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Dec. 19, 190a
tlio view of this republican paper, the claims of the
territories are good and thoro is no danger to ap
prehend from their admission and it will be a re
lief to the country to have done with this busi
ness once for all.
? J?
ONE OP THE MOST DIFFICULT OFFENSES
to deal with is tlat of bribery and the skill
with which Circuit Attorney Folk of St. Louis has
surmounted obstacles in dealing with this offense
has won for him tho admiration of the public.
In certain of the cases which Mr. Folk is present
ing to the criminal court, not only has he intro
duced the testimony of the men who were em
ployed to give the bribes, but ho has actually in
troduced as a part of the testimony the money
that was deposited for payment.
5?
4'
PHILIP STOCK WAS THE AGENT . OF A
street railroad company. This company set
aside the sum of $135,000 to be used for the pur
pose of bribing tho members of the municipal as
sembly, In four cases Stock testified as to the
methods he employed in contracting for a cer
tain number of votes on the street railroad bill
for which he was to pay $60,000 to one man and
$75,000 to another, all to be divided among certain
members of the assembly. The $60,000 was placed
in one safety deposit box; the $75,000 was placed
in another. In each case Stock, as the represen
tative of the street railroad company, held a key
and another was given to the representatives of
the assembly members whose votes were to be
purchased. In the four cases referred to tho
$60,000 was introduced in evidence and actually
counted by Stock in the presence of the jury.
In another trial subsequently held the entire
$135,000 was introduced in evidence and then in
the presence of the jury was counted by Stock.
Mr. Folk has met with remarkable success in his
campaign against corruption in the municipal as
sembly and it cannot be doubted that the example
of industry, integrity and the high order of abil
ity he has displayed will serve as an inspiration
to men in other municipalities who have imagined
themselves helpless in the presence of corruption
for which influential men and corporations were
responsible.
a? a?
M" EMBERS OF THE VIRGINIA LEGISLA
ture are interested, although not seriously,
in a bill introduced by Representative Ware, who,
by the way, is a practicing physician. Dr. Ware's
bill seeks to make promiscuous kissing a misde
meanor. Thtf father of this measure does not
have high hopes of ite passage, but he contents
himself with the statement that it deserves a
place on the statute books. Dr. Ware's novel
bill is as follows: "Whereas, kissing has been
decided by the medical profession to be a me
dium by which contagious and infectious dis
eases are transmitted from one person to another,
and whereas the prohibiting of such an offense
will be a great preventive to tho spreading of such
diseases as pulmonary tuberculosis, diphtheria and
many other dangerous diseases; therefore, be it
enacted Ijy the general assembly of Virginia:
1. That it shall be unlawful for any person to
lfiss another ULless he can prove by his family
physician that he has not any contagious or in
fectious disease. 2. If the physician testifies that
the defendant has weak lungs he shall be found
guilty of a misdemeanor, and the same penalty
shall be imposed as if he had some contagious or
infectious disease. 3. Any person violating the
provisions of the first and second sections of this
act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and
fined not less than $l.nor more than $5 for each
offense."
a? af
AN ACT OF HEROISM ON THE PART OF A
sixteen-year-old lad is reported from La
Porte, Ind. Wesley Reynolds, a sixteen-year-old
clerk in the Westvillo, Ind., bank engaged in bat
tle with two robbers who had gained entrance to
the building early in the morning of November
30. The brave boy, in the parlance of the street,
fought the robbers to a stand-still and finally
fell with a bullet in his heart Tho LaPorte corre
spondent of the New York World describes the
battle in this way: "As the robbers advanced on
him he emptied one revolver. Two bullets from,
their pistols pierced his body before he threw down
his empty weapon and reached for another. Tire
robbers ' took advantage of the boy's defenseless
condition and shot him dead. His body was found
several hours later. The robbers fled in a stolen
horse and wagon, which has been recovered. Blood
on the vehicle showed that the boy's aim had been
The Commoner.
true. Citizens quickly raised a roward of $1,000
for tho capture of the robbers."
ALTHOUGH IN FINANCIAL STATE
ments Undo Sam displays a fine contempt
for anything less than millions, ho is not averso
to showing in evcry-day affairs a fine concern
for the penny. The Washington correspondent of
tho Now York Tribune, writing under a recent
date, says: "Secretary Shaw feels like a man who
has found a full pockotbook. He received today
from tho North American Commercial company a
check for over $57,000, which has been duo on ac
count of sealskins taken on the Prybiloff islands
in the winter of 1889-90. In that year there wero
4,158 skins taken by the natives from seals killed
for food. Tho contract of the old Alaska Com
mercial company expired on May 1, 1890, and the
contract with tho North American company went
into effect on that date. Both companies claimed
tho skins'. Legal proceedings wero instituted to
determine their ownership, and pending tho de
cision of the court tho government did not press
its claim for rental. The suit was finally settled
by the North American company securing tho
.skins, but tho treasury department was not in
formed of tho settlement, and as the years passed
the claim of the government was completely lost
sight of. About a year ago tho officials of tho de
partment discovered that the claim was in- exist
ence. Payment was pressed, and today a check
for over $57,000, representing tho original claim
with interest, was received."
NEW JERSEY, THE HOME OF THE TRUSTS,
provides the newspapers with an Interesting
story relating to tho manner in which a labor
union has turned tho tables upon a great corpor
ation. The story relates to the method adopted
by the New Jersey glass blowers in their contest
with the great company of that state. The labor
union has gone Into court and asked that the
glass company be enjoined from interfering with
tho labor union's business. The representatives of
tho union assert that theirs Is an organization hav
ing for its purpose tho sale of the labor of its
members, that the glass company being in compe
tition with It has violated the laws of the state
and the labor market and has prevented by force
tho union's business of selling labor; that tho
corporation is engaged in an illegal alliance for
the purpose of preventing men from leaving its
employ.
a? a?
THAT THIS IS THE FIRST TIME A LABOR
union has ever asked a state for an injunc
tion against a corporation is a fact pointed out
by a writer in tho Boston Globe. The Globe
writer says that "as this labor union is a power
ful one, the case will probably be carried to the
highest tribunal in the land for decision. This
case is anomalous, since the glass blowers assume
the position of capitalists who are being Inter
fered with while on strike, and they ask that the
company show cause why Its Interference with Its
late employes shall not cease. Hearing of tho
arguments in this application for an injunction
will be before the greatest lawyers of the etate.
The allegations of the labor union have all been
carefully drawn ar'l the Issue will be carried as
far as it can be legally. The case assumes that
the labor union has exactly the same legal status
as the corporation, and Is a unique case of labor's
turning the tables squarely on its adversary, as
they have frequently been turned on It. The final
decision will be interesting."
a? a?
IT IS NOT OFTEN THAT A BOOK, OTHER
than one written by a representative of in
fluential interests, is considered of sufficient im
portance to bo dealt with in an Associated press
cablegram. One of tho exceptions relates to the
book issued recently by DeWet, the great Boer
general. A London cablegram devotes consider
able space to the description of tho DeWet book.
It -is said that the keynote of this book is ob
tained in this statement: "Had not so many of
our burghers proved false to their own colors,
England, as the great Bismarck foretold, would
have found her grave in South Africa."
5? a?
GENERAL DEWET'S BOOK IS DEDICATED
"To my fellow cubjects of the British em
pire." It is said that the author spares no one,
Boer and Britain coming equally under the lash.
He pays a generous tribute to the much criti
cised British general, Buller, when he says that
whatever the English people may have to say in
discredit of this officer, he had to operate against
stronger positions than any other British general.
General DeWet nas little praiso to bestow upon
Lord Roborts or Lord Kitchonor. Ho pays a flno
tributo to tho British Goncral Knox, to whom ho
refers as a commander with real military genius.
Ho also has many kind words to say of tho rank
and filo of tlfo British soldiery and ho gives an
explanation of his own cscapo entirely character
istic of the Boers when ho says: "If any reader
eager to know how it was I kept out of tho
cnomys hands, I can only answer, although I
may not bo understood, that I ascribed it to
nothing clso than thisIt was not God's will that
I should fall into their hands. Let those who
rejoice at my miraculous escapes give all tho
praiso to God."
SOME OF THE SECRETS OF THE BOER WAR
are revealed when General DeWet, refer
ring to tho war against women and the mlsuHo of
tho whito flag by the British, says: "That much -direct
and indirect murder should have boon com
mitted against dofenselcss women 'and children is
a thing I would liavo staked my head would havo
never happened in a war conducted by a civilized
English nation, but yet it happened." Referring to
his own forces, DeWet explains: "It was far
easier to flght against tho great English army
than against the treachery among my own peoplo,
and an iron will was required to flght against
both. Once, If only our orders had been carried
1 out a little moro rtrictly and if only tho most
elementary rulesof strategy had been obsorved in
our efforts to break tho British lines of communi
cations, Lord Roberts and his thousands' of
troops would have found themselves shut up in
Pretoria, where they would havo perished of
hunger. It was not the skill of their conimander-In-chlef
that saved them."
a? a?
IN A RECENT INTERVIEW RELATING TO
the prospects of congressional action, Sena
tor Halo of Maine said: "There will be no mod- .
dllng with tho present tariff." Tho senator fur- '
ther said: "The DIngley act hits givon tho peoplo
of the United States moro revenue, more business,
moro trade ahd moro prosperity than any bill
over before enacted." Referring to tho Hale In
terview, a writer in tho Now York World presonts
some instructive figures. On the "more rovenuo"
point this writer shows that for the fiscal year of
18,97 tlfo total receipts of tho government wero
$347,721,905, of which customs duties, collected
under the Wilson tariff, yielded $176,554,120
moro than one-half. For the fiscal year 1902 tho
total receipts of the government were ,$502,478,
233, of which customs duties, levied under tho
DIngley tariff, yielded $254,444,708 or $54,000,000
less than one-half. According to this writer, it
was only necessary In 1897, under tho Wilson
tariff, to raise $140,688,774 by internal taxation.
In 1902 It was necessary, under tho DIngley tar
iff, to collect $271,880,122 by internal taxation '
nearly twice as much as In 1897.
a a? af
ON THE POINT OF "MORE BUSINESS, MORE '
trade, more prosperity," Iho World' writer
shows that while in 1897 our exports amounted to
$1,050,993,550, In 1902, under the DIngley tariff,
they amounted to $1,381,719,401, an Increase of
$330,725,845 In five years. It Is further pointed
out that under the "Wilson tariff tho total value
of our exports increased from $892,140,572 In 1894
to U.050,993,556 In 1897 an Increaso of $158,852,
084 in three years. In other words, tho total
yearly value of our exports has Increased only a
very little faster under the DIngley than under
tho Wilson tariff, and that slight increase is due
to the more rapid growth of our unprotected agrl
culturalexports, not to the growth of our exports
of protected manufactures.
a? a?
THIS SAME WRITER SHOWS THAT UNDER
the Wilson tariff exports of manufactures
increased from 19.02 per cent of our total exports
in 1893 to 20.87 per cent of our total exports in
1897 an increase of nearly 8 per cent In four years.
Under tho DIngley tariff exports of manufactures
have increased, from 26.87 per cent of our total
exports in 1897 to 29.80 per cont of the total in
1902 an increase of only 3 per cent in five years.
After presenting these very Interesting figures,
the World writer observes: "But for the unpro
tected farmer and planter, whose exported prod
ucts havo Increased by nearly $300,000,000 a year
since 1896, while protected manufacturers havo
only added a little more than $175,000,000 to thefr -total
export values in the same period, the "more
trade and more prosperity" of which Senator Halo
speaks would be a minus quantity."
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