'Cbc Conservative *
The promoters
THE WAY OF and beneficiaries of
SALVATION. the arbitrary in
terference with the
natural laws and spirit of commercial
exchange , called the protectionist
policy , which in turn has promoted
unjust and burdensome discrimina
tion in business aud is the ally and
supporter of combinations , monopo
listic in their tendency , are in great
perturbation because the unholy fruit
of their system seems to bo turning to
ashes upon their lips. This alarm in
high places has not been surpassed
since Nebuchadnezzar ' ' dreamed
dreams , wherewith his spirit was
troubled and his sleep brake from
him , ' ' and lie' ' commanded to call the
' * - magicians and sorcerers and the Chal
deans for to show the king his
dreams , " or since the great king's
successor saw the hand-writing on the
wall. .It will be remembered that
these soothsayers and sorcerers , who
had theretofore been the infallible
flatterers of the ruler whose unnat
ural , conglomerate empire was fast
getting ready to fall to pieces , now
gave up their job in despair and
begged the king to turn it over to a
simple and obscure Jew , who quietly
told him the simple but tragical truth.
The upshot of Daniel's prescience was
that the kingdom of God finally arose
and "brake in pieces the iron , the
brass , the clay , the silver and the
gold"which composed the Babylonian
kingdom , and "they became like the
chaff of the summer threshing floors ;
and the wind carried them away , that
no place was found for them. "
Mr. MoKinloy , the Nebuchadnezzar
of the protectionist system , ' ' dreamed
dreams , wherewith his spirit was
troubled , " and , very shortly before his
lamented death , was constrained to ut
ter for the first time the free-trade
truism that nations cannot sell with
out buying also. And Governor Cum
mins speaks for an Iowa republican
majority ninety thousand strong.
Here , indeed , is a Daniel with an eye
single to the soundness and the
equity of the principles of free trade :
" 1 stand for'competition , the com
A „ petition of the republic , if possible , "
but'of the world if necessary. ' I xe-
gard the consequences of a monopoly ,
or substantial monopoly ; in"'any im
portant product , as infinitely * more
disastrous than the consequences of
. ' '
foreign importations.
Now couple these warning words
against the tariff-built monopoly with
those of ft well known English pub
licist and writer , just spoken. While
he regards the recent formation oi
large industrial corporations or com
binations as in line with natural eco
nomic tendencies and in the intoresl
of economical production , and there
fore likely to bo permanent ) , .lie does
lot consent to the fear that they will
iccessarily be non-competitive :
"The main products of the world
are produced in too many different
countries , \inder too many different in
dustrial systems , standing on too vary
ing grades of civilization , for any abso
lute combination into a single hand.
A trust may , indeed , easily come to
dominate a single market. The
remedy for any oppressive raising of
prices , is , then , to abolish the customs
tariff , and to call in the foreign pro
ducer. ' '
But the present republican protec
tionist , Belshazzar , has not yet
called in a Daniel to interpret the
handwriting on the wall , aud so "the
astrologers , the Chaldeans and the
soothsayers" are BO far soothing him
with the humbug of reciprocity ,
which is an acceptance of the prin
ciple , but in practice , a contradiction
of free trade.
Upwards-of a million free-trade or
tariff-reform voters , mostly of demo
cratic , but many of republican tend
encies , have of late years favored the
republican party only because they
feared the socialistic assaults of the
democratic party upon legitimate
property interests and business organ
izations. As the panic recedes in the
distance these independents are get
ting over that fear. Many of them
will be ready to co-operate with the
radicals rather than see great combi
nations or trusts built up or propped
up by the artificial aid of a burden
some tariff. A thorough reform of
the tariff would hold countless num
bers of voters along conservative po
litical lines. [ .These countless con
servatives , holding the balance of
power , join The Conservative in ask
ing , "How shall we escape if we neg
lect so great salvation ? "
Cons idorable
THE TRUE complaint is
DESECRATORS. heard , of late , that
the American flag
is desecrated by being put to mere
commercial uses.
The complainants aver that the flag
which cheered the ragged hosts oi
Washington , at Valley Forge , floated
over Grant's army , at Vicksburg , and
wont with Sherman to the sea ; which
marked the van of the khaki line over
the * cano fields of Cuba , and across
the rice glades and through the
tangled jungles of Oriental America ,
is now adorning hams and bacon , beer
and suspenders , liniment and mite
exterminators.
To desecrate ; to divest of a sacred
character , or office ; to divert from a
sacred purpose. ; to violate the sanctity
of ; to profane ; to put to .an unworthy
use. .
The. solo complaint heard , sov far
may bo found in the lattjer definition
but there is another , aud more serious
lesecration countenanced year after
year , namely : the use of the flag as a
means of extortion , and the overlast-
ug activity of the lobby which works
in the interests of the only concern in
America which prints bunting.
To divest of a sacred character , or
office , by making prominent the com
mercial side of the flag ; to divert from
i sacred purpose , by using it as a
means of extortion and greed ; to violate
late the sanctity of , by forcing its
purchase by law , that it may float
from every school house in the laud ,
emblematic of the special privileges
iven the industry which created it ;
to put to an unworthy use , by associ
ating it with greed for gain , instead
of loyalty and patriotism ; to profane ,
by making it the means of enriching a
favored institution , which , by virtue
of a prohibitive tariff , avoids foreign ,
and throttles domestic , competition.
When the flag no longer flutters for
greed , rapacity and special privileges
for the favored ones ; when a winning
lobby no longer pleads for laws to
boom the output of an unreasonably
protected industry ; then we may turn
our attention to the hams and bacon ,
beer and suspenders , liniments and
nostrums , of which complaint is
made.
The purchase of
TOO MANY the Danish West
COOKS. Indies , at one time , '
perhaps , e x c u s a -
ble , is now utterly needless , and tone
no purpose.
Before securing to ourselves Porto
Rico , and acquiring what a horseman
' ' interest' ' in
might term a talking
Cuba , negotiations were commenced
with Denmark for the purchase of
these-barren and-commercially worth
less islands to be used as outpost sta
tions for the navy ; but now that the
late war ha's changed the map of the
world , why persist in acquiring ter
ritory which will' be , not only use :
less , but burdensome ? - .
The situation is a reversal of the
predicament of the man whose , new
trousers were too long ; which fact
was noted by his sister , his wife , his
mother , .and his grandmother ; so each
good lady found , time that evening-tq ,
sly.ly cut off afew , inches and turn.up
the' hem , the result being 'that when '
the' object of their'solicitude ' arose the
next morning he adorned his person , .
with nothing more , than some buttons.
and a waistband.
We lacked naval stations in South
Atlantic waters. Schley , with Shatter ,
thundered his way to a foothold in
Cuba , and Miles and Sampson coo- . ,
ducted a less dramatic , but no less
successful , campaign in Porto Rico ;
now congress , apparently unconscious
of what , has been done in this line ,
prepares to purchase outposts in a ,
territory that is all outpost now'
Unlike the other fellow's , Uncle
Sam's trousers have been repeatedly
lengthened , until what used to be the.
knee , now drags in the mud. . ' . '