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The Commoner,
VOLUME 3, NUMBER t.
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141
CURB8NT
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A REPORT RECENTLY MADE BY THE CHIEF
of the bureau of insular affairs shows that
tho immigration into tho Philippines from the
United States has greatly fallen off and that tho
hulk of the foreign commerce of tho Islands is
carried under the British flag. Tho Washington
correspondent for the New York World presents
an oxtract from this report showing that during
tho fiscal year ending October 31 the total num
bor of arrivals in the Philippines was 24.13G as
compared with 30,094 in 1902. Of this year's to
tal only 10,925 were Americans, 5,000 fewer than
during tho previous year. The American la
borers who went to tho islands this year num
bered 8,074, a decrease of 2,303. There was a
slight increase in tho immigration of lawyers,
clergymen, merchants, clerks and farmers. ' ' -nine
por cent of tho trade was carried in British
ships, as compared with 67 per cent last year.
Tho Philippine exports to the United States
amounted to $14,000,000, of which only 3 per
cent came under the American flag, while 90 per
cent was carried by British ships.
! !?
WHAT IS DESCRIBED AS A GREAT DE
vlco for l ving lite at sea has been patented
by a former lieutenant commander of the United
States navy. A dispatch to the Cincinnati En
quirer from Cleveland, O., says that this device
is so arranged that if the water flows through one
compartment of a ship from one ca so or tho other
it can instantly be confined by tho simple pressure
of a button. The Enquirer dispatch explains:
"All the captain will havo to do will be to press
the button on the bridge and every door and
bulkhead on tho boat will be as tight as a drum.
In tho event of a puncture in the bow or any other
part of the ship tne closing of the doors and bulk-
' heads by electrical arrangement may save the
boat from destruction and tho lives of -those on
board. W. B. Cowles, manager of the Long Arm
System company, at Lake and Wason streets, a
former lieutenant commander of the United States
navy, is the patentee of this arrangement. The
government has adopted the device and has en
tered into a contract with the company to supply
all new battleships, cruisers arid other government
boats with them."
CHARLES P. W. NEELY, CONVICTED IN
Cuba of appropriating $45,375 of its postal
funds, while acting as director of tho finances of
the postofllce in Cuba, was defeated in his effort
to recover tho sum of $25,000 cash bail which he
.deposited. Neely was relieved of tho court pro
ceedings by the act of amnesty passed by the Cu
ban congress in May, 1902, whereby all Americans
convicted of crime in Cuba during tlio occupancy
of the island were pardoned. NeeTy filed applica
tion in the United States court before Judge La
combo petitioning for the return to him of tho
$25,000 cash bail. Tho United States goyernment
filed attachment proceedings against the sum. On
November 23, Judge Lacorabe overruled Neely's
.motion, saying: "It is difficult to understand by
what process of reasoning a provision as plain as
. this (the amnesty act) can be so construed as to
transfer the title to property from the true owner
to the thief who stole it."
A CABLEGRAM FROM NEW YORK UNDER
datto of November 24 and carried by. tho As
sociated press says: "Foreign Secretary Lans
downo has requested tho council of the foreign
bondholders to supply further details of the Co
. Jombian loan. Whon drawn up these will be
forwarded to Ambassador Durand and presented
. to Washington to urge tho rights of British bond
holders in connection, with the republic of Pa
nama. .Tho council says: 'When Panama de
. clared its independence of Spain, it was stated in
the solemn declaration of tho revolutionary junta
'that' the territory of the isthmus belonged to tho
j, sta,te of Colombia, to ttie concresses whereof it
J should, in due course, send its deputy.' The war
i with Spain coptinuod fpr some time thereafter,
, ' drid ' in 1822 .Colombia Issued an external loan of
$1'0"000,000, tho greater part of which was to bo
'devoted to prosecuting .the. war o independence.
In 1824 Colombia issued a further loan of $23,
1 ' 750,000 for the same pifrpose. J,t would be, sur-""-
prising If Panama attempted to repudiate respon
sibility for 'tlie money which assisted her to be
come part of a free state Tho foregoing is the
gist of a. iengthy statement which will bo for
warded to tho British embassy at Washington.1
THE STATEMENT THAT SOME OF SENATOR
Hanna's friends havo been in Wall street
sounding the financial interests with reference to
Mr. Hanna's candidacy for the presidency, is
vouched for by the New York Times. The Times
declares that it is asserted by a person in tho
confidence of Senator Hanna that tho senator will
be a candidate for the republican presidential
nomination next year to succeed Mr. Roosevelt.
The Times adds: "It is said to be the hope of tho
Hanna leaders to enlist also the aid of Senator
Quay, despite tho part the Pennsylvania senator
played in the nomination of Mr. Roosevelt for
vice president in 1900 against the wishes of Sena
tor Hanna. Local politicians pointed out last
night that should Senator Piatt commit himself
to the support of Mr. Hanna, and should tho pres
ident consequently seek the aid of Governor Odell,
there would be a situation somewhat similar to
that which preceded the factional fight between tho
'stalwarts' and 'half breeds' after the quarrel be
tween President Garfield and Senator Conkling in
1,881. The Hanna leaders are said to believe that
President Roosevelt is weak in some of the east
ern states, and that he is losing strength in tho
south because of the race issue. They concede him
strength in the far west."
ACCIDENT BULLETIN NO. 8 HAS BEEN
Issued by the interstate commerce commis
sion and covers the railroad accidents in. tho
United 4 States for the t.iree months-ending on
June 30, 1903, and also completing the statistics
of accidents for the fiscal year. .The Railway Age,
referring to this bulletin, says;. "As compared
with, the preceding quarter tho accidents reported
show a' most gratifying decrease, the number of
.killed in' train ..accidents being 230 and the num
ber Injured being 2,629,, as against 300, and 2,834,
respectively, in the preceding quarter. Other
kinds of accidents to employes and passengers,
not the result of collision or derailment, bring the
total number of casualties up to 12,305, as against
12,308 in tho preceding quarter, the total num
ber of persons Jrilled, however, being 83 less than
in the preceding quarter. Tho total number of
employes killed in coupling and uncoupling dur
ing the quarter was 62, being 14. less than in the
preceding quarter. Tho total number of colli
sions and derailments was 2,605 (1,406 collisions
and 1,202 derailments), of which 201 collisions and
126 derailments affected passenger trains. The
damage to cars, engines and roadways by these
accidents amounted to $2,476,934."
AS COMPARED WITH THE PRECEDING
year, this bulletin disclosed a large increase
in the number of casualties. There were 3,554 persons-killed
and 49,977 injured during the year as
against 2,819 hilled and 39,800 injured in the pre
ceding year. The Railway Age says: "This large
increase is partially explained by the large in
crease in railroad traffic that has taken place dur
ing the past year, and the fact that there were
therefore a much larger number of men at risk.
The number of men employed in train service on
June 30, 1903, was 12 per cent greater than on June
30, 1902. There Is also a good explanation of the
increase to be found in tho fact that the inter
state commerce commission has been persistent in
its insistence on full reports of all accidents from
all railroads during tho past year, and as a con
sequence accidents are much more fully reported
at tho present time than they were a vear aeo
and previous to that time." b '
THE .INTERESTING PROPHECY IS MADE
byj the London .correspondent of the Chicago
later-Ocean that within three months telegraphic
communication without intermediate 'repeating
stations Will be established for the first tiinVbe
tween Now York tn,d London' and telegrams4 Wll
be exchanged at; a sbeed of more; than four times
the, previous capacity of any cable. The same
correspondent makes, tho assertion that within a
year a will b6 as feasible to .converse by'tele
. Phone hereon pwYprk and London as, it' is at
. prpsent between' Ne York. and Brbojdyn foV in-
' it.- I
stance. How these interesting results are to hn
accomplished the Inter-Ocean correspondent dow
not -divulge, but says that when tho permission
of tho inventors is obtained, tho secret will be re
vealed.
ADMIRERRS OF ROBERT BURNS WlLb
be interested in the statement that the Auld
Brig O' Ayr, which bridge Burns immortalized in
a poem, is in danger of collapsing, n will bo re
membered that in Burns' poem, the spirit of the
Auld Brig when reviled by tho spirit of the new
Brig, made tho remarkable prophecy: "I'll be a
Brig when yore a shapeless cairn, said the Auld
Brig to the new." A cablegram to the Chicago
Tribune, under date of London, November 11, re
ferring to the old structure, says: "Tho prophecy
has turned out true now, twenty-five years after,
. and the Auld Brig is tottering on its old founda
. tions, how old it is difficult to say. Cut deep into
the wall are the figures 1252. There are people
- who say the date is mythical, but Architect James
. Norris, who is an expert archaeologist and who
is interesting himself in stirring up the burgh
council to spend the $3,600 necessary to restore
the Auld Brig, believes there is nothing improb
able In, the date. The Ayr council is beset by one
difficulty in the matter, and that is why should
they spend ?3,500 of the public funds if they can
get tho money required for nothing? It seems
that about a quarter of a century ago a man
named Templeton left $50,000 at interest, which
at the death of his two sisters was to be devoted
to rebuilding the Auld Brig. But the will was a
heliograph, written on a small piece of paper, and
other distant, relations took proceedings disputing
the will. Now the Ayr council will have to as
certain their legal status towards the money, but
the' wheels of the law revolve slowly and mean
while the Auld Brig may fail.'
OFFICIALS IN ST. PETERSBURG HAVE AD
mitted that the Russian policy leading to
the occupation of Port Arthur and Manchuria was
a mistaken one and- there is little prospect that
tho results of that policy will compensate for tho
vast expenditure of money and blood entailed.
This statement is made on the authority of tho
. London correspondent for the Philadelphia Public
Ledger, who explains: "M. Witte, author of the
policy, has been removed to another sphere, and
Admiral Alexieff is charged with the duty of re
pairing, as far as possible, the errors committed.
The attempt to secure an ice-free port in the Pa
cific is believed to have failed. It was hoped that
Dalny would meet all requirements, but it was
found that the southwestern winds caused such
high seas that a huge breakwater was constructed,
costing 17,000,000 roubles. Since the breakwater
was built it has been found that the water in the
. harbor freezes in winter. It became necessary
therefore, to seek a new port. There is an ad
mirable ice-free port at Masanpho, Korea, but
the Japanese thwarted the Russian attempt to
secure this."
A RECORD-MAKING EXPERIMENT WAS Re
cently carried to a successful conclusion in
Brockley, Worcestershire, in England. The Lon
don Mail tells the story in this way: "At 8:30
o'clock one morning Messrs. Taylor & Sons, or
tho Sheaf House farm, Brockley, started to cut a
field of wheat. As fast as the sheaves were cut
they were carried to the granary, and there
threshed and winnowed. These operations tooic
six and a half minutes. Thence tho wheat was
taken to a mill of J. H. Painton, and there exvaa
and dressed in five and a half minutes. At tne
adjacent bakehouse the flour was made into dougji
and molded into cakes and loaves. Seven small
loaves were taken from the oven at 9 o'clock
thirty minutes from the time the wheat was
" standing uncut. The larger loaves were finisneci
in forty minutes. One was sent to the king anu
'others presented to Lady Nortnwicn auu w
"Redesdale.1
A HUMOR HAS-BEEN CURRENT. FOR MANY
years in Hungary, that a son, of the German
,' emperor is learning the Hungarian language witn
o ,i,. t.i U At,c VftA'-mvntrnrffiTi throne
,v.on the death1 of Francis Joseph,, The Buda Peatn
resppndent;for;tho'St.;L6uIs"G19be:!uemol-
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