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The Commoner.
i VOLUME 5, NUMBER 3,
1 11111111111? fh J
UNDER THE UNION JACK
Toronto, Canada, Aug. 20. Toronto
Seems to have solved the question of
municipal government about as well
as could be expected in this day and
age. The Canadians seem to harbor
the idea that laws arc made to be en
forced, and as a result the laws and
ordinances of Toronto are carried out
to the letter. Toronto has the saloon
'under control to a remarkable degree,
and. a degreo almost unbelievable by
the average American who is a resi
dent of a large city. Here the bars
close at 5 o'clock op Saturday even
ing, and remain closed until G o'clock
Monday morning. And they are
closed, too. The first infraction of
the excise law means a fine of $500,
and the second moans a revocation of
the license. As the laws are enforced
without fear or favor the result is a
wonderful amount of conservatism on
the part of the men who retail liquor.
The mere suggestion to a liquor dealer
that he disregard the law almost
scares him to death.
The saloons are not saloons as we
across the line to the south understand
them. There are no saloons in
Toronto they are all hotels. In other
words, in addition to selling liquor
the dealer must also serve meals and
have conveniences for lodging not less
than fifteen people. The number of
licenses in Toronto is limited to 150,
and a license once revoked is not re
issued. When the Kings hotel the
finest -in Canada, and one of the finest
in North America was opened, the
proprietors had to buy out a little hotel
in order to get a liquor license and
they paid, a bonus of $13,000 for the
little bit of paper. The closing of the
bars atae.5 o'clock on Saturday was
broughtabout by the labor unions of
the city, and it has had a beneficial
, result. The Saturdav hiLlf.hnifiinir
we'll nigh universal here, and Saturday
afternoon great crowds of- workingmen
and- their families may be seen hurry
. ing to the boats intent on getting to
some of the many pleasure resorts
that abound in this section.
year, and has already paid a dividend
of 7 per cent on the investment. No
one is allowed to hold more than $100
of the stock, and the temple is man
aged by a board of trustees elected by
the stockholders.
The street car problem that has
bothered so many American cities does
not bother Toronto people. There is
no immediate demand for municipal
ownership, the reason being that the
owners of the street railway here
seem to deal fairly with the people.
. Six fares for a quarter is the rule at
. all times, save between 6 and 8 a. m.
. and 5 and 7 p. m., when a 3-cent fare
is allowed. This was made at the
behest of the working men and women
-.Of the cltY. On school rinvR nMinnl nlill.
- dren can buy ten tickets for a quarter."
xue cars are me best that can be se
cured, and the service a revelation to
one coming from a big city on the
.American side.
For the past ten days Toronto has
been full of union printers and their
wives, the fifty-first annual convention
of the International Typographical
Union being in session. The printers
have come from every state and terri
tory In the United States, and from
every province in Canada. A few years
ago the word "printer" was synonym
ous with liquor. It is not so now. The
writer has been here over a week, has
met and communed with .upwards of
2,500 printers, and during his whole
stay in Toronto has not seen one in
toxicated man. The organization of
woman's-auxiliaries and the introduc
tion of the typesetting machines have
worked a change in the printing fra
ternity that makes the feat of Alladin's
lamp seem tame by comparison.
When 'one who has not visited
Niagara Falls for fifteen years visits
it now the only thing he recognizes
is the falls. Everything else is changed.
The vociferous and greedy hackman
is no longer in evidence. For 15 cents
one may ride in a reservation carriage
all around the falls. A few years ago
it cost all that the hackman could
make the visitor pay. So notorious
became this nuisance that Uncle Sam
stepped in. He made a government
reserve out of his side of the falls, and
Canada performed the same service
on the Canadian side. As a result
one steps into a government carriage
una is ireea irom extortion. But the
souvenir dealers are still here, and
the men who have -various concessions
are very persistent. Sneakino- nf Ar.
sistence, the revenue Inspectors take
the cake. Coming-to Toronto the writer
crossed from Niagara to the Canadian
siue, ana was met by an inspector who
opened his grip. Going down the
Canadian side of the great gorge he
crossed to Lewiston on the United
States side, and was met by another
inspector who had to peep into that
grip. At Lewiston he to'ok a steamer
for Toronto, and before he landed that
inoffensive grip had to be opened once
more and thoroughly investigated. The
inspectors spent not less than nn hom.
with that grip, and if their time is
wortn so cents an hour and all grips
yield as little revenue as this particu
lar one, then Uncle Sam and Canada
are losing money by the policy.
Buffalo and Niagara is turned by elec
tric power generated by the falls. But
up to date no one is able to detect
any decrease in the flow of water over
the precipice.
At first view the falls are disappoint
ing. This is due to the fact that the
human mind is incapable of grasping
their immensity all at onqe. But the
longer one gazes at the tremendous
spectacle the more impressive it be
comes. Man with all of his wonderful
ingenuity, his wonderful opportunities
and his wonderful resources, has never
been able to create anything so grand,
so awe-inspiring, so awful. No other
power than that of Omnipotence could
have torn those giant rocks asunder
and sent the waters rushing over with
a noise as of thunder and a power that
can not be measured by finite minds.
The very roar of the cataract is as
the voice of the Almighty calling upon
man to witness the Infinite power.
To all outward appearances the citi
zens of Toronto do not differ from the
people of cities on the American side.
It is only when one takes a closer view
that the difference is manifest. In
the American city of 300,000 the
strenuous life is apparent. Here the
people seem to take things easy, and
they seem to make about as much
money, too. They walk the street
leisurely, they do business leisurely
and they take their pleasures leisure
ly. Your average Toronto man is a
family man par excellence. He never
thinks of taking a holiday without
sharing it with his family, and the
dozens of pleasure resorts in and
about Toronto are always thronged
with crowds of picnickers. No intoxi
cants are allowed to-be sold at any
of these resorts.
for thfi flrnf n,,
Canadian does not have-4ooi .T'
They are tea drinkers, ana coS'?'
among the impossible things S, U
of the restaurants do not Se it S
those that do serve it at ,Lm
reluctantly After trying ii - for aeek
it is easy to understand their reluct
ance. It is no wonder that popie , who
make such excrable coffeo do not Z
to soil It. When they do tj
themselves liable to arrest for obtain
ing money under false pretenses Thov
are tea drinkers, and when ihey do not
drink tea they drink 'arf-anVarf or
porter, or ale. This is a cold country
a fact that may explain why the
waiters never think of putt ins a niece
of ice in the drinking water.
On Kings street the principal thor
oughfare is a street -intersection that
is famous throughout the provinces.
The four corners have been named
"Education, Legislation, Salvation and
Damnation." On one corner is a school
house, on another the premier's reoi
dence, on another a church and on the
other a bar. - The application may
readily he seen.
The Typographical Union conven
tion has been full of interest. The 190C
session will be held at Colorado
Springs, Colo., the seat of the Union
Printers' Home. By unanimous vote
the convention decided to "stand pat"
on the eight-hour day proposition. The
chief incident of the convention was
the unseating of a delegate, who, as
editor of a labor paper, dared to criti
cise the executive council of the union.
Without commenting upon this inci
dent it might be well enough to remark
that it seems queer that printers, of
all tradesmen, should be the first to
limit the liberty of the press.
MENTIONING NO NAMES
. The workingmen of Toronto nm u
politically. They do not divide on
political lines, and they do not insist
that their candidates be workingmen.
But they do insist that the candidates
represent the interests of the produc
ing classes, and woe be unto the suc
cessful candidate that betrays his
trust. From the labor union stand
point Toronto is the best organized
town In the country. There are 153
trades unions here, and they have built
and maintain a labor temple that is
a credit to a citv nOBSaaninir mnnv
'splendid public buildings. The temple
The Cave of the Winds is something
that a majority of visitors at the falls
must vis.it. No one knows -why, unless
it is because the average man and wo
man likes to stare death in the face.
The. writer made the trip, and wouldn't
take big money for the experience. But
he wouldnt take it again for twice as
much. It recalled the story of the
man who became a proud father
But there is one thing that the
ing a friend, oxclaimed: "I've
got a boy at my house and wouldn't
take $1,000,000 for him. And I
wouldn't give a quarter for another
one."
This Is a utilitarian age. After gaz
ing witn awe at Niagara Falls for 300
years, man has gone to work and har
nessed il and hitched it to hi3 machin
ery. Thousands of horsepower are
lma beea opened a little less.tUw a sfght "praoUcally '"heol IS
At the recent annual commence
ment exercises of the New York law
school the principal speaker was Mar
tin W. Littleton, Esq., president of
Brooklyn Borough. He mentioned no
names in the course of an address in
which he scored greed and dishonesty,
but his audience would experience no
difficulty in identifying the conspicu
ous figures in iron, oil life insurance
and other activities to whom he al
luded, as will be seen from the fol
lowing extracts from the address:
"Not very long ago a little man 'sat
down amid the hills and built a fire
that burned for days and years and
when the smoke went up and the fire,
went out he raked the ashes and
found $300,000,000 melted in the heat
of sweat and toil. His footsteps fell
upon a continent of iron, his cun
ning brought a conquering army of
brawn and grit, and with the two to
serve and sleep not lie rose to be a
monarch crowned with steel. But
when at last he saw t.iiA aimrinwc
lengthening toward th "onf h
turned away from grinding metal and
golden greed to set up once again his
lost ideal. Granite galleries hung
with art and color, marble structures
stuffed with books of cult and greed,
rose upon this baseof solid gold. But
all the granite in the undiscovered
earth and all the marble massed In
unmined mountains, and all the books
born of hate and love, of thought and
passion, would fail to teach one half
as much as the calm confession com
ing from this little man that his gain
was wrongly got and his ideal lost in
the getting.
"Another man holds hard In check
the surging commerce of the age. He,
too, found nature's hoarded treasure
in deep rich lake of liquid wealth, and
with a privilege covemmont n-iiror.
and with a protection government
guaranteed, he put a plant together
whose boundaries baffle all the skill
of men and whoso powers stagger
all the resolute nerve of a nation.
"Mistaking the decay of nature for
the grace of God he turns a trivial
stipend to the church, a paltry con
tribution to the schools and in return
he. expects the pulpit and the chair
to apologize to God and all the world
for the system by which it came. Bet
ter than colleges crowning campus
grounds; better than churches im
pliedly pledged to put the case iii
colorless discourse; better than all
these would be the plain admission
briefly made that all his gain was got
against the laws of God and man.
"A fow decades ago a man began
to guarantee his fellow man against
the grave, and since that time the
men who loved-thelr wives and chil
dren bent their backs in loving lahor
to fix it so that want would send no
specters to their simple board when
they were dead. Men hold
ing the highest place In the integrity
of finance; men moulding the cus
toms of the times irito law for those
who come after; men called brave,
honest. Amorloan men. charged to
hold this treasure in the name of the
bprn and the unborn these men ex
ploit its fullest power for selfish gain;
expend its substance in the debonair s
debauch; create fictitious bonds and
trade them for the real gold, exchange
the lithographed promise of a lie tor
the sacred fund. The collapse comes,
and then contending captains of the
craft and gain play high to win tjie
prize. The game is finished and tiie
fund of millions for millions is or
ganized into a gambler's roll to mi
the street up or down the sheet.
Petroleum Gazette.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Korea-Spondent I see the mikado
has enjoined his generals to rename
each new town captured.
Reporter-Arthur Yes; and tiiej
have already- suggested a name w
Vladivostok, n
Korea-Spondent What is it
Renorter-AVthur Bloodibustup.
Judge,