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From Sublime . "Two strati gel's1' sent a letter to
to Ridiculous, to & newspaper editor in Metropt
osis, 111., notifying him to de
posit $1,000 in gold at a certain point, in default
df 111011 tho editors newspaper office was to "be
blown Up -with dynamite These rascals were
evidently as complete "strangers'' to the resources
of the average newspaper editor as they were to
the editor himself, else they would never have ex
pected a newspaper man to comply with condi
tions in which so much as $1,000 in cash was the
essential. The would-be imitators of the famous
Oudahy case are "spinning the web infernally
fine." They are passing very rapidly from the
sublime to the ridiculous and they arc transform
ing tragedy into farce when they propose to hold
up a newspaper man for $1,000.
A New Coal The combination fever has struck
Combination the coal mine owners of Illinois.
It is now proposed to place all
the coal mines of that state in a trust with a cap
ital stock of $75,000,000. More than 900 mines
in Illinois will bo under the control of this com
lunation. Last year the total product of these
mines was about 30,000,000 tons, and they gave
employment to 37,000 men. The mine owners
who have given publicity to this scheme have tak
en pains to say that the result will he beneficial
to the consumers of coal because of the decreased
cost in production. The anthracite coal mines of
the east have been controlled by a combination
for several years, and yet the coal consumers
have not realized any advantages because of the
combination. It will be interesting to observe
the experiment in Illinois. If the consumers
profit by reason of this trust, the trust record
will have been broken.
Last Deadlock The last senatorial deadlock has
Broken. been broken. The republicans
of Nebraska, on the final day of
the session, elected Gov. Charles H. Dietrich and
Hon. Joseph H. Millard. They are both success
ful business men and bankers.
Governor Dietrich lives at Hastings and was
satisfactory to the Burlington railroad, while Mr.
Millard is a resident of Omaha and is supposed
to be satisfactory to the Union Pacific, having
once been a government director of that road.
It might at first seem, strange that these men
should be chosen to represent a great agricultural
state, but when it is remembered that the repub
licans of Nebraska endorse the doctrine set forth
in a platform adopted by the New York republi
cans in 1896 and favor "a business administra
tion, administered by business men in behalf of
the business interests," the selection of these gen
tlemen seems eminently fitting. It is safe to say,
however, that no crusade for the reduction of the
rate of interest, for the lowering of railroad
rates, for the establishment of government savings
banks or for the extermination of trusts, will
originate with, or be countenanced by, Nebraska's
senatorial delegation.
A census enumerator in Mary
land has been arrested on the
charge of fraud. It is alleged
that this enumerator counted all the persons who
had died in the two counties in his district
during the past year. His defense is that ljo did
The Commoner.
this after consulting with prominent and "enter
prising" citizens who wcro anxious to make a
good showing for their communities in the census
reports.
It is said that this is the only instance of fraud
in the census of 1900. Accepting this as true, it
is entirely creditable to the management of the
census bureau. The census of 1800 was full of
fraud in various sections of the country although
no individual seemed to profit by reason of this
fraud. The motive was a mistaken notion that a
good service was being done the community by
raising the number of inhabitants to an extraordi
nary figure. In every instance, however, the
communities in whoso interests theso frauds were
perpetrated paid the penalty. In several in
stances the census of 1900 compared with that of
1890 showed a marked falling off in the popula
tion of certain towns. As a matter of fact, tho
population of these towns probably increased
during the ten years, but the correct figures of
1900 compared with the fraudulent figures of 1890
showed a decrease, and as a result the communities
responsible for the frauds of ten years ago paid the
penalty.
Experience has demonstrated and rcdemon
strated that in all the affairs of life, "honesty is
tho best policy."
Entirely too
Common.
Fraud In
the Census.
Tho Pioneer Press of St. Paul
under the head "Triumphant
Plutocracy" describes the rise
of Mr. Vanderlip to fame and fortune. It points out
how he was by accident thrown in with Mr. Gage,
how Mr. Gage took a fancy to him, and how, when
Mr. Gage -became Secretary of the Treasury,
Mr. Vanderlip was appointed private secretary.
The Pioneer Press then announces that the private
secretary has been invited to connect himself with
some Wall Street institution at $10,000 or $20,000
per year.
The moral drawn by this republican paper is
that plutocracy is not at all dangerous that it
is, in fact, a benevolent system of government.
There is another moral, however; which might be
drawn. The promotion of treasury officials into
Wall Street officials, taken in connection with
the conduct of the treasury department, would
suggest that the finances of the government may
be run as they are in order to insure high priced
positions for treasury officials when their terms
expire. If an officer whose duty it is to enforce
the law against New York banks has his eye on
a bank position he is apt to be influenced by that
ambition. It is impossible to expect good service
from those who have a pecuniary interest opposed
to the interests of the public generally.
War Cloud in Of course, anything is possible,
Russia and but the remotest possibility im-
England. aginable is that Russia and Eng
land will ever be precipitated
into a war over a dispute concerning a bit of Chi
nese territory. There is plenty of Chinese ter
ritory for all, and any trouble concerning the
division will be amicably adjusted. The whole
affair, based on the claim that Christian ministers
and foreign subjects had been murdered and mal
treated, is nothing more nor less than a continua
tion of the eternal game of grab that is played
by the European monarchies, Russia will not
fight because she docs not havo to do that to gain
her points. Great Britain will not fight for tho
simple reason that she has her hands full trying
to whip a handful of Dutch farmors. And Ger
many will not fight because sho knows sho will
get just as much without fighting as she will by
fighting. That is the situation in a nutshell.
But Russia will get tho big end of the deal. It
is a way Russia has now and has had for many
years. Tho confines of that great country havo
been enlarging for yearsslowly, without blus
ter, but nevertheless surely. Today Russia is a
thousand miles nearer India than she was three
decades ago, and Russia has her eyes on India
and its stores of hidden treasure Napoleon
looked into tho future and saw tho timo when the
Muscovite would overrun tho old world; and
the Muscovite is doing that today.
An Expansion Tho Boston Globe points out that
From Within, there 000,000,000 acres of va
cant land in this country. Of
this 374,000,000 acres are suitable for grazing and
farming; more than 90,000,000 acres are wood
land; 70,000,000 aores contain forests of commer
cial value, and about an equal area is at present
desert land. Tho Globe estimates that the arablo
portion alone would furnish homes and farms for
10,000,000 people, and that tho timber from
woodland and forest would suffico to build com
fortable homes, not only for our present popula
tion, but for many generations to come. The
Globe therefore pleads for "expansion from
within," and very correctly says that improved
facilities for irrigation are essential to bring tho
now unused land into cultivation. Is there not
considerable danger that in our craze for expansion
toward the Orient we are neglecting our oppor
tunities at homo as well as violating national tra
ditions? The Fruits of Mr. Arthur Chamberlain, broth
Colonialism, er of Joseph Chamberlain, tho
British Colonial Secretary, has
brought a libel suit against a London newspaper
that charged him with using his relations with
members of the government for commercial pur
poses. In the trial of the case, the defense introduced
letters from the London manager of Mr. Arthur
Chamberlain's Company and addressed tp the
agents general of the colonies, in which it was
said: "No doubt you are aware that we are
largely contractors to the war office, and we may
say that our chairman, Mr. Arthur Chamberlain,
is a brother of the Colonial Secretary." It is no
more difficult to imagine the effect of such a let
ter than to understand the motive that prompted
it.
These things, however, are to be expected
during tho continuance of the colonial habit. In
America we have been required to deal with just
such tricks of trade.
Members of Congress themselves hold very
prominent positions in commercial enterprises in
Cuba and the Philippines; and it is promised
that in an investigation soon to be under way in
Washington, testimony will be introduced to
show that a promoter who went to the Philip
pines for the purpose of organizing a new enter
prise, carried with him a letter from an official
of the war department certifying to the financial
responsibility of the syndicate.
i
Cr
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