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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 1903)
TITE OMAHA DAILY TIEE: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1003. Tim DMAiiA Daily Dee E. R08KWATER, EDITOR. PUBLISHED EVERT MORNING. TERMS OF PUP8CRIPTION. Pally Uee (without Sunday), One Year..$4 W iially Hnf and Sunday, On Year Illustrated one Year lw) Bunflay Be. One tear 1.U0 Paturday bra. one Year 1.60 Twentieth Century farmer, On Year.. J. OK DELIVERED BY CARRIER. Pally h' without Sunday), per copy.... Jo Daily He (without bunoay), per week.. .120 Dally hee (Including Bunday), par week. .170 Sunday lire, per ropy 6a Evening p.ee (without Sunday), per week J Evening Bee (Including; Sunday), per week 10c Complaint of Irregularities In delivery hould be addressed to City Circulation De partment. OFFICES. Omaha The Bee Build Ing. , South Oman City Hall Building, Twenty-fifth and M Street. Council lufTs 10 Pearl 8treL i.'htcae-o Mti Unity Building. New York 2fl Park Row Uulldint ' Washington Wl Fourteenth Street. COKRE8PONDENCE. Communication relating to fiw and d Itorlal matter (hould be addressed; Omaha Bee, Editorial Department. REMITTANCES. Remit by draft, express or postsi order, Payable to The Bee Publishing Company. Only x-cent stamp accepted In payment of mall account. Personal checks, except on Omnha or eastern exchange, not accepted. THE BEE PUBLISHING COMPANY. STATEMENT OF CIRCULATION. State of NebraaVa, Douglae County. ss : George B. Taechuck, secretary of The Be Fubllshlng company, being duly sworn, says that the actual number of full and complt cople of Th Dally, Morning, Kvnlng and Sunday Beo printed during th month January, 1. wa a follow: l so,4ao 17 so.eoo 1 30,250 IS ,020 8O.T0O 80.B40 I S8.808 ao.rmo I 8O,B0O Zl Slfi&O t JMMfTO a 80,440 T 80,820 23 WMWO I ,.80,400 M 80.TB0 30,40 26 aJ,850 10 80.6AO 16 80.8T0 11 28.T60 J7 80,RT II ... .80,000 2s 80,840 II 80,8.10 80,B30 14 30,400 80 80.8T0 15 80,B70 U 80,10 16 30,470 Total 41,485 Less unsold and returned cop!.... ,8Ta Net total sales :U,64 Net average sale 80,001 QKOROE B. TZSCHUCK. Subscribed In my preeenc and sworn to before m this (1st day of January. A. D. ll. U. B. HUNUATS, (Seal.) Notary PubUo. t I I " If there are any more charter amend ments up the .ileeve, it 1 high time they should be shaken out It Is plain that the corporation lobby down at Lincoln baa also been getting In Its work on the fusion aide of the fence. ' ' It Is an easy thing to raise salaries of state bouse employes, but once raised nobody living in this generation will see them lowered. v ... . If the legislature of Nebraska is In an Impeaching mood. It can find plenty of muterlal to work on besides the state Ihurnjney board. , It looks aa If Delaware would con tinue to be unrepresented in the United Statea senate. But that la no new ex perience for Delaware. The .Inventor of the Gatllog gun Is dead. Paradoxically, the deadly weapon he. Introduced by making Mar more ef fective served to promote, peace. Tho Northwestern road may absorb tb Elk horn for purposes of operation, but the merger will not reduce the slae f the lobby it la maintaining at Lin coln. Hobson'a plea for a larger navy must Lave reached Washington just tu time. At any rate, congress responded promptly by voting the necessary ap propriations. , ' Colonel Henry Watterson has been remlsa in not telling the public Just what he thinks of Colonel Bryan's re ent call to arms. If there is to be a conncil of war Colonel Watterson ehould have the bead of the table. And now the seat of war Is to be transferred from South America to Central America. Uncle Sam will have bla hands full If be assumes the task of keeping all the unruly boys on the con tinent from pummellng one another. The only wonder Is that our. over worked and underpaid city comptroller la not asking for back salary as well to reimburse blm for the valuable serv ices donated by him to the city over and above wbat be baa been paid for. Unless all signs fail there will soon be an opening for a state veterinary dentist, who will see to it that aged and Infirm horses and mules are provided with sound seta of teeth that will en able their owners to market them as 4-year-olda.. The unanimous re-election of Mrs. Ftlrbanka as president of the Daugh ters of the American Revolution is said to have beaded off an Incipient revolu tion lp that organization. The daugh ters .have the revolutionary spirit aa well as fhe name. The democrats in the house are ac cusing the republicans of using high handed jnetboda to unseat Congreaaman Butler of Missouri, whose election was shown to be accomplished by rank frauds' in St. Louis. The democrats in dulged tbelr high-handed methods at the palls. If the loss Incurred in the tire at Cin cinnati really foots up $4,000,000, or anywhere near that estimate, we will soon see the Insurance companies using It as a pretext for stiffening up rates all over the country. The underwriters are not accustomed to letting a chance like this go by. It is amusing to see the legislature of Pennsylvania, which Is represented In the United States senate by Quay and Penrose, moving to enter objection to tho admission of Senator-elect Smoot of Utah Into that body for fear be might contaminate bla associates because of Ida adherence to the Mormon religion. LKVIHLATI r AMHTlONMK!tT. Section 2, article 111 of the constitu tion of Nebraska make the following specMflc provision relative to the appor tionment of KgSlntlve representation: At Its first regular session after esrh (state) enumeration snd slso after each enumeration made by the authority of the United States, but st no other time, tbs legislature shall apportion the senators and representative according to th num ber of Inhabitant, excluding the Indiana not taxed and soldier and officer of the t'nited State army and navy. The last apportloument In conformity with this provision was made by the legislature of 1887 on the basis of the state census of 1885. The national cen sus of 1800 furnished a proper basis for a legislative apportionment and the leg islature of 1891 was in duty bound to avail Itself of the United States ccnaua- flgures, but the legislature of 18!)1 failed to discharge this duty, as did also the legislature of 1001, which bad at Its disposal the returns of the census taken by the United States In 1000. It will be noted that the constitution expressly declares that legislative ap portionment shall be made by the legis lature following the taking of a na tional or state census, "but at no other time." It may be contended that it will be an Infraction of this constitutional provision for the legislature of 1903 to make an apportionment of legislative representation. That should have been made by the last legislature. But It is a serious question whether the refusal of the legislature to carry out the man date of the constitution would be per mitted to disfranchise the people of dis tricts Justly entitled to increased legis lative representation,' whatever their motives might be. The trend of popu lation In Nebraska during the past twenty years baa been westward, and that section of the state bits suffered most by the failure of succeeding legis latures to enact laws that would give the region that has grown most in pop ulation its Just proportion of representa tion in the legislature. While we can see no harm'ln the en actment of an apportionment bill dur ing the present session, it would be well to supplement such legislation by the submission of a constitutional amend ment fixing the representation on the basis of the census.' of 1900. Such an amendment submitted by the present legislature for ' ratification in 1904 would, if adopted, insure equitable, rep resentation fn the legislature of 1007. Should the reapportionment enacted by the present legislature be held valid by the supreme court before the election of 1904, no harm would come from the submission of a constitutional amend ment. . SCOP or TH DECISION. There is a diversity of opinion as to the scope of the declson by the supreme court of the United States in the lot tery cases. It la not remarkable that this should be the ease In view of the fact that the chief Justice a ad three of the associate Justices, very generally re garded as, the ablest' men of the tri bunal, ahould have expressed a minority opinion. It must be admitted that this minority view is very strong and that there Is much in it which cannot fall to command commendation. Its position Is that there la a limitation upon the power of congress in respect' to the control of Interstate 'commerce: that there Is an authority belonging to the states, under thetenth amendment to the constitution, , that congress cannot invade or Impair. The minority pf the court does not deny , to congresi the right to regulate commerce between the states, but it holds that tn the ex ercise of its authority congress must not and cannot destroy or nullify the power which under the constitution the states enjoy. The majority opinion leaves very lit tle to the states. Its practical mean ing la that the power of congress over Interstate commerce la eunrem and n. Questionable. Whatever congress may determine in regard to- that commerce, In accordance with this decision, la final and conclusive, not even the courts having any right to question it For example, ahould congress decide that anything entering into interstate commerce was inimical to the pub lic interest It would have authority to prohibit the transportation of that article or commodity from state to state or to foreign countries. Thus anv cor. P ration authorized by a state to carry on a business could be prevented by congressional enactment from can-vino- on that business In another state. It Is obvious that by this decision congress Is given absolute and unre stricted control over Interstate com- merce and can put a stop to any busi ness among the several states which it shall deem desirable to aupprees. It is true that the majority opinion says that congress may not arbitrarily intAP. fere with Interstate commerce to the extent of excluding from It articles that are proper in such commerce, but mani festly this puts n,o real limitation upon congressional power under the constitu tional provision relating to the regula tion of commerce among the states and with roreign nations. There Is one conclusion liYn, ski 1 a a s-u I 111 O UtT- clslon that seems to be absolutely souna ana Indisputable. That Is. that the power o congress to control and regulate corporations engaged In Inter state and foreign commerce Is clear and unrestricted. The decision sustains un qualifiedly the anti trust law of 1890 and is in effect a notice to all combina tions that that law must be respected and complied with. Marching orders will soon be issued to 2.200 Infantry, cavalry and artillery men, stationed at various posts In the Department of the Missouri, to proceed by rati to St Louis to assist In the dedi cation of the world's fair and inci dentally to become part of the pageant that la being prepared for the occasion. The marching pace of the regulars is to be enlivened by five brass bands and sundry criminal packages. Whether the eipenscs of this military demon stration are to be taken out of the army chest of the treasury or the treasury of the fair association lias not transpired. Inasmuch as the world's fair will not open for a year after Its . dedlcntlon, the blare of trumpets, the pounding of the timbrels and the marshaling of troops will be a rather expensive luxury, chiefly en joyable by the various- transportation lines that converge at the world's fair city. FlGBTISll AMERICAN COMPETITION. The disposition in Europe to fight American competition continues un abated and from time to time assumes new forms of aggressiveness. The folly of It never seems to occur to Euro pean statesmen that Is to some of them who are most farly removed from what Is really the competition com mercially of this country. For ex ample, the dispatches a few days ago said that the finance minister of Austria-Hungary had suggested a commer cial union between the states of Europe In antagonism to American competi tion and hod seriously urged that this was necessary In order to protect those countries against the invasion commer cially of this country. It would be difficult to conceive . of a proposition more ridiculous than this and yet Its suggestion by an official high in the councils of one of the lead ing powers of continental Europe gives it an authority which entitles it to con sideration. It suggests simply this, that there Is In the first states of Europe a feeling that the time has come when some very positive and pronounced ac tion should be taken to meet or offset the commercial competition of this country In the European markets. Ilow this shall be done Is the problem that Is at this moment worrying every Euro pean country and threatens to trouble them for some time to come. It is not simply a matter of tariffs, for that is comparatively easy. Any of those countries Is at liberty to make its tariff to suit itself and neither the United States nor any other country has any right to object It is simply when dis criminations are made that the right of objection can be urged and it is on this score alone that the United States has ever made any objection. That position we shall undoubtedly 'continue to assert. Whatever foreign governments shall do with reference to the protection of their industries we cannot properly find fault with, so long as their policy does not involve a dis crimination against our products. But wbenever, as in the case of Germany and Russia and France, tariffs are made which distinctly discriminate against American products there will be objection made hnd persistence In that policy will certainly bring retal iation. If the State Board of Pharmaev has .been withholding fees which should have been paid into the state treasury it is proper for the legislature to a-et after them and see that the money. Is turned back. The fees which may have been thus diverted, however, are as nothing compared with the money wnicn should be recovered to the treas ury to make good the amounts held out by Bartley, by Meserve and by the mid dlemen in the Stuefer bond deals. No Investigation should be confined to th fees of the pharmacy board when these other Impositions on the taxpayers, to use a mild term, are waiting to be probed. The supreme court of Nebraska. In its decision on the taxation of the Omaha street railway, water works, traa and electric lighting companies, declared In so many words that the market price of the stocks and bonds of a corporation represent its true value for taxation purposes. This principle was enunci ated on several occasions by the su preme court of the United States and, therefore, rests on a very substantial basis. If the principle Is sound with re gard to the assessment of francblsed public utility corporations it Is equally sound when applied to the assessment of railroad corporations. The lower house of the legislature has turned down Its committee on roads and bridges, which had allowed Itself to be' hypnotized by the bridge con- tractors' lobby. This action on the part or the lower house is highly com mendable. The manipulation of eountv boards by bridge contractors has be come a notorious scandal. Getting; lp In the World. Louisville Courier-Journal. The Island of Guam has riaen six Inches sine Jt became the property of tho United State and the Guammttes took to wearing trcuaers. It is believed, however, that a recent earthauaka was the direct cause nt Guam's rise In the world. An OpealnaT for Grains. Washington Poet. Our diplomatic representative at Vienna is ald to ba very much embarraased be cause we bava no embassy there equal to tho social functions ha desires to give. We might send over th chaps who re modeled the Whit House and put up soma sort of a shack for th gentleman. Marveloa Era of Peace, ' Chicago Post. With th Irish coming to the rescue of the eonaervatlvea, th kaiaer returning the Restaurador, the sultan accepting the re form program. Senator Quay agreeing to the statehood compromise, Mr. Tillman ex pressing Borrow for th civil war and Mr. Gompert aettling th tailor' dispute, sn era of pesca would seem to havs aettled upon the face of th earth. Small, bat Taoroaehly Tralaea. Philadelphia, Record. President Roosevelt both by bl acts and his speech favors a small but thoroughly disciplined regular army, touch th aain argument may bo applied to th navy. In existing conditions It U much eaaler to set afloat enormous see monsters than It la to obtain th neceaaary quota of disciplined seamen for the naval Brvlc. ' When In telligent and spirited American youths sa that there is no prospect of promotion In the navy save for a select few they prefer the merchant marine, in which there Is no bar to their advancement. Man for the ftoldea Mean. New Tork Tribune. If Australia and the United States could average temperatures just now both coun tries would be more comfortable. In the biggest Island on the globe a destructive best wave has been doing almost Incalcul able damage. In this country the Feb ruary freeze has been working mischief and baa been the raus of widespread dis comfort. How welcome would be the golden mean all over the. world! The Maaafaetarlag Weil. New York Independent. A transformation In the development of th west little realised by" the nation at large, yet of Important bearing, ta taking place. The agricultural area, which suc ceeded that of the . ranch and hunting ground. Is giving way to a period in which manufacturing plays a noteworthy part. The prosperity of the last half decade has brought about an attempt to rival the older states In the processes of craftsman ship. The westerner has traveled "back east" and has seen In nearly every little town a factory; he tuts seen the surplus labor employed In making things and be has gona home and sought te establish an Industry of some sort In his own town. Ho has succeeded better than Is commonly sup posed. The recent census shows that In what may be called "western! states there are 225,287 manufacturing establishments, with an aggregate capital of 13,447,587,249, and. an annual product of $5,252,311,029. InNew England, the home of the manu facturing Industry, there were only sbout one-fourth as many establishments as In the west, less than half th capital Invested, and an annual product of only two-fifths that of th west. Speeches That Read Well. Senator Hoar In Succesa. It Is often said that if a speech reads well It la not a -good speech. There may be some truth In It. The reader cannot, of course, get the Impression which the speaker conveys by look and tone and ges ture. He lacks thst marvelous Influence by which, in a great assembly, the emotion cf every Individual soul Is multiplied by the emotion of every other. The reader can pause and dwell upon the thought. If there be a fallacy, he Is not hurried away to something else befor he can detect It. So, also, his more careful and deliberate criticism will discover offenses of style and taste which pass unheeded in a speech when uttered. But still the great oratorio triumphs of literature and history stand the test of reading In the closet, as well as of hearing In tho assembly. Would not Mure Antony's speech over the dead body of Caesar, had It been uttered, have moved the Roman populace as It moves the spec tator when the play Is acted, or the soli tary reader in his closet T Does not Lord Chatham's "I rejoice that America has re sisted", read well? Do not Sheridan's and Burke's great perorations In th Impeach ment of Warren Hastings read well? Does not "Liberty and Union, Now and. For ever," read well? Does not "Give me Lib erty or Give Me Death" read well? Do not Everett's finest passages read well? AX ISDE.1IRAHLK INNOVATION. Shall American Garb Give Way to the Gaady Tlnarl of Earapef Baltimore American. The question of diplomatic uniforms is again under dtscusslon:r It seems that the predecessor of the1 present ambassador to Russian Invented a 'Uniform a black coat trimmed with gold-lace. The present am bassador has decided to adopt It. The rule of the State department on th"aubect la that a minister dr ambassador can wear what be pleases; This Is, perhaps, as good as any other rule, in view of the fact that a number of our representatives abroad have felt humiliated when appearing In the ordinary fall dress of an American citizen. One of them complained that when appear ing In that way he was not allowed to en ter the palace, and had to be Identified by his servant. Something similar happened to a distinguished' American officer at an official function at Westminster Abbey. He had on a dress coat and was mistaken for a servant until his companion, who was a bishop, explained who' he was. It will be a source of regret to many it the frills and gold lace of the European courts Is to be generally substituted by our representatives abroad for the simple dress of the American citizen. The latter is dis tinctive of the country and people. Tho masses In America dress well, but they dress on state occasions In the very stylo which seems so obnoxious to some of the American diplomats. Some of 'the greatest of American diplo matists have not considered it beneath their dignity, nor as entailing insult and humili ation, to go Into the presence of a European sovereign and bis court In the dress watch all Amerlcsns wear upon occasions of state. Any affront offered to an ambassador un der such circumstances ought not to offend or humiliate blm. - It Is easier to command respect for Americans In American garb than by imitating . the gaudy tinsel of Europe. ... COMMON SENSE IN I.IBKI, SI ITS. Proarresalve and Remarkable View ef Newspaper Responsibility. Chicago Post. The New TorV press is to be congratu lated on a verdict recently rendered In a libel suit against one of Its leading mem bers. While th judgment establishes no precedent, and any other Jury la entitled to disregard It in a similar case, the sense and fairness of the verdict will make an impression on the commuolty. The defendant newspaper waa undoubt edly guilty of libel. Technically It had no defense, and Ita attorney was astute enough to set up none of the ordinary kind. It was admitted that under the law the plaintiff was entitled to damages, but it was alleged and conclusively shown that there had been no mallcioua Intent or pur pose in the libelous publication. The item upon which the suit was based charged the plaintiff with the commission of a very serious crime, and the charge was abso lutely unfounded. But the paper had printed the Item In the regular course of Its busi ness aa news gatherer, having received It from a generally trustworthy source. In other words, the defense, as original before a jury ss it Is sound and rational and forceful, waa that' newspapers are printed and circulated because the publio demands them, and that In meeting this universal demand for th promptest pub lication of the greatest possible variety of Interesting matters, the newspapers have to depend on press agencies, reporter snd correspondents, snd csnnot stop to verify every item. Owing to the haate, pressure and rush, inaccuracies and false statements Inevitably creep in, and for such occasional error It Is unjust to hold the publishers snd editors financially responsible. Honest ef fort to serve the public and the absolute absence of malic or Intent to Injure should be taken Into account in applying the law of libel. The jury accepted this progressive and reasonable view and awarded th plain tiff I cents damages, Instead of the 50.000 he demanded. This recognized the tech nical liability ef the defendant, while In dorsing th plea of confession and avoid ance. The verdict i Intelligent and just. It may b commended to lawyers and Jurors In other centers of nswspsperdoe OTHF.B LANDS TH A OtR". The plsn of administrative reform for the Turkish provinces proposed by Austria and Russia and accepted by the sultan would go far to remove the Macedonian grievances If It were honestly carried out. Such programs, however, hsve been pro posed and agreed to before, and the abuses of Turkish administration have continued to grow worse. Two features of Impor tance ar the establishment of a native gendarmerie under foreign officers, to take the place of the Turkish military police, and the provision thst the tsxes are not to be farmed out, but collected In the vilayets and held In the local banks, the local ex penses to be a first charge upon them, snd only the balance sent to Constantinople. This Is luch a sweeping chsnge In the Turkish system of draining the resources of the country and giving nothing in re turn that something more thsn a pspe promise will be needed to csrry It Into effect. Tbe powers probably are not san guine. Only they hope to keep the Mace donlans quiet for awhile. A French parliamentary report on the estimates for the various protectorates, written by M. - Flandrln, illustrates the Jealousy with which the European powers watch any possible encroachment upon their spheres of interest In northern Africa. M. Flandrln alludes to the constant flow of emigrants from Sicily Into Tripoli. Ho says that there are 76,000 Italians In that province, already, outnumbering tbe French in the proportion of three to one. The pos sibility of having to deal with Italians on the frontier of Tunis, he proceeds to say. Is a hypothesis which has not been taken Into consideration. However much they might wish to tighten tbe bonds connect ing them with a friendly nation, they could not overlook the fact that If Italy were In possession of Tripoli It would control the approaches to the Interior of the con tlnent and be a great menace to the pros perity of Tunis. It would never do, he says, to allow an active European mili tary power to establ'sh itself to the east ward of Algeria for the sake of securing a little more freedom of action to the westward; that Is to say, Morocco. Such a policy would be peculiarly Indiscreet, If the military power concerned happened to be a member of the triple alliance. The possibility nsy, probability of a greater Germany, one which will extend from the North and Baltic seas to the Adriatic when Franz Josef dies, is coming more and more to occupy the attention of French political writers. In the Figaro Baron Pierre de Coubertln, the eminent publicist, recently arued that the ab sorption of Germs. Austria by tbe German empire should not be a cause for an armed Interference by France. He argues that In case of war Bohemia would be swallowed at the first gulp. Then the chief attention of Germany would be given to France, for even should Russia join with Its ally In an armed protest, Germany's attitude toward its northern neighbor would be one cf de fense. Nor is It altogether certain that England would preserve neutral attitude. England would not care to see the aggran dizement of Germany, but the overwhelm ing Influence of a victorious France and Russia would be still worse for It. One word from England and France's oversea possessions would be gone. Baron de Coubertln argues that France's future greatness does not lie long the Rhine, but on the Niger and Mekong. His argu ment is that it would be to France's ad vantage to . see a larger Germany. With Germany stretching across the central part of Europe, the task of watching It would be given to England, Russia end Italy, and France would be left to pursue Its own ends in Africa and Asia. He concludes that Franca has no direct and vital Interest for Interfering In the settlement of th Austrian problem, in which It would have to pay a heavy price for the honor of pro moting the ends of others. Its eolonlal policy constitutes for France a fountain of youth, while a continental policy would be for it a half-open grave. It looks as If the Dutch bad finally gotten the better of the Achlnese, the warlike peo ple of Sumatra, with whom they have been fighting continually since they took posses sion of the Island. The titular aulten hss offered his submission and this act la said to be spontaneous and unconditional. Ever since he attained his majority In 1884 the sultan has been the soul of the Achl nese war party, which fact makes his sub mission all the more notable. It Is possi ble that the war party may proclaim an other aultan and continue the contest, but It Is unlikely, and even If It does the guer illa warfare will be much lightened, tt tie present sultan has a very large personal following. The history of the war this once powerful nation has waged against the Dutch Is one of the most interesting that the far east has given us. The conquest of Sumatra has cost Holland millions in money and thousands of men. It is a story of blunders and of misconception of condi tions, but tbe results once attained were more than worth the expense in time, lives snd money. ' Tbe bill for the protection of children which,- is now before the German Reichstag provides that children under 13 years of age must not be employed In building operations, brick kilns, quarries and mines; that children under 12 must not be em ployed In workshops, theatrical representa tions or restaurants; and that children under 10 must not be employed to dis tribute goods. In the ease of workshops and theatera, restrictions are placed upon the employment of children over 13 years of age who have not completed their ele mentary education. In some esses parents are permitted to employ their own chil dren while still under these sge limits. Tbe social democrats propose to extend the provisions of the bill to children em ployed in agricultural and domestic service. In the .course of debate It waa declared that, owing to the dearth of farm laborers. children wer largely employed to look after cattle. Bolivia Is slowly awakening from her sleep of centuries. When that strange and mysterious country of Immense natural re sources enters fully Into the spirit of mod ern nroffreaa ahe ma v accomnllah amazlns things. The first state railroad in Bolivia, from a port on lk j mcaca, lar aoove the level of tbe aea, to La Pas, Is under construction and going forward at a reason able rat of speed. It Is not sn extremely ambitious trunk line of vsst proportions. and its length will be less than sixty miles. ! But the thought of sny rsilway In Bolivia is almost as startling aa the Idea of auto mobiles In Patagonia. Sooner or later the Sick Man of Europe must scuttle to Asia, and even there he may find a lot of trouble in trying to keep himself alive. Tbe conquest of the Byzan tine emplr and tbe capture of Constanti nople In 1452 by tbe Turk were retrogradu steps In the history of humanity. More than four centuries hav passed sine that stupendous catastrophe. Long before the fifth is ended Ottoman rul will go down In the diaaater which It so fully deservei. It la a decadent dominion. A Pltlfal Sltaatloa. rhlladelphla Record. Now that Quay haa deserted them the democrats of the United States eenat find themselves without a leader. It Is a pitiful situation. POLITICAL DRIFT. Th municipal election In Chicago occurs this year on April 7. The first Industry the Department of Commerce goes against Is the Industry of office seeking. Any old thing goes in Ksnsss, especially If there 4s a state sslsry attached. The latest is a state hen ranch to accommodate a bunch of political roosters. A majority of the lower house of th Illi nois legislature are trying to crack th atate treasury for an extra $500 earh "for clerk hire." They need the mVney. New Tork City has seventeen members of the next house ef representatives, Chi cago ten, Philadelphia six, SU Louis three. Bostonthree.'Clnclnnatl two, New Orleans two, San Francisco two, Baltimore two and JDetrott one. Thirty-four men have been disfranchised for ten years In Martin county, Indiana, for selling their votes at the November elec tion in 1902. Many of them pleaded guilty. Others In the county are to bo tried on the same charge. The convicted ones also are condemned to pay the costs. In such cases 100 goes to the prosecuting witness. Being somewhat sore on the mayor of Topeka, the lower house of the Kansas leg islature Instructed Its chsplatn to omit his name from the list of official prayers for the reason that "ho Is past redemption." Since this pronouncement the mayor has received enthuslastlo commendation from all kinds of sinners and seems to be doing quite well. The last democratic state convention In Texas definitely fixed for the democratic voters of that state, who are In an over whelming majority of tbe electorate, the second Saturday of July la each year as the day of the democratle primary. The demo cratic majority In Texas Is so large that for practical purposes a democratlo nomina tion Is equivalent to an election. Mrs. Coulter, the only woman member .of the Utah legislature, has Introduced a bill to limit election expenses of csndldates for office. It provides that It .shall be unlaw ful for any candidate to give away or treat to cigars, drinks or other refreshments, or to furnish voters carriages or other trans portation to the polls. The penalty Is fine. Imprisonment or loss of office to which the offending candidate has been elected. Senator Pettus of Alabama the other day disproved the prevailing theory that all seats In the United States senate are ex pensive and that that body Is altogether a millionaires' club. He sent to the secre tary of atate of Alabama the sum of (1 In a postal note to cover the entire expense for his recent unanimous election. This sum represents the fee of tbe secretary of state for bis services. So far as known this Is a record In the minimum price for scats In the senate. IN THE INTEREST OF BREVITY, Massachusetts Works the Bine Pencil on State Reports. New Tork Times. The Massachusetts legislature passed a law last year creatine- b hoard r composed of state officials, whose duty It is to reduce the else of the state departmental reports to reasonable limits. These publi cations are growing more and more bulky, and Massachusetts has taken the initia tive In correcting an abuss which prevails to a greater or less extent in all the states. The tendenoy toward prolixity In all government reports Is marked. A board of experts In ; condensation ,. would perform Its labors with Judicial se verity and Imnartlnlifv ' , AM lit tnaf Awlatlit reduce tbe cost of. printing, the reports and nasien tneir publication,: The messages of the "governors are In many Instances open fo the criticism which applies to .state .'report a. They, too, need merciless revision tot the sake of brevity and force; According to the Chicago Record-Herald, the recant annual mu of Governor White of West Virginia Is the most xormiaaDie document of the kind pro duced In recent years. "It Is claimed h the people of West Virginia that Oovernor wnites message is the longest on record." A few excerpts from this state paper wan dered over nineteen columns of an ordi nary newspsper. The Record-Herald es timates that the message, printed tn non pareil type, would reach "from Red Bank. N. J., to What Cheer, la." In nnlni r mileage Governor White'a exhaustive ef fort Is probably unrivaled. The Record Herald advises Oovernor La Foilette, who produced a message of 45,000 words, to be gin his next message at once If he wishes to enter the lists with Governor White with any hope of success. One of the secrets of the late Sneaker Reed's ouccess ss a statesman waa his brief snd incisive speech. He rarely made long addresses. Occasionally a s-ovemnr'a message la a model of brevity. Such efforts are likely to be read and to command public attention. Some years aaro th British House of Commons adonted a man. lutlon declaring that the duration of Par liamentary speeches was Increasing and should be abated. The resolution passed by a. majority of sixty. The evil Is not modern, however. Gladstone on a certain occasion recalled that Palmerston spoke on an Important bill "from the dusk of one day to the dawn of another." Gladstone, always forceful, occupied five hours In speeches on the budget. It Is ssld, how ever, that Disraeli and Gladstone rarelv spoke over an hour on th moat serious tnemes. The mover of the Houao of Com mons resolution referred to declared that a parliamentarian ahould be able to ore- sent his argument on any aubject In an hour. The American congress bss not been out done by the British Parliament in tbe out- nut of lenarthy aneeches. In this headlnna? sge a tense and concise state paper or pub lie address has a decided advantaa-A over such sn amazing effort as tbst of Oovernor White of West Virglnls. The Pall Mall Gazette, commenting some yesrs ago upon the old-time speeches in Parliament, said that our British forefathers had an Institu tion known as the "full dress debate, which they used with unsparing noplushes." Governor White's formidable outcivlnrs belong to thst slow era and are out of place In the electric, rapid transit age. A WET Suits some people. It has its oharms, and suits us, if we can sell you a "Cravenet" "Mackintosh" or ''Storm Coat" If it's protection you want whether it's lrom high prices or storms of the treason wa can protect you, and we can give equal protection to the garment under the storm coats. JV'O CLOTHING FITS LIKE OURS. VUM(UVQ ($0. . V atioss. Jk-aaasm, , THE OLD RELIABLE mi POWER Absolutely: Pure THERE IS NO SUBSTI TUTE DEFENDING THF3 GOVERNMENT. Peadlasr Salts to Overtarn PaaleRIre Resralatlotis. Philadelphia Press. The senate committee on postoffires In serted In the postoffice appropriation Mil an item the enactment of which ' cught not to be a matter of Coubt. This Item In the appropriation of J 25, 000 for the em ployment of special counsel, to be appointed by the attorney general, to prosecute and defend on behalf of the Postoffice depart ment all suits now pending tn ccurt, or which may hereafter arise, affecting the second class mall privilege. This provision Is Important to the great reform In which the department Is en gaged. There are some twenty-five tults now pending In which restraining orders have been issued or appeals taken, and more may come. The publishers who sre conducting their periodicals practlsally at the expanse of the government, and whose subsidy Is threatened, are making a vigor ous fight te save-the gigantic abuse. They have ample and able counsel. They ran afford to pay heavy fees to srrest tbe arm of the department. They can afford to pay heavily even to secure temporary lnjnnc tlons and stave off final action as long ss possible, thus securing a respite for months. Against this combination of pub lishers and their array of counsel tbe de. partmCnt has been compelled to fight with a single assistant dlstrfot cttorney. The Issue Involves . millions ef dollars and it would be the highest -economy for the gov ernment to spend 125,000 for ' the ample and adequate prosecution of these suits. The senate committee rightly took this view of the case and the' senate cught to sustain the provision. It certainly will do so If It correctly understands the matter. It Is not At all tinllkely thst the combina tion of publishers will undertake to cripple the department by securing tbe elimination of this provision. . It can only be done under some fals pretense, and the senste should not suffer' itself to be misled. The depart, ment Is cashing vital reform under great dlfflcultleVand it ought to have the help which It jtaeks.- LINES TO A LAFGH. v . v" , .? -', v" "Yes, sir, you'd be a remarkably -strong man. If" ." ' "If what?" ; "If your musrti,.were on a palf. with your breath." Chicago IHist. ,.;alt j "Yes, he'a the' re Wr of plays ' for the ajndlcate."-. ' . . i. . , . "What doe wad?", ' 1 "Cuts out sir the olMogve. and puts In girls and electric lights. ;WCivdand Plain Dealer. ' rr ,. - .. ' - "Now tell me esodldly." he said, "why do you like classical music?" "Well,", se answered. "It's such a help when one wishes tc avoid retting Into a crowd." Chicago Jlecord-Herald. "Our son seems to. be goln' right In for culture," said Mrs. CorntoBsel. "Yes," answered her husband tn a tone of slight disappointment; 'every kind ex cept agriculture." Washington Star. "It haa' Interested, rn much." said the Scriptural LiteralUt. fto speculate on how Noah arranged all those miscellaneous ani mals in the ark." "Well," lepllfxl the Cheerful Idiot, "he probably arranged the cmcodllea In tears and the jungle beasts In. lairs." Baltimore American, "I don't see anything In this new poem of Jones'," said the assistant editor. "Of course, you don't," replied the editor-in-chief, "because 1 opened It first and took a 5 bill out." Atlanta Constitution. "I know I pnffht in treak: off lushing." said Oldboy, wrHtiptns; anothec wet towel around his hea'dJv but when a fellow gets to be about so tar -along tn life, you know. his habits become sort of fixed. "All that alls you, observed tne mend who had dropped In to console him. "is that your habits hu.ve become sort of loose. Chicago Tribune.. LITTLE THINGS OP LIFE. Somervlll Journal We should not. underestimate ' The little things of life. Their Influence pn Vi Is great The little thlutts uf life. , . They make us rvaJly, what we sr. Ye, everyone, row serf to cxar. They have the power to make or roar The little thlnga of j life. . For Instance, homeopathic pills . (The little things of life.) The doctors say they'll cure our Ilia ' (The tilth- things of life.) Mosquli'M, on the other hann Torment i:s In the summer, and With ail our screens they can't be banned (The little things of Ofe.) Then babies, how they tyrannize (The little things of Ilfe They give us nujlle exerilse- (The little things of llfe.l We walk the floor with them at night. They wake us up U right, all right. And howl ami yell, Visi out of spile (The little things ot life.) Then little bills, we have them too (The little tilings of life.) . ,-. How quic kly they gtt overdue . (The little lings' pf life.) No, little thi h isn't be Mwplsed, Their power .uueU be recognised, . i Although Ihelr bleinga are disguised (The little things o.f life.) DAY
