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THERE ARE INDICATIONS THAT THE COM
bination of all tho great packing houses
into one trust Will bo accomplished at an early
day. Negotiations to this ond havo beon under
way for somo time. Tho purchase of tho Ham
mond company by Armour & Co. has beon formal
ly announced, and It Is believed that this is but
the initial move toward an organization of all tho
concerns. Tho Tow York World prints an inter
esting table showing that tho probable total capi
talization of this groat trust will bo $201,000,000.
Somo idea of tho immonso Interests affected by
this proposed organization may be obtained by a
glanco at the following figures: Swift & Co.,
capital, $25,000,000; annual business, $200,000,000;
stock value in morgor, $75,000,000. Armour & Co.,
capital, $20,000,000; annual business, $200,000,000;
stock value in morgor, $60,000,000. Nolson Morris
& Co., capital, $5,000,000; annual business, $25,
000,000; stock valuo in morgor, $15,000,000. Cudahy
& Co., capital, $5,000,000; annual business, $15,
000,000; stock valuo in morgor, $15,000,000. Stocks
and securities representing purchase of Hammond
& Co. and Omaha Packing company by Armour
& Co., $7,000,000; valuo in morgor, $21,000,000.
Stocks and securities representing tho purchase
of Fowler & Son Packing company and tho Anglo
American Provision company by Swift & Co., $5,
000,000; valuo In merger, $15,000,000. Probable
total capitalization In tho meat merger, $201,-000,000.
TT IS SAID TPIAT THE LONDON DAILY MAIL
1 collected $450,000 from tho sale of Rudyard
Kipling's poem, "The Absent-Mindod Beggar."
These proceeds were used for tho erection of a
hospital. The building has been completed and
possession has been delivered' to tho British war
ofllco. A recent article In the London Outlook
says that this is to be converted partly into a con
sumption hospital and partly into a general hos
pital for soldiers. The Outlook adds: "Tho
building together with tho freehold on which it
stands cost about 90,000. Mr. Kipling should now
write a poem lauding peace in order to maintain
this admirable military structure. This, I hear,
would be covered by some 2,50dSjnnum re
quiring therefor a capital jgSSflgTo meet it,
i,. e., half as much as hfs JSFefort produced."
ONE OExjgi'HE INTERESTING APPROPRIA
Wtfsmade at tho recent session of congress
fr u-fli-'ife'thlfBum of $10,000 in order to enable the agri
cultural department to make experiments in tho
raising of silk worms and the production of raw
Bilk in tho United States. Tho people of Kansas
evidently had some experience with silk culture,
and if tho Wichita Eagle fairly understands the
result Kansas people will not ask Secretary Wil
son to expend any portion of this $10,000 in their
state. The Eagle says: "Kansas' experience with
the silk worm proved several things. Among
others, that the silk worm would pass a mul
berry tree by to eat himself cross-eyed on Osago
orange leaves; that he was as delicate as a Poland
China hog in cholera times, and that he demanded
as much attention as a teething baby in summer.
At first there were visions of fortunes in every
township, and ideas of forcing France into bank
ruptcy became general throughout Kansas. But
by the time eight thousand individual Kansans
had crawled out of bed at midnight to roll a
French worm over on his back and feel of his
pulse, the anti-silk worm movement in Kansas
grew quite vigorous, and the silk worm propa
ganda, so far as this state was concerned, curled
up like a caterpillar and died. This isn't saying
the silk industry couldn't be made to succeed in
Kansas. It is saying that the Kansan isn't built
on the French peasant model. We are not tho
-worm kind. Our stylo is more in the line of a
good, substantial Poland China hog, jammed so
full of corn from the 'semi-arid regions' that his
fat has shut his eyes and his kinky tail has dis
appeared in a dimple."
RICHARD HENRY STODDARD, THE AGED
blind poet, recently buried his wife at Sag
Harbor, N. Y. Tho scene at tho grave was a most
pathetic one. Tho newspaper reports say: As the
friends gathered around the grave and the body
was lowered, Mr. Stoddard, quivering with grief
and emotion, said: "Before the earth is between
her and me I want, to say one more parting word
to my beloved wife." Every head bowed, and
many eyes filled with tears as tho husband con
tinued: "My good neighbors-, it is with a sad,
sweet comfort that I look Into your faces today,
seeing but dimly as I do, and with all my heart
The Commoner.
thank you for your companionship In this terrible
bereavement. We are looking down into tho
grave for tho last time up a good, a truly good
and noble woman. Tho heart weakens with its
effort to find expression through human lips for
such a moment as this to me." Hero tho old poot
wept and shook with the sorrow that weighed so
heavily upon , him. Many others sobbed aloud.
Vainly ho attempted to resume his speech. Fail
ing, ho raised both hands to his brow, as if strain
ing his eyes for a look into the grave, and mur
mured: "Good-byo, dear. Good-bye, dear soul."
Ho was led back to his carriage and driven to tho
French residence in Sag Harbor, where he and
Mrs. StQddard lived for many years, and whero
ho wrote many of his famed verses.
THE LONDON CORRESPONDENT OF THE
New York World cables his paper as fol
lows: "There is one point on which the World
correspondent has the most positive information,
and that is as to the complete reconciliation be
tween tho king and tho queen. It appears that
when the surgical operation was about to be per
formed the king had a most affecting interview
with the, queen, and at his request she held his
hand whon ho was being put under the influence
of chloroform, in order to gratify his expressed
wish ttat her face might bo the last he saw if the
operation proyed fatal. When he was recovering
consciousness the queen was again brought to his
side, and ho looked gratefully at her. Since then
tho queen has taken entire control of everything
concerning him. But whether other Influences
will reassert themselves later on remains to be
seen." Tho public was not informed that there
was any necessity for reconciliation between the
king and queen, but it is gratifying to be assured
that if reconciliation was necessary, It has taken
place. To many men the ponderous ceremonies at
tendant upon the formal crowning of a king and
tho applause of the multitude would all be in
significant compared with the high favor of a
good wife.
THE JOHANNESBURG CORRESPONDENT
of the New York Times says that owing to
the scarcity of native labor mining houses con
template the introduction of Chinese. If the plan
,is persisted in, the British government is to be
asked to intervene in the interest of the public.
Those who object to the introduction of Chinese
declare that South Africa is to be a white man's
country, and the admission of Chinese would
seriously complicate affairs.
FEW PEOPLE REALLY APPRECIATE THE
immense work that tho United States has
undertaken in the construction of an isthmian ca
nal. There were many who feared that the adop
tion of tho Panama route would result in delay or
indefinite postponement, but a correspondent of
tho New York World says that it is very probable
that the work will be commenced in 1903. Ac
cording to the World's correspondent a special
messenger, whose identity is unknown, sailed
from New York on July 26 with a draft of a treaty
agreed upon by Secretary of State Hay and Senor
Concha, the minister from the United States of
Colombia, which the Colombian congress will be
asked to ratify. It will convene in October for
the specific purpose of passing on the treaty.
IT IT PREDICTED BY THIS WRITER THAT
there will bo no objection to tho ratification
of lhe matqrlal features of the proposed treaty, and
it is said that while the Colombians are consid
ering the matter, Attorney General Knox, repre
senting the United States, and Mr! William Nel
son Cromwell, representing the French stockholders-
of the present Panama Canal company,
will be engaged in Paris in adjusting the legal
features of the lease of the canal to the United
States in perpetuity, so that by the time the Ameri
can congress convenes the treaty ceding the great
waterway to this country will be ready for con
sideration and the exact terms of the lease of the
property definitely settled. It is within the view
of the representatives of tho United States and
the Colombian government possible for- the in
auguration of the work of completing the canal
under the direct supervision and control of tho
v United States to begin within the next year.
ACCORDING TO THE PLANS AS DE
scribed by this same writer, the French canal
Company is to receive $40,000,000 in cash for the
complete surrender of all claims on the canal, all
contracts, machinery, and a railway traversing tho
entire course of the waterway between the At
. lantlc and the Pacific oceans. Then tho govern-,
ment of Colombia Is to receive $7,000,000 in cash"
and an annuity of $600,000 for the surrender ab--solutely
to tho United States of three miles of
property on either side of the canal for its entire
Vol. a, No. 3o.
length, and authfcrity over five leagues of sea at
either entrance. The United States is then to im
mediately expend at least $15,000,000 for tho pur
chase of machinery and for the employment of a
force of laborers to do the work. It is said that
the railroad, the purchase of which is contem
plated, Is valued at $7,000,000 and that this rail
road will become the property of the United States,
a fact in Itself interesting to those who have fav
ored as well as those who have -opposed govern
ment ownership in our own country. According
to this statement the canal will be completed with-
in six years, or in 1909, and it is estimated that
the total cost including the purchase price will
be in the neighborhood of $130,000,000.
,
FROM A TREASURY REPORT RECENTLY
made public the Now York World takes tho
following figures showing the value of exports for
1901 of the seven leading classes of American
manufactures. In the last column appears the
average ad valorem duty on imports of the samo
class of manufactures:
Duty,
Exports of - Value. per cent.
Iron and steel $43,812,323 43.58
Copper 41,454,074 45.00 '
Leather 21,211,088 35.68
Agricultural implements- . . . . 15,494,530 20.00
Chemicals, drugs and dyes.. 6,741,068 31.69
Wood 6,595,256 21.29
Paper 2,920,048 35.00
Tho World adds: "It thus appears that of
these seven classes of manufactures wo export to
Europe alone goods to the value of $132,000,000 a
year, paying the ocean freight thereon and selling
them at prices as low certainly, probably lower
than those of the foreign manufacturers in their
home markets. To -North America, South Ameri
ca, Asia, Africa and Oceanica we send these same
classes of our manufactured goods in large quan
tities, paying the ocean freight In many cases for
distances three times as long as the distance from
New York to Liverpool. Our exports of iron and
steel manufactures alone to the other divisions of
the world were valued for 1901 at $72,506,403, not
far from double the valuo of our iron and steel
exports to Europe and in some markets protective
duties as well as ocean freights were overcome."
The World hits the nail on the head when it says
that "these duties are not levied to protect our
trusts in tho. home market. They can serve but
xone purpose to make these American manufac
tures dearer to Americans than to foreigners.
These are the duties which the Iowa republicans
, say 'afford shelter to monopoly' and which demo
crats would reduce or repeal."
ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING REVIEWS
of the campaign book recently issued by tho
republican congressional committee was written by
the Washington correspondent of the Des Moines
Register and Leader, a republican paper. In this
review it is admitted that this campaign book is
"more remarkable for what it omits than for what
it contains." "Great skill," says this reviewer,
"has been shown in compilation and it may bo
read from beginning to end without discovering
any evidence that there are questions pending be
fore the voters this year on which republicans are
divided." This reviewer makes 'this Interesting
point: "There is no explanation of the failure
of the republican majority of congress to redeem
the promises of President McKinley and carry-out
the policy advocated by President Roosevelt of
giving reciprocity to the Cubans. There are also
many pages devoted to Cuba and to telling what
the republican administration and congress has
done in freeing that island from the dominion of
Spain, and setting up an independent republic.
No hint is given of what has been left undone and
of how the Cubans were led to 'believe that com
mercial arrangements were to be made with them
whereby they would be enabled to recover from
the desperate condition in which their long strug
gle with Spain had left them, and by which both
they and the United States would be benefited."
TN THIS SAME REVIEW THIS REPUBLICAN
1 correspondent points out that "on the broad
er subject of general reciprocity the policy which
President McKinley proclaimed in his last speech
at Buffalo and left as a heritage for his party and
to which President Roosevelt pledged himself on
taking office there is ominous silence. Extracts
from speeches by President McKinley are freely
quoted throughout the book. They are printed in
prominent type at the bottoms of pages whero
they will readily strike the eye of tho campaign
orator seeking apt quotations, but none of these
extracts is from the Buffalo reciprocity speech. It
is only when the end of the book is reached that
-tho Buffalo speech is fo.und with Its reciprocity
arguments and with this pertinent inquiry from
tho dead president, which his party has failed to
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