Conservative ,
000 cnsea of syphilis afllicted the volun
teers thus far returned from tlie Philip
pines to San Francisco. Who can esti
mate the ravages among our own people
in consequence ?
In the French nrmy Gen. Gallifot has
just promulgated an order against the
sale of ardent spirits in barrack or camp.
Degeneracy and increase of insanity
among the consumers of brandy and
absinthe have forced the move. Mul-
hall , the statistician , says that alcoholic
insauity "is twice as frequent now as it
was 15 years ago , and the number placed
under restraint on account of it has in
creased 25 per cent , in the last three
years. " Every ship-load of returning
soldiers from Manila brings its quota of
maniacs.
Wo have a president belonging to the
great Methodist denomination , which
probably includes the largest percentage
of prohibitionists of any religioxis or
ganization in the country. The souls of
many of its members are stirred over
the question whether their distinguished
communicant turns his wine glasses
down on festive occasions , or ventures to
take a drop. Wo have a secretary of
the navy who is president of the Massa
chusetts total abstinence society. Contributions -
tributions for it are annually solicited
to save a few drunkards from the gut-
I ter. Mr. McKinley has but to speak the
word to close every grog shop in Manila
and remedy the canteen abomination.
Ho can find excuses for arbitrary power
to the extent of nullifying the principles
of republican government and disregard
ing the constitution , but not to clean out
the saloons in the Philippines. Nor has
the total abstainer , Secretary Long , yet
made his influence felt against this
national enormity , which destroys more
human beings in n day than his Mas
sachusetts society can rescue in a life
time. Let the responsibility be placed
where it belongs.
This is a difficult subject to handle
without offense , but it needs exposure
and emphasis more than any other as
pect of the war. Death closes the ac
count , and wounds of flesh may heal ,
but the soul degradation and dissemina
tion of vice through the great enginery of
the army entail incalculable curse.
Nothing should stir the indignation and
purpose of women like this sin against
the human race. From Cuba and Porto
Rico comes the same story. The trail of
armies is the trail of the serpent , and no
fine phrases like those of Bishop Potter
can for a moment obscure the devilish
work in which the countrymen of Wash
ington and Lincoln are now engaged.
Two tl * lusand years after the birth of
the Priuo.e of Peace , and pious lips , in
His name , shielding the crime and the
criminals !
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.
Boston , May 9,1900.
Springfield Republican.
BRYAN'S OCCUPATION.
Recently when questioned about his
occupation Colonel Bryan said he was
lot a farmer , but an agriculturist. The
New York Press defines this by saying :
"A farmer is a man who tills the soil.
An agriculturist is a man who tills the
farmer. "
Perhaps that fixes Colonel Bryan's
status as accurately as possible. He
certainly puts his tongue to the farmer
more often than ho puts his hand to the
plow. His function in life seems to be
the effort to convince the farmer that ho
is unhappy when he is happy , in misery
when he feels well , and in bad luck when
lie pays off a mortgage.
We would , however , take Colonel
Bryan out of the agricultural class and
put him among the manufacturers. It
is his business to manufacture griovau-
es. He spins them out of his own
head , as a silkworm spins its thread out
of its bowels.
When prices were low and interest
high he manufactured that into a griev
ance. Now that conditions are re
versed , and prices are high and interest
low , that also is made into a grievance.
He accused the "money power" of
making low prices and high interest ,
and now he accuses the same power of
reversing the operation and effect. He
evidently treats the gold standard as a
double ender , and whichever way it
works he views it with alarm , with
solicitude , with repugnance , with aver
sion , with apprehension , with anxiety ,
and so on to the end of the long cata
logue of words which express discon
tent.
To his mind the public liver is in a
morbid , torpid , inactive and abnormal
condition , no matter what happens ; and
he is the only original liver-pad and he
patic poultice capable of making it smile
like an infant in its mother's arms.
Shakespeare describes the scurvy poli
tician pretending to see the things he
does not.
Surely Colonel Bryan sees things in
the condition of the country and people
which are hidden from others. As the
prophet of 1896 he failed utterly. His
prophecies went wider of the mark than
the shells which Spanish gunners fired
at our ships. Now he is in the field as a
political chemist , analyzing present con
ditions , and finds them so bad that he is
surprised that the hide of the poor old
country is not on the fence. San Fran
cisco Call.
THE COHOIERCIAl BROKER.
The broker is the medium of trade.
He has been described as a fungus
growth on trade ; an intermediate black
mailer between buyer and seller. This
accusation is unfair and unjust. The
commercial broker is a trade medium ;
a connector of buyer and seller ; a neces
sary adjunct to commerce in our widely
extended business.
There are many small dealers whose
business is not big enough to warrant
; he establishment of an oxpousive'bureau '
of information. The field for their
commodity is not sufficiently large and
their businesses are not sufficiently
diversified to warrant the expense of ex
ploiting the world for market informa
ion. There are hordes of business
ioucorns which desire an occasional
article which they fancy this or that
lountry produces , but are unable to
: onnect with the manufacturer or the
dealer in it. Those items may be few
as to one business house , but when all of
these little odds and ends are gathered
into one place they create the necessity
and the material for the commercial
broker. He stands in the busy mael
strom like a pilot light to warn here and
to guide there the smaller as well as the
larger commercial barks out in the
dangerous current of trade. The com
mercial broker fills in the thousand and
one of little needs of business. Ho
hitches up the odds and ends of the
world's industry ; keeps buyer and seller
always in touch , keeps his searchlight
out in the world of commerce and keeps
his hand on the pulse of trade so that
his clients might be kept well posted for
moving their products at the most oppor
tune time in the most favorable market.
Every big house in the provision line
and most other lines has its broker.
Experience has taught these concerns
that such an intermediary is wise and
advantageous.
If the middlemen in trade were wiped
out and the consumer were suddenly
washed up against the factory there
would be a cry for relief , and no one to
hear the cry. Business connections
would gradually disintegrate and drop
apart. The big houses would feel tthe
awkwardness of business affairs at increased -
L
creased expense , and the smaller houses
would lose their touch with the outside
world.
The commercial broker has his sins to
be reproached and to atone for , but ,
sinful or pure , ho is indispensable to
modern trade to lessen the size of the
world and to focus mercantile informa
tion and market data for the use of
whomsoever might desire his wares.
He "hitches up the trade world and keeps
the conduits of trade flowing hither and
thither throughout the universe. Abolish
ish his "tricks" if you can ; convert him
to better ways if he will permit the re
form , but leave us the commercial
broker , because international commerce
and internal trade cannot well get on
without him. National Provisioner.
A BIG JOB OF PRINTING.
Since April 20 , 1900 , the Morton
Printing Company has printed on one
cylinder ( Miehle ) press 8,000,000 circu
lars. The press made between April 20
and May 20 , 610,000 impressions.
Eighteen tons of paper were used in the
job.