The Commoner.
May 16,190a
Use For Ex-Prsldcnts.
"What to do with our ex-presidents
has been a problem demanding tho
most serious consideration, but Grover
Cleveland has suggested, without in
tending it, a solution of the dilemma.
Mr. Cleveland has written an article
on duck hunting. It is shorter than
one of his former annual messages to
congress and longer than one of his
pension vetoes, but the writer 'has be
stowed upqn it the same painstaking
care which characterized his state pa
pers. Every possible point in duck
hunting he has touched upon, shed
ding the serene luster of his accumu
lated wisdom and lifelong experience
upon the topic, until it shines with
such brilliance that there is no longer
any dark side to ducking, not even
that sort of "ducking" which embraces
tho upsetting of the shiff.
The ex-president, with superb scorn,
excoriates the unsportsmanlike duck
hunters who duck for revenue only;
calls them mere assassins of tho
-waddling innocent; and he coins such
phrases as "bloody activity," "sordid
and sanguinary behavior" and "the
zone of danger," which recall the coin'
ages of the old Clevelandic days.
Hereafter the Honorable Order of
Serene Duck Hunters, as Mr. Cleve
land, the Nestor thereof, himself
phrases it, will have a higher stand
ing in the serious estimation of the
world's plain livers and high thinkers.
And this brings us to the useful
ness of Mr. Cleveland's article as sug
gesting a disposition of ex-presidents.
Why can we not constitute our ex
presidents a sort of Advisory Board of
Pure and Unadulterated Sports?
Mr. Roosevelt, for instance, after re
tiring from office, might All the chair
of professor in mountain Honing.
True, his lectures would smack more
of strenuosity than of serenity, and
the "sordid and sanguinary behavior"
.condemned by Mr. Cleveland in duck
ing probably would not be discoun
tenanced In the slaughter of lions,
where snickersnees at times stand the
Bciontiflc investigator in good stead
and "bloody activity" Is an essential
element All that would depend upon
"the zone of danger." St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Tho Public Debt.
A-subscriber to The Commoner asks
for information concerning the public
debt. He wants to know what the
interest-bearing debt was June 30,
1901, and how money to pay the inter
est is raised. Tho interest-bearing
ddbt on June 30, 1901, was $987,141,040.
It is provided by section 3694 of the
Revised Statutes that moneys received
from duties on imports shall be used
for the payment of interest on th
public debt The interest on the pus
He debt during 1901 amounted to $32,
342,979.04 The following statement of
the debt of the United States on April
30, 1902, may be of interest:
Interest-bearing debt. . . $931,070,750.00
Debt on which Interest
has ceased 1,302,080.2G
Debt bearing no interest 395,483,129.63
Total $1,327,855,959.89
Certificates and treasury notes to
the amount of $830,202,089.00 are out
standing and offset by an equal amount
of cash in the treasury. The aggre
gate of the national debt, including
the certificates and treasury notes,
was, on April 30, 1902, $2,158,058,048.89.
Paying a High Price.
Osceola '(Mo.) Democrat: The read
ing of the Declaration of Independence"
is prohibited in the Philippine islands.
Our slaves might be imbued with love
of liberty, and.that would bo sad. The
law against polygamy should ho also
barred, for we are paying $250 per
month to keep up tho harem of the
Sultan of Sulu.
CATALOGUE AND
1DUYUS fiUIDEWTO
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tfrftthrr on Ihii tim. '
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centidtf Out number la h
tv tht W1 tjm CM, dx
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Our ktrt Md .ur tnutente Imv doctt
Vmr utmMtta tD tf TRUTH
-tT ottov imjn ratta rerun.
KL,
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If you are a progressive, uptodate buyer, go slow and place
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HAVE YOU EVER 7TUED MONTGOMERY WARD fr CO.
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SEEMS TO XS TJIJiT YOU OUGHT TO HJtVE J COPf. We want you. to have one so much so that we
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Montgomery Ward 6p Co., Chicago
This ts our Famous Catalogue.
It can be found In ever two
million hemes of thinking pee
pie. Is It in yours ?
THE NEWS OF THE WEEK.
The bill to admit Oklahoma, Ari
zona and New Mexico into the union
as states was passed by the house on
May 9.
Rumors of tho near approach of
peace in South Africa are yet pre
valent, but no official notice to that
effect has yet been issued;
All previous records in that line'
were broken during the past week,
when 25,120 immigrants reached New
York city from European ports.
At the general federation of women's
clubs in session at Los Angeles, Cal.,
Mrs. D. T. Denison of New York was
chosen president for the next term.
The sum of $6,000 for the fighting
Boers in South Africa has been raised
by the state of Iowa. This make a
total of $13,000 raised by the Iowa
committee.
On May 4, Mr. Potter Palmer died
at Chicago, at the age of seventy-six
years. For nearly half a century he
has been one of Chicago's most promi
nent business men.
The corner stone of the Ohio Mc
Kinley Memorial College of Govern
ment of the American university at
Washington, D. C, will be laid on May
14 by President Roosevelt.
Bret Harte, the American author,
died in London on May 6, at the age of
sixty-three years. For many years
he has been celebrated as the author
of stories of western frontier life.
The republicans of Illinois held their
state convention at Springfield, 111.,
on May 8, and nominated Albert J.
Hopkins of Aurora for United States
senator to succeed William E. Mason.
Archbishop Corrigan died In New
York city on May 5. He has been very
prominent In religious circles for
many years, having been archbishop
Since 1880. He was sixty-two years
of age.
A dispatch from Madrid, under date
of May 3, reports serious demonstra
tions of hostility in Portugal. The
finoTinfal difficulties of the government
have aroused the people, and a revolu
tion is greatly feared.
Congressman Peter J. Otey of the
Sixth Virginia district 'died at his
home in Lynchburg on May 4. He has
been a member of the house of repre
sentatives since 1894, and, at the time
of his death, was sixty-two years of
age.
An Associated press report from
Guatemala, In Central America, an
nounces the prevalence of severe earth
quake shocks, and hundreds of people
have lost their lives. Many cities are
entirely ruined and 50,000 persons are
left homeless.
A dispatch from St. Thomas, Dan
ish West Indies, under date of May 6,
reports that a flow of lava from a vol
cano on the island of Martinique, com
pletely destroyed the Guerin factories
on that island, and 150 persons have
disappeared.
Judge George W. Ambrose, formerly
of Omaha, but later of Chicago, died
in that city on May 5, in his sixty
third year. For four years ho served
on the judicial bench of a prominent
district of Nebraska, and was well
known throughout the state.
The Iowa school for the deaf near
the city of Council Bluffs was burned
to the ground on the evening of May
9, entailing a loss of $200,000 on build
ings, and $50,000 on furniture and
other contents. No loss of life oc
curred, though many narrowly escaped.
It is announced that, beginning" with
this month, the Brule Sioux Indians
in South Dakota are to be provided
with labor at the rate of $1.2T per day
of eight hours, in lieu of the ration
system formerly used. This applies
to all able-bodied male Indians over
eighteen years of age.
Another death among tho members
of the house of representatives is re
ported on May 6, when Representative
J. S. Salmon of the Fourth district of
New Jersey died at his home at Boon
ton, that state. Mr. Salmon was sixty-six
years of age and was serving his
second term in congress as a demo
crat. On May 8 the volcano that has been
in a state of more or less activity on
the island of Martinique for the past
few days exploded and the city of St.
Pierre, with all but a few of its 25,
000 inhabitants, was destroyed. Cables
to the island have been entirely de
stroyed, but every effort is being made
to open up communication with the
people.
Tho inquiry by tho Missouri state
authorities into the workings of the
beef trust was begun on May 6. On
tha.advicc of their lawyers, none of
the packers appeared in court. The
corporations are determined to teat
the validity of the anti-trust law", and
declare that the proceedings in Mis
souri are unfair. Th evidence pro
duced shows that the packers are vio
lating tho law.
On May 5, J. J. Hill and other offi
cers of the Northern Securities com
pany, proceedings against which havo
been brought by United States Attor
ney General Knox at St. Paul, Minn.,
filed their answers in defense of the
merger. The company was described
as an enterprise which will compete
for interstate and international busi
ness, and it was denied that a consoli
dation was intended.
A dispatch from London to the New
York Evening Post, asserts that somo
of the large American railroads aro
to bo the principal owners in the
steamship combine. It is planned to
make the ocean lines feeders to the
largest transportation companies of
tho United States, so that It will bo
possible to control rates from the pnn-
clpal Interior points of this country,
to leading European cities.
On May 8, Paul Leicester Ford, the
novelist, was killed by his brother,
who afterwards took his own life. Tho
tragedy took place in New York at
Mr. Ford's home, and was the out
growth of enmity over their father's
wiU. Mr. Paul L. Ford was thirty
seven years old and an author of much
note, "Janice Meredith" being perhaps
his best known work.
Rear Admiral William T. Sampson
died at his home in Washington, D. C,
May 6. Admiral Sampson was horn
in 1840, graduated at the head of his
class at the United States naval acad
emy in 1860, took an active part in
the naval operations of the civil war,
and commanded the. North Atlantic
squadron during the recent Spanish
American war. He was perhaps one
of the best known naval commanders
of the United States.
The great question that is agitating
tho senate and house of 'representa
tives now Is, "What has It cost the
United States government to hold the
Philippine Islands?" Information on
this subject Is sought by all, but the
administration seems disposed to dis
courage all attempts to ascertain tho
truth. But, according to the latest
Mm. Wlnslow'n Soothing- Symn
HMfeeca used tor over SIXTY TEAKS by MILLIONS
of MOTHERS for their CHTIDIIEN WHILE TEETir
INO, with FEBFEOT SUCCESS. It SOOTHES tire
CmtD, EOTEN the GUMS, ALLAYS all PAIN;
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DIAKKnaSA. gold by Drugfrirts In every part of tho
world. Be sure asd ask for "Mrs. WIhsJows SootbJn
Syrup," and take no other kind. Tweaty.flve cents
botUeu It Is the Best ofal.
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