The Commoner.
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'AUGUST lfc MM.
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"CURRENT TOPICS
A RESIDENT of Castle Valley, Pa., lias a vine,
that, according to the Portland Oregonlan,
snows itself to have, if not a brain a substltutb
of equal value. The Oregonlan says: "This vine,
a young one, grew in a clay pot. A stick stood in
the middle of the pot and the vine curled up it. It
was about two feet In height; in length, uncurled,
it would have measured four feet. Usually the
vine was placed in a south window every morn
ing, where it absorbed all day the benefit of the
sun's rays. It happened, however, through an
oversight, that one afternoon a shutter shaded
half the window and the vino was set in tbo shut
ter's shadow. A foot away was the sunlight,
warm, glittering, life-giving, but where the plant
stood there was nothing but ghDom. During the
Xour days the vino stood In the shadow with the
sunlight near it it did something that proved it
to have a faculty akin to intelligence. It uncurled
itself from its supporting stick, and, like a living
thing, it crawled over the window ledge to the
sun. This vine, to be sure, did not uncurl itself
and crawl with the rapid movements of a snake.
Its movements were, indeed, so slow as to be
imperceptible. Nevertheless, looking about, It
overcame every obstacle t and finally it lay bask
ing in the sun." ' .
.""
DR. HUGO GANZ, writing in the Neuer-Mont--agos-Blatt
of Berlin, throws light in an in
teresting way on the assassination of M. riehve,
the Russian minister of m the interior. Dr. Ganz
says: "Rarely has a Russian minister been so
universally hated. Not only did Finns, Poles and
Jews abominate him, but even the staunchest Mos
qovites disliked him intensely, distrustod him and
cast it up to his face that he was not a Russian.
Dr. Ganz had rare opportunities for study and
observation, and his conclusions, though not very
favorable to his subject, are, nevertheless, ap
parently impartial. Plehve, began his career as a
spy.- In , 1880 j it happened that thirty-five Polish
socialists, among them twenty Russians, were ar
raigned in court for revolutionary propaganda in
Cracow, Galicla. Ifc'Wrts noticed that each pris
oner wag led through' a certain door on his way
out, a proceeding which the spectators did not
quite understand.' Upo"n close observation, how
ever, it was noticed that beside an Austrian officer
there stood. a Russian spy, Who was there to spot
"his" men.. That spy was Plehve, and, although,
at that time already - occupying the position of
procureur of Warsaw, he had not hesitated in de
meaning himself ...to such low espolnage. Plehve
was, during his forty years of service, always as
sociated with the secret police, and so saturated
did he become with the spying system that when
he got Into power he carried on the Internal gov
ernment of Russia by one gigantic system of
espolnage. Dr. Ganz seeks thus to partially justify
Plehve's character by explaining that he had spent
his entire life in contact with spies and criminals,
which had naturally distorted his normal view of
things."
PLEHVE'S character, according to Dr. Ganz,'
presented many interesting phases to the
student of human nature. He was not avaricious,
he was not very rich. Not even his bitterest en
emies would accuse him of ever having accepted
a bribe. What stimulated him in his zeal for
the government was an intense, morbid craving
for power. This was the keystone to his- char
acterthe ambition of controlling the destinies of
120,000,000 men. His method of keeping the upper
hand over the czar was well known. He would
always keep about his person revolutionary mani
festoes and proclamations, and, when the occa
sion required it, he would intimidate the czar into
acquiesence. pr, again, by means of his spies, he
would raise "fake" riots and conspiracies, and
then "discover" them. A curious instance of what
he would regard as a conspiracy was shown a few
months ago, when the students of the university
of Warsaw refused in-a body to raise a fund for
the war in the east at the request of a committee
of public spirited citizens. Plehve ordered the
students arrested and tried for high treason, but,
as even the members of the committee refused to'
appear against the students on such a- preposter
ous charge, the case fell through. Plehve" con
trolled all publications through the censorship1.'
SmmM?
On one occasion a metropolitan paper was sup
pressed for several months bccauso It had printed
a revolutionary song. But the editor was In
formed by a petty official that the ban would bo
lifted If he should write to the minister of the
, interior to the effect that a Jew had sent tho
poem in. The story, gravely related by Dr. Ganz,
is almost humorous in its malignity. Dr. Ganz
does not hesitate also in relating the fiendish story
that tho assassination of Alexander II was not an
accident, happening as it did just about tho timo
that the constitution was to be granted through
the agency of Lorls Melikoff; Plehve was a typo
of man that could not flourish fn tho open light
of a constitutional government, and tho story lo
current ainong Russian patriots that Plehve, then
a subordinate of Mellkoff's, informed tho revolu
tionists of the exact whereabouts of the czar.
PLEHVE was raised by a family of distin
guished Poles, whom lie repaid later by be
traying them to the infamous Muravieff. Their
fate was not an enviable one. He was In nowise
a brilliant man; he was a plain "chinovnlk"
(civil official) who pushed himself hlghoi and
higher till he reached the goal of his ambition.
Because everyone tacitly doubted his loyalty to
the czar and his fidelity to the Holy Greek Cath
olic church, ho outdid himself in zeal for Russia,
and In fanatical adherence to the church. That
he was the czar's right-hand man there can bo
no doubt, and that there will be difficulty for htm
in finding another such strong-charactered adviser
there also can be little doubt. It is rather ironi
cal to note that the government of Russia spent
$800,000 annually In protecting the person of
Plehve. Dr. Ganz concludes his article with the
rolation of how he put tho following question to a
great Russian nobleman: "Would it bo hotter for
Russia if Plehve were to be removed?" The an
swer was that all true Russians would rejoice In
his removal, but that there were many to tako his
place. The condition of affairs called forth tho
peculiar kind of men it needed, he said; tho
able, honest men of Russia would accept minis
terial portfolios only when the system of affairs
would, be changed. "A government of gallows
needs a hangman."
REFERRING to the report made by Commis
sioner Wright leading to the increased costs
of living and the alleged-advance of wages of tho
laboring classes, a reader of the Chicago Record
Herald writes to that newspaper to say: "Tho
report, if correctly quoted, is a bald misrepre
sentation of facts. Commlsloner Wright selects
2,567 families with an annual income of $827,
"making them representative of the laboring class
of this country. He could pick 2,500 families,
which have a better Income than that. But the
laboring man, tho wage-earner, the man who
works by the day or hour, be ho skilled or un
skilled, knows that the average income of those
who are working full time does not exceed $500
per year at a liberal estimate, and that if tho
gross Income of all the wage-earners were equally
divided among all the men of their class who are
willing and able to work, each would receive less
than ?1 per day. The laboring man knows fur
ther that the general tendency Is toward a re
duction of wages all along the line. That report,
if used as a campaign document as suggested,
would prove a boomerang to Its author."
BISHOP FELLOWS of the Episcopal cnurch,
delivered a sermon in Chicago recently, in
which he said: "Miss Jane Addams in a recent
Interview I& reported as giving an opinion that
the laboring community holds the ministers as
well as the lawyers to be on the side of the so
called capitalistic class. I can speak with suf
ficient authority to say that the great majority .of
the ministry, both in the Protestant and Catholic
communion, have a profound sympathy with the
workingmen of all classes. They can not, as in
the stock yards strike, set themselves up as judges
and declare who is right and who is wrong. 'The
laborer is worthy of his hire.' It is a palpable vio
lation of these principles on the part of employ
ers who have been amassing millions through the
toil of their fellow men to pay men having wjves
and families to support an average of ?5, or'?Ia
"nVS2K ' 4r JI
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riZyxi CSdl
MilWPTiWm . ,, T -f-.t TyHMy
"Week tho year round. I found thin lo bo tho can
In a personal investigation of sovoral strikers.
If thoir statements woro to bo rolled on. It Is a
serious impairment of tho Amorican homo, and an
assault upon the lnallonablo righta of childhood lo
forco tho wife and children of tendor ago to work
with tho husband and father. Tho omployor raunt
live, but ho must let llvo or bo untruo to God and
man. Tho employed must llvo, but if for any rea
son ho will not work ho must lot tho mon llvo who
will work. I know fully tho valuo of unionism.
It Is tho very salvation of labor. Let tho work
ingmen live, I say to every omployor. Pay him
enough to havo a homo worthy of tho name. It
is not Christ's political economy to buy human
flesh and blood In tho lowest labor market and
sell Its products In tho highest demand market.
That Is tho devil's political economy, no matter
who may teach or practice It."
RUSSIA paid Count Leo Tolstoy tho compliment
of an official answer to his Indictmont of tho
war. A correspondent for the Chicago Record
Herald says this roply was glvon out by tho min
ister of tho Interior at St Potersburg, and its text
has just arrived In America. Tho reply among
other Indictments says: "Leo Tolstoi Is a forco
tqndlng, fortunatoly without success, to disinte
grate tho Russian empire. It was just on such dis
integrating internal forces that tho Japanese cal
culated when thoy rushed headlong Into an un
equal conflict with tho Russian Colossus."
BISHOP HENRY C. POTTER has been severe
ly criticized because ho officiated at the
opening ceremonies of the Subway Tavern in
New York. Replying to his critics, tho bishop
says: "I have publicly stated that I never dreamed
of regarding the present saloon as either a bless
ing or a necessity, und no word of mine, whether
uttered recently or at any other time, warrants
any such inference. I havo simply regarded it as
an; inevitable and necessary evil until it is dis
placed by something better. My controversy te
simply with those who have no other aim in deal
ing with a mischievous institution than to sup
press it, whereas the only hopo of reform hero 18
in displacement by substitution."
THE "inordlnato and ostentatious" display of
wines In our public and private entertain
ments is in Bishop Potter's opinion "a species of
national barbarism, if not an Illustration ot na
tional vulgarity. The bishop adds: "Treating
customs of clubrooms are the hideous 'freemason
ry' of drink, as some one has not too strongly
described It, wherein tho symbol of friendship
consists in calling for what one does not want
and drinking when one Is not thirsty. This is ft
usage in which barbarism and vulgarity are fitly
married. We can disown such abuses and rcbukQ
them by our refusal to share In them. We can
set at our own tables an example of moderation
such as shall not be mistaken or misunderstood.
We can reward sobriety in our dependents and
deal sternly with tho absence of It, whether in
other people or ourselves. When wo came to deal
with those among whom Intemperance most wide
ly and largely obtains we can do something to
protect them from the harpies who prey upon
their labor and whose unlicensed gains are a
curse, and a dishonor to the community that per
mits them. One kind of man goes to a saloon to
get an intoxicant and for no other reason. An
other goes there for any one of a half dozen pur
posesrefreshment, amusement, Information, phy
sical easement, business appointment or mere
change for which last you, my brother, go next
door tosa club which all sensible people regard
as wholly innocent. Now, then, the saloonkeeper
has been keeping these different wants together
Tho wisdom of those who antagonize him will be
in separating them."
THE Canadian authorities declare that they in
tend to lash out of Canada, the American.
Tobacco company trust, which is just now stamp
ing out competition in Canada. The Ottawa cor
respondent for the Chicago Record-Herald saya
that a bill, has passed the house of commons and
the senate and is now awaiting the royal assent
As soon as this assent has been given, It is said.
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