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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1904)
The Commoner. (FEBRUARY 12, 1904. I CURR6NT TTrSoir oi villi! !!kpL. ,. LT HE TREATY WITH HAYTI WAS RATIFIED rJL by the senate in executive session February 1. Tills treaty provides that natives of liayti !-wlio may have been naturalized heretofore in the United States or who mav be naturalized here after shall lose their citizenship in this country and become citizens of Hayti when they return to that country and resido there for a period of two years. The Washington correspondent for 'the Denver News, referring to this treaty, says: "Tho treaty discriminates against Hayti, and in favor of all other naturalized citizens. It tends to show tho contempt with which the rights of the negroes are regarded in the United States. Such a treaty would not have been thought of against naturalized citizens born in an Anglo- Saxon or a Latin country. There were only live votes against the treaty. , Three democrats and two republicans. Senators Teller and Patterson were of the three that took the ground that the colored man, wherever he was born, who becomes a citizen, should bo protected in his citizenship as K much as a man of white blood." rHE COMMISSION APPOINTED BY THE British government for the purpose ol mak ing suggestions as to how to make tho 'war department more efficient has advised that "the' appointment of military members not hitherto closely connected with existing methods and who therefore are not likely to be embarrassed by the traditions of the system which is to be radically changed." It is reported by the London correspondent for the New York World that this means the abolishing of the post of commander-in-phlfif now hpl.i hv Lord Roberts. In fact this $ correspondent says that with the approval of K, the king the government has decided to appoint an army council similar to the admiralty, to aDoi Jsh the $25,000 office of commander-in-chief of the army, and to create tho new post of inspector general, whose chief duty "it will be to inspjpet and report on the efficiency of the forces, confin ing himself to facts without expressing any opin ion on policies. THE MILEAGE QUESTION PROVIDES AN 1N toresting subject for discussion at the Capi- I tui- City. There was no recess between tho spe cial and the regular session or congress, ana yeu many members insisted- that they were entitled to draw mileage, not only for the special session, "but also for tho regular session. The New York World says that the republican majority of the house were willing to vote this mileage money for traveling to their homes and back although the traveling had not been done. The World points out that "the legal larceny would have varied from a comparatively small sum for the New Yorker to $1,200 to each for some Pacific slope members." The situation with respect to this k proposed steal is described by the World in this way: "A provision to pay this mileage was .actually drafted into a pending hill. It was even carried by a yea and nay vote. But when tellers were demanded, when every member knew that he must go on record, not one man stood out for the steal. Its open advocates in private speech, the men who had raised their voices for k it in oral vote, were afraid to stand out in the Ef open. And now these virtuous statesmen are hoping that tho senate wm restore the mileage item in the urgent deficiency bill and 'compel the house to accept it' Not if publicity can prevail! The same fear of public opinion which Impelled thn -milanee crabbers to unhand their suoH will If again be po'ent to restrain them. Thieves do not plunder where a brignt ngnt hums." IT WOULD BE WELL IF IT COULD BE SAID of many of the men of this country that "A little child shall lead them in the light of the excellent rules of citizenship laid down by an Italian boy, age 13 years, of New York city. That lad recently prepared an essay on citizen ship for the City History club of New York. Among the rules laid down by this boy are the following: "If I want -to be a good citizen I must be true to my country, true to my state and true to my city. If I do not vote I will not be doing vmy duty. I mu3t have my own judgment to vote for the man I think is best qualified for the office which he has been nominated for. If I don't I won't be doing my duty. I must not let anybody bribo me to vote for a man I think not fitted for an office. It will also bo my duty to be In dustrious and self-supporting, so as not to be a burden and a nuisance to the public. I must pay taxes, so that the government can bo maintained and tho officers of the government paid, because the government is for my good. When it is nec essary I must help to maintain order and always be ready for public servico, and in case of war serve my country. I should know the history of my country and be an intelligent reader and a close observer of current events." r ar AN INTERESTING STORY IS TOLD BY THE Port Jervis correspondent for the New York World. This correspondent says: "Irving Cox had a leg cut off by a train just before the holi days, and the. log was placed in the receiving vault of the ceinetery. A few days ago Cox com plained to his , wife that there was something hurting his severed leg. Ho became so nervous that members of his family went to the receiv ing vault, opened the liox containing the severed limb and removed a bit of frozen sand. Although Cox did not know that this had been dono, it is said that the instant the sand was removed his pain ceased, and upon their return thoy found him happy and free from the annoyance." vr 'S THE QUESTION OF THE PURCHASE OF railways by the state has been fceriously discussed in the press. The Paris correspondent for the New York World says: "The chamber .debated the. purchase of the systems of tho 'Chemin do For de l'Qusst and tho Cheniin de Fer du Midi, and finished by maintaining the status quo, which shows the management of French railways is organised in a superior man ner. Here is tho sum of the debate. The state gives charters to the railway systems and guar antees the shareholders in the companies a mini mum dividend. But at the end of a certain time the railway lines revert to the state, which Is bound to pay the companies only for their roll ing stocK and an amount sufficient to make up a reasonable dividend ' upon sums expended. At present the state can count upon all French rail ways becoming its property about the middle of the century. Without loosing its purse strings it will receive from them an Income of more than 600,000,000 francs ($120,000,000), representing a capital of $4,000,000,000." a? r IT IS POINTED OUT BY THIS PARIS CORRE- spondent that those who favor the railway purchase propose that the government borrow $4, 000,000,000 in order to get at once what this cor respondent says it "will have for nothing in fifty years." Referring to this proposition the World correspondent adds: "This is a bad financial scheme, as M. Rouvier, the minister of. finance, explained successfully. But his colleague, Camllle Pelletan, belongs to a party which denounced and characterized as criminal the agreements made with the companies. M. Pelletan therefore favors the purchase, but he made a mistakp in declaring he was not in accord with his colleague. Rouvier is the correspondent of an important journal in South Delpeche, Toulouse, whose influence is con siderable in the chamber of deputies. This is the first sign of a split in the cabinet. The nation alists at once attempted to exploit this cUfferencc between the two ministers, and they asked per mission to interpellate the cabinet upon its finan cial policy and thus allowed it to be seen that their whole policy tends to a ministerial crisis. It may be that this incident will bring together again the majority, which has been 'a little upset by the imprudence of Pelletan." REAR ADMIRAL CAPPS, CHIEF CON structor of the navy, recently recommended to Secretary of the Navy Moody that the his toric ship Constitution should be retained in ordi nary at the navy yard at Boston, and repaired from time to time, so that she was to be preserved indefinitely. The Washington Star says: "The Constitution will be made into a naval museum, the nucleus of which is now at the Boston yard. The secretary also has decided to name the next battleship appropriated for by congress Constitu tion, in order that the name may bo preserved in tho navy. It had been proposed to robuild the old Constitution and fit her as a training ship, but this was believed to bo impracticable. Tho deci sion of tho secretary to preserve the historic ves sel Is tho result of a movement to preserve tho Constitution, which might be likened to tho agi tation when Oliver Wendell Holmes saved her by writing his poem, 'Old Ironsides,' beginning, 'Aye, tear her tattered ensign down.' Charles Francis Adams some time ago wroto to Secre tary Moody about tho deterioration of the Con stitution. The Massachusetts Historical associa tion sent a petition to the house of representa tives asking that tho vessel bo repaired, so that she might bo placed in commission as a training ship. Rear Admiral Capps was sent by Secretary Moody to Boston to Inspect tho ship. Ho found tho planking-in fairly good condition, but many of the timbers wero rotten. Ho reported that the old craft could not bo made fit for servico unless sho were practically reconstructed." If1 ac SOME INTERESTING STATISTICS AS TO THE various generals who served In tho civil war were recently presented In a talk before the Oneida (N. Y.) Historical society at Utica, by State Historian Hugh Hastings. According to the New York Times, Mr. Hastings recalled that at the outbreak of the war for tho Union Ulysses Grant was a tanner; McClollan a railroad presi dent; Sherman a banker in Now Orleans; Rose crans, Hooker, Slocum, Halleck and Burnslde wero also out of tho service; Thomas was a major in tho Second cavalry; Meade a captain of engineers; Sheridan had just been promoted first lieutenant in Grant's old regiment, the Fourth Infantry; Hancock was a captain in the quartermaster's department; Schofield was a first lieutenant of artillery; Granger was a'flrst lieutenant. Most of the officers who afterwarrt became distinguished in the confederate service, had continued in the army from the time thoy were graduated from West Point to the breaking out of tho war. Lee was colonel of tho First cavalry; Albert Sidney Johnson colonel of the Second cavalry; J. ft. B. Sturt a captain of cavalry, Hood first lieutenant of cavalry; Joe Johnson quartermaster general of tho United States army; Beauregard captain of engineers; Longstreet a major In the pay corps; Stephen D. Lee first lieutenant of artillery; Bragg had resigned in 1856, and Stonewall Jackson was an instructor in tho Washington and Lee Univer sity at Lexington, Va. While Grant was unques tionably tho greatest fighter the war produced, Mr. Hastings added, to McClollan belongs the glory of standing as tho most brilliant organizer. ac a? CONSUMPTION OF EARTH AS FOOD IS SAID to be a common practice in Oriental coun tries. It is claimed that the people of China, New Caledonia and New Guinea, as well as those of tho Malay archipelago aro addicted to the habit A writer in the Now 'York Tribune sajg: "In Java and Sumatra the clay used undergoes a preliminary preparation for consumption, being mixed with water, reduced to a paste, and the sand. and other hard substances removed. Tho clay is then formed into small cakes or tablets about as thick as a lead pencil and baked in an iron saucepan. When the tablet emerges from this process it resembles a piece of dried poik. The Japanese frequently eat small figures, roughly modelled from clay, which resemble the aDimals turned out in pastry shops." THE FIRE-RESISTING PROPERTIES OF the material known as asbestos are well known. A writer in tho New York Herald says that asbestos is found in Vermont, California, in the Joaquin valley and the Sierra Nevadas. In this district, Black Lake, Toleraine, Thetford, Danville, etc., aro full of asbestos mines. The enemy of danger from fire exists in the Russian steppes, the Swiss Alps, the rock bound fortresses pf Himalaya, the mountains of Silesia, the Saxon lowlands, Norway's Fjords, Spain, Italy, Greece and the islands of the Mediterranean. The world is full of astbestos, and the United States Asbestos trust, with the United Asbesto company of Lon don, controls it all. In 1879 this district pro duced less than 300 tons of asbestos, worth ?20r- fn-imririiigitrniiMi ifimMiiiyit