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ACCORDING to government statistics, the
United States now leads the world in the
production of crude oil. An Associated press dis
patch under date of Washington, April 18, says:
"Geological survey statistics made public today
place the world's production of petroleum in 1902
at 185,151,089 barrels. Of this the United States
and Russia produced 91.4 per cent. For years
Russia has led in point of production, but an in
crease or 19,377,722 barrels in the production of
the United States in 1902 and a decrease of 4,
628,515 barrels in the production of Russia caused
these two countries to change places and put the
United States at the head of the list. More than
double the quantity of the higher grades of re
fined products is obtained from the average crude
petroleum produced in the United States than is
obtained from Russian oil. The United States
produced 'nearly 2,26 barrels of refined products
in 1902 for every barrel produced by the rest of
the world."
ANDREW CARNEGIE has created a
fund of $6,000,000 for the benefit of depend-,
ents of those losing their lives in heroic efforts
to save their fellow men, or, if only injured, for
themselves. A Pittsburg correspondent to the
Atlanta Constitution, referring to this fund, says:
"Provision is also, .made for medals to be given
in commemoration of heroic acts. The endow
ment is to be known as 'the hero fund,' and con
sists of $5,000,000 of first collateral 5 per cent
bonds of the United States Steel corporation. The
trust is placed in the hands of a commission, of
which Charles. L. Taylor is president and F. M.
Wilmot, secretary. The scheme was conceived by
Mr. Carnegie immediately after the Harwick mine
disaster,, when he .summoned to New York
Charles L. Taylor, chairman, and F. M. Wilmot,
manager of, the Andrqw Carnegie relief fund, to
.discuss with them plans for the relief of the suf
ferers from this catastrophe, it is provided that
jio grant is to be continued unless it he soberly
and properly used, and the recipients remain re
spectable, well-behaved members of the commun
ity. A medal shall be given to the -hero or widow,
or next of kin, which shall recite the heroic deed
it commemorates. The medal shall be given for
the heroic act, even if the doer be uninjured, and
also a sum of money should the commission derin
such gift desirable. The field embraced by the
fund is the United States and Canada and the
waters thereof." ' ,
IN A LETTER addressed to the committee, Mr.
Carnegie outlined the general plan, saying,
"To place those following peaceful vocations who
have been injured in heroic eifort to save human
life, in somewhat better positions pecuniarily than
before, until again able to work. . In case of death,
the widow and children or other dependents to
be provided for the widow until she is remar
ried and the children until they reach a self
supporting age. "For exceptional children, excep
tional grants may be made for exceptional educa
tion. Grants of sums of money may also be made
to heroes or heroines as the commission thinks
advisableeach case to bo judged on its merits.
The sea is the scene of many heroic acts and no
action more heroic than that of doctors and nurses
volunteering their services in the case of epidem
ics. Railroad' employes are remarkable for hero
ism. All these and similar cases are embraced.
Whenever heroism is displayed by man. or woman
in saving human life, the fund applies"
AUNIQU.E loan association organized in
Sacramento, Cal., sixteen-years -age is yet
in existence and Is known as The Progressive In
vestment association. Referring to this society, a
writer in the New York Commercial says: It
"was never a 'get-rich-quick', concern, though m
&ome years it has paid its members as much as 16
per cent interest on their investments. The '-first
sorles of its shares matured in six years, paying
$100 for each $75 invested or paid in, and later
series havo done nearly as well. The association
had its birth in a local barber shop, and its
membership has leen confined to colored, men.
The plan followed is that of loaning small sums
of money to members and others .for periods of a
few weeks or months on sqme sort of good secur
ity at high rates of interest. In this way, interest
is .rapidly compounded, and the aggregate earnings
are large. Recently the association purchased
some valuable real estate out of its surplus funJs
a transaction that drew attention to its meth
ods and operations. One of the peculiarities of
the organization is that its offlcers receive no
salaries. They have been annually re-elected for
the whole period of sixteen years, and serve un
selfishly for the common good. The association
has no offices, and its business is transacted In the
barber shop of one of its officers. It is incor
porated under the laws of California. There has
never been a defalcation or a loss, save that one
colored brother was unable to repay a loan of
$25; but this debt was cancelled after he had paid
interest amounting 'to the whole of the principal.
The officers servo without bonds. There have
been as many as sixty members at one time, and
the present assets amount to $30,000 or more. On
a loan of $10 the interest is usually fifty cents a
month, and larger sums are loaned at like rate"."
THE New York writer known as "Holland," in
- a contribution to the Cincinnati Enquirpr
provides food for democratic thought when ne
says: "Of course,, Mr. Belmont cannot contem
plate Judge Parker" as a candidate without also
being convinced that if elected president Parker
would have no violent antipathy to corporate or
ganizations. Mr. Belmont is the last man to aid
to the 'presidency any man who has radical con
victions upon such questions. Moreover, as Judge
Parker seems to have taken Mr. Belmont Into his
counsel, and presumably to have mapped out with
Mr. Belmont some of the preliminary campaign
ing, it is inconceivable that he should accept Mr.
Belmont's friendship with a mental reservation,
and should go to the presidency accepting all that
his party has of late proclaimed in the way of op
position to combinations and corporations."
REPRESENTATIVE PATTERSON of
Tennessee, in a speech .delivered to the
house, said that it is believed that General Gros
vonor's campaign biography of Mr. Roosevelt re
cently published in the Congressional Record was
not a biography, but an auto-biography. Major
Carson, the Washington correspondent for the
Philadelphia Public JLedger, referring to this
statement, says: "The gossip that this ostensi
ble sp.eech, which is very voluminous and was
printed solely for campaign use, emanated from
the president-himself, has been common about
the corridors of the capitol, but Mr. Patterson was
the first to voice the suspicion publicly. Though
printed as a speech, no such speech was ever de
livered. General Grosvenor. published it under
the 'leave to print' privilege. If, as suggested by
Mr. Patterson, the work is Mr. Roosevelt's, it be
comes authoritative as the president's own view
of the way in which he desires to appeal to the
people."
AFTER describing this remarkable address,
Major Carson says that it is written in a
r "style utterly foreign to that of General Gros
venor." Referring to the current gossip concern
ing this document, this correspondent says: 'it
is asserted that the change in General Grosvenors
literary style is noticeable throughout the paper.
It is full of sentences which have a strangely fa
miliar ring, but do not sound a bit like Gros
venor it is declared, as for example the following:
'Personal effort and the homely, old-fashioned vir
tues are the first requisites of order and progress
in every community.' Several pages of quotations
from Mr Roosevelt's speeches favoring labor are
.printed. Over three pages are devoted to the set
tlement of the coal strike, which the author ca.ls
'President Roosevelt's most widely Icnown and
generally appreciated contribution toward the im
provement of industrial relations.' It points out
thatTe succeeded 'when the. efforts of all .other
peacemakers bad come to naught and the coal
famine remained unbroken at the near approach
S winter ' It also declares that the president's
commission 'vindicated the principles of union
ism One striking sentence from the article is
Hrft- 'In his recognition of unsocial and Illegal
acUon through cunning, President Roosevelt dif
Lrs from Se critics of worklngmen who see
Slme ta erery act of intimidation or physical vipt
Snce that occurs in the course of a strike or lock-
out, but fall to recognizo tho lawlessness of tno
' men who obtain special privileges from legisla
tures and municipal councils or evade tho payment
of their just taxes.' In summing up Mr. Roose
volt's labor record, and aftor mentioning that
the president is the special friend of labor and
laboring men, tho writer says: 'I point with
great pleasure to tho record of Theodore Roose
velt. In this behalf. I challenge criticism. I chal
lenge disapproval. I call for approval by the
American people.' "
ONE brilliant staraccording to a writer in
the St. LouIb Republic glows in these
nays of commercial strife and waru This writer
explains: "It is the statue of Jesua Christ that
has been built by the joint governments of Ar
gentine and Chile upon the boundary line separat
ing those countries. ThiB statue of tho Prince of
Peace stands for commercial and physical happi
ness and prosperity of the Argentine and Chilean
people. The Nazarene was himself for peace
among nations and individuals. His teachings
were all for peace, for tho love of one for another
and for the" betterment of tho world. How far
mankind has wandered away from these teach
ings is apparent in many sections of tho earth.
Nations and races and individuals fiercely strug
gle for military conquest or for commercial su
premacy. The Bible is often forgotten when the
sword is taken up. Christianity is by men and
monarchs garbed in selfishness and blood. In the
midst of wars and competitions stands the statue
on the boundary line of Argentine and Chile, two
countries which have been ravaged by contend
ing armies time and again; where revolutions
have been frequent and where Individuals have
fought and struggled on bloody fields for con
quest and self-aggrandlzenfcnt. It Is a brilliant
star, not In that section only, but In the world.
It is an incentive to tho people of Argentine aid
Chile to follow their every-day pursuits In the
firm conviction that the statue means peace. and
happiness and that the sword has been laid away
to eat jltself out 4 wIUi rust."
TH E house has passed tho bill providing for
the joint statehood of Indian Territory and
Oidahoma, under the name of Oklahoma, and of
Arizona and New Mexico, under the name of Ari
zona. Delegate Wilson of Arizona opposed the
plan and it was favored by Delegates Rhoder of
New Mexico and McGuire of Oklahoma. Mr. Wil
son of Arizona contended that the union of Ari
zona and New Mexico would be against tho will
of the people. Mr. McGuire of Oklahoma said he
was not entirely satisfied with the measure, but
ho was willing to vote for it. It Is believed, how
ever, that the bill will not become a law at this
session. It Is expected that it will be pigeon
holed in the senate.
PUBLIC attention has recently been directed
to litigation between the Hill and the Harri
man railroad interests. In the merger case, the
United States supreme court affirmed the decree
of tho United States court of appeals, permitting
the Securities company to return and transfer to
the stockholders of the Northern Pacific and Great
Northern Railway companies any and. all shares
of stock of those companies which it may have
received from such stockholders in exchange for
its own stock, or to make such transfer and as
signment to such person or persons as are now the
holders and owners of its own stock originally
. issued In exchange for the stock of said com
panies." AFTER the supreme court's decision was
rendered and Mr. Hill had announced a plan
of distribution by which the Northern Securities
stock was to be surrendered and the holders
would receive part of the Northern Pacific stock
and part of the Great .Northern stock in return
therefor, Harrlman objected. A writer in tho
Chicago Record-Herald explains the litigation in
this way: "Mr. Harrlman wanted all his compen
sation In Northern Pacific stock (his original con
tribution), which would have given him control
of the road, whereas by the Hill plan he and his
associates would become minority stockholders In
both roads. On this account he sought to . inter-
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