< . - ALGER INCOMPETENT. As was to bo expected , Ihe report of the commission appointed by the Presi dent to investigate the conduct of the war department gives Alger a liberal coat of whitewash , and yet the coat .is not so thick that Alger stands purely white before the public. Appointed by the administration for the purpose of sustaining the adminis tration , the" commission has failed to find any substantial truth in the rhargosof iueflicicucyou the part of the war department The facts that sol diers died of neglect , that they were served with food unfit to eat , herded in pes. camps and shipped like cattle in pest ships are denied , and that is sup posed to settle the matter. As a matter of fact the question is far from settled. There are hundreds of fathers and mothers right here in Chicago who know from sad , many of them from heartbreaking experi ence that their sons were neglected and treated with great inhumanity dur ing the war with Spain. Whitewash will not answer. The charges will not down and Congress will have to in vest Jg.ite. But in spite of its great anxiety to exonerate the administration from all blame , or rather to prove that no blame should be attached to the administra tion , the commission was forced by the facts to say : "In the judgment of the commission theiv was lacking in the general ad ministration of the war department luring the continuance of the war with Spain that grasp of the situation which was essential to the highest efficiency nml discipline of the army. " This is a serious charge , although couched in the most conservative lan guage. In plain terms. Alger was in competent , lie lacked that grasp of the situation which would have ren dered the work of the army fully efficient. Alger stands impeached by < he commission appointed to defend him as a man unequal to the task he had assumed. What will the President do now ? Will he retain this incompe tent ? Chicago Chronicle. IHcIvinley on HIcKIinlcyisiu. Careful consideration of the Presi dent's Boston speeches does not con vince one that it contains a message of any value to the people in solving the Philippine puzzle. With suave fa cility , McKinley slips out from under the responsibility and leaves the bur den for Congress to bear , washing his hands of the yhole matter and saying with. ( Jloagiuous amiability : "I await your pleasure , gentlemen. " This is not the attitude of a leader , but of a trimmer , and sadly enough this latter is MeKinley's customary at titude. But the President , by virtue of his position , is the leader. He has no right to shuflle the responsibility aside. He said once that he opposed 'criminal aggression , " and he encour aged that very thing in the Orient However' McKinley justifies this stJite of affairs by saying that this is no time 1o submit questions of liberty to a people engaged in shooting down their rescuers. But the Filipinos find difti- culty in recognizing their rescuers. In response to this claim of the Presi dent tluit the Philippines were intrust ed to us by the hands of Avar , Andrew Carnegie says : "The Philippines have been 'intrusted to us' solely by the un expected demand for them made by the President himself after he had sudden ly changed his mind , which was at first that we should not burden ourselves with them. The Philippine burden is not chargeable to the war. This is the President's own pandora box his XCAV .Year's gift to his country , for which he alone is responsible. Neither Con gress nor the people had any voice in the matter. But one need not wonder why he should now attempt to evade the responsibility , since he tells us that 'Every red drop , whether from the in veins of an American soldier or a mis guided Filipino , is anguir-h to my heart. ' His conscience smites him. Xo wonder. The guilty Macbeth also cried out : "Thou canst not say I did it' " This being the case , it would be more satisfactory to the American people if the President would make fewer fine phrases and would put himself on rec ord concerning his Philippine policy. Chicago Democrat. ra in Bimetallism. inw When this nation enjoyed the bene w fits of bimetallism pr prosperity was gen eral. The farmer and the wage-earner , as th ilie merchant and the mechanic were thw contented and happy. Since gold w th snonomctallism has practically held thm .sway the condition of the masses ha.s m ni gradually grown more unendurable. nim Poverty 'has ' increased and discontent m 3ias grown to be almost universal. To ? ) c sure , the money dealers have waxed fat. Wall street has boomed , trusts is Siave flourished and the classes have in jrrown more powerful , to the injury sind impoverishment of the masses. It is easy to account for tliis condition of sa Sino eiffairs. When silver was demonetized neal .values iu real estate and the : prices of products fell and have continued to al fall because gold increased in purchax- ang power. Every obligation of long " } standing is now twice or three times so as hard to pay , and the dealers and eh holders of gold get the benefit , while ca the owners of property are made to Buffer. eij There will be no relief from this con un dition of affairs so long as the gold tei anonopoly continues to be maintained , our the gold monopoly will not end so of I long as the Republican party holds ixnver. That there should be alleged Democrats who advocate the robbery of the people by the gold conspirators is a matter of sincere regret to all men Who love the people. They who work to retain the present oppressive condi tion of monetary affairs are not friends of the masses , but are of and for the classes. Over < 5 , . " > 00,000 voters cast their bal lots for bimetallism in 3SOG. No presi dential candidate appealed more earn estly to the hearts of the masses than did William .T. Bryan. This great ad vocate of bimetallism is still dear to the masses and in 1900 the battle for popular rights will be resumed and fought to a successful finish. Poor Whitewash. Xow that the whitewashing commit tee appointed by the President for the alleged purpose of investigating the conduct of the war has made its report , it may be concluded that its members preferred to give its opinions rathei than facts. Its opinion is that the army beef was not chemically treated by the contractors. Where are its facts ? Did it take any pains to discover - cover the actual condition of affairs' ? Did it call on the soldiers who were made ill by the army beef to testify ? Xone of these things was done , but opinions are given with the greatest show of confidence. Iu this connection the Xew York Journal , among other pertinent ques tions to the commissioners , asks : ' Have you not confined your efforts to bringing out whitewashing evidence ? You have , in substance , done nothing more than gather together the evidence of men who knew , or pretended to know , nothing detrimental. Did you ever hear of the man in Texas accused of murder ? lie was told that ten men had testified that they saw him kill hi' victim , ne replied : 'That's nothing. I'll get a hundred and fifty men in Texas to swear they didn't see me kill him. ' Has not the commission been working to get together the 'hundred and fifty' who did not see the beef em balmed ? Democratic Burden. While the Democrats are united on all important issues , the Republican party is torn into shreds. Its national representatives are grouped into countless factions , each laboring to deprive - prive the others of political power , and all hopelessly drifting further and further - ther apart. One group extols "the white man's burden" policy ; another "the brown man's burden , " while yet a third dole fully chants the refrain of the black man's burden. They have created dis sensions in both the army and navy. Competent and fearless generals and naval commanders have been made the victims of their puerile jealousies. In their ranks are proud imperialists and cadaverous expansionists , hypo critical philanthropists and plundering - ing Corsairs. They have twisted and distorted the national constitution to that degree that Thomas Jefferson'l himself might mistake it for a procla mation made by George III. Without a common purpose , other than the fostering of trusts , the many factions within the Republican party are fast disintegrating it. In its disso lution lies the hope of the plain people. To right the monstrous wrongs it has inflicted is the Democratic burden. Ko End to Trusts. There is no end to the formation of o trusts. Xew combines are organizing with a rush. Old combines are enlarg a ing their scope and crushing out com tlh petition. The record for one day in h Xew York shows that five great or s ganizations were created for the ex a press purpose of devouring the small consumers. ' n Every necessity of life will soon be b the clutches of the trusts , and the tl " people , while suffering from this con dition of affairs , seem helpless to di - O cover a remedy. If they would reflect ' that the Republican parly fosters thr trusts and that the Democratic parts opposes the trusts they would sec thai the remedy lies in placing the Demo cratic party in power. : V lebi Lower , Wages a Certain Result bi 'here is no doubt that the unw/ir si siV ranted advance in the price of com V modities by combinations of capital , in which are now rife , is endangering the inE. prosperity of the country. Assuredly E. prices are illegitimately advanced the consumption of American products \ will decrease. The irony of it all is that the advance in the prices of com modities must eventually be accompa fa nied by lower wages to the working- of men. Cleveland Plain Dejiler. ac th Political Potpourri. ai The length of a Senatorial deadlock II now regarded by experts as the best fo index to the price of votes. tli The Standard Oil Company is now ? satisfied that the recent defiance of the Supreme Court by its attorneys was a serious performance , but merely light cflincdy. ' " The last chapter of John Sherman's - "Memoirs" will appear in time fo have lis some influence on the next Presidential th election. Mr. McKinley's blue pencil thBi can't reach the manuscript Bir American capital did not seek for on eign investment under bimetallism , but re under the gold standard we shall at tempt to develop every country except O own. Imperialism and an exodus ! e < capital go together. rf BIG FOOT WALLACE. Adventurous Careci of the THost Ie- markable Man in Texas. "Bigfoot" Wallace is dead. When he gave up the ghost on his ranch near Devine the most remarkable man in Texas had ceased to live. He was 81 years old. All the romance of sixty years of bor der life was crowded into his adven turous career. At the age of 20 he left his home at Lexington , Va. , and went to Texas for the express purpose 01 avenging the death of his brother , who was captured and slain by Mexicans in 1SGG. He was a participant in the re markable struggles on the Texas border before the war with Mexico , and was everywhere known as a fearless fighter and an implacable foe. His name was for more than fifty years a household word in Texas. In the gloomy dungeons of Perote it took seven giant Mexicans to throw this struggling Texan to the earth and bind him. After he had lain fourteen days chained hand and foot face down ward to a rock , without food or water , when the thongs were cut and the riv ets forced apart his first act was to spring at one of his tormentors and try to throttle him. His Christian name was William An derson Wallace , and he was the third sou of Andrew Wallace , of Rockbridge County , Virginia , and was born nearly 83 years ago in the brick house now oc cupied by his grand-nephew , W. B. Wallace , who resides about a mile from Lexington , Va. W. A. Wallace was of revolutionary i stock. His grandfather , Col. i Wm. S. Wallace , was a soldier of HIG FOOT the revolution , and four of Col. Wal lace's brothers were associated with him in the service. Wm. A. Wallace grew up a quiet country boy of huge frame and great strength and was a close associate or the pleasant set of Lexington youth of whom but one is now living , ex-Mayor John W. Haughawaut. His quiet life was interrupted in the fall of 1SCT by the news that his elder brother , Samuel Wallace , who had some years before emigrated to the Texas frontier , had been killed in the Fannin massacre by the Mexicans. The news aroused in his . . breast a stern determination to avenge his brother's death , and in a few weeks , accompanied by two other young men of Rockbridge , he set out for Texas to carry out his purpose. He brought a valuable volunteer to the army of Tex as , and the testimony of his story is that the death of his brother was avenged many times over in Mexican blood. He was one of the famous band of Mexican and Indian fighters known as Hay's Rangers , from the name of 1 , their commander , himself a Rockbridge man from the family who named Hay's creek , a stream in the county. Wallace's record is attested by the fact that though he never enjoyed a higher rank than lieutenant , his name is honored among Texans as one of the most famous in the military history tln the Lone Star Slate. He was a member of the fated Mier expedition , and in the lot-drawing prescribed by the Mexicans , fortune favored him and PIle he drew a white bean , and his life was lese spared ] , but he was kept for a long time so as i a prisoner. to The adventures which gave him the ov name ; "Big Foot , " were in a long and bloody : encounter with a huge chief of la- the Lipan tribe of Indians , known as laEi "Big Foot. " Wallace killed his antag onist ] after being severely wounded dirnself , and thenceforth "Big Foot" was applied to him. In his late years W be was liberally pensioned by the State do 3f Texas in appreciation of his services. or. He was a man of massive frame , dii creat strength and unflinching , daunt lei less courage. He is survived by one brother , Alexander Wallace , who re in sides several miles from Lexington , \'a. , near Glasgow. "Big Foot" never tli narricd. hi him ESTHER AND MORDECAI'S TOMB. m > Discovery of Great Interest to ac Biblical Students. acW. The tomb of Esther and Mordecai , the 'amous characters in the Biblical book ha f Esther , has been discovered in Hani- tin idan , Persia , and the inscriptions on ' lie sarcophagi and the tomb itself , read WJ ind translated , says the Xew York an ( lerald. This discovery is most timely , ca or some writers have tried to discredit he Biblical story and the festival of w : iirim , which goes back to it for a ty- wsis. nn Every reader of Scripture is familiar los vith that stran'ge tale of the Jewish nil 1 naiden whose beauty so touched the tin ving of Persia that he took her for his th rife and placed her on the throne by ; side. The Jews of Ilaiuadan show I his tomb of the hero and heroine of the me Jible story toall travelers with no small sec iride for in it lies their , title to nobility , yoi > ne of their own people having actually coi eigned with the king. HIP This tomb has evidently been added at various periods , and is now sixty A eet high. The entrance is to the left inc the center , leading into an outer pas- J sage. To the left is the tomb of some ancient savage , and to the right the tomb of an old physician , with a stand bearing lamps and oil in front of it. A wall separates the sacred part from this outer section. At the western end a door leads to the principal part of the tomb. To the right is Mordecai's tomb and to the left Esther's , separated from each other by a corridor , along which i t ' i ! TOMB OB' ESTIIKU AN"D MOKDECAI. pilgrims pass going around tiie sarco phagi. In a niche is a scroll of the law , and an ostrich egg is suspended beneath the dome , as is the custom in all Per sian tombs. The sarcophagi are made of a dark wood , evidently of great antiquity , and are covered with inscriptions in He brew. Fac similes of the inscriptions have been taken from plaster impres sions now in the possession of Dr. Za- doc Kahn , chief rabbi of France. LONG MESSAGE FOR HIS PIPE. Telegraph Operator "Wired Through Four Countries * The telegraph office of the London- Brussels and London-Paris cable com panies are directly opposite to each oth er in one of those narrow streets of London where one hardly has room enough to change his mind. The operators are good friends , and often when work is slow cross to each other to have a friendly chat. It happened during the English Sou dan war that the operators were kept constantly at their instruments , not having time for calls. The operator of the Paris cable discovered that he had left his pipe on the table of his col league across the way the night pre vious. To go over for it was an impossibility. The clicking of the instrument would not permit even rising from his chair. He could not catch Ihe eye of his friend to communicate to him by signs. He called the Dover office to connect him 7 with Calais , across the channel ; then the operator there put him on with Paris I. , thence with Chalon , Coblentz , Brussels , Ostend and back to England with his comrade across the way. Then he sent the following message : "If it is possible for you to return my u T P > J i t : ao au of P now HI : OOT nis PIFK. I as is ipe without its being compelled to fol- hem > w the route of my dispatch , please dee m o immediately. " His friend happened in 3 have an assistant , who took the pipe a ver at once. - This message traveled through Eng ine ! , France , Germany , Belgium and lugland. I JL Gettiriff Even. , it If is not always easy to punish a boor ' itfo -ithout ] losing one's temper , but a Lon- fo on paper tells how a boat-load of sail- L-S , on shore-lejive from a man-of-war , of id it good-njvturedly and without vio- his mce. gr As they journeyed up the roadway gr ito the Cornish village , a gentleman's sb agonette passed. One of the tars tli loughtlessly jumped on the stop be- tnWi ind. Wi "Git orf there ! " shouted the coach- se lan : , and being Ji churlish sort of fel- " w , he lashed the sailor viciously so cross the face with his whip. That to us enough. : LS In ] an instant the other eleven blues - ? lid closed round and stopped the trap , 1 > r 10 boatswain's mate in command. 'Tention ! " cried he , and 'tention there as. "Dismount the gun ! " he shouted , ni id it seemed as if every bluejacket ho irried a whole carpenter's outfit. In three minutes they had taken the ta agonotte into one hundred and . ' the -t\vo pieces , and that without so Su uch as scratching one bit of pain1 ! : or th .sing a solitary screw. They laid them th1 out neatly on tiie stony road , and le boatswain's mate , after inspecting 10 job , cried , "Good ! Dismiss ! " ! the lie Why did you fail to recognize un on the street to-day ? She I didn't e you. He That's strange. I saw he u twice. She Oh. that probably ac- next nints for it. 1 never notice a man in " at condition. Chicago Xews. said When a girl thinks she is better look- "Yes than she really is , it spoils her for ful hat little good looks she has. car. LADY CURZON IN INDIA. It Means to Be a Viceroy's "Wife Social Demands on Viceroyalty. Under the title "The American Girl Who Leads an Empire , " Edward Page Gaston writes interestingly in the Wo man's Home Companion of the respon sibilities undertaken by Lady Curam : "It sometimes devolves upon the wife of the Viceroy to give audience to a na tive Maharajah alone , when it is her duty to advance and meet him on the threshold , and duly wave him to a seat , after which her American tact prompts her to speak of the satisfaction it is to i I see him in her home , to inquire after the health of her distinguished guest and his family , and to pay him all the i usual compliments of the season. As j the ladies of the viceroyalty generally make it understood that they can ac- I cept no gifts of value from their sub- jects the exchange of tokens is confined to photographs. "Two thousand guests are sometimes present at the state balls , when the vice-royal parly is conducted by an im posing procession to and from the as sembly , which is opened by the quad rille of honor at about ten o'clock. After this Lord and Lady Curzon hold a reception , and the warm climate makes these wearing events upon the hosts and hostess. That the social ad ministration of Lady Curzon will not fall behind those of her predecessors was evidenced by orders for thirty-live thousand invitations , programs and cards of various sorts being given in London previous to her departure for India. "One of the delicate duties of the lady of the viceroyal mansion is to learn the rules of management govern ing the native servants , for these have their places as unalterably fixed by caste as persons in higher stations. In the bedchamber service there is not one or two brisk chambermaids to do up a room as in America , but the various .items in the almost trifling work are divided among seven or eight men ser vants , and Ihis is the rule throughout an Indian establishment. Lady Cur- zon's body servant stands or sleeps out side the door to her room constantly , and when she goes to drive alone an other attendant rides in the carriage with her , and at any time would give his life for her protection. " FURNISHED HOUSES. A.re Rented by tbe Fashionables for the Sliort Term Session. Xow that it has become the habit of Xew-Yorkers to remain out of the city for longer periods than they formerly did , the furnished house has become a much more important element in the real estate business. This same ten dency has been noted in London , where it is no longer considered necessary to the maintenance of one's position that a house which is to be occupied for only a few months should be kept through out the entire year. It is said that Americans who go there for the season are now in the habit of taking a house when possible rather than living in a hotel at a greater expense and Avith less certainty of comfort The con venience of the furnished house may be a very great one to the tenant , but it is a highly profitable form of enter prise to the landlords , who. in addition to the advance in price paid for the use of furniture , are in the habit of receiv ing for a few mouths the same price that would be paid for a whole year. The prices demanded for furnished houses are very high , and they are dan gerous speculations only when they are not taken by the beginning of every winter season , which is commonly sup posed to be from about the middle of Xovember to the 1st of December. After this later date the rent asked for the furnished house declines steadily and the profits of the landlord are di minished. This loss is less in the case those who are in the habit of occu pying the house until it is rented , but ? a general rule the percentage of loss likely to bo considerable when the house is not rented promptly. The de mand for such house has been so great recent years that the number avail P able has increased in spite of the risks. Xew York Sun. s Two Irish Stones. la One day , hearing a knock at the door , li mitres asked her Irish servant who liCi was that called. I g1 "It was a gintleman , ma'am , looking for the wrong house , " was the reply. A workman repairing the roof of one the highest buildings in Dublin lost footing and fell. Striking a tele graph line in his fall , he managed to grasp it "Hang on for your life ! " shouted a fellow workman. Some of the spectators rushed off to get a mat tress on which he could drop. B\it the workman , after holding on for a few it seconds longer , suddenly cried out : O1 "Sthand from under ! " dropped and lay U senseless in the street He was brought W the hospital , and on recovery was jisked why he did not hang on longer. ? -Sliure. I was afraid the wire wild brake , " he feebly replied. pjn Trouble in the Camp. ' \v "There scorned to be a rather acrimo nious < discussion going on as I went by hoadqua-tors. " st "Yes. " said the Salvation Army captain CI tain : sadly. "Brother Jones , vho beats CIA drum , happened to say to Brother Smith , who docs most of the prfwhins. ofV. V. that ; actions spoke louder than words. " nl Indianapolis Journal. " r Other Trouble ? . gl glhe "Doesn't your broken engagement at he beginning of a new year make you at unutterably sad. Archibald ? " fii "Xo ; a man can't die of a broken ac heart when he has to hustle for his meal or go hungry. " the "I have a splendid ear for music. " ne the complacent young man. la , " answered Miss Cayenne. regret- laWJ Cully"but you tlon't sing with your was . " ha " Dollar. " A "Fifty-Cent . The chief and constantly repeated ar gument against free coinage is that it would "ruin the country. " How ? we- ask. Why , it is replied , we would at once slump to a silver basis , and our dollars would only be worth 50 cents each. This , of course , assumes the en tire case. We deny that the free corn- age of both metals would cause the United States to slump to a silver basis , and we demand the proof. We chal lenge the gold people to even give one good reason for so believing. They cannot point to a single case in history which is at all parallel , in supK > rt of their claim. But let us concede for a moment that the result would l > o a "slump to the silver basis. " How would 'that ruin us ? The answer is that the 'dollar would only be worth 50 cents. ( This , however , is another assumption , ( not only unwarrantable , but involving an impossibility. What is meant of course , is that the dollar would only be worth 50 cents in gold. Xobocly denies that the silver dollar would be worth ilOO cents in silver. But the silver dollar lar hammered into a piece of bullion is worth more than 50 cents now. If we were to go to an exclusively silver basis , it would certainly increase the demand for silver and raise its value compared with gold. If AVO lost all of our gold , we would certainly obtain a very considerable amount of silver to- take its place , for it is a fundamental .principle in economics that every na tion must have its distributive share of the world's money. The free coin age of silver would certainly not di minish the aggregate supply. So. as we have no more than our share now. if we should lose our gold , we must get sil- 'ver to take its place. The effect of all .this would be to increase the demand for silver and lessen the demand for gold. A man who knows enough te > raise an umbrella when it rains , ought to be able to see that this must neces sarily enhance the value of silver and- lower the value of gold , thus bringing ; them nearer together than they now are. Hence that the " 50-ceut dollar" would be an impossibility. Goldbugr Literature. From a quite extensive reading of goldbug literature , candor compels mete to admit that its fallacies are not all due to conscious hypocrisy. The late Mr. Harter , in a carefully prepared speech in Congress , declared that the- effect of free coinage would be to re duce all our money down to two-thirds of its .then present value and instantly , as a consequence of that change in the value of our money , a farm then worth $12,000 in gold would become worth but ? S.OOO in silver inone3 * ; and Mr. . Edward Atkinson , in a private discus sion with this writer , insisted that free coinage would drive gold out of use and all our other money would fall to two- thirds of its gold value , and instantly wages and the price of all commodities would fall off one-third. Similar in stances of imbecility on stilts could bo- added ad nauseam. There is widespread and gross ignor ance as to what a change in the value of money is , what it means , how caused , how ascertained , and what are the forces and what the law controlling such change. E. D. Stark. Silver Niftht Schools. The First Congressional District of Illinois is being organized for the cam paign of 1000. Financial night schools and home circle clubs are organized in- every precinct. The money question is briefly explained and the various re forms advocated in the interest of la bor are carefully studied. The listen ers are appealed to , not on the grounds of self-interest , but from a Christian , spirit ; of love to fellowmen who them selves are more than crushed by the- present financial and industrial system. The night school department is self- supporting and organizers who devote- their time to the work receive the regu lar union scale of wages. A book and literature exchange is established in connection with each school , and is- supported at a small cost to members. 31oney and Property Value. It is estimated that the total value of all the property in the country is from thirty to forty times the amount of money. That is to say , each dollar ia money sustains from thirty to fortv- dollars of property. It can do this be cause only a small portion of the prop erty is offered for sale at one time. If were all thrown on the market at once , to be sold for cash , it could bring no < more than tiie existing supply of money. As a matter of fact , it wonld not ' bring so much , because those who- have the money would not be likelv to- part with the whole of it. But it could not < possibly bring any more than the- 'whole. A Fine Lesson in Courtesy. During the G o'clock rush for th * street cars two women simultaneously- entered a crowded Indiana avenue car. large man made room for the smaller * the two women , in appearaar- . working girl , while the more fashion ably , dressed girl remained standing. "Thank you very much , " said the first girl , while the other stared over their heads. The man looked uncomfortably the young woman standing , and finally offered her his seat which she- accepted without a word. "Thank you very much , " reiterated first little girl , with a sly smile. "Beg pardon ? " said the haughty- neighbor , while several persons- laughed. "Xothing personal , " she replied. "I just thanking the gentleman in be half of our sex. " Chicago Inter Ocean-