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6
The Commoner.
. ' VOLUSIE 3, NUMBER 3
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fi CURR6NT GOPIGS W
PERHAPS THE MOST EXCLUSIVE ELEVA
for in the world la the one provided at tho
capital at Washington, D. C., for tho supremo
court o tho United States. This elevator can be
used only bf tho nino justices of the supremo
court, and no ono would for a moment consider
ontorinuj it except as tho guest of one of these
nino privileged men. Tho elevator goes from
tho ground floor of tho capitol to tho main floor,
on which is located tho supremo court of tho
United States.
IN THE RECENT SPEECH OF QUEEN WIL
helmina bdforu tho states general at Tho
Hague, among tho bills announced was one "pro
viding for rest on tho Sabbath." Although this
bill is ostensibly declared to bo a measure "for
tho moral rectitude and temperance of tho na
tion," in somo quarters it is regarded as an at
tack upon, certain religious factions of tho Neth
erlands. On account of this view, tho bill is said
to bo unconstitutional, as special provision is
made in tho constitution for the liberty of con
science, complete social equality and independent
practice of religion. According to the New York
Times, "tho bill in question demands 'the abso
lute tranquility of tho Sabbath,' the suspension of
all bodily toil, tno closing of all shops or places of
business or of amusement, and tho prohibition
Df assemblies othdr than those gathered for re
ligious worship."
AN INTERESTING CONTROVERSY IS ON IN
Derby, Conn., in which a suit hinges on the
question as to whether tho legal definition of sun
set depends on the almanacs or the time at
which the sun actually sinks below tho horizon.
A special dispatch from Derby to the New York
Times, under date of October 3, tells the story in
this way: "Mayor Uillivan ordered the arrest of
Irving S. Coan for driving a rubber-tired car
riage without a light, tho law requiring lights
oho hour after sundown. I court Coan asserted
that, according to the almanacs, he had four
minutes to spare before it was necessary to light
up. On this ground the city court discharged him.
Coan then sued Mayor Sullivan for false arrest.
Mayor Sullivan's attorneys hold that the sun
had actually sunk beneath the hills more than
an hour before tho arrest. Tho hills are high.
Each side has agreed to take the case to tho
higher courts in case of defeat."
A REPORT WAS RECENTLY ISSUED SET
ting fprth in detail a survey of the birth
rates of various parts of tho world during the
year 1901. According to a writer in the New.
York-Tribune, it appears tha' three German cities
Btand at the head of the list Essen, with 47.1
per l-,000; Mannheim, with 43.9, and Nuremberg,
with 41.3. Only ono non-German city rose to 40
births por 1,000, and that was Rosario, in tho
Argentine. Of cities possessing more than a
million inhabitants, Moscow comes first, with
80.9, and Vienna, London, Berlin, New York and
Paris follow with a decimal in excess of 21 per
' 1,000. Rio Janolro is at th bottom of the list
of large cities, with a rate of 17.4.
ftC IK
f N LONDON AN ATTEMPT IS TO BE MADE
I to solve the domestic problem by the for
mation of a new club called tho Arachno club,
which is to bo composed entirely of 7omen. This
club has for an object tho purpc:e to train young
Tubmen for domestic service, eliminating scrub
bing and similar rough work, which is to be left
to charwomen. It is expected that this course
of training can bo completed in nino months, three
devoted to ordinary housewoik and six to cooking,
"and at the end of tre course tho domestics will
have -to pass an examination, for which certifi
cates will be given.
THE HEROIC CONDUCT OF A YOUNG LADY
of Linares, Mex., during tho recent yellow
fever epidemic there, has attracted the attention
of President Diaz and tho Mexican congress and a
medal . has been conferred upon her. The name
of "this young woman is Miss Manuela Flores, and
, Bhe is the daughter of the mayor of Linares.
When tho epidemic of yellow fever was raging in
tho city, thousands of people wore stricken and
among these was Mayor Floras. His daughter as
umed tho duties of mayor and has capably di
rected tho affairs of the city. Tho population of
the city was reduced from 16,000 to lees than 3,0004
as a result of death and the tfanic due to the
epidemic. All tho city officials were stricken with
tho fever and died, and tho burden of directing
tho affairs of tho city fell upon Miss Flores, the
governor giving her full pewer to act as mayor
of the city.
THE STATE DEPARTMENT AT WASHING
ton has received a report from Consul 'Gen
eral Hughes at Co burg, Germany, which report
tends to show the marked falling off In the doll
trade of the world. The Washington correspondent
of tho San Francisco Chroniclo says: "Accord
ing to Consul Hughes, who reviews tho situation
under the- caption, The Doll Trade of Thurlngia,'
the trade with the United States for tho year end
ing Juno 30, 1903, amounted to $1,840,013 out of .
total export of $3,552,607, but Thurlngia's trade
with the other nations slumped badly. England
did a very poor doll business with Thuringia. No
demand seemed to exist for dolls. Tho causo
of this is hard to tell. Canada did somewhat bet
ter in the cheap class of goods, but even this trade
might bo much Improved. Australia and other
British colonies have not ordered anything like
tho same amount of goods as in previous years.
Austria-Hungary may be said to have practically
stopped buying in Thuringia. Switzerland, Neth
erlands and Belgium each are doing only a small
business in low grade goods. Argentine Republic
has done a small business for years which seems
to remain about the same; tho same may be said
for Brazil. Cuba's trade has not picked up since
the war. The Central American trade has never
been large, and of late it has fallen off entirely..
The slump is traceable in various nations of the
world. French competition is believed to be" re
sponsible in some cases for the falling off oft
Thurlngia's trade."
if gf
BECAUSE OF THEIR PRUDE OF RACE,VTHE
Chickahominy Indians of King William
county, Virginia, have disfranchised themselves,
and not one of them can vote under the new
constitution of Virginia. A telegram to the New
York Tribune, under date of Richmond, Va Sep
tember '25, says: "The new organic law provides
for only two classes, and as the Indians could not
be registered under the class for whites, they re
fused to bo classed with the negroes, and as a
consequence refused to be registered at all. Their
pride of birth will cost them their votes, and
they have no redress, as the number of Indians
in the state is so small thn iv, was not thought
necessary to provide a special class for them unr
der the franchise clause bf the new constitution."
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED MINE
Workers of America, John Mitchell, has
written a book on labor. According to the St.
Paul Dispatch, "Organized Labor; Its Problems,
Purposes and Ideals, and the Present and Future
of American Wage Earners," is tho title. Seven
of the fifty-eight chapters are devoted to the coal
strike of last year, and President Roosevelt is
commended for his appointment of the anthracite
coal strike commission, which act is termed "a
landmark in tho history of labor." Mr. Mitchell
adds that "the president of the United States
thus asserted and upheld the paramount inter
est of the public in conflicts affecting the injury
and welfare of the community." The history of
tho strike is fully given, and the account is free
from invective or denunciation of the operators.
Strikes as a last resort are defended, but both
sldeT to an industrial . dispute are urged to meet
each other fairly and exhaust all means toward
a peaceful settlement before such conflicts become
necessary.
THE POPULAR IDEA THAT THERE ARE NO
"good" Indians except the dead ones, is in
a fair way to be disproved by the annual report
of Major G. L. Scott, acting Indian agent of the
Chippewa reservation, which has just been issued.
This report declares that in that reservation alono
there are 219 Indians who can read, and 270 who
can converse in English sufficiently to make them
selves understood. There are 418 children of school
age and 57 per cent of the Indians obtain a living
by civilized pursuits. The St. Paul Dispatch, re
ferring to this report, says that Agent Scott esti
mated the amount of snake root gathered as s nnn
pounds and this was sold for $1,500. Other nrn,i
nets sold for $7,500, making a total of $9,500 earnS
by the Indians during the year. m
If if
REFERRING TO THE OCCUPATIONS OP
the Chippewa Indians, and tho results ol
their labors, the St. Paul Dispatch quotes the re
port as follows: "The Chippewas cultivated 400
acres and put under fence 2,700 acres. They
raised 1,500 bushels of potatoes and gathered 1,500
tons of hay. They own 125 horses, 80 cattle 300
swine and 600 fowls. They hauled in by their
own teams 310,079 pounds of freight, the value
earned being $3,117. They sold to the govern
ment of their own products $4,431, and to others
$9,500. There are three church buildings and
three Catholic missionaries and one Episcopal.
There are 39 baptized Indians, who are also com
municants, and b7 Indians baptized only. The
money spent for education was $4,600, and for
church work was $280. There were 67 births and
1 suicide. The actual birth rato is above the death
rate, yet the statisnqs for 1899 show . total ot
1,346, a loss of 26, but this is accounted for by
the removal from the roll of Indians who have
gone elsewhere and are on other pay rolls at
different agencies."
tc so
THE NEW DIETARY SCHEME WENT INTO
operation in the British navy recently, ac
cording to a London cablegram to the St. Louis
Republic. It is said that the blue jackets and ma
rines for the first time will be provided with jam
and milk, and they also henceforth are to have
five meals per diem. Under th formersregime, a
grateful country supplied the sailors with only
three meals in twenty-four hours, and Jack and
Joey 'were officially presumed to go without food
between supper time, at 4 o'rlocn on one day, and
5 o'clock breakfast on the next day. The gaps,
needless to say, had to be fll'.'Jd in by private ex
penditure at the canteen. In orer to supply each
man with rations of two ounces of the jam, three
quarters of an ounce of sweetened milk, about
15,000 pounds of the former and 6,000 tins of the
latter will be required daily. In addition the
crews will also receive half an ounce of coffee
daily, which makes a total of 3,750 pounds for
the entire seryice.-
tr &
FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE OUR ACQUI
sition of the Philippine islands, according
to Public Opinion, we have a statement of the
total population of the islands, the approximate
accuracy of which may be safely accepted. Public
Opinion says: "The new government census Is
completed so far as the main labor, that of enum
eration, is concerned and needs only the revision
of the tabulators. Subject to that, the figures
for the total population are 6,976,574, which are
remarkably close to the estimate of, 6,961,339 made
by the "American census officials in 1900 and tho
estimate of 6,975,073 made by the bureau of insular
affairs in the war department in 1902. In round
numbers, then, we iray conveniently say there aro
seven million people in our Philippine depen
dency." THE KEYS THAT LOCKED THE GREAT
gates of the Bastile in Paris, France, at the
time of its fall were subsequently sent to America,
and for nearly, a century remained in the pos
session of the family of the Frenchman who tooic
them from the famous prison. A writer in tno
Kansas City Journal, giving; the history of these
famous relics, says: "When the mob stormed tne
prison on July 14, 1789, a Parisian, Carrier Le
chastel, is said to have boqn the urst to rusa
over the drawbridge as it fell. It was ho, at any
rate, who overtook a fleeing jailer and tooK uj
keys from him. The mob immediately stuc.Kn"
keys on the end of a spike and an immense tmonb
paraded with tlum through the streets. They w
considered one of. tho most valuable trophies u
the revolution. Lee. -tel kept the keys and tnej
remained 1n his family u til 1859, when a
scendant of the fam' y emigrated to Anient ,
taking them with him., Eventually tho keys w
them for twenty-five yearsr exhibiting them ir"
time to time, whon they were sold to a Canauu
The keys at present are very old and rusty.
largest of them 1r twelve Inches long anu p