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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.
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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."
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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.
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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?"
