Newspaper Page Text
The Conservative.
FORESTRY. The American For
estry Association will hold an important
meeting in Omaha on Friday and Sat
urday , September 9 and 10. This meet
ing is held in accordance with a vote of
the association at its meeting held in
Nashville a year ago and it was contem
plated at that time that tin's meeting
should be largely devoted to topics relat
ing to the West ; it has , also , been ar
ranged that a number of Western men
of many years' experience in the West
shall be placed upon the program so that
the "Great Treeless District" may have
a thorough representation.
Some of the topics that will be treated
are as follows :
Where Does Our Timber Come From ?
Wind Break Its Value and Form.
Conifers on the Plain.
The Catalpa in Plantations.
The Extension of Native Forest
Growth in the Plains.
How Does Forest Growth Affect Cli
mate ?
The Forest Botany of Nebraska , Eco
nomically Considered.
Arbor Day and its Economic Signifi
cance.
Some of the well-known persons who
will take part in the meeting by present
ing papers are Dr. George L. Miller ,
Hon. E. W. Furnas , E. F. Stephens , C.
A. Keffer , C. L. Watrous , F.S. Phoenix ,
Henry Michelson , S. M. Emeiy , George
Van Houten , C. S. Harrison. Prof.
Charles E. Bessey , B. E. Fernow , Prof.
Lawrence Bruner and George E. Kesser.
The exact topic assigned to each
speaker will be announced a little later
but , in the meantime , it may be under
stood that it is proposed to have a thor
oughly profitable program , made up
from topics which will have the most
interest to those who are likely to be in
attendance. The low rates on the rail
roads at this time will make it possible
for many to attend tin's meeting who
could , perhaps , not otherwise come.
The exact place of meeting in Omaha
will be announced in due season.
Persons interested , or desirous of any
further information , are cordially in
vited to correspond with F. W. Taylor ,
Superintendent of Agriculture and Horticulture
ticulture , Trans-Mississippi Exposition ,
Omaha.
The officers of the association are :
Hon. Francis H. Appleton , president ,
Boston , and George P. Whittlesey ,
recording secretary and treasurer ,
Washington.
Notwithstanding the declarations of
the leading populists , THE CONSERVA
TIVE would gladly welcome into Ne
braska a couple of dozen healthy and
enterprising millionaires who would
develop an artesian well system for the
whole state and thus remove all of its
agriculture and horticulture from their
dependence upon rainfall and from the
danger of drouths. Millionaires men
who have the power of capital , cash ,
money , dollars are needed in Nebraska
and will be cordially received by intelli
gent citizens everywhere.
.1
. ,
0 fZ ± ZZ ± < Z ? = ± < * Z
CURRENT COMMENT. |
GT y jSH j vS f V T f ? ©
The Literary Impulse.
The desire to write is one of the
mental diseases which numerous yonug
men and women of good intelligence
and education nre certain to : ss
through in their ambition to attain an
ideal a little higher than the immediate
status. In spite of the experience of
others , who have tried and failed , hope
whispers to eaoh aspirant of an excep
tional career. The multiplication of
newspapers of course offers a seeming
gateway whereby success is made easier.
In a measure the promise is not falla
cious. Journalism indeed gives oppor
tunity to many for the beginning of a
career which otherwise would be at
tended with vastly more difficulty. For
men and women of great talent and in
dustry it has considerable rewards of
money and reputation in store. But
these , too , are only the exceptions , for
journalism , like other intellectual pro
fessions , is greatly overcrowded. Every
large city has scores of able and ex
perienced men whose pens find only
scanty and casual employment.
If this is the case in journalism , the
conditions of which present the minor
difficulty , the situation is still more in
tractable in the higher walks of litera
ture , where the outlet is far more re
stricted , the tests of excellence in the
exercise of the purely literary gift more
rigid. It can be truthfully said that al
most any other profession offers better
ultimate hope of achievement and hap
piness than does the medium of letters.
Even those who meet with creditable
Buocess are contented with returns
which a relative rank in half a dozen
other pursuits involving parallel abil
ity and the same industry would great
ly overstep. The most discouraging fact ,
too , in the writing profession is that
even distinguished men are obliged to
depend for the more certain substance
of their income on the work for which
they care least , but for which there is
a larger market demand. In a recently
published letter of Robert Southey , a
writer of eminent talent and accom
plishments if not of genius , there is a
melancholy confession. In discussing
the sources of his income he says , "Per
haps the average may be fair at last ,
but it is injurious as well as ridiculous
that I shall derive my main support
from what other persons might do as
well and what might never be done at
all , while for works of permanent value
and great labor , for which peculiar
knowledge , peculiar talents and pecul
iar industry are required , the profit I
obtain would scarcely exceed and per
haps not amount to the expenses of the
documents. "
The way of the writer who has no
other resources than his pen is for the
most part a "via dolorosa. " The wise
advice is always , "Don't. " It is the
inexorable law of nature that innumera
ble experiments and struggles are neces
sary for the emergence of the few. To
be one of that ; few seems sufficient lure
to risk remaining one of the unsuccess
ful many. So it will probably be till
the end of time. It in the thrift of des
tiny
The Mississippi Problem.
For half a century the riverine naoa-
tor which cleaves through the heart
of our country has battled all attempt
to permanently bridle its excesses. It
made its great valley , and it will domi
nate it , let human opposition be what
it may. The actual cost which ita rav
ages of flood have made has been
estimated to be equivalent to not less
than five times our present national
debt. The Mississippi river commission ,
made up of our ablest engineers , both
military and civil , have spent $20,000-
000 within the last twoacore years de
vising moans to control the flood , but
the problem stands very much the same ,
always threatening , always demanding
its dues. Captain Eads , it is true ,
solved one phase of the question with
partial success in opening an outlet to
the sea by his system of jetties. This
simple bat ingenious plan involves a
self scouring channel , which BO far has
worked admirably. But without an
equally effective embankment system ,
by which the flood in its persistent
efforts to encroach on its limits can bo
restrained , the whole question remains
a dreadful threat.
It is nut merely at the times of its
annual spring floods when the impris
oned snow and ice of half a contintnt
swell its volume that the mischief is
portentout. The cities of the lower val
ley are always in peril. Crawfish and
various gnawing creatures of land and
water , the swarming allies of the river
monster , are perpetually undermining
the strength of the levees. These often
break with scarcely a moment's warn
ing , and thousands of acres are sub
merged. Incessant vigilance is the price
of safety. New Orleans , the great com
mercial emporium of the river , the
creation of the river , the slave of the
river , is today in a state of keen anx
iety over the latest caprice of the flood
which rolls by its wharves. The river is
devouring the land at Carroll ton , at
Algiers and the extreme southern part
of the city , where the riparian property
is of great value. There seems to be
great division of opinion as to what can
bo done to effectively meet the danger.
The city and state engineers are at odds
as to the proper division of their work.
The money of the levee commission in
said to be at its lowest ebb. The situa
tion is an alarming one , and there
Eeeins to be no outcome except a great
devastation of valuable property. New
Orleans , to be sure , has passed through
uch crises before , but eaoh fresh one
threatens to surpass its predecessors in
