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A
tudo of tho wifo, while hostile to the Ideal do
mestic state looked for by tho husband, hos not
prevented tho parties from living together in
some mannor, described by the defendant as
'nomadic,' and fraud, which finds Its expression
not in any facts, but solely in tho deceiving par
ty's stato of mind, cannot suffice as a ground for
annulment of the marriage. A marriage for in
terest may usually bo conceived to involve somo
concealment of tho interested party's real mo
tives, for tho truth, if boldly proclaimed, would
bo found offensive as a matter of doportment
among enlightened persons. The self-respect of
both parties would call for somo show of affec
tion. If the facts alleged In this case could suf
fice for an annullment, marriage for lovo would
bo tho only lawful marriage a condition favored
by tho poets, but not as yot adopted in our system
of jurisprudence."
AN' INTERESTING ARTICLE RELATING TO
Russia and published in a recent number of
"L'European," a journal of international inilu
onco, issued at Paris, has attracted widespread
attention in Europe, and is referred to in a re
cent number of "Public Opinion." Referring to
this nrticlo, Public Opinion says: "The author
is a Danish publicist, BjornsLjerne Bjornson. Ho
assumes that Russia is an undesirable and dan
gerous clement in Europe and Asia, and as a
moans of thwarting her further advance proposes
that othor nations stop supplying her with money.
Slnco 1899, the writer estimates, Russia has bor
rowed abroad $700,000,000 with which to build
flcots and to maintain an army no less than to
establish tho gold standard and build railways,
and M. Bjornson seems to take it very much to
heart that 'the larger part of this foreign gold,
which has maintained tho Russian institution and
sorvod its plans of oppression and of conquest,
has llowed from the country of "liberty, equality
and fraternity".' "
PHIS AUTHOR SAYS THAT IT IS ADMITTED
in France and America that without French
gold tho Russian institution 'would have gone to
smash long ago. Ho adds: 'No centralized pow
or, oven the best, is for any length of time capable
' of governing so many and varied peoples. No
hand, no matter how powerful, can stretch over
such an onormous territory or unite so many
contrary destinies, created by varied climates and
by numerous racial and leligious differences. But
what tho best government, what tho most power
ful hand cannot perform becomes chaos and mis
ory under a feoblo autocratic power or a bureau
cratic institution that is mercenary and men
dacious, unstable and oppressive. Without the
foroignor's aid it would have destroyed itself,
whether by revolution or by asphyxia. What,
- however, would have been most natural would
have boon a general disintegration of tho admin
istration of the colossal masses of Russia accord
ing to a scheme of federalization. With the aid
of tho foreigner's gold all the Inflammable ma
terial of this formidable accumulation of injus
tice and distress has been able to bubsist until it
has bocome a danger to us all. Unless a war pre
cipitatos her upon her neighbors a war which
' would bo followed through long years of tnunaer
ings and tumults she will continue to court them
as of yore. On this point. Russian and foreigner
agrco. But war will como. If up to the present
time all tho powerful Russian institution has not
recoiled before any of the means taken to pro
long its existence, why should it recoil before
war '-"Whatever tho rosult of tho war, one thing
is certain tho payment of interest will cease.
Russia will thank the aid given her by state
bankruptcy."
IT ?
piIICAGO PHYSICIANS HAVE DECLARED
V ,wr on ,tlle anti-toxin trust. This trust has
raised the price or its life-preserving serum un
V. , He c.hnaren ot the poor are at the mercy of
diphthorla. The Chicago Record-Herald says:
Ono method of carrying warfare to the trust
already has been adopted while two others are
under discussion. A boycott of other and more
dispensable remedies manufactured by the trust is
tho first of the retaliatory moves, and already
the wholesale and retail drug houses have been
told that the wares of tho trust will not bo pur
chased. Legal action against the trust and the
?iSUS? w.V0 laboratny for the man uf ae
lif n 4rXi a.r thQ other measures pro
posed." Dr. W. K. Jaques of the city health le-
; partment says: "The physicians of Chicago are
convinced that persons who would take advant
ago of the public in this way are not to be
.. trusted in the manufacture of other goods and
many physicians already have requfsted
The Commoner
drugs mado by tho trust be not used in their
prescriptions. This action of doubling the price
of anti-toxin'is an outrage, and undoubtedly will
mean increase in the death Tate among children.
There is no substitute for anti-toxin. Certainly
no reason exists on business grounds for tho in
crease, and example may be found in the city of
Newark, N. J., which manufactures its own anti
toxin. Statistics show that it costs Newark only
52 cents per patient treated, while for one doso
of 3,000 units, oven under the old rate, the trust
charged the consumer $4.50 for the cheaper
grade." Another physician says that the increase
in anti-toxin price is in the nature of a tragedy
and will mean many deaths among children whose
parents are unable to buy. Secretary Pritchett
of tho Chicago health department says: "Tho
anti-toxin trust is nothing more nor less than a
traffic in human life. Three concerns, which con
trol tho anti-toxin supply, have advanced the
price 100 per cent, and it should bo noted that
tho increased prices quoted by the trust to the
city arc the prices of the manufacturers to the
jobbers. This means only the initial point in
the advance. This question touches not only
Chicago, but the whole country."
TT WILL BE REMEMBERED THAT THE
1 czar of Russia recently issued a manifesto
declaring for certain reforms in the condition of
the peasants of his empire. It was announced
from St. Petersburg on January 17 that the min
ister of tho interior had completed the draft of
the peasant code, and that it would be sent to the
local committees throughout that country in a
few days. Tho St. Petersburg correspondent for
the Associated press says: "Members of tho no
bility in each provincial district will be allowed
to elect members of these committees, but the
elective assemblies, composed of landed propriet
ors and artisans and peasants, will be appointed
by the governors. Tho committees will be al
lowed freedom to discuss the project and propose
any changes therein except on three points
which tho emperor has reserved from discussion;
namely, that the peasant class must remain- en
tirely separate legally from tho other classes;
that the committee is to remain untouched by
legislation, and that tho peasant lands are to
remain inalienable. These points stamp the
'forthcoming legislation as conservative in the
main, but the present chaos is so great and so
much room is left for tho arbitrary conduct of
the police and local representatives of the min
istry of the interior as well as of the peasant
courts and administrative machinery and their
commune town meetings, that the liberals declaro
any codification would be in the line of progress.
The ministerial project proposes to retain tho
system of corporal punishment, but tho emperor
did not Include this among the matters not sub
ject to discussion. The emperor regards the pre
servation of the peasant class, the retention of
the economic commune, and the inalienability of
the peasant lands as necessary for the protection
of the peasants from exploitation.
A COMMUNICATION WHICH WILL BE OF
interest to students and other residents of
the United States who may bo natives of Switz
erland, was recently submitted to the state de
partment by Consul Lieberknecht at Zurich. This
communication calls attention of Swiss natives
who come to this country to the necessity of -providing
themselves with passports. According to
a writer in the Chicago Chronicle, many natur
alized American citizens who were formerly Swiss
citizens labor under a misapprehension as to their
Old and new citizenship rights and responsibili
ties. They return to Switzerland without natur
alization papers or passports, only to find them
selves Swiss citizens again. The consul adds
that a person never loses citizenship, no matter
how long he may absent himself, unless he goes
through certain necessary formalities. If he re
turns and is owing a military tax he is compelled
to pay the same in spite of the fact that he is
an, American citizen. The only way to be re
leased from old responsibilities is by makine a
written request to his home community for such
release, submitting proof at the same time that
ho has acquired American citizenship;
TN BAVARIA EXPERIMENTS ARE BEING
I made in the manufacture of cotton from
Pine wood. The method is described as being to
Sertothsubrec?ditt0t thG finest layers ESw
.tiion io suoject It to a vapor process fnr ton
hours, after which it is plunged into a soda
bath .where it is to remain thirty-six hours oft
and gelatin is added to the mixture to give it a
VOLUME 4; NUMBER 2.
resistant quality, and machinery ia then om
ployed to draw it out and untangle it. The MuT
ich correspondent for the Chicago Inter-Ocean
referring to the new discovery, says: "The pro
cess is said not to be expensive, and it is thou&h
that if this cotton can bo made of practical uso
Europe will be independent of America and India?
The immense forests of Scandinavia and German
would furnish ample material for her 'cotton!
supply'
r
A BILL IS NO,W PENDING IN THE HOUSE OF
representatives at Washington appropriat
ing two thousand dollars "for the relief of the
Methodist Episcopal church (colored), corner of
Fifth avenue and East Second street, Rome, Ga "
Tho New York Times tells the story of this claim
in these words: "It seems that in 18G4 there was
a church at the place mentioned which had been
built entirely at their own cost by the colored
people of the town, 'free and slave. With the lot
it had cost them $2,500. When tho Union army
entered Rome on the 'march to the sea' the
church, which occupied the highest poirit in the
town, was demolished, and fortifications were
erected on the site. For the property thus de
stroyed no compensation was then made, or has
since been made. About 1867 an attemot was
made through the froedman's bureau to secure
relief for the congregation, but none of the funds
of the bureau wore available for such purposes.
Wow, nearly forty years after the property was
taken, congress is asked to pass the necessary ap
propriation, and the committee on war claims un
animously recommends the action. It is remark
able that property of this amount should have
been in the possession of colored people and a
church supported by them in a southern city so
late in the progress of the civil war. It is not
creditable to the United States government that
no compensation has ever been made for the de
struction of the property, especially as it must bo
remembered that the .owners were, according to
the classification of that day, not only loyal to
the government, but probably about the only loyal
residents of the town." ,
A VESSEL THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE. THE
oldest ship of her kind sailing under the
British flag is described by 'the St, JameS'Ga
zette. It is said that "her name is the Dart; she
was built at Carnarvon seventy-eight years ago,
and ever since has been in constant employment.
At one time she sailed between Carnarvon and
Liverpool; she is now engaged in the coasting
trade between Arbroath and ports on the north
east coast of England. The Dart has another dis
tinction besides her age. She is manned by tho
oldest crew sailing the high seas. The captain
is seventy, the mate seventy-two, the cook seventy-one,
and a seaman sixty-one a total of, 352.
They have been with the Dart for some years;!
and were all boys together."
IT
FOR SOME TIME .REPORTS HAVE BEEN
coming in to the affect that the Eskimos in
the territory of the United States-are disappear
ing and will entirely perish unless government
aid is extended to them in the near future. The&o
reports have now received official confirmation,
and it is said that not more than 4,000 Eskimos
now exist and this number is being rapidly de
creased. A writer in the Washington Times
says that "according to the statements made even
the laws enacted by the United States are an aid
in killing off the race. These are the statutes for
the protection of seals and some of the other ani
mals of the Far North, which these people killed
as they needed them in past years. Reindeer sta
tions have been established for the aid of the
northwestern Indian tribes of Alaska, but noth
ing has been done by the government to replace
the animals upon which the Eskimos lived in
former years."
THIS' DEPLORABLE CONDITION, HOW
ever, does not extend to all brandies of tho
Alaskan Eskimos. Tho Washington Times
?f?Pi,ad2K.,.,ThflrB are tnree trib, the Chil
iZ n' thK?,lkit8' and Hulas, who are apparently
2212 ug ,theLr. own with the Pale-skinned invaders
with bad whiskies and ills of civilization. These
people are closely allied, and all are workers,
ihey have discarded many of their savage cus
toms and have gone to work. They aro in tho
saw mills, the canneries and all other industries,
ana many of them have succeeded as well as. the
whites. They are the owners of several smaller
dust i aDd numorous saw mills and other in-