the hands of the few while the
many wore only like a tail to the
kites of the rich.
Finally , there came one extraordi
narily gifted with eloquence but with
a single impracticable idea for the
cure of all public ills and that idea
was that , two things unequal in value
anywhere in the world , could bo made
equal by local legislative enactment ;
and two principles utterly antagon
istic and irreconcilable , could be made
harmonious by the same method.
He succeeded in turning things up
side down aud they are not righted
yet , while he continues to preach his
fallacies. Another lot of hermits told
us we could eat our cake and keep it
too. So we resolved that wo could
take Cuba from Spain , protect her ,
let her form a government , become an
independent nation , and guarantee her
in her independence. We have kept
military control over since. She has
formed her government and now it is
more than hinted that she shall come
into the Union as a state. That was
a nice idea born of emotion , to set up
and maintain a foreign nation
aud government within six hun
dred miles of our own shores.
A new civilization has started on
the shores of the yellow sea , and
ere many years it will be indeed a
4' Yellow Peril. ' ' With our incurable
itch for colonial possessions , we will
not be content with Cuba , Porto Rico ,
the Danish island ( all in the midst
of England's possessions ) with Guam
and the Sandwich Islands and the
Philippines aud Samoa. "We will have
to pitch in and war like other na
tions , throw peace aud prosperity to
the winds and , guided by the monop
olists aud men of one idea , fulfill our
Beveridge-given mission to carry
Christianity and liberty to all barbar
ians , as the chosen servant of Deity.
Lord ! What a lot of ungrateful hypo
crites we are , and how wo pervert
and abuse the opportunities we have
to bless ourselves , and through our ex
ample and influence the whole world 1
0. H. REEVE.
Plymouth , Ind. , Dec. 80 , 1901.
The Conservative
GIFTS. has received many
tokens of regard
and friendship during the Christmas
week , and none more gratifying than
the hearty congratulations of good men
and women upon the work it is doing.
No presents have been so valuable as
cordial and hearty commendations of
The Conservative , its independence ,
fearlessness and its love of justice.
It is most agreeable to bo entirely
free from party restraint , and to tell
the truth loudly
Freedom. whether it makes
or breaks a political
slate. It is pleasant to endorse a com
petent and economical public officer of
the Nation or of the State who is faith
fully performing his duties without re
gard to reuomiuatiou. Presidents , gov
ernors , and county and city officers
down to constables and policemen will ,
in time , bo taught that the honest , fear
less performance of official duties is the
only certain insurance of a continuance
in popular esteem , throughout the
length and breadth of the American
Republic.
Offices were created for usefulness to
the public and not for the mere exalta
tion aud profit of individuals.
The head of a Department at Wash
ington or at Lincoln who permits pay
ments to be made
Stealing. to a single unneces
sary employee is
guilty of stealing from the treasury of
the people just as much guilty as
though he took that money aud put it
into his own pocket instead of into the
pocket of a partisan favorite. Altruistic
larceny is no better than auto-larceny.
How many un-needed clerks , laborers
and doorkeepers and watchmen are
them in the United States who are paid
out of the people's pockets ?
On a gold basis
PEN MIGHTIER with hogs at six
THAN SWORD , dollars and fifty
cents a hundred ,
Farmer Bryan gazes affectionately in
to his herd and remarks without re
gard to his editorial glories or allus
ion to his incandescent military record ,
the pen pig pen is bigger and might
ier than the sword.
The Smyth-Bry-
IN COURT. an-Oldham o a s o
against the Nation
al Starch Company doing business at
Nebraska Citycomes up in the Supreme
Court of Nebraska on January 7th ,
1902.
The starch manufactory itself with
two hundred employees began grind
ing on January 1st. Since it shut down
last summer , for improvements , the
Argo Factory has absorbed over sixty-
four thousand dollars in its new
buildings and machinery , and it is now
one of fb.0 largest , best and most pronu
ising Starch Plants in the world. And
there is no patriotic citizen anywhere in
this commonwealth who wishes it shut
down and its owners deprived of the
right to do business in Nebraska.
There are some
TREES ON goodly and shapely
THE LAWN. conifers on the
lawn at Arbor
Lodge. Among them the Scotch Pine ,
the Douglas Spruce , the Picea Pun gens
and the Norway Spruce. When they
were set out thirty years ago they wore
straightened up and pruned and shaped ,
and during three decades they have
grown under direction and discipline
until now their symmetry attracts attention -
tention and elicits praise from all be- t
holders. But each tree hns preserved <
the marks and peculiarities of the fam- rj ,
ily to which it belongs. No amount of
care , cutting and training could make
the Scotch Pine as straight , sturdy and
tall as the Douglas , nor as symmetrical
as the Norway Spruce.
And when those trees were small and
insignificant , there were likewise small
boys sporting o n
Boys on the Lawn , the same lawn. And
they too received
the thoughtful and formative care as to
discipline of mind and evolution of
character which was bestowed upon
the trees. Symmetry and straightness ,
uprightness of motives and ambitions
were made a daily lesson. And the
same competent woman guided alike
the trees and the boys into a higher
plane of life. And now the similitude
between the boys and the trees on the
lawn is not vanished , because both
were disciplined to right living and
right growing. Parents , who think ,
cannot fail to observe how alike small
trees and small children are in their de
velopment , nor fail to know that upon
training and discipline both depend for
their value when maturity is reached.
In a day or a single summer a tree
like the cottonwood may achieve dis
tinction by the co-
Reputation , lerity of its growth
and so the cottonwood -
wood acquired reputation among the
pioneers as a useful tree. But time and
the drouths of summers have dissipated
the early reputation of the cottonwood
and nobody plants it now except in low
out-of-the-way places.
Very different from reputation is
character , as different as solid oak from
veneering. And
Character. now the walnut ,
catalpa-sp e o i o s a ,
and the oak are planted , because they
withstand the hot , dry winds of sum
mer and each year record a solid growth
in the ineffaceable layer of added cir
cumference.
And thus slowly character is evolved
for a human being ; and years and de
cades pass with it still becoming strong
er and better , more and more useful ,
like the oak. Nurture may do much
for trees and much for boys ; but Nature
does more. No cottonwood can be
nursed into an oak , though it may be
made , by care , a better oottonwood than
it otherwise would have been , and no
oak can bo made soft and brash as
cottonwood , no matter how much it
may bo neglected. Art cannot change
nor time erase the characteristics which ,
Nature has fixed for the breeds of men
and trees.
