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About The Nebraska independent. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1896-1902 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 1901)
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT. February, 7 1901 the Utbrsska Jndtptndtnt Zirnfla, tttbrssk - i rRSS ELDC, CCSNt OTW AND N STS EutTtarm Ye FrKaxj Evist TrtDT X.CO PER YEAR JN ADVANCE kte ritt 4 t wit -. iwmt.. t. i I U temt44 hf tU.' Tfcr f ter or mit .!Tf-t Bt tfe Ut wjxk ti-. 4 t ifer fii t j -K!Trr4l.V , . . I Zh Rebrssks Independent, r Lincoln. eb, t4- Bct MHnrJ will t , . . - THE CRIME Or CRIMES. The depratity, wiekdoesa and vil lainy of the money power was never more plainly shown than in their ex euw for demanding that silver dollars b made redeemable to maintain the parity. Erery one of the scoundrels kcovt that that is the way to destroy the parity. All the banker in the felted States with all the enormous power that they have could cot destro the parity of the silver dollar with goM as long m the silrer dollar is a legal tender and net redeemable In any other kind of money. Although the; are C0O.0.OuO of them In circulation they are always at a parity and al ways will be ax long as they are a le gal tender. It is an utter impossibility that they should not be at a parity. Tbee scoundrels well knowing ttat fact come before the people with t" e lUtemect that their only object in this new legislation Js to .maintain t'.e parity. One dollar must be as good as any ether dollar, they say. That is the ease row. It Is Impossible that i should be otherwise. Not a reason will I given why tMs government should go to the enormous expense of issuing bonds, to buy sil ver dollars that are Jtut as good us gold dollars. The cry of ''exchangeabil ity and "parity" are not arguments. They are simply catch-para t to fool the Idiots who rote the republican ticket. It Is villainy indescribable. Its purpose Is to inaugurate wholesale na tional robbery tinder the forms of law for the benefit of bankers. It is for the purpose of taxing the poor to pay in terest co national bonds that the rich may take from them millions for wtiea they make co return. Any man to has anything to do with it is an ixfrlte scoundrel. He is more of a externa! taam a pirate or road agent. It Is taking advantage of Ignorance to rcb and steaL Any man who will gire countenance to it should be driven with a whip of scorpions from the face of the earth. The hotest rooms of hell would not be a suScient punlshmeut for him. There are hundreds of thousands of deluded, honest, hard-working men who toil from morning until night ev ery day in the year, whom these mas terly seouadreis will lndure to work and Toie for such a measure, because It is labelled -republican and they think that they are voting for the same principles advocated by Abraham Lin cola. These wiley leaders and public robbers know that these men are af f irted with partisan monomania, that they cannot reason, that they know nothing of political economy and then come Into the f eld to take advantage of this mania and Ignorance to ro'j these men and their children after them. These human devils In bank pailora deliberately plan to rob such people as that! There has never been In all the history cf the world a scheme to !. k ghoulish as this. Being millionaire already they plan to tae a part of the portion of the poor. It Is a more despicable confidence gam than the work done by the plaus ible villains who hang around the streets and railroad depot In the great cities and play friend to the strangers whom they run across. More despica ble because these men have prostitute! the highest and most honorable fuue tHti of statesmanship to the work of robbing the - people of their hard earned money. If one had the descrip tive power of a Milton or a DanU he could tsot reveal the wickedness of the crime that thee bankers are plan ning to accomplish.. And they will a cetafll! it- They fcokl ail the aven tte of Information to the people. Prob- ably aot one .hundred thousand vf the lifm.tm voter of the United f State have ever beard of the plan to issae bonds, buy silver dollars and !! them for bullion, and not ten thou sand have any Idea, what the result of ieB Action would be, aside from thoee who are pushing the measure In eon gre. They know very well what th retail will be. It will make a per petual national debta dbt so larg that five generation of men will not e It paid. They know that It will fust en os this country lor generations to ccme the national bank - system rbkh makes the people pay double ieterest oa money before It can ever te put In circulation. They know that th a system will give & few men the power to control the finances of this country and place the fortunes of all ordinary business men at the mercy of a national bank trust. ' But to the peo ple they aay all that we want is to maintain the parity of ail our money so that one dollar shall be as good as any other dollar. ' What benefit will accrue to the peo ple to create a new national debt. of thre or four hundred million dollars? What will the farmer, the manufac turer, the merchant or the professional elais ret out of It. They will be . . . . ' . . ea W Py interest auu me yuu- cipal. What will they get In return? WH they in any way be. benefited by an Increase in the national debt? Will pay out national' bank notes in their business instead . of silver dollars or silver certificates? That will be the only result to them, except that they will have to -pay increased taxes to pay Interest on the, Increased national debt. What benefit will: come to any one besides the bankers? Can any ore point to a single one? The bankirs will get a gift direct of three or f.-ur hundred million dollars, printed at the bureau of printing and.engravinjj In Washington. ' That they can loan out to the people and- receive all the Interest that they can force the people to pay, which interest will be added to tbe millions that they already have. But who else will receive any benefits EDITORIAL IOOKANCE. The ignorance of the editors of the great dailies and some of the maga zines and . quarterlies is simply astounding, that Is, ignorance of cur rent events of importance to the peo- pie and matters that are deemed of sufficient interest to invite editorial stated that no matter what the prem comment. The Philadelphia Amerl- ium, unless it should practically equal can referred to. senator Joe Bailey of Texas . as- a representative from Ten nessee. The Nashville American de clared that Charles Towne was a sen ator from Nebraska and a resident of Bryan home city. In many of the magazines allusions to persons and things show a similar ignorance. There are doubtless many things upon which these editors are posted, that is if they read the columns of their own papers, but they are not things that bear upon f he general welfare. They may know all about the divorces in high life, what women got presented at the courts ofEurope, who is the world's champion prize fighter, where be lives and where he trains; they know the biggest price paid for a race horse during the last season and all things of a similar nature, but they do not know who so distinguished an individual as Charles A. Towne is, or what state he resides in. The effort or plutocracy Is to draw the attention of the people away from all those things in which they are in terested to trivialities 'and personal gossip.. The Associated press is . the chief agency in this business. If one will look back to the reports of the sessions of congress which were priat ed twenty-five years ago and compare them with the - meagre space allotted to national legislation in the daily pa- pers of today, be will see what a tre- mendous change there has. been. Al though the dailies are ten times larger now than they were then, they devote less than a tenth of the space to na tional legislation and twenty times as much to scandals and personal gosaio and editorial comment thereon. To so great an extent has this been practiced that the editors themselves have he- come Ignoramuses in regard to all matter which Intelligent writers were acquainted .with a quarter of a century ago. , A well-edited weekly, like The Independent, contains more informa tion of value than the seven issues of a forty-page daily in these days. UESERVES DEATH. .Who has heard the popular clamor for Governor Dietrich's pet bill, Intro duced by Speaker Sears, to relieve the board of purchase nd supplies of the necessity of advertising for bids? Has there been any uprising among the people because under the present law this board is obliged to let contracts for supplies to the lowest bidder? Per haps, as a member of the board. Gov ernor Dietrich may have a strong de sire to let certain' contracts to the highest bidder, provided the bidder be a republican and a member of the close corporation the governor is trying to form with himself at the head. But do the taxpayers, who have the billc to pay. have an earnest desire to pay ! more than a reasonable price for thu maintenance of state Institutions? There can be no serious objection to advertising for bids; there can be none too much publicity in all public mat- ters. We live under a competitive system: let would-be contractors com pete with each other, and, other, things being equal, let the contract be given to the lowest bidder. That's busi ness. .Governor Dietrich's "underUhe- hat bill should be buried beyond the hope of resurrection. McKiniey's way of working the su preme court seems to be to appoint their sons to office and pushra bill through congress to double their sal aries. ' If anything more infamous than that ever occurred In the WThite house, It wu never made public . t - THE STATE TREASURY. State Treasurer 'Steufer has gone about his business during the past month without making any noise, but during that time he invested $45,532 of the permanent school fund in state warrants. He paid a premium of ons percent part of the time and one-half of one per cent the remainder and got , about all the warrants in sight. As soon as the legislature passes a bill transferring the dead sinking fund to the general fund he will issue a cill for $100,000 worth of state warrants. "Under the Dome," State Journal. And State Treasurer Steufer will Ihj given full credit by every populist in the state for all the good work he doss. The investment of any portion of the educational funds in state warrants by a republican treasurer is in pleas'ng contrast to the republican administra tion which, to the state's great advan tage, came to an end on January 5, 1897. But let us examine the Journal item in the light of history: During the month of January, 1900, Treasurer Meserve invested $65,977.23 of permanent school funds In "general fund, state warrants, or over $20,000 more than . Treasurer Steufer secured in January, 1901. Evidently there was no occasion for Treasurer Steufer or. the Journal to "make any noise" about hiR investments. The premium of 1 per cent, paid part of the month by ; Treasurer Steufer, was ordered by the fusion board . of educational lands and funds because a decidedly unhealthy demand for capi tal was causing the owners of capital to bend their energies toward securing all the state warrants possible at the then premium of Y2 per cent, and the state treasurer was not able to buy for the permanent educational funds wbat was considered the state's quota there of. In this connection, it should be the probable interest to accrue on the warrant, the state will never be able to buy all the warrants issued, be cause there will always be a few per sons who will prefer to register their own .warrants and hold them until called for payment, knowing the in vestment to be safe beyond any cavil, even if the interest be very low. But it is undoubtedly a good policy to say that the state treasurer shall so man- age affairs that he will be able to buy practically all of the general fund warrants offered for sale. And the only way this can be done is to outbid the warrant brokers and private in vestors. . ' Why did the republican board of educational lands and funds reduce the premium to per cent? Evidently Treasurer Steufer did not get the state's full quota of warrants, because he fell behind more than $20,000 as compared to January, 1900, and the warrants issued in January, 1901, are probably $20,000 to $30,000 greater than in January the year before. Why the reduction In premium? Is it to be followed by another, ordering the treasurer to pay par only; and finally a withdrawal of the order to buy at all? Time alone will tell. But the people are watching this matter, and any attempt to fall into the habits that marked the former republican adminis- tratlons will surely arouse their indig- nation. Is it possible that the repub lican board of educational lands and funds is paving the way to reach that happy condition, dreamed about night ly by Bill Dorgan and others of his ilk, when state warrants will again go begging at 2 to 5 per cent discount? A premium should not be paid unless there be necessity for it; but it ap- pears on the face of the returns that there was necessity for a premium of 1 per cent during all of last month. . Treasurer Steufer started in with only $91,639.46 of uninvested educa tional funds. These, it should be stated for. the information of the Oma ha Bee, were placed in the hands of Omaha bankers for safe keeping. The treasurer has succeeded In buying se curities for about half the amount Very good. But how much did he re- ceive during the month ? The Journal is singularly silent upon this scoie. Republican officials rarely give any information to populist papers; hence, The Independent can only judge the present by the past. A year ago Treas urer Meserve's receipts of permanent educational funds amounted to $133,- 287.89. Right on this high tide of Mc Kinley prosperity, the collections ought to be fuly as large. Hence, it Is safe to say that Treasurer Steufer has about $180,000 of uninvested trust funds, or double what he had to start in with. The Independent will not re peat the Omaha Bee's demand so often made to Treasurer Meserve; it wU not ask to be taken into Treasurer Steufer's confidence and be told where I this large sum of morey is now kept The Independent has confidence that Treasurer Steufer will not knowingly keep this , money in ar. unsafe place and it has no criticisms to make of his course in "sawing wood" and saying nothing. Eut he must be ever on the alert for investments, else in less than six months the uninvested trust funds will approximate a half to three-quar ters of a million dollars and The In dependent wil' be speaking out in rueetin" regularly every week. ; How about that proposed call for general fund warrants? "As soon a3 the legislature passes a bill transfer ring the dead sinking fund to the gen eral fund he will issue a call for $100,- 000 worth of state warrants." Nov, hat is decidedly refreshing. Doesn't reasurer Steufer know that there is a senatorial fight to the death now on the boards and that the anticipated transfer may not come until some time n March? The Independent has ob jections to this delay. The crowning feature of Treasurer Meserve's ad ministration was his jpolicy of requir- ng county treasurers to remit month y, except in the case of the smaller counties, and his frequent calls for registered general, fund warrants. The frequent turning over of this money resulted in a large saving of inter :st. How much is now in the general fund? Again the Journal is silent, and pop papers are not among those favored with information. ; In January, 1S&S, the general fund receipts were $81,000 and warrants paid, $57,000; in Januaiy, 1900, the receipts were $70,000; pay ments, $22,000. Treasurer Steufer started in with $19,893.96 on hand; he has probably ' $90,000 now enough to make a very respectable call. .Why delay longer? Another month's delay will cost the people $300 in unneces sary interest. But that is not all: dur ing this month Treasurer Steufer will receive at the least calculation $145.r 000 of general fund taxes; and by the time "the legislature gets the "dead sinking fund" transferred, he will have inall about $300,000 of general fund balance. Is it the part of wisdom to delay making a call for warrants? 'A penny saved-is a penny earneO;" will the new treasurer be equal to the emergency? It remains to be seen. A BANKER INFAMY. The national bankers have induced the government to perpetrate an in famy that was never undertaken uy any other government on earth. No czar, monarch or liing ever dared in a. 1 the plentitude of their power to com mit such a crime against their sub jects. This government makes a printed piece o paper, a simple note o? hand, issued by 'a-private corporation a legal tender. The proof of it can be found on any national bank note. On the back of them all is printed these words: ... "This note is receivable in all parts of the United States In payment of all taxes and excises and all other dues to the United States, except duties" upon imports and also for all salaries and other debts and demands owing by the United States except interest on the public debt." - . No government can get to a lower depth of infamy than when by : the force of its power it makes its citizens take a' printed j)iece of paper in li quidation for alt debts that it may owe them for services or supplies furnished it, when that piece of paper is simply a promise to pay issued by a private corporation. The men who hold bonds of the United States must be paid their interest in gold coin, but those who serve the government in the army and navy, in a civil capacity or fur nish it supplies must take a piece of paper in full payment for all that is due them. We repeat that no govei n ment ever attempted such an infamy except this bank controlled govern ment of the United States. The banker's only hope that thev can keep their thousand millions of paper afloat after silver is destroyed, and the dollars are melted up and sold for bullion, is that this government has made their 'promises to pay" a legal tender. To make the government note a legal tender, the bankers say is an Infamy, but to make their notes legal tender is all right. Look, at the vast sums for which national bank notes are a legal tender! Think of the infamy of a government that would do such a thing! T Three or four weeks ago The Inde pendent informed its readers all about the great railroad trust formed by Rockefeller and the Vanderbilts by which a through line was owned and operated by one company, , by means of steamship lines and railroads from London to New York, thence across this continent and on to Hawaii, Chi na, Japan, the Philippines, New Zea land and Australia. Last Sunday the slow-going dailies got around to it and gave it several columns or space. Rockefeller will soon be monarch of all he surveys. Withthe control of immense railroad and steamship" lines to all parts of the world and a string of banks reaching into every state and territory of the union, he -will control the transportation and money of the country. By the use of this power ho can make and unmake man, corpora tion or political party. There Is a moral to this little story. If you want the news or this advance to a government by Rockefeller, of Rocke feller for Rockefeller, take The Inde pendent and you will have it weeks or months before the dailies will say any thing about it. After a thing has long been accomplished they will write a monologue on the subject. Until e erything is settled and all finally ac complished they will not say a word about it. Senator Vest defines the tariff sys tem, as an "interdependent mutuality of greed. Whenever you touch; oni part of that system every portion of It is in arms." v THE UNITED STATES SENATE At the rate the United States senate Is progressing it will not be many years until it will become one of the most disreputable legislative bodies on the face of the earth. On the floor and while the body is in session, the mot scrupulous courtesy is maintained, but behind it all, generally hidden from the public view, is a vileness, a greed, a disregard of the welfare of the people which has never been exceeded in any legislative body on earth. Several of the members of the senate spend days and even weeks of every session in bestial drunkenness. The private character of some senators -is so foul that no decent self-respecting family, if It were not for their official position, would allow them in their kitchens. To such members the senate often pays especial honors. No man could acquire a worse moral character than Quay, but when . he had succeeded in beins returned to the senate over the protest of every decent man in his own state, the senate gathered around him and paid him especial honors. Many men hold membership in that body who have no qualifications at all, either mentally, morally or educa tionally, to perform the important du ties of that office. A very marked case is that of the senator recently elected by the state of Utah, which was effected by a coalition between the polygamists and the managers of the republican party. He has nothing to recommend -him except that he is a millionaire several times over. He is almost entirely illiterate. In the late campaign in advocating imperialism he insisted in his speeches that Alaska was a "sunlit island," and called the inhabitants of the Philippines "Fiii ponies." One can estimate his ability to use the English language by ex amining the following sentence taken from one of his speeches: 'And, gentlemen, I trust that there is not onqDf you wosh wishes to throw a stone in the way of that grand in dustry, because you have hundreds of square miles of rich mountains with untold treasures of wealth that will conquer the generations yet to come," While such men as Kearns greatly lower the estimation in which the senate has been held, he does not by any means belong to the most danger ous class who gain entrance there. There are men there of the highest education whose . power for evil is many times greater than that of such men as Kearns. They do not believe in a democratic form of government. They want power, which the founders took so much pains to distribute through the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government con centrated in the hands of one man. The Spooner bill, which McKinley is so anxious to have pass, is their ideal of the correct form of government. That bill makes the president an ab solute autocrat in the Philippine?. places the legislative, judicial and ex ecutive branches of the government wholly in his hands. The men of edu cation who favor this sort of legisla tion are the really dangerous ones. They, by their manipulation of par ties, give seats to such men as Kearns who instantly become their obedient tools. One thing connected with the United States senate has attracted a good deal of attention during the last week. A speech was delivered in that body which has not been equalled in force, power, rhetoric and logic since the days of Daniel Webster. The galleries were packed and the floor of the senate itself was occupied to the last inch; of standing room by the most distin guished men of the nation who stood for three hours entranced, as they listened. The man who delivered that speech, a scholar, a statesman, a man of pure moral life, left the senate and another of whom no one knows any thing except that he is a man of money and that he would be as incapable .of delivering such a speech as flying to the moon, took his place. Such men as Towne are not wanted in that body by the coterie of millionaires who manage the legislation of the United States. " Such is the United States senate to day and when a few of the old senators who have held over since the war die, as soon they must, we will find that either men like Kearns or the educated plutocrats will take their places. - t : LET THE PEOPLE SAY. Some people say that if members of the leeislature were elected for two terms, by the second term they would learn the ropes and accompnsn more than under the present system. As it is thft maiority of the members spend almost the entire session finding out what they should have known at the start. It is arsrued on the other hand, that two-termers of - the dangerous class would off-set the good of two-termers of the type anxious to accompnsn leg isiation for the benefit of the state A man skilled in working through bills of the dangerous character is cap ship of doine as much injury as one skilled in doing good work. State Journal. The whole trouble lies in the fact that the so-called representatives ot the people, the legislators and the gov ernor, have the final say as to what shall be the law barring,-of course, the fact that the supreme court occa sionally (and perhaps too often) gets an opportunity . of having the last word. ' - v: , . No one seems to have any serious objections against the practice of al lowing the people to vote on constitu tional amendments. However, in this state, the submission is so hedged about by supreme court decisions (which practically decide nothing definitely) that it is almost useless to submit several amendments at the same time. But that does not affect the principle involved. Under the pro visions of a well-framed law, what serious objections could be urged against allowing the people an oppor tunity if desired of expressing them selves on every important act "of the" legislature, except, of course, emerg ency legislation? ' Theoretically our form of govern ment is representative. Practically it is far from it. A majority of all. who voted , on the question last fall ex-' pressed themselves as favoring Hon. Edward Rosewater for United States senator; but the "representatives" of these people have an entirely different opinion. No, man who has ever re ceived a majority as preference for United States senator has ever been elected by the Nebraska legislature and Mr. Rosewater, in our opinion, will be no exception to the rule. In each instance the legislature has been misrepresentative instead of represen tative. The theory the people have con trol of their so-called representatives by means of the ballot box. In prac tice this is found "to be fallacy. So long as he keeps within the pale of the law and commits no overt act, either malum in se or malum prohibitum, the representative . is absolutely not only his own master, but master of his "constituents" as well. He may be a true representative or he may be a misrepresentative, whichever . he chooses, and those who elected him are absolutely powerless to prevent his doing exactly as he wills, unless he Is XVJVJL JLLlUU, . CLO J U1UA VV UU1U LI U V it, "to break the law." Nine-tenths of all the real deviltry is committed under the sanction of law; hence, in nine-tenths . of such cases the people are helpless in the hands of their so- called representatives. "But the people can rebuke him at the next election," says one. Very true. . And you can usually lock the stable after your horse is stolen, al ways provided the thief has neglected to also steal the stable. There is " no disguising the fact that our represen tative government Is sadly defective in a very important particular and that all this talk about "American sover eigns" is, when carefully analyzed in the light of practical, experience, a huge joke. Is there any remedy? Undoubtedly. The foundation is all right; the frame work is good; but the master builders forgot about a roof. The building is good in fair weather, but it leaks worse than the notorious Arkansaw cabin in foul weather. What Is the remedy? Let the people themselves have an opportunity to have the last word on any measure enacted by the legislature. Let them have the veto power. Instead of the absurdity . of allowing one man (the governor) to set up his judgment as superior to the combined wisdom of more than half a hundred men, let a majority of quarter of a million re ject or approve the work of the legis lature. Silence gives consent. There will be little occasion to use this power, except to kill vicious legisla tion; and there will be little incentive to corrupt and bribe legislators when it Is known that the people can, and undoubtedly will, place their stamp of disapproval upon anything against their interests. There is no valid ob jection against referring all legisla tion, except that to meet emergencies, to the people for rejection or approval, just as is done now in the case of con stitutional amendments. Whether such reference shall be obligatory, as with amendments in this state, or op tional at he demand of the people i3, of course, a matter of detail which does not affect the principle involved." Under such conditions . "a man skilled "in working through bills of the dangerous character" would find his wing feathers clipped. The two termer would be in demand, for your average rascal is usually a man of more than average ability, who, when he, sees the futility "of being a rascal, can turn his hand to doing good. , ' r But tell it not in Gath. It is the initiative and referendum we have been discussing. The Bee conveyed some very astounding information to its reader, last Sunday. In an editorial entitled: "Triumph for the Farmer," it declared that improved ' farms in Nebraska within three or four miles of a railroad-station are now seldom sold at less than $75 per acre, and more frc q f3ntly bring prices above that figure. ' It is safe to say that not a farm in Ne braska was ever sold at anywhere near those figures, .unless It might be in some exceptional case where 'the ' i im provements had cost two or three times the value of the land, : If east ern readers get hold of that article there will be very little immigration of farmers into this state. . T The . bills that the republicans hfive introduced in the legislature makii:g appropriations .for , the, Buffalo Pun American exposition are about i;he cleanest kind of stealing that have ever appeared. They propose to employ three commissioners to go to Buffalo and spend the summer at a salary of, $125,000 a month. That is the same thing they did in regard to the World'ti fair at Chicago. This writer will nev er forget when he went to see the Ne braska exhibit and found the old Al liance traitor, Collins, sitting there smoking a pipe beside two ears; of corn, drawing a big salary to look af ter Nebraska's interest at the, great fair. The redeemers propose to play that game over again. J ; There is a difference between a mili tary lie and a lie told by an ordinary civilian. The military prevaricator ai rways leaves a way of escape if he la called to account. General MacArthur gave a fine example of that in a cable gram from the Philippines, He cabled denying that houses of prostitution were "licensed," ignoring the fact that they are inspected and regulated, Lh inmates compelled to pay for week'.y examination and that the permission of the Provost-Marshal General must be obtained, which practically constl tues a license. That is the military sort of lying and it is perfectly re spectable, and not at. all inconsistent with the character of "an officer and gentleman." The enlistment of a standing aimy of 100,000 men will make the military expenses of the United States far ex ceed that of any other government on earth, for pensions must be counted ai part of the military expenses. . The absurdity of such a thing Is apparent. Situated so as to be unassailable by any foreign power'and having no use for regular soldiers at home there is no excuse for such enormous expendi ture. It is one of the curses inflicted on tne country, by the . republican party. . The army officer in Manila' who ia detailed to collect the fees from fallen women and disburse them must flu l that his detail is perfectly consistent with the character of "an officer and gentleman." There is no report that he ever asked to be relieved from such duty. When he comes home he will be proud of the service which he ren dered and tell all his female relatives about it. ' From the illicit .connection between Mark Hanna, Perry Heath, and th Mormon . bishops there Was born Into the United States senate one Kearns. He is just beginning to learn hovr to talk, some of his sentences still beins unintelligible. He is, however, worth $5,000,000. f Current Comment During the whole week' the space of the daily papers has been largely occu pied with the description of. the great pageant in London which they call the funeral ceremonies of the queen. The whole thing was military in char acter. The judicial and legislative de partments of the government were en tirely Ignored by those who arranged the affair. It is eaid that there wer more ruling monarchs in the proces sion than ever appeared at one place at one time on the face of the eartb before. Besides the ruling monarchs, there were hosts of other .royalties These, with displays of cayalry, artil lery and infantry, made up the pro cession. " The people stood on the side walks glad of the privilege of simply looking on. ; , '.'The trades people' as they 1 are called over there, made a good thing out of the vast assemblage. Hotels, lodging houses and all sorts of eating houses and restaurants sent their prices sky high. Rooms from which to view the procession were rented for a few hours for more money than they usually bring for a 'whole year. Amid these crowds of cavalry, artil lery, infantry, royalties and scalpers the good old queen war. laid away to her final rest. Edward VII. 'is king and emperor cf India and there will be a new deal all around among thoae who draw Immense salaries for attend ing upon the sovereign. Parliament will also have some troublesome ques tions to settle. It is said that the new king is ten million dollars in debt the escapades of his life having been very costly affairs. Parliament will have to provide for these debts. Com ing upon the heels of the immense ex penditures In South Africa, the burden upon the people will be very heavy. Meantime the Boer war goes on with constant reports of fights. It seems that the English in the whole of South Africa are on the defensive. Lord Kitchener constantly reports loss, boch in men and material. Chas. D. Pierce,, treasurer of the Boer relief fund gave out the following statement last week; "Advices by cable and private mes sages from Europe and South Africa are more encouraging than at any time since the beginning of the war. Theri can be no doubt of the final success of the Boers, who will accept no "other terms from Great Britain than peace with honor, meaning the full recogni tion of both republics with full treaty making powers and without the lan guage of 'suzeraintj' ' The Boers are not yet ready to negotiate with Eng land for peace, but are determined to continue the fighting until the general situation Is strong enough in their f'tv or to make diplomatic steps certain. "The .tbfce pretended peace commissioners-sent; to Dewet by the-Bifitish were spies and traitors. They inter fered with the burghers. One. an Eng lishman, was properly, shot and i it Ig