A popnlist ox-
FIRST OFFENSE , change , comment
ing on the recent
Tillmnn-McLanrin episode , says :
"Every time a reformer tells the
truth in congress he is expelled or
reprimanded. " This is the sad sweet
truth ; it is also sadly , sweetly true
that there has been but one reformer
reprimanded and none expelled.
General Fuuston
SARCASM. says that American
newspaper men know
a deal more about the , articles of golf
than they do about the articles of war.
Such treatment at the hands of the
man who rounded up Aguiualdo ought
to discourage publicists from airing
their acquaintance with the rules of
warfare for some days to come. As a
counter blow , we may perhaps be
pardoned for remarking that General
Fuuston probably knows more about the
rules of warfare than he does about the
art of speech-making. His receut re
marks detailing the president's senti
ments on certain topics would probably
be given to the public by Mr. Roosevelt
velt , if he thought it necessary to
take the public into his confidence.
'Tis done ! Con-
AT LAST. gress has at last made
it impossible for the
war in the Philippines to continue.
Congress , our Congress , the Greater
American Congress , has agreed to con
tinue the present commission in power.
Congress , the all-powerful Congress has
decided to take the census -of
the islands. That is all. After long
months of worry over the situation ; af
ter summoning officers and civilians
from the far off isles to testify ; after
having expended enormous sums in
transporting legislators to the scene of
strife at government expense for the
round trip ; after having figured and
thought and prayed for a solution of the
Philippine problems , our Congress set
tles upon a census and lets it go at that.
How simple ! Just to think that the
khaki clothed soldiers may now loll
upon the Luneta , or lounge in the
Alhambra , at Manila , while the census
enumerator directs his well-drilled
corps of assistants as they thread the
jungles , and talk the rebellion to death.
V > The theory must be , that after one
meeting with the census taker's gang ,
the rebellion will kick itself to death ,
just to avoid another encounter.
Congress has done all of this ; all of this
for the Philippines.
Pension Commis-
EVANS RETIRES , siouer H. Clay Ev
ans will lay down
the cares of his office. No G. A. B
flags have been ordered at half mast on
account of his retirement. Bight or
wrong , Mr. Evans is certainly one of
the men whom all other men admire
whether they agree with them or not ,
a "stayer. " Davy Crockett's "be sure
you're right , then go ahead" seeing to
have been his guide , and whether hie
was right or not , he has certainly gone
sullenly , stubbornly ahead , paying no
heed to the thousands of resolutions
passed by branches of the G. A. B. de
nouncing his administration of the pen
sion department , and seemingly un
conscious of the fact that ninety per
cent of the northern editors were pay
ing their weekly respects to him in no
complimentary language. That his re
tirement was at the suggestion of the
president can scarcely be questioned.
If Edison had in
APPLY THE the middle of the
SPUR. fifteenth century
given to the world a
phonograph , and records from that
phonograph would now recite the argu
ments pro and con upon the issues then
before the people , the sensations of the
listener would be similar to those of one
who hears a "MoKinley republican"
contending for a prohibitive tariff , and
backing his contention with the argu
ments which the great exponent of pro
tection brought to bear in the days
when industries were infants , not
giants. If there ever was any virtue in
protection which The Conservative by
no means concedes , changed conditions
necessitate a change of policy. To con
tinue to refer to the most gigantic in
dustries as "struggling manufactories ,
"infants , " "embryos , " etc. , is no less
preposterous than to gravely discuss
witchcraft , the ducking-stool , tilting
laws , codes of honor , court etiquette or
the many other questions of merit
which have had their day , but are now
of interest only from a historical stand
point. Do drive the republican party
ahead a few centuries and if you must
quote McKinley , quote the mature McKinley -
Kinley , who , after four years of abso
lute domination of the affairs of this
great country , delivered at Buffalo the
warning words which dispel all illusions
with regard to the protective system.
Quote the man of experience ; the man
who no longer feels the need of doing
the popular thing , of singing the popu
lar airs ; the man who had asked for
and received all that man may
expect of his countrymen , and could
have had no reason to mislead his
followers. Quote the graduate , not the
new pupil ; quote the master-mechanic
of economics , not the apprentice ; quote
the ripened , learned , experienced veteran
of state-craft , not the raw recruit. Do
this and there will be less said of "in
fant industries , " "struggling manu
factures" and more mention made ol
the "spirit of fairness and friendly
trade relations which will prevent re
prisals. " Please apply the spur and en
deavor to overtake the procession.
The April Century
THE OVERLAND contains an in-
TRAIL. teresting accouutjrf
an early journey
across the plains , performed ( and
written up ) by Noah Brooks ; who ,
some 25 years ago , published in a
juvenile' magazine much the same
narrative in the form of a boys'
story.
Nebraska City seldom has any quarrel
with the great monthlies , but an old
grievance is revived by this article.
The writer speaks of the route he
traveled as if it were the only one
there was , whereas he seems to have
gone out by a most unusual road.
He started from Omaha and went
out the north side of the Platte the
whole way. Comparatively few people
ple crossed by the Omaha route in
the early days , most emigrants pre
ferring the southern routes leading
fiom Kansas City , Leaven worth and
Nebraska City ; and of those who
did , almost none followed the trail
north of the Platte , insomuch that
many old plainsmen claim that there
was no road there. It was the cus
tom to cross over to the south side ,
either at Shinn's Ferry , half way
between Schuyler and Columbus , or
at Fort Kearney. Mr. Brooks does
not mention the latter place at all ,
though he speaks of Grand Island
City .and Columbus.
There are a few other points in the
article at which the reader may won
der a little. The only term that the
author feels called on to explain in a
footnote is " prairie dog , " which he
tells us signifies "a species of mar
mot. ' ' He says some of the buffalo
ohips they burned had lain on the
prairie for countless ages ; it is hard
to see how they knew , as that inter
esting coinage. .was nofrusually dated.
He says men from Arkansas were
called Pukes and those from Missouri
Pikes. That is not the usual under
standing. Another statement that
seems questionable is that they saw a
spring in tiie South Pass that divided
its waters , sending branches to both
the Sweetwater and Green rivers.
There is. such a spring in Two-ocean
Pass , south of Yellowstone Lake ,
discovered by Captain Jones in 1878 ; I
hut none of the contemporary travel
ers or explorers speak of such an
affair in the South Pass region.
In the old days
SEE ? when people held
slaves , and prized
the privilege of whipping them , there
was no greater way in which you might
express your contempt for a man than
by scourging his menials. In this con
nection we remark that the democrats
of Arkansas have scourged Senator
James-K. Jones , till the welts show at
this distance.
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