THE FILIPINOS.
Philippines con
tinues. Information from reliable
sources indicates that it will probably go
on for many years or until congress does
its duty. To stop the war a guarantee
by congress of ultimate independence is
essential. Confident that only in this
way can hostilities be brought to a close ,
a , movement was recently started , by
men who supported Mr. McKiuley , to
petition congress to declare its purpose
toward the Filipinos and give to them
the same assurances that were given to
the Cubans. A large majority of the
American people are opposed to our
permanent retention of the Philippines
and justify our occupation of the islands
only so long as is necessary to
establish a stable government.
If this is the intention of congress
no harm could result from saying so
and if it is not , honesty to the Filipino
demands a frank acknowledgment of
the fact. The petition that is now
being circulated among those who were
friendly to Mr. McKinley during the
recent campaign reads as follows :
"We , the undersigned , who voted for
the reelection of President McKinley ,
hereby urge upon congress the adoption
of a policy towards the Philippine
islands in accordance with the principles
declared in the following paragraphs of
the joint resolution of congress regard
ing Cuba , passed April 18 , 1898 :
" 'Jbtesolved ; That the people of the
island of Cuba are , and of right ought
to be , free and independent.
" 'That the United States hereby dis
claims any disposition or intention to
exercise sovereignty , jurisdiction , or
control over said island , except for the
pacification thereof , and asserts its de
termination , when that is accomplished ,
to leave the government and control of
the island to its people. ' "
OSWALD OTTJENDOKFEB.
Oswald Ottendorfer , editor and pub
lisher of the New York Staats Zeitung.
died on December 15 , 1900 , after a long
illness , which became acute about eight
weeks ago. He was born on February
26 , 1826 , in Zwittau , Austria , near the
Bohemian border. His father , a well-
to-do manufacturer , sent him to the
University of Vienna in 1846 , where he
applied himself with characteristic dili
gence to the study of philosophy. He
remained there for one year , and there
identified himself with all the revolu
tionary movements with which he came
in touch. Then ho went to Prague to
take up the study of law.
In the winter of that year Mr. Otten-
dorfer's interest in the organization ol
"student legions , " and his part in the
clamor against the Metternich govern
ment attracted official attention to him
then he went to Sohleswig-Holstein to
participate in the fight for its freedom
from Danish rule. Upon his return to
Prague , he found the revolution there
suppressed ; so he made his way to
Vienna , where there was good prospect
of active work with the revolutionists.
Consequently , he was concerned in the
street riots of October 6 and October 81 ;
he was roughly handled and bruised ,
but he escaped serious injury. On the
latter day the barricades , which Mr.
Ottendorfer had helped to throw up ,
were carried by the military , and he
narrowly escaped arrest and death. As
it was , he was hidden in the chimney of
a book store which a kind hearted man
kept and there he remained for three
days and nights , within hearing of a
sentry's footsteps. Meantime , a com
rade bad been caught and was soon sen
tenced and shot.
Sentenced.
At this time sentence of death was
passed upon Ottendorfer for high
treason ; it continued against him for
twenty years , when a general pardon
was granted. He escaped from Vienna
to Saxony. Once there he dared not
take up his studies at the University
of Leipsicas he had intended for fear
of extradition ; so he cast in his lot with
other revolutionists and set out for
Bohemia to provoke an uprising there.
This effort failed. The party was soon
under suspicion , and driven from the
country. In the spring of 1849 he was
in Dresden , there leading a revolution
ary outbreak ; and so he went from city
to city , provoking outbreaks as best he
could , until , in the summer of 1849 , he
was stricken with typhoid fever. The
revolutionary spirit had subsided when
he recovered. He was concerned in the
rescue of a revolutionary leader ( Stock )
from life imprisonment , and led the
escaping party to Switzerland. Thence
he reached the seacoast and came by
schooner to New York. He arrived
here on April 1 , 1850.
Career Began.
He was penniless and friendless. His
first employment was as a laborer in a
factory ; then he found work in a soda-
water factory. In 1851 he was given a
position in the office of the Staats
Zeitung. In the following year the
proprietor , Jacob Uhl , died , and his
widow took charge of the paper , and
afterwards Mr. Ottendorfer married
Mrs. Uhl. In 1858 Mr. Ottendorfer was
made editor-in-chief.
Mr. Ottendorfer was a democrat. He
was a Douglas delegate to the national
convention in Charleston ; was founder
of the German Democratic Union party
which elected Godfrey Gunther mayor
in 1868 ; and was for many years a bit
ter opponent of Tammany Hall. In
1872 he was elected an alderman , but he
never drew the salary of the office ,
which is still on deposit in the comp
troller's office.
Mr. Ottendorfer was the personal and
the political friend of the editor of THE
CONSERVATIVE for many years. His
genial manners , his kind heart and his
rugged honesty were phenomenally
prominent in the make-up of his strong
and masterful personality. His influ
ence was always for the useful , the
beautiful and the elevating things in
American life and politics.
BRYAN FOR GOVERNOR.
William J. Bryan for governor of
Nebraska and Senator W. V. Allen for
member of the supreme court is said to
be the ticket by which the democrats
hope to again wrest the state from the
republicans. Depending on Mr. Bryan's
strong personality and the reaction that
generally follows a landslide , the politi
cal friends of the late candidate for the
presidency hope to elect him by so large
a majority that his prestige as a national
leader will be at once reestablished.
The election for governor occurs in
1902 , while a member of the supreme
court will be elected in 1901.
Mr. Bryan's announcement that he
will soon begin the publication of a
weekly political journal has set the
politicians guessing. Republican poli
ticians had hoped that Mr. Bryan upon
his defeat for the presidency and loss of
his own state would emigrate to Texas.
Mr. Bryan , however , has chosen
another course. He will not only re
main and lend his personality to the
next state campaigns , but he will put
his newspaper into every village and
hamlet of this state , enabling him to
preach his doctrines every week , and he
will not be hereafter circumscribed to
speeches from the rear end of a passen
ger coach. It is stated by his friends
with great emphasis that Mr. Bryan is
determined to wrest Nebraska from re
publican domination.
The friends of Mr. Bryan figure that
the republicans , having reinstated them
selves in power politically , will repeat
the blunders of the past and will permit
the great corporations to name their
candidates and control the official actions
of the state officers from the governor
down to custodian of the state house.
They look to see the corporations name
two men for the United States senate.
They point to the certainty of the elec
tion of D. E. Thompson , of Lincoln , a
man who was in the employ of the Bur
lington railroad for a quarter of a
century and made his first money in
land deals in new territory traversed by
that road. Politically he has always
been the agent of the Burlington. The
fact is also pointed out that the decision
of the supreme court knocking out the
state board of transportation leaves the
state without any law regulating rail
roads or the tariff rates , which are con
stantly increasing , nor is there a com
mission having authority to curb the
greed of the railroads.
Mr. Bryan and his party workers
anticipate that the new regime is in a
fair way to make so many mistakes that
it will b3 an easy matter to displace re
publicans in the state elections of 1901-2.
Special Omaha Dispatch , in Chicago
Record , Deo. 20 , 1900.