10 Conservative *
( liiinngo. With nil of man's mastery
over tlio conditions of nuturo , there arc
soiiio facts which laugh at him ami hifc
puuy efforts. The most imperious ouc1
on the North American coutiuont is
named the Mississippi rivor.
Trial by Jury.
Mr. Joseph H. Oh onto , the distin
guished lawyer , made the most impor
tant speech of the occasion at the recent
congress of the American Bar associa
tiou at Saratoga. It covered a raugo of
topics touching the American methods
of court procedure and incidentally
compaiiug them with those of Franco ,
whoso criminal judicature is organized
to convict as much as a guu is built to
fchoot with. In reference to the Zola
trial ho said , "Every safeguard of per
sonal liberty enjoyed in England and
America for two centuries had been
violated. " Wo could not read the ac
count of the trial without contrasting
them with our own trial by jury or
without the pious utterance from every
lip , "Thank God , I am an AmericanJ'
Mr. Ohoate made an unnecessarily
elaborate argument , one would almost
think , for the jury trial system , as if
itself wore on trial , instead of being
fixed in the bedrock of Anglo-Saxon in
stitutions. Perhaps it is true that there
is a tendency to supplant the jury meth
od in certain kinds of litigation by
other devices of legal procedure more
simple and effective , to reserve it for
great cases affecting life , liberty or prop
erty. This certainly is to dignify , not
to cheapen it. With the diminution oi
jury trials comes the greater probabili
ty of securing intelligent jurymen But
who can wonder at the partiality of the
great advocate , to whom the jury has
always been the instrument on which
the master player performs with such
matchless skill
American Iron and Steel.
The most lately compiled figures of
the treasury department illustrate in a
very interesting manner how great has
been the growth of our steel and iron
industries. Other important classes of
products have rlso displayed an increase
from year to year , but it is in the most
essential of all , that which may bo call
ed the cornerstone of the whole indus
trial fabric , that the expansion of out
put is most startling. That is the only
word to designate an increase which
has been noted even more keenly by
our foreign rivals in England and Ger
many than has been done at homo. If
figures are uninteresting in one sense ,
they should bo full of oloqueuco when
we see the pregnancy of meaning behind
their arid phalanx. The exports of all
articles of iron and steel , which in 1880
were $14,710,684 , had swollen in 1800
to § 25,542,208 , in 1890 to $41,100,877 ,
in 1897 .to § 57,484,872 and in 1898 to
$70,807,527. On the other hand , the im
ports , which were § 71,200,089 in 1880
had gradually fallen in 1898 to $12.-
015,918. During this period the popu
lation has advanced from 60,000,000 , to
what is estimated at 75,000,000. So
that wo not only make substantially all
our own articles of iron and steel mer
chandise , but send to other countries at
the rate of almost $1 per capita. When
wo consider that 18 years ago wo were
forced to depend on foreign mills and
factories mainly for these vital wants ,
it becomes a matter of the liveliest sat
isfaction that we have reversed the con
ditions. No other fact could better show
how solid and stable the industrial de
velopment of the nation has been. It ic
specially notable that the greatest in
crease of exports and corresponding decrease
crease of imports have been in articles
of fundamental necessity , such as the
partly manufactured metal which is the
raw material of the more elaborate
products classified as ingots , blooms ,
billets , slabs and bars , and as had in
general been supposed of old to be
largely dependent on enormous couceu
tration of capital and low price of labor
for economical production ; and , secondly ,
in siich highly artificial and specialized
products as sewing machines , bicycles ,
electrical and railway machinery and
the like. Our market for articles of the
second category extends to every civi
lized and half civilized region of the
known world. Asia , Africa and Aus
tralia as well as South America have
shown the keenest appreciation of the
superior lightness and strength which
wo put into our mechanical construc
tions without deterioration of enduring
quality It is in this feature of work ,
in itself cumbersome and heavy , thai
American skill has forged so amazingly
to the head. Wo already hold thi-
primacy in this line of production , and
another decade is sure to place us unich
further in the van
Army Reorganization.
If anything has been made clear by thn
lessons of a short war , it is that in some
respects our military system needs n
thorough remodeling. That system has
never been scientifically made. It has
grown up In one direction more than
any other reform is imperative to in
sure a well working service. That is in
the reorganization of the staff. More
than half of our recent blunders have
sprung from lack of harmony inevitable
to a staff system so antiquated. Mr.
Hull , the chairman of the house com
mittee on military affairs , has outlined
his views on this subject , which will
bo included in the bill to be introduced
into the next congress
At present the stair of the army IB
made up of ten distinct bureaus , each
presided over by a chief with the rank
of brigadier general. There is no single
head to enforce harmony of action.
Each bureau feels its own importance
and resents infringement of preroga
tive. In the German system , which
with modification is designed to bo the
model of our own , there is a chief of
the general staff ( such was Von Moltke's
rank ) , charged with the whole adminis
tration and next in authority to the
emperor. In our new system the chief
of staff will bo second in authority to
the general in chief only , and every
staff department will report to him and
bo under his direction. The department
will include all officers performing other
than line duties , and it is proposed to
include in it only those promoted by
virtue of fitness and special training. A
staff college on the lines of the engineer
ing school at Willots Point , N. Y. , of
the artillery school at Fort Mouroo
and of the infantry and cavalry school
at Fort Leavenworth will be instituted ,
and with equally high technical in
struction. In addition to this permanent
staff will bo the temporary staff , in
which the officers can bo shifted from
one section to another , according to fit
ness and the requirements of the serv
ice In time of war when an army is in
the field or in the management of a de
partment the general commanding tbat
section of the army will have his ad
ministrative officer in a representative
of the general chief of staff , who will
hold authority over all officers of the
quartermaster , commissary and medical
departments in service there. This sci
entific gradation of the system is the
real core of its value , as it holds every
one in strict accountability to a single
head In other respects the military
bureaus will remain as they are now.
Such , stripped of its detail , is the pro
posed system , and it is certain to put
new life into army administration. It
will relieve the directing mind of a
campaign or of a department of harass
ing details and make him free to give
rnoro time and study to the discharge
of the supreme function.
Those who have followed closely the
course of General Shaf tor's campaign
ncid not bo military students to perceive
at once what a power such a system
would have been in obviating the evils
which made that campaign eo open to
Criticism.
Sulutumus.
The reception by the people of New
York which welcomed the seven great
warships that wrought so magnificent
a work of destruction in pursuance of
the grim duties to which they were ded
icated was an event of the deepest in
terest and enthusiasm. A couple of
millions of'spectators roared themselves
hoarse with acclamations. The great
guns answered with the same voices
which had roared such deadly argu
ments only a few weeks before It ex
celled in pioturesqueness perhaps other
receptions in which the rejoicing heart
of the people will welcome the returned
warriors who will go back to their re
spective localities throughout the laud.
It did not embody , however , a spirit
less eager and genuine than will uiako
city and village ring with rejoicing
