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number 30,000, embracing a force larger than the
United States standing army ..prior to the war
with Spain. Referring again to the pay roll, this
congressman says: "Tho rural carriers have been
doing pretty well In tho matter of salary, anyhow.
Up to two years ago they got $300 apiece per
year, and thought therasolves lucky. In 1902 tho
cry for more pay went up from all the carriers,
and It had such an effect on congress that their
pay was doubled in every Instance. Tho salary
of $000 satisfied them for about a yeai, when
'moro pay' again became tho cry. Now congress
is hooding tho demand, tho now postofllco bill pro
viding for an increase to ?720 a year. This puts
them on a footing practically equal with the car
riers in tho small cities. Tho carriers in towns
with less than 75,000 inhabitants start in at ?GuO
a year and are promoted to $850 at tho end of
tho second year, and stick there. Tho pay of
carrlors in tho larger cities Is better, $1,000 being
tho limit. Ninety-seven por cent of this appro
priation of $21,000,000 for rural dolivery goes out
in 3alarieu."
MATTHEW W. PINKBRTON, CHIEF OF
tho famous detective agency, recently deliv
ered an address before a Chicago society, and le
clared that political corruption and dishonesty in
public places aro responsible for a largo propor
tion of tho crime and criminals. In this address,
Mr. Pinkorton said: "As long as tho majority of
our public servants aro thieves and blackguards
efforts to suppress crime will prove a dismal
.failure. One thieving alderman or official can
corrupt hundreds. Tho downfall and punishment
of ono man known to thousands will have a moro
salutary offect than tho conviction of a hundred
petty thioves. He who resorts to knavery to se
cure a public ofTlco and uses it for fraud and
theft Is far moro culpable than tho unlettered,
half-civilized gamin who pick's a pocket or
snatches a loaf of bread to satisfy tho cravings
o hunger. Aldormcn of largo cities generally
purchase, and at a considerable cost, their politi
cal positions. They corrupt many of their con
stituents and start thousands upon a course of
crime. Tho transition from stuffing a ballot box
or falsifying an election return to picking a
pocket and sandbagging a pedestrian is not diffi
cult. Our modern politician employs those al
ready corrupted, but many join tho criminal
classes by way of tho political route. In largo
cities, liko New York and Chicago, thousands of.
criminals owo their existonco to political cor
ruption." ,
ONE OF THE ODDEST COINCIDENCES IN
tho history of court affairs in -West Virginia
is reported by the Huntington correspondent for
tho Cincinnati Enquiror. This Incident occurred
'February 27 at Winflold, Putnam county, West
Virginia, during tho trial of Charles Hughes for
tho murdor of John Mason. Tho trial lasted for
ton days, and on February 7, just betore tho close
of tho arguments of tho attorneys, two of the
jurors fell in a faint within a few minutes of each
other. Court adjourned for an hour, and as tho
jurors woro again resuming their seats in the
jury box a third juror foil in a faint. Physicians
cannot explain tho odd occurrence.- At another
liino earlier in tho trial of the caso ono of the
lawyers asked for a recess of an hour, as he
was deadly sick and had to be led from the court
room. Hughes was convicted of second dcKree
murder.
IT IT
GOVERNOR VARDAMANN OF MISSISSIPPI
recently provoked tho lynching of a negro
by personally interfering in tho plans of a mob.
Word reached tho governor that this negro was
to bo burned at the stake. Tho governor sum
moned tho adjutant general and a militia com
pany and boarding a special car, went to the jail
at Tutwoiler, whore the negro was con fined and
escorted htm safely to a prison at Jackson, Mis3.
Governor Vardamann is being highly compli
mented by tho press of the country because of his
prompt and vigorous action.
THE VIGOR DISPLAYED BY GOVERNOR
Vardamann in putting down mob violence
appears to surprise many people who imagine
that, because of tho governor's well-known posi
tion on the negro question, ho might not be dis
posed to provida protection to a black man The
Jackson, Miss., correspondent for tho Chicaco
Chroniclo says: "The governors action has
caused a tromondous sensation. It came as a
total surprise and was in direct opposition to his
campaign policy. During tho campaign his anli
uegro policy was tho talk of tho country." This
correspondent adds that tho governor was elected
The Commoner
on tho most rabid anti-negro platform ever
launched in a southern stato and that his cam
paign drovo. thousands of ignorant negroes from
tho state because they feared a return to slavery.
It seems, however, that, while the governor en
tertains strong opinions on the race question, he
thoroughly understands that it is his duty to pro
vide protection to every man within his juris
diction. WHAT ARE REFERRED TO BY CORRE
spondonts as "annoying complications"
have arisen in Paris in connection with the Pa
nama canal. Two suits have been filed in tho
courts of Paris by the government of Colombia
against the Panama Canal company. In one of
these proceedings, the court is asked to prohibit
tho sale of tho canal property to the United States
government. In the other the court is osked to
pass upon tho title to a certain number of shares
in tho company, which stock Colombia claims to
own. It is announced that until these cases are
disposed of by the French courts, the United
States government cannot complete its canal ar
rangements. REFERRING TO THE PENDING
change in the government of Great Britain
a writer in the Kansas City Journal says: "The
Balfour cabinet, despite its evident determination
not to get out until it is kicked out, probably
cannot much longer maintain its position. When
parliament met it had a nominal majority of 120
in the house of commons. It succeeded the other
day in defeating a motion by John Morley, the
adoption of which would have been equivalent
to a direct declaration by tho house of a want of
confidence in the government, but its strength has
gradually dwindled until on last Friday night
it came within fourteen votes of being defeated
on an amendment to a naval bill proposed by tho
opposition. It is possible that the situation in
the commons will cause parliament to be dis
solved within six weeks and a general election to
be called. In that event, if the liberals win, the
unionist ministry must resign."
THE DECLINE OF THE PRESENT CONSER
vativo unionist government began long ago
and tho Journal writer says that for several
months It has remained in power, not so much
because of its virtue, unity and popularity as be
cause of tho divisions of its opponents. This
writer adds: "The circumstances under which
it began the Boer war alienated no small part of
the English nation from it. Its management or
rather its mismanagement of that war the
enormous expense the conflict entailed, and the
scandals that were stirred up in the war depart
ment, hurt it further. Its education bill while
finally passed, did it the opposite of good. The
resignation of Lord Salisbury from the premier
ship and tho succession of the acute and casuisti
cal, but weak and vacillating, Balfour, gave It an
other blow. Finally, Mr. Chamberlain enme for
ward with his scheme for reversing the nation's
free trade policy and split the hitherto united
conservative-unionist party. He atUhe same
time afforded the hitherto divided and inhar
monious liberals an issue on which they could
unite, and sent many people with whom free
trade is a sort of sacred joss, skurryinK from thn
ranks of the unionists into the ranks of tho lib
erals. if IC
WHILE THE SUCCESS OF THE LIBERALS
if they win, would be duo to a variety of
.?i7'iln thG .pinIon of tue JournS wrter fc
would be construed both in England and othir
countries as partly a victory for f reo traoe Th
writer explains that it is very doubtfui if tJ
never been enough ca! i down ?o qWitS?
it is not improbablo thatSiiffi ,?' aml
chosen, will be but sho?t- ived aSSXfnh8' M
ain will return to office tc giV ffec J ? hTbT
icy of binding tho British ,nSr to hls pol
together by mm otLt.
W Wdon ON
olegram to the CincmnnH nS A5Londn ca-
VOLUME 4, NUMBER g.
Amsterdam bourse by the Marconi wireless toi-'
graph system. So far it is Hot a through rout
for the postoffice system has to be made use or
as far as Chelmsford. From tho Broomfiold Z
ceiving station, two miles from that town m
sages are dispatched to a receiving station on th
Dutch coast near the Hook of Holland, and thencA
to the Amsterdam bourse, the time elapsinK bo
tween Chelmsford and the bourse of the latter
city being four minutes. An. Amsterdam journal
the Handelsblad, is also publishing daily two col
umns of matter transmitted by Marconigrama
from Broomfield to receiving stations on the out
skirts of Amsterdam, tho London messages be
ing forwarded to Broomfiold by train. There is
even some talk of the establishment of a re
ceiving station in London in tho very near fu
ture. An even more ambitious project is mooted
Our Amsterdam correspondent telegraphs that
the Amsterdam receiving stations constitute one
end of a proposed system to join the Dutch In
dies to tho mother country, employing Piba and
Erythrea as transmitting stations. The Amster
dam station will soon receive messages from ves
sels to and from America, according to the boast
of the company's officials. Mr. Weiss, a director
of the General Trading company of Batavia, is
the prime mover in these experiments, and if they
are. satisfactory, which, of course, stiil remains to
be seen, all the Dutch islands will be coupled up
by Marconigraphy."
a ar
THE PRESIDENT HAS' SENT TO THE SEN
ate nominations as follows: Chairman of
the isthmian canal commission, Rear Admiral
John G. Walker, U. S. N., retired, District of Co
lumbia; members of the isthmian commission,
Major General George W. Davis, U. S. A., retired,
District of Columbia; William JEI. Burr, New
York; Benjamin M. Harrod, Louisiana; Carl
Ewald Grunsky, California; Frank J. Hecker,
Michigan, and William Barclay Parsons, New
York. The nominations were referred to the com
mittee on inter-oceanic canals. Referring to the
personnel of the canal commission, the Asso
ciated press says: "The commission as consti
tuted by the president is essentially a body of
engineers, six of the seven members having dis
tinguished themselves in engineering works. The
law under which the commission was created pro
vided that four of the members should be skilled
in the science of engineering. Colonel Hecker is
the only man on the commission who may be
classed as distinctively a business man. He is a
man of large affairs, and during the Spanish
American war served the government as director
of transportation. Rear Admiral Walker ha? been
entitled with this government's investigation
of isthmian canal routes for many years and is
regarded as the best informed man in the country
on that subject. Of the other members of the
commission, William Barclay Tarsons :s perhaps
the best known in the engineering world. After
many great undertakings he reached the climax
by his successful work in planning the great sub
way of New York. Another great achievement
was the construction of the railway between
Hankow and Canton, China, of which road he was
made president."
sc sr
A KENTUCKY JUDGE RECENTLY DECIDED
nnnn .tnat men who transact business on Sunday,
S!vrcu?udamaBbs against a telegraph com
pany if the latter fails to deliver correctly a tele-
SESipn? Jhatdate- tag Louisville, Ky., coirc
5S?. Jn0r ,the Cincinnti Commercial Tribune
tinnni nn ?nk A Menne, manager of the Na
PonLvt Jy cmpany- sent a telegram to tho
rw nys a?ent at Paducah, quoting prices.
?nWnffctbat the Western UnI made rals
tho i e quotatlns which cost $135 m profits,
WSS???3! brougUt suit for tnat amount. The
In J En? Hni0n !et UP th0 Sunday statute, claim
rL J n le sc,ontract for the delivery of tie mes
Sm7 LVOid' ?udge Gmdon says the plaintiff
th? r?LofC?VGr damaSs unless he shows that
puVpose l WaS a necessity or fr a charitable
if tf
not mSJSf0 l0d ocratic newspapers that do
iorkTiSi8 ticke,fc are stiI1 eneaged in the
are mnLSelectI,us a democratic ticket, but they
Stopted fnnnwith many embarrassments. They
that ho vn ? 01JG man and f0nd next day
a L w i? fdlctor In tne steQl trust. It was
a sad blow, but they soon got busy again.
PavTrnidff RoPSQVolt's congratulations to Mr.
YOTv nSfnh SirUtcm? ?f lhe oatal cases eound
Burner h,li? wnat Mr. "Payne said was tho
Srtmen? anCe f the chares of frku In thi
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