The Commoner.
Aug. 1, 190a
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I
ifletermlned to remain In South" Africa and that
they wcro anxious that every Boer should remain
iwith them and contribute to the general welfare
oi the Dutch people.
MANY YEARS OF EFFORT WILL BE RE
emlred to repair the damage done the British
finances by the South African war. The present
cash balance In the British exchequer is $15,000,
000, said to be the lowest amount held in years as
a balance. For tire last quarter Great Britain's
expenditures have exceeded her receipts by $89,
848,290. Since 1899 Great Britain's national debt
lias risen from $3,200,000,000 to $3,690,000,000. A
writer in the Boston Herald, referring to this
subject, says: British revenue was unusually
large for the quarter. The effect ofnew taxation
was felt; the new tax on grain brought in $3,
500,000 additional, and the taxes on sugar and
coal exports, in force only a small part of the
same quarter in the previous year, contributed
a full quarter's receipts, amounting to $4,500,000.
As a result, revenue was ,$26,838,450 larger than
in the same quarter a year before. In expendi
tures there was a diminution of only $1,240,000.
Of the total of $255,570,435, no less than $218,
214,110 were for "supply services," indicating lit
tle reduction in South African expenditures. War
expenditures proper were $85,000,000, or over $6,
600,000 a week. If, as is likely, these expendl-
tures reach $5,000,000 a week for the current quar
ter, there will be left for South Africa In the last
six months of the year to April 1 only $47,000,000.
'As much more is needed, a Transvaal loan must
be issued before long. The quarter's deficit of
$89,848,290 has been met by receipts of $55,000,003
from the last loan, and appropriation of $27,805,
000 from the cash balance 'and $7,000,000 from
overdue money under special acts. By the end
of the fiscal year in March next, however, ex
traordinary expenditures will, it is estimated by
the London Statist, be so lessened that a surplus
' of $27,480,000 should result after restoration of
the cash balance.
LONDON CABLEGRAMS TO AMERICAN
newspapers offer an Interesting explanation con
cerning Salisbury's resignation. It is stated that
Queen Alexandria urged Salisbury to defer his
resignation until the king should recover from
his illness, but Salisbury declined to do so., It Is
pointed out that at this time Chamberlain was
sick and. that Salisbury's sudden resolve and his
refusal to withhold his resignation was due to his
determination to avail himself p& Chamberlain's
illness in order that his nephew, Balfour, might
succeed. These cablegrams say that the only ex
planation Salisbury gave was that he was losing
Lis memory, and was in need of immediate rest,
tout it is also stated that this explanation was not
satisfactory and that Queen Alexandria com
plained bitterly because of Salisbury's lack of
consideration. Whatever truth there may be in
these reports, it seems to be generally accepted
that Chamberlain's influence in the new cabinet
will be considerably larger than his Influence
heretofore has been, and it is not apparent that
there are any strained relations between the col
onial secretary and the new premier.
COMMENTING ON THE FACT THAT
while Joseph Chamberlain's popularity and
strength is very evidently on the increase, he was
passed by when the premier was to be chosen, n
writer in the Washington Post points out that
this is not the first time in English history that
the most dominant figure of a party in power has
ibeen passed over in connection with the premier
ship, precisely on account of his masterful per
Bonality. This writer says: Lord Palmerston,
tor instance, was at least on two occasions forced
io give way on this ground to statesmen who pos
sessed nothing like his prestige or his popularity,
and to consent to hold office under premiers of in
ferior political caliber sometimes colorless
mediocrities whose position, however, at the head
pf the administration served to reassure foreign
governments, and likewise those at home who
preferred a passive and even a negative policy to
one that was vigorous and aggressive. Neverthe
less Lord Palmerston remained the predominating
influence in the administration of Lord John Rus
sell, and while Arthur Balfour is an immeasurably
superior man to the latter, it will be much the
game with Chamberlain, and although the recon
structed British cabinet, will be nominally a Bal
four ministry, it will in reality be a Chamberlain
administration.
office, and no mention thereof can be found In the
official tables of precedence. It Is explalnod that
the cabinet there is merely a committee of tho
privy council and has, legally speaking, no cor
porate existence of its own, save as a committco
of this kind. Tho premier is tho chairman of
this committee, which is recruited from tho mem
bers of that political party which possesses a suf
ficiently largo majority in the house of commons
to be able to secure the enactment of tho neces
sary legislation. The chairman of the committee
is Invariably intrusted by the sovereign with its
composition, and if ho happens to select men who
do not already belong to the privy council they
are created members of tho latter In order to en
able their serving on the committee, which is
known as the cabinet. In tho natural order of
things tho lord president of tho privy council
who happens to bo the Duke of Devonshire, ought
to be tho presiding officer of tho committee In
question. But tho crown retains the prerogative
of appointing whomsoever it pleases as chairman
of the committee, under whom tho president of
the council is then compelled to servo on the com
mittee, and so jealous is tho sovereign of this
right that an outgoing premier is not permitted
to offer one word of recommendation or advice
about his successor unless specially asked by the
monarch.
ACCORDING TO THIS SAME WRITER,
Lord Salisbury combined the office of prime min
ister first with the secretaryship of stato for for
eign affairs, and more recently with the post of
lord privy seal. Roseberry, when premier, was
first lord of the treasury and so, too, was Glad
stone. It is explained, in this connection, that
tho lords of the treasury are a commission of
five persons, who for the last 200 years have been
appointed by the crown on every chango of cabi
net to administer the ancient office of lord high
treasurer. Only two of tho lords of tho treasury
occupy seats in tho cabinet. The senior of the
two is known as the "first lord," while the second
bears the title of "chancellor of the exchequer."
The latter is the actual finance minister of tho
government, and is of necessity a member of the
house of commons, in which all questions of sup
ply originate and are determined. The chancel
lor has charge of the devising of the budget,
while it is the first lord who has the appointment
of all commissioners and other officers employed
in the collection of the revenues of the crown,
as well as the controlling voice in their expendi
ture, subject, of course, to parliament. The first
lord and the chancellor of the exchequer havo
seals of office, which are handed to them on tak
ing office by the sovereign.
THE INTERESTING FACT THAT BALFOUR
succeeds to an office that does not exist is pointed
out by this same writer in tho Washington Post.
It Is said that in England the prime minister has
no legal standing as such, that there is no such
CHARLES M. DOBSON, THE NEWSPAPER
man who first made public the fact that Governor
Wood had paid General Gomez $25,000, provided
the Chicago Record-Herald of recent date with
another interesting interview. Mr. Dobson ex
plains the reason for the payment of this money to
Gomez In these words: The negro element In
Cuba, the element dominated by Maximo Gomez,
in case Gomez could not be elected to the presi
dency himself, was In favor of choosing Bartolo
mo Maso, another negro. And the administra
tion at Washington was as determined to defeat
the election of Maso as it was to keep Gomez out
of the political arena himself or to prevent his
throwing the weight of his Influence that is, that
of tho negro element of the Cuban population
in favor of Maso. And that $25,000 was paid espe
cially to make it impossible for the negroes to be
come an important element in the first presidential
election, which they could not be with Gomez
quiet and in the background.
MR. DOBSON THEN SAYS: "AS SECRE
tary Root has admitted that the money was really
paid by Wood to Gomez, there can scarcely bo
any further doubt of the correct and truthful
purport of the interview. The administration has
done the only thing it could under tho circum
stances, made tho plea that the buying off of
Gomez was a mere matter of expedience. As tho
governor general of Cuba Mr. Wood simply car
ried out the' advices of the administration at
Washington. Therefore, Secretary Root was
more than right when he, in his explanation of
my interview, assumed the entire responsibility
for the payment of tho sum to Gomez." According
to this the latest account, it will appear, therefore,
that the payment of this money to Gomez by tho
administration was for tho purpose of overturn
ing what administration agents evidently believed
to be the will of tho majority of the people of
Cuba.
ly In a recent Incident that stirred the people of
Now York. Putnam Bradleo Strong was a youn
society 'man who enlisted In tho army, becarao a
captain and was finally, bc6auso of efficient ser
vices, promoted to bo major. Ho becamo enam
oured with tho charms of May Yoho, an actress,
and finally threw up his commission and inado a
trip around tho world with the woman of his
choice. Upon tho couple's return from abroad,
Strong disappeared, and Miss Yoho charged that
ho had takon with him a largo number of her
precious jewels. She caused to bo offered a re
ward of $1,000 for his capturo and had a warrant
issued for his arrest Subsequently tho offer of
a roward was withdrawn and tho warrant can
celled. It now develops that young Strong's
mother, whoso health Is shattered and who, al
though heretofore woll provided with this world's
goods, is by no means a millionaire, caused the
cancellation of tho warrant and tho withdrawal
of the offer of a roward. Mrs. Strong pahJU$16,100
for tho redemption of tho Yoho diamonds and has
obligated herself to pay $80,000 more unless the
absent son restores tho jewels unaccounted for.
Miss Yoho, who once professed ardont love for
young Strong, now declares that all love Is lost;
but the mother, against whom tho son sinned to &
far greater extent than that involved in tho theft
of diamonds, has paid over her gold In her hap
less son's behalf without a murmur, and is now
said to be "happy in tho improsslon that she has
saved her son from prison.",
RECENTLY NEWSPAPER DISPATCHES
have cited many instances in which wagors wore
made and won concerning one's ability to dlspoKd
of food at a single sitting. For Instance, George
N. Crouse, who Is said to bo a society man and
residing at Syracuse, N. Y., made a wager with a
friend that he could eat fourteen dozen of clams
without rising. Tho newspaper dispatches show
the result of the wager in this way: "Dozen af
ter dozen went down his throat in rapid succes
sion, until the feat was accomplished. Crouse la
a Yalo graduate." Tho Chicago Inter-Ocean links
these accomplishments under the significant title
of "Strenuousness and Education," and tho Intor
Ocean provides some interesting samples of dis
patches which the public may confidentially ox
pect if this character of contest Is encouraged.
Here are the samples: "Roxbury, Mass., July 22.
Augustus L. Lothrop, a society man, recently
made a bet with Theodoro Peabody that ho could
eat seventeen quarts of baked beans at a 'Sitting.
Quart after quart went down his throat in suc
cession until the feat was accomplished. Lo
throp Is a Harvard graduate." "YonkorS, N. Y.,
July 24. Dledrlch Vanderventer made a bet with
Hudson Rivers that ho could eat twenty-three
lobsters in twenty-three minutes. Lobster after
lobster wont down until the feat was acconi
plished. Vanderventer is a graduate of Colum
bia." "Paterson, N. J., July 25. Edward Jones
made a bet with Henry Brown that ho could trap
500 mosquitoes in seventeen minutes. Taking a
position on a summer resort hotel veranda ho
gathered the mosquitoes in his net scores at a
time until he had accomplished the feat. Jones
is a graduate of Princeton." "Sheboygan, Wis.,
July 25. Walter Jenkins made a bet with Ernest
Hamlin that ho could drink forty-eight glasses
of beer in fourteen minutes. Glass after glass
went down until the feat was accomplished. Jenk
ins is from Milwaukee and is a graduate of
Madison." "Lincoln, 111., July 25. Cornelius
Brown made a bet with Everett McCabe that ho
could eat ninety-three sausages at a single sitting.
Link after link disappeared until tho feat was
accomplished. Brown is a graduate of the uni
versity of Chicago." "Lansing, Mich., July 25.
Ebenezer Twltchell made a bet with Elihu Robin
son that he could drink eighty-three pints of hard
cider In the course of an afternoon. Pint after
pint went down in rapid succession until the feat
was accomplished. Twitcheli Is a graduate of Ann
Arbor." "Waukegan, 111., July 25. Samphronla
Wilson made a bet with Angelina Busklrk that
sho could consume twenty-three plates of vanlla
ico cream in fifteen minutes. Plate after plate
went down until the feat was accomplished. Mlsa
Wilson is a graduate of Northwestern."
, THE MAN'S WEAKNESS, THE WOMAN'S
frailty, and the mother's lov figured consplcuous-
X PIERPONT MORGAN CONTINUES TO BIS
the recipient of invitations to dine from, prominent
political and commercial leaders of Europe. On
Tuesday, July 22, he was the chief guest at a bis
dinner given in the house of commons by Mr. A. W.
Monconochle, M. P. The now premier, Mr. Bal
four, several cabinet ministers and other promi
nent representative Englishmen were among the
guests.
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