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Nov. iVijpoa
The Commoner.
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f-lmo assigned for rollglous teaching must be dearly
tnv d off and separate from the time assigned to
Becmar education. This clause In the case of the
board schools was overridden by the 'Cowpor-Tem-fclo'
clause, which runs thus: No rollglous cate
chism or religious formulary which Is distinctive
of any particular denomination shall bo taught in
Itho school."
THE NEW EDUCATION BILL OP 1902 IS DE
scribed by this same writer as follows: "The
first object of the education bill of 1902 is to abolish
everywhere, save in London, all existing authori
ties for elementary and technical education, and
to establish one local authority for the education
of the nation. The proposers of the bill contend
that as regards elementary education the tendency
has been to institute a sort of rfvalry between
board schools and voluntary schools, and conse
quently to tempt the board schools to spend more
than they are justified. As the board schools levy
the rates, they are capable of doing this if they are
so minded. The government asks the managers
of voluntary schools: 1. To provido buildings rent
free. 2. ToMceep them in repair. 3. To make such
alterations as the authorities, local and central,
require. 4. To comply with the provisions for sec
ular education. The government also insists, on
the other hand, lhat the local educational author
ity shall: 1. Absolutely control the secular educa
tion in all the voluntary schools. 2. Inspect the
schools and audit their accounts. 3. Appoint two
out of every six of the managers of the schools.
4. Veto the appointment or secure the dismissal of
teachers If unfit on educational grounds. In re
turn for all this the government under the. new
bill provides for three-quarters of the cost of edu
cation from the state exchequer, leaving the local
education authority to provide the remaining quar
ter out of the local rates. This bargain is ob
jected to on two grounds: 1. That the voluntary
school managers appointed by the supporters or
subscribers to the upkeep of the schools ore in the
majority of four to two. 2. Thnt government aid is
granted to denominational instruction. It only re
mains to add that, as regards higher education, the
local education authority has a free hand, and can
develop the education of its area through all the
recognized stages of secondary, technical, and high
er Instruction. In this Is included the power of
providing facilities for the training of teachers."
Israelites, tinder command of Joshua. It Is said
.that the excavation revealed four sorles of anciont -walls
and four layers of strata which, putting asido
the buildings of lator date, mark the sito of the
city as occupied by four difforont sets of inhabi
tants. The first and second layers wcro not al
ways distinguishable. There woro threo unhown
monoliths fourteen feet high, with smaller ones
botweon, and undor an cijolnlng pavomont woro
foundars containing tho charred bones of infants,
which would seem to indlcato that it was a placo
of sacrifice whero children passed through tho flro
to somo predecessor of Moloch.
ONE, OP THE BURNING ISSUES IN THE
campaign, of Representative H. S. Irwin of
tho Fifth Kentucky congressional district was as to
whether ho went to sleep during the last session
of the" house Of representatives. Mr. Irwin took
this charge so seriously that it was reported he had
even secured affidavits from General, Grosvenor and
other republican representatives to testify that he
was not only awake, but was watching the legis
lation with both eyes open. The Now York World
reports Mr. Irwin as saying in a recent speech
seeking re-election: "Any person who makes tho
statement that .1 was asleep tells a falsehood. I
want it distinctly understood I was not asleep. If
I had been asleep I ould admit it Mr. Gros
venor, who was presiding, says I was not asleep,
nor did uay slumbers disturb him, as was reported.
I showed him the paper making the allegation,
and he .said it was ridiculous. Mr. Hill, who was
making a speech on the rivers and harbor bill at
tho time, says I was not- asleep, and he is a demo
crat Mr. Bromwell, who sat by me, declared the
next day that I was awake. And I want to say,
further, that the charge that I got affidavits to
prove that I was awake is untrue; I never got a
single affidavit"
DURING THE COURSE OP EXPLORATION,
two cav(es were discovered, ono of which Is
bollevcd by the archaeologists to have been a cre
matory a3 it was covered with a layer of human
ashes and bones. Somo pottory relics have also
btfon discovered and all this leads to the bcliof that
tho city was inhabited by two successive races, of
which tho older race was slender and short, nono
exceeding sixty-seven inches, and most of Uicm
only sixty-four Inches in height Tho skulls woro
thick and heavy and resemble those of tho earliest
occupants of -Europe in tho Neolithic age. Thoy
were certainly a pre-Semitlc race. Tho uncre
mated remains of tho inhabitants of tho third and
perhaps the fourth city show that they woro taller,
tho average height being sixty-six inches, while
somo of them reached seventy-one. Thoy woro
also more strongly built, thoir faces were longer,
their nosee more prominent, and their skulls moro
circular.
THE NEW YORK WORLD IS AUTHORITY
far the statement that the gigantic meat
trust is now an accomplished fact. It will be
capitalized for $500,000,000. Tho millions of John
D. Rockefeller, the Standard Oil magnate, have
been -invested in the project, and all the varied
interests controlled by Mr. Rockefeller will unite
in making it successful. The, underwriting syndi
cate of the trust will be headed by Mr. Rock
feller, through his National City Bank of New
York. After the formal organization of the trust
in the United States it is the intention to invade
Great Britain and, if possible, form a world-wide
trust in meat The trust will include all the large
meat packers of Chicago, who have absorbed prac
tically all of the smaller concerns.
AN INTERESTING ANNOUNCEMENT WAS
recently made by tho Chicago Tribune to the
effect that archaeologists at work in Palestine have
discovered the ruins of the Cannanite capital, Ge-
zer, 'whoso king and people were slain by the
ALL THIS LEADS THIS WRITER TO THE
conclusion that the sito of Gezor was there
fore first inhabited by an aboriginal raco of Pales
tine eolithic people, who cremated their dead, and
next by a primitiVe Semitic raco in tho copper ago,
both practicing human sacrifice. Then thoro were
two later Semitic occupations, tho Scarabs, indicat
ing that tho former of them was not less than
2,000 years B. C. Other relics proved that there
was communication with Egypt, and ono clay
cylinder indicates there was direct or indirect trado
with Babylon.
EXPERTS IN BIRD TALK ARE COMPARA
, tively rare, but the Smithsonian institution
in Washington contains one. Dr. Nelson R. Wood
has made a study of tho conversation of many
kinds of feathered creatures. Dr. Wood believes
that the best conversationalists among birds aro
found in chickens and turkeys, theso bipeds ex
ceeding in this accomplishment even tho parrot
and tho crow. In an article in tho Chicago Tri
bune, Dr. Wood says: "As talkers parrots have a
much higher reputation than chickens simply be
cause thoy are Imitators. Barnyard fowls, though
such close companions of man, do not mimic his
speech; but this does not imply that they have not
a language of their own. On the contrary, their
language is rich, as any observant person may
perceive for himself in the course of a brief visit
to quarters occupied by poultry. Turkeys possess
a range of speech hardly less wide than chickens,
but ducks are inferior as talkers. Parrots are born
conversationalists, and even in a wild state they
do an immense deal of talking. These monkeys of
tho feathered world are mimics above all else,
and in their native forests, where they fly about
in great flocks, they are constantly Imitating tho
noises of the woods and tho voices of other crea
tures. But, oddly enough, the best talking parrot,
in confinement, is not necessarily the best imi
tator. The so-called 'double yellow head' parrot
of tropical America is unrivaled for conversation,
but as a mimic it is excelled by the gray African
bird with tho red tail. Dr. Wood says that a good
talking crow Is a much better speaker than a par
rot It is not so versatile, the sounds it utters be
ing less widely differentiated, but its speech Is
more humanlike. A parrot's voice has been com
pared to that of a crazy person, whereas the re
marks made by a crow in the next room are read
ily mistaken for those of a human being. As imi
tators, however, parrots are unsurpassed, and their
mimicry of laughing, whistling, chuckling, and
other sounds is often marvelous."
IN REGARD TO DOMESTIC FOWLS, DR. WOOD
is of the opinion that ducks do not possess
a largo vocabulary. Their ordinary "quack,
quack," is a social note. Tho goose has no ex
tensive conversational powers, though in Indulges
in a good deal of gabbing talk. Wild birds vary
much in this respect, but, generally speaking, they
have their vocables for expressing alarm, pain,
curiosity, hunger, sorrow, joy, etc. Their powers
of speech enable them to make their feelings
known and to communicate their ideas on every
important subject to each, other.
THE CAUSE OF THE INDUSTRIAL DEPREI
eion tbat Gormany Is at prcsont experiencing
is sot forth In tho Chicago Tribune as being duo to
tho chango in tho wholo economic balance of tho
empiro, tho result bolng a vast overproduction of
many kinds of morchandlso, but an under produc
tion of food materials. This chango of balnnco was
caused by tho population within fifteen years
changing from agricultural to professional pursulU
or somo form of industry or trade. Farmers have
gono to tho cities so rapidly that not enough aro
loft on tho farms to produce enough food to feed
tho people. Prices hnvo increased to such an ox
tent that only tho rich aro nblo to pay thoso de
manded. This information has been forwarded to
tho dopartment of sLato by Consul Genoral Mason
at Berlin, who has written an Interesting rovlow
of tho conditions existing In Germany. Tho consul
general says: "Tho period of Industrial reaction
and financial depression In Gormnny, which bo
gan during the summer of 1900, has continued, with .
varying and ofton suddenly fluctuating conditions
throughout 1901 and down to tho present? It Is
truo cortaln branches of manufacture, notably the
textllo Industry, have during tho last eight months
shown oncouraglng signs of recovory and there
wero apparent at the close of 1901 various Indica
tions that tho worst of tho crisis was past -and
that tho process of recovery, however slow it might
prove, had been definitely begun."
CONSUL GENERAL MASON IS ALSO Au
thority for tho statement that Germany was
in 1871 a nation of 39,119,000 inhabitants, of whom
CO per cent woro engaged in agricultural pursuits.
In December, 1900, it had grown to an empire of
57,793,000 souls, of whom 8b per cent derived their
support from agriculture and G5 por contr nearly
two-thirds wero ongagod in professional pursuits
or somo form of industry or trado. This transfor
mation from agriculture to industries and com
merce took placo mainly during tho period from
1880 to 1895. During thoso fifteen years tho In
crease of working population was 17.8 per cent, of
which agriculture gained only 7 per cent, while
manufactures, mining, and the building trades
wero augmented by 29.5 and commerce by 48.9
por cent It was a tlmo when young men by hun
dreds of thousands left their native farms and
villages and flocked to mines, factories and indus
trial cities and towns, The empiro was by this
time Increasing in population at tho rate of near
ly 800,000 more than doubled. Trade unions mul
tiplied rapidly and trebled their membership with
in five years and strikes Increased in number from
73 in 1892 to 907 in 1899. Wages In all depart
ments increased slowly but employment was steady,
many mechanics and operatives worked ovor
timo, tho condition of tho laboring classes im
proved, their wants increased, and their dwell
ings, food, clothing, and standard of living.
AS ONE OP THE RESULTS OP THE RECENT
Boer war, it is said that tho Boers aro now
buying mules of dealers In this country. It will
bo remembered that during tho progress of tho
war, largo numbers of mules woro shipped from
this country for use by tho British army in trans
port service in South Africa. As was to be ex
pected it often happened that largo numbers of
theso animals fell into the hands of the Boers and
according to a Kansas City correspondent of tho
Chicago Chronicle, it was reported that the Boers
found the Missouri mule a pretty good animal to
deal with. He was sure-footed, faithful, reliable
enough when duly watched, a little obstinate, per
haps, but tough as iron, and a ready feeder on sup
plies that a horse would starvo to death Jjying to
11 70 fcn. He made his own way in the world and
built up bis own reputation, having gone into a
now country with nobody to vouch for him and
under circumstances that were not calculated to
make him popular If he did not really 'make good.'
Tho Boers liked tho Missouri mule. They consid
ered his weaknesses and his points of excellence,
and, summing up everything, they pronounced him
good. Tho British goyernment gave the Boers
$15,000,000 with which to restock their farms.
When there was no longer any chanco to get mules
by tho old method they wanted to buy them. Ac
cordingly a Boer speculator who had money came
to tho United States to buy various things for his
countrymen. In New York he found a Yankee
with the trading Instinct well developed and one
of tho first things they decided to do was to send
a ship load of mules to the Transvaal. The Boer
member of the Arm wantod to get them where the
British had bought theirs so they would be euro of
getting the same kind of mules. Accordingly ho
came to Kansas City and a few days ago bought
from tho Guyton-Harrington Mule company 1,000
Missouri mules. Thoy were persuaded to take bet
ter mules than the British bought at somewhat
higher prices. The mules have been sent south;
preparatory to shipment
