6
The Commoner.
that resort will bo had to tho courts should Mr.
Vauderbnc persist 1n Ills course. . . '
'..--,
r, ,- - - '- 1
Current topics
Jf S THE COAL TRUST A CONSPIRACY?" IS
X tho subject of an Interesting arttclo In Gun
ton's Magazino for September. The facts stated
In this article will bo a surprise to many people.
It is pointed out that in tho first place there "was
absolutely no justification for present conditions,
and It is explained: It will bo remembered that,
at tho outset, tho laborers mado no demand what
ovdr; thoy simply asked that a conference bo hold
to arrange tho schedulo of prices and other condi
tions for tho ensuing, year. That course had
previously boon adopted. At tho close of tho strike
in 1900, they agreed to that method. It was very
satisfactory; and tho agreement terminated on tho
1st of April, 190a. A very sensible, commonplaco
act, therefore, was for both parties to meet, and
either confirm the old agreoment or arrange a
now ono for tho future. Tho request for a con
ference was an ordinary, rational procedure, which
nothing but a disposition to create a disturbance
could refuse. Yet tho railroads all rejected tho
proposition, and while the president of each rail
road mado a personal reply, tho tone, and very
largely the language, of the communications were
Identical, showing-that tho letters had all been
written or revised by tho same hand.
TN THESE SAME LETTERS RAILROAD PRES
j. idents, according tc- this sanio writer, refused
to confer with tho men through thoir organiza
tion, wliile claiming to bo "willing to "deal justly
and fairly by them (tho laborers) and give every
man fair compensation for the work he per
formed." In short tho operators insisted upon be
ing solo arbiters of both sides of the contract. In
accordance with tills idea, a few days later they
posted notices at their respectivo collieries, stat
ing that "tho rate of wages now in offect will con
tinue until April 1, 1903, and thereafter be sub
ject to sixty days notice." This was well cal
culated to create a rupture, and It is difficult to
interpret this action in any other light than that
it -was purposely designed to produce that result.
Had there been the slightest element of fairness,
or respect for the common right of tho laborer to
make a contract, or the desire to maintain indus
trial peace, such arbitrary action could not and
would not have been taken. This left the laborers
.no alternative but to forego all right eventually
to participate in bargain making, regarding their
own conditions, or to make a specific demand and
strike for it
IT IS REPORTED THAT THE ESTATE OP
Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor of the
telegraph alphabet, who died in 1872, has but re
cently been settled. During thirty years of ad
ministration in controversy, tho estate has been
reduced from $524,000 to $346,000. The latter sum,
It la said, is now being distributed among ttie heirs.
THE RESTING PLACE OF THE MOTHER OF
Abraham Lincoln has recently been marked
by a suitable monumont, erected by tho Nancy
Hanks Memorial association, in a sovonteen-acre
tract near Lincoln City, Ind. Tho base of the
monument was f:rmorly used for a similar pur
pose under tho first monument erected to the great
emancipator In Springfield. For more than sixty
years tho grave lay neglected, but in 1880 a plain
marble slab was put up through funds provided
by an anonymous donor who succeeded in keeping
his identity a secret. It Is reported that unless
tho legislature provides for turning tho surround
ing tract about tho now monumont into a perma
nent park, the land will revert to Spencer county,
which Is wining to complete tho task.
THE DOMINEERING INSTINCTS OF SOME
rich men is illustrated in a story that con-
cerns William lC Vanderbilt and the stand he has
taken in regard to tho people of North Hampstead,
L. I. It is reported that because that place rofused
to accept his offer of $50,000 for Lake Success a
pretty sheet of water which has long been a fav
orite resort for picnic and othor excursion parties
Mr. Vanderbilt has decided to refuse right of way
over property surrounding It, and which is the only
means of reaching the lake. He has gone so far
as to station pickets at all entrances to prevent
tho',passage"of'.any,tut-thosotowbom he gives
permission. This .notion on the .part -of the mil
lionaire "hns-aTousod-great'oppositloh and 1t is-sald
THE RETURN OF THJ PEARY ARCTIC Ex
pedition has aroused a new interest in the
irozon regions of the north. Lieutenant Peary has
been absent for four years, and though ho did not
discover the North Pole, ho claims to have mado
important scientific discoveries. In 'a newspaper
interview Lioutonant Peary said: "The discovery
of the North Polo is merely a more or less spec
tacular fact, but still one that will bo tried again
and again until actually accomplished. I have
traveled tho most northerly land on the globe,
although I did not succeed in forcing my way
ovor tho Ico to tho pole itself. The departments
of scienco which will bo benefited by my sojourn
in the north aro geology, meteorology, anthropol
ogy and natural history. The full result of my
labors, especially in the field of meteorology, can
not bo fully ascertained until the observations I
have taken have been worked out by scientists.
Perhaps tho most important result of my labor is
tho demonstrating most conclusively that the right
kind of man can carry on arctic exploration with
out great danger or suffering exceptional hard
ships. In fact, he can work in tho far north as
well as in his office in New York. I have been a
close student of the tribe of Eskimos at "Whale
sound, wno are the most northerly people of the
world and aro completely1 isolated from all other
inhabitants of this sphere. They are a small
tribe, some n5or 200 In number. Tho isolation of
these people has resulted in a process which has
differentiated them from every other people in
thoir modes of living. I have a complete collec
tion of everything pertaining to their habits of
life, the implements they use, etc., and have for
warded them to Now York."
TZ-1 DEATH OF ALEXANDER H.4 SHEPHERD
at Batopilas, Mex., on Septomber 12 gives the
New York World occasion to recall some of the
things that he did to make the national capital
what it is. Mr. Shepherd was born in Washington
in 18.35. President Grant appointed him governor
of the District of Columbia and be transformed
the city of Washington from an unsightly mud
holo into tho beautiful city it now is. At one
time he was accused of enriching a political ring
with public funds, but the administration stood
by him, and ho sorved as governor until 1874. He
had then spent $40,000,ou0 in improving the city,
and on his retirement found his private business
ruined. He then went to Mexico where he bought
mining property at Batopilas, and carried his ideas
of improvement into effect by paving the streets,
installing a public library, and an olectric light
plant and making the town a wonder spot to the
natives, incidentally, also, amassing a fortune,
and dying a millionaire.
EX-PRESIDENT KRUGER OF THE BOER RE
, public has written an autobiography which
is to be published cimultaiieously in many coun
tries on November 15. President Kruger's friends
assert that whatever is made out of the book will
be given to the suffering burghers. The book con
tains the story of Paul Kruger's life from his
childhood to the negotiation of peace. In his de
scription of the Jameson raid, reflections are cast
on what he calls "the irritating policy of Cham
berlain" in the negc tlations. The book is certain
to bo interesting as it is written with all of Paul
Kruger's old-time vigor.
THAT REALLY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS DO
not always provoke tho most discussion is a
truth illustrated by an interesting account in the
New York Tribune of recent date concerning the
town of Reading, Mass. Tho Tribune says: "The
.question which Reading, a town about twelve
miles north of Boston, is now wrestling with,"
said F. H. Cutler, of Bostbn, "is no less a problom
than this shall the Italian fruit dealer, whoso
store is on the main square of tho town, be al
lowed to have a whistle on his peanut roaster, or
shall he not? The citizens have taken sides on
tho question; a long list of them have signed a
petition asking that the Italian's whistle, which
was removed some time ago by order of the po
lice, be restored, wnilo many others are opposed
to the restoration. So heated is tho controversy
that the selectmen of the town have set a date
for a public hearing, when the citizens and the
Italian will meet and discuss the grave question
pro and con, and by public vote it wnl bo decided
whether tho whistle shall shrill or be forever
silent. Tho objection to the whistle is based on
aesthetic grounds; it makes too much noise, its
opponents say, 'and does not keep on the key when
the 'band isplaying on the common or tho outdoor
meetings. ot the local ;Young 'Men's -Christian asso
i xiation'brealr forth into a hymn. The Italian and
Vol. a, No. 38.
his supporters, on tho other hand, uro tw
abolish tho whistle jwum- to- Wt?ade for h
dealer, and is unfair. The sacred rights of man aro
in question. It surely is a matter -worthy to be de
cided by that cherished institution of our republt
the New England town government" The im?
which "that cherished institution of our republiol
the New England town government," has played in
tho formation of this government has not been
insignificant, and me solution of this case win i
watched with interest U bo
AN INTERESTING POLITICAL SITUATION
has developed in Russell county, Kansas
where tho democrats have nominated S. F. Rocked
feller, a cousin and bitter enemy of John D
Rockefeller, for the lower house of the state leg
islature. Mr. Rockefeller is making the race on
an anti-trust platform and promises to secure leg
islation hich will drive the Standard Oil com
pany out of business in Kansas. It is reported
that the chances of his election are very good and
he has pledged himself to introduce a bill in tho
legislature which will provido that trusts shall
have no standing in tho courts of Kansas and no
power to collect bills in. the state.
RIVERS OF INK, FORESTS OF CEDAR,
and mines of graphite aro reasonably "mild
exaggerations" when applied to the total of cleri
cal supplies for the government service, according
to the Washington correspondent of the New
York World. This correspondent points out that
the war department annually' uses 861,408 pens,
32,500 pencils, 1,927 quarts of mucilage, 4.634 quarts
, of black ink, 3,167 bottles of red ink and 7,000
gross of rubber bands of different sizes. There aro
used annually by the postoffice department 8,250'
pounds of rubber bands. 3iw,000,000 facing slips,
3,500 dozen indelible pencils, 240,000 black and
colored pencils and 13,225 gross of pens. There aro
300,000 penholders used annually. Each of these
is inscribed "property of the United States post
office department" The headquarters of the postal
service uses each year 12,000 quarts of black ink,
1,300,000 pounds of small jute twine, put up in
half-pound balls, 9,500 steel erasers and more
than 2,228,000 black carbon sheets. -The Interior
department uses annually 146,000 lead pencils,
6,925 gross of steel pens, 5,000 quarts of black ink
and 2,500 quarts of mucilage. Unestlmated mil
lions of pins and uncomputed reams of paper,
with millions of envelopes, are used each year in
the governmental service. The treasury depart
ment and othor branches of the public service use
supplies in proportion to the figures given for tho
war, postoffice and interior departments.
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A WOMAN'S
court is advocated by a number of reformers
in New York city. It is maintained that it is just
as important to have a voman's court as it is to
haye the children's court that has been established
and is operating so satisfactorily in New York city.
Those that favor the plan urge that a woman's
court would bo the best incentive to reform be
cause having less of publicity the tendency to
recklessness which the gaze of the world gives
would bo minimized. One advocate of this new
plan says: "It is only when a woman feels that
respectability is irretrievable that she gives up
hope, and any one who has watched the stream
of men and women in a police court and measured
the debasing influence will understand what I
mean when I say that the separation of the sexes
in criminal consideration would be for the benefit
of society." Considerable criticism of the plan
has been mado by New York magistrates and there
does not appear to be great promise that the new
court will begin proceedings at an early day.
SECRETARY OF THE NAVY MOODY IS JUST
now wrestling with a great problem that in
volves the securing of ren for the navy. Many
sailors when thoir terms have expired have re
fused to re-enlist because of tho strict discipline
and the severe work on board a warship. It is
not generally known that the navy department
actually operates a literary bureau and sends in
advance of its enlisted officers press agents whose
duty it is to put the charm of a sailor's life before
tho public in the best possible light. More ships
are being built and as a consequonce many more
men will be needed. It is admitted that the situa
tion is a serious oro and Secretary Moody Is ex
pected to recommend some radical changes in tho
laws relating to the navy and in the opportunities
for enlisted men. to advance upon merit.
THE READERS OF DAILY NEWSPAPERS
aru 7er wc'ontly .treated to a story relating to
" Charles Rothschilds, and. his. fleas." This story
was thought to .be of sufficient Talueto be cabled
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