\
i- ' *
"Che Conservative.
In these days of
INSTANTANEOUS telegraphs , tele -
DISTINCTION. ,
phones and other
electric phenomena the power of conferr
ing instant fame is not marvelous , even
though exercised with discriminating
judgment.
The recent baptism of Mr. Coin Har
vey who runs a school for fools by
Colonel Bryan is illustrative of the cel
erity with which fame is acquired , espec
ially among populists.
The occasion was the meeting together
of the big medicine men of the free sil
ver republicans , the Chicago platform
idolaters and the St. Louis convention
populists. The incantations to allure
primarily votes , and secondarily offices ,
hod been finished , and the time ani
place for holding the next general pow
wow of the combined tribes at Omaha
agreed upon , when Colonel Bryan intro
duced Mr. Harvey and by immersion in
a puddle of adulation christened him
the economist laureate of the universe.
Thus easily , eloquently and effectively
were Bouamy Price , McLeod , Perry ,
Lord Farrer , Fawcett and Professor
Sumner retired from eminence as teach
ers and writers upon finance and eco
nomics generally.
Mr. Bryan introduced Mr. Harvey
with a brief reference to the financial
question and said he was ' 'proud to in
troduce to the people of Lincoln , one of
the greatest economic writers of the civ
ilized world. "
J' Sterlile
TRUSTS. ;
toil , secretary of
agriculture uiider the second Cleveland
administration , is one of the orthodox
democrats who has not permitted envir
onment to afflict him with economic
strabismus , i Mr. Morton lives in Ne
braska , and he might have been the
leader in his state had he not repud
iated Bryan at the beginning of that
gentleman's national career. Mr. Mor
ton has just been heard from on the
subject of trusts , and , as usual , he
strikes straight from the shoulder ,
clinching a truth that in a very few
years from now will be recognized as
axiomatic. He says :
"Trusts which are overcapitalized are
born of the machinations of shallow and
impractical men. They will fail and no
one will bo harmed except those whose
credulity led them to invest in their
securities. "
This is now being demonstrated as
fact almost every day. Only last week
the combination of chair manufacturers ,
which started out with an ambitions de
termination to issue $25,000,000 of stock ,
was dissolved. Not that the signatory
firms hod become unwilling , but because -
cause the industrial market had become
weak. The public is not buying.
, This fact is being brought home to
promoters every day , and the tendency
to overcapitalize is falling of its .own
X
weight. This is the logical and the only
remedy for any evil that may exist in
this direction. If self-interest does not
prevent a man from foolishly investing
liis money the law never can. In this
country every tub is supposed to stand
on its own bottom , and whether the in
dividual's judgment leads him to Wall
street or to the race course in his quest
of profit is his own affair. Now York
Commercial.
ANTI-IMPEKIAI.IST . NEWS.
An immense mass meeting was held
on the evening of June 22 in the Audi
torium at Detroit to protest against mil
itarism and imperialism. More than
three thousand people were present.
The meeting was largely German and
on the platform Catholic and Lutheran
clergymen sat side by side. There was
a musical programme of patriotic songs
and addresses were made by the Rev.
Paul Bard and the Hon. John J. Leiitz.
Every attack on the imperialistic policy
of the administration was received with
boisterous applause.
A movement is taking place for the
formation of a branch League in Phila
delphia with Hon. George F. Edmunds
as president.
A call has been issued for a mass
meeting in Cincinnati to protest against
the attempt to destroy the moral lead
ership of this free government in the
world by degrading it to an empire. "
It iti signed by the Bishop of southern
Ohio , many other prominent clergymen ,
by the superintendent of the chamber
of commerce , business men and mem
bers of the university faculty.
The League has just published a leaf
let entitled "Memoranda" mostly offi
cial , being materials for the history of a
war of "commercial aggression" com
piled from official reports and senate
document 62 , anew edition of "Soldiers'
Letters , " "Conquest of Spain by the
United States" by Prof. W. G. Simmer ,
and "A Question of National Honor" by
Hon. Wm. Henry Fleming.
A sign of the times is the large amount
of money being spent by railroads in
improvements. One Western road , the
Burlington , has appropriated no less
than $6,000,000 for this purpose. This
is exclusive of the cost of building new
lines in western Nebraska and Wyom
ing. By far the most important part of
the Burlington's big repair job is the
completion of the double track between
Omaha and Chicago.
Thirty-five miles of double track are
being laid between Mount Pleasant and
Batavia , Iowa , and ten miles between
Now London and Mount Pleasant , Iowa.
With the exception of a stretch of fif
teen miles , the road now has a double
track all the way from Chicago to Mount
Pleasant , a distance of 282 miles. All
the Illinois lines are double-tracked , and
155 miles in Iowa will be in similar
condition before the end of the summer
THE SICK AND DEATH HATE.
Probable sick nnd death rate in the army in
the Philippines deduced from the statistics
of the British ( white ) army in India. ]
In support of Mr. R. De O. Ward's
call givea in The Transcript of Boston
'or a public statement of the proportion
of troops now or hereafter in hospital
u the Philippine islands I submit the
data of the sick and death rate in the
British ( white ) army in India in 1896
: rom the medical report of that year :
Average strength 70,484.00
Average number constantly sick 0,014.74
Number in each 1,000 constantly sick 93.85
Admissions to hospital per thousand
during tho'voar ( or the whole force
once , and USt twice admitted ) 1,880.70
Deaths per 1,000 15.52
Invalids sent homo per 1,000 24.51
Invalids discharged per 1,000 13.09
Total , deaths , invalided and sent
homo or discharged , per 1,000 53.12
Average number constantly sick from
following diseases :
Smallpox , enteric , yellow , and other
fevers , cholera , and dysentery 572.21
Malarial fever 715.51
Septic diseases fl.CO
Venereal diseases 2,790.58
Hydrophobia .03
Parasitic 0.42
Scurvy .81
Alcoholism 11.84
Debility 91.29
Rheumatism 108.19
Tubercular and analagous 97.22
Liocal diseases : nervous , eye , urinary ,
generative , etc 1,801.57
Poisons .54
[ njurics 845.94
Total 0,014.75
It will be observed that this average
includes the health resorts on the hills ,
to which all troops are sent alternately.
The troops are divided among twenty-
seven cantonments , at each of which is
the most adequate water supply and
liospital service , and where all possible
sanitary precautions are taken.
The death-rate varies from a mini
mum of 7.12 per 1,000 to a maximum of
81.46 per 1,000.
The admissions to hospital vary from
a minimum of 1,065.1 per 1,000 to a
maximum of 2,458.6 per 1,000.
When the present conditions of the
army in the Philippine islands are con
sidered the number of wounded , the
insufficient hospitals , the want of ex
perience , and the hardships to which
the men have been exposed in malarious
swamps under excessive heat and rain ,
the ghastly disclosures made by Surgeon
McQneston will excite no surprise.
All these facts must of necessity be
considered , both in considering the
number of American soldiers yet to be
sacrificed , the inducements to volun
teers to enlist , and the future increase
in taxation that will be necessary to
keep up the military forces , and mouth
by m'onth to send out new troops to fill
the gaps caused by death and disease.
It would perhaps be judicious to double
the rates disclosed in regard to the army
in India when active operations are sus
pended , and to treble them when they
are resumed in and around Manila.
EDWARD ATKINSON.
Boston , June , 1899.