_ * - . , / .ft S\
Conservative *
Ill this issue of
POSTAL NOTES. The Conservative
will be found a
letter from Mr. George G. Hall , presi
dent of the Burlington National Bank ,
of Burlington , Kansas. Mr. Hall's
* ' point that postage instead of rev
enue stamps should be used on postal
notes , is certainly well taken ; that
liis objection with regard to the re
fusal of bankers to receive endorsed
postal currency is a reasonable one is
not so apparent , as it is quite certain
that wherever there is a bank there ifl
usually a postofficeand what the post-
office receives as cash the bank would
hardly find it advisable to refuse as a
deposit. The bank would not lose
materially by the innovation , as the
note would only be used for the trans
mission of small amounts , such as are
now frequently sent by postal order.
Larger amounts would still be for
warded by draft , the sole mission of
the postal note being to do away with
small postal orders , which are a wor-
rimeiit alike to the purchaser and the
postmaster. The Conservative feels
f indebted to Mr. Hall for his criticism ,
and hopes that others will as frankly
pass upon the merits of the proposed
system , that the plans may be made
as perfect as possible before being
acted upon by congress.
* " * " Another banker asserts that for one
cent enough ink eradicator could be
purchased to remove the writing on
the notes and cause them to pass
again as currency. It is difficult to
see how this could be more easily ac
complished with the postal check cur
rency , than with the internal revenue
stamps , so long in general use For
that matter , drafts are raised , postal
and express orders tampered with ; in
fact , any sort of money order is sub
ject to the operations of crooks. The
, . ease with which a draft or chock is
raised makes that mode of transmit
ting small sums of money more hazard
ous than the plan suggested , as it
would be as difficult to raise the post
al check as any other form of cur
rency. Absolute protection from
criminals never has been attained in
any system of exchange ; it is not to bo
expected that the postal check cur
rency will prove an exception.
At the very moment
INCONGRUOUS , when Carrie Nation
is traveling through
Nebraska on her reputation for purify
ing cities and converting officials , her
principal claim being that she has suc
ceeded in inducing the mayor of Topeka -
peka to close all joints in his city , an
other strenuous woman , Miss Boise , is
horse-whipping that same model mayor
for allowing saloons to run openly in
the heavenly city of Topeka. Has Miss
Boise chastised an innocent and highly
praiseworthy mayor , or is Mrs. Nation
the joke of the season.
The change of heart
MARCUS , THE experienced by tleui-
ARTFUL. ocratic senators , and
the abandonment of
their plans for the defeat of the ship
subsidy billcoming simultaneously with
the withdrawal of Mark Manila's oppo
sition to the Nicaragua canal , lends
color to the suspicion that the seductive
Marcus lias been doing some night roam
ing in the democratic dormitory.
Going to England
BEGIN AT for political issues , is
HOME. certainly an ingenius
method o f proving
that affairs in this country are progress
ing rather satisfactorily , in the main.
Nations , like individuals , usually do
well to attend to their own affairs ; their
credit is strengthened by following that
rale.Any man who appoints himself
arbiter of the domestic quarrels of his
precinct , soon becomes unpopular in the
neighborhood ; any nation which takes
it upon itself to police the globe , not
only has a large contract to fill , but
risks its prestige in the undertaking.
Besides , peacemakers are never thanked.
Office-holders and office-seekers are re
quested to remember that their con
stituents reside neither in South Africa ,
nor in the domain of the inflexible Czar
or that of the incomprehensible Turk.
There are enough questions to be settled
at home to demand the closest attention
of all who seek to benefit mankind , ' and
while this country may be great and
powerful , it is not yet the guardian of
the world's orphans , nor the champion
of the world's oppressed. "We can best
serve humanity by making the United
States a model of perfect government for
the edification of other peoples , and to
further the peace , prosperity and happi
ness of our posterity.
To those familiar
SUSPENSE. with conditions in
the Philippine archipelago
pelage , the recent dispatch stating that
a detachment of American engineers was
attacked by Morros on the island of
Mindanio , conveys little or much , as the
case may be. The island , the most
southern of the group , .has previously
been mildly pro-American. If the at
tack mentioned is of a political nature
and is countenanced by the native rulers ,
the American generals will find these
people of a different stamp from the in
dolent peons of Luzon , or the mountain
tribes of the islands surrounding it. In
war the Morro is fierce and fearless , as
his fanaticism robs him of the dread of
death , and he is as wily as he is brave
and persistent. If the affair just report
ed is merely a brawl between natives
and certain of the soldieryit is of no more
moment than a street row in this1 coun
try ; but if it marks the beginning of
organized war-fare with the fierce Mor
ros , let America prepare to read of en
counters which may be dignified with
the name of battles and protracted cam
paigns against a foe that knows neither
fear nor mercy.
A jaundiced
MUCH ADO press has' daily
ABOUT NOTHING , pictured the pres
ident in a different - ,
ent attitude toward Cuba. Ignoring '
the fact that his worst enemies admit
that pliability is not a Roosoveltian
trait , and that a tenacity of purpose
bordering upon stubbornness has dis
tinguished the president before and
since his occupancy of the executive
seat , the saffron lined journals crowd
their columns daily with accounts of
concessions made by the president to
the friends of a tariff-to-the-limit
policy , yet the recent conference for
the purpose of discussing the Cuban
situation finds the president jnst
where he was months ago , ho having
neither advanced a yard nor retreated
a step , nor will he do so. Roosevelt
is the reverse of vacillating ; it is not
his habit to go reeling and staggering
through life. He is the opposite ; a
man of deep convictions which he is
not afraid to express and uphold , and
friends of Cuba may well rest assured
that there is none more loyal to the
cause of the lovely little isle , than
the strong-willed Theodore Roosevelt
velt
Tammany stands
REFORMED vindicated. The new
REFORMER. administration is dis
couraged , particular
ly the impulsive Jerome , who , prior to
and during the last municipal cam
paign in Greater New York , personally
conducted the raiding expeditions into
the territory where the red light glows ,
and the clinking glasses , clicking dice
and whirring roulette wheels form the
orchestral accompaniment to the drama
always being played. Jerome , the im
petuous , has now decided that some
things are impossible , especially the
Sunday closing of saloons. To give.Mr.
Jerome due credit , it is certain that he
sincerely believed it possible to purify
New York , until after he had stepped
into his present office , and for the first
time was made to realize the giant pro
portions of the obstacles to good govern
ment , which he had expected to overcome.
Safe and reliable cures for municipal ills
are , for some reason , easily seen from
without the city hall , which suggests
that impressions depend not so much
upon the way one looks upon a matter
as upon the position he occupies when
he does the looking. The Conservative
hopes that the Low administration will
strain every effort to give New York a
clean not necessarily puritanical gov
ernment. Should these efforts fail ,
other cities may know how far to go in
countenancing mild evils ; should they
prove successful , the possibility of clean
municipal government for the greater
cities will have been established , and
New York will have set an example
which the other municipalities will not
be slow to follow.