Commoner. , tv V i- fcV ' nri - 'i- f. "v The governor of Minnesota is taking steps to prevent the consolidation of the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern or any other What competing lines in the state. There Win are Indications at hand going to show Nebraska do? that Nebraska will be required to meet this 3ame question in a snort tlmd. What will Governor Savage do? "What will the republican attorney general of the state do? It is strange that in spite of the many errors tnade by Joseph Chamberlain, errors that are ap parent to outsiders as well as to Eng ChamberUin lish people, Mr. Chamberlain is Way go stronger today in British official clr- Highcr. cles than he ever was before. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, the chancellor of the exchequer, has always been regarded as a man of great strength, and yet Chamberlain seems to have persuaded Balfour and Lord Salisbury that the chancellor of the exchequer is not up to the standard. London dispatches Indicate that Hicks Eeach may be forced to resign, and it is predicted that in the event of his resignation, .Chamberlain will Jaecome chancellor of the exchequer. wvs It is not surprising that the Illinois corpora tions found a judge ready and willing to enjoin the enforcement of a decision of the Breeding supreme court to the effect that cor Contempt porations chartered in Illinois must for Courts, pay taxes on a basis of tne value of their stocks and" franchises. Having unbounded financial resource's the corporations will be able to keep up the fight until they wear the people out. The trouble with the public Is that it is content to rest when it achieves one ad vantage, thereby soon losing it. Is it any wonder that people are sonietfmes tempted to express a contempt for the courts when they see a lower court nullifying- the- decisions of a superior, tribunal? ..--.. The death rate among children confined In the British concentration camps in South Africa is '433 In every thousand, iuis means Murdering that during the months of June, July, the August and September of the present Innocents. year 5,209 children died in these camps. Miss Emily Hobhouse, the young English woman who went to South Africa to nurse the sick and made these figures known, has been banished by order of Joseph Chamber lain. The annual death rate of children in London Is 18 per thousand. Despite the efforts of the British authorities the facts about the South Afri can situation are becoming known, and the civil ized world stands aghast at the accumulating hor rors. And this great republic, which has never before hesitated to express sympathy for all peo ple struggling for their rights, must not interfere, although it may allow "British- agents1 to visit this republic and purchase munitions of war." Modesty' seems to have been a characteristic of Admiral Schley. The testimony before fthe court of inquiry showed that he had never, A Character- In any of his reports, attempted to tetic Schley make his own part In the great battle Report. of Santiago Bay conspicuous. The Lincoln (Neb.) Journal recalls an In teresting fact which occurred in 1871," when Schley was lieutenant commander and acted as adjutant of the landing party which demolished the Korean forts. According to the official reports, Schley was the second officer within the forts and engaged in the desperate fcand-to-hand struggle which routed the Koreans. In reporting this action, Commander L. A. Kimberly, nowa rear admiral says: "The citadel was captured, but dearly so, as the gallant and brave McKee, the first to enter over the parapet, fell, mortally woundedr with two wounds. He has since died, and the navy lost one of the noblest and bravest sons. Lieutenant Commander ScLIey was the next officer In the fort, and killed tho Korean who wounded McKee." Schley's re port of tho occurrence is in tho following modest language: "The same brave one who had speared McKee rushed upon me, but the spear passed between my left arm and my body, and, before he 'could withdraw, it for a second trial he was shot dead and' fell lifeless at my feet." cw Tho court of last resort has finally decided that the express companies must furnish the stamp. This would bo a great victory for tho Corporation people were it not for the fact that tho Profit necessity for attaching a revenue by Delay. stamp to express receipts was re moved some time ago. It will be noted that the express companies managed to stave off the decision until it was useless. This is a way cho corporations have. But he man who men tions this interesting fact in a-tone of criticism is at once dubbed an "anarchist" and accused of "attacking the courts." The census for 1900 shows that there are 21, 329,819 men of voting age in this country. Of this number 2,326,295 are illiterates. Is not AnGduca- this rather a largo percentage of II-tionaiProb- literates, In a nation priding itself Icm at Homo, upon Its intelligence, boasting that its mission is to enlighten the world, in sisting that it is "destiny" that it should instruct tho people of tho Orient? Just now the United States government is calling for volunteers who will go to the Philippines and teacn. Already a large number of teachers have answered the call. It would seem that when more than 10 per cent of tho voters of this country are Illiterates, that the American people have an educational problem at their own doors, a problem which they should solve, and to the solution of .which they should devote the energies which they are now exerting to the subjugation of a people who aspire to self government. Lord Rosebury in a speech at Edlnburg recent ly said that he would like to see an "experiment for a year of a government formed entirely of business men," and men tioned Mr. Carnegie and Sir Thomas Lipton as examples of the business men he would like to see In control. We have seen something of the influence of the so-called "business men" in politics, and it has not always been wholesome. The high tariff was written by them, the bank currency is issued In their interest, the trusts are organized for their enrichment and Imperialism taxes the people for their benefit. If the term "business men" is de fined to mean all who by braiu or muscle con tribute to the strength and welfare of the nation, then the "business men"' ought to be in. control. But if the term is defined to include, only specula tors and the men who manage large business en terprises, there is no reason to believe that they would resist the temptation to turn the Instrumen talities of the government to private advantage. A St. Petersburg dispatch to the Chicago Tri bune calls attention to the annual statement of the ministry of agriculture. This state Why not Re- ment shows that in Russia all crops store conii- are below the average and in some dencelnRuwiaparts of the east and south "they are bad, and in places very bad." The staple grain, rye, is particularly deficient. This report shows that the total estimated yield of various grains in European Russia, including cls Caucasia and Poland, was as follows: Rye, 1,100, 895,000 poods (a pood equals 36 pounds average) ; Wheat, 551,747,000; oats, 536,674,000; barley, 304, 289,000; millet, 92,857,000. The Red' Cross will open free eating-houses and direct the medical re- Buslness Men in Pollflcs. Hot. Tho greatest difficulty is anticipated, from the Tartars and tho Finnish tribe known as Mord va. Tho Tartars rent their lands to Russians and are destitute. Tho cases of scurvy and typhoid are increasing. Grain is being distributed at ths rate of two poods of rye per month per adult A thousand free meal tickets are issued daily. Ths distress has been Increased by a fire which de stroyed 1,300 huts. JSSSS: The Trusts Feel Secure. "Reciprocity" and "enlarged opportunities" vero good enough campaign material for the re publican leaders, but these leaders are now preparing to botray the people who believed they were sincere. Con gressman Grosvonor boldly declares that tho tariff will not bo touched, and Senator Hale openly declares that he does not be lieve in "commissioning vagrant negotiators to hunt up reciprocity treaties," and that he "does not believe congress will be much troubled by such treaties." Considering the hold the tariff benefitted trusts have upon the congressional ma jority the outlook for a modification of the tariff is dark indeed. What is tho use of expending mil lions to elect a congress If that congress turns around and legislates against the contributors? With a friendly attorney general to Interpret the sntl-trust laws, and a congress indebted to them, the trusts have nothing to fear for two years more. &$& Straining -'1 the Law. Judge Hanecy of Chicago has committed Mr. A M. Lawrence and Mr. H. S. Canfield, member of tho staff of Hearst's Chicago Amer- critlcism appeared after tho Judge had lean, for contempt because that paper published a criticism of the judge's ruling in the gas trust case. The rendered an oral opinion, but before his decision had been made a matter of record. Ex-Governor Altgeld, one of counsel for defendants, insisted that the judge was guarding the shadow rather' than the substance of justice and demanded a trial by jury. Judge Dunne has granted a writ of habeas corpus returnable at an early day. While it is proper that a court should protect itself while a case is under consideration it Is certainly straining the lav to punish for contempt merely because an oral decision has not been entered on the record. It looks very much as If Judge Hanecy was trying to silence criticism by the exercise of arbitrary authority. If he has been libeled he has an action at law, but he seems to prefer to try the case before himself rather than before a jury. "vnv The Iron and steel Interests announced that they would not be represented at the reciprocity convention held at Washington city. It "Weil Enough was stated that the representatives of for these Interests believed In "letting well .Whom?" enough alone." A presidential' elec , tlon having been won on that shib boleth, It seems to have become so popular that it Is made to do service on all occasions and in all emergencies. Commenting on the "let well enough alone" suggestion of the Iron and steel magnates, the New York World says: "'Well enough for whom? For the government, which maintains duties on steel from which It gets no revenue ow ing to their prohibitory highness? For tho con sumers of steel, who are charged, as President Schwab admitted to the industrial commission, higher prices than are charged by the trust abroad? For individual manufacturers, who "are being gradually crushed out by the mammoth steel cor poration? No doubt the present tariff is 'well enough' for the steel" trust and for the foreign con sumers to whom it is selling its products In com petition with rivals who are shut out of this market both by our tariff and by the capacity of cur mills to make steel cheaper. But Is it 'wen enough' for the tax-burdened and monopoly-ridden people of the United States?"