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VOL. IV. NO. 32. NEBRASKA CITY , NEBRASKA , FEBRUARY 13 , 1902. SIN6LE COPIES , 5 CENTS
PUBLISHED WEEKLY.
OFFICES : OVERLAND THEATRE BLOCK.
J. STERLING MORTON. EDITOR.
A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE DISCUSSION
OF POLITICAL , ECONOMIC AND SOCIOLOGICAL
QUESTIONS.
CIRCULATION THIS WEEK , 14,010 COPIES.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
One dollar and a half per year in advance ,
postpaid to any part of the United States or
Canada. Remittances made payable to The
Morton Printing Company.
Address , THE CONSERVATIVE , Nebraska
City , Nebraska.
Advertising rates made known upon appli
cation.
Entered at the postofflce at Nebraska City ,
Neb. , as Second Class matter , July 29 , 1898.
It should be no
CENSORSHIP , occasion for sur
prise , and perhaps
none for alarm , that much intemperate
clamor for censorship of the press and
of speech , by law , followed the assas
sination of President McKinley. It
would doubtless be unwise , and might
be very disastrous to attempt to incor
porate the European system of espion
age into our American system. It is
well to remember that the utmost
freedom in the discussion or criticism
of political policies or personages dis
tinguishes the governments of English-
speaking people from other prin
cipal governments of the world , and
especially of continental Europe.
Doubtless the only practicable , if not
the only needful , restraint on the press
in this country is the restraint of an
enlightened and righteous public
opinion ; and of that there is sore
need , both in matters private and
political. Last week , in a little town
of Pennsylvania , an ordinary tragedy
was enacted by some people of the
ordinary criminal class. The event
was only of passing'public or sociolog
ical importance , and it deserves no
public notice beyond a brief statement
of facts as they developed. But for
several days the Associated Press
dished up , and the newspapers ostenta
tiously spread-before the'public all the
revolting details with side dishes and
condiments and other embellishments
known to the skilled journalistic ca
terer to the morbid public appetite for
sensation : This selfish commercial
policy of the press both abuses and
' ! _ . , flliljl . .M.J'Jtliti'.lJ.
further vitiates the public taste. It is
not unlikely that in this phase of li
cense , or licentiousness , the press
passes beyond that middle ground
which might best serve its pecuniary
purpose. Censorship of this policy of
license by * the better moral and
esthetic taste cannot be too vigorous
or severe.
Minnesota pro-
WHICH IS THE duccs a cousider-
PURE FOOD ? able amount of
butter , each year ;
also some congressmen , notably Taw-
ney and McOleary , who have taken it
upon themselves to protect the digest
ive organs of all America against the
assaults of oleomargarine one of the
purest of manufactured food products
through the medium of a national
"pure food" law , patterned after the
act now in force in Minnesota.
While these Quixotic champions of
an oleoized people are charging wind
mills , right and left , and delivering
mighty blows to the imaginary ene
mies to digestion , comes in his hu
mility , one state dairy commissioner ,
for the state of Minnesota , who ap
pears at the head of the lists and bids
the gqod knights cease their tilting
long enough to hear his report , which
is to the effect that of 162 samples of
butter examined , a mere 24 were up to
the standard , while the remaining 138
were , in a greater or lesser degree ,
malignant and harmful.
From all of which arises a slight
question as to whether or not Minnesota
seta is competent to prescribe a menu
for the remainder of the United
States.
The astute ,
NOT SO PRE- though somewhat
SUMPTUOUS , suspicions , editor
of the Bee re
marks : "J. Sterling Morton has gone
to Mexico. Can it be that the sage of
Arbor Lodge also has a covetous eye
on the position of minister to
Mexico ? "
Perhaps so ; still , it seems improbable
that Mr. Morton should seek the ap
pointment to this exalted station ,
without first making every effort to
secure the valued indorsement of
Senator Eosewater , and the acquiescence
of that ' '
cence gentleman's'colleague ,
Senator Thompson.
After the burial
BLIND DEVOTION , of Nero , the monuments
ments erected by
himself to perpetuate his memory
were destroyed by order of the senate ;
his portraits were mutilated wherever
found , and to speak his name in kind
ness meant death.
The fickle court , which had former
ly fawned at his feet , now celebrated
his demise with intemperate feasting ,
while the rabble vented its feelings
in coarse jests and ribald songs , in
which the name of Nero was associ
ated with the vile creeping things of
the earth.
While the high and the lowly thus
vied with each other to see which
should show the greater contempt for
the departed ruler , some unknown
friend sought his tomb at night , and
strewed that polluted spot witli
violets.
Here was a heart and mind strong
to resist the mad frenzy of the popu
lace ; and to that friend Nero was still
the great emperor , and in him that
faithful follower could not see the
bloody-minded imbecile , though edict ,
song and jest proclaimed him such.
This man had a friend.
The pathetic event is vividly re
called by reading the effusion of an
anonymous f usionist , who , as it were
from out the darkness , nominates one
Meservo for governor of Nebraska.
This man has a friend.
Mayor Low is
DISCOURAGING - now being rather
roughly handled
by Dr. Parkhurst , who alleges opeii
violation of the Sunday closing law ,
with the mayor's knowledgeand , pre
sumably , with his approval. The
mayor seems inclined to believe it
worse to be half good , than thoroughly
bad.
bad.From
From Tammany , Dr. Parkhurst'n.
clientele neither asked nor expected
reform ; but no sooner does Mr. Low
grasp the reins than he discovers ,
that another hand holds the whip.
The Parkhurst following asks , not an
improvement , but absolute perfection ;
nota steady , gradual progress up
ward , but one bound to the skies.
Mr. Low , in his present predicament - .
ment , stormed at alike by minister ,
and joint keeper , suggests an improve
ment in the old adage by amending it
to read' : "Blessedare - they of whom
nothing is expected. "
