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VOL. IV. NO. 34. NEBRASKA CITY , NEBRASKA , FEBRUARY 27 , 1902. SINGLE COPIED 5 CENTS
PUBLISHED WEEKLY.
OFFICES : OVERLAND THEATRE BLOCK.
J. STERLING MORTON , EDITOR.
A JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE DISCUSSION
OF POLITICAL , ECONOMIC AND SOCIOLOGICAL
' QUESTIONS.
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 npon appli
cation.
Entered at the postofflce at Nebraska City ,
Neb. , as Second Class matter , July 29 , 1898.
_ _
The choice of
CANAL ROUTES , routes for the proposed -
posed isthmian
canal has aroused considerable in
terest , both the Panama and the Nic
aragua routes having warm advocates
in and out of congress.
" Passing into the Nicaragua canal at
" Greytown Harbor which has filled
with sand and is now unused even by
small craft a ship would traverse 46
miles of canal , passing through four
locks , before entering the San Juan
river'which would be followed for 50
miles , then 70 miles of Lake Nicara
gua , " "one-third of which would have
to be deepened , thoii 17 miles of canal
with four locks , which would intro
duce the vessel to an artificial harbor ,
, ' and deep anchorage. The total length
would be 185 miles ; 68 canal , 50 river
and 70 lake. The actual time con
sumed in crossing the isthmus through
this route would be 83 hours , but , as
large craft could not safely run at
night , two or three days would be
consumed in the journey.
The Panama route consists of 17
miles of canal at sea level , thence
through Lake Bohio wliich is to be
artificially created by damming the
Chagres river for 18 miles , thence 19
miles to d'dep water in Panama-Bay ,
making 49 miles in all to be traversed ,
with but four locks on the system.
The time consumed would bo less than
12 hours.
While a ship passing through the
Nicaragua route would be nearer
San Francisco , the Panama line is
nearer New York than is the other.
These statements being accepted as
facts , and the ' ' David Harum' ' tactics
of the commission having' had the
f
effect of causing the Panama company
to come to reasonable terms , there is
now little question but that the Pan
ama route will be found to be the
more available , and preferable in
every way.
Probably the commission had .its
own reasons for seeming to adopt the
Nicaragua route , and the astonishing
reduction in the price asked for the
Panama company'a holdings may be
considered as the direct result of the
commission's little flirtation with
Nicaragua.
That the Panama route will be
adopted in the end , is scarcely open
to doubt , the present arguments and
negotiations being simply evidences
of the Yankee propensity to make a
' ' ' '
.
good swap.
Washin g t o n ' s
RUMINATIVE , birthday recalls
not only the noble
character and steadfast patriotism of
the father of our country ; it also
directs attention to the earnest loyalty
of the common people , the loyal sup
port they tendered to their leader and
the gradual decline of unanimity
among the people since that time.
Contrasting early-day histjory , when
we were all common people acting
under a common impulse , with the
conditions today , with two great
evenly-balanced factious which awk
wardly manage to line up on opposite
sides of every debatable issue , and in
the absence of an issue manufacture
one over which , to debate , we are
led to wonder whether or not the
country is really progressing. May it
not be that the republic is expanding
iu girth , but decaying at the heart ?
Is the great world's power , with its
armies in each hemisphere and its
ships on every- sea both directed to
suit the whim or serve the purpose of
some politician or political faction
really as great , as sublime as the
heroic people , who , prompted by a
common impulse of pure patriotism ,
hurled their ragged battalions at the
trained hordes of a mighty opponent ,
and gained a victory in which each
citizen had his share ?
There is no more profitable way in
which to employ yourself on Washing
ton's birthday , than in reading the
history of our early patriots , and
searching out and applying the morals
contained therein.
TT
The succession
GIGANTIC TOYS , of mishaps to
. M. Santos Dnmont
and his air-craft , refute his claim that
ie has perfected a durable and dirig
ible machine for aerial navigation.
Great in bulk , and puny in power , the
machines so far have proved unman
ageable , and unable to resist even a
moderate wind , or an ordinary shower.
Such a machine is far from practical ;
it is but a gigantic toy. With the
prospective advance in the effici
ency of propelling power , will come
a proportionate improvement in these
monsters of the air , but that a ma
chine of their bulk can ever be made
to obey the will of the operator ,
excepting under most favorable con
ditions , is more than doubtful.
That the air , like other elements ,
will eventually serve man , cannot be
doubted , but it' yet remains for some
genius to invent a safe , reliable ,
compact , dirgible air-craft , and when
it comes , neither the machine of today
nor an improvement along the same
lines will be regarded as a competitor
of the really practical craft. Consequently
quently money donated , to M. Santos
Dnmont is not spent in the interest of
science ; it is merely expended to'
amuse the French with the sight of
a great unmanageable machine as
cending lazily to a considerable height
and generally descending at an ac
celerated pace greatly to the discom
fort of its reckless operator but to the.
entire satisfaction of the firm which
builds the machines and rarely fails
to get a fresh order after each trial.
Fasten a tariff
TARIFF TRUTHS , upon imports , and
a tariff will fasten
itself upon exports. Protection is a
system which charges a premium upon
imports and deducts a discount from
exports. Reciprocity and .free trade
are alike in theory , but the opposite
in effect. An infant industry is a
great manufacturing industry which
proudly boasts of its ability to invade
and control foreign markets , and sell
goods in open competition anywhere
on the globe excepting-in the United
States. The 40 per cent- tariff levied
in 1828 was known for years as ' ' the
tariff of abomination ; " the tariff of
today , being estimated at about 57
per cent , is about 17 per cent more
abominable. A merchant having
goods to sell , seeks to bo friendly
with his customers , real and pros
pective ; should not a producing na
tion display as much business acumen
as does a country merchant ? :