rHE O'NEILL FRONTIER O. H. CRONIN. Publisher. PNEILL, NEBRASKA Says the South China Morning Poet: *‘A snake story comes to us from the Kowloon side. A few days ago a brown adder, measuring some two feet and a half, was killed by Mr. Coke, band mas ter of the Rajputs, under rather curious circumstances. The reptile was slain right in the open road upon the water front, whore the Kowloon children are wont to play, and Mr. Coke's attention was first drawn to it by an animal duel, which was going on between the snake and a cat. Poor Thomas, with bristling hair and tail on end, was gradually being fascinated by the ad der, and must have eventually suc cumbed but for the timely assistance of the club. While we do not suppose that snakes are too numerous In Ko wloon, we think that amahs In charge of children might safely be warned to keep their small charges upon the grass lands near the Kowloon wa ter front.” An entirely new design In the con struction of electric lamps has been re cently brought out, the novel feature of which Is the entire absence, so far as the eye Is concerned, of all wires. One-half of the transformer Is fas tened to the underside of a table, while the other half of the transformer is in corporated In the base of the lamp standard. By proper transformer de slgn. It Is possible to supply the lamps on the standard with electrical en ergy when both parts of the transform er are placed one above the other. The advantages of such an arrangement are that no holes need be made In the table or coverings for the passage of wires; •while the lamp Itself can be removed from the table when so desired with out disconnecting any wires. Dr. Charles Perrier, in an article based on observations made In French penal Institutions, says that criminals are for the most part of medium height. Thieves, he says, he found to be almost exclusively of small stature and beg gars nearly always of medium or j slightly under that height. "It Is sel dom," he says, "that a fully developed beggar nature can be found In a large frame.” Murderers, on the other hand, his observations prove to be above the average in sise. All the prisoners un der punishment for arson and forcoun- j forfeiting measured by him came under the head of "small.” These details, the writer says, while they may establish certain facts as to French criminals,! may be valueless when applied to the! underworld In other countries. Some of the great estates of Eng-1 land are held by curious rents. The duke of Atholl holds certain possessions conditionally on his supplying a white rose whenever the sovereign visits hirm Queen Victoria and her consort visited him years ago when roses did not bloom In the garden, and great was the difficulty In procuring a couple. A trickier rent was that upon which the (tunros, of Foulls, held their property. It was that a snow ball should be pre-j Rented upon any day of the year thatj it was demanded. Happily for the own er, snow lies In the form of a glacier j in the chasms of Ben Wyvls all the | vear, and there seems no danger of) I forfeiture by failure of the quaint rent Good news for hunters comes from, Maine. The Kennebec Journal says that all reports from the men who have been In the woods Indicate one of the most successful hunting seasons for a long time. The Journal quotes an old woodsman as saying; “In all the years I have been going to the Maine woods I have never known deer to be more plentiful than they are now. t have been In the Rangeley region all summer, and have seen deer on all sides. ! They are not only numerous, but they are in exoellent condition. They have passed an excellent summer, have had plenty of food and are now sleeker than they have been for a number of years." The Musical Home Journal of Lon don tells a story of George Grossmlth and the Income tax authorities. Long after his father's death the commis sioners, by mistake, sent the younger Grossmlth a notice assessing the In- ; come of the deceased at (10,000. Mr. 1 Grossmlth returned the document tq the proper quarter, with the following; note written across It: ‘‘I am glad to learn my father la doing so well In the next world; (10,000 le a great deal more than he ever made In this; Kindly for ward this notice to his new address, and remember me affectionately to him.” | Canada’s minister of canals has pre-, ; eented to the Canadian House of Com mons a suggestion that something lhould be done by the dominion to pro vide a water route to compete with .he Erie canal. He proposed that a 25 Mot canal be dug to connect Lakes Brie and Ontario. It Is estimated that; a canal of depth sufficient to accommo date the largest of the lake craft would cost (26,000,900 to (30,000,000. Such an, improvement. It Is expected, Canada will probably undertake within a few i years. I Professor Masterman, lecturing at i Cambridge on modern England and the •Iberty of the subject, said there was enough treason spoken In Hyde rark, London, on Sunday afternoons, to fill a Herman fortress. Instead, the orators went home to tea. It Is a remarkably fact, however, added the lecturer, that there Is no state In Europe where at-| tacks on the sovereign are so rare or ■o strongly resented by the people at, targe. Mrs. Elizabeth Hayward, of Salt Lake City, who was regularly elected and served as delegate to the demo cratic national convention In Denver, Is the mother of nine children, and said to have one of the best managed house holds In that city. She is an ardent i advocate of equal suffrage, not because 4t "broadens" the views of the modern Woman, but because It gives them the Kwer to protect and improve their m«8. An old judge of a New fork court of Cecord says that. If the law requiring ss attroney of the courts to be of good saoral character was strictly enforced, about 92 members of the bar out of each 100 would have to go Into some other business. Lightning struck the store of Horace Swan, at Georgetown, Del., and when •wan recovered from the shock he tound one of his ears had been scorched until It was brown. One of the grievances of Mrs. Clark Stack, of Chicago, who sued for a di vorce, was that she was compelled narly every morning to curl her hus-. Sand’s long, silky mustache. Under the revised law governing the amployment of women and children In Itsily, night work Is forbidden for all females and for males less than IS years. One pound of cork Is sufficient to sup i»«ri a man or ordinary size In the wa ter. The average life of a ship Is about 28 {years. _ ROOSEVELT’S FINAL ADDRESS TO CONGRESS President’s Message Reiterates Need of Reforms He Has Previously Advocated. URGENT APPEAL TO PEOPLE An Effort Will Be Made to Get Labor and Capital Together for the Sake of the Publio Welfare. Washington, D. C., Special: Presi dent Roosevelt's final message to con gress, advocating strongly the enaction of the reforms to which his adminis tration has been devoted, was read in both houses today. The message in part, follows: To the Senate and House of Repre sentatives: The financial standing of the nation at the present time Is excellent, and the financial management of the na tion's interests by the government during the last seven years has shown the most satisfactory results. But our currency system Is Imperfect, and It Is earnestly to be hoped that tho currency commis sion will be able to propose a thoroughly good system which will do away with the existing defects. During the seven years and three months there has been a net surplus of nearly one hundred millions of receipts over expenditures, a reduction of the Interest bearing debt by ninety millions, in spite of the extraordinary expense of the Panama canal, and a saving pf near ly nine millions on the annual in’erest charge. This Is an exceedingly satisfac tory showing, especially in view of the fact that during this period the nation has never hesitated to undertake any expenditure that It regarded as neces sary. There have been no new taxes and no increases of taxes: on the contrary, some taxes have been taken off; there has been a reduction of taxation. Corporations. As regards the great corporations en gaged in interstate business, and espe cially the railroads, I can only repeat what I have already again and again said in my messages to the congress, I believe that under the interstate clause of the constitution the United States has complete and paramount right to control ull agencies of Interstate com merce, and 1 bellove that the national government alone can exercise this right with wisdom and effectiveness so as both to secure Justice from, and to do Justice to, the great corporations which are the most important factors In modern busi ness. I believe that it is worse than folly to attempt to prohibit all combinations as is done by the Sherman anti-trust law, because such a law can be enforced only Imperfectly and unequally, and Us enforcement works almost as much hard ship as good. I strongly advocate that instead of an unwise effort to prohibit all combinations, there shall bo sub stituted a law which shall expressly per mit combinations which ure In the inter est of the public, but shall at the same time give to some agency of the national government full power of control and supervision over them. One of the chief features of this control should be secur ing entire publicity in all matters which the public has a right to know, and fur thermore, tho power, not by judicial but by executive action, lo prevent or put a stop to every form of Improper favoritism or other wrongdoing. The Railroads. The railways of tho country should be put completely under the Interstate com merce commission and removed from the domain of the anti-trust law. The power of the commission should be made thor oughgoing, so that It could exercise com plete supervision and control over the issue of securities as well as over the raising and lowering of rates. As regards rates, at least, this power should be summary. The power to investigate the financial operations and accounts of the railways has been one of the moat val uable features in recent legislation. Power to make combinations aikl traffic agreements should be explicitly conferred upon the railroads, tho permission of the commission being first gained and the combination or agreement being published In all its details. In the Interest of the public the representatives of the public should have complete power to see that the railroads do their duty by the public, and as a matter of course thiB power should also be exercised so as to see that no injustice Is done to tho railroads. The shareholders, the employes and the shippers all have interests that must be guarded. It 1s to the Interest of ail of them that no swindling stock specula tion should be allowed, arid that there should be no improper Issuance of se curities. The guiding intelligences necessary for the successful building and successful management of railroads should receive ample remuneration; but no man should be allowed to make money in connection with railroads out of fraudulent over capitalisation and kindred stock gambling performances; there must be no defraud ing of Investors, oppression of the farm ers and business men who ship freight, or callous disregard of the rights and needs of the employes. In addition to this, the Interests of the shareholders, of the employes, und of the shippers should all be guarded as against one another. To give any one of them undue arid Im proper consideration Is to do injustice to the others. Rates must be made as low as Is com patible with giving proper returns to all the employes of the railroad, from the highest to the lowest, and proper returns to the shareholders: but they must not, for Instance, be reduced In such fashion as to necessitate a cut in the wages of the employes or the abolition of the proper and legitimate profits of honest shareholders. Telegraph and telephone companies en gaged In interstate business should be put under tho jurisdiction of the Inter state Commerce commission. if APPEAL TO PEOPLE. f It tt very earnestly to be wished that our people, through their representatives, should act in this matter. It is hard to say whether moat damage to the country at large would come from entire failure on the part of the public to supervise and control the actions of the great cor porations, or from the exercise of the necessary governmental power In a way which would do Injustice and wrong to the corporations. Both the preachers o" an unrestricted individualism, and the preachers of an oppression which would deny to able men or business the just re ward of their Initiative and business sa gacity, arc advocating policies that would be fraught with the gravest harm to the whole country. To permit every lawless capitalist, every law defying corporation, to take any action, no matter how In iquitous., in the effort to secure an Im proper profit and to build up privilege, would be ruinous to the republic and would mark the abandonment of the ef fort to secure In the Industrial world the spirit of democratic fair dealing. On the other hand, to attack these wrongs In that spirit of demagogy which can see wrong only when committed by the man of wealth, and Is dumb and blind In the presence of wrong committed against men of property or by men of no prop erty. is exactly as evil as corruptly to defend the wrongdoing of men of wealth. The war we wage must be waged against misconduct, against wrongdtong wherever It Is found: and we must stand heartily for the rights of every decent man, whether he Da a man of great wealth or a man who earns his livelihood as a wage worker or a tiller of the soil. It is to the interest of all of us that there should be a premium put upon Individual initiative and individual capac ity. and an ample reward for tne great directing Intelligences alone competent to manage the great business operations of today. It is well to keep In mind that exactly as the anarchist Is the worst enemy of liberty and the reactionary the worst enemy of order, so the men who defend the rights of property have most to fear from the wrongdoers of greet wealth, and the men who are champion ing popular rights have most to fear from the demagogues who in the name of pop ular rights would do wrong to and oppress honest business men, honest men of wealth; for the success of either type of wrongdoer necessarily Invites a violent reaction against the cause the wrong doer nominally upholds. In point of dan ger to the nation there Is nothing to choose between on the one hand the cor ruptionist. the bribe giver, the bribe taker, the man who employs his great talent to swindle his fellow citizens on a large scale, and, on the other hand, the preacher of class hatred, the man who, whether from Ignorance or from willing ness to sacrifice his country to his am bition, persuades well meaning but wrong headed men to try to destroy the Instru ments upon which our prosperity mainly rests. Let Each Beware. bet each group of men beware of and guard against the shortcomings to which that group Is Itself most liable. Too often we see the business community In a spirit of unhealthy class consciousness deplore the effort to hold to account under the law the wealthy men who in their man agement of great corporations whether railroads, street railways, or other Indus trial enterprises, have behaved In a way that revolts the conscience of the plain, decent people. Such an attitude can not be condemned too severely, for men of property should recognize that they Jeop ardize the rights of property when they fall heartily to Join In the effort to do away with the abuses of wealth. On the other hand, those who advocate proper control on behalf of the public, through the state, of these great corporations, and of the wealth engaged on a giant scale In business operations, must ever keep In mind that unless they do scrupu lous Justice to the corporation, unless they permit ample profit, and cordially encourage capable men of business so long as they act with honesty, they are striking at the root of our national well being; for In the long run. under the mere pressure of material distress, the people as a whole would probably go back to the reign of an unrestricted Individ ualism rather than submit to a control by the state so drastic and so foolish, conceived In a spirit of such unreason able and narrow hostility to wealth, as to prevent business operations from be ing profitable, and therefore to bring ruin upon the entire business community, a..d ultimately upon .be entire body of citizens. The opposition to government control of these great corporations makes Its most effective effort In the shape of an appeal to the old doctrine of stateB’ rights. Of course, there are many sincere men who now believe in unrestricted Indi vidualism In business. Just as there were formerly many sincere men who believed In slavery—that Is, In the unrestricted right of an Individual to own another Individual. These men do not by them selves have great weight, however. The effective fight against adequate govern ment control and supervision of Indi vidual, and -specially of corporate, wealth engaged In Interstate business is chiefly done under cover; and especially under cover of an appeal to states' rights. It Is not at all Infrequent to read In the same speech a denunciation of predatory wealth fostered by special privilege and defiant of both the public welfare and law of the land, and a denunciation of centralization In the central government of the power to deal with this centralized and organized wealth. Of course, the policy set forth In such twin denuncia tions amounts to absolutely nothing, for the first half Is nullified by the nscond half. Basis of Union, The chief reason, among the many sound and compelling reasons, that led to the formation of tne national govern ment, was the absolute need that the union, and not the several states, snould deal with Interstate and foreign com merce; and the power to deal with Inter state commerce was granted absolutely and plenarily to the central government and was exercised completely as regards the only instrument., of Interstate com merce known In those days—the water ways, the highroads, as well as the part nerships of Individuals who then con ducted all of what business there was. Interstate commerce is now chiefly con ducted by railroads, and the great cor poration has supplanted the mass of small partnerships or Individuals. The proposal to make the national govern ment supreme over, and therefore to give It complete control over, the railroads and other Instruments of Interstate com merce Is merely a proposal to carry out to the letter ono of the prime purposes, If not the prime purpose, for which the constitution was founded. It does not represent centralization. It represents merely the acknowledgment of the patent fact that centralization has already come In business. If this Irresponsible outside business power Is to bo controlled In the Interest of the general public It can only be con trolled In one way; by giving adequate pewer of control to the one sovereignty capable of exdrclslng such power—the national government. Forty or BO sep arate state governments can not exercise that power over corporations doing busi ness In most or all of them; first, be cause they absolutely lack the authority to deal with Interstate business In any form; and second, because of the Inev itable conflict of authority sure to arise In the effort to enforce different kinds of state regulation, often Inconsistent with one another and sometimes oppressive in themselves. Such divided authority can not regulate commerce with wisdom and effect. The central government Is the only power which, without oppression, can nevertheless thoroughly and ade quately control and supervise the large corporations. To abandon the effort for national con trol means to abandon the effort for all adequate control and yet to render likely continual hursts of action by state legis latures, which can not achieve the pur pose sought for, but which can do a great deal of damage to the corporation without conferring any real benefit on the public. Corporation* See Mistake. I believe that the more farsighted cor porations are themselves coming to rec ognize the unwisdom of the violent hos tility they havw uisplayed during the last few years to regulation and control by the national government of combinations engaged in Interstate business. The truth Is that we who believe In this movement of asserting and exercising a genuine control. In the public interest, over these great corporations have to contend against two sets of enemies, who, though nominally opposed to one another, are really allies In preventing a proper solu tion of the problem. There are. first, the big corporation men, and the extreme individualists among business men who genuinely believe In utterly unregulated business—that is, in the reign of plu tocracy; and. second, the men who, being blind to the economic movements of the day, believe In a movement of repression rather than of regulation of corporations, and who denounce both the power of the railroads and the exercise of the federal power which alone can really control the railroads. Those who believe In efficient national control, on the other hand, do not In the least object to combinations; do not In the least object to concentra tion In business administration. On the contrary, they favor both, with the all Important proviso that there shall be such publicity about their workings, and such thoroughgoing control over them, as to Insure their being In the Interest, and not against the Interest, of the gen eral public. We do not object to the concentration of wealth and administra tion; but we do believe In the distribution of the wealth In profits to the real own ers, and In securing to the public the full benefit of the concentrated administra tion. Wo believe that with concentra tion in administration there can come both the advantage of a larger owner ship and of a more equitable distribution of profits, and at the same time a better service to the commonwealth. We be lieve that the administration should be for the benefit of the many; and that greed and rascality, practiced on a large scale, should be punished as relentlessly as if practiced on a small scale. We do not for a moment believe that the problem will be solved by any short and easy method. The solution will come only by pressing various concurrent rem edies. Some or these remedies must lie outside the domain of all government. Some must He outside the domain of the federal government. But there Is legis lation which the federal government alone can enact and which Is absolutely vital In order to secure the attainment of our purpose. Many laws are needed. There should be regulation by the na tional government of the great Inter state corporations. Including a simple method of account keeping, publicity, supervision of the Issue of securities, abolition of rebates and of special privi leges. There should be short time fran chises for all corporations engaged In public business; Including the corpora tions which get power from water rights. There should be national as well as state guardianship of mines and forests. The labor legislation hereinafter referred to should concurrently b* enacted Into law. Use th« Power. To accomplish this, means of course a certain increase in the use of—not the creation of-r-power, by the central gov ernment. The power already exists; it does not have to be created; the only question is whether it shall be used or left Idle—and meanwhile the corporations over which the power ought to he exer cised will not remain Idle. Let those who object to this Increase in the use of the only power available, the national power, be frank, and admit openly that they pro pose to abandon any effort to control the great business corporations and to exer cise supervision over the accumulation and distribution of wealth; for such su pervision and control can only come through this particular kind of Increase of power. We »o more believe in that empiricism which demands absolutely un restrained individualism than w© do in that empiricism which clamors for a deadening socialism which would destroy all Individual Initiative and would ruin the country with a completeness that not even an unrestrained individualism itself could achieve. The danger to American democracy lies not in the least in the concentration of administrative power In responsible and accountable hands. It lies in having the power insufficiently concentrated, so that no one can be held responsible to the people for Its use. Concentrated power Is palpable, visible, responsible, easily reached, quickly held to account. Power scattered through many administrators, [nany legislators, many men who work behind and through legislators and ad ministrators, is impalpable, is unseen, is irresponsible, can not be reached, can not be held to account. Democracy is in peril wherever the administration of po litical power is scattered among a va riety of men who work in secret, whose very names are unknown to the common people. It is not In peril from any man who derives authority from the people, who exercises It In sight of the people, and who Is from time to time compelled to give an account of Its exercise to the people. ♦! THE LABOR PROBLEM. it ♦ ^, M M M M M , , ( $ M M (| There are many matters affecting labor aiL. J-“e statua of the wage worker to which I should like to draw your atten tion, but an exhaustive discussion of the problem in all Its aspects Is not now necessary. This administration is near ing its end; and, moreover, under our government the solution of the problem depends upon the action of the states as much as upon the action of the nation. Nevertheless, there are certain considerations which I wish to set before you, because I hope that our people will K??rS an}at In a labor dispute no injunction ' JhouJci Issue except to protect a property rght, and specifically provided that the . right to carry on business should not be : construed as a property right; and In a iecond provision their bill made legal In , 1 *8Jpor dispute any act or agreement by , jr between two or more persons that ‘ would not have been unlawful if done by i single person. In other words, this bill legalised blacklisting and boycotting in ' every form, legalizing, for Instance, those 1 Foitos of secondary boycott which the inthracite coal strike commission so un reservedly condemned; while the right to carry on a business was explicitly taken >ut from under that protection which the aw throws over property. The demand was made that there should be trial by lury in contempt cases, thereby most seriously Impairing the authority of the courts. All this represented a course of policy which, If carried out, would mean I the enthronement of class privilege in Its , crudest and most brutal form, and the F lestruction of one of the most essential ! Functions of the judiciary in all civilized 1 ands. 1 Attack Too Crude. ] The violence of the crusade for this leg slatlon, and its complete failure lllus ;rate two truths which It Is essential our people should learn. In the first place, 1 [hey ought to teach the workingman, the 1 aborer, the wageworker, that by do- « nandlng what Is improper and Impossible t ’ so plays into the hands of his foes. Such : » crude and vicious attack upon the 1 courts, even if it were temporarily sue- 1 cesBf ul, would inevitably In the end cause 1 i violent reaction and would band the « great mass of citizens together, forcing 1 them to stand by all the Judges, com- : petent and incompetent alike, rather than 1 to see the wheels of Justice stopped. A ' movement of this kind can ultimately re- 1 lult In nothing but damage to those In 1 whose behalf it Is nominally undertaken < rhis is a most healthy truth, which it Is wise for all our people to learn. Any i movement based 01. that class hatred < which at times assumes the name of < •Class consciousness-’ is certain ultl- 1 mately to fall, and If It temporarily sue- I ceeds, to do far reaching damage "Class 1 consciousness,” where it Is merely an- « ither name for the odious vice of class 1 lelflshness. Is equally noxious, whether in i in employer’s association or In a work- i ngman’s association. The movement In 1 lueation was one in which the appeal ( waB made to all workingmen to vote primarily, not as American citizens, but < is Individuals of a certain class In so- ■ clety. Such an appeal In the first place I revolts the more high mlfided and far 1 lighted among the persons to whom It is i iddresged, and In the second place tends 1 :o arouse a strong antagonism among all i >ther classes of citizens, whom It there- i Fore tends to unite against the very or- 1 r&nlx&tion on whose behalf it Is Issued. < The result Is therefore unfortunate 1 From every standpoint. This healthy I cruth, by the way, will be learned by the i racialists If they ever succeed In estab- I lulling in this country an Important na- i [tonal party based on such class con iciousness and selfish class Interest. The wageworkers, the workingmen, the aborlng men of the country, by the way ’ n wklch they repudiated the effort to - ret them to cast thetr votes In response - ;o an appeal to class hatred, have em phasized their sound patriotism and Americanism. The whole country has !®us« to feel pride In this attitude of iturdy independence, in this uncompro nlsmg Insistence upon acting simply as rood citizens, as good Americans, with out regard to fancied—and Improper— :laaa interests. Such an attitude Is an ibject lesson In good citizenship to the sntlre nation. Reactionaries Should Pause. But the extreme reactionaries, the per sons who blind themselves to the wrongs now and then committed by the courts on laboring men, should also think seriously as to what such a movement as this por tends. The Judges who have shown them selves able and willing effectively to check the dishonest activity of the very rich man who works iniquity by the mis management of corporations, who have shown themselves alert to do justice to the wageworker, and sympathetic with the needs of the mass of our people, so that the dweller In the tenement houses, the man who practices a dangerous trade, the man who Is crushed by excessive hours of labor, feel that their needs are understood by the courts—these Judges are the real bulwark of the courts; these Judges, the Judges of the stamp of the president-elect, who have been fearless in opposlhg labor when It has gone wrong, but fearless also In holding to strict account corporations that work Iniquity, and far sighted In Beelng that the workingman getB his rights, are the men of all others to whom we owe It that the appeal for such violent and mistaken legislation has fallen on deaf ears, that the agitation for Its passage proved to be without substantial basis. The courts are Jeopardized primarily by the action of these federal and state Judges who show inability or unwilling ness to put a stop to the wrongdoing of very rich men under modern Industrial conditions, and Inability or unwillingness to give relief to men of small means or wageworkers who are crushed down by these modern industrial conditions; who. In other words, fall to understand and apply tho needed remedies for the new wrongs produced by the new and highly complex social and Industrial civiliza tion which has grown up in the last half century. The rapid changes In our social and In dustrial life which have attended this rapid growth have made It necessary that. In applying to concrete eases the great rule of right laid down In our con stitution, there should be a full under standing and appreciation of the new conditions to which the rules are to be applied. What would have been an Infringement upon liberty half a century ago may be the necessary safeguard of liberty today , Unworthy Judges. i The chief lawmakers in our «-otintry 1 may be, and often are, the Judges, be- ' cause they are the final seat of authority. 1 Every time they Interpret contract, prop erty, vested rights, due process of law,, liberty, they necessarily enact Into law parts of a system of social phillsophy; and as such interpretation Is fundament al, they give direction to all law making. The decisions of the courts on economic, and social questions depend upon their economic and social philosophy, and Tor the peaceful progress of our people during the twentieth century we shall owe most to those Judges who hold to a twentieth, century economic and social philosophy and not to a long outgrown philosophy, which was Itself the product of primitive economic conditions. Of course, a Judge's views on progressive social philosophy are entirely second In Importance to his possession of a high and fine character: which means the possession of such ele mentary virtues as honesty, courage and. falrmlndedness. The judge who owes his election to pandering to demagogic senti ments or class hatreds and prejudices, and the Judge who owes cither h1s '-lec tion or his appointment to the money or the favor of a great corporation, are alike unworthy to sit on the bench, are alike traitors to tho people; and no pro fundity of legal learning, or correctness of abstract conviction on questions of" public policy, can serve as an offset to such shortcomings. But it is also true that Judges, like executives and legis lators, should hold sound views on the questlons of publio policy which are of vital interest to the people. The legislators and executives are chos en to represent the people In enacting and administering the laws. The Judges are not chosen to represent the people In this sense. Their function Is to Interpret the laws. The legislators are responsible for . the laws; the Judges for tho spirit In which they Interpret and enforce the laws. We stand aloof from tho reckless agitators who would make the Judges mere pliant tools of popular prejudice and passion; and we stand aloof from those equally unwise partisans of reac tion and privilege who deny the proposl- u tion that. Inasmuch as Judges are choseix to serve the Interests of the whole people they should strive to find out what those Interests are, and, so far as they conscl sntiously can, should strive to give effect to popular cojiviction when deliberately md duly expressed by the lawmaking body. The courts are to be highly commended md staunchly upheld when they set their laces against wrongdoing or tyranny bv i majority; hut they are to be blamed when they fall to recognize under a gov irnment like ours the deliberate judg nent of the majority as to a matter of egltimate policy, when duly expressed bv the legislature. Such lawfully expressed md deliberate Judgment should be given effect by the courts, save In the extreme md exceptional cases where there has seen a clear violation of a constitutional tro vision. Anything like frivolity or vantonness In upsetting such clearly tak sn governmental action is a grave offense igalnst the republic. To protest against tyranny, to protect minorities from op nesslon, to nullify an act committed In t spasm of popular fury, Is to render a lervlce to the republic. But for the courts to arrogate to them lelves functions which properly belong to he legislative bodies Is all wrong, and In he end works mischief. Tho people ihould not be permitted to pardon evil tnd slipshod legislation on the theory hat the court will set it right; they ihould be taught that the right wav to tet rid of a bad law Is to have the legls ature repeal it. and not to have the ■ourts by Ingenious hairsplitting nullifv t. A law may be unwise and Improper; tut it should not for these reasons be leclared unconstitutional by a strained nterpretation, for the result of such ar ion Is to take away from the people at , arge their sense of responsibility and iltlmately to destroy their capacity for irderly self restraint and self govetn nent. Under such a popular government is ours, founded on the theory that In he long run the will of the people I* iupreme, the ultimate safety of the na !on can only rest In training end guid ng the people so that what they will ihall be right, and not In devising means o defeat their will by the technicalities if strained construction. People to Blaine. For many of the shortcomings of Jus Ice In our country our people as a whole ire themselves to blame, and the Judges nd Juries merely bear their share together vlth the public as a whole. It Is dlscred .able to vis as a people that there should >e difficulty In convicting murderers, or in irlnglng to Justice men who as public ervants have been guilty of corruption, ir who have profited by the corruption of mblic servants. The result is equally un ortunate, whether due to hairsplitting echnicalities In the lnterpretatfon of law >y Judges, to sentimentality and class :onselousness on the part of Juries or o hysteria and sensationalism In the tally press. Real damage has been done by the nanlfold and conflicting Interpretations ■f the interstate commerce law. Control iver the great corporations doing inter fate business can be effective only If it s vested with full power In an admtnis ratlve department, a branch of the fed ral executive, carrying out a federal aw; It can never be effective ff a divided esponslbility is left in both tho states md the nation; It can never be effective f left In the hands of the courts to b« lecided by lawsuits. The courts hold a place of peculiar and leserved sanctity under our form of gov foment. Respect for the law Is essen lal to the permanence or our Instltu lons; arid respect for the law hi largely ondltloned upon respect for the courts, t Is an offense against the republic to ay anything which can weaken this re pec t, save for the gravest reason anil n the most carefully guarded manner. >ur judges should be held in peculiar lonor: and the duty of respectful and ruthful comment and criticism, which hould be binding when we speak of any iody, should be especially binding when re speak of them. ♦ ► CONSERVATION 4t - OF RESOURCES 4 >■ 4 +■ It there Is any one duty which more han another we owe It to our children •nd our children’s children to perform .t once. It is to save the forests of this ountry, for they constitute 'the itrst and nost important element in the conserva ion of the natural resources of the coun ry. There are, of course, two kinds of latural resources. One Is the kind which an only be used as part of a process of ahaustlon; this is true of mines, natural 'll and gas wells, and the like. The ther, and of course ultimately by far he most Important, includes the re ources which can be improved in the irocess of wise use; the soil, live river*, nd the forests come under this head Lny really civilized nation will so use alt 'f these three great national assets that he nation will have their bench t in the uture. Just as a farmer, after ail hi* Ife making his living from his farm, rill, if he 1b an expert farmer, leave It as n asset of increased value to his son. o we should leave our national domain o our children, Increased In value and lot worn out. There are small section* 'f our own country, in the East and In he West, In the Adlrondaeks, the White Joun tains, and the Appalachians, and iri he Rocky mountains, where we’ can al eady see for ourselves tho damage In he shape of permanent injury to ihe soil nd the river systems which comes from eckless deforestation. It matters not vhether this deforestation is duo to the .ctual reckless cutting of timber, to the Ires that inevitably follow such reckless uttlng of timber, or to reckless and un ontroiled grazing, especially by the great nlgratory bands of sheep, the unchecked vandering of which over the country neans destruction to forests and disaster o the small home makers, the settlers if limited means Shortsighted persons, or persons blinded •: the future by desire to make money in very way out of the present, sometime* peak as if no great damage would be lone by the reckless destruction of our orests. It Is difficult to have patience vlth the arguments of these persons i'hanka to our own recklessness In the ise of our splendid forests, we have al eady crossed the verge of a timber fam ne in this country, and no measures that ve now take can, at least for many ■ears, undo the mischief that has already leen done. But we can prevent further nlschtef being done; and it would be In he highest degree reprehensible to let .ny consideration of temporary conveni nce or temporary cost Interfere with uch action, especially as regards the lational forests which the nation can iow, at this very moment, control. Inland Waterways. Action should be begun forthwith dur. ng the present session of the ranV™..