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MAY 22, i903.
The Commoner.
7
pmt!ipM i injnn'iiiiy
"former 001001" declares that this government
Bhould throw away ambition for national predomi
nation, that it should not permit ambitious men
and commercial exploiters, under the pretense .of
spreading commercial Christianity, or bearing tho
white man's burden, divert its attention from the
domestic affairs and this writer takes occasion of
the Manchurian incident to say: "We shoull
leave other nations and peoples civilized and
uncivilized to work out their own fortune or
destiny under the processes of evolution. No radi
cally distinct people have' ever adopted a foreign
civilization. If numerous enough and sufficiently
virile, they have absorbed and amalgamated tho
v.conquering people, or the conquering people havi
" exterminated or enslaved the natives. You can
not with the bayonet pin your religion or civiliza
tion to another people. Oh! the fruitlessness and
folly, the curse and crime of our expansion to
the Philippine islands! It was not only without
reason, but suicidal. It gives an imperial ten
dency to our government, diverts attention from
domestic affairs, makes uss vulnerable in war, and
involves us in the 'great eastern question' that is
yet to deluge the Eastern Hemisphere in blood."
IT IS VERY LIKELY THAT ANY PROPOSI
tion that this government should join other
powers in proceedings against Russia would "be
very unpopular among the masses of the Ameri
can people. Russia's well established friendship
for this government has, in spite of tho faults
and weaknesses of Russia, endeared that govern
ment to the people of tho United States. Refer
ring to our obligations to Russia, a writer in
Harper's Weekly says that we ought now to sym
pathize with Russia's reasonable desire to secure
ah ice free outlet to the sea for her vast Asiatic
possessions. This writer adds: "England has
repeatedly baffled her attempt to secure such an
outlet, and at this hour stands ready to deny her
access to tho Mediterranean through the Bos-
porus, and to the Persian gulf, or Indian ocean.
She has at last gained the coveted ice free outlets
at Port Arthur and Dalny, but of what use will
those harbors be to her unless she can thorough-
4 "y control the branch lino connecting them with
the Transsiberian railway? The maintenance of
such control unquestionably involves tho practi
cal absorption of Manchuria."
' ,.y NO T ER p'oiNT OP VIEW FROM "WHICH
J it may behoove the American people to
consider the Manchurian situation is pointed out
by the writer in Harper's Weekly. According to
this authority: "If the Russians are expelled
from Manchuria, it is certain that the Japanese
will take their place. Once planted in Manchuria,
the Japanese will Inevitably become preponderant
. in northern China, and eventually masters of the
Chinese empire. Thenceforward, tho four hun
dred and fifty millions of the yellow race, con
solidated, organized, invigorated, enlightened, and
directed by the Japanese, will constitute a source
of tremendous peril to the rest of the civilized
world. Should Russia, on the other hand, be
permitted, through the occupation of Manchuria,
to interpose herself between the two sections of
the yellow race, the political fusion of those sec
tions might be averted, and tho peril of which we
have spoken would be for a long time postponed,
' if not annihilated. We hold that the interests
of mankind are vitally concerned in the creation
of barriers to the acquirement of ascendency by
the yellow race. We have Tead history in vain if
wo have forgotten that European civilization has
- been four times threatened -with extinction at the
hands of Mongol peoples, to-wit: by the Huns,
by the Avars, by the Magyars and by the Tar
tars. We might say five times, if the traces of
their Turanian origin had not by the end of the
fifteenth century disappeared from the Ottoman
Turks almost as completely as they have from
the Hungarians. Those earlier invasions would
seem insignificant if compared with the danger
Ithat would threaten us should the hundreds of
millions of Chinese' be trained and led by a
Japanese Napoleon."
THIRTY-FIVE HUNDRED NEW PENNIES
was the cause of a blockade of all tho
traffic forhalf an hour along Chestnut street from
Seventh to Eighth streets in the city of Philadel
phia. According to the Philadelphia Public
Ledger, the pennies which caused all the troubl9
were in a canvas bag carried by James Harvey,
an eleven-year-old boy, who had been sent by
Berg Bros., a Market street firm, to the Trades
men's National Bank. The messenger boy was
skipping up Chestnut street very gaily when the
thread which held together tho canvas bag broke
'And 3,500 pennies dropped to the sidewalk. The
.boy went ahead and several hundred pennies
stayed bohind. The little coins scattered In a
most amazing manner, going in every posslbla
and in some seemingly impossible directions,
across the trolley tracks and into tho doorways
of stores and offices. Every ponny seemed to havo
fallen on its edge and to havo rolled indoflnltoly.
When the frightened boy set up a wail for help
business was suspondod all along the block. Trol
ley motormen stopped their cars and men and
women began tho search for the elusive ponnies.
Messenger boys and newsboys and kindly hearted
people by the score gathered around tho unfor
tunate lad and offered their help. Pennies rolled
in from all sides, and Master Harvey accopted
them all. It is understood that late in tho after
noon the messenger boy was able to deliver 3,5u0
pennies to tho Market street firm, and was still
168 pennies "to the good," as ho characterized it.
TN A STATEMENT CONCERNING THE PHIL
1 ippines, Henry C. Ido of tho Philippine com
mission says: "I would say that tho greatest
help that congress can give us will be to relievo
us from tho heavy burdens imposed by .the Ding
ley tariff on tho exports from the islands to tho
United States. It is impossible for tho Philip
pine manufacturer of cigars to send his goods to
tho United States without paying as a duty a
tariff amounting to 75 per cent of tho Dingloy
tariff or 25 per cent of $4.50 per pound and 25 per
cent ad valorem in addition."
RECENTLY IT WAS PROPOSED THAT'
the wall about tho city of Manila bo de
stroyed, but a general protest from the patriotic
societies in tho United States has resulted in a
change of plans and an Associated press dis
patch says that tho secretary of war has given
instructions to Governor Taft not to disturb the
Manila wall. Tho removal of a small portion of
the wall, so commerce would bo benefited, was con
templated, but even to this Secretary Root ob
jects. Manila is now tho only "walled city" in
tho oriont and it is Secretary Root's intention to
have it preserved. It is quite likely that tho
moat outside tho wall will be filled up as a sani
tary measure.
P (
ANEW "400" HAS BEEN DISCOVERED BY
the New York Commercial. This "400"
comprises tho men who aro directors in a number
of corporations practically controlling tho wealth
of the country. John D. Rockefeller is placed at
tho head of tho list as the wealthiest man, al
though he is a director in only four companies,
John D. Rockefeller, jr., is director in six compa
nies. William Rockefeller is director in twenty
nine companies. According to the Commercial,
the Rockefeller banks represent wealth amounting
to $500,000,000, and the wealth of other corpora
tions with which various members of tho Rocke
feller family are connected, will amount to at
least $5,000,000,000. The Commercial says that
Daniel O'Day is director in twenty-four compa
nies; H. H. Rogers, in twenty-five; James Stil
man in fifty-two; J. Pierpont Morgan in thirty
three, although Mr. Morgan's partners represent
an interest in hundreds of other concerns. Charles
Steele is director in thirty-flvo corporations;
Chauncy M. Depew in sixty-nine; E. H. Harrlman
in forty-seven; William N. Baldwin in forty-ono;
Charles D. Barney in thirty-five; E. J. Berwind in
twenty-five; George F. Baiter in thirty-nine; Aug
ust Belmont in thirty-eight; George Gould In four
teen; Edward Gould In thirty-two; Frank J.
Could in forty-nine; Howard Gould in thirteen; H.
O. Havemeyer in twelve; James J. Hill in twelve;
H. C. Huntington in thirty-eight; Samuel Sloan
in thirty-one; W. K. Vanderbilt in fifty; Russell
Sage in twenty-four. Tho Commercial prints
among this four hundred many names with which
the public is not at all familiar. It would be in
teresting if the Commercial would now give tho
names of the comparatively small number of men
who actually control the Commercial's "400."
A SCARCITY QF COD LIVER OIL IS RE
ported and is accounted for by the destruc
tion of the fish by the seals and lean conditions
of the livers of those that have been caught, re
sulting from tho cod being driven from their
habitual feeding grounds about the Lofoten isl
ands. A representative of one of tho largest con
sumers of this oil in the United States, speaking
to a representative of tho Philadelphia Press,
says: "In the year 1900 the yield of the Nor
way fisheries was 21,000 barrels of oil. In 1901
it was 22,000. In 1902 the total yield fell to 14,
000 barrels, and this year, up to April 15, with
the fishing season practically completed, the total
catch yielded only 520 barrels. The total world's
production of cod -liver oil outside of Norway
does not exceed 2,000 barrels annually: Of tho
total product Great Britain consumes about 35 per
cont and tho United States 25 per cent" It is
reported that A. Frank Richardson several months
ago, realizing tbat there would bo a scarcity in
oil, purchased 1,000 barrels of cod liver oil at $28 a
, .SS months lator Mr. Richardson was
offered $90,000 tor his 1,000 barrels or $G2,000 more
than ho had paid. Ho declined tho offer and tho
market prlco of this oil has now advanced to $134
a barrel. Tho Philadelphia Press says that If Mr.
Richardson cared to disposo of his original 1,000
barrels, he could do so at a profit of $100,000 on
an investment of $28,000.
GEORGETOWN RESIDENTS ARE NOT LIKE
ly to forget tho recent coal striko while
they have an ever-present reminder of it under
their eyes. The Washington City Times explains
that "a deserted one-story houso with a long
high board fence on two sides of it, stood on tho
corner of Twenty-eighth street and Olivo avenuo
northwest. It has now disappeared entirely.
Aunt Ohlocs' who taka in washing abound in tho
neighborhood, and with soft coal 20 cents a basket
even a splinter of wood was a windfall Co them.
Tho domand undoubtedly existed and tho supply
was soon forthcoming. Under covor of tho night,
wood-poachers made short work of tho board
fence. Every morning as the Georgetown people
went to tho city they noticed that tho fence was
dwindling. Not satisfied with taking away tho
fence, the poachers attacked tho flooring, window
shutters, and rafters of tho house Itself. Today
.not a remnant of It remains. The foundations
wore pulled up and tho bricks were not even
respected. Policemen werp vigilant, but so far as
is known not a single nrrest was made while
tho house melted liko snow in the sun. Tho case
is believed to bo unique."
EIGHT VEGETABLES NEW TO THIS COUN
try aro being cultivated in the government
experiment stations. Tho department of agricul
ture intends to introduce these vegetables to tho
truck gardeners. The Washington correspondent
of tho Chicago Tribune describes these vegetables
as follows: "A European okra of giant propor
tions; is a valuable starch producer. From Mex
ico is a pepper largely used in that country, and
a 'husk tomato,' which makos delicious sweet
pickles. A decorative apd medicinal vino is a
cucumber, also Mexican, which distributes its
seeds broadly when ripe by violently exploding.
Chevril, a sedge liko plant from Europe, produces
a tuber of hazel nut size, which, eaten raw, tastes
like cocanut Tho Indian 'basella,' a vino, has
blossoms like an arbutus and fruit liko a black
berry bush."
AN INTERESTING STORY RELATING TO A
legal code that Is said to bo nearly 1,000
years older than Moses, is related by the Federal
Reporter. According to the Reporter, this codo
has been unearthed in Susa, the ancient capital
of Ahasuerus, It is in tho form of a column of
stone some five feet high and sets forth in three
hundred paragraphs certain of the rules of law
governing Babylon 2300 B. C. Among other things,
in this codo it is provided that: "If a man
knock out the eye of a freeman his own shall bo
forfeited. If he break one of the members of a
man his own member shall be removed." But this
rule applied only in tho case of freemen. If the
suffering party were a slave a payment of money
could make good a wrong. The same was true
of a frcedman. On the other hand, if an inferior
struck a superior he was punished with fifty
lashes and if ho was a slave the ear was cut off.
The lex talionis was carried so far that if a sur
geon was unsuccessful in performing an opera
tion he was not entitled to any pay. If the pa
tient died under the hand of tho surgeon the lat
ter lost his hands, in case the patient was a
freeman. If a slavo died under his hand he must
buy another. In case a builder made a failure of
a structure he was also punished with death.
Whether imprisonment was one method of pun
ishing "wrongdoers does not appear, but evidently
If at all applied it was of comparatively small im
portance. Money fines were, howover, very com
mon and were proportionate to tho wrong done.
Ho who falsely claimed that another was in
debted to him must pay one-third of a mlna.
Theft of an animal was punishable by a fine of
thirty times its value. Hammurabi was much con
cerned for the safety of his highways. A robber
who attacked a person on the public road was
ldlled or if be could not be found then the com
munity in which the crime had taken place was
fined a mlna in caso the life of a human being
had been lost
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