NEBRASKA CITY , NEBRASKA , MARCH IB , 1902 SINGLE COPIES , 5 CENTS
PUBLISHED WEEKLY.
OFFICES : OVERLAND THEATRE BLOCK.
\
fV 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
anada. 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.
Under the silver
MEXICAN standard the re
PROSPERITY. public of Mexico is
selling all it has to
sell abroad for silver and buying all that
it has to buy in foreign parts for gold.
One hundred dollars of American cur
rency will purchase $285 to $227 of
Mexican currency. Day laborers re
ceive in the republic of Mexico at this
time from 50 cents to 75 cents a day ;
that is to say , they receive from 20 to
85 cents in American currency , for each
ten hours' work.
Any American publicist * who has
traveled in Mexico , or studied even in a
most cursoiy manner the finances of
that republic , and who will then honest
ly advocate the adoption of the silver
standard for the United Statesis utter
ly incapable of logical thought and
wholly Devoid of that good judgment
which every American publicist should
have. An American so devoid of con
secutive and rational thought as to be
lieve that his countrymen may be ben
efited by adopting a standard of value
different from all the rest of the world ,
except some South American countries
and Mexicois utterly and absolutely un
fit for public position of any sort what
soever. On the other hand , any man
who , having good reasoning faculties ,
pretends to believe in the free coinage
of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1 ( which
1 is equivalent to setting up the silver
standard instead of the gold ) is too dis
honest and wickedly deceitful to be with
safety entrusted with any great
public functions or duties. Ii
short a citizen foolish enough to be
lieve in Bryanarchy is not competen
to administer any office in the United
States ; and any man who pretends to
believe in it when he .does not , is too
dishonest to be entrusted with civic au-
ihority of any kind.
Counsel for Ex-
MESERVE'S Treasurer Meserve
DEFENSE. volunteered a
promise that their
client would adopt no technical defense ;
; hat there would be no wild search for
legal loop-holes , but a square out-and-
out acquittal of Mr. Meserve , in the
courts and before the people , whose
favorable verdict he most prized. In
; he proceedings so far we have moral
defense number one : "The court has
no jurisdiction. " Should that position
be sustained the people of Nebraska
would of course see at once that the ac
cused is morally perfect , and is a much
persecuted individual. Now comes
moral defense number two : "The
crime is not against the state of Ne
braska. " Of course' ' this second defense
is likewise calculated to preserve the
honor as well as to secure the continued
liberty of Mr. Meserve , and those who
have thought him morally guilty , must
feel constrained to weep bitter tears of
remorse for having thought illy of a
man whose questionable acts have all
been committed in a manner which
places him beyond the reach of the law ,
consequently above the censure of No-
braskans.
But list to moral defense number
three : "The defendant takes refuge
under the statute of limitations. ' '
What more could the most exacting
citizen demand in the way of an ex
planation ? Does not the fact that
Mr. Meserve cannot be punished
prove absolutely and unquestionably
that he is entitled to the confidence
and respect of all good citizens who
love right and justice above simple
"legal honesty ? " Had Mr. Meserve
been elected by the vile plutocracy ,
had he taken his office from the
hands of those who have never fo'l-
lowed the banner of reform , his po
litical and business future might
have been ruined by the very de
fense which he has set up ; but
standing as he does for all that pop
ulism recognizes as pure and chaste ,
he will pass into history as a victim
of ghoulish persecution , and the case
against him will forever be known
as a malicious prosecution 'unparal
leled in modern day , in comparisoi
with which the Dreyfus affair was
fairness itself. Every statue of Lib
erty in the United States has de
scended from its pedestal to plead
for the acquittal of Mesorve.nor will
they plead in vain , for this man is
technically , therefore morally , honest
and a reformer.
There has never
THE MERIT been a more oon-
SYSTEM. sistentand enthus
iastic supporter of
; he merit system in the civil service of
the United States than Theodore Reese
velt. As president of the Oivil Service
Commission , in 1898 , he was distin
guished-as the foremost advocate of ap-
pointmen'ts to the civil service of the
United States because of merit instead
of partisan service or partisan prejudice.
The Conservative believes President
Roosevelt as thoroughly honest and
sincere in his devotion to the principles
of the merit system today as he was
then. Therefore it has great confidence
that he will not permit the removal of
any competentefficient and honest post
master or otlier public servant simply
because it is demanded by some practi
cal politician who desires to put a friend
into an official job. There is no moro
reason why an honest and faithful pub
lic servant should be removed to make
room for a political successor than there
is reason for removing a competent
cashier or an efficient teller in a bank
because someone else who is a friend of
one of the directors may wish his place.
Long service in a public position by au
honest and efficient man makes the
service more and more useful to the
general public. Offices were created to
facilitate the carrying on of the business
of the public , and not for the purpose of
exalting or remunerating private citi
zens. A public office is a public trust
and has always been so held by the best
citizenship of this republic.
Collier's Week-
FOR SHAME ly , after having
COLLIER1 sent an industrious
correspondent and
au irrepressible artist clear across the
Atlantic to note what the Prince ate
upon his tiip to America , how often
he had his boots polished , to whom ho
spoke and what he said , what quality
of cigars he smoked , what brands of
wines he drank , what songs he lined
and disliked after giving to its read
ers the minute details of the Prince's
conversational efforts , the editorial
page contains a thinly-veiled protest
against the fuss made in this country ,
when the Prince finally arrived. The
Italians have a proverb : "A satisfied
appetite does not believe in hunger , | '