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SENATOR MORGAN, of Alabama, recently
called attention to the fact that New York
has no representative on the floor of the United
States Bonato. Senator Morgan said: "Tho
smallest state In the union has tho same repre
sentatives on this loor as tho largest state.
Rhode Island exercises just the same power and
influence as the great Empire state of New
York. The two senators from Rhode Island are
here and active, but I do not see either of the
senators from New York present.' Referring
to this incident a Washington correspondent
says: "Several senators smiled and looked in
the direction of the seats assigned to Senators
Depew and Piatt. Spectators in the galleries
' also craned their necks over to ascertain if either
of the New York senators was in attendance.
Neither was there. New York is absolutely with
out representation on the floor of the senate in
" these important closing days of the session." . .
RICHARD JOHN "SEDDON, prime minister of
New Zealand died recently, aged sixty-one
years. Soddon is described as a picturesque and
' forcible personality. A writer in the Utica (New
York) Journal says: "In his own self-governing
colony he was easily the greatest political power.
He occupied the position of prime minister for
fourteen years, representing especially the trades
union element. He was, in fact, the expression
of an experimental form' of socialism. During
the course of his .conduct of affairs of New Zea
land compulsory arbitration for labor disputes,
an eight-hour day, the power to fix wages by the
arbitration courts, woman suffrage, government
ownership of land, with provision for the gradual
purchase of large private holdings, adyances to.
: settlers, government life insurance, old age pen-,
slons and a number of ideas theoretical else
where were put into operation. He began his
career in Now Zealand as a miner. He devel
oped into a storekeeper with the usual bar at
tachment. Although a member of the privy coun
cil, and a 'right honorable he liked to be called
'Dick.' He probably never made a penny out of
his office. He was above the suspicion of graft,
and died comparatively poor."
WHY THE GOVERNMENT is making such a
. fuss over the freight rebates secured by
the packers on their export shipments, is a puz
zle for the New York Evening Post. The Post
explains: "It would have been simple enough
two years ago, because then the sale of American
products to foreigners at a lower price tban stay-at-home
citizens paid was a reprehensible prac
tice, which no one fell into except occassionally
under necessity. But since the country has learned
this winter from the speeches of several of the
most eminent republicans that 'dumping' our
surplus abroad is the rule, and is the best pos
sible thing for home industries, no matter how
low prices the foreigner pays, a republican attor
ney general has not the faintest excuse for inter
fering with this phase of business. For, if it
is a good thing to sell meat or steel rails cheap
abroad, it must be a better thing to sell them
cheaper still. The greater the reduction in price
to the foreigner, the more praiseworthy are the
agencies which bring this condition about. If the
rebate cuts off another fraction from the price
the Frenchman or German pays for his American
goods, ought we not, therefore, to encourage the
rebate? At homo it is different, because we want
our countrymen to pay high prices and thereby ,
escape being made 'cheap men.' "
THE KIDNAPING OF the seven-year old' son
of a wealthy jeweler named Muth created"
great excitement in Philadelphia a short time
ago. The lad was decoyed from school
by a man named Kean, who demanded a hejivy
ransom. Mr. Muth refused to be hold up and
gave the case into the hands of the police. "With
in forty-eight hours the police had established the
identity of the kidnaper, but could not locate
him. Then Superintendent of Police Taylor called
the daily newspapers to bis aid. He asked the
. night editors of the papers to meet him at the
city hall, and when they appeared he oponed up
everything letters, photographs and evidence.
The night editors returned to their offices and
set the machinery of their great npwspapers to
work. They had given their word of honor not
to print a line about the case as revealed to
them by Mr. Taylor. They were to mislead tho
kidnaper if possible, for he had threatened to
kill the boy if the police closed on him any
tighter, and the letter indicated that he meant
to make his threat good. The morning papers
contained long stories about the kidnaping, but
they wero what 'is known in newspaper circles
as "hot" air." Most of them were to the effect
that the police were looking for an Armenian,
who was thought to be the guilty man. A few
hours later Mr. Muth was called upon to make
a sacrifice. The kidnaper had sent another let
ter declaring that one more move on the part
of the police would be fatal to tho boy. Super
intendent Taylor "called on Mr. Muth and said:
"You must allow yourself to-be put in the posi
tion of being a fakir who has deceived the police
in this matter in order to cover up something dark
in your career." Mr. Muth was "game" to the
core, and told the police to blacken his character
all they pleased, "but find my boy!" The next
day the papers declared that Mr. Mutli had con
fessed that the boy had not been kidnaped, that
he was with relatives, and admitted that he had
concocted the-story of abduction in order to cover
up a family secret, the nature of which he would
not divulge.
ALL THIS SERVED to make Mr. Muth very
unpopular with his neighbors. The police'
pretended to be disgusted, and with the air of
a man thoroughly angry at being "made a monkey
of' as he expressed it, Superintendent -Taylor
issued an order that the police turn their atten
tion to something worth, while. Philadelphia
laughed at the" joke on the police, but roundly
denounced Muth for his hoax. All this threw
the kidnaper off his guard. He peeped from- his
hole to get a breath of fresh air, and to his sur
prise the police nabbed him. The boy was re
turned to his father, and now that the trick
turned by the police and the heroic self-sacrifice
of the father are known to the people of Phila
delphia, they are busy asking Mr. Muth's pardon
'and congratulating Superintendent Taylor. But
the Philadelphia public should not overlook the
part played by the newspaper men. They "threw
away" one of the greatest "news stories" of the
year to aid the" police in restoring a son to his
father's arms, and while any one of the night
editors could have secured a "beat" by refusing
to pledge himself to secrecy, not one of them
would violate the unwritten code of ethics that
prevails, in every office-where real newspaper
men work.
THE REPUBLICANS of Iowa are engaged in a
desperate fight against the railroad ring.
The republicans in Pennsylvania are engaged in
a desperate fight against a corrupt ring. In
Iowa, as in. Pennsylvania, republicans point with
pride to Mr. Roosevelt as an anti-monopolist, yet
the Hawkeye republicans can not for their lives
tell whether Mr. Roosevelt is for Cummins or the
railroads, while the Keystone republicans are
not certain whether Mi Roosevelt stands for the
Penrose people or with the insurgents who axe
striking for popular government.
THE PHILADELPHIA Public Ledger expresses
some curiosity to know where the president
stands in the Pennsylvania contest. It insists,
however, that Mr. Roosevelt can not stand with
the gang in Pennsylvania and justify himself be
fore his British admirers and his American sup
porters, The Public Ledger says: "Tho cables
from London are at present laden with news of
the British horror at political, social, moral and
economic conditions in the United States. It
seems that Americans on foreign shores are
obliged to bow their heads for shame. It is a
pretty poor American who can not stand up for
his country in any conceivable situation. But
tlrat is by the way. The British jour
nals and business men and citizens of all
degree, from statesman to London 'cabby' deride
Americans, alleging that the whole body politic
is as 'rotten as their meat An extract from a
dispatch to a very conservative American jour
nal will give an idea of the tenor of the talk
'Every American who has intimate English friends
is constantly asked such questions as: "Is Roose
velt the only honest man in office in the United
States?" "Are your local officials all thieves and
bribetakers?" "Are your, legislators all venal?"
"Is patriotism in America all noiso and nothing
practical?" "Do your people recognize and per
form no public duties beyond going to the ballot
box occasionally?" "Why is the administration
of justice in America so slow, so uncertain?" "Is
it the fault of the laws or their execution?" 'IWhy
do you provide intricate legal machinery to en
able rich criminals to defer their punishment in
definitely or evade it altogether?"' The London
Spectator, a strong journal exceedingly friendly
to America, repudiates the suggestion that the
British attacks on America are inspired by hos
tility to the American people, and adds this com
ment on President Roosevelt: 'It is not too much
to say that it is very difficult to find Englishmen
or Englishwomen who have not a warm place
in their hearts for the president. They feel, too,
that he at this moment is engaged in something
very like a life and death struggle with the most
selfish elements of American commercial life, and
that he is fighting for them, as well as for his
own fellow citizens, a battle of purity against
corruption " -
THE PHILADELPHIA Public Ledger, which in
1896 made such a desperate fight for na
tional lionor, is deeply grieved "now and it says:
"The tenor of-practically all the comment is that
the American people are overcome-by greed; that
morals are lacking; that the Americans as a
whole are without 'moral stamina -and that
Pesident Roosevelt is engaged in a terrible strug
gle almost single-handed to lift the sodden people
to his pwn level. This appreciation of the fine
qualities, the courage, the enthusiasm and patriot
ism of the president is just, but perhaps the lump
ing of the whole American people into one iinro
generatq mass is a little too sweeping."
FROM BUDA PEST comes the story of a queer
state of affairs brought about by the pre
vailing "code duello." Richard Zombory, a noted
Bportsman, refused to accept a challenge from a
bank clerk whom he had insulted, basing his re
fusal on the ground of the clerk's "inferior so
cial position." Immediately the bank's officials
to the number of 150 took up the cause of the
clerk and each one challenged Zombory. This
put the sportsman in a bad fix, as the bank offi
cials were, if anything, higher in the social scalo
than himself. The duel or duels did not tako
place, Zombory making amends. It would be in
teresting to see M. Zombory putting on his
haughty airs in some western mining camp in
this country. The suddenness with which ho
would discover that social position cut no par
ticular amount of "ice" and that the 'code duello
is entirely too slow and easy, would surprise him
even more than the concerted action of the Buda
'Pest bank officials.
T F THE BILL now before the committee in par
JL liamont becomes a law, Sunday will be more
thoroughly observed throughout Canada than in
any other country. Under this bill it is made
unlawful to sell anything on Sunday, to transact
any business of a person's calling or to employ
any other person to do any work, business, or
labor, except works of .necessity, for money.
Games and performances of all kinds for which
an admission 'fee is charged are made unlawful.
Excursions of every kind, by land or water, on
which passengers are carried for amusement, are
prohibited. No public park or pleasure ground
or amusement place of any kind to which an
admission fee is charged can be kept open.. No
person is allowed to shoot at a target or any
other object. Sale of foreign newpapers-Tis pro
hibited. " ' 'T
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