Cfoe Conservative *
BEDTIME.
The 'Braska Baby climbed on my knee
And called fdr stories , alx , eight , free ;
So I told him the tales that I used to know ,
Of the Sparrow , so reckless with his bow ,
Of Adam an' Eve , that wouldn't mind ,
Of Bo-Peep's sheep , witli thpir tails behind ,
Of the Pawnee boy and the Old Dun Horse ,
And Little Rpd Ri'n Hood , too , of course :
'Gain I said the 'Braska Baby.
So I told of the beasts in Noah's Ark ;
How the old cat learned to see in the dark ;
Of the ring-tailed monk , how he came that way ,
Why bats are ashamed to bo seen by day ,
Of the woodchuck , 'way deep down in the
ground ,
And of old Brer Tarrypin , loungin' 'round ;
I told of the bear and the bumblebee ,
And the great big whales that live in the sea :
Why ? said the 'Braska Baby.
Then I told of the boy with the chopping-knife ,
How he ran and stumbled and lost his life ;
How Giddy Miss Ellen fell in and was drowned ,
Of Peter , who swung the hot poker around ,
How Peggy and Polly had each a now dolly ,
And how Uncle John had to punish their folly ;
Of Hezekiah who played with the fire
And the boy who ran off and was lost in the
mire :
What foa ? said the.'Braska Baby.
E. FOBKS.
It is beginning to
TUNING UP. percolate. The idea
that there are
enough real democrats in the country to
rehabilitate the party , is at last slowly
filtering through the brain-protectors of
western publicists. The Hastings ( Neb , )
Republican , which is all that the name
fails to imply , sighs over present con
ditions and future prospects in the fol
lowing lugubrious article :
"Senator Jones , of Arkansas , who
was chairman of the national democratic' '
committee , and who made a loyal fight
for a Bryan victory , is among the first
to fall at the political wayside a victim
at the hands of the goldite wing of
eastern democracy. t
"And it may be said there are others
marked for similar political destruction.
The news from Arkansas leaves no
doubt that it was eastern influences and
eastern money that enabled Ex-Gov
ernor Clark to triumph over Jones.
"Some leading democrats are openly
opposing Bryan. Among them may be
mentioned Yest and Cockrell of Ar
kansas , Bacon and Clay of Georgia ,
Mallory of Florida , Baily and Onlbert-
son of Texas , and other lesser political
lights in the South and West are now
more or less 'ferninst' Bryan. The
democratic legislature of Mississippi , in
adopting resolutions endorsing Richard
Olney , of Massachusetts , for president ,
and Carter Harrison , of Chicago , for
vice-president , furnishes a sample of
j bJs opposition. Oln.ey is a gold demo
crat and Carter Harrison , while considered -
' . sidered a friend of Bryan , has more or
less been figured in the compromising
class.
"All these are interesting facts that
have an important bearing on the po
litical situation , and are bound to pre-
cipitato'a lively contest in the next na
tional democratic convention.
"With Bryanism dethroned by eastern
democrats in the next national conven
tion , the question naturally presents it
self , will Bryan and his followers lay
down , or ( will they line up under a
Bryan or populistio banner ? "
This is encouraging in the extreme ,
coming as it does from a representative
of the "soft" press of Nebraska , the
members of which were only informed
some six or seven years ago that the
material interests and solid citizenship
of the country would not suffer the
money system to be corrupted , and that
a platform and a candidate which
threatened repudiation and commercial
rebellion could not stand. Having
been allowed but six short years in
which to ponder over the situation , it is
encouraging to learn that some of them
have grasped the idea already ; which
fact justifies the hope that another de
cade of cogitation , and the experience
gained from a periodical lambasting at
the polls , will suffice to convince a com
fortable working majority of western
silver-struck publicists and illuded suf-
fragators that a platform founded upon
sophistry , and a candidate whose capital
extremity is more sonorific than prolific
of wholesome ideas , are not attuned to
the pitch at which modern business is
wont to hum.
It would be well for each of the de
luded ones to purchase a tuning fork ,
catch the correct pitch , and join in the
chorus of progress which is already
sufficiently loud to drown the quavering
discords which are intermittently
sounded in the Peerlessistic corner of
the choir loft.
PORTO RICO TRADE INCREASES.
Commerce between the United
States and Porto Rico is increasing
with phenomenal rapidity , especially
since the removal of all tariff restric
tions in July of last year. Our pur
chases from Porto Rico are nearly
three times as great as the average
during the closing five years of Span
ish rule in the island , while the
shipments from the United States to
Porto Rica are five times as great as
the average during the five years
preceding the termination of Spanish
rule. The receipts of merchandise
from Port Rico at the ports of the
United States now range between five
and six millions annually , and the
shipments to Porto Rico , which were
about seven million dollars in the last
fiscal year , seem likely to be ten
millions in the present fiscal year
ending June 30.
This rapid growth in the move
ments of commerce between the ports
of the United States and Porto Rico
is presented by a statement just pre
pared by the Treasury Bureau of Sta
tistics , rwhich shows that the ship
ments of domestic merchandise from
the United States to Porto Rico in
the eight mouths ending with February -
ary amounted to $6,887,052 , indicat
ing that for the full fiscal year the
total shipments of domestic and foreign -
eign goods from the ports of j5Uo ]
United States to Porto Rico will ag
gregate about $10,000,000. The ex
ports from the United States to
Porto Rico during the five years end
ing with 1898 averaged less than
$2,000,000 per annum , and thus jus
tify the assertion that our shipments
of merchandise during the present
year to Porto Rico seem likely to bo
as much as in the entire five years
ending with 1898. Over four-fifths of
the merchandise now brought into
Porto Kico is drawn from the United
States , and a little over one-half "of
the merchandise shipped from that
island is sent to the United States.
The total value of goods shipped from
the island in the eight mouths end
ing with February was $5,787,619 ,
and of this sum $3,016,258 , or 52 per
cent was to the United States. The
total value of the merchandise re
ceived into the island during the
same period was $8,418,078 , of which
$6,887,052 , or 82 per cent , was from
the United States.
The following table shows the
value of the principal articles shipped
from the United States to Porto
Rico in the eight months ending with
February 1902 , compared with those
of the corresponding months of the
preceding year :
Eight mouths ending with -February.
Articles. - 1901 1992
Rice $766,028 $1,109,596
Cotton cloths 728,907 881,271
Cotton mfrs , all other 81,206 678,519
Wheat flour 559,928 657,655
Pork products 455,897 614 , 668
Machinery , etc 158,664 407,228
Other iron and steel
mfrs 154,011 279',856
Fish 168,887 208,881
Boards , shocks and / . . ' . . .
lumber 189,683 202,578
Wood manufactures 65,897 168,299
Chemicals , drugs etc. 58,611 90,025
Beans and pease 28,881 97,228
Dairy products 49,984 88,688
Refined mineral oil. . 52,685 76,185
Paper and mfrs of. . . 87,981 71,499
Boots and shoes 28,927 95,108
Malt liquors 84,429 71,441
Books , maps , etc 24,724 49,280
Cars , carriages , etc. . 60,422 52,262 ,
Coal 85,787 45,401
Scientific instruments 21,202 43,668
Steel rails 11,080 57,006
Leather mfrs , other. . 16,116 88,448
Beef products 88,927 89,784
Other meat products 62,022 60,279
Sugar , refined 10,709 45,988
Wool manufactures. 5,815 29,054
Soap 16,671 29J878"